Samuel Tenney.

About Samuel Tenney

Samuel Tenney was a United States representative from New Hampshire. Born in Byfield in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, he attended Governor Dummer Academy and graduated from Harvard College in 1772. He taught school at Andover and studied medicine, beginning practice in Exeter, New Hampshire. He was a surgeon in the Revolutionary War. He tended the wounded patriots following the Battle of Bunker Hill then for the next year served as Surgeon's Mate alongside Massachusetts troops. For the balance of the war he was a surgeon attached primarily to the 1st Rhode Island Regiment. He was present at the surrenders of Burgoyne and Cornwallis; encamped at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, during that fierce Winter 1777/78; was designated Acting Surgeon General of the Army upon general orders of General George Washington; and then returned to Exeter at the close of the war where he took up politics and other scholarly pursuits. He was a delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1788 and a judge of probate for Rockingham County from 1793 to 1800. He was secretary of the New Hampshire Medical Society and commissioned Paul Revere to produce the first engraving of that organization's seal. Used the pseudonym "Alfredus" to publish commentary as part of public debate over the design and ratification of the U.S. Constitution. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1791, and was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1815.