John Sullivan ( general ) John Sullivan ( February 17 , 1740 – January 23 , 1795 ) was an American General in the Revolutionary War , a delegate in the Continental Congress , Governor of New Hampshire and a United States federal judge . Sullivan , the third son of Irish settlers , served as a major general in the Continental Army and as Governor ( or " President " ) of New Hampshire . He commanded the Sullivan Expedition in 1779 , a scorched earth campaign against the Iroquois towns that had taken up arms against the American revolutionaries . As a member of Congress , Sullivan worked closely with the French Ambassador the Chevalier de la Luzerne . Early life and career . Born in Somersworth , New Hampshire , Sullivan was the third son of Irish settlers ; his father was a schoolmaster . One of his brothers , James Sullivan , became Governor of Massachusetts . Another brother , Benjamin , who served in the Royal Navy died before the American Revolution . In 1760 , Sullivan married Lydia Remick Worster of Kittery , now in Maine . John and Lydia Sullivan had six children , Margery , who died in infancy , Lydia , John , James , George and another Margery , who lived only two years . Sullivan read law with Samuel Livermore of Portsmouth , New Hampshire between 1758 and 1760 . He began the practice of law in 1763 at Berwick , now in Maine , and continued in the practice when he moved to Durham , New Hampshire in 1764 . He annoyed many neighbors in his early career , when he was the only lawyer in town , with numerous suits over foreclosures and was threatened with violence at least twice in 1766 . But by 1772 , he was firmly established and began work to improve his relations with the community . He also expanded his interests into milling from which he made a substantial income . In 1773 Alexander Scammell joined John Sullivan ' s law practice . Sullivan built a friendship with the royal governor of New Hampshire , John Wentworth , who had assumed the office in 1767 . In November 1772 , Wentworth appointed Sullivan a major in the militia . As the American Revolution grew nearer , Sullivan turned away from Wentworth and began to side more with the radicals . On May 28 , 1773 , at the urging of the Virginia House of Burgesses , the New Hampshire Assembly established a Committee of Correspondence . Hoping to thwart the committee , Wentworth adjourned the Assembly the next day . On December 16 , 1773 , colonists in Massachusetts destroyed tea worth 15 , 000 pounds at the Boston Tea Party to protest taxes under the Tea Act . The British Parliament responded with the Boston Port Act , effective March 21 , 1774 , which closed the Port of Boston until restitution for the destroyed tea was made to the East India Company . Parliament went on to pass the Massachusetts Government Act , which removed many functions of government from local control , the Quartering Act , which permitted quartering of troops in towns where there was disorder , and the Quebec Act , which established the Catholic religion and French civil law in that province . Wentworth called a new Assembly , which began meeting on April 7 , 1774 . On May 13 , news of the Boston Port Act reached the Assembly . On May 27 , the Assembly provided for only five men and an officer to guard Fort William and Mary at Portsmouth harbor . A new committee of correspondence was selected the next day . By the time Wentworth dissolved the Assembly on June 8 , 1774 in an unsuccessful effort to prevent the Assembly from sending delegates to a continental congress , Sullivan was firmly in favor of supporting the Massachusetts radicals . Political and military actions ( 1774 – 1775 ) . In response to Wentworth ' s action dismissing the Assembly and the call for a continental congress to support Boston after the British sanctions against it , on July 21 , 1774 the first Provincial Congress of New Hampshire met at Exeter , New Hampshire , with John Sullivan as Durham ' s delegate . That assembly sent him and Nathaniel Folsom as delegates to the First Continental Congress . The assembly adopted a Declaration of Rights and Grievances on October 14 , 1774 . By November 8 , Sullivan and Folsom were back in New Hampshire to work for acceptance of the Declaration and the Association of the colonies to support economic measures to achieve their objectives . On October 19 , 1774 , a royal order in council prohibited the export of powder and arms to America and Lord Dartmouth secretly wrote to the colonial governors to secure gunpowder , arms and ammunition in the provinces . After Paul Revere was sent by the Massachusetts committee to warn the Portsmouth militia of a rumored British movement toward Fort William and Mary , that militia raided the fort and seized gunpowder on December 14 , 1774 . Sullivan , who was not present on this first raid , was one of the leaders of the militia force who made the second raid on the fort for its cannon , muskets and munitions on December 15 . Sullivan and his men took 16 cannons , about 60 muskets and other stores but were prevented from returning for other cannon and supplies by the arrival of the man - of - war " Canceaux " , followed two days later by the frigate " Scarborough . " Wentworth refrained from seeking to arrest Sullivan and others because he thought he had little popular support and the militia would not act . In January 1775 , a second Provincial Congress at Exeter voted to send Sullivan and John Langdon to the Second Continental Congress . Sullivan , supported by Folsom and Langdon , persuaded the assembly to petition Wentworth to call a New Hampshire Assembly that he would not dissolve . Wentworth responded by dismissing Sullivan from the militia and further postponing the meeting of the assembly . Since Wentworth believed he had little power to arrest Sullivan and other leaders of the extra – legal assembly , Sullivan and Langdon started traveling to Philadelphia . Upon arrival in Philadelphia , Sullivan joined those who argued that war had been started by the actions at the Battles of Lexington and Concord and that the colonies should proceed with it . Congress soon decided that they must take charge of the army forming around Boston . They appointed George Washington as commander in chief and several other generals , including John Sullivan as a brigadier general . On June 27 , 1775 , Sullivan left Philadelphia to join the army at the siege of Boston . Revolutionary War . After the British evacuated Boston in the spring of 1776 , Washington sent Brigadier General Sullivan north to replace the fallen John Thomas as commander in Quebec . He took command of the sick and faltering invasion force , sent some of those forces on an unsuccessful counterattack against the British at Trois - Rivières , and withdrew the survivors to Crown Point . This led to the first of several controversies between Congress and General Sullivan , as they sought a scapegoat for the failed invasion of Canada . He was exonerated and promoted to major general on August 9 , 1776 . Long Island . Sullivan rejoined Washington and was placed in command of the troops on Long Island to defend against British General Howe ' s forces about to envelop New York City . But then , on August 23 , Washington split the command between Sullivan and General Israel Putnam , with Putnam being the senior general . Confusion about the distribution of command contributed to the American defeat at the Battle of Long Island four days later . Sullivan ' s personal bravery was unquestioned , as he engaged the Hessian attackers with a pistol in each hand ; however , he was captured . General Howe and his brother , Admiral Richard Howe , managed to convince Sullivan that a conference with members of the Continental Congress might lead to peace , and released him on parole to deliver a message to the Congress in Philadelphia , proposing an informal meeting to discuss ending the armed conflict between Britain and its rebellious colonies . After Sullivan ' s speech to Congress , John Adams cynically commented on this diplomatic attempt , calling Sullivan a " decoy - duck " and accusing the British of sending Sullivan " to seduce us into a renunciation of our independence " ; others noted that it appeared to be an attempt to blame Congress for prolonging the war . Congress did agree to a conference , which accomplished nothing . New Jersey and Pennsylvania . General Sullivan was released in a prisoner exchange in time to rejoin Washington before the Battle of Trenton . There his division secured the important bridge over the Assunpink Creek to the north of the town . This prevented escape and ensured the high number of Hessian prisoners captured . This route is now the main road in Ewing Township , New Jersey and is called " Sullivans Way " . In January 1777 , Sullivan also performed well in the Battle of Princeton . In August , he led a raid on Staten Island . Again Congress found fault , but he was exonerated by the court of inquiry . This was followed by American losses at Brandywine and Germantown . During the Battle of Brandywine in September 1777 , he and his troops were bivouacked at Brinton ' s Ford adjacent to Brinton ' s Mill . Sullivan ' s men were attacked and sent into retreat by a surprise flanking attack at Brandywine but were eventually able to leave the field in good order when they were reinforced by troops under the command of General Nathaneal Greene . In the initial attack at Germantown , Sullivan ' s men routed British light infantry . Fog , a friendly fire incident and delayed troop movements due to wrong turns ruined Washington ' s plan and sent both Sullivan ' s troops back under unexpected friendly fire and Greene ' s men back due to the absence of some subordinate commands . Rhode Island . In early 1778 he was transferred to the post of Rhode Island where he led Continental troops and militia . It was intended he work together with a French Navy fleet to assault or besiege British - held Newport which was regarded as extremely vulnerable since France ' s entry into the war . The attempt was called off when the French fleet of Admiral d ' Estaing was scattered and damaged by a storm . Owing to the damage to his ships , and discouraged by the arrival of a British fleet under Lord Howe , D ' Estaing withdrew to Boston . The British garrison of Newport then sortied , forcing Sullivan into retreat after fighting the inconclusive Battle of Rhode Island in August 1778 . The failure to defeat what appeared to be a very vulnerable garrison , and the manner in which the campaign collapsed provoked a major rift in Franco - American relations . Sullivan wrote a letter to D ' estaing protesting what he saw as treachery and cowardice and describing it as " derogatory to the honor of France " . The failed campaign sparked an international incident between the two allies , and was followed a year later by another unsuccessful attack on a British garrison at the Siege of Savannah . Sullivan ' s career wasn ' t badly affected by the debacle , and he was considered as a potential commander for a speculative invasion of Canada . Expedition against Iroquois . In the summer of 1779 , Sullivan led the Sullivan Expedition , a massive campaign against the Iroquois in western New York . During this campaign , troops destroyed a very large Cayuga settlement , called Coreorgonel , on what is now the southwest side of Ithaca , New York . To reach the enemy homeland , Sullivan ' s army took a southerly route to western New York through northeast Pennsylvania , which required creating a new road through lightly inhabited areas of the Pocono Mountains , which still exists and is known as Sullivan ' s Trail . He pushed his troops so hard that their horses became unusable , and killed them on this campaign , creating the namesake for Horseheads , New York . The lukewarm response of the Congress was more than he could accept . Broken , tired and again opposed by Congress , he retired from the army in 1779 and returned to New Hampshire . Around this time , Sullivan was approached by British agents who tried to persuade him to switch sides . This was part of a concerted effort of approaches to other Generals such as Moses Hazen , Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold who it was believed were unhappy with their treatment by Congress and had lost their faith in the goal of American independence . It was a strategy with mixed results - but which produced the notable defection of Arnold . Congress . At home Sullivan was a hero . The New Hampshire legislature selected him as a delegate to the Continental Congress for one year to start in November 1780 , against his wishes . Although most of the delegates to Congress were new Sullivan still had opponents there . Nonetheless , he accepted the position in order that New Hampshire be represented in the controversy concerning claims to Vermont under the New Hampshire Grants . In the absence of other delegates from New Hampshire except the soon to depart Nathaniel Folsom , Sullivan was seated early , on September 11 , 1780 . Immediately , Sullivan and Folsom had to deal with the question of whether Vermont would be part of New York or New Hampshire or would be independent . Ultimately , since possible negotiation of Vermont with the British to become a part of Canada was threatened , on August 3 , 1781 , Sullivan seconded appointment of a committee to negotiate with Vermont on becoming a separate state . Congress also had to deal with a financial crisis since the treasury was empty and the Confederation ' s credit was poor . Sullivan served on a committee to deal with this problem . In late 1780 or early 1781 , Sullivan , who often claimed to be in financial straits , borrowed money from the French minister to Congress , probably with no intent or expectation of repayment . Sullivan already supported positions favorable to the French in Congress , but historian Charles Whittemore described Sullivan ' s conduct as " ethically obtuse " and as tarnishing his reputation . Yet , Sullivan worked to help the country and government on several matters such as seeking French financial support for the United States . Later in the year , Sullivan worked to get people appointed as peace negotiators , especially Benjamin Franklin , who were favored by the French because they might not insist on western land claims and thereby help shorten the war by eliminating that issue . Of course , Sullivan alone could not have attained results on such matters without majority support . One of Sullivan ' s last acts was to vote for Robert Livingston for appointment to the position of United States Secretary of Foreign Affairs . Having been seated early , and having dealt with the matters he believed he was required to deal with , Sullivan resigned from the Congress and departed from Philadelphia on August 11 , 1781 , a month before the expiration of a one - year term from the date he was seated . Later life . Returning home to New Hampshire , he was named the state ' s attorney general in 1782 and served until 1786 . During this same time he was elected to the state assembly , and served as speaker of the house . He led the drive in New Hampshire that led to ratification of the United States Constitution on June 21 , 1788 . He was elected President of New Hampshire " ( now Governor ) " in 1786 , 1787 and 1789 . When the new federal government was created , President George Washington nominated him on September 24 , 1789 , to be the first federal judge for the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire , created by 1 Stat . 73 . He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 26 , 1789 , and received his commission the same day . Although his health prevented his sitting on the bench after 1792 , he held the post until he died on January 23 , 1795 , aged 54 , at his home in Durham . He was interred in the family cemetery there . He was first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire and had been a member of St . John ' s Lodge , Portsmouth , New Hampshire since 1767 . Legacies . Counties in New York , Pennsylvania , New Hampshire , Tennessee , and Missouri were all named for him , as was Sullivan Street in Greenwich Village , Manhattan . The General Sullivan Bridge spanning Little Bay near his home town of Durham , New Hampshire , as is Sullivan ' s Trail , a road through northeast Pennsylvania that in many areas follows the road made by Sullivan ' s army in 1779 . Towns in Illinois , New Hampshire , and New York are named after him .