6. Dearborn, Michigan was named for Revolutionary War veteran Henry Dearborn
Henry Dearborn was a New Hampshire militiaman who rose to prominence in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, serving with distinction at Bunker Hill under John Stark. He was a participant in the invasion of Canada in 1775, enduring the epic march through the Maine swamps under Benedict Arnold, and was captured in the failed assault on Quebec on New Year’s Eve of that year. Paroled and later exchanged, he served in the Saratoga campaign and later fought with Washington’s army at the Battle of Monmouth Court House. He also fought in Sullivan’s punitive expedition against the Iroquois, and commanded a regiment during the Yorktown campaign. He was one of the very few regimental commanders to be present at the three major turning points of the Revolutionary War, Saratoga, Monmouth, and Yorktown.
He later served as Secretary of War under President Jefferson, and was instrumental in founding the United States Military Academy at West Point. In 1812 he was appointed to command the US Army as its most senior officer. During the war of 1812 he commanded the northeastern theater of operations, though by then in his sixties he was less than aggressive in prosecuting the war. By 1813, though still in official command, he delegated most of the operations to Winfield Scott, though troops under his command achieved victories over the British at the Battles of York (now Toronto) and at Fort George. Dearborn was later assigned to an administrative position in New York, his health inadequate to the rigors of the field. He later served as the American Minister to Portugal. He died in 1829, having served his country in the field and in political positions for more than fifty years, and faded into history.