James Clinton | |
|---|---|
 1861 sketch of Clinton | |
| Born | August 9, 1736 |
| Died | September 22, 1812 (aged 76) Little Britain, New York, United States |
| Spouses | Mary DeWitt
(m. 1765; died 1795)
|
| Children | 13, including DeWitt, George, James |
| Parent(s) | Col. Charles Clinton Elizabeth Denniston |
| Relatives | George Clinton (brother) William W Clinton (great-grandfather) James Clinton (grandfather) George W. Clinton (grandson) Ambrose Spencer (son-in-law) |
| Signature | |
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Major-General James Clinton (August 9, 1736 – September 22, 1812) was a Continental Army officer and politician who fought in the American Revolutionary War.
During the war he, along with John Sullivan, led the 1779 Sullivan Expedition against the British-allied Iroquois. The Americans destroyed 40 villages as well as their winter stores of wheat and other produce. This forced 5,000 Iroquois to flee to British controlled Fort Niagara and caused the Iroquois to become unable to survive the harsh winter of 1779–1780, with their population being reduced by up to half.[1] He subsequently obtained the rank of brevet major general.[2]
After leaving the army, Clinton was a founding member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati and served as an assemblyman in the New York State legislature and later as a New York State Senator from 1788 to 1792.
- ^ Koehler, Rhiannon (Fall 2018). "Hostile Nations: Quantifying the Destruction of the Sullivan-Clinton Genocide of 1779". American Indian Quarterly. 42 (4): 427–453. doi:10.5250/amerindiquar.42.4.0427. S2CID 165519714.
- ^ Moore, Charles B., "Introductory Sketch to the History of the Clinton Family", The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, (Richard Henry Greene at al, eds.), New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 1880