Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn transcription of Henry Dearborn journals : manuscript

1822

Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn

Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn (1783-1851) of Roxbury, Massachusetts was a politician, militia officer, author and horticulturist. Born in Exeter, New Hampshire, he was the son of Henry Dearborn (1751-1829), an American army officer and statesman, and Dorcas Osgood Marble.

H.A.S. Dearborn began his career as a lawyer and held various public offices and military commands during his life. He was Collector of Customs at Boston, 1812-1829, and in 1812 was appointed brigadier general in the Massachusetts militia, commanding volunteers at Boston Harbor defenses. Dearborn was a delegate to the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1820-1821, and a member of the Massachusetts legislature, 1829-1830, and the U.S. House of Representatives, 1831-1833. In 1835 he was appointed Adjutant General of Massachusetts, but was dismissed in 1843 for loaning state arms to the government of Rhode Island to suppress the Dorr Rebellion in 1842. Dearborn was the author of several non-fiction works and wrote extensively on political, horticultural and other topics for newspapers and periodicals. He collaborated with his father to transcribe and edit his Revolutionary War journals, wrote sketches of his father's life and military career, and prepared materials for publication in the press on his behalf. A noted horticulturist and leader in the rural cemetery movement, Dearborn served as the first president of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, founded in 1829. He also helped found the New England Society for the Promotion of Manufactures and the Mechanical Arts, which existed from 1826 to 1868. In 1847 the Native American Party, later known as the American Party and popularly as the Know Nothing Party, nominated him to run for U.S. Vice President. H.A.S. Dearborn was Mayor of Roxbury from 1847 until his death in 1851.

Henry Dearborn

Henry Dearborn (1751-1829) of New Hampshire was an an American army officer and statesman. He fought in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, attaining the rank of senior Major General in the U.S. Army. Dearborn was U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts, 1793-1797; U.S. Secretary of War, 1801-1809; and U.S. minister to Portugal, 1822-1824.

At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Henry Dearborn was a practicing physician and captain of a New Hampshire militia company. He fought with the First and Third New Hampshire Regiments of the Continental Army, rising from captain to lieutenant colonel. In July 1781 he was appointed Deputy Quartermaster General and served on Washington's staff in Virginia. Notable events in his military service included the battle of Bunker Hill with the First New Hampshire Regiment, 1775; the expedition to Quebec, 1775, resulting in his capture, imprisonment and exchange; the battles of Saratoga, 1777, and Monmouth, 1778; and Major General John Sullivan's campaign against the Six Nations, 1779. He was with the main army in New York and New Jersey in 1780 and participated in the Yorktown Campaign in 1781. Upon his exchange in 1777, Dearborn served as major and then lieutenant colonel in the Third New Hampshire Regiment, transferring to the First New Hampshire Regiment in early 1781. He commanded the regiment upon the death of Colonel Alexander Scammell at Yorktown in October. Dearborn served at the garrison at Saratoga in the summer and fall of 1782, and received his discharge in June 1783.

In 1784 Dearborn moved to the District of Maine, then part of Massachusetts, settling in Pittston, now Gardiner, in Kennebec County. He became Major General of the Maine militia, was appointed U.S. Marshal for Maine in 1789, and served in the U.S. House of Representatives from the District, 1793 to 1797. After serving as Secretary of War during the Jefferson administration, he held the federal appointment of Collector of Customs for the port of Boston from 1809 until he was appointed senior Major General of the U.S. Army in January 1812. Although Dearborn's forces captured York (Toronto) and Fort George in the spring of 1813 during operations against Upper Canada, Dearborn's weakness as a strategic commander and severe illness led to his recall by Secretary of War John Armstrong in July of that year. Dearborn was re-assigned to command the military district of New York City and was honorably discharged in 1815. In 1817 he ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic-Republican candidate for governor of Massachusetts, and in 1818 his work An account of the battle of Bunker Hill was published. His final public office was U.S. minister to Portugal, 1822-1824.

Henry Dearborn was married three times: to Mary Bartlett in 1771, to Dorcas Osgood Marble in 1780, and to Sarah Bowdoin in 1813. Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn (1783-1851) was his son by his second wife. Henry Dearborn died in Roxbury, Massachusetts.