PEPPERRELL, SIR WILLIAM , American soldier, was born in Kittery, Me., then a part of Massachusetts, on June 27, 1696. He studied surveying and navigation, and joined his father in his ship-building, fishing and general trading business, quickly becoming one of the wealthiest and most influ ential men in the province. He was commissioned captain (1717), major, lieutenant-colonel, and in 1726 colonel of militia. Pepper rell served in the Massachusetts general court (1726-27), and in the governor's council (1727-59), of which for 18 years he was president. Although not a trained lawyer, he was chief justice of the court of common pleas from 173o until his death. In he was commander-in-chief of the New England force of about 4,000, which, with the assistance of a British squadron under Com modore Peter Warren, besieged and captured the French fortress of Louisburg, the garrison of which surrendered on June 16, Pepperrell and Warren taking possession on the following day.
For his services Pepperrell, in Nov. 1746, was created a baronet —the only New Englander so honoured. He was active in raising troops during the "French and Indian War," and received the rank of lieutenant general in Feb. 1759. He died in Kittery, Me., on July 6, See Usher Parsons, Life of Sir William Pepperrell, Bart. (Cambridge, Mass., 1855), based on the family papers; L. Dame, "Life and Character of Sir William Pepperrell," Essex Inst. Hist. Coll., vol. xxi., PP. 161-176 (1884) ; "The Pepperrell Papers," Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., ser. 6, vol. x. (1899) ; Charles Henry Lincoln (Ed.), The Journal of Sir William Pepperrell Rept During the Expedition Against Louis bourg (Iwo) ; and John Francis Sprague, sketch in Three Men from Maine (1924).