William North

William North was born in Pemaquid, Maine, to John North and Elizabeth Pitson in 1755. John was an Irish immigrant and Elizabeth a native of Boston. He had two half-siblings from his father's previous marriage to Elizabeth Lewis, Joseph and Mary North.

His father, Captain John North, was Lieutenant Commander of Fort Frederick between 1744 and 1756, and in charge of Fort St. George from 1756 to 1763. He was also appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the county in 1760.{{Cite book|last=North|first=James W|title=The History of Augusta, from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time|publisher=Clapp and North|year=1870|location=Augusta (Me.)|pages=70}}

After the death of his father in 1763, North moved north with his mother to Boston, Massachusetts. There he attended the Boston Latin School in North Boston between 1764 and 1770.{{cite web |title=Letter from William North to George Featherstonhaugh, undated [c. April 1810] |url=https://cdm16694.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16124coll1/id/44245/ |website=New York Heritage Digital Collections}}{{cite web |title=Notable Alumni |url=https://www.bls.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=203830&type=d&pREC_ID=404406 |website=Boston Latin School}} While in Boston, North worked in a Merchant's office, where he remained until the northern port was closed by British authorities in the fall of 1774.North (1870), p. 180

He entered the Continental Army in 1775 and served under Benedict Arnold in the unfortunate expedition to Canada in that year. Though he volunteered, he was apparently too sick to participate. On May 9, 1776, he was commissioned second lieutenant in Captain John Gill's company of Colonel Thomas Craft's regiment of train artillery. He was then appointed in May 1777 as captain in Colonel Henry Jackson's 16th Massachusetts Regiment, with which he participated in the Battle of Monmouth. According to his son, the commission "went with my father in his bosom through the War of the Revolution".{{cite web |title=Hancock, John (1737-1793) [Captain's commission for William North] |url=https://www.gilderlehrman.org/collection/glc02524 |website=The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History}}

In 1778 he met Baron Steuben, and the following year was appointed his aide-de-camp, and greatly assisted him introducing his system of discipline in the Continental Army. Later he accompanied Steuben to Virginia, and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis and the siege of Yorktown. Based on the Baron's recommendation, North was appointed as Inspector of the Troops under General Henry Knox in 1784.{{cite web |title=Thomson, Charles (1729-1824) [Appointment of Major William North as Inspector of Troops under General Knox] |url=https://www.gilderlehrman.org/collection/glc0254210 |website=The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History}}

North was appointed by Act of Congress a Major in the 2nd United States Regiment on October 20, 1786. This regiment was added to the army temporarily in response to Daniel Shays' uprising of debtor farmers in Massachusetts.{{Cite web|last=William|first=Skelton|date=2000|title=North, William (1755-1836), army officer and U.S. senator|url=https://www.anb.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-0300360|website=American National Biography|doi=10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0300360|isbn=978-0-19-860669-7 }}

After the war he settled in Duanesburg, New York, where he married.

He was appointed adjutant general of the United States Army with the rank of brigadier general on July 19, 1798. In March of 1799, after eight months of inactive duty, Congress added the role of assistant inspector general to the position. As inspector general, Alexander Hamilton, who had worked closely with North during the Revolutionary War, subsequently requested him to serve as his chief of staff. There he assisted in Hamilton's attempt at reforming and strengthening the army. North began a revision of the army's general regulations in the winter of 1799–1800 before Congress abolished his and other staff appointments as tensions with France diminished in May. He was discharged in June.Skelton (2000).

In March 1812, he was again appointed adjutant-general of the Army, but declined. He may have declined due to his party's opposition to the war, which was especially strong in his home state of New York.{{cite journal |last1=Strum |first1=Harvey |title=New York Federalists and Opposition to the War of 1812 |journal=World Affairs |date=1980 |volume=142 |issue=3 |pages=169–187 |jstor=20671825 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20671825}}

George Washington included North "among the most intelligent and active Officers of the late American Army" in a letter suggesting men for military appointment.{{cite web |title=Suggestions for Military Appointments, 14 July 1798 |url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-02-02-0319 |website=Founders Online}}

Caesar Russell, an African American Private in the 4th Massachusetts Regiment, served as North's personal servant while aide-de-camp to Baron Steuben.{{Cite book|last=Murphy|first=Ric|title=Freedom Road: An American Family Saga from Jamestown to World War|publisher=AuthorHouse|year=2014|pages=82–85}}

North and a fellow aide-de-camp, Captain Benjamin Walker, were formally adopted by Steuben and made his heirs.Kapp, Friedrich The Life of Frederick William Von Steuben, Major General in the United States Army, Mason Brothers, New York 1859, p. 707. Some historians believe that these 'extraordinary intense emotional relationships'American National Biography - Volume 16 - Page 513. n.b. Contrary to many online articles, this phrase does not appear in [http://loyolanotredamelib.org/php/report05/articles/pdfs/Report35Pritchett19-26.pdf Steuben's final Will]. were romantic,Benemann, William Male-Male Intimacy in Early America: Beyond Romantic Friendships Haworth Press, 2006, {{ISBN|1-56023-345-1}} and given Steuben's reported earlier behaviour, it has been suggested it would have been out-of-character for him if they were not.Quinn, Michael D. Same-Sex Dynamics among Nineteenth-Century Americans, University of Illinois Press, 2001, pp179-180 However, based on the limited historical record, it is impossible to prove.Benemann, p. 102 Following Baron Steuben's death, North divided the property bequeathed to him among his military companions.{{cite book |last= White|first= J.T.|title= The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Fl4oAAAAYAAJ&q=Following+Baron+Steuben%27s+death,+North+divided+the+property+bequeathed+to+him+among+his+military+companions.|publisher= Harvard University|page= 7|date= 1892}}

North named two of his six children after the Baron, Frederic William Steuben North and William Augustus Steuben North.

He was a member of the New York State Assembly from Albany County in 1792, 1794 and 1795, from Albany and Schenectady Counties in 1796, and from Schenectady County in 1810. He was Speaker in 1795, 1796 and 1810. North was appointed as a Federalist to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Sloss Hobart and served from May 5, 1798, to August 17, 1798, when James Watson was elected and qualified to succeed.

As a strong Federalist, North supported the Aliens and Sedition Acts and other efforts against the Democratic-Republican opposition. Additionally, he supported the establishment of a Provisional army, following the outbreak of the Quasi-war with France.

He was a member of the first Erie Canal Commission, from 1810 to 1816.

North was a commissioner and director of the Great Western Turnpike Company which was established by the New York state legislature March 15, 1799. It was commissioned to build a road from Albany to Cherry Valley.

File:General William North House, North Mansion Road, Duanesburg (Schenectady County, New York).jpg in Duanesburg, built c. 1795]]

On October 14, 1787, North married Mary Duane (b. 1762), the daughter of James Duane (1733–1797), the 44th Mayor of New York City and U.S. District Judge for the District of New York, appointed by George Washington. Together, they had six children, Frederic William Steuben (1788–1789), Marie (1780–1812), James Duane (1791–1792), Elizabeth (1792–1845), William Augustus Steuben (1793–1845), Adelia (1797–1878).

It has been suggested that North and Benjamin Walker had a romantic relationship, but like with the Baron, this is difficult to be certain of.Murphy (2014), p. 84-85 Nevertheless, and despite a falling out between 1811 and 1813, Walker remained North's most intimate friend until their deaths.Benemann (2006), p. 117-118 Walker was named as a sponsor of North's daughter Adelia at her baptism.{{cite web |title=P. 4-5 (second pagination), baptisms in Christ's Church, August 27, 1797: Anstis O'Brien, Dorrides Reightor, and Adelia North. Baptized August 1 (?), 1798: Matthew Reghtor |url=http://digitalcollections.nyhistory.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A120682 |website=New York Historical Society Digital Collection |publisher=New York Historical Society}}

The General William North House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.{{NRISref|version=2009a}}

General North was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati.{{Cite book|last=Metcalf|first=Bryce|title=Original Members and Other Officers Eligible to the Society of the Cincinnati, 1783-1938: With the Institution, Rules of Admission, and Lists of the Officers of the General and State Societies|publisher=Shenandoah Publishing House, Inc.|year=1938|isbn=|location=Strasburg, Va.|pages=}} He died in New York City, and was buried in the crypt under the Christ Episcopal Church in Duanesburg.{{cite web|title=NORTH, William - Biographical Information|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=N000142|website=bioguide.congress.gov|publisher=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|access-date=16 September 2016}}

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{CongBio|N000142}}

• [https://books.google.com/books?id=E3sFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA294 The New York Civil List] compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pages 40 and 294; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858)
• [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/norrish-northway.html/ Political Graveyard] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526032435/http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/norrish-northway.html |date=May 26, 2008 }}
• [https://www.flickr.com/photos/ohlhous/250735935/in/set-280456/ William North Historic Marker]
• [https://www.societyofthecincinnati.org/ The Society of the Cincinnati]
• [https://www.americanrevolutioninstitute.org/ The American Revolution Institute]

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{{succession box | before = James Watson | title = Speaker of the New York State Assembly | years = 1795–1796 | after = Gulian Verplanck}}

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{{succession box|title=Adjutant General of the U.S. Army|before=Edward Hand |after=Ebenezer Denny (acting)|years=November 5, 1783 – October 28, 1787}}

{{succession box|title=Inspectors General of the U.S. Army|before=Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben |after=vacant|years=April 17, 1784 – October 28, 1787}}

{{succession box|title=Adjutant General of the U.S. Army|before=Thomas H. Cushing (acting) |after=Thomas H. Cushing|years=July 19, 1798 – June 15, 1800}}

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Category:1755 births

Category:1836 deaths

Category:Continental Army officers from Massachusetts

Category:Adjutants general of the United States Army

Category:Erie Canal Commissioners

Category:Inspectors general of the United States Army

Category:People from Bristol, Maine

Category:Speakers of the New York State Assembly

Category:United States Army generals

Category:United States senators from New York (state)

Category:New York (state) Federalists

Category:Federalist Party United States senators

Category:People from Duanesburg, New York

Category:Duane family

Category:19th-century members of the New York State Legislature

Category:18th-century United States senators

Category:18th-century members of the New York State Legislature

Category:18th-century American LGBTQ people