Editing Edward Hand (section)

==American Revolution==
Hand entered the [[Continental Army]] in 1775 as a [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]] in the [[1st Pennsylvania Regiment]] under Colonel [[William Thompson (general)|William Thompson]]. He was promoted to [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]] in 1776 and placed in command of the 1st Continental (then designated the 1st Pennsylvania).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.benning.army.mil/infantry/magazine/issues/2013/Oct-Dec/Hannum.html |title=America's First Company Commanders |last=Hannum |first=Patrick H. |access-date=2 February 2020 |archive-date=19 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519024127/https://www.benning.army.mil/infantry/magazine/issues/2013/Oct-Dec/Hannum.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> 

Promoted to [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]] in March 1777, he served as the commander of [[Fort Pitt (Pennsylvania)|Fort Pitt]], fighting British loyalists and their Indian allies. In early 1778, Hand led an expedition into the Ohio country to capture a small British magazine on the Cuyahoga River near Lake Erie, which could be used to supply Native American nations who had allied with the British, such as the Wyandot and the Shawnee. However, failing to distinguish among Native American groups, the unruly militiamen under Hand's command attacked the neutral [[Lenape]] village of [[Kuskusky]], killing the mother, brother, and a child of Chief Hopocan, known as [[Captain Pipe]]. The expedition became derisively known as the Squaw Campaign.<ref name=Squaw>[https://emergingrevolutionarywar.org/tag/squaw-campaign/ "General Edward Hand: The Squaw Campaign"],''Emerging Revolutionary War Era Blog'', accessed 16 December 2024</ref>  Hand was later recalled after serving over a year at Fort Pitt (June 1777 to August 1778),<ref name=Cincinnati>[https://pasocietyofthecincinnati.org/gallery_post/b-gen-edward-hand/ "B. Gen. Edward Hand"],''The State Society of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania'', accessed 16 December 2024</ref> to command a [[brigade]] in [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] [[Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette|La Fayette]]'s division. [[File:Correspondence from General Edward Hand to Major General John Sullivan.jpg|thumb|Letter from General Edward Hand,1779]]

Planning for a campaign against the Iroquois was already under way, and Hand’s frontier experience naturally recommended him as a participant. In the resulting [[Sullivan Expedition |Sullivan-Clinton Iroquois Expedition]] (May-November 1779) through the [[Southern Tier]] and [[Finger Lakes]] regions of New York, Edward Hand commanded the Third Brigade, composed of the Fourth and Eleventh Pennsylvania Regiments, the [[German Battalion |German Regiment]], [[Thomas Proctor (general)|Proctor’s Artillery]], Captain James Parr’s Riflemen, Captain Anthony Selin’s Riflemen, and two Wyoming companies. The brigade composed the “Light Corps” of Sullivan’s army and formed its [[vanguard]]. The journals kept by the officers on the expedition indicate that Hand played a major role in the success of the campaign. When he rejoined his family in Lancaster at the close of the year he was thirty-five years old, the youngest of the brigadiers.<ref name=Cincinnati></ref>

After a few months, he was appointed [[Adjutant general|Adjutant General]] of the Continental Army and served during the [[Siege of Yorktown (1781)|siege of Yorktown]] in that capacity. In recognition of his long and distinguished service, he was, in September 1783, promoted by [[brevet (military)|brevet]] to major general. He resigned from the Army in November 1783.

He was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.societyofthecincinnati.org|title=The Society of the Cincinnati|website=www.societyofthecincinnati.org}}</ref>