Archibald Bulloch - Revolution

Revolution

Bulloch served as President of the 1st and 2nd Provincial Congresses of Georgia, and was a delegate in 1775 to the Continental Congress. There, he won John Adams's praise for his "Abilities and Fortitude". In the Continental Congress, he was a member of the Secret Committee, which was responsible for gathering war supplies. Bulloch is also recorded as having been a Freemason in Georgia. His name is listed on the 1779 Masonic rolls of Solomon's Lodge No. 1 at Savannah along with George Walton, John Adam Treutlen, James Jackson, Nathaniel Pendelton, and General Samuel Elbert.

Bulloch would have been a signer of the Declaration of Independence, but decided to return to Georgia to aid the revolution there. In 1776, he fought under the command of Colonel Lachlan McIntosh in the Battle of the Rice Boats and the Battle of Tybee Island. On June 20, 1776, he was chosen to be the first President and Commander-in-Chief of Georgia under the state's temporary republican government. When he signed the state constitution on February 20, 1777, his position transferred from president to governor of Georgia. He was thus Georgia's first chief executive under a proper constitutional government, but the third chief executive in all, following the brief tenures of presidents William Ewen and George Walton.

Bulloch died in Savannah while preparing to defend against the British invasion of Georgia in 1777. There is some speculation that he was poisoned, though this has never been proven. His death was a severe blow, as his was the only leadership that united the Whig factions in the troubled young state. He is buried in Savannah's Colonial Park Cemetery.