Wayne, Anthony (1745-1796), was an American officer in the Revolutionary War (1775-1783). He became known as “Mad Anthony” Wayne because of his reckless courage. He was the hero of the recapture of Stony Point, New York, a British post on the Hudson River, in 1779. Wayne commanded the attack, which was considered one of the most daring of the war.
Wayne was born on Jan. 1, 1745, in Chester County, Pennsylvania. He studied at an academy in Philadelphia where he learned enough mathematics to become a surveyor. A Philadelphia land company sent him to Nova Scotia in 1765 to supervise the surveying and settlement of land. He returned to Pennsylvania and served in the colonial assembly. When the war began in 1775, he raised a regiment for the Canadian campaign, and later commanded the garrison at Ticonderoga.
In 1777, Wayne became a brigadier general and joined George Washington’s army to take charge of the Pennsylvania line. He led a division at Brandywine, commanded the right wing at Germantown, and spent the winter with Washington at Valley Forge. Wayne led the advance attack at Monmouth the next year. In 1781, Wayne served with the Marquis de Lafayette against General Cornwallis, and took part in the siege of Yorktown. He later served in Georgia and South Carolina.
In 1783, Wayne became a brevet major general and then retired from the army. He represented Georgia in Congress in 1791, but the seat was declared vacant because of election irregularities. He returned to the army in 1791 as a major general and commander in chief. Wayne fought against a confederacy of Indian tribes in Ohio in 1794, defeating them at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. He made a treaty with the Indians in 1795 that secured a great tract of land for the United States. Wayne died at Presque Isle (now Erie, Pennsylvania) on Dec. 15, 1796.
