Cortlandt Skinner Cortlandt Skinner ( 16 December 1727 – 15 March 1799 ) was the last Royal Attorney General of New Jersey and a Brigadier General in the loyalist forces during the American War of Independence . Origins . Skinner was born on 16 December 1727 at Perth Amboy , Middlesex county , New Jersey , British North America , the eldest son of the Reverend William Skinner . and Elizabeth Cortland ( the daughter of Stephanus Van Cortland , the first native born mayor of New York ) . There was a firm family tradition that William Skinner ( later the Rector of St . Peter ' s Church in Perth Amboy ) had participated in one of the Jacobite risings , and was related to the chiefs of the Clan Gregor - changing his name from MacGregor to avoid the persecution inflicted upon all those of that name . Legal and political career . Skinner studied law at Newark while clerking for David Ogden , a member of the governor ' s council , and then began practising at Perth Amboy . At the age of twenty - seven , he was appointed Attorney General of New Jersey in 1754 and also acted as speaker of the provincial Assembly between 1765 and 1770 and between 1772 and 1776 . Sources differ as to his conduct as Attorney - General of New Jersey , but his general reputation was one of integrity and ability . Military career . As a prominent loyalist , Skinner accepted service under the Crown in 1776 , and was authorized to raise a corps , to consist of two thousand five hundred men . He was allowed to nominate his own officers . Three battalions were organized and officered , and called the New Jersey Volunteers ( Skinner ' s Greens ) . But the enlistments of common soldiers were slow . After several months of active exertions , the whole number of men who had rallied under his standard was but one thousand one hundred and one . Skinner continued in command of the corps , with the rank of Brigadier General . At the outbreak of hostilities in the colonies he was offered by the rebels the pick of all civilian and military posts . In January 1776 he fled having received an intercepted letter authorising his arrest . Skinner was one of the three current or past speakers of colonial assemblies , who actively opposed American independence . Upon his appointment as brigadier - general in the British army on 4 September 1776 he recruited the largest of the loyalist units in the British army . The 2000 men of his New Jersey volunteers mercilessly harassed their rebel opponents throughout the war from New York ' s defensive outposts on Staten Island throughout 1783 . Skinner was one of the three highest ranking loyalists to fight in the war . Later life . His wife and family embarked for England in the summer of 1783 , in the " Le Solitaire " , and were forced into Halifax by stress of weather . He himself followed after the evacuation of New York . His claim to compensation for his losses as a Loyalist was difficult to adjust , and caused the Commissioners much labour ; but an allowance was finally made ; and he also received the half - pay of a Brigadier - General during his life . He died at Bristol , England , in 1799 , aged seventy - one . He is buried in St . Augustine ' s Church , Bristol . Family . In 1751 , he married Elizabeth Kearney ( 1731 – 1810 ) , the daughter of Philip Kearney , of Perth Amboy , New Jersey . They had numerous children , including Cortlandt Skinner Jr . and Maria Skinner , who married General George Nugent MP ( later Field - Marshal ) . References . This entry incorporates text from Lorenzo Sabine ' s Biographical " Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution " ( 1843 ) , a publication now in the public domain .