Background
George was born on October 21, 1776 at Richmond, near London, United Kingdom, the son of Ralph and Alice (De Lancey) Izard. His father, a native of South Carolina, was temporarily residing in England.
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George was born on October 21, 1776 at Richmond, near London, United Kingdom, the son of Ralph and Alice (De Lancey) Izard. His father, a native of South Carolina, was temporarily residing in England.
In 1783 George came to America with his mother and attended school in Charleston and Philadelphia. Returning to Europe for a military education, he spent five years in the schools of England, Germany, and France.
While at the École du Génie in Metz, Izard was commissioned second lieutenant in the United States Army, and on his return to America in 1797 he was sent to Charleston to take charge of Castle Pinckney. As war with France became imminent he was raised to the rank of captain. Jefferson's plan for reducing the army resulted in his being placed in the artillery, whereupon he resigned.
In 1812 he accepted another commission and was sent to New York by Secretary John Armstrong, with the rank of brigadier general, to defend the city against a threatened attack by the British. On January 21, 1814, he was commissioned major-general and, upon the retirement of Wilkinson and Hampton, he became senior officer in command in New York on the Canadian border.
He was constantly being shifted from post to post, against his own judgment, by an incompetent secretary of war. He was moved from Plattsburg just in time to keep him from sharing with MacDonough the victory over Prevost. With the largest effective army on the border he marched about 400 miles in inclement weather, and part of the way, through trackless forests, arriving at Batavia in twenty-nine days only to find that Drummond had retreated from Erie just six days before.
He crossed over into Canada, but Drummond remained behind his works and continued to strengthen them. To pass to Drummond's rear would have been extremely dangerous - there were 30, 000 regulars in Canada and only about 10, 000 Americans between Plattsburg and Detroit - and Izard chose the road to caution, retreating to winter quarters to preserve a nucleus for a greater army the following spring. At once Armstrong, who had been forced out of office for the disaster at Washington, started a storm of criticism which ruined Izard's usefulness and he tendered his resignation.
On March 4, 1825, Monroe appointed him governor of Arkansas Territory, a position which he held until his death. The members of the legislative council criticized him for using "dictatorial power" in telling them to go home after they had finished the public business in order to save money; but they went home.
He died in 1828.
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George was an active member of the American Philosophical Society.
On June 6, 1803, Izard married Elizabeth Carter (Farley), daughter of James Parke Farley of Antigua. She had been twice married previously; first, to John Bannister, and second, to Thomas Lee Shippen. They had three sons.
