Brooks, John

BROOKS, JOHN. (1752–1825). Continental officer. Born in Medford, Massachusetts, on 4 May 1752, Brooks studied medicine and set up his practice in Reading, Massachusetts. Elected captain in the militia in 1775, he led his forces in harassing the British on their retreat from Concord on 19 April 1775. Joining the troops gathered around Boston, he was promoted to major in May. His regiment was stationed alongside General Alexander McDougall's brigade on Chatterton's Hill during the Battle of White Plains on 28 October 1776, standing up before the main British attack. After the battle he was named lieutenant colonel of the Eighth Massachusetts Regiment. The following year his force was part of Benedict Arnold's relief effort to Fort Stanwix, and Brooks is credited with sending the mad Hon Yost Schuyler to give false information to the Indians that led to their retreat. He arrived with Arnold in time to see action at Freeman's Farm on 19 September 1777 and commanded the advance unit at Bemis Heights that on 7 October captured Breymann's redoubt, ensuring victory. His regiment was at Valley Forge in 1778, and he served as adjutant to General Charles Lee at Monmouth, testifying on Lee's behalf at the latter's court-martial. After serving on General Friedrich von Steuben's staff, Brooks became commander of the Seventh Massachusetts Regiment from November 1778 until June 1783. After the war, Brooks returned to Medford, serving in the assembly in 1785–1786, as major general in the militia during Shays's Rebellion, as delegate to the Massachusetts constitutional ratifying convention, as brigadier general in the U.S. Army from 1792 to 1796, as adjutant general of Massachusetts from 1812 to 1816, and as the nation's last Federalist governor from 1816 to 1823. He died at Medford on 1 March 1825.