Table Of ContentAmRev-Bio.V1tpgs 9/29/03 3:44 PM Page 3
Volume 1: A–J
American
Revolution
Biographies
Linda Schmittroth
and
Mary Kay Rosteck
Stacy A. McConnell, Editor
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Linda Schmittroth and Mary Kay Rosteck
s
e
i Staff
h Stacy McConnell, U•X•L Editor
p Judy Galens, U•X•L Contributing Editor
a Carol DeKane Nagel, U•X•L Managing Editor
r Thomas L. Romig, U•X•L Publisher
g
Margaret Chamberlain, Permissions Specialist (Pictures)
o
Rita Wimberley, Senior Buyer
Bi Evi Seoud, Assistant Production Manager
Dorothy Maki, Manufacturing Manager
:
n Tracey Rowens, Senior Art Director
o LM Design, Typesetting
i
t
u Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
l Schmittroth, Linda
o
American Revolution : biographies / Linda Schmittroth and Mary Kay
v
Rosteck ; edited by Stacy McConnell.
e
p. cm.
R
Includes bibliographical references and index.
n Summary: Profiles sixty men and women who were key players on the
British or American side of the American Revolution.
a
ISBN 0-7876-3792-0 (set) — ISBN 0-7876-3793-9 (v. 1). — ISBN 0-7876-
c
3794-7 (v. 2)
i
r 1. United States—History—Revolution, 1775-1783—Biography—Juvenile
e literature. [1. United States—History—Revolution, 1775-1783—Biography.]
m I. Rosteck, Mary Kay. II. McConnell, Stacy A. III. Title.
E206 .S36 2000
A 973.3’092’2—dc21 99-046941
CIP
This publication is a creative work fully protected by all applicable copy-
right laws, as well as by misappropriation, trade secret, unfair competition,
and other applicable laws. The authors and editors of this work have added
value to the underlying factual material herein through one or more of the
following: unique and original selection, coordination, expression,
arrangement, and classification of the information. All rights to this pub-
lication will be vigorously defended.
Copyright © 2000 U•X•L, an imprint of The Gale Group
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part
in any form.
Front cover photographs (top to bottom): Crispus Attucks reproduced
courtesy of the Library of Congress; Patrick Henry reproduced courtesy of
the Library of Congress.
Back cover photograph: Mount Vernon reproduced by permission of the
Detroit Photographic Company.
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
Advisory Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Reader’s Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Words to Know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiii
Volume 1: A-J
Abigail Adams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
John Adams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Samuel Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Ethan Allen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Benedict Arnold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Black Freedom Fighters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Joseph Brant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Mary “Molly” Brant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
John Burgoyne. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Edmund Burke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Margaret Cochran Corbin. . . . . . . . . . . . 90
v
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Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur. . . . . . . . . . 97
John Dickinson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Benjamin Franklin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Deborah Read Franklin . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Elizabeth Freeman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Thomas Gage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Bernardo de Gálvez . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
George III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Simon Girty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Mary Katherine Goddard . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Nathan Hale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Alexander Hamilton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
John Hancock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Nancy Morgan Hart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Patrick Henry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
William Howe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
John Jay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Thomas Jefferson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxiii
Volume 2: K-Z
Thaddeus Kosciuszko . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Marquis de Lafayette . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Pierre Charles L’Enfant. . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Louis XVI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Flora Macdonald . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
James Madison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
George Mason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Mary McCauley (“Molly Pitcher”) . . . . . . . 321
Jane McCrea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
Judith Sargent Murray . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
Jonathan Odell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
Thomas Paine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
William Pitt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
Casimir Pulaski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
David Ramsay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
Esther De Berdt Reed . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
Paul Revere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
Frederika von Riedesel . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
James Rivington. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
vi American Revolution: Biographies
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Betsy Ross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
Benjamin Rush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
Deborah Sampson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
Daniel Shays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443
Charles Townshend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
Horace Walpole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
Mercy Otis Warren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
George Washington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
Phillis Wheatley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
John Wilkes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxiii
Contents vii
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Advisory Board
Special thanks are due for the invaluable comments and sug-
gestions provided by U•X•L’s American Revolution Refer-
ence Library advisors:
• Mary Alice Anderson, Media Specialist, Winona Middle
School, Winona, Minnesota.
• Jonathan Betz-Zall, Children’s Librarian, Sno-Isle Regional
Library System, Edmonds, Washington.
• Frances Bryant Bradburn, Section Chief, Information Tech-
nology Evaluation Services, Public Schools of North Car-
olina, Raleigh, North Carolina.
• Sara K. Brooke, Director of Libraries, Ellis School, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania.
• Peter Butts, Media Specialist, East Middle School, Holland,
Michigan.
ix
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Reader’s Guide
American Revolution: Biographies presents biographies of
sixty men and women who took part in, influenced, or
were in some way affected by the American Revolution. Among
the people profiled in each of the two volumes are American
patriots and presidents; colonists who remained loyal to Eng-
land; Native Americans, royalty, politicians, scoundrels, and
military officers from foreign nations who helped or hindered
the American fight for freedom; writers, poets, and publishers;
and heroic colonial women who wrote, took up arms, acted as
spies, or raised funds for American independence.
American Revolution: Biographies not only includes the
biographies of such famous patriots as George Washington,
Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Thomas
Paine, and Thomas Jefferson, it also features the life stories of
less celebrated people such as Phillis Wheatley, renowned poet
and former slave; Frenchman Pierre Charles L’Enfant, who
designed the city of Washington, D.C.; Deborah Sampson, a
woman who donned a military uniform and served as an army
soldier; and Frederika von Riedesel, a German who chronicled
the Revolution while traveling throughout the colonies with
her young family as her husband fought for the British.
xi
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Other features
American Revolution: Biographiesalso highlights interest-
ing people with ties to the main biography subjects, and adds
details that help round out events of the Revolutionary period.
Each entry contains cross-references to other individuals pro-
filed in the two-volume set, and each offers a list of sources—
including web sites—for further information about the indi-
vidual profiled. A timeline and glossary introduce each volume
and a cumulative subject index concludes each volume.
American Revolution: Biographies has two companion
volumes: American Revolution: Almanac, which describes in
narrative form the events leading up to the war and the major
events of the war; and American Revolution: Primary Sources,
which contains excerpts from more than thirty Revolutionary-
era documents.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Mary Reilly McCall, who
contributed encouragement, enthusiasm, and several biogra-
phies to this set.
Comments and suggestions
We welcome your comments on this work as well as
your suggestions for topics to be featured in future editions of
American Revolution: Biographies.Please write: Editors, American
Revolution: Biographies, U•X•L, 27500 Drake Rd., Farmington
Hills, MI 48331-3535; call toll-free: 1-800-877-4253; fax: 248-
414-5043; or send e-mail via www.galegroup.com.
xii American Revolution: Biographies
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Timeline of Events in
Revolutionary America
1754 Start of the French and Indian War, pitting the French
and their Indian allies against the British for control of
North America.
1760 George IIIbecomes King of England.
1762 James Otis Jr., brother of Mercy Otis Warren, pub-
lishes a pamphlet arguing for a limitation on Parlia-
ment’s right to interfere with colonial affairs.
1763 French and Indian War ends with a British victory. To
appease Native Americans, King George IIIforbids colo-
nial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains.
1765 In March, King George III approves the Stamp Act,
which taxes the American colonies to pay for the French
and Indian War. Horace Walpole, British Member of
Parliament, opposes the Stamp Act before Parliament
and speaks out for the rights of American colonists.
In July, Boston patriots (“Sons of Liberty”) unite in
opposition to the Stamp Act. In August, a mob destroys
the house of Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor
Thomas Hutchinson to protest the act.
xiii
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In September, Deborah Read Franklin defends her
property when an angry mob outside her home
protests that her husband, Benjamin Franklin, has
not fought vigorously enough against the Stamp Act.
In October, delegates at a Stamp Act Congress adopt
John Dickinson’s Declaration of Rights and Griev-
ances, protesting the Stamp Act.
1766 The British government repeals the Stamp Act and
replaces it with the Declaratory Act, asserting Eng-
land’s right to make laws that colonists must obey.
British politician William Pittmakes a famous speech
in Parliament, declaring his opinion that Britain “has
no right to lay a tax upon” the American colonies.
1767 In June, British politician Charles Townshendpushes
through Parliament the Townshend Acts, imposing
new taxes on American colonists.
In December, John Dickinson’s “Letters from a Farmer
in Pennsylvania” appear in colonial newspapers,
protesting Parliament’s power to tax the colonies.
1768 In February, Samuel Adams writes a letter opposing
taxation without representation and calls for the
colonists to unite against British oppression.
In May, British troops arrive in Boston to enforce the
Townshend Acts.
In June, tax collectors seize John Hancock’s ship the
Libertyand sell its cargo.
1769 George Mason’s Virginia Resolves, which opposes
British taxation and other policies, is presented to Vir-
ginia lawmakers.
1770 Benjamin Rush publishes the first American chem-
istry textbook.
Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur begins writing the
pieces that are later published as Letters from an Ameri-
can Farmer.
In March, during the Boston Massacre, five colonists
are killed by British soldiers, including a black man
named Crispus Attucks.
xiv American Revolution: Biographies
