Oliver De Lancey ( British Army general ) General Oliver De Lancey ( c . 1749 – 3 September 1822 ) , also known as Oliver DeLancey and Oliver de Lancey , was a British Army officer of French Huguenot descent from a prominent family in colonial era New York State . Biography . Oliver was the son of Major General Oliver De Lancey ( 1718 – 1785 ) and Phila Franks , the oldest daughter of an early New York Jewish family . He was the nephew of James De Lancey , a celebrated New York lawyer , who was chief - justice of that colony from 1733 to 1760 , and lieutenant - governor from 1753 to 1760 . These two brothers were the sons of a wealthy Huguenot of Caen in Normandy , who emigrated to America on the revocation of the edict of Nantes , and bought large estates in the colony of New York , where they ranked among the wealthiest and most powerful citizens . The younger Oliver De Lancey was educated in England , and entered the English army as a cornet in the 14th Dragoons on 1 October 1766 , and was promoted lieutenant on 12 December 1770 , and captain into the 17th Dragoons on 16 May 1773 . When the American War of Independence broke out in 1774 , De Lancey was at once despatched to his native colony to make arrangements for the accommodation and remounting of his own regiment and of the royal artillery , then under orders for active service . He found on his arrival there that his father had warmly espoused the royalist cause , and in the following year the elder Oliver de Lancey raised and equipped at his own expense three battalions of loyalist Americans , which he commanded with the rank of brigadier - general . The younger Oliver de Lancey accompanied his regiment to Nova Scotia , to Staten Island in June 1775 , and then in the expedition to Long Island , where he commanded the cavalry outposts in the smart action of 28 August , in which the American General Nathaniel Woodhull surrendered to him . It is agreed that Woodhull was assaulted after he had surrendered and died of his wounds . Some sources accuse De Lancey of encouraging his men to maltreat Woodhull and of using his sabre to wound Woodhull . , while some other say that De Lancey tried to prevent the attack . De Lancey commanded the advance of the right column of the British Army under Sir Henry Clinton and Sir William Erskine at the Battle of Brooklyn , served at the capture of New York and the Battle of White Plains . De Lancey was promoted major in his regiment on 3 July 1778 . With this rank he covered the retreat of Knyphausen ' s column in Clinton ' s retreat from Philadelphia , and was present at the Battle of Monmouth Court House , and in temporary command of the 17th Dragoons , which was the only cavalry regiment in America , he commanded the outposts in front of the New York lines from the middle of 1778 to the end of 1779 . De Lancey then went upon the staff as deputy quartermaster - general to the force sent to South Carolina , and after serving at the capture of Charleston he became aide - de - camp to Lord Cornwallis , and eventually succeeded Major John André as adjutant - general to the army at New York . He was promoted lieutenant - colonel of the 17th Dragoons on 3 October 1781 , and retired to England with his father on the conclusion of peace and the recognition of the independence of the United States of America . King George III appointed De Lancey , on Lord Sydney ' s recommendation , to settle the military claims of the loyal Americans , and head of a commission for settling all the army accounts connected with the American war ; and on 18 November 1790 he was promoted colonel and made deputy adjutant - general at the Horse Guards . In 1794 he received the post of Barrack - Master - General , with an income of £1 , 500 a year , and on 20 May 1795 George III gave him the colonelcy of the 17th Dragoons , " spontaneously , to the great surprise of the said De Lancey , and I believe of every other person " . On 3 October 1794 he was promoted major - general , and in September 1796 he entered parliament as M . P . for Maidstone , a seat which he held till June 1802 . On 1 January 1801 he was promoted lieutenant - general , but in November 1804 the commissioners of military inquiry found serious mistakes in his barrack accounts , and defalcations amounting to many thousands of pounds . He was removed from his post as barrack - master - general , but in spite of the violent attacks of the opposition , headed on this question by John Calcraft , he was not prosecuted , and was treated rather as having been culpably careless than actually fraudulent . To raise this money he was forced to sell his estate , but he remained a member of the consolidated board of general officers , and was promoted general on 1 January 1812 , and he eventually retired to Edinburgh , where he died in September 1822 .