The powder captured at Newcastle was put to good use at Bunker Hill, and many of the men who handled it in both places had served their apprenticeship as soldiers under Johnson during the various Indian campaigns. John Sullivan was the grandson of Major Philip O’Sullivan, one of the defenders of Limerick, who went with his regiment to France after the surrender. His family was one of the most distinguished in the south of Ireland. His father was Owen O’Sullivan, who was a teacher in New Hampshire for over fifty years. He contributed four sons, all of whom became commissioned officers, to the Continental army. Two of these later became governors, respectively, of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. John Sullivan, when the troubles first began, was an attorney with an established reputation and with a lucrative practice. On the authority of John Adams, he was worth ten thousand pounds when he cast his lot with the advocates of independence. He held the commission of major in one of the Provincial regiments. He had seen no active service, but possessed a good theoretical military education from a close study of all available works relating to the art of war. His ability was recognized by his associates. He was chosen delegate from his town to the first Provincial congress of New Hampshire, and was selected by that body to represent his native province in the first Continental congress which met in Philadelphia in 1774. He was reappointed January 25, 1775. He was the first person chosen to represent New Hampshire in Congress, and his name heads the first roll of delegates to that body. He was one of the eight brigadier-generals appointed by Congress in 1775, and in less than a year from the date of his commission was promoted to major-general. His first appointment came to him for his leadership at Newcastle, and his promotion for the ability displayed in leading Montgomery’s defeated army back from Canada, without, it is said, the loss of a man or a gun. The Royal government recognized his ability as it feared his influence. Realizing who was to be held responsible for the storming of the fort at Newcastle, Peter Livius, a Royalist refugee, who had been chief justice of New Hampshire, wrote him in June, 1777: