John Sullivan

John Sullivan 1740-95, American Revolutionary general, b. Somersworth, N.H. He was a lawyer and a delegate (1774-75, 1780-81) to the Continental Congress but is better remembered as a military leader. He served at the siege of Boston, and in 1776, while fighting under George Washington at the battle of Long Island, he was captured by the British. He was exchanged in time to fight at Trenton and Princeton and later at Brandywine and Germantown. In 1778 he was sent to cooperate with the French fleet in an attack on Newport. The fleet was forced to withdraw, however, and the attack had to be given up. The next year, with Gen. James Clinton , he conducted a retaliatory campaign against the Iroquois and Loyalists on the New York frontier. The Native Americans and Loyalists were defeated in the battle of Newtown (near Elmira), and much of the Iroquois country was laid waste. Sullivan was later elected chief executive (1786, 1787, 1789) of New Hampshire. He also helped to put down Shays's Rebellion and was influential in getting the Constitution ratified.

Bibliography: See biographies by T. C. Amory (1868, repr. 1968) and C. P. Whittemore (1961).

Sullivan, John (1741–95) Revolutionary War army officer and state governor, born in Maine. Sullivan set up a law practice in New Hampshire and became attracted to the patriot cause through his objections to the Intolerable Acts. He attended the First Continental Congress and led an abortive and much-criticized charge at Bunker Hill (1775). In 1776 he led a failed invasion of Canada and contributed to Gen. George Washington's defeat in the Battle of New York. Sullivan led units at Trenton (1776) and at Princeton (1777) but performed poorly at Brandywine (1777), all the while complaining that he was being passed over for promotion; Washington's support kept him from losing his command. He wintered at Valley Forge and continued to perform erratically. He participated in a devastating attack on the Iroquois in upstate New York in 1779. Sullivan resigned his commission late in that year. His reputation was further damaged when he accepted payments from the French ostensibly to help him pay the costs of serving again in the Continental Congress (1780–81). He was elected governor of New Hampshire in 1786, 1787, and 1789, and strongly supported the adoption of the U.S. Constitution in 1788.