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First Name: William

Last Name: Colfax

Birthplace: New London, CT, USA

Gender: Male

Branch: Continental Army (1775 - 1784)







Date of Birth: 03 July 1756

Date of Death: 09 September 1838

Rank: Brigadier General

Years Served:
William Colfax

   
Engagements:
•  Revolutionary War (1775 - 1783)
•  War of 1812

Biography:

William Colfax
Brigadier General, Continental Army

William Colfax was born on 3 July 1756 in New London, CT.

At the age of seventeen he was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Continental Army. He participated in all battles of the Revolutionary War from Bunker Hill to Yorktown, and was present at the surrender of General Charles Cornwallis. George Washington made him Captain of his personal Life Guard.

At the end of the war, he settled in Pompton, NJ, where he married Hester Schuyler, a cousin of Revolutionary War General Philip Schuyler, on 27 August 1783. He continued to be active locally after the war and became a Judge of the Bergen County Court of Common Pleas until his death.

Colfax also served in the New Jersey Legislature from 1806 to 1813. In 1810 he was commissioned a Brigadier General in the New Jersey Militia and served his country again, militarily, in the War of 1812.

Death and Burial

Brigadier General William Colfax died on 9 September 1838 in Wayne, NJ. He is buried at the Colfax Family Burying Ground in Wayne, NJ.



Honoree ID: 2355   Created by: MHOH

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