Robert Philson (c. 1759 – July 25, 1831) was an Irish-American soldier and politician. Philson was born in

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconn ...

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, and immigrated to Pennsylvania with his uncle John Fletcher. They kept a store in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

Somerset County, Pennsylvania Somerset County (Pennsylvania German: ''Somerset Kaundi'') is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 74,129. Its county seat is Somerset. The county was created from part of Bedford County on A ...

. In 1794, Philson was arrested for his involvement in the

Whiskey Rebellion The Whiskey Rebellion (also known as the Whiskey Insurrection) was a violent tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 and ending in 1794 during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called "whiskey tax" was the first tax impo ...

. He was sent to Philadelphia for trial, but he and his co-defendant,

Herman Husband Herman Husband (1724–1795), also known as Harmon Husband, was a farmer, radical, pamphleteer, author, and preacher. He is best known as a leader of The Regulators, a populist rebellion in the Carolinas in the years leading up to the American ...

, were acquitted.Wythe Holt,
"The Whiskey Rebellion of 1794: A Democratic Working-Class Insurrection"
Paper presented a
The Georgia Workshop in Early American History and Culture
2004, p. 79. Philson served as associate judge of

, for twenty years, and also served as a one-term congressman during the

16th United States Congress The 16th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1819, ...

. Philson was commissioned a

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

of the Second Brigade, Tenth Division, Pennsylvania militia on May 9, 1800, a position he held during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

References

1759 births 1831 deaths American militia generals American militiamen in the War of 1812 Kingdom of Ireland emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies Pennsylvania state court judges People of the Whiskey Rebellion Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania {{Pennsylvania-Representative-stub

Further reading

References