10 Facts About Elias Dayton

Elias Dayton was an American merchant and military officer who served as captain and colonel of the local militia and in 1783 rose to become a brigadier general during the American Revolutionary War.

Elias Dayton was the father of US Constitution signer Jonathan Dayton.

Elias Dayton married Hannah Rolfe in 1757, and they had two sons, Jonathan Dayton, who would become the youngest signatory of the US Constitution, and Elias Bayley Dayton.

Elias Dayton allied himself with the local revolutionary movement and served on Elizabethtown's enforcement committee.

However, they were diverted to New York's Mohawk Valley where Colonel Elias Dayton constructed fortifications to protect the colonists from Loyalist and Indian insurrections.

In 1777, Elias Dayton set up a spy network for George Washington on Staten Island to work in parallel with an established American intelligence agent, John Mersereau.

Elias Dayton helped suppress a mutiny of the New Jersey line in 1781, and was promoted to brigadier general in the Continental Army in 1783, and later to major general of militia.

Elias Dayton had a prominent role in the battles of Springfield, Monmouth, Brandywine and Yorktown, and had horses shot under him at Germantown, at Springfield, and at Crosswick's Bridge.

Elias Dayton helped establish The Society of the Cincinnati in the state of New Jersey as an original member, and served as the President of the New Jersey Society from its foundation until his death.

Elias Dayton died at age 70 and was interred at the First Presbyterian Churchyard in Elizabeth, New Jersey.