John Sullivan

John Sullivan
Major General
Continental Army
February 17, 1740 – January 23, 1795

Maj. Gen. John Sullivan was a Continental Army officer, politician, and judge who fought in the Revolutionary War. He participated in several key events of the conflict, most notably General George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River. He was also a delegate to the Continental Congress, where Sullivan signed the Continental Association. After the war, Sullivan served in many political roles in New Hampshire. While there is no doubt Sullivan was an important participant during the American Revolution, his presence in the Sullivan Expedition has made him a controversial figure to some historians.

Sullivan was born on Feb. 17, 1740, as the son of Irish immigrants. Little is known about his childhood besides being one of four sons of John Owen O’Sullivan of the Irish O’Sullivan Beare Clan. As an adult, Sullivan worked as an attorney in New Hampshire. He made enemies when he sued his neighbors and foreclosed on debts owed to him in Durham, New Hampshire. Feeling the financial burdens placed by Sullivan were unfair, these enemies attempted to attack him. They even presented a petition against him to the New Hampshire General Court to gain relief from Sullivan’s demands. Sullivan fought these charges and won. The Court dropped the petition, and he sued the prosecutors for slander.

Sullivan married Lydia Remick Worster of Kittery, Maine in 1760. John and Lydia had six children: Margery, who died as a baby, Lydia, John, James, George (who eventually served as a United States Representative from New Hampshire) and another Margery, who lived only two years.

Initially fond of England, Sullivan had once been good friends with New Hampshire’s Royal Governor, John Wentworth. As tensions with Great Britain increased, Sullivan personal ambitions for more wealth caused him to lean in favor of revolution. This ended his friendship with Wentworth.

Sullivan’s past friendship with Wentworth helped start his military career, as the Royal Governor had previously appointed Sullivan as a major in the local militia. In 1774, Sullivan served as part of the New Hampshire delegation at the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. By 1775, he was a brigadier general in the Continental Army and had fought in the Siege of Boston. In January 1776, Sullivan went to Canada in the aftermath of the Battle of Quebec. He gained command of retreating Patriot troops after the previous commander, Maj. Gen. John Thomas, died of smallpox. In that same year, Sullivan became a major general, but he was captured by the British after their victory at the Battle of Long Island in August.

After approximately three months as a prisoner of war, December saw Sullivan’s release by exchange. He leapt back into his revolutionary duties by joining Washington in New Jersey. Sullivan was present during the Patriots’ victory over the British in Boston on March 17, 1776. On Christmas Day, 1776, he crossed the Delaware River with American forces into Trenton, New Jersey. His command secured a strategic crossing point south of Trenton — the bridge over Assunpink Creek. This in turn blocked Hessian soldiers from escaping. Trenton proved a decisive victory for the Patriots.

1777 was a difficult year for Sullivan. He was passed over for promotions and argued over commands with Washington and the Continental Congress. He was in command of part of the Patriot forces at the devastating Battle of Brandywine in September. With enemies in Congress, Sullivan received blame for failure at Brandywine.

The 1777 Battles of Saratoga saw the Iroquois lend support to the British. 1778 saw further attacks by Iroquois and Loyalists on American settlements, such as on Cobleskill, Wyoming Valley, and Cherry Valley, New York. Because of this, Washington authorized what is now known as the Sullivan Expedition. Sullivan led the expedition alongside Brig. Gen. James Clinton. Beginning June 18, 1779, Sullivan’s Army marched from Easton, Pennsylvania. Sullivan’s Army used a scorched-earth campaign to put an end to enemy attacks in the area. The American force destroyed at least 40 Iroquois villages throughout the Finger Lakes region of western New York. The campaign had only one major battle, at Newtown (since the tribes evacuated ahead of the large military force) along the Chemung River in western New York on Aug. 29, 1779. It was here that an army of 3,200 Continental Soldiers defeated about 600 Iroquois and Loyalists. Shortly after the Battle of Newtown, Sullivan left the military due to poor health with what he described as a “bilious disorder.” The Sullivan Expedition ended on Oct. 3, when it abandoned Fort Sullivan, built at Tioga, Pennsylvania, to return to Washington’s main camp in New Jersey. The expedition severely damaged the Iroquois nations’ economies by destroying their crops, villages, and chattels. The death toll from exposure and starvation was greater than the casualties in the Battle of Newtown. The survivors fled to Fort Niagara on Lake Ontario at the mouth of the Niagara River. The devastation created hardships for the thousands of Iroquois refugees who were under British military protection outside Fort Niagara that winter. Many starved or froze to death, despite efforts by the British to supply food and provide shelter using their limited resources.

Poor and in ill health, Sullivan returned to New Hampshire. Not letting his circumstances get the best of him, Sullivan served in the Continental Congress from 1780 to 1781. He also served as New Hampshire’s attorney general from 1782 to 1786, New Hampshire governor from 1786 to 1787 and 1789, a presiding officer of the New Hampshire convention to ratify the Federal Constitution in 1788, and a U.S. district judge from 1789 until 1795.

Sullivan passed away in his home in Durham, New Hampshire on Jan. 23, 1795. In the present day, Sullivan’s legacy has been both positive and negative. His role in the Sullivan Expedition is not remembered favorably. Some scholars argue it was an attempt to annihilate the Iroquois and describe the expedition as a genocide. Using this term is controversial itself, and it is not commonly used when discussing the expedition. Others have described the expedition as “close to ethnic cleansing” instead. Some historians have also related this campaign to the idea of total war. The total destruction of the enemy was an option. Despite the controversy, Sullivan was an important figure during the war. His actions against the Iroquois helped weaken Britain’s allied forces, making it easier for the Continental Army to win the war.

Lane Gooding
Graduate Historic Research Intern

Sources

American Battlefield Trust. “John Sullivan.” Accessed June 26, 2024. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/john-sullivan.

Anderson, Fred. George Washington Remembers: Reflections on the French and Indian War. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004.

Fischer, Joseph R. A Well-Executed Failure: The Sullivan Campaign Against the Iroquois, July–September 1779. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1997.

Ketchum, Richard M. “Men of The Revolution: 13. John Sullivan.” American Heritage 25, no. 5 (August 1974). https://www.americanheritage.com/men-revolution-13-john-sullivan.

Koehler, Rhiannon. “Hostile Nations: Quantifying the Destruction of the Sullivan-Clinton Genocide of 1779.” American Indian Quarterly 42, no. 4 (Fall 2018): 427–453. doi:10.5250/amerindiquar.42.4.0427. S2CID 165519714.

Leader, Matt. “Time to Change? Effort Seeks ‘Counter Marker’ for Existing Sullivan-Clinton Monument in Hemlock Park.” Livingston County News, September 15, 2019. https://www.thelcn.com/news/local/time-to-change-effort-seeks-counter-marker-for-existing-sullivan-clinton-monument-in-hemlock-park/article_2c4c21af-0034-5883-8648-59208933fd70.html.

Additional Resources

Foss, Gerald. Three Centuries of Freemasonry in New Hampshire. Somersworth: New Hampshire Publishing, 1972.

Graymont, Barbara. The Iroquois in the American Revolution. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1972.

Mintz, Max M. Seeds of Empire: The American Revolutionary Conquest of the Iroquois. New York: New York University Press, 1999.

Stephens, Karl F. Neither the Charm Nor the Luck: Major-General John Sullivan. Denver: Outskirts Press, 2009.

Whittemore, Charles P. A General of the Revolution: John Sullivan of New Hampshire. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961.

Williams, Glenn F. Year of the Hangman: George Washington’s Campaign Against the Iroquois. Yardley: Westholme Publishing, 2005.