Return J. Meigs Sr. was born on December 17, 1740 at Middletown, Connecticut. He was the son of Return and Elizabeth (Hamlin) Meigs and the descendant of Vincent Meigs, who emigrated from Dorsetshire, England, about 1635. His brother was Josiah Meigs. His father, a hatter, was a member of the Connecticut General Assembly.
In 1772 Meigs was commissioned by Governor Trumbull of the Connecticut colony as lieutenant in the 6th Connecticut Regiment. Two years later he was made captain. After the battle of Lexington he swiftly assembled his company and marched to the aid of Boston. He was commissioned major and, in September, with his command joined Arnold's ill-fated expedition to Quebec, during which he kept a diary, written with ink made by mixing powder and water in his palm, which was afterward published. At the assault of the city he was one of those who scaled the walls and was made prisoner of war. He was paroled and the following January was exchanged. He reëntered the Continental serviceand was commissioned lieutenant-colonel. In 1777 he led the brilliant Sag Harbor expedition in reprisal for Tryon's Danbury raid. Taking about 160 men from General Parson's forces, in thirteen whaleboats he crossed Long Island Sound under convoy of two armed sloops, not forgetting to take an extra sloop in which to bring back the prisoners. During the summer and fall he took part in all the principal engagements along the Hudson. At the storming of Stonypoint under Gen. Anthony Wayne, which did so much to raise the morale of the American army, he led a regiment and was one of the first to storm the fort. In May 1780 he received a personal note of thanks from Washington for his prompt action in suppressing a mutiny among the Connecticut troops. Upon the discovery of Arnold's treason in September his regiment was one of those sent to West Point to meet any consequent attack by the British. When the Connecticut regiments were reorganized in 1781 he was retired. Becoming interested in the organization of the Ohio Company, he was appointed one of its surveyors, and in April 1788, he landed at the mouth of the Muskingum with the small group of other settlers from New England. He drew up a code of rules, which were adopted by the colony, and posted them on a big oak tree. In 1801 he was appointed Indian agent to the Cherokee, who named him "The White Path. " He was commissioner to negotiate treaties in 1804, 1805, and 1807, and in 1808 he was given authority to negotiate a convention between the stateof Tennessee and the Cherokee. When he was eighty-two years old, having given up his quarters to an elderly visiting Indian chief and moved into a tent, he contracted pneumonia and died. He was buried at the Cherokee agency in Tennessee.
Landing on Long Island Meigs marched across to Sag Harbor, surprised the garrison, burned eleven or twelve vessels, destroyed a large quantity of military stores, killed several of the enemy, and took about ninety prisoners, without losing a man. For this exploit he was voted a sword by Congress. Soon afterward he became colonel and reported at Peekskill with his 6th Connecticut Infantry, "the Leather-Cap Regiment. " Two Tennessee place names honor Meigs. Meigs County, which was formed in 1836 from part of Rhea County, and Meigs Mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains are both named in his honor.
In February 14, 1764, Meigs married Joanna Winborn, who died in 1773. She was the mother of his son, Return Jonathan Meigs, 1764-1824, and the grandmother of Return Jonathan Meigs, 1801-1891. On December 22, 1774, he married Grace Starr, who died in Tennessee in 1807.
16 March 1708 - 22 June 1782
12 February 1712 - 17 September 1762
21 November 1753 - 24 November 1826
28 February 1750 - 28 October 1751
21 November 1746 - 29 October 1751
29 October 1744 - 7 November 1824
29 September 1735 - 4 October 1736
25 June 1748 - 4 August 1753
4 October 1739 - 2 December 1739
21 November 1751 - 28 July 1753
21 August 1757 - 4 September 1822
28 January 1740 - 10 October 1807
Died on 27 July 1799.
22 November 1775 - 22 January 1776
17 November 1764 - 29 March 1825
28 September 1782 - 16 October 1815
