Uriah Forrest (1756 – July 6, 1805) was an American statesman and military leader from Maryland. Forrest was born in St. Mary's County in the Province of Maryland, near Leonardtown.FORREST, Uriah, (1756 - 1805), Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present, US Congress. Accessed May 28, 2017.Crocker Farm, Inc., Uriah Forrest (Maryland Revolutionary War Hero and Politician) Hand-Written Note and Print, 2012. Accessed May 28, 2017. In his early childhood, he received only limited schooling. He was born into a family with three other brothers.Linda Reno and Greg White, "From Obscurity to Greatness, the Story of Uriah Forrest", St. Mary's Families, June 13, 2004.He also is a direct male descendant of Thomas Forrest, Esq, a financier with the Virginia Company who came to the Jamestown colony on the Second Supply ship in 1608.A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789 by Edward C. Papenfuse, et al., Archives of Maryland Online, Vol. 426, 324.
Revolutionary War He served in varying roles within the Maryland Line.Francis Bernard Heitman, Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army During the War of the Revolution, April 1775, to December 1783 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1982), 30-32, 233. From January 14, 1776, until July 1776 he served as a 1st lieutenant in John Gunby's Independent Maryland Company. When this ended, he became a captain in the 3rd Battalion of the Maryland Flying Camp, until December 1776 when he was promoted to major and transferred to the 3rd Maryland Regiment.Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, Archives of Maryland Online, Vol. 18, 30.Officers of the Flying Camp elected, Committee to examine the Accounts of the Supervisors of Saltpetre Works Resolution empowering the Council of Safety to contract for building a Powder-Mill on the publick account, repealed, American Archives, v6:1491. As a result of the change of military positions, he did not fight at the Battle of Brooklyn, unlike the 1st Maryland Regiment commanded by William Smallwood ("Smallwood's Battalion") and other military units, which fought under the command of General George Washington. By April 1777, his unit changed yet again when he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and he served in "Smallwood's Battalion" until August 1779. He was injured at the Battle of Germantown where he lost a limb.Ecker (1933), p. 12Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application Files. National Archives and Records Administration, retrieved February 22, 2022.
In August 1779, he left Smallwood's unit and served as a Lieutenant Colonel as part of the 7th Maryland Regiment.Heitman, Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army,30-31.Journal and Correspondence of the Council of Maryland, 1779-1780, Archives of Maryland Online, Vol. 43, 35. He retained that position until February 23, 1781, when he resigned.
During his military service, he fought to defend St. George's Island, in Saint Mary's County, in July 1776 and at other major battles throughout the war, such as the Battle of Brandywine. He served in varied regiments before he resigned as Auditor General within the Continental Army on February 19, 1781.FORREST, Uriah, U.S. House of Representatives Office of the Historian, accessed May 28, 2017.A Proud Place in American History, Island Inn and Suites, 2012.
State politics In 1780, a bill was passed by both houses of the Maryland General Assembly concerning the confiscation of Loyalist property in the state.Joan Grattan, Documents of Confiscations of Loyalists' Holdings (1787-1801), The Johns Hopkins University, 2005. Forrest was one of the three commissioners, the others being William Paca and Clement Hollyday, to confiscate holdings of such property, which was later apportioned out and sold to certain individuals. He was qualified for that position in February 1781 and resigned by July.Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789 by Edward C. Papenfuse, et al., Archives of Maryland Online, Vol. 426, 325.
After the war, he traveled to London from St. Mary's County and stayed until 1786, when he returned to Georgetown. He returned to Maryland in 1783 to establish a tobacco export business in Georgetown, with business partners Benjamin Stoddert and John Murdock and then returned to London. He was the "resident partner of Forrest, Stoddert & Murdock"
In 1784, Forrest was admitted as an original member of The Society of the Cincinnati of Maryland.Metcalf, Bryce (1938). Original Members and Other Officers Eligible to the Society of the Cincinnati, 1783–1938: With the Institution, Rules of Admission, and Lists of the Officers of the General and State Societies Strasburg, VA: Shenandoah Publishing House, Inc., p. 129.Society of Cincinnati, "Maryland in the American Revolution , 2009. Accessed May 28, 2017. When he learned of its founding, he said:
I cannot express my feelings on reading today, for the first Time, the constitution of the Society of the Cincinnati... though, separated by an Ocean of 3000 Miles, and a slave to Business; there is not one among you, who feel more Affection, for that brave handful, who persevered to the last, than I do.
Forrest was elected to the Maryland State House of Delegates in numerous terms and served from 1781 to 1783, 1786 to 1787, and 1787 to 1790, as a member of the Maryland State Senate from 1796 to 1800, and a State Court Judge from 1799 to 1800.
He represented St. Mary's County in most of the 1780s and then Montgomery County and in the Maryland Senate represented the Western Shore of Maryland.
He also served as churchwarden of St. Andrew's Parish within St. Mary's County (1782-1783), justice in Montgomery County (1799-1800). He owned five black slaves in 1790, which had increased to nine by 1801. In 1800, he had a bounty land warrant for his military service. However, he never occupied the land, which remained vacant.Uriah Forrest, Warrant Number 756, 1800, U.S. Revolutionary War Bounty Land Warrants Used in the U.S. Military District of Ohio and Relating Papers (Acts of 1788, 1803, and 1806), 1788-1806, National Archives, NARA M829, Records of the Bureau of Land Management, Record Group 49, Courtesy of Ancestry.com.
Federal politics Forrest was also active in politics by representing Maryland as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1787. Thomas Jefferson would tell him in a letter from Paris on December 31 that he admired the framers of the Constitution but also was concerned about them sowing the "seeds of danger" by thinking that rulers after them would be "as honest as themselves."Letter to Uriah Forrest, December 31, 1787, The Trustees of Princeton University, 2013.Delegate Discussions: Bill of Rights, The President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2017."From Thomas Jefferson to Uriah Forrest, with Enclosure, 31 December 1787," Founders Online, National Archives, last modified March 30, 2017.
Forrest would be nominated to be a US senator the following year.Maryland 1788 U.S. Senate, Ballot 2 , Lampi Collection of American Electoral Returns, 1788-1825. -- American Antiquarian Society, 2007, accessed May 28, 2017. All of the people nominated would be Federalists, as he was, he lost to Charles Carroll in the second and third ballot voting by a few votes.Maryland 1788 U.S. Senate, Ballot 3 , Lampi Collection of American Electoral Returns, 1788-1825. -- American Antiquarian Society, 2007, accessed May 28, 2017.Maryland 1788 U.S. Senate, Lampi Collection of American Electoral Returns, 1788-1825. -- American Antiquarian Society, 2007, accessed May 28, 2017.Maryland 1788 U.S. Senate, Ballot 2, Lampi Collection of American Electoral Returns, 1788-1825. -- American Antiquarian Society, 2007, accessed May 28, 2017.
In 1792, he ran for US House of Representatives within the third district of Maryland as a "Pro-Administration candidate." The Federalist won against the Anti-Federalist William Dorsey, by 669 votes, with most of his votes coming from individuals within Montgomery County, Maryland, and almost 100 more from Frederick County, Maryland, counties that made up parts of the Third District.Maryland 1792 U.S. House of Representatives, District 3, Lampi Collection of American Electoral Returns, 1788-1825. -- American Antiquarian Society, 2007, accessed May 28, 2017. He would serve as a representative from March 1793 to November 1794, when he resigned. During his time in office, he missed 79.6% of the roll call votes, which is "much worse than the median of 13.0% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Jun 1794."GovTrack, Rep. Uriah Forrest: Former Representative from Maryland's 3rd District, Civic Impulse, LLC. Accessed May 28, 2017.
He stayed a "friend and host to George Washington," cementing his role in the Federalist Party and national politics.Winthrop Faulkner, 1978 Win Faulkner House in Cleveland Park – $3.85 Million , Modern Capital DC, January 24, 2013."From George Washington to Uriah Forrest, 20 January 1793," Founders Online, National Archives, last modified March 30, 2017.Larry Luxner, Ambassador Valeriy Chaly: Ukraine Still in ‘State of War’, The Washington Diplomat, October 29, 2015. However, he still hosted Thomas Jefferson, later a Democratic-Republican, for a dinner in 1790 on his trip to see "the Little Falls of the Potomac River."Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia: Washington, D.C., 2015. Accessed May 28, 2017.Thomas Jefferson to Uriah Forrest, June 13, 1790, Library of Congress, series: Series 1: General Correspondence. 1651-1827, Microfilm Reel: 012, The Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress.
In 1795, Forrest was commissioned a brigadier general of Maryland Militia's Fourth Brigade in 1795 and major general of the Maryland Militia's First Division from 1795 to 1801. That failed to end his involvement in national politics. In December 1797, he wrote to James McHenry and remarked on his successful efforts to get James Lloyd elected to the US Senate, which filled a vacancy that had been left by John Henry's resignation.Uriah Forrest to James McHenry, On the election of James Lloyd to the U.S. Senate , December 8, 1797, Papers of the War Department 1794-1800, accessed May 28, 2017.
Involvement in founding of Washington, DC
On October 13, 1790, he would be one of the "original proprietors" of land that was taken for the Washington City.[Historic-Structures, "Brickyard Hill House, Washington DC," October 26, 2010. Taking the suggestions of leading Georgetown merchants, suggesting that the "proposed Federal City be on the land opposite Georgetown across Rock Creek" since Georgetown was already a port. Forrest, would sign a documentBob Arnebeck, Seat of Empire: the General and the Plan 1790 to 1801, January 2, 2017. Arnebeck's post is a summary of his book, Through a Fiery Trial: Building Washington, 1790-1800.H.P. Caemmerer, Washington: The National Capital (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1932), 19, 21. saying the following:
We the subscribers, do hereby agree... to sell and make over by sufficient Deeds, in any manner which shall be directed by General Washington, or any person acting under him, and on such terms as he shall determine to be reasonable and just; and of the Lands which we possess in the vicinity of Georgetown, for the uses of the Federal City, provided the same shall be erected in the said vicinity.