Correspondence, the Official Letters Which Passed Between Washington and Brig. Gen. William Irvine and Between Irvine Andothers Concerning Military Affairs in the West From 1781 to 1783;
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William Irvine was an American Revolutionary soldier during the Revolutionary War and the statesman, who represented interests of Pennsylvania district.
Background
William was born on November 3, 1741 near Enniskillen, Fermanagh county, Ulster province, Ireland. The Irvines were of ancient Scotch extraction; branch of the family had migrated to Ireland and built Castle Irvine in Fermanagh under a grant from the Stuarts.
Education
William Irvine was educated at Enniskillen, and at Trinity College, Dublin.
After a brief and unfortunate career at arms, he studied medicine under the celebrated Cleghorn.
Career
Irvine was appointed surgeon on a British ship of war and served in the Seven Years' War. After 1764 he practised his profession in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
He was a member of the provincial convention in Philadelphia of July 15, 1774, which denounced British tyranny in Boston and declared for American rights. He raised and commanded the 6th (later 7th) Pennsylvania Regiment, being appointed colonel in 1777, to rank from January 9, 1776. His command participated in the expedition against Canada, where he was captured in the encounter at Trois Rivières. He was released on parole soon afterward, but was not exchanged until May 6, 1778. Immediately thereupon, he resumed arms and participated in the battle of Monmouth, in which Mary McCauley - "Molly Pitcher" - who had been a servant in the Irvine family, made a name for herself in history. He was a member of the court-martial which sat in judgment over Gen. Charles Lee, declared him guilty, and suspended him from his command.
On May 12, 1779, Irvine was promoted to brigadier-general in the Continental Army. His brigade was employed in New Jersey around Trenton, took part in Lord Stirling's expedition against Staten Island, and in the unsuccessful attack of Gen. Anthony Wayne at Bull's Ferry. In the fall of 1781, upon the recommendation of Washington, Irvine was entrusted with the defense of the northwestern frontier. He was stationed at Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh), and retained command there until the close of the war. His troops were poorly trained and inadequately supplied, and his task was aggravated by mutinies from within and Indian raids from without. He received indispensable assistance during these years from his aide-de-camp, a gifted Russian who called himself John Rose and after the war was identified as Gustavus de Rosenthal of Livonia, a baron of the Empire.
When peace was declared, Irvine wrote to General Washington, to whom he was both personally and professionally attached, complimenting him on his success. "With great sincerity, " the Commander-in-Chief replied, "I return you my congratulations. " Pennsylvania rewarded Irvine with a generous land grant, and, in 1785, he was appointed agent to direct the mode of distributing the donation lands promised to the troops. In exploring the territory, he became convinced of the advisability of the purchase by Pennsylvania of a tract of land called the "Triangle, " which would give the state a considerable front on Lake Erie. The suggestion was incorporated in his report and accepted by the government.
On closing the business of the land agency he was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress of 1786-88. While in New York in this capacity, he sat for his portrait to Robert Edge Pine, the English artist in America. In 1790 Irvine was elected to sit in the constitutional convention of his state, which framed the organ adopted on September 2 of that year. He served as one of the commissioners, who settled the financial account between the several states and the United States government in 1793, and in that year was sent to the Third United States Congress by Cumberland district. In 1794 he was active both as arbitrator and commanding officer of the state troops in quelling the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania.
He was appointed superintendent of the military stores at Philadelphia on March 13, 1800, in which capacity he had charge of the arsenals, ordnance, and sup plies of the army, and supervision of Indian affairs. This office he held till he died. From 1801 to 1804 he was president of the Pennsylvania branch of the Society of the Cincinnati.