page_title: John Sullivan (general)
section_title: Political and military actions (1774–1775)
hierarchical_section_title: John Sullivan (general) / Political and military actions (1774–1775)
caption_attribution_description: English: Printmakers include Asher B. Durand, Henry Bryan Hall, Albert Rosenthal and Max Rosenthal. Draughtsmen include David McNeely Stauffer. Title from Calendar of Emmet Collection. Includes some photomechanical reproductions. Citation/reference&#160;: EM253
context_page_description: John Sullivan was an Irish-American General in the Revolutionary War, a delegate in the Continental Congress, Governor of New Hampshire and a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire. Sullivan, the third son of American settlers, served as a major general in the Continental Army and as Governor of New Hampshire. He commanded the Sullivan Expedition in 1779, a scorched earth campaign against the Iroquois towns that had taken up arms against the American revolutionaries. As a member of Congress, Sullivan worked closely with the French Ambassador to the United States, the Chevalier de la Luzerne.
context_section_description: In response to Wentworth's action dismissing the Assembly and the call for a continental congress to support Boston after the British sanctions against it, on July 21, 1774 the first Provincial Congress of New Hampshire met at Exeter, with John Sullivan as Durham's delegate. That assembly sent him and Nathaniel Folsom as delegates to the First Continental Congress. The assembly adopted a Declaration of Rights and Grievances on October 14, 1774. By November 8, Sullivan and Folsom were back in New Hampshire to work for acceptance of the Declaration and the Association of the colonies to support economic measures to achieve their objectives.
  On October 19, 1774, a royal order in council prohibited the export of powder and arms to America and Lord Dartmouth secretly wrote to the colonial governors to secure gunpowder, arms and ammunition in the provinces. After Paul Revere was sent by the Massachusetts committee to warn the Portsmouth militia of a rumored British movement toward Fort William and Mary, that militia raided the fort and seized gunpowder on December 14, 1774. Sullivan, who was not present on this first raid, was one of the leaders of the militia force who made the second raid on the fort for its cannon, muskets and munitions on December 15. Sullivan and his men took 16 cannons, about 60 muskets and other stores but were prevented from returning for other cannon and supplies by the arrival of the man-of-war Canceaux, followed two days later by the frigate Scarborough. Wentworth refrained from seeking to arrest Sullivan and others because he thought he had little popular support and the militia would not act.
  In January 1775, a second Provincial Congress at Exeter voted to send Sullivan and John Langdon to the Second Continental Congress. Sullivan, supported by Folsom and Langdon, persuaded the assembly to petition Wentworth to call a New Hampshire Assembly that he would not dissolve. Wentworth responded by dismissing Sullivan from the militia and further postponing the meeting of the assembly. Since Wentworth believed he had little power to arrest Sullivan and other leaders of the extra–legal assembly, Sullivan and Langdon started traveling to Philadelphia. Upon arrival in Philadelphia, Sullivan joined those who argued that war had been started by the actions at the Battles of Lexington and Concord and that the colonies should proceed with it.
  Congress soon decided that they must take charge of the army forming around Boston. They appointed George Washington as commander in chief and several other generals, including John Sullivan as a brigadier general. On June 27, 1775, Sullivan left Philadelphia to join the army at the siege of Boston.
caption: Major General John Sullivan, a distinguished officer in the Continental Army.
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