LEGEND.--Salus regionem australium. EXERGUE.--Hostibus ad Eutaw debellatis, die 8th Sept. 1781. GEN. HORATIO GATES. Horatio Gates was the son of a clergyman at Malden, in England, and was born in the year 1729. Having lost his father at an early age, he was left pretty much to the dictates of his own passion. He appears to have determined on a military life as early as twelve years of age, when the frequent remonstrances of his uncle and guardian could not prevail on him to relinquish the thoughts of a profession so much against the wishes of his family. At the age of seventeen he was appointed to an ensigncy in the regiment commanded by General Monckton, who was a personal friend of the father of Gates, and who gave him every opportunity of improving himself. Shortly after he was promoted to a lieutenancy, and was aid-de-camp to General Monckton at the capture of Martinico, where his bravery and soldier-like conduct won for him the rank of major. He was among the first troops who landed at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, under General Cornwallis, and was stationed there for some time. He was only in his twenty-sixth year when he accompanied the unfortunate Braddock in the expedition against Fort du Quesne, and with the illustrious Washington, was among the few officers, who, on that occasion, escaped with their lives. Gates did not escape, however, without a very dangerous wound; he was shot through the body, which for a time shut him out from the bloody and perilous scenes which attended the various battles of the French war. Although he had not been a citizen of the new world but a few years, he evinced his attachment to it by purchasing a farm in Virginia, where he retired till he was perfectly restored to health. His attachment to the new country, and a military reputation so high, Congress, without any hesitation, appointed him adjutant-general, with the rank of brigadier-general in the new army of the revolution of 1775. General Washington was well acquainted with his merits in his military character, and warmly recommended him to Congress on the occasion; they had been fellow-soldiers and sufferers under General Braddock. From this period he took an active part in most of the transactions of the war, and his bravery and good fortune placed him in a rank inferior only to Washington. In July, 1775, he accompanied the commander-in-chief to Cambridge, and was employed for some time in a subordinate but highly useful capacity. In June, 1776, the government evinced their confidence in Gates, by conferring on him the chief command of the forces at the north, and the new general was found in no way deficient in courage and vigilance, so necessary under such circumstances.