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Benjamin Lincoln (January 24, 1733 (O.S. January 13, 1733) [1] – May 9, 1810) was an American army officer. He served as a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.
Benjamin Lincoln was a Continental army officer in the American Revolution who rendered distinguished service in the northern campaigns early in the war, but was forced to surrender with about 7,000 troops at Charleston, S.C., on May 12, 1780.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Lincoln was forced to surrender over 5,000 men to the British—the largest surrender of American troops until the Civil War. Denied honors of war in surrender by the British, Lincoln was paroled by the British and returned to Washington’s army.
- Political Life
- The American Revolution Begins
- Battle to The North
- Battle of Saratoga
- Battle in The South
- Battle of Yorktown
- Later Life and Legacy
- Sources
Condemning the Boston Massacre in 1770, Lincoln also encouraged Hingham residents to boycott British goods. Two years later, he earned a promotion to lieutenant colonel in the regiment and won election to the Massachusetts legislature. In 1774, following the Boston Tea Party and passage of the Intolerable Acts, the situation in Massachusetts rapidl...
In April 1775, with the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the start of the American Revolution, Lincoln's role with the congress expanded as he assumed a position on its executive committee as well as its committee of safety. As the Siege of Boston commenced, he worked to direct supplies and food to the American lines outside the city. With the ...
Placed in command of the American outpost at Bound Brook, NJ, Lincoln came under attack by Lieutenant General Lord Charles Cornwallis on April 13. Badly outnumbered and nearly surrounded, he successfully extricated the bulk of his command before retreating. In July, Washington dispatched Lincoln north to aid Major General Philip Schuyler in blockin...
Having built a force of around 2,000 men, Lincoln began moving against Fort Ticonderoga in early September. Sending three 500-man detachments forward, his men attacked on September 19 and captured everything in the area except the fort itself. Lacking siege equipment, Lincoln's men withdrew after four days of harassing the garrison. As his men regr...
Delayed in Philadelphia by Congress, Lincoln did not arrive at his new headquarters until December 4. As a result, he was unable to prevent the loss of Savannah later that month. Building his forces, Lincoln mounted a counter-offensive in Georgia in the spring of 1779 until a threat to Charleston, SC by Brigadier General Augustine Prevost forced hi...
Paroled, Lincoln returned to his farm in Hingham to await his formal exchange. Though he requested a court of inquiry for his actions at Charleston, none was ever formed and no charges were brought against him for his conduct. In November 1780, Lincoln was exchanged for Major General William Phillips and Baron Friedrich von Riedesel who had been ca...
At the end of October 1781, Lincoln was appointed Secretary of War by Congress. He remained in this post until the formal end of hostilitiestwo years later. Resuming his life in Massachusetts, he began speculating on land in Maine as well as negotiated treaties with the area's Native Americans. In January 1787, Governor James Bowdoin asked Lincoln ...
Jan 12, 2024 · General Benjamin Lincoln was an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. During the war, he earned the trust of General George Washington. After the war, he led an army that put down Shays' Rebellion.
- Randal Rust
Feb 14, 2020 · General Benjamin Lincoln led the state force, who finally pushed the Royal Navy ships out of Boston Harbor. In September of 1776, General Benjamin Lincoln was given command of a brigade of militia sent to join General Washington and the Continental Army in New York.
Dec 5, 2013 · Lincoln was the commander of American forces at Charlestown when the largest American army of the war was surrendered to the British – a major set-back for the American cause. Lastly, at Yorktown, Lincoln accepted General Cornwallis’s surrender that sealed the Revolutionary War for the American cause. Major General Benjamin Lincoln was not ...
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