gle. When, therefore, the revolutionary government was
organized and an order was made for raising a regiment was adopted,
Lachlan McIntosh was made colonel commandant; and when the order was
issued for raising three other regiments, in September, 1776, he was
immediately appointed brigadier-general commandant. About this time
Button Gwinnett was elected governor, who had been an unsuccessful
competitor for the command of the troops. He was a man unrestrained by
any honorable principles, and used his official authority in petty
persecutions of General McIntosh and his family. The general bore all
this patiently until his opponent ceased to be governor, when he
communicated to him the opinion he entertained of his conduct. He
received a challenge, and in a duel wounded him mortally. General
McIntosh now applied, through his friend Colonel Henry Laurens, for a
place in the Continental army, which was granted, and with his staff was
invited to join the commander-in-chief. He soon won the confidence of
Washington, and for a long time was placed in his front, while watching
the superior forces of Sir William Howe in Philadelphia.

While the army was in winter quarters at Valley Forge, the attention of
the government was called to the exposed condition of the western
frontier, upon which the British was constantly exciting the Indians to
the most terrible atrocities. It was determined that General McIntosh
should command an expedition against the Indians on the Ohio. In a
letter to the President of Congress, dated May 12, 1778, Washington
says:

"After much consideration upon the subject, I have appointed General
McIntosh to command at Fort Pitt, and in the western country, for which
he will set out as soon as he can accommodate his affairs. I part with
this gentleman with much reluctance, as I esteem him an officer of great
worth and merit, and as I know his services here are and will be
materially wanted. His firm disposition and equal justice, his assiduity
and good understanding, added to his being a stranger to all parties in
that quarter, pointed him out as a proper person."[182]

With a reinforcement of five hundred men General McIntosh marched to
Fort Pitt, of which he assumed the command, and in a short time he gave
repose to all western Pennsylvania and Virginia. In the spring of 1779,
he completed arrangements for an expedition against Detroit, but in
April was recalled by Washington to take part in the operation