"William Rouse, third son of Eli Rouse and Martha Askwith, was born near Leeds, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, January 30, 1756.

Animated by the prospects which this country opened to the young, he embarked and arrived at Annapolis. November 5, 1774. He settled in Loudoun county, Virginia, with the intention of devoting himself to agricultural pursuits. But as the Revolutionary struggle soon began, his ardent attachment for those principles for which this country contended led him to take an active and decided part in its favor.

He volunteered his services as a soldier and was quartered near Lake Champlain. While there he observed the peculiar value of the position and ventured to urge its fortification on his captain, but no attention was paid to the suggestion. However, when the war was over, he pointed it out to the government and it was immediately fortified and named at first, Mary's Fort, after his wife, Mary Stuart, of Charleston, South Carolina. This fort when it was too late attracted the notice of the English government and was the source of those boundary dispatches that were referred to the arbitration of the King of Holland.

With the Third Regiment he was sent to Georgia. At the Siege of Savannah, he was taken prisoner and put on board a prison ship, where he suffered every indignity and hardship, until the fortunes of war brought about an exchange of prisoners, by which means he was released. At the expiration of his term of service he came to this city, Charleston, South Carolina, where he resided ever afterwards.
Of the esteem in which he was held by his fellow citizens through life the various places of trust and honor which by their appointment he filled are decided evidence.
In the Eight Regiment of Cavalry he rose through all the intermediate grades of office to that of its commander. He died June 15, 1829, in the seventy-fourth year of his age."

Ref: Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, Vol 36 January-june, 1910

"William Rouse, third son of Eli Rouse and Martha Askwith, was born near Leeds, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, January 30, 1756.

Animated by the prospects which this country opened to the young, he embarked and arrived at Annapolis. November 5, 1774. He settled in Loudoun county, Virginia, with the intention of devoting himself to agricultural pursuits. But as the Revolutionary struggle soon began, his ardent attachment for those principles for which this country contended led him to take an active and decided part in its favor.

He volunteered his services as a soldier and was quartered near Lake Champlain. While there he observed the peculiar value of the position and ventured to urge its fortification on his captain, but no attention was paid to the suggestion. However, when the war was over, he pointed it out to the government and it was immediately fortified and named at first, Mary's Fort, after his wife, Mary Stuart, of Charleston, South Carolina. This fort when it was too late attracted the notice of the English government and was the source of those boundary dispatches that were referred to the arbitration of the King of Holland.

With the Third Regiment he was sent to Georgia. At the Siege of Savannah, he was taken prisoner and put on board a prison ship, where he suffered every indignity and hardship, until the fortunes of war brought about an exchange of prisoners, by which means he was released. At the expiration of his term of service he came to this city, Charleston, South Carolina, where he resided ever afterwards.
Of the esteem in which he was held by his fellow citizens through life the various places of trust and honor which by their appointment he filled are decided evidence.
In the Eight Regiment of Cavalry he rose through all the intermediate grades of office to that of its commander. He died June 15, 1829, in the seventy-fourth year of his age."

Ref: Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, Vol 36 January-june, 1910