Background
James Clinton was born on August 09, 1733 in New Windsor, New York, United States. He was the sixth child of Charles and Elizabeth (Denniston) Clinton, and the brother of George Clinton Revolutionary governor of New York.
James Clinton was born on August 09, 1733 in New Windsor, New York, United States. He was the sixth child of Charles and Elizabeth (Denniston) Clinton, and the brother of George Clinton Revolutionary governor of New York.
At the time of the French and Indian War, Clinton was a captain in the militia and accompanied Bradstreet’s expedition against Fort Frontenac. By 1775 he was a lieutenant-colonel. He was elected deputy to the Provincial Congress of New York from Ulster County in May 1775. On October 25, 1775 he was commissioned colonel in the New York state troops and was assigned in command of the 3rd Regiment. During the preceding summer he had accompanied General Montgomery’s expedition to Quebec, leading six badly equipped companies. He participated in the disastrous attack on Quebec in December 1775. When the American troops withdrew from Canada in the following spring, Clinton returned to New York, and was commissioned brigadier-general in the Continental Army in October.
He was stationed at Fort Clinton in the highlands of the Hudson, where he remained superintending the erection of defensive works until the following summer. In October 1777, the British under Sir Henry Clinton made a desperate effort to cooperate with Burgoyne’s expedition which was marching south from Canada. Sir Henry with three thousand British attacked and captured Forts Clinton and Montgomery which were defended by James Clinton with six hundred Americans. James Clinton was wounded by a bayonet during the assault, but escaped capture, drawing off most of his troops.
In November 1778, he was ordered to Albany to act against the Tories and Indians harrying the frontier. He remained at that post until June 1779, when, the activities of the Indians and Tories having culminated in the massacres at Cherry Valley, New York, and Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Washington determined to take action against them.
General Sullivan was detached from headquarters with a force which marched across Pennsylvania, and General Clinton was directed to march a similar force across New York. By July Clinton had his troops and baggage intact at Otsego at the foot of the lake which he dammed. Washington expressed some concern at Clinton’s elaborate preparations, but when the word came from Sullivan, Clinton broke the dam and on the force of the accumulated waters floated his whole force down-stream in Pennsylvania and effected a junction with Sullivan’s' troops. Together the two completely defeated the Indians under Brant and the Tories under Butler near Newton, Pennsylvania (probably the present Elmira, New York), devastated the Indian country and destroyed the Indian crops as far north as the Finger Lakes. In the next year Clinton was placed in command of the Northern Department with headquarters again at Albany. Here he remained until Washington and Rochambeau completed their plans for the great coup of the summer of 1781. As they started south, Clinton and his brigade joined the main army and participated in the siege of Yorktown.
Clinton’s force was attached to Lincoln’s division, and, according to the newly discovered Register of the Continental Army, counted at this time over 1, 110, a much larger number than heretofore has been allowed by historians. Clinton’s brigade received the surrendered British colors at Yorktown. In 1785, he was appointed a member of the Commission to settle the boundary between New York and Pennsylvania. He was a member of the New York convention called to ratify the Federal Constitution, and voted against the ratification because the constitution contained no bill of rights.
Clinton married, first, Mary DeWitt in 1764, by whom he became the father of DeWitt Clinton; and, second, Mrs. Mary Gray.
