James Clinton James Clinton ( August 9 , 1736 – September 22 , 1812 ) was an American Revolutionary War officer who obtained the rank of brevet major general . He was born in Ulster County in the colony of New York , in a location now part of Orange County , New York . He was the grandson of James Clinton a soldier in Oliver Cromwell ' s New Model Army and the son of Charles Clinton , an Anglo - Irish colonist and a colonel in the French and Indian War . He was the brother of George Clinton , who was governor of New York from 1777 to 1795 and U . S . Vice President from 1805 to 1812 . James Clinton ' s wife was Mary DeWitt , daughter of an old Dutch family , and his second son was DeWitt Clinton , later Governor of New York . French and Indian War . James Clinton ' s military experience began in the French and Indian War , starting with an ensign ' s commission in 1757 . He achieved the rank of captain in 1759 . In 1758 , commanding a company , he participated , along with his father ( Colonel ) and brother George ( Lieutenant ) , in General John Bradstreet ’ s capture of Fort Frontenac ( now Kingston , Ontario ) . He and his brother played a key role in capturing a French vessel . James remained in the army , stationed at various frontier posts until the end of the war in 1763 . He then retired and married Mary De Witt . American Revolutionary War . During the American Revolution , Clinton was commissioned as a colonel of the 3rd New York Regiment , which took part in Brig . Gen . Richard Montgomery ’ s unsuccessful expedition to Quebec in 1775 . In March 1776 , Clinton took command of the 2nd New York Regiment and soon after , in August , was promoted to brigadier general in the Continental Army . He served most of the war in the Northern Department , along the New York frontier . During the Saratoga Campaign in 1777 , he commanded Fort Clinton in the Hudson Highlands . He participated in a successful effort to prevent British General Sir Henry Clinton from rescuing General John Burgoyne at Saratoga , but he and his troops were unable to hold Forts Clinton and Montgomery . In 1779 Clinton led an expedition down the Susquehanna River after making the upper portion navigable by damming up the river ' s source at Otsego Lake , allowing the lake ' s level to rise , and then destroying the dam and flooding the river for miles downstream . This event is described by James Fenimore Cooper in the introduction to his popular novel " The Pioneers " . At Tioga , New York , Clinton met up with General John Sullivan ' s forces , who had marched from Easton , Pennsylvania . Together , on August 29 , they defeated the Tories and Indians at the Battle of Newtown ( near today ' s city of Elmira , New York ) . This became known as the " Sullivan - Clinton Campaign " or the " Sullivan Expedition . " In 1780 , Clinton temporarily commanded the Northern Department . By October 1781 , his brigade had joined George Washington ' s army in the siege of Yorktown . After War Years . In 1783 General Clinton became an original member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati . After the war , as a civilian , he served on the commission defining the New York - Pennsylvania boundary and as a delegate to the New York state convention that approved the U . S . Constitution . Clinton died in Little Britain , New York , on September 22 , 1812 , the same year as his brother George .