General James Clinton, a veteran of the French & Indian War and the Revolutionary War, was born on August 9, 1736, in Little Britain, New York. In addition to serving during the unsuccessful Invasion of Quebec, he also fought at the Battle of Newtown in Chemung County, New York, in 1779 and at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781.
Clinton’s long, battle-hardened military career was defined by a ruthless, unyielding enforcement of Continental authority along the New York frontier during the darkest years of the Revolution. Alongside General John Sullivan, he was ordered by George Washington to launch a massive, scorched-earth offensive against the Iroquois Confederacy, who had allied with the British to launch devastating raids on American settlements. During the 1779 campaign, Clinton’s troops systematically burned dozens of Native villages and destroyed vast agricultural stores, executing a total war strategy that permanently broke the military power of the Iroquois and secured the northern border, paving his path to stand alongside Washington at the final British surrender at Yorktown.
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