Nathaniel Scudder (May 10, 1733October 17, 1781) was an American Founding Father, physician, and officer during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. He served as a delegate for

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

to the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

, where he was one of two delegates from New Jersey to sign the

Articles of Confederation The Articles of Confederation, officially the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement and early body of law in the Thirteen Colonies, which served as the nation's first Constitution, frame of government during the Ameri ...

Biography

Scudder was born in Monmouth Court House,

Province of New Jersey The Province of New Jersey was one of the Middle Colonies of Colonial history of the United States, Colonial America and became the U.S. state of New Jersey in 1776. The province had originally been settled by Europeans as part of New Netherla ...

, which later became Freehold Borough, New Jersey. He attended the College Of New Jersey (now

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

) and graduated in 1751. He then studied medicine before setting up a practice in

Monmouth County, New Jersey Monmouth County () is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is bordered to its west by Mercer and Middlesex Counties, to its south by Ocean County, to its east by the Atlantic Ocean, and to its north ...

. 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 lieutenant colonel in the county's first regiment of militia. In 1776 he was elected to a one-year term as Monmouth County's first member of the newly constituted New Jersey Legislative Council, and in 1780 he was elected to the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...

. In 1777, Scudder became the colonel of his militia regiment and was sent as a delegate to the Continental Congress. During the summer of 1778, he was particularly busy and abandoned his medical practice. 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. Scudder continued both forms of service for several years. 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, New Jersey. He is buried in the Old Tennent Cemetery in Manalapan Township. Dr. Scudder was the only member of the Continental Congress to die in battle during the Revolutionary War and the last colonel to die in battle.

References

External links

*
Nathaniel Scudder
at

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scudder, Nathaniel 1733 births 1781 deaths Continental Congressmen from New Jersey Signers of the Articles of Confederation Members of the New Jersey Legislative Council Members of the New Jersey General Assembly United States military personnel killed in the American Revolutionary War New Jersey militiamen in the American Revolution People from Freehold Borough, New Jersey People from Suffolk County, New York Physicians in the American Revolution American Presbyterians People from colonial New Jersey Politicians from Monmouth County, New Jersey Princeton University alumni Physicians from New Jersey Presidents of the Medical Society of New Jersey Founding Fathers of the United States 18th-century American physicians Burials at Old Tennent Cemetery