Benjamin Lincoln

Benjamin Lincoln, born on January twenty-fourth, seventeen thirty-three, was a prominent American military officer and politician. He played a crucial role as a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, where his leadership was instrumental in several key events that shaped the course of American history.

Lincoln's military career was marked by his involvement in three significant surrenders. His participation in the Battles of Saratoga, where he sustained a wound, contributed to the pivotal surrender of British General John Burgoyne. Additionally, he oversaw the largest American surrender of the war at the siege of Charleston in seventeen eighty, and as George Washington's second-in-command, he formally accepted the British surrender at Yorktown.

After the war, Lincoln transitioned into a political career in Massachusetts, where he was active in various capacities. He served as the first United States Secretary of War from seventeen eighty-one to seventeen eighty-three, during which time he became an original member of The Society of the Cincinnati in Massachusetts and was elected its first president on June ninth, seventeen eighty-three.

In the years following the war, Lincoln remained a significant political figure, running multiple times for the position of lieutenant governor, ultimately securing one term. He also led a militia army, funded by Massachusetts merchants, to suppress Shays's Rebellion in seventeen eighty-seven and was a staunch supporter of the new United States Constitution. For many years, he held the influential position of customs collector at the Port of Boston, further solidifying his legacy in American history.