GATES
GATES
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under Ferdinand the Prince of Brunswick. He
next appears as captain of the King's New York
independent companj- and in 1755 at Halifax as
major. He was with Braddock at Fort Dmiuesne,
July 9, 1755, where lie was severely wounded, and
Washington is credited with having saved his life
in the retreat of the
remnant of the ill-
fated expedition. In
1763 he was at the
capture of Martinique
by George Monckton,
and after visiting
England in 1763, he
piuchased a planta-
tion in Berkeley
county, Va. His .sol-
dierly qualities and
bearing attracted the
attention of Wash-
ington, and when in
1775 he was called
upon by congress to
select officers for the continental army, he named
Gates, who was commissioned adjutant-general
with the rank of brigadier-general. In 1776 he
accompanied Washington to Cambridge, Mass.,
and was made commanding-genei'al of the north-
ern army operating against Crown Point and
Ticonderoga. He won the support of the dele-
gates to congress from the New England states,
and through their influence he was given the
rank of major-general in the American army and
superseded not only Gen. John Sullivan, but in
August, 1777, Gen. Phillip J. Schuyler, who had
taken his place in the command of the northern
army in May of the same year. The New Eng-
land contingent still further pressed their de-
mands for the control of the army by openly
suggesting the name of Gates as the commander-
in-chief. The battle of Saratoga, in which Schuy-
ler, Morgan and Ai-nold took so conspicuous a
part and which resulted in the surrender of Bur-
goyne to Gates, Oct. 17, 1777, served to magnify
his "military genius, and congress voted him a
gold medal and the thanks of the countrj' and
placed him at the head of the board of war,
wliich made him second in rank to Washington.
The opportunity thus presented to the friends
of Gates was taken advantage of by the dele-
gates from New England, and the cabal against
the commander-in-chief, raised by disaiTected
officers of the American army, was renew'ed with
the object of forcing W^ashington into retirement
and thus making place for Gates. Gen. Thomas
Conwaj' and Gen. Thomas Slifflin conspired with
General Gates, and their correspondence revealed
to Washington by Lord Stirling and obtained by
him from Col. James Wilkinson, Gates's chiefof-
staff, in a moment of unguarded conviviality,
put the commander-in-chief on his guard, and he
exposed the whole affair. Gates sought to escape
the odium by charging Wilkinson with forgery,
whereupon Colonel Wilkinson challenged Gen-
eral Gates who first accepted and finallj' declined
the challenge. This action weakened the faith
of his friends in his manhood and courage. Con-
way's correspondence was found to have been
extensive and his plot to destroy Washington
carefully planned. General Cadwallader as a"
friend of Washington challenged the author of
the cabal, and when they met wounded him in
the mouth. In his supposed dying moments Con-
way wrote to Washington confessing his guilt
and expressing sincere grief for his act. Gates
had retired to his estate in Virginia upon the ex-
pose and took no part in the operations of the
army until June, 1780, when after the capture of
General Lincoln, he was given command of the
southern army. His force of 4000 men was con-
centrated in North Carolina to oppose the march
of Cornwallis, who, with his victorious army, was
rapidly marching northward. On August 16,
the two armies met at Camden, S.C., and Gates
was overwhelmed and his army almost annihi-
lated. He was thereupon superseded by Gen.
Nathanael Greene, and suspended in December,
1780. from military duty. A court of inquiry
instituted to investigate his military conduct,
after a tardy trial finally acquitted him in 1782
and he was reinstated in the army. He removed
from Virginia to New York city in 1790 after
having emancipated his slaves. He was a mem-
ber of the New York state legislatiire in 1800, but
for political reasons resigned. He was, through
his marriage with Mary, only child of James
Valence of Liverpool, placed in possession of a
fortune of §450,000, which Mrs. Gates used dur-
ing the period of the Revolution in advancing
the military fortmie of her husband by a sum])t-
uous lavishment of hospitality on liis favorite
companions in arms, especially those unaccus-
tomed to such attentions . He received an LL. D.
from Harvard in 1779, and was vice-president-
general of the Society of the Cincinnati, 1784-86.
He died in New York city, April 10, 1806.
GATES, Merrill Edwards, educator, was born in Warsaw, N.Y., A|)ril 6, 1848; son of Setli Merrill and Fanny Jeanette (Parsons) Gates, and a great- grand.son of Jonathan Edwards, the New England philosopher. He was graduated from the University of Rochester in 1870, and in the same year became principal of Albany academy. He resigned this position in 1883 to accept the presidency of Rutgers college. He was appointed a U.S. Indian commissioner in 1884. In 1890 he was elected to the presidency of Amherst and of Oberlin college and he accepted the former. He
