William Eustis (1753–1825), physician and political leader, was a native of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Following his graduation from Harvard in 1772 and subsequent medical training, he served as an army surgeon during the American Revolution. He later helped found the Society of the Cincinnati and was vice president of its Massachusetts chapter. Eustis represented Boston in the lower house of the Massachusetts legislature, 1788–94, and sat in the United States House of Representatives, 1801–05, during which he established himself as a moderate Republican. James Madison appointed Eustis secretary of war in March 1809. During his tenure Eustis reorganized his department and the army, with mixed results that led to his resignation in December 1812. He served as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the Netherlands, 1814–18, returned to the House of Representatives, 1820–23, and was governor of Massachusetts from 1823 until his death (ANB description begins John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography, 1999, 24 vols. description ends ; DAB description begins Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, 1928–36, 20 vols. description ends ; Sibley’s Harvard Graduates description begins John L. Sibley and others, eds., Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, 1873– , 18 vols. description ends , 18:70–84; JEP description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States description ends , 2:118–20, 595, 596 [6, 7 Mar. 1809, 16, 17 Dec. 1814]).