Eleazer Oswald

Who was Eleazer Oswald?

Eleazer Oswald was born at Falmouth, Cornwall, in England, but moved to British America as a young man. He became apprenticed to a printer, John Holt of Williamsburg, Virginia, and married the man's daughter, Elizabeth Holt. In the American Revolutionary War he immediately threw in his lot with the American colonists. He participated in Benedict Arnold's expedition to Quebec in 1775 and was captured. After a prisoner exchange, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of artillery in January 1777. He performed notable service during the Danbury Raid in Connecticut during April 1777. At the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778 he distinguished himself while playing a major role in the engagement.

After resigning from the army in a dispute over seniority, Oswald returned to a career in publishing and journalism. Over the next decade he published newspapers in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. In 1792 he went to France where he joined the French Revolution and assumed command of an artillery unit as colonel. After fighting at Jemappes he went on a secret mission to Ireland. He returned to New York in 1795 and died in an outbreak of Yellow Fever.