R0BERDEAU, Daniel,
soldier, born in the island of St. Christopher, in 1727 died in Winchester,
Virginia, 5 January, 1795. He was the son of Isaac Roberdeau, a French
Huguenot, and Mary Cunyngham, a descendant of the Earl of Glencairn, in Scotland.
He came to Philadelphia with his mother's family
in his youth, became a merchant, and was a manager of the Pennsylvania hospital in 1756 and 1766. He
was an early Mason in Philadelphia,
associated in 1752-'4 with Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and others. Roberdeau
was elected to the Pennsylvania assembly in 1756 and served till 1760, when he
declined further election. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church in 1765,
and a friend of George Whitefield, who baptized his eldest son. When the
Revolution approached he jollied the Pennsylvania associators, was elected
colonel of the 2d battalion in 1775, and made president of the board of
officers that governed the as-sociators, he presided at a public meeting at the
state-house on 20 May, 1776, which had great influence in favor of the
Declaration of Independence. While in command of his battalion he fitted out,
in partnership with his friend, Colonel John Bayard, two ships as privateers,
one of which captured a valuable prize, with $22,000 in silver, which he placed
at the disposal of congress. He was chosen a member of the council of safety, and
on 4 July, 1776,
was elected
1st brigadier-general of
the Pennsylvania
troops, James Ewing being made 2d brigadier-general. All the associators were
now called out to the aid of Washington, who was in a critical position in New Jersey. In February,
1777, Gem Roberdeau was elected a member of the Continental congress, was
active in supporting the Articles of Confederation and affixed his name to that
document on the part of Pennsylvania.
He was three times elected to congress, and served till 1779. In April, 1778,
there being a scarcity of lead in the army, General Roberdeau received leave of
absence from congress in order to work a lead-mine in Bedford county, where he was obliged to erect
a stockade fort as a protection against the Indians. Most if not all of the
expense of this fort the paid out of his private purse. Samuel Hazard's
"Register of Pennsylvania" and Peter
Force's "American Archives" contain much information about this fort
and lead-mine" the former was styled Fort Roberdeau.
On 24 and 25 May, 1779,
General Roberdeau presided at a public meeting in Philadelphia that had reference to
monopolizers and the depreciation of the currency. In 1783-'4 he spent a year
in England It is related of Roberdeau that, while travelling in his carriage
across Blackheath, near London, he was attacked by highwaymen, who surrounded
the carriage, He seized the leader, threw him down in the bottom of the
carriage, and called to the coachman to drive on and fire right and left. He
drove into London
in this manner with the robber's feet hanging out of the carriage, and
delivered him up to justice. After the war General Roberdeau removed from Philadelphia to Alexandria,
Virginia, where he often
entertained General Washington. A short time before his death he removed to Winchester,
Virginia--His eldest son, Isaac, soldier, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
11 September, 1763; died in Georgetown, D. C., 15 January, 1829, was educated
in this country and in England Ills first public services were at the instance
of Gen Washington as assistant engineer in laying out the city of Washing-ton
in 1791. In 1792 he was engaged as engineering building canals in Pennsylvania. He resided
for some time in New Jersey, and, as major of brigade, delivered an oration on
the death of General Washington, 22 February, 1800 Only a few copies of this
are known to exist," one of them is in the library of congress On 29
April, 1813, he was appointed major and topographical engineer in the regular
army, this corps being then just constituted by the appointment of four majors
and four captains. At the close of the war with Great
Britain he was ordered to survey the boundary between the
United States and Canada, under the treaty of Ghent. The treaty of 1783 had fixed the
boundary in the middle of the lakes and rivers, and the treaty of Ghent provided for a
survey to determine the location of that line. Colonel Roberdeau was the
engineer in charge of the survey, which was nearly 900 miles in length, through
St. Lawrence river and the great lakes. In 1818
Colonel Roberdeau was ordered to organize the bureau of topographical engineers
in the war department, and was made its chief, which post he held until his
death, He was a friend of President John Quincy Adams, and of John C. Calhoun,
then secretary of war, and usually travelled with him on his official visits to
military posts. He entertained Lafayette
during the latter's visit to this country in 1825. See "Genealogy of the
Roberdeau Family," by Roberdeau Buchanan (Washington, 1876).
Edited
Appletons Encyclopedia, Copyright © 2001 VirtualologyTM
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