A celebrated American general, born at Warwick, Rhode Island; though the son of a Quaker, he promptly took up arms on the outbreak of hostilities with the mother-country, and in 1775, as brigadier-general, headed the force in Rhode Island; his gallant conduct at the battles of Princeton and Brandywine won him promotion, and in 1780 he was advanced to the command of the army of the south; after a temporary reverse from Cornwallis at Guildford Court, he conducted his operations with so much success that, with the crowning victory at Eutaw Springs (1781), he cleared the British from the States; his last days were spent on his estate in Georgia, a gift from government in recognition of his services; next to Washington he was the great hero of the war (1742-1788).