| Birth Name: | Robert Lawson |
| Birth Date: | January 23, 1748 |
| Birth Place: | Prince George County, Colony of Virginia |
| Death Date: | March 28, 1805 |
| Death Place: | Richmond, Virginia |
| Office: | Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Prince Edward County |
| Term Start: | October 15, 1787 |
| Term End: | 1783 |
| Predecessor: | Richard Bibb |
| Successor: | Tarleton Woodson |
| Alongside: | Patrick Henry |
| Term Start1: | 1782 |
| Term End1: | 1783 |
| Predecessor1: | Thomas Flournoy |
| Successor1: | William Bibb |
| Alongside1: | John Holcombe, James Allen, Richard Bibb |
| Term Start2: | 1778 |
| Term End2: | 1779 |
| Predecessor2: | William Booker |
| Successor2: | Thomas Flournoy |
| Alongside2: | John Nash |
| Spouse: | Sarah Meriwether Pierce |
| Children: | 5 |
| Allegiance: |  United States |
| Branch: | Continental Army Virginia Militia |
| Rank: | General |
| Battles: | Battle of Guilford Court House. |
Robert Lawson (January 23, 1748 - March 28, 1805) was a Virginia lawyer, planter and politician who distinguished himself in the American Revolutionary War, rising to the rank of brigadier general in the Virginia militia.[1] [2] After the conflict, he practiced law, held various political offices and operated a plantation in Prince Edward County, Virginia, but also suffered from alcoholism, which caused his estrangement from his family as well as being swindled. As discussed by the United States Supreme Court in Wagner v. Baird, 48 U.S. 234 (1849), although granted over 10,000 acres of land in what became the state of Ohio, Lawson transferred those rights to a swindler, so decades later his heirs unsuccessfully sought redress.[3]
Robert Lawson was born January 23, 1748, the son of Benjamin Lawson and his wife, the former Elizabeth Claiborne. His mother would die in Amelia County in 1804, and her brother Philip Whitehead Claiborne represented King William County in the House of Burgesses and her nephew William Dandridge Clairborne would serve in the Virginia House of Delegates representing that county, as discussed below, this man represented Prince Edward County to the west. Sources disagree as to the location of his birth. Professor Ward cites tradition that he was their eldest son and born in Yorkshire, England before his father emigrated to the Virginia colony.[4] His parents married by 1746, and his father died in 1756 in then-vast Prince George County. His mother was of the First Families of Virginia, descended from four generations of men, all named William Claiborne, who were transatlantic merchants as well as major planters and politicians in the Virginia colony.[5] He had a brother named William, who may have died in infancy, as nothing is known about him. Two of his brothers also served as officers during the war: Claiborne Whitehead Lawson (d. August 1780; captain of the 1st Virginia Regiment was mortally wounding at Battle of Hanging Rock in South Carolina), and Benjamin Lawson (1750-1789, clerk of the Prince Edward County Committee of Safety who became captain of the 2nd Virginia Regiment survived the conflict and practiced law in Prince Edward County as well as married). Two other brothers owned land (and moved around) southern Virginia: Philip Whitehead Lawson (d. 1797 moved from Blandford in Prince George County, to Amelia County, Virginia and then into Lunenburg County, Virginia) and Samuel Atkinson Lawson (d. before 1811, owned land in adjacent Amelia, Charlotte and Campbell Counties). Their sisters included Philadelphia Whitehead Lawson (d.1781 who married Abraham West and died in Halifax County); Catherine Lawson (who married twice, surviving her cousin Barbar Claiborne, then marrying Lewis Hood of Nottoway County who moved his family to Howard County, Missouri), Lucy Atkinson Lawson (d. after 1820 who married three times: surviving Abraham Jones as well as Rev. Obediah Echols of Halifax and Pittsylvania Counties, but not her third husband William Rainey), and Elizabeth Lawson (the first wife of William Vassar of Amelia County).[5]
By 1773, Robert Lawson had a business partnership with John Nash. He was also a planter and lawyer. By June 19, 1775 he was elected to the Prince Edward County Committee of Safety, which expressed loyalty to the Crown, as well as approved of the attempt of Patrick Henry and his militia to seek compensation for powder that Lord Dunmore had seized from the Colony's main magazine in Williamsburg.[6]
In early 1776 Lawson was commissioned a major in the 4th Virginia Regiment of the Continental Army. He rose to become the colonel commanding the regiment. He resigned from the Continental Army in December 1777.
Lawson returned to active duty in 1779 as a brigadier general in the Virginia militia. According to some accounts, he commanded the Virginia militia at the Battle of Guilford Court House.
The 4th Virginia Regiment was authorized by the fourth Virginia convention on December 1, 1775, and accepted by Congress on February 13, 1776. The 4th Virginia Regiment joined Washington's army late in 1776 and participated in the battles of Trenton and Germantown.[8] On November 23, 1776, the 4th, 5th, and 6th Virginia Regiments joined the army at New Brunswick, New Jersey, forming a brigade of 745 men under Adam Stephen.[9]
Lawson owned land in Virginia, and because of his patriotic military service, also received warrants in developing areas to the west and north. Although he was listed as nonresident of Prince Edward County in the Virginia tax census of 1787, Lawson owned nine teenage slaves and seven adults, as well as seven horses and twenty-one cattle in the county.[11]
On December 13, 1769 Lawson, married Sarah Meriwether Pierce. She had been born in Hanover County Virginia, the daughter of John and Sarah Pierce, and would die on June 10, 1809 in Lexington, Kentucky.[5] They had five children.
Robert Lawson died on March 28, 1805 in Richmond, Virginia. The Richmond Gazette and General Advertiser noted his funeral was held at the State Capitol that afternoon, and the City Guards escorted his remains to the St. John's Episcopal Churchyard for burial.[12]
In , he was portrayed by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe in Season 3 Episode 7 "Judgement".[13]
