William Darke General William Darke ( 1736 – November 26 , 1801 ) was an American soldier . In 1740 , he moved from Philadelphia , Pennsylvania to Virginia . He was in Braddock ' s army in the defeat in 1755 , and was made a captain at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War . He was made prisoner at the Battle of Germantown , and was commanding colonel of the Hampshire and Berkeley regiments at the capture of Cornwallis . Darke was often a member of the Virginia legislature , and , in the convention of 1788 , voted for the Federal Constitution . Lieutenant - colonel of the regiment of " Levies " in 1791 , he commanded the left wing of the St . Clair ' s army , at its defeat by the Miami Indians , November 4 , 1791 . He made two gallant and successful charges with the bayonet in this fight , in the second of which his younger son , Captain Joseph Darke , was killed , and he himself was wounded and narrowly escaped death . Afterwards , Darke was a major - general of the Virginia militia . He died on November 26 , 1801 . Early life . Very little is known of Darke ' s early life . He was born in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania in 1736 . In 1740 , he and his family moved to Shepherdstown , Virginia . His father was named Joseph , and Darke had two brothers and one sister . As a child he fished , ploughed , and planted . He was described as " a strong man of his hands " , and " herculean " . Military career . Darke enlisted in the British Army in 1755 . He served briefly in the Braddock Expedition during the French and Indian War under the command of General Edward Braddock . Braddock ' s plan was to capture the Fort Duquesne from the French . Even though there were many casualties , Darke was not injured . In the American Revolutionary War , Darke served as a Continental Army captain in the 8th Virginia Regiment and was wounded and taken prisoner at the Battle of Germantown in 1777 . He was held in a British prison ship in New York Harbor until his exchange in 1780 . He was promoted to lieutenant colonel and was probably present at the siege of Yorktown in 1781 . After the war he served in the Virginia Convention in 1788 and subsequently served in the Virginia legislature . As a lieutenant colonel in the Kentucky militia , Darke commanded the left wing at the disastrous Battle of the Wabash in 1791 during the Northwest Indian War . His son Captain Joseph Darke died as a result of wounds received in the battle . In 1790 , General Josiah Harmar , with a poorly trained and ill equipped army and volunteer militia , was sent to attack the Indian villages on the upper Maumee River . Harmar was soundly defeated . President George Washington reinforced the army and assigned General Arthur St . Clair to command . St . Clair went north from Fort Washington , Ohio and built Fort Hamilton and Fort Jefferson . On October 1791 , St . Clair left Fort Jefferson and camped at a spot later called Fort Recovery on November 3 , 1791 . On November 4 , his army of 1 , 400 men was surprised at sunrise by a large party of Indians . Within a few hours , St . Clair was forced to retreat under cover provided by Darke . Nine hundred men , women and children were reportedly killed . Personal life . Not much is known of Darke ' s wife , except she was a widow . The two had four children : John , Joseph , Samuel , and Mary . His three sons all died while young men . He has descendants through son John ' s daughter Elizabeth and through daughter Mary ' s two marriages . Trivia . Darke was subsequently a militia general . Darke County , Ohio is named for him .