George Edward Mitchell was an American physician, soldier, and congressman.
Background
George Edward Mitchell was born on March 3, 1781, at Head of Elk (later called Elkton), Cecil County, Maryland. He was one of a family of eight children. His father, Dr. Abraham Mitchell, moved to Cecil County from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, some time before 1767. His mother, Mary Thompson Mitchell, was the daughter of a physician.
Education
Mitchell studied medicine in his father's office and afterward attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated from the medical department in 1805.
Career
Back again in Elkton, in partnership with his father, Mitchell became interested in politics. He was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates, session of 1808-09, where he vigorously supported the Jefferson administration. He declined reelection to the General Assembly but was elected a member of the state executive council, on which he served as president from 1809 to 1812. In January 1809, he had declined a commission as captain of light dragoons in the regular army, but at the outbreak of the War of 1812, he resigned from the executive council and on May 1, 1812, was appointed major of the 3rd Maryland Artillery and recruited a company of volunteers in Cecil County. On March 3, 1813, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was wounded at the capture of York, Canada, and also fought at Fort George, in the spring of 1813. During the summer and fall, he was in command of Fort Niagara.
In April 1814, while on the march from Sacketts Harbor to Buffalo, he was met at Batavia by General J. J. Brown, who had ridden forty miles during the night to reach him, and was ordered to Fort Oswego, at the mouth of the Oswego River. Twelve miles up the river, at Great Falls (now Fulton), there was an important depot of naval stores, the loss of which would have seriously crippled the American forces on Lake Ontario. To defend this was his real object. Marching at the rate of fifty miles a day, Mitchell with about three hundred men reached Fort Oswego on April 30, 1814. They found the walls of the fort rotting, and some of the cannon useless. Pitching all the tents available near the town of Oswego, across the river, to make a show of force, the little company withdrew into the fort, repairing its defenses as best they could. On the morning of May 5th eight British ships with 222 guns appeared in the harbor, saw the tents near the town, and attacked the fort. They were repulsed but the next day landed a party and were met in the open field by Mitchell's much smaller force. After two hours' fighting, the Americans retreated to a position farther up the river, determined to save the stores at all costs. On May 7th, however, the British withdrew. He wrote and introduced the resolution in January 1824 inviting Lafayette to America. When the latter arrived in Washington, he proposed the resolution inviting him to a seat in Congress and was made chairman of the congressional reception committee. He was not a candidate for Congress in 1826, but was elected in 1828 and again in 1830. He was an unsuccessful candidate for governor of Maryland in 1829. He died at Washington, June 28, 1832, while attending Congress, and was buried in the Congressional Cemetery.
Achievements
Politics
In 1822, Mitchell was elected without opposition as a Democrat to the Eighteenth Congress and was reelected in 1824.
Personality
A friendship was established between Lafayette and Mitchell which lasted to the end of their lives.
Connections
Mitchell had married, on May 28, 1816, Mary Hooper of Dorchester County, Maryland, by whom he had seven children.