LINCOLN, Benjamin, American general: b. Hingham, Mass., 24 Jan. 1733; d. there, 9 May 1810. Until the age of 40 he followed the calling of a farmer, holding also at different times the offices of magistrate, representative in the provincial legislature and colonel of militia. He was also an active member of the three provincial congresses of Massachusetts, and as militia officer displayed an efficiency which procured his promotion in 1776 to the rank of major-general. In this capacity he be came favorably known to Washington during the siege of Boston. In the beginning of 1777 he joined Washington at Morristown with a new levy of militia, and soon after, at the sug gesuon of the commander-in-chief, was trans ferred to the continental service with the rank of major-general. He was sent to join the forces assembled to oppose the progress of Burgoyne, and during, the battle of Bemis' Heights commanded inside the American works; and was severely wounded in the leg and compelled for nearly a year to retire from service. In September 1778 he was appointed to the command of the southern army, and upon the arrival of Count d'Estaing co-operated with the French troops and fleet in the unsuc cessful assault on Savannah. From the unwill ingness of his allies to continue the siege he was obliged to return to Charleston, where in the spring of 1780 he was besieged by a supe rior British force under Sir Henry Clinton.
After an obstinate defense he was forced in May to capitulate, and retired to Massachusetts on parole. In the spring of the succeeding year he was exchanged, and subsequently partici pated with credit in the siege of Yorktown. In consideration of his merits and misfortunes Washington appointed him to receive the sword of Cornwallis upon the surrender of the British forces. He held the office of Secretary of War 1781-83, and in 1787 commanded the forces which quelled the Shays' Rebellion in western Massachusetts, and in the same year was elected lieutenant-governor of the State, which office he held one year. He was collector of Boston 1789 till about two years before his death. He was a member of the commission which in 1789 formed a treaty with the Creek Indians, and of that which in 1793 unsuccessfully attempted to enter into negotiations with the Indians north of the Ohio. In his later years he took great interest in science and wrote several papers many of which attracted attention at the time. Lincoln's earnest character and his unselfish public spirit were greatly admired and he was deservedly popular toward the close of his life. Consult life by Bowen in Jared Sparks' (American Biography' (2d series, Vol. )(III, Boston 1847).