James Clinton (9 August 1736 – 22 September 1812) was a Major-General of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, the brother of New York Governor and US vice-president George Clinton, and the father of Governor DeWitt Clinton.
Biography[]
James Clinton was born on 9 August 1736 in Little Britain, Ulster County, New York. He married Mary DeWitt, with congressman George Clinton, Jr. and DeWitt Clinton being two of his sons. Clinton served in the New York militia during the French and Indian War and took part in the capture of Fort Frontenac, and he was recruited by the Continental Congress to build fortifications at the start of the American Revolutionary War. As the colonel of the 3rd New York Regiment, Clinton fought in the expedition to Quebec in 1775, and in August 1776 he was promoted to Brigadier-General of the Continental Army. In 1777, he was wounded by a bayonet at the battles for Forts Clinton and Montgomery during the Saratoga campaign by the British Army under John Burgoyne, and Clinton dammed the Susquehanna River to assist his forces in an expedition. In October 1781, he fought at the Siege of Yorktown, and he died in Little Britain in 1812, the same year as his brother George.