Biographies

all  |  people you should know

Artists  |  British  |  Colonials  |  Enslaved People  |  French  |  Germans  |  Natives  |  Spanish  |  Others

A

  • Abigail Adams – Wife of John Adams, mother of John Quincy Adams
  • John Adams – Signer of the Declaration of Independence, diplomat, second President
  • John Quincy Adams – Diplomat, senator, sixth President, congressman
  • Samuel Adams – Boston revolutionary leader, signer of the Declaration of Independence
  • William Alexander, Lord Stirling – Continental Army general — one of Washington’s best
  • Ethan Allen – Farmer, businessman, patriot, politician, founder of the state of Vermont
  • John André – British officer, hung for his involvement in Benedict Arnold’s treason
  • Benedict Arnold – Talented Continental Army general who defected to the British

B

C

D

  • Silas Deane – Merchant, Continental congressman, diplomat to France
  • John Dickinson – Lawyer, politician, writer, signer of the Declaration of Independence
  • Carl Emil von Donop – German general; died at the Battle of Fort Mercer.

E

  • Ralph Earl – American painter, principally of portraits
  • William Ellery – Signer of the Declaration of Independence from RI
  • comte d’Estaing – French admiral, unsuccessful against British fleet at Newport

F

  • Benjamin Franklin – Philadelphia printer, writer, scientist, inventor, diplomat to France
  • William Franklin – Royal Governor of NJ, Loyalist, son of Benjamin Franklin

G

  • Thomas Gage – British general, Royal Governor of MA, ordered troops to Concord
  • Horatio Gates – Continental Army general, won the Battles of Saratoga
  • King George III – King of Great Britain in 1760, at age 22, until 1820
  • George Germain – British lord; American Secretary, 1775—82
  • Elbridge Gerry – Signer of the Declaration of Independence, vice president under Madison
  • comte de Grasse – French Admiral, defeated British fleet at Chesapeake Capes
  • Nathanael Greene – Continental Army general; key to winning the war in the South

H

I

  • Ralph Izard – Financier, Continental congressman, U.S. senator

J

  • John Jay – Lawyer, diplomat, Continental congressman, first Chief Justice
  • Thomas Jefferson – Lawyer, polymath, drafter of the Declaration of Independence, third President
  • John Paul Jones – Naval commander for the U.S.
  • Ona Judge – Personal attendant to Martha Washington
  • Jupiter (Evans?) – Slave of Thomas Jefferson, both born in 1743

K

L

M

  • James Madison – Constitutionalist, congressman, Secretary of State, fourth President
  • John Marshall – Soldier, lawyer, politician, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
  • George Mason – Politician, author, political philosopher, Anti-Federalist
  • James Monroe – Soldier, lawyer, VA governor, diplomat, fifth President
  • Richard Montgomery – Irish-born Continental Army general, formerly a British officer
  • Daniel Morgan – Militia soldier, military tactician, Continental Army general
  • Gouverneur Morris – Merchant, financier; helped draft then stylized the Constitution
  • Robert Morris – Signer of the Declaration of Independence, “Financier of the Revolution”

N

O

P

R

S

  • Philip Schuyler – Continental Army general, U.S. Senator for NY
  • Roger Sherman – Lawyer and politician from CT; signer of the Declaration of Independence
  • Arthur St. Clair – Continental Army general, surrendered Fort Ticonderoga to the British
  • Baron von Steuben – Continental Army general from Prussia, drilled the troops at Valley Forge
  • Richard Stockton – Lawyer, signer of the Declaration of Independence
  • Gilbert Stuart – American painter of quintessential portraits, including George Washington
  • John Sullivan – Continental Army general, Continental Congress delegate, NH governor
  • Thomas Sully – British-born painter, mainly of portraits

T

  • Banastre Tarleton – British officer of the cavalry, notorious for his exploits in the South
  • Tench Tilghman – Aide-de-camp to Washington throughout the Revolutionary War
  • John Trumbull – American artist, soldier at the Battle of Trenton

V

W

  • Joseph Warren – Boston doctor, revolutionary, militia general
  • Mercy Otis Warren – Playwright, historian, sister of James Otis, Jr., wife of James Warren
  • George Washington – Commander-in-chief of the Continental Army; first President
  • Martha Washington – Wife of George Washington, First Lady; 1731—1802
  • Anthony Wayne – Continental Army general, defeated the British at Stony Point
  • Benjamin West – American-born painter who moved to England in 1763
  • James Wilson – Lawyer, signer of the Declaration of Independence, Supreme Court justice
  • John Witherspoon – College of NJ president, signer of the Declaration of Independence
  • George Wythe – Lawyer, teacher, scholar, signer of the Declaration of Independence

For all their talk of reason and enlightenment, Washington and the other leading Founders were more religious than they sometimes seem. Most of them had no quarrel with religion as long as it was reasonable and orderly. Washington was a member of his Anglican, later Episcopal, church vestry, and he remained a frequent churchgoer — though unlike his wife, Martha, he never became a member of his church, meaning that he did not partake of the Eucharist on communion Sundays. Washington, the perfect Freemason, considered himself enlightened in religious matters (being no bigot myself to any mode of worship), and he almost never knelt in prayer and seems never to have purchased a bible.

— Gordon S. Wood
Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815 (2009)