John Cadwalader
Brigadier General, Continental Army

John Cadwalader was born in 1742. He was a successful merchant in Philadelphia, PA, in partnership with his brother.

At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War he was commissioned as a Brigadier General in the Pennsylvania Militia, and placed in command of the Pennsylvania troops. He led one of the divisions of General George Washington's Army that crossed the Delaware River on 27 December 1776, remaining on the Jersey side.

He fought at the January 1777 Battle of Princeton; the September 1777 Battle of Brandywine; and the October 1777 Battle of Germantown. After the Battle of Monmouth, he fought a duel with fellow General Thomas Conway; Cadwalader was uninjured, but wounded Conway with a shot to the mouth.

In 1779 he returned to his home in Maryland and became a member of the Assembly there. He died at Shrewsbury just past his forty-fourth birthday.

Death and Burial

Brigadier General John Cadwalader died on 10 February 1786 in Shrewsbury, MD. He is buried at the Shrewsbury Cemetery in Harmony Corner, MD.