Early Life
Henry Dearborn was born on February 23, 1751, in North Hampton, New Hampshire. He was the son of Simon Dearborn and Sarah Marston and part of a family who had immigrated to the Massachusetts Colony in 1639.
Dearborn had a carefree childhood and he was able to attend public school, ultimately gaining a love for medicine. He studied under Doctor Hall Jackson and opened his own medical practice in Nottingham in 1772. Around this time (in 1771), Dearborn married Mary Bartlett- his first of three wives.
In the tumultuous years leading up to the American Revolutionary War, Dearborn fell in with the whigs (patriots). When war finally erupted in nearby Massachusetts Bay Colony, Dearborn was ready to join the army and fight for the cause of liberty.
Contributions to the Revolutionary War
When the war began, Dearborn served as a captain in the 1st New Hampshire Regiment. He was only 23-years-old when he led a group of 60 local militiamen on a march to Boston, where they fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775.
In September 1775, Dearborn eagerly volunteered his services to Colonel Benedict Arnold, who was to lead an expedition to Quebec. Thus, Dearborn experienced the harsh, life-threatening, and seemingly unending march through the wilderness to Canada (he befriended Aaron Burr on the march). He fought in the Battle of Quebec, where he was captured on December 31, 1775. He wasn’t paroled until May 1776 and exchanged until March 1777.
Dearborn wasted no time in rejoining the war and was present during the siege of Fort Ticonderoga in July 1777. He was promoted to major and fought valiantly in the Saratoga Campaign in September. He was praised by General Gates and that winter, Dearborn was promoted to lieutenant colonel and joined the Continental Army in winter camp at Valley Forge.
In 1778, he fought with the army in the Battle of Monmouth. In 1779, Dearborn served under General John Sullivan against the Iroquois in upstate New York. The ever-present Dearborn later rejoined the main army as deputy quartermaster general. During the Siege of Yorktown in October 1781, now Colonel Dearborn commanded the 1st New Hampshire Regiment. He was officially discharged from the army in June 1783. Remarkably, he kept fastidious journals throughout the war, which remain a key primary source today.
After the War
After the war, Dearborn settled in Maine. In 1787, he was commissioned a brigadier general in the Massachusetts Militia (promoted to major general in 1789).
Dearborn served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1793 until 1797 as a Democratic-Republican. In 1801, President Thomas Jefferson appointed Dearborn as Secretary of War. He held this position for eight years until March 7, 1809. Dearborn provided key advice and guidance for the Military Peace Establishment Act, from which the national military academy at West Point was established.
From 1809 to 1812, Dearborn served as collector of the port of Boston. The. On January 27, 1812, he was appointed Commanding General of the United States Army. Dearborn participated in the War of 1812, but was in his 60s and in poor health. In June 1815, he was discharged from the army.
After the war, Dearborn unsuccessfully ran for governor of Massachusetts. After this, President James Madison nominated him to again serve as Secretary of War; however, the Senate rejected the nomination and Madison withdrew his name. From 1822 to 1824, Dearborn served as Minister Plenipotentiary to Portugal.
Dearborn finally retired after a long career serving the United States and settled into his home in Roxbury, Massachusetts. On June 6, 1829, Henry Dearborn died at the age of 78. He is buried in Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts- not far from patriot Doctor Joseph Warren.
#interestingfact: In 1818, Henry Dearborn’s account of the Battle of Bunker Hill was published. In this account, he accused Israel Putnam of cowardice, which sparked a long-term heated controversy between the two and among war veterans.