Benjamin Lincoln

Washington's subordinate generals, he had quite a few.

He had Henry Knox, he had the Marquis de Lafayette, Baron von Steuben, Anthony Wayne, Benjamin Lincoln.

Lincoln had been exchanged in October 1780.

If you recall, last episode at the beginning, we talked about capture of Charleston, and Lincoln had been captured when the British took Charleston, but he was exchanged for another general, a British general, in a prisoner exchange, so he's back.

I don't feel good," he sent his second-in-command, General Charles O'Hara, to the surrender ceremony.

O'Hara offered his sword to Rochambeau, who told him to give it to Washington.

Washington declined the sword and told O'Hara to give it to Benjamin Lincoln.

This was a deliberate gesture by Washington.

Whether these loyalist numbers were as large as British leaders believed, we'll have to see.

In September 1778, the Continental Congress appointed Benjamin Lincoln as the commander of the Continental forces in the South.

Lincoln inherited a difficult command.

Compared to Washington's army, the Southern forces were smaller, they were more scattered, and they lacked supplies.

They've got it squared away now, or as, as the British would say, "We've got it sorted." And so now it's time to move up to the next Southern colony, and that would be South Carolina.

And of course, if you're gonna take South Carolina, you've gotta take the most popular, populous, I guess popular too, city, and that of course is Charleston.

So Benjamin Lincoln, the Southern commander for the Continental Army, as we said, he arrived in Charleston in January 1779 to take charge of the city's defenses.

He knew Charleston would be the next British target.

He sailed into Savannah with roughly sixty vessels and several thousand troops, including Black soldiers recruited from Haiti.

The French contingent sought to coordinate with Benjamin Lincoln’s continental forces in a joint siege that would eventually fail but shook British confidence.

The arrival of d’Estaing was met by a furious British garrison commanded by Colonel Archibald Campbell.

The British had recently captured Savannah two years earlier, so they were keen to maintain their foothold.

At the first meeting, General Washington was unanimously chosen President General and held that office until his death, when he was succeeded by Major General Alexander Hamilton, who in turn remained President General until his tragic death.

Among the great leaders of the American Revolution who became members of the Society, besides George Washington, were Alexander Hamilton, the Marquis de Lafayette, Henry Knox, Nathaniel Green, Friedrich von Steuben, Benjamin Lincoln, Charles C. Pinckney, John Paul Jones, Israel Putnam, John Schuyler, Horatio Gates, James Monroe, William Moultrie, Thaddeus Kosciko, Anthony Wayne, William Sullivan, Light Horse Harry Lee, Arthur St. Clair, and many others.

From the early issue of the New York Directory, many members of the Cincinnati are known to have been Freemasons.

Those mentioned are George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, General Friedrich von Steuben, Chancellor Robert R. Livington, Grand Master, John Paul Jones, and General Henry Knox.