40 Facts About Horatio Gates

Horatio Lloyd Gates was a British-born American army officer who served as a general in the Continental Army during the early years of the Revolutionary War.

Frustrated by his inability to advance in the army, Horatio Gates sold his commission and established a small plantation in Virginia.

Horatio Gates was assigned command of Fort Ticonderoga in 1776 and command of the Northern Department in 1777.

Shortly after Horatio Gates took charge of the Northern Department, the Continental Army defeated the British at the crucial Battles of Saratoga.

Horatio Gates took command of the Southern Department in 1780, but was removed from command later that year after the disastrous Battle of Camden.

Horatio Gates retired to his Virginia estate after the war, but eventually decided to free his slaves and move to New York.

Horatio Gates was elected to a single term in the New York State Legislature and died in 1806.

Horatio Gates's parents were Robert and Dorothea Gates.

Horatio Gates had a prior marriage, to Thomas Reeve, whose family was well situated in the royal Customs service.

Marriage into the Reeve family opened the way for Robert Horatio Gates to get into and then up through the Customs service.

In 1745, Horatio Gates obtained a military commission with financial help from his parents, and political support from the Duke of Bolton.

Horatio Gates served with the 20th Foot in Germany during the War of the Austrian Succession.

Horatio Gates arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, under Edward Cornwallis and later was promoted to captain in the 45th Foot, under the command of Hugh Warburton, the following year.

Horatio Gates participated in several engagements against the Mi'kmaq and Acadians, particularly the Battle at Chignecto.

Horatio Gates married the daughter of Erasmus James Philipps, Elizabeth, at St Paul's Church in 1754.

Horatio Gates served under Cornwallis when the latter was governor of Nova Scotia, and developed a friendship with the lieutenant governor, Robert Monckton.

Horatio Gates served under Monckton in the capture of Martinique in 1762, although he saw little combat.

Horatio Gates is considered to be the first Adjutant General of the United States Army.

Horatio Gates spent the summer of 1776 overseeing the enlargement of the American fleet that would be needed to prevent the British from taking control of Lake Champlain.

Horatio Gates rewarded Arnold's initiative by giving him command of the fleet when it sailed to meet the British.

Always an advocate of defensive action, Horatio Gates argued that Washington should retreat further rather than attack.

When Washington dismissed this advice, Horatio Gates claimed illness as an excuse not to join the nighttime attack and instead traveled on to Baltimore, where the Continental Congress was meeting.

Horatio Gates had always maintained that he, not Washington, should have commanded the Continental Army.

Horatio Gates was then sent back north with orders to assist Schuyler in the Northern Department.

Horatio Gates stands front and center in John Trumbull's painting of the Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga, which hangs in the US Capitol Rotunda.

Horatio Gates followed up the victory at Saratoga with a proposal to invade Quebec, but his suggestion was rejected by Washington.

Horatio Gates attempted to maximize his political return on the victory, particularly as George Washington was having no present successes with the main army.

Horatio Gates insulted Washington by sending reports directly to Congress instead of to Washington, his commanding officer.

Horatio Gates accused persons unknown of copying his mail and forwarded Conway's letter to the president of Congress, Henry Laurens.

Horatio Gates led Continental forces and militia south and prepared to face the British forces of Charles Cornwallis, who had advanced to Camden, South Carolina.

Analysis of the debacle suggests that Horatio Gates greatly overestimated the capabilities of his inexperienced militia, an error magnified when he lined those forces against the British right, traditional position of the strongest troops.

Horatio Gates failed to make proper arrangements for an organized retreat.

Always one to support a court-martial of other officers, particularly those with whom he was in competition for advancement, such as Benedict Arnold, Horatio Gates vehemently opposed the inquiry into his own conduct.

Horatio Gates retired in 1784 and again returned to his estate, Traveller's Rest, in Virginia.

Horatio Gates served as vice president of the Society of the Cincinnati, the organization of former Continental Army officers, and president of its Virginia chapter, and worked to rebuild his life.

Horatio Gates proposed marriage to Janet Montgomery, the widow of General Richard Montgomery, but she refused.

In 1786, Horatio Gates married Mary Valens, a wealthy Liverpudlian who had come to the colonies in 1773 with her sister and Rev Bartholomew Booth, who ran a boys' boarding school in Maryland.

Many have suggested that Horatio Gates freed his slaves at the urging of his friend John Adams along with the sale of Traveller's Rest in 1790.

Nevertheless, even this limited gesture toward emancipation surpassed the other major generals of the revolutionary era; for none but Horatio Gates made any efforts to emancipate their slaves during their lifetimes.

Horatio Gates died in his Rose Hill home on April 10,1806, and was buried in the Trinity Church graveyard on Wall Street, though the exact location of his grave is unknown.