Imlay, Gilbert (c. 1754–c. 1828)

US adventurer and soldier. He was a lieutenant in the American Revolution and a deputy surveyor in Kentucky 1783–85, but he fled when his land dealings got him in trouble with the law. He next appeared in Europe, where he approached the leaders of Revolutionary France with plans of how to take Louisiana from Spain. He disappeared again in 1798 and only resurfaced at the time of his death on the Island of Jersey. He is known as the author of A Topographical Description of the Western Territory of North America 1792 and a novel The Emigrants 1793.

He was probably born in Monmouth County, New Jersey, although significant gaps exist in his historical record. While in Europe he lived with Mary Wollstonecraft, the English feminist, and they had a daughter, Fanny.