McHenry, James, 1753-1816

James McHenry (November 16, 1753 – May 3, 1816) was a Scotch-Irish American military surgeon, statesman, and a Founding Father of the United States. McHenry was a signer of the United States Constitution from Maryland, initiated the recommendation for Congress to form the Navy, and was the eponym of Fort McHenry. He represented Maryland in the Continental Congress. He was a delegate to the Maryland State Convention of 1788, to vote whether Maryland should ratify the proposed Constitution of the United States. He served as United States Secretary of War from 1796 to 1800, bridging the administrations of George Washington and John Adams.

Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland, in 1753, his family sent him to North America in 1771. Upon arrival, McHenry lived with a family friend in Philadelphia before finishing his preparatory education at Newark Academy in Delaware. Afterward, he returned to Philadelphia, where he apprenticed under Benjamin Rush and became a physician. McHenry served as a skilled and dedicated surgeon during the American Revolutionary War. On August 10, 1776, he was appointed surgeon of the Fifth Pennsylvania Battalion. McHenry was appointed aide as secretary to the commander-in-chief in May 1779. McHenry was present at the Battle of Monmouth. In August 1780, he was transferred to Lafayette's staff, where he remained until he retired from the army in the autumn of 1781.

McHenry was elected to the Maryland Senate in 1781, serving until 1786, and elected delegate to the Congress of the Confederation in 1782, 1783, and 1784. In 1787, he was a Maryland delegate to and secretary of the Constitutional Convention, which drafted the United States Constitution. After a controversial campaign, he was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates on October 10, 1788. Two years later he retired from public life and spent a year actively engaged in mercantile business. On November 15, 1791 he accepted a second term in the Maryland Senate and served five years. After several other candidates had declined the office, President George Washington appointed McHenry Secretary of War in 1796; during most of John Adams's administration, McHenry continued as Secretary of War, as Adams had decided to keep the newly established institution of the presidential cabinet intact. After a stormy meeting with his cabinet in May 1800, Adams requested McHenry's resignation, which he submitted on May 13.

After leaving his cabinet post, McHenry retired to his Fayetteville estate near Baltimore where he died. He was interred in Baltimore's Westminster Hall and Burying Ground.