PICKERING, TIMOTHY ( 1745-1829). An American statesman. He was born at Salem, Mass., July 17, 1745, graduated at Harvard in 1763, and was admitted to the bar in 1768. In 1773 he drafted for the town of Salem a paper entitled State of the Rights of the Colonists, and in the following year the memorial of the citizens of Salem to General Gage in regard to the Boston Port Bill. In 1776 he joined the Revolutionary Army and led an Essex County regiment to Tar rytown, N. Y. In the following year lie took part in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. and was appointed a member of the Congressional Board of War. In 1780 he was appointed Quar termaster-General of the army and retained the office until its abolition in 1785. Upon his retire ment from the army, he engaged in business in Philadelphia, but two years later removed to the Wyoming 'Valley and became involved in the dis turbances of that region, where he was instru mental in maintaining order and quiet. He set tled the territorial disputes between Pennsylva nia and the inhabitants of the Wyoming Walley, and organized Luzerne County, which lie repre sented in the Pennsylvania Constitutional Con vention of 1780. In 1790 lie was eommissioned by President Washington to negotiate a treaty with the Six Nations, which he (lid successfully, and later performed a similar service with the Indians of the Northwest. In 1791 Colonel Pick ering was appointed of the States, which office he held until 1795, when he was appointed Secretary of War. Pick
ering signalized his administration by establish ing a military school at West Point and by super vi;ing the construction of the frigates Constitu tion, United States, and Constellation. Upon the resignation of Edmund Randolph near the end of 1795. Colonel Pickering was appointed Secretary of State, which office he held during the remain der of Washington's term and through the greater part of AdaIns's administration. In 18tH) he was abruptly removed on account of a serious dis agreement with the President growing out of the diffieulties with France over the N. Y. Z. corre spondence (q.v.). He then retired to his uncleared lands in what is now Susquehanna County, Pa., but was in poor circumstances, and some of his Massachusetts friends prevailed upon him to re turn to his native State, where in 1802 he became Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. In the following year he was elected to the United States Senate, where he served until 1811. As a member of the House of Representatives he served until 1817, when he refused a renomination and again retired to private life. He died at Salem. January 29, 1829. Pickering wrote numerous po litical papers, including a Review of the Corre spondence Between John. Adams and William Cun ningham. A biography of Colonel Pickering in 4 vols. was published by Octavius Pickering and C. W. Upham (Boston, 1867-73).