Robert Kirkwood

Who was Robert Kirkwood?

Robert Henry Kirkwood was a soldier who fought in the American Revolutionary War.

He was named a lieutenant of the 1st Delaware Regiment in the Continental Army on December 9, 1775. In 1776, the Delaware Battalion, under the command of Captain Robert Kirkwood, was assigned to Mifflin's Brigade under Gen. Thomas Mifflin of Pennsylvania. He participated in every battle in which George Washington fought in 1777. In the August 16, 1780 Battle of Camden, Kirkwood's troops won fame and were called "The Blue Hen's Chickens" after that. This battle reduced his regiment from eight companies to two by reason of death and capture. At the Battle of Cowpens on January 17, 1781, Captain Kirkwood repulsed the British cavalry, and made a famous bayonet charge ordered by Colonel John Eager Howard. He was with General Washington in his pursuit and defeat of Cornwallis.

As a captain in the regular army, he joined a 1791 military expedition led by Arthur St. Clair, the governor of the Northwest Territory. In November 1791, Kirkwood was killed by Native Americans from the Miami tribe in a major defeat near present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana, after having survived 32 Revolutionary battles without a disabling wound.