Lachlan McIntosh (17 March 1725 – 10 February 1806) was a general of the Continental Army during the Ameroican Revolutionary War. McIntosh was a commander of Georgia troops during the war, and he killed Declaration of Independence signer Button Gwinnett in a duel in 1777.
Biography[]
Lachlan McIntosh was born on 17 March 1725 in Raits, Scotland, and his family moved to the state of Georgia in 1736 with 100 Scottish settlers, moving into New Inverness (later renamed Darien). He was raised at Bethesda Orphanage, and in 1748 he bcame a clerk for Henry Laurens, a wealthy plantation owner. During the American Revolutionary War, he was commissioned as a colonel in the Georgia and led patriot militiamen at the battle of the Rice Boats, where he defended some boats on the Savannah River. Later, he built Fort McIntosh to halt British incursions from Florida into southern Georgia. McIntosh and Button Gwinnett had a fierce rivalry, as McIntosh replaced Gwinnett as commander of Georgia's troops, and Gwinnett ordered McIntosh to lead a poorly-planned expedition into Florida that led to a disaster. McIntosh's brother was arrested by Gwinnett for alleged treason, and McIntosh called him a scoundrel and lying rascal. On 16 May 1777, Gwinnett met McIntosh for a duel, incensed at McIntosh's comments, and McIntosh killed him in a duel despite being wounded. On 26 May 1778, McIntosh sent him to the West to prevent Gwinnett's allies from getting revenge against McIntosh, and he built another "Fort McIntosh". Daniel Brodhead replaced him in 1779 after a failed expedition against Fort Detroit, and he fought at the Siege of Savannah in the south before being captured at the Fall of Charleston in 1780. On 9 February 1782, he was exchanged for Charles O'Hara, who was captured at the Siege of Yorktown; he returned to his ruined plantation after the war. He served as a minor figure in politics, and he died in 1806 in Savannah.