Benjamin Eyre
{{short description|American Revolutionary War figure}}
Benjamin George Eyre (June 1, 1747{{spaced ndash}}July 11, 1789),[http://fam.eastmill.com/i4116.htm#i48633 Ancestors of]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} was a figure of the American Revolutionary War. Eyre served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Continental Army,{{cite web|url=http://freepages.books.rootsweb.com/~cooverfamily/member_roll.html|title=Books of Historical Interest - The Iowa Society - Membership Roll, A-H}} commanding the Second Battalion of the Pennsylvania Militia.{{cite web|url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kipke/sotr/membs_h.htm|title=Sons of the Revolution in Washington D.C. 1920 - Members H}}
Biography
Benjamin was the brother to Manuel and Jehu Eyre, also both major players in the Revolution.{{cite web|url=http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/NJBURLIN/1998-10/0908718604|title=RootsWeb: NJBURLIN-L Burlington "EYRES" surname & associated names info #25}} Apocryphally, his family was descended, through his father, from the royal House of Wessex.
The Eyre family as a whole played a pivotal role in the war (most notably through their invaluable contributions to the U.S. Navy, which they essentially founded{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/w3/washington-ii.htm |title=Washington |website=www.history.navy.mil |access-date=13 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040314014830/http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/w3/washington-ii.htm |archive-date=14 March 2004 |url-status=dead}}{{cite book| chapter-url = http://www.history.army.mil/books/RevWar/risch/chpt-5.htm| chapter = Other Quartermaster Support| url = http://www.history.army.mil/books/RevWar/risch/risch-fm.htm| title = Supplying Washington's Army| first = Erna| last = Risch| publisher = United States Army Center of Military History| series = Special Studies Series| year = 1981| location = Washington D.C.| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100617002456/http://www.history.army.mil/books/RevWar/risch/risch-fm.htm| archive-date = 2010-06-17}}) and Washington mentioned them several times in his personal correspondences.[http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/index/revolution/elist.html Papers of George Washington] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070220194740/http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/index/revolution/elist.html |date=February 20, 2007 }}
=Shipbuilder=
Benjamin Eyre was commissioned by the Continental Congress to build the frigate General Greene, a service for which he was paid 56,561 pounds.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniamag03penngoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniamag03penngoog/page/n525 476]|quote=Benjamin Eyre.|title=The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography|date=1 January 1881|publisher=Historical Society of Pennsylvania.|via=Internet Archive}} Large contracts such as this one during the Revolutionary War era helped the Eyres' shipping company, Eyre and Massey, to become one of the largest in the world and bolstered the political and financial situation of the Eyre family.
=Revolutionary=
As aide-de-camp to General George Washington,{{cite journal|jstor=20084425|title=Memorials of Col. Jehu Eyre (concluded)|first1=Peter D.|last1=Keyser|first2=Wm.|last2=Henry|first3=Jehu|last3=Eyre|first4=Thos.|last4=Wharton|first5=John|last5=Armstrong|journal=The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography|date=1 January 1879|volume=3|issue=4|pages=412–425}} he was so close to the future President that he was once given an expensive punch-bowl by him.{{cite web|url=http://www.oldandsold.com/articles16/antique-china-10.shtml|title=Punch Bowls And Punches}} The punchbowl was loaned to the American Wing of New York's Metropolitan Museum in 1928 and donated by the surviving heirs in 1973. A large color photo can be seen in the magazine American Heritage, August 1955. The bowl depicted the China international trade and includes one of the first illustrations of the American flag, along with other international standards. The Eyre brothers were major ship builders.
Legacy
A portrait of him standing alongside Washington can be found at Princeton University.{{Citation needed|date=December 2007}}