Biographies

all  |  people you should know

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

A

  • John AdamsSigner of the Declaration of Independence, diplomat, second President
  • Samuel AdamsBoston revolutionary leader, signer of the Declaration of Independence
  • Benedict ArnoldTalented Continental Army general who defected to the British

B

  • John BurgoyneBritish playwright, politician; general who lost the Battles of Saratoga
  • Aaron BurrContinental Army officer, lawyer, Vice President; killed Hamilton in a duel

C

D

  • John DickinsonLawyer, politician, writer, signer of the Declaration of Independence

F

  • Benjamin FranklinPhiladelphia printer, writer, scientist, inventor, diplomat to France

G

  • Thomas GageBritish general, Royal Governor of MA, ordered troops to Concord
  • King George IIIKing of Great Britain in 1760, at age 22, until 1820
  • George GermainBritish lord; American Secretary, 1775—82
  • Nathanael GreeneContinental Army general; key to winning the war in the South

H

  • Alexander HamiltonWashington’s aide-de-camp, lawyer, Secretary of the Treasury
  • John HancockMerchant, signer of the Declaration of Independence, MA governor
  • Sally HemingsHouse slave of Thomas Jefferson; mother of at least six of his children
  • Patrick HenryLawyer, orator, VA governor
  • William HoweCommander-in-chief of British forces, 1775—78

J

  • John JayLawyer, diplomat, Continental congressman, first Chief Justice
  • Thomas JeffersonLawyer, polymath, drafter of the Declaration of Independence, third President
  • John Paul JonesNaval commander for the U.S.

K

  • Henry KnoxContinental Army general, chief artillery officer, first Secretary of War

L

M

  • James MadisonConstitutionalist, congressman, Secretary of State, fourth President
  • George MasonPolitician, author, political philosopher, Anti-Federalist
  • Daniel MorganMilitia soldier, military tactician, Continental Army general
  • Gouverneur MorrisMerchant, financier; helped draft then stylized the Constitution

N

O

P

R

S

  • Baron von SteubenContinental Army general from Prussia, drilled the troops at Valley Forge
  • Gilbert StuartAmerican painter of quintessential portraits, including George Washington

T

  • John TrumbullAmerican artist, soldier at the Battle of Trenton

V

W

[King] George was unswervingly loyal to people he trusted and ideas he believed to be true; and he behaved in ways that a modern psychologist might interpret as obsessive. As a young man he would, for example, eat virtually the same dinner every day of his adult life (bread, soup, beets or turnips, and mutton — varying only on Sundays, when he allowed himself roast beef). The regularity of his tastes bespoke a deeper hunger for order.

Fred Anderson
Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754 - 1766 (2000)