15 Facts About Philip Freneau

Philip Morin Freneau was an American poet, nationalist, polemicist, sea captain and early American newspaper editor sometimes called the "Poet of the American Revolution".

Philip Freneau was raised Calvinist by parents who were part of a Presbyterian congregation led by a New Light evangelical, Rev William Tennent, Jr.

Philip Freneau attended the College of New Jersey, later renamed Princeton University, where he studied under John Witherspoon.

At Princeton, Philip Freneau was close friends with James Madison, and his relationship with Madison later was a factor in his co-founding the National Gazette with Madison and Thomas Jefferson.

Philip Freneau had already written the poetical History of the Prophet Jonah and, with Hugh Henry Brackenridge, the prose satire Father Bombo's Pilgrimage to Mecca, which is considered by some to be the first American novel.

Philip Freneau pursued a further study of theology, but gave this up as well after about two years.

However, by 1776, Philip Freneau left America for the West Indies, and for two years was a business agent on Saint Croix, observing the horrors of slavery up close.

In 1778, Philip Freneau returned to America, and rejoined the patriotic cause.

Philip Freneau eventually became a crew member on a revolutionary privateer, and was captured in this capacity.

Philip Freneau was held on a British prison ship for about six weeks.

In 1790, Philip Freneau married Eleanor Forman, and became an assistant editor of the New York Daily Advertiser.

Philip Freneau accepted this sinecure, which left free time to head the Democratic-Republican newspaper Jefferson and Madison envisioned.

Philip Freneau later retired to a more rural life and wrote a mix of political and nature works.

Philip Freneau died at 80 years of age, frozen to death while returning to his home near Freehold, New Jersey, and was buried in what became the Philip Morin Freneau Cemetery on Poet's Drive in Matawan, New Jersey.

Philip Freneau's mother was buried there but his wife was laid to rest at her family plot in Mount Pleasant Church Cemetery on what is Route 516 and Main in Matawan.