William Eustis William Eustis ( June 10 , 1753 – February 6 , 1825 ) was an early American physician , politician , and statesman from Massachusetts . Trained in medicine , he served as a military surgeon during the American Revolutionary War , notably at the Battle of Bunker Hill . He resumed medical practice after the war , but soon entered politics . After several terms in the state legislature , Eustis won election to the United States Congress in 1800 , serving as a moderate Democratic - Republican . He briefly returned to state politics after losing reelection in 1804 , and was chosen to be Secretary of War in 1809 by President James Madison . Due in part to his inexperience at managing the army and a lack of preparedness , the military failures in the early months of the War of 1812 were laid on his shoulders , leading to his resignation . Madison then appointed Eustis Minister to the Netherlands , a post he held from 1814 until 1818 . After another period in Congress , he was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 1822 . A popular successor to long - serving John Brooks , Eustis died in office in 1825 . His Boston mansion , built in the 1750s by royal governor William Shirley , is known as the Shirley - Eustis House and is a National Historic Landmark . Early years and military service . William Eustis was born on June 10 , 1753 in Cambridge , Massachusetts , to Benjamin Eustis , a prominent Boston doctor , and Elizabeth ( Hill ) Eustis . He was the second surviving son of twelve children . He was educated at the Boston Latin School before he entered Harvard College , from which he graduated in 1772 . While at Harvard he belonged to an undergraduate militia unit called the Martimercurian Band . After graduation he studied medicine under Dr . Joseph Warren , a well - known Patriot political leader . When the Battles of Lexington and Concord sparked the American Revolutionary War in April 1775 , Warren and Eustis both worked in the field , tending the injured revolutionaries . Warren secured for Eustis a commission as regimental surgeon to the rebel artillery . Eustis helped care for the wounded at the June 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill , in which Warren was killed . He served with the Continental Army in the New York and New Jersey campaign , refusing a lieutenant colonel ' s commission offered by artillery chief Henry Knox . During his Continental Army service , Eustis met and established an enduring friendship with New Jersey native Aaron Burr . In 1777 Eustis was placed in command of a military hospital established at the former residence of Loyalist Beverley Robinson north of New York City , where he remained for the duration of the war . In September 1780 he played a minor role in events surrounding the flight of traitor Benedict Arnold : he treated Arnold ' s wife Peggy , who was seemingly hysterical over the sudden departure of her husband and the discovery of his plot . After the war Eustis returned to medical practice in Boston . He was once again called on to serve in military matters when Shays ' Rebellion broke out in western Massachusetts in 1786 , becoming surgeon to the militia force raised by General Benjamin Lincoln that quashed the rebellion in the early months of 1787 . Eustis became vice president of the Society of the Cincinnati in 1786 , a post he held until 1810 , and again in 1820 . Legislator . Eustis was elected to the Massachusetts General Court ( the state legislature ) from 1788 to 1794 , which he left because he was " sick of " the political gamesmanship in the body . He was thereafter chosen to serve on the Governor ' s Council for two years . In 1800 he ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives . During his successful campaign against Josiah Quincy , Eustis was charged with either authoring , or being complicit in the production of , letters that formed a part of the 1783 Newburgh Conspiracy , a threatened uprising in the Continental Army . Eustis publicly denied being the author of the letters , but was silent on his role in the affair . ( John Armstrong later admitted to writing the letters , and Eustis acknowledged some years later that he was privy to the plot . ) Eustis was a moderate Democratic - Republican who did not seek the significant reforms more radical Republicans wanted . He demonstrated this by voting against President Thomas Jefferson ' s repeal of the Judiciary Act of 1801 , a Federalist bill passed in the late days of the John Adams administration that had greatly expanded the number of seats on the federal bench . In 1802 Eustis was reelected , defeating John Quincy Adams , and in a rematch of the 1800 election with Quincy , Eustis was defeated by fewer than 100 votes . While in the House , he was one of the managers appointed by the House of Representatives in 1804 to conduct the impeachment proceedings ( the first such action to succeed ) against John Pickering , judge of the United States District Court for New Hampshire . In 1804 he argued in favor of arming merchant vessels headed for the West Indies . Secretary of War . When James Madison became president in 1809 , he sought to enhance the status of the Democratic - Republicans in Federalist - dominated New England . To that end he chose Eustis to be his Secretary of War . Eustis was not a good choice for the post , lacking the necessary administrative skills and detailed military background . He also had difficult relations with James Wilkinson and Wade Hampton , two senior army commanders . Eustis made a major push to update the military ' s field manuals , which had not changed since the Revolutionary War . After acquiring copies of manuals published in 1791 for use by the armies of the French Republic , Eustis commissioned a translation and lobbied for adoption of new manuals based on French tactics . Although a new manual was ready for use in 1812 , it was not well received by the officer corps , and was not used in the war that broke out that year . As tensions grew between the United States and Great Britain , Eustis made modest moves to improve military readiness , but did not otherwise distinguish himself or introduce other initiatives or proposals . When the War of 1812 began , the army ' s logistics were in shambles , and it had no overall commander , forcing Eustis to make detailed decisions for nine military districts . When the war began poorly with the surrender of General William Hull at Detroit , Eustis was severely criticized . Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin wrote that there was " a total want of confidence " in Eustis that was felt " through every ramification of the public service . " Eustis tendered his resignation in December 1812 , and Secretary of State James Monroe took over his duties until John Armstrong assumed the office on February 13 , 1813 . Netherlands minister . Eustis was next appointed minister of the United States to the Netherlands by President Madison , serving from 1814 to 1818 . Madison believed the post to be important for sounding out conditions in Europe due to The Hague ' s historical use as a neutral ground for negotiations , and he instructed Eustis to track European diplomatic sentiment . However , the status of the Dutch declined after the defeat of Napoleon , and the post was not particularly active . Eustis unsuccessfully pursued claims against the Dutch for seizures of American goods and ships that had taken place during the reign of Louis Bonaparte over the Kingdom of Holland ( the claims were eventually acknowledged by France ) . Eustis and Albert Gallatin , then the US Ambassador to France , negotiated a new commerce treaty with the Dutch government in 1817 ; it was ratified in 1818 . Eustis was at a disadvantage due to his lack of French language skill , and was recalled in 1818 after the Dutch government reduced its American delegation head to a chargé d ' affaires . While in Europe Eustis renewed an acquaintance with the Marquis de Lafayette , with whom he had served in the Revolutionary War . Later offices . Upon his return from Europe , Eustis purchased the mansion in Roxbury built by royal governor William Shirley in the 1750s ( which is now known as the Shirley - Eustis House ) . Eustis was again elected to Congress in a special election called after the resignation of Representative Edward Dowse . He served from 1820 to 1823 , presiding as chairman of the U . S . House Committee on Military Affairs . In the debate on the admission of Missouri as a state ( leading to the Missouri Compromise ) , Eustis made an impassioned speech in opposition to proposed language in the Missouri Constitution forbidding the entry of free blacks into the state . He ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Massachusetts three times ( 1820 – 22 ) , losing each time to the popular moderate Federalist John Brooks . In 1823 Eustis won the seat in a highly contentious contest with the unpopular arch - Federalist Harrison Gray Otis . Republicans presented Eustis as a moderate successor to Brooks who would be less partisan than Otis , and also highlighted his Revolutionary War experience . He carried Federalist strongholds in Hampshire and Essex Counties , and very nearly defeated in Otis in Boston . Eustis ' victory in the election ( combined with a Republican sweep of the legislature the following year ) marked the effective end of the Federalist Party in Massachusetts . Eustis was a popular governor , continuing Brooks ' moderate policies . He nominated his lieutenant governor , Levi Lincoln , Jr . , to the state ' s high court , and won reelection in 1824 with former Representative Marcus Morton as his lieutenant . While governor he received his old friend Lafayette when he toured the United States . Eustis died in Boston of pneumonia while governor on February 6 , 1825 . His grave is claimed in some sources to be in Boston ' s Granary Burying Ground , and in other sources to be in Lexington ' s Old Cemetery . He was memorialized by his friend Edward Everett . Personal life . During the Revolutionary War Eustis became close friends with Aaron Burr , a friendship that deepened in the 1790s . Burr and Eustis exchanged letters on the most intimate subjects , recommending potential romantic partners to each other and sharing a taste for well - educated women . Eustis aided Burr on one occasion by helping him find accommodations for a young woman whose mother had been involved in an adulterous relationship with Alexander Hamilton ; she was placed in a Boston - area boarding school . Eustis may have also been the subject of a teenage crush by Burr ' s daughter Theodosia , who shared intimate details of her life with him ( including medical conditions emanating from a difficult pregnancy ) well into adulthood . Eustis was for many years a confirmed bachelor , described as urbane and charming . He married Caroline Langdon in 1801 ; they had no children . She was the sister of Henry Sherburne Langdon , who had married Eustis ' sister Ann , and the daughter of Woodbury Langdon , a prominent Portsmouth , New Hampshire merchant and judge . His wife survived him by forty years , after which his Boston property was divided among relatives . The mansion fell into decay , but was acquired by preservationists in 1913 and restored to its 19th - century grandeur in the late 20th century . It is now a house museum and a National Historic Landmark .