Samuel Hopkins was an American soldier and politician. He was a U. S. Representative from Kentucky and served in the Revolutionary War.
Background
Samuel Hopkins was born on April 9, 1753 in Albemarle County, Virginia, United States. He was the son of Doctor Samuel Hopkins and Elizabeth Taylor. His father was the son of Doctor Arthur Hopkins of Goochland; his mother was a daughter of John and Catherine (Pendleton) Taylor of Caroline County.
Career
Hopkins fought in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Monmouth, Brandywine, and Germantown. In the last-named engagement he commanded a battalion of light infantry which was nearly annihilated. He himself was badly wounded. When the British transferred the war to the South, he became lieutenant-colonel of the 10th Virginia and took part in the defense of Charleston. On the death of his colonel, he succeeded to the command of the regiment. When Charleston fell he was taken prisoner and transported by sea back to Virginia. Transferred to the 16th Virginia, he served till the end of the war.
In 1797 he settled in the newly opened Green River country of Kentucky which was to play a prominent part in the history of the state. Here he practised law and took an interest in politics. Like most other Kentuckians, he favored the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 and of 1799. He also favored constitutional reform, which found expression in the constitution of 1799. He represented Henderson County in the lower branch of the legislature at four different times between 1800 and 1806 and he served in the state Senate from 1809 to 1813.
In 1809 he was one of Kentucky's presidential electors, voting for Madison. Though he took no prominent part in the Aaron Burr imbroglio in Frankfort in 1806, when certain Federalists attempted to prosecute the former vice-president, he appeared in company with Burr when the latter made his celebrated address at the court house. With the outbreak of the second war with Great Britain, his reputation as a soldier brought him a command of more than 2, 000 men whom the United States had been unable to accept because the number of Kentuckians who had volunteered already far exceeded the number for which supplies had been provided. Having thus an army suddenly presented to him, he decided to march against the Indians immediately. Choosing to attack the Kickapoo villages to the northward, he set out with the sanction of Governor Shelby in October 1812, at the head of a force more like a mob than an army. The soldiers soon complained of hunger, lack of equipment, lack of Indians to fight, and the inconvenience of prairie fires set by the foe. They became utterly mutinous. In despair Hopkins offered to continue the march if five hundred would volunteer. Instead they all marched back home, much to his disgust.
Determined to vindicate his name he collected another force and the next month marched up the Wabash as far as Prophet's Town, burning various deserted Indian villages. The next year he became a member of the Thirteenth Congress, arriving more than a month after the first session had started. There is no evidence that he ever attended the second session, beginning in December 1813. He took part in the third session, and participated in the peace discussions. He was not a very active member, yet his presence was recognized for he was appointed on a special committee to investigate "a combustible liquid substance, applicable to the purposes of national defense or offense. "
After one term in Congress he returned to his home near Henderson, Kentucky, and spent the remainder of his life as a private citizen.
Achievements
Politics
Hopkins was a member of the Democratic-Republican party. He was interested in politics, though he was never politically ambitious. He was always in favor of prosecuting the war with vigor, and when peace came he still favored a large military establishment.
Membership
Hopkins was one of the original members of the Society of the Cincinnati.
Connections
On January 18, 1783, he married Elizabeth Branch Bugg, the daughter of Jacob Bugg of Mecklenburg County, Kentucky. They had eight children.