HORATIO, an American general of the war of independence, was born in England in 1728. After serving in the English army and obtaining considerable promotion, he purchased an estate in Virginia, where he resided till the commencement of the revolutionary war in 1775. The immediate cause of his retirement was a wound which he had received while accompanying General Braddock in his unfortunate expedition against the French settlements on the Ohio in 1755. Having taken the popular side in the war of independence, Gates was appointed by Congress adjutant-general; and during the struggle he amply justified the high confidence placed in him by rendering many brilliant services to his adopted country. In 1776 he was appointed to command the army on Lake Champlain; but his conduct here not having been approved of, he was superseded in the following spring; yet in August he was sent to oppose General Burgoyne, whom he totally defeated on the 16th of October and compelled to surrender his whole army, which was justly considered the most important achievement of the war from its having the greatest effect in procuring the result that followed. After obtaining the chief command, however, in the southern districts, Gates was signally defeated at Camden, in South Carolina, by Lord Cornwallis, on the 16th of August 1780. He was now superseded in his command by General Greene; and it was intimated to him that Congress had also resolved to submit his conduct to a court of inquiry. The investigation continued till after the close of the war in 1782; but it terminated in acquitting him fully and honourably of any blame, as his defeat had been unavoidable in the disorganized state of the army he commanded against Cornwallis. After this he again retired to his Virginian estate, whence he removed to New York in 1800. On his arrival he was immediately admitted to the freedom of the city, and then elected a member of the State Legislature. We should not omit to mention that before his departure from Virginia he performed the noblest act of his life—the emancipation of his slaves, accompanying their manumission with a provision for those who needed assistance. He died on the 10th of April 1806, aged 77 years.