Livingston, Henry Brockholst

LIVINGSTON, HENRY BROCKHOLST. (1757–1823). Continental officer. New York. Born in New York City on 25 November 1757, Henry Brockholst was the the son of William Livingston. Brockholst, as he was generally known, graduated from Princeton in 1774 and entered the army in 1775 as captain and aide-de-camp to General Philip Schuyler. In December 1775 he was named major of the Third New York Regiment, and then became aide-de-camp to General Arthur St. Clair on 8 March 1776. A deep admirer of Benedict Arnold, Livingston was present at the Saratoga campaign as a member of Arnold's staff. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel after the battle.

Livingston won praise from General Nathanael Greene for his performance at the battle of Newport on 29 August 1778. In 1779 he took a twelve-month leave of absence to serve as private secretary to his brother-in-law, John Jay, during Jay's mission to Spain. Livingston was captured by the British on his return trip in 1782. Jailed in New York City, he was freed almost immediately on the order of Sir Guy Carleton and sent home on parole. He then went to Albany to study law and was admitted to the bar in 1783. He became a highly successful lawyer and an anti-Federalist. In 1802 he was named to the state supreme court, was co-founder of the New York Historical Society in 1805, and in 1808 helped organize the state's public school system. In 1807 he became associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, which he served on until his death in Washington, D.C., on 18 March 1823.

SEE ALSO Livingston, Henry Beekman; Livingston, William; Newport, Rhode Island (September 1777).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dunne, Gerald T. "Brockholst Livingston." In The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions. 5 vols. Edited by Leon Friedman and Fred L. Israel. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1997.

                            revised by Michael Bellesiles