Alexander McDougall
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Alexander McDougall (1731-1786) was an American seaman, merchant, and leader from New York City during the Revolutionary War. He served as a Major General in the Continental Army, and as a delegate to the Continental Congress. After the war he was the president of the first bank in the state and served a tern in the New York state senate.
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Early life
Alexander was born on the Isle of Islay, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland in about 1731. He was one of the five children of Ranald and Elizabeth McDougall. In 1738 the family emigrated, going to New York as part of a party led by a former army officer, Captain Lachlan Campbell. Campbell had described fertile land available near Fort Edward, but when they arrived in New York City, they discovered that Lachlan had been awarded a patent for about 30,000 acres (121 km²) and expected them to become tenants to his estate. Ranald withdrew and found work on a dairy farm on the island of Manhattan. The family prospered and young Alexander began his commercial career as a delivery boy for milk in New York.
In around 1745, when he was fourteen, Alexander signed on as a merchant seaman. He worked on a number of vessels, then in 1751 he visited his extended family back on Islay. He stayed ony a few months, but married a cousin, Nancy McDougall, and brought her back to New York. He continued a seagoing merchant career, rising to command and eventually own a cargo sloop, the Schuyler.
Privateer to merchant
When the French and Indian War became an official war in 1756 as the Seven Years' War, McDougall added six guns to his ship, the Tyger, and became a merchant privateer. He captured a number of French ships, and by 1759 he had converted one of these into a twelve gun warship, the Barrington. An able captain as well as a knowledgeable merchant, he made a small fortune in captured ships and the sale of their cargo.
In 1763 McDougall gave up the seafaring life. The war had ended, his wife Nancy died, as did his father. He was left with responsibility for his three children and his mother. So he converted is seagoing assets, invested in land and became a merchant and importer. By 1767 he had his affairs in good order. He owned land in Albany County and as far away as North Carolina. He remarried, this time to Hannah Bostwick. Though their increasing wealth earned them recognition, but not acceptance into the traditional society in New York City. Alexander was too loud and unpolished. He spoke with a heavy Scottish accent and wore gaudy clothes.
Prelude to revolution
When revolutionary fervor grew with resistance to the Stamp Act, McDougall became active in the Sons of Liberty, and later was their leader in the city. Difficulties in the city and colony were increased by the Quartering Act, which required the colonists to provide housing and support to the British troops. The colony's assembly had refused to pass appropriations for their housing in 1767 an 1768, and been prorogued. Then the new assembly of 1769 approved money for their support. McDougall wrote and had printed an anonymous broadside, To the Betrayed Inhabitants, which criticized the vote. He was accused of libel and arrested on February 7, 1770, but refused to post bail, so he was jailed. He spent two periods in jail, for a total of about five months, but wasn't convicted. His imprisonment became another cause for protest, and his wife Hannah led marches down Broadway to the jail. He had so many visitors that he had to schedule appointments. The protests led to his release, but he was re-arrested later and jailed again. Finally, the new governor William Tryon ordered his unconditional release.
McDougall became the street leader of the Sons of Liberty, and organized continued protests until the city was finally fully occupied by the British in 1776. He organized the city's reaction to the Tea Tax in 1773 and led their action, similar to the Boston Tea Party. He became a member of the Committees of Safety and Correspondence, and when New York established their revolutionary government in 1775, he was elected to the provincial Congress.
Continental Army
This article is under construction!
Later life
External link
- McDougall's congressional biography (http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=M000415)