Military officer; born near
Whitehaven, England, June 20, 1756; came to
America in 1764 with his father, and settled in
South Carolina with his uncle, who educated him at the College of New Jersey (where
he graduated in 1776), and adopted him as his heir.
He prepared himself for the law as a profession, but became an active soldier in the Revolution in a troop of dragoons.
When he was in command of the troop he annexed it to
Pulaski's Legion.
He fought at
Stono,
Hanging Rock, and
Rocky Mount; and at the head of a legionary corps, with the rank of major, he opposed the advance of Cornwallis into
North Carolina.
After the overthrow of the
American army at
Camden he saved the remnant of it; and he was a most efficient commissary under
General Greene in the Southern Department.
He rose to great eminence as a lawyer after the war, and was a delegate to the convention that framed the national Constitution, but sickness at home compelled him to leave before the work was accomplished.
In the convention of
North Carolina he was its most earnest and able supporter.
In 1799 he was governor of
North Carolina, but was soon afterwards sent as one of the envoys to the
French Directory.
Very soon after his return he withdrew from public life.
In March, 1813, he was appointed a major-general, but declined the service on account of bodily infirmities.
He died in
Camden, S. C., Nov. 8, 1820.
