James Mitchell Varnum James Mitchell Varnum ( December 17 , 1748 – January 9 , 1789 ) was an American legislator , lawyer , general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War , and a pioneer to the Ohio Country . " The career of Gen . Varnum was active , but brief . He graduated at " twenty " ; was admitted to the bar at " twenty - two " ; entered the army at " twenty - seven " ; resigned his commission at " thirty - one " ; was member of Congress the same year ; resumed practice at " thirty - three " , and continued four years , was elected to Congress again at " thirty - seven " ; emigrated to the west at " thirty - nine " , and died at the early age of " forty " . " James Mitchell Varnum was " a man of boundless zeal , of warm feelings , of great honesty , of singular disinterestedness ; and , as to talents , of prodigal imagination , a dextrous reasoner , and a splendid orator . He was a man made on a gigantic scale ; his very defects were masculine and powerful , ' and , we shall not soon look upon his like again . ' " Early life . James Mitchell Varnum was born in Dracut , Massachusetts . As a young man he matriculated at Harvard College only to transfer to the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations ( later named Brown University ) , where he graduated with honors in 1769 . In Rhode Island he met his future wife . Leadership in the American Revolution . Along with Nathanael Greene he served in the Kentish Guards . He served as a brigadier general in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War , serving from 1777 until 1779 . Varnum advocated allowing African Americans to enlist in the Continental Army , which resulted in the reformation of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment as an all - black unit . Varnum was a disciple of General Charles Lee and a serious critic of the position of Inspector General held in 1778 by Baron Von Steuben . After Varnum resigned his Continental Army commission because of personal business matters , he was appointed major general of Rhode Island militia . He led troops in the service of the United States in July and August , 1780 , under the Comte de Rochambeau who commanded allied troops sent by King Louis XVI of France . General Varnum served at the siege of Boston , the battles at Long Island , White Plains , Red Bank , at Valley Forge and the battle of Rhode Island . Varnum was an original member of the Rhode Island Society of the Cincinnati and served as president of the Society from 1786 until his death in 1789 . He later represented Rhode Island in the Continental Congress ( 1780 – 1781 and 1787 ) . After the Revolutionary War , along with General George Washington , Nathanael Greene , Henry Knox , Thomas Pinckney , Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and several others , he became a founding member of the Society of the Cincinnati . Legal career and later life . Varnum was also well known as a jurist . He successfully represented the defendant in Trevett v . Weeden one of the earliest cases of judicial review . In 1787 , Varnum was appointed a justice of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territory , and moved to Marietta , Ohio , to take up his duties ; he was one of the early pioneers to the Northwest Territory . He died less than two years later of consumption , and his marker is located in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Marietta . His college classmate the distinguished physician Solomon Drowne eulogized him during an oration at the one - year anniversary celebration of the founding of Marietta : But of these worthies who have most exerted themselves in promoting this settlement , one , alas ! is no more ; one whose eloquence , like the music of Orpheus , attractive of the listening crowd , seemed designed to reconcile mankind to the closest bonds of society . Ah ! what avail his manly virtues now ! Slow through yon winding path his corse was borne , and on the steepy hill interred with funeral honors meet . What bosom refuses the tribute of a sigh , on the recollection of that melancholy scene , when , unusual spectacle , the fathers of the land , the chiefs of the aboriginal nations , in solemn train attended ; while the mournful dirge was rendered doubly mournful mid the gloomy nodding grove . On that day even nature seemed to mourn . O Varnum ! Varnum ! thy name shall not be forgotten , while gratitude and generosity continue to be the characteristics of those inhabiting the country , once thy care . Thy fair fame is deeply rooted in our fostering memories … General Varnum ' s home , the Gen . James Mitchell Varnum House in East Greenwich , Rhode Island is a tourist attraction today . Varnum ' s brother was Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Joseph Bradley Varnum .