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He received a good education, and gained repute for his knowledge of mathematics and astronomy. With his mother, the widow of David Provost, he engaged in the provision business left her by the death of her first husband. He also became aide-de-camp to General Shirley of the British army. In 1756 he went to England to give testimony on behalf of General Shirley, who had been charged with neglect of duty; and while there, in 1757, he entered upon an unsuccessful suit before the House of Lords to gain the title and estates of Stirling. He returned to the United States in 1761, and married.

Through the influence of his father-in-law he was made Surveyor-General of the state, and was chosen to the provincial council. He sided with the patriots in the revolutionary war, and was made a colonel in 1775. He was largely instrumental in capturing a British armed transport, and Congress for his bravery made him a brigadier-general in 1776. His command was cut to pieces at the battle of Long Island, Aug. 26, 1776, and he was taken prisoner, but his bravery in obeying the orders of General Putnam and stubbornly opposing a vastly superior force, enabled the great body of the American troops to escape, and as soon as he was exchanged he was promoted to major-general. Upon General Lee leaving New York in December, 1776, to aid in the defence of Philadelphia, General Stirling was left in command of the city. He afterwards received the surrender of a Hessian regiment at Trenton. He distinguished himself at the battles of Germantown and Brandywine, and was defeated and lost one hundred and fifty men and two guns at Matouchin, New Jersey and at Monmouth he successfully resisted an attempt to turn his flank, but at the cost of a large number of his men. In 1779 he surprised the British at Paulus Hook, New Jersey and in 1781 was transferred to the command of Albany, where he died a few days after the declaration of peace.

He was one of the founders and the first governor of King's College, New York City. He wrote The Conduct of Major-General Shirley, Briefly Stated and An Account of the Comet of June and July, 1770.¹