Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/211

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

Gates, Horatio, was born in Maiden, Es- sex, England, in 1728, in the Castle of the Duke of Leeds: little is known of his par- entage except rumors that he was the natural son of Sir Robert W'alpole, and others that made his father the butler in the employ of the Duke. He was trained as a soldier and first saw service under Fer- dinand the Prince of Brunswick. He next appears as captain of the King's New York irsdependent company and in 1755, at Hali- fax as major. He was with Braddock at Fort Duquesne, July 9, 1755, where he was severely wounded and Washington is cred- ited with having saved his life in the re- treat. In 1762 he was at the capture of Martinique by Monckton, and after visiting England in 1763 he purchased a plantation in Berkeley county, Virginia. Washington, when in 1775 called upon by congress to select officers for the continental army, named Gates, who was commissioned ad- jutant-general, with the rank of brigadier- general. In 1776 he accompanied Wash- ington to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was commanding-general of the northern aimy operating against Crown Point and Ticonderoga. He won the support of the delegates to congress from the New Eng- land states, and was given the rank of ma- jor-general and superseded not only Gen. John Sullivan, but in August, 1777, Gen. Phillip J. Schuyler. The New England con- tingent still further pressed their demands by openly suggesting Gates as commander- in-chief. The battle of Saratoga, which re- sulted in the surrender of Burgoyne to Gates. October 17, 1777, served to magnify his military genius, and congress voted him a gold medal and the thanks of the country and placed him at the head of the board of

war. The opportunity thus presented to the friends of Gates was taken advantage of by the delegates of New England, and the cabal against the commander-in-chiei was renewed with the object of forcing Wash- ington into retirement and thus making place for Gates. Gen. Thomas Conway and Gen. Thomas Mifflin conspired with Gen. Gates, and their correspondence revealed to Washington by Lord Stirling and obtained by him from Col. James Wilkinson, Gates' chief-of-staff, in a moment of unguarded conviviality, put the commander-in-chief on his guard, and he exposed the whole affair. Gates sought to escape the odium by charg- mg Wilkinson with forger\% whereupon Col. W^ilkinson challenged Gen. Gates who first accepted and finally declined the chal- lenge. Gates retired to his estate in Vir- ginia and took no part in the operations of the army until June, 1780, when after the capture of Gen. Lincoln, he was. given com- mand of the southern army. His force of 4,000 men was concentrated in North Caro- lina to oppose Cornwallis. who was rapidli marching northward. On August 16, the armies met at Camden, South Carolina, and Gates was overwhelmed and his army al- most annihilated. He was thereupon super- seded by Gen. Nathanael Greene, and sus- pended in December, 1780, from military duty. A court of inquiry acquitted him in 1782 and he was reinstated. He removed to New York City in 1790 after having emancipated his slaves. He was a member of the New York state legislature in 1800. He was, through his marriage with Mary, only child of James Valence of Liverpool, placed in possession of a fortune of $450,000 which Mrs. Gates used during the revolu- tion in advancing the military fortune of

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