He was graduated at Yale in 1773, and served in the revolutionary war as aide to General Greene.
On January 1, 1777, Alden was commissioned as Lieutenant and Adjutant in Colonel Philip B. Bradley's Fifth Connecticut Line. He fought at Germantown in October of that year, and spent the winter at Valley Forge. He was promoted to Captain-Lieutenant in Colonel Zebulon Butler's Second Connecticut Regiment on June 1, 1778, and to Captain on September 1, 1779. After that he served most of the time as Aide-de Camp, with the brevet rank of Major, to Brigadier General Jedediah Huntington, being formally appointed to the position on April 1, 1780.
Alden resigned from the army on February 10, 1781, and took up the study of law in Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, in the office of William Samuel Johnson (1727-1819), whose third daughter, Gloriana Ann (familiarly called Nancy), he married on September 7, 1783 (she died on March 4, 1785, at the age of twenty-eight).
He was elected a deputy secretary to the Continental Congress on 23 June 1785, serving until 1789, when he became chief clerk to the domestic department of the State Department. He served in the State Department until July 1790.
Subsequently he became agent of the Holland Land county, and resided at Meadville, Pennsylvania, from 1795 to 1825. He was appointed ordnance storekeeper at West Point, 20 Jan, 1825, and remained as such until his death. He was a great-grandson of John Alden.
On January 1, 1777, Alden was commissioned as Lieutenant and Adjutant in Colonel Philip B. Bradley's Fifth Connecticut Line. He fought at Germantown in October of that year, and spent the winter at Valley Forge. He was promoted to Captain-Lieutenant in Colonel Zebulon Butler's Second Connecticut Regiment on June 1, 1778, and to Captain on September 1, 1779. After that he served most of the time as Aide-de Camp, with the brevet rank of Major, to Brigadier General Jedediah Huntington, being formally appointed to the position on April 1, 1780.
Alden resigned from the army on February 10, 1781, and took up the study of law in Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, in the office of William Samuel Johnson (1727-1819), whose third daughter, Gloriana Ann (familiarly called Nancy), he married on September 7, 1783 (she died on March 4, 1785, at the age of twenty-eight).
He was elected a deputy secretary to the Continental Congress on 23 June 1785, serving until 1789, when he became chief clerk to the domestic department of the State Department. He served in the State Department until July 1790.
Subsequently he became agent of the Holland Land county, and resided at Meadville, Pennsylvania, from 1795 to 1825. He was appointed ordnance storekeeper at West Point, 20 Jan, 1825, and remained as such until his death. He was a great-grandson of John Alden.
He was graduated at Yale in 1773, and served in the revolutionary war as aide to General Greene.
On January 1, 1777, Alden was commissioned as Lieutenant and Adjutant in Colonel Philip B. Bradley's Fifth Connecticut Line. He fought at Germantown in October of that year, and spent the winter at Valley Forge. He was promoted to Captain-Lieutenant in Colonel Zebulon Butler's Second Connecticut Regiment on June 1, 1778, and to Captain on September 1, 1779. After that he served most of the time as Aide-de Camp, with the brevet rank of Major, to Brigadier General Jedediah Huntington, being formally appointed to the position on April 1, 1780.
Alden resigned from the army on February 10, 1781, and took up the study of law in Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, in the office of William Samuel Johnson (1727-1819), whose third daughter, Gloriana Ann (familiarly called Nancy), he married on September 7, 1783 (she died on March 4, 1785, at the age of twenty-eight).
He was elected a deputy secretary to the Continental Congress on 23 June 1785, serving until 1789, when he became chief clerk to the domestic department of the State Department. He served in the State Department until July 1790.
Subsequently he became agent of the Holland Land county, and resided at Meadville, Pennsylvania, from 1795 to 1825. He was appointed ordnance storekeeper at West Point, 20 Jan, 1825, and remained as such until his death. He was a great-grandson of John Alden.
On January 1, 1777, Alden was commissioned as Lieutenant and Adjutant in Colonel Philip B. Bradley's Fifth Connecticut Line. He fought at Germantown in October of that year, and spent the winter at Valley Forge. He was promoted to Captain-Lieutenant in Colonel Zebulon Butler's Second Connecticut Regiment on June 1, 1778, and to Captain on September 1, 1779. After that he served most of the time as Aide-de Camp, with the brevet rank of Major, to Brigadier General Jedediah Huntington, being formally appointed to the position on April 1, 1780.
Alden resigned from the army on February 10, 1781, and took up the study of law in Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, in the office of William Samuel Johnson (1727-1819), whose third daughter, Gloriana Ann (familiarly called Nancy), he married on September 7, 1783 (she died on March 4, 1785, at the age of twenty-eight).
He was elected a deputy secretary to the Continental Congress on 23 June 1785, serving until 1789, when he became chief clerk to the domestic department of the State Department. He served in the State Department until July 1790.
Subsequently he became agent of the Holland Land county, and resided at Meadville, Pennsylvania, from 1795 to 1825. He was appointed ordnance storekeeper at West Point, 20 Jan, 1825, and remained as such until his death. He was a great-grandson of John Alden.
