BROWN, JACOB (1775-1828), American soldier, was born of Quaker ancestry, in Bucks county, Pa., on May 9, From 1796 to 1798 he was engaged in surveying public lands in Ohio ; in 1798 he settled in New York city and during the period 1798-1800, when war with France seemed imminent, he acted as military secretary to Alexander Hamilton, then inspector gen eral of the United States army. Subsequently he purchased a large tract of land in Jefferson county, N.Y., where he founded the town of Brownville. There he served as county judge, and attained the rank (181o) of brigadier general in the State militia. On the outbreak of the second war with Great Britain (1812) he was placed in command of the New York State frontier from Oswego to Lake St. Francis (near Cornwall, Ont.), and repelled the British attacks on Ogdensburg (Oct. 4, 1812) and Sackett's Harbor (May 29, 1813). In July 1813, he was commissioned brigadier general in the regular army, and in Jan. 1814, he was promoted major general and succeeded Gen. James Wilkinson in command of the forces at Niagara. Early in the summer of 1814 he undertook offensive operations, and his forces occupied Ft. Erie, and, on July 5, at Chippawa, Ont., defeated the British under Gen. Phineas Riall. On July 25, with Gen. Winfield Scott, he fought a hotly contested, but indecisive, battle with the British under Gen. Gordon Drummond at Lundy's Lane, where he was twice wounded. After the war he remained in the army, of which he was the commanding general from March, 1821, until his death at Washington, D.C., on Feb. 24, 1828.