Anthony Wayne (1 January 1745 – 15 December 1796) was a General of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Wayne saw action in the Pennsylvana campaign and led the storming of Stony Point in 1779, earning him fame in the war for independence; he would further distinguish himself after the war by his amazing victory against the Native Americans at the Battle of Fallen Timbers during the Northwest Indian War. He served as a member of the US House of Representatives from Georgia's 1st district from 4 March 1791 to 21 March 1792, succeeding James Jackson and preceding John Milledge.
Biography[]
Fearless commander[]
Anthony Wayne was born on 1 January 1745 in Easttown Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, the son of a Protestant Anglo-Irish immigrant father. He was a surveyor by trade, and he had no military experience prior to the start of the American Revolutionary War in 1775. However, he raised his own militia unit and became the colonel of the 4th Pennsylvania Regiment in 1776, and in 1777 he was promoted to Brigadier-General after seeing action in the invasion of Canada (which included a successful rear guard action at the Battle of Trois Rivieres. On 11 September 1777, Wayne gained distinction when his regiment held the British Army off for three hours at the Battle of Brandywine, and he harassed William Howe's army as it chased after George Washington's army. Wayne's command would be ambushed and devastated in the "Paoli Massacre" by Charles "No-flint" Grey's bayonet-equipped troops, who gave no quarter to the Continental Army. Wayne demanded a formal inquiry to clear his name of all of the accusations, but he would redeem himself by nearly routing British forces at the Battle of Germantown and by holding off superior British forces even after Charles Lee had retreated at the Battle of Monmouth; British Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Monckton was killed by Wayne's troops.
Reputation as "Mad Anthony"[]
In July 1779, Wayne was given command of the Corps of Light Infantry, a mixture of four light infantry companies assembled by Washington in New York. On 16 July 1779, he avenged the Paoli Massacre by leading a bayonet charge against the British at the Battle of Stony Point, replicating Grey's tactics against the British. The battle boosted American morale, and Wayne was awarded a medal for his victory, as well as gaining the nickname "Mad Anthony". He would proceed to skirmish with British forces in the north in 1779-1780, failing to capture Bull's Ferry in New Jersey, but dismissing half of the Pennsylvania Line troops to put down a mutiny. In 1781, he headed to Virginia to assist the Marquis de Lafayette in his campaign against Charles Cornwallis' British army, and he rescued Lafayette at the Battle of Green Spring, where he drove off Cornwallis' pursuing troops with a bayonet charge. After the Siege of Yorktown, Wayne headed to the state of Georgia and made peace with the Creek and the Cherokee tribes, earning him a rice plantation in Georgia. On 10 October 1783, he was rewarded with the rank of Major-General.
Northwest Indian War[]
Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers
When the Northwest Indian War broke out, George Washington called Wayne up from retirement to lead an expedition against the Western Confederacy, which had defeated several American armies. In 1792, Wayne was given command of the newly-formed Legion of the United States, a frontier army with the goal of making the West safe for settlement. On 20 August 1794, he engaged the Native Americans at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, which was the decisive battle of the war. On 3 August 1795, Wayne negotiated the Treaty of Greenville, which ceded Ohio to the United States, ending the war. Wayne died of complications from gout on 15 December 1796 at Fort Presque Isle (near present-day Erie, Pennsylvania) while returning home.