JAMES CLINTON, the third son, and the father of DE WITT Clinton, was born on the 9^th of August, 1736, at the family residence in Little Britain. It has truly been said of him, that he was a warrior from his youth upward. Born upon the frontiers, with a hardy and vigorous constitution, and accustomed to alarms and Indian incursions, he became in early life attached to the profession of arms. As early as 1757, he received an ensign’s commission, and in the following year he was commissioned first lieutenant by James Delancey, lieutenant-governor of the then province of New York, and empowered to enlist troops; and in 1759, being then twenty-three years of age, he attained the rank of captain in the provincial army. In 1758, a considerable army, under General Bradstreet, passed up the Mohawk valley, and thence to Lake Ontario, and by a well-directed attack, captured Fort Frontenac from the French. Colonel Charles Clinton was at this time in command of Fort Herkimer, near the German Flats, in the Mohawk valley; and as before mentioned, joined General Bradstreet with his regiment. James Clinton was also in this expedition, and commanded a company; his brother George being lieutenant. At the attack upon Fort Frontenac, he exhibited an intrepidity of character which gained him great credit. He and his brother were instrumental in capturing one of the French vessels. The capture of this fort was one of the brilliant exploits of the French war.

Colonel Charles Clinton states in his journal, that "the destruction of this place (meaning Fort Frontenac,) and of the shipping, artillery, and stores, is one of the greatest blows the French have met with in America, considering the consequences of it, as it was the store out of which all the forts to the southward were supplied; and the shipping destroyed there, they employed in that service." The expedition was conducted with secrecy, and the French were taken unprepared. The fort contained but a small garrison, and was carried the second day after the commencement of the siege. Similar expeditions were common in that war. Armies plunged into the wilderness and forced their way up streams and over morasses with great labor and difficulty. The province of New York was the principal battle-ground. Fortresses were erected on the whole then northern frontier, extending from Lake George through the valley of the Mohawk, and along the shores of Lake Ontario to the vicinity of the great cataract itself. The Englishmen and the Anglo-American fought side by side against France and her dependencies, and it seemed at times as if the fate of nations three thousand miles removed was to be decided by the hot contests of their armies amid –the green forests of this western world.

From 1758 to 1763, James Clinton continued in the provincial army; now stationed upon the frontier posts, engaged in the border skirmishes, and now enlisting new recruits under orders from the colonial governors, Sir Charles Handy, James Delancey, and Cadwallader Colden. In the latter year, 1763, he raised and commanded a corps of two hundred men, who were designated as Guards of the Frontier. He continued in the army until the close of the French war, and seems to have enjoyed, in a large degree, the confidence of the government and of his fellow soldiers.

After the close of the war he retired to his farm at Little Britain, and married Mary De Witt, a daughter of Egbert De Witt, a young lady of great respectability, whose ancestors were from Holland. He had four sons by this marriage; Alexander, who was private secretary to his uncle George; Charles, who was a lawyer in Orange county; De Witt, the third son, born in March, 1769; and George, who was also a lawyer and a member of Congress -– all of whom are now deceased.

James Clinton, however, in time of peace, could not entirely forget the military life. He entered with zeal into the militia organization, and was a lieutenant colonel of a regiment in Orange county. At the commencement of the Revolutionary War he entered warmly into the continental service. His brother George had been for many years a representative in the Colonial Assembly from his native county, and had from the first advocated his country’s cause with that fearlessness and energy of character for which he was distinguished.

The two brothers were not unmindful of the dying injunctions of their father, and, hand in hand, at the first moment of outbreak, they entered the arena and joined their pledges of faith and support to the colonial cause.

In 1775, James Clinton was appointed colonel of the third regiment of New York troops, raised by the order of the Continental Congress; and in 1776, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general. In the summer of this year he was employed in the expedition against Canada, under Gen. Montgomery, and was before the walls of Quebec at the time of the fall of that brave and gallant general. In the summer of 1777, that gloomy period when almost the whole force of the British armies in America was concentrated upon the State of New York, Gen. Clinton was stationed at Fort Montgomery, upon the Hudson River, and together with his brother the governor, made a firm though unsuccessful resistance to the advance of the enemy, under Sir Henry Clinton.

During the greater part of 1778, Gen. Clinton was stationed at West Point, and for a portion of that year was engaged in throwing a chain across the Hudson to prevent the ascent of the river by the enemy’s ships. The summer of that year has been rendered memorable upon the then frontiers, by reason of the massacres of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, under armies of Indians and Tories, led on by the Butlers and Brant. On the 16^th of November, 1778, and just after the massacre at Cherry Valley, which occurred on the 11^th of that month, Gen. Washington wrote to Gen. Hand, acknowledging the receipt of his letter containing the information of the destruction of that place, and adds, "It is in the highest degree distressing to have our frontiers so continually harrassed by this collection of banditti under Brant and Butler." He then inquires whether offensive operations could not be carried on against them at that season of the year, and if not then, when and how. This letter was probably referred to Gen. Clinton, as it has been preserved among his papers; and it contains the first intimation which I have seen of that expedition against the Six Nations in the following year, known as Sullivan’s expedition, in which Gen. Clinton was called to act a distinguished part.

It was determined to "carry the war into Africa." In other words, it was resolved to overrun the whole Indian country, and thus, if possible, put an end to the constant and harassing inroads of the enemy upon the frontier settlements. For this purpose extensive preparations were made, and after some difficulty in obtaining a commander, the expedition was intrusted to Gen. Sullivan. It was decided that the army should move early in the Spring of 1779. Gen. Sullivan was to cross to Easton, in Pennsylvania, and into the valley of the Susquehanna, while Gen. Clinton was to pass up the Mohawk Valley, and either unite with Sullivan in the Indian country, or else cross over from the Mohawk River to Lake Otsego, and proceed thence down the eastern branch of the Susquehanna. The latter route was finally determined upon, though Gen. Washington preferred the former, as did Gen. Clinton. The latter gave as his reasons that the army could move up the Mohawk Valley and enter the Indian country with more ease and less delay, and that a movement in that direction would be more decisive and fatal to the Indians. The whole expedition was, however, under the control of Gen. Sullivan, who preferred the other route, and it was adopted.

On the 1^st of June, 1779, Gen. Clinton’s detachment, consisting of about two thousand troops, moved from Albany and proceeded up the Mohawk Valley as far as Canajoharie. Here they pitched their camp, and with great labor carried over their boats and stores to the head of Lake Otsego -– a distance of nearly twenty miles.

On the 1^st of July, Gen. Clinton broke up his camp at Canajoharie, and crossed over to Lake Otsego, where his boats and stores had previously been carried, and, launching his boats, passed down to the outlet, and again camped upon the spot where now is built the beautiful village of Cooperstown, the Templeton of the Pioneers. Two hundred and eight batteaux, and a large amount of provisions and military stores, had been carried across from the Mohawk River. Here, under date of 13^th of July, Gen. Clinton writes to Mrs. Clinton, saying that she probably expects that the army is in the midst of the Indian country, but that he is still waiting orders to move; that he is impatient for them, but that his situation is by no means unpleasant; that he can catch perch in the lake and trout in the streams, and hunt for deer upon the mountains.

On the 22^d of August, this division arrived at Tioga, and joined the main army under Gen. Sullivan.

On the 26^th of August, the whole army moved from Tioga up the river of that name, and on the 29^th fell in with the enemy at Newtown. Here a spirited engagement took place, in which the enemy was routed. When it was first announced that an army was marching into their country, the Indians laughed at their supposed folly, believing it impossible for a regular army to traverse the wilderness and drive them from their fastnesses.

On the 14^th of September the army arrived at the Genesee River, and the rich alluvial bottom lands which now constitute the garden of this State had even then been extensively cultivated by the Indians. Scarcely a tree was to be seen over the whole extent. Modern curiosity and enterprise had not then rendered familiar the mighty valleys and prairies of the West, and officers and soldiers gazed alike with surprise and admiration upon the rich prospect before them. The army, as it emerged from the woods, and as company after company filed off and formed upon the plain, presented an animating and imposing spectacle.

The whole country of the Onondagas, the Cayugas, and the Senecas was overrun by this expedition.

In the early part of 1780, the year following the expedition against the Six Nations, Gen. Clinton was stationed upon the Hudson River. In October of that year, and after the discovery of the treason of Arnold, Gen. Washington wrote to Gen. Clinton, then at West Point, as follows: "As it is necessary there should be an officer in whom the State has confidence, to take the general direction of affairs at Albany and on the frontier, I have fixed upon you for this purpose, and request you will proceed to Albany without delay, and assume the command. You will be particularly attentive to the post at Fort Schuyler, and do everything in your power to have it supplied with a good stock of provisions and stores, and you will take every other precaution the means at your command will permit for the security of the frontier, giving the most early advice of any incursions of the enemy."

Gen. Clinton repaired to Albany, and took the direction of affairs in the northern department, according to the instructions of the Commander-in-chief. That post had been one of great responsibility during the whole of the war, and at the time of Gen. Clinton’s appointment it had not lost its importance.

He continued at Albany until August 1781, when he embarked the troops immediately under his command, for the purpose of joining the Commander-in-chief, and was succeeded in the command of the northern army by Gen. Stark.

In the winter or spring of 1782 some promotions were made by the Continental Congress, by which a junior officer took precedence over Gen. Clinton. The veteran soldier could not brook what he deemed a great injury. He solicited and obtained leave to withdraw from the active duties of the camp. In a letter dated April 10^th, 1782, Gen. Clinton says:

"At an early period of the war I entered into the service of my country, and I have continued in it during all the vicissitudes of fortune, and am conscious that I have exerted my best endeavour to serve it with fidelity. I have never sought emolument or promotion; and as the different commands I have held were unsolicited, I might have reasonably expected, if my services were no longer wanted, to have been indulged at least with a decent dismission."

He did not retire from the army entirely, but joined again the Commander-in-chief, and was present at the evacuation of New York, where he took leave of Gen. Washington, and retired to his farm at Little Britain. The war was happily terminated, and peace again reigned along the borders.

Gen. James Clinton was afterwards called to fill several important stations. He was a member of the Convention called to ratify the Constitution of the United States, he was elected a member of the State Senate, a member of the Convention to revise the Constitution of New York, and was appointed a Commissioner to run the boundary line between New York and Pennsylvania.

With the exceptions above mentioned, the residue of Gen. Clinton’s life, after the war, was spent in peaceful retirement upon his estate at Little Britain.

He died at his residence in 1812, just at the commencement of another war. He had seen his country under all the vicissitudes of good and evil fortune.

The pen of his illustrious son has recorded his epitaph, and thus beautifully sums up his character:

"His life was principally devoted to the military service of his country, and he had filled, with fidelity and honor, several distinguished civil offices.

"He was an officer in the revolutionary war and the war preceding, and at the close of the former was a major-general in the army of the United States. He was a good man and a sincere patriot; performing in the most exemplary manner all the duties of life, and he died as he had lived, without fear and without reproach."