Brigadier General
James Clinton
(1736-1812)
Brigadier General James Clinton
Brigadier General James Clinton was a military captain in the French and Indian War and distinguished himself at the capture of Fort Frontenac. He was commissioned colonel in command of the 3rd New York Regiment in October of 1775 and participated in the attack on Quebec. The following year Clinton became a brigadier general in the Continental Army. He survived the British attack on Forts Clinton and Montgomery, although he was wounded by bayonet during the assault. In 1778 he was stationed in Albany to oppose the Indian and Tory forces. Clinton joined Major General John Sullivan in the campaign against the Iroquois in 1779. His occupation was that of an engineer and surveyor which enabled him to render valuable service in the passage of his army down the Susquehanna, made navigable by the erection of a dam across the outlet of Otsego Lake. Clinton was present at the siege of Yorktown in 1781, where his brigade received the surrendered British colors from the defeated Cornwallis.


After the war he held several important civil positions, including service in the New York State Legislature, and as a member of the State Constitutional Convention of 1801 and was one of the original members of the Society of the Cincinnati. Clinton died at Little Britain, Orange County, greatly beloved and honored, December 22, 1812. He was the brother of New York State Governor and Vice President George Clinton and father of New York State Governor DeWitt Clinton.*

*Sullivan Clinton Campaign 1779-1979; A Bicentennial Commemorative. Chemung County Historical Society, Inc., Elmira, NY. pub. 1979.

(Sullivan Campaign of the Revolutionary War: The Impact on Livingston County, page 2)