Dictionary.net

(1750-1806), an American cabinet officer, was born in Boston and was a bookseller before the Revolution. He exchanged this occupation for that of an artillery officer, fought at Bunker Hill, and obtained much credit for his transfer of ordnance in the winter of 1775-1776 from the Canadian frontier and the Lake George region to the army around Boston. He was made a brigadier-general of artillery, fought with distinction at Trenton, Brandywine, Monmouth and Yorktown, and received the grade of a major-general. He was active in the Cincinnati Society, and became Secretary of War under the old Congress in 1785. Washington reappointed him to this position, which he filled until 1795.