Anthony Wayne Biography

Dromo's Den

WAYNE, Anthony (1745-96). An American soldier, prominent in the Revolutionary War. He was born at Easttown, Pa., Jan. 1, 1745, and was educated at Philadelphia. At the age of 18 he was employed as a land surveyor, and in 1765 was selected by Benjamin Franklin and his associates to act as agent and surveyor of a projected settlement in Nova Scotia. He was for two years (1774-75) a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature, and in 1775 he also became a member of the Committee of Safety. At the outbreak of hostilities with England he raised a regiment of volunteers, of which, in January, 1776, he was appointed colonel, and was sent to Canada, where he covered the retreat of the American forces at Three Rivers. He commanded at Ticonderoga until 1777, when he was made brigadier general and joined Washington in New Jersey. He commanded the rear guard in the retreat at Brandywine; led the attack at Germantown; captured supplies for the distressed army at Valley Forge; distinguished himself at Monmouth; was defeated at Paoli, and finally achieved a brilliant victory in the storming of Stony Point (q.v.), July 16, 1779. His courage and skill greatly aided Lafayette in Virginia in 1780, where he also took part in the siege of Yorktown. Later he served in Georgia, and finally occupied Charleston, S. C., on its surrender by the British, Dec. 14, 1782. On Oct. 10, 1783, he was made brevet major general, and in the following year, having retired from the army, he entered the Pennsylvania Legislature, and in 1787 was a member of the Pennsylvania convention which ratified the Federal constitution. Having removed to Georgia and settled on a plantation given him by the State in recognition of his services, he entered Congress from that State in 1791, but in 1792 upon a contest his seat was declared vacant, and in April of that year he became commander in chief of the national army with the rank of major general. His reputation as the "Mad Anthony" of the Revolution survived and he was now called upon to end the Indian troubles on the frontier, where Harmar and St. Clair had failed. He began his campaigns in Ohio in the fall of 1793; in 1794 he was active on the Maumee, and on August 20 defeated the Indians decisively at Fallen Timbers, and in August, 1795, he, with 12 of the Northwestern tribes, signed the Treaty of Greenville by which the United States acquired a large tract of territory. While still engaged on this service his death occurred at Erie, Pa. Consult Wayne's Orderly Book of the Northern Army at Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Independence, edited by J. Munsell (Albany, 1859); C. J. Stillé, Major General Anthony Wayne and the Pennsylvania Line (Philadelphia, 1893); J. R. Spears, Anthony Wayne (New York, 1903).

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XXIII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 415.