Robert T. Hooe

Robert Townshend Hoee (October 3, 1743 – March 16, 1809) was a Revolutionary War officer, businessman, and politician who served as the first mayor of Alexandria, Virginia. Early life Robert Townshend Hooe was born in 1743 in Maryland, the son of Rice and Tabitha Harrison Hooe. Beginning as a young adult, Hooe had numerous business ventures in Virginia and Maryland, including over 500 acres in landholdings and his merchant firm Hooe and Harrison. Hooe owned and enslaved seven persons above age 16 and also owned seven younger slaves. American Revolutionary War Hooe served as a lieutenant colonel in the twelfth battalion during the Revolutionary War and attained the rank of colonel by 1781. He also owned privateers during the war.