Revolutionary War Hero General John Sullivan Born in New Hampshire on February 17, 1740

General John Sullivan, who led the Siege of Boston from Dorchester Heights in March 1776, forcing British troops to withdraw from Boston, was born in Somersworth, NH on February 18, 1740.

Sullivan was the third of five sons born to Owen Sullivan of Limerick and Margery Browne of Cork, both indentured servants from Ireland. He and his brothers were home-schooled by their father, who had been a teacher in Ireland. His brother James Sullivan was governor of Massachusetts.

John became a lawyer, served in the New Hampshire legislature, and was chosen as a member of the First Continental Congress in 1774 and the Second Continental Congress in 1775. As the Revolutionary War escalated, Sullivan was selected as one of General George Washington’s eight Brigadier Generals in the Colonial Army.

When Henry Knox delivered the cannons from Fort Ticonderoga in New York to Massachusetts in the winter of 1776, Sullivan commanded a brigade during the Siege of Boston at Dorchester Heights. The password used to enter the fortifications that day was St. Patrick, according to the National Archives.

The Massachusetts Historical Society has a letter from Sullivan to John Adams dated March 15, 1776, in which Sullivan describes the colonial army’s fortification at Dorchester Heights to drive the British troops out of Boston. “When the British wake up one morning to find a large number of Henry Knox’s cannon pointed directly at them from Dorchester Heights, hasty action is required to salvage the situation.”

Dorchester Heights

After the war, Sullivan became a New Hampshire congressman, and later attorney-General of NH. In 1789, President Washington appointed him Judge of the U.S. District Court of NH, which he held until his death on January 23, 1795. He is buried in New Hampshire, and there is a monument honoring Sullivan in Durham, NH.

Thousands of Irish born in Ireland and in New Englanders had significant roles in the Revolutionary War. Read more here.

Find more about the illustrious history of the Boston Irish by visiting IrishHeritageTrail.com.

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