HEATH, WILLIAM American soldier, was born in Roxbury, Mass., on March 2, 1737 (old style). He was brought up as a farmer but had a passion for military exercises. In 1765 he entered the Ancient and Honourable Artillery com pany of Boston, of which he became commander in 177o. In the same year he wrote to the Boston Gazette letters signed "A Mili tary Countryman," urging the necessity of military training. He was a member of the Massachusetts general court from 177o to 1774, of the provincial committee of safety, and from of the provincial congress. He was commissioned a provincial brigadier-general in 1774, directed the pursuit of the British from Concord (April 19, 1775), was promoted to be provincial major general on June 20, 1775, and two days later was commissioned fourth brigadier-general in the Continental army. He became ma jor-general in 1776, and was in active service around New York until early the next year. In Jan. I 7 7 7 he attempted to take Ft. In dependence, near Spuyten Duyvil, then garrisoned by about 2,000 Hessians, but at the first sally of the garrison his troops became panic-stricken and a few days later he withdrew. Washington reprimanded him. Throughout the war, however, Heath was very efficient in muster service and in the barracks. In May 1779 he was appointed a commissioner of the board of War. He was placed in command of the troops on the east side of the Hudson in June 1779, and of other troops and posts on the Hudson in November of the same year. In July 178o, he met the French allies under Rochambeau on their arrival in Rhode Island ; in October of the same year he succeeded Arnold in command of West Point and its dependencies; and in Aug. 1781, when Wash ington went south to meet Cornwallis, Heath was left in command of the army of the Hudson to watch Clinton. After the war he retired to his farm at Roxbury, was a member of the State house of representatives in 1788, of the Massachusetts convention which ratified the Federal Constitution in the same year, and of the governor's council in 1789-90. He was a State senator He died at Roxbury Jan. 24, 1814, the last of the major-generals of the Revolutionary War.
See Memoirs of Major-General Heath, containing Anecdotes, Details of Skirmishes, Battles, and other Military Events during the American War, written by Himself (Boston, 1798; frequently reprinted), particu larly valuable for the descriptions of Lexington and Bunker Hill, of the fighting around New York, of the controversies with Burgoyne and his officers during their stay in Boston, and of relations with Rochambeau ; and his correspondence, The Heath Papers, vols. iv.-v., seventh series, Massachusetts Historical Society Collections (Boston, 1904-05).