Daniel Sullivan (1754 – 1790) was an American military officer and frontiersman of Irish descent. Daniel Sullivan was born in 1754 into a Virginian family of Irish descent. At age 9, he and another boy, Cunningham, were captured by a party of

Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...

during Pontiac's War. Each was adopted and raised along the Muskingum River. In 1772, the two accompanied a trading party to Fort Pitt, where Sullivan was recognized by his brother-in-law, Zadock Wright. Wright successfully bought the two teenage boys, but Sullivan refused to leave his Delaware family unless Wright gave him a beaver hat. Sullivan soon left his family and returned to Fort Pitt. When Lord Dunmore's War commenced, Sullivan served as a guide for Major John Connolly's Virginia militia company, in which Zadock Wright served as a lieutenant. During the American Revolutionary War, Sullivan served as a scout and a spy. He hired himself as a boatman to a trader, and travelled to Fort Detroit. There, he was arrested by Lieutenant-Governor Henry Hamilton after he was recognized by an American Indian. Hamilton sent Sullivan to Quebec, where he was paroled in December 1777. Sullivan returned to Fort Pitt, where he was again arrested in 1779 for "endeavouring to make the Delaware Indians break the last treaty of peace." After his release, Sullivan moved to Louisville. In 1785, Sullivan moved north to Vincennes. He led the Vincennes militia in the Embarras River skirmish. He was killed along the Buffalo Trace in 1790.

Legacy

Sullivan County, Indiana is named for Daniel Sullivan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Daniel 1754 births 1790 deaths American Revolutionary War prisoners of war held by Great Britain History of Pittsburgh Indiana Territory People of the Northwest Territory