William Darke

Who was William Darke?

William Darke was an American soldier. In 1740, he moved from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Virginia. He was in Braddock's army in the defeat in 1755, and was made a captain at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. He was made prisoner at the Battle of Germantown, and was commanding colonel of the Hampshire and Berkeley regiments at the capture of Cornwallis. Darke was often a member of the Virginia legislature, and, in the convention of 1788, voted for the Federal Constitution. Lieutenant-colonel of the regiment of "Levies" in 1791, he commanded the left wing of the St. Clair's army, at its defeat by the Miami Indians, November 4, 1791. He made two gallant and successful charges with the bayonet in this fight, in the second of which his younger son, Captain Joseph Darke, was killed, and he himself was wounded and narrowly escaped death. He wrote a letter to President George Washington describing the battle. Afterwards, Darke was a major-general of the Virginia militia. He died on November 26, 1801.