James Sullivan, American Revolution Hero, Published Author and Massachusetts Governor

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Portrait of James Sullivan, painted in 1807 by Gilbert Stuart

James Sullivan (1744-1808), a heralded lawyer, orator and statesman during the American Revolution,  including two terms as Governor of Massachusetts, was born in Berwick, Maine on April 22, 1744. 

He was the fourth of five sons born to Owen Sullivan of Limerick and Margery Browne of Cork, who were both indentured servants from Ireland. James and his brothers were home-schooled by their father, who had been a teacher in Ireland and spoke numerous languages. Sullivan worked for and studied law in his brother’s legal firm, and later served as a justice for the Massachusetts Supreme Court from 1776 to 1782, as well as serving as a probate judge for Suffolk County from 1788 to 1790. 

Sullivan's brother John Sullivan was a general in the American Revolution and a close aide to George Washington.  His other brother, Ebenezer Sullivan raised his own militia of soldiers and fought as a captain in the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775.  

Unable to fight in the Revolutionary War because of a childhood injury, James planned for the defense of Maine during the war. He was a member of the Continental Congress. 



Sullivan wrote several books, including a History of Maine, The Constitutional Liberty of the Press, and the History of the Penobscot Indians. He was Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, Attorney General for Massachusetts, and after the war was elected Governor of the state in 1807 and 1808 before dying while in Office.

A portrait of James Sullivan painted in 1807 by Gilbert Stuart hangs at the Massachusetts Historical Society, where he served as the Society's first president. A copy of the Stuart original by Ernest Ipsen made in 1900 hangs at the Massachusetts State House.  


James Sullivan's Tomb in the Granary Burying Ground

James Sullivan is buried at the Granary Burying Ground in the Bellingham family plot.  Sullivan Square in Charlestown is named in Sullivan's honor because of his role in building the Middlesex Canal which ran through where Sullivan Square is today.

Both the State House and Granary Burying Ground are part of Boston's Irish Heritage Trail, a collection of public landmarks that tell the illustrious story of the Boston Irish.  

These sites are also listed on the new Revolutionary Irish Trail, published in March 2026 as part of the America 250 celebrations. 






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