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John Bull (American Revolution)

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See also: John Bull
John Bull
Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from Northumberland, Pennsylvania
In office
December 6, 1804 – March 31, 1806
Personal details
Born(1731-06-01)June 1, 1731
Montgomery, Pennsylvania
DiedAugust 9, 1824(1824-08-09) (aged 93)
Northumberland, Pennsylvania
Political partyFederalist Party
Professionpolitician, military officer, statesman, slave owner
Military service
Allegiance
Branch/service
Years of service
Rank
Commands
Battles/wars

John Bull (June 1, 1731 - August 9, 1824) politician, military officer, statesman, and planter. Initially, his military career started under John Forbes in the Forbes Expedition during the 1750s. During the American Revolution, he was a delegate in the Pennsylvania Provincial Conference which declared Pennsylvania independent from the British Colonies. He was a very active participant in many different roles during the revolution. He was mainly in charge of the defenses of Fort Billingsport. He held the rank of Colonel in Pennsylvania's 2nd Regiment and eventually rose to the rank of Adjutant General of the Pennsylvania Militia by the Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council in defense of Philadelphia during the Philadelphia campaign.[1][2]

History

Bull was born in Providence Township, Philadelphia County now called Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Thomas Bull and Elizabeth Rossiter. His mother died at 92 years old and his father died in 1747. He had two brothers and a sister William, Thomas, and Elizabeth Betson. John married a Welsh woman named Mary Phillps on August 13, 1752. Bull participated in the taking of Fort Duquesne as a captain along with George Washington and other troops under the direction of General Forbes around May 12, 1758. By 1761, he became a justice of the peace, and by 1768 he was justice of the Court of quarter sessions in the county. By 1771, he was in possession of 534 acres in Norristown, PA. At the onset of the American Revolution, he actively participated in reaching the rank of General.[1][3]

In 1774 he was one of the Committee of Inspection of his county. The American Revolution started to impact different parts of the country and Bull became actively involved, He was a delegate to the Pennsylvania Provincial Conference of January 18, 1775, which declared the independence of Pennsylvania from the British Colonies. Bull was also a colonel of the First Pennsylvania Battalion of the Continental Troops from November 25, 1775, to January 20, 1776. He was also a member of the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention in the summer of 1776 which had a profound impact on American public opinion and cleared the way for the issuing of the Declaration of Independence. In July, he was colonel of the Sixth Associator's Battalion of the State and a member of the Council of Safety of the State. He later became a justice of the peace.[2]

By September 1776, he was appointed general superintendent of the construction of defenses at Fort Billingsport. Billingsport was a crucial defense. On January 20, 1777, he was a commissioner to sign a peace treaty with the Indians at Easton, Pennsylvania. By February 1777, he was in charge of the defenses at Fort Billingsport. He was also active in local Pennsylvania politics as an assemblyman and also briefly served on the Board of War. Because of the active war, Bull took many government positions. By the month of May of 1777, he was in charge of the Pennsylvania State Regiment, and on the 16th of July of that year, he was appointed adjutant general of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia was occupied by the British during the Philadelphia campaign on around August 25, 1777, Fort Billingsport also fell until the site was abandoned as the British evacuated Philadelphia on June 18, 1778.[4]

Death and Family

He died on August 9, 1824 in Northumberland, Pennsylvania and is buried there. He was the father of six children. They had one son, Ezekiel William. He was a surgeon in the United States Army. They also had five daughters: Elizabeth, who married Benjamin Rittenhouse, brother of David Rittenhouse; Anna or Animus, who married General John Smith, of Virginia; Mary, married Joseph Nourse, Rebecca, married Captain John Boyd and Sarah Harriet, married three times. His great-granddaughter Mary Powell Mills married into the prominent Creole family named the Dimitry Family. His great-great-grandchildren John Bull Smith Dimitry, Charles Patton Dimitry, and Virginia Dimitry Ruth were all notable authors.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Egle 1898, pp. 29–32.
  2. ^ a b Lockwood 1895, pp. 271–274.
  3. ^ Godcharles 1911, pp. 45–46.
  4. ^ Bull & McGee 1919, pp. 316–320.

Bibliography

  • Egle, William Henry (1898). Some Pennsylvania Women During the War of the Revolution Mary Phillips Bull. Harrisburg, PA: Harrisburg Publishing Company.
  • Lockwood, Mary S. (September 1895). "Sketch of General John Bull". The American Monthly Magazine. 7 (3). Washington, DC: National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Retrieved July 22, 2023.


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