Matthias Ogden

Matthias Ogden (October 22, 1754 – March 31, 1791) was an American soldier and politician. He fought in the American Revolutionary War, and served in various political positions afterwards. Family Matthias Ogden was a son of Robert Ogden, a lawyer and public official, and Phebe (Hatfield) Ogden. Robert was politically prominent, serving as the speaker of the New Jersey Assembly on the eve of the American Revolution. The family had deep roots in New Jersey: John Ogden had built a house in Elizabeth in 1664 after having moved from Long Island, where he had settled in 1640 from Hampshire, England. Matthias attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) as did his younger brother, Aaron Ogden. His sister Rhoda was married to Aaron Burr's uncle, Timothy Edwards. Burr and Matthias grew up together in the Edwards household and attended Princeton together. Revolutionary war After the outbreak of hostilities between the American colonists and the British authorities in 1775, Ogden went along as a gentleman-volunteer on Benedict Arnold's march to Quebec, joined by his cousin Aaron Burr. Ogden participated in the assault on that city, and was wounded in the Battle of Quebec on December 31, 1775. In a 1786 painting of the Battle of Quebec, John Trumbull inaccurately depicted Ogden in place of Burr, holding General Richard Montgomery as he died. Due to his own injuries, Ogden was not actually present at Montgomery's death, according to Ogden's journal of the expedition.