- Benjamin Eyre
Benjamin George Eyre (
June 1 ,1747 -July 11 ,1789 ) [ [http://fam.eastmill.com/i4116.htm#i48633 Ancestors of ] ] , was a figure of theAmerican Revolutionary War . Benjamin served as a Lieutenant Colonel in theContinental Army [ [http://freepages.books.rootsweb.com/~cooverfamily/member_roll.html Books of Historical Interest - The Iowa Society - Membership Roll, A-H ] ] commanding the Second Battalion of the Pennsylvania Militia [ [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kipke/sotr/membs_h.htm Sons of the Revolution in Washington D.C. 1920 - Members H ] ] and asaide-de-camp to GeneralGeorge Washington [ [http://proxy.wrlc.org:8080/cgi-bin/getdoc.pdffile=CLS_1057029.pdf&pin=899812] ] and was so close to the future President that he was once given an expensive punch-bowl by him. [ [http://www.oldandsold.com/articles16/antique-china-10.shtml] ] The punchbowl was loaned to the American Wing of New York's Metropolitan Museum in 1928 and donated by the surviving heirs in 1973. A large color photo can be seen in the magazine American Heritage, August 1955. The bowl depicted the China international trade and includes one of the first illustrations of the American flag, along with other international standards. The Eyre brothers were major ship builders.Benjamin was the brother to Manuel and
Jehu Eyre , also both major players in the Revolution [http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/NJBURLIN/1998-10/0908718604 RootsWeb: NJBURLIN-L Burlington "EYRES" surname & associated names info #25 ] ] . Apocryphally, his family was descended, through his father, from the royalHouse of Wessex .The Eyre family as a whole played a pivotal role in the war (most notably through their invaluable contributions to the U.S. Navy, which they essentially founded [ [http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/w3/washington-ii.htm] ] [ [http://www.army.mil/cmh/books/RevWar/risch/chpt-5.htm Other Quartermaster Support ] ] ) and Washington mentioned them several times in his personal correspondences [ [http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/index/revolution/elist.html Papers of George Washington ] ] .
A portrait of him standing alongside Washington can be found at
Princeton University .Fact|date=December 2007References
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