The New Student's Reference Work/Izard, Ralph

Iz′ard, Ralph, an American statesman, was born near Charleston, S. C., in 1742, and educated at Cambridge, England. He was a man of large wealth, and pledged his estate to aid in carrying on the war for independence against England. In 1776 congress appointed him a commissioner at the court of the grand duke of, and in 1780 he returned to the United States. It is said that no one had the confidence of Washington to a higher degree than Izard and that he was largely instrumental in securing the appointment of General Greene to the southern army. In 1782–83 he was a delegate to the Continental congress, and from 1789 to 1795 was a United States senator from South Carolina. His Correspondence from 1774 to 1784 was published in 1844. He died at South Bay, near Charleston, May 30, 1804.