Military officer; born in
Northampton, N. H., Feb. 23, 1751; became a physician, and employed his leisure time in the study of military science.
At the head of sixty volunteers he hastened to
Cambridge on the day after the affair at
Lexington, a distance of 65 miles. He was appointed a captain in
Stark's regiment, participated in the
battle of Bunker Hill, and in September following (1775) accompanied
Arnold in his expedition to
Quebec.
He participated in the siege of
Quebec, and was made prisoner, but was paroled in May, 1776, when he became major of
Scammel's New Hampshire regiment.
He was in the battles of
Stillwater and
Saratoga in the fall of 1777, and led the troops in those engagements—in the latter as lieutenant-colonel.
He was in the battle of
Monmouth, was in
Sullivan's campaign against the Indians in 1779, and in 1781 was attached to
Washington's staff as deputy quartermastergeneral, with the rank of colonel.
In that capacity he served in the siege of
Yorktown.
In 1784 he settled in
Maine, and became general of militia.
He was marshal of
Maine, by the appointment of
Washington, in 1789, member of Congress from 1793 to 1797, and was
Secretary of War under
Jefferson from 1801 to 1809.
From 1809 till 1812 he was collector of the port of
Boston, when he was appointed senior major-general in the United States army, and commander-in-chief of the Northern Department.
On Sept. 1, 1812,
General Bloomfield had collected about 8,000 men—regulars, volunteers, and militia—at
Plattsburg, on
Lake Champlain, besides some small advanced parties at Chazy and
Champlain.
On the arrival of
General Dearborn, he assumed direct command of all the troops, and on Nov. 16 he moved towards the
Canada line with 3,000 regulars and 2,000 militia.
He moved on to the
La Colle, a small tributary of the
Sorel, where he was met by a considerable force of mixed British and
Canadian troops and
Indians, under
Lieutenant-Colonel De Salaberry, an active British commander.
Just at dawn,
[
29]
on the morning of the 20th,
Col. Zebulon M. Pike crossed the
La Colle and surrounded a block-house.
Some New York militia approaching were mistaken, in the dim light, for British soldiers.
Pike's men opened fire upon them, and for nearly half an hour a sharp conflict was maintained.
When they discovered their mistake, they found
De Salaberry approaching with an overwhelming force.
These were fiercely attacked, but the
Americans were soon forced to retreat so precipitately that they left five of their number dead and five wounded on the field.
The army, disheartened, returned to
Plattsburg.
Dearborn was superseded July 6, 1813, in consequence of being charged with political intrigue.
He asked in vain for a court of inquiry.
In 1822-24 he was the
American minister in
Portugal, and in the latter year returned to his farm at
Roxbury, near
Boston, where he died June 6, 1829.
