John Neville (general)

John Neville (July 26, 1731 – July 29, 1803) was an American military officer, land speculator, and state official who served in the French and Indian War, American Revolutionary War and, as a tax collector, was a central figure in the Whiskey Rebellion. He was the father of Presley Neville.

Neville's parents were Joseph Neville Sr. (son of John Neville and Elizabeth Bohannan) and Ann Bohannan (Joseph married his cousin). Joseph had a brother George who married Hannah Burroughs, a cousin of Lord Fairfax of Cameron. Legend holds that George himself was an emigrant, kidnapped from England as a boy and brought to Virginia, however this has been disputed by his descendants and is not supported by historical documents.

John Neville was born in Virginia on his father's estate near the head of Bull Run (Occoquan River). In 1754, Neville married Winifred Oldham, also of a prominent Virginian family. Outside of his military service, he was sought-after for government appointments. He was sheriff in Frederick County, Virginia, and although he was appointed the Augusta County delegate to the Virginia Conventions, illness prevented his participation. In 1776, he was offered a commission as a Yohogania County justice, but he declined and continued his work as a soldier in Pennsylvania. In 1783, Neville was elected to the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania from Washington County. As a result of his family connections over the course of his life, Neville was "as close to being an aristocrat as republican America west of the Alleghenies would allow."

Neville served with British General Edward Braddock during the French and Indian War, and fought in Dunmore's War in 1774. Commandant at Fort Pitt when the Revolutionary War began, Neville served in several regiments of the Virginia Line, rising to the rank of colonel and seeing action at Trenton, Princeton, Germantown, and Monmouth. At the end of the Revolutionary War he was awarded a brevet promotion to brigadier general.

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