Edward Hand | |
|---|---|
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| Born | (1744-12-31)31 December 1744 Clyduff,King's County,Ireland |
| Died | 3 September 1802(1802-09-03) (aged 57) Rock Ford,Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Buried | St. James's Episcopal Cemetery Lancaster, Pennsylvania |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom of Great Britain United States |
| Service/branch |  British Army Continental Army |
| Rank | Major General |
| Unit | Royal Irish Regiment |
| Commands | 1st Pennsylvania Regiment |
| Battles / wars | |
Edward Hand (31 December 1744 – 3 September 1802) was an Irish-born American military officer and politician who served in theContinental Army during theAmerican Revolutionary War, rising to the rank of general, and later was a member of severalPennsylvania governmental bodies.
Hand was born in Clyduff, King's County (nowCounty Offaly),Kingdom of Ireland, on 31 December 1744, and was baptised inShinrone. His father was John Hand. Among his immediate neighbours were the Kearney family, ancestors of U.S. PresidentBarack Obama.[1] He was a descendant of either the families ofMag Fhlaithimh (of southUlaidh andMide) orÓ Flaithimhín (of theSíol Muireadaigh) who, through mistranslation (Flaithimh/Flaithimhín intoLáimhín;laimh =hand), becameLavin or Hand.[2]
Hand earned a medical certificate fromTrinity College, Dublin. In 1767, Hand enlisted as a Surgeon's Mate in the18th (Royal Irish) Regiment of Foot. On 20 May 1767, he sailed with the regiment from Cobh, Cork, Ireland, arriving atPhiladelphia on 11 July 1767. In 1772, he was commissioned an ensign. He marched with the regiment toFort Pitt, on the forks of theOhio River, returning to Philadelphia in 1774, where he resigned his commission.
In 1774, Hand moved toLancaster, Pennsylvania, where he practiced medicine. On 13 March 1775, he married Katherine Ewing (born 25 March 1751 inPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania). Lancaster was the region of some of the earliestIrish andScots-Irish settlements in Pennsylvania. Hand was active in forming the Lancaster CountyAssociators, a colonialmilitia.
Hand was a 32nd degreeFreemason, belonging to the Montgomery Military Lodge number 14.
Hand entered theContinental Army in 1775 as alieutenant colonel in the1st Pennsylvania Regiment under ColonelWilliam Thompson. He was promoted tocolonel in 1776 and placed in command of the 1st Continental (then designated the 1st Pennsylvania).[3]
Promoted tobrigadier general in March 1777, he served as the commander ofFort Pitt, fighting British loyalists and their Indian allies. In early 1778, Hand led an expedition into the Ohio country to capture a small British magazine on the Cuyahoga River near Lake Erie, which could be used to supply Native American nations who had allied with the British, such as the Wyandot and the Shawnee. However, failing to distinguish among Native American groups, the unruly militiamen under Hand's command attacked the neutralLenape village ofKuskusky, killing the mother, brother, and a child of Chief Hopocan, known asCaptain Pipe. The expedition became derisively known as the Squaw Campaign.[4] Hand was later recalled after serving over a year at Fort Pitt (June 1777 to August 1778),[5] to command abrigade inMajor GeneralLa Fayette's division.
Planning for a campaign against the Iroquois was already under way, and Hand’s frontier experience naturally recommended him as a participant. In the resultingSullivan-Clinton Iroquois Expedition (May-November 1779) through theSouthern Tier andFinger Lakes regions of New York, Edward Hand commanded the Third Brigade, composed of the Fourth and Eleventh Pennsylvania Regiments, theGerman Regiment,Proctor’s Artillery, Captain James Parr’s Riflemen, Captain Anthony Selin’s Riflemen, and two Wyoming companies. The brigade composed the “Light Corps” of Sullivan’s army and formed itsvanguard. The journals kept by the officers on the expedition indicate that Hand played a major role in the success of the campaign. When he rejoined his family in Lancaster at the close of the year he was thirty-five years old, the youngest of the brigadiers.[5]
After a few months, he was appointedAdjutant General of the Continental Army and served during thesiege of Yorktown in that capacity. In recognition of his long and distinguished service, he was, in September 1783, promoted bybrevet to major general. He resigned from the Army in November 1783.
He was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati.[6]
Hand returned to Lancaster and resumed the practice of medicine. AFederalist, Hand was active in civil affairs, holding posts that included:
Beginning in 1785, he owned and operatedRock Ford plantation, a 177-acre (0.72 km2) farm on the banks of theConestoga River, one mile (1.6 km) south ofLancaster, Pennsylvania. TheGeorgian brick mansion remains today; the farm is a historic site open to the public. Hand was also anenslaver, owning several enslaved people, one of whom, Frank, ran away in 1802.[7]
Hand is suspected to have died from typhoid, dysentery or pneumonia at Rock Ford in 1802. Medical records are unclear, but some sources state Hand died of cholera. There is no evidence Lancaster County suffered from a cholera epidemic in 1802. Hand is buried in St. James's Episcopal Cemetery in Lancaster, the same church where he had served as a deacon.
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| Preceded by | Adjutant Generals of the U. S. Army 8 January 1781 – 3 November 1783 | Succeeded by |
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