Born in White Clay Creek Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware, Robert Kirkwood mustered into the Continental Army in 1776 and served through the siege at Yorktown. In his time in uniform, he witnessed or participated in battles from Long Island in New York to Cowpens in South Carolina and became a trusted and valued subordinate to men such as Daniel Morgan and Nathanael Greene. In the years following the war, Kirkwood married and started a family in his home state of Delaware, however, his plans for a peaceful life in the new United states did not materialize. On the death of his wife, Kirkwood sought to make a new life on the frontier and set out to claim the lands he had earned for his service in the war. Control of these lands by the United States remained far from assured and the Miami Confederacy let by Little Turtle fought to stymie white settlement. Once again Robert Kirkwood took up arms, this time to defend his neighbors and solidify his claims, as well as theirs, to the bounty lines in the Ohio Territory. Kirkwood provided a valuable leader to the militia which he gave the same commitment he had previous given the cause of independence, eventually dying at the battle of the Wabash on November 4, 1791, in the Northwest Territory. He was thirty-five and it was his thirty-third major battle.

Kirkwood’s birthplace have since honored him by naming a major thoroughfare and a public library for him, and the mascot of the University of Delaware—the Blue Hen—which was chosen to honor him.

Kirkwood’s life and experiences offer a unique insight into the life of one of the junior officers of the Continental Army as well as a member of the founding generation.