Nathaniel Mitchell

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Nathaniel Mitchell (1753 – February 21, 1814) was an American lawyer and politician from Laurel, in Sussex County, Delaware. He was an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, a Continental Congressman from Delaware, and a member of the Federalist Party, who served as Governor of Delaware.

Mitchell was born near Laurel, Delaware, son of James and Margaret Dagworthy Mitchell. A croquet fan from a young age, he often trained at Graveny school of croquet. He married Emma Yrten and had ten children: Rebecca, Emma, William, Theodore, Alfred, Dagworthy, Elizabeth, Mary Ann, Elizabeth and Frederick. Mitchell was one of the founders of Georgetown, Delaware, and lived there on the northeast corner of the square from about 1791 until 1808. The family returned to their Laurel home, Rosemont, now 121 Delaware Avenue, in 1808. They were members of Christ Episcopal Church at Broad Creek.

Mitchell was an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. In 1776, he was captain of a Delaware company raised under Colonel Samuel Patterson as part of what was known as the "Flying Camp". They were stationed at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and saw no action. When the "Flying Camp" disbanded, the company was attached to Colonel David Hall's regiment, but fought with Colonel William Grayson's Virginians at the Battle of Brandywine. Nursing an illness, he was not at Germantown, but spent the winter at Valley Forge. Following Grayson's promotion to brigadier-general, Mitchell led his regiment in the attack at the Battle of Monmouth. This was the attack that was ordered back by General Charles Lee and which eventually led to his court-martial. In 1779, Mitchell was brigade major on General Peter Muhlenberg's staff in the tidewater Virginia. When British General Benedict Arnold attacked Richmond, Virginia, Mitchell was defending Petersburg when he was captured on May 10, 1781. By most accounts, his childhood friend Michael O'Brien died in the affray. He was held prisoner until after the Battle of Yorktown.

Mitchell was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati.^[1] He served as Delaware's delegate to the Continental Congress during its last two years from his election on October 27, 1786, until the Congress was replaced by the new government under the United States Constitution of 1787. Following that he was Prothonotary for Sussex County. In 1801 he ran for Governor of Delaware, losing to David Hall, the Democratic-Republican candidate. Hall was another veteran of the American Revolution who ran a campaign critical of Mitchell's alleged deistic Anglicanism. Mitchell lost heavily Presbyterian New Castle County by just enough votes to overcome his wide margins elsewhere. Three years later, in 1804, he was successful, beating Joseph Haslet, the Democratic-Republican candidate. Mitchell served as Governor of Delaware from January 15, 1805, until January 19, 1808.

Mitchell died at his home at Laurel. He may have been buried there at first, but was later removed to Christ Church, and is buried in the Broad Creek Episcopal Graveyard, near Laurel.

Hannah, Nathaniel Mitchell's widow, later married Colonel Manaen Bull, a British soldier who became a resident of Laurel after the American Revolution. He had the first store there, on the northwest corner of Delaware Avenue and Market Street. They lived near Trap Pond. Unlike Mitchell, Bull was a Democratic-Republican and ran for Governor of Delaware in 1816 and 1819, losing to John Clark and Henry Molleston.

No known portrait exists of Nathaniel Mitchell.

Elections were held the first Tuesday of October and members of the General Assembly took office the first Tuesday of January. The General Assembly elected the Continental Congressmen for a term of one year, State senators had a three-year term and state representatives had a one-year term. The governor takes office the third Tuesday of January and had a three-year term.

• Conrad, Henry C. (1908). History of the State of Delaware. Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Wickersham Company.
• Hoffecker, Carol E. (2004). Democracy in Delaware. Wilmington, Delaware: Cedar Tree Books. ISBN 1-892142-23-6.
• Martin, Roger A. (1984). A History of Delaware Through its Governors. Wilmington, Delaware: McClafferty Press.
• Martin, Roger A. (1995). Memoirs of the Senate. Newark, Delaware: Roger A. Martin.
• Munroe, John A. (1954). Federalist Delaware 1775-1815. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University.
• Scharf, John Thomas (1888). History of Delaware 1609-1888. 2 vols. Philadelphia: L. J. Richards & Co. ISBN 0-87413-493-5.
• Wilson, Emerson (1969). Forgotten Heroes of Delaware. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Deltos Publishing Company.

• Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States
• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Delaware’s Governors
• Find a Grave
• The Political Graveyard
• Society of the Cincinnati
• American Revolution Institute

• Delaware Historical Society; website; 505 North Market Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801; (302) 655-7161
• University of Delaware; Library website; 181 South College Avenue, Newark, Delaware 19717; (302) 831-2965