5th President of the Confederation Congress Thomas Mifflin
Thomas Mifflin was an American merchant, soldier, and politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He served in a variety of roles during and after the American Revolution, several of which qualify him to be counted among the Founding Fathers. He was the first Governor of Pennsylvania, serving from 1790 to 1799.
Born: January 10, 1744, Philadelphia, PA
Died: January 20, 1800, Lancaster, PA
Vice President: George Ross
Profession: Merchant, soldier, politician
Spouse: Sarah Morris (m. 1765)
Education: Academy and College of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania
Thomas Mifflin was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 10, 1744 into a fourth generation of his family to live in the city of “Brotherly Love”. His father was a Quaker and served as a Philadelphia alderman. His father was also a trustee of the College of Philadelphia which is today the University of Pennsylvania. Mifflin attended Philadelphia’s grammar schools and graduated in 1760 from the College. Upon graduation, he apprenticed at an important counting house in Philadelphia. In the course of this business Mifflin traveled throughout Europe in 1764 and 1765. In 1766 he returned to the colonies early and opened a import and export business with a younger brother. In that same year he joined the American Philosophical Society, served as it Secretary for two years and remained a distinguished member until 1799.
Mifflin’s entrepreneurial pursuits were responsible for the formulation of his initial objections to Parliament’s taxation policy. In his first year as a Philadelphia Importer he found it necessary to publicly speak against Great Britain’s initial attempts to levy taxes on the colonies. In 1773 Merchant Mifflin met Merchant John Hancock and political activist Samuel Adams who convinced him that open resistance to Parliament was a businessman’s only judicious option to resist taxes “imposed upon the people against their will.” In 1774 Mifflin organized several Pennsylvania town meetings to support Boston’s resistance to the Coercive Acts. In these meetings Mifflin cautioned that although the acts only applied to Boston in reprisal to the “Tea Party”; a successful implementation would embolden Parliament to punish other cities that objected to seemingly perpetual wave of superfluous British taxation.
In 1771 Mifflin ran and won election as a Philadelphia’s warden. The following year he began the first of four uninterrupted terms in the Colonial State Legislature of Pennsylvania. His efforts in state government were rewarded in 1774 by being elected as a Pennsylvania Delegate to the 1st Continental Congress. His business and patriotic fervor was embraced as the leadership appointed him to serve on important committees. One Mifflin committee set-up a Continental Association to enforce the resolution passed by Congress which, created an embargo against English goods. His diligence as a delegate insured his re-election to the 2nd Continental Congress.
When the news came of the fight at Lexington Mifflin eloquently advocated resolute action in the Continental Congress and then attended many Pennsylvania town-meetings supporting colonial armed resistance. Both John Dickinson and Mifflin were instrumental in reviving the volunteer colonial defense force that resisted the French in the 1750’s and 60’s known as the Associators. Once these troops were enlisted, Mifflin was elected a Major becoming active in organizing and drilling the 3rd Philadelphia Battalion. He severed his religious ties with Quaker Society. This was an action that spoke volumes to his commitment to Colonial self-government and defense.
When the 2nd Continental Congress created the Colonial Army as a national armed force on June 14th, 1775, Mifflin resigned as delegate and as a Pennsylvania Militia Major to serve with the new Commander-in-Chief, George Washington. General Washington, who knew Mifflin as a fellow delegate, promoted him as his first aide-de-camp after the establishment of the command headquarters at Cambridge. While there, Colonel Mifflin successfully led a force against a British detachment placing the heavy artillery stripped from Fort Ticonderoga on Dorchester Heights. This was a strategic move that ended Britain’s occupation in Boston. Mifflin also managed the complex logistics of moving troops to meet a British thrust at New York City. In July 1775, he was promoted to quartermaster-general of the army; after the evacuation of Boston by the enemy. Mifflin was commissioned as brigadier-general on May 19th, 1776 and assigned to the command of a Pennsylvania troops when the army lay encamped before New York.
General Mifflin’s Pennsylvania brigade was described as the best disciplined of any in the Continental Army. His Continental Regiment covered the retreat of the American army from Brooklyn after General Howe in the dead of night outmaneuvered Washington. At dawn the continental troops were forced to fight British regulars in a superior position and fell back to the East River. Washington’s only hope was to assemble enough boats to quietly cross the river into Manhattan and as luck would have it the night brought a thick fog over the entire area. Through a military order gaffe General Mifflin received the word to retreat before all of the troops had embarked to Manhattan Island. At the ferry, upon learning of the error, Mifflin managed to regain the lines before the enemy discovered that the post was deserted and learned of the water retreat. Mifflin’s troops remained at their posts and were the last to leave Brooklyn in the hasty nighttime evacuation.
Washington’s rapid retreat across the East River meant that wagons containing most of the Continental Army’s powder, baggage and critical supplies fell into to the hands of the British. In the aftermath soldier moral was low and the Continental Congress held a committee hearing. After a three-day investigation the committee recommended that quartermaster Moylan, who was given the impossible task to protect the British controlled waterways resigned. In an effort to restore the morale of the soldiers, against his wishes, Mifflin was appointed this position by a special resolve of Congress. This new assignment as quarter-master-general bitterly disappointed Mifflin who was also unhappy with Nathanael Greene emerging as Washington’s principal adviser, a role which Mifflin coveted. George Washington did not object to Mifflin’s re-assignment and the disgruntled quarter-master assumed the mundane duties of protecting and delivering the supply necessary for the Continental Army.
