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'Nathaniel Ramsey' (May 1, 1741– October 23, 1817) was an American lawyer and soldier from Cecil County, Maryland. Ramsey was a Lt. Colonel of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and later represented Maryland as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1786 and 1787.
Nathaniel was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and was the elder brother of David Ramsay even though the brothers chose to spell their name differently. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in 1767 and then read law. He settled in northeastern Maryland, and was admitted to the bar in Cecil County in 1771.
Ramsey was a delegate to the Maryland Convention (the revolutionary assembly) in 1775. In 1776 he joined the army, as a captain in Colonel Smallwood's 1st Maryland Regiment, and went north in time to see action in the Battle of Long Island in August. In December he was promoted to Lt. Colonel and placed in command of the 3rd Maryland Regiment. He led them during the attempt to defend Philadelphia in 1777.
At the Battle of Monmouth, in June 1778, Ramsey was asked by General Washington to stop the British advance after General Lee's initial retreat and gain time for Washington to rally his other troops. He did so, but his regiment took heavy casualties. Ramsey himself was seriously wounded, left for dead, and became a British prisoner. By the time he was exchanged, his regiment had gone south with General Nathaniel Greene's forces. He returned to Maryland, and his only remaining military role was in recruiting. He retired from the army on January 1, 1781, and resumed the practice of law in Cecil County.
Ramsey moved to Baltimore, Maryland in 1783, and again practiced law. After the war, he served Maryland as a delegate to Continental Congress in New York. After the creation of the United States, In 1789 President Washington appointed him the first United States Marshal for the District of Maryland, with his offices in Baltimore. He held this post from 1790 until 1798. In addition, he was named as Port Captain for Baltimore, and remained in this job from 1794 until his death in 1817. He died in Baltimore and is buried in the Westminister Burial Ground, known as Westminister Hall.
His brother in law was Charles Willson Peale.
By marriages his brother David Ramsay was the son in law of John Witherspoon and Henry Laurens and a brother in law of Colonel John Laurens and South Carolina Governor Charles Pinckney and was also related to South Carolina Governor John Rutledge.

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★ Biographic sketch at U.S. Congress website