Peter Gansevoort
Peter Gansevoort was born in Albany, New York on the 16th of July 1749. His taste for military tactics was manifested in his boyhood. When he arrived at manhood he raised a company of grenadiers that elicited the admiration of every beholder. Not one of its members was under six feet. Capt. Gansevoort was six feet three. In point of discipline and martial appearance, this company had no superior. Being a firm Whig Capt. G. was ready to do good service for his country at the commencement of the Revolution. He was appointed a major by Congress on the 19th of July 1795. On the 19th of the next month he took command of the second battalion of the New York forces and shared the perilous campaign with General Montgomery which terminated the life of the latter. Congress made him lieutenant-colonel on the 19th of March 1776 and on the 21st of November of that year appointed him colonel of the 3d Regiment in the Continental Army.Gansevoort's defense of Fort Stanwix in August 1777 was one of the most brilliant achievements of the American Revolution. It was besieged by a large body of British, Tories and Indians, commanded by Colonel St. Leger, who threatened summary vengeance unless an unconditional surrender was made. He soon found he had waked up the wrong passenger. He was promptly informed that Colonel Gansevoort never surrendered. The fort was defended until aid was sent when Colonel St. Leger was compelled to leave suddenly. For this brave act Congress recorded him a vote of thanks on the 4th of October of that year. In 1778, he was ordered to Albany, and the next year accompanied General Sullivan in his expedition against the Indians and with a chosen band of kindred spirits surprised and took the lower Mohawk castle and a large number of prisoners. In 1781, an arrangement was smuggled through Congress by improper influences that legislated this officer and several other gallant men out of the Army to the great mortification of Washington. His native State made him a Major-General of militia. After the war he held the office of sheriff in Albany County. He was commissioner to fortify the frontier posts, and to make treaties with the Indians. He was the military agent of the Northern Department and in 1802 was commissioned a Brigadier-General in the Army of the United States which he held until the 2d of July 1812 when he died.