Nathaniel Scudder
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Nathaniel Scudder (May 10, 1733–October 17, 1781) was an American physician and patriot leader during the Revolutionary War. He served as a delegate for New Jersey to the Continental Congress, where he signed the Articles of Confederation.
Nathaniel was born on Long Island near Huntington, New York. He attended the College Of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and graduated in 1751. He then studied medicine before setting up a practice in Monmouth County, New Jersey. His homesite is now within the city of Freehold, New Jersey.
Dr. Scudder was active in civic and militia affairs. When the revolution split the colonies, he supported the rebel cause. He was a member of the county's Committee of Safety, and represented it in the Provincial Congress held in 1774. That same year he was named Lt. Colonel in the county's 1st regiment of militia. In 1775 and 1776 he was elected to the state assembly, serving as its speaker in 1776.
In 1777 Scudder became the Colonel of his militia regiment and that fall was sent as a delegate to the Continental Congress. During the summer of 1778 he was particularly busy and finally abandoned his medical practice altogether. He split his time between the Congress and militia activities. He led his regiment in the Battle of Monmouth in June. He wrote a series of impassioned letters to local and state leaders urging the adoption of the Articles of Confederation and, when New Jersey's legislature approved them in November, he endorsed them for the state at the Congress.
Nathaniel continued both forms of service for several years. Finally, on October 17, 1781, he led a part of his regiment to offer resistance to a British Army foraging party, and was killed in a skirmish near Shrewsbury. He is buried in the Tennant Church Graveyard there. Dr. Scudder was the only member of the Continental Congress to die in battle during the Revolutionary War.
