Who was William Grayson?

William Grayson (1740 - 12 March 1790) was an American politician of the Anti-Federalist faction.

Grayson was born in Virginia. He attended the University of Pennsylvania and Oxford University, studying classics. He practiced law in Dumfries, Virginia until the American Revolutionary War began. Serving as an aide-de-camp to George Washington, Grayson rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1777, he recruited a regiment for the Continental Army known as Grayson's Regiment, and served as its colonel through the Philadelphia campaign. In 1778, he served on a commission dealing with war prisoners, and in 1779 he resigned his military commission to serve on the Congressional Board of War. In 1781 he returned to Dumfries to practice law.

He was a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1785 to 1787. He was then appointed to the United States Senate, and served from 4 March 1789 until his death on 12 March 1790. He was also an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati.[citation needed]

His wife was Eleanor Smallwood, a sister of Maryland Governor William Smallwood. Grayson was the grandfather of William Grayson Carter, Kentucky state senator, and Confederate General John Breckinridge Grayson (General J.B. Grayson was also the grandson of Virginia/Kentucky Senator John Breckinridge (1760-1806) of the Breckinridge political family and related to Senators Henry Clay and Thomas Hart Benton (senator)).

Grayson is interred within a concrete covered vault on private property in Woodbridge, VA.