Peter Gansevoort (17 July 1749 – 2 June 1812) was a general of the Continental Army and the US Army after the end of the American Revolutionary War. Gansevoort was the commander of the Americans at the Siege of Fort Stanwix in 1777, and his grandson was Moby Dick author Herman Melville.
Biography[]
Peter Gansevoort was born on 17 July 1749 in Albany, New York to a Dutch aristocratic family that had lived in Albany since 1660. Due to his family's connections, Gansevoort entered the New York militia with the rank of Lieutenant, and he led the 2nd New York Regiment into Canada with Benedict Arnold in late 1775, culminating in the disaster at the Battle of Quebec. However, his regiment captured Major John Andre at Fort Saint-Jean (Montreal, Canada), and he led a fighting withdrawal against the British Army before becoming the commander of Fort George. Later, his responsibility was spread to other forts in New York, and he defended Fort Schuyler from the British, Indians, and loyalists in 1777 during the Saratoga Campaign, earning the praise of the Continental Congress, specifically John Adams. Gansevoort returned to the frontier, fighting in the Sullivan Expedition, but he had no commands and became a militia Major-General in 1780 after the New York forces were downsized. After the war, he served as a Brigadier-General in the US Army, and he was accused of plotting to take over the US Southwest with Aaron Burr in the "Burr Conspiracy". He died in 1812 before the start of the War of 1812.