ABSTRACT
James Tilton of Dover, Delaware, served as a regimental surgeon and then head of the Continental Army's military hospitals during the War of Independence. The Society of the Cincinnati, first organized by Major General Henry Knox and Major General Friedrich von Steuben, first met in May 1783 in Fishkill, New York. Participants at that meeting, which was chaired by Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton, agreed to limit membership to officers who had served at least three years in the Continental Army or Navy, and to officers of the French Army and Navy above certain ranks. As war veterans they had legitimate concerns that Congress could not guarantee payment of their pensions, thus the group could create a charitable fund to support veterans and their families should they need assistance, as well as lobby for a more effective central government. Constituent societies were organized in each of the thirteen states and in France, originally among about two thousand war veterans.
