Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Clement BIDDLE
Revolutionary War General CLEMENT BIDDLE (1740-1814) has signed this attractive document dated 1812 verifying a shipment of goods bound for Havana. During the Revolutionary War, he was known as the "Quaker Soldier". He was also a close friend of George Washington. In 1765, Biddle signed the non-importation agreement and for the next ten years was active in the patriotic cause in Philadelphia. He helped raise a company of volunteers and took part in the battles at Trenton, Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth. He was aide-de-camp to General Greene and, after the war, President Washington appointed him United States marshal of Pennsylvania.
Colonel Clement Biddle engated in the shipping and importing business with his father and elder brother Owen, in which they were very successful, until the outbreak of the Revolution, after which he gave practically his whole time to the service of his country, Owen and Clement were among the first signers of the non-importation agreement, October 23, 1765. He assisted in organizing, and was one of the officers of the "Quaker LIght Infantry" later known as the "Quaker Blues", originally formed to defend the town against the threatened invasion of the "Paxtang Boys" at the time of the killing of the Conestoga Indians in 1763-4, which was re-organized in 1775, for the defense of American liberties and served in the Jersey campaign. July 8, 1776, Clement Biddle was appointed quartermaster-general of the Flying Camp, composed of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and other bodies of militia, with the rank of Colonel, and as such took part in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, and Germantown, was delegated by Washington to recdeive the swords of the surrendered Hessian officers at the battle of Trenton; and during the encampment at Valley Forge was active in securing supplies for the suffering soldiers, have his headquarters at "Moore Hall," Chester County, where his wife and family likewise resided. The next winter was spent with the army at Morristown, New Jersey. October 15, 1776, Colonel Biddle was at Amboy, New Jersey, when he was appointed by General Greene, as an aide de camp, and member of his staff, and during the remainder of that month and November was with General Greene at Fort Lee, on the Hudson. He however, returned to the Delaware with the retreating army across New Jersey, and participated in the heroic crossing of the Delaware on Christmas night, and the capture of the Hessians, as before stated. In the fall of 1781 he was appointed by the Supreme Executive Council, quartermaster-general of Pennsylvania, having served previously as commissary of supplies, and co-operated with his brother Owen, in securing ammunition and stores fo the use of the army in the field, like him pledging his own means to secure supplies, at a time when the state and nation was bankrupt. He was also appointed, November 10, 1780, United States marshal of the Court of Admiralty. He held this office and that of quartermaster-general of Pennsylvania militia, long after the close of the Revolution, officiating as such during the Whiskey Insurrection of 1794. He was commissioned Prothonotary of the Common Pleas Court of Philadelphia County, September 23, 1788, and judge lof the same court in 1791, his commissions being still in possession of the family.
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