| 1 | Name: | Anthony Wayne | |
| Year Elected: | 1780 | ||
| Residency: | Resident | ||
| Living? : | Deceased | ||
| Birth Date: | 1/1/1745 | ||
| Death Date: | 12/15/1796 | ||
Anthony Wayne (1 January 1745–15 December 1796) was a soldier, politician, and slaveholder, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1780. Born in Chester County to a farming family, Anthony studied at the Academy of Philadelphia before taking up surveying. He received his father’s inheritance in 1774 and became chairman of the Chester County Committee of Safety. During the American Revolution he served alongside George Washington in New York before rising to brigadier general. He fought outside of Philadelphia before making his way closer to the city in the Battle of Germantown. Tragically, in Germantown, Wayne began accidentally firing on American troops, a mistake that almost drove him to resign his post. Deciding against it, he remained and went on to command an elite corps of Continental light infantry: seizing Stony Point (1779) and securing Westpoint (1780). He joined the Marquis de Lafayette in Virginia in 1781, and helped ease Whig and Tory tensions in Charlestown. Returning to Pennsylvania a war hero in 1783, congress promoted him and he won the election to the Council of Censors. The following two years he served in the assembly and helped ratify the new federal constitution. He won a seat as a Georgia representative to congress before losing the office on charges of fraud. Bereft of social and political support, he sank into debt but managed to eke out a surprising comeback when Washington appointed him Major General, tasked with suppressing Indian resistance to US expansion in the Northwest Territory. His military accomplishments brought Wayne the accolades he had enjoyed from his youth. Despite a lifetime of military service, gout claimed his life. (ANB) | |||