tiently the superb self-restraint and caution of Washington, but for which the war would doubtless have ended that year in the overthrow of the American cause. Col. Pickering was present at the battles of the Brandywine and Germantown. and was elected, 7 Nov., a member of the newly created board of war. On 5 Aug., 1780, he was appointed quartermaster-general of the army, in place of Gen. Greene, who had just resigned. He joined the army at Peekskill, 27 June, 1781. took part in the march to Virginia, and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis, of which he gives an interesting account in his journal. The fact that there was no detention in the course of Washington's wonderful march from Hudson river to Chesapeake bay shows with what consummate skill the quartermaster's department was managed. At every point the different columns found the needed supplies and means of transportation in readiness. For such a triumph of logistics great credit is due to Col. Pickering. He retained the office of quar- termaster-general until it was abolished, 2>5 July. 1785. He made himself conspicuous, along with Alexander Hamilton and Patrick Henry, in oppos- ing the harsh and short-sighted vindictive meas- ures that drove so many Tories from the country, to settle in Nova Scotia and Upper Canada.
On leavingthe army in 1785, he went into business in Philadelphia as a commission merchant in part- nership with Maj. Samuel Hodgdon, but he did not find this a congenial occupation. He wa- as- sured that if he were to return to Massachusetts he would be appointed associate justice of the su- preme court of that state, but he refused to enter- tain the suggestion, because he distrusted Ins fit- ness for that office. He preferred to remove with his family, to some new settlement on the frontier, and, with some such end in view, had already pur- chased extensive tracts of unoccupied land in western Pennsylvania and Virginia and in the val- ley of the Ohio. In 1787 he settled in Wyoming, and there became involved in the disturbances at- tendant upon the arrest and imprisonment of John Franklin, leader of the insurgent Connecticut set- tlers. Col. Pickering's house was attacked by rioters, and he would have been seized as a hostage for Franklin had he not escaped into the woods and thereupon made his way to Philadelphia, where he was chosen member of the convention for rati- fying the new constitution of the United States. After his return to Wyoming, toward the end of June, 1788, Col. Pickering was taken from his bed at midnight by a gang of masked men and carried off into the forest. His captors kept him prisoner for three weeks, and tried to prevail upon him to write to the executive council of the state and have Franklin set at liberty. When they found their threats unavailing, and learned that militia were pursuing them, they lost heart, and were glad to compound with Col. Pickering and set him free on condition that he would intercede for them. This affair, the incidents of which are full of ro- mantic interest, marked the close of thirty years of turbulence in the vale of Wyoming. By the end of 1788 complete order was maintained, largely through the firmness and energy of Col. Pickering. In 1789 he was a member of the convention that framed the new constitution of Pennsylvania. This did not finish its work till 2 Sept. 17'.' the very next day President Washington sent Col. Pickering on a mission to the Seneca Indians, who n.-id iirrn incensed by the murder of two o1 mln' bywhite men at Pine Creek. I'a. The m ended in July, 1791. in tin- successful negotiation of a very important treaty between ihc I'nitcd States and the Six Nations. Col. Pickering was appointed postmaster-general, 14 Aug., 1791, and held that office till 1795. In the mean time was waged the great war with the Indians of the North- western territory, and Col. Pickering was called upon several times to negotiate with the chiefs of the Six Nations and keep up the alliance with them. He knew how to make himself liked and respected by the red men. and in these delicate missions was eminently successful. On the resignation of Knox he was appointed secretary of war, 2 Jan., 1795. The department then included Indian affairs, since transferred to the department of the interior. It also included the administration of the navy. In these capacities Col. Pickering was instrumental in founding the military school at West Point, as well as in superintending the building of the three noble frigates " Constitution/' " United States," and " Constellation," that were by and by to win imperishable renown. On the resignation of Ran- dolph in the autumn of 1795, Col. Pickering for a. while acted as secretary of state, and after three months was appointed to that office. He continued as secretary of state, under the administration of John Adams, until the difficulties with France, gri iving out of the X. Y. Z. papers, had reached a crisis and led to a serious disagreement between Mr. Adams and his cabinet. (See ADAMS, JOHX.) Tln-n Col. Pickering was dismissed from office, 12 May, 1800.
From the department of state to a log-cabin on the frontier was a great change indeed. Col. Pickering spent the summer and autumn with his son Henry and a few hired men in clearing a farm in what is now Susquehanna county, near the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania. He had al- ! ways been poor, and was now embarrassed with debt. To relieve him of this burden, several citi- zens of Boston subscribed 25,000, and purchased from him some of his tracts of unoccupied land. After payment of his debts, the balance in cash was $14,055.35, and being thus placed in comfortable circumstances he was prevailed upon to return to Massachusetts, where he settled upon a modest farm, which he hired, in Danvers. In 1802 he was appointed chief justice of common pleas, and was a candidate for congress for the Essex south district, but Jacob Crowninshield was elected over him. The next year Col. Pickering was elected to the U. S. senate, to fill the vacancy left by Dwight Foo- ter's resignation. In 1804 lie wa- elected to the senate for six years, and became conspicuous among the leaders of the extreme Federalists. He disapproved of the Louisiana purchase, and after- ward made himself very unpopular in a large part of the country by his energetic opposition to the embargo. In 1809 he was hanged in effigy by a mob in Philadelphia, and in the following ear an infamous attempt was made to charge him with embezzlement of public funds, but the ,-har_ too absurd to gain credence. In 1811 he as for- mally censured by the senate for a technical viola- tion "of the rules in reading certain document communicated by the president before the injunc- tion of secrecy: but as this mea-ure vas too plainly prompted by vindictive-ness, it fail"! to injure him. In 1812. having failed of a re-election to the sen- ate, he retired to the farm he had purchased some tinn- l>e In re in Veiihatn. Mass. : I nit he was to return to .i-hington sooner than he expecte.1. In the ber election he was chosen a member of M .in overwhelming majority. To this . elected in 1 S H. ami would |ia c been elected a third time had he n-t declined a renomination. During 1817 he was member of
