General Society of Colonial Wars

The Society of Colonial Wars is an hereditary society composed of men who trace their descents from forebears who, in military, naval, or civil positions of high trust and responsibility, by acts or counsel, assisted in the establishment, defense, and preservation of the mainland American colonies of Great Britain (for a complete explanation of ancestral criteria, click here). The General Society presently comprises some thirty-two constituent state societies. The organization was founded in New York in 1892, originally as a state society. The General Society was founded in 1893.

The total membership of state societies has for many years remained in the range of 4,000 to 4,500. Approximately 21,000 men have joined the organization during its history, including many prominent Americans. Members are typically well-educated and professionally accomplished.

The Society has long sought to improve public awareness of the importance of colonial events and individuals in the shaping of America. A number of monuments, plaques, and other markers have been installed by the Society at provenient sites.^[1] The Society also funds research and educational initiatives of colonial relevance. In recent years, the goal of improving understanding of the colonial period has additionally been addressed by Samuel Victor Constant Fellowships, awarded annually for postgraduate study of colonial American history.^[2]

Notable Members

Government officials

• Sherman Adams – Governor of New Hampshire and White House Chief of Staff.
• Thomas R. Ball – U.S. Congressman.
• Henry M. Baker – U.S. Congressman.
• William W. Barbour – United States Senator.
• Franklin Bartlett – U.S. Congressman.
• James Phinney Baxter – Mayor of Portland, Maine.
• Robert W. Bingham – Ambassador.
• Henry S. Boutell – U.S. Congressman.
• Morgan Bulkeley - Governor of Connecticut and United States Senator.
• Melville Bull – U.S. Congressman.
• Louis R. Cheney – Mayor of Hartford, Connecticut.
• Colonel Samuel Pomeroy Colt – Rhode Island Attorney General, militia officer, businessman and politician.
• Chauncey Depew – United States Senator.
• Clarence D. Dillon – Secretary of the Treasury.
• Henry A. Dupont - ; United States Senator.
• Elisha Dyer, Jr. – Governor of Rhode Island.
• Charles P. Farnsley – U.S. Congressman.
• Major General Curtis Guild, Jr., MVM – Governor of Massachusetts and militia general.
• Carter H. Harrison – Mayor of Chicago.
• Hamilton Fish Kean – United States Senator.
• Charles Dean Kimball – Governor of Rhode Island and U.S. Congressman.
• Levi P. Morton - Vice President of the United States.
• Captain Claiborne Pell, USCGR – United States Senator.
• Thomas C. Platt – United States Senator.
• L. Bradford Prince – Governor of New Mexico Territory and New York State Senator.
• Josiah Quincy – Mayor of Boston.
• Stanley F. Reed – U.S. Supreme Court associate justice.
• Henry Roberts – Governor of Connecticut.
• Elihu Root – U.S. Secretary of State and Secretary of War.
• H. Alexander Smith – United States Senator.
• Henry Stockbridge, Jr. - United States Representative.
• Paul Suttell – Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court.
• Sheldon Whitehouse – United States Senator.
• Henry L. Wilson – Ambassador.
• Charles S. Whitman – Governor of New York
• J. Butler Wright – Ambassador.
• Walter Wyman – Surgeon General of the United States.

Military and Naval Officers

• Brigadier General Charles Wheaton Abbot, Jr. – Adjutant General of Rhode Island.^[3]
• Brevet Major General Adelbert Ames – Governor of and Senator from Mississippi.
• Lieutenant Colonel John Jacob Astor IV, USV – Heir to Astor fortune. Died on the Titanic.
• Captain Vincent Astor, USNR – Husband of Brooke Astor.
• Brevet Major General Absalom Baird - Civil War general and Medal of Honor recipient.
• Rear Admiral John R. Bartlett, USN – Oceanographer.
• Brigadier General Richard Napoleon Batchelder – Medal of Honor recipient.
• Brevet Brigadier General Charles R. Brayton – Political boss of Rhode Island.
• Major General John R. Brooke - Veteran of the Civil War and Spanish–American War.
• Major Archibald Butt – U.S. Army officer and presidential aide. Died on the Titanic.
• Brevet Major General Isaac S. Catlin
• Brevet Colonel Johnston de Peyster – Union Army officer.
• Admiral of the Navy George Dewey – Hero of the Battle of Manila Bay.
• Brigadier General Edgar S. Dudley ^[4]
• Major General Francis Fessenden - Civil War general.
• Brigadier General Morris Cooper Foote ^[5]
• Major General William B. Franklin - Union Army officer and Vice President of Colt Firearms.
• Captain Alfred Brooks Fry, USNR – Marine engineer.
• Major General Frederick Dent Grant – Son of President Ulysses S. Grant.
• Vice Admiral Stuart H. Ingersoll – President of the Naval War College.
• Rear Admiral Richard Worsam Meade, USN
• Rear Admiral Joseph B. Murdock, USN
• Brevet Major General Theodore S. Peck – Medal of Honor recipient.
• Rear Admiral Francis A. Roe – Career Navy officer.
• Rear Admiral Aaron Ward – Career Navy officer.
• Major Alexander M. Wetherill – Career Army officer.^[6]
• Major General Joseph Wheeler – Confederate Lieutenant General, U.S. Army Major General and Congressman.

Others

• Henry L. P. Beckwith, Jr. - Genealogist and historian.
• George Madison Bodge - Author and historian
• John Nicholas Brown I - Philanthropist.
• Louis R. Cheney - Businessman.
• Samuel Victor Constant - Founder of the Society of Colonial Wars.
• Reverend Alexander Hamilton - Episcopalian priest.
• Rowland Hazard III - Business executive.
• Norman Isham - Architectural Historian.
• Alexander Hamilton Rice, Jr. - Explorer.
• William Watts Sherman - Socialite.
• Henry Dexter Sharpe - Industrialist^[7]
• Henry A. Stearns (1825–1910), Rhode Island industrialist.
• John Austin Stevens - Founder of the Sons of the Revolution.
• Theodore Salisbury Woolsey - Yale law professor.

See also

• Daughters of the American Revolution
• Children of the American Revolution
• Sons of the Revolution
• Sons of the American Revolution

References