Hand was born in Clyduff, King's County, Ireland, on 31 December 1744, and was baptised in Shinrone. His father was John Hand. Among his immediate neighbours were the Kearney family, ancestors of U.S. President Barack Obama. He was a descendant of either the families of Mag Fhlaithimh or Ó Flaithimhín who, through mistranslation, became Lavin or Hand. Hand earned a medical certificate from Trinity College, Dublin. In 1767, Hand enlisted as a Surgeon's Mate in the 18th Regiment of Foot. On 20 May 1767, he sailed with the regiment from Cobh, Cork, Ireland, arriving at Philadelphia on 11 July 1767. In 1772, he was commissioned an ensign. He marched with the regiment to Fort Pitt, on the forks of the Ohio River, returning to Philadelphia in 1774, where he resigned his commission. In 1774, Hand moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he practiced medicine. On 13 March 1775, he married Catherine Ewing. Lancaster was the region of some of the earliest Irish and Scots-Irish settlements in Pennsylvania; as a people, they were well known for their anti-English and revolutionary convictions. Hand was active in forming the Lancaster County Associators, a colonial militia. Hand was a 32nd degree Freemason, belonging to the Montgomery Military Lodge number 14.
American Revolution
Hand entered the Continental Army in 1775 as a lieutenant colonel in the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment under Colonel William Thompson. He was promoted to colonel in 1776 and placed in command of the 1st Continental. Promoted to brigadier general in March 1777, he served as the commander of Fort Pitt, fighting British loyalists and their Indian allies. He was recalled, after over two years at Fort Pitt, to serve as a brigade commander in Major General La Fayette's division. In 1778, Hand attacked the Lenape, killing Captain Pipe's mother, brother, and a few of his children during a military campaign. Failing to distinguish among the Native American groups, Hand had attacked the neutral Lenape while trying to reduce the Indian threat to settlers in the Ohio Country, because other tribes, such as the Shawnee, had allied with the British. After a few months, he was appointed Adjutant General of the Continental Army and served during the siege of Yorktown in that capacity. In recognition of his long and distinguished service, he was, in September 1783, promoted by brevet to major general. He resigned from the Army in November 1783.
After the Revolution
Hand returned to Lancaster and resumed the practice of medicine. A Federalist, Hand was active in civil affairs, holding posts that included:
Beginning in 1785, he owned and operatedRock Ford plantation, a farm on the banks of the Conestoga River, one mile south of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The Georgian brick mansion remains today; the farm is a historic site open to the public. Hand is suspected to have died from typhoid, dysentery or pneumonia at Rock Ford in 1802. Medical records are unclear, but some sources state Hand died of cholera. There is no evidence Lancaster County suffered from a cholera epidemic in 1802. Hand is buried in St. James's Episcopal Cemetery in Lancaster, the same church where he had served as a deacon.
