Alexander McDougall

Alexander McDougall (1732– June 9, 1786) was an American seaman, merchant, a Sons of Liberty leader from New York City before and during the American Revolution, and a military leader during the Revolutionary War. He served as a major general in the Continental Army, and as a delegate to the Continental Congress. After the war, he was the president of the first bank in the state of New York and served a term in the New York State Senate.

McDougall was born on the Isle of Islay, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland in the summer of 1732. He was one of the five children of Ranald and Elizabeth McDougall. In 1738 the family emigrated to New York as part of a party led by a Scottish Army veteran, Captain Lachlan Campbell. Campbell had described fertile land available near Fort Edward, but when they arrived in New York City, they discovered that Lachlan had been awarded a patent for about 30,000 acres (121 km²) and expected them to become tenants to his estate. Ranald withdrew and found work on a dairy farm on the island of Manhattan. The family prospered and young Alexander began his commercial career as a delivery boy for milk in New York.

In around 1745, when he was fourteen, Alexander signed on as a merchant seaman. He worked on a number of vessels, and then in 1751 he went trip to Great Britain. During this trip, a stop to the Island of Islay was made. He stayed only a few months, but married a cousin, Nancy McDougall, and brought her back to New York. He continued a seagoing merchant career, becoming a part-owner and operator of several small cargo sloops that worked coastal trade routes.

After the onset of the French and Indian War in 1756, McDougall became commissioned by the crown as a merchant privateer. During the war, McDougall commanded two ships; the Tyger, an 8 gun sloop, and the "Barrington", a 12 gun sloop. An able captain as well as a knowledgeable merchant, he made a modest fortune in captured ships and the sale of their cargo.

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