Eleazer Oswald Eleazer Oswald ( baptized bp 2 Feb 1750 / 51 , Falmouth Cornwall , Eng – 30 September 1795 ) was born in Falmouth , Cornwall , England but moved to British America as a young man . He became apprenticed to a printer , John Holt of Williamsburg , VA and married the man ' s daughter , Elizabeth Holt . In the American Revolutionary War he immediately threw in his lot with the American colonists . He participated in Benedict Arnold ' s expedition to Quebec in 1775 and was captured . After a prisoner exchange , he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of artillery in January 1777 . He performed notable service during the Danbury Raid in Connecticut during April 1777 . At the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778 he distinguished himself while playing a major role in the engagement . After resigning from the army in a dispute over seniority , Oswald returned to a career in publishing and journalism . Over the next decade he published newspapers in Baltimore , Philadelphia , and New York . In 1792 he went to France where he joined the French Revolution and assumed command of an artillery unit as colonel . After fighting at Jemappes he went on a secret mission to Ireland . He returned to New York in 1795 and died in an outbreak of Yellow Fever . Apprentice and soldier . Born at Falmouth , Cornwall in England in 1755 , Oswald was the son of a ship captain Eleazer Oswald and his wife Rebekah Thomas . His father disappeared at sea when he was in his early teens . He was related to merchant Richard Oswald who later became the British commissioner for the Peace of Paris in 1783 . Oswald traveled to America around 1770 and became involved in the patriot cause . He eventually settled in Connecticut . He became apprenticed to New York printer John Holt . Oswald married Holt ' s daughter Elizabeth ( d . 1797 ) and their oldest son John Holt Oswald was born around 1777 . Oswald married Elizabeth in New York City on 2 January 1772 . Immediately after the Battles of Lexington and Concord Oswald joined the American army . With Benedict Arnold he participated in the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga on 10 May 1775 . Oswald went with Benedict Arnold ' s expedition to Quebec in 1775 as one of five unattached volunteers . The other four were Aaron Burr , Matthias Ogden , Charles Porterfield , and John McGuire . On the night of 31 December 1775 , Oswald took part in the Battle of Quebec . Benedict Arnold and Oswald accompanied the 25 - man vanguard of Arnold ' s 600 - strong column . He was wounded and captured in the battle . He was not exchanged until 10 January 1777 when he received a commission as lieutenant colonel in John Lamb ' s 2nd Continental Artillery Regiment . He performed noteworthy service at Compo Hill during the Danbury Raid . During the action , Lamb ' s three - gun battery made a valiant attempt to stop a British bayonet charge . Oswald served as Charles Lee ' s senior artillery officer at the Battle of Monmouth on 28 June 1778 . Under his authority were Captain Thomas Wells of the 3rd Continental Artillery Regiment , two guns , Captain David Cook of the 3rd Artillery , two guns , Captain Thomas Seward of the 3rd Artillery , two guns , Captain Thomas Randall of the 2nd Artillery , two guns , and four guns of the 3rd Artillery attached to Charles Scott ' s brigade . Wells was attached to William Grayson ' s brigade , Cook to James Mitchell Varnum ' s brigade ( under John Durkee ) , Seward to Anthony Wayne ' s brigade , and Randall to William Maxwell ' s brigade . Since Lee had expressed doubts about the wisdom of harassing the retreat of Sir Henry Clinton ' s British army , George Washington placed the American advance guard under the command of Gilbert Motier , marquis de La Fayette . However , on 25 June Lee changed his mind and asked for the command . Since Lee was his second - in - command , Washington reinforced the advance guard to 5 , 500 troops and put Lee in charge . On 27 June Washington ordered Lee to attack Clinton ' s rear guard the next morning . On 28 June , Lee ' s first units began to march at 7 : 00 AM . When they reached the bridge across Spottswood Middle Brook ( West Morass ) , conflicting reports caused the column to delay . Eventually at 9 : 00 AM , Lee sent Wayne forward with an " ad hoc " force consisting of four guns under Oswald , Grayson ' s brigade , Henry Jackson ' s detachment , and Richard Butler ' s detachment . These troops pushed back the Queen ' s Rangers but came under some cannon fire and fell back into some trees , leaving two of Oswald ' s guns exposed on their left flank . After his soldiers dispersed some British light dragoons , Lee sent John Durkee ' s brigade to support Oswald ' s guns . Almost immediately Durkee was wounded and replaced by Jeremiah Olney of the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment . Lee ordered La Fayette to take Wayne ' s original brigade and press the British left flank . Around 10 : 30 AM , Lee saw to his shock that Clinton was advancing with 6 , 000 troops . He doubted that his soldiers were capable of stopping their enemies . Because Lee was recently released in a prisoner exchange , he failed to grasp the improvements in the American army since his capture in December 1776 . As Lee pondered his next more , he saw Oswald leading two of his guns to the rear . When Lee demanded to know why , Oswald explained that one cannon was disabled , the crews were exhausted from the day ' s extreme heat , and that the guns had run out of roundshot . Lee then authorized the move . At this time , Scott and Maxwell chose to fall back , either because they saw Oswald retreat or because they noticed Butler and Jackson changing position . This seems to have provoked other units to withdraw . When Lee realized what was happening , he issued orders for a general retreat . Oswald quickly organized a massed battery of 10 cannons to cover the move . As the retreat continued , Oswald received orders first to hold and then to continue to fall back . Oswald broke up his grand battery , sending Cook ' s two guns to rejoin Olney ' s brigade and Randall ' s two guns to rejoin Maxwell ' s brigade . Meanwhile , the worn out men of Wells ' battery were ordered out of the battle . Around 11 : 00 AM , the American main body started to arrive in the area and Washington first learned of Lee ' s retreat . As Lee tried to extemporize a defense line , he ordered Olney ' s brigade to hold a hedgerow while Wayne asked Walter Stewart and Nathaniel Ramsey defend some woods on the left flank . With his four remaining guns , Oswald placed two on a hill behind the hedgerow to support Olney ' s men while the other two were ordered to cover Wayne ' s troops . Lee ordered Henry Livingston , Jr . to help cover the two guns with Olney , but for some reason Livingston moved his entire command behind the hedgerow on Olney ' s left . After a spirited combat the Brigade of Guards drove off the troops under Stewart and Ramsey . The action then focused on the hedgerow as the 16th Light Dragoons attacked and were repulsed . Clinton in person led forward the 1st and 2nd Grenadier Battalions . Oswald ' s guns blasted the British with grapeshot at but the elite troops overran the hedgerow . At this time the commanding officer of the 2nd Grenadiers , Henry Monckton was killed by grapeshot . Washington ' s artillery chief , Henry Knox ordered Oswald to withdraw his cannon across Spottswood Middle Brook . Despite the retreat , which was covered by Olney , no American guns fell into British hands . The next two hours were occupied by an artillery duel between 10 British pieces near the hedgerow and between 10 and 14 American cannons that Knox assembled on Perrine Ridge . In the official orders of Monmouth , Oswald ' s actions were praised . After the battle Lee accused Washington of " cruel injustice " in a letter . The incident escalated until Lee was ordered to stand a court martial for disobedience of orders , making an unnecessary and disorderly retreat , and disrespect to the commander in chief . At the trial , Oswald , Knox , and others testified in Lee ' s defense . Nevertheless , Lee was found guilty and suspended from command for one year . Lee finally wrote a letter to Congress that was so insulting that he was dismissed from the army . Journalist and soldier . Feeling that he should have been promoted , Oswald resigned from the army after Monmouth and joined William Goddard at the " Maryland Journal " in Baltimore , Maryland . While there , he printed Lee ' s criticisms of Washington , provoking a popular outcry against Oswald . He left the " Maryland Journal " and went to Philadelphia , Pennsylvania in April 1782 to start the " Independent Gazetteer , or the Chronicle of Freedom " , a harshly partisan newspaper . He opened Bradford ' s London Coffee House in 1783 and began printing the " Price Current " which was possibly the earliest business newspaper in the United States . In the summer of 1788 , Oswald printed a piece in the " Independent Gazetteer " that made anonymous allegations against Andrew Browne , the head master of a girl ' s school . Browne demanded to know who made the charges against him and Oswald refused to provide the names . The head master then sued Oswald for libel on 2 July 1788 . Under his own byline , Oswald responded by printing a broadside . In it Oswald claimed the " rights of the press and of freemen " were being attacked . He hinted that the legal action was a Federalist Party plot to harass him . He alluded to past libel actions in which he was acquitted . He asserted that libels were , " a doctrine incompatible with law and liberty , and at once destructive of the privileges of free country . . . " . He proclaimed that Pennsylvanians would not allow , " the freedom of the press to be violated " . On 12 July 1788 , Oswald was charged with contempt of court in " Respublica v . Oswald " for publishing the broadside . Browne ' s attorney alleged that Oswald ' s purpose was to prejudice the minds of the public in a case that was pending . The court , while acknowledging the freedom of the press , nevertheless sentenced Oswald to one month in jail and a £10 fine . On 19 April 1809 , " Respublica v . Passmore " limited the power of courts to issue summary contempts such as the one used against Oswald . Between 5 October 1787 and 24 November 1788 a series of 24 anti - Federalist articles were published in the " Independent Gazetteer " and " Freeman ' s Journal " in Philadelphia . Authored by " Centinel " the Letters of Centinel argued against adopting the United States Constitution . It is believed that Samuel Bryan wrote most of the articles , but that Oswald may have penned a few of them . Oswald moved to New York City and published the " Independent Gazette , or New York Journal Revived " . This was the journal that his father - in - law started . He came out against Alexander Hamilton in print and a duel between the two was narrowly averted by friends . In 1792 he traveled first to England , then France . On 18 September 1792 , Oswald received a colonel ' s commission in the French army from General Charles François Dumouriez . He fought at the Battle of Jemappes on 6 November 1792 where he had command of four of the 24 artillery units . Historian Digby Smith noted that most of the Austrian casualties in the action were inflicted by cannon fire . In a subsequent action at Liège , Oswald commanded 12 of the 24 units . On 16 January 1793 he left the army in Belgium to go on a secret mission for the French government . From 20 February to 8 June 1793 he was employed in Ireland where he reported on dissatisfaction with the British government . Being American , he was able to go about his espionage activities without causing suspicion . A remarkable set of documents survived in which Oswald sought reimbursement from the French government for expenses he incurred in the line of duty . On 11 and 23 July 1793 he sent the requests to the Minister of War Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte . His secret mission was certified by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Pierre Henri Hélène Marie Lebrun - Tondu . A letter of introduction from Thomas Paine testified that Oswald ' s motive was to repay France for helping America in its War of Independence . Oswald returned to New York City and died there of Yellow Fever on 30 September 1795 . Family . Including their eldest son John who was mentioned earlier , Oswald and his wife Elizabeth Holt had seven children . John Holt Oswald became an international merchant and died in 1810 , leaving behind his wife Emily and three surviving children . Another son William Hunter Oswald ( b . 1787 ) also went into international trade . He married Sarah Stamper Hall ( b . 1792 ) and was working at Trieste on the Adriatic Sea in 1815 . Thomas Oswald died without having any children , Ann never married , and Phoebe died in infancy . Rebecca married a man named Glenn and Elizabeth married Dr . George Balfour who joined the United States Army .