Robert Philson (c. 1759 – July 25, 1831) was an Irish American soldier and politician. Philson was born in

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, and immigrated to Pennsylvania with his uncle John Fletcher. They kept a store in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Somerset County, Pennsylvania Somerset County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 74,129. Its county seat is Somerset, Pennsylvania, Somerset. ...

. In 1794, Philson was arrested for his involvement in the

Whiskey Rebellion The Whiskey Rebellion (also known as the Whiskey Insurrection) was a violent tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 and ending in 1794 during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called "whiskey tax" was the first tax impo ...

. He was sent to Philadelphia for trial, but he and his co-defendant,

Herman Husband Herman Husband (December 3, 1724 – June 19, 1795) was an American farmer, pamphleteer, author, and preacher best known as a leader of the Regulator Movement, a populist rebellion in the Province of North Carolina in the years leading up to the ...

, were acquitted.Wythe Holt,
"The Whiskey Rebellion of 1794: A Democratic Working-Class Insurrection"
Paper presented a
The Georgia Workshop in Early American History and Culture
2004, p. 79. Philson served as associate judge of

, for twenty years, and also served as a one-term congressman during the

16th United States Congress The 16th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1819, ...

. Philson was commissioned a brigadier general of the Second Brigade, Tenth Division,

Pennsylvania militia The Pennsylvania National Guard is one of the oldest and largest National Guards in the United States Department of Defense. It traces its roots to 1747 when Benjamin Franklin established the Associators in Philadelphia. With more than 18,000 pe ...

on May 9, 1800, a position he held during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

References

1750s births 1831 deaths American militia generals American militiamen in the War of 1812 Irish emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies Pennsylvania state court judges People of the Whiskey Rebellion Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government Prisoners and detainees of the United States military People acquitted of treason 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives {{Pennsylvania-Representative-stub

Further reading

References