32 Facts About Benjamin Lincoln

1.

Benjamin Lincoln served as a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

2.

Benjamin Lincoln served from 1781 to 1783 as the first United States Secretary of War.

3.

In 1787, Benjamin Lincoln led a militia army in the suppression of Shays' Rebellion, and was a strong supporter of the new United States Constitution.

4.

Benjamin Lincoln was for many of his later years the politically influential customs collector of the Port of Boston.

5.

Benjamin Lincoln followed his father into government, becoming town constable at 21, and in 1755 he joined the 3rd Regiment of the Suffolk County militia as an adjutant.

6.

In 1756, at the age of 23, Benjamin Lincoln married Mary Cushing, daughter of Elijah Cushing of Pembroke, Massachusetts, whose ancestors were among the founders of Hingham.

7.

Benjamin Lincoln continued to be active in the militia during the French and Indian War, but saw no action, and was promoted to major by the end of the conflict in 1763.

8.

Benjamin Lincoln was elected a Hingham town selectman in 1765, a post to which he held for six years.

9.

Benjamin Lincoln sided with the opposition, eventually becoming a leading force among Hingham's Patriots.

10.

In 1770, in a list of resolutions passed by the inhabitants of Hingham, Benjamin Lincoln outlined the measures urged by residents towards the non-importation of British goods, and he condemned the Boston Massacre.

11.

In 1772, Benjamin Lincoln was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 3rd Regiment of the Suffolk militia.

12.

Benjamin Lincoln was then appointed to the congress' committee of safety, and was elected to its executive council, which exercised executive authority over the province outside besieged Boston.

13.

Benjamin Lincoln was deeply involved in ensuring that supplies of all sorts reached the nascent Continental Army outside Boston, procuring supplies from blankets to gunpowder.

14.

When Benjamin Lincoln reached southwestern Connecticut, Washington first ordered him to prepare an expedition across Long Island Sound to raid British positions on Long Island.

15.

The enlistment terms of his men expiring, Benjamin Lincoln returned briefly to Massachusetts to take command of new recruits for the coming year's campaigns.

16.

Benjamin Lincoln established his headquarters at the nearby Van Horne House.

17.

Benjamin Lincoln was ordered to coordinate the activities of the New England militia being recruited for the effort.

18.

Benjamin Lincoln's job was complicated by New Hampshire's militia leader John Stark, who categorically refused to put his forces under Benjamin Lincoln's command.

19.

In council that evening Benjamin Lincoln recommended that the ford at Fort Edward be fortified against the possibility that Burgoyne would attempt to reach it and cross the river in an attempt to return to Ticonderoga.

20.

Benjamin Lincoln was denied the honors of war in surrendering, due to the British annoyance at his facilitating the escape of South Carolina militia units and some Continental forces, such as those with Lafayette and Lee, which deeply rankled Lincoln.

21.

Benjamin Lincoln was paroled, and in the court of inquiry no charges were ever brought against him.

22.

From 1781 to late 1783, Benjamin Lincoln served as the first United States Secretary at War.

23.

Benjamin Lincoln was appointed by the Confederation Congress under the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, adopted 1781.

24.

Benjamin Lincoln was succeeded in the post by Continental Army artillery chief, Major General Henry Knox,.

25.

Benjamin Lincoln was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1781.

26.

In early 1787, Benjamin Lincoln helped put an end to an uprising of western Massachusetts farmers opposed to increased taxation and government coercion in their trade, known as Shays' Rebellion; Benjamin Lincoln commanded 3,000 privately funded militia to disperse the opposition, and captured over one hundred.

27.

Benjamin Lincoln served as one of the first trustees of Derby Academy, founded in Hingham by Sarah Hersey Derby, widow of a wealthy Salem shipping magnate.

28.

Benjamin Lincoln stayed active in public life in various capacities, including a term as Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts and many years as the Collector of the Port of Boston.

29.

In 1806, Benjamin Lincoln attempted to resign as Collector but President Thomas Jefferson requested he stay until he appointed a successor.

30.

Benjamin Lincoln retired from public life in 1809 and died in Hingham on May 9,1810.

31.

Benjamin Lincoln is buried in the Old Ship Burying Ground behind the Old Ship Church in Hingham.

32.

Benjamin Lincoln was one of the few men to have been involved in the three major surrenders of the American Revolutionary War: twice as a victor, and once as the defeated party.