John Philip Schuyler, born at Albany on the 22d of November, 1733, was of Dutch origin. He was the second son of John Schuyler, who was the nephew of Peter Schuyler,—a native of Albany, born in 1657. At the age of twenty-two he received the appointment of commissary under Lord Howe, and rendered valuable service throughout the French and Indian War. In 1755, he recruited a company for the army and was commissioned its captain, taking part in the battle of Lake George. His health failing, he was obliged to transfer his command at Ticonderoga to General Montgomery. After the peace of 1763, he turned to the management of his private affairs. Inheriting a large property, much of which was covered with valuable timber, he transported the latter in his own vessels down the Hudson River to New York City, where he found a favorable market. Cultivating large fields of flax, and there being no facilities for its utilization, he built a flax-mill,—the first of its kind in this country,—and received, in recognition of his enterprise, a medal from the Society for Promoting Arts. In 1764, he was appointed a commissioner to settle the disputes between the States of New York and Massachusetts, relative to their boundary line, and he arbitrated in the same controversy between New York and New Hampshire. When elected to a seat in the Assembly of New York, he was one of the few in that body to antagonize the oppressive measures adopted by the British Government in its dealings with this country. He was made colonel of a State militia company in 1768.

In May, 1775, Schuyler was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, but such was the appreciation of his military ability and his patriotism that on the 19th of June he was appointed third major-general of the American army, and given command of its Northern division. Being possessed of great wealth, he provided large stores of arms, ammunition, clothing, and provisions, from his private purse, to suitably equip this army for the campaign against Canada. Stricken by a wasting fever from which he suffered for two years, he planned and directed even when too ill for active service. Fearing lest his increasing weakness might work against the public good, he sought leave during this time to retire; but Congress, well knowing his worth and his devotion to his country, requested him to reconsider his determination, at the same time tendering him a vote of thanks for past services. Schuyler responded nobly, contributing his wealth and using all his personal influence in behalf of American independence. At the end of two years of hardships, disappointments, arduous labor, great responsibility, and inadequate supplies of men and of provisions to accomplish the tasks set him by Congress, he at length saw his way to certain victory. At this critical moment Gates appeared in camp, and Philip Schuyler found himself superseded by a man who, from jealousy, had always been his enemy, and who had tried in every way to bring about his downfall. Wounded to the quick, he bore this most unjust treatment with dignity, and without showing resentment; and Congress having accepted his resignation on the 19th of April, 1779, he continued still to serve his country as a private citizen. In 1782, he was appointed Surveyor-General of New York. A zealous advocate for the adoption of the Constitution, he was elected a member of the first United States Senate, filling that office from 1789 until 1798, when a severe attack of gout compelled his resignation. It is to him that the State of New York is indebted for her excellent canal system. As early as 1776 he calculated the actual cost of a canal from the Hudson River to Lake Champlain; and later he advocated the connection of that river and Lake Erie by the same means. Dying in his native city at the age of seventy-one, on the 18th of November, 1804, he was buried with military honors. In 1871, a Doric column of Quincy granite, thirty-six feet high, was erected to his memory.