John Cadwalader ( general ) John Cadwalader ( January 10 , 1742 – February 10 , 1786 ) was a commander of Pennsylvania troops during the American Revolutionary War . Early life . John Cadwalader was born in Trenton , New Jersey of Quaker parentage , the eldest son of Thomas Cadwalader ( 1707 – 1779 ) and Hannah Lambert , his wife . In 1750 , the Cadwalader family removed to Philadelphia where John and Lambert Cadwalader , his brother , were merchants . On September 25 , 1768 , John Cadwalader married Elizabeth Lloyd ( 1742 – 1776 ) , the daughter of Edward Lloyd , of Talbot County , Maryland . Her brother , Edward Lloyd IV , was a delegate to the Continental Congress for Maryland . Their daughter , Maria Cadwalader ( 1776 – 1811 ) , married Samuel Ringgold , who became a congressman representing Maryland . Two of their sons , Samuel Ringgold and Cadwalader Ringgold , had distinguished military careers . Revolutionary War . In 1776 , Colonel John Cadwalader was elected senior officer of the Philadelphia Associators , a volunteer militia founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1747 . By December , Cadwalader and the Associators were positioned about 10 miles south of Trenton on the west side of the Delaware River in Bucks County , Pennsylvania at the ferry between Bristol , Pennsylvania and Burlington , New Jersey . Cadwalader had received orders to send his column across the river on the night of December 25 – 26 and march to Trenton from the south . Meanwhile , George Washington ' s column would cross the river to the north of Trenton and attack the city from that direction . After successfully crossing his light forces , Cadwalader discovered that river ice prevented crossing his artillery . He then returned his column to the Pennsylvania side , leaving Washington ' s forces unsupported in New Jersey . It was fortunate for Washington that a Hessian column , having marched from their garrison at Bordentown to Mount Holly where they were engaged in the Battle of Iron Works Hill , were no longer in position to defend Trenton . Washington was successful in his surprise attack on the morning of December 26 against the Hessian garrison in Trenton . Cadwalader and his column did cross the river the next day . Cadwalader subsequently took part in the further actions in New Jersey , which forced the British commander General William Howe and his principal subordinate , Lord Cornwallis , to surrender the state to the Americans . After the Conway Cabal , he fought a duel with Thomas Conway in 1778 in which Cadwalader wounded his opponent with a shot in the mouth . Later life . John Cadwalader married Williamina Bond ( 1753 – 1837 ) , daughter of Dr . Phineas Bond , of Philadelphia . Their son , Thomas ( 1779 – 1841 ) , like his father , became a general of the Pennsylvania militia . Their daughter , Frances ( 1781 – 1843 ) , married David Erskine , 2nd Baron Erskine ( 1777 – 1855 ) , who was the British Ambassador to the United States from 1807 to 1809 . In 1779 , Cadwalader became a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania and returned to his estate on the banks of the Sassafras River at Shrewsbury , Kent County , Maryland . He became a member of the Maryland State Assembly . John Cadwalader died February 10 , 1786 . He is buried at Shrewsbury Chapel , Kent County , Maryland . Thomas Paine wrote his epitaph : His early and inflexible patriotism will endear his memory to all true friends of the American Revolution . It may with strictest justice be said of him , that he possessed a heart incapable of deceiving . His manners were formed on the nicest sense of honor and the whole tenor of his life was governed by this principle . The companions of his youth were the companions of his manhood . He never lost a friend by insincerity nor made one by deception . His domestic virtues were truly exemplary and while they served to endear the remembrances they embitter the loss of him to all his numerous friends and connexions . Furniture . John and Elizabeth Cadwalader built a city house at 2nd & Union ( now Delancey ) Streets in Philadelphia in 1770 , and commissioned suites of furniture from cabinetmakers such as Thomas Affleck and Benjamin Randolph . Surviving pieces are among the finest and best - documented Philadelphia Chippendale furniture ever made . Examples are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art , the Philadelphia Museum of Art , the Winterthur Museum , and other collections . A Cadwalader easy ( wing ) chair with hairy - paw feet by Affleck sold at Sotheby ' s New York for $ 2 . 75 million on January 31 , 1987 , setting a world record for the highest price ever paid for any piece of furniture at auction .