William Alexander (Lord Stirling), one of Washington’s most senior division commanders, was born in 1726 in New York. An accomplished mathematician and astronomer, Alexander served during the French and Indian War as an aide-de-camp to Governor Shirley of Massachusetts. Later, while in London, he attempted to claim the vacant title of Earl of Stirling. Although only partially successful in his effort, he would nonetheless be known to most thereafter as Lord Stirling. Once back in the colonies, he became the surveyor-general for East Jersey and helped found Columbia University. Prior to the war, he ran an iron works in Morris County, New Jersey, and lived in a stone mansion in Basking Ridge.