Beatty, John

BEATTY, JOHN. (1749–1826). Continental officer. Born in Warwick, Pennsylvania, on 19 December 1749, Beatty graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1769 and studied medicine with Dr. Benjamin Rush in Philadelphia, setting up his practice in Princeton in 1774. At the beginning of the Revolution, he and his three brothers enlisted in the Continental army. Commissioned a captain in the Fifth Pennsylvania Battalion in January 1776, Beatty led his troops to New York, where they built fortifications. Promoted to major and commander of the battalion, he and most of his troops were taken prisoner in the debacle at Fort Washington on 16 November 1776. After six months aboard one of the horrendous British prison ships at New York City, he spent a year paroled on Long Island, being exchanged in May 1778. Promoted to colonel and named commissary general for prisoners of war, Beatty found himself frustrated by a lack of support at every turn and worked informally with the British to improve the care of POWs. General Washington was outraged by these arrangements and ordered Beatty court-martialed in February 1780. Reprimanded by the court and by Washington, Beatty resigned his position in March and returned to Princeton.

His state had a different opinion of his services, and he was a member of the New Jersey state council from 1781 until the legislature elected him to the Continental Congress in November 1783, where he served until 1785. As a delegate to New Jersey's constitutional ratifying convention, Beatty supported the Constitution. He went on to serve as speaker of the state assembly in 1789–1790, as a member of Congress from 1792 to 1795, and as New Jersey's secretary of state from 1795 to 1805. He died at his home in Trenton on 30 April 1826.