Samuel John Atlee (1739 – November 25, 1786) was an American soldier and statesman from Lancaster,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. He was a delegate to the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...

for Pennsylvania from 1778 to 1782.

Early life

Samuel was born in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

Military career

In 1756 he joined the Lancaster company and was commissioned as an ensign. He served on the

Forbes Expedition The Forbes Expedition was a British military expedition to capture Fort Duquesne, led by Brigadier-General John Forbes in 1758, during the French and Indian War. While advancing to the fort, the expedition built the now historic trail, the Forbes ...

Fort Duquesne Fort Duquesne (, ; originally called ''Fort Du Quesne'') was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. It was later taken over by the British, and later the Americans, and developed a ...

in 1758, and by 1759 he was a captain. In 1776 Pennsylvania began raising new units for the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

, and on March 21, 1776, Atlee was named Colonel of a unit, the ''Pennsylvania Musketry Battalion''. Once they were organized, he led them north to the defense of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. During the

Battle of Long Island The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, was an action of the American Revolutionary War fought on August 27, 1776, at the western edge of Long Island in present-day Brooklyn, New Yo ...

on August 27, 1776, he led the original defense of the ''Old Stone House'' in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. The house was situated on high ground and covered the American withdrawal. Atlee's force was driven from the house, but General

William Alexander (American general) William Alexander, also known as Lord Stirling (1726 – 15 January 1783), was a Scottish-American major general during the American Revolutionary War. He was considered male heir to the Scottish title of Earl of Stirling through Scottish lin ...

came to support him. The Americans twice recaptured the house. The defenders directly engaged three British regiments, led by

General Cornwallis Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805), styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as the Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army general and official. In the United S ...

. They held out until noon, allowing most of the Continental forces in Brooklyn to successfully withdraw to the Brooklyn Heights. At last, surrounded and cut off by the

Hessian A Hessian is an inhabitant of the German state of Hesse. Hessian may also refer to: Named from the toponym *Hessian (soldier), eighteenth-century German regiments in service with the British Empire **Hessian (boot), a style of boot **Hessian f ...

s, General Alexander surrendered in the early afternoon. While watching this action from fortifications to the north on Brooklyn Heights,

General Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the ...

remarked, ''"Good God, what brave men must I lose this day!"'' Samuel Atlee remained a prisoner of war until he was exchanged in October 1778.

Political career

When Atlee returned home, the Pennsylvania Assembly named him as a delegate to the

. He served there until 1782. In 1782, Lancaster County sent Atlee to the Pennsylvania Assembly. In 1783, he became a charter member in the Pennsylvania branch of the

Society of the Cincinnati The Society of the Cincinnati is a fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of military officers wh ...

, and was named the County executive for Lancaster County. In 1784 he served on the commission negotiating Indian treaties that acquired most of the remaining Native American lands in Pennsylvania. Atlee was returned to the state assembly in 1785 and 1786. He died on November 25, 1786, while attending a meeting of the legislature in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, and is buried in the

Christ Church Burial Ground Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia is an important early-American cemetery. It is the final resting place of Benjamin Franklin and his wife, Deborah. Four other signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried here, Benjamin Rush, ...

there. The reconstructed ''Old Stone House'' that he defended in the battle of Brooklyn located at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Third Street, it was moved a few feet during its reconstruction and is at a higher grade level. It is in Byrne Park, and is open to the public on a limited basis.

References

*
Visitor information about the Old Stone House
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Atlee, Samuel 1739 births 1786 deaths American Revolutionary War prisoners of war held by Great Britain Continental Army officers from Pennsylvania Continental Congressmen from Pennsylvania 18th-century American politicians Politicians from Lancaster, Pennsylvania People of Pennsylvania in the French and Indian War Burials at Christ Church, Philadelphia Politicians from Trenton, New Jersey People of colonial Pennsylvania Military personnel from New Jersey