Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis
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Image:CharlesCornwallis.jpeg Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (December 31, 1738 – October 5, 1805) was an English military commander and colonial governor. In America, he is most remembered for his role in the American Revolutionary War, and in India, for promulgating the Permanent Settlement. He was the eldest son of Charles Cornwallis, 5th Baron Cornwallis (later 1st Earl Cornwallis) and was born in London even though his family's estates were in Kent. He was elevated to Marquess in 1792.
Cornwallis had all the advantages that money and family connections could bring. His family had been Barons Cornwallis since the reign of King Charles II, and his uncle, Frederick, was Archbishop of Canterbury. His mother was a daughter of Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend and a niece of the Prime Minister, Robert Walpole. He was educated at Eton College and Clare College, Cambridge.
Throughout the course of the Seven Year's War, Cornwallis served for terms in different posts in Germany, interspersed with trips home. He served as a staff officer to John Manners, Marquess of Granby in 1758. In 1759, he was assigned to the 85th Regiment of Foot, and after action at the Battle of Minden he was promoted to Captain before returning to England.
He also became a Member of Parliament in January 1760, entering the House of Commons for the village of Wye in Kent.
In 1761, he was again sent to Germany, this time for duty with the 12th Foot, and was promoted to brevet Lieutenant Colonel. He led his unit in the Battle of Villinghausen on July 15th-16th, and was noted for his gallantry.
American Revolution
With the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, Cornwallis volunteered for military service and on January 1, 1776, he was given a commission. In March, he set sail for New York with 2,500 troops with the assignment to serve under Major General Henry Clinton.
Between January 2 and January 4, 1777, Cornwallis fought the American Continental Army at Princeton, New Jersey, led by General George Washington. The Americans surprised a detachment of Cornwallis's troops and pressed the attack until encountering the main body of Cornwallis' force. After this first engagement, the American army slipped away in the night before Cornwallis could counter-attack. The Battle of Princeton was commonly seen as an American victory, although it was composed of a confused series of skirmishes without a decisive defeat for either force.
In 1780, Cornwallis led British forces in the Carolinas against Nathanael Greene. Cornwallis' forces were severly damaged as he moved through the region. British forces suffered from a utilization of various guerrilla ambush tactics led by Francis Marion throughout South Carolina. General Nathanael Greene took advantage of Marion's weakeneing of the British forces. Cornwallis's army suffered heavy losses at the Battle of King's Mountain. Cornwallis and Greene engaged each other shortly thereafter in 1781 at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. British forces won the battle but once again suffered heavy losses. Cornwallis then abanoned plans to assert control of the Carolinas. He retreated to wait for reinforcements. After the siege of Yorktown by American and French forces, Cornwallis surrendered to the allied forces on October 19, 1781, thus virtually ending the war. Despite Cornwallis's personal responsibility for the surrender and the subsequent and inevitable loss of the war, Henry Clinton, Cornwallis's superior commander in America (secure in fortified New York City), received from the British public most of the blame for the defeat.
India
Cornwallis, a close political ally of the younger Pitt then was sent to India, where the colonial administration was judged by the Prime Minister to be urgently in need of reform following Warren Hastings' tenure. His appointment as Governor-General began in 1786. The primary objective of his first term was the settling of issues related to revenue extraction and local administration, and his administration came to the significant agreement with native landlords known as the Permanent Settlement of Bengal. Cornwallis also created a police force and an incorruptible civil service.
A few years after his term ended in 1793, he once again re-located, and became Lord Lieutenant of Ireland where he was responsible for the repression of the United Irishmen's rebellion in 1798 and the enabling of the union between Britain and Ireland. Subsequently, Lord Cornwallis moved back to India where he was made Governor General a second time in 1805. He died of a fever at Ghazipur, near Varanasi, shortly after arriving, and is buried overlooking the Ganges River, where his memorial continues to be maintained by the Government of India.
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