Pickering, Timothy, 1745–1829, American political leader and Revolutionary War army officer, b. Salem, Mass. He was admitted to the bar (1768) and played an active part in pre-Revolutionary activities against the British. In 1774 and 1775 he was connected with the Massachusetts committee of correspondence. A colonel in the Massachusetts militia, he joined George Washington's army in the American Revolution, served (1777) as Washington's adjutant-general, was a member of the board of war, and was (1780–85) quartermaster general. After the Revolution, he moved to Pennsylvania and was sent by the Pennsylvania government to the Wyoming valley region of Pennsylvania to organize the newly formed Luzerne co. and to represent the state in the dispute over land claims between Connecticut settlers and Pennsylvania. He was a member of the state constitutional convention (1789–90) and negotiated treaties with various Native American tribes for the federal government. He was Postmaster General (1791–95), Secretary of War (1795), and Secretary of State (1795–1800). Pickering was dismissed after President John Adams learned that he had been scheming with the Alexander Hamilton branch of the Federalist party to steer the United States into war with France. Returning to Massachusetts, he became chief justice of the court of common pleas and was later a U.S. Senator (1803–11) and Representative (1813–17). A strong Federalist and an opponent of Adams, Pickering was a leading figure in the Essex Junto Essex Junto, group of New England merchants and lawyers, so called because many of them came from Essex co., Mass. They opposed the radicals in Massachusetts in the American Revolution and supported the Federalist faction of Alexander Hamilton.
..... Click the link for more information. and an outspoken opponent of the War of 1812. He wrote Political Essays (1812).

Bibliography

See biography by his son, O. Pickering, and C. W. Upham (4 vol., 1867–73); G. H. Clarfield, Timothy Pickering and American Diplomacy, 1795–1800 (1969).

Pickering, Timothy

(born July 17, 1745, Salem, Mass.—died Jan. 29, 1829, Salem, Mass., U.S.) U.S. politician. He joined the militia in 1766 and served in the American Revolution under George Washington, becoming adjutant general (1777–78) and quartermaster general (1780–85). He later served as U.S. postmaster general (1791–95), secretary of war (1795), and secretary of state (1795–1800). He served in the U.S. Senate from 1803 to 1811 and in the House of Representatives from 1813 to 1817. A leader of the Federalist Party, he was a member of the Essex Junto, and he opposed the War of 1812. After retiring from politics, he turned to experimental farming and education.