Ward, Artemas, 1727-1800

Artemas Ward (November 26, 1727 – October 28, 1800) was an American major general in the American Revolutionary War and a Congressman from Massachusetts. He was considered an effective political leader, President John Adams describing him as "universally esteemed, beloved and confided in by his army and his country."

Born in Shrewsbury in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, he attended the common schools before graduating from Harvard College, teaching there briefly after graduation. In 1751, at age 23 or 24, Ward was named a township assessor for Worcester County, the first of many public offices he was to fill. In 1752 he was elected a justice of the peace and to the first of many terms in the Massachusetts provincial assembly, or "general court." Between 1755 and 1757 Ward was called to active duty at intervals that alternated with his attendance at the General Court. In 1755 the Massachusetts militia was restructured for the war; Ward was made a major in the 3rd Regiment. By 1762, Ward returned to Shrewsbury permanently and was named to the Court of Common Pleas.

In the growing sentiment favoring rebellion, the 3rd Regiment resigned en masse from British service on October 3, 1774; Ward was subsequently appointed brigadier general by the provincial congress of Massachusetts on October 27, 1774, and was made commander in chief of the Massachusetts forces on May 19, 1775. On June 17, 1775, Congress commissioned Ward a major general, and appointed him second in command to General George Washington. After the British evacuation of Boston on March 17, 1776, Washington led the main body of the army to New York City. Ward took command of the Eastern Department and held that post until March 1777, when ill health forced his resignation from the army.

Even during his military service, Ward also served as a state court justice in 1776 and 1777. From 1777 to 1779, as President of the state's Executive Council, he effectively served as governor before the ratification of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780. He was continuously elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1779 through 1785, leading it as Speaker in 1785. He was appointed a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1780 and 1781, and from 1791 to 1795 was elected twice to the United States House of Representatives.

Ward died at his home in Shrewsbury on October 28, 1800 and was buried in Mountain View Cemetery there.