I was born in Trenton in 1742, the son of a wealthy merchant. I went to the College of Philadelphia, but never finished—I had other plans. Commerce came first. My brother and I ran a successful business in the city, but my heart was already shifting toward the fight for liberty. By the time tensions…

I was born on February 28, 1752, in Stafford County, Virginia, a distant cousin of George Washington. When the call to arms rang out at the start of the American Revolution, I was elected Captain of the Stafford County Minutemen. My unit soon joined the Third Virginia Regiment and headed north to fight. At the…

I was a merchant, a soldier, and a trusted ally of General George Washington. I was born in 1742 in Trenton, New Jersey, and raised in a prosperous family connected to both Philadelphia and Europe. After studying overseas and at the College of Philadelphia, I went into business with my brother Lambert, and together we…

I was a sailor, a soldier, and the man who rowed Washington to victory. I was born on November 5, 1732, in Salem, Massachusetts. When my father died, I was just four years old. My mother moved our family to Marblehead, where I grew up among fishermen, dockworkers, and sailors. The sea shaped my life.…

I was a leader of the Militia, and a representative in the Legislature. I was born in Delaware in 1739 on my father’s plantation. I graduated from the College of Philadelphia in 1754, studied law with my brother John in Philadelphia, married Mary Cadwalader in 1767 and became the owner of an estate on the…

I was a rough and rowdy frontiersman who turned into one of the fiercest battlefield commanders of the American Revolution. I was born in 1736, likely in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, to Welsh parents, but I left home as a teenager after a falling out with my father. I headed south to Virginia, where I…

I was a doctor turned general, an Irish-born Patriot who fought from the wilderness to Yorktown. I was born in 1744 in Clyduff, King’s County, Ireland. I studied medicine at Trinity College in Dublin and joined the British Army as a surgeon’s mate in the 18th Royal Irish Regiment of Foot. That post brought me…

I was a bookseller turned general, and I moved mountains for the cause of liberty. I was born on July 25, 1750, in Boston, the seventh of ten children. My parents had come from Northern Ireland, and after my father passed away, I left school to help support my family. I found work in a…

I was a general, a statesman, and a man of contradictions. I was born on February 17, 1740, the son of Irish immigrants from the O’Sullivan Beare Clan. Little is known about my early years, but I came up tough in New Hampshire and became a practicing attorney in the town of Durham. I made…

I was a Patriot leader who will be known forever as a martyr to the cause. I was born in Scotland in 1725 and studied medicine at the University of Aberdeen. In 1745, I joined the forces of Bonnie Prince Charlie, which tried and failed to restore the Stuart family to the throne, after which…