WHAT PEOPLE HAVE SAID ABOUT ALLEN MCLANE
“Allen McLane was a man in such close contact with George Washington and was so trusted by the General, a fact readily ascertained from a cursory study of McLane’s military career, that it has been deemed proper, in the bi-centennial year, to bring to the attention of Delawareans General Washington’s military relationships with this son of Delaware, and to show how McLane fulfilled the trust placed in him.” (From George Washington and Delaware; Prepared for the Delaware State George Washington Bi-Centennial Commission by the Public Archives Commission of Delaware, Dover; DE, 1932, p.39.)
“There was no more active, brave and in every sense distinguished Delaware soldier in the Revolution than Captain Allen McLane. …His was a dashing career of personal adventure. He served Washington in many ways, and his courage, intelligence and adroitness saved more than one situation of peril for some part of the American forces.” (From Christopher Ward, The Delaware Continentals, 1776-1783, The Historical Society of Delaware, Wilmington, DE, 1941, p. 526.)
“I know of no individual, of his rank in the army, who engaged in such a variety of perilous adventures, or who, so invariably brought them to a happy issue, as Allen McLane.” (From Major Alexander Garden, Anecdotes of the American Revolution, Vol.III, 1828, pp. 71-78.)
“It was not until the patriots had lost their capital city of Philadelphia, not until the grim winter of 1777-78 had clamped its icy hand on the snow-shrouded misery of Valley Forge, that Washington began to employ cavalry as it should be used. Then one of the most dashing figures of the war became, almost overnight, the hero of the army.
“He was Allan McLane, the first great cavalryman of the Revolution. …Allan McLane was the kind of man whose fire and fervor still stir the pulses. He was one of those rarities in any time, a dedicated idealist – a man so enwrapped in a cause that he sacrificed to it both personal fortune and personal glory.” (From Fred J. Cook, What Manner of Men: Forgotten Heroes of the American Revolution, Wm. Morrow & Co., New York, 1959, p.20.)
“The life of a great Delawarean has ended its earthly existence. He was a GREAT man, a devoted son of our blessed soil – a patriot whose exploits contributed enormously to victory for the American cause in the Revolutionary War – a hero unsung and nearly forgotten today….The name of Allen McLane should be passed to our children- to the sons and daughters of our beloved Delaware – as a precious part of their heritage – a name shining in all its glory
ALLEN McLANE
THE GREATEST UNSUNG HERO OF THE
REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
(From his obituary in the May 30, 1829 issue of the Delaware Register as cited in Charles E. Green, Masonic Potpourri, Wm. M. Cann, Wilmington DE 1962, p. 123.)