A physician by trade, Edward Hand was Irish-born, and a member of the Continental Congress (1783-84) who rose to become an important military leader during the American Revolution.

Hand was born in Ireland 31 December 1744 [2]; some sources report the village as Clyduff, in County Kings (known since 1922 as County Offaly), in central Ireland, northeast of the city of Limerick [1]. His parents were John and Dorothy Hand, whose ancestors came from England and settled in Ireland in the middle of the 16th century. Historian Richard Reuben Forry explained, “The Hand family settled in Dublin approximately a century before Edward was born to John and Dorothy Hand. By 31 December 1744, the day of his birth, the Hand family had settled in the rural community of Clyduff … The countryside fifty miles southwest of Dublin—the physical setting of Hand’s early years—consisted of rolling hills spotted with the occasional stands of forest and bogs which separated pastures from more intensively cultivated acres.” [3]

Edward Hand studied medicine at Trinity College in Dublin; however, desiring to bypass the system that would make him train for five full years as an apprentice, Hand instead joined the British army, named as a surgeon’s mate, and attached to the 18th Royal Irish Regiment. In 1767, when he was 23, Hand was sent to the American colonies to serve with the British army in fighting the French and Indian War, between England and France. When he arrived in the colonies, he was assigned to Fort Pitt. Now located where the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is situated, Fort Pitt was, at the time, one of the most imposing, complex, and elaborate British installations in the Americas, making it one of the key defensive positions during the entire conflict. Hand would remain at Fort Pitt for the remainder of his time in the British army. In 1774, as the American Revolution was on the verge of bringing England into conflict with the colonies, Hand made a decision and decided to resign from the army (some sources report that he “sold” his commission), and he moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. There, he met Katherine (also spelled Catherine) Ewing, and the two were married in 1775. The couple would eventually have four children—three daughters and a son; one daughter and the son would survive to adulthood.

By this time, Edward Hand had sided with the American cause against England, and in 1775 he was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel in the Continental Army, taking a spot in the Pennsylvania Battalion of Riflemen. Within a few months, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel in that same regiment. Two years later, in 1777, Hand was promoted to brigadier general, and, ironically, sent to Fort Pitt to become the commander of American forces in that area. The Independent Chronicle and The Universal Advertiser of Boston, Massachusetts, reported on 24 April 1777, “The Hon. The Continental Congress, have promoted Col. ___ Learned, of the Massachusetts-Bay, Col. George Clifton, of New-York, Col. Edward Hand, of Pennsylvania, and Col. Scott, of Virginia, to the rank of Brigadier’s-General [sic].” [4] Historians Hermann Wellenreuther and Carola Wessel wrote, “Reacting to increasing Indian attacks, the commanding officers of the militias of the frontier counties had sent a petition to the Continental Congress in which they requested that the army take over the forts and that an experienced general be appointed for the region. The petition resulted on 10 April 1777 in the appointment of Brigadier General Edward Hand, an Irishman and a physician by profession, as commander of Fort Pitt. Between 1768 and 1772 Hand had been stationed at Fort Pitt as an officer of the 8th Royal Irish Regiment. On 1 June 1777 he arrived at Fort Pitt and initiated preparations for the improvement of the military protection of the settlements.” [5] According to historian Simon Gratz, who cataloged the generals who served in the Continental Army, Hand served in the service of the United States from 1 April 1777 to 3 November 1783. [6] However, a listing of the “[a]rrangement and rank of the Field Officers of the Twelve Pennsylvania regiments in Continental service, as agreed to by the Council of Safety, and confirmed by the Supreme Executive Council, March 12th, 1777” shows that in the First Regiment the commander is listed as “Colonel, Edward Hand.” [7] The dates may be slightly off, but we do know that Hand served from sometime in 1777 onwards. Of his service, historian Mary Theresa Carver Leiter wrote in 1889, “[On] 1 March 1776, he was promoted to be a colonel, and [he] took part with his regiment in the battles of Long Island and Trenton. [On] 1 April 1777, he was advanced to the rank of Brigadier General; in October, 1778, he succeeded General [John] Stark at Albany, and in 1780 commanded one brigade of the light infantry.” [8]

From varying pieces of correspondence from George Washington, it was obvious that he had gained the general’s complete admiration and trust. Washington wrote to General James Clinton, 20 November 1778. “General Hand received my directions to take the Command at the Minisink in which I have, (for the present) included Copl. Cortlandt’s Regiment now at Rochester. You will deliver him the inclosed letter, left open for your information, in which I have desired a free communication of sentiment, and co-operation of force—You will therefore consult with General Hand, on the plans he may have in contemplation, whether offensive against the Indians, or for giving greater security to the frontiers.” [9]

In 1781, Hand was named as the adjutant general of the Continental Army, serving directly under George Washington. On 15 October 1781, he wrote an extensive letter to Lafayette (whom he addressed as “Marquis de la Fayette”), which was headlined as a “return of the killed and wounded of the French troops since the beginning of the siege of York” during the month of October, 1781. The letter was signed by “Edward Hand, A.G.,” but also sent to Charles Thomson, the secretary of the Continental Congress, who published the document in the official papers of the body. [10] Two years later, with the war over, Washington resigned from the army, and it was Edward Hand who delivered a message of thanks to the general, if one could call it that. In an essay that was published in newspapers across the nation, Hand penned, “Before the Commander in Chief takes his final leave of those he holds most dear, he wishes to indulge himself a few moments in calling to mind a slight review of the past—he will then take the liberty of exploring, with his military friends, their future prospects—of advising the general line of conduct, which, in his opinion, might to be pursued; and he will conclude the address by expressing the obligations he feels himself under for the spirited and able assistance he has experienced from them, in the performance of an arduous office.” [11]

With the end of the American Revolution, Hand resigned his commission from the army and moved back to the place he now called home, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. There, he purchased an estate of several hundred acres, and built on it a mansion that he named “Rock Ford Plantation,” designed in the Georgian style so popular at the time. As if the war had not occurred, Hand went back to the practice of medicine, and raised his family. From all appearances, his “public” career seemed to be over.

On 12 November 1783, the Pennsylvania legislature elected Hand to a seat in the Continental Congress. While he had no political experience, nevertheless he was a leading military hero and his name was attached to the confidence normally associated with such elections. He ultimately attended sessions of the body from 24-31 December 1783, 1 January to about 5 February 1784, 27 March to 4 June 1784, and 26 June to 13 August 1784. [12] Although his record in service is sparse, one thing that does stand out is his service as the Pennsylvania member of the prestigious Committee of States. On 13 August 1784, this committee assembled; a separate publication from the official Journals of the Continental Congress, documenting the activities of the members of that committee during that time, was published in 1784 by famed printer John Dunlap in Philadelphia. Lacking enough members on this date, the committee adjourned until a sufficient number of additional delegates could arrive. This finally occurred on 19 August. However, in a demonstration of the continuing problem of the lack of attendance of many of the members of the Continental Congress, the committee announced, “[T]he honorable the delegates from the states of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts and New Jersey, did on Wednesday the eleventh day of the present month of August, leave the city of Annapolis, and set out for their respective homes, whereas the Committee of the States hath been reduced to a number insufficient to do any more manner of business; and whereas the continuance to meet from day-to-day, of the remaining members without the power to do any public act will be unnecessary … ” The note is signed by Samuel Hardy, the chairman of the committee, and by Edward Hand, one of the committee members. [13]

Fortunately, many original pieces of correspondence, both from and to Hand, survive. Hand, like many other delegates in the Continental Congress before and after him, seemed to bitterly complain about the almost-moribund activities happening because of a lack of the attendance of many members, either due to illness or their inability to get to where the Congress was holding sessions. In a letter to Jasper Yeates, 30 December 1783, Hand made such a complaint: “Dear Yeates, [N]othing material has been done in Congress, seven States only being represented, this places us in a disagreable [sic] situation. The definitive Treaty remains unratified and many other matters of consequence and one, which demand an early attention. It has been strenuously urged that Seven States are competent to the ratification, the debates ran high, but the Subject was drop’d with apparent conviction on either side …” [14] To Yeates he again wrote on 3 May 1784, “Congress have at length Determined to Adjourn on the 3d of next month to meet at Trenton in Octr. I am much mistaken if they return to the South of Pennsylvania[,] a Committee of the States will Sit in the recess of Congress. Since our Adjournment we have passed the inclosed Act for the temporary Gouvernm’t of the Western territory. The hard names are left out but it is otherwise so much scratched and interlined, that I apprehend you can Scarcely read it. I say Interlined because the Marginal notes are to be taken in. [W]e have also call’d on the States for money to pay the Interest on the foreign Debt to the End of 1784 and the Domestic to the End of 1783, with the Current expences [sic] of this Year. We have also recommended to the States to vest a power in Congress to regulate Commerce generally.” [15] As part of his duties on the Committee of the States, Hand corresponded with the governors of the states to inform them of the official business in the Continental Congress. To John Dickinson, the president (with the powers of a governor) of Pennsylvania, Hand wrote on 23 July 1784, “Sir, I lately had the honor to inform your Excellency that the State of Connecticut had passed an act authorizing Congress to levy a duty of 5 pr. cent on all goods imported, except on certain enumerated articles, on which particular duties laid. I now enclose a copy of the act itself. You[r] Excellency will also find inclosed Copies of letters from Mr. de Marbois, General Muhlenberg, and Governor Chittenden. The two former I presume have already been in substance Communicated by the writers of them. The latter I take the liberty to present you with, merely for your amusement!” [16] In a letter from Cadwalader Morris to Hand, 30 April 1784, Morris penned to his friend:

My Dear and Hon’d Colleague, Well may I call thee so, as we have both of us so punctually attended in the great Council of the Nation. Thy friend indeed has taken some small liberties, being very sensible his shoulders were not of the structure sufficient for a third part of the thirteen United States. Indeed they still act with the work already done. I being an American, thou can’st [sic] not suppose a weight proper for an Hibernian would by any means suit thy friend. Verily it giveth me much delight to hear that the Wise men have determined on an adjournment, and would be more delectable to me to know that a Committee was appointed, and that one of the present three Sweet Pennsylvanians did belong thereto, for my dear friend be thou assured I can not, and (as the Children say) I will not take a seat in that Assembly aforesaid, many solid and very substantial reasons move me in this matter, but the health of my Help Mate is a Sufficient excuse … [17]

After leaving the Continental Congress, Hand returned to Pennsylvania, where he was elected to a seat in the Pennsylvania assembly, serving from 1785 to 1786. On 31 December 1789, The Newport Herald of Rhode Island reported, “[Y]esterday the following gentlemen were appointed [as] a committee to prepare a draught [draft] of the New [state] Constitution: William Findley, Edward Hand, Henry Miller, James Wilson, William Irvine, William Lewis, James Ross. Charles Smith, and Alexander Addison, Esquires.” [19] Hand served as a delegate to the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention in 1790. [20] The following year, President George Washington appointed him as the Inspector of Revenue for Survey No. 3 in Pennsylvania; Hand also served as a tax collector for several districts in and around Lancaster.

On 20 July 1792, The Federal Gazette and Philadelphia Advertiser newspaper reported that “[a]t a Meeting of the Proprietors of Shares in the Lancaster turn pike [sic] Road, on the 18th instant, pursuant to public notice given, The following Ticket was agreed to, viz.” Among the managers of the group was Edward Hand. [21] The association was called The Lancaster and Susquehanna Turnpike Road Company. On 1 June 1801, Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser, a newspaper printed in Philadelphia, reported that “[a]t a [meeting of] a Board of Managers of the Lancaster and Susquehanna Turnpike Road Company, held at the House of Mathias Slough, in the Borough of Lancaster, April 29th, 1801,” business was conducted; the report was signed by Edward Hand, President. [22]

In December 1799, former President George Washington died, and Hand was one of those myriad number of Americans who wrote glowing memorials to the former military commander and leader. One publication reported that “[a]t a meeting of the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati[,] held at the State-house, on the 22d of February, 1800, the following resolution was moved, and unanimously adopted.” It gave thanks to William Jackson, Washington’s aide-de-camp, who had delivered a memorial address the day before to the late military commander and leader. The resolution was signed by Major General Edward Hand, the president of the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati. [23]

On 4 September 1802, Edward Hand suddenly died at his home in Lancaster from cholera; he was just 57 years old. He was laid to rest in the Episcopal Burial Ground in Lancaster. While remembering his military service, the Kline’s Carlisle Weekly Gazette stated in eulogy, “As a physician, he was eminently useful; ever ready to the calls of necessity and distress; neither poverty nor condition were consulted in his visits. The benevolence and humanity he evinced, in gratuitously giving his professional aid to the Poor and Sick, Crown all the distinguished acts of his life …” [24] His grave states his name as “Ewd Hand, M.D.” A plaque placed next to his grave reads, “General Edward Hand, 1744-1802. Lancaster’s leading Soldier. During [the] Revolutionary War Friend and Companion-in-Arms of Gen. George Washington. Member of [the] Continental Congress. Chief Burgess of Lancaster. Warden and Vestryman of St. James Church. Rock Ford his Lancaster Home [is] Now a National Historical Site.” The National Intelligencer of Washington, DC, printed “On the Death of Major General Hand,” stating, “By the death of this worthy man the United States has lost one of her firmest props during the revolutionary war, the old soldier one of his best friends, and his country an awful and unassuming citizen, as well as an active and zealous supporter of her rights. In this gentleman’s character were happily blended, the religious sober citizen, the intelligent brave soldier, and the social virtuous man—and if we view him in a professional light, we shall find equal source of admiration and applause, being ever sedulous in his attentions to his patients, overflowing with humanity and tenderness for them in the hour of sickness and pain and in the eminent degree skilful in ministering to them relief …” [25]