Major-General James Clinton (August 9, 1736 – September 22, 1812) was a Continental Army officer and politician who fought in the American Revolutionary War.

He was the third son of Col. Charles Clinton, an Anglo-Irish colonist and a colonel in the French and Indian War who immigrated to New Ulster in 1729,[4] and his wife Elizabeth Denniston.

[9][10] Commanding a company in 1758, he participated, along with his father (Colonel) and brother George (Lieutenant), in General John Bradstreet’s capture of Fort Frontenac (now Kingston, Ontario).

In March 1776, Clinton took command of the 2nd New York Regiment and soon after, in August, was promoted to brigadier general in the Continental Army.

At Tioga, New York, Clinton met up with General John Sullivan's forces, who had marched from Easton, Pennsylvania.

Together, on August 29, they defeated the Tories and British-allied Iroquois at the Battle of Newtown (near today's city of Elmira, New York).

Around 5,000 Iroquois fled to British controlled Niagara and mortality was high that winter because of starvation with several hundred deaths.

Together, James and Mary were the parents of six children:[16] Clinton died in Little Britain, New York, on September 22, 1812, the same year as his brother George.

[16] Through his son DeWitt, he was the grandfather of ten, including George William Clinton (1807–1885) who served as Mayor of Buffalo, New York from 1842 to 1843.