# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Vaughan, John (1748?-1795)

​VAUGHAN, Sir JOHN (1748?–1795), lieutenant-general, born in 1747 or 1748, was a younger son of Wilmot Vaughan, third viscount Lisburne, by Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Thomas Watson of Berwick-on-Tweed. He entered the service in the old 52nd regiment, or Colonel Pawlett's 9th regiment of marines, from which on 9 April 1748 he was transferred to a cornetcy in the 10th dragoons. He became lieutenant in the regiment on 10 Dec. 1751, captain-lieutenant on 5 Jan. 1754, and captain on 28 Jan. 1755. With the 10th dragoons he served in England and Scotland, and in Germany during part of the seven years' war. He left the ​regiment on 15 Oct. 1759, and obtained a majority in the army. He was at this time entrusted with the raising of a regiment of light infantry for service in North America, and was appointed lieutenant-colonel commandant of it on 12 Jan. 1760. This regiment, known as the 94th (or the royal Welsh volunteers), he accompanied to North America, and served with it until the following year, when he accompanied the expedition under Major-general Robert Monckton [q. v.], destined for the attack on the French West Indian islands. In command of a division of grenadiers he distinguished himself at the capture of Martinique, and was honourably mentioned in Monckton's despatch of 9 Feb. 1762.
On 25 Nov. 1762 he was removed from the 94th, which was about to be disbanded, to the command of the 46th foot, with which he served in North America. In 1767 the regiment returned home, and was quartered in Ireland. On 25 May 1772 he was promoted to the rank of colonel, and on 11 May 1775 obtained the colonelcy of the 46th foot. On the outbreak of the war with the American colonists he proceeded to America with the reinforcements under the command of Lord Cornwallis, and was granted the local rank of major-general, dated 1 Jan. 1776. He led the grenadiers of the army at the battle of Brooklyn or Long Island; and was present at the battle of White Plains, where he was wounded in the thigh. At the end of the year he went home to England with Lord Cornwallis, but returned to America in 1777, on 29 Aug. of which year he was promoted to the rank of major-general. He accompanied Major-general Sir Henry Clinton's expedition up the North River, and commanded the right column at the attack on Fort Montgomery in October 1777. His horse was killed by a cannon-shot when he was dismounting to lead the attack on foot, which he conducted with great gallantry. He was particularly mentioned in Sir Henry Clinton's orders on 9 Oct. 1777, in these words: ‘Fort Montgomery is henceforth to be distinguished by the name of Fort Vaughan, in memory of the intrepidity and noble perseverance which Major-general Vaughan showed in the assault of it.’ He was present at the landing and burning of Æsopus, and commanded the advance of the army at the reduction of Verplank's Neck and Stoney Point on the Hudson River. At the end of 1779 he returned to England, and was appointed governor of Fort William, and in the following year governor of Berwick, an appointment worth 600l. a year, which he retained for life.
In December 1779 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Leeward Islands, and in 1781, in that capacity, took part with Admiral Rodney in the attempt on the island of St. Vincent. The expedition, however, was a failure. The reports as to the damage done by a hurricane turned out to have been grossly exaggerated. The fortifications were found intact, and far too strong to be taken except by regular siege, for which the general had neither men nor battering train. After a few days' stay on shore the soldiers were re-embarked, and the squadron returned to Gros Islet Bay.
Owing to a variety of causes, Holland had been drawn into the war, and orders, dated 20 Dec., came to Rodney and Vaughan to seize the island of St. Eustatius. On 30 Jan. 1782 Vaughan, with a force of about two thousand men, sailed in the fleet under Rodney from Gros Islet Bay. St. Eustatius was surrounded on 3 Feb., summoned, and taken at once. In connection with the capture of the island, Rodney's and Vaughan's conduct was afterwards the subject of a severe attack in parliament, and they were charged with confiscating the goods and property of the inhabitants and with making a fortune out of them. Vaughan, who was M.P. for Berwick from 1774 until his death, defended himself from his place in the House of Commons. In the debate on a motion for an inquiry into the whole circumstances, he declared upon his honour, and expressed his anxiety to confirm it upon oath, that neither directly nor indirectly, by fair means or foul, had he made a single shilling by the business. The motion was lost by 163 votes to 84. Vaughan also sat in the Irish parliament for St. Johnstown from 1776 till 1783.
On 20 Nov. 1782, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general, and was created a knight of the Bath in 1792. He died suddenly at Martinique on 3 June 1795, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, when serving as commander-in-chief of the Leeward Islands. He was unmarried.
R. H.