Qass. Book. COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 2£^i.^^iU^0^ ^ At^/^^^^^^^X^ «^y^ ^ /i^^^ LIYES OP CELEBRATED AMERICANS: COMPRISINQ BIOGRAPHIES OF THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY EMINENT PERSONS. BY BENSON J. LOSSING, AUTHOR OP "HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES," "FIELD-BOOK OF THE REVOLUTION," AND "AVAR OF 1812," ETC. ILLUSTRATED WITH OYER 100 FINE PORTRAITS. BY LOSSINQ AND BAERITT. HARTFORD: THOMAS BELKITAP. 1869. ^ il \ Entered, aecording to Act of Congress, in the year 18J9, by BENSON J. LOSSING, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court ^or the Southern District of New York. PREFACE. " Lives of great men all remind us We may make our lives sublime. And, departing, leave behind us Foot-prints on the sands of Time." T)IOGR APHY is History teaching by example. It is the basis of all historical structures. The Chronicles of the nations are composed of the sayings and doings of their men and women. These make up the sum of History. Sallust says, " I have often heard that Quintus Maxunus, Pub- •lius Scipio, and other renowned jDcrsons of the Roman Com- monwealth, used to say that, whenever they beheld the images of their ancestors, they felt their minds vehemently excited to virtue. It could not be the wax, nor the marble, that possessed this power ; but the recollections of their great actions kindled a generous flame in their breasts, which could not be quelled till they, also, by Virtue, had acquired equal fame and glory." It is ■with the earnest desire of producing precisely such efi'ects upon the minds and hearts of the young people of our country, that this volume has been prepared — ^that these images have been set up. The Roman youth were excited to great, and generous, and virtuous deeds, by the sight of material objects and the voices of Orators. Our youth have their aspu-ations for noble IV PREFACE. achievements awakened and cherished more by the silent yet potent ministration of Books which tell of men worthy to be imitated as examples, or studied as warnings, than by merely sensuous impressions. The materials for this book have been drawn from the Annals of the United States of America, as Colonies and as a Federal Republic. Such persons have been selected, as examples, who seemed to illustrate by their Uves, some special phase in the po- litical, religious, and social life of our country, during its won- derful progress from its earliest settlement until the present time. I have endeavored to present such prominent points of character and deeds, in their lives, as would give the reader a general idea of their relative position in the history of their times ; and have also aimed to make the brief sketches so at- tractive and suggestive, as to excite a desire in the young to know more of these characters and their historical relations, and. thus to persuade them to enter upon the pleasant and profitable employment of studying the prominent persons and events of our RepubUc. If this volume shall achieve that result, the pleasure experienced by the Author in the preparation of it, will be distributed according to his desire. PouGHKEEPsiE, September, 1869. INDEX. A. Adams, Samuel . Adama, John Adams, John Q. AUerton, Isaac . AUison, Francis . Alexander, "William Allen, Ethan Allston, Washington Ames, Fisher Anderson, Richard C. Armstrong, Jolin Arnold, Benedict l-^Asbury, Francis . Asiie, John Asliiiiun, Jehudi ^ Astor, John Jacob Audubon, John J. B. Bacon, Nathaniel Bainbridge, William Baldwin, Thomas Baldwin, Abraham Ballou, Hosea Banneker, Benjamin Bartram, John . Barlow, Joel Bard, Samuel Barney. Joshua . Barry, John Barton, William Bayard, James A. Beck, T. Romeyn Belknap, Jeremy Biddle, Nicholas . Biatid, Richard . Blenncrhassett, Ilarman Boone, Daniel Boudinot, P>lias . Boudoin, James . PAGE. PAGE. Bowditch, Nathaniel . . .246 . 70 Boyleston, Zabdiel 61 87 Bradford, William 62 309 Brainerd, David . 101 14 Brant, Joseph 158 47 Brewster, William 10 106 Brooks, John 145 128 Brown, Charles B. 290 2(;2 Brown, Jacob 338 71 Brown. James . 348 299 Brown, Moses 371 316 Buchanan, James 435 135 Buel, Jesse 356 195 Burr, Aaron 253 99 Burke, -(T]danus . 258 325 Burnett, Robert . 401 379 Byrd, William . 31 t-^ 272 C. Calvert, Leonard . . .223 . 42 Calhoun, John C. 326 340 Canonicus . 15 204 Carroll, John 49 256 Carroll, Charles . 146 318 Carver. Jonathan 74 406 Cary, Lott . 275 45 Carey, Matthew . 300 117 Caswell, Richard 96 118 Channing, William E. 373 . 120 Chauncey, Isaac . 342 121 Chittenden, Thomas 125 137 Church, Benjamin 12 267 Claiborne, William C. D. 353 409 Clarke, George R. 138 . 104 Clay, Henry . 393 . 346 Clinton, DeWitt . 257 . 142 Clinton, George . 339 . 377 Colden, Cadwallader 33 . 192 Colburn. Zerali . 351 . 133 Colles, Christopher 235 . 65 Cooper, Thomas . 239 VI INDEX. Cooper, James F, Copley, John S. Complanter Coxe, Tench Craik, James Crockett, David Cruger, Ilemy D. Dana, Francis Davie, "William E. Davidson, Lncretia M. Daj-, Stephen Deane, Silas Dearborn, Henry- Decatur, Stephen De Kalb, Baron . Dickenson, John Downing, Andrew J. Dra_yton, William II. Dunlap, William Dwight, Timothy E. KEdwards, Jonathan Eliot, John Ellsworth, Oliver Everett, Edward Ferguson, Catharine Fiteli, John Flint, Timothy . Franklin, Benjamin Franklin, William Francis, Jolm W. Francis, John W., jr. Fulton, Robert . G. Gadsden, Christopher Galloway, Joseph Gallatin, Albert . Gallaudet, Thomas H. Gaston, William Gates, Horatio . Girard. Stephen . Godfrey, Thomas Gordon, William Graham. Isabella Gray, William Greene, Nathaniel Greene, Joseph . PAGE. 344 52 231 80 1G4 311 266 92 89 315 11 19 328 343 291 209 375 86 337 107 177 17 102 420 404 93 391 39 129 431 407 155 109 72 321 381 350 295 271 69 166 332 214 59 130 PAGE. Greenough, Horatio . . . 393 Gridley, Richard . . .122 Grundy, Felix . . . .366 H. Habersham, Joseph . . . 134 Hale, Nathan 212 Hamilton, Alexander 213 K Hancock, John . 159 Harnett, Coruehus 83 Harper, James . 435 Harrison, Benjamin 103 Harrison, William H. 240 Harrington, Jonathan 376 Hawthorne, Nathaniel 426 Hayne, Robert T. 280 Hedding, Elijah 382 Henry, Patrick . 126 Henderson, Richard ISO Hicks, Elias 2G8 Holmes, Abiel . 329 Hooker, Thomas 26 Hopkinson, Francis 57 Hopkins, Samuel 240 Hopkins, Stephen 320 Hopkinson, Joseph 370 Howard, John E. 141 Howe, Rol)ert . 173 Hull, William . 219 Humphreys, David 215 Hutchinson, Thomas 58 I. Inman, Henry . . . .386 Irving, Washington . . .416 Izard^ Ralph . . . .282 J. Jackson, James . . . .131 Jackson, Andrew 244 Jay, John . 171 Jefi'erson, Thomas 123 V^ Johnson, William 100 ^ Johnson, Richard M. 367 Jones, John Paul 95 Jones, David 140 Judson, Adoniram 364 Judson, Ann II. 368 K Kent, James . . • . 335 King, Rufus . . . .150 Kinnison, David 403 INDEX. Vll PAGE. PAGE. Kirkland, Samuel ... 66 Morris, George P. . . .419 Kuox, Henry . . . .274 Morgan, Daniel . 222 Kosciusczko, Thaddeus . . 306 Motte, Rebecca . Moultrie, William 75 262 L. Muhlenberg, Peter 210 La Fayette, M. de . . . 287 Murray, Lindley 63 Lamb, John 263 Langdon, John . 154 X. Laurens, Henry . 161 • Nelson, Thomas, jr. . . .111 Lawrence, James 352 Newell. Harriet, . . .285 Lawrence, Abbot 411 Nott, Kliphalet, . . .429 Ledyard, Jolin . 82 Lee, Ann . 68 0. Lee, Henr\- Lee, Richard H. . Lee, Charles Lee, Artliur 152 186 307 234 Oglethorpe, James E. Olin, Stephen Osceola Otis, James 51 384 357 162 Legare, Hugh S. 308 Otis, Harrison G. 402 Loisler, Jacob 64 Lilhngton, John A. 94 Lincoln, Benjamin Lincoln, Abraham 298 P. 432 Paine, Thomas . . '228 Livingston, Robert R. 105 Paine, Robert Treat . 198 Livingston, Edward. 174 Patterson, Robert M. 396 Livingston, John H. . 200 Peale, Charles W. . 176 Lovel, John 97 Penn, William . . 24 Lyman, Phineas . 113 Perry, Oliver H. . 348 Percival, James G. . 413 M. Peters, Ricliard . . 169 Macdonough, Thomas . . 323 Phipps, William . 21 Macomb, Alexander . 303 Philip, King 38 . 227 M'Intosh. Lachlin 279 Philipse, Mary . M'Kean, Thomas 203 Piiysic, Philip S. . 330 Macon, Xathaniel 312 Pickens, Andrew . 194 Madison, James . 255 Pickering, Timothy . 165 Madison, James . . 296 Pierce, Benjamin . 283 Manly, John . 114 Pike, Zebulon M. . 191 Marion, Francis . . 184 Pinekiiev. Cliarles C. . 143 ' Marsliall. Jolin . 216 Pincknej-, Thomas . 230 Martin. Francois X. . 243 Pinkney, William . 237 Mason, Jolin . 28 Pocahontas 16 Mather, Cotton . . 27 ' Polk, James K. 1 -r-» • . 388 Mather, Increase . 48 ! Pontiac 70 Meigs, Return J. . 362 ! Pdrter, David . 302 Mercer, Hugh Miautonomoh . 396 1 Preble, Edward . 199 20 Prentiss, Sargeant S. . 397 Mitchill, Samuel L. . 232 Prescott, William . 175 Milnor, James . 360 i Putnam, Rufus . . 182 Miller. William . . 387 : Putnam, Israel . . 226 Monroe, James . . 304 Montgomery, Richard . 157 ^- Morris. Robert . . 90 Quincy, Josiah .... 424 Morris, Gouvemeur . 202 Quincy, Josiah, jr. . 187 vm INDEX, Ramsay, David Randolph, Peyton Randolph, Edmund Randolph, John Red Jacket Reed, Joseph Rittenhouse, David Rivington, James Robinson, Edward Rodgers, John . Rogers, Robert . Ruggles, Timothy Rumford, Count ;U^ Rush, Benjamin Rutledge, John S. St. Clair . Schoolcraft, Henry B. Schuyler, Philip Scott, W infield . Seabury, Samuel Sears, Isaac ^ Sevier, John Shelby, Isaac Sherman, Roger Slater, Samuel . Smith, John Smith, Samuel . Spencer, Ambrose Spencer, John C. Standish, Miles . Stark, John Steuben, Baron De Stevens, Ebenezer Stevens, Robert L. Stiles, Ezra Story, Joseph . Stuart, Gilbert C. Stuyvesant, Peter Sullivan, John . Sumter, Thomas Swain, Daniel L. Talbot, Silas Taylor, Zachary Telfair, Edward Tennent, William Thacher, "William T. PAGE. 167 84 no 292 1 264 207 35 208 428 372 77 73 269 78 153 Thomas, Isaiah Thomson, Charles Trumbull, Jonathan Trumbull, John Trumbull, John Tyler, John U. Uncas Y. Van Buren, Martin . Van Rensselaer, Stephen W. Warren, Mercy . Warren, Joseph . Warner, Seth 242 Washington, George 423 Washington, Martha 189 Wayland, Francis 436 Wayne, Anthony 110 Weare, Meshech 251 Webster, Noah 331 Webster, Daniel 98 Weems, Mason L. 168 West, Benjamin 313 Wheatley, Philips 34 Wheaton, Henry 324 Wheelock, Eleazer 392 White, William . 414 Whitney, Eli 13 Whipple, Abraham 248 Weiser, Conrad 144 Williams, Roger 148 Williamson, Hugh 415 Willett, Marinus 49 Willis, N. P. 289 Wilson, Alexander 114 Winthrop, John 22 Winslow, Edward 347 Winthrop, John 236 Wirt, WiUiam 430 Witherspoon, John Wolcott, Oliver Wooster, David 211 Woods, Leonard 353 Wright, Silas 252 Wright, Benjamin 116 Wythe, George 254 PAGE. 149 46 43 196 259 426 37 427 260 85 190 206 55 \^ 119 418 286 183 224 276 112 29 249 334 32 53 132^' 220 251 18 156 247 422 181 9 23 44 218 179 238 322 390 355 363 278 JOHN WINTHKOP. THE PrtGRiM Fathers' planted the seeds of the Plymouth Colony, amid the December snows, in 1620. Eight years afterward other emigrants, with John Endicott at their head, as governor, founded the colony of the Massa- chusetts Bay, at Salem. In 1629, John Winthrop, a wealthy Puritan, resolved to convert his large estate into money, and link his fortunes with this new colony. He was chosen to succeed Endicott, as governor, before he left England, and soon after his arrival in June, 1630, he chose the peninsula of Shawmut, on 1. In the year 16f>8, John Kobinson, a pious pastor of a flock in the north of England, who would not conform to the rituals of the Established Church, tied, with his people, to Ilolland, to avoid persecution. They felt that they were only rUgrimx, and assumed that name. Toward the close of 163). about 100 of them, includiuR women and children, arrived on the shores of Cape (^od Bay in the ship May Flower, and planted a colony where the town of Plymouth now etands. They are known as The Pilgrim Fathera. 10 WILLIAM BREWSTER. wMch the city of Boston now stands, for a residence, because pure water gushed from its hills. There he founded the future metropolis of New England, i John Winthrop was born in Groton, Suffolk county, England, on the 12th of June, 1587, and was educated for'the profession of the law. Theological studies possessed greater charms for him, and the pecuhar seriousness of his mind led him to Puritanism,^ as he found it at the beginning of King Charles' reign. Because of his many admirable qualities, he was chosen governor under the charter granted in 1629, and was therefore really the first governor of Massa- chusetts, notwithstanding the earlier services of Endicott, as head of the actual settlers. Winthrop held his first court, composed of deputy-governor Dudley and mem- bers of the Council, on the 23d of August, 1630, under a largo tree at Charles- ' town ; and the first topic brought under consideration was a suitable provision for the support of the gos2)el. Mr. Winthrop was a man of great benevolence. It was his practice to send his servants among the people at meal-time, on trifiing errands, with instructions to report the condition of their tables. When informed of any who appeared to want, he always sent a supply from his own abundance. He was also merciful as a magistrate, for he considered it expe- dient to temper the severity of law with more lenity in an infant colony than in a settled state. Because of his lenity toward offenders, he was charged, in 1636, of deaUng " too remissly in point of justice." The ministers decided that " the safety of the gospel " required more rigor ; and, contrary to the motions of his own liberal heart, he was obliged to yield. So zealous were the chief men of the colony in favor of rigorous discipline, that deputy Dudley, a bigot of the sti-ictest stamp, was chosen governor, in place of Winthrop, in 1634; but the latter was re-elected in 1637, and held the office of chief magistrate most of the time, until his death. Governor Winthrop came to America a wealthy man, but died quite poor. His benevolent heart kept his hand continually open, and he dispensed comforts to the needy, without stint. He regarded all men as equally dear in the eyes of their Maker, yet his early education blinded him to the dignity of true democ- racy. He regarded it with much disfavor ; and when the people of Connecticut asked his advice concerning the organization of a government, he replied, " The best part of a community is always the least, and of that least part the wiser are still less." He had little faith in " the people." Worn out with toils and afHictions, this faithful and upright magistrate entered upon his final rest on the 26tti of March, 1649, at the age of sixty-one years. WILLIAM BREWSTER. ONE of the noblest of the Pilgrim Fathers, was William Brewster, the spiritual guide of those who landed on Plymouth Rock, in bleak December, 1620. He was born in England in 1560, and was educated at Cambridge. William Davidson, Queen Elizabeth's ambassador to Holland, was his friend and patron in youth. When a wicked pohcy caused the Queen to disgrace and even de- stroy innocent men, Davidson, who had been appointed Secretary of State, was a great sufferer. Brewster, with a grateful loyalty, adhered to him as long as 1. Boston was so r.amed in honor of John Cotton, minister of Boston, England, who cafne ifl America in iB33, and was appointed teacher in the church in Winthrop's capital. 2. Those who would not conform to the rituals of the Established Church of England, and professed fre*t purity of life, as well as of doctrine, were called Puritaks, in derision. It has since become an OBCxabto tjtle. STEPHEN DAY. 11 he could serve lain, and then retired among liis friends in tbe North of England. Ilis religious zeal there burned brightly, and his hand and purse were ever open in well-doing. ]Ie finally became disgusted with the assumptions and tyranny of the Established Church, and joined a society of separatists, under the pastoral care of John Robinson. Mr. Brewster's house was their Sabbath meeting-place for worship ; and when, finally, these non-conformists were obliged to flee from hierarchical persecution, that good Christian attempted to leave friends and country, and follow. lie was arrested, with others, and imprisoned at Boston, in Lincolnshire, in 1607 ; but as soon as ho obtained his liberty, he sailed for Holland. Ilis estate had become exhau.sted, and at Leyden he opened a school for instruction in the English language. Ho also established a prmting-press there, and published several books. Mr. Brewster was greatly beloved, and was chosen an elder in the church at Leyden, over which his old pastor presided. It was in that capacity that he sailed, with " the youngest and strongest" of Mr. Eobinson's flock, in the May Flower, late in 1620. He suffered and rejoiced with the Pilgrims, in all their strange vicissitudes ; and for almost nine years, he was the only regular dis- penser of the "Word of Life to the Puritans, in the little church at Plymouth. He preached twice every Sunday ; but could never be persuaded to administer the sacraments. It was in that church at Plymouth that the largest liberty was first granted to the lait}-. It was a common practice for a question to be pro- pounded on the Sabbath, and all who felt " gifted" were allowed to speak upon it. This liberty finally became a great annoyance to the ministers, and much difficulty ensued. It "had free scope while Elder Brewster officiated, but when Rev. Ralph Smith was settled as pastor over the Plymouth church, he en- deavored to check it. Elder Brewster died on the IGth of April, 1644, at the age of eighty-three yeais. STEPHEN DAY. THE first printer who practiced his art wathin the domain of the United States was Stephen Day, a native of London. The Rev. Jesse Glover, one of the earliest patrons of Harvard College, presented that institution with a font of type, and others contributed money to buy a press. In 1638, Mr. Glover, then in London, engaged Day to accompany him to America, to take charge of the printing-house at Cambridge. Glover died on the voyage, but Day arrived in safet}-, with his patron's widow and children, and commenced work in January, 1639". His first production was Tlie Freemaii's Oath; and soon afterward he printed an Almanac made by a mariner named Pierce, in which the year begins with March. The first book — the first one printed in America — was the Psalms in Meter, containing three hundred pages, and was known as The Bay Psalm Book. He printed several Almanacs, and also some astronomical calculations by Urian Oakes, then a youth, and afterward President of Harvard College. Day was an unskilful printer; yet, being the only one in the. colony, he was so much esteemed, that the general court of Massachusetts granted him three Imndrcd acres of land, in 1641. He frequently complained that his printing was unprofitable. He continued in the business until the beginning of 1649, when his establishment went into the hands of Samuel Greene, who came to Cam- bridge with his parents at the age of sixteen years. Greene continued the business until near the close of the century, and many writers have spoken of him as theirs/! printer. Day expired at Cambridge, on the 22d of December, 1668, at the age of about fifty-eight years. 12 BENJAMIN CHURCH. BENJAMIN CHURCH. "VTEXT to Miles Standish, the warrior-pilgrim of the May Flower, Benjamin li Church was the most distinguished military hero in early New England history. He was bom at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1639, and was instructed in the trade of a carpenter, by his father. He went to Duxbury to reside, and was pursuing his vocation there when King Philip's war broke out.' That great chief of the Wampanoags had long kept inviolate the treaty made with the white people by his father, Massasoit ; but when provocations multiplied — when he saw spreading settlements reducing liis domains, acre by acre, breaking up his hunting grounds, diminishing his fisheries, and menacing his nation with servitude or annihilation, — his patriotism was aroused, and he willingly listened to the hot young warriors around him, who counselled a war of extermination against the English. Philip struck the first blow at Swanzey, thirty-five miles south-west from Plymouth ; and for almost a year this dreadful war went on, and extended even to the valley of the Connecticut river. Nearly aU of the New England tribes joined Philip in his enterprise. The white people banded, and struck the savages with vigorous blows in all directions. Among their 1. Philip was a BOn of Massasoit, and he and his brother were "^m^d Respectively Philip ^"d Alex- ander, bv the white people, in compliment to their bravery. Because, after the death of his father, he became chief sachem of his powerful tribe, be was called Kmg FhUip.— bee page x. MILE3 STANDISH. 13 leaders, Captain Church was the bravest of the brave ; and in the Spring of 1676 he completely broke the power of the New England tribes. Almost three thousand Indians had been slain or had bowed in submission, and Philip was a hunted fugitive. He was chased from place to place, and refused to yield. He cleft the head of a warrior who dared to propose submission ; and a curse upon the white people was ever upon his lips. At length the " last of the Wampa- noags " was compelled to yield to the pressure of circumstances, He went stealthily back to the home of his fathers, at Mount Hope. Soon his wife and son wore made prisoners, and his spirit drooped. "Now my heart breaks," said the brave warrior; "I am ready to die." A few days afterward a faithless Indian shot him, in a swamp, and Captain Church, with his own sword, cut off the dead sachem's head. Lacking the magnanimity of a true soldier, the pro- fessed Christian leader disfigured the senseless body, then quartered it, and hung it upon trees, declaring, " Forasmuch as he caused many an Englishman's body to lie unburied aud rot above the ground, not one of his bones shall be buried." The chieftain's head was carried to Plymouth on a pole, where it was exposed for several years, and his right hand was sent to the governor of Mas- sachusetts. The rude sword of Church which cut off Philip's head is now a cherished relic in the library of the Historical Society of the "Old Bay State." If we censure Church's want of magnanimity as a soldier, what shall we say of the Christian charity of the Plymouth people in the disposal of King Philip's son. It was a subject for serious consideration. Some of the elders of the church proposed putting him to death ; while the more merciful ones proposed to sell him into slavery in Bermuda. The most profitable measure appeared the kindest, and the innocent child was sold mto perpetual bondage. Captain Church lived many years after the war, at different places in the vicinity of Narraganset Bay, in Rhode Island. His last place of residence was Little "Compton, where, on the 17th of January, 1718, he was thrown from a horse. He was very corpulent, and the shock of his fall ruptured a blood vessel, which caused his death in the course of a few hours, at the age of seventy- nine years. MILES STANDISH. THE " Hero of New England," as Captain Standish is called, was, like many other heroes and great men, rather diminutive in person. Hubbard, the his- torian, says, when speaking of him, " A little chimney is soon fired : so was the Plymouth captain, a man of very small stature, yet of a very hot and angry temper." He was born in Lancashire, England, about the year 1584. He was a soldier by profession, and was serving in the Netherlands when Mr. Robinson, with his Pilgrim flock, settled at Leyden. There he joined the Puritans, and came with them to America, in the May Flower. When that vessel anchored in Cape Cod Bay, and it was thought expedient to explore the bleak shore to find a good landing-place, Standish was among the first to volunteer for the service. He was one of those who passed the first Christian Sabbath, after their arrival, in deep snow upon a barren island in Plymouth harbor ; and he was the second man who stepped upon Plymouth Rock. Standish was very serviceable to the English when the Indians showed signs of hostility, and they relied much upon his military skill and personal bravery. "Wherever the duties of his profession called him, there he was always found. Two years after the establishment of the Puritans at Plymouth, he was called to 14 ISAAC ALLERTOIT, protect a new colony at "Wissagusset (now "Weymouth), who had exasperated the Indians by begging and stealing. They had been sent over by a wealthy London merchant, and most of them were quite unfit for the business of found- ing a state. The Indians resolved to destroy them ; but, through the agency of Massasoit, a firm friend of the Enghsh, the conspiracy was revealed to the Plymouth people in time for Captain Standish to march thither with a small company and avert the blow. When he arrived, his anger was fiercely kindled by the insolence of Pecksuot, the chief^ and his few followers. Pecksuot sharpened his knife in the presence of Standish, and said, " Though you are a great captain, you are but a httle man ; and though I be no sachem, yet I am a man of great strength and courage." Standish had the prudence to check his resentment ; but the next day, when the chief, and about the same number of his followers as Standish had with him, were in a room with the white people, the captain gave a signal, and five of the savages were slam. Standish snatched Pecksuot's knife from him, and with it slew its owner. When Mr. Eobmson (the original pastor of the Pilgrims, and who remained in Holland) heard of this event, he wrote to the Church of Plymouth "to consider the dis- position of their captain, who was of a warm temper. He hoped tliat the Lord had sent liim among them for good, if they used him right ; but he doubted whether there was not wanting that tenderness of the life of man, made after God's image, which was meet ; and he thought that it would have been happy if they had converted some before they had killed any." Captain Standish settled in Duxbury, Massachusetts, about 1631 ; and a place near his residence is still called Captain's Hill. During almost the whole time of his residence in the colony, he was an assistant magistrate. He died at his house in Duxbury, in the year 1656. ISAAC ALLEKTON. THE May i^/ower passengers may all be considered "distinguished Americans," because they left their birth-land forever, and became founders and citizens of a new empire in this Western World. Of the noble band who signed a con- stitution of government' in the cabin of the May Flower, at Cape Cod, Isaac Allerton was the fifth to append his name to that instrument. He survived the terrors of the first winter in New England,^ afterward became the agent of the settlers in negotiating the purchase of the new possessions from those of the company in London, who had furnished capital for the enterprise ;3 and, as an enterprising trader, became the founder of the commerce of New England. He established a trading post near the mouth of the Kennebeck, in 1627, and made several business voyages to England. He also established trading posts at Penobscot and Machias. In 1635, he opened a profitable trade with New Haven, New Amsterdam, Virginia, and even with the West Indies. He finally made New Amsterdam (now New York) his chief place of residence, and traded prin- cipally in tobacco. In 1643, when the English began to exert a considerable influence in the affiiirs of New Amsterdam, and a council of eight men repre- sented the people, Mr. Allerton was chosen to fill a seat in that body. 1. The first -written constitution adopted by a free people. 2. Of the one hundred Pilgrims only forty survived. 3. Some London merchants formed a partnership with the PILGRIMS, and furnished capital for the enterprise. The service of each emigrant was valued as a capital of ten pounds, and all profits were reserved until the end of seven years. The community system did not work well, and at the end of the seven years, the settlers bought" of the merchants their interest in the venture. CANONIC rs. 15 Mr. Allerton was accompanied in the May Flower by his wife and four chil- dren. His wife died soon after their arrival; and in 1627, he married Fear, a daughter of Elder Brewster, tlie spiritual guide of the Pilgrim adventurers.' She, also, died in 1634. Ho was again marrried, for we have an account of his shipwreck, with his wife, on the coast of Massachusetts, in 1644. The time and place of his death is not known, some asserting that he returned to England, and others that he died m the city of New Amsterdam (New York), in 1 659. CANONIOUS. ONE of tho most renowned sachems, among the New England tribes was Canonicus, the head of the Narragansets when the Pilgrim Fathers found- ed New Plymouth. He regarded the advent of the white men with a jealous fear; and in 1622, feeling strong, with about five thousand fighting men around him, he sent a challenge to Governor Bradford, of the Plymouth colony, not- withstanding Massasoit, the chief sachem of the "Wampanoags, was the friend of the Englisli. His token of defiance was a bundle of arrows, tied with a snake skin. Bradford sagaciously filled the skin with powder and ball, and sent it back to Canonicus. The chief had never seen the like before, and he regarded these substances witli superstitious awe. They were sent from village to village, and excited so much alarm, that the sachem sued for peace, and made a treaty of friendship, which he never violated ; notwithstanding, he often re- ceived provocations that would have justified him in scattering all compacts to the winds. Wiien Roger "Williams became an exile from Massachusetts, he found a friend in Canonicus, who gave him all the land in the vicinity of Providence, for a set- tlement. "Williams found more love and generous sentiment in the heart of that forest monarch than among his own countrymen at Boston. "When the Pequot war broke out in 1637, Canonicus stood firmly in defence of the English; and a deputation from Massachusetts, who appeared before his island throne opposite Newport, were received with friendly assurances. His palace was a building fifty feet in length, made of upright poles, covered with branches and mats. Tho royal dinner given to the ambassadors consisted of boiled chestnuts for bread, plenty of venison, and a dessert of boiled pudding made of pounded In- dian corn, well filled with whortle-berries. After again assuring the ambassadors of his friendly intentions, he advised the Pequots to bury the hatchet. They refused to listen, and were utterly destroyed by the combined forces of the Eng- lish, the Narragansets, the Mohegans, and the Niantics. In 1638, Canonicus began to feel the infirmities of age, and resigned his gov- ernment into the hands of his nephew, Miantonomoh. That chief was afterward made a pri.soner by Uncas, "the last of the Mohegans," and murdered by the consent of the English. The resentment of Canonicus was aroused, and he could hardly be restrained from declaring war against the white people. Prudent counsels prevailed in his cabinet, and peace was maintained. In the beautiful month of Juno, 1647, this " wise and peaceable prince," as "Williams calls him, died at his seat on Conannicut Island, opposite Newport, at the age of eighty- five years. 1. The practice of the Puritans of piving their children the names of moral qualities, was exemplified in r.rcwster's family. His two daughters were named respectively Fear and Low ; and his sou's name was WrtiUing. 16 POCAHONTAS. POCAHONTAS. " She was a soft landscape of mild earth, Where all was harmony and calm quiet, Luxuriant, budding." BtrOW. SUCH was the sweet little Indian girl, the favorite daughter of the powerful Emperor of the Powhatan Confederacy' in Virginia, when the white people laid the foundations of a new empire there. When a site for a settlement waa chosen. Captain Smith, the boldest of those early adventurers, penetrated the interior, and was taken prisoner. His captor carried him in triumph from vil- lage to village, and then presented him to the Emperor, in his forest palace at "Werowocomoco. Smith was condemned to die. With his arms pinioned, and his head upon a huge stone, he was doomed to have his brains dashed out by a blow from a club. When the executioner advanced, Pocahontas, then a girl ten or twelve years of age, leaped from her father's side, where she sat trem- bling, clasped the head of Smith in her arms, and implored his hfe. ' How could that stem old Ising deny The angel pleading in her eye? How mock the sweet, imploring grace, That breathed in beauty from her face, And to her kneeling action g«Te A power to soothe, and still subdue, Until, though humble as a slave, To more than queenly sway she grewf" — SiKKS. The Emperor yielded, and Smith waa spared. 1. This was a confederacy of more than twenty Indian tribes in the vicinity of the James, York and Potomac rivers. Powhatan was not the family name of the father of Pocahontas, but the title of the •mperor, the same os the title of Pharaoh, for the Egyptian kings, in the time of the Jewish bondage. ^mtf mAOf, 17 ilC/'i/lOKo, .'y!'/;i.-5ifc<< .'/f I'l.S ^feSC/STji <"/^;jJ il'i.5 ifi'Li(- JOHN UlyfOT, r* KJ-^AT ftrtwfj* fc(W* 1)*^ )W*^ fZ-w* fhm P* ««* J*^ -moir of the Pequod TTar. It makes one shudder to read his Was- phomous allusion to the interposition of (Jod in favor of the English, as if the poor Indian was not an obicet of the care and love of the Peitv ; Happily the time is rapidly passing by when men believe that they are doing God service by Blaugh'tering, maiming, or in the least injuring, with vengeful feelings, any of bis creatures. 30 BENJAMIN WEST. ginning of the greatest historical painter of the last century — such were the first buddings of the genius of tliat boy, who would not ride in company with another, because he aspired to nothing greater than a tailor's shop-board. "Do you really mean to be a tailor?" asked little West. "Indeed I do," replied his boy-companion. "Tlien you may ride alone," exclaimed the young aspirant, leaping to the ground. "I mean to be a painter, and be the companion of kings and emperors ; I '11 not ride witli one willing to be a tailor 1" At the age of fifteen years, young West had learned the use of proper colors, and was a popular portrait painter. The pursuit of such art was contrary to the discipline of the Quakers. A meeting was called to consult upon the matter. At length one arose and said, " God hath bestowed on this youth a genius for art; shall we question his wsdom? I see the Divine hand in this; we shall do well to sanction the art and encourage this youth." Then the sweet women of the assembly rose up and kissed him. The men, one by one, laid their hands on his head, and thus Benjamin West was solemnly consecrated to the service of the great art. His pictures produced both money and fame, and wealthy men furnished him with means to go to Italy, to study the works of the great masters. There every step was a triumph, and ho became the best painter in Italy. He crossed the Alps and went to England. There prejudice and bad taate met him, but hia genius overcame both. Among his earhest and best WILLIAM BYRD. 31 patrons was Archbishop Drummond, who introduced him to the young King, George the Third. His majesty was dehghted, and ordered him to paint The Departure of Beguius, that noble picture exhibited in the New York Crystal Palace, in 1853. That achievement placed him. on the throne of English art. The King, and Reynolds, and West, founded the Royal Academy ; and he who, in the foce of every obstacle, created a public taste for high art, was properly appointed "Painter to his Majesty." He designed thirty grand pictures, illus- trative of The Progress of Revealed Religion, and completed twenty-eight of them, besides a great number of other admirable works. But when insanity clouded the mind of King George, and his libertine son, the Prince of "Wales, obtained power, the great painter was neglected. The king of art, who had ruled for five and thirty years, was soon an exile from the coiu't of his excellent friend, and man}- cherished anticipations of his prime were blighted in his de- clining years. But when royalty deserted him, the generous people sustained him. He achieved great triumphs in his old age; and finally, on the 11th of March,' 1S20, when in the eighty-second year of his life, he was laid by the side of Reynolds and Opie in St. Paul's Cathedral. WILLIAM BYKD. ABOUT half-way between Richmond and Old Jamestown, on the James River, in Virginia, is a fine brick mansion, surrounded by a fertile plantation, known as Westover. It was the residence of Colonel William Bj-rd, a wealthy cavalier, who came from England during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. lie was really the founder of the city of Richmond, at the Falls of the James River. A small fortification had been erected there, as a defense against the Indians, as earlv as 16-15; but about 1G80, Colonel Byrd, having received a conditional grant of land at the Falls, sent more than fifty able-bodied men there to make a settlement. lie erected a mill and other buildings for the use of their productions, and the settlement was known as Byrd^s Warehouse. In 1682, Colonel Byrd was a member of the governor's council, and he was much in public employment, until his death. When, after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, a large number of Huguenots, or French Protestants, came to America, three hundred of them were cared for, with parental solicitude, by Colonel Byrd, and they found pleasant homes in the Virginia colony. Many of these were educated men, and in Colonel Byrd they found an agreeable companion. He possessed fine literary and scientific tastes, and had the largest library in Amer- ica, at that time. In 1723, he was one of the commissioners appointed to estab- lish the boundary lino between Virginia and North Carolina. Toward the close of his life he employed his pen on scientific subjects, and was made a member of the London Royal Societ3^ His munificence and style of living were un- equalled in the colonies. They were like those of an English nobleman. He died in 1743, at the age of almost eighty years, leaving his homestead, and a splendid fortune, to his son William. He, too, became a public man ; and in 1756. was a commissioner to treat with the Indians on the western borders of Virginia. He accompanied the expechtion against Fort Duquesne, under Wash- ington's command, in 1758. Being a spendthrift and a gambler, his immense wealth was greatly lessened, at his death. His widow occupied the Westover property at the time of our revolution ; and there Benedict Arnold (who was her relative) landed, when he invaded Virginia in the service of his royal purchaser, in 1781. De Chastellux, one of Rochambeau's officers, speaks rapturously of the beauty of Westover, and the pleasures of society there. 32 ELEAZER WHEELOCK. ELEAZKR WHEELOCK. THOSE good men who by personal sacrifices and diligent efforts seek to elevate their fellow-beings of low degree, should be remembered and honored. Among those of the past who deserve such reward, is Eleazer Wheelock, the founder of the first school for the Christian education of Indian youths in New England. He was born at Windham, Connecticut, in April, 1711 ; and in 1733, was graduated at Yale College. Two years afterward he was ordained a gospel minister, and settled as pastor, at Lebanon. There he opened a school for the education of English children; and in 1743, his first Indian pupil was admitted. He was a Mohegan youth of nineteen years, named Samson Occum, who had been converted to Christianity under the preaching of a clergyman at Norwich. Before entering Mr. Wlieelock's school, Occum had learned to spell out sentences in the Bible for the edification of his eager dusky listeners. He was anxious to become a spiritual teacher of his tribe. He remained -with Jlr. Wheelock be- tween four and five years, and afterward became a very successful preacher among the natives on the east end of Long Island. His success with Occum induced Mr. Wheelock to attempt the education of other Indian youths, with special reference to their preparation for missionary labors, believing that they would be more efficient among the savages, than ■rt'hite preachers.' In 1762, he had more than twenty Indian youths in his school, the expenses being paid by voluntary subscriptions, small legislative grants, and contributions from the Boston commissioners of the Scotch society for propagating Christian knowledge. A farmer, named Moor, gave a house and some land, adjoining Mr. Wlieelock's residence, for the use of the institution, and it became known as Moor's Indian Charity School. To increase its usefulness, it was determined to seek aid in England; and in 17G6, Occum and Eev. Mr. Whitaker of Norwich, went thither for that purpose. The money collected by them was put into the hands of trustees, in England, at the head of whom was the Earl of Dartmouth; and its expenditure was intrusted to the Scotch society. Hoping to be more efficient on the borders of the Indian country, wherein white settlements had not yet been planted, Dr. Wheelock resigned his pastoral charge at Lebanon, and established his school at Hanover, in New Hampshire. He also founded a college there, and named it Dartmoutli, in honor of the Earl, notwithstanding that gentleman was opposed to the project, fearing it might interfere with the Indian School.^ Governor Wentworth gave it a charter, and for nine years Dr. Wheelock labored vigorously at the head of each establish- ment. The war for Independence seriously afl'ected the prosperity of both en- terprises, yet the self-sacrificing founder saw glorious fruit produced by his planting. Among those white missionaries whom he prepared for their work, was the faitliful Kirkland, so long a noble laborer among the tribes in the in- terior of New York. Dr. Wheelock died at Hanover, on the 24th of April, 1779, at the age of sixty-eight years. 1. This opinion proved to be erroneous. About one-half of those educated for the ministry returned to their old habits and vices, when they got among their people again. Among Mr. Wheelock'e pupils was Brant, the celebrated Mohawk chief. 2. This fact exhibits the modesty of Dr. Wheelock, and at the same time shows that undue deference which all persons formerly rendered to titles and dignities. The college ought to perpetuate the name of Dr. Wheelock, by its own title. CADWALLADEU COLDEN. 33 CADWx\LLADEll COLDEN. THE representatives of royal power, in America, generally regarded the people as their suhjeds, rather than as fellow-citizens, and ruled by despotic power rather tiian by kindness and conciliation. There were honorable exceptions, and among these was Cadwallader Golden, whose character and public life were triithCully portrayed, more than forty years ago,by John W. Francis, M.D., now [1851] the Nestor of literature and science in New York. Golden was acting governor of New York when the stamp-act riots occurred, and was treated with indignity by a mob, because he was the representative of the king, and at the same time was highly respected by them as a man and valuable citizen. Cadwallader Golden was born in Dunse, Scotland, on the 17th of February, 1688. lie completed his collegiate studies at the university of Edinburgh, in 1705, and after devoting three years to the study of mathematics and medical science, ho came to America, where ho remained five years, as a practicing physician. He went to Great Britain in 1715, and formed the acquaintance of Halley and other leading men of science ; and the following year he married a pretty Scotch girl, returned to America, and settled in the city of New York. Golden soon abandoned his profession, for pubhc employment. He was made Burveyor-general of the province, a master in chancery, and finally became one Si JOHN SMITH. of the governor's council. About the year 1750, he obtained a patent for a large tract of unsettled land near Newburgh, in Orange county, and named his manor, Coldenham. There, after the year 1755, he resided, with his familj', most of the time, engaged in agriculture and in literary and scientitic pursuits. Many learned essays from his pen enriched the medical and scientific publications of his day ; and his History of the Five Natioiis of Indians, is a noble monument in testimony of his careful and judicious researches in that special field of inciuiry. Almost all of the scientific men of Europe were his correspondents, and Franklin and other leading Americans were among his intimate epistolary friends. Botany was his favorite study, and he was a constant and valued correspondent of Lin- nseus, the great master of the science, for a series of years. His voluminous papers are now among the choice treasures of the New York Historical Society. In 1760, Dr. Golden was appointed lieutenant-governor of the province of New York, and became the acting magistrate, at eighty years of age. He managed public affairs with great prudence during all the trying scenes of the Stamp- Act excitement; and the Sons of Liberty respected him, while they defied his delegated power. He was released from office, by Governor Tryon, in 1775, and retired to his country seat, at Flushing, Long Island, where he died on the 28th of September, 177G; a few days before that great conflagration which con- sumed more than five hundred buildings in the city of New York. Governor Golden was then almost eighty-nine years of age. JOHN SMITH. THERE are men whose career appears meteor-like in brilliancy and progress, wliich nevertheless makes permanent impressions upon the world's history, and beams in the firmament of past events, with steady, planetary lustre. John Smith belongs to the meteor-heroes of our race. He was born at Willoughby, in Lincolnshire, England, in 1550, and in early childhood was distinguished for his daring spirit and love of adventure. At the age of thirteen years, he sold his books and satchel to procure money to pay his way to the sea-shore, for he had resolved to try life on the ocean wave. He was prevented from embarking, and apprenticed to a merchant. Two years afterward he ran away, went to France, and then to the Low Countries, and there studied military tactics. "With a por- tion of his deceased father's estate, young Smith, at the age of seventeen years, went abroad, like a knight-errant, in search of adventures. On a voyage from Marseilles to Naples, a great storm arose. The crew of the vessel were Roman Catholics, who, believing the young heretic Englishman to be a Jonah, cast him into the sea to appease the angry waters. He swam to a small island, and there embarked in a French vessel for Alexandria, in Egypt. From thence he went to Italy, and then to Austria, where he entered the imi^erial army. His valor soon procured him the command of a trooi^ of horse, which, in the war against the Turks, obtained the name of The Fiery Dragoons. On one occasion, during a siege, a Turkish officer offered to engage in a duel with any Christian soldier, " to amuse the ladies." The lot fell to Smith. They fought in sight of both armies. Smith cut off his antagonist's head, and carried it in triumph to the Austrian camp; and then fought two other Turkish champions with the same result. He was afterward captured and sold to a Pacha, who sent his prisoner as a present to his sweetheart, to be her slave. Her love was excited, and to insure his safety, she sent Smith to her brother. The Turk treated the captive cruelly. Soon an opportunity for escape was offered, when Smith killed his DAVID RITTENHOUSE. 85 tyrant, fled into Muscovy, and found his way to Austria. The war had ended, and Smith departed from the Adriatic, with a French sea-captain, for Morocco. He was engaged in a sca-figlit near the Canary Islands, with the Spaniards ; and then, after a long absence, returned to his native country. His restless spirit now yearned for adventures in the New World, and accompanying the lirst English expedition which successfully planted a settlement in America, he be- came the real founder of tlie Virginia colony. The settlers became jealous of his talent, on the voj'age, and, ignorant that he was named in the " sealed box"* as one of the Council, they put him m irons, under the plea that he intended to make himself King of Virginia. He was released when his name appeared among the appointed rulers. He possessed great energy, and he not onl)' sup- ported good government by his presence, but saved the colony from destruction. He was rescued from death by Pocahontas, the daughter of the Indian king, while a prisoner among them ; and he acquired such influence over the savages, that they were friendly to the English while Smith ruled the colony. He ex- plored the coast from Pamlico Sound to the Delaware river, and constructed a map of the country. An accident caused him to go to England for surgical at- tendance. Five years afterward he made a trading voyage to America, explored the coast from the Thames to the Penobscot, made a map of the country, and called it New England. Smith offered to accompany the Pilgrim Fathers, to America, in 1620, but on account of liis aristocratic notions, his proffered ser- vices were declined. He died in London, in 1631, at the age of seventy-two years. DAVID RITTENHOUSE. "VfEAR the banks of the beautiful "Wissahiccon, in the vicinity of Germantown, l\ four miles from Philadelphia, lived three hermits a century and a half ago ; and near their hiding-places from the worlds ken, a mile from the old village where the good count Zinzendorf,' the Moravian, labored and reposed, was the birth-place of one whose name is co-extensive with scientific knowledge. It was David Rittenhouse, the eminent mathematician, who was born in Rox- borough township, on the 8th of April, 1732. His father was a humble farmer, and David was his chief assistant when his life approached young manhood. The geometrical diagrams which disfigured his implements of labor, the barn doors, and the pig-sty, attested the peculiar workings of his brain while yet a mere lad. These indications of genius would doubtless have been disregarded, and his aspirations remained unsatisfied, had not a feeble body made the aban- donment of field labor a stern necessity. David was apprenticed to a clock and mathematical instrument maker, and the pursuit being consonant with his taste, he was eminently successful. Rittenhouse was a severe student, but on account of his pecuniary wants, he was deprived, in a great degree, of the most valuable sources of information, especially concerning the progress of science in Europe. While Newton and Liebnitz were warmly disputing for the honor of first discoverer of Fluxions, Rittenhouse, entirely ignorant of what they had done, became the inventor of that remarkable feature in algebraical analysis. Applying the knowledge which 1. The sillv Kinc .lames, instead of making an open appointment of a council for the government of Virginia placed their names in a sealed box, with directions not to open it until Ihtir arrival on the shores of the New World. , , j, ■ r. . 1. Zin/endorf was the founder of the Moravians, or United Brethren, and preached m Germantown, for a while. DAVID RITTENHOUSE. he derived from study and reflection, to tlie mechanic arts, he produced a plan' etariram, or an exhibition of the movements of the solar sj'stem, by machinery. It is a most wonderful piece of mechanism, especially when we consider the fact that the inventor was yet an obscure mechanic in a country village. That work of art is in the possession of the College of New Jersej', at Princeton, it having been purchased on the recommendation of President Witherspoon.' It gave him great reputation ; and in 1770, he went to Philadelphia, where he pursued his mechanical vocation, and met, daily, members of the Philosophical Society of that city, to whom he had, two years before, communicated the fact that he had calculated, with great exactness, the transit of Venus, which oc- curred on the 3d of June, 1769. Rittenhouso was one of those whom the Society appointed to observe it. Only three times before, in the whole range of human observations, had mortal vision beheld the orb of Venus pass across the disc of the sun.2 Upon the exactitude of the performance according to calculations, depended many important astronomical problems, and the hour was looked for- X. When Cornwallis arrived at Princeton, after the severe battle at that place on the morning of the 2(i of January, 1777, he saw and admired (hat worli of art, and determined to carry it away with him. The Americans caused him to leave the place too soon to accomplish his purpose. During the same year, Silas Deane, the American commissioner at the French court, actually proposed to present the planetarium to the French king, as a bonus for his good will ! The conqueror and the diplomatist were both foiled. 2. See sketch of John Wiuthrop, LL.D., page 44. UNCAS. 37 ward to, by philosophers, with iutense interest. As the moment approached, according to his own calculations, Rittenhouse became greatly excited. Whea the discs of the two planets touched, at precisely the expected moment, the philosopher fainted. His highest hopes were realized ; and on the 9th of No- vember following ho was blessed with the sight of a transit of Mercury. When Dr. Franklin died, Rittenhouse was chosen President of the American Philosophical Society, to fill Ids place ; and from his own earnings he gave the institution fifteen hundred dollars, on the day of his inauguration. His famo was now world-wide, and many official honors awaited his acceptance. He held the office of treasurer of the state of Pennsylvania, for many j^ears ; and in 1792, he was appointed the first Director of the Mint. Failing health compeUed him to resign that trust, in 1795; and on the 6tli of June, the following year, be died the death of a Christian, at the age of sixty-four years. UNCAS. UNLIKE most of the Indian chiefs and sachems who appear conspicuous in our early annals, the line of descent from Uncas comes down almost to our own time, and he has been honored, in preference to all others, with a commem- orative monument from the hands of the white man. Uncas was a Pequod, by bbth. Rebelling against his chief Sassacus, he was expelled from the Pequod domain, and by his talent and sagacity soon took the rank and power of a chief among the Mohegans. He became the inveterate enemy of Sassacus ; and he was at the head of the Mohegans who accompanied Captain Mason against the Pequods, in 1G.'!7. He was always the firm friend of the English ; and during that dark period, when King Philip succeeded in arming all the New England tribes against the white people, Uncas remained faithful. He even took up arms against Philip, and with two hundred Mohegans, and a greater number of sub- jugated Pequods, he marched with Major Talcott to Brookfield and Pladley, and at the latter place assisted in defeating seven hundred of Philip's savage allies. Like Philip, Uncas was opposed to the preaching of Christianit}' among his people, preferring to have them believe in the religion of his fathers. Yet he never used coercive measures in opposition; and, finally, he so far yielded, that on one occasion, when the country was suffering from a great drought, he asked a Christian minister to pray for rain. A copious shower fell the next day, and Uncas became like King Agrippa in the presence of Paul — he was almost per- suaded to become a Christian. In 1G59, Uncas gave a deed to several white people, conveying to them a large tract of land at the head of the Pequod river [the Thames], and there the city of Norwich was founded. The exact period of the death of Uncas is unknown. It is supposed to have occurred about 1683, when he was succeeded by his son Owaneko, or Oneco, who distinguished him- self on the side of the English, in King Philip's war. In his old age, Oneco used to go about begging, accompanied by his squaw. As he could not speak English well, Richard Bushnell wrote the following lines for him to present to the benevolent : " Oneco, King, his queen doth bring to beg a little food. As they go along their friends among, to try how kind and good ; Some pork, gome beef, for their relief; and if you can't spare bread. She'll thank you for your pudding, as they go a gooding, and carry it on her head." A neat granite obelisk, about twenty feet in height, has been erected in the city of Norwich, to the memory of Uncas. The foundation stone was laid in 88 KING THILIP. 1825, by General Jackson; and in the small cemetery in ■which it stands, a de- scendant of Uncas, named Mazeon, was buried in 1827. There are a few of the Mohegan tribe yet living, near Norwich ; but soon it may be written upon a tomb-stone, "The last of the Mohegans." KINQ PHILIP. A GENEROUS mind readily appreciates and commends an exhibition of true patriotism, even by an enemy. Those who regard the Indian as without the pale of the sympathies of civihzation, are often compelled to yield reluctant admiration of the qualities which make men heroes, sages, and patriots, when exliibited by this taboo'd race. No one appears more prominent as a claimant for consideration on account of these quahties, than Metacomet, the last chief of the Wampanoags of Rhode Island, known in history as King Philip. He was one of two sons of Massasoit, the sachem* who gave a friendly welcome to the Pilgrim Fathers. They were named, respectively, Alexander and Philip, by governor Winslow, in compliment to their father. Alexander was the eldest, and succeeded his father in authority. He died, and his mantle fell upon Phihp, a bold, powerful-minded warrior, whose keen perception had already given him uneasiness respecting the future of his race. He saw, year after year, the en- croacliments of the white people, yet he faithfully kept the treaty of his father, with them. He even endured insults and gross indignities ; and when his hot- blooded warriors gathered around his throne upon Mount Hope, and counselled war, he refused to listen. At length forbearance seemed no longer a virtue, and the hatchet was lifted. Among the "praying Indians," as Eliot's converts were called, was one who had been educated at Cambridge, and was employed as a teacher. On account of some misdemeanor, he had fled to Philip, and became his secretary. He afterward returned to the white people, and accused Philip of treasonable de- signs. Because of this charge, he was waylaid and murdered by some of the Wampanoags. Three suspected men were tried, convicted on slender testimony, and hanged. The ire of the Wampanoags was fiercely kindled. Philip was cautious,"for he knew his weakness; his young warriors were impetuous, for they counted not the cost of war. The sachem was finally overruled ; and re- membering the indignities which he had suflered from the English, he trampled solemn treaties under foot, and lighted the flame of war. Messengers were sent to other tribes, and with all the power of Indian eloquence, Philip exhorted his followers to curse the white man, and to swear eternal hostility to the " pale faces." The events which followed have been detailed in our sketch of Captain Church, and need not be repeated here. Metacomet was a patriot of truest stamp, and his general character, measured by the standard of true appreciation, in which all controlling circumstances are considered, bears a favorable com- parison with the patriots of other lands, and of more enlightened people. His death occurred in August, 1776, when he was about fifty years of age. During the war, the government of Plymouth offered thirty shillings for every head of an Indian killed in battle. The faithless Wampanoag received that price — "thirty pieces of silver" — for his master's head. 1. Sachem and Chiff are distinct characters, yet they are sometimes fonnd in the same person. sachem is the civil head of a tribe ; a chief is a military leader. Philip was both. A BENJAMIN" FRANKLIN. 39 .■ ^;|^,.^^^?■ BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. THE words of Solomon, "Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men," attracted the attention of a Boston tallow-chandler's son, when he was yet in youthhood. That 3'outh was the immortal Benjamin Franklin, who was born on the morning of the nth of January, 1706, and was christened that afternoon. At the age of eight }'ear3 he w&nt to a grammar school ; but at ten his services were re- quired in his father's business, and his education was neglected. At the age of twelve years he was apprenticed to his brother James, a printer. He made great proficiency in his business, and a love for reading was gratified, often at the expense of half a night's sleep. The New England Courant, printed by his brother in 1721, was the third newspaper established in America.' Young Franklin wrote several essays for it, wliich attracted much attention. The autlior was unknown and unsuspected. 4t about the same time he read the 1. The other two were The Boston Netct Letter and The Boston Gazette. 40 BENJAMIN" FRANKLIN. productions of Shaftesbury and Collins, and he became a sceptic in religion, and a powerful disputant, by the use of the Socratic method of argument — asking questions. Because of his scepticism he became unpopular in Boston. This fact, and ill treatment by his brother, determined him to leave the place. He went to New York in a sloop, and from thence to Philadelphia, on foot, where he soon procured employment, as a printer, in the establishment of Mr. Keimer. His intelligence and good conduct attracted the attention of prominent men, among whom was Governor Keith, who advised him to go into business for himself. "VVitli promises of aid from the governor, he started for London to buy printing materials. The aid was withheld ; and on his arrival, he sought employment for a livelihood. He was now only eighteen years of age. By the practice of the most rigid economy, he saved a greater part of his wages ; and his influence among his fellow-workmen, against useless expenses for beer and other things, was beneficial. At night ho used his pen ; and by a Dissertation on Liberty, in which he contended that virtue and vice are nothing more than conventional distinctions, he made the acquaintance of Mandevillo and other infidel writers. Franklin always looked back to these early efibrts of his pen, in opposition to Christian ethics, with great regret. Franklin returned to Philadelphia in the Autumn of 1126, as a merchant's clerk ; but the death of his employer, the following year, induced him to work, again, for Mr. Keimer. His ingenuity was profitable to his emijloyer, for he engraved devices on type metal, made printer's ink, and in various ways saved money to the establishment. In 1728, he formed a partnership in the printing business with Mr. Meredith, but it was dissolved the following year. He then purchased Keimer's miserably-conducted paper, issued it in a greatly improved style, uttered in it many of those aphorisms which have since become famous, and then laid the foundation of his future usefulness. He married in 1730, lived frugally, and in the course of three or four years began to save money. He opened a small shop for the sale of stationery, to which his pleasant and edifying conversation drew many of the men of literary taste in the town. A literary club was formed, in which questions were discussed which required reference to books. The members brought such as they needed, from time to time, and Franklin conceived the idea of forming a public library. It was pop- ular; and in 1731, the foundation of that noble institution, the Philadelphia liibrary, was laid.' The following year he commenced tlie publication of Poor Richard's Almanac. It was full of sound maxims, and its popularity was so great, that he sold ten thousand copies annually. He continued it until 1757, when the demands of public business upon his time, compelled him to relin- quish it. Franklin's first public employment was undertaken in 1736, when he was appointed clerk of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania. The following year he was appointed Postmaster of Philadelphia. He now began to be one of the most popular men in the province. The fact is demonstrated by the circum- stance that, by his personal exertions, he obtained ten thousand names to a voluntary association for the defence of the province, in 1744, when an attempt to procure a militia law had faUed. He was chosen a member of the Assembly in 1747, and was regularly re-elected for ten 3'ears. Although Franklin was no orator, yet no man possessed greater influence than he, in that body. Yet these public employments did not draw his attention from books and scientific inves- tigations. For a long time he held a theory that the electricity of the scientific 1. The association at first consisted of 40 memliers. The library was first established in the house of Franklin's warm friend, Robert Grace. In 174(1, it was placed in the State House. In 1773, it was removed to Carpenter's Hall ; and in 1790, the builrtinir erected for its use, was completed. The associa- tion was incorporated iu 1742, as The Library Company of Philadelphia. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 41 apparatus and the lightning of the clouds were identical; and in 1752, he de- monstrated the truth of his theory by unmistakable experiments.' He imme- diately applied the discovery to a practical use, by showing that pointed iron rods, extending from a distance above the highest part of a house to the ground, would preserve the house from lightning, by conducting it into the earth. The theory and its demonstration were made known in Europe, and Franklin's name became known and venerated throughout the scientific world. In 1753, Franklin was made deputy postmaster-general of the British colonies in America, and the same year ho projected and established the Academy of Sciences of Philadelphia. In 1754, he was one of the colonial delegates who met in Congress at Albany to devise means of defence against the French ; and there he submitted a plan of union, similar, in many respects, to our Federal Constitution, but it was rejected by the British government and the colonial assemblies for widely diflerent reasons. Three years afterward, Franklin was sent to England as the agent of Pennsylvania, and was emploj^ed in the same capacity by three other colonies. Tliere he associated with the greatest men of the time, and the poor journeyman printer of a few years before, " stood before kings," was caressed by men of learning, was made a member of the Royal Society, and honored with the degree of Doctor of Laws, by the Universities of Edinburgh and Oxford. lie returned to America in 1762, and resumed his seat in the Assembly ; but two years afterward, the dispute between the colonies and the government having commenced in earnest, he was again sent as agent for Pennsylvania, to England. He remained abroad until 1775, during which time ho visited the Continent, and became acquainted with the most learned men in Europe. On the day of his arrival in America, he was elected a mem- ber of the Continental Congress; and ho was one of the signers of the Declara- tion of Independence the following year. During the whole period of the revolution he was continually active in a civil capacity at home or abroad. Congress sent him as commissioner to the French court in 1776, and he was one of the most accomplished and adroit diplomatists at Versailles. Finally, when peace was determined upon, Franklin was one of the leading commissioners in forming those treaties with Great Britain and other powers, which secured the independence of the colonies. He was then appointed Minister Plenipotentiary at the French court, and "stood before kings " until, by his own request, another was appointed in his place, and he returned home. He arrived at Philadelphia early in the Autumn of 1785, and was received with the highest republican honors. In 1787, he was a leading man in the convention which formed the Federal Constitution ; and the following year he withdrew from public hfe, being then eighty-two years of age. On the 17th of April, 1790, that great Philosopher, Statesman, and Sage, was undressed for the grave ; and beneath a neat marble slab, in the burial-ground of Christ Church, Philadelphia, rest his mortal remains.' 1. He sent up an iron-pointed kite toward a hovering thunder cloud, and held it by a silken string, attached to the long hempen one. To the silken end was fastened an iron key, and when the cloud passed over, he touched the key witli his knuckles, and received a spark. It was a hold but successful experiment. i. According to his directions, the only inscription on the broad slab is, BENJ.VMIN i AND S FRANKLIN. DEBORAH S 1790. Manv years before, he wrote the foUowinR epitaph for himself: " The body of Besjamix Franklis, Printer, I,ike the cover of an old Book, Its contents torn out, (Knd stripped of its lettering and gilding,) Lies here, food for worms. But the work shall not be lost, For it will (ns he believed) appear once more, In a new and more elegant edition, Revised and corrected, by TUE ACTHOR." 42 NATHANIEL BACON. NATHANIEL BACON. OFTEN, in men's estimation, success makes effort a virtue, but failure makes it a crime. A successful blow at tyranny is called patriotism ; an unsuccess- ful one is branded as rebellion. Nathaniel Bacon lifted his arm for popular freedom, faDed, and history recorded his name among traitors. He was a j'oung man of great boldness and energy of character. His birth-place was in Suffolk county, England, and in London he was educated for the legal profession. Ho came to America during Cromwell's rule in England, and was soon called to a seat in the council of Governor Berkeley. Thoroughly democratic in his views. Bacon often crossed the official path of the haughty cavalier, as an assertor of popular rights, especially after the restoration of Charles the Second made the Virginia loyalists insolent and tyrannical. The assembly, under the influence of the governor, abridged the liberties of the people, propagated the vipers of intolerance, and imposed heavy fines upon Baptists and Quakers. The people soon learned to despise the name of king, and a strong republican party was formed. Circumstances soon favored a demonstration of republican strength. Some Indian tribes commenced depredations upon the settlements in the upper part of Virginia, and they finally penetrated as for as Bacon's plantation in the vi- cinity of Richmond. Berkeley appeared indifferent, and the planters asked the privilege of protecting themselves. The governor refused ; when at least five hundred men collected together, chose Bacon for commander, and drove the Indians back to the Potomac. Berkeley was jealous of Bacon, proclaimed him a traitor, and sent troops to pursue and arrest him. The people arose in re- bellion, the aristocratic assembly was dissolved and a republican one elected ; universal suffrage was restored ; Bacon was chosen commander-in-chief of the military, and a commission for him was demanded of the governor. That official was alarmed and promised compliance, not, however, until Bacon, with a large force, approached Jamestown. He was compelled to attest the bravery and loyalty of Bacon; and on the 4th of July, 1676, just a hundred years before the colonies were declared free states, a more liberal and enlightened legislation commenced in Virginia. Tliat day was truly the harbinger of American inde- pendence and nationality. Again the Indians approached, and Bacon proceeded to drive them back. As soon as he had departed, Berkeley treacherously published a proclamation, re- • versing the proceedings of the assembly, repudiating Bacon's commission, and declaring him a traitor. Back to Jamestown the indignant patriot marched, and lighted a civil war. The governor and adhering loyalists were driven be- yond the York river, and the wives of many were detained as hostages for peace. Troops came from England to support Berkeley ; and when rumor told of their march up the peninsula. Bacon applied the torch and laid Jamestown in ashes. He then crossed the York to drive the enemies of popular freedom entirely out of the old dominion, but there ho met a foe to his life more deadly than royalists or the Indians. The malaria from the low lands infused its poison into his veins, and at the house of Dr. Green, in Gloucester county, the bravo republican died, on the 1st of October, 1676, at the age of about thirty-seven years. Berkeley assumed power immediately, and Bacon's followers were terribly persecuted. Twenty were hanged, scores were imprisoned, and much property was confis- cated. Because the patriots were unsuccessful, this episode in Virginia history is known as "Bacon's Rebellion." JONATHAN TRUMBULL. 43 JONATHAN TRUMBULL. ONE of the main pillars of support upon which General Washington rehed during the War for Independence, was Jonathan Trumbull, then Governor of Connecticut. lie was born at Lebanon, Connecticut, on the 21st of June, 1710, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1727. His serious mind turned to theology as a i)rofession, and ho commenced its study with the Rev. Solomon Williams, of Lebanon. The death of an elder brother, who was engaged in mercantile business with his father, caused Jonathan to change his intentions and become a merchant. When only twenty-three years of age, he was elected a member of the Connecticut Assembly, where he soon became distinguished as one of its most active committee men. In 1766, he was elected lieutenant- governor of the colony, and became ex-officio chief justice of the superior court. He espoused the patriot cause very early; and in 1768, ho took the bold step of refusing to take the oath, which enjoined almost unconditional submission to 44 JOHN WINTHROP. Parliament, and which a ministerial order required. That step was popular with the people ; and the following year he was chosen governor by a very large majority. His influence became almost unbounded throughout New England ; and while the Adams's and Hancock were legislating in the Continental Con- gress, Governor Trumbull was recognized as the great leader in the East. He was an active, self-sacriiicing, and reliable man throughout the whole contest ; and he had the proud distinction of being the only colonial governor who, at the commencement of the revolution, espoused the republican cause. For fourteen consecutive years he was elected to the chief magistracy of his native State ; but when peace returned, and all danger seemed over, he left the helm forever. He declined a reelection ; and at the age of seventy-three years, he retired from public life. In August, 1785, he was seized with a malignant fever, which de- stroyed his life on the I7th of that month. His son and grandson both fiUed his chair of office, the latter having been governor in 1849. The Marquis de Chastellux, who came to America with Rochambeau in 1180, thus speaks of the personal appearance of Governor Trumbull: "He is seventy years old ; his whole life is consecrated to business, which he passionately loves, whether important or not; or rather, with respect to him, there is none of the latter description. He has all the simplicity in his dress, all the importance, and even pedantry, becoming tlie great magistrate of a small republic. He brought to my mind the burgomasters of Holland in the time of the Heinsius's and Barnevelts." He was greatly beloved by Washington ; and no name on the pages of our history appears brighter, as a pure patriot and honest man, than that of Jonathan Trumbull. JOHN WINTHROP. ONE of the most accomplished scholars of the last century, was John "Winthrop, professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in Harvard University. He was born in Boston, in 1*715, and was graduated at Harvard when only seventeen years of age. His studies took a wide range, and included theology and medicine, with the natural sciences. When he was appointed Hollis Pro- fessor' in the university, he was considered the most learned man in America; and liis teaching and example gave a powerful impetus to the study of the exact sciences in this country. As early as 1740, he made observations on the transit of Mercury, and published them in the Transactions of the Royal Society of London. In June, 1761, he went to St. John's, Newfoundland, with his instruments and attendants, to observe the transit of Venus, that point being the most favor- able, in America, for such observations. That passage of Venus across the disc of the sun had been looked forward to with great interest, for one hundred and twenty-two years had elapsed since a similar phenomenon bad been observed.^ Mr. Winthrop's observations were accurate, and of the greatest value. They gave his name and that of Harvard College a world-wide reputation. The Royal Society elected him a member of that body ; and the University at Edinburgh conferred upon him the degree of LL.D., or Doctor of Laws. He also observed the transit of Venus, in 1769,^ and the papers which he published on that subject 1. A professorship liberally endowed by John Hollis. He founded two professorships in that institu- tion — divinity and mathematirs. Mr. Winthrop was professor of mathematics. 2. It cannot be seen with the naked eye. The telescope was first used nmonpr moderns early in the 17th century, and the first transit of Venus observed with it, was on the 6th of December, 1631. The next was on the 4th of December, 1639. Again, on the 5th of June, 1761, and the 3d of June, 1769. The next transit will take place on the 8th of December, 1874. 3. See sketch of David Bittenhouse. JOHN BARTRAM. 45 procured his admissiou to membershiij in the most eminent scientific societies of the world. In 1767, Dr. "Winthrop published his Cogita de Cometis, a work of profound research, and of great value to the seieutihc world. At this time the dispute between the American colonies and Great Britain was assuming much import- ance, and Dr "Winthrop engaged zealously in the cause of the colonists. Not- withstanding he labored intensely' in the duties of his professorship, he engaged in all the exciting discussions of the day, and was ever found on the side of human freedom. During all the exciting scenes of the early days of the revolu- tion, around Boston, he was a firm patriot, a wise counsellor, and efficient pro- moter of the good cause. He held his professorship until his death, which occurred on the 3d of May, 1779, in the sixty -fifth year of his age. JOHN BARTRAM. THE men of science in Europe, a hundred years ago, were occasionally startled, as with a meteor flash, by scintillations of great minds in America; and it was a hard question for them to solve how genius could be fostered into vigorous life amid the cool shades of that wilderness. Yet here and there the evidences of such genius intruded upon their stately opinions, and they wero compelled to offer the hand of fellowship to American brethren, equal in pro- fundity of knowledge with themselves. Of this class was John IBartram, an eminent botanist, who was born near Darby, in Chester county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1701. He found few hcli?.-; to education in early life, but study and perseverance overcame a host of difficulties. He seldom sat down to a meal with- out a book, and he learned the classic languages with great facility. In the study of medicine and surgery ho greatly delighted ; and drawing his medicines chiefly from the vegetable kingdom, he practiced successfully among the poor of his neighborhood. His avocation was that of a farmer, and his favorite study was botany. Mr. Bartram was the first American who conceived the plan of establishing a botanic garden for American j)lants and vegetables. He carried his plan into execution, by devoting about six acres, near Philadelphia, to the purpose. Ho traversed the country in ever}-- direction, from Canada on the north to Florida on the south, in search of new productions, and his garden was enriched and beautified by the results of his explorations. His philosophical knowledge at- tracted the attention of learned and scientific men, at home and abroad, and with these his intercourse became extensive. He sent many botanical collec- tions to Europe, and their beauty, novelty, and admirable classification, won universal applause. Literary and scientific societies of London, Edinburgh, Stockholm, and other cities, placed his name among those of their honorary members; and finally, George the Third of England appointed him "American Botanist to his Majesty." He held that honorable position until his death, which occurred in September, 1777, when he was in the seventy-sixth year of his age. His zeal in scientific pursuits was unabated till the last. At the age of seventy years, he made a journey in East Florida, to examine and collect the natural productions of that region. His son, William, who accompanied his father in many of these excursions, published, in 1792, an interesting account of their travels through East Florida, the Cherokee countrj', &c. John Bartram Hved and died an exemplary member of the Society of Friends. 46 CHARLES THOMSON. CiHARLES THOMSON. OF all the patriots of the Revolution, no man was better acquainted with the men and events of that struggle, than Charles Thomson, who was the per- manent Secretary of the Continental Congress for more than fifteen years. He was born in Ireland in 1730, and at the age of eleven years was brought to America in company with three older brothers. Their fatlier died from the effects of sea-sickness, when within sight of the capes of the Delaware. They landed at New Castle, in Delaware, and had no other capital with which to commence life in the New World, than strong and willing hands, and honest hearts. Charles was educated at New London, in Pennsylvania, by Dr. Allison, and became a teacher in the Friend's Academy, at New Castle. He went to Philadelphia, where he enjoyed the friendship of Dr. Franklin and other eminent men. lu 1756, he was the secretary for the Delaware Indians, at a great council held with the white people, at Easton ; and that tribe adopted him as a son, according to an ancient custom. With all the zeal of an ardent nature, Thomson espoused the republican cause ; and when the first Continental Congress met, in Phila- delphia, in September, 1774. he was called to the responsible duty of secretary to that body.' At about that time, he married Hannah Harrison (the aunt of 1. Watson relates that Thomson had just come into Philadelphia, with kis bride, and was alighting FRANCIS ALLISON. 47 President Harrison), whoso brother, Benjamin, was one of the signers of tho Declaration of Independence. Year after year, Mr. Thomson kept the records of the proceedings of Congress, until the new organization of the government under the Federal Constitution, in 1789. But the demands of public business did not wean him from books, of which he was a great lover. lie had a passion for the study of Greek authors, and actually translated the Septuagint from the original into English. lie made copious notes of tho progress of tho Revolution, and after retiring from public life, in 1789, bo prepared a History of his own times. But his sense of justice and goodness of heart, would not permit him to publish it ; and a short time before he died, he destroyed the manuscript. He gave as a reason, that he was unwilling to blast the reputation of fomilies rising into repute, whose progenitors were proved to be unworthy of tho friendship of good men, because of their bad conduct during the war. So the world has lost tho most authentic civil history of the struggle for independence, ever produced. Mr. Thomson died on the 16th of August, 182-4, when in the ninety-fifth year of bis age. He then resided at Lower Merion, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, where he was buried. In 1838, his nephew removed his remains to Laurel HiU Cemetery, over which is a handsome monument, bearing an appropriate iuscrip' tion, composed by John F. Watson, Esq., the Annalist. FRANCIS ALLISON. THE early instructors of great men ought to have a share in the honors of their pupils, if. as faithful teachers, their instructions have led to such greatness. In that relation to several of tho men distinguished in the councils of the nation during our War for Independence, stands Francis Alhson. He was born in Ireland in 1705, and completed his education at the University of Glasgow, in Scotland. At tho age of thirty years he emigrated to America, and having been ordained a minister in tho Presbyterian Church, he was chosen pastor of a flock at New London, in Chester county, Pennsylvania. His Christian zeal made him yearn for more workers in his Masters vineyard, and he opened a free school in which he taught many who expressed themselves desirous of becoming gospel bearers. About the year 1747, ho was invited to take charge of an academy in Philadelphia, where he became instructor of many youths, Avho afterward oc- cui)ied conspicuous public stations. He had educated Charles Thomson, tho secretary of the Continental Congress during the whole of the revolution and several years afterward. In 1755, Dr. Allison was chosen vice-provost of the College in Philadelphia, then just established ; and among his earliest pupils, was Francis Hopkinson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was professor of moral philosophy; and during these employments he con- tinued his ministerial labors as pastor of the first Presbyterian Church in Phila- delphia. Dr. Allison died at Philadelphia, on the 28th of November, 1777, at tho age of seventy-two years. from his chaise, when a messcnRcr from the delegates in Carpenter's Hall came to him, and said they ■wiinted him to come and talie minutes of their proceedings, as he was an expert at sucli business. Kor hii first year's service, he received no pay. So (\mgress informed his wife, that they wished to com- pensate her for the absence of her hnshand during that time, and wished her to name what liind of a piece of plate she would like to receive. She chose an urn, and that silver vessel is yet in the family. 48 INCREASE MATHER. INCREASE MATHER. AMOXG the most eminent divines and boldest asserters of freedom in New- England during the angry discussions between those settlements and the imperial governments in the reign of Charles the Second, was Increase Mather, a native of Dorchester, Massachusetts, where he was born on the 21st of Jan- uary, 1639. He was an exceedingly precocious child; and at the age of twelvG years, entered Harvard College as a student. He graduated with honor in 1656, and the following year entered as a student at Trinity College, Dublin. After an absence of four years, he returned to Boston; and in 1664, was ordained minister of the North Church in that city, which connection ho held sixty-two years, a part of the time assisted by his son, Cotton Mather. Mr. Mather was chosen to fill the presidential chair of Harvard College, after the death of President Oakes, but finally resigned when the faculty required him to hve in Cambridge, and thus he separated from his beloved flock in Bos- ton. After the English revolution in 1688,' and the expulsion of governor An- dros from New England,- Mr. Mather went to the court of William and Mary, and by the use of great diplomatic skill, in connection wdth Sir William Phipps, procured the celebrated charter of 1691, for his native colony. On the assem- bling of the first legislature, under the new charter, a vote of thanks was adopted by that bodv, expressive of their appreciation of his foithful public services. That frightful delusion known as " Salem Witchcraft"'^ prevailed about the time of Mather's return to America, and while his son. Cotton, was fanning the flame, he wrote and spoke against it. Like most people in his day, he believed in the existence of witches,^ yet his gentle heart and strong common sense ut- terly condemned the wicked and cruel accusations and prosecutions witnessed almost daily. His pen and tongue were among the most efficient instruments in the final suppression of legal proceedings. During his presidency of Harvard College, Mr. Mather received the title of Doctor in Divinity from the facul|ty of that institution. His diploma was the first of the kind issued in America, and he was a worthy recipient of that honor, for his long life was spent in the service of his divine Master, and of his native country. His piety was unaffected, and his benevolence was manifested by his giving one-tenth of all his income to charitable purposes. At the time of his deatli^ which occurred on the 23d of August, 1723, at the age of eighty-four years, he was properly called the Patriarch of New England. 1 James Diike of York, and brother of Charles the Second, succeeded that monarch as King of Great Britain He was a Roman Catholic, and like all the other Stuart kings, was a had man. The people re- belled in 1688, and called James' son-in-law, William, Prince of Orange and Nassau, to the throne. lie and his wife, Mary, James' daughter, ruled jointly. Their profiles appeared together on the coins, and that fact was' tha origin of the expression of endearment — " Cooing and hilling, Like William and Mary on a shilling." 2. Andres has been termed " The Tyrant of New England." When the revolufion became known, Andros was seized, at Boston, put on board a vessel, and, with flfiy of his political associates, was sent to England, uiider a charge of mal-administration of public aflairs. 3. See sketch of (Cotton Mather. „ ^ ,, , i We have noticed the ettects of this delusion, m a note on page 27. We may add here, that pnnish- meuts for witchcraft were lirst sanctioned by the Romish Church a little more than three hundred years ago Henry the Eighth made the practice of witchcraft a capital offence; and professional "witch hunters" were common in Great Britain. Even the learned Sir Matthew Hale, one of the brightest ornaments of the English judiciary, repeatedly tried and condemned persons accused of witchcraft. JOnX CARROLL. 49 EZRA STILES. 4 FEW weeks before the British under Governor Tryon, entered New Haven, in Connecticut, with incendiary intent, a diminutive man of fiftv j'ears, with a face beaming witli benevolent emotions, and a heart burning witli love for his country and his race, was elected President of Yale College. It was Ezra Stiles, a most excellent Christian scholar, who was born at North Haven, on the 15th of December, 1727. He was educated at Yale, where he was grad- uated in 1742. Ho possessed a clear intellect, brilliant genius, and remarkable grace in deportment. He became a tutor in the College, and prepared himself for the Christian ministr}*. Ill health afflicted him, and with it came a state of mental suffering which almost made shipwreck of his character. He doubted the divinity of Christianity, and turned to the law as his chosen i^rofession for life. Thorough investigations of the subject of revealed religion resulted, as usual, in convincing him that the teachings of Jesus proceeded from the great Father of us all. Under this conviction, Mr. Stiles resumed his clerical studies, and became a shining apostle of truth, as pastor of a Congregational society in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1755. When the storm of the Revolution burst over Narraganset Bay and vicinity, and Rhode Island became a prey to the British invaders, Mr. Stiles' congregation was dispersed, mul he preached in various places, until the j^ear 1777, when, on the resignation of Dr. Daggett, he was elected President of Yale College. It was a wise choice, for his fame as a classical and Oriental scholar, and a thorough disciplinarian, had reached to Europe. He already corresponded extensively with leading men of science and learning in the old world, and he has ever been regarded as the most accomplished scholar who has yet filled the presidential chair of " Old Yale." He occupied that important seat until his death, which occurred on the 12th of May, 1795, when he was in the sixty-eighth year of his age. Dr. Stiles left a very interesting manuscript journal, which has never been published. It is in the library of Yale College. JOHN CAKKOLL. IT is a fact worthy of notice, that the Maryland charter, granted by King Charles the First, in 1032, to Lord Baltimore, a Roman Catholic gentleman of fortune and influence, was the first of all the royal patents granted for settle- ments in America, which guaranteed freedom of thought and worship to all who professed a belief in Christ. Then came Baltimore's descendant (Leonard Calvert), with a Roman Catholic colony, and first settled that beautiful country "between North and South Virginia;" (named Maryland, after Henrietta Maria, the Queen of Charles tiie First.) and to this day, men of that faith have held a controlling influence in the affairs of the colony and state, in civil, militar}-, political, and religious life. One of the most eminent lights of the Roman Cath- olic Church in Maryland, was John Carroll, a relative of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and for many years a faithful and highly esteemed archbishop, of the archiepiscopal see of Baltimore. He was born on the 8th of January, 17.35, at Upper Marlborough, in Maryland, and was remark- able for his docility in childhood, and activity of mind during his earlier years. At the age of thirteen ho was sent to the college of St. Omer, in French Flan- ders, where lie remained until he was transferred to the Jesuits' college, at Liege, 4 50 JOHN CARROLL. six years afterward. He was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1769, renounced all claims to the estate left liira by his father, and then became a teacher at St. Omer, and afterward at Liege. In 1773, tlie Jesuits were expelled from France, and he was obliged to abandon his professorship in the college at Bruges, to which he had been lately appointed, and retire to England. He wrote an able Anndicatiou of the Jesuits, but it availed nothing', for he dared not print it, and the manuscript is lost. In England, the accomphshed young ecclesiastic became secretary to the Jesuit Fathers there. He also accompanied the son of Lord Stourton (an English nobleman) on a continental tour, as governor, during which time he kept an interesting journal.' On his return to England he be- came a resident in Lord Arundel's family. The quarrel between England and her colonies was now waxing warm, and Mr. Carroll returned to his native country, in 1775. He immediately commenced the duties of his offlce of priest in his native county. Mr. Carroll was now called to other duties. Congress was very desirous of winning Canada to the confederation of the American colonies against the 1. This journal is published in the Biography of Archbishop Carroll, written by bis nephew, John Carroll Brent, and published, in Baltimore, in 18^. JAMES EDWARD OGLETHORPE. 51 mother government, or at least to obtain its neutrality ; and for that purpose, appointed Dr. Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll, commissioners to proceed thither, to confer with the leading men there. Father Carroll was in- vited to accompany them, because his sacred office, his thorough acquaintance with the French language, and his conceded talent, would bo of great service. The mission proved unsuccessful, however, and the devoted priest returned to his ministerial labors. Throughout the war, ho was attached to the patriot cause, yet he did not neglect his religious duties. His talent and devotion were widely known; and in 1786, he was appointed vicar-general, and took up his residence at Baltimore. At that time his church was in a languishing state in America ; but, like Dr. White, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Mr. Carroll labored assiduously for the growth of his Zion, and may be justly called the Father of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. He was consecrated a Bishop (the first for the United States) in 1790; and the following year he founded the- college at Georgetown. The whole Republic was then but one diocese, under the title of the see of Baltimore. Under his fostering care, and the tolerant principles of our government, the church thrived, and men of every creed regarded Bishop Carroll as one of the best men of the day. Congress, by unanimous vote, invited him to deliver an eulogy on the death of Washington, and that service was admirably performed in St. Peter's church, in Baltimore, on the 22d of February, 1800. In 1808, Baltimore was erected into a metro- politan see. Four suffragan bishops were created, and Dr. Carroll became Arch- bishop. With every additional duty laid upon him, the venerable prelate's zeal seemed to increase, and he labored faithfully until his death, which occiured on the 3d of December, 1815, at the age of eighty years. JAMES ED^VARD OGEETHORPE. THE name of Oglethorpe ought to be held in grateful remembrance as one of the noblest of the colonizers of our beautiful land, for he came not hither for personal gain, but for the purpose of perfecting a benevolent scheme which his tender heart and sound judgment had conceived. He was born in Surrey, England, on the 21st of December, 1G98. He was educated for the military profession, and became an aide-de-camp to the great Prince Eugene. While a representative in Parliament, in 1728, ho was placed upon a committee to inquire into the condition of imprisoned debtors in Great Britain. His benevolent heart waa pained at the recitals of woe that fell upon his ears. The virtuous and the good were aUke cast into loathsome prisons. A glorious idea was awakened in his mind; and in 1729, he submitted to Parliament a plan for establishing a militarj' colony south of the Savatuiah river, as a barrier between the Carolinians and the Spaniards in Florida, to be composed of the virtuous debtors then in prison throughout the kingdom. The plan was heartily approved. A royal charter for twenty-one years was granted to a corporation " in trust for the poor," to establish a colony to be called Georgia, in honor of King George the Second, then on the English throne. Oglethorpe was a practical philanthropist ; and wlien sufficient mono}- had been subscribed, and the emigrants were almost ready f)r departure, he offered to accompany them as governor. He went up the Savannah river early in 17.13, and upon Yamacraw Bluff he held a "talk" with some of the Creek chiefs ; and there ho founded the city of Savaimah. In the prosecution of his benevolent enterprise he crossed the ocean several times. His colony rapidly increased, and within eight years twenty-five hundred settlera 62 JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY. were sent over by the trustees, at an expense of four hundred thousand dollars. The jealousy of the Spaniards at St. Augustine was aroused, and they menaced the Georgia colony with war. Oglethorpe promptly built forts in the direction of Florida, and by skillful miUtary movements, including some fighting, he kept back the enemy, and secured permanency to his colony. Oglethorpe took final leave of Georgia in 1743, and in 1'745 was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-general in the British army. He was employed, under the Duke of Cumberland, in quelling the Scotch rebellion of 1745; and in 1747, he was promoted to Major-general. When General Gage, who was governor of Massachusetts, and commander-in-chief of the British forces in America, went to England in 1775, the supreme command in this country was offered to Ogle- thorpe. The merciful conditions upon which, alone, he would accept the ap- pointment did not please the ministry, and general Howe was sent. Oglethorpe died at his seat at Grantham Hall, on the 30th of June, 1785, at the age of eighty-seven years. JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY. THE fine arts were but little appreciated and loss practiced in America, pre- vious to the revolution ; and those artists of American birth who became famous, obtained their laurel-crowns in England. There "West and Copley both gained fortune and great fame. The latter was born in Boston in 1738. He possessed a genius for art, and became a pupil of Smibert, a celebrated English portrait i^aiuter, who accompanied Dean Berkeley to Rhode Island. Smibert settled in Boston when Berkeley returned to England, where he married and died. Copley was his only student who became proficient ; and after his master's death, in 1751, he stood alone in his profession. He painted many full-length portraits, and a lucrative and honorable career was opening before him, when the early storm-clouds of the revolution began to appear. His business waned, and, in 1769, he went to England. This circumstance, and the foct that his father-in- law was one of the consignees of the East India Compan3''s tea, which was destroyed in Boston Harbor in 1773, caused him to be classed among refugee loyalists. He was patronized by Benjamin "West, then in the meridian glory of liis renown; and in 1770, he was admitted a member of the Royal Academy, then lately established under the auspices of the 3'oungking. He visited Boston in 1771, where he remained several months, and then returned to England. In 1774, he went to Italy; and on his return to England in 1776, he there met his wife and children, whom he had left in Boston. They had come with his father- in-law, who was one of the many loyalists who fled to Halifax when Washington drove the British from Boston in the Spring of that year. Copley devoted him- self assiduously to portrait painting, for a livelihood, and occasionally produced an historical picture, which attested his fine talent for such composition. On the recommendation of West, ho was employed to paint two pictures: one for the House of Lords, the other for the House of Commons. He chose for his subjects, The Death of Chatham, and Charles the First in Parliameiit. These established his fame, and he secured a fortune by his profession. His name-sake son, who was born in Boston, in 1772, he educated for the bar. It was a wise choice, for he became as eminent in the profession of the law, as his father had in painting. He was rapidly rising in honor when his father died, suddenly, on the 25th of September, 1815, at the age of seventy-seven years. Twelve years later, the Boston-born son of Copley became Lord Chancellor of England, and was elevated to the peerage, with the title of Lord Lyndliurst. WILLIAM WHITE. 53 €/y?a. C <^&1^7Zy ^^. -2f^;e^ .^VILLIA:SI WHITE. BECAUSE the Established Church of England was alwaj-s inseparable from the throne, episcopacy was regarded with jealous fear by the great body of American colonists, and every attempt to establish it in the New World foiled, until after the revolution. Episcopal ministers in America could obtain ordina- tion in England and Scotland, only, until 1785, when Dr. Seabury was consecrated a bishop. William White, the son of a sound Philadelphia law}'-er, was the second who received that exalted honor in tlie church, in America. He was born in Philadelphia, on tlie 4th of April, 1748, and entered the college in that city, at the age of fourteen years. Ho had serious religious impressions at the age of sixteen years, and these were greatly deepened by the persuasive elo- quence ofWhitefield, in 1763. Young White was graduated at the age of eighteen, and soon afterward commenced the study of theology. In October, 1770, he embarked for Europe, and with letters to the Bishop of London, he made application to that prelate for deacon's orders. He was successful ; and after remaining eighteen months in England, and becoming acquainted with Dr. Johnson, Goldsmith, and other men of letters, he received priest's orders. I^Te was ordained in April, 1772, and in June embarked for America. In the Autumn of that year, he was settled as assistant minister in the parish of Christ Church and St. 'Peter's, in Philadelphia; and for sixty-four years he was a faithful pas- tor in the church of his choice. Nor were his pious labors confined to the ser- 54 WILLIAM WHITE. vices of religion alone : ho was always foremost in every benevolent work that commended itself to his judgment. Surveying the disputes between the colonies and Great Britain, with intel- ligent vision, he early perceived the right ; and unlike too many of the episcopal clergymen at that time, he warmly espoused the republican cause. His only sister was the wife of Robert Morris (the patriot and linaucier), and the outward pressure of circumstances, as well as internal convictions, guided his actions. He did not " beat the ecclesiastical drum " before the Declaration of Indepen- dence was promulgated, but on the Sunday following, ho ceased officially pray- ing for the king, and soon took the oath of allegiance to the United States. Already he had offered up prayers in the hall of Congress ; ' and when that body, at the close of 1776, convened at Baltimore, he was chosen one of its chaplains.^ In that capacity he continued to servo until the seat of government was removed to New York. When, again, under the Federal Constitution, the sessions of congress were held in Philadelphia, he acted as chaplain, and his labors in that field of duty ceased only when the seat of government was removed to Wash- ington city, in 1801. Mr. White was the only episcopal clergyman in Pennsj^lvania at the close of the revolution, and the church seemed on the verge of dissolution. Yet he labored with increasing zeal. He was called to the rectory of Christ Church and St. Peter's; and in 1783, the University of Pennsylvania gave him its first issued degree of Doctor of Divinity. At about that time he proposed the estab- lishment of an American Episcopal Church, on such a basis, that ministers might be appointed by a convention of clergymen and laymen, without the aid of bishops. The proposition startled many who could not conceive of the existence of "a church without a bishop," but was warmly seconded by those who loved religion for its own sake. The acknowledgment of the independence of the United States, soon afterward, changed the aspect of affairs. Through the ex- ertions of Dr. White, a general convention of delegates from the churches^ met in Philadeli^hia, in October, 1784. Ho presided; and then and there the broad foundations of the Episcopal Church, in America, Avere laid. At the request of the American churches, Drs. White and Provost proceeded to England in the Spring of 1786; and on the 4th of February, 1787, they were consecrated bishops, the former for the diocese of Pennsylvania, and the latter for that of New York. From that time, episcopal consecration in the United States was performed at home ; and from Bishop White, nearly all of the American prelates, consecrated during his life, received the sacred office. For about thirty years he performed the duties of his episcopate without assistance; but in 1827, the diocese of Pennsylvania becoming very extensive, and as the infirmities of age were pressing hard \ipon the venerable prelate, an assistant bishop was elected. Yet he continued his labors until the last, as presiding bishop of the church in the United States. In 1835, when the church sent missionaries to China, he prepared instructions for them ; and that paper shows that his mental vigor was unimpaired, although the hand that wrote it was eighty-eight years old. It was among tlie last official labors of his long and useful life. In June, the following year, that devoted patriarch preached his last sermon; and on the I7th of the next month, his spirit ascended to the New Jerusalem. In his writings, and iia his example, Bishop White stUl lives, and the church yet feels his conservative influence. 1. It has been erroneou^Iv stilted that he was the first chaplain of the Continental Congress. That honor belontrs to Kev. Jacob Duche. 2. The other was Rev. Patrick Allison, minister of the Presbyterian Church in Baltimore. They were chosen on the 23d of December, 1776. GEOEGE WASHINGTOIf. 55 ,^^^^^ GKOROE WASHINGTON. FIRST IX "War — first in Peace — first in the hearts op nis Cottntrtmen — was a just sentiment uttered half a century ago by the foster-son^ of the Great Patriot, when speaking of the character of his noble guardian. And the hand of that son was the first to erect a monumental stone in memory of The Father of his Country, upon which was inscribed: Here, the IItii of Febru- ary [0. S.], 1732, George Wasiiixgton was borx. That stone yet lies on the site of his birth-place, in "Westmoreland county, Virginia, near the banks of the Potomac. Tlie calendar having been changed.'- we celebrate his birth-day on the 22d of February. George AVashington was descended from an old and titled family in Lan- cashbe, England, and was the eldest child of his father, by Mary Ball, his second wife. lie died when George was little more than ten years of age, and the guidance of the future Leader, through the dangers of youthhood, devolved upon his mother. She was fitted for the service; and during his eventful life, Wash- ington regarded the early training of his mother with the deepest gratitude. He received a common English education, and upon that, a naturally thoughtful and right-conditioned mind, laid the foundation of future greatness. Truth and justice were the cardinal virtues of his character.^ He was always beloved by his 3'oung companions, and was always chosen their leader in military plays. At the age of fourteen years, he wished to enter the navy, but yielded to the discouraging persuasions of his mother; and when ho was seventeen years old, he was one of the most accomplished land survej'ors in Virginia, In the forest rambles incident to his jirofession, ho learned mudi of the topography of the country, habits of the Indians, and life in the camp. These were stern but useful lessons of great value in his future life. Young Washington was appointed one of the adjutants-general of his state at the age of nineteen, but soon resigned his commission to accompany an invahd half-brother to the West Indies. Two years later, when the French began to build forts southward of Lake Erie, he was sent by the royal governor of Vir- ginia, to demand a cessation of such hostile movements. He performed the delicate mission with great credit; and so highly were his services esteemed, that when, in 1V55, Braddock came to drive the French from the vicinity of the Ohio, Waslungton was chosen his principal aid. The young Leader had already 1. Georpe Washington Parke Custis, grandson of Mrs. Washington, and adopted son of the distin- guished patriot. 2. In consequence of the difference between the old Roman year and the true solar year, of a little more than eleven minutes, the astronomical equinox fell back that amount of time, each annual cycle, toward ilie beirinninR of the year. It fell on the 2Ist of March, at the time of the council of Nice, in ,S23. Fone (Jre^'ory the Thirteenth reformed the calendar in 15b2 (when the equinox fell on the lltli of March.) by .suppressing' ten days in the calendar, ar-d thus resloni)^ the equinox to tht- 'Jlsl JAMES OTIS was a noble actor in the earlier scenes of the Revolution, and his beloved sister, Mercy, equally patriotic in her more limited sphere, was a fiiitlilul recorder of those acts, and of the subsequent events which led to the founding of our repubhc. She was the third child of Colonel Otis, of Barnstable, Mjussachusetts, and was born there on the 25th of September, 1728. As eldest daughter, much of her childhood and youth was spent in domestic employments, and her leisure was devoted to reading and study. Her opportunities for edu- cation were limited, but she found a never-failing source of instruction in the conversation and the library of Rev. Jonathan Russell, the parish minister. There she read Raleigh's History of the World, and that gave her a taste for such practical and important knowledge. Her gifted brother, James, was also her aid and adviser in literary pursuits ; and so great was the attachment between them, that when the insanity which clouded his intellect, at the last, was mani- fested by ravings, her voice, alone, could calm his spirit. At the age of twenty- six years, Miss Otis became the wife of James Warren, a merchant of Plymouth, and a man of congenial mind and temper. Her life passed happilj^ in alternate employments in domestic duties, in needle-work, and in the use of the pen in prose and poetry, until the gathering storm of the Revolution disturbed the re- pose of all famihes. Her brother was then uttering his noble thoughts in the senate ; and she too, fired with patriotic ardor, labored with her pea, in the great 86 WILLIAM HENRY DRAYTOlir. cause. She was in correspondence with most of the controlhng spirits of that day, and her political opinions were consulted by many who gave them vital action in the council and the field. Her roof was always a free shelter to patriots of every condition, and there D'Estaing and other French ofBcers spent many pleasant and instructive hours. In 1775, was published her satirical drama, in two acts, entitled The Group, in which she introduced many of the leading Tory characters of the day. It had a powerful effect at the time. She early con- ceived the idea of preparing a faithful chronicle of the war, and for that purpose she kept a journal, from the commencement to the end. After the war, her poetical pieces were collected into a volume, dedicated to General Washington. It contained her tragedies. The Sack of Borne, and The Ladies of Castile. The first was so much esteemed, that John Adams, then United States minister in London, expressed a desire to have it performed upon the stage in that city, "before crowded houses, for the honor of America." Her History of the Eevolu- Hon was published at Boston, in three volumes, in 1805, though completed several years before. She was then seventy-eight years of age, and yet possessed much of the personal grace and vivacity of mind, mentioned by Rochefoucault, who visited her seven years before. The prefece, written at that time, shows remark- able mental vigor. Her earnest prayer always was, to be spared the loss of her mental faculties, while she lived, and the boon was vouchsafed. When, on the 19th of October, 1814, her spirit took its flight, her reason was unclouded, though its earthly tenement was almost eighty-eight years of age. WILLIAM HENRY DRAYTON. ONE of the most brilliant and promising young men of South Carolina, when the revolutionary contest began, was Judge Drayton, a scion of one of the oldest and best distinguished cavalier families of the South. He was a nephew of Governor Bull, and was born in September, 1742. For about eleven years he was a student at Windsor and Oxford, in England ; and on his return to South Carolina, he prepared for the profession of the law. He went to England again in 1771, and there published the discussions between the friends and op- ponents of the government, in Charleston. He was introduced at court, and being fully impressed with the belief that Great Britain would speedily redress the grievances of the colonists, he accepted the appointment of a seat in the royal governor's council. Being soon undeceived, he opposed government meas- ures with great energy, and was finally dismissed for his contumacy. In September, 1774, Mr. Drayton published a pamphlet, addressed to the Continental Congress, in which the grievances of the Americans were clearly stated, and an able Bill of Rights presented. He yet held the position of one of his majesty's justices, to which he had been appointed in 1771, and was the only native-born citizen who had ever been honored with that ofBce. He re- tained his position until the Spring of 1775, when the royal judges made their last circuit. During the following Summer he labored manfully in the cause of freedom, as President of the Provincial Congress of South Carolina ; and in the Autumn, when tlie British sloops of war, Tamar and Cherokee, menaced Charles- ton with bombardment, because of the rebellious movements of its citizens, he was appointed, by the committee of safety, to the command of the armed ship. Prosper, employed to oppose them. Commodore Drayton returned their fire promptly several times, and thus actual hostilities at the South commenced. JOHN ADAMS. 87 In March, 1776, Judge Drayton was chosen chief justice of the then revolted colony of South Carolina, by the unanimous voice of his "Whig countrymen ; and his admirable charge to the grand jury, delivered a month afterward, was hailed throughout the land as one of the noblest expressions of patriotic public senti- ment yet uttered. It placed the author in the same honorable position as John Hancock and Samuel Adams, of Massachusetts, who were denounced as arch- traitors. From tliat time, until the close of his career, he was regarded as one of the chief leaders of the rebellion in the South, and yet he found time to chronicle, in minuto detail, the preliminary and current events of the great struggle. lie became a member of the Continental Congress, and died suddenly while in the discharge of his legislative duties, in Philadelphia, on the 3d of September. 1779. at the age of thirtj'-seven years. "J. Memoir of the American Revolution, from its commencement to the year 1776," prepared by Judge Drayton, was revised and published by his son, Governor John Drayton, in 1821. JOHN ADAMS. IN our Republic, where offices and titles are not hereditary, it is seldom that father and son both occupy the same post of honor; and it is still more rare, in any country, for both to be equally distinguished for talent and useful- ness, as in tlie case of the elder and j'ounger Adams. They both occupied im- portant diplomatic stations, and both became chief magistrate of the United States. John Adams, the elder, was born at Braintree, Massachusetts, on the 30th of October, 1735, and was a lineal descendant of one who fled to America, to avoid the persecutions of Laud, during the reign of Charles the First. His maternal ancestor was John Alden, of the May Flower, and thus he was an in- heritor of a love of freedom. He received a primary education at a common school in Braintree, and there he was prepared for a scholarship in Harvard College, where he was graduated at the age of twenty years. The law was his chosen profession ; and under Mr. Putnam, of Worcester, he made rapid progress, not only in that stud.v, but in the acquirement of general information, for he there had the free use of an extensive library, belonging to Mr. Gridley, tho attorney-general of Massachusetts. The value of such a fountain of knowledge, to him, was soon ai>parent; and when, in 1758, he commenced the practice of law at Braintree, he gave ample assurance of speedy eminence, both as a pro- fessional and a public man. He was admitted as a barrister, in 1761, and at the same time took part with Otis and others in denunciations of Writs of As- sistance. When the tempest raised in America by the Stamp Act was at its lieight, Mr. Adams wrote and published his famous Essay on the Canon and Feudal Law, which at once placed him high the public esteem. Mr. Adams married in 17G6, and soon afterward made Boston his place of residence. There he took front rank with the political agitators, and was one of the most prudent, yet decided of the popular leaders.' In 1770, he was elected to a seat in the Massachusetts Assembly; and in 1774, he was chosen one of five to represent that province in the First Continental Congress. He was again elected to the same office in 1775, and nominated George Washington for the important station of commander-in-chief of the armies of the United States. On I. His popularity was pat to the severest test in 1770, when Captain Preston, and some of his soldiers who had fired upon a mob and killed three people [see note on pape69], were tried for murder. Adams, In the face of preatly-excited public opinion, consented, as a lawyer, to defend Preston, and he was acquitted. The faith of the people, in Adams, was so unwavering, that this seeming treason to their cause did not lesson bis character in their esteem. 88 JOHN" ADAMS. the Gth of May, 1770, he ofTered a resolution, in Congress, equivalent to a dec- laration of independence, and when that subject assumed a more definite form, soon afterward, he was one of tlio ablest advocates of the measure. His signa- ture was affixed to the great instrument which declared the colonies "free and independent States." Mr. Adams labored on assiduously in Congress,' until appointed, by that body, to fill the place of Silas Deane at the French court. Franklin had done all the necessary diplomatic work, and Mr. Adams returned in 1779. He then assisted in framing a state constitution for Massachusetts, and while thus employed, was appointed a minister plenipotentiary to negotiate a peace, and form a commercial treaty, with Great Britain. He was very active while abroad, and at one time was intrusted with no less than six missions.^ In 1781, ho was associated with Franklin, Jay, and Laurens, in various nego- tiations, and was the first of the American commissioners who signed the defin- itive treaty of peace, with Great Britain, in 1783. He was the first United States minister to the British court, and did not return home until 1788. He was elected the first vice-president of the United States, under the Federal 1. In the course of the eighteen months precedinc his departure for Europe, Mr. Adams had been on ninety different committees, and was chairman of tirenti/-five of them. 2. To treat for peace with Great Britain ; to make a commercial treaty with Great Britain ; to nego- tiate the same with the States General of Holland ; the same with the Prince of Orange ; to pledge the faith of the United States to the Armed Neutrality ; and to negotiate a loan of ten millions of dollars. WILLIAM RICHARDSON DAVIE. 89 Constitution, in 1789, and in 1796, he was elevated to the presidential chair. At the close of iiis term, in 1801, he retired from public life, but lived to see his son occupy the chair of chief magistrate, twenty-four years afterward. In 1824, he was chosen president of the Massachusetts convention for revising the state constitution, which he assisted in forming forty-five years before, but he declined the honor. His powers of life were then failing; and on the 4th of July, 1826, he expired, with the words " Independence forever !" upon his lips, in the ninety- second year of his age.' WILLIAM RICHARDSON DAVIE. WHEN the first thunder-peal of the Revolution rolled over the South, hun- dreds of her gallant sons seized their arm.s, and rushed to the field; and many, who were living in obscurity, then bur.st the chrysalis of comparative in- significance and became honored leaders of the popular mind. Among these was William Richardson Davie. He was born at Egremont, near White Haven, England, on the 20th of June, 1756. His fother brought him to America when he was a small child, and on his return, left him with his maternal uncle. Rev. William Richardson, of South Carolina. At a proper age, he was placed under the care of Dr. Witherspoon, of the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, where he was graduated in 1770, a few weeks before Washington and his broken army passed througli there, in their flight toward the Delaware. Young Davie returned to North Carolina, full of patriotic fire, and resolved on becoming a soldier. Ho could not then obtain a commission, so he went to Salisbury and studied law, supposing the war would not continue many months. But as the clouds thickened, young Davie became restive, and he induced a popular friend to raise a troop of dragoons, of which the fledgling hero was made lieutenant. They marched toward Charleston, and the command devolving on Lieutenant Davie, he procured the attachment of his corps to the legion of Count Pulaski. In that capacity he fought at Stono Ferrj-, in June, 1779, where he was so badly wounded that he was confined for five months in a hospital. In 1780, Davie was placed at the head of a legionary corps, with a commission of major from the governor of North Carolina. He spent the last shilling of a bequest made by his lately-deceased uncle and guardian, in equipping this corps, ami then went to the field to oppose the progress of the British troops toward the interior of the Carolinas. He nobly aided Sumter in his operations in the vicinity of the Catawba, early in August, and was hastening to join the army of Gates, when it was defeated and di.spersed near Camden. He was afterward with Rutherford at Ramsour's Mills, and nobly confronted the enemy at Charlotte, after a brilliant di.splay of courage and skill at Wahab's Plantation. For his services during that campaign, he was rewarded with the commission of colonel commandant of the cavalry of North Carolina. When Greene took command of the southern army, he appointed Colonel Davie his commissary-general. In all the important operations which followed, Davie was exceedingly efficient ; and at the trying hour at Ninety-Six, in the Summer of 1781, Greene sent Colonel Davie to present the condition of his army to the legislature of North Carolina. He performed the service well ; and prospects 1. Mr. Adams and Mr. .TcfTersoti both expired on the same day, and at almost the same hour. They were lioth mi the committee that frnmeil the Perlaration of Indepenflence ; both voted for that instru- ment ju'it fifty yt'ars tiefore ; both sij^ned it ; both l»ad been foreign ministers ; and both had been Pres- ident of the Republic they had helped to establish. The coiucideuce of their deaths was therefore quito remarkable. 90 ROBERT MORRIS. of peace appearing in the Autumn, he left the army, married a daughter of General Allen Jones, in 1783, and in the town of Ilalifiix, on the Roanoke, com- menced the practice of law. In that pursuit he soon became eminent, and was chosen a delegate to the convention which framed the Federal Constitution. In 1797, he was commissioned a major-general of militia, and the next year, he was appointed a brigadier in the army of the United States. In 1798, he was elected governor of the State of North Carolina, and was soon afterward appointed, by President Adams, an associate envoy extraordinary to France, with Ellsworth and Murray. After his return, he went to reside at Tivoli, a beautiful estate on the Catawba river, in South Carolina. His wife died in 1803, and he remained in retirement until his own death, which occurred at Tivoli, in December, 1820, when ho was in the sixty -fourth year of his age. General Davie was one of the founders of the North Carolina University, at Chapel Hill. He was chiefly in- strumental in procuring the erection of the buildings for that institution ; and, as grand master of the masonic fraternity, he laid the corner-stone. ROBERT MORRIS. IT is an often demonstrated truth, that "money is the sinew of war." It was eminently so during the revolutionary struggle, when its strength and use- fulness in the cause of freedom, were controlled by Robert Morris, a wealthy and influential merchant of Philadelphia. He was born in Lancashire, England, in January, 1733. His father was a Liverpool merchant extensively engaged in the American trade, who came to America in 1744, and settled on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay. His son, Robert, with his grandmother, followed in 1746, and was placed in a school in Philadelphia, where an inefficient teacher wasted his time and patience.' In 1749, young Morris was placed in the count- ing-room of Charles Willing, of Philadelphia ; and on the death of his employer, in 1754, he entered into a partnership with that gentleman's son, which con- tinued tliirty-nine years. That firm soon became the most wealthy and exten- sive among the importers of Philadolpliia, and consequently they were the heaviest losers by the non-importation agreements,^ which gave such a deadly blow at the infant commerce of the colonies, after the passage of the Stamp Act. Yet they patriotically joined the league, and made the sacrifice for the good of the cause of right. In November, 1775, Mr. Morris was elected to a seat in the Continental Con- gress, ^ where his exceeding great usefulness was soon discovered. Its appreci- ation was manifested by placing him upon committees, having in charge the "ways and means" for carrying on the war. In the Spring of 1776, he was chosen, by Congress, a special commissioner to negotiate bills of exchange, and to take other measures to procure money for government. At that time, no man's credit, in America, for wealth and honor, stood higher than that of Robert Morris. He was again elected to Congress after the Declaration of Independence 1. On one occasion Robert's father censured him for his tardiness in learning. His reply and excuse were, "Why, sir, I have learned all that the master could teach me." 2. One of the measures adopted by the colonists to compel Great Britain to do them justice, was that of American merchants everywhere agreeing not to import any more goods from the mother country, nntil all obnoxious acts should be repealed. These leagues, recommended by the Continental Congress in 1774, and generally subscribed to, had a powerful effect on Parliament, for in the Lower House (Com- mons) the mercantile interest had a potential representation. 3. When the news of the battle of Lexington reached Philadelphia, Mr. Morris and some friends, mem- bers of the St. Oeorge's Society, were celebrating their anniversary. There the subject was discussed, and Morris and a few others, by solemn vow, dedicated themselves to the cause of the Bevolutjon. ROBERT MORRIS. 91 ^(Ttf^/t^^^^^ had been adopted, and being favorable to that measure, he signed the document, with most of the others, on the second day of August following. Toward the close of that j-ear, when the half-naked, half-Himished American army were about to cease the struggle, in despair, he evinced his faith in the success of the con- flict, and his own warm patriotism, by loaning for the government, on his own responsibility, ten thousand dollars.' It gave food and clothing to the gallant little band under "Washington, who achieved the noble victory at Trenton, and u new and powerful impetus was thereby given to the Revolution. Mr. Morris Avas continually active in the groat cause during the whole of the war. lie fitted out many privateers. Some were lost, others were successful in bringing him rich prizes ; and at the return of peace he estimated that his losses and gains were about equal. In May, 1781 about the gloomiest period of the struggle, Mr. Morris submitted to Congress a plan for a National Bank. It was approved, and the Bank of North America, with Robert Morris as its soul, was established, and became a very efficient fiscal agent. He was assisted by Gouverneur Morris ; and through the active agency, in financial matters, of these gentlemen, much of the success which resulted in the capture of Comwallis, 1. " I want money," said Morris to a Quaker friend, "for the use of the army." canst tbou Rive?" asked the lender. " My note and my honor," responded Morris. Ebalt have it," was the prompt reply. ' What secnrity " Robert, thou 92 FRANCIS DANA. at Yorktown, must be attributed.' During that year Mr. Morris accepted the office of Financial Agent (Secretary of the Treasury) of the United States. After the war, he was twice a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature, and he was one of the framers of the Federal Constitution. He was a senator in the first Congress convened under that instrument ; and Washington appointed him his first Secretary of the Treasury. He declined the office, and named Alexander Hamilton as more capable, than himself^ to perform the duties. At the close of his senatorial term, Mr. Morris retired from public life, not so rich in money, by half; as when he entered the arena. Soon the remainder of his large fortune was lost by speculations in wild land, in the western part of the State of New York, afterward purchased by an association known as The Holland Land Com- pany. On the 8th of May, 1806, Robert Morris, the great Financier of the Revolution, died in comparative poverty, at the age of a little more than seventy- three years. FRANCIS r>ANA. MASSACHUSETTS is pre-eminent among the States in the production of dis- tinguished men. Prominent among those of whom she may be justly proud, is the name of Francis Dana, who was born at Charlestown, near Boston, in August, 1742. He was educated at Harvard University, and chose the law as his" profession. In the midst of the confusion and distress incident to the closing of the port of Boston, by parliamentary decree, in 1174,2 Mr. Dana went to England, and passed a year with his brother, a clergyman, at Wroxeter. He returned to America at the close of 1775, took an active part, as a patriot, in the exciting political proceedings of the time, and in the Autumn of 1776, was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress. In that important station he remained until November, 1779, when he accompanied John Adams to Paris, as Secretary of Legation. Toward the close of 1780, Congress appointed Mr. Dana minister plenipoten- tiary at the court of Russia. The Empress Catherine would rot openly receive him, for fear of offending England, but he was allowed to remain in St. Peters- burg until the close of the war, when he returned home, and was immediately chosen a delegate to the Congress of 1784. Mr. Dana was an efficient advocate of the Federal Constitution, in th.e Massachusetts convention, and exerted great influence in the political affiiirs of his State. President Adams appreciated his worth, and offered him the office of envoy extraordinary to France, with Messrs. Marshall and Pinckney, in 1797. He dechned the honor, and Elbridge Gerry, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, accepted it. Mr. Dana had then held the important office of chief justice of Massachusetts, for five years, to which he had been appointed by President Washington. He retained his seat on the bench until 1806, when he retired to private life, but not to a life of inaction. He was a thorough Federalist; and during the exciting political period, from the election of Jefferson in 1800, until his death, his pen was often busy. Judge Dana died at his residence in Cambridge, near Boston, on the 25th of April, 1811, at the age of sixty-eight years. 1. The Bank of North America did not go into operation until December, 1781. Yet Morris, on his own personal responBibility, was acting as efficiently as the bank could then have done, in providing funds for the American army under Washington, in making its successful expedition into Virginia. 2. In consequence of the destruction of two cargoes of tea in Boston Harbor, in December, 1773, and other rebellious movements, the British parliament ordered the port of that city to be closed, and all its public offices to be removed. This blow at the business of that thriving town, was a retaliatory meas- ure, and produced great irritation throughout the colonies. JOHN FITCn. 93 JOHN FITCH. THE records of human inventions are full of instances of originators being depriveii of tlie honors and emoluments due to tliem. John Fitch, an early applicant of steam power to the propulsion of boats, is a remarkable instance of that kind. He was born between Hartford and Windsor,' in Connecticut, on the 21st of January, 1743. At the age of eight years, he was taken from school, and put to labor on a farm ; after which he had but one month in each year to devote to study under instruction. But most of the leisure moments of child- hood were employed with his books; and at the age of eleven years, he planted and raised some potatoes, for the express purpose of purchasing a complete Geography. His health was naturally feeble, and he appears to have been overworked on the farm. He ran away from home, and was afterward appren- ticed to a clock-maker. He learned the business imperfectly, and abandoned it at his majority, for that of a brass-founder. He married a young lady, in 1767, but incompatibility of temper and views caused them to separate at the end of two years. They had two children, but a reconciliation never took place, and the cloud always deeply shadowed his path of life. Mr. Fitch was a silversmith in Trenton, New Jersey, when the British army entered it, and destroyed his shop and contents, in the Winter of 1776, because he was engaged in repairing American arms. He joined the army, and was with Washington at Valley Forge. There he heard some officers speak of the fertility of Kentucky. He procured the appointment of deputy surveyor, and m the Spring of 1780, set out on foot, for tliat untraversed wilderness beyond the Alleghanies. He returned to Philadelphia the following year, the owner of six- teen hundred acres of line land in the Ohio Valle}', and filled with dreams of future opulence. Again ho started for the great West, and while descending the Ohio, with some others, in the Spring of 1782, he was made a prisoner by the Indians, where Marietta now stands. He was redeemed from captivity, at Detroit, by a British officer, went to Canada, and returning to Pennsylvania, he constructed a map of the Western Country. He now conceived the idea of " gaining a force by steam;'' ami in August, 1785, he presented the subject to the Continental Congress, and asked for aid to try experiments in applying the power to the propulsion of vessels, by means of wheels or paddles. At about this time, Mr. Rumsey, of Virginia, had conceived a similar idea, and Mr. Fitch, disappointed and exasperated by what he deemed the stupidity of Congress, went from State to State, in search of aid, but without success. He engaged in a bitter contro- versy with Rumsey, in relation to priority of invention ; and in the meanwhile, new claimants appeared. Yet all seemed to have distinct plans, with identical aim — the moving of a boat by means of steam-power. Fitch and Rumsey pro- cured protective statutes from different State legislatures. The former organ- ized a stock company, to carry out his designs, in 1786, but little was effected by it. The State of Pennsylvania refused to lend him one hundred and fifty pounds, to procure an engine from England. With another mechanic, ho suc- ceeded in constructing an engine and boat; and on the 1st of May, 1789, the first steamboat was seen moving upon the waters of the Delaware. The boat went at the rate of eight miles an hour, and yet there was not confidence enough in the project, to sustain the persevering inventor. To him success was as "clear as any problem in Euclid;" and in a letter to Franklin, he expressed his full belief that '^steamboats loould answer for sea voyages, as well as inland naviga- 1. The house in which he was bom stood npon the diriding line of those towns, and it is said that bis birth occuireJ in the Windsor portion of the dwelling. 94 JOHN ALEXANDER LILLINGTON. tion." Despairing of gaining funds to perfect his invention, in America, Fitch went to France and England, in 1792; but, disappointed and almost penniless, he returned home, and retired to Kentucky. Ho found a good deal of his land occupied; and in 1797, he commenced ejectment suits. Soon after this his mind and body began to give way under the pressure of long-continued excitements, and, though temperate through life, he determined to shorten his days by the excessive use of spirituous liquors. He foretold the time of his death by a mathematical calculation, and on the 2d of July, 1798, he died at Bardstowu, Kentucky, and was buried there. Had his countrymen appreciated his inven- tions, and sustained his efforts, the glory awarded to Fulton would doubtless have been due to John Fitch, full twenty years earlier than the success of the former established his own fame. JOHN ALEXANDER LILLINGTON. THE Cape Fear region of North Carolina abounded with true Republicans, when the party lines between Whigs and Tories were distinctly drawn, just before the war of the Revolution was lighted up. John A. Lillington was one of the truest stamp. He was the son of a British military ofBcer, who was a member of the royal council of Barbadoes, in 1698. His son John, captivated by the glowing accounts given of North CaroHna, emigrated thither, and settled within the present limits of New Hanover county; and in 1734, built a fine mansion there, which he called Lillington Hall. It stands on the north branch of the Cape Fear river, about thirty miles from "Wilmington. The proprietor inherited the military tastes of his father ; and when the notes of preparation for the Revolution were heard all over the land, his skill was brought into re- quisition. He was also a member of the Wilmington committee of safety in 1775 ; and when the Scotch Highlanders and others in the vicinity of Cross Creek (Fayetteville), took up arms for the king, under Donald McDonald, in the Winter of 1776, Colonel Lillington commanded one of the provincial corps which marched against, and defeated them, at Moore's Creek, under the general command of Colonel Caswell. It was the initial battle of the Revolution in the South, and the victory was hailed with delight. Colonel Lillington was made a brigadier ; and from that time, until the approach of Gates, in 1780, he was active in the council and field. Both he and his sou joined the army of Gates, and partici- pated in the disgrace of defeat at Camden. General Lillington remained in service until the close of the war, when he withdrew from public life, and sought repose in the bosom of his family at Lil- lington Hall. There appears to be no record of the birth or death of General Lillington. The slab over his grave, near his mansion, has an appropriate in- scription, but it bears no date, except that of his battle at Moore's Creek. It tells us, however, that "To intellectual powers of a high order, he united incor- ruptible integrity, devoted and self-sacrificing patriotism." Tradition avers, that he possessed a frame of Herculean proportions and strength, and that, in his generous kindness to all around him, must we find the reason of the salvation of Lillington Hall from the flames, when all others in the neighborhood were desolated. The Tories loved him for his goodness of heart; the Whigs revered him for his stern patriotism. JOnX PAUL JONES. 95 JOHN 1>AUL JONES. SOMEWriERE, in the great city of Paris, rest the remains of one of the bravest naval comraanilers known in history, but. hke the sepulchre of General Greene, its identity is lost to this generation, and the reproach of that oWivion rests upon the government of the United States. John Paul Jones is the naval hero of the elder war for American independence ; and, like many of the patriots of that struggle, whom we delight to honor, he was born beyond the Atlantia His birth occurred on the Gth of July, 1747, at Arbigland, on the Frith of Sol- way, Scotland. At the age of twelve years he was apprenticed to a ship-master in the Virginia trade. In 1766, he became mate of a Jamaica " slaver " (as vessels engaged in the importation of negroes, from Africa, were called), and two years afterward, while on his way to Scotland, in another vessel, he became master by the death of the two chief officers. In that position he was retained, tliough only twenty-one years of age. On the death of his mother, in 1773, he settled in Virginia.' When the Revolution broke out, he offered his services to 1. He went there to take charge of some property belonging to a deceased brother. His original nnaie was Joba Paul, but, for reasons not known, he added the name of Jones, after eettUng in Tir- giuia. 96 RICHAED CASWELL. Qoagress, and received the commission of a lieutenant in the navy, near the close of 1775. He soon afterward became commander of a vessel, with which he took sixteen prizes. In 1777, he was ordered to Paris, to arrange some naval operations with the American commissioners there; and in the Spring of 1778, he was spreading universal alarm along the coasts of Scotland, by his bold ex- ploits. At Whitehaven, he captured two forts with thirty cannon; and at another time, almost succeeded in making the Earl of Selkirk, at Kirkcudbright, a prisoner. After a very successful cruise in the British waters, he returned to Brest, with two hundred prisoners of war and much booty. At the close of the Summer of 1779, he made another cruise, with a little squadron, his flag-ship being the Bonliomme Richard; and on the evening of the 23d of September, he had an engagement with the Serapis and Count&ss of Scarborough^ two strong English vessels that were convoying the Baltic merchant fleet. He had already captured thirteen vessels during the cruise, and boldly attacked these. It was one of the most desperate sea-fights that ever occurred. At one time the Richard and Sirapii were side by side, lashed together, and thus poured broadsides into each other, while with pike, cutlass, and pistol, the combatants fought hand to hand upon both vessels. After a conflict of two hours, the British vessel sur- rendered; but Jones' flag-ship was so shattered, that, sixteen hours after the victory, it went beneath the deep waters of Bridlington Bay. This victory gave Jones great eclat, both in America and Europe. King Louis of France presented him with an elegant gold-mounted sword, with appropriate emblems and motto upon its blade ; and Congress then voted special thanks to the victor, and had a gold medal struck in his honor, and presented to him, eight years afterward. Captain Jones returned to Philadelphia, in 1781; and when peace was estab- lished, he went to Europe as agent for the recovery of prize money. He re- turned to America in 1787, and the following year he was solicited to join the Russian navy, witli the commission of rear-admiral. He served against the Turks, in the Black Sea, for awhile, but disliking the position, he retired to Paris, on a pension from the Empress Catharine, in 1789. There he resided most of the time, until his death, which occurred on the 18th of July, 1792, a few days before the arrival of a commission for him, from President Washington, to treat with Algiers. Though the minute circumstances of his death have been related, and the French National Assembly noticed it by an eulogistic resolution — though it is said that his body was placed in a leaden coffin to be conveyed to the United States, if asked for, yet "the place of his sepulchre is not known unto this day." RICHARD CASWELL. THE first victory of republican troops in North Carolina, was won by those under the command of a lawyer in the prime of life ; and the first incum- bent of the chair of chief magistrate of that State, after it became a sovereign commonwealth by the act of the people, was that same lawyer, Richard Cas- well. He was a native of Maryland, where he was born on the 3d of August, 1729. In 1746, he went to North Carolina, where, through influential letters of introduction, he found employment in one of the public offices. Ho became deputy-surveyor of the colony; and in 1753, was made clerk of the county court of Orange. He studied law with William Heritage (his second fatlier-in-law), obtained a license, and practiced with great success. He was chosen a member of the Colonial Assembly from Johnston county, in 1754, and continued to rep- JOHN LOVELL. 97 resent that district until 1771. During the last two years of his legislative duties in the Colonial Assembh-, he was Speaker, and at the same time he held the office of colonel of the militia of his count}'. In that capacity he commanded the right wing of Governor Tryon's forces at the battle of the Allamance, his re- gard for law and order causing him to condemn the rebellious movements of the Regulators.' He was one of the delegates of North Carolina, in the Con- tinental Congress, in 1774, and was re-elected the following year ; but being chosen treasurer of the soulheru district of his State, he resigned his seat in the Autunm, and returned home. In February, 1776, Colonel Caswell was the commander of the provincial forces who defeated the Scotch Loyalists in a battle upon Moore's Creek, in New Hanover count}', North Carolina; and in April following, the Provincial Con- gress gave him the commission of a brigadier, for the district of Newbern. He was ciiosen president of the Provincial Council, which framed a constitution for the State, in the Autumn of 177 G, and was elected the first governor under that instrument. During the stormy period of the three succeeding years, he held that office, performed his duty with rare fliithfulness and ability, and refused compensation for his services. He led the troops of North Carolina, under Gates, in 1780, and was a participant in the disastrous defeat of the Americans at Cam- den. From 1782 to 1784, he was Speaker of the State Senate, and controller- general. Then he was again elected governor of the State. He filled that office until 1786, when he became ineligible, according to the provisions of the con- stitution. The following year, he was chosen a delegate to the convention which formed the Federal Constitution in the city of Philadelphia ; and when the General Assembly of his State met, he was chosen Speaker of the Senate. But his course on earth was nearly finished. Domestic bereavements had clouded his life with melancholy ; and while presiding in the Senate, on the 5th of Novem- ber, 1787, ho was prostrated by paralysis. He lingered in almost insensibility, until the tenth, when he expired, in the sixtieth year of his age. JOHN LOVELL. '"PHE Master" of many of the leading men of the "War for Independence, in X New England, was John Lovell, a descendant of one of the first settlers in the Massachusetts colony. He was born in 1708, and was graduated at Harvard College, at the age of twenty yeans. He succeeded Jeremiah Gridley as assistant in the South Grammar School of Boston, and in 1738, was placed at its head, where he exercised pedagogue authority for almost forty years. He wrote several political and theological pamphlets; and in 1743, he delivered a funeral oration, on the death of Peter Faneuil, the founder of Faneuil Hall, which was publislied. Unlike a great proportion of his earher pupils. Master Lovell was a Loyalist, and left Boston, with other refugees, when the IBritish were driven from that city in March, 1776. Ho died in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1778, at the age of seventy years. 1. The people of the interior of North Carolina, were chiefly of Scotch-Irish descent, and thoronphly Imhiied with independence of spirit. They warmly sympathized with their brethren of tl>e seaboard in opposing the ,'^lamp Act : and in 1771. an association of the principal inhabitants of Oranpe and adjacent counties, was formed to resist the RrowinR rapacity of office hnlders, and repnlate the piditical affairs of their section. They called themselves Itrijultitnrft. Tryon. then provernor of the colony, led an armed force against them, and in May, 1771, they hail a bloody skirmish on the Allamance Creek. The Hiz/u- latnrfi were overpowered, and six of the prisoners then captured, were bung at Hillsborough. There, really, tbey!i«( blood of the Revolution waa shed. ISAAC SHELBY ISAAC SHE T. BY. IF being a hero in two wars, with a long interval of useful service in civil life, should command the reverence of posterity, surely Isaac Shelby, of Ken- tucky, may worthily make claim to such reverential regard. He was born a few miles from Hagerstown, Maryland, on the lltli of December, 1750, and inherited from his Welsh ancestors that courage and perseverance for which he was so distinguished. He became a professional surveyor; and, at the age of twenty- one years, he settled in Western Virginia. He was with his father, Evan Shelby, in the battle at Point Pleasant, in 1774, and was afterward employed by Hen- derson and others, as a surveyor, in Kentucky. In July, 1776, he was appointed to the command of a company of minute-men, by the Virginia committee of safety ; and the following year, Governor Patrick Henry appointed him commis- sary of suppUes. In 1778, he was attached to the Continental commissary de- partment; and in the Spring of 1779, he was elected to a seat in the Virginia Legislature, from Washington county. Governor Jefferson gave him the com- mission of major, in the Autumn of that year, about which time he was engaged in defining the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina, which JOHN ASHE. 99 placed his residence in the latter State. A new county of Sullivan was formed, and Governor Caswell appointed him colonel of that district. He took very little part in military affairs, until the Summer of 1780, when Charleston fell into the hands of the British, and the subjugation of the whole South seemed inevitable. Colonel Shelby was then locating lands for himself, in Kentucky. His country needed his servnces, and they were freely given. He hastened home, raised a corps of three hundred mounted riflemen, crossed the mountains, and joined Colonel McDowell, on the Broad River. He was very active in that vicinity; and with Colonels Campbell, Sevier, and other brave officers and soldiers, ho fought the decisive and successful battle, with Major Ferguson, on King's Moun- tain, in October, 1780. He suggested to General Greene that expedition which resulted so brilliantly for Morgan, and his country, at the Cowpens. In the cam- paign of 1781, Shelby was under the command of Marion, for awhOo; and tho following year, he was elected to a seat in the North Carolina Legislature. He afterward made Kentucky his residence, and was one of the framers of its con- stitution, in 1792. He was elected tho first governor of the new State, and after an interval of comparative repose, he was again the incumbent of that import- ant office, in 1812. Another war with Great Britain was then impending. The fire of 1776 still warmed his bosom, and he called his countrymen to arms, when the proclamation of war went forth. Henry Clay presented liim with a sword, voted by the legislature of North Carolina for his gallantry at King's Mountain, thirtj'-two years before, and with that weapon lie marched at the ^hoad of four thousand Kentucky volunteers, toward the Canada frontier, in 1813, though the snows of threescore and throe Summers were upon his head. He fought gal- lantly upon the Thames, in Canada ; and for his valor there. Congress honored him with a gold medal. President Monroe appointed him Secretary of War, in 1817, but he declined the honor, for he coveted the repose which old ago de- mands. His last public act was the holding of a treaty with tho Chickasaw Indians, in 1818, with General Jackson for his colleague. His sands of hfe were- now nearly exhausted. In February, 1820, he was prostrated by paralj'sis, yet he hved, somewhat disabled, until the 18th of July, 1826, when apoplexy ter- minated liis life. Ho was then almost seventy-six years of age. JOHN ASHE. THE resistance to official oppression in some of the interior counties of North Carolina, in 1771, known as the Regulator movement, was not viewed, by many good men, as a legitimate part of the general opposition to government mea.sures, then rampant throughout the colonies; and some who were the most earnest in denouncing the Stamp Act,' zealously assisted Governor Tryon, in his measures for suppressing these insurgents. Of these, John Ashe was conspic- uous. He was born in England, in 1721, and at the age of six j-ears, he accom- panied his flither to America, and grew to manhood near the banks of the Cape Fear river, in North Carolina. He was a representative in the Colonial Assem- bly for several years, and from 1762 to 1765, he was Speaker of that body. He 1. In order to raise a revenue from the American eolonies, to replenisli the exhausted treasury of England afler the French and Indian War, the Parliament decreed that every "piece of paper, parch- ment, or vellum," on which any liKal instrument was written, should bear the government stamp, to make it valid, for which certain prices were to lie paid, according to the character of the instrument. The Americans justly regarded it as a scheme to tax them, indirectly, without their consent, and they resisted. The country was greatly excited, and ihe colonies were onthe eve of rebellion, when the ob- DOxious act was repealed. It became a law in 1765, and was repealed in 1766. 100 WILLIAM JOHNSON. '•.-armly opposed the Stamp Act, and, with Hugh Waddell and others, he exer- cised his authority as colonel of the militia of his county, and led an armed force ^ "Wilmington, to compel the stamp distributer' to resign. He commanded a part of the troops in Governor Tryon's expedition against the Regulators, in 1771. On one occasion, during that expedition, while he was out reconnoitring, he was caught by some of the insurgents, tied to a tree, and severely whipped. He afterward became convinced of the justice of the seemingly rebellious movement, and was one of the most zealous of the revolutionary patriots of the South. In the Colonial Assembly, he advocated republicanism ; and as a member of the Provincial Congress, and of the committee of safety at "Wilmington, he was ex- ceedingly active. He first suggested a Provincial Congress ; and at the head of five hundred men, he destroyed Fort Johnson, in 1775. For this he was denounced as an arch-rebel, but the republicans wore more numerous than ad- herents of the crown, and he was unharmed. "With eloquent words and ener- getic acts, he aroused the whole country around Wilmington, early in 1776; and he also raised and equipped a regiment. He was made a brigadier, and was active in his section until he joined Lincoln on the Savannah, in the Autumn of 1778, with regiments from Halifax, Wilmington, Newbern, and Edenton. AVith these he pursued the British down the right bank of the Savannah, from Augusta, early in 1779, but in a battle at Brier Creek, was defeated, with great loss. He then returned home; and when the British took possession ofWOmington, in 1781, General Ashe was made a prisoner, and his family suffered much. During his capti\'ity he was attacked by the small-pox. While sick, he was released on parole, but died while accompanying his family to a place of quiet, in October, 1781, at the age of sixty years. WILLIAM JOHNSON. ONE of the "baronial halls" yet in existence in the United States, is that of Sir William Johnson, at Johnstown, a few miles north of the Mohawk river. Its first proprietor, William Johnson, was a native of Ireland, where he was born about the year 1714. Ho was a nephew of Sir Peter Warren, a dis- tinguished naval commander in tlie Britisli service. Sir Peter married Miss Watts, of New York, and purchased an extensive tract of land upon the Mo- hawk. When about twenty years of age, 3'oung Johnson came to America to look after his uncle's possessions in the wilderness. He learned the Indian language, and soon acquired a great influence, especially over the Mohawk tribes, within whoso domains he resided. He built a large stone mansion on the Mo- hawk, near the present village of Amsterdam, called it Fort Johnson, and re- sided there twenty years before he built Johnson Hall, above alluded to. He was shrewd, cunning, and licentious. Many of the half-breed warriors of the Mohawks, who took sides against the Republicans in the War for Independence, were his chQdren, for he had numerous Indian concubines, among whom was a sister of the famous Mohawk chief, Joseph Brant. He also had a white wife, the pretty daughter of a German emigrant, by whom he had a son and two daughters.2 1. Men were appoinled in all the colonies to sell the stamps, or stamped paper. The office was so obnoxious to the people, that none were allowed to exercise it. 2. In those days, emigrants were often sold to service, by their own consent, to pay their passage- money to America. The girl alluded to had been purchased by a man named Phillips, in the Mohawk Valley. She attracted the attention of Johnson ; the sequel was told to a neighbor by Phillips himself: " Johnson, that tammed Irishman, cams todder day and offered me five pounds for her, threatening to DAVID BRAINERD. 101 lu 1755, Johnson was intrusted with the command of the provincial troops of New York, in an expedition against the French and Indians on Lake Champlain. He had a severe battle with tliem at the head of Lake George, in which he was early wounded, and the command devolved on General Lyman. The provincials were victorious, and Johnson received the honors of knighthood, and five thousand pounds sterling, because of the victory. He was also appointed super- intendent of Indian afl'airs, with a handsome salary, and continued to hold his military commission. In 1759, he was again in the field ; and his superior officer (Prideaux) being killed in an attack upon Fort Niagara, he became commander- in-chief, and was successful. Such was now his influence over the Indians, that when Lord Amherst was at Oswego, in 1760, preparing to proceed against Mon- treal, Sir William furnished him with a thousand Iroquois warriors. He died at Johnson Hall, on the 11th of July, 1774, at the age of about sixty years. He had commenced a powerful opposition to the republican movements in the Mohawk YaUey, and the mantle of his influence fell upon his son, Sir John Johnson, who succeeded to his title, office, and estates DAVID BRAINERD. TO leave the endearments of home and the pleasures of civilized life, and spend the strength of manhood among pagans, with the sole aim of doing good to the needy, is true heroism — an exhibition of chivalry, worthy of the honors of knighthood. Prominent on the list of such self-sacrificing champions, is the name of David Brainerd, eminent as a missionary among the Indians of our land. Ho was born at East Haddam, Connecticut, on the 20th of April, 1718. In 1739, he entered Yale College, as a student; and in 17-43, he was expelled from that institution, first, because ho had disobeyed orders, in attending prohibited meetings of those who were attached to the preaching of Whitefield and Tennant, and secondly, because he indiscreetly questioned the piety of one of the tutors, and would not acknowledge his error. He then commenced theological studies, with a view of becoming a missionar}', for he ardently desired to be a teacher of the poor Indians, in the knowledge of the gospel. At the ago of twenty- five years he began his labors among the Stockbridge Indians, in the vicinity of Kiuderhook, New York. Ho lived in a wigwam, slept on straw, and ate boiled corn, hasty-pudding, and samp. Though feeble in body, and often ill, he persevered; and when, in ll-ii, his "flock'' agreed to go to Stockbridge, he went with his glad tidings to the Delaware Indians. He continued in the vi- cinity of Easton nearly a year, during which time he visited the tribes on the Susquehannah in the Wyoming Yalley and vicinity. Then he returned, and took up his abode among the New Jersej' Indians at Crosswicks, where he was remarkably successful. In less than a year, he baptized seventj'-seven converts, and the whole tribe became thoroughly reformed in their morals. His health gradually gave way, and he was compelled to leave the field of duty, where his heart lingered. lie went to Boston in July, 1747, and returning to Northamp- ton, he took up his abode with Jonathan Edwards. In the family of that great and good man his flower of life faded, and when the leaves began to fall in Autumn, he fell, like an apple early ripe, into the lap of the grave. His spirit went from earth on the 9th of October, 1747, when he was only twenty-nine years of age. hor«ewhip mo and steal her, if I would not Bell. I tot five pounds petber as a flogging, took it, and he '• got the gal." 102 OLIVER ELLSWORTH. uM:r,^^^yK^ OLIVER ELLSWORTH. NEVER was the harmony between private and public virtue more complete, than that exhibited in the character and career of one of the most beloved of New England patriots and jurists, Oliver Ellsworth. He was born at Wind- sor, the point of earliest settlement in Connecticut, on the 29th of April, 1745. His father was a respectable farmer, and with the strong common sense of his class, he prepared Oliver for the stern duties of life, by habits of labor, applica- tion, and frugality. His mental superiority was early discovered, and his father alternated the lad's daily life, between vigorous physical labors, and studies preparatory to a collegiate course of education. Ho entered Yale College at the age of seventeen years, but greater advantages appearing at Princeton, he com- pleted his studies there, where he was graduated in 1766. His talents were not brilliant, and precocity did not show blossoms of promise as precursors of the fruit of disappointment. Slowly but strongly his intellect unfolded, while ho labored with unceasing energy upon a rough farm, where his toil was sweetened by the sympathies of a charming wife, one of the "Wolcott flxmily. His evenings were devoted to the study of the law, and at the age of about twenty-five, he commenced its practice in the vicinity of Hartford. His ambition soared not to place and honor, and the firmer-lawyer, at that time, gave but little promise of being a chief justice of tlie United .States. The electric spark of vitality to his latent greatness and loftier aspirations was communicated by a stranger, in BENJAMIN HARRISON. 103 court, whom Ellsworth heard remark, and inquire, after one of his forensic efforts, " Who is that young man ? lie speaks well" Young Ellsworth pondered these words, and bright visions of fame broke upon his mind. Increase of legal business induced Ellsworth to make Hartford his residence, and there he received the appointment of State's Attorney. As the quarrel With Great Britain progressed, ho was always found on the side of the people. He even went to the field with the mihtia of his State, when the war broke out. In 1777, ho was chosen a delegate to the Continental Congress, and in 1780, took a seat in the council of his native State. He continued a member of that body untd 1781, when ho was aj^pointed a judge of the superior court of Con- necticut. Judge Ellsworth was a warm friend of the Federal Constitution, did much toward etTccting its ratification, in his State, and in 1789, was elected the first rcprescntativo of Connecticut in the Senate of the United States. There he became greatly distinguished for his legislative qualities, stern integrity, and faithful devotion to the public interest. For seven years he served his country nobly in the national councils. In the Spring of 1796, ho was appointed chief justice of the United States. Ho was now in the full prime of life, and his mind in its utmost vigor. Ho bore the ermine with majesty, and cast it off in unsul- lied jiurity when, toward the close of 1799, President Adams appointed him, with Da^'io and Murray, an ambassador to the French court, at the head of which was the youthful Bonaparte. After negotiating a treaty for which they were sent. Judge Ellsworth visited other jjarts of the Continent, and England. While lingering in Great Britain for the benefit of the health of himself and an invalid son, lie resigned the ofiQcc of chief justice. He returned home early in 1801, and was immediately elected to the council of his State. His health was now becoming impaired b}- a distressing internal disease ; and when, in May, 1807, he was appointed chief justice of Connecticut, he dechned the office, for ho was conscious that his death was near. Six months afterward, his prophecy was fulfilled. He died on the 26th of November, 1807, at the age of sixty-two years. BENJAMIN HARRISON. " T\r^ ^'"° ^^''"^ *^ *'''^^'° ^ "^'^O' dangerous stop, but we confide in you, and are T T ready to support you in ever}^ measure you shall think proper to adopt," ■were the significant words of the constituents of Benjamin Harrison, as he was about to proceed to take his seat in the Continental Congress, at Philadelphia, in 1774, as a delegate from Virginia. They were the words of men who knew their servant well, and allowed no shadow of distrust to cloud their hopes. He was a patriot of the truest stamp. The exact time of his birth is not certainly known. It occurred at Berkeley, the seat of his father, on the James River, a few miles above the residence of Colonel B_vrd, at Westover. He was educated at the college of William and Mary, at Williamsburg, but on account of the sud- den death of his father,' and some difficulty with one of the professors, he was not graduated, and never took his degree. In- 1764, young Harrison was elected a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, where he soon became an in- Hucntial leader. lie was chosen Speaker of that bod}-, and when the Stamp Act excitement shook royal power in Virginia, the governor tried to win him to the support of government, by offering him a seat in his council. Harrison re- 1. Tlie venersble man Rnd two of his four daaghters were killed by lightning, in his house, at Ber- keley, during a terrible thunder-storm. 104 JEREMY BELOTAP. jected the offer, boldly avowed his republican principles, and from that time became identified with the revolutionary party in Virginia. He was one of the representatives of Virginia in the first Continental Congress, when his relative, Peyton Randolph, was chosen its president. In the Autumn of 1775, he was one of a committee of Congress who visited the American army at Cambridge, to devise plans for the future, with Washington; and the following year he warmly supported, and affixed his signature to, the Declaration of Independence. He was a member of the Foreign Committee until its dissolution in 1777, and at that time he returned to Virginia, and took his seat in the House of Burgesses. He was chosen speaker, and held that station until 1782, when he was elected governor of Virginia. As military lieutenant of his county, he was very active in endeavors to capture Arnold, the traitor, and with Nelson, kept the militia disciplined and vigilant, untd the great victory at Yorktown. Mr. Harrison served as governor, two terms, and then retired to private life. He was again brought into the public service by being chosen governor, in 1791. On the day after the election, he invited a party of friends to dine with him. He had re- cently recovered from a severe attack of gout in the stomach ; indulgence on that occasion invited its return, and the day following was his last on earth. He died in April, 1791. William Henry Harrison, the ninth President of the United States, was his son. JEREMY BELKNAP. AMONG- the writers of New England, Jeremy Belknap, D.D., holds a high rank. He was a descendant of one of the early inhabitants of Boston, and was born in that city on the 4th of June, 1744. He was prepared for college in the grammar school of the celebrated John Lovell, and was graduated at Har- vard, in 1762. While a lad, he was remarkable for the beauty and chasteness of his compositions, and his friends saw in him the germ of an elegant writer. He was equally fluent and correct in his conversation ; and the profession of a gospel minister being consonant with his seriousness of thought, he applied him- self to the study of theology. In 1767, he was ordained pastor of the church at Dover, New Hampshire, where he passed twenty years of his ministerial hfe, in the enjoyment of the cordial esteem of men of every class. He wrote consider- able in favor of the colonies, before the war, but took very little part in public affairs during the Revolution. Toward the close of his labors in Dover, he wrote a history of New Hampshire, in two large volumes, which gained him great reputation as an accurate chronicler. In 1787, Dr. Belknap was called to the pastoral charge of a congregational church in Boston, and there he spent the remainder of his years, a faithful minister and an assiduous student. The fields of literature had great charms for him, and in pursuit of the pleasures to be found therein, he spent much time. The last literary labor of his life was an American Biography, in which he exhibited much patient research and careful analysis. He did not live to complete it, for, in June, 1798, he was suddenly prostrated by paralysis of the whole system, and died on the 20th of that month, at the age of fifty-four years. He experienced the " privilege " for which he aspired, as expressed in the following lines, found among his papers : " When faith and patience, hope and love, Have made us meet for heaven above, How blest the privilege to rise, Snatched, in a moment, to the ekiea ! Unconscions to resign our breath, Nor taste the bitteruess of death." ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. 105 ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. "yERT few of the American settlers were descendants of aristocratic families, T except the cavaliers of Virginia, and as a general rule, they were staunch republicans when the great political question of right and power was to be de- cided between the colonists and Great Britain. Robert Livingston, the first of the name who emigrated to America, was a lineal descendant of the Earl of Livingstone,' of Scotland. From him descended the family of that name so numerous at the period of the Revolution, and since, and who were all remark- able for their unflinching patriotism during the great struggle. Robert R. Livingston was a great grandson of the first "lord of the manor."^ To the care- ful research and accurate pen of John W. Francis, M.D., we are indebted for a record of the chief events of his life. lie was born in the city of New York, in 1747. and was educated .at King's (now Columbia) College, where he was grad- uated in 1764. He studied law under the guidance of "William Smith, chief justice of New York, and became an eminent practitioner of that profession. 1. Tie was hereditary pnvenior of T.inlillipow Cftsde, in which Mary, Queen of Scots, was bom, and his (lanehtcr was one of the four ladies who Hcconipanicil thai unfortunate Queen to France. 2. Tlie Manor of Livincston, in Columbia county. New York. It was one of those manorial estates, established under the patroon privileges of the Dutch rule iu that province. See note 1, page 260. 106 WILLIAM ALEXANDER. His zeal for popular liberty was thoroughly awakened during the excitement incident to the Stamp Act, and he was an early participant in those movements which resulted in revolution. The brave General Montgomery, who fell at Quebec, had married his sister, and that event intensified his devotion to the reijublican cause. In 1776, he was elected a member of the Continental Con- gress, at the same time holding the office of delegate in the Provincial Congress of New York. He was appointed one of the committee to draft a Declaration of Independence, but, being called to duties at liome, before the final vote was taken, his name does not appear upon that instrument. Mr. Livingston was made Secretary of Foreign Afiairs (Secretary of State) ■when the new organization of government, under the Articles of Confederation, was completed ; and performed the duties of that station with rare ability, until 1783, when he was appointed Chancellor of the State of New York. He was a warm supporter of the Federal Constitution, in the New York convention held at Poughkeepsie in 1788, to consider it; and on the 30th of April, the following year, he administered the oath of office to Washington, the first President of the United States. In 1801, Mr. Jefferson appointed hiin resident minister at the court of Napoleon, and he successfully negotiated the purchase of Louisiana, from the French, for fifteen millions of dollars. By his enlightened patronage of Robert Fulton, in his experiments in steam navigation, he conferred a lasting benefit on mankind, and his name will always be honorably associated with that inventor, and the wonderful results of those experiments. Chancellor Livingston died at his seat, at Clermont, in Columbia county, on the 26th of February, 1813, in the sixty-sixth years of his age. "His person," says Dr. Francis, who knew him intimately, " was tall and commanding, and of patrician dignity. Gentle and courteous in his manners, pure and upright in his morals, his benefactions to the poor were numerous and unostentatious. In his life, he was without reproach — in death, victorious over its terrors." ^VILLIAM ALEXANDER. ONLY one, of all the American officers of the Revolution, bore a title of nobility by descent of patent, and his was disputed and denied. That officer was WilUam Alexander, who claimed the title of Earl of Stirhng. He was the son of James Alexander, of Scotland, who took refuge in America, in 1716, after a warm participation in the cause of the son of James the Second, " pretender" to the rightful heirship of the throne of England. William was born in the city of New York, in 1726. His mother was the widow of David Provoost, a bold smuggler in the early part of the last century, and well known by the name of " Ready Money Provoost." Young Alexander joined the army in the French and Indian war, and was secretary to General Shirley. He accompanied that officer to England, in 1755, and there made the acquaintance of some of the leading men of the realm. By tlieir advice, he instituted proceedings to obtain the title of Earl of Stirhng, to which his father was heir-presumptive when ho left Scotland. Although he did not obtain a legal recognition of the title, his right to it was generally conceded, and from that time he was addressed as Earl of Stirhng. He returned to America in 1 7 Gl, married the daughter of Philip Livingston (sister of Governor Livingston, of New Jensey), and built a fine man- sion, on his estate, at Baskenridge. He was a member of the New Jersey Provincial Council for a number of years ; and when the choice between repub- licanism and royalty had to be made, he was found on the side of the people. TIMOTHY D WIGHT. 107 In 1775. the Provincial Convention of New Jersey appointed him colonel of the first regiment of militia, and in March, 1776, Congress gave him the commission of a brigadier. General Lee left him in command at New York in April, and in August, he Ibught valiantl_v in the battle near Brooklyn, and was made prisoner. He was exchanged ; and in February following, Congress made him a major- general. He performed active and varied services until the Summer of 1781, when he was ordered to the command of the northern army, with his head- quarters at Albany. An invasion from Canada was then expected. Indeed it was commenced under St. Leger, but the vigorous preparations of Stirling in- timidated him, and the scheme was abandoned. Late in the Autumn, he took command in Xew Jersey, and had jurisdiction and general supervision of military affairs, in that State and in Xew York, to Fishkill above the Hudson Highlands. Lord Stirling was again in command at Albany, in 17S2, where he died, on the 15th of January, 17 S3, in the fifty -seventh year of his age. It is a singular fact, that during the War for Independence. Lord Stirling had command, at different times, of every brigade of the American army, except those of- South Carolina and Georgia. ti:mothy d wight. TWEXTY days after the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress, a young man, twenty four years of age, addressed the students of Yale College on the subject of the future of the States then just declared "free and independent," in language truly prophetic' That young prophet was Timothy Dwight, a grandson of the celebrated Jonathan Edwards, and many years the honored president of that ancient institution of learning. He was born at Northampton, Massachusetts, on the 14th of May, 1752. He was educated at Yale College, where he was graduated in 1769. From that period, until 1771, he faught a grammar school, in Xew Haven, and at the same time he devoted eight hours each daj- to severe study. At the age of nineteen years he was chosen a tutor in Yale College, and performed the duties of his station with great satisfaction for sis years. It was while he was engaged in that vocation that ho delivered the address above alluded to. He took his second degree in 1772, and, on that occasion, he dehvered a learned dissertation on the history, eloquence, and poetry of the Bible. At about that time he com- menced hLs sacred epic. The Conquest of Canaan, and finished it at the age of twenty-two years. Severe application and want of bodily exercise now seriously affected his health, but it was speedily restored bj- a change of habits, and sick- ness was a stranger to him during tho next forty years.^ Mr. Dwight married in the Spring of 1777 ; and in June following, he was licensed to preach the gospel. In September, he withdrew from the college, was appointed chaplain to General Parson's brigade, and joined the Continental 1. After speaklnf- of the cstahlishment of n republican povemmcnt. havinc for its liafis Ihc virtue nrd Intelligence of the people, he referreil to the necessarv influence -nhich «nch a poven.mert would have on the general advancement of mankind. He spoke of ihe yet undeveloped resources of the soil and mines, the orfraniuttion of new States, the vast increase of population : ard then referred totherordition of that portion of the Continent under Spanish rule, from which during the Inst twenty years, we have received such vast accessions of territory. After spcakinp of the vices »nd cUpradation of the people, he says, " Ihr mnmml nxir interrxt ilemnniis it, thfjie. eitensire rfffion.' jrill l>e our oitn : the present race of i'lhnbitanls will either be entirely exterminated, or revive to" the native human dignity, by the gen- erous and beneficent influence of just laws and rational f eedom." 2. He was always afflicted with a painful disease of the eyes, caased by his intense nse of them in (tady too soon after recovering from the small-pox. 108 TIMOTHY DWIGHT. Army, at "West Point, on the Hudson. There he wrote several patriotic songs, of which the one commencing, " Columbia ! Columbia ! to glory arise, The queen of the world, and the child of the skies," was the most celebrated. That, too, like his address the year before, was truly prophetic. On receiving the news of his father's death, he left the army, settled, at the homestead in Northampton, and with fihal regard cherished his aged mother, for several years. He preached occasionally in the neighboring towns, and superintended a school at Hadley. In 1781, he was elected a member of the Massachusetts legislature, but he soon abandoned ci^^l employment for that of clerical duties. He was ordained pastor of a church at Greenfield, near Fair- field, Connecticut, where he opened an academy, and labored industriously in the cause of religion and education, for twelve years. The building in which ho taught school, on "Greenfield Hill," is yet [1854] standing. In 1785, his Con- qiiest of Canaan was first published, three thousand subscribers for it having been obtained. In 1794, another poem, called Greenfield Hill, was published, and increased his fame as an epic poet. Higher and more arduous duties now awaited him. On the death of Dr. Stiles, in 1795, he was chosen President of Yale College, and for ten years performed the duties and received the emolu- ments of Professor of Theology, in that institution, by annual appointment, when CHRISTOPHER GADSDEN. 109 the oflQce became permanent. In 1800, he completed his revision of Watts' Psalms and Hymns, to which he added thirty-nine of his own; and in 1809, he published almost two hundred of his most important sermons, in five volumes. From 1805 until 1815, he spent his college vacations in travelling through New England and the State of New York, taking full notes of what he saw and heard. These formed the basis of his published Travels, in four volumes. After sufier- ing for nearly a year from an acute disease, he died, on the 11th of January, 1817, at the age of almost sixty-five years. Dr. Dwight was the author of a great many pubhshed discourses and pamphlets on various subjects, chiefly of a theological and philosophical character. CHRISTOPHER OADSDEN. TORIES, or those who adhered to Great Britain when the War for Independ- ence commenced, were very numerous in South Carolina, and it required greater courage on the part of the Whigs, or opposers of government, to avow their principles, than in communities where such loj^alists were exceptions. Bold among the boldest, was Christopher Gadsden in denouncing British oppression, even as early as the period of the Stamp Act.' He was a native of Charleston, South Carolina, where he was born in 1724. He was sent '"home," as England was called, to be educated, and remained several years with his relatives in the west of England. Ho returned to Charleston at the age of sixteen years, and was soon afterward apprenticed to a merchant in Philadelphia, where he remained till ho was twenty-one years of age. He then went to England ; and on the death of the punser of the vessel in which he returned, he was appointed to fill his place. Ho retained that situation two years, and then engaged in mercantile business in Charleston. Gadsden's father owned a large property in Charleston, but lost it all in play with Lord Anson, a celebrated admiral in the British navy, who visited that city in 17.33. That portion of the town still bears the name of Ansonborough. Christopher was successful, purchased all the property that once belonged to his father, and lived in the " Anson house," as it was called, till his death. Henry Laurrtis was his nearest neighbor and dearest friend, and they always acted shoulder to shoulder as unflinching patriots. Gadsden was appointed a delegate to the Congress which as.semblcd at New York in 1765, in consequence of the passage of the Stamp Act ; and from that period, through all the storms of the Revolution, until the fall of Charleston, in 1780, he was regarded as the most rehablo of the patriot leaders, both civil and military. He was chosen a delegate to the first Continental Congress, in 1774 ; and in that body, urged an immecliato attack upon General Gage at Boston, before he should be- reinforced by fresh troops from Great Britain. He was considered rash, but the measure was only delayed a few months. In 1775, Mr. Gadsden was elected senior colonel of three regiments raised at Charleston, and was subsequently made a brigadier. He was active at the time of the attack on Charleston, in 177G; and two years afterward he gave his eflBcient aid in forming a republican constitution for his native State. He re- signed his military commission in 1 7 7 9, and was heutenant-govemor of the State, 1. Under a wide-sprcaiiinR live oak, a little north of the residence of Mr. Gadsden, the patriot? n?ed to assctnljle during the Summer and Autumn of 1765, and even the next Summer, after the Stamp Act was repealed, to discuss the political question of the dav. From that circumstance, the preen oak, like the famous Boston elm, was called Litxrty Tree. Under that tree. Oadsden boldly warned the people, in 1776, not to rejoice too much, for tho repeal was only a «7io«: of justice. 110 SAMUEL SEABUKY. when Charleston was captured by Sir Henry Clinton, in May, 1780. A few- weeks afcer the capitulation, he was treacherously taken from his bod at night, and, with others, was conveyed on board prison ships, in violation of the solemn stipulations contained in the articles of capitulation. They were taken to St. Augustine ; and because the venerable patriot would not submit to indignities at the hands of Governor Tonyn, he was cast into a loathsome prison, where he remained until exchanged in June, 1781, eleven months afterward. From St. Augustine he sailed to Philadelphia, with other prisoners. On his return to Charleston, he was elected a member of the State legislature, where, notwith- standing his bad treatment, he generously opposed the confiscation of the prop- erty of the Loyalists. He was elected governor of his State, in 1782, but declined the honor. Ho remained in private life until his death, on the 28th of August, 1805, at the age of eighty-one years. SAMUEL SEABIJRY. THE first Protestant Bishop, in the United States, was the son of a Congregar tional minister who preached at Groton, Connecticut, and afterward became an episcopal clergyman at New London. That sou, Samuel Seabury, was born at New London, in 1728; was graduated at Yale College, in 1751, and was or- dained a priest, in London, England, in 1753. He had previously commenced a course of medical study, in Scotland, but circumstances caused him to choose the ministry as a profession, and he studied theologj', in London. On his return to America, he was settled in the ministry at New Brunswick, New Jersey, for a little while, and then he complied with a call to Jamaica, Long Island, where he remained from 1757 until the close of 17G6. From Jamaica he went to West Chester, in "Westchester count^^, New York, and there he was settled when the war of the Revolution broke out. Like many of his clerical brethren, he adhered to the crown ; and in consequence of his signing a protest against the measures of the Whigs, he became very obnoxious to the republican party. In the Autumn of 1775, a party of horsemen, led by Isaac Sears, of New York, came from Connecticut, entered the city at noon-day, destroyed the print- ing-press of James Rivington (the editor of the Royal Gazette), carried olf his types, to the tune of Yankee Doodle, and made bullets of them. On their way back to Connecticut, they seized Mr. Seabury, convej-ed him to New Haven, kept him a prisoner there, for some time, and then paroled him to Long Island. He had kept a school at West Chester, for some time. That was broken up, and his church was converted into a hospital. Finding no peace v.'ithin the limits of his parole, he fled to the arms of the British in New York, after they had taken possession of that city in the Autumn of 177G. He served as a chaplain to Colonel Fanning's corps of Loyalists, toward the close of the Revolution, and when peace came, ho returned to his native town. In 1784, at the request of his clerical and lay brethren in the East, Mr. Seabury went to London, to seek episcoijal consecration. Some difficulties prevented the accomplishment of his wishes, and ho went to Scotland, where, on the 4th of November, of that year, he was consecrated a Bishop, by three non-juring prelates of the Scottish Church.' He presided over the diocese of Connecticut and Rhode Island, with great dig- 1. Those who regarded the deposition of James the Second, in 1688, as illegal, and refused to swear allegiance to the new sovereigns, William and Mary, his successors. Among these were several Scotch Bishops, who were deprived of their sees, in 169(1. The Scotch Episcopal Chiirch has always differed from that of England, in ecclesiastical matters, and its ministers have been called i.ou-jurors, even until now. THOMAS NELSON", JR. Ill nity and energy, for about twelve years, when he was called to give an account of his stewardship to his heavenly Master. He was buried at New London, where he expired, and over his grave is a plain, elevated slab, upon which it is recorded that he died on the 25th of February, 1798, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. The piety and benevolence of Bishop Seabury endeared him to all, of whatever name or creed, for he was a true Christian. THOMAS NELSON, JR. SELF-SACRIFICING- patriotism was frequently exhibited during the revolu- tionary struggle, and oftentimes private property was cheerfully given for the public good. Everj'where, personal case and family endearments were abandoned ibr the hardslups of public life. Thomas Nelson, jr., of Yorktown, Virginia, was of that class of patriots. lie was born at Yorktown, on the 26th of December, 1738. According to the common practice among the wealthy, in Virginia, at that time, he was sent to England to be educated, where ho remained until 1761, when ho returned home. lie watched the progress of difficulties between Great Britain and her colonics with lively interest, and his sympathies were always with the latter. Ho flrst appeared in public life, in 1774, when ho ■waa elected a member of the House of Burgesses, of Virginia, and he was ono of eighty-nine n\embers of that assembly who, when dissolved by the roj'al governor (Dunmore), met at the Raleigh tavern, organized, and appointed dele- gates to the first Continental Congress. He was a member of a provincial con- vention held in the Spring of 1775, in which Patrick Henry uttered those sublimo words, " Give me liberty or give me death f^ and was one of the boldest patriots therein. Ho there first proposed the organization of the militia of the colony, for the defence of its liberties, and he was appointed to the command of a regi- ment after such organization was cffectod. lie was elected to a seat in the Continental Congress, in 1775, and the following year he signed the Declaration of Independence. In 1777, severe and protracted illness compelled him to resign his seat and return home. By activity in military life, for awhile, Mr. Nelson's health was improved, and he was again elected a delegate to Congress, in 1779. Bat ill health compelled him to resign in April following. "When British dep- redators by land and sea menaced that portion of the country, General Nelson, at the head of the mihtia of Lower Virginia, was active in its defence. In 1781, ho succeeded Jefferson, as governor of the State ; and in both civil and military capacities, he was exceedingly active and efficient. Ho even pledged his private fortune as security for the State, in order to raise funds to keep the militia in the field ; and the combined French and American armies found him a powerful auxiliary in the siege of Yorktown, in the Autumn of 1781. During that siege, his own fine mansion, situated within the enemy's lines, was occupied by British officers. He observed that in the storm of balls which the besiegers were pour- ing upon the town and the, Britisli works, his own house was spared. He begged the cannouiers not to regard his property with favor, and actually directed a piece himself, so that the balls would fall upon his mansion. It had the effect to drive tlio officers from that strong retreat, and no doubt hastened the sur- render of Cornwallis. A month after the surrender, General Nelson heeded tho warnin.ccs of declining health, and retired to private life. The remainder of his daj-3 wore spent in quiet, altcrnatel_y at his mansion in Yorktown, and upon his estate at OfHej'. He died at tho former j^laco on tho 4th of January, 1789, in tho fifty-third year of Iiis age. 112 MASON L. WEEMS. MASON L. WEEMS. IT is a singular fact that Dr. Weems, tho earliest biographer of Washington and Marion, a man extensively known in the world of letters, and who oc- cupied a large place in the public attention, while he lived, should be almost without a record in his country's annals. I have never met with a notice of the time and place of his birtli. He received a good plain education, studied the science of medicine, as a life avocation, but became a preacher of tho Gospel, in communion with tho Protestant Episcopal Church, in Virginia. He ofiQciated, for awhile, in Pohick church, a few miles from Mount Vernon, of which Wash- ington was vestryman previous to tlie Revolution, and who was also one of Weems' parishioners afterward. Mr. Weems was a man of very considerable attainments as a scholar, physician, and divine ; and his philanthropy and be- nevolence were unbounded. He used wit and humor freely ; and his eccentric- ities and sometimes singular conduct, lessened the esteem of people for his character as a clergyman. He wrote lives of Washington, Penn, Franklin, and Marion, when an increasing family, and the operations of benevolence, made heavy drafts upon his income. He also became an agent for the sale of a quarto Bible, published by the eminent Mathew Carey, of Philadelphia, at the commencement of tlie present century, in whicla business he was wonderfully suc- cessful. Ho always preached, when invited, during his travels, and harangued people at public gatherings at courts and fairs, where he offered his Bibles, and other good books, for sale. His fund of anecdote was inexhaustible ; and after PHINEAS LYMAN. 113 giving a promiscuous audience the highest entertainment of fun, he found them in good mood to purchase ills books, lu his vocation, he accomplished a vast amount of good ; and a hirgo family and numerous friends lamented his death with the most earnest grief, lie died at Beaufort, South Carohna, on the 23d of May, 1825, at an advanced age. PHINEAS LYMAN. ASSURANTE, supported by titled influence, often wears an epaulette and a star, while true merit is rewarded with faint praise and an honorable scar. Such a lesson of life did experience teach Phineas Lyman, a brave officer of provincial troops, during the French and Indian war. He was born in Durham, Connecticut, in the year 1716. He was one of the Berkeleyan scholars in Yale,' and received his tirst degree in 1738. The following year ho was appointed a tutor in that institution, in which avocation he was engaged for three years, at the same time he was studying the theory of law. He commenced its practice at Suffield, in 1743, and ho soon arose to the front rank at the bar of Hampshire county. lie was elected a member of the Colonial Assembly, in 1750, and in 1753, was chosen to a seat in the council. At the age of thirty-nine years, he was appointed major-general of the Connecticut forces, and took the field in the Spring of 1755. He concentrated between five and six thousand troops on the upper waters of the Hudson, built Fort Edward, and there awaited the arrival of his commander-in-chief. General William Johnson, who was to lead the provin- cials against the French on Lake Champlain. The fortress was first called Fort Lyman, in honor of the Connecticut general, but its name was changed in defer- ence to a scion of royalty. In the severe battle with the French and Indians, near the head of Lake George, in September of that year. General Lyman bore the most conspicuous part, and j-ct .Johnson, jealous of his merits, withheld praise. Through the agency of titled friends at court, Johnson received the patent of a baronet, and twenty thousand dollars to support its dignity, as a reward for a victory won chiefly through the skill and bravery of General Ly- man. The patriotic hero did not allow personal considerations to stand in the way of public duty, and he served with distinction during the whole war. He was the commander of the expedition which captured Havana, in 1762; and after the peace in 1763, he went to England, as agent of a company called The Military Adventurers — soldiers of the war — who asked for an appropriation of land for a colony in the Mississipjji and Yazoo country. The same company had purchased an extensive tract of land on the Su.squchannah, and General Lyman was intrusted with the management of matters connected with that purchase. Deluded month after month by idle promi.scs from the changing ministry, in England, he at length came back, after wasting eleven years abroad, and almost losing his mind. He returned in 1774, and at about that time, a tract of land having been granted, in the Mississippi and Yazoo country, he went thither, with his eldest son. Both died in "West Florida," in 1775, and the following year, his wife and all her family, except her second son, went thither. She soon died ; and a few years afterward, difficulties with the Spaniards caused the whole company of settlers, near Natchez, to fly for their safet}^ across the country, a thousand miles, to Savannah. The history of General Lyman's family is a melancholy one. He died at the age of fifty-nine years, a victim of ingratitude and injustice. 1. From Bishop Berkeley, who wui a patron of Yale College. He endowed a profesaorsbip known as the Berkeleyan. 114 JOHN MANLEY. JOHN MANLEY. THE naval operations of the United States during the Revolution were far more extensive and important than is generally supposed, especially in the privateer department. It is asserted, by good authority, that the number of vessels captured by American cruisers, during the war, was eight hundred and three ; and that the value of merchandise obtained, amounted to over eleven millions of dollars. Among the earher and most intrepid of the naval com- manders of that period, was John Manley, who received his commission from Wasliington, at Cambridge, on the 24th of October, 1775,' and was put in com- mand of the schooner Lee, with instructions to cruise in Massachusetts Bay. He made a great many captures, and his services became the theme of eulogium throughout the whole country. Among his prizes was an ordnance brig, which contained heavy guns, mortars, and intrenching tools, of great value to the army then besieging tlie British, in Boston. When Congress organized a navy, the services of Captain Manley were appreciated, and he was raised to the command of the Hancock, thirty-two guns. He cruised with success, but on the desertion of a colleague, while engaged with tlio Rainhmv (afterward the flag-ship of Admiral Collier, in the Autumn of 1777, when on our coast with a small fleet), he was made a prisoner, on the 8th of July, 1777. Manley suffered a long and rigorous confinement in the Eainboiu, and at Halifax, and his services were lost to the country for almost the entire remainder of the war. Ho was released in 1782, and the frigate, Hague, was placed under his command. While cruising in the West Indies, he was chased by a British seventy-four, and driven on a sand bank. Three other ships of the line attacked him, but after sustaining their heavy lire for four days, he got his vessel ofl" hoisted the continental flag, fired thirteen guns as a parting salute, and escaped. On his return to Boston, he was tried on some charges made against him by one of his officers, and his reputation •was under a partial cloud, for a time. He died in Boston on the 12th of Feb- ruary, 1793, at the age of fifty-nine years, and was buried with military honors. OILBERT CHARLES STUART. IN the beautiful region of Rhode Island, at a place called Narraganset, the handsome wife of a Scotch snuff-maker gave birth to a son, wlio became tho most distinguished portrait-painter in America. His fiither's name was Stuart, and his loyalty to the young claimant of the English throue,^ made him add Charles to the name of Gilbert, given to his boy. Gilbert Charles Stuart was born in 1754, and at a very early age manifested great energy of character and a decided talent for art. At the age of thirteen years lie practised drawing likenesses with black-lead pencil, and at the age of eighteen lie commenced a course of instruction, in painting, under an amateur artist, named Alexander. He was pleased with the lad, took him with him on a tour in the Soutliern States, 1. Washihgton caused six vessels to be fitted out for the purpose of cruising on the New England coast. These were very efficient. They made many prizes, from which the American army, early in 1776, was (juite well supplied with cannon, mortars, balls, ammunition, and stores. Tlie siege of Boston and expulsion of the British therefrom, could not have been accomplished wifhout those supplies from captureil British vessels. Toward the close of 1775, the Continental Congress adopted measures for organizing and employing a navy. 2. Charles Edward Stuart, a grandson of .lames the Second, who was driven from the throne in 1688. Ilis son made an elTort to gain the throne of his father, in 1716. The efforts of his grandeoQ were put forth in 1745, but after the great battle at CuUoden, he became a fugitive. GILBERT CHARLES STUART. 115 and fin.illy invited him to go to Scotland with him. Mr. Alexander died soon after his arrival at Edinburgh, and left his pupil in tho care of Sir George Cham- bers. He, too, died, and j-oung Stuart returned to Newport, as a competent portrait-painter. Tho late Dr. Eenjamin "Waterhouse was Stuart's intimate friend, through life; and in the "Winter of l'773-'4, they practiced tho drawing of the human figure from life, by procuring a nmseular blacksmith for a model. This was tho first " Life School of Design," in America, and Stuart and his friend IVaterliouso were the only students. The troubles of the Revolution affected Stuart's business, and in the Autumn of 1775, ho went to England. Being a skilful musician, as well as painter, Stuart gained a subsi.stence by practicing both arts.' His friend Waterhouse was then in London, perfecting his medical studies, and he procured Stuart some sitters, but his eccentric habits were a continual bar to permanent pros- perity. After two years' residence there, he became acquainted with "West, and found in him a friend and benefactor. In the studio of that great artist he be- came an industrious pupil, and there he first became acquainted with Trumbull. In 1781, he set up an easel for himself, had continual and highly-romunerativo employment, and might have become tho successor of Reynolds, as the fir?t portrait-painter in Great Britain, had not intemperate habits, which were increasing 1. Whil<> in extreme poverty, in London. Ptimrt was nttrnrte'1 hv the sonnd of an orfrsn in an open chnrch. lie went in, asccrtninei that several perfons were exhihiting their fkiU as candidates for or- (r«niBt, and boldly naked permissior. to cuter the lists. It was granted, and the young stranger was chosen at a salary quite sufScient to meet bis wants. 116 WILLIAM TEXNENT. in proportion to his prosperity, thwarted the aspirations of his genius. He went to Dubhn, where he was courted for his wit and conviviahty, and finally re- turned to America, in 1793. His fame had preceded him, and his studio in New York was thronged with sitters and admirers. Filled with an ardent desire to paint a portrait of "Washington, he visited Philadelphia, and there he produced that great picture of the Patriot, which is regarded as the perfect model for all correct likenesses of the revered Father of his Country. Stuart was so pleased with Pennsylvania, while residing in Philadelphia and at Germantown, that he contemplated purchasing a flirm at Pottsgrove, and making that his permanent residence. His irregular habits, as usual, interfered with his plans, and we find him in "Washington City, after the removal of the seat of government thither. In 1805, he settled in Boston, where he continued in the practice of his pro- fession, until his death, which occurred in July, 1828, at the age of seventy-four years. The original portrait of Washington, from his pencil, is the property of the Boston Athen^um. His last work is a head of John Quiucy Adams, in- tended for a full-length portrait of that statesman. WILLIAM TENNENT. MEN" sometimes loecome more distinguished by tlieir connection with remark- able circumstances, than for any achievements of their own, and their real tine gold of character is lost in the glitter of extraneous events. At this day, that powerful preacher and indefatigable servant of Christ, William Tennent, is better known to the world "as a man who lay in a trance," than as a laborer for the good of his fellow-men. Ho was born in Ireland, on the 8d of June, 1705, and came to America when in the fourteenth year of his age. Under the care of his brother, Gilbert, ho studied theology so ardently, at New Brunswick, in New Jersey, that his health gave way, his body became emaciated, and one morning, while conversing with his brother, in Latin, on the state of his soul, lie fainted, and seemed to expire. lie was prepared for burial, and the funeral procession was about to move, when his pli3'sician, who had been absent, re- turned, and thought he discovered indications of lingering life. But his body was cold and stiff, and his brother insisted upon his burial. The funeral, how- ever, was postponed for awhile, and just as they were about to start again for the grave, Mr. Tennent opened his eyes, gave a groan, and again appeared life- less. He revived, slowly recovered, but for a long time he was totally ignorant of every past transaction of his life. Suddenly his faculties began to resume their functions, and in 1*733, he was ordained a minister of the church at Free- hold, New Jersey. That church, and the house in which ho lived, are yet [1854] standing. He never forgot the scenes of that cataleptic state in which he lay when his friends thought him dead. He seemed to have been wafted to a region of ineffable glory, where he heard things unutterable. He was accom- panied by a heavenly conductor, and on asking permission to join the happy throng of beings before him, the guide tapped him upon the shoulder, and said, "You must return to earth." That was the moment when he opened his eyes, and saw his brother disputing with the doctor. Although he had been insen- sible for three days, the time did not seem to him more than twenty minutes. After a life of great usefulness as pastor of the flock at Freehold, for forty-three years, the storm of the Revolution disturbed him, and with his family, he went to reside with his son, in South Carolina. On his journey from Charleston to the interior, when about fifty miles from the sea-board, he sickened and died. Ehas Boudinot was his executor, but he could never discover any trace of Ten- nent's papers. His death occurred on the 8th of March, 1777. JOEL BARLOW. 117 JOEL BARLO^V. F Barlow, Iho j-oungest of the triad of American poets during the straggle for independence,' it might have frequently been said, " The Minstrel Boy to the wnr has gone, lu the ranks of licaih jou '11 find him," for during his vacations at Yale College, he would shoulder his musket, offer himself as a volunteer, at the nearest camp, and fight bravely when opportunity occurred. Joel Barlow was the youngest of the ten children of a respectable former, and was born at Reading, in Connecticut, in the year 1754. Ho was graduated at Yale, in 1778, when he bore a slight scar, received in the battle at White Plains two years before. Four of his brothers were in the Continental army, and his wliolo being was thoroughly imbued with republican principles. He nnrried a sister of Abraham Baldwin, a distinguished statesman of Connec- ticut, and in 1783, ho settled at Westford, and commenced the publication of a paper, called The Msrcurij. Although, at the close of his collegiate course, ho bad studied theology six weeks, and was licensed to preach, ho preferred the profession of the law; and in 1785, ho was regularly admitted to the bar, as a practitioner. His poetic talents were now widely known and appreciated ; and that same j'oar, at the request of several congregational ministers, he prepared and published a revised edition of Watts' poetic version of the Psalms,' and added to them a collection of hymns, several of them from his own pen. In 1787, he published his most ambitious poem hitherto attempted, entitled, " Vision of Columbus" which was dedicated to Louis the Sixteenth of France, and was re- published in London and Paris, with applause from the critics. With Trumbull, Humphreys, Dwight, an i others, he published a satirical poem, called The An- archial. Others soon followed; when, becoming enamored with the principles of the French Revolution, he went to Paris, was honored by the gift of citizen- ship, made France his home for many years, and by successful commercial pur- suits, he amassed a large fortune. During the worst of the Revolution (whose horrid scenes disgusted him), ho travelled over portions of the Continent, and in Piedmont he wrote his celebrated poem, called Hasty Pudding. On his return to Paris, in 1795, Wrushington appointed him consul at Algiers, with power to negotiate a treaty with that government, and those of Tunis and Tripoli. After an absence of seventeen }'ears, ho returned to America, with his fortune, and built an elegant mansion on the east branch of the Potomac, near Washington city, which ho afterward called " Kalorama." He enlarged his original " Vision of Columbus," and in 1807, it was published vinder the title of The Columhiad, in a splendid quarto volume, richly illustrated, and inscribed to his friend, Robert Fulton. In 1811, he commenced the ])rcparation o? a. History of the United States, when President Madison appointed him minister plenipotentiarj' to the French government. The following year, tlie Duke of Bassano invited him to a con- ference with Napoleon, at Wilna, in Poland. The call was urgent, and ho travelled thither, night and day, without rest. The fatigue and exposure brought on a disease of the lungs, which terminated his life at Zarnowica, near Cracow, on the 4th of December, 1812, when in the sixty -eighth year of his age. 1. ,Iohn Trurabnll, David Humphreys, and Joel Barlow. 2. On one occasion Mr. Barlow met Oliver .Arnold, a consin of the traitor, in a book-store in New Ilaven, and asked him for a specimen of hi-- talent for making extempore rhymes. Oliver at once said, in allusiou to Uarlow's version of the Fsalms : " You 've proved yourself a sinful cre'tur ; You 've murdered Wntls nud spoiled the meter; Yon 've tried the word of God to alter, And for your pains deserve a halter." 118 SAMUEL BAED. SAMUEL BARD. THE medical profession in the United States has included many of our noblest citizens, distinguished alilce for their patriotism, learning, and benevolence. Samuel Bard, who adorned the profession by the exercise of all these qualities, was the son of an eminent physician, in Philadelphia, where he was born on the 1st of April, 1142. His early moral and intellectual training was thorough, and the associations of his childhood and youth were favorable to the develop- ment of his genius. "While residing a short time in the family of Doctor Cad- wallader Golden, ho acquired a taste for botany, under the teachings of an ac- comphshed daughter of that gentleman. A genius for drawing and painting enabled him to make beautiful copies of plants, some of which are yet in his family. He was graduated at Columbia College, in ITGl, and the same year he went to Europe, to obtain a thorough medical education. He was absent in Trance, England, and Scotland, five years; and such was his skill in botanj-, that he obtained the annual medal given by Professor Hope, at Edinburgii, for the best collection of plants, in 1765. He there received his degree, returned home, entered into partnership with his flxther, and in 17G8, married his beauti- ful cousin, Mary Bard. He made New York his residence the same year, and there he formed and executed the plan of founding the Medical School of New York, where degrees were conferred in 17G9. He delivered a course of chemical lectures in 1774, but tlie breaking out of tlie Ptcvolution deranged all his plans for the improvement of his profession. His father was then residing at Hyde Park, in Dutchess county. New York, and thither he took his family, for safet}-. By special permission of the British commander, he went to New York, in 177 7, and engaged anew in his business. But his old friends, who were chiefly Whigs, had all fled, and he did not obtain practice sufficient to pay his expenses. He returned to the countrj', and remained tlicrc until the British evacuated the city in the Autumn of 1783, when ho again resumed his practice there. He did not remain long. Pour of his children died by prevailing scarlatina, and at the same time the healtli of his wife began to fail. He withdrew from business to attend upon her; and at her recovery, in 1784, he again commenced the practice of his profession, in New York, ^e was very successful, and with his own means, he liquidated all the debts of his father, whicli misfortune had burdened him with. Having acquired a competency, he resolved to retire from active business, and for that purpose lie formed a partnership with the late Dr. David Hosack, on the 1st of January, 1796. This connection continued four years, when Dr. Bard withdrew wliolly from the practice of his profession, and left tlie extensive busi- ness in the hands of his skilful young partner. At his beautiful seat, near the residence of his flither at Hyde Park, he sat down in the retirement of private life ; but when, three years afterward, the yellow fever appeared in New York, he yielded to the calls of duty, and was "the beloved physician" of the rich and poor during that trjdng time. He finally took the disease himself, but the care- ful nursing of his wife, and his own skilful prescriptions, carried him safely through. Then again he left the field of active duty as a physician, never to return to it. In 1813, he was elected president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of New York, and held tliat office until his death, which occurred on the 24th of March, 1821, at the age of seventy-nine years. His disease was pleurisy. He and liis wife had often expressed a desire to both die at the same time. The privilege was vouchsafed to them. The faithful wife died the day preceding the death of her husband, of the same disease, and they were buried in one grave. MARTHA WASHINGTON. 119 M xV 11 T tl A WASHINGTON. THE reflected frloryot'Wasliington's character gave distinction to all who were connected witli him by domestic ties or the bonds of consanguinity. There were many matrons of his day, equally noble and virtuous as she who bore him, yet "Marj-, the mother of Washington," appears the most illustrious of them all. Beaut}', accomplishments and noble worth belonged to Martha Dandridge as a maiden, and Martha Custis as a wife and mother, but her crowning glory in the world's esteem is the fact that she was the bosom companion of the Father of his Countr}-. Martha Dandridge was born in New Kent county, Virginia, in May, 1732, about three months later than her illustrious husband. In 1749, she married Paniel Parke Custis, of New Kent, one of the wealthiest jilanters of Eastern Virginia, and settled, with her husband, on the banks of the Pamun- key river, where she bore four children. Her husband died when she was about twenty-live years of age, leaving her with two surviving cliildren and a large fortune in lands and money.' Slie became acquainted with Colonel Washington, in 1758, wlien his greatness was fast unfolding; and on the 6th of January, 1759, they were married. By the bequest of his half-brother, Lawrence Wash- ington, he owned the beautiful estate of Mount Vernon, on the Potomac, and 1. He left her thirty thousand ponnrls sterlinp (nboiit $148,000) in certificates of deposits in the Bank of EnRland. Tliesewere in nn iron chest, yet in the possession of her ouly surviving grand-child, George Washington Parke Custis, Esq., of Arlington House, Virginia. 120 JOSHUA BARNEY. there they made their home during the remainder of their lives. Occasionally, during the "War for Independence, Mrs. Washington visited her husband in camp, and shared liis honors, his anxieties, and his hopes. Almost at the very hour of his great victory at Yorktown, her only son, wlio was Washington's aid, expired a few miles distant from the scene of carnage ; and with the slaout of triumph, that filled his mother's heart with joy, came a stern messenger with tidings that poured it full of woe.' While her husband was President of the United States, Mrs. Washington presided witli dignity over the executive mansion, both in New York and Phil- adelphia ; but the quiet of domestic life had more charms for her than the pomp of place, and she rejoiced greatly when both sat down again, at Mount Vernon, to enjoy the repose which decUning age coveted. But that pleasant dream of life soon vanished, for her companion was taken away by death a little more than two years afterward. When she was certified of the departure of his spirit, she said, "'Tis well; all is now over; I shall soon follow him; I have no more trials to pass through." In less than thirty months afterward the stricken widow was laid in the tomb, at the age of almost seventy-one years. In marble sar- cophigi their remains now lie together, at Mount Vernon — that Mecca of many pilgrims. JOSHUA BARNEY, SEVERAL of the naval commanders who won glory for themselves and coun- try during the war with England in 1812-15, commenced their nautical career, and learned their earliest nautical lessons, during the War of the Revo- lution. In that earlier naval school, Joshua Barney was educated for liis pro- fession. Ho was born in the city of Baltimore, on the 6th of Juh", 1759. He made several sea voyages while j^et a lad, and at the beginning of the War for Independence, he entered the sloop. Hornet, as master's mate, and accompanied the fleet of Commodore Hopkins to the West India seas, in 1775. He was at the capture of New Providence,^ and for his bravery there was promoted to a lieutenantcy. After being made prisoner and released three different times, ho assisted in conquering a valuable prize, in tlio Autumn of 1779, wliicli was taken into Philadelphia. The following year he married the daughter of alderman Bed- ford of that city, spent the honey-moon with his bride, and then repaired to Bal- timore to resume his naval duties. He was soon afterward made a i^risoner, and sent to England, where he escaped from a cruel confinement and returned to America. In 1782, he was placed in command of the Uyder Ally, of sixteen guns, belonging to the State of Pennsylvania. In April, of that year, ho cap- tured the I3ritish ship. General Monk, after an action of twenty-six minutes. This vessel was bought by the United States, and in September, it sailed for France, with Barney as commander, who bore dispatches for Dr. Franklin, at Paris. In that vessel he brought back the French loan to the United States in chests of gold and barrels of silver. Peace soon came, and he left the service, for awhile. 1. Mr. Custis died at EUham, about thirty-five miles from Yorktown, from tlie effects of camp fever. Washington hastened thilher as soon as public affairs at camp -would allow him. Mrs. Wasliiugton and Dr. Craik were already there. The latter informed ihe chief, that his beloved Ktep-son had just ex- pired, on his arrival. He wept like a child ; and when he recovered himself, he said to the weeping mother, " I adopt his two young:er children as my own, from this hour." These were the present pro- prietor of Arlington House, and the late Eleanor Parke Custis, wife of Major Lawrence Lewis, the favorite nephew of WashingtoTi. 2. One of the Bahama Islands. Thev' took possession of the town now called Nassau, and made the governor prisoner. He was afterward exchanged for Lord Stirling, who was made prisoner at the battla near Brooklin, at the close of August, 1776. JOHN BARRY. 121 In 179G, Captain Barney went to France, with Mr. Monroe, as the bearer of the American Hag to the National Convention. He there accepted an invitation to take command of a French sciuadron, but resigned his commission in 1800, and returned to America. Coinuiodore Barney was among the most efficient commanders in service, when tlic United States declared war against England, in 1812 ; and the following year, ho had charge of a flotilla in the Chesapeake Bay for the protection of the coast. When the British invaded Maryland, and pressed forward toward Washington city, near the close of the Summer of 1814, Barney abandoned his flotilla, and with his marines, engaged in a battle with the enemy at Bladensburg, where he was wounded in the thigh by a musket ball, which was never extracted. In May, 1815, he was sent on a mission to Europe, and on his return in the ensuing Autumn, he retired to private life, after having been in service forty-one j'cars, and fought twenty-six battles and one duel. He visited Kentucky, in 1817, and started to emigrate thither the following year. When about to embark on the Ohio, at Pittsburg he was taken ill, and died there on the 1st of December, 1818, at the age of tifty-nine years. JOHN BARRY. " T^HE first commodore in the American Navy," was not the bra%^e John Barry, A as is generally asserted. Yet he was in active service as commander, about as early as Esek Hopkins, to whom that honor, conferred by Congress, properly belongs. Barry was a native of Wexford, in Ireland, where he was born in 1745. Ho was educated for the sea, and at the age of fifteen 3'ears ho came to America, and was employed as commander in the merchant service, until the Revolution commenced. When, in February, 1770, Commodore Hop- kins sailed with a small squadron against the fleet of Dunniore, then committing depredations on the Virginia coast, Barry left the Delaware, in the Lexiijgton, of sixteen guns, to clear the Virginia waters of the numerous small cruisers of the enemy which infested them. He jjcrformed that service well ; and prior to the promulgation of the Declaration of Independence, ho was promoted to the frigate, Effingham. Circumstances prevented his departure in that vessel from the Del- aware, and at the head of a volunteer compam*, under the command of General Cadwalader, he assisted in some of the operations which resulted in the capture of the Hessians at Trenton, near the close of 1776. He was with the army during the succeeding Winter; and when, the next Autumn, the British took possession of Philadelphia, he went up the Delaware with the Effingham, and endeavored to save her, at the samo time indignantly refusing an offered bribe to employ her in the king's service. Ho greatly annoyed the British shipping in the Delaware, by secret night enterprises in small boats. In September, 1778, his sphere of usefulness was enlarged bj^ being appointed to the command of the Eah'igh, of thirty-two guns, in which he sailed from Boston. He fell in with a British fleet, and after a severe action of many hours, ho was compelled to run his vessel ashore, upon a barren island. He had terribly handled his antagonists, and but for the treachery of one of Ins men, he would have burned the Raleigh, and deprived the enemy of all advantage. A court-martial honorably acquitted him of all blame. Early in 1781, Captain Barry took command of the frigate Alliance, and in that vessel ho conveyed to L'Oricnt, Colonel John Laurens, a special ambassador to the court of France. In May he had an engagement with two English ves- 6cls, in which he was severely wounded. He was victorious, and his antag- 6 122 RICHARD GRIDLEY. onists became prizes. In the Autumn, Captain Barry conveyed La Fayette and Count Noailles to France, in the Alliance, and tlien he cruised successfully among the West India islands, until March, 1782, when he encountered a British squadron. His skill, coolness, and bravery, were eminently displayed in that engagement. He fought chietly in defence of the American sloop-of-war, Luzerne, which was conveying a large amount of specie. It was saved, and contributed to found the Bank of North America,' the first institution of the kind in the United States. After the close of the war. Captain Barry continued in the ser- vice, and he was efficient in protecting our commerce from the depredations of French vessels, when war between France and the United States commenced on the ocean, in 1797. Captain Barry died at PhUadelphia, on the 13th of September, 1803, at the age of fifty-eight years. RICHARD GRIDLEY. VERY few Americans directed their attention to military engineering, previous to the Revolution, and therefore those French engineers who ' profiered their services to the Continental Congress, were eagerly accepted and commis- sioned. At the opening of the war, near Boston, in 1775, Richard Gridley was the only efficient American engineer in the army. He was a native of Boston, where he was born in 1711. His brother, Jeremy, was the able attorney-general of Massachusetts, who defended the Writs of Assistance,2 and other government measures, against the patriotic attacks of James Otis, and his compatriots. We have no record of the early life of Richard. Ilis first appearance before posterity was as an engineer in the provincial army, sent to capture the strong fortress of Louisburg, on Cape Breton, in 1745. After that event, he entered the reg- ular army, and in 1755, he was lieutenant-colonel of infantry, and chief engineer. He accompanied General Winslow, in that capacit}', to Albany, in the Summer of 175G, preparatory to an expedition against Crown Point, on Lake Champlain. He proceeded to erect fortifications at the head of Lake George. The expedi- tion failed, through the tardiness of Lord Loudon. In 1758, Colonel Gridley served under General Amherst, and was with Wolfe, at Quebec. When the War for Independence began at Lexington and Concord, the patriotism and skill of Colonel Gridley caused his appointment of chief engineer of the army that soon gathered around Boston; and under his directions, all the fortifications erected during the Summer of 1775, and Winter of 1776, in that vicinity, were constructed. Up to that time he had received the half-pay of a British officer, and possessed Magdalen Island as a gift for his services under Wolfe. He was wounded in the battle on Breed's ["Bunker's"] Hill, yet not so as to disable him. In September, 1775, Congress gave him the commission of a major- general, and made him commander-in-chief of the Continental artillery, to which office Colonel Henry Knox succeeded in November following. After the British left Boston, in March, 1776, General Gridley was engaged in throwing up for- tifications at several points about the Harbor. He died at Stoughton, Massa- chusetts, on the 21st of June, 1796, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. 1. See sketch of Robert Morris. 2. (Jeneral search-warrants, whirh allowed the officers of the kinp: to break open any citizen's store or dwelling to search for contraband merchandise. It opened a way to many abuses, and the people violently opposed the measure. This was among the first of those governineut measures which drove the Americans into rebellion. THOMAS JEFFEHSON. 123 THOMAS JEFFERSON. THE only material memorials of the author of the Declaration of Independence, in our country, are a dilapidated granite obelisk over his neglected grave at Monticello;' a bronze statue in front of the President's House at "Washington city, erected by private muniticcnce ; a fine statue upon a monument to Wash- ington, erected by the State of Virginia, at Richmond, and a few busts. The nation has quarried no stone for his monument, nor is it requisite. The Dec- LAR.VTiov OF IVDEPENDEXCE, Written on parchment, and preserved in the mem- ory of generations, is a nobler monument than can be wrought from brass or marble. Tliomas Jefferson was bom at Shadwell, Albemarle county, Virginia, on the 13th of April, 174.3. He was of "Welsh descent. When his father died, his mother was left with Thomas and another son, and six little daughters. They 1. It Is within nn enelooofi fnmilv burial -frrriiind, just in the edpre of the forest which covers the western portion of Monticello. Visitors, with Vandal hand, have so broken ofT pieces of the obelisk, to carry away with them, that it now presents a sad appearance. To preserve the marble tablet, on which is the following inscription, written by Jefferson him.ielf, the present [1855J proprietor has removed it to his house : " Here lies buried. TnoMAS .Teffersov, .\uthor of (he Declaration of Anierican Independence; of the Statute of Virgiuia for Religious Freedom ; and Father of the University of Virginia." 124 THOMAS JEFFERSON". were blessed with a handsome estate, and that portion of it called Monticello (little mountain), near the then hamlet of Charlottesville, fell to Thomas when he reached his majority. He was a student in William and Mary College, at "Williamsburg, about two years, and then commenced the study of law with George "Wythe, afterward Chancellor of Virginia. While yet a student, in 17G5, he heard Patrick Henry's famous speech against the Stamp Act, and it lighted a flame of patriotism in young Jefferson's soul that burned brighter and brighter until the hour of fearless action arrived. In 17C7, he commenced the practice of law; and in 1769, he first appeared in public life as a member of the "V^'irginia Assembly. He was one of the most active workers in that bod}-, until called to more influential duties as member of the Continental Congress, in 1775. He was always remarkable for his ready pen ; and as a member of the committee of correspondence, and by pamphlets and newspaper paragraphs, from 1773, until the culmination of pubUc sentiment in the Declaration of Independence, he labored intensely and potentially.' "When Richard Henry Lee's resolution in favor of independence was under consideration, early in the Summer of 1776, and a committee of five were appointed to prepare a preamble in the form of a Declaration, Mr. Jefferson, the youngest of the committee, was chosen to make the draft, chiefly because of his facile use of tlie pen in elegant and appropriate expressions of sentiment. At his lodgings, in the house of Mrs. Clymer, in Phil- adelphia, that famous document was written, and after some modifications, it was adopted on the 4th of July, 1776. The author's name is appended to it, with fifty-five others. Soon afterward, Mr. Jeflerson resigned his seat in Con- gress, and became a leading actor in the civil events of the Revolution in Vir- ginia, from that time until the peace in 1783. He assisted in revising the laws of Virginia; and in June, 1779, he was elected governor of the State, as suc- cessor of Patrick Henry. From about the beginning of that year, until the close of 1780, the British and German troops, captured at Saratoga, v^-ere quartered in his vicinity, and he greatly endeared himself to them by his uniform kindness. During his administration, Arnold, the traitor, invaded Virginia, and Cornwallis and his active officers overran portions of the State along the James river, from Richmond to its mouth. The fiery Tarleton attempted the capture of Governor Jefferson, in June, 1781, and almost succeeded.^ It was a most trying tune for Virginia, and Jefferson, sagaciously perceiving that a military man was needed in the executive office, dechned a re-election, and was succeeded by General Nelson, of Yorktown. Mr. Jefferson now sought the retirement of private life, to indulge in the ge- nial pursuits of literature and science.^ He was not permitted to find happiness in repose there. His wife died, and his heart was terribly smitten. Then came a call from his countrymen to represent them abroad, and at the close of 1782, he departed for Philadelphia, to sail for France, to assist the American com- missioners in their negotiations for peace with England. Intelligence of the accomplishment of that duty reached him before his departure, and he returned home. He was at Annapolis when "Washington resigned liis commission, in December, 1783, and the Address of President Mifflin to the chief was from Mr. Jeflerson's pen. In 1784, he went to France, as associate diplomatist with Franklin and Adams, and the same year he wrote his essay on a money-unit, to which we are mainly indebted for our convenient coins. He succeeded Dr. Franklin as minister at the French court, in 1785 ; and on his return to America, 1. His pamphlet entitled " A Suih-east i^rom Uurlinpton. 3. The .*!tate of New York claimed jurisdiction over the present territory of Vermont, then known as the New Hampshire (Jrants, and a very warm dispute arose. Hloodshed was often threatened, bnt the matter was Qually settled by a purchase of the claims of New York for $30,U00. 126 PATRICK HENRY. He was one of the committee who drafted a declaration of the independence of Vermont,' adopted on the 15th of January, 1777. He also assisted in the for- mation of a State constitution, in July, 1777, and was elected the first governor under it. That office he held until his death, with the exception of one j-ear. "When, in 1780, the British authorities in Canada supposed the people of Ver- mont to be royally inclined (because they would not join the confederation of States), and appointed a commission to confer with the dissatisfied colonists, Governor Chittenden was chosen one of the committee on the part of the Ver- mont people. That whole matter was so adroitly managed b}' Chittenden, Allen, and others, for three years, that the authorities of both Canada and the United States were deceived. They thus secured Vermont from easy British invasion until peace was sure, when that State became a member of the great confederacy. The course of the Vermont leaders, though highly patriotic, was regarded with suspicion, until the mask was removed. At the close of the war. Governor Chittenden returned to Williston, with his fimily, where he passed the remain- der of his days. He resigned the office of governor in the Summer of 1797, and on the 25th of August, of that year, he died, in the sixty-ninth year of Ms age. PATRICK HENRY. " f^ IVE me Liberty, or give me Death !" were the burning words which fell \J from the lips of Patrick Henry, at the beginning of the War for Independ- ence, and aroused the Continent to more vigorous and united action.^ He wag the son of a Virginia planter in Hanover county, and was born on the 29th of May, 1736. At the age often years he was taken from school, and commenced the study of Latin in his father's house. He had some taste for mathematics, but a love of idleness, as manifested by his frequent hunting and fishing excur- sions, for sport, and utter aversion to mental labor, gave prophecies of a useless life. At twenty-one years of age, he engaged in trade, but neglect of business soon brought bankruptcy. He had married at eighteen, and passed most of his time in idleness at the tavern of his fother-in-law, in Hanover, where he often served customers at the bar. As a last resort, he studied law diligently for six weeks, obtained a license to practice, but he was twentj'-seven years of age be- fore he was known to himself or others, except as a lazy pettifogger. Tlien he was emplo3'ed in the celebrated Parsons' cause,^ and in the old Hanover court- house, with his fither on tlie bench as judge, and more than twenty of the most learned men in the colony before him, his genius as an orator and advocate beamed forth in that awful splendor, so eloquently described by "Wirt. From that period he rose rapidly to the head of his profession. In 1764, he made Louisa covuity his residence, and his fame was greatly heightened by a noble defence of the riglit of suffrage, which, as a lawyer, he made before the House of Burgesses, that year. In 1765, he was elected to a seat in that house, and during that memorable session, he made his great speech against the Stamp 1. Partly owing to the troubles with New York, Vermont wonld not join the confederacy in 1777, but, at a convention at Westminster, it was declared an independent State. It was admitted into the Union in February, 1791. 2. In the Virginia convention, held in St. .John's church at Richmond, in March, 1775. It was one of the most powerful speeches ever made by the Rreat orator, and ended with the words quoted above. They were afterward placed on flags, and adopted as a motto under many circumstances. 3. This W.1S a contest between the clergy and the State legislature, on the question of an annual stipend claimed bv the former. A decision of the court had left nothing undetermined hut the amount of damage. Henrv's eloquence electrified judge, jury, and people. The jury brought in a verdict of one pemvj rtnmnges'. and the people took Henry upon their shoulders, and carried him in triumph about the court-house yard. PATRICK HEXRY. 127 Act.' In 1769, he was admitted to the bar of the general court, and was recog- nized as a leader, in legal and iwhtical matters, until the Revolution broke out. lie was a member of the first Continental Congress, in 1774, and gave the first impulse to its business;'^ and when, in 1775, Governor Dunmore attempted to rob the colony of gunpowder, hy having it conveyed on board a British war-vessel, Patrick Henry, at the head of resolute armed patriots, compelled him to pay its value in money. In 177G, IIenr\' was elected the first republican governor of Virginia, and was reelected three successive years, when he was succeeded by Thomas Jeflerson. During the whole struggle, he was one of the most efficient public officers of the State; and in 178-1, he was again chosen governor. Patrick Henry was a consistent advocate of State Rights, and was ever jealous of any infrmgoment upon them. For that reason, he was opposed to the Fed- 1. He hnd introduced efore the council, to answer. The bold printer refused com- 150 RUFUS KING. rule in Boston, in 1775, Thomas took his establishment to Worcester, and four- teen days after the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, he commenced the publication of the S2n/, there. He continued in Worcester after the war, and was blessed with prosperity. He formed a partnership, in 1788, and opened a printing-house and book-store in Boston, under the firm of Thomas and Andrews. They planted similar establishments in other places, to the number of eight ; and in 1791, they published a fine folio edition of the Bible. By industry and economy, Thomas amassed a handsome fortune, and was an honored citizen of his adopted town. He was one of the principal founders of the Antiquarian Society at Worcester, and was its president and chief patron. In 1810, he printed and published his Hislory of Printing in America, in two octavo volumes, which has ever been a standard work on the subject. He lived more than twenty years afterward, the Patriarch of the Press. His death occurred at Worcester on the 4th of April, 1831, when he was eighty -two years of age. RUFUS KINO. ALMOST every young man of talent, at the commencement of the War for Independence, engaged in the public service, civil or military, and often- times in both. Young men of every profession and from every class became soldiers, as volunteers or levies, or took part in the public councils. These were schools of the highest practical importance to those who were to be par- ticipants in the founding of the new republican confederation. Among the worthiest and most active of these, was Rufus King, son of an eminent merchant of Scarborough, Maine. He was born in the year 1755, and received a good pre- paratory education under Samuel Moody, of Byfield. He entered Harvard College, in 1773, and remained there untU the students were dispersed when the American army gathered arouncl Boston. Young Kin^ resumed classical studies with his old teacher in the Autumn of 1775. He returned to college in 1777, and was graduated with great reputation as a classical scholar and expert orator. He studied law under Judge Parsons, at Newburyport, after having served as aid to General Glover, for a short time, in Sullivan's expedition against the British on Rhode Island, in the Summer of 1778. In 1780, he was admitted to the bar, and his first effort, as a pleader, was as adverse counsel to his eminent law- tutor. It was an effort of great power, and opened at once the high road to proud distinction in his profession. The people appreciated his talent ; and in 1784, he was elected to a seat in the legislature of Massachusetts. He was chosen a representative of Massachusetts, in Congress, the same year ; and in 1785, ho introduced a resolution, in that body, to prohibit slavery in the terri- tories north-west of the Ohio river. In 1787, he was chosen a delegate to the Federal Convention, and there he was one of the most efficient and zealous friends of the constitution framed by that body. In the Massachusetts conven- tion called to consider that instrument, he nobly advocated its high claims to support. He soon afterward made New York city his residence, for there he had married Miss Alsop, daughter of one of the delegates in the first Continental Congress; and there was a wider field for his extraordinary mental powers. He was chosen a member of the State Legislature, in 1789, and in the Summer pliance ; and the attorney-general tried, but in vain, to have him indicted by the grand jury. Such resistance was made to these measures, that the goverument at length deemed it prudent to ceaee efforts lo silence his seditious voice. RUFUS KING. lol of that year, he and General Schuyler were elected the first senators in Congress, from New York. On the promulgation of the treaty made by Jay, with the British government, in 1794, there was mucli excitement, and King and Hamil- ton warmly defended it^ in a series of papers signed Camillus, all of which, ex- cept the first ten, were written bj- the former. In the United States Senate, he ■was one of the most brilliant of its orators, and his influence was everywhere potential In the Spring of 1796, President "Washington appointed Mr. King minister plenipotentiary to Great Britain, where he continued to repre.sent his country with great dignity and ability during the whole of Mr. Adams' administration, and the first two years of Mr. Jefferson's. During his sojourn in London, he successfully adjusted many difficuUies between his own government and that of Great Britain, and he jiossessed the warmest personal esteem of the first men in Europe. Afrer his rctuni liome, in 1S03, lie retired to his farm, on Long Island, and remained in comparative repose until aroused to action by the events im- mediately preceding the war declared in 1812. While at the court of Great Britain, lie had made unwearied eflbrts to induce that government to abandon its unjust and ofTensivo system of impressing seamen into the naval service, and he took an active part ia public affairs during the first year of the war. He was 152 HENRY LEE. elected to the United States Senate, for six years, in 1813, and in 1820, he waa reelected for the same length of time. Hoping to be useful to his country in the adjustment of some foreign relations, Mr. King accepted the appointment of minister to Great Britain, from Mr. Adams, in 1825, and took up his residence in London. Severe illness during the voyage disabled him for active duties, and after being absent about a year, he returned home. His health gradually faOed, and on the 29th of April, 1827, he died at his seat, near Jamaica, Long Island, at the age of seventy-two years. HENRY LEE, THE right arm of the Southern army, under General Greene, was the legion of lieutenant-colonel Henry Lee, and its commander was one of the most useful officers throughout the war. He was born in Virginia, on the 29th of January, 1756. His early education was intrusted to a private tutor under his father s roof, and his collegiate studies were at Princeton, under the guidance of the patriotic Dr. Witherspoon. There he was graduated in 1774; and two years afterward, when only twenty years of age, he was appointed, on the nom- ination of Patrick Henry, to the command of one of the six companies of cavalry raised by his native State for the Continental service. These were at first under the general command of the accomphshed Colonel Theodoric Bland.' In 1777, Lee's corps was placed under the immediate command of Washington, and it soon acquired a high character for discipline and bravery. Its leader was pro- moted to major, with the command of a separate corps of cavalry; and with this legion he performed many daring exploits. In July, 1779, he captured a British fort, at Paulus's Hook (now Jersey City), for which Congress gave him thanks and a gold medal. He was at Tappan when Andre was tried and con- demned, in the Autumn of 1780; and from his corps Washington selected the brave Sergeant Champe to attempt the seizure of Arnold, in New York, so as to punish the really guilty, and let the involuntary spy go free.2 Lee was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, in November, 1780, and early in 1781, he joined the army under Greene, in the Carolinas. In connection with Marion, and other Southern partisans, he performed efficient service for many months, in the region of the Santee and its tributaries. He was active in Greene's famous retreat before Cornwallis, from the Yadkin to tlie Virginia shores of the Dan, and in the battles at Guilford, Augusta, Ninety-Six, and Eutaw Springs, the services of his legion were of vast importance, for Lee was always in the front of success as well as of danger. Soon after the latter battle, he left the field, returned to Virginia, and married a daughter of Philip Ludwell Lee, of Stratford. He bore to civil life the assurance of his Southern commander, that his services had been greater than those of any one man attached to the army. Mr. Lee resided with his father-in-law, and in 1786, was elected to a seat in 1. He was a native of Virginia, qualified himself for the practice of medicine, hut cast it aside for the duties of a soldier, when the war broke out. He performed many brilliant services with his corps of dragoons, and he was in command of the British and German captives, taken at Saratoga, while on their march to, and residence in Virginia. In 1780, he was elected to a seat in Congress. He was op- posed to the Federal Constitution, but acquiesced in the will of the majority, and represented his district in the Federal Congress. He died at New York, in June, 1790, while attending a session of Congress, at tlie age of forty-eight years. 2. Washington was anxious to save Andre, and made great efforts to secure the person of Arnold. Sergeant Champe went to the British in New York, as a deserter, enlisted in Arnold's corps, and just as his scheme for seizing the traitor and conveying him across the Hudson, on a dark night, was per- fected, that corps embarked for Virginia, with Champe. He afterward deserted, and joined Lee's legioo in North Carolina. JOHN- RUTLEDGE. 153 the Continental Congress, where lie served his constituency faithfully until the adoption of the Federal Constitution. In 1701, he succeeded Beverly Randolph as governor of Virginia, and held that office three consecutive years. When, ia 1794, resistance to excise laws was made in Western Pennsylvania, and the speck of civil war, known as The Whiskey Insurrection, ai)peared, Washington appointed Governor Leo to the command of the troops sent to quell the rebellion. lie performed his duty well, but made many bitter enemies among the con- temners of the law. In 1799, he was a member of the Federal Congress, and was chosen by that body to pronounce a funeral oration, on the death of Wash- ington, in the hall of the House of Representatives. He retired to private life, in 1801, and for many years was much annoyed by pecuniary embarrassments. It was while restrained within the limits of Spottsylvania county, by his creditors, in 1809, that he wrote his interesting jUewotVi' of the War in the Southern Depart- ment of the United States. He was active in attempts to quell a political mob, in Baltimore, in 1814, and was so severely wounded, that he never recovered. Towards the close of 1817, he went to the West Indies, for his health, but found no sensible relief. On his return the following Spring, he stopped to visit a daughter of General Greene, on Cumberland Island, on the coast of Georgia, and there he expired on the 25th of March, 1818, at the age of sixty-two years. JOHN KUT I. EDGE. LIKE Governor Trumbull in New England, John Rutledge was the soul of patriotic activity in South Carolina, during the darkest period of the Revo- lution, whether in civil authority or as general director of military movements. lie was a native of Ireland, and came to America with his father. Doctor John Rutledge, in 1735. After receiving the best education that could be obtained in Charleston, he went to London, and prepared for the profession of the law, at the Temple.' In 1761, he returned to Charleston, became an active and highly esteemed member of his profession, and stood shoulder to shoulder with Gadsden, ■ Laurens, and others, in defence of popular rights. He was chosen one of the representatives of his adoj)ted State, in the first Continental Congres.s, with his brother, Edward, as one of his colleagues. When, in the Spring of 1776, the civil government of South Carolina was revised, and a temporary State Consti- tution was framed, Rutledge was appointed president of the State, and com- mander-in-chief of its military. Under his efficient administration, Charleston was prepared for the attack made in June, by Clinton and Parker, and the enemy was repulsed. His patriotism was never doubted, yet, like many others of the aristocracy, he had not entire faith in tlie Avisdom and integrity of the people. When, therefore, in 1778, a permanent constitution for South Carolina was adopted, ho refused his assent, because he thought it too democratic. His preju- dice yielded, however, and in 1779, he was chosen governor under it, and was invested with temporary dictatorial powers by the legislature. He took the field at the head of the militia, and managed both civil and military affairs with great skill and energy, until after tlie fall of Charleston, in 1780.2 When Greene, aided by the southern partisan leaders, drove the British from the interior, to 1. This was the most celebrated place for law students in London. The buildirp or biiiMinps were so called, because they formerly belonged to the Knights Templars. They are designated as the Inner and the Middle Temple. The orifjinal Temple-hall, or house of the Templars, was erected in 1572 ; and Templcbar waa built just one hundred years afterward. 2. Charleston was besieeed in the Spring of I'Ht), by a combined land and naval force, under General Sir Henry t'linton and Admiral Arbuthnot. It was defended by Lincoln, "With a feeble force, fornearly three months. On the 12th of May, 1780, it was surrendered to the British. 7* 154 JOHN LANGDON. the sea-board, in 1781, Rutledge convened a legislative assembly at Jackson- borough, and thoroughly re-established civil government. After the war he was made judge of the Court of Chancery. He was a member of the convention that framed the constitution of the United States; and in 1789, \^s elevated to the bench of the Supreme Court of the Republic, as associate justice. He was appointed chief justice of South Carolina, in 1791; and in 1796, he was called to the duties of chief justice of the United States. In every official station he displayed equal energy and sterling integrity ; and while yet bearing the robea of the highest judicial office in the Republic, he was summoned from earth. His death occurred in July, 1800, when he was about seventy years of age. JOHN LANODON. "T/'OUR head will be a button for a gallows rope," said Secretary Atkinson to X young John Langdon, toward the close of 1774, after he and others, among whom was the future General Sullivan, had seized the fort at Portsmouth, and carried off a hundred barrels of powder, and a quantity of small arms, before Governor Wentworth oven suspected such a daring enterprise." That brave hero and future statesman was born in the town of Portsmouth, New Hamp- shire, in 1740. He was educated at a public grammar school, prepared himself for mercantile life, and prosecuted business upon the sea until the great ocean of public feeling began to be agitated by the tempest of the Revolution. Then he espoused the republican cause, and his first overt act of rebellion and treason was the seizure of the powder and arms, above alluded to. In January, 1775, he was chosen a delegate to the Continental Congress. There he remained until 1776, when affairs in his own State demanded his presence there. He also served as a volunteer in some military expeditions. In 1777, he was Speaker of the New Hampshire Assembly ; and when Burgoyne was approaching the Hudson with his invading army, and the whole North and East were in com- motion, Langdon offered to loan the State three thousand hard dollars, and the avails of his silver plate and some "West India goods, to equip men for the army under Gates, remarking that if the American cause should triumph, he would get his pay, if not, his property would be of no value to him. He did more, for, with many members of the New Hampshire legislature, he served as a volunteer in the battles at Saratoga, which resulted in the capture of Burgoyne. Mr. Langdon was president of the New Hampshire convention that framed the State Constitution, in 1779; and tlie same 3^ear he was appointed Continental agent to contract for building some ships for the service of Congress. He was again elected to a seat in Congress, in 1783, and in March, 1785, he was chosen chief magistrate of his native State. He represented New Hampshire (with Nicholas GiliAan) in the convention which framed the Federal Constitution, was its zeal- ous supporter, and after serving another term as governor, or president of his State, was chosen to a seat in the United States Senate, where he served about ten years. He was afterward an active member of the State Legislature, and was governor of the State almost four years. He retired into private life, in 1812, whither he carried the most profound respect of his countrymen. That venerable patriot died at his birth-j^lace, on the 18th of September," 1819, at the age of seventy-eight years. 1. Atkinson was Langdon's personal friend, and was in earnest. The crowd present assured Lanprdon that they would protect him at all hazards. Atkinson advised him to flee from the country, but the young patriot remained, and iu all the trying sceues that soon followed he was nobly sustained by his fellow-citizens. ROBERT FULTON. 155 ROBEllT FUI.TON. THE genius of Fulton was of no ordinary mold. It began to unfold in less tlian ten years after his birth, which occurred at Little Britain, Lancaster county, Penns3'lvania, in 1765. His parents were industrious and virtuous natives of Ireland, in easy but not affluent circumstances, and Protestants in religious faith. His early education was meagre, but application in after life supplied all deficiencies. At the ago of seventeen years he was painting land- scapes and portraits in Philadelpliia, and educating his mechanical faculties by observations in the workshops of tliat capitol. Pleased with his love of art, his friends sent him to London, at the ago of twenty-one years, to receive instruc- tion in painting, from the eminent l^enjamin West. He formed one of that artist's family for several years ; and then, for a season, he resided in Devon- shire, and enjoyed the society of the Duke of Bridgewater and Earl of Stanhope,' whose tastes for mechanics developed and encouraged those of Fulton. Internal navigation by canals, and improvements in machinery, now engrossed his attention, and having heard of Fitch's experiments in the application of 1. Stnnhope was the inventor of the printing press, known b? his name, and which was in general ose until succeeded by the invention of Andrew Ramage. 156 HUGH WILLIAMSON". steam to the propulsion of boats, a new and glorious vision filled his mind with its splendors. He abandoned the profession of a painter, and became a civil engineer. In the Summer of 1797, he entered the family of Joel Barlow, in Paris, and there, for seven years, he assiduously pursued the study of the nat- ural sciences and of modern languages. There he became acquainted with tho wealthy and influential Robert R. Livingston. That gentleman fired tlie zeal of Fulton, by representing the immense advantages to be derived from the usq of steam in navigating the inland waters of the United States. Wealth, talent, and genius joined hands, and Fulton and Livingston navigated the Seine, by q steam-boat, in 1803. They came to America, and in 1807, the steamer Cler^ mont, Fulton's experiment boat, made a voyage from New York to Albany, one hundred and fifty miles, in thirty-six hours, against wind and tide 1 His triumph was complete and his fame was secured. Fulton received his first patent in 1809, and for several years he was engage(} in the perfection of steam-boat machinery, and in the improvement and con- struction of submarine explosive machines, called Torpedoes, to be used for l:ilow< ing up vessels of war. He was successful in the construction of submarine batteries; and his great heart was delighted, in 1814, by the appropriation by Congress of three hundred and twenty thousand dollars, for the construction of a steam ship-of-war, under his directions. The Fulton was launched in July of that year; and he who saw in her another triumph of his own genius and skill, was marching onward in the pathway of renovra to great emoluments, when he. was suddenly laid in the grave. He died on the 24th of February, 1815, at tha age of fifty years. Six steam-boats were then afloat on the Hudson, and tho honor of first crossing the ocean by steam power was just within his grasp, for he was building a vessel, designed for a voyage to St. Petersburg, in Russia. HUGH WILLIAMSON. ONE of the most distinguished of the adopted sons of North Carolina, both for his intellectual acquirements, and his varied pubhc services, was Hugh Williamson, a native of Nottingham, Pennsylvania, where he was born on the 5th of December, 1735, the eldest of ten children. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was graduated in 1757, and then prepared himself for the gospel ministry. He was licensed to preach, but ill health com- pelled him to abandon that vocation, and in 1760, he was appointed Professor of Mathematics, in the institution where he was educated. He resigned his professorship in 1764, and went to Edinburgh to study the science of medicine. He pursued the same studies, for awhile, at Utrecht; and in 1772, he returned to Philadelphia, and commenced the successful practice of his profession. He took much interest in tho subject of popular education, and near the close of 1773, he sailed from Boston for England, with Dr. Ewing, to solicit aid for an academy at Newark, in Delaware. The vessel in which they sailed conveyed the first intelligence to Europe of the destruction of tea in Boston Harbor. As Dr. WilUamson saw the occurrence, he was summoned before the Privy Council, in February, 1774, to give information on the subject. He gave a lucid account of the public feehng in America, and assured the Council that a persistance in enforcing parliamentary measures offensive to the colonists, would result in civil war. Soon after this he went to Holland and the Low Countries, and re- mained on the Continent untQ intelligence of the Declaration of Independence RICHARD MONTGOMERY. 157 by the Continental Congress reached him, when ho sailed for America. Oft' tho capes of the Delaware the vessel ■\vas captured by a British cruiser, but Dr. Wil- liamson escaped in an open boat, witli some important despatches. In 1777, Dr. WiUiamsou went to Charleston, and with a younger brother engaged in mercantile speculations. To avoid capture, he ordered his vessel, ■which lie liad laden with merchandise for Baltimore, to proceed to Edenton, North Carolina, where ho disposed of tho cargo, and settled as a practising physician. Tho following year, ho served as surgeon under Colonel Richard Caswell, and was at tho head of tho medical staff of that oflicer in tho disastrous battle at Camden, in August, 1780. lie was permitted to attend his wounded countrymen within tho Britisli lines, and was instrumental in relieving much suffering. Ho resumed his profession, at Edenton, when peace was promised; and in 1782, ho represented that district in the North Carolina legislature. Ho was elected to Congress, in 1784, where he represented his adopted State for three years; and in 1787, ho was a member of the convention tliat framed tho Federal Constitution. That instrument was not regarded with favor, in North Carolina, and because of his zealous advocacy of it. Dr. VilUamson lost much of his popularity, for awhile. Tho cloud soon passed away, and from 1790 until 1792, he represented the Edenton district in the Federal Congress. He then retired to private lite, and devoted himself to lAcrary pursuits, making the city of New York, (where ho married his wife in 1789), his jjlaco of residence. His most important production was a History of North Carolina, in two volumes, published in 1812. Two 3-ears afterward, lie was associated with Dewitt Clinton in ■establishing the Literary and Pliilosophical Society of New York ; and ho was active in social life until the last. Dr. Williamson died suddenly, while taking an evening ride, on tho 22d of Maj--, 1819, at the age of eighty -four years. RICHAUD MONTGOMERY. IN September, 1759, the accomplished General Wolfe perished in the arms of victory on the Plains of Abraham, at Quebec, at the early age of thirty -two years. Near him, when he fell, was a handsome young soldier, ten years his junior, who, a little more than sixteen years later, was the commanding general iu a siogo of the same city, and also perished in the midst of his troops. That young soldier was Richard Montgomery, who was born in the north of Ireland, in 1736, and entered the British army at tho ago of twenty years. After the con- quest of Canada, ho was in the campaign against Havana, under General Lyman ; and at the peace in 1763, he took up his residence in New York. He finally left his regiment, returned to England, and made unsuccessful attempts to purchase a majority. He sold his commission in 1772, came to America, and purchased a beautiful estate on the Hudson, in Dutchess county, New York. He soon after- ward married a daughter of Robert Livingston. It was a happy union, but those dreams of long years of domestic peace were soon disturbed by the gather- ing tempest of the Revolution. Montgomery, with all the ardor of the people of his birth-land, espoused tho patriot cause, joined the army under General Schu3'ler, destined for the invasion of Canada, and was second in command, in the Autumn of 1775, bearing the commission of a brigadier. Illness of the chief devolved the whole duty of leadership upon Montgomery, and he went on suc- cessfully until St. John, Chambly, and Montreal, were in his power. Congress gave him the commission of major-general, and amid the snows of December, ho pressed forward to join Arnold in an assault upon Quebec. For three weeks ho 158 JOSEPH BRANT. besieged that city; and early on the morning of the 31st of December, while snow was fost falling, an attempt was made to take the town by storm. Mont- gomery was killed while leading a division along the shores of the St. Lawrence, beneath the j^recipitous Cape Diamond. Arnold was also wounded at another point of attack, and the great oliject of the expedition failed. For forty years the remains of Montgomery rested within the walls of Quebec. At the request of his Avidow, in 1818, they were disinterred, conveyed to New York, and placed beneath a mural monument, erected by order of Congress, on the external wall of the front of St. Paul's church, in that city. Millions of people, passing along Broadway, have looked upon that monument, the memorial of one whose praises were spoken in Parliament by the great Chatham and Burke, and of whom Lord North said, " Curse on his virtues ; they have undone his country." He was in the fortieth year of his age when he fell.' JOSEPH BRANT. THAYENDANEGEA, one of the most renowned of the warriors of the Six Nations of Indians in the State of New York, was a Mohawk of the pure native blood. His fether was an Onondaga chiefj and Thayendanegea (which si"-nifies a bundle of sticks, or strength), was born on the banks of tiie Oliio, in 1742. There his father died, and his mother returned to the Mohawk Yalley wdth her two children — this son, and a sister who became a concubine of Sir "William Johnson. Slie married a Moliawk, whooi tlie white people called Barent, which, in abbreviation, was pronounced Brant. Sir William Johnson placed the boy in Dr. Wheelock's school, at Lebanon, in Connecticut, where he was named Joseph, and was educated for the Christian ministry among his own people. Sir William employed him as secretary and agent in public aflairs, with the Indians, and his missionary labors never extended much bej^ond the services of an in- terpreter for Mr. Kirkland and others. He was much employed in tliat business from 1762 to 1765. Under the stronger influence of Johnson and his family, Brant resisted the importunities of Mr. Kirkland to remain neutral when the war of the Revolution approached, and he took an active part with the British and Tories. In 1775, he left the Mohawk Valley, went to Canada, and finally to England, where he attracted great attention, and found free access to the nobility. The Earl of Warwick caused Romney, the eminent painter, to make a portrait of him, for his collection, from which the prints of the great chief have been made. Throughout the Revolution, he was engaged in predatory ■warfare, chiefly on the border settlements of New York and Pennsylvania, with the Johnsons and Butlers ; and he was generally known as Captain Brant, though he held a colonel's commission, from the king. Brant again visited England, in 1783, to make arrangements for the benefit of the Mohawks, who had left their ancient country, and had settled on the Grand River, west of Lake Ontario, in Upper Canada. The territory given them by the government embraced six miles on both sides of the river from its mouth to its source. There Brant was the head of the nation until his death. He translated a part of the New Testa- ment into the Mohawk language, and labored much for the spiritual and tem- poral welfare of his ruined people. There he died on the 24th of November, 1807, at the age of sixty-five years. One of his sons was a British officer on the Niagara frontier, in the war of 1812 ; and a daughter married W. J. Kerr, Esq., of Niagara, in 1824. 1. The inscription on his monument says that he was thirty-seven years old. This is a mistake. JOHN" HANCOCK. 159 JOHN HANCOCK. EVERT American reader is familiar with the name and the bold, clerkly sig- nature of the president of the Continental Congress, in 1776.' "With a hand as firm as his lieart, he affixed that signature to the Declaration of Independence, Baying, "The Britisli ministry can read that name without spectacles; let them double tlicir reward."- lie was born at Braintree, Massachusetts, in 1737, and at an early age was left to the care of a paternal uncle, a wealthy merchant of Boston, who cherislied his future heir with great affection. At a proper age, John was placed in Harvard College, where he Avas graduated in 1754, when only seventeen years old. He then entered his uncle's counting-room as clerk; and such was his integrity and capacity, that in 1701, he was sent to England on a business mission. There ho saw the coronation of George the Third, and 1. The fftc-similc above given is a third smaller than the original. It was reduced to accommodate it to the puce. 2. This was in referenoe to a large reward that had been offered for the apprehension of John Hancock and Samuel Adums, early in ITTS, they being considered arch-rebels. 160 JOHN HANCOCK. became acquainted with some of the leading men in London. When he was twenty-six years of age, his uncle died, and loft him a largo fortune — the largest in New England — and he became not only one of the most eminent of tlie Boston merchants, but a leader in the best society of Massachusetts. Fond of popularity and the excitements of public life, ho entered the arena of politics, and became a leader of the republican party in New England. lie represented Boston in the General Assembly, in 1T6G, and was much esteemed by those noble col- leagues, Otis, Gushing, and the Adamses. He stood shoulder to shoulder with those patriots in resistance to the obnoxious measures of parliament, which suc- ceeded the Stami? Act;' and one of the earliest of the popular outbreaks in Boston was in consequence of the seizure of one of Mr. Hancock's vessels by the officers of the customs.'^ He was an abettor of the tea-riot, in 1773; and in March fijllowing, he boldly delivered the annual oration, in commemoration of the "Boston massacre."^ The same year he was chosen president of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, and also a delegate to the Conti- nental Congress_, which convened in Philadelphia, in September. He was a member of that body the following year, and on the resignation of its president, Peyton Randolph, Mr. Hancock was chosen to fill that exalted seat. He performed his arduous duties with dignity and fidelity; and when, in July, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted, it was sent forth to the world with the names of only President Hancock and Secretary Thomson attached.* Mr. Hancock's health became impaired, in 1777, by the ravages of gout, a disease hereditary in the family, and he resigned his seat in Congress, and re- turned home, with a hope and desire for happiness in the repose of domestic life.'' But his fellow-citizens soon sought his aid in tlie preparation of a constitu- tion for the new republican State of Massachusetts. Ho assisted them with cheerfulness, and he was honored by an election to the chief magistracy of the commonwealth under its new organization. He held the office IJve con- secutive years, and then declined a reelection. In 1787, lie was again elected governor, and held that position, by the annual choice of the people, until his death, which occurred on the 8th of October, 1793, at the age of fifty-six j'ears. From the first appearance of Mr. Hancock in public life, until his death, a period of about thirty years, no man was more popular in New England. He did not possess extraordinary talent, but was endowed with great tact, a clear percep- tion of human character and the secret of its control, and made a liberal and judicious use of his large fortune in acts of benevolence, and for public good. He was beloved by all his cotemporaries for his courtesy and kindness of heart, and his enemies were only those who foolishly allowed political differences to engender ill-will in their own hearts. 1. In 1767, Mr. Hancock was elected a raember of the executive council, but the govprnor rejected him. He was again and again elected, and as often rejected. At last the governor, who knew his character well, and feared his popularity, admitted him to a seat. Previous to his first election to the council, the governor, hoping to win him to the cause of the crown, presented him wiih a lieutenant's commission. Mr. Hancock perceived the bribe in the proffered honor, and tore up the commission in the presence of the people. 2. His sloop Liberty was seized by the officers of customs, under a charge of concealing contraband goods. The people turned out, beat the officers, burned the government boat, and drove the oflieials to the fort in the harbor, for safety. 3. See notes on pages 59 and 87. For several years a public oration was pronounced on the anniversary of the event alluded to. 4. The other signatures were attached to the document on the 2d of August following, when the Dec- laration was duly engrossed on parchment. 5. When, in 1778, General Sullivan prepared to attack the British on Rhode Island, and called upon the New Kngland militia for aid, Mr. Hancock took the field, for a short time, as commander of those of his own State. He was a participator iu the stirring events near Bristol Ferry, at the northern end of Bhode Island, iu August, 177!^- HENRY LAURENS. 161 HKNRY LAURENS. THE doscondants of the Huguenots, or French Protestant refugees, who fled to America toward the close of the seventeenth century, were all faithful to the princij)les of their ancestors when the "War forlndependence was kindling, and almost to a man were found on the side of the republicans. Of these, Henry Laurens, of South Carolina, was one of the most active and uncompromis- ing patriots of that period. He was born in Charleston, in 1724, became a suc- cessful merchant, and in 1770, retired from business with a large fortune. He had already taken part in tlio political movements in the province, and when he went to England, in 1771, for the pleasure of change, ho there heartily espoused the patriot cause, in the disputes then growing warmer and warmer. He even justilied the people of Boston, in tlie destruction of the tea, in 1773, for he per- sisted in regarding it in its political aspect only ; and in the British metropolis he waa looked upon as a rebel, though he had not yet committed an overt act of rebellion. Mr. Laurens returned to Charleston, in 1774, and presided over the first Provincial Congress, held in that city in January, 1775. When the Congress appointed a council of safety to act in its stead, Mr. Laurens was chosen president of that body. It was an office equivalent to that of governor, and consequently ho may bo regarded as the first republican chief magistrate of South Carolina. When a temporary con.stitution for the new State was framed in 1776, he was made vice-president under it; and the following year he was elected to a seat in the Continental Congress. He was chosen its president, in November, 1777, but resigned the office in December, 1778. In 1779, Congress appointed him minister plenipotentiary to Holland, to negotiate a commercial treaty with that power, but he did not sail for Europe until the Summer of 1780. The vessel that conveyed him was captured by a British frigate. Mr. Laurens cast his papers into the sea, but as they did not sink immediately, they were recovered, and disclosed the fact that Holland had already been in secret nego- tiation with the revolted colonies. That discovery led to a declaration of war by Great Britain against Holland. Laurens was taken to London, and imprisoned in the Tower about fourteen months, under a charge of high treason. For some time he was not allowed the solace of conversation, books, pen, ink, paper, or the receipt of letters. That rigor was abated, yet his confinement made terrible inroads upon his constitution. At length public sentiment expressed its dis- pleasure because of his treatment, and the ministry, fearing retaliation on the part of the Americans, desired an excuse to release him. One of his friends was instructed to say, that he should be pardoned, if he would write a note to Lord North, and express his sorrow for what he had done. "Pardon!" exclaimed Laurens indignantly. " I have done nothing to require a pardon, and I will never subscribe to my own infomy and the dishonor of my children." He could never be induced to make the least concessions ; and finally, when public clamor for his release became too vehement to be longer disregarded, the ministry had him admitted to bail' on security procured by themselves, and he was discharged 1. In that ceremony, when the words of the recognizance, "Our Sovereign Lord the Kinp," were resd, Mr. Laurens immediately said, " Not my sovereign I" On another occasion, when he was requested to write to his son, John, then on a mission tci France, nr.d advise him to leave that country, Mr. Laurens replied, " .Mv son is of age, and has a will of his own ; if I should write to him in the terms you request, it would have no effect, he would only conclude that confinement and persuasion had softened me. I know him to be a man of honor. He loves me dearly, and would lay down his life to save mine ; hut I am sure he would not sacrifice his honor to save mine, and I applaud him." That son was worthy of such a father. He was sent to France to solicit a loan. He was assured by Vergennes, the French mmister, that his king had every disposition to favor the Americans. Young Laurens withdrew to the opposite «ide of the room, and said, with emphasis, " Fntor, sir 1 The respect which I owe to my country will not admit the term. Say that the obligation is mutual, and I cheerfully subscribe to the obligation. But as the last arf^ument I shall offer to your excellency, the sword which I now wear in defence of 11 162 JAMES OTIS. before the allotted time of trial. Lord Shelburne was then premier, and he solicited Mr. Laurens to remain in Europe, and assist in the pending negotiations for peace. Laurens complied; and in November, 1782, he signed the prelimin- ary treaty between the United States and Great Britain. Soon after that event, he returned home, suSering much from the effects of his rigorous confinement. His constitution was shattered beyond recovery, and he steadily refused the honors of official station frequently offered him by his grateful countrymen. His health gradually failed, and on the 8th of December, 1792, he expired, when almost sixty-nine years of age. The following remarkable injunction, expressed in his Will, was literally complied with : " I solemnly enjoin it on my son, as an indispensable duty, that as soon as he conveniently can after my decease, he cause my body to be wrapped in twelve yards of tow-cloth, and burnt until it be entirely consumed, and then, collecting my bones, deposit them wherever he he may think proper." JAMES OTIS, " ATIS was a flame of fire. With a promptitude of classical allusions, a depth \J of research, a rapid summary of historical events and dates, a profusion of legal authorities, a prophetic glance of his eyes into futurity, and a rapid tor- rent of impetuous eloquence, he hurried away all before him. American Inde- pendence was then and there born." Such was the expressed estimate of the power and influence of James Otis, by John Adams, when writing of that early patriot's great speech against Writs of Assistance,' before the General Court of Massachusetts. He was the son of Colonel James Otis, of Barnstable, and was born there on the 5th of February, 1725. He was educated at Harvard College, where he was graduated in 1743. Choosing the law for a profession, he studied it under the eminent Jeremy Gridley, and commenced its practice at Plymouth when he was twenty-one years of age. Two years afterward, he went to Boston to reside, where his talent and integrity soon raised him to a front rank in his profession. It was in 1761 that he made the powerful speech above alluded to, on which occasion he was opposed by his law-tutor, Mr. Gridley, then attorney- general of the province. " Every man of an immense crowded assembly," wrote John Adams, "appeared to go away, as I did, ready to take up arms against Writs of Assistance." The following year Mr. Otis was elected to a seat in the Massachusetts General Assembly, and he became the head and front of opposi- tion to aggressive ministerial measures, in New England. In the Colonial Con- gress of delegates at New York, in 1765, gathered in consequence of the passage of the Stamp Act, Mr. Otis was an efficient member ; and the same year he wrote and published, in pamphlet form, a powerful vindication of the rights of the colonies. It was re-published in London, and awakened the ire of ministers to such a degree that they threatened the author with arrest on a charge of France, as well as my own country, unless the eaccor I solicit is immediately accorded, I may be com- pelled, within a short time, to draw against France as a British subject. I must now inform your ex- cellency that my next memorial will be presented to his majesty, in person." This bold reply liad great eiTect upon Vergennes, for he most dreaded a reronciliatinn between the United States and (ireat Britain. True to his promise, Laurens attended at the audience chamber of the kinp, the next day, and presented his memorial, in person, to his majesty. It was handed to Count Segur, and on the following day Laurens was oScially informed that the required aid should be given. The succor came, and in the Autumn, by the assistance of French funds, and French soldiers and seamen, Cornwallis was captured, and the death blow to British power in America was given. That noble young man was killed in a skirmish on the banks of the Oombahee, at the close of hostilities, in August, 1782, when he was only twenty -nine years of age. He had been Washicgton's aid, and that chief loved him as a child. Greene wrote, "TheSta«» will feel his loss." , 1. See note 2, page 122. JAMES OTIS. 163 sedition. For several years, Mr. Otis held the office of judge advocate. Becom- ing disgusted with the continually developing government schemes to enslave the colonics, ho determined to dissolve all personal connection with the crown party, and resigned that lucrative office, in 1767. Mr. Otis was sometimes unnecessarily caustic in the use of his tongue and pen. In the Summer of 17C!), he published some severe strictures upon the conduct of the commissioners of customs, and early in September, he had a per- sonal afTraj' with one of them, named Robinson, and others. Robinson struck Otis a severe blow on the head, with a bludgeon, from the effects of which he never recovered. Ills brain was injured and his reason was dethroned. A jury, in a civil suit against the ruffian, awarded a verdict of ten thousand dollars, damages. Otis had lucid intervals, and during one of them, he magnanimously forgave his destroyer when he craved the boon, and generously refused to re- ceive a dollar of the sum awarded to him. For many years afterward the patriot lived on, with his great intellect in ruins, a comparatively useless man and a deep grief to his relatives.' None loved him more devotedly, or grieved more 1. The roUowiiiK onecdoto is related of Mr. Otis ns illiistrntive of liis ready use nf Latin even during moments of mentKl nbcrration. Men and boys, heartless and thoughtless, wonid sometimes make them- selves merry at his expense when he was seen in the streets afflicted with liinary. On one occasion he was passing a crockery store, when a younp: man, who had a knowledge of Latin, sprinkled some water upon him from n sprinklinp-pot with whicli he was wettiuK the floor of the second story, at the same time sayini;, Pluil tnntum, ncuno quantum, Sci.i 7ie tu ? " It rains so much, I know not how much. Do you know f" Otis immediately picked up a missile, and, hurling it through the window of the crockery 164 JAMES CRAIK. bitterly, than his gifted sister, Mercy "Warren, and to her hand and voice hia occasionally turbulent spirit lent a quick and willing obedience. When, at times, the cloud was lifted from his reason, he talked calmly of death, and often expressed a desire to die by a stroke of hghtning. His wish was gratified. On the 23d of May, 1783, he stood leaning on his cane, in the door of a friend's house at Andover, watching the sublime spectacle of a hovering thunder-cloud, when suddenly a bolt leaped from it Uke a swift messenger from God to liis spirit, and killed him instantly.' All through the great struggle for independence, to which his eloquence had excited his countrymen, James Otis was like a blasted pine on the mountains — like a stranded wreck in the midst of the billows. It was just as the sunlight of peace burst upon his disenthralled country, tliat his spirit departed for the realm of unclouded intelligence. JAMES CRAIK. OP the family physician of the great "Washington, and the companion-in-arms of that beloved Leader in his earlier military career, there are but few rec- ords left, and these cluster like parasites around the huge proportions of the biography of the Father of his country. Dr. Craikwas a native of Scotland, and settled in Virginia, while yet quite a youth. He accompanied lieutenant-colonel "Washington in his expedition against the French and Indians in "Western Penn- sylvania, in 1754, and was a surgeon in one of the provincial corps, under Brad- dock, the following year. He dressed that oiBcer's fatal wounds on the night of the battle of the Monongahela, and stood by Colonel "Washington when he read the impressive funeral service of the Church of England, over the body of the fallen commander. Fifteen years afterward, while Dr. Craik was exploring some wild lands near the mouth of the Great Kenhawa, he met a venerable chiefj who said, that in the battle when Braddock was killed, he fired his rifle at "Washington fifteen times, but could not hit him ! His young warriors did the same, with a like result, and all beheved that the Great Spirit specially pro- tected the young hero. Dr. Craik served in his professional capacity during portions of the "War for Independence ; and at the siege of Yorktown, he was director-general of the hospital there. He accompanied "Washington to the death-bed side of Mr. Custis — one of the children of Mrs. "Washington ; and at the close of the war, he settled near Mount Vernon, by invitation of the Chief, and became his family physi- cian. "When the good Patriot was suddenly prostrated by the disease which terminated his life, a servant was dispatched, in great haste, for Dr. Craik. "With all the attention of a dear friend, and the skill of a good physician, he watched his noble patient until the last. He lived to take an interest in another war for independence, but died in the midst of its tumult. It was on the 6th day of February, 1814, when the spirit of the family physician of "Vl'ashington left earth for the world of fight and immortality. He was then in the eighty-fourth year of his age. store, it smashing CTerything in its way, exclaimed, Fregi tot, nescio quot, Sds ne tuf "I have broken 80 many, I know not how many. Do you know?" 1. Honorable Thomas Dawes wrote a commemorative ode, in which he thus referred to the maimer of Otis' death : " Hark ! the deep thunders echo 'round the skies ! On wings of flame the eternal errand flies ; One chosen, charitable bolt is sped. And Otis mingles with the glorious dead." TIMOTHY PICKERING. 165 TIMOTHY PICKERINa. ' Through Salem strait, without delaj, The bull! battulioii took its way ; Marched o'er a bridge, in open sight Of several Yankees armed for light ; Then, without loss of time or men, Veer'd 'round for Boston, back again. And found so well their projects thrive, That every soul got back alive." THUS wrote Trumbull, in his McFingal,^ concerning an event at Marblehead, in Massachusetts, in which Colonel Timothy Pickering, one of the most useful of the military and civil officers of the Republic in its earlier days, was chief actor. Pickering was a native of the ancient town of Salem, in Essex county, Massachusetts, where he was born on the 17th of July, 1745. He en- tered Harvard College, as a student, at the age of fourteen years, and was grad- uated at nineteen, with the usual college honors. He studied law, and entered upon its practice at the moment when the tempest of popular indignation, raised by the Stamp Act, was sweeping over the land. He entered the arena of poht- ical discussion, and was at once the avowed champion of popular freedom. For several years he was register of Salem, and colonel of the Essex militia; and when, in 177-J:, the people of Salem resolved to address General Gage on the subject of the Boston Port-Bill, Colonel Pickering Avas chosen to prepare it, and present it in person to the governor.'^ A few months afterward, he had tho honor of making the first resistance to the invasion of the province by British troops. He was informed that a body of them had landed at Marblehead, for the purpose of marching through Salem to seize some American stores in the interior. It was Sunday, tho '25th of February, 1775. The ministers of the churches dismissed their congregations. The men gathered at the call of Colonel Pickering, and when tho invaders approached the Salem drawbridge, these minute-men boldly confronted them. Perceiving prudence to be the better part of valor, the British marched back to Marblehead, and returned to Boston. This was the ev^ent alluded to by the poet. Early in the Spring of 1775, Colonel Pickering was chosen judge of the Court of Common Pleas, of Essex; and when, on the 19th of April, intelligence of tho skirmish at Lexington reached him, ho hastened, at the head of his regiment, to intercept the invaders. After that he exercised the duties of his judgeship, until the Autumn of 1776, when, at the head of seven hundred Essex men, he joined the army under Washington, near New York, and was with him in his memorable retreat across the Jerseys, toward the close of that year. He continued with the chief until the "Winter of 1777-8, when he was appointed, by Congress, a member of tlie Board of War. In the battles at Brandywine and Germantown, he had acted as adjutant-general, and his military skill and experience, com- mended him highly to his commander and the national council. In 1780, he succeeded General Greene in the important office of quartermaster-general. He performed the duties of that office efficiently until the close of the war, and then he made Piiiladelphia his residence. Difficulties soon afterward occurred among the Connecticut and Pennsylvania people, in the Wyoming Valley, and Mr. Pickering was appointed by his adopted State, to attempt a settlement of the 1. See sketch of John Trumbull, the poet. . 2. For the purpose nf punishing the people of Boston for the destruction of the cargoes of tea, in 17(3, parliament decreed that the port of that citv should be closed— that no vessels should enter or clear there, and that the Custom House and other public offices should be removed to Salem. The act took effect on the 1st of June, 1774. Great distress ensued. Tho people of Marblehead gave the Bostomans free use of their docks, and in the A'idress alluded to in the text, the people of Salem refused to receive any fa%ors at the expense of their neighbors of Boston. 166 WILLIAM GORDON'. troubles. There he suffered personal ill-treatment, his life was endangered, and he finally returned to Philadelphia. In 1190, he was a member of the conven- tion to revise the constitution of Pennsylvania; and the following year Wash- ington appointed him Postmaster-general, as successor to Mr. Osgood. He con- tinued in that office until the resignation of General Knox, almost four years afterward, when he succeeded that ofiBcer as Secretary of War. The same year he was appointed Secretary of State, and held the position until 1800, when Mr. Adams removed him for pohtical causes. Mr. Pickering was then fifty-five years of age, poor in purse, but rich in integrity. He built a log cabin for his family on some of his wild land in Pennsylvania, and commenced the arduous task of clearing it for cultivation. Generous friends purchased the tract at a hberal price, and he returned to his native State, out of debt and possessing a moderate competence. The legislature of Massachusetts chose hira to represent that State in the United States Senate, in 1803; and, in 1805, he was reelected for six years. He was a member of the Board of War, of Massachusetts, in 1812, and, in 1814, hewaselected a member of the United States House of Representatives. Old age now began to demand repose, and he retired from public fife, in 1817. He was permitted to live about twelve years longer; and on the 29th of January, 1829', ho died at Salem, when almost eighty -four years of age. WILLIAM GORDON. THE most faithful and impartial History of the American Revolution, by a cotemporary author, was written by William Gordon, an English independ- ent clergyman, who was in America during the struggle of the colonists for civil and political freedom. He was born in Hertfordshire, England, about the year 1740, and at an early age was pastor of an Independent congregation at Ipswich, where his faithfulness in reproving Sabbath-breakers, made him many enemies, and gave him an uneasy place. He became successor to Dr. Jennings, as pastor of a church at Wapping, and was so much beloved, that he might have passed his life pleasantly there. But he had long yearned to make America his home, and, in 1770, he sailed for Boston. For about a j^ear he preached in one of the churches at Roxbury; and in July, 1772, he was chosen its pastor. He was a repubUcan, and soon became identified with the popular party, in Massa- chusetts, in opposition to the crown. When the Provincial Congress of that colony was formed, in 1774, Dr. Gordon was chosen its chaplain, and he con- tinued a faithful adherent to the patriot cause, After the promulgation of the Declaration of Independence, in 1776, he conceived the idea of writing a history of the progressing struggle, and he kept full notes during the entire war. When it wa§ ended, ho was allowed free access to public records, and to the papers of Washington, Greene, Gates, and other distinguished officers. In 1786, he returned to his native country, completed his history, and published it in Lon- don, in 1788. It was soon afterward re-published in New York, in three volumes. The work is now very scarce. The author received about fifteen hundred dollars for his service in its preparation. In 1703, he was settled as a pastor at St. Keots, in Huntingdonshire, but his unpopularity as a preacher, on account of evidently failing intellect, caused his friends to persuade him to resign. He afterward made his residence at Ipswich, where he preached a few occasional sermons. Soon his memory became a blank, he sunk into imbecility, and thus remained, until his death, on the 19th of October, 1807, when about seventy- seven years of age. DAVID RAMSAY. 167 DAVID RAMSAY. THE authors of our country are indebted to Dr. David Ramsay, of South Carolina^ one of the earliest historians of the War for Independence, for the first sugj^cstions and eftbrts in relation to a copyright law.' He was born of Irish parents, in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, on the 2d of April, 1749, and at a suitable age was placed in the College at Princeton, New Jersey. There he was graduated in 17G5, and after performing the duties of tutor in a private family in Maryland for about two years, he commenced the study of medicine, in Philadelphiii. In 1772, he entered upon its practice there, but, at the solicit- ation of friends, ho made the city of Charleston his residence, the following year. There he soon took a front rank as a physician and scholar, and being an ardent patriot, he became a political leader by the side of Gadsden, Laurens, and others. His pen and tongue were ever busy in the good cause; and he also attended 1. Soon Rftor the nsscrablinp; of the first Federal OonRress, under the new Constitution, in 17?9, pr- Rnniceniber, 1745. At eight years of age he was placed in a boarding school at New Rochelle, and at fourteen he entered King's (now Columbia) College, as a student. Ho was an apt scholar, and gave early promises of his stibsequent brilliant career. Ho was graduated in 1764, bearing tlie highest honors of the college, and commenced the study of law under Benjamin Kissam. He was admitted to the bar in 1768, and ascended rapidly to eminence in his profession. In 1774, he was married to the daughter of that sturdy patriot, William Livingston (afterward governor of New Jersey), and entered the political field, with great ardor, as the champion of popular 1. See sketch of Jacob Leisler. 172 JOHN- JAY. rights. He was one of the most prominent members of the New York committee of correspondence, in the Spring of 17*74, and in September following, he took a seat in the first Continental Congress. He was the youngest member of that body, being less than twenty-nine 3^ears of age, and ho was the latest survivor. His genius as a statesman was exhibited in the Address to the People of Great Britain, put forth by Congress. JeSerson, ignorant of its authorship, said, "It is the production of the finest pen in America." From that time Mr. Jay was identified with most of the important civil measures in his native State ; and ho also performed much duty in the Continental Congress, until the Summer of 1776, when all his energies were devoted to public business in New York. "With tongue, pen, and hand, he was indefatigable ; and as a member of tho convention at Kingston, in the Spring of 1777, ho was chosen to draft a State Constitution. Under that instrument lie was appointed chief justice of New York, and held his first term at Kingston, in September, 1777. He was an efficient member of the Council of Safety, appointed to act in place of the legis- lature, when not in session. In the Autumn of 1778, he was again elected to Congress, and three days after taking his seat there, he was chosen its president. He filled the chair with dignity and vigor, until September, 1779, when he was appointed minister to Spain to obtain the acknowledgment of tho independence of the United States, to form a treaty of alliance, and to borrow money. Wo cannot even refer to his numerous and efficient diplomatic services from that time until 1782, when he was appointed one of tho commissioners for negotiating a peace with Great Britain. In all of them he exhibited consummate skill and statesmanship ; and to his vigilance we are indebted for advantages obtained by the treaty, of which tho artful French minister attempted to deprive us. He signed the preliminary treaty, in November, 1782, with Adams, Franklin, and Laurens, and the following year he affixed his signature to the definitive treaty. Mr. Jay returned to the United States, in July, 1784, and immediately entered upon the duties of chief of the foreign department of the government, to which he was chosen before his arrival. He occupied that station until the new or- ganization of government under tho Federal Constitution, when he was appointed the first chief justice of the United States. Ho was a zealous advocate of the Constitution, with his pen,' and in the verbal debates in the State convention called to consider it. In 1794, Mr. Jay was appointed an envoy extraordinary to negotiate a commercial treaty, and settle some disputes between the United States and Great Britain. The treaty was not satisfactory to a great portion of his coun- trymen, and as it also offended France and the "French party" here, intense ex- citement prevailed throughout the country. Yet he was sustained, and on his return home, in 1795, ho found the office of governor of his native State awaiting him. He was chief magistrate of New York until 1801, when he withdrew from public life to enjoy repose at his beautiful seat at Bedford, in Westchester county, although he was then only fifty-six years of age. He succeeded Elias Boudinot as president of the American Bible Society, and he was a generous patron of every moral and religious enterprise. Greatly beloved by all his friends, and respected for his many virtues by his political enemies, that patriarch of the RepubUc went peacefully to his rest, on the I7th of May, 1829, in the eighty- fourth year of his age. 1. He was a colleague with Madison and Hamilton, in writing the series of papers known, in tho collected form, as The Federalist. In that labor he was interrupted, for some time, on account of a severe wound in tho head, from a stone, hurled during a riot in New York, known as The Doctors' Mob. ROBERT HOWE. 173 IlOBEllT HOWE. BECAUSE of the excess of their patriotic zeal, Samuel Adams and John Han- cock, of Massachusetts, were denounced as arch-rebels, and were excluded from the offered advantages of a general amnesty. In like manner, Sir Henry Clinton denounced Robert Howe and Cornelius Harnett, of the Cape Fear region, in North Carolina, in the Spring of 1776, and they were honored with the ban of outlawry because of their patriotism. Howe was born in Brunswick, North Carolina, but, strange to say, history bears no record of his private life, and both it and tradition are silent respecting the time of his birth and his death. When Josiah Quiucy was in Wilmington, in 1773, ho made the acquaintance of Mr. Howe, and said in a letter, descriptive of an evening spent in political discussion: " Robert Howe, Esq., Harnett, and myself^ made the social triumvirate of the evening." So bitter were the Tories against Howe, that his property was several times injured ; and when Clinton appeared in tiie Cape Fear region, early in 1776, ho sent Cornwailis, with nine hundred men, to indulge his petty spite by ravaging that patriot's plantation, near old Brunswick village. Howe was appointed colonel of the first North Carolina regiment, in 1775, and in December of that year, ho joined Woodford, of Virginia, at Norfolk, in opposition to Governor Dunmore and his motley army.' For his gallantry there. Congress appointed him a brigadier in the Continental army, and ordered him to Virginia. Ho was with the army, at the North, during portions of 1776 and 1777 ; and in the Spring of 1778, he was promoted to major-general, and placed in chief command of the Southern army. At liis head-quarters at Savannah, he planned a campaign against tho British and Tories in Florida, in the Summer of 1778. It failed in its execution: and at the close of that year, he was driven from Savannah, by a British force imder lieutenant-colonel Campbell. These reverses caused him to bo censured unjustly ;'2 and when General Lincoln took command of tho Southern army, Howo attached himself to that of the northern department, the following year. Ho cooperated with Wayne in his attack upon Stony Point, on tho Hudson, in 1779. He was on duty in the vicinity of West Point and the Hudson Iliglilands from that time until near the close of the war. Washington appointed him, in two instances, to discharge tho important dut)"- of quelling a mutiny, first in the New Jersey line, and then in that of Pennsylvania. He always had tho unbounded confidence of the com- mander-in-chief Though ahva3's a very useful officer, Howe never became distinguished for any great achievement. Like the actions of General Heath and many others, his lino of duty lay in the iiseful rather than the Irilliant — their military history is an epic, not an epigram. 1. Pnnmore, tlio roynl governor of Virginia, havinsr licen driven from WiHinmfliurjr. by the people, commence 1 a dcpreilatory warfare upon the coast of tliat State. His force consisted of Tory refugees and nenroes, yet^ witli the aid of some British ships, he succeeded in burning Norfolk, on the 1st of January, 177t>. 2. Among those who raised their voice against General Howe, was Christopher Gadsden, of Charles- ton. Howe required him to deny or retract. Gadsden would do neither, and a duel ensued. All the damage sustained by the parties, in the figlit, was a scratch upon Gadsden's ear, by Howe's ball. Major Andre wrote a humorous account of the duel, iu eighteen stanzas, to the tune of Yankee Doodle. Ue concludes by saying : " Such honor did they both display, They highly were commended, And thus, in short, this gallant fray, Without mischance, was ended. No fresh dispute, we mav suppose, Will e'er by them be started ; And now the chiefs, no longer foes, Shook bands, and bo they parted." 174 EDWARD LIVINGSTON. EDWARD LIVINGSTON. THE Livingston family in America, an oflF-shoot of a stock noted among the Scotch nobility of Queen Mary's time,' has always been remarkable for fine specimens of talent, public spirit, and genuine patriotism. Among the later members, Edward Livingston appears conspicuous as a statesman and jurist. He was truly "to the manor born," for his birth occurred at Clermont, Columbia county. New York, on the feudal estate known as Livirigstoti's Manor, in the year 1764. He was at school in Kingston, Ulster county, when that village was burned by the British, in 1777, and two years afterward he entered Princeton College, and pursued his studies in the midst of alarms and interruptions incident to the war then in progress. He graduated, in 1781, with onlj^ three others. Two of these were associated with him, thirteen years afterward, as members of the House of Representatives, at Washington. He studied law under Chan- cellor Lansing, at Albany, and was admitted to the bar in 1785. Mr. Livingston was called into public life, in 1794, by being elected a repre- sentative of the counties of New York, Queen's, and Richmond, in the Federal Congress, where he soon became a distinguished leader of the Republican party. 1. See sketch of Robert B. LiTingBtoii. ■WILLIAM PRESCOTT. 175 He maintained a seat there until 1801, when he declined a reelection, and resumed the- practice of his profession. President Jeilerson soon afterward appointed him United States Attorney for the District of New York. He hud filled the ofBce with great ability, uutQ the yellow fever broke out in the city of New York, in 1803, when ho was called to tiie performance of holier duties. Thousands fled, but Edward Li%'ingston remained amid the pestilence, to visit the sick and bury the dead. He was finally smitten by the destroyer, but his useful life was spared. His public and private business had sufiercd greatly, and the unfaithfulness of some of those unto whom ho had entrusted the performance of public duties, placed upon his shoulders almost crushing pecuniary responsibilities. He re- signed his office, took up his residence in New Orleans, and by assiduous atten- tion to his profession, was enabled to liiiuidate every debt, with interest. AVhen the Britisli attempted the invasion of Louisiana, in 1814, Mr. Livingston ofTered his services to General Jackson, and they were accepted; and his pen wrote the noble defence of Jackson, when that officer was unjustly arraigned before the civil tribunal for alleged military tj-ranny. Mr. Livingston was tho principal of a commission appointed to codify the laws of Louisiana; and he is the solo author of the penal code of that State, adopted in 1824. On the very night when tho last page of manuscript was prepared for tho press, a fire con- sumed the whole, and he was two years engaged in reproducing it. That work is his noblest and most enduring monument. Mr. Livingston was chosen a delegate to tho Federal Congress, in 1823; and in 1829, tlie legislature of Louisiana appointed him United States Senator. He became one of the brightest ornaments of that higher house, but after serving two sessions, he was called to the cabinet of President Jackson, as Secretary of State. In 1833, ho was appointed minister to France, an office held, thirty years before, by his distinguished brother, Robert R. Livingston. His health failed soon after his arrival in Paris, and he returned to America, not, however, until ho had satisfied his countrvmen that he was fuUy competent to perform any duty to which they might call him. He was with his relatives in Redhook, Dutchess county. New York, when, on a bright morning in May (23d), 1837, the spirit of this laborious public servant departed for the land of rest. WILLIAM PRESCOTT. HISTORIANS have disputed concerning the chief command at the earliest regular battle of tlie Revolution, known as that of "Bunker's Hill," some awarding that honor to General Israel Putnam, and others to Colonel Wilham Prescott. Documentary evidence is conclusive in favor of the claim of Prescott, and its justice is not questioned at the present day. Ho was born in Goshen, Massachusetts, in 172G. Of his early life we have no reliable record. His father was for some years a member of the Massachusetts council. We first find a notice of William's pubhc life, in liis commission of lieutenant, under General Winslow, in the expedition against Cape Breton, in 1758. There he was dis- tinguished for his bravery. On his return, he left the service, and settled at Pepperell, as the inheritor of a large estate. He took quite an active part in the popular movements while the Revolution was ripening, and had command of a regiment of minute-men, in the Spring of 1775. The events at Lexington and Concord called him to the field, and he was very active in assisting General Ward in the organization of tho im])romptu army that gathered around Boston, in May and June following. Confidant in his military skill, General Ward 176 CHARLES WILSON PEALE. selected Colonel Prescott to fortify and garrison Bunker's Hill, and on the even- ing of the 16th of June, 1775, he crossed Charlestown Neck, for that purpose, with a thousand men, and intrenching tools, after an impressive prayer in their behalf was offered up on the green at Cambridge, by President Langdon, of Harvard College. Breed's Hill being nearer Boston, Prescott proceeded to for- tify that, and at early dawn the nest morning, the British in the city and on the shipping in the harbor,' were astonished and alarmed by the apparition of a strong redoubt, almost finished, in a position which commanded their most im- pressible points. In the action that ensued, the following day — the memorable 17 th of June — Prescott was chief commander. Putnam was on Bunker's Hill, urging forward reinforcements, and General "Warren was in the redoubt, as volunteer. Though driven from the Charlestown peninsula, the gallant colonel wished to attack the conquerors the next day, but was overruled by prudent counsellors. Colonel Prescott continued under the command of Washington until after the battle at White Plains, in the Autumn of the following year; and he served as a volunteer under Gates, until the surrender of Burgoyne, in October, 1777. After the war, he represented his district in the State legislature, and he was acting magistrate of Pepperell from 1786 until his death. That event occurred on the 13th of October, 1795, when he was about sixty-nine years of age. CHARLES WILSON PEALE. " T)RAY tell me, Mr. Hesselius," said a saddler's apprentice — a handsome X young man of twenty — to an eminent portrait-painter in Annapolis, Maryland, as he stood before him with a good specimen of his mechanical skill — " pray tell me how you mix such beautiful tints for your canvas." That saddler's apprentice was Charles Wilson Peale, afterward one of the most eminent painters in our country. He was born at Charlestown, Maryland, in 1741, and in Annapolis he successively learned the trades of saddler, watch-maker, silver- smith, and carver. From the day when he asked Hesselius that important question, his artist life began, for the generous painter cordially complied with his wishes. Peale studied the art and practised his mechanical trade, until an opportunity offered for him to go to England and place himself under the tutor- ship of the great West. He remained with that famous artist during the years 1770, and 1771, when he returned to America, and practiced his art, as a portrait- painter, without a rival for fifteen years. When the Revolution broke out, he joined the army, and was at the head of a company in the battles at Trenton, Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. While at Valley Forge, in the Winter of 1777-8, he conceived the grand design of making a gallery of portraits of all the distinguished actors in the Revolution, American and foreign, and commenced the task with vigor.' In the Spring of 1778, when the army moved, he gathered up his art materials, and, at the head of his company, he fought gal- lantly at Monmouth. lie bad commenced a full-length portrait of Washington, 1. One of the vessels, named Falcon, anchored within short cannon shot of Breed's Hill, was com- manded bv Captain I.inwe, of the British navy. It is a singular fact in the curious history of coin- cidences, that William H. Prescott, the eminent historian, and grandson of Colonel William Prescott, married a grand-daughter of Captain Linzee. The swords used by Colonel Prescott and Captain Linzee, at the time of the battle on Breed's Hill, are crossed in a conspicuous place in the library of the His- torian. 1. He also painted many in miniature, some of which I have seen in the possession of his son, at Washington city. JOJTATHAJf EDWAEDS. 177 at Valley Forge ; after the Monmouth battle, he had another sitting, and at Princeton he completed it.' Mr. Pealo paid much attention to the preservation of animals after death, and possessed a decided antiquarian taste. After tho war, he opened a picture gallery, for exhibition, in Philadelphia, and then estab- lished a museum of Natural History and miscellaneous curiosities. lie also practiced deutristry, invented machinery, and in various ways was one of tho most active and industrious of men. He lectured on Natural History, and was a zealous supporter of the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts. He lived tem- perately and frugally, and practiced his art in colors when past eighty years of age.2 He died in February, 1S27, at the age of almo.st eighty-six years. Hi3 son, Rembrandt Peale, a worthy successor of his father in the line of art, is yet [1855] living, in Philadelphia, at the age of seventy-six years. JONATHAN EDWARDS. THE most acute metaphysician and sound theologian which our country has yet produced, was Jonathan Edwards, who was born at East "Windsor, Connecticut, on the 5th of Octoljer, 1703. The remarkable analytical powers of his mind were developed in early childhood, ,'>nd at the age of ten years he read with delight the profound essay of Locke on the Human Understanding. A few days before the completion of his thirteenth year, he entered Yale College, as a student, and was graduated there before he was seventeen years of age. He remained in that then infant institution for two years longer, in the eager study of theology, preparatory to the assumption of tho Christian ministry as his pro- fession. He received a license to preach, in the Summer of 1722, and almost immediately afterward, ho was selected by several New England ministers to preach to a small body of Presbyterians in the city of New York. In 1724, ho was appointed a tutor in Yale College, where he remained until called to a pas- toral charge in Northampton, Massachusetts, in the Summer of 1726. There he was ordained as a colleague of his grandfather, the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, who, for more than fifty years, had been the pastor of the Congregational church in that town. That continued to be the home-field of labor, of Mr. Edwards, for twenty-three years, when an increasing dislike of his pure church discipline alienated his people from him, and, in June, 1750, he was dismissed by an ec- clesiastical council. 3 In 1751, Mr. Edwards was appointed a missionary to the Stockbridge Indians, in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and in that field he labored for about six years. His duties being comparatively light, he devoted much of his time to theological and metaphysical studies, and in that comparative retirement he wrote his great work on The Freedom of the Will, which has been considered by 1. That portrait, haviiif; Nassau Hall, at Princeton, for a bark-pround, is in the gaUery of the Xational Institute, at Washineton city. When the Americans, under Washington, drove the British out of Nassau Hall, on the morning of the 2d of January, 1777, they sent a cannon ball into the building, which destroyed a portrait of King George. Washington presented the college with a sum of money, because of the damage done to the building. The Faculty employed Peale to paint a fiilllength portrait of the great Patriot, and placed it in the frame occupied bv that of the king, where it yet remains. 2. I have seen a full-length portrait of himself, which he paintcil at the age of eighty. In October, 1854, all of his paintings remaining in the inuseum at Philadelphia, were sold at auction. Many of them were purchased by the City (^luncil, and now decorate the walls of Independence Hall. 3. Mr. Edwards had been informed of immoralities in which many of the young people of his congre- gration indulged, and he thought the matter ought to be inquired irito. The church readily favored his views, but when it was found that thi' accused persons belonged to some of the wealthiest and most influential families in the place, it was impossible to proceed with the inquiry. The conscientious pastor did not swerve from duty, but the failure of his attempt to correct the tnorals of the young people, Strengthened their bands. For six years before bis dismissal he fought the enemy manfully. 12 178 JONATHAN EDWARDS. the most learned men in Europe and America, to be one of the greatest efforts of the human mind. In 1754, a severe illness, and the troubles incident to the French and Indian war, then progressing:, interrupted his labors, and, beyond the efforts of his pen, his field of usefulness was very hmited. It was soon en- larged. In the Autumn of 1757, his son-in-law. Rev. Aaron Burr, president of the college of New Jersey, at Princeton, died, and Mr. Edwards was invited by the Trustees of that institution to take his place. He was formally elected president, toward the close of September, 1757. He reluctantly accepted tho call, for he knew there were more delights to himself in the quiet pursuits in which he was engaged, than in the duties of such official station, and ho re- garded his labors with his pen as more useful than any others in which he might engage at that time of life. Ho was inaugurated in February, 1758. Fivo weeks afterward, that great and good man was laid in the grave. The small- pox was prevalent in Princeton at the time of his arrival, and a skUful physician was brought from Philadelphia to inoculate' President Edwards and his family. He seemed to do well, but when all danger appeared to be over, a secondary fever supervened, his throat became so obstructed that medicines could not bo swallowed, and the disease, gathering increased strength, terminated his hfe on the 22d of March, 1758, when he was in the fifty-fifth year of his age. The 1. See Note 2, page 61. JOHN" "VriTHERSPOOIT.- 179 published theological ^\Titings of President Edwards are voluminous, and are ranked among the most valuable uninspired contributions to religious literature, of any a^e. JOHN WITHERSPOON. IN the family circle, the temple of worship, the hall of learning, and the forum of legislation, few men ever performed their whole duty more faithfully than did John Witherspoon, of New Jersey, in whose veins ran the blood of the great Scottish reformer, John Knox. He was born in the parish of Tester, near Edinburgh, Scotland, on the 5th of February, 1722. His father was a Scottish minister, and the loveliness of his mind and temper was transmitted to his son. Ho educated tiie intellectual and moral faculties of that promising boy with the greatest care, for he designed him for that gospel ministry which he afterward adorned. At the ago of fourteen years ho was placed in the University of Edinburgh, where he became a close student, especially of sacred literature. He went through a regular course of theological studies, and at the age of twenty-two ho was graduated, Avith a license to preach. He accepted a call to Beith, in the west of Scotland ; and in 1 745, while, with some others, he was gazing upon the battle of Falkirk, where the troops of the Scotch Pretender to the throne of England' were victorious, he was made a prisoner, and was con- fined in the castle of Donne, for some time. He afterward took charge of a parish in Paisley; and the fame of his learning and piety caused him to receive invitations to settle in Dundee, Dublin, and Rotterdam in Holland. In 1766, the trustees of the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, invited him to accept the presidency of that institution, and through the influence of Richard Stockton (afterward Witherspoon's colleague in the Continental Congress), then in Scot- land, he was persuaded to accept the office. He came to America, in 1768, was inaugurated in Augu.st of that year, and under his efficient administration the affairs of tlie college prospered wonderfully. Its usefulness had been greatly impaired by party feuds ; these were soon healed, and that seminary, which seemed past resuscitation, was becoming one of the most flourishing in the land, •when the blight of the Revolution fell upon it. Its pupils were then scattered, its doors were closed, and early in 1776, Doctor Witherspoon employed his talents and influence in another field of usefulness. He assisted in forming a republican constitution for New Jersey, and in June he was elected to a seat in the Continental Congress, where he nobly advocated independence, and signed his name to the Declaration thereof^ Ho was a faithful member of Congress until 1782, and took a conspicuous part in military and financial matters. In 1783, he endeavored to revive the prostrated College at Princeton, and found an efficient co-worker in his son-in-law, Vice-President Smith. Contrary to the dictates of his own judgment. Dr. "Witherspoon went to Great Britain for pecu- niary aid to the institution, and he collected scarcely enough to pay the expenses of the journey. He came back with a heavy heart but determined purpose, and labored on faithfully in the pulpit and in the college, while his powers of life remained active. About two years before his death he lost his eye-sight, yet he maintained his place in his pulpit with unabated zeal, until a few weeks before his departure. His useful life closed on the 10th of November, 1794, at the ago of almost seventy-three years. 1. rhnrlc!! KdwaH, prandson of .Tames the Second, who was dethroned in 1688. 2. In the cniirse of ilolinle on the suhjcct of independence, .John Dickenson, of Pennsylvania, yentiircd lo BPscrt that ihe people were not " ripe for a declaration of independence." Doctor Witherspoon warmly observed, " In taj Judgment, eir, we are not only ripe, but rotting." 180 RICHARD HENDERSON-. RICHARD HENDERSON. ALTHOUGH Daniel Boone may be considered the first thorough explorer of the wilderness of Kentucky, and James Harrod built the first log-house in all that beautifiil land, yet Colonel Ricliard Henderson must be regarded, 2)olit- ically, as the father of that commonwealth. He was a native of Virginia. He was born in Hanover county, on the 20th of April, 1735. His father emigrated to Granville county. North Carolina, in 1745, and being appointed sherifif of that district, Richard had an opportunity of learning many useful lessons in mat- ters pertaining to law. He prepared himself for the legal profession, arose rap- idly to the highest rank, accumulated a competent fortune, and, when the in- surrectionary movements in that section of the county, known as the Regulator War,^ occurred, he was a judge of the superior court. As such, he was driven from the bench at Hillsborough, by the Regulators, in the Autumn of 1771, and the courts of justice, in that region, were closed. He was an ambitious and ostentatious man. By extensive speculations, at about this time, he had become somewhat embarrassed in pecuniary affairs, and had gained tlte ill-will of the common people. Bold, ardent, and adventurous, ho resolved to go bej^ond the mountains, and there, in the beautiful country traversed by Boone, he commenced a scheme of land speculation, in 1774, more extensive than any known in the history of our country. He formed a companj^, of which he was chosen pres- ident, and by a treaty held at Wataga with the heads of the Cherokee nation, he purchased the whole land lying between the Cumberland river and mountains, and the Kentucky river, which comprised more than one-half of the present State of Kentucky. Henderson took possession of the country in the name of the company, in the Spring of 1775. Governor Martin, of North Carolina, pro- claimed the purchase to be illegal. The legislature of Virginia did the same, but Judge Henderson paid no regard to their fulminalions against him, and pro- ceeded to establish a proprietary government, in imitation of the old colonies. Its capital was Boonesborough, and its title Avaa Transylvania. Under a largo elm tree near Boone's fort, the first legislature of the new State met on the 23d of May, 1775.'- The session was opened with prayer by the Rev. John Lythe; and Colonel Henderson in his verbal "message" as president, expressed the very essence of republican government, when he said, " If any doubts remain among you, with respect to the force and elBciency of whatever laws you now or hereafter make, be pleased to consider that all power is originally in the people ; make it their interest, therefore, by impartial and beneficent laws, and you may be sure of their inclination to see them enforced." The State of Transylvania as an independent republic did not long exist, for Virginia and Carolina took efficient means to destroy it. The treaty with the Cherokees, and the purchase of their lands, were declared null. Yet they did not deprive the company of all advantages. North Carolina and Virginia each granted to tliem two hundred thousand acres. Relinquishing all political claims. Judge Henderson opened a land office on the site of Nashville, in 1779, for the sale of this legally-granted domain. The following Summer he returned to Granville county, and sought repose in the bosom of his family. Old diffi- culties were forgotten, for the great question of independence was then in process 1. See note on page 97 ; also sketch of John Ashe. find Samuel Wood. Thomas Slaughter was chosen chairman, Malhcw Jewett clerk, and John Lytha chaplain. ALEXANDER WILSON. 181 of solution by tho whole people of the newly-proclaimed Union. Judge Hen- derson did not take part in public affairs, but livod on in quiet until the 30th of January, 1785, when he died at tho ago of fifty years. Heudcrsoa county, Kentucky, was named in his honor. ALEXANDER WILSON. WE may justly claim Alexander "Wilson as an American, though born in North Britain, for hero the genius which has made him world-renowned, as The American Ornithologist, was developed, and cultivated, and bore fruit, lie was born in Paisley, Scotland, and in a grammar seliool, in that large town, he acquired a rudimental knowledge of the classics. His father designed him for the clerical profession, but the expansive mind of tho youth would not allow him (o bo a sectarian, and tho scheme was abandoned. From earliest boj-hood he loved tho fields and the sky ; and ho regarded tho towering mountains and grand o^d forests as the most appropriate temples wherein man should worship the Creator of all. Pecuniary misfortune compelled his father to suspend Alex- ander's literarj' pursuits, on which he had entered with enthusiasm, and finally tho necessity of learning some mechanical trade seemed imperative. Tho ardent youth could not bnjok tho idea of having his powers confined to such a narrow sphere, for he felt a great soul stirring within ; yet lie reverently bent his in- clinations to his fithcr's wishes. Every leisure moment, however, was employed in stud}', and in the midst of his mechanical emplojancnt, ho composed articles, in proso and verse, which attracted public attention, before he was nineteen years of age. He soon became tho life of a select literary circle, yet his daily avocations, so repugnant to Ids nature, burdened his spirit with gloom. He saw no chance for expansion in his native country; and in 179i, ho embarked for America, to profit by tho free air and as free institutions. For more than a dozen years afterward ho was engaged in tho humble but honorable employment of a district school tcixcher. His lot seemed a hard one, but he found consolation in poetry, music, and his favorite study of birds. The latter became a passion with him, and he had the good fortune, at length, to form an acquaintance with William Bartram, of Philadelphia, the celebrated American Botanist.' From him he obtained a standard work on ornithology, the perusal of which was the commencement of a new era in Wilson's life. He found the work quite inac- curate in many particulars concerning the birds of the United States, and ho formed the idea of making a complete system of American Ornithology. He at once applied hiinsclf successfully to tho study of drawing and coloring from nature. At aliout this time, he became clerk to a bookseller in Philadelphia, with a liberal salary, and to him he disclosed his scheme of a work on American birds. Mr. Bradford was delighted with the idea, .and at once gave Wilson every facUity for preparing that magnificent work. The American Ornithology, in seven volumes, which ajjpeared in 1808. Every portion of our country, from the Atlantic to tlto Mississippi, and from tho St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, ■was traversed by Wilson, all alone, with the sublime ardor of a man conscious of performing a great work. His splendid volumes at once attracted the earnest attention of the learned in both hemispheres, and fame and fortune awaited him. But ho did not livo long to enjoy either. Tho hardships and privations to which he had boon exposed, impaired a never rugged constitution, and on the 23d of August, 1813, ho died, peacefully, at Philadelphia, when at the age of about forty years. L See sketch of Bartram. 182 EUFUS PUTNAM. ^..wW^^€i:sj RUFUS PUTNAM. THE name of Putnam is suggestive of bold daring border exploits, and true patriotism, notwithstanding of the eighty males of that name, living in America, in 1740, only two (Israel and Rufus) appear conspicuous in our country's annals. Eufus was born at Sutton, "Worcester county, Massachusetts, on the 9th of April, 1738. On the death of his father, in 1745, he went to live with his maternal grandfather, in Danvers, where he attended a district school for two years. His mother married again, and Rufus lived with her until his step- father died, in 1753. That ilhterate man denied tlio lad all opportunities for education. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to a mill-wright. At that time the French and Indian war was kindling brightly, and the campaign of Braddoclc, and the bold exploits of his kinsman, Israel, warmed a martial spirit within him. At tlie age of nineteen years he entered the provincial army as a private soldier ; and he mentions, in his journal, the note-worthy fact, that the captain of his company^ prayed with the men every night and morning during the campaign. Ho remained in service untU 1761, when he resumed his em- 1. Captain Ebene?.er Lennied, who was a colonel in the army under General Gates at the captoro of Burgoyne, in 1777, and afterward a brigadier in the Continental army. MESHECH WEARE. 183 ployments of mill-building and farming. Having acquired a knowledge of sur- veying, he practiced it successfully for several years before the clarion of the Revolution called him again to the field. He was one of the military land com- pany, who sent General Lyman to J.ngland, in 1703 ;' and 1773, he accompanied Coloiiei Israel Putnam and others to the " Yazoo country." Mr. Putnam joined the revolutionary army at Cambridge, in 1775, and there his knowledge of surveying was brought into requisition. He assisted efficiently in the construction of those works on Dorchester Heights, which caused the British to prepare for leaving Boston. After that, he was employed elsewhere in the engineering department; and in August, 177G, ho was appointed by Congress, an engineer, with the rank of colonel. In Februarj', 1778, ho succeeded Colonel (j-reaton in command of troops in the northern department, and during the roaiainder of the war ho was actively connected with the engineering corps of the army. On the 8th of January, 1783, he was commissioned a brigadier- general in the Continental army, but peace was now exchanging the olive branch for the laurel and the palm, and ho soon tifterward retired to his farm. From 1783 to 1788, ho was engaged in organizing a compan}^ for emigrating to and settling in tlie Ohio countrj^, and thither he went, as the general agent, in the Spring of 1788. He was accompanied by about forty settlers. They pitched their tents at the mouth of the Muskingum river, formed a settlement there, and called it Marietta. Suspecting hostilitj- on the part of the neighboring Indians, ho built a fort near by, and called it CampiLs j/ariiiis. That year they planted one hundred and thirty acres of corn. This was the beginning of that tide of emigration to Ohio which soon flowed so deep and broad; and General Putnam lived to see a flourishing State organized, and having, at the time of his death, seventy counties, and three-quarters of a million of inliabitants. In 1789, Pres- ident \Vashington appointed him judge of the supreme court of the North-west Territory; and, in 1792, he was appointed a brigadier, under General Wayne. In 17 90, ho was made surveyor-general of the United States, and held that office until after the accession of Mr. Jefferson to the presidency. He was a member of the convention that framed a constitution for the State of Ohio, in 1802, and this was his last public service of much moment. He made Marietta his resid- ence, and enjoyed the repose of private life until the first day of May, 1824, when he died. No individual did more for securing the benefits to be derived from the conquests of George Rogers Clarke north of the Ohio,2 than General Rufus Putnam, and he has been justly styled the Fatueb of Ohio. MESHECH WEARE. " T-T^ dared to love his country and bo poor," was the epigramatic encomium 11 bestowed upon Meshech Wearo, the first republican governor of New Hampshire, by one who knew and estimated his worth. He was not possessed of brilliant genius, superior intellect, nor extraordinary abilities of any kind, but exhibited a happy combination of good sense, stern integrity, pure heart, and clear intelligence. He was precisely the man for the place and times in which his lot was cast. Mr. Weare was a native of Hampton, New Hampshire, where he was born in 1714. He was educated at Harvard College, where he was graduated in 1735. In the disputes between Governor "Wentworth and the 1. See sketch of General LymsD. 2. See sketch of George Rogers Clarke. 184 FRANCIS MAEION. Colonial Assembly, Mr. "Weare, (for a number of years a member of that body), was always found on the side of the people. In 1752, ho was chosen Speaker of the house. When, in 1754, delegates from the several colonies assembled at Albany to discuss plans for mutual defence, and to consider the expediency of a political union, Mr. Weare represented New Hampshire in that body, and warmly approved a plan of confederation, proposed by Dr. Franklin. And when, ten years later, the disputes between the colonies and Great Britain grew warm, Mr. Weare was a staunch supporter of all republican measures. In January, 177G, a hastily-prepared Constitution went into operation in New Ilampsliire, and Mr. Weare was chosen to an ofiBce equivalent to that of gover- nor of the embryo State. He was also appointed chief justice of the supreme court ; and in such high estimation was ho held by his fellow-citizens, that they virtually invested him with dictatorial prerogatives, for he wielded the powers of the highest offices in their gift, legislative, executive, and judicial. In 1779, a new Constitution was framed by a convention, of which John Langdon was president, but the people rejected it. Again, in 1784, a convention framed a Constitution, and it was accepted. Again, Meshech Weare, the faithful servant of the peoi^lo, was elected chief magistrate, but the duties of public life, combin- ing with the decay of age, had now produced great feebleness in his vital powers, and before the expiration of the year, he was compelled to resign the office Avhich he had held with so much dignity for nine years. He retired to private life, a worn out public servant, and died at Hampton Falls, on the 15th of Jan- uary, 1786, at the age of seventy-two years. His voluminous papers, comprised in several large manuscript volumes, are now in the custody of the New York Historical Society. T FRANCIS MARION. HERE is scarcely a plantation within tliirty miles of the banks of the Con- -L garee and Santee, from Columbia to the sea, that has not some local tradi- tion of the presence of Marion, the great partisan leader in South Carolina during the Revolution. He was a descendant of one of the Huguenots who fled from Franco toward the close of the seventeenth century, and was born at Winyaw, near Georgetown, South Carolina, in 1732. His infancy gave no promise of mature life, much less of greatness in achievements; for, according to Weems, ho was as "small as a New England lobster, at his birth, and might have been put into a quart pot." His education was very limited, and, except a few months at sea, while a youth, his life was spent in agricultural pursuits, until his twenty-seventh year. Then the hostilities of the Indians on the western frontiers called the young men of the Carolinas to arms, and Marion became a soldier, with Moultrie and others, who afterward fought nobly for freedom. In the wild Cherokee country he obtained great applause for his bravery; and when the Revolution broke out, he was offered a captain's commission, which he accepted. He was successful in the recruiting service, early in 1776; and during the attack on Charleston, in the Summer of that year, he fought bravely under Moultrie, in the Palmeto fort, in the harbor. He was afterward engaged in the contest at Savannah, and was in Charleston while the siege of that city, by the British, in the Spring of 1789, was progressing. Disabled by an accident,' 1. Marion was dininp; with some friends at a house in Tradd Street, Charleston, when, on an atlenif I being made to canse him to drink wine contrary to Iiis practice and desire, he leaped from a window, and sprained liis ankle. The Americans yet kept the country toward the Santee, open, and Marion was conveyed to his home. FRAXCI3 ilATUON, 185 he left the city before its surrender, and made his way home, where he remained until ja.-*t before the defeat of Gates near Camden, in August following. Then, notwitiistaiuliiig he was quite lame, he mounted his horse, collected a score of volunteers, and oflered his services to Gates. They were not readily accepted by that proud general, because of the uncouth appearance of the men.' Soon afterward, being called to the command of the militia of the Williamsburg Dis- trict, in the vicinity of the Black and Pedeo rivers, he formed his famous Brigade, with which he performed such wondrous fe;its during the remainder of the war. I need not stop to detail his exploits during the two years succeeding the forma- tion of his brigade, for they are, or ought to be, familiar to every American reader, young or old. Suffice it to say. that to Marion's Brigade, more than to any other corps in the South, the credit of the expulsion of the British from the Carolinas and Georgia, is due; and General Greene regarded him as his strong right arm, especially after the siege of Ninety-Six, in the Summer of 1781. 1. According to Colonel Williams, tbey must have appeared worse than FalstafTs " ragged tegiiaeiit." / 186 RICHARD HENRY LEE. Just before the war, Marion had occupied a seat ia the legislature of South CaroUna, and early in 1782, when that body was reorganized by Governor Rut- ledge, he was again elected to the Senate. Circumstances soon called him from the council to the field, and he did not relinquish his sword until the British evacuated Charleston toward the close of 1782, and the sun of peace arose. Then he disbanded his Brigade, and retired to his farm near Eutaw Springs, on the Santee. There all was utter desolation ; and at the age of fifty, he com- menced the world anew, as a planter, with scarcely money enough to purchase utensils for his laborers. An almost sinecure oCBce — commander of Fort John- son, in Charleston harbor — was created for him, and the emoluments were of essential service to the veteran. At length a Desdemonia, enamored of the hero because of his exploits, offered him her hand and fortune, through the kind mediation of friends. She was a Huguenot maiden of forty years, comely and rich. The hitherto invincible soldier was conquered, and his home at Pond Blufif was made happy during the remainder of his life, by a loving wife and the means for dispensing a generous hospitality to his friends. He enjoyed these pleasures for about ten years, alternating them occasionally with legislative duties, and tlien went to his rest, without having a child to perpetuate his name or blood. He died on the 29th of February, 1795, at the age of about sixty- three years, and was buried in the church-yard at Belle Isle, where a neat marble slab denotes the resting-place of his remains. RICHARD HENRY LEE. IN the midst of the doubt, and dread, and hesitation, which for twenty days bad brooded over the Continental Congress, after the first step had been taken in the direction of political independence of Great Britain, a clear, musical voice was heard uttering a resolution, " That these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States ; that they are absolved from aU allegiance to the British Crown ; and that all pohtical connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." It was the voice of Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia. He was a scion of one of the early cavalier families of that State, and was born at Stratford, in Westmoreland county, on the 20th of January, 1732. According to the fashion of that time, his father sent him to England to be educated. He was in a school at Wakefield, in Yorkshire, for several j^ears, where he was a thoughtful student, and lover of ancient classic and historical literature. At the age of nineteen years he returned to Virginia, and his time was spent in atliletic exercises and study. He formed a military corps among his youthful companions, was elected to the chief command, and first appears in history at the council called at Alex- andria, by Braddock, in 1755.' There young Lee appeared and ofiered the ser- vices of himself and volunteers, in the proposed expedition against the French and Indians on the Ohio. The proud Braddock refused to accept the services of these plain young provincials, and the deeply-mortified Lee returned home with his troops. Then was planted in his bosom the first seeds of hatred and disgust of the insolence of British oflQcials, and it germinated and bore abundant fruit twenty years afterward. 1. General Braddock called a council of colonial governors, at Alexandria, on the Potomac, to consult upon a campaign against the French and Indians. Several of those magistrates, with Admiral Keppel, met there, arranged satiBfactory plans, and Braddock started oa his unfortunate march toward the Allegbsnies. JOSIAH QUINCY, JR. 187 In 1757, Governor Dinwiddio appointed Mr. Lee a justice of the peace. At about the same time he was elected to a seat in the House of Burgesses of Vir- ginia, though only twenty-five years of age. lie was extremely diffident, but at times his zeal would master his bashfulness, and then those powers of oratory, afterward so conspicuous in the Continental Congress, would beam out in won- drous splendor. He was one of tlie earliest ojiposers of the Stamp Act, and was the first man in Virginia to stand forth in public as its avowed opponent. From that time until the war broke out, he was a leader among the patriots in his State ; and long before the idea became general, he spoke of tlic necessity of independence, lie was a member of the first Continental Congress, in 1774, and while in that body he was always upon the most important committees. In Juno, 1776, he fearlessly offered the resolution above quoted, and took upon himself the fearful responsibility of being branded by the imperial government as an arch-traitor.' After considerable debate, that resolution was made the special order of the day for the 2d of July following,'' and a committee of five were ap- pointed to draw up a preamble or declaration, in accordance with it. On the day when the resolution to appoint a committee was proposed, Mr. Lee was summoned, by express, to his home in Virginia, on account of illness in his family, and for that reason he was not a member of that committee. He after- ward affixed his signature to the Declaration, and thus became one of the im- mortal Fifty-Six. He was active in Congress, in the Virginia Assombl}', or in the field at the head of militia, until the closeof the war. In 1783, he was again elected to Congress, and was cho.scn president of that body. Ho was opposed to the Federal Constitution, because he reverenced State rights ; but, like Patrick Henry, ho 3'ielded cheerful acquiescence when it became the organic law of the Republic. He was chosen the first United States Senator, from Virginia, under it, and held that office until the infirmities of premature ago compelled him to retire to private life, at his beautiful seat at Chantill)-, in his native county. He was greatly beloved by his relatives, friends, and the whole people, and he was sincerely mourned by the nation, at his death. Mr. Lee went to his rest on the 19th of June, 1794, when in the sixty-third year of his age. JOSIAH QUINCY, JR. " T ET me tell you one very serious truth, in which we are all agreed ; your XJ countrymen must seal their cause with their blood." So wrote a young man of thirty, from London, toward the close of 1774. He was Josiah Quincy, junior, grandson of Judge Edmund Quincy, and the child of a wealthy Boston merchant. He was born in Braintrce, Massachusetts, on the 23d of February, 1744. Eagerness for knowledge, and assiduity in study, marked his whole col- legiate career in Harvard University; and when he was graduated, in 1763, he entered upon the study of the law, under Oxenbridge Thacher, of Boston, with equal eagerness. After two years' close study, he was admitted to the bar, and was soon regarded as one of the most promising young men in the profession. His attention was soon drawn to the agitation of the political waters of hia 1. At that time, a son of Mr. Lee was at school at St. Bees, in England. One day, while standinf; near his tutor, a g;entlcman asked, "What boy is this f" The professor replied, " He is the son of Richard Henry Lee, of America." The centleman put his hand upon the boy's head, and said, " We shall yet sec your father's head upon Tower Hill." The boy promptly answered, " You may have it when you can Kct it." That boy was the late Ludwell Lee, K,«q., of Virginia. 2. The resolution was adopted on the 2d of July, but the Declaration was debated until the 4th, and tbeu agreed to. 188 JOSIAH QUINCy, JR. country, and as early as 1767, he began to write political essays in favor of popular liberty. From that time, Otis and Quincy were the boldest denunciators of the oppressive measures of Great Britain.' He was the colleague of John Adams in defending Captain Preston and others after the "Boston Massacre," in 1770, and eloquently pleaded their cause.2 During the three years of compar- ative quiet, after that event, he pursued his avocations in the law with great assiduity; but early in 1773, a pulmonary disease compelled him to seek relief in a warmer climate. He visited Charleston and several places in North Car- olina, everywhere mingling with the most ardent friends of freedom. ^ On his return home he was active in the movements which resulted in the destruction of tea in Boston Harbor.'* He wrote several powerful papers, the most important of which was signed "Marchmont Nedham." He also published, in 1774, severe strictures on the Boston Port Bill,' which included Thoughts on Civil Society and a Standing Army. For the double purpose of seeking renewed health and to servo his country in the dark hour of its trial, he secretly embarked for London, in September, 1774, and at once obtained interviews with the ministry and tlie leading men of both parties. Ho attended the debates in parliament, took full notes of all current political events, and kept his friends in America advised of all important movements in which they were concerned. He became thoroughly convinced of the necessity for his countrymen to prepare for war, and in less than two months after his arrival in England, he expressed the sentiment quoted at tho opening of this memoir. After becoming thoroughly acquainted with the dis- positions and intentions of the king and his ministers, and hopeless of reconcili- ation, Mr. Quincy resolved to return home, and, if his health would permit, to arouse his countrymen to immediate and powerful action. He embarked for Boston, in March, 1775, with a heart big with revolution, and a brain teeming with noble ideas and dreams of tiie g'.orious future of his beloved country. He had said to Dr. Franklin, on partinf"-, '' New England alone can hold out for ages against Great Britain, and, if they were firm and united, in seven years they would conquer them." But Providence did not permit him to realize any of hia aspirations, nor again to set his feet upon his native shores. Ho was blessed with the sight of his dear land, but before the vessel reached the port of Glou- cester, the tooth of consumption destroyed the thread of life, and he expired. It was on the 26th of April, 1775, when he was about thirty-one years of age. His son, then a little child, lias erected a noble monument to the memory of his father, by writing and publishing a record of his life. 1. In 1708, he asked, " Shall we hesitate a moment in preferring death to a miserable existence in bondage ?" And, in 1770, he boldly said, " I wish to see my countrymen break oi\— off foreier /—all social intercourse with those whose commerce contaminates, whose luxuries poison, whose avarice is insatiable, and whose unnatural oppressions are not to be borne." 2. See note on page 87. 3. See sketches of Harnett and Howe. 4. On the day when the destruction of the tea occurred, a great concourse of people were assembled at the "Old South Meetinghouse," and were harangued by young Quincy. " It is not, Mr. Moderator," he said, " the spirit that vapors within these walls, that must stand us in stead. The exertions of this day will call forth events which will make a very different spirit necessary for our salvation. Whoever supposes that shouts and hosannahs will terminate the trials of this day, entertains a childish fancy. He must be grossly ignorant of the importance and value of the prize for which we contend ; we must be equally ignorant of the power of those who have combined against ns. We must be blind to that malice, inveteracy and insatiable revenge which actuate our enemies, public and private, abroad and in our bosoms, to hope that we shall end this controversy without the sliarpest, the shaipest conflicts — to flatter ourselves that popular resolves, popular harangues, popular acclamations, and popular vapor, will vanquish our foes. Let us consider the issue. I fort, and lionne and others started in p\irs\iit. It was then Just at Bunset. They came up with the kidnappers on the Ifith, about forty miles from Boonesborough, rescued the girls, and conveyed them (afcly back to their home. 13 194 ANDRETV PICKENS. During Boone's captivity, his wife and children had returned to the house of her father, on the Yadkin, where the pioneer visited them in 1*779, and remained with them for many months. He returned to Kentucky, in 1180, with his family, and assisted Colonel Clarke in his operations against the Indians in the Illinois country. He was a very active partisan in that far-off region beyond the Al- leghanies until the close of the war. From that time, until 1798, he resided al- ternately in Kentucky and in "Western Virginia. He had seen that "wilderness blossom as the rose;" and in less than twenty years from the time when he built his fort at Boonesborough, he saw Kentucky honored as a sovereign State of an independent union of republics. Yet he was doomed to lose all personal advantages in the growth of the new State. Neglecting to comply with new land laws, of whose details he was probably ignorant, he lost his title to lands which he had discovered and subdued; and the region which so recently seemed all his own, now filled with half a million of his fellow-citizens, afforded him no home in fee simple! Indignant at what he considered base ingratitude, he shouldered his rifle, left Kentucky forever, and, with some followers, plunged into the interminable forests of the present Missouri, beyond the Mississippi river. They settled upon the Little Osage, in 1799, and the following year, Boone and his companions explored the head waters of the Arkansas. A long time after- ward, when he was almost eighty years of age, he trapped beavers on the Great Osage. Soon after his return from that "hunt," he sent a memorial to the legis- lature of Kentucky, setting forth that he owned not an acre of land on the face of the earth, had nowhere to lay his head, and asked a confirmation of title to lands given him in Louisiana, by the Spanish governor, before that territory was ceded to the United States. Congress secured two thousand acres to him, and so his old age was made comparatively happy by the prospect of a grave in the bosom of his own soil. The brave old hero died in Missouri, on the 26th of September, 1820, at the age of almost ninety years. His remains now lie beside those of his wife, in a cemetery at Frankfort, Kentucky. ANDREW PICKENS. CELTIC blood flowed in the veins of very many of the sages and soldiers who laid the foundations of our Republic. In those of Pickens, the eminent partisan soldier of South Carolina, it was unmixed, for his parents were both natives of that portion of Ireland where there had been no infusion of the English or Scotch element. He was born in Paxton parish, Dauphin county, Pennsyl- vania, on the 19th of September, 1739, and while he was yet a child, his parents emigrated to the Waxhaw settlement, in the upper part of South Carolina. His first military lessons, in actual service, were received while serving as a volun- teer under lieutenant-colonel Grant, against the Cherokees, in 1761, having for his companions, Marion and Moultrie. He was a warm republican ; and when the war of the Revolution was kindled, he took the field as captain of militia. His zeal, courage, and skill, immediately attracted attention, and he arose rapidly to the rank of brigadier-general. In the region watered by the Savannah, in both Georgia and South Carolina, General Pickens performed very important services duringthe war, especially in the year 1781. He completely humbled the Cherokees and the Creeks ; broke the power of the Tories in the upper country around Augusta ; and was distinguished for bravery at the Cowpens, the siege of Augusta, and at Eutaw Springs. He and Marion commanded the militia of South Carolina in the latter engagement, and in the early part of the conflict, FRANCIS ASBURT. 195 Pickens ■w-as severely wounded by a musket ball. From the close of the war until 1794, he was continually in public life, chieflj^ as a legislator, and then he was elected to a seat in the House of Representatives of the United States. Ho was also appointed one of the two major-generals of the militia of his State; and in 1796, ho declined a reelection to Congress, but took a seat in the legislature of South Carolina. Ho held that position until 1801, at the same time often acting as commissioner to treat with the Indians. Washington had also solicited him to accept the command of a brigade of light troops to act under Wayne against the tribes of the North-west, but ho declined the honor. He retired to private life, in 1801, and there he remained in the peaceful repose of a planter, in Pendleton District, South Carolina, until 1812, when ho accepted a seat in his State legislature. He declined the profTcred office of governor the following year, and again sought repose in the bosom of his family. There he went to his final rest, on the 17th of August, 1817, at the age of seventj'-cight years. Gen- eral Pickens married Rebecca Calhoun, in 1765. They lived together fifty years. She was aunt of the late John C. Calhoun; and at the time of her marriage was considered one of the most beautiful young ladies in the South. Her nuptials were attended by a great number of relatives and friends, and " Rebecca Cal- houn's wedding" became an epoch in the social history of the district, from which old people used to reckon. The remains of husb.and and wife lie together in the grave-yard of the "old stone meetiug-houso," in Pendleton. FRANCIS ASBURY. PERHAPS no Christian minister, since the settlement of America, has travelled as extensively, and labored as untiringly in the face of every kind of ob- stacle, as Francis Asbury, the senior Bishop of the Methodist Church' in the United States. He was born near Birmingham, England, on the 20th of August, 1745, and came to America, in 1771, at the age of twentj'-six years, as a preacher of the gospel in the sinijilicity of the new sect. Two years afterward, the first annual conference of the American Methodists was held at Philadelphia. The converts under the preaching of John and Charles Wesley had widened the circle of the denomination greatly, and at that conference there were ten preachers, representing a membership of about eleven hundred. Mr. Asbury continued to travel and preach continually from that time untd 1784, when Dr. Coke, whom Mr. Wesley had appointed a presbyter of the church in England, and missionary to America, consecrated him a superintendent or Bishop of the Methodist Epis- copal Church in the United States. Witli the zeal of an ancient apostle, h© entered upon the discharge of his great duties, and visited and organized churches, and planted others, in all parts of the republic. In 1790, he crossed the great mountains, and held a conference five miles from the present Lexington. It was the first general assemblage of the Methodists in the wilderness of the West. That conference then numbered only twelve preachers. They were " indiSer- ently clad," said Bishop Asbury, "with emaciated bodies, and subject to hard fare, but, I hope, rich in faith." 1. This sect was founded, in 1729. bv John Wesley and a minister named Morgan. Their doctrine is the same as that of the Church of England, but they discurdc 1 most of its rituals. They adhere to the Episcopal form of church govemmcnl, thouph varyinc somewhat fiom the Church of Enpland in iti) administration. The name, as api)lied to a relieious sect, is older than the organization of Wesley and others. It was friven to two kinds of Popish Doctors of Divinity, in France, about the middle of the tcventeenth ocntury, who violently opposed the HuRuenots. In England, it was applied to those church members who were evanfielicnl in their views, and zealous in their preaching. Methodism has been well defined by an English writer, ag " Christianity in earnest." 196 JOHN TEUMBULL. From the time of his consecration until his death, a period of thirty-two years, Bishop Asbury travelled yearly through ever}' State in the increasing Union, and kept in efficient action the great machinery of the travelling connection. In the exercise of his episcopal office, he ordained not less, probably, than threo thousand preachers, and uttered seventeen thousand sermons. After spending fifty -five years in the ministry (forty -five in America), that faithful servant of Christ was called to his rest, at the house of his old friend, George Arnold, in Virginia, on the 31st of March, 1816, in the seventy-first year of his age. IIi3 remains, by order of the General Conference, were taken to Baltimore, and de- posited in a vault prepared for the purpose under the recess of the pulpit of the Methodist Church in Eutaw Street. JOHN TRUMBULL. THE name of TrumbuU, the painter, ' like Trumbull, tlie magistrate, will ever be associated with the noblest chapter of American historj-, because his pencil illustrated its noblest events. The painter was the youngest son of the magis- trate, and was born at Lebanon, Connecticut, on the 6tli of Juno, 1756. After receiving an excellent education at Lebanon, ho entered Harvard College, where he remained about a j'car, and was graduated in 1772. lie had early felt the inspirations of art and the aspirations of genius; and during much of his college years at Harvard, he was studying books on the subject of drawing and painting, or was engaged in copying some pictures there. He painted his first original picture — The Battle of Cannce — soon after leaving college, and resolved to dcvoto his life to art, when the gathering storm of the Revolution diverted him from that pursuit, and caused him to exchange his pencil for a sword. His father wished him to become a clergyman, but the church militant had not for him tho charms of martial life, and lie became adjutant of the first Connecticut regiment, wliich was stationed at Roxbury, in the Summer of 1775. A drawing which he made of the enemy's works, by request of Washington, so pleased the com- mander-in-cliief, that ho made the young painter his aid-de-camp, in August. He was promoted to major of brigade, in the Autumn, and in that capacity ho attracted the attention of adjutant-general Gates. He was appointed, by Gates, adjutant-general of the Northern Department, with the title of Colonel, in Juno, 1776, and accompanied that officer to Ticonderoga. He did not receive his commission from Congress until the following Spring, and then it was dated in September. Tho young soldier was offended, and returned the commission witli a spicy letter tendering his resignation. Then ended his militarj' career, and he ■went to Boston to resume the study of art. In 1780, he sailed for London, to place himself under the instruction of Benjamin "West. The great painter re- ceived him kindly, and Trumbull was pursuing his studies quietly, when, late in the year, he was arrested as a rebel, and cast into prison on a charge of treason. West immediately interceded for him, before the king, and received tho royal assurance that tho young painter's life should be spared. After an imprisonment of eight months, he was admitted to bail on condition that ho should quit the country immediately. West and Copley became his sureties. He went to Amsterdam, and then embarked for America, but the ship was compelled to 1. The great painter was a lineal descendant of Rev. John Robinson, the " father of the Pilgrims." His mother's name was Faith Robinson, and was the fifth in descent from the minister at Delft. While at the house of J. G. W. Trumbull, Esq., at Norwich, Connecticut, in 1849, the writer was shown a silver cup, bearing the initials of the Rev. Mr. Robinson, which was brought to America, in 1621, and has been carefully preserved in the family. JOHN TRUMBULL. 197 put back, and he did not reach home until the beginning of 1782. He visited the army on the Hudson, toward Autumn, but peace soon came. His father then urged him to pursue the profession of the law, but the Artist would not listen; and, in November, 17S3, he again went to England, and resumed his studies, under West, with great zeal, industry, and success. He was so success- ful in the treatment of Priam hearing hack to his Palace (he hody of Hector, in 1785, that lie matured a plan for producing a series of historical paintings, rep- resenting events in the American Revolution, Before the close of 1786, he had produced his Battle of Bunker Hill and Death of Montgomery. These were engraved. Then followed his superb painting The Sortie of the Garrison (f Gilraltar, which he sold for twenty-five hundred dollars. He came to America, in 1789, and painted as manj' of the portraits of the signers of the Declaration as were then present in Congress. In 1791 and 1792, he was chiefly employed in painting heads for his four great national pictures, now in the Rotunda of the capitol, at Washing- ton city, namely. Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Surrender of Burgoyne, Surrender of C(rrnivalli.s, Washington Surrendering his Commission. He then went to England as private secretary to Mr. Jay. He went to Paris and en- gaged in commercial pursuits, for awhile; and, in August, 1796, ho was appointed fifth commissioner to carry out the designs of one article of Jay's treaty with Great Britain. His duties did not end until 1804, when he returned to the United States, and resumed his pencil at New York. Lacking encouragement, 198 ROBEET TREAT PAINE. he again went to England, and remained there until 1815, when he returned to New York. The following year he received a commission from our government to paint the four pictures above alluded to. He was engaged seven years on them. He was chosen president of the American Academy of Arts, in 1817, and was annually elected to that office for many years. Finding no purchasers for his collection of paintings, he presented them to Yale College, and they are all in New Haven, in a building erected for the purpose, called The Trumbull Gal- lery. Tlie venerable artist, soldier, and patriot, died in the city of New York, on the 10th of November, 1843, in the eighty-eighth year of his age. ROBERT TREAT PAINE. " Ne'er was a nobler spirit born, A loftier soul, a Rentier heart ; Above the world's ignoble scorn, Above the reach of renal art." THUS sung a genial friend, at the tomb of Robert Treat Paine, a New England bard. He was born at Taunton, Massachusetts, on the 9th of December, 1713, and was the second son of Robert Treat Paine, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Ho was named Thomas,^ but on the death of his eldest and unmarried brother, Robert Treat, in 1798, he assumed his name, and had his choice legally confirmed by an act of the legislature, in 1801. Paino was educated at Harvard, where his poetic genius was early developed.^ Ho was intended for the profession of the law, but soon after leaving college ho became a merchant's clerk. He was quite irregular in his habits, and became greatly enamored of the theatre. He obtained a medal for a prologue, spoken at the opening of a now theatre in Boston, in 1793 ;^ and tlio following year he assumed the editorial control of a newspaper called the Federal Orerry. It was an unsuccessful enterprise, for the editor was idle, and it expired from want of proper food, in 1796. Paine had married the beautiful daughter of an actor, the year before, which offended his father, and an alienation ensued. The young lady proved an excellent wife, and was an angel at his side when intemperance clouded his mind and beggared his family. In 1795, Mr. Paine delivered a poem at Cambridge, entitled Invention of Letters, for which he received from the booksellers, fifteen hundred dollars. Two years 2. I have given his signature, written before the death of his brother. 3. A class-mate abused hira, in rhyme, upon the college wall. Young Paine had never written a line of poetry, but instantly resolved to answer his antagonist in raeterj_anj did so. To that circumstance he attributed his attention to rhyme. Wlien he was graduated, in li92, he delivered a poem. 4. The Federal Street Theatre, yet [18551 devoted to the drama. It was destroyed by fire, in 1798, and rebuilt on a larger scale, in the Autumn of that year. 5. Never was a political song more popular, or more widely sung, than this. Paine showed the verses to Mr. Russell, editor of the Boston Centinel. It was in the midst of company at Mr. Russell's house. Paine was about to take a glass of wine, when his host said, ' ' You have said nothing about Washington ; you cannot drink imtil you have added a verse in his honor." The poet paced the room a few momeots, aiid then, calling for pen and ink, wrote with great rapidity : " .Should the tempest of war overshadow our land, Its bolts would ne'er rend Freedom's temple asunder ; For, unmoved, at its portal would Washington stand. And repulse, with his breast, the assaults of the thunder I His sword from the sleep Of its scabbard would leap. And conduct, with its point, every flash to the deep 1" EDWARD PREBLE. 199 afterward, his Ruling Passion brought him twelve hundred dollars; and his Adanvi and Lihertij, written in 1798, at the request of the Massachusetts Charita- ble Fire Society, yielded him seven lumdred and fifty dollars, or more than eleven dollars a line.^ Mr. Paine was appointed master of ceremonies at the theatre, with a salary, and that connection tlireatcned his health and reputation witii shii)wreck. A liappy change soon occurred. He abandoned dissipation, and, on the solicitation of friends, lie left the theatre, moved, with his family, to Newburyport, entered the law office of Judge Parsons, became a practitioner, enjoyed reconciliation with his father, and gave his friends great hopes. la 180:5, when fortune and bright character wore within his grasp, he was again allured to the theatre, its associations and its habits, and he fell to rise no more, lie neglected business, became intemperate, and died in wretchedness, on the l-tth of Xovember, 1811, when in the thirty-eighth year of his age. It was a sad evening of life, in contrast with the promises of the brilliant morning. His career is a warning to the gifted to avoid the perils of inordinate indulgence of passions and pleasures, for no intellect is so strong that it may not be bowed in degradation. EDWARD PREBLE. THE sons of revolutionary fathers often inherited the courage and patriotism of their ancestors ; indeed, the contrary was the exception to a rule, and true philosophy has a reason for it. The father of Edward Preble, one of the most distinguished of our naval commanders, was the honorable Jedediah Preble, of the ancient town of Falmouth (now Portland), Maine. He was a brigadier under the government of the ^lassachusctts colony, one of the first commanders of the army at Cambridge, in 1775, and a civilian of eminence when the Revolu- tion )iad fairly commenced. Edward was born at the homestead, on the 15tli of August, 17C1, and received an academic education at Newbury. In earlv childhood he was noted for great resolution, and a love of athletic exercises. Like many lads of that seaport, he had a great desire for ocean life, and ho made a voyage to Europe, in a privateer, in 1778. The following year he became a midshipman in one of the Massachusetts vessels, and was captured during the second cniise. Through the influence of Colonel Tyng, a friend of young Preble's flither, the young man was released at New York, while the remainder of the crew were sent to England. Ho now entered as first lieutenant, on board the sloop of war, WinUirop, in which he continued during the remainder of the con- test, and i)erformcd many deeds of valor. After the war, Preble was a pJiip- master in many successive voyages, but stood ready for public service when his country shouhl call him to duty. When, in 1798, our liostile relations with Franco made it necessary to prepare our little navy for service, Preble was one of the five first-lieutenants, appointed by Congress. In the Winter of 1798-9, he made two cruises, and the following Spring ho commanded the Essex, under a captain's commission. In the year 1. Tie was saved by a singjilar providence. Kvery nijrht an oflicer passed alonff the rows of cells in ihe prison, and with a piece of chalk marked the doors from which prisoners were to be taken to the PCiifToM. I'aine's door happened to be open. It was marked, but when it was closed for the night, the fatal bign was on the inside, and he escaped. 200 JOHN H. LIVINGSTOIT. 1800, he was sent to convoy our merchantmen from the East India seas. He was afterward appointed to the command of the Adams, on the Mediterranean station, but ill-health soon compelled him to leave the service, for awhile. In 1803, he was placed in command of the frigate Constitution, and with the Phila- delphia and several smaller vessels, he proceeded to the Mediterranean to humble the Algerino pirates who infested those waters. The principal powers engaged in that system of commercial robbery were those of Algiers, Tunis, Morocco, and Tripoli, known as the Barbary States. Preble first brought the Emperor of Morocco to terms, and then appeared before Tripoli, with his squadron. There he lost the Philadelfphia, which struck upon a rock in the harbor, was captured by the Tripolitans, and the officers and crew were made prisoners.' Preble was soon afterward relieved by his senior. Commodore Barron. Tho value of his gallant services on the African coast was recognized by a vote of Congress, con- ferring upon him the thanks of the nation, and an elegant medal. These were presented to him, on his return home, by the President of the United States. On leaving his squadron, his officers expressed their esteem in a highly com- phmentary address. His services were soon afterward lost to his country, at a moment when they were needed more than ever. His health gave way toward the close of 1806, and on tho 25th of August, 1807, he died, Avhen in the forty- sixth year of his age. He was buried in his native town, with military honors. JOHN tl. LIVINGSTON. THE friend and earliest biographer of President Livingston says of hira, " He was a man whose praise is in all the churches ; first in her councils — first in her honors — first in her affections." He was born at Poughkeepsie, Dutchess county, New York, on the 30th of May, 1746.' He received parental instruc- tion, only, until his seventh year, when he was placed under other tutors, among whom was the father of the late Chancellor Kent. At the age of twelve years, he entered Yale College, as a student, and was graduated in 1762, when only sixteen. The profession of the law opened a brilliant future for him, and ho commenced its study under Bartholomew Crannel, of Poughkeepsie. His habitual seriousness was deepened into strong religious convictions, by hearing a sermon from the lips of the eminent Whitefield, and he resolved to abandon the law, and become a minister of the gospel. He accordingly went to Holland, in 1766, to prosecute theological studies in the University of Utrecht, and there he re- mained until 1770, and acquired the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He returned to America the same year, and became pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church in the city of New York. Through his influence, internal dissensions, which had prevailed for some time, were healed ; the two parties formed a union, and, in 1772, the Dutch churches became independent of the classis of Amsterdam; a result for which ho had labored while in Holland. When the Revolution broke out, all was confusion in New York, and Dr. Livingston went to reside at Kingston, in October, 1775, where, a month after- ward, he was married to Sarah, daughter of Philip Livingston. Until the British took possession of the city of New York, the following year. Dr. Livingston went 1. See sketches of Bainbridge and Decatur. 2. The house iu which he was bom is jet in possession of the family of his only child, the late Colonel Henry A. Livingston. When the British went up the Hudson, in 1777, to burn KinRSton, they fired a heavy round shot at this mansion, because its proprietor was a staunch Whig. It passed into the build- ing, and the ball is preserved by the family. The house stands on the margin of the river. It was built in 171-1, the year when the father of Dr. Livingston was bom. JOHN H. LIVINGSTON", 201 down frequently, and preached to the remnant of his flock, who were compelled to remain.' Ho officiated ministerially at Albany and Livingston's Manor; and, in 1781, ho took np his abode at his fothor's mansion, in Poughkeepsie, and oc- cupied the ])nl])it of the Dutoli Clnirch there, for about two years. "When the British left Now York, Dr. Livingston resumed his pastoral charge there, and the following year lie was chosen, by the first convention, Professor of Theology. He perf )rmod' his new duties, with those of his ministerial services, with great zeal, in New York and its immediate vicinity, until 1810, when, on the removal of Queen's College (the theological school in which he was professor) to New Brunswick, in New Jersey, ho was chosen its president. His inaugural address is a model of its kind, full of learning and the purest Christian spirit. In 1813, he completed a version of the Psalms and Hymns used in the church, pursuant to the request of the general Synod, and tliat collection is now tho standard book throughout that denomination. As the college under his charge did not flourish as a Uferanj institution, an eflbrt was commenced, in 1815, to make it a Theo- logical Seminary, exclusively. That measure was carried into effect, and from that time, imtil the present, it has held that charncter. Its name has been changed to Rnfaer^s College, in honor of a distinguished citizen of New York who nobly patronised it. 1. T)r. I.lvinfTston Briministered the Lord's Supper in the Middle Dutch Chnrch (now [1855] the city Post OSce), in June, 1776, the last unOl the British loft the city, in November, 1783. 9* 202 GOUVERNEUR MORRIS. Dr. Livingston's health began to fail many years before his death, yet ho labored on and hoped on, until the last. Finally, in January, 1825, he was at- tacked with acute pain, but was soon relieved. On the evening of the 28th ho prayed fervently, in his family, and went to bed in usual health. When his grandson called him to arise for breakfast the next morning, the spirit of the good man had departed to the bosom of his God whom he so dearly loved and so faithfully served. He was then in the seventy-ninth year of his age. GOUVERNEUR MORRIS. THE preparation of the Constitution of the United States in the form adopted by the convention, in 1787, and ratified by a majority of the States, the following year, was the work of the accomplished scholar and statesman, Gou- verneur Morris, brother of Lewis, one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- pendence. He was born at Morrisania, on the Westchester shore of the Harlem River, New York, on the 31st of January, 1752. The death of his father left him to the care of his mother at the age of twelve years. Ho was graduated at King's (now Columbia) College, in the city of New York, in May, 17GS, at the age of sixteen years, and his oration on that occasion, on the subject of Wit and Beauty, made a marked sensation among the polished circles of the day. He studied law under William Smith, the historian of New York, and afterward chief justice of the province, and was licensed to practice, in the Autumn of 1771. Ho was not yet twenty years of age, j'ot he had already engaged in political discussions of the day, especially upon financial subjects, and had at- tracted the attention of many leading men. He continued much before the public in speech and in print, until 1775, when he was elected to a seat in the New York Provincial Congress. There he made a most favorable impression, and was soon an acknowledged leader, although then only twenty-three years of age. He was one of the committee of correspondence for the city of New York, and his pen was continually busy for the patriot cause. In the Summer of 1776, he was sent as special agent to the Continental Congress, on the subject of payment to troops; and in the Autumn of the following year, he was elected to a seat in tliat body. He was placed on a committee to confer with General Washington on the subject of a new organization of the Continental army, and he spent nearly three months in the camp at Valley Forge. From the moment of presenting his credentials, Mr. Morris was one of the most active and highly esteemed members of Congress; and finally, when the government was newly organized, in 1781, under the Articles of Confederation, he was made assistant financial agent with his great namesake of Philadelphia. Ho was now a per- manent resident of that city, where, by an accident, he lost a leg.' He remained there until 1786, when he purchased the paternal estate at Morrisania from a Tory brother, and soon afterward made it his abode. He was a delegate from Pennsylvania in the convention that framed the Federal Constitution, and when the various articles had been thoroughly discussed and agreed upon, the task of putting the whole instrument into proper form and language was entrusted to Mr. Morris. The following year he went to Paris, and resided there until early in 1790, when, having received from President Washington the appointment of 1 He was thrown from a carriae-e in the streets nf Philadelphia, and the hones of one of his leRS were BO much shattered, that ampnt.-jtion became necessary. He always wore a rough stick, as a substitute, and would never consent to have a handsome leg made. .1 THOMAS M'KEAN. 203 private agent to transact important business with the British ministry, he went to London. After accoraphsliing his business, he made a brief tour on the Con- tinent. Early in 1792, ho received intclhgenee of liis appointment as minister plenipotentiary to the French court, and tliat important station he filled until the Autumn of l'i94, wlien ho made another Continental tour, chiefly for the purpose of gathering information for the benefit of himself and country. He finally returned to America in the Autumn of 1798, and retired to private life at Morrisania, after an absence often years, during which time he had been en- gaged in the most arduous public and private duties. He was soon afterward elected' to fill a vacancy in the United States Senate, and held a seat there from May. 1800, until March, 1803. He travelled most of the remainder of 1803, in the United States and Canada. His thoughts were ever active on the subject of the internal improvement of his native State. He was among the earliest to appreciate Jesse Hawloy's plan for connecting the waters of Lake Erie and the Hudson, by a canal, and was one of the most ardent friends of the project. He did not live to see it consummated, for death suddenly terminated his career, on the 6th of November, 1816, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. Mr. Morris was a fine writer, and his pen wielded an extensive influence during half a century. THOMAS M'KEAN. AMONG the numerous men of note, in Pennsylvania, who received an aca- demic education under Francis AUison,' was the eminent Chief Justice M'Kean, of that State. He was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, on the 19th of March, 173-4. He studied law with his relative, David Finney, at New Castle, in Delaware ; and during his student life, he was clerk of the prothono- tary Court of Common Pleas, for that county. He was admitted to practice before he was twenty-one years of age, and his upward course in his profession was rapid and highly honorable. In 1756, he was appointed deputy of the at- torney-general, to prosecute in the county of Sussex, and the following year he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He was ap- pointed clerk of the assembly of Delaware, at about the same time ; and that body, in 1762, appointed hiui a colleague, with C;esar EodneY, to revise and print the laws of the province enacted during the preceding ten years. That same year he was chosen a member of the Delaware Assembly,^ and then he commenced his distinguished political career, in earnest, which continued for almost half a century. He was annually reelected to the Assembly for seventeen years, against his continually expressed desire to leave public life, and even while, for six years of the time, he was a resident of the city of Pliiladelphia. This was an extraordinary proof of his abilitj- and fidelity.^ In 1764, the legislature appointed him one of tliree trustees of the provincial loan office, and ho performed the duties of that station until 1772. He was a delegate to the "Stamp Act Congress" held in New York, in 1765, and was 1. See sketch of Francis Allison. 2. The present Stale of Delaware, which William Penn obtained bv frrant and purchase, in 1682, and annexed to his province of I'ennsylvania, was oripinally known as JTir Territoriex, comprising the three counties of Xew Castle. Kent, and Sussex. Penn pave the people of Pennsylvania a new and more liberal charter, in 1701, but the people of r^*" 7VrnVon>< preferred a separate and independent povern- ment. X compromise was effected. The Delaware counties were allowed a di-t n^'t and independent assembly, under the same covemor and council as Pennsylvania. Such was the political condition of the twri i-nmmonwcalths. imlil finally separated in 1776. 3. Wb"n he finally positively declined n reelection, in 1777. the people insisted that he .should name some of the best men in Delaware, for their representatives. He did so, and all were elected. 204 THOMAS BALDWIN. one of the most energetic friends of popular liberty in that assembly. In 1771, he was appointed collector of the customs at New Castle, and was a commissioner of the revenue. In the Autumn of 1772, he was chosen Speaker of the As- sembly. He was a delegate for his adopted province in the first Continental Congress, in 1774; and he was a member of the national council from that time until the return of peace, in 1783. As such he advocated independence, and signed the great Declaration. lie was one of the committee appointed to draw up the Articles of Confederation ; and while acting as a senator in Congress, and president of the newly-organized State of Delaware, he was also distinguished as a soldier, in New Jersey, with the commission of colonel. In July, 1777, he was commissioned chief justice of Pennsylvania, and held that exalted office for twenty years. It was a position of great responsibility, but Judge M'Kean w^as equal to the task ho had assumed. He was president of Congress, in 1781; and, in 1787, he was a member of the Pennsylvania convention which ratified the Federal Constitution. He was its earnest advocate, and was extremely in- fluential in procuring its ratification, by Pennsjdvania, In 1789, Judge M'Kean assisted in amending the constitution of his native State ; and ten j-ears after- ward, at the end of a warm party contest, ho was elected governor of Pennsyl- vania. He was rather violent in his party zeal, and his course as chief magis- trate created the most bitter animosity against him. His political enemies tried to impeach him, but his stern integrity never allowed him to deviate from the strict line of duty, and they found no true basis for their attempts to degrade him. For nine years he governed Pennsylvania with firmness, ability, and great discretion, and then retired from public life. Only once again did he appear in a popular assembly. It was in Independence Hall, in 1814, when the safety of Philadelphia seemed in jeopardy from the British. He presided, and reminded the people that there were then only two parties, " our country and its invaders." The venerable patriot went down into the grave, on the 24th cf June, 1817, ■when past the eighty-third year of his age. THOMAS BALDWIN. ONE of the most eminent lights of the Baptist Church, in America, was the Reverend Thomas Baldwin, D.D., who was born at Bozrah,' Connecticut, on the 23d of December, 1753. His early education was very limited, yet his ardent aspirations for knowledge overcame many obstacles in his way. When he was sixteen years of age his parents went to Canaan, then a frontier town in New Hampshire, to reside, and there his youth was spent in the laborious voca- tion of a blacksmith, the business of his step-father. He was frequently called upon to read sermons to the people on the Sabbath, when the minister was ab- sent, he being the only young man in the place capable of performing such ser- vice. Only a few books could then be obtained, yet so thoroughly did he study all that fell in his way, that, when arrived at manhood, he possessed a stock of miscellaneous knowledge much greater than that of most young men of his time, out of cities. Young Baldwin was married to Ruth Huntington, of Norwich, in 1775, and 1. The oriRin of this name is a little amusing. A plain man, who lived where FitchTille now is, was not remarkable for qnotinc Scripture correctly. On one occasion, in quotinp the sentence from Isaiah, "Who is this that cometh from Edom. with dyed garments from Bozrah," &e., he stated that the Prophet Bnzrah said thus and so. He was ever afterward called the Prophet, and his place was named Bozrah. When the town was incorporated, that name was given to it. THOMAS BALDWIN. 205 soon afterward became a member of tlie Baptist Church. He was ordained for the Christian ministry, in the Summer of 1783 ; and at about the same time he was elected to a seat in the Connecticut legislature. Never was a man more devoted to his calling, than was this eminent young servant of Christ. He soon declined political office, because it interfered with his ministerial labors. Like Paul, his own hands ministered to his necessities, for, during the first seven years of his pastoral labors, his salary did not amount to forty dollars a year. Yet he travelled on horseback over a large district of country. The fame of ^Ir. Baldwin, as a zealous preacher, was soon in all the churches; and, in November, 1790, he was installed pastor of the Second Baptist Church, in Boston. The change from the ruder society of the frontier, to the more re- fined of the metropolis, was very great, yet his services were most acceptable, from the beginning. His fervid and persuasive eloquence captivated all hearts, and remarkable revivals occurred under his preaching. Within the space of two years [1803-1805], over two hundred communicants were added to his congregation. In 1803, the Faculty of Union College, New York, conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity, upon Mr. Baldwin; and the same year he commenced the publication of the American Baptki .Vagazine. He was its sole editor imtil 1817, and senior editor until his death. It was a powerful auxiliary in his hands, in promoting the growth of the Baptist Church in this country ; and, for a long 206 SETH 'EARNER. time, it was the only publication issued by that denomination on this side the Atlantic. Although eminent as a preacher and editor, Dr. Baldwin is more widely known to the reading world as an author. The number of his published works is thirty- four, a large proportion of which consists of sermons, printed by special request. His writings on Baptism have always been regarded as expressing the opinions of the standard authorities of his denomination. Dr. Baldwin was a zealous friend of institutions of learning, especially of those fostered by the Baptist Church ; and during his long life, until his steps began to totter, he was an active laborer. He literally "died in harness," for he expired at Waterville, Maine, on the day after preaching two instructive sermons at Hallowell. His departure was on the 29th of August, 1825, at the age of seventy-two years. Temperate and regular in his habits, his old age was like a sunny landscape just at evening, suffused with golden light. SETH WARN Eli. A MONG- the Green Mountain Boys of the last century, the man next to Ethan a\. Allen in their esteem, for daring courage, unflinching patriotism, and pleas- ant companionship, was Seth "Warner, a native of Woodbury, Connecticut, where he was born at about the year 1744. Wo have no reliable records of his early life, except that he was fond of athletic sports and the excitements of the chase. He took up his abode at Bennington, in the present Vermont, in 1773, and was famous throughout that whole region as a deer and bear hunter. In the contro- versy with the authorities of Vermont, he was one of the leaders of the people ; and in March, 1774, the legislature of Now York passed an act of outlawry against him. He was with Ethan Allen at the capture of Ticonderoga, in May, 1775, and commanded the little force that took possession of Crown Point immediately afterward. He received a colonel's commission from Congress, raised a regiment of Green Mountain Boys, ' and joined the army in Canada, under General Montgomery ; but on the approach of Winter, they were discharged. He had been of great service after the capture of Ethan Allen, at Montreal, and on the 1st of Novem- ber, had repulsed a considerable British force, under Governor Carleton, which attempted to land at Longueuil for the purpose of driving the invading Amer- icans back to Lake Champlain. The following Spring, Warner raised another regiment, marched toward Quebec, and was very serviceable in the final retreat of the Americans from Canada. In all the operations in the vicinity of Lake Champlain, in 1776, Colonel Warner was an efficient participator; and he was at Ticonderoga, in the Summer of 1777, when Burgoyne compelled the Amer- icans to abandon that post. He commanded a part of St. Clair's troops in that retreat, and gallantly fought the pursuing enemy at Hubbardton, on the 7 th of July. Defeated in that engagement, he made a successful retreat to Manchester, and on the 16tli of August following, he was with the gallant Stark in the en- gagement known as the Battle of Bennington. He then joined General Gates on the Hudson, assisted in humbling Burgoyne, and participated in the glory of his defeat and capture. He engaged very little in public life, after that event, be- cause his health was greatly impaired by a complication of disorders. He lin- gered on until 1785, when death ended his sufferings. He died at his birth-place, at the age of about forty-one years. Grateful for his services, his adopted State granted a valuable tract of land to his widow and children. 1. See sketch of Ethan Allen. JOSEPH REED. 207 JOSEPH REED. " T AM not worth purchasing, but, such as I am, the King of Great Britain is JL not rich enough to do it," are the noble words attributed by tradition to Josepli Reed, of Pennsj-lvania, and uttered when a bribe was offered for his intiuenee in flivor of Great Britain, in 1778. He was born at Trenton, Xew Jersey, on the 27th of August, 1741. His fatlier soon afterward made Phila- delphia his residence, for several years. Joseph was designed for the profession of the law, and was educated in the college at Princeton, where he was grad- uated in 1757, with a Bachelor's degree, at the early age of sixteen years. He first studied law with Richard Stockton, and completed his legal education in the Temple, in London. On his return home, he made Philadelphia his residence, entered warmly into political life, and was one of the committee of correspond- ence in his adopted city, in 1774. He was chosen president of the first popular convention in Pennsylvania; and, in 1775, he accompanied Washington to Cambridge as his aid and secretary. He remained with the chief during that campaign, and the following year, when Gates was appointed to the command in the Xorthern Department. Mr. Reed was then appointed adjutant-general of the American army, with the rank of colonel. He performed efiRcient service in the battle near Brooklyn, in August, 1776, especially in the management of the admirable retreat of the Americans. In the Spring of 1777, he was appointed a brigadier, in command of cavalrv, but declined the honor, yet he remained at- tached to the army until after the battle at Germantown, in the Autumn of 1777. He was soon afterward elected to a seat in Congress, and was a member of that body when, in the Spring of 1778, commissioners came from England to negotiate a peace on the basis of the submission of the colonists to the crown. It was to the agent of one of these commissioners that he is said to have ad- dressed the words above quoted.' Tlie fact became known, and Congress re- fused further intercourse with the commissioners. In 1778, General Reed was chosen president of the newly-organized commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and filled that station with great ability until October, 1781, when he retired from public life, and resumed the practice of the law. Like all dutiful men, he was the target for unmeasured abuse from his political opponents ; but when time dissipated the clouds of party rancor, all men beheld in Joseph Reed a patriot and an honest man. His health became impaired in 1784, and he went to Eng- land to seek its restoration, but without beneficial results.^ He died on the 4th of March, 1785, at the age of forty -four years. 1. The ngent chosen was Mrs. Ferguson, R nntive of Pcnnsvlvania, whose husband was a relative of Adam Ferguson, the sccretsry of the commission. She was a woman of superior attainments, and loied lier country. She was a passive, rather tlian an active agent in the matter. In her account of her in- terview with Mr. Reed, site says his words were, " My influence is but small, but were it as great as Governor Johnstone [the commissioner who approached General Keed, through Mrs. Ferguson] would insinuate, the King of (ireat Britain has nothiug within his gift that would tempt me." Alluding to this, Trumbull, in his "M'Fiugall," says : " Behold, at Britain's ntmost shifts, Comes Johnstone, loaded with like gifts, To venture through the Whiggish tribe, To cuddle, wheedle, coax, and bribe ; And call to aid his dcsp'rate mission, His petlicoated politician; While Venus, joined to act the farce, Strolls forth embassadress of Mars.'' 2. Mr. Reed married a daughter of Dennis de Berdt, a London merchant, in 1770. Though in delicate health, she was active in her sphere of dnty in relation to public events. She was at the head of an association of ladies, formed in Philadelphia in 1780, to furnish clothing for the army. No less than twenty two hundred ladies joined the association, and contributed by their money and needles to the comfort of the soldiers. 208 JAMES RIVINGTON. JAMES RIVINGTON. PERHAPS one of the most acute and successful political gamesters in this country, was James Rivington, "the king's printer," in New York, during a greater portion of the War for Independence. He was a native of London, well-educated, courtly in deportment, and a general favorite among liis acquaint- ances. He was a bookseller in London, but foihng in business, he came to America, in 1760, and opened a book-store in Philadelphia. The following j-ear he opened another at the foot of Wall Street, New York; and, in 17G2, he established a third, in Boston. His partner in the latter died tliree years after- ward, and it was closed. In the course of a few 3'ears he again failed in busi- ness, but settling his affairs satisfactorily, he resumed it in New York, and thereafter confined his operations to that city. He commenced printing books, in 1772 ; and, in the Spring of the following year, he publislied tlie first number of his Royal Gazetteer, a weekly newspaper. It was conducted with considerable fairness, but after the hostilities iu Massachusetts, in the Spring of 1775, he took strong ground against the Wliigs, and excited their fiercest indignation. Their ire took tangible shape in November of that j'car, when Isaac Sears (a leader of the Sons of Liberty ten years before), at the head of a troop of Connecticut mil- itia, marched into the city at noon-day, destroyed Rivington's press, and car- ried off his type to tlie tune of Yankee Doodle. Rivington soon afterward went to England, but returned in tlie Autunm of 1776, when the British had taken possession of New York. Early in 1777, he resumed the publication of his paper, and from that time till the close of the war, he dealt hard and unscrupu- lous blows upon the patriots, from Washington and Congress down to the most obscure official. And yet, toward the close of the conflict, while his press was the vehicle of the coarsest abuse of Washington and his friends, it is a well-at- tested fact that Rivington was secretly furnishing the American commander-in- chief valuable information concerning the movements and plans of the enemy within tlie city. Such was the case from early in 1781, until the evacuation of the city by the British near the close of 1783.' This fact accounts for the other- wise inexplicable circumstance, that Rivington, the arch-loyalist, was allowed to remain while thousands of less offending Tories were compelled to flee to Nova Scotia. Rivington sagaciously perceived the inevitable result of the con- flict, and thus made a peace-offering to the Americans. His business declined after the war, and he lived in comparative poverty for many years, simply be- cause he would not relinquish his expensive mode of living.^ He died in July, 1802, when at the age of about seventy-eight years. 1. By means of honks which he priritei, he performed his treason withont suspicion. He wrote his information npon thin paper, and hound tliose billeis in the covers of books which he adroitly managed to sell to persons employed by Washington to buy of him, but who were ignorant of the transaction. Wash- in^on removed the covers, and foimd the desired information. Referring to the change in the tone of Eivington's paper, at the close of the war, Philip Frenau, the vigorous epic and lyric poet of the Bevolution, wrote, in the editor's name : " You know I was zealous for George's command, Hut since he disgraced it, and left us behind, If I thought him an angel I've altered my mind. On the very same day that his army went hence, I ceased to tell lies for the sake of his pence ; And what was the reason — the triie one is best, I worship no sun that declines to the west." Z Beferring to this, Frenau wrote : " Long life and low spirits were never my choice, As long as I live I intend to rejoice ; When life is worn out, and no wine 's to be had, 'Tis time enough then to be serious and sad, 'Tis time enough then to reflect and repent. When our liquor is gone, and our money is spent." JOHN DICKENSON. 209 JOHN 13ICKENSON. THE " Letters of a Farmer of Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies," published in the Fennsylvama Chronicle, during the Summer and Autumn of ITGi, had a powerful influence on the American mind, in preparing it fur the great struggle for freedom, even then impending. The author was John Pickenson, a native of Maryland, where he was born, on the 13th of November, 17:{2. His father was first judge of the Court of Common Pleas, in Delaware, and being wealthy, his son had every advantage of social position and pecuniary case, at the beginning of life. He was well educated by private tutors, and then went to England and studied law in the Temple, for three years. He first ajjpeared in public life as a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, in 1764, where the readiness of his pen attracted general attention. He was also a member of the Stamp Act Congress, in 17C5. He soon afterward commenced writing political essays; and during the whole conflict, which commenced in earnest in 1775, his pen was always active and efficient. His Letters of a Penn- sylvania Fanner, above alluded to, were published in London, by Dr. Franklin, in 1768, and the following year they were translated into French, and pubhshed at Paris.' 1. The people of Boston passed a vote of thanks to Mr. Dicltenson for those Letters, and the Society of Fort St. David, of Philadelphia, prcstated bim with an addiees in " a box of heart of oak." u 210 PETER MUHLENBERG. Mr. Dickenson was a member of the first Continental Congress, in 1774, and his pen was instrumental in the prejparation of two of the State papers put forth by that body. He wrote the Declaration of the Congress of 1775, setting forth the causes and the necessity for war ; yet he steadily opposed the idea of polit- ical independence, for he hoped for a reconciliation. For that reason, he was intentionally absent from Congress on the 4th of July, 1776, for he was unwill- ing to vote on the subject of independence, contrary to the expressed wishes of his constituents. In the Autunm of 1777, President M'Kean, of Delaware, commissioned him a brigadier-general, but his military career was short. Ho was again elected to Congress, in 1779, and there, as before, his pen was em- ployed in the preparation of important State papers. In 1780, he took his seat, as a member, in the Delaware Assembly; and, in 1782, he was elected president or governor of Pennsylvania. He held that office until October, 1785. He was one of the most accomplished and efficient members of the convention that framed the Federal Constitution ; and over the signature of Fabius he published nine ably- written letters in its defence. In 1792, he assisted in forming a Con- stitution for Delaware; and, in 1797, he published another series of political letters over the signature of Fabius. At about that time he retired from public life, and the remainder of his days were passed in the enjoyment of domestic and social happiness, at "Wilmington, where he died on the 14th of February, 1808, at the age of seventy-five years. Dickenson CoUege, at Carlisle, Pennsyl- vania, is a noble monument to perpetuate his memory. It is now [1854] under the control of the Baltimore and Philadelphia conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church. PETER MUHLENBERO. SPIRITUAL and temporal warfare was the lot of many Gospel ministers, dur- ing the "War for Independence. Of those who wielded weapons manfully, in both fields of conflict, was John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, who generally wrote his name witli the John and Gabriel omitted. He was a native of Trappe, a village in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, where he was born on the 1st of October, 1746. He was the son of Dr. Melchoir Muhlenberg (the founder of the Lutheran Church in America), and the daughter of Conrad Weiser, the great Pennsylvania Indian agent. Peter was educated for the ministr}^, partly in this country, and partly in Europe. He was ordained in 1768, and commenced his pastoral labors in Western New Jersey the following year. He was called to the charge of a congregation in Virginia, in 1771, and it being necessary to ob- tain ordination from an English Bishop, before he could enter upon his duties there, he went to London for the purpose, at the beginning of the following year. He and Mr. (afterward Bishop) White were ordained at the same time. On his return, he became minister of the parish of Woodstock, Virginia, and was soon an acknowledged leading spirit of that section among those who opposed British aggressions. He was chairman of the committee of safety in that county, in 1774, and was elected to a seat in the House of Burgesses. At the close of 1775, he was appointed colonel of a Virginia regiment, and, relinquishing his pastoral duties,' he joined the army, and was in the battle at Charleston, in 1. In concluding his farewell sermon, he quoted the language of Holy Writ, which declares that there is " a time for all things," and added, with a trumpet voice, " there is a time to fight, and that time has now come I" Then laying aside his gown, he stood before his flock in the full uniform of a Virginia colonel. He then ordered the drums to be beaten at the church door for recruits, and almost three hundred men, cbieQy of Ms congregation, were enrolled under his banner, that day. SILAS TALBOT. 211 June, 1776. Congress commissioned him a brigadier, in February, 1777, and he was ordered to take charge of all the Virginia Continental troops. He joined the arm}', under Washington, at Middlebrook, in May, and was with the chief in all his movements from that time until 1779 — Brandywine, Germautown, White Marsh, Valley Forge, and Monmouth. Ho was with Wayne at the cap- ture of Stony Point, in July, 1779, and was very active afterward, in Virginia, until the capture of Cornwallis, in the Autumn of 1781. He was a brave par- ticipator in that last great battle of the Revolution. At the close of the war he was promoted to major-general, and removed to Pennsylvania. He never re- sumed his ministerial labors, but served his native State in several civil offices. Ho was a member of the first and third Congress, after the organization of the Federal Government, and was also a United States Senator, in 1801. Ho was appointed supervisor of the revenue of Pennsylvania the same year; and, in 1802, he was made collector of the port of Philadelphia. In that office he re- mained until his death, which occurred at his country seat, near Philadelphia, on the 1st of October, 1807, when lie was precisely sixty-one years of age. His remains lie buried in the burial-ground at Trappe, near the church wherein he was baptized. SILAS TALBOT. THE exigencies of the public service during the War for Independence often- times made officers amphibious — called to duty on land and water — as in the case of Arnold, Drayton, and others. Silas Talbot was of this class, and one of the bravest and most devoted. His memory has been rescued from oblivion by an accomplished writer of our day (H. T. Tuckerman, Esq.), who, with in- finite pains, has grouped the chief incidents of his checkered life into a miniature volume. Our hero was a lineal descendant of Sir Richard de Talbot of the time of William the Conqueror, and seems to have inherited the martial taste of his illustrious ancestor. He was a native of Rhode Island, but little is known of his early life. He was a young man when the war broke out, and ho entered heartily into the contest. He then resided in Providence, where he had married, in 1772, and built himself a house, with his own earnings. Early in 1775, ho had organized a little company of volunteers ; and, in June following, the State gave him the commission of captain in one of its regiments. He joined the camp at Roxbury, was active during that campaign, and accompanied the army to New York, in the Spring of 177G. There ho performed some daring exploits against the British shipping in the harbor, which elicited the thanks of Congress, and procured him a major's commission. In the Autumn of 1777, he was in the memorable siege of Fort Mifilin, on the Delaware, where he was twice badly wounded. The following year we find Major Talbot busily engaged in furnish- ing boats for General SuUivan to transport his troops across the channel at the upper end of Rhode Island ; and from that time, untd the evacuation of the Island, by the British, he was active in all mihtary and naval events, in that vicinity. In the Autunm of 1779, he was commissioned a captain in the navy, and ho afterward made as successful cruises, as he had already during his six months of naval command previous to tlio date of his commission. Ho was captured by a small British fleet, in 1780, and suffered the horrors of the Jersey prison-ship,* and the Provost jail, at Now York, for several months. He was 1. This w»s an old hnlk, moored where the Brooklyn Nary Yard now is, and used as a prison for captured American seamen. Soldiers were also immured there. Several thousands perished of famine 212 NATHAN HALE. finally taken to England, and exchanged at the close of 1781. After the war, he purchased a portion of the forfeited estate of Sir "William Johnson's heirs, on the Mohawk, and retired to private life. In 1794, when a new organization of the navy took place. Captain Talbot was called into the public service ; and he superintended the construction of the Constitution, which became his flag-ship, in 1799, while on a cruise in the West Indies, with the afterward renowned commander of the same ship (Hull), as his lieutenant. Talbot remained in active service until 1801, when he resigned his commission, took up his abode in the city of New York, and lived in retirement until his death, on the 30th of June, 1813. His remains were buried under Trinity Church. NATHAN HALE. ONE of the earliest martyrs in the cause of popular liberty, in America, was Captain Nathan Hale, whose fate, and that of Major Andr^, history may properly parallel. He was a sou of Richard Hale, of Coventry, Connecticut, and was born in that town, twenty miles from Hartford, about the year 1754. Ho was graduated at Yale College, with distinguished approbation, in 1773, when the tempest of the Revolution was gathering force. Fired with zeal for liberty, he joined the Connecticut troops that hastened to Boston after the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, and was with Captain (afterward Colonel) Knowlton in the battle on Breed's Hill. He continued with the army under the immediate command of "Washington, until the following year, and participated in the battle near Brooklyn, and the retreat of the American army, from Long Island. At that time Knowlton was in command of a regiment, called Congret^s' Oivn, that assumed a sort of body -guardianship to the commander-in-chief, and j'oung Halo held a captain's commission in it. "While the American army were upon Harlem Heights, and the great body of the British were yet on Long Island (in the vicinity of Brooklj-n, and of the present Astoria), "Washington was very anxious to ascertain the exact condition of the enemj-'s forces. He applied to Colonel Knowlton for a judicious person to go as a spy into the British camp. Captain Hale volunteered for the service, and bearing instructions from "Washington, he crossed Long Island Sound from the Connecticut shore, visited the British camps, made notes and sketches, unsuspected, and was about to embark from Huntington, to Connecticut, when he was discovered and exposed, it is said, by a Tory relative, and was made a jirisoner. He was taken to Sir "William Howe's head-quarters at Turtle Ba}-, confined in Beekman's green-house in the garden, until morning, and then, without the form of a regular trial, was handed over to Cunningham, the brutal provost-marshal in New York, for execution as a spy. That wretch would not allow him to have the company of a clergyman, nor the use of a Bible ; and ho even destroyed the letters which the victim had written to his mother and sisters during the night. Amid cruel jeers he was hanged, like a dog, upon an apple tree, and his body was buried in a grave beneath its shadow. He suffered death in accordance ^vith the stern laws of war, but his treatment, from the hour of his capture until his death, was disgraceful to the British commander. Hale's last words were. " I only regret that I have net more lives to give to my country."' A beautiful monument has been erected to his memory in his native town. and disease in that loathsome prison. The Provost jail was also a place of horrors. It was in Liberty Street, near Nassau Street. 1. A full account of Hale's capture and death may he found in Onderdonk's Sevoluiionary Incidents on Long Island, and in LoBsing'a PictorioJ FvUd-Book of the Revolution. ALEXANDER HAMILTOK 213 ALEXANDER HxVMILTON. AROUN'D the name of Hamilton, the pure patriot, the brave soldier, the ao- coraplished statesman, and acute financier, there is a halo which brighteng with the lapse of years, for ho was peerless among his fellows. He was a native of the islaad of Xovis, iu the West Indies, and was descended from a Scotch father and a French mother. lie was born on the 11th of January, 175T. He received a fiir education in childhood, and at the age of twelve years he became a clerk in the mercantile house of Nicholas Cruger, at St. Croix. Every leisure moment ho devoted to study ; and while yet a mere youth, a production of his pen gave such evidence of great genius, that the friends of his widowed mother provided means for sending him to New York to be thoroughly educated. At the age of si.x;teen years he accompanied his mother to the United States, and entered King's (now Columbia) College as a student, where he remained about three years. The contest of words, with Great Britain, was then raging, and gave scope to his thoughts and topics for his pen. When only seventeen years of age he appeared as a speaker at public meetings, and he assisted the Sons of Liberty in carrying off British cannon from the battery of Fort George, at the foot of Broadway, in 1775. He entered the army as captain of an artillery cora- p.any, raised chiefly by himself and performed good service at White Plains?, Trenton, and Princeton. His pen was as active as his sword, and many articles, attributed to more mature and eminent men, were the oflspring of his brain. 214 WILLIAM GRAY. He attracted the special attention of "Washington, and in March, 17 7 7, the com- mander-in-chief appointed him his aid-de-camp, with the rank of Ueutenant- colonel. During the remainder of the war, until the capture of Cornwallis in the Autumn of 1781, ho was Washington's chief secretary, and was also the leader of a corps of light infantry, under La Fayette, at the siege of Yorktown. After that event he left the army, and, in 1782, was admitted to practice at the bar of the Supreme Court of the State of New York. He was a member of Congress during that year, but declined a reelection. He had married a daughter of General Philip Schuyler, in 1780, and he looked to his profession for the sup- port of his family. He rose to distinction very rapidly, yet in the midst of his extensive business, he found time to employ his pen upon subjects of national importance. He was a member of the convention that framed the Federal Con- stitution, and in connection with Madison and Jay, wrote the series of articles in lavor of that instrument, known as The Federalist. Of the eighty-five num- bers, Hamilton wrote fiftj^-four. He was also a member of the State convention, held at Poughkeepsie in 1788, that ratified the Constitution. When, in 1789, the new government was organized, Washington, on the earnest recommenda- tion of Robert ilorris, placed Mr. Hamilton at the liead of the Treasury. It was a wise choice, for financial difficulties were more formidable than any others in the way of the administration, and no man was more capable of bringing order out of confusion, than Mr. Hamilton. Ilis consummate skill soon regulated money matters; but while ho was improving the fiscal condition of the govern- ment, he was injuring his own. He accordingly resigned his office, in 1795, and turned his attention to his profession. When a provisional army was raised, in 1798, Washington accepted tlie commission of commander-in-chief^ only on con- dition that Hamilton should bo his associate, and second in command. This was Hamilton's last public service. In the Winter of 180-1, he became involved in a political dispute with Colonel Aaron Burr, whicli resulted in a duel in July following. They met at Hoboken, and upon the same spot where his son was killed in a duel a few years previously, Hamilton was mortally wounded, and died the next day, July 12th, 1804, at the age of little more than forty-seven years. His wife survived him, in widowhood, fifty years. She died on the 9th of November, 1854, at the age of ninety-seven years and three months. The voluminous papers of General Hamilton were purchased by Congress, and after being arranged by his son, John C. Hamilton, they were published in seven octavo volumes, in 1841. \VILLIAM ORAY. THE successful and honorable merchant is one of the most valuable integrals of a nation's strength, for he is the factor of the nation's labor and capital. One of the most eminent in this profession was William Gray. He was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1751, and when quite a small boy, was apprenticed to a merchant in Salem. He finished his commercial education with Richard Derby,' of that port; and such was his character for enterprise and strict in- tegrity during his apprenticeship, that when, soon after its close, he commenced 1. After the skirmishes at LexinRton and Concord, on the 19th of April, 1775, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, in session at Watertown, wiih Joseph Warren at its head, prepare'! a full and elaborc'o statement of the affair, with an Address to the People of Oreat Britain. Richard Derby (the master of voun^ Gray) was employed to carry these documents to England, and place thera in the hands of Dr. i'ranklin, in London. He arrived there on the 29th of May, and the Address and Statement were pub- lished in the London papers. This was tha first information the British public had of the affair. DAVID HUMPHREYS. 215 business for himself, he had the entire confidence and good- will of the whole community. Prosperity waited upon him in all his transactions, and in lesa than twenty-five years after he commenced business, he was taxed as tho wealthiest man in Salem, notwithstanding some of the largest fortunes in tho United States belonged to men of that town. His enterprise and industry was wonderful; and at one time he had more than sixty sail of square-rigged vessels on tho ocean. For more than fifty years he arose at dawn, and was ready for the business of the day before others had finished their last nap. Although ho had millions of dollars afioat on tho sea of business, he was careful of small ex- penditures — those leaks which endanger the ship — and his whole life was a lesson of prudent economy, without penuriousness. Mr. Gray was a democrat, and his sincerity was evinced by the fact that dur- ing the embargo, he took sides with Jefferson, notwithstanding all New England was in a blaze against the president, and it was an injury to the amount of tens of thousands of dollars to tho great merchant's business. In the midst of the commercial distress, he removed to Boston, and having pleased the people while a State Senator, ho was chosen lieutenant-governor of the Commonwealth. He used his immense riches for the wants of government, and never took advan- tages of the exigencies of the times, to speculate in government securities. After the war of 1812-15, he engaged largely in business again, but he lost often and heavily. Yet he died a rich man, honored and beloved for his virtues, on tha 4:th of November, 1825, at tho ago of about seventy-four years. DAVID HUMPHREYS. IT is inscribed upon a neat granite monument, in a cemetery at New Haven, Connecticut, that "David Humphreys, doctor of laws, member of the Acad- emy of Sciences of Philadelphia, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, of the Bath [Agricultural Society] and of tho Royal Societj-of London," was " a distinguished historian and poet; a model and a patron of science, and of the ornamental and useful arts." He. was born in Derby, Connecticut, in 1753, and was graduated at Yale College, in 1771. A few months afterward, he went to reside, as a tutor, in the family of Colonel Philipse,' of the Philipse Manor, on the Hudson. How long he remained in that capacity we have no record, and we lose sight of the future "historian and poet" until the war of the Revolution began, when we find him at the head of a company of Connecticut militia. He afterward joined the Continental army, witli a captain's commission, and was under the immediate command of (leneral Putnam until 1778, when that officer made him one of his aids, with tlie rank of major. He held that commission until the Autumn of 1780, when he was promoted to the office of aid to "Washington, with the rank of coloneL He remained in tlie military family of the commander-in-chief until the close of the war. For his valor at Yorktown, where Cornwallis was captured, Congress honored him with a vote of thanks, and the present of an elegant sword. In Ma)-, 1784:, Colonel Humphreys was appointed secretary to tho commission for negotiating treaties viith foreign powers, and with his friend Kosciusczko, ac- companied Mr. Jefferson to Paris. He returned in 1786, and was elected to a seat in the Connecticut legi.slature. He was appointed to the command of a regiment raised for the western service, but was not called to the field ; and from 1. Brother of Mary Philipse, wife of Colonel Boger Morris. See page 227. 216 JOHN" MARSHALL. 1786 till 1788, he resided at Hartford, where, with Trumbull, Barlow, and Hop- kins, ho wrote the Anarchiad. By invitation of Washington, Colonel Humphreys resided in the family of the great Patriot from 1788 until appointed by his il- lustrious friend minister to Portugal, in 1790. He went thither in 1791, and returned in 1794. He was soon afterward appointed minister to Spain, and took up his abode at Madrid, early in 1795. While there he negotiated treaties with TripoU and Algiers, and was successful in all his diplomatic duties. He was succeeded in ofBce by General Thomas Pinckney, in 1802, and then returned home. The year previously, he sent a flock of one hundred merino sheep to America, the first ever seen in this country, and the cultivation of this valuable stock was his chief employment during the latter years of his life. He took command of the militia of Connecticut, in 1812, but was not in actual service. Being blessed with ample pecuniary means, ' he lived in elegant retirement until his sudden death, wliich was caused by an organic disease of the heart. That event occurred on the 21st of February, 1818, when he was sixty-five years of age. Colonel Humphreys wrote much in prose and verse. In 1782, he published quite a long poetical address to the armies of the United States. He wrote a number of smaller poems, a tragedy, and several political tracts; and, in 1788, he wrote a Life of General Putnam, from narratives uttered by the old hero's hps, carefully written out. JOHN MARSHALL. THE long-honored patriot, and eminent chief justice of the United States, John Marshall, was born at Germantown, in Fauquier county, Virginia, on the 24th of September, 1755, and was the eldest of fifteen children by the same mother. He received some classical instruction in early youth, and from child- hood he evinced a taste for literature and general knowledge. He became physically vigorous by field sports, and his solitary meditations wore generally amid the wildest natural scenery. When Dunmore invaded Lower Virginia, in 1775, young Marshall was appointed lieutenant in the "minute battalion," and, with his father, performed good service in the battle at the Great Bridge, near the Dismal Swamp. In July, the following year, he was attached to the Vir- ginia Continental line, with the same commission; and, early in 1777, he joined the army under Washington. He was in the battles of Brandywine and Ger- mantown, suSered at Valley Forge, and fought at Monmouth in the Summer of 1778, as commander of a Virginia company. Ho remained in service until early in 1780, wlien he turned his attention to the study of the law. He attended the lectures of Mr. Wvtlie (afterward chancellor of Virginia), and toward the close of Summer was admitted to practice. A few months afterward, Virginia was invaded by Arnold, and Marshall again joined the army in defence of his native State. There being a redundancy of officers, he soon resigned his com- mission, but he had no opportunity to practice his profession until after the cap- ture of Cornwallis, in the Autumn of 1781. He then soon rose to distinction as a lawyer; and, in the Spring of 1782, he was elected to a seat in the Virginia legislature. In the Autumn of that year he was chosen a member of the exec- utive council. In January, 1783, Mr. Marshall married a daughter of the treasurer of Vir- ginia, and they lived together about fifty years. He resigned his seat at the 1. lu 1797, Colonel Humphreys married the daughter of a rery wealthy English merchant, of Lisbon. JOHN MARSHALL. 217 council board, in 1784, and immediately afterward (though a resident of Rich- mond) ho was chosen to represent his native county in the legislature. He represented Henrico county, in 1787. In tlie Virginia convention called to con- sider the Federal Constitution, Mr. Marsliall was one of the most zealous and effective supporters of tliat instrument. He served in the Virginia legislature until 1792, when he again devoted his whole time to his profession. He was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, in 1795, and nobly defended Jay's memorable treaty.' His speecli, on tliat occasion, made a profound impression in America and Europe. Soon afterward, he was sent as one of three envoys extraordinary to the government of France. On his return, he was elected to a seat in the Federal Congress. "Witliin three weeks after entering upon his duties there, he was called upon to announce, in that body, the death of Washington ! His words, on that occasion, were few but deeply impressive. His career in the national legislature was short, for, in 1 800, he was cliosen first Secretary of War, and then Secretary of State; and, in January, 1801, he was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. From that time he discarded party politics, and in his lofty station lie performed his exalted duties with great dignity and unsuspected integrity, during the remainder of liis hfe. He was 1. See sketch of John Jftj. 218 "WILLIAM WIRT. not unmindful of the claims of his native State, and as his residence was at its capital, he frequently assisted in public duties. This eminent jurist died at Philadelphia, on the 6th of Jul}', 1835, in tlie eightieth year of his age. Two days before his death he enjoined his friends to place only a plain slab over tho graves of himself and wife, and he wrote the simple inscription himself Judge Marshall's Life of Washington, pubUshed in 1805, and revised and republished in 1832, is a standard work. WILLIAM ^VIRT. IT has been well observed that "it is the peculiar felicity of our republican in- stitutions, that they throw no impediment in the career of merit, but tho competition of rival abilities." Hundreds of the leading men in our Republic have illustrated the truth of this sentiment, and none more so than the accom- plished William Wirt. He was born at Bladensburg, in Maryland, on the 18th of November, 1772, and was left a poor orphan at an early age. His paternal uncle took charge of him, and at the age of seven j-ears he was placed in a school at Georgetown, in tho District of Columbia. From his eleventh until his fifteenth year he was at the same school in Montgomery county, continuously, where ho was taught the Latin and Greek languages, and some natural philosophy. lie there had the advantages of a good library, and improved it; and as early as his thirteenth j'car, he commenced authorship with promise. Young Wirt was a tutor in the llimily of the late Ninian Edwards, governor of Illinois, for about eighteen months. After a brief residence at the South, on account of ill-health, he commenced the study of law at Montgomery Court-house, and was licensed to practice, in the Autumn of 1792. He commenced his professional career, the same year, at Culpepper Court-house, in Virginia, and soon became eminent. With vigorous body and intellect, pleasing person and manners, he became a favorite, and married the daughter of an accomplished gentleman (the intimato friend of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe) residing near Charlottesville. His wife died in 1799, and in deep distress Wirt left the scenes of his late happy life, went to Richmond, and was clerk of the House of Delegates during three sessions. There he was greatly esteemed for his talents and social accomplishments, and he received tho appointment, in 1802, of chancellor of the eastern district of Virginia. In tho Autumn of that j-ear he married an accomplished young lady of Richmond, and soon resumed tho practice of the law. In 1803-4, he wrote his beautiful essays under tho name of The British Spy, and at about the same time he took up his abode in Norfolk. He returned to Richmond, in 1806, and the following year he was engaged in tho trial of Aaron Burr, for treason. His great speech on that occasion was warmly applauded. He was a member of the Virginia legislature, in 1808, and from that time until after the war, ho 1. Their graves are in the plain cemetery on Shoccoc Hill, Richmond, and the inscription is as follows : " John Marshall, son of Thomas and Mary Marshall, was born on the 24th of September, 1755 : Intermarried with Mahy Willis Ambler, the 3d of January, 1783 ; departed this life the 6th day or July, 1835." Judge MarBhall was an exceedingly plain man, m person and habits. He always conied his own marketing home in his hands. On one occa.sion, a young housekeeper was ewearing lustily because he could not hire a person to carry his turkey home for hmi. A plain man standing by, offered to perform the service, and when they arrived at the door, the young man asked, " What shall I pay you?" " Oh, nothing," replied the old man, "yon are welcome; it was on my way, and no trouble." "Who is that polite old gentleman who bronght home my turkey for me?" inquired the young man of a bystander. " That," he replied, " is John Marshall, chief justice of the United States." The astonished young man exclaimed, " M^hy did he bring home my turkey?" " To give you a severe reprimand," replied the other, "and to learn you to attend to your own busineis." The lesson was never forgotten. WILLIAM HULL. 219 pursued his profession successfully. In the "Winter of 1817-18, he removed to Washington city, having received, from Mr. Monroe, the appointment of Attor- ney-general of the United States. lie hold that office through three presidential terms, and at tlio end of Mr. Adams' administration, ho made Baltimore his residence. In 1832, he was nominated by tlie Anti-Masonic party for President of the United States, but received the majority of the electoral votes in only one State — Vermont. During 1SI53 he was engaged in founding a colony of Germans, in Florida. It proved a failure. In January following ho attended tho Supremo Court at Washington, and his feebleness of health was then very much increased by hearing of tho death of his eldest daughter. A severe cold hastened the progress of his disease, and on tho 18th of Februarj-, 183-1, he expired, at the age of sixty-three j-ears. His Life of Patrick Ileiirij is the mosli brilliant of the published productions of his pen. WILLIAM HULL. " T CAN wait," said the groat and good Lavater, when an enemy assailed his 1 character. Many injured men have boon compelled to wait, and finally to go into the grave without the solace of vindication ; yet posterity, more just than cotomporaries, usually render a righteous judgment. General William Hull, a brave patriot of tho Revolution, waited many long years for a vindica- tion of his character from tho imputations of cowardice, and even of treason, uttered by a judicial verdict and the prejudices of public opinion. Long after he fell asleep in death, his vindication was made complete. He was a native of Derby, Connecticut, whore he was born on the 2-4th of June, 1753. He acquired physical vigor while a youth, by form labor, and at the age of fifteen years ho entered Yale College, as a student. He was graduated with utual honors, in 1772. His parents designed him for the ministry, but on leaving college he became tutor of a school, for awhile, then reluctantly began the study of Divinity, and finally became a student in tho Law School at Litchfield, Con- necticut. He was successful, and was admitted to the bar, in 1775. He was soon afterward elected captain of a militia company, and joined the army under Washington, at Cambridge. Ho continued with Washington during the siege of Boston, and the subsequent operations in tlie vicinity of Now York and in New Jersey. Ho acted as field officer in tho battle at Trenton, and soon after- ward Washington promoted him to major in a Massachusetts regiment. He behaved bravely in tho battle at Princeton. In the following May he marched some recruits to Ticonderoga, and was active during the Summer and Autumn of that year, until Burgoyno was humbled at Saratoga. In tho battles on that occasion, ho was particularly distinguished. Ho suffered at Valley Forgo, fought at Monmouth, and in tho Autumn was in command of a regiment, first atPough- keepsie, and tlien at White Plains. He was at the capture of Stony Point, in tho Summer of 1779, and he was soon afterward promoted to tho rank of lieuten- ant-colonel. His services now became multifarious, and until the close of the war, he was regarded by General Washington as one of his most useful officers. When, after tho treaty of peace, in 1783, the British still retained possession of several frontier forts, in violation of tho stipulations of that treaty, Colonel Hull was sent to Quebec, by tlie United States government, to make a formal demand upon the governor-general of Canada for their immediate surrender. On liis return, ho made his residence at Newton, Massachusetts; and, in 1786, he was one of General Lincoln's volunteer aids in quelling the insurrection known 220 ABRAHAM WHIPPLE. as Shai/s Rebellion. He was also very active in civil affairs. In 1793, he was appointed a commissioner to make arrangements with the British government to hold a treaty with the "Western Indians. He visited England and Prance, in 1798, and soon after his return, was honored with the ofBce of judge of tho court of Common Pleas, and the commission of major-general in the militia of Massachusetts. He was also elected a State Senator, and was employed in various public duties until 1805, when Congress appointed him governor of the Michigan Territory. He held that office when war was declared against Great Britain, in 1812, at which time he was at the head of an army, marching to crush the power of hostile Indians. He was immediately commissioned one of the four brigadiers to assist General Dearborn, the commander-in-chief In the comparatively weak fort at Detroit, he was invested by a strong force of British and Indians ; and, to save his command from almost certain destruction, he sur- rendered the fort, his army of two thousand men, and the Territory, to the enemy. Por this he was tried for treason and cowardice, and being unable to produce certain ofScial testimony which subsequently vindicated his character, ho was found guilty of the latter, and sentenced to bo shot. The President of the United States, " in consideration of his age and revolutionary services," pardoned hira, but a cloud was upon his fame and honor. He published a vindicatory memoir, in 1824, which changed public opinion in his favor. Yet he did not live long to enjoy the effects of that change. He died at Newton, on the 29th of November, 1825, at the age of seventy-two years. A Memoir of General Hull, by his daughter and grandson, was published in 1848. It fully vindicates the character of the injured patriot, by documentary evidence. "Y ABRAHAM WHIPPLE. OTJ, Abraham "Whipple, on the I7th of June, 1772, burned his majesty's vessel, the Gaspe, and I will hang you at the yard arm. " James Wallace." " To Sir James Wallace : " Sir, — Always catch a man before you hang him. "Abraham Whipple." Such was the correspondence between two opposing naval comnaanders in Nar- raganset Bay, in the Summer of 1775. Whipple was a native of Providence, situated at the head of that bay, where he was born in 1733. He received very little education, and from earliest youth his life was spent chiefly upon the ocean. He was in the merchant service for many years, and at tho age of twenty-seven he was commander of a privateer named The Game Cock. During a single cruise, in 1760, he took twenty-three French prizes. When the colonists and the mother government quarrelled. Captain Whipple espoused the cause of his countrymen, and was among those who committed the first overt act of rebel- lion, in New England, in the burning of the British armed schooner, Gaspt\ above alluded to.' Captain Whipple sailed on a trading voyage to the West Indies soon afterward, and did not return until 1774. 1. The Gaspe was stationed in Narraganset Bay to enforce tho revenue laws. While chasing an American vessel up the bay, it ran aground on a sandy shoal. Captain Whipple and a nnmber of sea- men went down the bay on the night of the 17th of June, boarded the schooner, captured the commander and crew, and then burned the vessel. Notwithstanding a commission was appointed to investigate the affair, and a large reward was oflFered for the perpetrators, their nameii were not made known until war with Great Britain had actually commenced. ABRAIIAAI WHIPPLE. 221 In tho Spring of 1775, Sir James "Wallace, in command of the British frigate Hose, blockaded Narraganset Bay. Tho legislature of Khode Island fitted out two vessels for tho purpose of driving tho intruder away. These were under the general command of "Whipple, and ho soon expelled "Wallace from the Rhode Island waters. In this business AVhipj)lo had the honor of firing the first gun in the naval service of tho Revolution.' In the Autumn following, Captain "Whipple was ordered on a cruiso to tho Bermudas, to seize powder, but was unsuccessful. In December, ho received a commander's commission, from Con- gress; and, in February, 177G, he sailed on a cruise in tho squadron of Com- modore Hopkins, tho naval commander-in-chief From that time until the fall of Charleston, in Ma}*, 1780, he was in active service. There he was in command of quite a strong, but inadequate naval force, all of which remaining above water,' became spoils for the victors. For two years and seven months he remained a prisoner on parole, in Pennsylvania, when he was exchanged. He left the ser- vice, in 1782, and was allowed to go almost entirely unrequited to a citizen's 1. A Rritish vessel had been captured at Machias earlier than this, bat no authority had been given for the act. Whipple was the first to act Irgally. 2. Whipple sunk several uf his vessels to prevent British ships from going up the Cooper river channel. 222 DANIEL MORGAN". duty. He took command of a merchant ship, and had the honor of first unfurl- ing the American flag in the river Thames, at London. He was elected to a seat in the Rhode Island legislature, in 1786. On the formation of the Ohio company, he emigrated to the wilderness, in company with General Rufus Put- nam, and was among the founders of Marietta. He was then fifty-five years of age. The threatening savages that hung around this settlement until the peace negotiated with the Indians, in 1795, called into action the great resources of his genius, and he was of essential service to the colony. After that treaty of peace, he moved to a small farm on the banks of the Muskingum, where he struggled on in poverty until 1811, when Congress granted him the half-pay of a naval captain.' His future years were thus made to him seasons of ease and absence from care. They were few, however, for he was seventy-eight years of age when tardy justice awarded its benefits. Commodore Whipple died near Marietta, on the 29tli of May, 1819, at the age of eighty-five years. Over his grave, at Marietta, is a neat stone, bearing an appropriate inscription. DANIEL MOROAN. " A H, people said old Morgan never feared — they thought old Morgan never xx prayed — they did not know — old Morgan was ofttn miserably afraid." So talked that " thunderbolt of war" — the " brave Morgan, who never knew fear," as the chronicler said — to his children and neighbors when they sat and listened to his thrilling stories of the campaigns for freedom.^ He was of "Welsh descent, and was born in Pennsylvania, in the year 1736. His family were in humble circumstances, and his education was only such as could be acquired at an ordinary country school, at that time. At the age of seventeen he wandered into Virginia, and there became a wagoner for one of the wealthy planters in Fred- erick county. He owned a team when Braddock marched to the fatal field of the Monongahela, and ho accompanied that expedition as a bearer of supplies. For alleged insult to a British officer, lie received five hundred lashes almost without flinching. A few days afterward the officer became convinced of the injustice of the charge, and apologized to young Morgan, in the presence of the whole regiment. His love for British officers was never very ardent afterward ; and when they became his foes on the field, the remembrance of that degrading punishment gave strength to his arm and keenness to his blade. In 1756, Morgan was commissioned an ensign in the provincial army, because of his mihtary skill and service in the former campaign, and then he first be- came acquainted with Washington. From that time until the Revolution com- menced, ho was much in service against the Indians; and tradition tells a hundred tales of his great daring. In 1774, he owned a fine farm in Frederick county, and that year he was in Dunmore's expedition beyond the Alleghanies. In May, 1775, Congress appointed him a captain, and in less than a week there- after, ninety-six men — the nucleus of his celebrated rifle corps — were enrolled under his banner, and were on their way to Boston. He led the van of Arnold's wonderful expedition from the Kennebeck to the St. Lawrence, in the Autumn 1. In the year 1800, the veteran sailor was permitted to breathe the salt air of the ocean once again. Sorne enterprising men at Marietta built a square-rigged vessel there, named it St. Clair, and, loading it with pork and flour, sent it to Havana. Commodore Whipple was appointed its commander, and he performed the voyage successfully. He thus had the honor of navigating the first vessel that ever sailed from the Ohio to the Gulf. 2. He said that before the assault on Quebec, where Montgomery was killed, he knelt by the side of a cannon and prayed fervently ; and when, at the t^owpens, he was compelled to fight the superior force of Tarleton, he went aside, before the battle, and prayed earnestly for his country, his army, and him- self, and then, in his rough way, cheered on his men. LEONARD CALVERT. 223 of 1775 ; and in the siege of Quebec, he led the forlorn hope of Arnold's division. When Arnold was wounded there, Morgan took command, fought desperately, and was made prisoner.' When exchanged, he was commissioned a colonel in the Continental arnn-, and from that time Washington considered Morgan's rifle corps the right arm of his forces. He was the chief instrument in the capture of Burgoyne, in tlie Autumn of 1777 ; and because of his brilliant achievements on that occasion, his neighbors called his lino estate "Saratoga." lie received the commission of brigadier, and was one of the most active ofQccrs in the Southern campaigns. His military glory culminated when, on the 17th of January, 1781, he defeated the British, under Tarleton, at the Cowpens, west of the Broad river, in South Carolina. For that achievement Congress awarded him the thanks of the nation, and a gold medal. In consequence of the infirm state of his health, he then left the service, and retired to his farm, where he devoted himself to agricultural pursuits. Washington desired him to bo placed at the head of the expedition against the Western Indians, in 1791, but St. Clair was chosen. In 1794, ho commanded the troops in Western Pennsylvania, designed to secure the power over the whiskey insurgents, obtained by General Lee. He was elected to Congress the same year, where he served two sessions. He re- moved to Winchester, Virginia, in the year 1800, where, after confinement to his house and bed by extreme debihtj-^, he expired, on the 6th of Julj'-, 1802, in tho sixty-sixth year of his age. His remains rest beneath a marble slab, ap- propriately inscribed, in the Presbyterian grave-yard at Winchester. LEONARD CALVERT. ALTHOUGn George Calvert, who was created Lord Baltimore by James the First of England, was the founder of Maryland, yet the chief honor is due to his younger son, Leonard, because he led tho first colony thither, planted it, and laid the broad foundations of that commonwealth, in social and political in- Btitutions. He was born about the year 1C06, when his father was clerk of the Privy Council under the patronage of Robert Cecil, James' Secretary of State His "father died in April, 1G32, just before his patent for Maryland had possessed the seals of oCTice. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Cecil. The charter wa? completed in June, 1G32, and Leonard Calvert, with about two hundred persona of good families, all of the Roman Catholic foith, reached Old Point Comfort, near the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, in February, 1G34:. He was appointed governor of the colony which he was sent to plant. As they passed up the bay, and entered tho broad Potomac, Calvert fired a cannon, erected a cross, and took possession of the country " in tho name of the Saviour of the world and of the king of England." At the mouth of a creek on the north side of tho Potomac, the settlers pitched their tents, founded a town which they called St. Mary's, named the creek St. George, and there began the noble business of building up a free State in tho wilderness. They dealt justly with tho natives, and pros- pered. To every emigrant, fifty acres of land, in fee, were granted ; and, ac- cording to tho terms of the charter, every person who professed a belief in the Trinity, of whatever sect, Protestant or Roman Catholic, was allowed full priv- ilege to worship as he pleased. This toleration was a noble feature in that first charter of Maryland, and is very properly regarded with pride by the descendants of those early colonists. 1. While a prisoner, he WM urged to accept the commiaiion of • colonel in the British army, but hd Indignaotly refused it. 224 KOAH WEBSTER. Governor Calvert built himself a commodious house at St. Mary's, and vras managing the aflairs of the province with prudence and energy, when the civil war in Eng-land, which resulted in the death of King Charles and the exaltation of Oliver Cromwell to the seat of chief magistrate of the realm, disturbed the repose of all the Anglo-American colonics. Lord Baltimore was deprived of his proprietary rights, and Governor Calvert was superseded by a Protestant ap- pointed by the Parliament. He then retired to Virginia. In 1646, after an absence of almost two years, he returned, with a military force, and recovered possession of the province. In April, 1647, he issued a general pardon, pro- ceeded to St. Mary's to firmly reestablish good government there, and sat down in the midst of an affectionate and loyal people, to enjoy coveted repose. A longer and more profound rest was near, for, on the 9th of June following, he died, at the age of about forty-one years. NOAH WEBSTER. " TTE taught millions to read, but not one to sin," was the glorious and com- Jl preiiensivo eulogy awarded to the memory of Noah Webster, the great lexicograplicr. lie was maternally descended from Wilham Bradford, the second govornor of the Plymouth colony, and paternally from John Webster, who was governor of Connecticut, in 1656. He was born in West Hartford, Connecticut, on the 16th of October, 1758, at the very time when Washington was leading his brave Virginians to the capture of Fort du Quesne. He acquired his early education at a district school, and at the age of sixteen years entered the fresh- man class in Yale College. The murmurs of the storm of the Revolution were then becoming louder and louder, and, during the four years of his collegiate course, his studies Were frequently interrupted by the disturbances of current events. In the Autumn of 1777, he joined the army of volunteers that flocked from New England to the camp of Gates, and he participated in the capture of Burgoyne and liis army. He then resumed his studies, and was graduated in 1778. He commenced life as teacher of a district school in Hartford, with ono dollar in his pocket, but a noble capital of industiry, a good education, and an indomitable v.'ill. He studied law during leisure hours, and was admitted to practice, in 1781. Finding little to do in his profession, he went to Goshen, in New York, and there opened a high school, which he called The Farmer^s Hall Academy. Wliile studying law, Mr. Webster perceived the many defects in the English language, and in resolving to improve it, he formed the great purpose of his life, the compilation of a Dictionary. He first prepared an elementary work, which he submitted to several members of the Congress, in 1783, and then published it, at Hartford. It was soon followed by two others, and the whole comprised a Bpelling-book, an English grammar, and a reader. At least twenty millions of Webster's Spelling-book have already [1854] been sold in tlie United States, and the sale is still great. After the Revolution, Mr. Webster wrote essays on several national subjects, and he cooperated with Dr. Ramsay in procuring a copyright law for the protection of American authors. He ably supported the Federal Constitution, with his pen ; and he established a daily newspaper in the city of New York, devoted to the administration of President Washington. After en- gaging in other newspaper enterprises in that city, he removed to New Haven, in 1798, and there commenced the preparation of his first Dictionary. It was published in 1806, and in the Preface, he publicly announced that he had now NOAH "WEBSTER. 225 y^m^ entered upon the great work of his life. That was at a time when a growing family and slender pecuniary means appeared p:reat obstacles; but he possessed an iron will, and his spirit was inidaunted. He toiled on in the midst of many discouragements; and, in 1812, he made his abode at Amherst, Massachusetts, where his family expenses were loss. Ho returned to New Haven, in 1822, and the Faculty of Yale College then conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Civil Law. He w;is yet engaged in his great labor, and, in pursuit of his object, he went to Europe in 1824:, and spent a year in the collection of materials. His mighty ta.sk was completed in 1827; and, in 1828, his American Dictionary, tho greatest work of its kind ever undertaken, was published. It was soon after- ward republished in England, and at once took an exalted position in tho world of letters, and gavo its author great renown. An enlarged edition, carefully rovised by tho author, was published in 1841 ; and so ho left it, a precious legacy to his country and mankind. During the long years in which Dr. Webster was engaged on his Dictionary he was no recluse, but was a practicing lawyer, an agriculturist, a legislator, and an academician. His old age, after a life of great activity, was serene, for tho pure light of Christianity rested in beauty upon the good man's path. When his physician told him he must die, he replied, "I am ready;" and on tho 28th of May, 1843, he went quietly to his rest, in the eighty- fifth year of his age. His Dictionary is rapidly approaching the position of highest authority, especially among men of purest taste and most comprehensiv© knowledge. 16 226 ISRAEL PUTNAM. ISRAEL PUTNAM. FULL of romance and stirring interest was the career of General Putnam, the hero of two wars, of whom Dr. Ladd said, " He seems to have been almost obscured amidst the glare of succeeding worthies ; but his early and gallant services entitle him to everlasting remembrance." And the same pen wrote — " Hail, Putnam I hail, thou Tenerable name. Though dark ohlivion threats thy mighty fame. It threats in vain — for long shall thou be known, Who first in virtue and in battle shone." Israel Putnam was born at Salem, Massachusetts, on the Tth of January, 1718. He was descended from one of the first settlers of that ancient New England town. His education was neglected, and ho grew to manhood with a vigorous but uncultivated mind. Ho delighted in athletic exercises, and generally boro the palm among his fellows. At the age of twenty-one years he commenced tha life of a firmer, in Pomfret, Connecticut,' where ho "pursued the even tenor of his way" until 1755, when he was appointed to the command of a company of Connecticut troops, destined for the war with the French and Indians on the northern frontier. He performed essential service under General Johnson at Lake George and vicinity during that campaign ; and the following year he had command of a corps of Rangers, and bore the commission of a captain in the provincial army. He had manj^ stirring adventures in the neighborhood of Lake Champlain. In August, 1758 (then bearing a major's commission), he was near the present "Whitehall, at the head of the lake, watching the movements of tho enemy, and had a severe encounter with the French and Indians, in tho forest. Putnam was finally made prisoner, and tho savages tied him to a tree, and pre- pared to roast him alive. A shower of rain and the interposition of a French officer, saved his life, and he was taken to tho head-quarters of the enemy at Ticonderoga. From thence he was sent, a prisoner, to Montreal, in Canada, where, through tho kindness of Colonel Peter Schujder, of Albany (who was also a prisoner), he was humanely treated. The following Spring ho was exchanged, and returned home. He joined the army again, soon afterward, and was pro- moted to lieutenant-colonel. He was a bold and efficient leader during the remainder of the war, and then ho returned to his plow and the repose and ob- scurity of domestic life in rural seclusion. Colonel Putnam was an active friend of the people when disputes with govern- ment commenced ten years before war was kindled ; and when the intelligence of bloodshed at Lexington reached him, while plowing in the field, he had no political scruples to settle, but, unyoking his oxen, he started, with his gun and rusty sword, for Boston. Ho soon returned to Connecticut, raised a regiment, and hastened back to Cambridge, then the head-quarters of a motley host that had hurried thither from tho hills and valleys of New England. When, six weeks afterward, Washington was appointed commander-in-chief of tho Con- tinental army, Putnam was chosen to be one of four major-generals created on that occasion. He performed bravely on Bunker's Hill before his commission reached him, and from that time, throughout the whole struggle until the close of 1779, General Putnam was a faithful and greatly-esteemed leader. His ser- 1. During one night, a wolf that had been depredating in the neighborhood for Fome time, killed seventy of his fine sheep and goats. It was ascertained to be a she-wolf, and Putnam and his neighbors turned out to hunt and destroy her. She was driven into a rocky cave, and at ten o'clock at night, Putnam, with a rope fastened to his leg, descended into the den with a gun and torch, and sought out and boldly shot the depredator. Then giving a concerted signal, he was drawn up by the rope. He again descended, seized the dead wolf by the ears, and was again drawn up amid the cheers of his companions, who wera waiting in exultation, in the moonlight above. MARY PHILIPSE. 227 vices were too numerous to bo detailed here — they are all recorded in our coun- try's annals, and remembered by every student of our history. At West Point, on the Hudson, his military career was concluded. Late in 1779, he set out to visit his fivmily in Connecticut, and on tlio way he suffered a partial paral3'sis of his system, whicli impaired both his mind and body. At his home in Brooklyn, Connecticut, ho remained an invalid the remainder of his days. With Christian resignation,' and the fortitude of a courageous man, he bore his afflictions for moro than ten years, and then, at the close of the beautiful budding month of May (29th), 1790, the veteran hero died, at the age of seventy-two years. His Memoir, prepared b}-- Colonel David Humphreys, from narratives uttered by the patriot's own lips, was first publislied, by order of the State Society of the Cin- cinnati of Connecticut, in 1788, and afterward [luhlisliod in riumphre3''s collected writings, in 1790. A neat monument, bearing an epitaph, is over his grave in Brooklyn, Connecticut M A R Y P H 1 1. 1 P S E . THE beautiful and accomplished American girl of twenty-six Summers, who won the first love of Washington just when his greatness was dawning, is worthy of the historic embalmer's care, for she forms a part of the story of the great central figure in the group of American worthies of the past generations. Mary riiilipse was the daughter of the Honorable Frederick Pliilipse, Speaker of the New York Colonial AssembI}', and one of the early great landholders on the Hudson river, in Westchester county. She was born at the more modern manor-house of the family, in the present village of Yonkers,^ on ihe 3d of July, 1730. Of her early life we have no record except the testimony which her accom- plishments bore concerning her careful education. Her sister was the wife of Co- lonel Beverly Robinson, of New York, and there Miss Philipse was residing when she made the acquaintance of Washington, above alluded to. It was in the mem- orable year, 1756. when the whole country was excited by the current events of the French and Indian war. Washington was a Virginia colonel, twenty-four years of age, and had won his first bright laurels at the Great Meadows and the field of Monongahela. On account of difficulties concerning rank, he visited the commander-in-chief. Governor Shirley, at Boston, and it was while on his way thither, on horseback, that he stopped at the house of Colonel Robinson, in New York. There he saw the beautiful ilary Philipse, and his young heart was touched by her charms. Ho left her with reluctance and went on to Boston. On his return, he was again the willing guest of Colonel Robinson, and he lin- gered there, in the society of ifary, as long as duty would allow. It is believed that ho oflcred her his hand, but a rival bore off the prize. That rival was Colonel Roger Morris, Washington's companion-in-arms on the bloody field of Monongahela, and one of Braddock's aids, on that occasion. Roger and Mary were married, in 1758, and lived in great happiness until the storm of the Revo- lution desolated their home. Colonel Morris then espoused the cause of the king; and when the American army, under Washington, was encamped on 1. General Pntnam was a professing Christian and memher of the fongresational Church at Brooklyn. It is saifi that after the war he arose in tlie conprcRation imil apolntrized for swearing pretty seveiely on Hunker's Hill, when ho could not induce the timid militia to follow him to reinforce Prescott in the assailed redoubt on Breed's Hill. " It was almost enough to make an angel swear," he said, "to see the cowards refuse to secure a victory so nearly won." 2. That old manor-house, now over a centurv old, is yet standing, and is in the present [1855] poB- Fcssion of the Honorable W. W. Woodworth, who resides there, and has the good taste to preserve it in its ancient conditioD. 228 THOMAS PAINE. Harlem Heights, in the Autumn of If? 6, his beautiful mansion, overlookin;^ the Harlem river, became the head-quarters of the commander-in-chief. Both Colonel Morris and his wife were included in the act of attainder, passed by the New York legislature, in 1778. It is believed that she, and her sister Mrs. Inglis, were the only females who were attainted of treason during the struggle. A large portion of their real property was restored to their children, of whom John Jacob Astor purchased it, in 1809, for one hundred thousand dollars, and after- ward sold it to the State of New York for half a million.' Colonel Morris died in England, in 1794, at the ago of sixty-seven years, and his wife lived a widow thirty-one years afterward. She died, in 1825, at the age of ninety-six, and was buried by the side of her husband, near Saviour-gate church, York, where their son, Henry Gage Morris, of the royal army, erected a monument to their memory. THOMAS PAINE., FEW men have ever received so large a share of the odium of common public opinion (which Hood defined as "the average prejudice of mankind") as Thomas Paine, whose pen was almost as powerful in support of the republican cause in the early years of the Revolution, as was the sword of Washington ; be- cause it gave vitality to that latent national sentiment which formed the necessary basis ol support to the civil and military power then just evoked by the politiciil exigencies of the American people. He was a native of Thetford, England, where he was born, in 1737. He was bred to the business of stay-maker, car- ried on by his father, but his mind could not long be chained to the narrow em- ployment of fashioning whale-bone and buckram for the boddices of ladies. IIo sought and obtained an interview with Dr. Franklin, when that statesman first went to England as agent for Pennsylvania, and by his advice Paine came to America, in 1774, and at onco employed his powerful pen in the cause of the aroused colonies. Many of his articles appeared in Pennsylvania papers, over the signature of Gommon Sense; and at the beginning of 177G, he wrote a pam- phlet, at the suggestion of Dr. Rush, bearing that expressive title. It was the earliest and most powerful public appeal in favor of the independence of the colonies, and did more, probably, than any other instrumentality, to fix that idea firmly in the minds of the people. Within a hundred days after its appearance, ahnost every provincial assembly had spoken in favor of independence.^ Paine also commenced a series of papers called The Crisis, tlie first number of which was wi'itten in the camp of Washington, near the Delaware, at the close of 177G. They were issued at intervals, during the war. In the Spring of 1777, Paine was appointed, by Congress, Secretary to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, with a salary of seventy dollars a month. It was a position of great trust and respon- sibility, and he performed the duties satisfactorily until 1779, when, in a public dispute with Silas Deane, he revealed some secrets of his bureau, and was threat- ened with dismissal. He at once resigned his office, but remained a firm friend to his adopted country. After the war, he used his pen for a livelihood ; and in 1790, he visited his native country. There he wrote his Rights of Man, which 1. This purchase was necessary to quiet Ihc occupants of the land in their possession, for they had purchased from the commissioners under the confiscation net. 2. So highly was that essay esteemed, that the legislature of Pennsylvania voted the author twenty-five hundred dollars. Washington regarded it as his most powerful aid. In a letter to Joseph Reed, ha Raid, " By private letters which I have lately received from Virginia, I find that Comvum Seme is work- ing a powerful change there in the minds of many men." THOMAS PAINE. 229 offended the government, and ho went to Paris on the eve of the French Revo- lution. Ho participated in the opening scenes of that struggle, was made a member of the National Assembly, and finally, having offended the Jacobms, ho was imprisoned and sentenced to" the guillotine. While in prison, he wrote tho chief portions of his A>je of Reason, ilo escaped death by a seeming accident.' In lSo2, ho returned to America, and resided a part of the time upon a farm at New Ilochello, presented to him by the State of New York, for his revolutionary services. Paino became very intemperate, and fell low in tho social scale, not only oa account of his beastly habits, but because of his blasphemous tirade against Christianity. His Age of Kaason is a coarse and vindictive assault upon revealed religion, exhibiting neither sound logic nor honest argument. The corruijtions of Christianity as he saw them in Franco and England, at that time, aflbrd extenuating apologies for his vindictiveness. Had Thomas Paino lived at this day, he wquld never have written his Age of Reason and other libels upon God and humanitj'. As a patriot of truest stamp, his memory ought to be re- vered — as an enemy to that religion on which man's dearest hojDCS are centered, he is to be pitied and condemned. y\v. Paino died in New York, in 1 809. Jarvis, tho painter, took an impression of his face in plaster, after his death. That impression is now in possession of the New York Historical Society. His friend and admirer, "Wilham Cobbett, 230 THOMAS PINCKNEY. had his bones exhumed, and conveyed to England; and in 1839, his friends in political and religious sentiment erected a beautiful monument to his memory over his emptied grave, near New Rochelle, on which is inscribed, beneath a medallion bust, "Thojias Paine, Author of Coiiiion Sense." THOMAS PINCKNEY. WE have already considered the career of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, one of the noblest of South Carolina's many noble sons. He had an accom- plished brother, four years his junior, who bore a conspicuous part in the great struggle for independence, and honored the diplomacy of his country. Thomas Pinckney was born at Charleston, on the 23d of October, 1750, and at the age of three years was taken to England, with his brother Charles, to be educated. There he grew to manhood, chose his life-pursuit, acquired the proper prepar- atory knowledge, and, after an absence of twenty years, returned to his native land. In early boyhood ho felt a martial spirit stirring within him. It grew with his growth, and his studies were almost exclusively military, on his arrival homo. He became a thorough tactician in theory, and, on the organization of a military force in his native city, he was intrusted with the command of a com- pany. He was a rigid disciplinarian, yet his men all loved him. He soon rose to the rank of major, and was very active in recruiting and disciplining the militia, until the arrival of General Lincoln, in 1779, as commander-in-chief of the Southern army. Lincoln appointed Major Pinckney one of his aids, and in that capacity he was engaged in the siege of Savannah, in the Autumn of that year. Several months previously, he had gained great applause for his gallantry in the battle at Stono Ferry, just below Charleston. Ho was not among the captives at Charleston, in May, 1780; and when Gates took command of the Southern army, Pinckney was appointed his aid. He fought gallantly at the battle near Camden, in August, and there had his leg badly shattered by a musket ball. He could not retreat, and was made a prisoner and sent to New York. His wound disabled him during the rest of the war, and he remained in private life until 1787, when he was elected to succeed General Moultrie as governor of South Carolina. He displayed statesmanship of the highest order; and, in 1792, President Washington appointed him minister plenipotentiary to the British court. He managed the complicated and important affairs of his mission with great skill. Toward the close of 1794, Mr. Pinckney was appointed minister to Spain, and took up his residence at Madrid the following year. He soon after- ward concluded a treaty with the Spanish court, by which the free navigation of the Mississippi was secured to the people of the United States. He returned home the following year, to attend to his domestic affairs, and remained in private life until the proclamation of war with Great Britain, in 1812, called many a veteran hero to the field. President Madison appointed General Pinckney to the command of the Southern Department, and it was under his directions that General Jackson successfully prosecuted the war with the Indians. His fore- cast and generosity opened to Jackson that military career which he pursued so gloriously. General Pinckney resigned his commission on the return of peace, and he resumed his favorite employment — scientific agriculture. He Mved more than thirteen years after the peace of 1815. After a long illness, he died, on the 2d of November, 1828, when a little more than seventy-eight years of age. General Pinckney married a daughter of Rebecca Motte, the patriotic widow of the Congaree, whose portrait and memoir may be found in another part of this work. CORNPLANTER. 231 CORN PLANTER. CENTENARY honors crovrned Ga-nio-di-eugh, or the Coraplanter, a chief of the Seneca uatiun, who, fur seventy-five years, lield a conspicuous phice in the liistory of his race, as one of the bravest and most eloquent of its warriors. He is supposed to have been born about tlie year 1735 ; and he first appears on the page of history as the leader of a war party of the Senecas when that nation was in alHance with the French against tiie English. He was a participator in the bloody battle in whicli General Braddoek was killed. He was a native of Conewaugus, in the Genesee Valley, and a half-breed, his father having been a white man from the Mohawk region.' Cornplanter was a war-chief of his tribe when the Revolution began. Being in the full vigor of manhood, active and brave, lie was one of the most distinguished of the dusky leaders who spread destruction over the white frontier settlements' in New Yorlv, and in the Valley of Wyoming. In the bloody forays at Cherry Valley and Wyoming, Cornplanter was conspicuous; and during the invasion of the Seneca country, by Sullivan, in 1779, and the fearful vengeance therefor inflicted by the Indians afterward, Cornplanter was a chief leader of his people.- He was the most inveterate and active foe of the Americans during the whole war, but after the treaty of peace he became the fast friend of the United States. He was chiefly instrumental in the pacification treaty at Fort Stanwix, in 1781, when Red Jacket opposed him with his wonderful eloquence. At the close of the treaty the brave chief said significantly, " I thank the Great Spirit for this opportunity of smoking the pipe of friendship and love. May we plant our own vines, be the fathers of our children, and maintain them." He was also conspicuous in treaties in Ohio, which gave offence to his nation. Hoping to exalt himself upon the ruins of Cornplanter, Red Jacket fostered the discontent, and the life of the former was placed in jeojiardv. Ho repaired to riiiladclpliia and applied to President Washington for counsel aiid relief Cornplanter laid a most touching appeal for himself and his nation, before the President. The repl}- was kind, but Wash- ington could not go behind treaties. Relief, however, was promised, and Corn- planter went back, a happier man. During the troubles with the Indians in the north-west, until Wajme's victory in 1794, Cornplanter remained neutral; and he was at the council held in the Seneca country to treat witli Thomas Morris respecting portions of the territory afterward known as the llolhind Land I'urclime. During the 3'ears of repose which followed, Cornplanter was assiduous in endeavors to improve the moral character of his nation. Ho made great efforts to stay the progress of intem- perance ; and ho was the flrst and most eloquent of teniperanco lecturers in America.' Ho readily assumed many of the habits and pursuits of the whit-e men ; and having failed to become chief sachem of his nation, through the in- 1. In his own language, ho said, " When I was ft child I played with the butterfly, the grasshopper, and the frog The Indian boys tooI« notice of ray skin being different in color from theirs, and spolte about it. I inquired of my mother the cause, and she told me that my father lived in Albany. I still ate my victuals out of a barlt disli. I grew up to be a young man, and married me a wife, and I had no kettle or gun. I then knew where my father lived, and went to see him, and found he was a white man and spoke the Knglisli language. He gave me victuals while I was at his house, but when I started to return home, he gave me uo provision to eat on the way. He gave me neither kettle nor gun." 2. Cornplanter made his father a prisoner, at Fort Plain, but shielded him from all harm, and sent him to a place of safety. 3. Wliile speaknig upon this subject, in 1S22, Cornplanter said, "The Oreat Spirit first made 'he world, next tlie Hying animals, and found all things good and prosperous. He is immortal and ever- lasting. .Xfter finishing the flying animals, he came down to earth, and there stood. Then he made different kinds of trees, and woods of all sorts, and people of every kind. He made the Spring and other seasons, and the weather suitable for planting. These he did make. But >lillx tn mnke uhhkey to aire tothr Tniliani hf mo sm mnkf The Oreat Spirit has ordered me to stop drinking, and He wishes me to inform the people that they should quit drinking luto.\icating drinks." 232 SAMUEL L. MITCHILL. trigues of Red Jacket, he retired to a large tract of land on the Alleghany river, which the legislature had presented to him, and there cultivated a farm in ob- scurity during the remainder of his long hfe. When Rev. Timothy Alden visited him, in 1816, he was the owner of sixten hundred acres of fine bottom land. He was a professing Christian,' though very superstitious. There the old chief lived oji in quiet obscurity, until he had passed his hundredth year. He died at his residence on the 7th of March, 1836, with a confused notion of being happy in the Christian's heaven, or in the elysian fields, pictures of which came down upon the tide of memory from his early youth. SAMUEL L. MITCHILL. " A MONGr those," says Knapp, " who did not gain all the laurels at home, that -iJL he should have had, while he was honored by almost every intelligent court, and every learned society abroad, was Doctor Mitchill." He was a native of North Hempstead, Queen's county, Long Island, where he was born of Quaker parents, on the 20th of August, 1704. He was educated by private tutors, supplied chiefly by his maternal uncle. Dr. Samuel Latham, whose name he bore. 'That gentleman saw and admired the budding of his genius. Young MitchQl soon became an excellent classical scholar. Nature wooed him ; and so enamored was ho of her beauties and hidden wealth, that he became her devotee while a lad, and was a philosopher when only twenty years of age. Young Mitchill chose the medical profession as a life-pursuit, and commenced study with his uncle. In 1780, he was placed under the instructions of Dr. Samuel Bard, and after a little more than three years, he went to Edinburgh, in Scotland, then the seat of science, in Great Britain. There he had Thomas Addis Emmet and Sir James M'Intosh for his class-mates and friends; and when he left the institution, he bore its highest honors. The fame of his acquirements preceded him, and when he returned home he was received into the first intel- lectual circles in New York. The Faculty of Columbia College gave him the degree of Master of Arts. For awhile he turned his attention to constitutional law, with the intention of engaging in legislative duties. In 1788, he was one of the commissioners who treated with the heads of the Six Nations, at Fort Stanwix (now Rome), and obtained from them the cession of Western New York. In the meanwhile he practiced his profession, and was indefatigable in his study of the natural sciences. In 1790, ho was elected to a seat in the New York Legislative Assembly; and, in 1792, he was chosen Professor of Chem- istry, Natural Sciences, and Agriculture, in Columbia College. He was then considered the best naturalist and practical chemist, in America. In 1796, he made his fxmous report of a mineralogical survey of the State of New York ; and the following year ho commenced the publication of the Medical Repository, of which he was chief editor for sixteen years. He was the founder (and a long time president) of the Lyceum of Natural Histor}', of New York ; and he took a great interest in the New York Historical Society, and kindred institutions. He was a special and efficient friend to domestic manufactures and agriculture, and was the first, in this country, to apply the science of chemistry to the practical pursuit of the latter avocation. As a legislator he was wise, full of forecast, and possessed great boldness and perseverance.' For his efforts in behalf of 1. See sketch of Samuel Kirkland. 2. He was a member of the New York legislature, in 1798, when Chancellor Livingston applied for the exclusive right of navigating the waters of the Hudson river with boats propelled " by fire or SAMUEL L. MITCHILL. 233 etecam navip^ation on the ITudson, his name should be associated with that of Fulton, Barlow, and Livingston.' For about twenty j-ears, Dr. Mitchill acted as one of the physicians of the Now York Hospital. Notwithstanding: his immense labors in the field of scien- tific research, and his voluminous publications upon almost every variety of subjects, ho found time to mingle in political strife, and share in the labors and honors of oflicial station. He represented the city of New York, in Congress, six consecutive years, and was afterward United States Senator. He was pos- sessed of vast and varied knowledge ; and yet, because he sometimes advanced steam." With his usual forecast, Dr. Mitchill perceivertthe feasibility of the project, and presented a bill accordingly. Kvervbody ridiculed him. The elder portion of the legislature consiilered the whole matter too absurd'lo be seriously entertained, while the younpcr members, when they desired a little fun, would call up Dr. Mitchill's "hot water bill," and bandy Jokes without stint. Yet the Doctor persevered, procured the passage of his bill, and had the pleasure of laughing at his persecutors, a few years aftcr- 1. Since preparing the sketches of these three men, printed on preceding pages, I have been furnished with evidence from the correspondence of Harlow (now in possession of one of his descendants, who la arranging them for the press), that Fulton was far more indebted to that friend for pecuniary aid and general encouragement, than to any one else. When IJvingston first met Fulton, in France, he was dubious concerning the feasibility of his scheme, while Harlow was sanguine, and was doing all in nis power to assist Fulton. When experiments had furnished artual demonstration, and Livingston could no longer doubt, then he lent his wealth and iuDuence to Fulton. Barlow was Vulion s benfjactor ; Livingston was his business partner and friend. 234 ARTHUR LEE. opinions of which the world had not yet dreamed, he was sneered at by the sciolist, and ridiculed by shallow upstarts in science. He was thoroughly ap- preciated in Europe, where almost every literary and scientific institution thought it an honor to enrol his name upon its list of members. Dr. Mitchill died at his residence, in New York City, on the 7th of September, 1831, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. ARTHUR LEE. DURING- the early years of the "War for Independence, and for many months before the flame broke forth in Massachusetts, the American patriots were much indebted to secret observers of political men and things in Europe, who kept the former continually and accurately informed of passing events. One of the most efficient of these observers was Arthur Lee, of Virginia, brother of Richard Henry Lee, author of the resolution proposing independence for the United States of America. Ho was born at Stratford, in Westmoreland county, Virginia, on the 20th of December, 1740. He was educated in the Edinburgh University, where he studied the science of medicine, for some time. On his return, he commenced its practice at Williamsburg, then the capital, and centre of fashion, of Virginia. In 1766, while the Americans were yet greatly excited concerning the Stamj) Act, he went to London, and commenced the study of the law, in the Temple. There ho formed a close intimacy with Sir William Jones, (the eminent Oriental scholar), and many other men of note. During all the agitations from that period until the beginning of the war. Dr. Lee kept the Americans informed, chiefly through his brother, Richard Henrj-, of the plans and measures of the ministrj^, and was of essential service to the cause of popular liberty in America. He wrote much for the press in favor of the colonies ; and, in 1775, he was accredited agent of Virginia, in England. In the Summer of that year, he presented the second petition of the American Congress to the king; and, in the Autumn of 1776, he was appointed a commissioner of the United States at the Frencli court, as colleague of Dr. Franklin and Silas Deane. He held that position until 1779, when Franklin was appointed solo minister. In the meanwhile. Dr. Lee had been appointed a special commissioner to Spain to solicit a loan ; and in the same capacity, and for the same purpose, he visited the capital of Prussia, but the king, unwilling to offend Great Britain, would not openly receive him.' Dr. Lee returned to America, in 1780, when Silas Deane was laboring to blacken his character.^ The people believed in their hitherto faithful friend, and, early in 1781, Dr. Lee was elected to a seat in the House of Burgesses, of Virginia. That body sent him to Congress, where ho held a seat until 1785. In 1784, he was appointed one of the commissioners to treat with the representatives of the Six Nations of Indians, at Fort Schuyler (now Rome), and soon afterward he was called to a seat at the Treasury Board. Early in 1790, he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, but his earthly career was almost closed. He purchased a firm, near Urbana, on the Rappahannock, and there he died, on the 14th of December, 1792, at the age of almost fifty-two years. 1. Br. Tjee was successful in his mission to both Spain and Prussia. Although the King of Prussia would not receive him openly, he had continual correspondence with the court, and his brotlier William was a resident agent of the United States there. While in Berlin, his papers were stolen, and he charged the British minister with the theft. The king ordered an investigation, and they were soon secretly re- turned. At the request of the Prussian monarch, the British minister was recalled. Dr. Lee received warm assurances of friendship from the liiug, and obtained favors for the United States. 2. See sketch of Deane. CHRISTOPHER COLLES. 235 CHRISTOPHER COLLES. IX that superb Offering of Intellect to "Worth and Genius, the Kmckerhocker Gallerij,^ published at the close of 1834, Dr. John W. Francis has given an exceedingly interesting sketch of Christopher CoUes, a name but little known to this generation, while the influence of his genius is everywhere felt in the great pulsating arteries of our national enterprise, for it was in the highest degree suggestive. This kindly embalming by an appreciating hand, has saved a name deserving of honor from that forgetfuluess which the world too often indulges toward genius in linsey-woolsey. Mr. (Allies was born in Ireland about the year 1757. Under the care and instructions of Kichard Pococke, the celebrated Oriental traveller, he acquired much scientilic knowledge and considerable cxpertness in the use of different languages. His patron died in 17 Go, and Colles came to America soon after- ward, lie first appeared in public here as a lecturer on canal navigation, at about the year 1772 ; and he is unquestionably the first man who suggested, and called public attention to the importance of a navigable water-communication between the Hudson river and the Lakes. He presented a memorial on the subject to the New York State legislature, in the Autumn of 1784, and in April following, a favorable report was made. Colles actually made a survey of tho Mohawk, and the country to Wood creek, by which a water-communication with Oneida and Ontario lakes might be effected. The results of that tour were pub- lished in a pamphlet, in 1785. More than ten years before, Colles had matured a plan for supplying the city of Xew York with wholesome water, and steps were taken for the purpose, when the Revolution interfered. Year after year ho was engaged in his favorite projects. In 1797, his name appeared among applicants for a contract to supply the city of New York with water; and it ■was unquestionably his fertile mind that conceived the idea, then first put forth, of obtaining water from Westchester county. The Bronx, instead of tho Croton, was the proposed fountain of suppl3^ In 1808, he published an interesting pamphlet on canals. In 1789, Mr. Colles published a series of sectional Road Maps, for tho use of travellers in New York, Now Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia ; and, in 1794, he issued the lirst number of "The Geographical Ledger." But these undertakings were far from profitable to him, and he eked out a comfort- able subsistence by land-surveying and itinerant public instruction in the various branches of practical science. He also constructed band-boxes for a livmg, when he made New York his permanent residence, and frequently assisted al- manac makers in their calculations. Ho manufactured painters' colors, and proof-glasses to test the quality of liquors. Pinally " we find our ubiquitous philosopher in good quarters and in wholesome employment," says Dr. Francis, as actuary of the American Academy of Fine Arts. He also made profitable exhibitions of a telescope and microscope of his own construction, and had a marine telegraph on thotiovernment House at the I3owling-green. These hum- ble employments did not lessen him in tho esteem of the eminent men of that time, who knew and admired tho profundity of his acquirements; and De Witt Clinton always regarded him as among tho most prominent and efficient pro- moters of internal improvements. Dr. Mitchill was his warm friend; Jarvis thought it an honor to paint his portrait ; • and Dr. Ilosack commemorated him 1. A volume composed of contributions fiom the furviving writers iot The Knickerbocker Magazine, and embellished with their portraits. It was prepareii as a testimonial of esteem for Lewis (Jajlord Clarke, the editor of the Hagazine, and for his lieniMit the profits of the work are to be devoted. Tha above sketch is the substance of Dr. Francis' Memoir of Colles. 2. That picture is now [1S56] in the possession of the New York Historical Society. 236 THOMAS SUMTEE. in his Life of Clinton. And finally, in the great celebration which took place in New York, in November, 1825, when the waters of Erie were united with the Atlantic, " the effigy of Colles was borne with appropriate dignity among the emblems of that vast procession." He had then been in the grave four years, having gone to his rest in the Autumn of 1821. Of all the people of that great city where the inanimate effigy of Colles was so soon to be honored, only tico be- sides the officiating clergyman followed his body to the grave I Tlieso honored two were Dr. Francis and John Pintard. The Rev. Dr. Creighton (who declined the bishopric of New York, in 1852), officiated on the occasion, and the remains of Christopher Colles were deposited in the Episcopal burial-ground in Hudson Street. No memorial marks the spot, and the place of his grave is doubtless forgotten I THOMAS SUMTER. THE " South Carolina Game-Cock," as Sumter was called, was, next to Marion, the most useful of all the southern partisans during the latter part of the Revolution. Of his early life and habits we have no reliable record, and the place of his birth is unknown. That event occurred, as some circumstances in- dicate, about the year 1734. His name first appears in public as lieutenant- colonel of a regiment of riflemen, in March, 1776, and he appears to have been in Charleston until within a few days before its surrender to the British, in May, 1780. He was not among the prisoners, and was doubtless in the vicinity of the Catawba, at that time, arousing his countrymen to action. He was in the field early in the Summer of 1780, and was actively engaged in partisan warfare with the British and Tories, when Gates approached Camden, in August. At the close of July he had attacked the British post at Rockj-^ Movmt, on the Ca- tawba ; and, early in August, he fought a severe battle with the British and Loj'alists at Hanging Rock. Immediately after the defeat of Gates, Sumter was attacked by Tarleton, near the mouth of the Fishing Creek, and his little band was utterly routed and dispersed. "With a few survivors and new volunteers, he hastened across the Broad River, ranged the districts upon its western banks, and, in November, defeated Colonel Wemyss, who attacked his canip at the Fish Dam Ford, in Chester district. Twelve days afterward, he defeated Tarle- ton in an engagement at Blackstocks, on the Tyger river ; but, being severely wounded, he proceeded immediately to North Carolina, where he remained until his wounds were healed. Early in February, 1781, Sumter again took the field, and while Greene was retreating before Lord CornwaUis, he was aiding Marion, Pickens, and others, in humbhng the garrisons of the enemy on the borders of the low country. He continued in active service during the whole campaign of 1781, and did much toward humbling the British posts near Charleston ; but ill-health compelled him to leave the army before the close of the war. He was for a long time a mem- ber of the House of Representatives of the United States, and also of the Senate in the earlier years of the Republic. Finally, when he retired from public life, he took up his abode near Bradford Springs, on the High Hills of Sautee (now Statesburg), South Carolinn. There he lived until he had almost reached cen- tenary honors. He died there, on the 1st of June, 1832, when in the ninety- eighth year of his age. "When the writer visited that region, in 1849, the house and plantation of General Sumter were owned by a mulatto named Ellison, a man greatly esteemed. He had purchased the freedom of himself and family in early life, and was then the owner of a large estate in land, and about sixty slaves. ^. WILLIAM PINKNEY. 237 WII.T.IAM PINKNEY. ONE of the most profound and brilliant of the orators and statesmen of his age, was the equally-renowned diplomatist, "William Pinknej', of Maryland. He was born at Annapolis, on the 17th of March, 1764. Although his fether was a staunch loyalist, William, as soon as he reached young manhood toward the close of the Revolution, warmly espoused the cause of the patriots. He pos- sessed great strength of mind, but his early education was sadly neglected. By severe study he soon made amends, and took front rank among his more fortun- ate companions. Ho first studied the science of medicine, but, regarding the law with more favor, not onlv as more agreeable to his inclinations but as more promising in personal distinctions, he abandoned the former, and devoted his ener- gies to the latter. He was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-two years, and soon afterward he commenced the practice of his profession in Harford county, Maryland, where, in 1789, he married a sister of (afterward) Commodore Rodgers. In 1792, Mr. Pinkney was elected to a seat in the executive council of Mary- land; and. in 1795. was chosen a delegate to the State legislature. The follow- ing year, President Washington appointed him one of the commissioners under 238 OLIVER WOLCOTT. the provisions of Jay's treaty, and he proceeded to England. He performed his arduous and varied duties with great ability and success. Soon after his return to America, in 1805, he removed to Baltimore, and was immediately appointed attorney-general of Maryland. The following year he was again sent to England to treat concerning the impressment of American seamen into the British service, and other matters which finally resulted in war. After remaining in Europe several years, he returned in 1811, and became one of the most ardent supporters of Mr. Madison's administration. lie was chosen a member of the Maryland Senate, and toward the close of 1811, President Madison appointed him attor- ney-general of the United States. Ho went to the field in defence of his native State, in 1814, and fought the British bravely at Bladcnsburg. He was soon afterward elected to Congress; and, in 1816, he was ajjpointcd minister to the court of St. Petersburg. There he remained until 1820, when he returned home, and was immediately chosen to a seat in the United States Senate. In that body, and in the Supreme Court of tlie United States, he labored intensely until the close of 1821, when his health suddenly gave way. He died on the 25th of Eebruary, 1822, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. OLIVER WOLCOTT. HENRY "WOLCOTT was one of the earliest and most active settlers in the Connecticut Valley, whither he went from Dorchester, near Boston, in 1736, and made his residence at Windsor. Tliere, on the 26th of November, 1726, his distinguished descendant, Ohver Wolcott, was born. At the age of seventeen years he entered Yale College, as a student, and left it in 1747, bear- ing the usual college honors. The contest with the French and Indians, known as King Georrje's War, was then in progress, and young Wolcott obtained a captain's commission, raised a companj^, and joined the provincial army. Peace soon came, but he held his commission, and arose regularly to the rank of major- general. At the close of the war he studied medicine, and when about to com- mence its practice, he was appointed sheriff of Litchfield countj^, Connecticut, where he resided. He was distinguished for his early advocacy of the cause of the colonists in the dispute with Great Britain, and was a member of the council of his native State from 1774 until 1786. In the meanwhile ho was a member of the Continental Congress, chief justice of Litchfield county, and judge of pro- bate, of that district. As a member of Congress, he signed the Declaration of Independence ; and he was also appointed, by that body, one of the commission- ers of Indian affairs for tlie nortliern department. As umpire and active par- ticipator in the matter of dispute between Connecticut and Pennsylvania, con- cerning the Wyoming Valley, Judge Wolcott performed an important service, in procuring a settlement. At home Judge Wolcott was very active in recruiting men for the continental service,' and lie was in command of a body of troops in the army of Gates, at Saratoga, when Burgoyno was captured. In 1786, he was elected lieutenant- 1. When, in July, 1776, the American soldiers pulled down and broke in pieces the leaden equestrian statue of George the Third, which stood in the IJowling-green at the foot of Broadway, New York, a greater portion of it was sent to Oovernor Wolcott, at Litchfield, to be converted into bullets. This service was performed by a son and two daughters of Governor Wolcott, Mr. and Miss Marvin, and Mrs. Beach. According to an account-current of the cartridges made from that statue, found among the papers of Governor Wolcott, it appears that it furnished materials for forty-two thousand bullets. Re- ferring to this matter, Ebenezer Hazmrd, in a letter to Gates, said, " His [the king's] troops will probobly have melted majesty fired at them." THOMAS COOPER. 239 governor of Connecticut, and was annually reelected to that office for ten years, "VS'hen ho was chosen chief magistrate. lie was again chosen governor, in 1797, and was an inouinbciit of the chair of State at the time of his death, which oc- curred on the 1st of December, of tliat j'car, when he was in the seventy-second year of his age. Inflexible integrity, sterling virtue, and exalted piety, were the prominent traits of Governor Wolcott's character. He was also a bright example aa a patriot and Christian. THOMAS COOPKR. POLITICAL as well as religious persecutions in Europe have, from time to time, driven many valuable men to this country for their own preservation and for our special benefit. Few of these have held a more prominent place in tlie public esteem than Dr. Thomas Cooper, for manv years president of the Col- lego of South Carolina. He was a native of England, where he was born in 1759. Ho was graduated at Oxford University at the age of eighteen years. Bearino- in his hand the honors of that institution, and in his heart the glowing enthusiasm of a liberal soul, he entered boldly and fearlessly upon the sea of politics, with a democratic idea as his guiding star. When the French Revolution blazed forth, young Cooper attached himself to the party in England that hailed the event with delight, and he soon became a marked man by friends and foes. When the atrocities of the so-called Republican party, in France, chilled the blood of even its warm friends in England, and enthusiasm began to cool. Cooper found his country an uncomfortable and perhaps a dangerous place to domicil in ; and, in 1794, ho came to America, with his friend Dr. Priestly, and other reformers. Ho resided awhile in Xew York city, then in Philadelphia, and became first a judge of a court of common ])leas in Pennsylvania, and then professor of chem- istry in Dickenson College, at Carlisle, in that State. He was a great student, yet, unlike many great students, ho was a dispenser as well as a recipient of knowledge. His attaiiunents were nniltifarious and extraordinary; and he wrote antl published works on Law, Medical Jurisprudence, and Political Econ- oni}-. Ho translated Justinian and Broussais; and he was a habitual writer upon current politics, always in favor of the Republican party. He efficiently sustained the administrations of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe. Jefferson offered him the Professorsliip of Chemistry in the University of Virginia, but he declined it. Ho subsequently filled the same chair in the College of South Carolina, where his lectures were of the highest order, not only on account of their scientific instructions, but for their beauty as specimens of Phiglish com- position. He finally became president of that institution, yet, with all his wealth of knowledge and peculiar powers of impartation, the institution did not flourish to that degree which the accomplishments of its head taught its friends to ex- pect. The reason may be found in the fact that Dr. Cooper was an avowed un- believer in revealed religion, and Christian parents would not intrust their chil- dren to las care. He was the more dangerous in this respect, because his man- ners were cajttivating, and his opposition to Christianity was so courteous, that no one was repelled by a shock such as the writings of Paine and others give to the soul which had hitherto dwelt in an atmosphere of belief. Dr. Cooper was an esteemed resident of Columbia, South Carolina, for about twenty years, and died there, while in the performance of his duties as president of the college, on the 11th of May, 1839, iu the eightieth year of hia age. 240 WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. SAMUEL HOPKINS. FEW theologians of our country have exerted a wider special influence than Samuel Hopkins, a descendant of Governor Hopkins, of Connecticut, and the chief of the Calvinistic sect of Christians known as Hopkiiisians. He was born in Waterburj^, Connecticut, on the 17th of September, 1721, and in the excellent society of that town his youth was spent, and the labors of a fann were his occupation. He was graduated at Yale College, in 1741, and that year he heard both Whitefield and Gilbert Tennant preach. Their sermons made a deep impression upon his mind, and almost unsettled his reason. He remained a recluse in his fiithcr's house for several months, and then went to Northampton to study divinity under Jonathan Edwards. He was ordained a Christian min- ister at Great Barrington, Massachusetts, on the 28th of December, 1743. There he remained until 1769, when he was dismissed by an ecclesiastical council. He went to Newport, Rhode Island, in 1770, where he preached for awhile, but new views concerning vital religion, which he had put forth, displeased many of his hearers, and, at a meeting, they resolved not to give him a call as a pastor. He prepared to leave them, and preached a farewell sermon. That discourse so interested and impressed the people, that they urged him to remain and become their pastor. He complied, and the connection was severed only by his death thirty-three years afterward. When the British took possession of Rhode Island, in 1776, Mr. Hopkins retired, with his fomily, to Great Barrington, and preached at Newburyport, Canterbury, and Stamford. After the evacuation of Rhode Island, by the British, in 1780, he returned to Newport, but his flock were so scattered and impoverished, that they could not give him a stated salary. Yet he declined invitations to preach elsewhere to more favored congregations ; and during the remainder of his life he continued a foithful pastor there, and sub- sisted upon the weekly contributions of his friends. He was deprived of the use of his limbs, by paralysis, in 1709, but so fir recovered as to be able to preach again. He died on the 20th of December, 1803, at the age of eighty-two years. Dr. Hopkins was an inefficient preacher. His pen, and not his tongue, was the chief utterer of those sentiments which have made his name famous as a Calvinistic theologian.' WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. ON the banks of the James River, in Charles City county, Virginia, is a plain mansion, around which is spread the beautiful estate of Berkeley, the birth- place of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and of one of the Presidents of the United States. The former was Benjamin Harrison, whose career we have already sketched. The latter was his son, William Henry Harrison, whose life we will now consider. He was born on the 9th of February, 1773. At a suitable age he was placed in Hampden Sydney College, where he was graduated ; and then, under the supervision of his guardian (Robert Morris), in Philadelphia, prepared himself for the practice of the medical art. At about that time an 1. Dr. Hopkins not only embraced the whole Calvinistic doctrine of "total depravity" and "pre- destination and election," but added thereto some extraordinary views concerning the oripin and nature of sin, ((uite incompatible with reason or common sense. Yet many embraced his doctrines ; and his two volumes of sermons have been e^^tensively read and admired by those who have a taste for Euch meta- physical disquisitious. ii WTLLIA^^r HENTTIY HARRISON. 241 {o-f/^Z/a^c CA^ army was gathering to chastise the hostile Indians in the North-west. Young Harrison's military genius was stirred within him, and having obtained an en- sign's commission from President Washington, he joined the army at the age of nineteen years. He was promoted to a lieutenancy, in 1792; and, in 1794, ho followed Wayne to conflicts with the North-western tribes, where he greatly distinguished himself. He was appointed secretary of the North-western Ter- ritory, in 1797, and resigned his military commission. Two years afterward, when only twenty-six year-s of age, he was elected the first delegate to Congress from the Territory.' On the erection of Indiana into a separate territorial governiiiont, in 1801, Harrison was appointed its chief magistrate, and he was continued in that office, by consecutive reappointments, until 1813,- when the war with Great Britain called him to a more important spliere of action. He had already exhibited his military skill in the battle with the Indians at Tippe- canoe, in the Autumn of 1811. He was commissioned n major-general in the Kentucky militia, by brevet, early in 1812. After the surrender of General Hull, at Detroit, he was appointed major-general in the army of the United States, and intrusted with the command of the North-western division. HeAvas one of the best officers in that war ; but, after achieving the battle of the Thames, 1. It included the present States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. General St. Clair was then governor of the Territory. 2. He hiid also held the ollice of commi«tioner of Indian afTairs, in that Territory, and had concluded no less than thirteen important treaties with the different tribes. 16 242 ARTHUR ST. CLAIR. and other victories in the lake country, his mihtary services were concluded. He resigned his commission, in 1814, in consequence of a misunderstanding with the Secretary of "War, and retired to his farm at North Bend, Ohio. Ho served as commissioner in negotiating Indian treaties; and the voice of a grateful people afterward called him to represent them in the legislature of Ohio, and of the nation. He was elected to the Senate of the United States, in 1824. In 1828, he was appointed minister to Colombia, one of the South American Re- publics. He was recalled, by President Jackson, on account of some differences of opinion respecting diplomatic events in that region, when he returned home, and again sought the repose of private life. There he remained about ten years, when he was called forth to receive from the American people the highest honor in their gift — the chief magistracy of the Republic. He was elected President of the United States by an immense majority, and was inaugurated en the 4th of March, 1841. For more than twenty days he bore the unceasing clamors for office, with which the ears of a new president are always assailed ; and then his slender constitution, pressed by the weight of almost threescore and ten years, suddenly gave way. The excitements of his new station increased a slight disease caused by a cold, and on the 4th of April — ^just one month after the inauguration pageant at the presidential mansion, — the honored occupant was a corpse. He was succeeded in office by the vice-president, John Tyler. ARTHUR ST. CLAIR. THERE were brave soldiers, full of confidence in themselves and their com- panions-in-arms, during the "War for Independence, who lacked skill as leaders, and failed in winning that fame to wliich their courage entitled them. Arthur St. Clair was of that number. He was an officer of acknowledged bravery and prudence, yet he was far from being an expert military leader. He was born at Edinburgh, in Scotland, in 1734, and was a lieutenant in the army under Wolfe, in the campaign against Canada, in 1759. He remained in America, after the peace, and was placed in command of Fort Ligonier, in "Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. He also received a grant of a thousand acres of land in that then wilderness, and resided there until the beginning of the Revolution. He was appointed to the command of a battahon of Pennsylvania militia, in January, 1776, and received from Congress the commission of colonel. Ho raised a regiment, proceeded to the northern department to operate against Canada, and, in August, was promoted to brigadier-general. He behaved with great bravery and skill in the battles at Trenton and Princeton ; and, in February, 1777, he was commissioned a major-general. He was placed in command of Ticonderoga the following Summer. The post was weak in many ways, and when, in July, Burgoyne, with a powerful army, approached and took an ad- vantageous position, St. Clair abandoned it, and retreated toward the Hudson, where Schuyler was preparing to meet the invaders. That retreat proved a disastrous one in the loss of men and munitions. A court of inquiry honorably acquitted him; and, in 1780, he was ordered to Rhode Island. Circumstances prevented his taking command there; and, in 1781, when the allied American and French armies proceeded to attack Cornwallis, at Yorktown, in Virginia, he remained in Philadelphia, with a considerable force, to protect Congress. He obtained permission to join the main army, and arrived at Yorktown during the siege. After the capture of the British army there, he proceeded to join General FRANCOIS X^iVIER MARTIN". 243 Greene, in the South, and on his way he drove the British from Wilmington, North CaroHna, General St. Clair was a member of the executive council of Pennsylvania, in 1783, and was elected to Congress three years afterward. He was president of that bod}-, early in 1787. Upon the erection of the North-western Territory into a governuiont, in 1783, he was appointed its governor, and held that oflBce until 1802, when Oliio was admitted into the Union as a sovereign State. St. Clair commanded an army against the Miami Indians, in 1791 ; and, in the Autumn of tliat year, was defeated with the loss of almost seven hundred men. He was then suffering from severe illness, yet bore himself bravely. Public censure was loud and ungenerous, but a committee of the House of Represent- atives acquitted him of all blame. When he retired from public life, in 1802, he was an old man, and almost ruined in fortune. Ho resided in dreary loneliness near Laurel Hill, Westmoreland county, and for a long time vainly petitioned Congress to allow certain claims. He finally obtained a pension of sixty dollars a month, and his last days were made comfortable. He died on the 31st of August, 1818, at the age of eighty-four years. His remains rest in the grave- yard of the Presbyterian Church, at Greensburg, and over it the Masonic frater- nity placed a handsome monument, in 1832. FRANCOIS XAVIER MARTIN. PERHAPS one of the most learned jurists and erudite scholars that ever adorned the profession of the law, in this countr}', was Francois Xavier Martin, better known to the general reader as the accomplished Historian of North Carolina.' Ho was born at Marseilles, in France, on the I7tli of March, 1762. At the ago of twenty years he came to America. The war of the Revo- lution was then just drawing to a close, and he took up his residence at New- bern, in North Carohna, and prepared himself for the profession of the law. On his first appearance at the bar, he gave evidence of that acuteuess which marked his whole career, in whatever station in Hfe he was called to act. His ijractico became extensive and lucrative, and ho soon took a high social position in his adopted State. In 1806, he was called to represent Newbern district in the House of Commons of North Carolina. Soon after the close of his duties therein, President Madison (in 1809) appointed him United States Judge of the Missis- sippi Territor}', and ho made his residence at Natchez. On the 1st of February, 1815, ho was elevated by Governor Claiborne to the bench of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, as one of the associate judges. He held that office for twenty-two years, when, in January, 1837, he became chief justice of the State, on the death of Judge Mathews. Chief Justice Martin remained at the head of the Supreme Court of Louisiana until the adoption of the present constitution of that State, in the Autumn of 1845, when he retired to private life. He was then in the eighty-fourth year of his age. Judge Martin lived but a little more than a year after his retirement. He died on the 10th of December, 1846. No man ever left an official station witli fewer stains of sins of omission or commission upon his garment, than Judge Martin, for through his long life not a syllable in disparage- ment of his honesty and integrity was ever uttered. His memory is cherished with the deepest affection by the members of his profession, and by the com- munity in which ho lived. 1. Ilis nistoryof North Carolinn, includinp the story of its discovery, settlement, and progreps of colonization, nnti! the beeinninR of the Revolution, was commenced in 1791, but was not published until 1S29, wbca it was issued from a New Orleans press, in two octavo volumes. 2M ANDREW JACKSON. ANDREW JACKSON. " A SK nothing but what is right — submit to nothing wrong," was Andrew xi Jackson's great poUtical maxim ; and it was an abiding principle in liis -character from his earUest youth until the close of his life. That noble principle was the key to his great success in whatever he undertook, and is worthy of adoption by every young man when he sets out upon the perilous voyage of active life. Jackson's parents were from the north of Ireland, and were among the early Scotch-Irish settlers in the upper part of South Carolina, in the vicinity of "Waxtiaw Creek. Jackson's father lived north of the dividing hne between North and South Carohna, in Mecklenburg countj^, and there Andrew was born on the 15th of March, ITGT. His lather died five days afterward, and a month later, liis mother took up her abode in South Carolina, near the meeting-house of the Waxhaw settlement. He received a fair education, for his mother designed him for the Christian ministry. But his studies were interrupted by the tumults of the on-coming Revolution, and soon after the fall of Charleston, the Waxhaw settlement became a terrible scene of blood, in the massacre of Buford's regiment by the fiery Tarleton.^ Every element of the lion in j'oung Jackson's nature was aroused by this event, and, boy as ho Avas, not yet fourteen years of age, ho joined the patriot army and went to the field. One of his brothers was killed at Stono, and himself and another brother were made caiDtlvcs, in 1181. The "<.\'idow was soon bereaved of all lier family, but Andrew ; and after making a journey of mercy to Charleston, to relieve sick prisoners, she fell by the way- side, and ' the place of her sepulchre is not known unto this daj-.' Left alone at a critical period of life, with some property at his disposal, young Jackson commenced a career that promised certain destruction. He suddenly reformed, studied law, and was hcensed to practice, in 1786. He was soon afterward ap- pointed sohcitor of the Western District of Tennessee, and journeying over the mountains, he commenced, in that then wilderness, that remarkable career as attorney, judge, legislator, and military commander, which on contemplation assumes the features of the wildest romance, viewed from any point of apprecia- tion. His lonely journeyings, his collisions with the Indians, his difficulties with gamblers and fraudulent creditors and laud speculators, and his wonderful personal triumphs in hours of greatest danger, make the record of his life one of rare interest and instruction. In 1790, Jackson made his residence at Nashville, and there he married an accomphshed woman, who had been divorced from her husband. In 1795, he assisted in forming a State Constitution for Tennessee, and was elected the first representative, in Congress, of the new State. In the Autumn of 1797, ho took a seat in the United States Senate, to which ho had been chosen, and was a conspicuous supporter of the democratic party. He did not remain long at Washington. Soon after leaving the Senate, he was appointed judge of the Supreme Court of his State. He resigned that office, in 1804, and retired to his beautiful estate near Nashville. There he was visited by Aaron Burr, in 1805, and entered warmly into his schemes for invading Mexico. When Burr's inten- tions were suspected, Jackson refused further intercourse with him until he should prove the purity of his intentions. For many years Jackson was chief military commander in his section ; and when war against Grreat Britain was proclaimed, 1. Tarleton gave no quarter, and aTjout one huntlred and fifty men, ready to surrender to superior numbers, were killed or cruelly maimed. The woui djd and the dying were taken into the Waxhaw meeting-house, and there the mother of Jackson, and other women, attended them. Under the roof of that sacred edifice, young Jackson first saw the demon of war in its most horrid form, and all that misery and British power and oppression, were ever afterward associated in his mind. AXDREW JACKSON. 245 in 1812, he longed for employment in the flcld. He was called to duty in 1813. Early the following j^ear he ^yas made a major-general, and from that time until his great victory at Xew Orleans, on the Stli of January', 1815, his namo was identified with every military movement in the South, whether against the hos- tile Indians, Britons, or Spaniards. In 1818, he engaged successfully in a cam- paign against the Semiuoles and other Southern Indians, and, at the same time, ho taught tlie Spanish authorities in Florida some useful lessons, and hastened the cession of tliat territory to tho United States. In 1821, President Monroe appointed General Jackson governor of Florida; and, in 1823, he offered him tho station of resident minister in Mexico. Ho declined the honor, but accepted a seat in the United States Senate, to which tho legislature of Tennessee had elected him. lie was one of the four candi- dates for President of the United States, in 1824, but was unsuccessful. Ho was elevated to that exalted station, in 1828, by a large majority, and was reelected, in 1832. His administration of ciglit years was marked by great energj'; and never were the affairs of the Republic, in its domestic and foreign relations, more prosperous than at the close of his term of office. In the Spring of 1837, ho retired from public life forever, and sought repose after a long and laborious career, devoted to the service of his country. Ho lived quietly at his residence near Nashville, called The Hermitage, until on a calm Sunday, the 8th of June, 1845, his spirit went home. He was then a little more than seventy-eight years of 246 NATHANIEL BOWDITCH. age. The memory of that great and good man is revered by his countrymen, next to that of "Washington, and to him has been awarded the first equestrian statue in bronze ever erected in this country. It is colossal, and occupies a conspicuous place in President's Square, Washington city, where it was reared in 1852. NATHANIEL BOWDITOH. THE practical man who, in any degree, lightens the burden of human labor, is eminently a public benefactor. Such was Nathaniel Bowditch, who, by navigators, has been aptly termed The Great. Pilot. He was the son of a poor ship-master, of Salem, where Nathaniel was born on the 26th of March, 1773. His education was acquired at a district school ; and at the age of thirteen years he was apprenticed to a ship-chandler. Ho performed his duties faithfully until manhood, and during his whole apprenticeship he employed every leisure mo- ment in reading and study. Mathematics was his favorite study, and it became the medium of his greatest public services. At the age of twenty-two years young Bowditch went on a voyage to the East Indies, as captain's clerk, and his naturally strong mind was engaged chiefly on the subject of navigation, while at sea. The result of his reflections, observa- tions, and calculations, was the publication, in 1802, of the well-known nautical ■work, entitled the New American Practical Navigator.^ For nine years he was himself a practical navigator, and during that time he rose gradually from captain's clerk to master. He left the sea, in 1801:, and became president of a Marine Insurance Company, at Salem. That office he held for almost twenty years. Two years before, "while his ship lay w^ind-bound in Boston Harbor, Captain Bowditch went to Cambridge to listen to the commencement exercises at Har- vard College, and while standing in the crowded aisle, he heard his own name announced, by the president, as the recipient of the degree of Master of Arts. It was to him the proudest day of his life. He was then about twenty-nine years of ago. In 1806, Mr. Bowditch published an admirable chart of the harbors of Salem, Beverly, Marblehead, and Manchester. In 1816, he received the degree of Doctor of Laws, from Harvard College; and was elected a member of the Royal Societj' of London, in 1818. He contributed many valuable papers to scientific publications, but the great work of his life was the translation and annotation of Laplace's Mecanique Celeste. He published it at his own expense entirely, remarking that he would rather spend a thousand dollars a year, in that way, than to ride in his carriage. It was a task of great labor and expense, and con- sists of five large volumes. The first was published in 1829, the second in 1832, and the third in 1834. He read the last proof sheets of the fourth volume only a few days before his death. The revision of the fifth was left to other hands. Dr. Bowditch dietl on the 16th of March, 1838; and his last words were "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word." He was a man of great literary and scientific attainments, and was proficient in the 1. The origin of that work shows how comparatively insignificant events will result in great benefits. On the day previous to his sailing on his last voyage, he was called npon by Eilumnd N. IJlunt, then a noted publisher of charts and nautical books, at Newburyport, and retiuested to continue the corrections which he liad previously commenced on Moore's book on navigation, then in common use. In perforra- snce of his promise to do so, he detected so many and important triors, that he resolved to prepaie an entire new work. That work was his Practical Navigator. MARINUS WILLETT. 247 Latin, Greek, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and German languages. He was not ambitious for public life, yet he twice occupied a seat in the executivo council of Governor Strong, of Massachusetts. His memory is sweet for his life was pure. MARINUS WILLETT. "VTO member of the associated Sons of Liberty, in New York, e^cceeded Marinua li Willctt in devotion to republican princij)les, and in boldness of action when called to their support. He was born at Jamaica, Long Island, on the 10th of August, 1740. Ho was one of thirteen children, and lived to survive them all. The French and Indian war was burning fiercely in northern New York when he approached young manhood. His military passion was fired, and, before he was eighteen years of age, he entered the provincial army with a second lieu- tenant's commission, under the command of Colonel Oliver Delancy.' Ho shared in the misery of Abercrombic's defeat at Ticonderoga, in 1758; and immediately afterward he accompanied Colonel Bradstreet in his successful expedition against Fort Frontenac (now Kingston. LTppcr Canada), at the foot of Lake Ontario. Fatigue and exposure impaired liis health, and he left the service soon afterward. When, a few j'cars later, the Stamp Act^ spread a deep and ominous murmur over the land, Mr. Willett had chosen his banner, and from that time until the organization of an army of patriots to fight for liberty, he was one of the boldest supporters of his country's rights, by word and deed. When Briti-sh troops in New York were ordered to Boston, after the skirmish at Lexington, they attempted to carry off a large quantity of spare arms, in ad- dition to their own. Willett resolved to prevent it, and, though opposed by the mayor and other Whigs, he led a body of citizens, captured the baggage-wagons containing them, and took them back to the city. These arms were afterward used by the first regiment raised by the State of New York. Willett was appointed second captain of a company in Colonel M'Dougal's regiment, and accompanied Montgomery in his northern expedition. After the capture of St. John's, on the Sorel, he escorted prisoners taken at Chamljl}-, to Ticonderoga, and then was placed in command of St. John's. Ho held that post until January, 177G. In November of that year he was appointed lieutenant-colonel; and, at the opening of the campaign of 1777, he was placed in command of Fort Constitution, on the Hudson, opposite West Point. In May he was ordered to Fort Stanwix, or Schuyler (now Rome), where he performed signal services. He was left in com- mand of the fort, and remained there until the Summer of 1778, when lie joined the army under Wa.'^hington, and was at the battle of Monmouth. He accom- panied Sullivan in his campaign against the Indians in 1779, and was actively engaged in the Mohawk Valley, in 1780, 1781, and 1782. At the close of the war he returned to civil pursuits. Washington highly esteemed him ; and, in 1792, he was sent by the President to treat with the Creek Indians at the South. The same year he was appointed a brigadier-general in the arm_v intended to act against the North-western Indians. Ho dechned the appointment, for he was opposed to the expedition. Ho was for some time sheriff' of New York, and was elected mayor of the city, in 1807. He was chosen elector of president and 1. It may be interesting to the yoiinR to know the style of a military dress at th.tt time. Willett thus describes his own nniform : .V green eoat trimmed with silver twist, while unrter-clnlhes, and black gaiters ; also a cocked bat, with a large black cockade of silk ribbon, together with a silver button and loop. 248 JOHN STARK. vice-president, in 1824, and was made president of the Electoral College. Colonel Willett died in the city of New York, on the 23d of August, 1830, in the ninety -tirst year of his age. JOHN STARK. " "P OYS ! there 's the enemy. They must he heat, or Molly Stark must sleep a J3 widow this night ! Forward, boys 1 March 1" Such were the vigorous words of a hero of two wars, the gallant General Stark, as he led his corps of Green Mountain Boys to attack the Hessians and Tories, near Bennington. He was an unpolished soldier, who had learned the art of desultory warfare in ser- vice against the French and Indians in northern New York. He was the son of a Scotchman, and was born at Londonderry (now the city of Manchester), New Hampshire, on the 28th of August, 1728. His early childhood was spent in the midst of the wild scenery of his birth-place, and in youth he was remark- able for expertness in trapping the beaver and otter, and in hunting the bear and deer. Just before the breaking out of the French and Indian war, he pen- etrated the forests far northward, ahd was captured by some St. Francis Indians. He suffered dreadfully for a long time, and then was ransomed at a great price. This circumstance gave him good cause for leading a company of Bangers against tliese very Indians and their sometimels equally savage French allies, four years afterward. He became a captain, under Major Rogers, in 1756, and in that school he was taught those lessons which ho practiced so usefully twenty years later. When intelhgence reached the valleys of the North, that blood had been shed at Lexington, Stark led the train-bands of his district to Cambridge, and was commissioned a colonel, witli eight hundred men under his banner. With these be fought bravely in the battle of Bunker's Hill. He went to New York after the British evacuated Boston, in the Spring of 1776. Then, at the head of a brigade in the northern department, under Gates, he performed essential service in the vicinity of Lake Champlain ; and near the close of the year, he commanded the right wing of Sullivan's column in the battle at Trenton. He shared in the honors at Princeton ; but, being overlooked by Congress when promotions were made, he resigned his commission and retired from the army. But when the invader approached from the North, his own State called him to the field, in command of its brave sons; and on the Walloomscoik, a few miles from Ben- nington, he won that decisive battle which gave him world-wide renown. Then it was that he made the rough but effective speech above quoted, that indicated the alternative of death or victory. Congress was no longer tardy in acknowl- edging his services, for he had given that crippling blow to Burgoyne, which insured to Gates' army a comparatively easy victory. The national legislature gave him grateful thanks, and a brigadier's commission in the Continental army. He joined Gates at Saratoga, and shared in the honors of that great victory. In 1779, he was on duty on Rhode Island, and the following year he fought the British and Hessians at Springfield, in New Jersey. In the Autumn of 1780, he was one of the board of officers that tried and condemned the unfortunate Major Andre ; and until the last scenes of the war, he was in active service. When he sheathed his sword, he left tlie arena of public life forever, though he lived almost forty years afterward. General Stark died on the 8th of May, 1822, at the age of almost ninety-four years. Near his birth-place, on the east side of the Merrimac. is a granite shaft, bearing the simple inscription, Major-Gen- ERAL Stark. His eulogium is daily uttered by our free institutions — his epitaph is in the memory of his deeds. PIIILLIS WIIEATLEY, 249 PHILLIS WHEATLEY. " 'Twas mcrcv brniifilit mi- fnim my papan land, T.'iUKht my liiMiitrlmvl soul !.> ini.UTstmiil That there 's a (iml— ilnit tlure 's a Saviour too; Ouce I rederaptiou ueither sought uor kuew." SO felt the heart, and so recorded the pen of a child of Africa, who, bj her talent and virtue, honored her race and challenged the kindly regard of many of the good and great of our countrj'. The lady of a respectable citizen of Boston, named Wheatlcy, went to the slave-market, in that citj', in 1761, to purchase a child-negress, that she might rear her to be a faithful nurse in the old age of her mistress. She saw many plump children, but one of delicate frame, modest demeanor, and clad in nothing but a piece of dirty carpet wrapped about her, attracted her attention, and Mrs. Wheatlcy took her homo in her cliaise, and gave lier the name of Piiillis. The child seemed to be about seven years of ago, and exhibited remarkable intelligence, and apt imitative powers. Mrs. Wiioatkw's daughter taught tlie child to read and write, and lier progress was wonderful. She appeared to have very little recollection of her birth-place, but rcinombered seeing her mother pour out water before the sun at its rising. "With the development of her intellectual faculties her moral nature kept pace ; and she was greatly beloved by all who knew her for her amiability and perfect docility. She soon attracted the attention of men of learning ; and as PhiUia 11* 250 PHILLIS WHEATLEY. read books with great avidity, they suj^phed her. Piety was a ruUng sentiment in her character, and tears born of gratitude to God and her kind mistress, often moistened her eyes. As she grew to womanhood her thoughts found expression through her pen, sometimes in i^roso but more frequently in verse ; and she was often an invited guest in the famiUes of the rich and learned, in Boston. Her mistress treated her as a child, and was extremely proud of her.' At the age of about sixteen years (1770) Phillis became a member of the " Old South Church," then under the charge of Dr. Sewall; and it was at about this time that she wrote the poem from which the above is an extract. Earlier than this she had written poems, remarkable for both vigor of thought and pathos in expression. Her memory, in some particulars, appears to have been extremely defective. If she composed a poem, in the night, and did not write it down, it would be gone from her, forever, in the morning. Her kind mistress gave her a light and writing materials at her bed-side, that she might lose nothing, and in cold weather a fire was always made in her room, at night. In the Summer of 1773, her health gave way, and a sea-voyage was recommended. She accom- panied a son of Mr. "Wheatley, to England, and there she was cordially received by Lady Huntingdon, Lord Dartmouth, and other people of distinction. While there, her poems, Avhich had been collected and dedicated to the Countess of Huntingdon, were published, and attracted great attention. The book was em- bellished with a portrait of her, from which our picture was copied. She was persuaded to remain in London until the return of the court, so as to be presented to the king, but, hearing of the declining health of her mistress, she hastened home. That kind friend was soon laid in the grave, and Philhs grieved as deeply as any of her children. Mr. "Wheatley died soon afterward, and then his excel- lent daugliter was laid bj- the side of her parents. Phillis was left destitute, and the sun of her earthly haj^piness went down. A highly-intelligent colored man, of Boston, named Peters, offered himself in marriage to the poor orphan, and was accepted. He proved utterly unworthy of the excellent creature he had wedded, and her lot became a bitter one, indeed. She and her husband went to the interior of the State, to live, for awhile, and then returned to Boston. Misfortune seems to have expelled her muse, for we have no production of her pen bearing a later date than those in her volume published in 1773, except a poetical epistle to General Washington, in 1 7 7 5, ^ and a few scraps written at about that time. A few years of misery shattered the golden bowl of her life, and, in a filthy apartment, in an obscure part of Boston, that gifted wife and mother, whose youth had been passed in ease and even luxury, was allowed to jjerish, alone 1 Her spirit took wing on the 5th of December, 1 794, when she was about forty-one years of age. 1. On one occasion, Phillis was from home on a visit, ami, as the weather was inclement, her mistress sent one of her slaves, with a chaise, after her. Prince took his seat beside Phillis. As they drew up to the house, and their mistress saw ihem, the good woman indignantly exclaimed, " Po but look at the saucy varlet — if he has not the impudence to sit upon the same seat with Pliillis !" And she severely reprimanded Prince for forgetting the dignity of Phillis. 2. Phillis' letter was dated the 2t)th of October, 1775. Washington answered it on the 28th of February, 1776, as follows. His letter was written at his head-quarters, at Cambridge : " Miss Phillis, — Your favor of the 26th of October did not reach my hands till the middle of Decem- ber. Time enough, yon will say, to have given an answer ere this. Granted. But a variety of import- ant occurrences, continually interposing to distract the mind and withdraw the attention, I hope will apologize for the delay, and plead my excuse for the seeming, but not real neglect. I thank you most sincerely for yonr polite notice of me in the elegant lines you inclosed ; and however undeserving I may be of such encomium and panegyric, the style and manner exhibit a striking proof of your poeticiil talents ; in honor of which, and as a tribute justly due to you, I would have published the poem, had I not been apprehensive that, while I only meant to give the world this new instance of your genius, I might have incurred the imputation of vanity. This, and nothing else, determined me not to give it a place in the public prints. If you should ever come to Cambridge, or near head-quarters, I shall ba happy to see a person so favored by the Muses, and to whom nature has been so liberal and beneficent in her dispensations. I am, with great respect, your obedient, humble servant, " Geo. Washington." CONRAD WEISEK. — ISAAC SEARS. 251 CONRAD ^VEISEK. ONE of the most noted agents of communication between the white men and the Indians, was Conrad Weiser, a native of Germany, M'ho came to Amer- ica in early life, and settled, witii his father, in the present Schoharie county, New York, in 1713. They left England, in 1712, and were seventeen months on their voyage ! Young Weiser became a great favorite with the Iroquois Indians in tlie Schoharie and Moliawk Valleys, with whom he spent much of his life. Late in 1714, the elder Weiser, and about thirty other families, who had settled in Schoharie, becoming dissatisfied by attempts to tax them, set out for Tulpehocken, in Pennsylvania, by way of the Susquehanna river, and settled there. But young AVeiser was enamored of the free life of the savage. Ho was naturalized by them, and became tlioroughly versed in the languages of the whole Six Xations, as the Iroquois confederacy in New York were called. He became confidential interpreter and special messenger for the province of Pennsylvania among the Indians, and assisted in many important treaties. The governor of Virginia commissioned him to visit the grand council at Onondaga, in 17:57, and, with only a Dutchman and three Indians, ho traversed the track- less forest for five hundred miles, for that purpose. He went on a similar mission from Philadelphia to Shamokin (Sunbury), in 1744. At Reading he established an Indian agency and trading-house. When the French on the frontier made hostile demonstrations, in 1755, he wns commissioned a colonel of a volunteer regiment from Berks county ; and, in 1758, he attended the great gathering of the Indian eliicfs in council with white commissioners, at I-aston. Such was the affec- tion of the Indians for Weiser, that for many years after his death they were in the habit of visiting his grave and strewing flowers thereon. Mr. Weiser's daughter married Henry Melchoir Muhlcnburg, D.D., the founder of the Lutheran Church, in America. ISAAC SEARy. FEW men have occupied so largo a space in the public attention, of whom so little is known, as Isaac Sears, one of the great leaders of the Sons of Liberty, in New York, previous to the occupation of that city by the British, in 1776. So generally was he regarded as the bold leader in popular outbreaks, that he acquired the name o( King Sears, liy which title he is better known than by his commercial one of captain. Of him, a Loyalist writer in Rivington's Gazette WTote, cxultingly, when the New York Assembly yielded to ministerial require- ments : " And so, my Rood mnstcrs, I find it no joke, For York has stepped forward nnd thrown oIT the yoke Of Congress, oommittecs, iind even Kiny Smrx, Who shows you good nature by showing his ears." Isaac Sears was lineally descended from one of the earlier settlers in Massa- chusetts, who came from Colchester, England, in 1G30. He was born at Nor- walk, Connecticut, in 1729. Of his youth and early manhood we know little, exce])t that ho was a mariner. He finst appeared in pnbhc life as a prominent member of the association called Snn.t of Liberty, in 1765, when he was a suc- cessful merchant in the citj- of New York, and a sea-captain of note. He was the chairman of the first Committee of Correspondence appointed' by the citizens of New York, in 17G5, and had for his colleagues John Lamb, Gershom Mott, William Wiley, and Thomas Robinson. At a later period, he was wounded in 252 EDWAED TELFAIR. an afifray with some soldiers ; and in every enterprise against the schemes of government officials he was an acknowledged leader. Early in the Summer of 1775, he assisted Lamb, Willett, M'Dougal, and others, in seizing some British stores at Turtle Bay (46th Street, and East River, New York) ; and in August following, he led a party of citizens to assist Captain Lamb in removing British cannons from the battery of Fort George, at the foot of Broadway, while the Asia vessel of war was hurling round shot at them and the town.' In the Autumn of that year he led a party of mounted militia-men from Connecticut, who destroyed Rivington's j^rinting-press, and carried off his type, at midday.2 Although Captain Sears continued to be an active Whig during the remainder of the Revolution, we do not find his name in connection with any important event. When peace came, his business and fortune were gone; and, in 1785, he made a voyage to China, as a supercargo, being a partner with others in a commercial venture. Captain Sears was very ill with fever, on his arrival at Canton, and died there, on the 28th of October, 1785, at the age of almost fifty- seven years. He was buried upon French Island, and his fellow-voyagers placed a slab, with a suitable inscription upon it, over his grave. EDWARD TELFAIR. MANY of the leading men in Georgia, at the time of the breaking out of the Revolution, were of Scotch descent, and, unlike the settlers from the same stock, in Eastern North Carolina, they were generally adherents to the patriot cause. Edward Telfair was born in Scotland, in 1735, and received an English education at the grammar school of Kirkcudbright, on the domain of the Earl of Selkirk.3 He came to America when twenty-three years of age, and resided some time in Virginia, as agent of a commercial house. From thence he went to Halifax, on the Roanoke; and, in 17G6, made his residence in Savannah. Ho was one of the earliest and most efficient promoters of the rebellion there, and was one of the leading members of the committee of safety, in 1774. With a few others he broke open the provincial magazine and secured the powder for the use of the patriots; and he also assisted in the seizure of the royal governor, Sir James Wright.^ In 1778 he was elected to a seat in the Continental Con- gress ; and on the 24th of July of that year he signed the ratification of the Articles of Confederation. He continued a member of that body until 1783, when he was appointed a commissioner to conclude a treaty with the Cherokee chiefs, by which the boundary line between their nation and Georgia was determined. He was governor of Georgia, first in 1786, and then from 1790 to 1793. He had the honor of entertaining President Washington, when he visited Georgia, in 1791, at his family seat, near Augusta. Governor Telfair died at Savannah, on the 19th of September, 1807, in the seventy-second year of his age. He was buried with military honors. 1. One of the biiildinsrs injured by that cannonade was the tavern of Samuel Fraunce, commonly known by the name of BJack Sam, on account of his dark complexion. It was the same building in which Washington had his final parting with his officers, at the close of the war, and for many years has been known as the Broad Street Hotel. It is on the corner of Pearl and Broad Streets. In allusion to the event, Philip Freneau wrote, in his Petition of Hugh Gaine : " At first we supposed it was only a sham, 'Till he drove a round ball through the roof of Black Sam." Two of the cannons removed at that time by Alexander Hamilton and some of his college associates, might be seen at the entrance-gate to the grounds of Columbia College until 1855. 2. See sketch of Rivington, and also of Bishop Seabury. 3. See sketch of John Paul Jones. 4. See sketch of Joseph Habersham. A AT! ox BURR. 253 AARON BURR. IN this country, where character alono is the accepted standard of respectabihty, and where the shield of chiss does not avert the odium of pubhc opinion from the openly immoral man, let his birth and attainments be ever so exalted, there is necessarily a public virtue which no aspirant for honor dare neglect. In this sentiment is grounded our dearest hopes for the future of our Republic; and however melancholy in itself the si)cctacle of such a character as that of Aaron Burr may appear to the eye of tlic Christian and Patriot, tlie detestation in which it is held is a confirmation of faith in that public virtue. Burr was undoubtcdl}' a patriot, and possessed many noble traits of character, but over all was spread the foul slime of libertinism; and he who might have shined among the bright stars of our country's glory, is, in a degree, a "lost pleiad," " Damned to everlasting fame." Aaron Burr was the son of the pious President Burr, of the College at Prince- ton, and the daughter of the eminent Jonathan Edwards. He was born at Newark, New Jersey, on the 5th of February, 1756, and before he was three years of age he lost both his parents. Tie was a wayward boy, yot full of in- tellectual promise. At twelve years of age he entered Princeton College, and left it in 1772, a ripo scholar for one of his years, and the recipient of academic 254 JAMES THACHER. honors. He resolved to make the law his profession, but before he could engage in its practice, the storm of the Revolution burst upon the country, and he joined the Continental army, at Cambri-dge. Full of adventurous spirit, he volunteered to accompany Arnold through the wilderness, to Quebec. There he was made one of Montgomery's aids, and was with that ofScer when he fell. Soon after that he entered the military family of General AVashington, from which he was expelled in consequence of some immoral conduct which disgusted the com- mander-in-chief Burr was commissioned a lieutenant-colonel, in 1TT7, and con- tinued in active service until IT 79, when failing health compelled him to resign his office. lie had already acquired an unenviable character for expertness in intrigue ; and his hostility to Washington was always bitter and uncompromising. Burr commenced the practice of law, at Albany, in 1782, and soon afterward removed to the city of New York, where he became distinguished in his pro- fession. He was appointed attorney-general of the State, in 1789; and from 1791 to 1797, he was a member of the United States Senate, and an influential repubhcan leader, in that bod}'. His winning manners gave him wonderful influ- ence. The power of his fascinations over the other sex was almost unbounded and he used it for the basest purposes. A.s a politician he was artful and intrig- uing; and he managed so adroitly for himself] that ho received for the office of President of the United States, in 1800, the same number of votes as Mr. Jeffer- son, the head and founder of the Republican party. Congress decided in favor of Jefferson, after thirty-six ballotings, and Burr was declared Vice-President, according to usage in the early days of the Republic. Burr was the bitter enemy of all Federalists; and, in 1804, he managed to draw Alexander Hamilton into a duel, which became the terrible result of a political quarrel. Burr murdered Hamilton,' and ever afterward society put the mark of Cain upon him. Two years afterwards ho was engaged in forming an expedition in the western country, professedly to invade Mexico. It was sus- pected that Burr intended to attempt a severance of the Western from the Eastern States, and make himself president of the former. He was arrested on a charge of high treason, tried at Richmond, in Virginia, in 1807, and acquitted. He passed the remainder of his life in comparative obscurity and almost total neglect. Profligate and unscrupulous until the last, that wretched man, whose libertinism had carried desolation into many households, went down into the grave, " Unwept, nnhonored, and unsting ;" a -warning to all. He died on Staten Island, near New York, on the 14th of September, 183G, at the age of eighty years. JAMES THAOHER. ONE of the latest survivors of the medical staff of the Continental army, was James Thacher, M.D., whoso interesting Journal^ kept during the entire war, was published in 1827, and is regarded as standard authority in relation to matters of which it treats. James Thacher was born at Barnstable, Massa- chusetts, in 1754. He studied medicine in his native town, under Dr. Abner Hersey, and was prepared to enter upon the practice of his profession, " at the 1. The friends of both parties endeavored, in vain, to settle the dispute without recourse to arms, birt Burr seemed resolved on taking the life of Hamilton. lie exacted such concessions and humiliating terms of compromise, as he knew no man of honor would agree to. Hamilton fired his pistol in the air, while Burr, with fatal aim, sent a bullet with the errand of death. It was a foul murder. JAMES MADISON, D.D. 255 precise time," he says, when he found his country "about to be involved in all the horrors of a civil war." In July, 1775, when only twenty-one years of age, ho went to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, at Watertown, and solicited tho appointment of assistant hospital surgeon, at Cambridge. With nine others he received the coveted appointment, and he continued in active duty in the hospital and camp until tho capture of Cornwallis, at Yorktown. It was under his directions that the general inoculation of the American army for the small- po.x was performed, at its encampment in the Hudson Highlands, opposite West Point, in tho Spring of 1781. In his Journal, Dr. Thacher says, " All the soldiers, with tho women and children, who liave not had the small-pox, are now under inoculation.' .... Of live lunidrcd who have been inoculated here, four only have died."^ Ho then mentions tlio interesting medical fact, that an ex- tract of butternut, made by boiling down the inner bark of that tree, was very successfully substituted for the usual doses of calomel and jalap employed to reduce the system. lie found it to be more efficacious and less dangerous than tho mineral drug. He adds, concerning remedies found on our soil, "The butter- nut is tho only cathartic deserving of confidence wiuehwe have j-et discovered." Dr. Tliachcr made his ])rofession his lifj-vocation, after the war; and he enjoyed tho honors and veneration due to a faithful patriot in that struggle, for moro than sixty years after the eventful scenes at Yorktown. lie wrote several medical works, and also a Ili-sionj of Plymouth. His iledkal Biography is a work of much value. Through life he indulged an antiquarian taste ; and during his long residence in tho elder town of New England, he was a warm friend of the Pilgrim Society there. He died at Plymouth, ou the 24:th of May, 18M, at the age of ninety years. JAMES MADISON, D.D. THE first Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Virginia, was James Madison, a native of Rockingham county, in that State, and for many years president of WiUiara and Mary College. I le was born near Port Republic, on the 27tli of August, 1749. Ilis early education was acquired at an academy in Maryland; and, in 1763, he entered William and Mary College, as a student. Ho was graduated in 1772, and in addition to other collegiate honors, he received the gold medal assigned by Lord Botetourt as a prize for the encouragement of cla.ssical literature. On leaving the college, young Madison commenced the stutly of law under tlie afterward celebrated Chancellor Wythe, and was ad- mitted to tho bar, but he felt called to tho gospel ministry, and prepared himself for its duties. Ho visited England, and received priest's orders; and on his return, in 1773, he was chosen Professor of Mathematics in William and Mary College. When only twenty -eight years of age (1777), he was cliosen president of that institution, and then again visited England to become better instructed in those acquirements which his station demanded. He returned in 1778, and then " commenced tliat long career of usefulness, wliich entitles him to be considered as one of tlie greatest benefactors of Virginia." In 1784, he resigned his Professor- ship of Mathematics, and became Professor of Natural and Moral Philosophy, and International Law. These and the presidency he retained until his death. Until 1776, the Church of England had been the established religion in Vir- ginia. That year the Virginia Assembly repealed aU laws requiring conformity 1. Pee note 2, puce 61. 2. There was olso a partial inoculation of the troops stationed at Morristown, in New Jersey. 256 ABRAHAM BALDWIN. thereto. There had never been a resident Bishop in Virginia. At a convention held in Richmond, in 1785, presided over by Dr. Madison, the subject of a res- ident Bishop was considered ; and the following year Rev. Dr. Griffith was re- quested to proceed to England, with White and Provost, and receive consecra- tion. Circumstances prevented his going ; and, in 1790, Dr. Madison was elected to fill the episcopate. He was consecrated at Lambeth, in September of that year. Bishop Madison made his first episcopal visitation in 1792. Although he labored with as much energy in the cause of his church, as a naturally feeble constitution and his college duties would allow, it continually declined, and be- came almost extinct. Many beautiful church edifices, built before the Revolu- tion, are now melancholy monuments of the decay of episcopacy in Virginia. The Protestant Episcopal Church there was finally revived under the evangeUcal labors of Bishop Moore, and is now in a flourishing condition. Bishop Madison continued to discharge the duties of his offices in William and Mary College after his occupation in the episcopal field was almost ended. He died on the Gth of March, 1812, at the ago of about sixty -two years. Bishop Madison was an eminently literary man, and devout Christian professor. His remains are beneath a marble monument in the Chapel Hall of the Institution he so much loved and cherished. ABRAHAM BALDWIN. ¥E have but slight records on the page of history of Abraham Baldwin, a brother-in-law of Joel Barlow, and, in many respects, one of the most useful of men. He was a native of Connecticut, but became an honored and much-beloved adopted citizen of the State of Georgia. He was born in 1754, and was graduated at Yale College at the age of about eighteen years. From 1775 until 1779, he was a tutor in that institution, and was one of the most eminent of the classical and mathematical scholars of that da}'. While teaching, he studied law, was admitted to practice, and then removed to Savannah. There he was admitted to the Georgia bar, and took an exalted position at once. Within three months after his arrival in Georgia, he was elected a member of the State legislature. Being an ardent friend of education, he originated a plan for a university, drew up a charter by which it should bo endowed with forty thousand acres of land, and with the aid of John Milledge, procured the sanction of the legislature. The college, known as the University of Georgia, was located at Athens, and Josiali Meigs was appointed its first president. Mr. Baldwin was elected to a seat in Congress, in 1786, and the following year ho was chosen to represent Georgia, with Colonel Wilham Few as his col- league, in the convention that framed the Federal Constitution. He was con- tinued a member of Congress for ten years after the organization of the new government, when, in 1799, he and his friend Milledge were chosen United States Senators. He occupied that exalted position until his death, which oc- curred at Washington city, on the 4th of March, 1807, when he was about fifty- three years of age. His remains were placed by the side of those of his friend, General James Jackson, in the Congressional burying-ground. Mr. Baldwin was never married. His father died in 1787, and left six orphan children, half- brothers and sisters of Abraham. With the tenderness of a father he studied their welfare, and used his ample fortune in educating them all. They enjoyed his protection and aid until all were established for themselves in life-pursuits. A truly good man was lost to earth, when Abraham Baldwin died. I DE'WITT CLIXTON. 257 '^^2^ ^^:^^^^'^-^^^ DEWITT CLINTON. THERE aro men whoso forecast reaches far in advance of their generation, and whoso sagacity works wonders for posteritj''. These are laughed at as idle dreamers by tlio many, and venerated as pliilosophers and prophets by the few. Such was Dewitt CUnton, a son of James Chnton, a useful brigadier-general of tlio llevolution, who was born at Little Britain, in Orange county. New York, on the 2d of March, 17C9. He graduated at Columbia College, in 1786, became a lawyer, tlien private Secretary to his uncle, George Chnton, the first Republican governor of New York, and then a State Senator, in I7i)9. Even at this early period of his public life, his efforts were directed to the elevation of his fellow- men. Througliout his long political career ho was the earnest and steadfost friend of education, and the rights of man. His powerful mind was brought to bear with great vigor upon the subject of legislative aid in furtherance of popular educa- tion, and also the abolition of human slavery in the State of New York. In 1801, ho w,is appointed to a seat in the Senate of the United States, and was annually elected mayor of the city of Now York, from 1803 to 1815, except in 1807 and 1810. Sotiic of the noblest institutions for the promotion of art, liter- ature, science, and benevolence, in that city, were founded under his auspices.' 1. The chief of these were the New York Historical Society, the Academy of Arts, and the Orphan Asylum. See sketch of Isabella Graham. 17 258 ^DANUS BURKE. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the office of President of the United States, in 1812; and, in 1815, he withdrew from public life. Mr. Clinton was one of the earliest and most efficient supporters of Jesse Hawley's magnificent scheme for uhiting Lake Erie with the Hudson river by a canal, first promulgated bj that gentleman, in 1807; and, in 1817, Mr. Clinton having been called from his retirement into public life again, was chiefly instru- mental in procuring the passage of a law for constructing the great Erie Canal, at an estimated cost of five millions of dollars. He was elected governor of his State, and for three years, while holding that office, he brought all his official influence to bear in favor of two grand projects — the establishment of a literature fund, and the construction of the canal. A strong party was arrayed against him, and many denounced the scheme of making a canal three hundred and sixty-three miles in length, as that of an insane mind. He and his friends per- severed; and, in 1825, that great work was completed. The event was cele- brated throughout the State by orations, processions, bonfires, and illuminations, and soon the madman was extolled as a wise benefixctor. He was again elected governor of his State, by an overwhelming majority. In 1826, he declined the honor of ambassador to EIngland, offered him by President Adams, and was reelected governor. He now strongly urged a change in the State Constitution (since effected), so as to allow universal suffrage at elections. "While in the midst of his popularity and usefulness, he died suddenly, at Albany, on the 11th of February, 1828, at the age of fifty-nine years. Mr. Clinton was a fine writer, a good speaker, and an industrious seeker afiter knowledge of every kind. Some of his essays and addresses are choice specimens of composition, embodying deep thought and clear logic. His enduring monument is the Erie Canal, whose bosom has borne sufficient food to appease the hunger of the whole earth, and poured millions of treasure into the cofifers of the State. ^EDANUS BIJHKE. THE honest heart, jolly wit, and varied accomplishments of Judge Burke, of South Carolina, are matters of historic record, and cannot be forgotten. He was a native of Gal way, Ireland, where he was born about the year 1743. At the commencement of the American Revolution, he came to fight for liberty, for he was a democrat of truest stamp. His heart was filled with the sentiment, " Where liberty dw-ells, there is my country." He made liis abode in Charleston, and was active in the early military events in that vicinity. He was a lawyer by profession, and considering his services more valuable in civil than in military affairs, the provincial legislature appointed him a judge of the Supreme Court of the newly-organized State, in 1778. When Charleston fell, and the South lay prostrate at the feet of British power, in 1780, Judge Burke took a commission in the army. He resumed the judicial office when the Republicans regained the State, early in 1782. He was opposed to the Federal Constitution, because he feared consolidated power, yet ho served as the first United States Senator from South Carolina, under that instrument. His Federalist friends told him that he had been sent to see that the corruptions and abuses which he had pre- dicted should not be practiced. He had already made his name conspicuous by his publislied essay against some of the aristocratic features of the Cincinnati. Society ; and while in Congress he was the favorite friend of Aaron Burr. He after- ward became Chancellor of the State of North CaroUna. Wit, humor, and convivi- abty, were his distinguishing social characteristics. The former were ever visible JOnX TRUMBULL. 259 whether he was on the bench or in the drawing-room ; while the latter finally became such a habit that he was its slave. lie lived a bachelor, and was the soul of every dinner-party, whether abroad or at his own house. Inebriation finally clouded his intellect, and at length his body became excessively dropsical. On one occasion, when his physician had "tapped" him, and while the water was flowing freely, the judge coolly observed, " I wonder where all that water can come from, as I am sure that I never drank a.s much since I arrived at years of discretion." On being assured b}^ one of his friends that ho would bo better after the operation, he replied, " Nothing in my house is better after being iappedy His levity continued until his last moments, and he died as "the fool dieth" because ho had "lived as tlio fool liveth." He was one of many sad examples which young men of talent should study as warnings. He died at Charleston, on the 30tli of March, 1802, at the age of fifty-nine years, and was buried in the grave-yard of the Episcopal Church, near Jacksonborough.' JOHN TRUMBULL. THE name of Trumbull is^ identified with the history of New England, in various ways. Wo have already given sketches of the governor and the artist, of that name ; wo will now consider Trumbull the -poet. He was born in "Water- town, New Haven county, Connecticut, on the 24th of April, 1750. He was an only son, delicate in physical constitution, and a favorite of his accomplished mother. He was an exceedingly precocious child, and at the age of seven years was considered qualified to enter Yale College, as a student. There ho was graduated, in 17G7, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and remained a student three years longer. He turned his attention chiefly to pohte literature, as well as the Greek and Latin classics, and became a most accomplished scholar. He and Timothy Dwight became intimate friends, and the bond of mutual attach- ment was severed only by death. They were co-essayists, in 17G9 ; and, in 1771, they were both appointed tutors in the college. The following year young Trumbull pubhshed the first part of a poem entitled The Progress of Dulness. He selected the law as his profession, and devoted much of his leisure time to its stud}-. He was admitted to the bar in 1773, but immediately afterward went to Boston, and placed himself under the instruction of John Adams. He com- menced the practice of law at Hartford, in 1781, and soon became distinguished for legal acumen and forensic eloquence. During his residence in Boston, he had conceived the idea of a satirical poem, in which the British and Tories should figure conspicuously; and, in 1782,' liis Jf'Kn^^aZ was completed, and published at Hartford. He was soon afterward associated with Humphreys, Barlow, and Dr. Lemuel Ho])kins, in the production of a work which they styled The Anar- ch iad. It contained bold satire, and exerted considerable influence on the pop- ular taste. In 1789, Mr. Trumbull was appointed State Attorney for the county of Hart- ford; and, in 1792, he represented that district in the Connecticut legislature. His health foiled ; and, in 1795, he resigned his ofBce, and declined all pubHc business. Toward the close of 1798, a severe illness formed the crisis of his 1. Many nnccdotcs are preserved concernitiK Judge Burke's absent-mindedness. It was the custom for the Judges in ('harlcston, during the sessions, to leave their powns at n dry-coods store near the court- .house, when they went to their meals. The owner of this store was Miss Van Rhyn, a middle-aged maiden lady, who carefully hung the judicial robes uXiOn pegs where her own clothing was suspended. On one occasion, Judge Hurke took down his robe (as he supposed) hastily, went wiUi it under his arm, and proceeded to array himself preparatory to the openinir of the court. He found much difficulty in getting it on, when all at once ho exclaimed, bgfyie au audience uproarious with laughter, "Before God, I have got into Misi Van Rbyn's petticoat !" 260 STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER. nervous excitement, and after that his health vras much better. He was again elected to a seat in the State legislature, in May, 1800, and the following year he was appointed a judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut. From that time he abandoned party politics, as inconsistent with judicial duties. In 1808, he was appointed judge of the Supreme Court of Errors. In 1820, he revised his works, and they were published in Hartford, in handsome style, by S. G. Good- rich, now [1854] American consul at Paris. He received a handsome compen- sation for them. He and his wife afterward went to Detroit, and made their abode with a son-in-law. There Judge Trumbull died, on the 10th of May, 1831, at the age of eighty-one years. STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER. FIFTH in lineal descent from Killian Van Rensselaer, the earliest and best known of the American Patroons,^ was Stephen Van Rensselaer, one of the best men of his time, in the highest sense of that term. He was born at the manor-house, near Albany, New York, on the 1st of November, 1764. He was the eldest son, and inherited the immense manorial estates of his father, known as the Patroon Lands. That parent died when Stephen was quite young, and the boj^ and the estate were placed under the supervision of guardians, one of whom was PhiUp Livingston, his maternal grandfather. Born to a princely fortune and highest social station in the New World, young Van Rensselaer was educated accordingly. He was a student in the college at Princeton, for some time, and completed his education at Harvard Universitj', where he was graduated in 1782. The "War for Independence had just closed when he at- tained his majority, but the conflicts of opinion respecting the establishment of a new government had yet to be waged. In these discussions Mr. Van Rensselaer took a decided and active part, and he was repeatedly elected to a seat in the New York Assembly. He was a warm supporter of the Federal Constitution, and battled manfully for it and the administration of "Washington, side by side with Hamilton, Jay, and Madison. In 1795, he was elected lieutenant-governor of his native State, when John Jay was chief magistrate, and he held that sta- tion six years. His friends predicted for him, a brilliant official career, but the defeat of the Federal party, in 1800, and the continued ascendency of the Re- publican, closed his way to distinction through the mazes of political warfare. "When war was declared against Great Britain, in 1812, Mr. Van Rensselaer, bearing the commission of a major-general, was placed, by Governor Tompkins, in command of the New York militia, destined for the defence of the northern frontier. Those were a j^art of his troops, under General Solomon Van Rensselaer, who assisted in the battle at Queenstown. After the war, General Van Rensselaer was elected to a seat in the Federal Congress, where ho served his country dur- ing several consecutive sessions. By his casting-vote in the delegation of New York, he gave the presidency of the United States to John Quincy Adams. "With that session closed the political life of Stephen Van Rensselaer, but he still labored on and hoped on in the higher sphere of duty of a benevolent Christian. Like his Master whom he loved, he was ever "meek and lowly," and "went 1. To encourage the emigration of an agricultural population to New Netherland fas New York was originally called), the Dutch West India (Company, under whose auspices the province was founded, granted to certain persons who should lead or send a certain number of families to make a settlement in America, large tracts of land with specified social and political privileges. Among the directors of the company who availed themselves of the offer, was Killian Van Rensselaer, who became the proprietor of Eensselaerwick, a territory in the vicinity of Albany about forty-eight miles long, and twenty- four wide. It was established in \(&', and the proprietor was called a Patroon, or patron ; a name de- rived &om the civil law of Rome, wkich ■was given to owners of large landed estates. STEPHEN" VAN" RENSSELAER. 261 about doing good." Frugal in personal expenditures, he was lavish, yet dis- criminating, in his numerous benefactions. He did not wait for Misery to call at his door ; he sought out the children of "Want. To the poor and the ignorant he was a blessing. In 1824, he founded a seminary for the purpose of ''quali- fying teachers for instructing the children of farmers and mechanics in the ap- plication of experimental chemistry, philosophy, and natural history, to agricul- ture, domestic economy, the arts, and manufactures." He liberally endowed it, and the " Rensselaer School" is a perpetual hymn to the memory and praise of its benefactor. In the cause of the Bible, Temperance, and every social and moral reform, Mr. "Van Rensselaer's time and money were freely given ; and in tiicse labors he continued until deatli. He was an early and efficient friend of internal improvements, and, on the death of De\\'itt Clinton, he was appointed president of the Board of Canal Commissioners. He held that station during the remainder of his life. That "good citizen and honest mau" died on the 2Gth of January, 184:0, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. 262 WASHINGTON" ALLSTON. — WILLIAM MOULTRIE. WASHINOTON ALLSTON. "Vro man ever possessed a more exquisite appreciation of the Beautiful, than li Washington Allston, one of the most gifted of painters, and yet no man ever kept the Beautiful in more severe subordination to the Good and True, in the productions of both his pencil and pen. That appreciation made him shrink from frequent efforts in the higher department of his art, for he felt the impuis- sance of Ms hand in the delineations of the glorious visions of his genius. It has been well observed by Professor Shedd, that Allston accomplished so little, be- cause he thought so much. This gifted painter and poet was born in South Carolina, in 1780, and was educated at Harvard College, where he was graduated in the year 1800. His genius for art was early developed; and, in 1801, he went to Europe, to study the works of the best masters there. He remained abroad eight years, and enjoyed the friendship of the most distinguished poets and painters of England and the Continent. In painting. West, Reynolds, and Fuseli were his instructors; and Wordsworth, Southcy, and Coleridge, were his chief literary companions. No private American ever made a better or more lasting impression abroad, than Washington Allston. As a colorist, he was styled the American Titian. A small volume of his poems was issued in London, in 1813; and in later productions of his pen, he exhibited a power in writing elegant prose, surpassed by few. But he is chiefly known to the world as a painter, and as such posterity will speak of him. His chief works are The Dead Man restored to Life by Elijah; Elijah in the Desert; JacoVs Dream; The Angel liberating Peter from Prison ; Saul and the Witch of Endor ; Uriel in the Sun ; Gabriel setting the Guard of the Heavenly Host; Spalatro^s Vision of the Bloody Hand; Anne Page, and several exquisite smaller works. He was engaged on his greatest work — Belshazzar^s Feast — when his final sickness fell upon him, and he was not permitted to finish it. It exhibits great powers of intellect and taste ; and, as far as it is completed, it presents the embodiment of the highest conceptions of true genius. Most of his life was spent at Cambridge, Massa- chusetts, where he was educated ; and there the " painter-poet and the poet- painter " left earth for the sphere of Intelligence and Beauty, on the 9th of July, 1843, when in the sixty-fourth year of liis age. WILLIAM MOULTRIE. SEVERAL of those who, during the War for Independence, acted its history, have since written its history, and the truths of those great events can never be obscured by the fictions of posterity. Among those who have played that two-fold part in the drama recorded in our annals, is William Moultrie, whose valor won the honor of having the fort he defended bear his name. He was a native of South Carolina, where he was born, in 1130. He was descended from one of that Huguenot company of which Marion's ancestor was a member, and inherited the patient endurance, courage, and love of Hberty of that per- secuted people. History first notices him as a subaltern in an expedition against the Cherokee Indians, in 1760, under the command of Governor Littleton. He was also prominent in subsequent expeditions against that unhappy people. He was active in civil affairs before the Revolution ; and, when the hour for decision in that matter came, he was found in tlie ranks of the patriots as a military officer. When, early iu the Summer of 1776, a strong land and naval force JOHN LAMB. 263 menaced Charleston, Moultrie, bearing the commission of a colonel, took com- mand of Fort Sullivan, in the harbor, and bravely defended it while cannons on British war-vessels were pouring an incessant storm of iron upon it.' For that gallant defence ho was promoted to a brigadier, and the fort was named Moultrie, in his honor.2 From that time until tlie full of Charleston, in 1780, General Moultrie was one of the most efficient of the Southern officers, on the field of action, or as a disciplinarian in camp. vVfler the surrender of Charleston, he was kept a prisoner in the vicinity, for awhile, and was then paroled to Philadelphia, where he remained until the close of hostilities, in 1782. After his return home he was chosen governor of his native State, and w.-is repeatedly reelected to that office. His integrity as a statesman and public officer was a bright example; his disinterestedness was beyond all praise. Ilis fellow-citizens honored him with truest reverence, and his intimate acquaintances loved him for his many private virtues. The infirmities of age at length admonished him to retire to private life ; and in domestic repose he prepared his Memoirs of the Revolution in the South, which were published in two octavo volumes, in 1802. Like a bright sun setting without an obscuring cloud, the hero and sago descended peacefully to his final rest, on the 27th of September, 1805, at the age of seventy- five years. JOHN LAMB, THE Sons of Liberty in New York were distinguished for their loyalty to re- publican principles, their zeal in the promotion of popular freedom, and their boldness in every hour of difficulty and danger. Among the most fearless of those early patriots was John Lamb, son of an eminent optician and mathe- matical instrument maker. He was born in the city of New York, on the 1st of January, 1735. He received a good common education, and learned the business o'fliis father. He abandoned it in 17C0, and became an extensive wine merchant. Through all the exciting times until the kindling of the War for Independence, Mr. Lamb was extensively engaged in the liquor trade, and, at the same time, was one of the most active politicians of the day, after the pass- ago of the Stamp Act had aroused the American people. He spoke French and Gorman llucntly, was a good scholar, and was exceedingly expert in the use of his tongue and' pen. These ho devoted to the public good. On one occasion, in 1769, when an inflammatory hand-bill had called "the betrayed inhabitants to the fields,"3 Lamb harangued tlio multitude in seditious words. He was taken before the Legislative Assembly to testify concerning the authorship of the hand- bill, but was soon discharged.-' This event intensified his zeal, and he continued 1. Durine the action, n cannon hall ont the AmonVnn flftK-statf, and the banner fell outside of the fort. SerRcanl William Jasper, of Moultrie's lesimiMit, iuinu'diatolv leaped down from the parapet, picked up the Hag while the balls were falling thick ami fast, coolly risic.icd it to ft fponge staff, and unfurled it again over the bastion of the fori. Knr ihis ilaiirit; feat, governor Rutledge presented Jasper wiih his own sword, the next dav, and offered him a lieutenant's commission. The young hero modestly re- fused it, saying, " I can neither read nor write ; I am not fit to keep officers' company ; I am only a sergeant." 2. On the dav when the enemy departed from Charleston, Mrs. Bernard Elliott (a niece of Mrs. Rebecca MotteK presented General Moultrie's regiment with ft pair of elegant silk colors, wrought by the ladies of Charleston. These were afterward planted upon the fortifications ftt Sftvannah, when Lincoln and n'Kstfthig besieged that citv, in October, 1779. Koth the voniig officers who bore them were killed Sergeant Jasper was there, and, seiring one of them, he mounted a bastion, when he, too, was killed by a bullet. These flags were surrendered at Charleston, in 1780, and were afterward trophies in ma Tower nf London. , „ j ,i .u c u. » 3. The ground now occupied by the City Hall »nd its surrounding Park was called the helds. There a " Liberty Pole" wan erected, and there the popular assemblages were held. i. The handbill was written by Alexander MacDougall, afterward a general m the Conlinental army. 264 RED JACKET. to be an accepted political leader until 1775, when he entered the artillery ser- vice of the army, with the commission of captain. He accompanied Montgomery to Quebec at the close of that year. He was severely wounded there, in tho cheek, by a grape-shot, and was made prisoner. Soon after that he was pro- moted to major, and appointed to the command of the artillery in the Northern Department, but was not exchanged, and allowed to enter tho service again, until early in 1777, when Congress gave him the commission of lieutenant-colonel, under the immediate command of General Knox. We cannot here even enumerate his multifarious duties, as commander of artillery, during the remainder of tho war. It is sufficient to say that he was everywhere brave and skilful, and shared in the dangers and honors of the final victory at York town. lie was as warm a politician after the war as before it, and served his fellow-citizens faithfully in the legislature of his native State. After the organization of the federal govern- ment, Washington appointed him collector of customs at the port of New York, and he held that office until his death, on the 31st of May, 1800, at the age of sixty-five years. Then a patriot of truest stamp was lost to the world. RED JACIvET. THE renowned Seneca warrior and orator, Sa-go-ye-wa-thee, the Red Jacket,* was born about the year 1750, near the spot where the city of Buffalo now stands, that being the chief place of residence of the Seneca leaders. Tradition alone has preserved a few facts concerning his youth. He was always remark- ably swift-footed, and was often employed as a courier among his own people. He took part with the British and Tories during the Revolution, but was moro noted for his power as an orator in arousing the Senecas to action, than as a leader upon the war-path. Brant, whom Red Jacket's ambition greatly annoyed, even charged him with cowardice during Sullivan's campaign in the Seneca country, in 1779, and always spoke of Red Jacket with mingled feelings of hatred and contempt, as a traitor and dishonest man.2 The celebrated Seneca first appears in history in the record of Sullivan's campaign, and then in an un- favorable light. After that wo have no trace of him until 1784, when he ap- peared at the great treaty at Fort Stanwix (now Rome), where, by certain con- cessions of territory by the Six Nations, they were brought under the protection of the United States. There the eloquence of Red Jacket beamed forth in great splendor ; and there, too, the voice of the eloquent Cornplanter^ was heard. Red Jacket was prominent at a council held at the mouth of the Detroit river, in 1786. After that there were many disputes and heart-burnings between the white people and the Indians of Western New York, concerning land titles, and Red Jacket was always the eloquent defender of the rights of his people. At all treaties and councils he was the chief orator. He frequently visited the seat 1. This name was given him from the circumstance that a British officer, toward tlie close of the Revolntion, gave him a riclily-embroidered scarlet jacket, which he took great pleasure in wearing. Others were presented to him, as one was worn out ; and even as late as the treaty at ("anandaipua, in 1794, Captain Parish, one of the United States' interpreters, gave him one. The red jacket became his distinctive dress, and procured him the name by which he is best known. 2. Thomas Morris says that Red Jacket was called the cow-killer from the circumstance that, having on one occasion during the Revolution, aroused his people to fight, was found, during the engagement, in a place of safety, cutting up a cow that he had killed, which i)eIonged to another Indian. When Cornplanter, Brant, and Red Jacket, were at Morris' table, one day, Corrplanter told the story, as if another Indi.an had committed the act. The narrator and Brant laughed heartily, and Ked Jacket en- deavored to join them, but was evidently very much embarrassedi 3. See sketch of Cornplanter. RED JACKET. 265 of our national government, in behalf of his race, and was always treated with the utmost respect.' Unlike Coriijilanter, Red Jacket's paganism never yielded to the gentle in- fluences of Christianity, and he was the most inveterate enemy to all missionary efforts among the Senecas. Ho had become a slave to strong drink, and he attributed tlie prevalence of the vice among his people to the missionaries, who, he said, sold li(iuor to the Indians, and cheated them of property. On the break- ing out of the war, in 1812, the Senecas, under the leadership of Red Jacket, declared themselves neutral, but they soon became allies of the United States, and engaged in hostilities on the Canada frontier. Red Jacket was in the bloody battle at Chippewa, and behaved well, but he seems to have been constitution- ally a coward, and was always far braver in council than in the field. Yet this cowardice in battle, though well known to the nation, did not lessen their affec- tion for him, nor materially weaken his influence as head Chief of the Senecas. Red Jacket had a large family of children, some of whom, like their mother, became professing Christians.2 Eleven of them died of that terrible disease, the consumption, one after another, and Red Jacket felt his bereavement to be the chastisement of the Great Spirit for liis habitual drunkenness. On being asked about his family, by a lady who once knew them, the chief said, sorrowfully, "Red 1. On one orcnsion, Wasliinpton presented a large silver merlal to Red Jacket, bearing the representa- tion of ft white man and an Indian shaking hands, and the names of Washington and Red Jacket en- graved npon it. 2. Ilis seconil wife became a professed Christian, in 1826. She is represented as a woman of remark- able jjersonal dignity and superiority of mind. Her conversion alienated her husband for several months, and he resided some distance' from her. He finally thought better of it, asked and obtained her forgiveness, and they lived in perfect harmony afteny.ird. 266 HENRY CRUGER. Jacket was once a groat man, and in favor with the Great Spirit. He was a lofty pine among the smaller trees of the forest. But after j'ears of glory he degraded himself by drinking the fire-water of the white man. The Great Spirit has looked upon him in anger, and his lightning has stripped the pine of its tranches /" The influence of Christianity and civilization upon the Seneca nation disturbed the repose of Red Jacket, during the latter part of his life. These influences, working with a general disgust produced by his excessive intemperance, alien- ated his people; and, in 1827, he was formally deposed.' It was a dreadful blow to the proud chicf^ and ho went to Washington city to invoke the aid of government in his behalf He returned with good advice in his memory, ob- tained a grand council, and was restored to authority. But his days were al- most numbered. He soon afterward became imbecile, and, in a journej' to the Atlantic sea-board, he permitted himself to be exhibited in museums, for money I At last the greatest of all Indian orators was called away. He died on the 20th of January, 1830, at the age of about eighty years. Over his grave, Henry Placide, the comedian, placed an inscribed slab of marble, io 1839. HENRY CRUGER. ONE of the chief grievances of which the American colonists complained was the fact that they were compelled to suffer taxation, without enjoying the privilege of repiresentation, and were thus, practically, the victims of tyranny. Yet they were represented by a few, in the British parliament, when the quarrel which resulted in dismemberment was progressing, but of that few, only one was a native of the western world. It was Henry Cruger, who was born in the city of New York, in 1739. On arriving at manhood, he joined his father, who had established himself as a merchant in the American trade, at Bristol, England. The elder Cruger was highly esteemed, and became mayor of Bristol ; an honor afterward bestowed upon his son. It is worthy of remark here, that father and son, belonging to another branch of the Cruger familj', were, at about the same time, successively honored with the mayoralty of the city of New York. In 1774, Henry Cruger was elected to a seat in Parliament, as representative of the city of Bristol, having for his colleague the afterward eminent Edmund Burke. That then fledgling statesman was introduced at the hustings by Mr. Cruger, and delivered an address at the conclusion, which elicited warm ap- plause. It is reported that a gentleman present exclaimed, "I say ditto to Mr. Burke." That laconic sentence became a "bye-word," and was erroniously at- tributed to Mr. Cruger. The speeches of Mr. Cruger, in Parliament, were marked by sound common sense and great logical force ; and on all occasions he urged the necessity of a conciliatory course toward the Americans. Like Lord Chatham, he deprecated a severance of the colonies from the British realm; but, in 1780, when the continuance of union became impossible, ho declared that "the Amer- ican war should be put an end to, at all events, in order to do which the inde- pendency must be allowed, and the thirteen provinces treated as free States." His course pleased his constituents, who, on various occasions, testified their warmest approbation. After the war, ho returned to his native city, and was elected a member of the Senate of the State of New York. He died in the city 1 . The act of deposition, written in the Seneca language, wa3 signed by twenty-six chief men of the nation. JAMES A. BAYARD. 267 of New York, on the 24th of April, 1827, at the age of eighty-eight years. His brother, John Harris Cruger, who was in the British mihtary service previous to the Revolution, adhered to the crown, and was in command of a corps of Loyalists at the South. He held the commission of a lieutenant-colonel, and commanded the garrison at Fort Ninety-Six when it was besieged by General Greene. Colonel Cruger was a son-in-law of Colonel Oliver Dolancey. He died in London, in 1807, at the age of sixty-nine years. His wife died at Chelsea, England, in 1822, at the age of seventy-eight years. JAMES A. BAYARD. WHEN, in 1814, the American and British governments resolved to close an unprofitable and fratricidal war, by a treaty of peace, the most accom- plished statesmen in the Union were chosen commissioners, to meet those of Great Britain, at Ghent, in Belgium, to negotiate. On that commission was James A. Bayard, an eminent statesman of Delaware. He was born in the city of Philadelphia, on the 28th of July, 17G7. At a very early age he became an orphan, and was adopted by an affectionate uncle, who took special care to have him thoroughly educated. His studies were completed in the College at Prince- ton, New Jersey, where he was graduated with the highest honors, in 1784, at the ago of seventeen years?. He cliose the profession of law, studied it with great assiduity, under General Joseph Reed and Jared Ingersoll, and was ad- mitted to the bar, in August. 1787. He was married in 1795, and the following year he was a successful Federal candidate for a seat in Congress, where he first appeared in May, 1797. There he was noted for his industry, integrity, and con- sistency : and during his services as a member of the House of Reprcseutative.s, from 1797 until 1804, no man was more highl_v esteemed for talents and personal worth than Mr. Bayard. When, in the Winter of 1801, the choice between Jefferson and Burr, the Republican candidates for President of the United States, devolved upon the House of Representatives, and Jlr. Bayard and three other Federal members held the choice in their own hand.s, his colleagues submitted the matter to his Judgment, and he fortunately gave the office to Jefferson. A few da^-s after- ward President Adams appointed Mr. Bayard minister plenipotentiarj' to France, but ho patriotically declined it for political reasons. In 1804, he was elected to a scat in the United States Senate, to fill a vacancy; and, in Februarj^, 1805, he was reelected for the full term of six years. In that body, also, he was an esteemed leader; and, in 1811, the legislature of Delaware again elected him United States Senator, for another full term. Ho opposed the declaration of war against Great Britain, in 1812, but. when a majority in Congress gave sanc- tion to the measure, he cheerfully acciuiesced, and, it is said, actually labored with his own hands in the erection of defences at Wilmington, where he resided. In 1813, the Emperor of Russia offered his mediation between the United States and Great Britain, and Mr. Bayard and Albert Gallatin were sent to St. Peters- burg to negotiate. There they remained six months, when, hearing nothing from England, they proceeded to Amsterdam. They arrived in that city in March, 1814. There thej' were informed that England would not accept the mediation of Russia, but was ready to treat for peace with the United States. They were also informed that Messrs. Adams, Clay, and Russell, had been added to the commission. All finally met with the British commissioners at Ghent, 268 ELIAS HICKS. in August, 1814, where they remained until the 24th of December following, when a treaty was agreed upon and signed.' Fourteen days afterward, Mr- Bayard left Ghent for Paris; and on the 4th of March, 1815, while in that city, he was seized with a fatal, but lingering disease. He waited there until duty should call him to London to negotiate a treaty of commerce, with which service the commission had been charged. Greatly debilitated, he reached England at the middle of May, where he was met by a commission, appointing him min- ister to Russia. Feeling that death was now rapidly approaching, he declined the honor, and hastened home. He arrived at Wilmington on the 1st of August, where his family received him with mingled tears of joy and grief, after an ab- sence of more than two years. Five days afterward he departed to that distant land beyond the grave, from which tliere is no return. He died on the 6th of August, 1815, when a Uttle more than forty-eight years of age. ELIAS HICKS. THE Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers, having but one accepted standard of faith and discipline, were remarkable for their unity until about 1825, when Elias Hicks, a distinguished and influential preacher, boldly enun- ciated Unitarian doctrines. This produced much dissatisfaction, and the hitherto united and peaceful society exhibited two parties, styled respectively Orthodox, or Trinitarians, and Eicksites, or Unitarians, and was agitated by much and violent party feelings. The breach widened, and finally a separation took place. The two parties assumed distinct organizations, and the Unitarians, being in the majority, generally took possession of the meeting-houses, and compelled the Orthodox to erect new ones. The breach still continues. Elias Hicks was born in Hempstead, Long Island, on the 19th of March, 1'748. Of his early hfe we have no recoi;'d, except that it was passed in the quiet pur- suits of a farmer. He was married in January, 1771, and at about that period was acknowledged a member of the Society of Friends. Four years afterward he first appeared as a minister ; and for fifty -three years he was a teacher among his brethren. During that time he travelled extensively throughout the United States and Upper Canada ; and at the age of eighty years he visited his brethren and sisters in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, and Indiana, like Paul, "confirming them in the faith." Soon after his return home, his wife died, and the following Summer he visited the northern and western parts of the State of New York, everywhere preaching with great clearness and power. The writer heard kim at that time, and remembers well how logically he set forth the doctrine which he had espoused and then ably advocated. His labors ceased six months afterward. On the 4th of February, 1830, he vsTote a long and interesting letter to a Western friend, and immediately afterward his whole right side was smitten with paralysis. He died on the 27th of the same month, aged eighty-two years. During his ministr}', he travelled almost ten thousand miles, and delivered at least one thousand discourses.^ 1. Bayard's coUeaKues were John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, Jonathan Russell, and Albert Gallatin. Those of Great Britain were Lord Gambier, Henry Goulboiirn, and William Adams. 2. An anecdote is told which illustrates his conscientiousness. He was informed by his son-in-law that a man who owed them both had become a bankrupt, " but," said the son, " he has secured thee and me." "Has he secured all?" inquired the old man. On receiving a reply in the negative, he said, " That is not right ;" and he insisted upon the creditors placing him and his son-in-l&w on the same footing with otherB. COUNT EUMFOP.D. 269 (^^r?^^o^f\^ COUNT RUMFOKD. BY industrr, perseverance, and integrity, working in harmony with genius and a trulybenevolent spirit, Bonjainin Thompson, a humble New Hampshire schoolmaster, became a "Count of the Holy Roman Empire," and a companion of kings and philosophers. He was born at Woburn, Massachusetts, on the 28th of March, 1753. His widowed mother was in comfortable circumstances, and the common school furnished him with an elementary education. He was a merchant's clerk, at Salem, for awhile, and then commenced the study of medical science in his native town. He attended lectures at Cambridge, in lt71, and employed a portion of his time in teaching schools, iirst at "Wilmington, and then at Bradford. He was finally invited to take charge of a school at Rum- ford (now Concord), in New Hampshire. The fame of his philosophical experi- ments already made preceded him, and his handsome face, noble person, and grace of manners, made him a favorite. Before he was twenty years of age, he was the husband of a young and wealthy widow, daughter of Rev. Timothy Walker, minister of the town. His talent and this connection gave him high social position, at once, and he found leisure to pursue scientific investigations. Thus ho was employed when the storms of the Revolution began to gather darkly. The time came when he must make public choice of party — be active, or suffer suspicion. With conscientious motives, he declined to act with the 270 COUNT RUMFORD. Wliigs. His neutrality was construed as opposition, and he was finally com- pelled to fl}^, for personal safety, to the protection of the British, in Boston, leav- ing behind him all he held most dear on earth — mother, wife, child, friends, and fortune. That persecution, under Providence, led to his greatness. Mr. Thompson remained in Boston until the Spring of 1776, when General Howe sent him to England with important despatches for the British ministry concerning the evacuation of the New England capital. The ministry appre- ciated his worth, and scientific men sought his acquaintance. He was oflered public employment, and accepted it; ami in less than four years after he landed in England, a homeless exile, he was made Under-Secretary of State. In 1782, he was in America a short time, but could not see his family. The following year he went to (jrermany, bearing letters of introduction from eminent men in England. He was introduced to the Elector of Bavaria, who at once offered him honorable employment in his service. He repaired to England to ask per- mission to accept it, received the fovor, and was knighted by the king. Soon after his return to Munich ho entered upon public service, and the " Yankee solioolmaster," like Joseph, became the second man in the kingdom. The Elec- tor made him Lieutonant-General ; Commander-in-chief of the Staff; Minister of "War ; Member of the Council of State ; a Knight of Poland ; Member of the Academy of Sciences in three cities ; Commander-in-chief of the General Staff; Superintendent of the Pohce of Bavaria, and Chief of the Regency during the sovereign's compulsory absence, in 1796. He accomplished great civil and military reforms, in Bavaria; and during his ten years' service, he produced such salutary changes in the condition of the people, that he won the unbounded love and admiration of all classes.' "When, in 1796, Munich was assailed by an Austrian army. Sir Benjamin Thompson commanded the Bavarian troops, and he conducted the defence so successfully that he won the highest praises through- out Europe. The Bavarian monarch attested his appreciation of his great ser- vices, by creating him a Count of the Holy Roman Empire. He chose the name of the birth-place of his wife and child for his title, and henceforth ho was known as Count of Rumford. In 1792, Sir Benjamin had heard of the death of his wife. He had soon after- ward visited England, on account of ill-health, where he remained some time, engaged in scientific pursuits. From there, in 1794, he wrote to his daughter, the inftmt he left behind, to join him. She did so, early in 1796. She was then a charming girl of twenty years, and, with a father's pride, he conveyed her to Munich, introduced her at court, and placed her at the head of his household. Ill health again compelled him to travel, and he went to England, bearing the highly honorable commission of Bavarian minister at the court of St. James. He could not be received, as such, for the laws of English citizenship would not allow it. At about that time he received an invitation from the American gov- ernment to visit his native land. Circumstances prevented his compliance, and he again went to Munich, where he remained until the death of the Elector, in 1799, when ho quitted Bavaria forever. He went to Paris, married the widow of the celebrated Lavoisier, and at a beautiful villa at Auteil, near Paris, he passed the remainder of his days in literary and scientific pursuits, and in the society of the most learned men in Europe. There he died, on the 21st of August, 1814, in the sixty-second year of his age. His daughter inherited his 1. He established a military workhouse at Manheim, and, hy stringent, yet benevolent regulations, he almost totally abolished vagrancy and mendicity from Munich, which had ever been noted for these nuisances. In the exercise of his good ta^^te and enterprise, he greatly adorned and beautified Munich. A barren waste near the city was converted into a charming park for the enjoyment of the people, and there pleasure-gardens bloomed. To express their gratitude for these various reformatory eflorts, the nobility and other principal inhabitants of Munich erected a handsome monument, with appropriate in- scriptions upon it, commemorative of his deeds, within the beautiful pleasure-grounds he had given them. STEPHEN GIRAED. 271 large fortune, and the title of Countess of Rumford.' After many vicissitudes in Europe, she returned to her native land, and died at Concord, on the 2d of December, 1852, at the ajje of seventy years.^ The death of Count Rumford, says Professor Renwick, deprived " mankind of one of its eminent benefactors, and science of one of its brightest ornaments." STEPHEN aiRARD. IT is honorable to be wealthy, when wealth is honorably acquired, and when it is used for laudable or noble purposes. One of the most eminent possess- ors of great riches, among the comparatively few in this country, was Stephen Girard of Philadelphia, where the memory of his opulence is perpetuated by a college bearing his name, lie was a native of France, and was born near Bor- deaux, on the 24th of May, 1750. lie was the child of a peasant, and the only school in which he was educated was the great world of active life. When about eleven years of ago he left his native country, and sailed as a cabin-boy for the West Indies. Ho afterward went to New York, and spent several years in voyages between that port and the West Indies and New Orleans, as cabin- boy, seaman, mate, and finallj'- as master. Having saved some monej', he opened a small shop in Philadelphia, in 17(39, and the next year he married the beautiful daughter of a caulker. Ilis own asperity of temper made their connubial Ufe un- happy. She became insane, in 1790, and died in the Philadelphia hospital, in 1815, leaving no children. After his marriage, Girard occasionally sailed to the West Indies, as master of his own vessel. On one occasion he was captured, and, after awhile, returned home poor. After the war of the Revolution, he and his brother carried on a profitable trade with St. Domingo; and on their dissolution of partnership, Stephen continued the business on his own account. While two of his vessels were there, in 1804, the great revolt of the negroes, which resulted in the mas- sacre of the white people, took place. Many planters who sent their valuables on board his vessels never lived to claim them, for whole families were destroyed. A large sum of money was thus placed in his possession and never called for. He afterward engaged extensively and successfully in the East India trade ; and, in 1812, he opened his own private bank, in Philadelphia, with a capital of one million two hundred thousand dollars. When the new United States Bank was started, in 1816, he subscribed for stock to the amount of over three millions of 1. In addition to ample provisions for his mother, Count Rumford gave the American Academy of Arts and Sciences five thousand dollars, in ITilli, and also very liberally endowed a professorship in Har- vard University. The Kimiford Profcssorshiji in that institution was established in 181t>. 2. The residence of Miss Sarah Thompson, Countess of Rumford, was a beautiful villa on the hanks of the Merrimac, south of the villMu'e of Concord. A (rentleman of the highest respectability, who was intimatelv accpiainted with that ladv, informs me that it was her firm belief that her father did not die in France, as is supposed. She related that on hearing of the death of her father, she repaired to Autenil, but the servants could not show his grave, and their conduct appeared mysterious. She afterward went to England, ami lived in a house that belonged to her father, at Brompton, and which was bequeathed to her in his Will. An adjoining landholder soon afterward claimed the property, and took legal steps to eject her. Without solicitation on her part, one of the most distinguished lawyers in London espoused her cause, secured a verdict in her favor, and refused any compensation. Fourteen years after the re- ported death of her father, the Coimtess, while repairing her house, was looking out of a window upon a neighboring dwelling, when she plainly fair the Cnnnt at a irindnw. He immediately stepped back, out of sight. When she recovered from her surprise, she rushed to the street, and hastened toward the house where she saw her father. At that moment he stepped into a roarh, and she never saw him afterward. The Countess fullv believed that he had prohahlv become entangled in some political coil m France, found it necessarv to retire from the world, had his death reported, and lived inrognitn in London, and somi'iimes at Brompton. She believed that he had kept a vigilant eye over her welfare, and that he employed and paid the eminent London barrister, who managed her suit at Brompton. She died m the belief that her father was yet alive, in 1828, when she so distinctly saw him at Brompton. 272 JOHN JAMES AUDUBON. dollars, which immensely augmented in value. The capital of his own bank finally reached four millions of dollars. In all his pecuniary transactions, Mr. Girard was successful, if accumulation is the test of success. He left behind a fortune of about nine millions of dollars, a very small portion of which was be- queathed to his relatives. Few of them received more than ten thousand dollars each, except a favorite niece, to whom he gave sixty thousand dollars. The city of Philadelphia, in trust, was his chief legatee. He left two millions of dollars, "or more if necessary," to build and endow a college for the education and maintenance of "poor male orphan children," to be "received between the ages of six and ten, and to be bound out between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, to suitable occupations, as those of agriculture, navigation, arts, me- chanical trades, and manufactures."^ Mr. Girard died in Philadelphia, of influ- enza, on the 26th of December, 1831, in the eighty-second year of his age. JOHN JAMES AUDUBON. BARON" CUTIER, the great naturalist, paid a just tribute of praise to Audu- bon's work. The Birds of America, when he said, "It is the most gigantic and most magnificent monument that has ever been erected to Nature." The man who reared it possessed genius of the highest order, and his name and deeds will be remembered as long as the Bird of Washington soars in the firmament, or the swallow twitters in the barn. John James Audubon was born in New Orleans, on the 4th of May, 1T80, of French parents in opulent circumstances. From infantile years he was ever delighted with the song and plumage of birds ; and his educated father fostered that taste which afterward led him to fame, by describing the habits of the ten- ants of tlie woods, and explaining the pecuharities of different species. At the age of fifteen years young Audubon was sent to Paris to complete his education. There he enjoyed instruction in art, for two years, under the celebrated David. When about eigliteen years of age he returned to America, and soon afterward his father gave him a farm on the banks of the Schuylkill, at the mouth of Per- kioming creek, not far from Philadelijhia. His time was chieflj^ spent in forest roamings, with his gun and drawing materials. The study of birds had become a passion, and the endearments of a home, presided over by a young wife, could not keep him from the woods, whither he went at early dawn, and returned wet with the evening dews. In 1809, Mr. Audubon went to Louisville, Kentucky, to reside, where he re- mained about two years in a mercantile connection, but spending most of his time in the woods. There, in March, 1810, he first saw Wilson, the great ornithologist.2 A iew months afterward he moved further up the Ohio to the verge of the wil- derness, and then commenced in earnest that nomadic life in the prosecution of his great study, which marked him as a true hero. With gun, knapsack, and drawing materials, he traversed the dark forests and pestiferous fens, sleeping 1. Mr. Girard has been much censured because he directed, in his Will, "that no ecclesiastic, mis- sionary, or minister, of any sect whatsoever, shall ever hold or exercise any station or duty whatever in said college ; nor shall any such person ever he admitted, for any purpose, or as a visitor, within the premises appropriated to the purpose of said college." Mr. Girard immediately explained, by averring that he " did not mean to cast any reflection upon any sect or person whatever." In view of the clash- ing doctrines of various sects, he desired " to keep the tender minds of the orphans" free from those ex- citements. He required the instructors to teach tlie purest morality, in all its forms, and summed up his object by saying that he wished the pupils, when they left the college, to adopt " at the same time, such religious tenets as their matured reason may enable them to prefer." 2. See sketch of Wilson. JOHN" JAMES AUDUBOX. 273 ^;;;i^^^A^^ CX beneath the broad canopy of heaven, procuring food with his rifle, and cooking it when hunger demanded appeasement, and undergoing, day after day, the greatest fatigues and privations. For months and years he tlius wandered, from the shores of tlio G ulf of Mexico to the rocky coasts of Labrador, studying and preserving, witli no other motive than tlie gratification of a great controlHng passion. It was not until after an interview with Charles Lucien Bonaparte, the eminent ornithologist, in 1824, that Audubon experienced a desire for fame, and thought of i)ublishiiig the results of his labors. Thus far his mature life had been devoted to the worship of Nature in one of its most beautiful and interest- ing form.s, and the devotee was entirely lost to himself in the excess of his emo- tions. Now a new world opened before him. He made another tour of eighteen months' duration; and, in 1826, he sailed for England to make arrangements for publishing some of his drawings and descriptive notices. The portraits of birds were of life size, and their exhibition produced a great sensation among artists and literary men, in Great Britain. He was received with enthusiasm, especially at Edinburgh, where true genius has always been appreciated, and there ho made an arrangement for the engraving of his pictures. Subscriptions to his work, amounting to about eighty thousand dollars, were speedily obtained, and 18 274 HENRY KNOX. Audubon personally superintended the engravings. He was most cordially re- ceived in Paris, in 1829 ; and the following year he was again traversing the wilds of his native country. Toward the close of 1830, the first volume of his great work was issued. The monarchs of France and England headed his subscrip- tion list. The second volume appeared in 1834, and within the next three years, the work was completed in four magnificent volumes, containing over a thousand figures. In 1839, Mr. Audubon made his residence on the banks of the Hudson, near the city of New York, and there his family have ever since resided. In 1844, he completed and published his great work, in seven imperial octavo volumes, the engravings having been carefully reduced. Not contented with the accomplishment of such a vast undertaking, Mr. Au- dubon, at the age of sixty-five years, again went to tho fields, forests, swamps, and mountains, with his two sons, to explore another department of natural history. After immense toil and continual liardships, he returned full freighted with drawings and descriptions of The Quadrupeds of America, equal, in every respect, to those of his other work. These were published under his immediate supervision, and with the completion of that work his great labors ceased. He lived in repose at his residence near Fort Washington, until the 2'7tli of January, 1851, when, at the age of seventy-one years, he went to his final rest. Then a brilUant star went out from the firmament of genius. HENRY KNOX. THE founder and chief of the artilleiy service in the Continental army was Henry Knox, a young bookseller in Boston (his native city), when the War for Independence was kindled at Lexington and Concord. He was born on the 25th of July, 1750, and while a mere youth, his feelings were zealously enlisted in favor of popular freedom, by the political discussions elicited by the Stamp Act and succeeding parliamentary measures. He was known and marked as a rebel at the time of the tea-riot ; and when Lucy, the accomphshed daughter of Thomas Flucker, secretary of the province, gave him her heart and hand, her friends regarded her as a ruined girl. How different the result from the antici- pation ! Some of these, who adhered to the royal cause, and were afterward broken in fortune, thought it an honor to enjoy the friendship of Lucy Knox, who, during the time of the first presidency, stood in the front rank of social position. After the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, young Knox escaped from Boston, accompanied by his wife, who carried his sword concealed in her petti- coat. He entered the army at Cambridge, fought gallantly as a volunteer at the battle of Bunker Hill, then entered the engineer service with the commission of lieutenant-colonel, and superseded Gridley as commander. In the Autumn of 1775, he was directed, at his own suggestion, to organize an artillery corps; and the army at Boston being without heavy guns, he was sent, in November, to transport thither the cannons and ammunition from the captured fortresses of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. After great fatigue and hardships, he arrived at Cambridge, at the close of the year, with forty-two sled loads of munitions of war.' These were used effectively, a few weeks later, in driving the British from Boston. In December, 1776, Congress resolved to " appoint a brigadier- 1. These consisted of eight brass and six iron mortars, two iron howitzers, thirteen brass and twenty. six iron cannons, twenty -three hundred pounds of lead, and one barrel of flints. LOTT GARY. 275 general of artillery," and Colonel Knox received the commission. From that time until the final great action at Yorktown, in 1781, General Knox was in constant and efficient service, and most of the time under the immediate com- mand of Washington. He was always influential in covmcil and active in duty. After the capture of Cornwallis, Knox was promoted to major-general, and remained in service until the close of the war. He was in command of the rem- nant of tlie Continental army which marclied into and took possession of the city of Now York, when the British evacuated it in November, 1783. He suc- ceeded General Lincoln as Secretary of War under the old Confederation ; and on the organization of the new government, in 1789, President Washington called him to the same office, in his cabinet. He resigned that office in 1794. On the organization of a provisional army, in 1798, to repel expected French invasion, General Knox was appointed to a command, but he was never called from hia retirement at Thomaston, Maine, to the field of military duty. There he lived in dignified repose after a successful and honorable career, until the Autumn of 1806, when, on the 25th of October, he died suddenly, in the fifty- seventh year of his age. His death was caused by the lodgment of a chicken bone in his throat, while at dinner. To the benevolent and patriotic emotions of General Knox is due the immortal honor of having suggested that truly noble institution, the Societij of the Cincin- nati.^ LOTT GARY. " "VrOT many wise men, after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are 1 1 called " to the great work of human redemption, spiritual and social. The authors of great reforms, the real founders of kingdoms, the great benefactors of mankind, have generally been men who were nurtured and reared among the warm sympathies of the common people, and their origin, like that of Lott Gary, has often been in the most profound depths of obscurity. That faithful servant of God and of his own peoj)le, was of African descent, and born a slave, near Charles City Court-house, in Virginia, on the plantation of William Christian. In 1804, he was hired out as a common laborer in the city of Richmond, where ho became intemperate, and was very profane. Three years afterward deep religious impressions changed his habits and thoughts, and he became a member of the Baptist Church. He could not read, but, procuring a New Testament, and applying himself faithfully, he acquired a knowledge of the alphabet and words, and finally succeeded in learning to both read and write. His industry and fidelity in a tobacco factory, enabled him, with a httlo friendly aid, to pur- chase himself and two half-orphan children, in 1813, for eight hundred and fifty dollars. He soon became an itinerant preacher on the plantations in the vicinity of Richmond, and labored with the most earnest zeal for the spiritual good of his race. In 1821, the American Colonization Society sent its first band of emigrants to Africa, and Lott Gary volunteered to leave a salary of several huudred dollars a year, to accompany those people to a field where he felt that he might be of vast service to his benighted nation. He participated in all the hardships and dangers of that little colony, yet he persevered, and became ono 1. This was an association composed of the officers of the Continental army, organized for the pur- poses of mutual friemlship and mTitual relief. Although everyone of the original members are pone down into the prave, the Society continues, because the numbership is hereditary. The eldest male descendant of the oripinal member is entitled to the privileges of membership. There was a General Society, and auxiliary State Societies. Washi"pton was the first president of the General Society, and Kuo.x was the first secretary. There are yet tlS55] several State Societies in exiBtence. 276 DANIEL WEBSTER. of the founders of the now flourishing republic of Liberia, on the western coast of Africa.' He became health-inspector and physician of the colony, having re- ceived some instruction in the healing art, from Dr. Ayres ; and, in 1824, he had more than a hundred patients. As early as 1815, he assisted in forming an African Missionary Society, in Richmond ; and in Africa he performed its work as well as he could. Through his agency, a school was established about seventy miles from Monrovia. In September, 1826, he was appointed vice-agent of the colony; and when, in 1828, Mr. Ashmun, the agent cf the Society, was com- pelled to withdraw on account of ill-health, he cheerfully and confidently left the entire control of affairs in Mr. Gary's hands. He managed well, as chief of a colony of twelve hundred freemen, for about six months, when, on account of a difSculty with the natives, he prepared for a military expedition against them. While making cartridges, an explosion took place, which killed the venerated Gary and seven others, on the 8th of November, 1828. His death was a great loss to the colony and to the cause of the gospel triumphs in dark Africa. DANIEL WEBSTER. AS early as 1813, during the first months of his long membership in the National Legislature, the speeches of Daniel Webster marked him as a peerless man, and drew from a Southern member the expression, " The North has not his equal, nor the South his superior." That high preeminence in statesmanship he held until his death. Daniel Webster was born in Salisbury, New Hampshire, on the 18th of Jan- uary, 1782, and was descended from the hardy yeomanry of New England. His father was a thrifty farmer, and he taught all of Ms sons to labor industriously with their hands. As Daniel emerged from childhood to youth, and his phys- ical frame became strong and hardy, he labored in the fields during the Summer, and attended a district school, two miles from his home, in tlie Winter.2 The remarkable tenacity of his memory was exhibited at a very early age, and at fourteen he could repeat several entire volumes of poetry. At about that time he entered the Phillips Academy, at Exeter, ^ New Hampshire, then under the charge of Dr. Abbott. After studying the classics, for awhile, under Dr. Woods, of Boscawen, New Hampshire, he entered Dartmouth College, at Hanover,^ at the age of fifteen years. There he pursued his studies with industry and ear- nestness, yet with no special promises of future greatness. He was graduated with high honor, chose law as a profession, and completed a course of legal studies under Christopher Gore, of Boston, afterward governor of Massachusetts. He was admitted to the Suffolk bar, in 1805, but preferring the country, he first established himself at Boscawen, and afterward at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He made his residence at tho latter place, in 1807, and that year he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of New Hampshire. There he became noted 1. He said in a letter, in 1823, af;er he had heen in several battles wiUi the hostile native >, "There never has been a minute, no, not when the balls were tlying around my head, when I could wish myself aeain in America." 2. The teacher at that time was Benjamin Tappan, a native of East Kingston, New Hampshire, where he was born in 1767. He was educated at the ilxeter Academy, and at tho solicitation of Webster's father, went to Salisbury, and took charge of the district school. Master Tappan survived his distin- guished pupil a few months. He died on the 9th of February, 1853, at the age of almost eighty-six years. 3. There are two academies bearing the same name — one at Exeter, founded by Honorable John Phillips ; the other at Andover, Massachusetts, founded by Honorable Samuel Phillips. i. See sketch of Eleazer Wheelock. DANIEL WEBSTER. 277 2^^^^ ;^^2^ as one of the soundest lawyers in the State ; and during his nine years' residence in Portsmouth, he made constitutional hiw a special study. Mr. Webster first appeared in public life, in 1813, when he took his seat in the House of Representatives at Washington, at the extra session of the thir- teenth Congress. It was a most propitious moment for a mind like Webster's to grapple with the questions of State policy, for those of the gravest character were to be tlien discussed. It was soon after war was declared against Great Britain, and the two great political parties, Federalists and Republicans, were violently opposed. Henry Clay was Speaker of the Lower House, and he im- mediately placed the new member upon the very important Committee on Foreign Afliiirs. He made his first speech on the 11th of June, 1813, which at once raised him to the front rank as a debater. His series of speeches, at that time, took the country by surprise, and he became the acknowledged leader of the Federal party in New England, in and out of Congress. He was reelected to a scat in the Ilouse of Representatives, in 1814, by a large majority. At the close of tiie term he resumed the practice of his profession; and, in 1816, he removed to Boston, because it afforded a wider field for his expanding legal business. In 1817, he retired from Congress, and the following 3-ear he was employed in the great Dartmouth College case, in which difficult constitutional questions were involved. His efforts in that trial placed him at the head of constitutional law- yers in Xew England, a position which he always held. 278 GEORGE WYTHE. In 1821, Mr. Webster assisted in the revision of the Constitution of Massa- chusetts, and he was elected a representative of Boston, in Congress, the follow- ing year. An almost unanimous vote reelected him, in 1824. He was chosen United States Senator, in 1826, but did not take his seat until the Autumn of 1828, on account of severe domestic affliction. In that body he held a front rank for twelve consecutive years. Probably the greatest contest in eloquence, logic, and statesmanship, ever exhibited in the Senate of the United States, was that between Webster and Hayne, of South Carolina, in 1830. Mr. Webster supported President Jackson against the nullifiers of the South, in 1832 ; but the fiscal policy of Jackson and Van Buren was always opposed by him. In 1839, he made a brief tour through portions of Great Britain and France, and returned in time to take an active part in the election canvass which resulted in the choice of General Harrison for chief magistrate of the Republic. The new pres- ident made Mr. Wel^ster his Secretary of State, and he was retained in the cabinet of President Tyler. In 1842, he negotiated the important treaty con- cerning the north-eastern boundary of the United States, known as the Ashbur- ton treaty. In May, the following j^ear, Mr. Webster retired to private life, but Jiis constituents would not suffer him to enjoy coveted repose. He was again sent to the Senate of the United States, in 1845, where he opposed the war with Mexico, but sustained the administration after hostilities had commenced, by voting supplies. In 1850, he offended many of his northern friends by his course in flwor of the Compromise Act, m which the Fugitive Slave law was embodied. On the death of President Taylor, Mr. Fillmore, his successor, called Mr. Web- ster to his cabinet as Secretary of State, and he held that responsible office, un- til his death, which occurred at the mansion on his fine estate at Marshfield, on the 24th of October, 1852, when at the age of almost seventy-one years. aEORGE WYTHE. IT is often a great misfortune for a young man to be master of wealth, actual or in expectation, at the moment of reaching his majority, for it too fre- quently causes noble resolves, aspiring energies, and rugged will, bom of the necessity for effort, to die within him, and his manhood becomes dwarfed by idleness or dissipation. Such was the dangerous position in which George Wythe, one of Virginia's most distinguished sons, found himself, at the age of twenty years. He was born in Elizabeth county, in 1726, of wealthy parents, and received an excellent education. His father died while the son was a child, and his training devolved upon his accomplished mother. Promises of great moral and intellectual excellences appeared when his youth gave place to j'oung manhood, but at that moment his mother died, and he was left master of a large fortune, and his own actions. He embarked at once upon the dangerous sea of unlawful pleasure, and for ten years of the morning of life, he had no higher aspirations than personal gratification. Then, at the age of thirty years, he was suddenly reformed. He forsook unprofitable companions, turned to books, became a close student, prepared himself for the practice of the law, and, in 1757, was admitted to the bar. Genius at once beamed out in all his efforts, and he arose rapidly to eminence in his profession. Honor was an every-day virtue with him, and he was never engaged in an unrighteous cause. For several years preceding the Revolution, Mr. Wj-tlie was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses ; and during the Stamp Act excitement he stood shoulder to shoulder with Henry, Lee, Randolph, and other Republicans. He LACHLIN M'INTOSH. 279 was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress, in 1775, and the following year he affixed his signature, in confirmation of his vote, to the Declaration of Independence. During the Autumn of that year, he was associated with Thomas Jefferson and Edmund Randolph, in codifying the laws of Virginia, to make them conformable to the newly-organized republican government. The fol- lowing year he was Speaker of the Virginia Assembly ; and he was appointed the first high chancellor of the State, when the new judiciary was organized. Tliat office he held during the remainder of his life, a period of more than twenty years. Cliancellor "Wythe was Professor of Law in William and Mary College, for awhile, and was the legal instructor of Presidents Madison and Monroe, and Chief Justice Marshall. lie was a member of the convention, in 1786, out of which grew that of 1787, in which was formed the Federal Constitution; and in the Virginia State Convention that ratified it, he was its advocate. Under that instrument ho was twice chosen United States Senator. Notwithstanding his public duties were multifarious and arduous, he taught a private school, for a long time, where instruction was free to those who chose to attend. A negro boy belonging to him having exhibited fine mental powers, he taught him Latin, and was preparing to give him a thorough classical education, when both tho chancellor and the boy died, after partaking of some food in which poison had evidently been introduced. A near relative, accused of the crime, was tried and acquitted. Chancellor Wythe died on the 8th of June, 1800, in the eighty-first year of his age. LACHLIN M'INTOSH. THE compliment of being " the handsomest man in Georgia^" at the commence- ment of the Revolution, was bestowed upon Lachlin M'Intosh, a native of Scotland. He was born near Inverness, in 1727, and was a son of the head of the Boriam branch of the clan M'Intosh, who, when Lachlin was nine years of age, came to America with General Oglethorpe. He accompanied that gentle- man in an expedition against the Spaniards, in Florida, was made prisoner and sent to St. Augustine, where he died; and Lachlin, at the age of thirteen years, was left to the care of an excellent mother. The newly-settled province aflbrded small means for acquiring an education, and Mrs. M'Intosh was unable to send lier son to Scotland, for the purpose. His naturally strong mind, excited by a love for knowledge, overcame, as usual, all difficulties. Just as he approached manhood, he went to Charleston, where his fine personal appearance, and tho remembrance of his fatlior's military services in Georgia, procured him many warm friemls. Among these was the noble John Laurens, and he entered that gentleman's counting-room as under clerk. Disliking the inaction of commercial life within doors, he left the business, returned to his paternal estate and the bosoai of his family, on the Alatamaha, married a charming girl from his native country, and commenced the business of a land-surveyor. Success attended his efforts; and, inheriting the miUtary taste of his father, he made himself fa- mihar with miHtary tactics, and thus was prepared for the part he was called upon to act in tho War for Independence. He was a leading patriot in his sec- tion of Georgia; and when the war broke out, he entered the array, received the commission of colonel, and was exceedingly active in tho early military movements in that extreme Southern State. He was commissioned a brigadier, in 1776, and a rivalry between himself and Button Gwinnett, one of the signers 280 ROBERT Y. HATNE. of the Declaration of Independence, resulted in a fierce quarrel, which ended in a duel. The challenge was given by Gwinnett. Both were wounded ; Gwin- nett mortally. M'Intosh was tried for murder, and acquitted ; but the trouble did not end there. The feud spread among the respective friends of the parties, and, at one time, threatened serious consequences to the Republican cause at the South. To allay the bitter feeling, M'Intosh patriotically consented to accept a station at the North, and "Washington appointed him commander-in-chief in the Western dej^artment, with his head-quarters at Pittsburg. Early in 1778, General M'Intosh decended the Ohio with a considerable force, erected a fort thirty miles below Pittsburg, and after considerable delay, he marched toward the Sandusky towns in the interior of Ohio, to chastise the hostile Indians. The expedition accomplished but little, except the building of another fort near the present village of Bolivia, which M'Intosh named Laurens, in honor of his old employer, then president of Congress. He returned to Geor- gia, in 1779, and was second in command to Lincoln at the siege of Savannah, in October of that year. He remained with Lincoln during the following Winter and Spring, and was made a prisoner, with the rest of the Southern army, on the surrender of Charleston, in May, 1780. After his release, he went, with his family, to Virginia, where he remained until the close of the war. Then he returned to Georgia, a poor man, for his little estate was almost wasted. He lived in retirement and comparative poverty, in Savannah, until 1806, when he died, at the age of seventy -nine years. ROBERT Y. HAYNE. THE names of Daniel Webster and Robert T. Hayne will ever be associated in the legislative annals of the Republic, because their great debate in the United States Senate, in 1830, was one of the most remarkable for logic and eloquence which ever occurred in that body. Hayne was more than nine years the junior of his powerful New England antagonist, having been born on the 10th of November, 1791, near Charleston, South Carolina. His education was obtained at a grammar-school in Charleston, and at the age of seventeen years he commenced the study of law under the direction of the since eminent jurist and statesman, Langdon Cheves. Ho had not yet reached his majority, when the clouds of impending war between the United States and Great Britain gathered darkly. Having secured his admission to the bar, lie volunteered his services, early in 1812, for the military defence of the sea-board, and entered the army as lieutenant. He arose rapidly to the rank of major-general of his State mi- litia, and was considered one of the best disciplinarians in the South. On receiving an honorable discharge. General Hayne retired to Charleston, and commenced the practice of law as a means of procuring a livelihood. At about that time, Mr. Cheves had accepted a seat in Congress, and Mr. Hayne had the advantage of securing much of his practice. Before he was twenty-two years of ago his business was very extensive ; and from that time until his death, his practice was probably greater and more lucrative than that of any lawyer in South Carolina. Mr. Hayne first appeared as a legislator, in 1814, when he was elected to a seat in the Soutii Carolina Assembly. There ho was distinguished for his elo- quence,' and his firm support of President Madison's administration, in its war 1. Mr. Hayne's first effort at oratory was an oration on the 4th of July, 1812, at Fort Moultrie, which won for him great applause, and gave promise of his future brilliancy as a public speaker. It is worthy ROBERT y. HAYNE. 281 measures. In 1818, he was chosen Speaker of the Assembly; and the same year lie received the appointment of attorney-general for the State. In every duty to which he was called, young Hayno acquitted himself nobly ; and the moment ho had reached an eligible age, he was elected to a seat in the Senate of the United States, where, for ten years, he represented South Carolina with rare ability. lie was an ever-vigilant watchman upon the citadel of State Rights, and as a' member of the famous "Union and State Rights Convention," held toward the close of 1832, he was chairman of the committee of twenty-one who reported the "ordinance of nullification," which alarmed the country, and called forth President Jackson's puissant proclamation. Like his great coadjutor, Mr. Calhoun, General Hayne was sincere and honest in the support of his views, and always commanded the highest respect of his political opponents. About a fortnight after the adoption of the celebrated " ordinance," General Hayne was chosen governor of the State, and a few days after President Jack- son's proclamation reached him, he issued a counter-manifesto, full of defiance. Civil war seemed inevitable, but the compromise measures proposed by Mr. Clay, and adopted by Congress early in 1833, averted the menaced evil. Gov- ernor llayno filled the executive chair, with great energy, until 1834; and, on of remark, thnt his election to the South Carolina Assembly, at the head of thirty-one candidates, by a larger rote than any individual had ever received, in a contested election, in Charleston, was an evidenco of his great popularity. lie was then not twenty -three years of age. 282 EALPH IZARD. retiring from that exalted office, he was elected mayor of Charleston. His at- tention was now specially turned to the great subject of internal improvements ; and, in 1837, he was elected president of the " Charleston, Louisville, and Cincin- nati Rail Road Company." He held that office until his death, which occurred at Ashville, North Carolina, on the 24th of September, 1841, when in the fiftieth year of his age. Grovernor Hayne may be ranked among the purest-minded men. of his age. RALPH IZARD. IN the year 1 844, a daughter of Ralph Izard, one of the noblest of the sons of South Carolina, published a brief memoir of him, attached to a volume of his correspondence, and accompanied by a portrait, under whicli is the appropri- ate motto, "An honest man's the noblest work of God." Ralph Izard was en- titled to that motto, for few men have passed the ordeal of public life with more honor and purity than he. He was born in 1742, at the family-estate called The Elms, about seventeen miles from Charleston, South Carolina, and at a very early age was sent to England to be educated. He pursued preparatory studies at Hackney, and completed his education at Christ College, Cambridge. On arrivinc at his majority, he returned to America, took possession of his ample fortune left by his father, and, having no taste for the professions, he divided his time between literary and agricultural pursuits, and the pleasures of fashionable life. He passed much of his time, in early life, with James De Lancey, then lieutenant-governor of the province of New York, and married his niece, a daughter of Peter Do Lancey, of Westchester county, in 1767. In 1771, they went to London, and occupied a pleasant house there, for some time, in the en- joyment of the best intellectual society of the metropolis. His ample fortune allowed the indulgence of a flue taste, and books, painting, and music, were his chief delight. Yet he possessed a thoroughly republican spirit, and refused offers to be presented to court, because etiquptte would compel him to bow the knee to the king and queen. He watched the course of political events with great interest; and finally, in 1774, the excitement in London on the subject of American affairs so troubled him, that he went to the Continent with his wife, and travelled many months. But everywhere the apparition of his bleeding and beloved country followed him, and he resolved to return home and engage in the impending conflicts. He returned to England, and there used all his efforts to enlighten the ministry concerning the temper of his countrymen, but to little purpose. War commenced, and, finding it difficult to return to America, he went to Prance, in 1777, when Congress appointed him commissioner to the Tuscan court. Circumstances prevented his presenting himself to the Duke of Tuscany, for a long time, and he asked permission of Congress to resign his commission and return home. In the meanwhile the false representations of Silas Deane had induced Congress to recal him. That body afterward made ample amends for the injustice. He remained in Paris until 1780, and in the meanwhile had served his country efficiently in many ways, officially and unofficially. On one occasion he pledged his whole estate as security for funds needed by Commodore Gillon, who had been sent from South Carolina to Europe, to purchase frigates. On his return to America, in 1780, Mr. Izard immediately repaired to the head-quarters of Washington, and was there when tlie treason of Arnold was discovered. It is evident from his correspondence that he was chiefly mstru- BENJAMIN PIERCE. 283 mental in procuring the appointment of General Greene to the command of the Southern army, toward the close of that year. For that service he received the thanks of the governor of South Carolina. Early in 1781, he was elected to a seat in the Continental Congress, where he remained until peace was established. Then he was joined by his fomily, whom he had left in France, and he retired to his estate to enjoy the repose of domestic life. His countrymen would not allow him to be inactive, and he was chosen the first United States Senator from Soutli Carolina, for the full term of six years, during which time he was a firm supporter of the administration of President Washington. In 1795, he took final leave of public life, and once more souglit repose, with the pleasant anticipations of many years of earthly liappincss. But two years afterward he was suddenly prostrated by paralysis. His intellect was mercifully spared, and he lived in comparative comfort until the 30tli of May, 1804, when he expired, at the age of sixty-two years. A tablet was placed to his memory in the parish church of St. James, Goose Creek, near his paternal seat — The Elms. BENJAMIN PIERCE. THE career of Benjamin Pierce, the father of the fourteenth President of the United States, affords a noble example of true manhood in private and pubhc life, wliich the young men of our Republic ought to study and imitate. It is an example of perseverance in well-doing for self, friends, and country, being rewarded by a conscience void of offence, a long life, and the love and honor of fellow-men. In these lies hidden the priceless pearl of earthly happi- ness. Benjamin Pierce was descended from ancestors who settled at Plymouth, M.assachusetts, three years after the Pilgrim Fathers first landed on that snowy beach.' He was the seventh of ten children, and was born in Chelmsford, Mas- sachusetts, on Christmas day, 1757. He was left fatherless at the age of six years, and was placed under the guardianship of a paternal uncle. His oppor- tunities for education were small, but the lad, possessing a naturall}^ vigorous intellect, improved those opportunities with parsimonious assiduity. His body was invigorated by farm-labor; and when, at the age of seventeen years, the first gun of the Revolution at Lexington echoed among the New England hills, and ho armed for the battle-fields of freedom, young Pierce was fitted, morally and physicall}', for a soldier of truest stamp. He hastened to Lexington, pushed on to Cambridge, and six days after the retreat of the British troops from Con- cord, he waa enrolled in Captain Ford's company as a regular soldier. He fought bravel}' on Breed's Hill seven weeks afterward ; was faithful in camp and on guard until the Britisli were driven from Boston, in the Spring of 1776; followed the fortunes of Washington during the ensuing campaigns of that j^ear, and was orderly sergeant of his company, before he was twenty years of age, in the glo- rious conflicts whicii resulted in the capture of Burgoyne at Saratoga, in the Autumn of 1777. His valor there won for him the commission of ensign. The 3-oung man who bore that commission and the American flag, in the hottest of the fight, was killed. Young Pierce rushed forward, seized the banner, and 1. The fdcts in this brief sketch of the life nf Governor Pierce are gleaned from a well-written biog- raphy, from the pen of the Honorable C. E. Potter, editor of The Farmer's MnntMy Visitor, published at Manchester, New Hampshire. It appears in the uumber for July, 1852, accompanied by an accurate portrait of Governor Pierce. 284 BENJAMIN" PIERCE. bore it triumphantly to the American lines, amid the shouts of his companions. He remained in service during the whole war, and reached the rank of captain. When the American troops entered the city of New York, in the Autumn of 1783, Captain Pierce commanded the detachment sent to take possession of the military works at Brooklyn. This was the concluding act of his services in the Continental army, and a few weeks afterward he returned to Chelmsford, after an absence of almost nine years. The war left young Pierce as it found him, a true patriot, but penniless, for the Continental paper-money, in which he had been paid, had become worthless. Yet he was rich in the glorious experience of endurance under hardships ; and entering the service of a large landholder, it was not long before he owned a small tract of land in the southern part of Hillsborough, New Hampshire, where- on he built a log-hut, and commenced a clearing, in the Spring of 1786. He was unmarried, and lived alone. Labor sweetened his coarse food and deepened his slumbers. He cultivated social relations with the scattered population around him; and, in the Autumn of 1786, the governor of New Hampshire appointed him brigade-major of his district. In blooming May, the following year, he mar- ried. Fifteen months afterward death took his companion from him, and he was left with an infant daughter, now [1855] the widow of General John M'Neil. He married again in 1789, and the union continued almost fifty years.' At about the same time he was elected to a seat in the New Hampshire legislature, and was promoted to the command of a regiment. "When, in 1798, Congress authorized the raising of a provisional army, in expectation of war with France, Colonel Pierce was offered the same commission in the regular service, but he declined it. In 1803, he was elected to the council of his State, and retained that office by reelection until 1809, when he was appointed sheriff of the county of Hillsborough. The governor had already commissioned him a brigadier- general of the militia, in which position he acquitted himself with great dignity and honor. General Pierce held the office of sheriff until 1813, when he was again made a member of the council. After five years' service there, he was again elected sheriff; and no man ever performed official duties in a manner more acceptable to the public than he. In 1827, he was chosen governor of New Hampshire; and, in 1829, he was again called to the same station. Three years afterward he held his last public office. It was in the Autumn of 1832, when he was chosen, by the democratic party, a presidential elector. "When the duties of that office were ended, he sought repose upon his farm at Hillsborough, after having been engaged in the public service almost continually for fifty-five years. A partial paralysis of the system prostrated him, in 1837, but he was not confined to his room until November, 1838. From that time he suffered intensely until mercifully relieved by death, on the 1st of April, 1839, in the eighty-second year of his age. "We cannot too reverently cherish the remembrance of such men. Very few yet Unger on the shores of Time.2 " Oh 1 honored be each silvery hair 1 Each furrow trenched by toil and care 1 And sacred each old bending form That braved oppression's battle storm." 1. His second wife, mother of President Pierce, died in December, 1838, a few months before the de- parture of her honored husband. 2. It was estimated that at the close of 1854, not more than one thousand of the two hundred and thirty thousand of the Continental soldiers, and the fifty-six thousand militia, who bore arms during the war, remained among us. HARrjET NEWELL. 285 HARRIET NEWELL. TO bo a martyr in any cause requires the truest elements of heroism. To for* sake country, friends, and tlio enjoyments of civilization at the bidding of an emotion born of a great principle, to do good for others, is an act of heroism of which those whom the world delights to honor as its great heroes, have very little appreciation. But such is the heroism which makes fiiithful Christian missionaries, moved by an emotion of highest benevolence to do good to the souls and bodies of men. Of the " noble army of martyrs," she who was over known in girlhood as "sweet little IL-itty Atwood," became a bright example of faith and self-denial. She performed no important service on the missionary field of action; indeed, she had barely entered upon its verge and heard the cry of the heathen for help, when she was called to another sphere of life. But she ■was one of the earliest, purest, most lovely of those who went from America to India, bearing to the dark chambers of paganism there, the candle of the Lord God Omnipotent. Her example is her glory. Harriet Atwood was born in Haverhill, ilassachusetts, on the 10th of October, 1793. She was blessed with a sweet disposition, and was always a favorito ■with her playmates. Studious and thoughtful from early childhood, her mind was naturally imbued witli an abiding sense of the good and the true, which form the basis of sound religious character. At the age of thirteen years, while at the academy in Bradford, Massachusetts, she became more deeply impressed ■with the importance of religious things, than ever. She -withdrew from the com- 286 ANTHONY WAYNE. pany of frivolous persons, read religious books and her Bible much of her leisure time; and, in 1809, when not j^et sixteen years of age, she made an open pro- fession of Christianity. In the Winter of 1811, she became acquainted with Mr. Newell, her future husband. He was preparing for missionary service in India, and in April following, he asked her companionship as wife and co-worker in the distant land to which he was going. The conflicts of that young spirit with the allurements of home, friends, and personal ease, was severe but short. She consented; and, with the blessings of her widowed mother, she was married, in February, 1 8 1 2, and the same month sailed with Mr. and Mrs. Judson, and others, for India. On account of hostilities then progressing between the United States and England, this little band of soldiers, under the banner of the Prince of Peace, were not permitted to remain at Calcutta, so they took their departure for the Isle of France. They reached it after a voyage of great peril, toward the close of Summer. A few weeks afterward Mrs. Newell gave birth to a daughter. The delicate flower was plucked from its equally delicate stem, by the Angel of Death, five daj's after it had expanded in the atmosphere of earth, and its spirit was exhaled as sweet incense to Heaven. The mother soon followed. Hered- itary consumption was the canker at the root of life, and on the 30th of Novem- ber, 1812, that lovely Christian's head was pillowed upon the bosom of mother earth. She was then only nineteen years of age. Her widowed mother, who "wept over her at parting, lived on in humble resignation for more than forty years. She died in Boston, in July, 1853, at the age of eighty-four years. ANTHONY WAYNE. THE fearless courage and desperate energy of General Anthony Wayne ob- tained for him, among his countrymen, the title of "Mad Anthony;" and some of his exploits entitle him to the distinction. He was born in Easttown, Chester county, Pennsylvania, on the 1st of January, 1745. He was educated with considerable care, in Philadelphia, became proficient in mathematics, and commenced the business of surveying, in his native town, at the age of about eighteen years. Skill and popularity in his profession soon established his repu- tation permanently; and, in 1765, when only twenty years of age, he was sent by a company of gentlemen to locate lands for them in Nova Scotia. They made him superintendent of the settlement, but after remaining there about two years, he returned home, married, and resumed his business of surveyor, in his native county. His talent attracted general attention; and, in 1773, he was elected to a seat in the Pennsylvania Assembly. He continued in that service until 1775, when he left the council for the field, having been appointed colonel in the Continental army. He accompanied General Thomas to Canada, in the Spring of 1776, and at the close of service there, he was promoted to brigadier. After a year of active service, he was engaged efficiently with the commander-in-chief in the battles at Brandy wine,' Germantown, and Monmouth, in all of which his skill and valor wore conspicuous. In 1779, he made a night attack upon the strong fortress at Stony Point, on the Hudson, and the entire garrison were made prisoners. It was one of the most brilliant achievements of the war, and Con- gress rewarded him with its thanks, and a gold medal. It made him the most 1. While encamped near the Faoli tavern, in Chester county, Pennsylvania, after the battle at Bran- dy wine, his command was attacked at midnight, by a strong force of British and Hessians, under Gen- eral Grey, and many of them were killed. Over the spot wliere they were buried, a neat marble mcnu- ment stands. See sketch of the Reverend David Jones. MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE. 287 popular man in the army, below the commander-in-chief, and his praises were spoken in every part of the land. In 1781, General Wayne proceeded, with the Pennsylvania line, to Virginia, and there cooperated with La Fayette and Baron Steuben against Arnold, tho traitor, who had invaded that State. Wayne's retreat at Jamestown, when al- most surrounded by the British troops, was one of tho most masterly perform- ances ever accomplished. In the siege of Yorktown, he performed many deeds of groat valor, and after participating in the joy of the great victory tliere, he proceeded southward, to prosecute the war in Georgia. lie kept tho British within their lines at Savannah until they were compelled to evacuate the State, and then Wayne, in triumph, took possession of tho capital. For his great services there, the legislature of Georgia made him a present of a valuable farm. On retiring from the army, he took up his abode in his native county. In 1788, he was a member of the Pennsylvania convention, called to consider the Federal Constitution, and was its earnest advocate. In 1792, ho was appointed to suc- ceed St. Clair in tho command of troops in the Ohio country, and after prosecut- ing war against the Indians, with great vigor, he gained a decided victory over them, in August, 1794. A year afterward he concluded a treaty of peace with the North-western tribes, at Greenville, and thus terminated the war. On his return home, he was seized with gout, and died in a hut at Presque Isle (now Erie, Pennsylvania), in December, 1796, at the age of fifty-one years. According to his request, he was buried under the flag-staff of the fort on the shore of Lake Erie. In 1809, his son, Isaac, had his body removed to Radnor church- 3'ard, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, and over it the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati erected a handsome marble monument, with suitable inscriptions, the same year. MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE. THOSE cosmopolitan lovers of liberty, who came from Europe to assist the colonists in their struggles for freedom and independence, are so identified with the founders of our Republic, that each deserves a noble cenotaph to his memory. In an especial manner ought Americans to reverence the name and deeds of La Fayette, who, liffy years after the contest in which he had aided us had closed, came to behold tho glorious superstructure of free institutions which had been reared upon the consecrated foundation that he had helped to plant. Gilbert Mottior," Marquis de La Fayette, was a native of France, where he was born on tho 0th of September, 1757. He belonged to one of the most an- cient of tho modern French nobility, and received an education compatible with his station. Wlien a little more tlian seventeen years of age he married the Countess de Noaillcs, daughter of tho Due do Noailles, a beautiful young lady about his own age, and the possessor of an immense fortune. In the Summer of 1776, he was statioiicd, with the military corps to which he belonged, near the town of Mentz. He was an officer in the French army, though only eighteen years of age. At a dinner-party, where the Duke of Gloucester, brother of tho King of England, was the guest on the occasion, he heard of the struggles of the far-oQ' American colonies, and their noble Declaration of Independence. He heard, with indignation, of the employment of German troops and other strong 1. In the Biographie des Hommea his name is written Maria-Paul-Joseph-Bock-Yves-Gilbert-Mottiers de la Fnyotte. 288 MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE. measures employed by England to enslave that struggling people, and his young soul burned with a desire to aid them. He left the army, returned to Paris, offered his services to tlie American commissioners, fitted out a vessel at his own expense, and, with Baron de Kalb'and other European officers, sailed for Amer- ica. They arrived at Georgetown, South Carolina, in April, 1777, and La Fayette hastened, by land, to Philadelphia. Congress, after some hesitation, accepted his services, and he entered the army under "Washington, as a volunteer, but bearing the honorary title of major-general, conferred upon him by the national legislature, in July. His first battle was on the Brandywine, where he was severely wounded in the knee, and was nursed, for some time, by the Moravian sisters at Bethlehem, in Pennsylvania. He was in the battle at Monmouth, the following Summer, and was active in Rhode Island. In October, 1778, La Fayette obtained leave to return to France, and Congress ordered the American minister in Paris to present him an elegant sword, in the name of the United States of America. Tliere he remained until the Spring of 1780, when he returned with the joyful intelligence of the on-coming of a French army and navy to assist the struggling colonists. He was in active and con- tinual service here until the capture of Cornwallis and his army, at Yorktovra, in the Autumn of 1781. In that achievement he performed a gallant part, as well as in the events in Virginia, immediately preceding. Soon after the capit- ulation at Yorktown, he returned to France, and, by his own exertions, was raising a large army there for service in America, when intelligence of peace reached him. In 1784, he visited America, and was every where received with the greatest entliusiasm bj^ his old companions-in-arms. With the blessing of a free people, ho again returned to his native country, and from that time until the death of "Washington, those two great men were in affectionate correspond- ence. La Fayette took an active part in the politics of France, when the great Revo- lution there approached. He was an active member of the Legislative Assem- bly, where, amidst the intense radicalism of the theoretical democrats, he was a fervent but conservative advocate of republicanism. Because of his moderation he was suspected, and he fled from France to avoid the fate of many good men who lost their heads during the Reign of Terror. He did not entirely escape, but was seized and kept a prisoner in a dungeon at Olmutz, in Germany, during three years, where he endured great personal suffering. After his release, he lived in comparative retirement with his devoted wife (on whom his misfortunes had fallen heavily) until 1814, when the first downfall of Napoleon, whom he hated, brought him again into public life. In 1815, ho was a member of the Chamber of Deputies, and in that assembly he offered the resolution for the ap- pointment of a committee to demand the abdication of the Emperor. He was again a member of the Chamber of Deputies, in 1818. Six years afterward he ■was invited to visit the United States as tlio guest of the nation; and, in 1824, the American frigate Brandijivine (so named in his honor) conveyed him to our shores. His journey through the different States was a continual ovation, and every where the surviving soldiers of the Revolution flocked to greet the " dear Marquis."' In the Republican movements in France, in 1830, which dethroned Charles the Tenth, La Fayette took a conspicuous part, and, nobly refusing the chief magistracy of his nation, which the people and the legislature offered him, he indicated the head of Louis Philippe, of the Orleans family, as the proper one for the French crown. Afterward that ungrateful monarch treated La Fayette with coldness and disdain. In 1834, that venerated patriot of two hemispheres went to his rest, at the age of seventy-seven years. JOSEPH STORY. 289 JOSEPH STORY. " TTTHATEYER subject ho touched was touched with a master's band and » T spirit. lie employed his clociuence to adorn his learning, and his learn- ing to give solid weight to his eloquence. He was always instructive and in- teresting, and rarely without producing an instantaneous conviction. A lofty ambition of excellence, that stirring spirit which breathes the breath of Heaven, and pants for immortality, sustained his genius in its perilous course." These were the beautiful words of Judge Story when speaking of a noble companion in profession who had just passed from earth, and they may, with earnest truth, bo applied to the now departed jurist himself. Joseph Story was born at Marblehead, Massachusetts, on the 18th of Septem- ber, 1779. He pur.'^ucd academic studies under the Rev. Dr. Harris (afterward president of Columbia College, New York), and entered Harvard University, as a student, in 1795. Ho was graduated there in 1798, studied law, was admitted to the bar, in 1801, and made Salem his place of residence and professional prac- tice. His flne talent was speedily appreciated, and ho soon possessed an exten- sive and lucrative practice. He was often ojiposed to the most eminent lawyers of the day, who were Federalists, he having become attached to the Democratic party at the commencement of his professional career. In 1805, he was chosen to represent Salem in the Massachusetts legislature, and was annually reelected 19 290 CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN. to that station until 1811, when he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. In the meanwhile (1809-10) he had served a few months in the Federal Congress, as representative of the district in which he resided. During that brief congressional career, he was distinguished for his talent and energy, especially in his eflbrts to obtain a repeal of the famous Embargo Act. Mr. Jefferson regarded Mr. Story as the chief instrument in procuring the repeal of that act, so obnoxious in its operations upon the commerce and manufactures of New England.' Mr. Story was only thirty-two years of age when President Madison made him an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and from that time he discarded party politics, and labored incessantly to become eminently useful as a jurist. He was a worthy coadjutor of the illustrious Marshall, and in commercial and constitutional law he had no peer upon the bench of the Federal judiciary. In 1820, Judge Story was a member of the convention that revised the constitution of Massachusetts, and distinguished himself by eloquent ex- pressions of the most liberal sentiments. In 1829, Mr. Nathan Dane founded a Law School in connection with Harvard University, on the express condition that Judge Story should consent to become its first professor. The eminent jurist acquiesced, and became greatly interested in the important duties of in- struction to which his position called him. Indeed, he was so impressed with the importance of the labor, and so enamored with its pleasures, that he contem- plated a resignation of his seat on the bench in order that he might apply all his time and energies to the school. Judge Story wrote much and well. The most important of his productions are Commentaries on the Law of Bailments ; Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, thvGG volumes, 1833; an abridgment of the same; Commen- taries on the Conflict of Laws, 1834; Commentaries on Equity Jurisprudence, in two volumes; a treatise on the Science of Pleading in Courts of Equity, 1838; on the Law of Agency, 1839 ; on the Law of Partnership, 1841 ; on the Law of Bills of Exchange, 1843; and on the Law of Promissory Notes, 1845. To tho Encyclopcedia Americana, and the North America Review, he contributed many valuable papers ; and he delivered many addresses upon various important sub- jects. Judge Story died at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on the 10th of September, 1845, at the age of sixty-six years. CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN. A GENTLE spirit, full of angelic sweetness, passed from earth to heaven when that of Cliarles Brockden Brown put off its mortality. He was born of Quaker parents, in Philadelphia, on the 17th of January, 1771. His body was always frail, but his mind was vigorous and his soul ever hopeful. He was dearly loved in the home where he was nurtured, carefully tutored in the rudi- ments of education, and at the age of ten was placed under the charge of a teacher named Proud, whose instruction he enjoyed for five years. Young Brown was wonderfully precocious, and he made remarkable progress in the study of the Latin, Greek, and French languages, and mathematics. Like Watts, his thoughts "came in numbers," and before ho was fifteen years of age, he had actually commenced three epic poems. Young Brown's friends wished him to be a lawyer, and he commenced legal studies. They were not congenial to his 1. Mr. Story's course offended Mr. Jefferson, for the Embargo was one of the favorite measures of the President. He called Mr. Story a " pseudo-republican." BARON DE KALB. 291 taste, and he resolved to devote his life to literature. "With young men of cor- responding tastes he associated for mutual improvement in studying and in com- position. His health was feeble, and he made long pedestrian journeys into the country in quest of invigoration. But it came not. In 1793, young Brown visited an intifiate friend in New York, where he formed the acquaintance of several literary young men. For some time he re- sided alternately in New York and Philadelphia, carefully preparing his mind to become a public writer. He chose the Novel as the best medium through which to convey his peculiar views of humanity to the world; and, in 1798, when twenty-seven years of age, his Wieland appeared, and at once established his reputation as an author of highest rank. The following year he established a monthl_y magazine in New York; and, in 1800, he published three novels — Arthur ATervT/n, Ormond, and Edgar Huntley. Clara ifoward was published ia 1801 ; and, in 1804, his last novel, entitled Jane Talbot, was first issued in Eng- land, and afterward in Philadelphia. That year he married the daughter of a Presbyterian clergyman, in New York, and immediately removed to Philadelphia, where he afterward assumed editorial control of The Literary Magazine and The American Register. These were ably conducted by him until failing health com- pelled him to lay aside his pen, and, in the bosom of an affectionate family, sur- rounded by dear friends, to prepare for death, which the unmistakable symptoms of consumption were heralding. That disease was rapidly developed during 1809, and in February, the following year, he expired. BARON DE KALB. UPON the green in front of the Presbj-terian Church in Camden, South Caro- lina, is a neat marble monument erected to the memory of one of the brave foreigners who fought for liberty in America, and thereby gained the imperish- able dignity of citizenship, in spite of the conventional restrictions which impose the necessity of native birth or fealty oath, to make men such. That officer was Baron do Kalb, Knight of tho Royal Order of Military Merit, and a native of Alsace, a German province ceded to France. He was educated in the art of war in tho French army, and came to America, with La Fayette, in the Spring of 1777. Ho offered his services to tho Continental Congress, and on the 15th of September following, that body commissioned him a major-general in the regular army. He had been in America before, having been sent hither, about 1762, as a secret agent of tho French government, to ascertain the state of the Anglo-American colonies. Although travelling in disguise, he excited suspicion. On one occasion ho was arrested, but was immediately released, as nothing justified his detention. It was through De Kalb that La Fayette gained an in- troduction to the American commissioners in Paris, and, with tho young marquis, tho veteran soldier left tho honors and emoluments of a brigadier in tho French service, and joined tho fortunes of a people in rebellion against one of the great powers of tho earth. Do Kalb was active in tho events near Philadelphia during the Autumn pre- ceding tho memorable Winter encampment at Valley Forgo. The following year he was in command in Now Jersey. While at Morristown, in tho Spring of 1780, he was placed at the head of the Maryland line, and with these, and the Delaware Continental troops, he marched southward, in April, to reinforce General Lincoln, then besieged in Charleston. He was too late ; and General 292 JOHN" EANDOLPH. Gates being sent soon afterward to take command of the troops in the South, De Kalb became subordinate to that officer. Gates reached De Kalb's camp, on the Deep river, at the close of July, 1780, and pressed forward to confront Corn- waUis, at Camden. Seven miles north of that village, the two armies unex- pectedly met, at midnight ; and in the severe battle which occurred the follow- ing morning [August 16], De Kalb was mortally wounded, and the Americans were utterly defeated and routed. He fell, scarred with eleven wounds, while trying to rally the scattering Americans. He died at Camden, three days after- ward, was buried where his monument now stands, and an ornamental tree was planted at the head of his grave. The corner-stone of that monument was laid in 1825, by his friend and companion-in-arms, La Fayette. On the 14th of October, 1780, Congress ordered a monument to be erected to his memory in the city of Annapolis, Maryland, but that duty, like justice to his widow and heirs, has been delayed until now.' JOHN RANDOLPH. SEVENTH in descent from Pocahontas, the beloved daughter of the great Emperor of the Powhatans, was John Eandolph, who usually made the suffix, " of Roanoke," to his name. He was the son of a respectable planter in Chesterfield county, three miles from Petersburg, Virginia, where he was born on the 2d of June, 1773. It was through his paternal grandmother, Jane Boil- ing, that the blood of Pocahontas was transmitted to him. He lost his father while he was an infant, and his mother afterward married Judge St. George Tucker. His health was always delicate, and until he entered the college at Princeton, after a residence in Bermuda for a year, his studies were irregular. His mother died in 1788, and then he entered Columbia College, in the city of New York. There he remained until 1790, when he returned to Virginia, and completed his education in "William and Mary College. In 1793, he went to Pliiladelphia to study law with his uncle, Edmund Randolph, then attorney- general of the United States. Ho made but little progress in preparing for the profession, and never entered upon its practice. He dehghted in the British classics, and read a great deal, but for some time after reaching his majority, he had no fixed intentions concerning a life-employment. Mr. Randolph's first appearance in public life was in 1799, when he was elected to a seat in Congress. He had already displa3'ed great powers of elo- quence in the peculiar line of satire or denunciation, and just before his election, he was brought into antagonism with Patrick Henry, on the subject of the Alien and Sedition laws. "When he commenced a reply to a speech by Henry, a gen- tleman remarked, "Come, colonel, let us go — it is not worth while to listen to that boy." "Stay, my friend," replied Henry, "there 's an old man's head on that boy's shoulders." Congress was a field particularly suited to his capacities, and for thirty years (with the exception of three intervals of two years each), he was a member of the House of Representatives. During that time he was a representative of Virginia in the Senate of the United States for about two years. 1. In 1819, 1820, and 1821, the surviving heirs of Baron de Kalb petitioned Congress for the payment of alleged arrears due the general at his death, and also for certain indemnities, but the claim was dis- allowed. Simeon de Witt liloodgood, Esq., brought the matter to the attention of Congress, in 1836, but ■without success. On the 15th of December, 1851, the House of Representatives voted an appropriation of sixty-six thousand dollars to the heirs of Baron de Kalb, and on the 19th of January following, the Senate voted ju favor of the appropriation ; so, at last, tardy justice will havo reached the family of the hero. JOHN RANDOLPH. 293 He was seized with a paroxism of insanity, in 1811, after many months of moodi- ness, irrascibilit}', and suspicions of his best friends ; and he had returns of this malady several times during his life. He strenuously opposed the war with Great Britain, in 1812. Up to 1806, he had been a consistent member of the Republican party ; then his views changed, and he became an opponent of Mad- ison, more bitter than any Federalist of New England. His political course, after the war, was erratic, and he delighted to bo in the minority, because it gave him special opportunities for vituperation. He favored the claims of Mr. Crawford for the Presidency of the United States, in 1824; but, in 1828, he was the warm friend of General Jackson, and his ardent supporter for the same office. In 1822, Mr. Randolph made a voyage to England for the benefit of his health, where his political fame and strange personal appearance created quite a sensa- tion. He made another voyage thither, in 1824, but his health was too much impaired to receive any permanent benefit. From that time the current of his public career was often interrupted by sickness. In 1829, he was a member of the Virginia convention, called to revise the constitution of that State ; and, in 1830, President Jackson appointed him minister to Russia. He accepted the station, on condition tliat he misht spend the Winter in the south of P>urope, if his health should require it. He reached St. Petersburg in September, but hia 294 JOSIAH BAETLETT. stay was short. Soon after his reception by tlie limperor, the rigors of approach- ing "Winter compelled him to leave the region of the Neva. He arrived in Lon- don, in December, where he made a characteristic speech at the Lord Mayor's dinner. He remained in England until the Autumn of the following year, when he returned home in a state of extreme exhaustion. He rallied, and his con- stituents again elected him to Congress. But he did not take his seat there. Disease was busy with its fingers of decay. Consumption was making terrible breaches in the citadel of life ; and on the 23d of May, 1833, he died in a hotel iu Philadelphia, while on his way to New York to embark for Europe, for the benefit of his health. Mr. Randolph was a strange compound of opposing quali- ties. He was brilliant without sound sense ; morose and irascible with a kindly heart toward friends ; an apparently gloomy fatalist — almost an Atheist at times — yet overflowing, frequently, with pious thoughts and sentiments.' He was a famous but not a great man. JOSIAH BARTLjETT. FEW men have been more faithful in the performance of public duties, or more honest and honorable in their private relations, than Josiali Bartlett, one of the two members of the medical profession, in New Hampshire, who signed the Declaration of Independence. He was descended from an ancient Norman liimily, some of whom became quite distinguished in Enghsh history. He was born at Amesbury, Massachusetts, in November, 1129. He was a maternal relative of Daniel Webster, and, like that statesman, he arose to eminence by the force of his own character, under Providence, without the factitious aid of wealth or fiimily influence. He lacked a collegiate education, but having acquired a knowledge of Greek and Latin in the flimily of a relative, he was prepared for the study of medicine, his chosen profession. He commenced its practice at Kingston, New Hampshire, was skilful, and soon acquired a moderate fortune. Although an unbending republican in principle, Dr. Bartlett was greatly esteemed by the royal governor, Benning Wentworth, and received from him a magistrate's commission, and the command of a regiment of militia. In 1765, he was chosen a representative in the New Hampshire legislature, and there ho became popular by his staunch advocacy of the cause of the colonists in their opposition to the Stamp Act. Wentworth attempted to win him to the side of the crown, by tempting bribes, but he rejected every overture. In 17-74, he was a member of the general Committee of Safety. The appointment of that committee alarmed the governor. He dissolved the Assembly ; but the members, with Dr. JBartlett at their head, reassembled, and, like those of Virginia, ap- pointed delegates to the Continental Congress. One of these was Dr. Bartlett. Wentworth soon afterward took away his magistrate's and military commissions; but the governor, in turn, was speedily deprived of his office, and became a fugitive. Dr. Bartlett was reelected to Congress, in 1775, and was one of the committee chosen to devise a plan for a confederation of the States. He ear- nestly supported the proposition for independence, and was the first man to sign it, after John Hancock. Dr. Bartlett remained in Congress until 1778, when he obtained leave to re- 1. It is said that on one occasion he ascended a lofly spur of the Blue Ridpe, at dawn, and from that magnificent observatory saw the sun rise. As its light burst in beauty and gloiy over the vast panorama before him, he turned to his servant and said, with deep emotion, " Tom, if any body says there is no God, tell them they lie!" Thus he expressed the deep sense which his soul felt of the presence of a Great Creator. HORATIO GATES. 295 turn home and superintend his deranged private affairs. Ho did not again resume his seat in that body, for tlie following year he was appointed chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas of his native State. He was afterward raised to the bench of the Superior Court ; and was very active in favor of the Federal Constitution. The legislature elected him first United States Senator, under the new government, but ho declined the honor, having been previously chosen president, or governor of New Hampshire. That office he held, by suc- cessive election, until 179-1:, when he retired to private life, and sought needful repose, after serving his country faithfully full thirty years. That repose upon which he entered was but the prelude to a far longer one, near at hand. He died on the 19th of May, 1795, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. HORATIO OATES. TWO of the general officers of the Continental army were natives of England. These were Horatio Gates and Charles Lee, and both bear the just odium of being jealous of Washington, and aspiring to supplant him. Gates was born about the year 1728, and came to America as a subaltern in General Braddock's army, in 1755. He remained in Virginia^ and paid much attention to military tactics. Being known as a good disciplinarian, he was chosen, by Congress, adjutant-general of the Continental army, when it was organized, in June, 1775; and ho performed efficient service in his department, under Wasliington, until June, 1776, when ho was appointed to the chief command of the Northern De- partment, with the commission of major-general. In the Autumn of that year he joined the main army in New Jersey, with a detachment of his command. The following Summer he superseded General Schuyler, who had been placed in command of the Northern forces, a few weeks before, and gained all the honor of the capture of Burgoyne and his troops, at Saratogii, in October, when the real praise was due to Schuyler, Arnold, and others. In that whole affair Gates exhibited a want of magnanimity unbecoming a patriot and soldier. During the ensuing Winter he entered into a conspiracy, with others, to disparage Wash- ington, and secure for himself the office of commander-in-chief. He used his power as President of tlie Board of War, for that purpose, but the scheme utterly failed. While the conspirators were thus busy, Washington and his army were suffering dreadfully at Valley Forge. From that time until appointed to the command of the Southern army, in the Spring of 1780, his miUtary services were of little account. When the news of Lincoln's misfortunes at Charleston reached Congress, that body, without consulting Washington, appointed Gates to the command in the Soutii, foolishly supposing his name, as ''the conqueror of Burgoyne," would have the effect to rally the people.' Washington would have named Greene, and all would have been well. Gates and his secretary overtook De Kalb and the army at Deep River, in July, and marched forward to meet Cornwallis at Camden. His excessive vanity brought great misfortune. He was so sure of a victory, that he made no provision for a retreat ; and when that movement be- came necessary, it assumed the character of a rout. Marching at midnight in a deep sandy road, tlie advanced guards of the two armies met a few miles north of Camden, without being aware of each other's approach. A fight in the 1. General Charles l^ce, who knew (rates well, said to him, on his departure, " Take care that you do not exchange Northern laurels for Southern willows." There was prophecy in the warning. 296 JAMES MADISON. dark ensued, and the following morning a severe battle took place. The Amer- icans were defeated and fled in great confusion. Gates, almost unattended, hastened toward Charlotte. He tried to rally his fugitive troops in that vicinity, but failed. General Greene was soon afterward appointed to succeed him, and then commenced that series of brilliant movements which finally resulted in driving tho British to the sea-board. A committee of Congress, appointed to scrutinize Gates' conduct, acquitted him of blame, and the national legislature sanctioned the verdict. He remained on his farm in Virginia until 1182, when be was reinstated in his military command in the main army, but active services ■were no longer needed. At the close of the contest he retired to his estate, where he remained until 1790, when he made his permanent abode upon Man- hattan Island, near New York city. Two years later he was a member of the legislature of New York, where he served one term. He died at his residence, near the corner of the present Twenty -Third Street and Second Avenue, in New York, on the 10th of April, 1806, at the age of seventy-eight years. General Gates possessed many excellent qualities, but he was deficient in the necessary- qualifications for a successful commander, and his vanity generally misled his judgment. He was a gentleman in his manners, humane and benevolent, but he lacked intellectual cultivation and true magnanimity. JAMES MADISON. WITHIN site of Blue Ridge, in Virginia, lived three Presidents of the United States, whose public career commenced in the Revolutionary times, and whose political flxith was the same throughout a long series of years. These were Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and James Madison. The latter was born at the house of his maternal grandmother, on the banks of the Rappahan- nock, in Virginia, on the 16th of March, 1751. His parents resided in Orange county, and there, during a long life, the eminent statesman lived. After com- pleting his preparatory studies, he was sent to the college at Princeton, New Jersey, then under the charge of Dr. Withcrspoon, for his parents knew the at- mosphere of tho lower country at Williamsburg to be uncongenial for persons from the mountain regions. He left Princeton, in the Spring of 1773, with health much impaired by intense study,' and immediately entered upon a course of reading preparatory for the practice of the law, which he had chosen for a profession. Political affairs attracted his attention, and ho was diverted from law to public employments. In the Spring of 1776, ho was a member of the convention which formed the first Constitution for tho new free State of Virginia ; and the same year he was elected a member of the State legislature. He lost the suffrages of his constituents the following year, because, it was alleged, that he would not " treat " the people to liquor, and could not make a speech ! The legislature named him a member of the executive council, in which office he served until 1779. when he was elected to membership in the Continental Con- gress. He took his seat there in March, 1780, and for three years he was one of the most reliable men in that body.2 Mr. Madison was again a member of the Virginia Assembly, from 1784 to 1786, where he was the champion of every wise and liberal policj^, especially in 1. While at Princeton, he slept only three hours of the twenty-four, for months together. 2. He was the author of the able instructions to Mr. Jay, when he went as minister to Spain ; also of the Address of the States, at the end of the war, on the subject of the financial affairs of the confederacy. JAMES MADISON. 297 religious matters. lie advocated the separation of Kentucky from Virginia ; opposed the introduction of paper money ; supported the laws codified by Jeffer- son, 'Wji;he, and Pendleton; and was the author of the resolution which led to tho convention at Annapolis, in 1786, and the more important constitutional convention, in 1787. Ho was a member of the convention that formed the Federal Constitution, and he kept a faithful record of all tho proceedings of that body, daj^ after day.' After the labors of tlie convention were over, ho joined with Hamilton and Jay in tho publication of a series of essa)'S in support of it.2 These, in collected form, aro known as The Federalist. In the Virginia conven- tion called to consider tho constitution, Mr. Madison was chiefly instrumental in procuring its ratification, in spite of the fears of many, and the eloquence of Patrick Ilenry. Ho was one of the first representatives of Virginia in the Fed- eral Congress, and occupied a seat there until 1797. He was opposed to the financial policy of Hamilton, and to some of the most important measures of "Washington's administration, j'et this difforcnce of opinion did not produce a personal alienation of those patriots.^ 1 lis republicanism was of tlie conservative stamp, yet Mr. Jefferson esteemed him so highly that he chose him for his Sec- 1. His interesting papera were pnrchased by Congress, after his death, for the sum of thirty thousand dollars. 2. See sketches of Ilamilton and Jay. 3. Mr. Madison was opposed to the Alien and Sedition laws, enacted at the beprinninp; of John Adams' administration ; and it became known, after his death, that he was the author of the famous Resolutions oc that topic, adopted iu the convention of Virginia, held in 1798. 13* 298 BENJAMIN LINCOLN. retary of State, in 1801. That station he filled with rare ability during the whole eight years of Jefferson's administration, and then he was elected President of the United States. It was a period of great interest in the history of our Re- public, for a serious quarrel was then pending between the governments of the United States and Great Britain. In the third year of his administration the quarrel resulted in war, which continued from 1812 until 1815. After serving eight years as chief magistrate of the Republic, Mr. Madison, in March, 1817, returned to his paternal estate oi Montpelier, where he remained in retirement until his death, which occurred almost twenty years afterward. He never left his native county but once after returning from "Washington, except to visit Charlottesville, occasionally, in the performance of his duties as visitor and rector of the University of Virginia. He made a journey to Richmond, in 1829, to attend a convention called to revise the Virginia Constitution. He had married an accomplished widow, in Philadelphia, in 1794, and with her, his books, friends, and in agricultural pursuits, he passed the evening of his days in great happiness. At length, at the age of eighty-five years, on a beautiful morning in June (28th), 1836, the venerable statesman went peacefully to his rest. BENJAMIN LINCOLN. THE first Secretary of War after the struggle for independence had resulted suc- cessfully for the colonists, in the capture of Cornwallis and his army, was Benjamin Lincoln, one of the most accomplished soldiers of the contest, then almost ended. He was born at Hingham, Massachusetts, on the 3d of February, 1733. He was trained to the business of a farmer, and had very few educational advantages. Until past forty years of ago he pursued the quiet, unpretending life of a plain agriculturist, occasionally holding the office of justice of the peace, sometimes representing his district in the colonial legislature, and, when the tempest of the Revolution was about to burst forth, he was colonel of the militia of his county, under a commission from Governor Hutchinson. At the close of 1774, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts appointed him major-general of militia, and being an excellent disciplinarian, he was actively employed until the close of 1776, in training recruits for the Continental service. With quite a large body of Massachusetts levies, he joined Washington, at Morristown, in February, 1777. On the 19th of that montli, Congress appointed him one of five major-generals. During the ensuing Summer and Autumn ho was active in collecting troops and otherwise assisting in the oj^erations which resulted in the capture of Burgoyne and his army, at Saratoga. In the battle of the 7th of October, at Saratoga, he was severely wounded, and was detained from active service until 1778, when ho joined the army under Washington. In September of that year, he was appointed to supersede General Howe, in command of the Southern Army, and arrived at Charleston, in December. He was chiefly en- gaged during the following season in keeping the British below the Savannah river. On the arrival of a French fleet and army, under D'Estaing, off the Georgia coast, early in September, Lincoln marched toward Savannah, to co- operate with them in besieging the British army, then strongly intrenched in that city. After a siege and assault, in October, D'Estaing, pleading danger to his shipping, from Autumnal storms, as an excuse, suddenly resolved to depart, and the Americans were compelled to abandon the enterprise, and retire into South Carolina. During the Spring of 1780, Lincoln, with a comparatively weak force, was RICHARD CLOUGH ANDERSOIST. 299 besieged in Cliarleston by a strong land and naval armament, under General Sir Henry Clinton and Admiral Arbuthnot. After making a gallant defence for several weeks, he was compelled to capitulate, and the Southern Army, Charles- ton and its fortifications, and the inhabitants of the city, were surrendered, un- conditionally, into the hands of British power. General Lincoln was permitted to return to his native town, on parole ; and, in November following, he was exchanged. He remained in retirement until the Spring of 1781, when he joined the army under "Washington, on the Hudson, and was very active in preparations to attack the British on Manhattan Island, the ensuing Summer. Toward Autumn ho accompanied the army to Virginia, rendered efficient ser- vice in the siege of Yorktown, and had the honor of receiving the surrendered Bword of Cornwallis, from the hands of General O'Hara.' A few days after that event, Lincoln was appointed, by Congress, Secretary of the "War Department. He held the office until near the close of 1783, when he resigned and retired to his farm. In 1786-7, he was placed in command of troops called out to quell the insurrection in Massachusetts, known as Shai/s Rebellion. He was imme- diately successful, and then again sought repose and pleasure in the pursuits of agriculture, science, and literature. There he remained until 1789, when Pres- ident "Washington appointed him collector of the port of Boston. He performed the duties of that office for about twenty years, when, on the 9th of May, 1810, his earthh^ career was closed by death. That event occurred at his residence, in Hingham, when he was about seventy-seven years of age. General Lincoln was a ripe scholar and humble Christian, as well as a pat- riotic soldier and honest civilian. The Faculty of Harvard University conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences ; and ho was president of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati, from its organization, until his death. RICHARD CLOUGH ANOKRSON. ONE of the earliest natives of Louisville, Kentucky, was Richard C. Anderson, in whose honor a county in that State is named. His father was a gallant soldier of the "War for Independence, and his mother was a sister of the hero of the North-west, George Rogers Clarke. Louisville was a small village at the Falls of the Ohio, at the time of his birth, which occurred on the 4th of August, 1788. At an early age he was sent to Virginia to be educated, forthe foot-prints of the schoolmaster were few west of the Alleghanies, at that time. Emigration was then pouring a vast tide into the Ohio valleys, and a few years afterward, villages began to dot its banks at every important point. Young Anderson was graduated at "William and Mary College, studied law under Judge Tucker, and commenced its practice in his native town, then rap- idly swelling toward tho proportions of a city. He soon stood in the front rank of his profession as an able counsellor and eloquent advocate. Political life pre- sented a high road to fame, and friends and ambition urged him to travel it. For several years he was a member of the Kentucky legislature ; and, in 1817, he was elected to a scat in the Federal Congress, where he continued four years. It was a period of great excitement in that body, for, during Mr. Anderson's membership, the admission of Missouri was the topic for long and angry debates. 1. Lincoln had been much mortified Ijy the manner of his surrender at Charleston, imposed by the hauphty Tlinton, and he was now allowed to be the chief actor in a scene more humiliating to British pride than liis own bad experienced. It was a triumph and a punishment that pleased him. 800 MATHEW CAREY. In these Mr. Anderson took a prominent part, and was highly esteemed for his manly and conciliatory course. His constituents were anxious to reelect him, in 1822, but he declined the honor, because he considered his services to be more valuable, at that juncture, in the legislature of his own State, to which he was elected. He was chosen Speaker of the Assembly, but did not preside in that body long, for, in 1823, President Monroe appointed him the first United States minister to the new Republic of Colombia, South America. There he was re- ceived with joy and great honor, and during his residence at Bogota, the capital, he won for himself and family the unaffected love and esteem of all classes. In 1824, he negotiated an important treaty. The following year death took his wife from him, and he returned to Kentucky to make provision for the education of his children. He was again in Bogota, in the Autumn of that year, and re- mained until the Spring of 1826, when I'resident Adams appointed him envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the diplomatic Congress held at Panama, to consider the welfare of the South American Republics. On his way thither he was taken ill at the village of Tubaco, where he died, on the 24th of July, 1826, at the age of thirty-eiglit years. He was succeeded in office by "William Heury Harrison, afterward President of the United States. MATHEW CAREY. FEW men have exerted so wide and beneficial an influence, in the domain of letters, in the United States, as Mathew Carey, an eminent author and publisher, who was born in the city of Dublin, on the 28th of January, It 60. His early education was comparatively limited, but a love of knowledge when his faculties began to expand on the verge of j-outhhood, overcame all difficulties. Even while yet a mere child, books afforded him more pleasure than playmates; and before he was fifteen years of age, he had made great progress in the ac- quisition of the modern languages of Europe. He would have become a dis- tinguished linguist, had opportunity for study been given him ; but at the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to a printer and bookseller to learn the business which he had chosen as a life-vocation. His first effort in authorship was made when he was seventeen years of age. His topic was Duelling. Two years after- ward (It 7 9) he prepared and advertised a political pamphlet, which alarmed the Irish Parliament, and caused that body to suppress its publication. A prosecu- tion was detormined upon, and his friends judiciously advised him to leave the country. He escaped to Paris, where he became acquainted with Dr. Franklin, and learned much concerning America. The storm subsided ; and, in the course of the following year, j'oung Carey, then only twenty years of ago, returned to Dublin, and became editor of the Freeman's Journal. In 1783, his father fur- nished him with means to establish a paper called the Volunteer^s Journal. It exerted a wide and powerful political influence; and in consequence of the pub- lication in its columns, in 1784, of a severe attack upon the British government, and an alleged libel upon the Prime Minister, Mr. Carey was arrested, taken to the bar of the House of Commons, and consigned to Newgate prison. The Lord Mayor of London released him in the course of a few weeks ; and in the Autumn of 1784, he sailed for America. He landed at Philadelphia with a few guineas in his pocket, chose that city for a residence, and, in January, 1785, commenced the publication of the Fenmylvania Herald. That paper soon became famous for its legislative reports, prepared by Mr. Carey himself Bold, and faithful to his convictions, in editorship, he often offended his opponents. Among these was MATHEW CAREY. 801 Colonel Oswald, of the artillery corps of the Revolution, who was then editing a newspaper. Their quarrel resulted in a duel, iu which Mr. Carey was severely wounded. In 17SG, Mr. Carey commenced tho publication of the Columbian Magazine. Tlie following j'car he issued another publication, called the American iluseum, wliieli he continued for six years, when tlie prevalence of yellow fever, in Phila- delpliia, suspended it. During tliat season of pestilence the courage and benevo- lence of Mr. Carey, as an associate with Stephen Girard and others as health commissioners, were nobly exhibited. Their labors for the sick and orphans were incessant and beneficent. His experience led him to the publication of an able essay on tho origin, character, and treatment of j-ellow fever, in 1794. At about tlie same time he was active in founding the Hibernian Society, for the relief of emigrants from Ireland. In 1790, he was zealously engaged, with others, in establishing a Sunday Scliool Society in Pliiladelphia ; and the same year he entered into a controversy with the celebrated "William Cobbett, with so much logic and energy, that he silenced liis antagonist. The most important effort, made by Mr. Carey in publishing, was in 1802, when he put forth a handsome edition of the standard English Quarto Bible. His chief travelling agent for its sale waa Reverend Mason L. Weems, who disposed 802 DAVID PORTER. of several thousand copies.' It was profitable and creditable to Mr. Carey. During the whole exciting period just previous to the breaking out of the war with Great Britain, in 1812, Mr. Carey's pen was continually busy on topics of public interest; and in the midst of the violent party excitement, in 1814, he pubHshed his flxmous Olive Branch. It was intended to soften the asperities of party spirit, create a thoroughly American sentiment among all classes, and pro- duce peace and conciliation. It was eminently successful ; and for this eflbrt, Mathew Carey deserved a civic crown. Ten thousand copies were sold, and its salutary influence is incalculable. In 1818, Mr. Carey commenced the preparation of his most important historical work, the Vindiciw Hibernke. He soon afterward directed his attention especially to political economy, and wrote voluminously upon the subject of tariffs. No less than fifty-nine pamphlets upon that and cognate topics were written by him between the years 1819 and 1833, and comprising over twenty-three hundred octavo pages. Besides these, he wrote numerous essays for newspapers, memo- rials to Congress, &c. Internal improvements also engaged his mind and pen, and his efforts in that direction entitle him to the honor of a public benefactor. Indeed, throughout his whole life Mr. Carey was eminently a Ijenefactor, public and private; and hundreds of widows and orphans have earnestly invoked Heaven's choicest blessings upon his head. Scores of j'oung men, who had been profited by his generous helping hand, loved him as a father; and people of the city in which he lived regarded him with the highest reverential respect, for his many virtues. There was sincere mourning in many households, in Philadelphia, when, on the I7th of September, 1839, that good man's spirit left earth for a brighter sphere. He had lived to the ripe old age of almost eighty years ; and, in addition to a large fortune, he left to his descendants the precious inheritance of an untarnished reputation. DAVID PORTER. THE motto "Free Trade and Sailors' Rights," which became the text for many a song and speech, some forty years ago, was first emblazoned upon the broad pennant of Commodore Porter, that floated frflm the mast-head of his flag- ship, the Essex, when he sailed on his flamous cruise in tlie Pacific Ocean, toward tlie close of 1813. The author of that motto was one of the bravest of the American naval commanders during the last war between the United States and Great Britain. He was born in Boston, on the 1st of February, 1780. His parents were in moderate circumstances, and after receiving the rudiments of education, David was compelled to labor most of the time with his hands. He had early manifested a great desire to become a sailor ; and, at the age of nine- teen years, that ardent aspiration was fully gratified. His talent and general energy of character attracted the attention of some influential friends, who pro- cured for him a midshipman's warrant ; and at tlie time when war with France was yet a probability, ho sailed in the frigate Constellation. His first experience in naval warfare was during tliat cruise, when the Constellation, in February, 1799, captured the French frigate, Vliiswgente. Young Porter's gallantry on that occasion was so conspicuous, that he was immediately promoted to lieuten- ant. He was also engaged in the severe action with La Vengeance, a year later; and, in the Autumn of 1803, he accompanied the first United States squadron to 1. See sketch of Mr. Weems. ALEXANDER MACOMB, 803 the Mediterranean, sent thither to protect American commerce against the Bar- bary pirates. He was on board the Philadelphia, when that vessel struck upon a rock in the harbor of Tripoli, and was among those who suffered a painful im- prisonment in the hands of that barbarous people.' After that [1806] he was appointed to the command of the brig Euttrprise, and cruised in the Mediterra- nean for six years. On his return to the United States, he was placed in com- mand of the flotilla station in the vicinity of New Orleans, where he remained until war was declared against Great Britain, in 1812. Then he was promoted to captain ; and, in the frigate Ef^sex, ho achieved, during the remainder of that year, and greater part of 181.3, those brilliant deeds which made him so famous. From April to October, 1813, he captured twelve armed British whale-ships, with an aggregate of one hundred and seven guns, and three hundred men. He also took possession of an island of the Washington group, in the Pacific, and named it Madison, in honor of the then President of the United States. The English sent a number of heavy armed ships to capture or destroy Porter's little squadron ; and near Valparaiso, on the coast of Chili, the Essex was captured, in February, 1814, after a hard-fought battle with immensely superior strength. Commodore Porter wrote to the Secretary of the Navy, " We have been unfor- tunate but not disgraced." "When he came home he was every where received with the highest honors. Congress and tlie several States gave him thanks, and by universal acclamation he was called the Hero of the Pacific. He afterward aided in the defence of Baltimore. When peace came, he was appointed one of the naval commissioners to superintend national marine afEiirs. In 1817, he commanded a small fleet, sent to suppress the depredations of pirates and free- booters in the G ulf of Mexico, and along its shores. Commodore Porter resigned his commission in the Summer of 1826, and was afterward appointed resident United States minister, in Turkey. He died near Constantinople on the 3d of March, 1843, at the age of sixty-three years. ALEXANDER MACOMB. AMONG the stirring scenes of a military post in time of war, Alexander Macomb was born, and afterward became a noted martial leader. His birth oc- curred in the British garrison at Detroit, on the 3d of April, 1782, just at the close of hostilities between Great Britain and her colonies. When peace came his father settled in New York ; and at eight years of age, Alexander was placed in a school at Newark, New Jersey, under the charge of Dr. Ogden. There his military genius and taste became manifest. He formed his playmates into a company, and commanded them with all possible juvenOe dignity. At the age of sixteen years he joined a company of Rangers, whose services were offered to the government of the United States, then anticipating a war with France. The following year he was promoted to a cornetcy in the regular army, but the cloud of war piussed away, and his services were not needed. He had resolved on a military life, and was among the few officers retained in the regular service, on the disbanding of the army. Tie was commissioned second-lieutenant, in Feb- ruary, 1801, and first-lieutenant, in October, 1802, when he was stationed at Philadelphia, in the recruiting service. On completing a corps, he marched to the Ciierokee country to join General Wilkinson. After a year's service there, his troops were disbanded, and he was ordered to West Point to join a corps of 1. See sketches of Decatur and Baiobridge. 804 JAMES MONROE. engineers. There he became adjutant, and also advocate-general. So highly were his services in the latter office esteemed, and his attainments admired, that he was employed by the government in completing a code of regulations for courts-martial. Lieutenant Macomb was promoted to captain of a corps of engineers, in 1805 ; and, in 1808, he was raised to the rank of major. In the Summer of 1810, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel ; and, on the organization of the army, in April, 1812, he was appointed acting adjutant-general. After the declaration of war, a few weeks later, he was commissioned colonel of artillery, and joined "Wilkinson on the Canada frontier. He shared in the mortifications of that cam- paign of 1813; but at Plattsburgh, in September, the following year, while bearing the office of brigadier, he nobly cooperated with Macdonough on the lake, in a victory so decided and important, as to almost obliterate the shame of former fliilures. For his gallant services on that occasion he received the thanks of Congress and a gold medal ; and the President conferred on him the honor of a major-general's commission. At the close of the war he was retained in the service, and ordered to the command of the military fort at Detroit, his birth-place. In 1821, he was called to the head of the engineer department at Washington city; and on the death of Major-Ganeral Brown, in 1828, he was promoted to General-in-Chief oi ihQ army of the United States. He died at his head-quarters, Washington city, on the 25th of June, 1841, and was succeeded in office by Major-general Scott, now [1855] the highly honored incumbent. JAMES MONROE. THE fifth President of the United States, James Monroe, like four of his pre- decessors in office, was a native of Virginia. He was born in Westmore- land county, on the 2d of April, 1759. His early life was spent in the midst of the political excitements during the kindling of the War for Independence, and he imbibed a patriotic and martial spirit from the stirring scenes around him. He left the college of WiUiam and Mary, at the age of about eighteen years. His young soul was fired by the sentiments of the Declaration of Independence, then just promulgated, and he hastened to the head-quarters of Washington, at New York, and enrolled himself as a soldier for Freedom. The disastrous battle near Brooklyn had just terminated, but he tasted of war soon afterward in the skirmish at Harlem and the battle at White Plains. He accompanied Washing- ton in his retreat across the Jersey's; and with a corps of young men, as lieuten- ant, he was in the van of the battle at Trenton, where he was severely wounded. For his gallant services there he was promoted to captain ; and during the cam- paigns of 1777 and 1778, he was aid to Lord Stirling. In the battles of Brandy- wine, Germantown, and Monmouth, he was distinguished for bravery and skill ; and desirous of official promotion, from which, as a staff officer, he was precluded, he made unsuccessful efforts to raise a regiment in Virginia. He soon afterward left the army, and commenced the study of law with Mr. Jefferson ; but when Arnold and Cornwallis invaded his native State, in 1781, he was found among the volunteers for its defence. He had been sent to the South, the previous year, by the governor of Virginia, to collect information respecting the military strength of the patriots, after the fall of Charleston. In 1782, Mr. Monroe was elected a member of the Virginia legislature, and that body soon afterward gave him a seat in the executive council. The follow- ing year, at the age of twenty-five, he was elected to the general Congress, and* JAMES MOXROE, 805 was present at Annapolis when Washington resigned his military commission to that body. He originated the first movement, in 1785, which led to the constitutional convention, in 1787. He was a member of the Virginia legis- lature in 1787, and the following year he was a delegate in the State convention to consider the Federal Constitution. He took part with Patrick Henry and others in opposition to its ratification, yet he was elected one of the first United States Senators from Virginia, under that instrument, in 1789. He remained in that body until 179-4, when he w;is appointed to succeed Gouverneur Morris as minister at the French court. Washington recalled him, in 1796; and two years afterward he was elected governor of Virginia. He served in that ofiice for three years, when Mr. Jefferson appointed him envoy extraordinary to act with Mr. Livingston at the court of Napoleon. He assisted in the negotiations for the purchase of Louisiana, and then went to Spain to assist Mr. Pinckney in endeavors to settle some boundary questions. They were unsuccessful. In 1807, he and Mr. Pinckney negotiated a treaty with Great Britain, but it was unsatisflictory, and was never ratified. That year Mr. Monroe returned to the United States. Mr. Monroe was again elected governor of Virginia, in 1811, and soon after- ward President Madison called him to his cabinet as Secretary of State. He also performed the duties of Secretary of War, for awhile, and remained in Mr. Madison's cabinet during the residue of his administration. In 1816, he was elected President of the United States, and was reelected, in 1820, with great 20 806 THADDEUS KOSCIUSCZKO. unanimity, the Federal party, to which he had always been opposed, having become almost extinct, as a separate organization. At the end of his second term, in 1825, Mr. Monroe retired from office, and made his residence in Loudon county, Virginia, until early in 1831, when he accepted a home with his son-in- law, Samuel L. Gouverneur, in the city of New York. He was soon afterward attacked by severe illness, which terminated his life on the 4th of July, 1831, when he was in the seventy-second year of his age. THADDEUS KOSCIUSCZKO. WHAT has been said of the American citizenship of La Fayette, Steuben, and De Kalb, is true of Kosciusczko. His deeds naturalized him, and we claim him as our own, though born in far-off Lithuania, the ancient Sarmatia. That event occurred in the year 1756. He was descended from one of the most ancient and noble families of Poland, and was educated for the profession of a soldier, first in the military school at Warsaw, and afterward in France. Love enticed him from Warsaw. He eloped Avith a young lady of rank and fortune, was pursued and overtaken by her proud father, and was driven to the alter- native of killing the parent or abandoning the maid. He chose the latter, and went to Paris. There he became acquainted with Silas Deane, the accredited commissioner of the revolted American colonies, who filled the soul of the young Pole with intense zeal to figlit for liberty in America, and win those honors which Deane promised. He came in the Summer of 1776, and presented him- self to Washington. " What can you do ?" asked the commander-in-chief. "Try me," was the laconic reply. Washington was pleased with the young man, made him his aid, and, in October of that year, the Continental Congress gave him the appointment of engineer in the army, with the rank of colonel. He was in the Continental service during the whole of the war, and was engaged in most of the important battles in which Washington in the North, or Greene in the South, commanded. He was greatly beloved by the American officers, and was cordially admitted to membership in the Society of the Cincinnati. At the close of the war he returned to Poland, whose sovereign liad permitted him to draw his sword in America, and was made a major-general by Poniatowski, in 1789. In the Polish campaign against Russia, in 1792, Kosciusczko greatly distin- guished himself; and in the noble attempt of his countrymen, in 1794, to regain their lost liberty, he was chosen general-in-chief. Soon afterward, at the head of four thousand men, he defeated twelve thousand Russians. Invested with the powers of a military Dictator, he boldly defied the combined armies of Russia and Prussia, amounting to more than one hundred and fifty thousand men. At length success deserted him ; and, in October, 1794, his troops were overpowered in a battle about fifty miles from Warsaw. He was wounded, fell from his horse, and was made prisoner, exclaiming, "The end of Poland 1" " Hope for a season bade the world farewell. And Freedom shrieked when Kosciusczko fell." — Campbell. The hero was cast into prison, in St. Petersburg, by the Empress Catherine. When she died, the Emperor Paul liberated him, and presented him with his own sword. Kosciusczko courteously refused the blade, and then uttered that terrible rebuke for the destroyers of Poland — that noble sentiment of a Patriot's heart — "I have no longer need of a sword, since I have no longer a country to defend." He never again wore a military weapon. CHARLES LEE. 307 In the Summer of 1797, Kosciusczko visited America, and was received with distinguished honors. Congress awarded him a life-pension, and gave him a tract of land, for his revolutionary services. The following year he went to Frauce, purchased an estate near Fontainebleau, and resided there until 1814. He went to Switzerland, and settled at Soleure, in 1816. Early the following year ho abolished serfdom on his family estates in Poland. On the 16th of Oc- tober, 1817, that noble patriot died, at the age of sixty-one years. Ilis body was buried in the tomb of the ancient kings of Poland, at Cracow, with great pomp; and at "Warsaw there was a public funeral in his honor. The Senate of Cracow decreed that a lofty mound should bo erected to his memory, on the lieights of Bronislawad ; and for three years men of every class and age toiled in the erection of that magnificent cairn, three hundred feet in height. The cadets of the Military Academy, at "West Point, on the Hudson, erected an im- posing monument there to tlio memory of Kosciusczko, in 1829, at a cost of five tliousand dollars. His most enduring monument is the record of liis deeds on the pages of History. CHARLES LEE. BOTLTNTr "WATER " was the significant name which the Mohawk Indiana gave to Cliarles Lee, when he resided among them, and bore the honors of a chief.' His character was indeed like boiling water — hot and restless. He was a native of "Wales, where he was bom in 17.'>1. His father was an officer in the British army ; and it is asserted that the fiery little Charles received a military commission from George the Second, when only eleven years of age. In all studies, and especially those pertaining to military services, he was very- assiduous, and became master of several of the continental languages. Love of adventure brought him to America, in 1756, as an officer in the British army, and he remained in service here during a greater part of the French and Indiau war. Ho then returned to England; and, in 1762, he bore a colonel's com- mission, and served under Burgoyne, in Portugal. After that he became a violent politician, in England; and, in 1770, he crossed the channel, and rambled all over Europe, like a knight-errant, for about three years. His energy of character and military skill made him a favorite at courts, and he became an aid to Poniatowski, King of Poland. "With that monarch's embassador, ho went to Constantinople as a sort of Polish Secretary of Legation, but, becoming tired of court inactivity and court etiquette, he left the service of his royal patron, went to Paris, came to America toward the close of 1773, and, at the solicitation of Colonel Horatio Gates, whom ho had known in England, he was induced to buy an estate in Berkeley count}', Virginia, and settle there. He resigned his com- mission in tlie British army, and became an American citizen. "When the Continental army was organized, in June, 1775, Charles Lee was appointed ono of the four major-generals, and accompanied "Washington to Cam- bridge. He was active there until the British were driven from Boston, in the Spring of 1776, when ho marched, with a considerable force, to New York, and afterward proceeded southward to watch the movements of Sir Henry Clinton- He participated in the defence of Cliarleston, as commander-in-chief; and after the British were repulsed, he joined "Washington, at New York. After the battle 1. His tarry amonc the Molmwk Indians was at near the close of the French and Indian war, or about the year 1762. They were prcatly pleased with his martial and energetic character, adopted him as a Bon, according to custom, and made him a chief of the nation, with the title of Boiling Water. 808 HUGH SWINTON LEGARE. at White Plains, and the withdrawal of a great portion of the American army to New Jersey, General Lee was left in command of a force on the east side of the Hudson. While Washington was retreating toward the Delaware, at the close of Autumn, Lee tardily obeyed his orders to reinforce the flying army, and was made a prisoner while tarrying in the interior of New Jersey. His services were lost to the country until May, 1778, when he was exchanged for-General Pres- cott, captured in Rhode Island by Colonel Barton.' A month afterward he was in command at Monmouth, where, during the hot contest of battle, he was Bternly rebuked by Washington, for a shameful and unnecessary retreat. That rebuke on the battle-field wounded Lee's pride, and he wrote insulting letters to the commander-in-chief For this, and for misconduct before the enemy, he was Buspended from command, pursuant to a verdict of a court-martial. Congress confirmed the sentence, and he left the army in disgrace. It had been evident from the beginning tliat General Lee was desirous of obtaining the chief command, in place of Washington, and it was generally be- lieved that he desired to injure the commander-in-chief by causing the loss of the battle at Monmouth. The verdict gave general satisfaction. The event made his naturally morose temper exceedingly irascible, and Lee lived secluded on his estate in Berkeley, for awhile. Then he went to Philadelphia, took lodg- ings in a house yet [1855] standing, that once belonged to William Penn, and there died in neglect, at the age of fifty-one years. General Lee was a brilliant man in many respects, but he lacked sound moral principles, was rough and profane in language, and neither feared nor loved God or man. In his will, ho bequeathed his "soul to the Almighty, and his body to the earth;" and then . expressed a desire not to be buried within a mile of anj^ Presbyterian or Ana- baptist meeting-house, giving as a reason that he had "kept so much bad com- pany in life, that he did not wish to continue the connection when dead." His remains lie in the burial-ground of Christ Church, Philadelphia. HUQH SWINTON LEQARE. NE of the most promising men of the Palmetto State was Hugh S. Legar^, who was " Snatched all too early from that august fame That, on the serene heights of silvered age, Waited with laurelled hands." He was born at Dorchester, near Charleston, South Carolina, about the year 1800. He was of Huguenot descent. His father died when he was an infant, and he was left to the charge of an excellent mother. At the age of nine years he was placed in the school of Mr. King (afterward promoted to the bench in South Carolina), in Charleston, and was finally prepared for college by the ex- cellent Reverend Mr. Waddel. He learned rapidly, and at the age of fourteen years he entered the College of South Carolina, where he was graduated with the highest honors. The profession of the law became his choice, and for three years he studied assiduously under the direction of Judge King, his early tutor. He then went to Europe, where he remained between two and three years. Soon after his return, he was elected to a seat in the South Carolina legislature. While there, some of those measures which tended toward political disunion were commenced, but Mr. Legarti was always found on the Federal side of the question, for he regarded the Union with the utmost reverence. 1. See sketch of William Barton. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. , 309 In 1827, Mr. Legaro and other cultivated gentlemen in the South commenced the publication of the " Southern Review," a literar7 and political periodical, which soon acquired great influence. Mr. Legare was one of the chief and most popular of the contributors. He was soon called to fill an important public station, by receiving the appointment of attorney-general of South Carolina. He performed the duties of that office with great ability, until 1832, when he was appointed minister to Belgium, by President Jackson. There he remained until early in 1837, when ho returned to Charleston, and was almost immediately elected to a seat in Congress. lie first appeared there at the extraordinary session called by President Yan Buren to consider the financial affairs of the country. There he displayed great statesmanship and fine powers of oratory, and was regarded by friends and foes as a rising man. At the end of his con- gressional term, he resumed the practice of law in Charleston, and was pursuing his avocations with great energy and eclat, when President Harrison, in 1841, called him to his cabinet as attorney-general of the United States. He continued in that station, under President Tyler, until the Summer of 1843, when, on the occasion of a visit to Boston, with the chief magistrate, in June, he was seized with illness, and died there, on the 20th of that month, at the age of about forty- three years. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. THOMSON truthfuUy says: " Whoe'er amidst the sons Of reason, valor, liberty, and virtue, Displays distinguished merit, is a noble Of nature's own cresting." Judged by such a book of heraldry, John Quincy Adams appears a true noble- man of nature, for, in the midst of many wise, and good, and great men, he stood preeminent in virtue. He was tiie worthy son of a worthy sire, the elder Pres- ident .\dams, and was born at the fimily mansion at Quincy, Massachusetts, on the 11th of July, 17G7. At the age of eleven years he accompanied his father to Europe, who went thither as minister of the newly-declared independent United States of America. In Paris he was much in the society of Dr. Franklin and other distinguished men ; and it may be truly said that he entered upon the duties of a long public life before he was twelve years of age, for then he learned tlic useful rudiments of diplomacy and statesmanship. He attended school in Paris and Amsterdam, and was in the University of Leyden, for awhile. In 1781, when only fourteen 3-ears of age, ho accompanied Mr. Dana (United States minister) to St. Petersburg, as private secretary ; and during the Winter of 1782-3, ho traveled alone through Sweden and Denmark, and reached the Hague in safety, where his father was resident minister for the United States. When his father was appointed minister to England, he returned home, and en- tered Harvard University, as a student, where he was graduated, in July, 1787. At the age of twenty years, young Adams commenced the study of law with Judge Parsons, at Newburyport,' and entered upon its practice in Boston. Pol- itics engaged his attention, and he wrote much on topics of public interest, especially concerning the necessitj' of neutrality, on the part of the United States, 1. While .-Vdams was a student. Judge Parsons was chosen to address President Washington on the occasion of his "sit to New Kngland. The judge asked each of his students to write an address. That of Adams was chosen and delivered b; the tutor. 810 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 3 cl, cAcict4Yj in relation to the quarrels of other nations. On the recommendation of Mr. JefiFerson, President Washington introduced him into the public service of hia country, by appointing him resident minister in tlie Netherlands, in 1794. He was afterward sent to Portugal, in the same capacity, but on his way he was met by a new commission from his father (then President), as resident minister at Berlin. He was married in London, in 1797, to a young lady from Maryland, then residing there with her father. Mr. Adams returned to Boston, in 1801, and the following year he was elected to the Massachusetts Senate. In 1803, he was sent to the Federal Senate, where he uniformly supported the measures of Mr. Jefferson, the old political opponent of his father. Because of that act of obedience to the dictates of his conscience and judgment, the legislature of Massachusetts censured him, and he resigned his seat, in 1806. His republican sentiments increased with his age; and, in 1809, Mr. Madison appointed him minister plenipotentiary to the Russian court. There he was much caressed by the Emperor Alexander; and when, in 1812, war was declared between the United States and Great Britain, that monarch offered his mediation. It was rejected; and, in 1814, Mr. Adams was placed at the head of the American commission appointed to negotiate a treaty of peace with Great Britain. He also assisted in negotiating a commercial treaty with the same government ; and, in 1815, he was appointed minister to the P]nglish court. There he remained until 1817, when President Monroe called him to his cabinet as Secretary of State. He filled that office with signal ability during eight years, and then suc- ceeded Mr. Monroe as President of the United States. DAVID CROCKETT. 311 Mr. Adams' administration of four years was remarkable for its calmness, and the general prosperity of the country. There was unbroken peace with foreign nations, and friendly domestic relations, until near the close of his term, when party spirit became rampant. He was succeeded in office by General Jackson, in the Spring of 1829, and retired to private life, more honored and respected by all parties than any retiring president since Washington left the chair of state. His countrymen would not allow him to remain in repose; and, in 1830, he was elected a representative in Congress. In December, 1831, he took his seat there, and from that time until his death he continued to be a member of the House of Representatives, by consecutive reiJlections. There he was distin- guished for wise, enlightened, and liberal statesmanship ; and, like the Earl of Cliatham, death came to him at his post of duty. He was suddenly prostrated by paralysis, while in his seat in the House of Representatives, at Washington, on the 22d of February, 1848, and expired in the Speaker's room, in the capitol, on tlie following day. His last words were, " This is the end of earth." Ha was iu the eighty- first year of his age. DAVID CROCKETT. " "DE sure you are right, then go ahead," is a wise maxim attributed to ona IJ whose hfe was a continual illustration of the sentiment. Every body has heard of "Davy Crockett," the immortal back-woodsman of Tennessee — th9 " crack shot " of the wilderness — eccentric but honest member of Congress — the " hero of the Alamo " — ^yet few know his origin, his early struggles, and the general current of his life. History has but few words concerning him, but tra- dition is garrulous over his many deeds. David Crockett was born at the mouth of the Limestone river, Greene county, East Tennessee, on the 17th of August, 1786. His father was of Scotch-Irish descent, and took a prominent part in the War for Independence. It was all a wilderness around David's birth-place, and his soul communed with nature in its unbroken wildness, from the beginning. He grew to young manhood, with- out any education from books other than he received in his own rude home. When only seven years of age, David's fixther was stripped of most of his little property, by lire. Ho opened a tavern in Jefferson county, where David was his main " help " until the age of twelve 3'ears. Then he was hired to a Dutch cattle-trader, who collected herds in Tennessee and Kentucky, and drove them to the eastern markets. This vagrant life, full of incident and adventure, suited young Crockett, but, becoming dissatisfied with his employer, he deserted him, and made his way back to his father's home. After tarrying there a year, he ran away, joined another cattle-merchant, and at the end of the journey, in Vir- ginia, ho was dismissed, with precisel}' four dollars in his pocket. For three years he was "knocking about," as he expressed it, and then sought his father's home again. He now enjoyed the advantages of a school for a few weeks ; and finalh', after several unsuccessful love adventures, he married an excellent girl, and became a father, in 1810, when twenty-four j-ears of age. He settled on the banks of the Elk river, and was pursuing the quiet avocation of a farmer, in Summer, and the more stirring one of hunter, in the Autumn, when war was commenced with Great Britain, in 1812. Crockett was among the first to respond to Gen- eral Jackson's call for volunteers, and under that brave leader he was engaged in several skirmishes and battles. Ho received the commission of colonel, at the closo of the war, as a testimonial of his worth. His wife had died while he was 812 NATHANIEL MACON. in the army, and several small children were left to his care. The widow of a deceased friend soon came to his aid, and in this second wife he found an excel- lent guardian for his children. Soon after his marriage, he removed to Laurens county, where he was made justice of the peace, and was choeen to represent the district in the State legislature. Generous, full of fun, possessing great shrewdness, and "honest to a fault,"' Crockett was very popular in the legis- lature and among his constituents. In the course of a few years he removed to Western Tennessee, where he became a famous hunter. With the rough back- woodsmen there he was a man after their own hearts, and he was elected to a seat in Congress, in 1828, and again in 1830.2 When the Americans in Texas commenced their war for independence, toward the close of 1835, Crockett hastened thither to help them, and at the storming of the Alamo, at Bexar, on the 6th of March, 1836, that eccentric hero was killed. He was then fifty years of age. NATHANIEL MACON. JOHN RANDOLPH, of Roanoke, made his friend, Nathaniel Macon, one of the legatees of his estate, and in his Will, written with his own hand, in 1832, he said of him, " He is the best, and purest, and wisest man I ever knew." This was high praise from one who was always parsimonious in commendations, ' but it was eminently deserved. Mr. Macon was bom in Warren county. North Carolina, in 1757. His early youth gave noble promise of excellent maturity, and it was fulfilled in ample measure. After a preparatory course of study, he entered Princeton College. The tempest of the Revolution swept over New- Jersey, toward the close of 1776, and that institution was closed. Young Macon returned home, his heart glowing with sentiments of patriotism, which had ripened under the genial culture of President Witherspoon, and he entered the military service witli his brother, as a volunteer and private soldier. While in the army the people elected him to a seat in the House of Commons of his native State. Then, as ever afterward, he was unambitious of ofBce as well as of money, and it was with great difficulty that he was persuaded to leave his companions- in-arms, and become a legislator. He yielded, and then commenced his long and brilliant public career. He served as a State legislator for several years, when, in 1791, he was chosen to represent his district in the Federal Congress. In that body he took a high position at once ; and so acceptable were his services to his constituents, that he was regularly reelected to the same office until 1815, when, without his knowledge, the legislature of North Carolina gave him a seat in the Senate of the United States. During five years of his service in the House of Representatives [1801-1806], he was Speaker of that body. He continued in the Senate until 1828, when, in the seventy-first year of his age, he resigned, and retired to private life. At that time he was a trustee of the University of North Carolina, and justice of the peace for Warren county. These offices he also resigned, and sought repose upon his plantation. 1. Many anecdotes illustrative of Colonel Crockett's honesty and generosity have been related. Dnr- hi?: a season of scarcity, be bought a flat-boat load of corn, and offered it for sale cheap. " Have you got money to pay for it?" was his first question when a man came to buy. If he replied " yes," Crockett would say, " Then you can't have a kernel. I brought it here to sell to people who have no money." 2. He and the opposing candidate canvassed their district together, and made stump speeches. Crock- ett's opponent had written his speech, and delivered the same one at diCferent places. David was al- ways original, and he readily yielded to his friend's request to speak first. At a point where both wished to make a good impression, Crockett desired to speak first. His opponent could not refuse ; but, to his dismay, he heard D.-ivid repeat his own speech. The colonel had heard it lo often that it was fixed in his memory. The other candidate was speechless, and lost his election. SAMUEL SLATER. 813 Mr. Macon was called from his retirement, in 1835, to assist in revising the Constitution of North Carolina. lie was chosen president of the convention as- sembled for that purpose; and the instrument then framed bears the marked impress of his genius and tlioroughl.v democratic sentiments. The following year he was chosen a presidential elector, gave his vote in the Electoral College for Martin Van Burcn, and tiicn left the theatre of public life, forever. The sands of his existence were almost numbered. God mercifully spared him the pains of long sickness. ITe had been subject to occasional cramps in the stomach. On the morning of the 29tli of June, 1837, he arose early, as usual, dressed, and shaved himself, and after breakfast was engaged in cheerful conversation. At ten o'clock he was seized with a spasm, and without a struggle after the first paroxysm, ho expired. Peacefully his noble soul left its earth-tenement for its home in light ineffable. As ho lived, so lie died — a good man and a bright example. Mr. Macon was a member of Congress thirty-seven consecutive years ; a longer term of service than was ever given by one man. lie was appropriately styled the Father of the House, and men of all creeds looked up to him as a Patriarch, for counsel and guidance. SAMUEL SLATER. TIIE man who contributes to the comfort of a people and the real wealth of a nation by opening new and useful fields of industry, is a public benefactor. For such reasons, Samuel Slater, the father of the cotton manufacture in the United States, ought to be held in highest esteem. He was a native of England, and was born near Belper, in Derbyshire, on the 9th of June, 1768. After acquiring a good education, his father, who was a practical farmer, apprenticed Samuel to the celebrated Jedediah Strutt, an eminent mechanic,' and then a partner witli Sir Richard Arkwright, in the cotton-spinning business. Samuel was then fourteen j-ears of age, and being expert with the pen and at figures, he was much employed as a clerk in the counting-room. At about that time he. lost his father, but found a good guardian in his master. He evinced an invent- ive genius and mechanical skill, at the beginning, and he soon became the " favorite apprentice." During the last four or five years of his apprenticeship he was Strutt and Arkwright's "right hand man," as general overseer both in the making of machinery and in the manufacturing department. Before he had reached his majority, j'oung Slater had formed a design of going to America, with models of all of Arkwright's machines. At that time the convey- ing of machinery from England to other countries was prohibited, and severe government restrictions were interposed. Slater knew that, but was not dis- heartened. He revealed his plans to no one, and when ho left his mother, he gave her the impression that he was only going to London. "With a little money, his models, and his indentures as an introduction, he sailed for New York on the 13th of September, 1789, and arrived in November.^ There he was employed for a short time, when a better prospect appeared in a proposition from Messre. Almy and Brown, of Providence, Rhode Island, to join with them in preparations for cotton-spinning. He went there, was taken to the little neighboring village of Pawtucket, by the venerable Moses Brown,^ and there, on the 18th of Jan- uary, 1790, he commenced making machinery with his own hands. Eleven 1. Mr. Stmtt was the Inventor of the Derby ribbed-stockinir machine. 2. .Inst as tho ship sailed, he intrusted a letter for his mother to the hands of a friend, in which he gave her information of his destination and his inlentionB. They never met again on earth. 3. See sketch of Moses lirown. 814 SAMUEL SLATER. months afterward they " started three cards, drawing and roving, and seventy- two spindles, which were worked by an old fulling-mill water-wheel in a clothier's establishment." There they remained about twenty months, when they had several thousand pounds of yarn on hand, after making great efforts to weave it up and sell it. Such was the beginning of the successful manufacture of cotton in the United States. Tench Coxe and others had urged the establishment of that branch of industry ; and several capitalists had attempted it, but with poor success with imperfect machinery. In 1793, Mr. Slater was a business partner with Almy & Brown, and they built a factory yet [1855] standing, at Pawtucket. At about the same time he married Hannah Wilkinson, of a good Rhode Island family; and, in 1795, imi- tated Mr. Strutt by opening a Sabbath-school for children and youths, in his own house. The manufacturing business was gradually extended, and Mr. Slater took pride in sending to Mr. Strutt, specimens of cotton yam, equal to any manufactured in Derbyshire. "When war with Great Britain commenced, in 1812, and domestic manufactures felt a powerful impulse, there were seven thousand spindles in operation in Pawtucket alone ; and within the little State of Rhode Island, there were over forty factories and about forty thousand spindles. A writer, in 1813, estimated the number of cotton factories built and in course of erection, eastward of the Delaware river, at five hundred.' 1. According to the census of 1850, the number of cotton establishments then in the United States, was 1,091, in which more than seventy-four millions of dollars were invested. These gave employment to LUCRETIA MARIA DAVIDSON. 815 "When President Jackson made his eastern tour, he visited Pawtueket, and, with the Vice-President, called on Mr. Slater and thanked him in the name of the nation, for what he had done. " You taught us how to spin," said the Pres- ident, ''so as to rival Great Britain in her manufactures; you set all these thousands of spindles at work, which I have been delighted in viewing, and which have made so many happy by lucrative employment." " Yes, sir," Mr. Slater replied ; " I suppose that I gave out the psalm, and they have been sing- ing to the tune ever since." Mr. Slater died at Webster, Massachusetts, (where he had built a factory, and resided during the latter years of his life), on the 20th of April, 1834, at the age of about sixty-seven years. LUCRETIA MARIA DAVIDSON. " In the cold moist earth we laid her, when the forest cast the leaf, And we wept that one so lovely should have a lot so brief ; Yet not iinracet it was, that one, like that young friend of ours. So gentle and so beautiful, should perish with the flowers." — Bryant. " 'PIIERE is no record." says Dr. Sparks, "of a greater prematurity of intellect, ± or a more beautiful development of native delicacy, sensibiUty, and moral purity," than was exhibited by Miss Lucretia Maria Davidson, the wonderful child-poet. She was the daughter of Dr. Oliver Davidson, and a mother of the highest susceptibility of feeling and purity of taste. She was born at Plattsburg, New York, on the 27th of September, 1808. Her body was extremely fragile from earliest infancy until her death. The splendor and strength of her intellect appeared when language first gave expression to her ideas, and at the age of four years she was a thoughtful student at the Plattsburg Academy. She shrunk from playmates, found no pleasure in their sports, and began to commit her thoughts (which came in numbers) to paper, before she had learned to write. Before she was si.x; years of age her mother found a large quantity of paper covered with rude characters and ruder drawings of objects, which Lucretia had made, and carefully liidden. She had secretly managed to make a record of her thoughts, in letters of printed form, as she could not write, and on deciphering them, her mother discovered that they were regular rhymes, and the rude draw- ings were intended as illustrative pictures. Here was an author illustrating her own writings before she was si.x; years of age! The discovery gave the mother much joy, but the child was inconsolable. The key to the arcanum of her greatest happiness was in the possession of another. Lucretia's thirst for knowledge increased with her years, and she would some- times exclaim, "Oh that I could grasp all at once!" She wrote incessantly, when leisure from domestic employment would allow, but she destroyed all she wrote, for a long time. Her earliest preserved poem was an epitaph on a pet Robin, written in her ninth year. At the age of eleven her father took her to see a room which was decorated for the purpose of celebrating the birth-day of Washington in. The ornaments had no charms for her; the character of Wash- ington occupied all her thouglits; and, on returning home, she wTote five excel- lent verses on that theme. An aunt ventured to express doubts of their origin- ality. The trutliful child was shocked at the hint of deception, and she imme- diately wrote a poetic epistle to her aunt, on the subject, which convinced her that Lucretia was the author. over ninety-two thousand persons, male and female, and produced annually manufactured goods valued at more than sixty miUioos of dollars. The value of the taw material used was almost thirty-five mil- lions of dollars. 816 JOHN ARMSTRONG. Before she was twelve years of age Lucretia had read most of the works of the standard English poets ; the whole of the writings of Shakspeare, Kotzebue, and Goldsmith ; much history, and several romances of the better sort. She was passionately fond of Nature, and she would sit for hours watching the clouds, the stars, the storm, and the rainbow, and when opportunity ottered, mused abstractedly in the fields and forests, as if in silent admiration. On such occa^ sions her dark eye would hght up with ethereal splendor, and she seemed really to commune with beings of angelic natures. At length her mother became aq invalid, and the cares of the household devolved on Lucretia. The little maiden toiled on and hoped on ; ever obedient, self-sacrificing, and thoughtful of her mother's happiness, while the wings of her spirit fluttered vehemently against the prison bars of circumstances, which kept it from soaring. " Oh," she said one day to her mother, " if / only possessed half the means of improvement which I see others slighting, I should be the happiest of the happy. I am now sixteen years old, and what do I know? Nothing!" Light soon beamed upon her darkened path. A generous stranger offered to give het every advantage of education. The boon was joyfully accepted, and Lucretia was placed in Mrs. Tyillard's school, in Troy. There she drank too deep and ardently at the fount- ain of knowledge — her apphcation to study was too intense, and her fragile frame was too powerfully swayed by the energies of her spirit. During her first vacation she suffered severe illness. After her recovery she was placed in Miss Gilbert's school, in Albany, but soon another illness prostrated her. She rallied, and then went home to die. Like a flower when early frost hath touched it, that sweet creature faded and drooped; and on the 27th of August, 1825, the perfume of her mortal l^fe was exhaled in the sunbeams of immortality, before she had completed her seventeenth year. The last production of Miss Davidson's pen was written during her final ill- ness, and was left unfinished.' She had a dread of insanity, and that poem was on the subject. She wrote, ' " That thought comes o'er me in the hour Of grief, of sickness, or of sadness ; ■ ^ 'Tis not the dread of Ileath — 'tis more : It is the dread of Madness 1" God mercifully spared her that afTliction, and her intellect was clear as a sun- beam when death closed her eyehds. JOHN ARMSTRONQ. WHILE the remnant of the Continental army was encamped near Newburgh, a few months before they were finally disbanded, and much dissatisflxction existed among the officers and soldiers because of the seeming injustice of Con- gress, anonymous addresses appeared, couched in strong language, and calculated to increase the discontents and to excite the sufferers to mutinous and rebellious measures. Those addresses, which exhibited great genius and power of ex- pression, were written by John Armstrong, one of the aids to General Gates, and a young man tlien about twenty-five years of age. He was a son of General John Armstrong, of Pennsylvania, who was distinguished in the French and 1. In 1829, a collection of her writings was published, with the title of Amir Khan ayui other Poems, prefaced with a biographical sketch, by Professor S. F. B. Morse. That volume forms her appropriate monument. JOHN ARMSTRONG. 817 Indian war, and participated in the military events of the Revolution. John was born at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on the 2oth of November, 1758, and was educated in the college at Princeton. While a student there, in 1775, he joined the army as a volunteer in Potter's Pennsylvania regiment, and was soon after- ward appointed aid-de-camp to General Mercer. lie continued with that bravo officer until his death, at Princeton, early in 1777, when he took the same posi- tion in the military family of General Oates, with the rank of major. lie was with that officer until the capture of Burgoyne. In 1780, he was promoted to adjutant-general of the Southern army, when Gates took the command, but be- coming ill on the banks of the Pedee, Colonel Otho II. "VYilliams took his place, until just before the battle near Camden. Then ho resumed it, and continued with General Gates until the close of the war. It seems to have been at the suggestion of General Gates and other distinguished officers, that Major Armstrong prepared the celebrated Newbnrgk Addresses.^ Under the administration of the government of Pennsylvania, by Dickenson and Franklin, Major Armstrong was Secretary of State and adjutant-general. These posts ho occupied in 1787, when ho was elected to a seat in Congress. In the Autumn of that year he was appointed one of three judges for the Western Territory, but ho declined the honor. In 1789, ho married a sister of Chancellor Livingston, of New York, and purchased a beautiful estate on the banks of the Hudson, in the upper part of Dutchess county, wlicre he resided until his death, fifty-four years afterward, lie continually refused public office until the year 1800, when, by an almost unanimous vote of the legislature of NeW| York, he was chosen to represent the State in the Federal Senate. He resigned that office in 1802, but was reelected, in 1803. A few months afterward. President Jeffer- son appointed him minister plenipotentiary to France, where he remained more than six years, a i)ortion of the time performing the duties of a separate mission to Spain, with which he was charged. In 1812, Major Armstrong was commissioned a brigadier-general in the army of the United States, and took command in the city of New York, until called to the cabinet of President Madison, the next year, as Secretary of War. He accepted the office with much reluctance, for he had many misgivings concerning the success of the Americans. He at once made some radical changes by sub- stituting young for old officers, and thereby made many bitter enemies. The capture and conflagration of Washington, in 1814, led to his retirement from office.' Public opinion then held him chiefly responsible for that catastrophe, but documentary evidence proves the injustice of that opinion. No man ever took office with purer motives, or left it with a better claim to the praise of a faithful servant, lie retired to private life, resumed agricultural pursuits, and lived almost thirty years after leaving public employment. He died at his seat at Red Hook, Dutchess county, on the 1st of April, 1843, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. General Armstrong was a pleasing writer. He is known to the public, as such, chiefly by hia Life of Monbjomery, Life of Wayne, and Notices of the War of l?,\2. 1. The first Address set forth the prievances of the army, evoked the use of power in their hands to redress Ihem, iiiul proposed a iiieeiinc of otKcurs to take mutters into their own hands, and compel Con- gress to be just. WasninKton defeated the movement by timely counter-measures. The attempt, how- ever, aroiiMil Conjrress and the whole country to a sense of duly toward the army, and a satisfactory result was accomplished. No doubt the Address and its bold propositions were put forth with patriotic Intentions. Such was the opinion expressed to the author, by Washington, fourteen years afierward. 2. In August, IHU, a strong British force, under General Ross, penetrated Maryland by way of tho Pftttixent, and after a severe skirmish with the Americans at Bladensburg, pushed on to Washingrton city, burned the capitol, the President-house, and other public and private buildings, and then hastily retreated. Armstroug was censured for not making necessary preparations for the invasion, as was alleged. 818 HOSEA BALLOU. ^<^^^_^^ HOSEA BALLOU. THAT gifted and remarkable promulgator of the religious doctrine known as Universalism, Hosea Ballou, was the founder of the sect in this country, and for that reason, as well as for the patriarchal age to which he attained, as a minister, he was appropriately called by the affectionate and reverential name of Father Ballou. He was a native of Richmond, New Hampshire, where he was born on the 30th of April, 1771. His early years were passed among the beautiful and romantic scenery of Ballou's Dale, and in the groves, " God's first temples," his devotional feelings were early stirred and long nourished. His early education was utterly neglected ; and it was when he was upon the verge of manhood that he first studied English grammar, and applied himself earnestly to the acquirement of knowledge from books. At the age of sixteen years he first managed to read and write fluently, after a great deal of unaided industry and perseverance. In those efforts, the family Bible became his chief instructor, and it was the instrument, under God, that made him what he was in after life. Farm labor was the daily occupation of his youth, and it gave him physical vigor for the severe labors of a long life. At the age of eighteen years young Ballou became a member of the Baptist Church. His religious views soon changed. He became possessed of the idea that aM would be finally happy, because " God is love, and his grace is impar- tial." The idea took the form of a creed, and an earnest longing to have others enjoy what he felt to be a great blessing, caused him to commence preaching, feebly yet effectively, at the age of twenty years. At a common school and an nOSEA BALLOU. 819 academy ho studied intensely "night and day, slept little and ate little." Then he commenced school teaching for a livelihood, studying assiduously all the while, and preaching hia new and startling doctrine, occasionally. At the age of twenty -four years he abandoned school teaching, and dedicated his life to the promulgation of his peculiar religious views, travelling from place to place, and subsisting upon the free bounties of increasing friends. His itinerant labors ceased in 1794, when he became pastor of a congregation, first in Dana, Massa- chusetts, and then in Barnard, Vermont. His warfare upon prevailing religious opinions produced many bitter opponents, yet meekly and firmly he labored on, spreading the circle of his influence with tongue and pen. Mr. Ballou wag undoubtedly the first who, in this country, inculcated UnUarianism ; and every where his doctrine was new, and "a strange thing in Israel." In 1804, Mr. Ballou published Nutes on the Parables, and soon afterward hia Treatise on the Atonement, appeared. These were met by heartiest condemnation on the part of his opponents, while they were very highly esteemed by his religious adherents. In 1807, he was called to the pastoral charge of a congregation at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he continued to preach to crowded houses on the Sabbath, and teach a school during the week, until the war between the United States and Great Britain was kindled, in 1812. He was in the midst of those who violently opposed the war; and because he patriotically espoused the cause of his country, he made man}^ bitter enemies, and impaired his usefulness. He accordingly left Portsmouth, in 1815, and accepted a call to Salem. While there he engaged in the celebrated controversy with Rev. Abner Kneeland, whose faith in Christianity had failed him. It ended happily in the avowed conviction of Mr. Kneeland of the truths of revealed religion. Mr. Ballou re- mained in Salem about two years, when ho was invited to make Boston his field of labor. Near the close of 1817, he was installed pastor of the Second Univer- salist Church, in Boston, and that connection was only severed by his death. There his ministrations were attended by immense congregations, and he laid the foundations of Unitarianism and Universaiism strong and deep in the New England metropolis. In 1819, Mr. Ballou established the Universalist Magazine, which soon acquired high reputation for its literary merits and denominational value. The following year he compiled a collection of Hymns for the use of the sect ; and soon after- ward he made a professional visit to New York and Philadelphia, where great numbers of people listened to his eloquent and logical discourses. In Philadel- phia, he preached in the Wa-shimjion Garden Saloon, no meeting-house being large enough to hold the immense crowds that gathered to bear him. In 1831, he wiis associated with a nephew in publishing the Universalist Expositor, a quarterly periodical ; and at about the same time volumes of his Sermons and Lectures were published. In 1 834, ho wrote and put forth An Examination of Vie Doctrine of Future Ketrihution ; and in the meanwhile his pen was ever busy in contributions to denominational publications. Old age now whitened hia locks, yet his "eye was not dim nor his natural forces abated," and at the age of Bevent\'-two years [1843] he made a long journey to Akron, Ohio, to attend a national convention of Universalists. Thousands flocked thither to see and hear the far-famed Father Ballou, and were gratified. He was permitted to return to his beloved home and Hock in safety, and continued his pastoral labors almost nine )'ears longer. Finally, on the 7th of June, 1852, that eminently great and pood man died, at the ago of a little more than eighty years. He had been a distinguished preacher for the long period of sixty years. He was a vigorous yet generous polemic, a pleasing and voluminous writer, and an eloquent speaker. His thoughts, occasionally expressed in verse, exhibit many beautiful specimens of genuine poetry. 820 STEPHEN HOPKINS. STEPHEN HOPKINS "VTEXT to Doctor Franklin, Stephen Hopkins, of Rhode Island, was the oldest JM member of the Continental Congress, who signed the Declaration of Inde- pendence. He was born in that portion of the town of Providence now called Scituate, on the 7th of March, 1707. The opportunities at that time and place for acquiring an education were few and weak, and Hopkins became a self- taught man in the truest sense of the term. He was a farmer until the age of twenty-five years, when he commenced mercantile business in Providence. The following year he was chosen to represent Scituate in the Rhode Island legis- lature, and was annually reelected until 1738. He resumed his seat there in 1741, and was made Speaker of the House. From that time until 1751, he was almost every year a member and the Speaker of the lower House. In the latter year he was chosen chief justice of the colony. Mr. Hopkins was a delegate from Rhode Island in the first colonial conven- tion, held at Albany, in 1754,' and two years afterward he was elected governor of Rhode Island. That position he held, with but a single interruption, until 1767 ; and he was very efficient in promoting the enlistment of volunteers in his province, for the expeditions against the French and Indians. He even took a captain's commission, and placed himself at the head of a volunteer corps, in 1757, but a change in events rendered their services unnecessary, and they were disbanded. When the quarrel Avith the mother country commenced, Governor Hopkins took a decided stand in favor of the colonists; and officially and un- officially he labored incessantly to promote a free and independent spirit among his countrymen. A proof of his love of justice, as well as a love of liberty, is found in the fact that he endeavored to procure legislative enactments in favor of the emancipation of slaves in Rhode Island, and he actually gave freedom to all owned by himself. When, in 1774, a general Congress was proposed. Gov- ernor Hopkins warmly advocated the measure, and was chosen one of the dele- gates for Rhode Island. At the same time he held the important offices of chief justice of the province and representative in its Assombl}^ In 1775, he was a member of the Committee of Public Safety, in Rhode Island, and was again elected to Congress. There he advocated political independence ; and in the Sunmier of 1776, he affixed his remarkable signature'^ to the noble manifesto which declared it. Mr. Hopkins was elected to Congress, for the last time, in 1778, and was one of the committee who perfected the Articles of Confederation for the government of the United States, then fighting under one banner, for independence. He was then more than seventy years of age, yet he was actively engaged in the duties of almost every important committee while he held his seat in Congress. He re- tired in 1780, and then withdrew from public life to enjoy repose and indulge in bis flivorite study of the exact sciences. He was a distinguished mathematician, and rendered efficient service to scientific men in observing the transit of Venus, in 1769.3 But his season of earthly repose and happiness was short. The Patriot and Sage went down into the grave on the 19th of July, 1785, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. Through life he had been a constant attendant of the religious meetings of Friends, or Quakers, and was ever distinguished among men as a sincere Christian. 1. See slietch of Dr. Franklin. 2. It is remarkable because of its evidence tliat his Viand trembled excessively. That tremulousness Is riot attributable, as misht be suspected of a less bold man, to fear inspired by the occasion, but by a malady known as shaking palsy, vfUh which he had been troubled many years. I have a document before me, signed by him in 1761. His signature at that time betrays the same unsteadiness of hand, though not in the same degree as in 1776. 3. See sketches of Winthrop and Rittenhouse. ALBERT GALLATIN". 821 AI.BKRT OALLATIN. DURIXrr the most important period in the progress of our Republic after its perniaiieiit organization, in 1789, Albert Gallatin, a native of Geneva, Switzerlanil, was an aotive, useful, and highly patriotic citizen and jmblic officer. He was born on tlie 29th of January, 176L His family connections were of tho highest respectability. Among these was the celebrated M. Necker and his equall3'-(ii.stinguished daughter, Madame de Stael. His father, who died when Albert was four years of age, was then a councillor of state. At a proper age Albert was placed in the University of Geneva, where he was graduated in 1779. He had early felt and manifested a zeal for republican institutions, and declining the commission of a lieutenant-colonel in the service of one of the German sov- ereigns, ho came to AmerTSa, in 1780, when only nineteen years of age. In November of that year he entered the public service of his adopted country, by taking command of a small fort at Machias, Maine, which was garrisoned by volunteers and Indians. At the close of tlie war he taught the French language in Harvard University, for awhile. Having received his patrimony from Europe, in 1784, he purchased lands in Virginia. He afterward established himself on the banks of tho Monongahela, in Pennsylvania, where his talents were soon brought into requisition. Ho was a member of the convention to revise the constitution of Pennsylvania, in 1789, and for two succeeding years he was rep- resentative of the State legislature. In that body those financial abilities, which afterward rendered him eminent in the administration of the national treasury, were manifested. In 1793, he was elected to a seat in the Senate of the United States, but, by a strictly party vote, he was excluded from it on the ground of ineligibility, because nine years had not elapsed since his naturaliza- tion in Virginia.' He was immediately elected a member of the House of Representatives, where he was confessedly the Republican leader, and was re- garded as one of the mo.st logical debaters and soundest statesmen in that body. In 1801, President .Tcfferson appointed Mr. Gallatin Secretary of the Treasury. He exercised the functions of that office with rare ability, during the whole of Jefferson's administration, and a part of Madison's, until 1813, when he went to St. Petersburg, as one of the envoys extraordinar}' of the United States, to nego- tiate with Great Britain under the mediation of Russia.2 He was appointed one of tlie commissioners who negotiated a treaty of peace with Great Britain, at Ghent, in 1814 ; and early the following year he assisted in forming a commer- cial treaty with the same power. From 1816 until 1823, Mr. Gallatin was res- ident miui.ster of the United States at tho French court, and in the meanwhile had been employed on extraordinary missions to the Netherlands and to Great Bi-itain. In these diplomatic services he was ever skilful, and always vigilant in guarding the true interests of his country. Other official stations had been proffered him, while he was abroad. President Madison invited him to become his Secretary of State, or Prime Minister; and President Monroe offered him a place in his cabinet, as Secretary of tlie Navy- He also declined the nomination of Vice-President of the United States which the Democratic party offered him, in 1824. Mr. Gallatin returned home, in 1828, and became a resident of New York city, where he took an active interest in all matters pertaining to the public good. In 1831. ho wrote the memorial to Congress of tho Free-Trade Convention, and from that time until 1839, he gave a noble example of the true method of bank- ing, while he was President of the National Bank. He was one of the founders, 1. See clause .t, section ,'?, article I. of the Constitution of the tJnited States. 2. See sketches of John Quincj Adams acd James A. Bayard. 21 S22 DAVID WOOSTER. and first president of the council of the New Tork University. At the time of his death he was President of the New York Historical Society, and also of the American Ethnological Society, of which he was chief founder. A few days before his death ho was elected one of the first members of the Smithsonian In- stitute. His departure occurred at his residence at Astoria, Long Island, on the 12th of August, 1849, at the age of more than eighty-eight years. DAVID WOOSTER. FOR almost fourscore years the grave of one of America's best heroes was al- lowed to remain unhonored by a memorial-stone, until tradition had almost forgotten the hallowed spot. That hero was David "Wooster, who lost his life in the defence of the soil of liis native State against that ruthless invader, General Tiyon. He was born at Stratford, Connecticut, on the 2d of March, 1710, and was graduated at Yale College, in 1738. When war between England and Spain broke out the following year, he entered the provincial army as a lieuten- ant, and was soon afterward promoted to the captaincy of a vessel built and armed by the colony as a guarda cosfa, or coast-guard. In 1740, he married Miss Clapp, daughter of the President of Yale College; and, in 1745, we observe his first movements in military life as a captain in Colonel Burr's regiment in the expedition against Louisburg. From Cape Breton he went to Europe in com- mand of a cartel-ship.^ But he was not permitted to land in France, and he sailed for England, where he was received with great honor. He was presented to the king, became a favorite at court, and was made a captain in the regular service, under Sir William Pepperell. When the French and Indian war in America broke out, he was commissioned a provincial colonel by the governor of Connecticut, and was finally promoted to brigadier-general. He was in serv- ice to the end of that war; and when, in 1775, the revolutionary fires kindled into a flame, ho was found read_v to battle manfully for his country in its struggle for freedom. lie was with Arnold and Allen at the capture of Ticonderoga; and when the Continental army was organized, a few weeks later, he received the appointment of brigadier-general, third in rank. He was in command in Canada, in the Spring of 177G ; and soon after his return to Connecticut, he was appointed first major-general of the militia of that State. In that capacity he was actively engaged when Tryon invaded the State, in the Spring of 1777, and penetrated to and burned Danbury. Near Ridgefield ho led a body of militia in pursuit of the invader, and there, in a warm engagement, on Sunday, the 27th of April, he was fatally wounded by a musket-ball. He was conveyed to Danbury on a litter, where he lived long enough for his wife and children to arrive from New Haven, and soothe his dying hours. He expired on the 2d of May, 1777, at the age of sixty-seven years, and was interred in the village burying-ground. Con- gress ordered a monument to be erected to his memory, but that act of justice has never been accomplished by the Federal government. The legislature of Connecticut finally resolved to erect a memorial; and in April, 1854, the corner- stone of a monument was laid, with imposing ceremonies.^ On opening the grave, the remains of the hero's epaulettes and plume, and the fatal bullet, were found among his bones. 1. A vessel coraraissioned in time of war to carry proposals between belligerent powers. It claims the same respect ns a flag: *^ent from one army to another. 2. On that occasion the Honorable Henry C. Detning pronounced an elequent oration, which ■vat Bubsequently published in pamphlet form. THOMAS MACDOXOUGir, 823 y^ ->^. THOMAS MACDONOUOH. ON tlio very day when "Washington resigned his miUtary commission into the custody of Congress, from whom he had received it, a future American naval licro was born in Newcastle county, Delaware. It was on the 23d of December, 1783, and that germ of a hero was Thomas Macdonough. At the age of fifteen years he obtained a midshipman's warrant, and in the war with Tripoli he was distinguished for bravery. He was one of the daring men selected by Decatur to a.'isist liim in burning the Philaddphia frigate,' and he partook of the honors of that brilliant exploit. When war with Great Britain was proclaimed in 1812, Macdonough held a lieutenant's commission, having received it in Feb- ruary, 1807. He was ordered to service on Lake Champlain, and in July, 1813, lie was promoted to master-commandant. There was very little for him to do, in that quarter, for some time, and he became restive in comparative idleness. But opportunity for action came at last, and he gladly accepted and nobly im- proved it. The war in Europe having been suspended, early in 1814, by the abdication of Napoleon and the capture of Paris by the allied armies, the British forces in America were largely augmented. Quite a strong army, under Sir 1. See sketch of Decatur. 824 SAMUEL SMITH. George Prevost, invaded New York from the St. Lawrence ; and a fleet, under Commodore Downie, sailed up Lake Champlain to cooperate with the land forces. They were called " the flower of Wellington's army, and the cream of Nelson's marines." General Macomb was in command of a small land force, composed chiefly of local militia, and Macdonough had a little squadron of four ships and ten galleys, with an aggregate of eighty-six guns. Such was the force which stood in the way of the sanguine invader. On the 11th of September, 1814, the British land and naval forces both approached. The conflict was short but de- cisive. Macdonough, by superior nautical skill and dexterity in the management of guns, soon caused the British flag to fall, when Prevost, in dismay, hastily retreated, leaving victory with the Americans on both land and water.' The victory was hailed with great joy throughout the country, and Macdonough's fiime was proclaimed every where, in oration and in song. Congress awarded him a gold commemorative medal, and gave him the commission of a post cap- tain. Other substantial rewards were bestowed. The State of New York gave him one thousand acres of land; that of Vermont, two hundred acres; and the cities of New York and Albany each gave him a lot of ground. At about the close of the war, Commodore Macdonough's health gave way, yet he lived for more than ten years with the tooth of consumption undermining his citadel of life. He died on the 10th of November, 1825, at the age of about forty-two years. He was exemplary in every relation of life, and had but few of the com- mon liiults of humanity. His bravery was born of true courage, not of mere intrepidity, and be never quaUed in the face of most imminent danger.- SAMUEL SMITH. SAMUEL SMITH, the "hero of Fort Mifflin," lived more than sixty years after the achievements there, which won for him that appropriate title. He was a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where he was born on the 27th of January, 1752. His father was a distinguished public man, first in Pennsylvania and then in Maryland. Samuel's education commenced at Carlisle, Pennsyl- vania, and Avas completed at an academy in Elkton, Marj^land, after his father made Baltimore his residence. At the age of fourteen years he entered his father's counting-house as a clerk, remained there five years, and then, in 1772, departed for Havre as supercargo in one of his flither's vessels. After travelling extensively on the Continent, he returned homo, and found his countrymen in the midst of the excitements of the opening of the revolutionary hostilities. The 1. When the British squadron appeared off Cumberland-head, Macdonough knelt on the deck of the Saratoga ("his flag-ship), in the midst of his men, and prayed to the God of Battles for aid. A curious incident occurred during the engagement that soon folio-wed. A British ball demolished a hen-coop on board the Saratoga. A cock, released from his prison, fiew into the rigging, and crowed lustily, at the same time flapping his wings with triumphant vehemence. The seamen regarded the event as a good omen, and they fonght like tigers, while the cock cheered them on with its crowings, until the British flag was struck and the firing ceased. 2. On one occasion, while first-lieutenant of a vessel, lying in the harbor of Gibraltar, an armed boat from a British man-of-war boarded an American brig anchored near, in the absence of the commander, and carried off a seaman. Macdonough manned a gig, and with an inferior force, made chase and re- captured the seaman. The captain of the man-of-war came aboard Macdonough's vessel, and in a great rage asked him how he dared to take the man from his miiiesty's boat. " lie was an American seaman, and I did my duty," was the reply. " I'll bring my ship along side, and sink you," angrily cried the Briton. " That you can do," coolly responded Macdonougli, " but while she swims, that man you will not have." The captain, roaring with rage, said, " Supposing /had been in that boat, would yon have dared to commit such an act?" " I should have made the attempt, sir," was the calm replv. " What 1" shouted the captain, " if I were to impress men from that biig, would you interfere?" " You have only to try it, sir," was Macdonough's tantalizing reply. The haughty Briton was overmatched, and he did not attempt to try the metal of such a brave young man. There were cannon balls in his coolness, full cf danger. JEHUDI ASHMU^T. 325 battles at Lexington, Concord, and Breed's Hill, had been fought. Pired with patriotic zeal, young Smith sought to serve his country in the army ; and in January, 1776, he obtained a captain's commission in Colonel Small wood's regi- ment. He was soon afterward promoted to the rank of major; and early in 1777, he received a lieutenant-colouel's commission. In that capacity he served with distinction in the battle of Brandywine, and a few weeks later won unfad- ing laurels for his gallant defence of Fort Midlin, a little below Philadelphia, of which he was commander. Tliere, for seven weeks, he sustained a siege by a greatly superior force, and abandoned tlio fort only when the defences were no longer tenable. For his services there, Congress voted him a sword, and the country rang with liis praises. He afterward suffered with the army at Valley Forge, and fought on the plains of Monmouth. At the close of the war. Colonel Smith was appointed a brigadier-general of militia, and commanded the Maryland troops under General Lee, in quelling the "Whiskey Insurrection" in "Western Pennsylvania. Ho was active in support of Washington's administration throughout; and, in 1793, he was elected to represent tlie Baltimore district in the Federal Congress, where ho remained for ten consecutive years. He held the commission of major-general of militia dur- ing the war of 1812-15, and was active in measures to repel invading Britons, at Baltimore, in 1814. Two j-ears afterward he was again elected to Congress, and served in the House of Representatives for sis years. He was also a mem- ber of the United States Senate for many years. In 1836, during a fearful riot in Baltimore, his military services were again brought into requisition, and by his prompt efforts the disturbance was soon quelled. The mob had defied the civil authority, and were wantonly destroying property, when the aged general appeared in their midst, bearing the American flag, and calling upon peaceably- disposed citizens to rally and assist him in sustaining law and order. That result was soon accomplished. In the Autumn of the same year, when at the age of more than eighty-four years, ho was elected mayor of Baltimore, by an almost unanimous vote. He held that office by reelection until his death, which, occurred on the 22d of April, 1839, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. JEIIUDI ASFIMUN. THE first agent of the American Colonization Society, employed to plant a set- tlement of free negroes in the land of their fathers, was Jehudi Ashmun, the son of i)ious parents who resided near the western shore of Lake Champlain, in the State of New York. In the town of Champlain he was born, in April, 1794, and was graduated at Burlington College, in 1816. He commenced prep- arations for the ministry in the theological seminary at Bangor, in Maine, but soon mado his residence in the District of Columbia, became attached to the Protestant Episcopal Church there, and took a zealous part in the early efforts to found a colony of free blacks in Africa. His zeal and usefulness were appre- ciated by the American Colonization Society; and, in 1822, he was appointed to take charge of a reenforccment for their infant settlement in Africa. He be- came the general agent there, and it was necessary for him to perform the duties of legislator, soldier, and engineer. Afflictions fell upon him at the beginning. Ilis wife died ; and within three months after his arrival, when the whole force of the colonists consisted of only thirt3'-five men and boys, he was attacked by armed savages. They were repulsed, but in December they returned with greatly increased numbers, and utter extermination of the little colony seemed 326 JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUK. certain. Again the savages were repulsed, and thoroughly defeated. For six years Mr. Ashmun labored faithfully there, with Lott Gary,' in laying the found- ation of the Republic of Liberia, but the malaria of the lowlands made great inroads upon his health, month after month, until he was compelled to return to America to recruit. His departure was a great grief to the colonists, who now numbered twelve hundred souls. He felt that the hand of decay was upon him, and he expressed a belief that he should never return. Like the friends of Paul, they kissed him, " Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that tliey should see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship."- Men, women, and children, parted with him at the shore, with tears. His an- ticipations were realized, for on the 25th of August, 1828, only a fortnight after his arrival at New Haven, he departed for the "happy land," at the age of thirty-four years. There is a handsome monument to his memory in a cemetery in New Haven, JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN. BT flir the most profound, consistent, aud popular statesman that South Caro- lina has ever produced, was John C. Calhoun, whose name will ever be associated in history with the institution of Slavery as its most cordial and honest defender. He will be remembered, too, as an uncorrupt patriot, and a states- man above reproach. That idol of the Carolinians was the son of Patrick Calhoun, an Irishman of great respectability, who took front rank among the patriots in Western Carolina during the War for Independence. Jolm was born in Abbe- ville district. South Carolina, on the 18th of March, 1782. His mother was a Virginia lady of great worth, and to her care the moulding of the young mind aud heart of the future statesman was chiefly intrusted. Although he was a great reader, from childhood, yet, until late in youthhood, he had acquired very little education from systematic instruction. Under the charge of his brother-in- law. Dr. Waddel, of Columbia county,- Georgia, he was prepared for college, and entered Yale, as a student, in 1802. His progress there was exceedingly rapid. His genius beamed forth daily, more and more; and, in 1804, he was graduated with the highest honors of the institution. President Dwight admired him for his many manly virtues; and on one occasion ho remarked, " That boy, Calhoun, has talent enough to be President of the United States, and will become one yet, I confidently predict." For three years subsequent to his leaving college, Calhoun studied law, in Litchfield, Connecticut, and then entered upon its practice in his native district. He was elected to a seat in tha legislature of South Carolina, the following year [1808], and after serving two terms there, he was chosen to represent his disti'ict in the Federal Congress. At that time a war spirit was kindling throughout the nation, and Mr. Calhoun entered Congress when his fine abilities were most needed. He was a staunch republican ; and during his career of six years in the House of Representatives, he was an eloquent and consistent supporter of Pres- ident Madison's administration. Mr. Monroe so highly appreciated his abilities, that when he took the presidential chair, in 1817, he called Mr. Calhoun to his cabinet as Secretary of War. In that capacity his great administrative abilities, so early discovered by President Dwight, were daily manifested, and he per- formed the duties of his office with signal fidelity and energy, during the whole eight years of Mr. Monroe's administration. He was elected Vice-President of 1. See sketch of Lott Cary. 2. Acts sx. 38. JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN. 327 ^^^^^^^/i^-'X^-tZ-C^'t^^ the United States, in 1825, and held that position more than six years, having been rei-lceted, with President Jackson, in 1828. In 1831, when Robert Y. Hayne left the Senate to become governor of South Carohna, Mr. Calhoun was chosen his successor, and resigned the vice-presidency. At the end of the term for which he was chosen, he retired to private life, and sought repose in the bosom of his funily. In 1843, he was called to the cabinet of President Tyler, as Secretary of State ; and, in 1815, he w;is again chosen United States Senator, by the legislature of South Carolina. He continued in that exalted position until his death, which occurred at Washington city, on the 31st of March, 1850, at the age of si.Kty-eight years. Few men have exerted a more powerful and controlling sway over the opinions of vast masses of men, than Mr. Calhoun, for his views on several topics coin- cided witli those of the great majority of the Southern people; and he was known to be inde-Kibly honest and true, and eminently reliable. No man of his faith ever doubted that leader any more than his creed. As a statesman, he was full of forecast, acute in judgment, and comprehensive in his general views. He was eminently conservative in many things, and by precept and example, recom- mended "masterly inactivity" as preferable to mere impulsive and effervescent movements. When intelligence came, in 1848, that Louis Philippe was driven from Paris and the French Republic had been proclaimed, it was proposed, in the United States Senate, that our government should acknowledge the new 323 HENRY DEARBORN". order of things. " Wait until it becomes a Republic," were the words of cautious wisdom uttered by Senator Calhoun. We fiave waited many years, and France is yet [1869] ruled by an usurper. Daniel Webster said of Mr. Calhoun, in the Senate of the United States, " We shall hereafter, I am sure, indulge in it as a grateful recollection, that we have lived in his age, that we have been his con- temporaries, that we have seen him, and heard him, and known him." HENRY DEARBORN. WHEN the government of the United States declared war against Great Britain, in 1812, the chief command of the army then authorized to be raised, was given to Henry Dearborn, a meritorious soldier of the War for Inde- pendence. He was born in Hampton, New Hampshire, in March, 1751. He studied the science of medicine with Doctor Jackson, of Portsmouth, and com- menced its practice there in 1772. As the storm-clouds of the impending Revo- lution gathered, he took an active part in politics on the side of the patriots, and gave much attention to military affairs. When, on the 20th of April, 1775, in- telligence reached Portsmouth of the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord the preceding day, young Dearborn marched in haste to Cambridge, at the head of sixty volunteers. He soon returned to New Hampshire, was elected a captain in the regiment of Colonel Stark, enlisted his company, and was again at Cam- bridge on the 15th of May. In the memorable battle on Breed's Hill, on the 17th of June following. Captain Dearborn behaved gallantly; and in September ensuing, he accompanied General Arnold in his perilous march across the wilder- ness from the Kennebec to the St. Lawrence. Famine, with the keenness of a wolfs appetite, fell upon tliem, and a fine dog belonging to Captain Dearborn, that accompanied them, was used for food. Even moose-skin breeches were boiled ; the extracted mucilage served as soup, and the hide was roasted and eaten. Many died from hunger and fatigue, and Captain Dearborn himself was left iU of a fever in the hut of a firmer, on the banks of the Chaudiere, without a physician. He slowly recovered, joined the army at Quebec, in December, participated in the siege and assault of that city, under Montgomerj^, and was made a prisoner. He was permitted to return home on parole the following May. His exchange was not effected until March, 1777, when he was appointed major in Scammell's regiment ; and was at Ticonderoga, in May following. la the eventful conflicts at Saratoga, in the ensuing Autumn, he gallantly partic- ipated, and shared in the honors of the capture of Burgoyne. General Gates gave him special notice in his despatch to Congress. He was promoted to lieu- tenant-colonel in Cilley's regiment, and in that capacity he participated in the gallant charge at Monmouth, after Lee's retreat, that broke the power of the British force. Lieutenant-colonel Dearborn accompanied General Sullivan in his expedition against the Senecas, in 1779. In 1780, he again became attached to Colonel Scam- mell's regiment, and on the death of that officer during the siege of Yorktown, Dearborn succeeded to his rank and command. After that event he was on duty at the frontier post of Saratoga, under the immediate command of Lord Stirling, and there, at the close of the war, his military services in the Continental army ended. He settled upon the banks of the Kennebec, in 1784, and engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1789, Washington appointed him marshal of the District of Maine ; and twice he was elected to a seat in Congress from that ABIEL HOLMES. 829 territory. Mr. Jeflerson called him to his cabinet as Secretary of War, in 1801, and he discharged the duties of that office with great ability and fidelitj% during Jefferson's entire administration of eight years. On retiring, in 1809, President Madison gave . him the lucrative office of collector at the port of Boston. In February, 1812, when war with Great Britain appeared inevitable, Colonel Dear- born was commissioned senior major-general of the army ; and the following Spring he was in chief command at the capture of York (now Toronto), in Can- ada, where General Pike was killed. Ho continued in command, for awhile longer, when the President recalled him on tlic ground of ill health, and he assumed command of the military district of New York city. He retired to private life, in 1815, where he remained until 1822, when President Monroe ap- pointed him minister to Portugal. At his own request ho was permitted to re- turn home, after an absence of two years, and resided most of the time in Boston, until his death. That event occurred at the house of his son, in Roxbury, Mas- sachusetts, on the Cth of June, 1829, at the age of seventy-eight years. ABIEL HOLMES. THE faithful annalist is a nation's beneflictor ; and it may be truthfully said to all such chroniclers, as the poet said to the historian of Rome — " AnrI Rome Rhall owe For her raeraorial to your learned pen More than to all those fadinp; monuments, Built with the riches of the spoiled world." In this category of benefactors, Abiel Holmes, D.D., holds a conspicuous place, and Americans should cherish his memory with pride and deepest affection. His Annals of America, in two volumes, is one of the most valuable historical pub- lications ever issued from the press, as a work of reference. And as an Annalist he is best known to the world. Abiel Holmes was born at "Woodstock, Connecticut, in December, 1763. He was graduated at Yale College at the ago of twenty years, and went immediately to South Carolina as an instructor in a private famih". He had received religious impressions at an early age, and these deepened with the lapse of years. Tho gospel ministry opened to his mind a field of great usefulness, and he entered upon it j\s a pastor of a church at Midway, Georgia, in the Autumn of 1785. There he remained until the Summer of 1791, when he visited New England, and accepted an invitation to become pastor of tho first Congregational Church at Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was ever studious, and Biography and History had great charms for him. In 1798, he wrote and published a Life of President Stiles, of Yale College; and, in 1805, his Annals of America was first published. An edition was printed in England, in 1813; and, in 1829, a much-improved edition, in which tho record is continued until 1827, was published at Cambridge. With this edition of Holmes' Annals, the American Register from 1826 to 1830 inclusive, and tho American Almanac from 1830 to the present time, a library has an unbroken record of events in the United States from the earliest settle- ments. In addition to his works just mentioned, Dr. Holmes published about thirty pamphlets, consisting chiefly of sermons and historical disquisitions. He diedat Cambridge, Massachusetts, on the 4th day of June, 1837, at the age of almost seventy-four years. 830 PHILIP SYNG PHYSIC. PHILIP SYNQ PHYSIC. PHILIP SYNG- PHYSIC has been appropriately called the Washington — the Hero and Sage — of the medical profession, because, always cautious, he was nevertheless ready for any emergency, and his great mind never failed in its resources amidst tlie most complicated difficulties. That eminent physician was born in Philadelphia, on the 7th of July, 1768. His father had been keeper of the great seal of the colony of Pennsylvania ; and, prior to the Revolution, he had charge of the estates of the Peun family, as confidential agent. At the age of eleven years, Philip was placed under the charge of Robert Proud, principal of an academy that belonged to the Society of Friends, and in due time entered the University of Pennsylvania, as a student. He was graduated in 1785, and immediately commenced the study of medicine with the distinguished Professor Kuhn. After attending a course of medical lectures at the university, he em- barked for Europe, in the Autumn of 1788, in company with his father, who, through influential friends in England, procured the admission of Philip to the friendsliip and private instruction of the eminent Dr. John Hunter. No man ever had a better opportunity for acquiring a thorough knowledge of the healing art, and of practical surgerj', than young Physic, and he nobly improved it to his own benefit and that of his race. His talents were so conspicuous, that on the earnest recommendation of Dr. Hunter, Physic was appointed house sur- geon to St. George's Hospital, in 1790, to serve one year. At the close of the term he received a diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons, in London, and Dr. Hunter offered him a professional partnership. The young man had resolved to make his native city the chief tlieatro of his career, and after remaining with Hunter during 1791, he went to Edinburgh, studied and observed dihgently there, in the University and in the Royal Infirmary, obtained the degree of M.D., in May, 1792, and in September, returned to America, Thus prepared. Dr. Physic entered upon the practice of his profession, in Philadelphia. In 1793, the yellow fever tested his skill, moral courage, and benevolence, to the utmost, and all appeared eminently conspicuous. The fol- lowing year he was cliosen to be one of the surgeons of the Pennsylvania Hos- pital; and, when the yellow fever again prevailed, in 1798, his services were of the greatest importance. In 1801, he was appointed surgeon extraordinary to the Philadelphia Almshouse Infirmary. The following year, on the earnest re- quest of a number of medical students, he delivered a course of lectures on Sur- gery. Tliey were exceedingly popular, and students came from all parts of the country to enjoy his instructions. In 1805, a professorship of surgery, distinct from anatomy, was instituted in the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Physic was called to that chair. In fact it was created for him. He performed the duties of that station in a highly satisfactory manner, until 1819, when he was transferred to the chair of anatomy, in the same institution, on the death of its incumbent (his nephew), John Syng Dorsey. Year after year he continued his lectures to great numbers of medical students, notwithstanding his extensive practice and college duties made his labors very great. In 1821, Dr. Physic was appointed consulting surgeon to the Philadelphia Institution for the Blind; and, in 1824, he was elected president of the Pliila- delphia Medical Society, a station which he filled with great dignity until his death. In 1825, the French Royal Academy of Medicine made him an honorary member of tliat institution, the first dignity of the kind ever received by an American. He was also made an honorary fellow of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London. In 1831, failing health caused Dr. Physic to resign his professorship in the University, when he was unmediately elected JOHN SEVIER. 331 Emeritus Professor of Surgery and Anatoni_v, in that institution. His physical system gradually gave way under Ids incessant professional toil, and on the 1 5th of December. 1837, that eminent surgeon expired in Philadelphia, at the age of sixty-nine years. The immediate cause of his death was liydrothorax. Besides liis lectures. Dr. Physic wrote but little. He labored inteiisely, in his profession, and left authorship to others. JOHN SEVIKR. SOOX after the return of peace when the "U'ar for Independence had ceased, the hardy mountaineers of the extreme western portions of Xorth Caro- lina, established a separate government, and, in honor of Dr. Franklin, called the new State Fkanklaxd. A brave militia officer of the Revolution was chosen governor, but his rule and the new State were of short duration. That officer was John Sevier, a descendant of an ancient French family, the original orthog- raphj- of which was Xavier. Ho was born on the banks of the Shenandoali, in Virginia, about the year 1740. He was a bold and fearless youth, and was engaged much in atliletic exercises during the eariier years of his manhood. In 1769, he accompanied an exploring party to East Tennessee, and settled on the Holston river, with his father and brother. There he assisted in erecting Fort "Watauga, and was afterward made the commander of the little garrison, with the connnission of captain. The Cherokces were then prowling around, with hostile intentions, British emissaries having excited them against the col- onists. One pleasant morning in June, 177G, the gallant captain saw a j'oung lady running with the speed of a doe, toward the fort, pursued by a party of Cherokces under " Old Abraham," one of their most noted chiefs. With a single bound she leaped the palisades, and fell into the arms of Captain Sevier. It was a lucky leap for Catherine Sherrill, for she was caught by a husband, unto whom she bore ten children. Captain Sevier was with Evan Shelby at the battle of Point Pleasant, in 1774. During the first five years of the war he was an active Whig partisan on the mountain frontiers of the Carolinas; and, in 1780, when Cornwallis was pene- trating toward the hills, lie held the commission of colonel. He greatly distin- guished himself at the battle on King's Mountain, in October of that year, and also at Musgrovo's Mills. The following year he quieted hostile Indians among the mountains, by a severe chastisement. At the close of the war he was com- missioned a brigadier; and he was so much beloved by the people, that on the formation of the State of Franklaxd, above alluded to, ho was elected governor by unanimous acclamation. He was so often engaged in conferences with the Indians, that they gave him a name Avhich signified treaty-maker. When Ten- nessee was organized, and admitted into the Union as an independent State, Sevier was elected its first governor. In 1811, he was elected to a seat in Con- gress, and was reelected in 181,3. He was a firm supporter of President Madi- son's administration, and was appointed an Indian commissioner for his State and the adjoining territories. Wiiilo engaged in the duties of his office near Fort Decatur, on the east side of the Tallapoosa river, he died, on the 24th of Septem- ber, 1815. at tlie age of about seventy-five years. There he was buried with the honors of war, under the direction of the late General Gaines. No stone, it is said, identifies liis grave ; but in a cemetery at Nashville, a handsome marble cenotaph lias been erected to his memory, by "An admirer of Patriotism and Merit unrequited," 832 ISABELLA GRAHAM. ISABELLA aiiAHAM. EARTH hath its angels, bright and lovely. They often walk in the garden of humanity unobserved. Their foot-prints are pearly with Heaven's choicest blessings ; fragrant flowers spring up and bloom continually in their presence, and the birds of paradise warble unceasingly in the branches beneath which they recline. They are born of true religion in the heart. Their creed comes down from heaven, and is as broad as humanity ; their hopo is a golden chain of promises suspended from the throne of infinite goodness ; their example is a preacher of righteousness co-working with the Great Redeemer. Of these blessed ones of earth, was Isabella Graham, a native of Lanarkshire, Scotland, where she was born on the 29th of July, 1142. Her maiden name was Marshall, and during her earlier years her father occupied the estate, once the residence of the renowned William Wallace. Isabella was early trained to physical activity, and was blessed with a superior education, which afterward became her life-dependence. Her moral and religious culture kept pace with her intellectual improvement, and under the teaching of Dr. Witherspoon (after* ward president of the college at Princeton, New Jersey), she became a Christian professor at the age of seventeen years. Miss Marshall was married to Dr. John Graham, an army surgeon, in 1765, and the following year accompanied him to Canada, whither he was ordered to join his regiment. She was a resident of a garrison at Fort Niagara for several years, and just before the American Revolution broke out, she accompanied her husband to the Island of Antigua. Then the furnace of affliction was prepared for her. First, intelligence came that her dear mother was buried. Soon after that two of her dear friends were removed by death ; and in the Autumn of ISABELLA GRAHAM. 833 1774, hor excellent husband was taken from her, after a few days' illness, leaving her in a strange land, with three infant daughters. But she was not friendless. She had freely cast her bread of benevolence upon the waters, and it returned to her by corresponding benevolence, when it was most needed.' After giving birth to a son, Mrs. Graham returned to Scotland. Her aged father had become impoverished, and was added to the dependants upon her efforts for a livelihood. She opened a small school, and lived upon coarse and scanty food, made sweet by the thought that it was earned for those she loved. Old acqiuiintaaces among the rich and gay passed the humble widow by, but old friends, with hearts in tlieir hands, assisted her in establishing a boarding-school la Edinburgli. God prospered her, and she distributed freely of her little abund- ance among the more needy. A tenth of all her earnings she regularly devoted to charity; and hour after hour, when the duties of her school had ceased, that good and gentle creature w€^or^lic office, he declined a reelection. He was soon afterward chosen president of the branch bank of Virginia, located at Fredericksburg, and held that situation until his death. Throughout his long life, Colonel Mercer enjoyed almost uninterrupted health until a short time before his departure. He was greatly beloved by those who were related to him by ties of consanguinity or friendship, and was univer- sally esteemed for his solid worth as an honorable, energetic, and methodical business man and superior citizen. He was one of the few noble specimens of the Virginia gentleman of the old school ; and was the last survivor of the mar- tyr's family, which consisted of four sons and a daughter. ROBERT M. PATTERSON. ONE of the most illustrious scientific men of our age and countrj'^, was Dr. Robert M. Patterson, of Philadelphia, who is better known to the pubUc in general as the accomplished Director of the United States Mint, during many of the latter years of his hfe. He was a son of Dr. Robert Patterson, a distin- guished professor in the University of Pennsylvania, Director of the Mint, and President of the American Philosophical Society, all of which stations his eminent 1. See sketch of Joseph Warren. 2. A portrait of ('olonel Mercer may be found in Lossing's Pictorial Fidd-Book of the Revolution, page 66S of the second edition. SARGEAN"T S. PRENTTISS. 897 son afterward filled. That son was bom in Philadelphia, in 1787, was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, and at an early ago was graduated there, as a physician. He pursued medical studies in Europe, for several years, and re- turned to his native city in 1812, with the intention of engaging in his profession there. Being immediately appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy in the medical department of the University, and soon afterward of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in the classical department, ho was diverted from practice. At the ageof twent3'-soven years he was elected Vice-Provost of that institution. Having paid much attention to the science of engineering, he was invited by the Committee of Safety of Baltimore, in 1813, to lay out and superintend the con- struction of fortifications there, the city being menaced by the British. He per- formed the dutj- so satisfactorily, that he won a public vote of thanks. For fourteen j^ears Dr. Patterson remained a professor in the University, and ■was alwaj'S distinguished for extensive and varied scientific attainments. Other objects of taste and refinement occupied liis attention. He was one of the founders and most efficient officers of the Franklin Institute, of Philadelphia, the pioneer association, of its kind, in this country. In 1820, he joined, with others, in establishing the Musical Fund Society, which was also the first of its class, and is still [1855] a rich and prosperous institution. He was its president for many years, and its most efficient member, from the beginning. The American Philosophical Society, of which he became a member at the age of twenty-one years, was his favorite institution, and after the death of the eminent Dr. Chap- man, he was elected its president. That chair, so worthily filled by Dr. Frank- lin, Rittenhouse, Duponceau, and others, was as worthily occupied by Dr. Pat- terson. In 1828. Dr. Patterson accepted an invitation to occupy the chair of Natural Philosophy in the University of Virginia. After seven years' service there, President Jackson appointed him Director of the United States Mint. He held that responsible station during several administrations, until 1851, when rapidly declining health compelled him to resign. He was then President of the Amer- ican Philosophical Society, and of the Pennsylvania Life Annuity Company; also Vice-President of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind. His was a liberal heart, and it was ever devising liberal things. Every impulse of his nature was pure and benevolent, and every scheme having for its object the good of humanity always enhsted his sympathy, and his hearty co- operation. His intercourse with society was exemplary in the highest degree, and ho imparted a charm to every social circle which was favored by his presence. His death, which occurred in Philadelphia, on the 5th of September, 1854, was regarded as a public calamity, for a man of great usefulness had departed. SAKGEANT S. PRENTISS. AN intellectual luminary of great and increasing splendor went out and faded from the political and social firmament, when Sargeant S. Prentiss disap- peared from earth, on the 1st of July. 1850, at the age of about forty years. The brilliancy of his genius as a statesman of the highest order had just begun to excite the admiration of the nation, when the dark clouds of broken health veiled it, and its light soon waned into invisibility. He was a native of Portland, Maine, where he was born in 1810. He received an excellent classical education, and at the age of about eighteen years he went to Mississippi, 898 HENRY CLAY. where, in the vicinity of Natchez, he spent about two years as tutor in a private family, and in the pursuit of legal studies, under the instruction of General Felix Houston. Mr. Prentiss was always remarkable, from boyhood, for fluency of language and ready wit ; and his first speech to a jury, after being admitted to the bar, won for him the highest applause from judges, colleagues, and opponents. He made Vicksburg (then a small village) his residence, in 1830, and ho soon became the acknowledged head of his profession in that region. His eloquence was of that popular order which always charms and overpowers ; and, like O'Connell, he could adapt his words and figures to his particular audi- ence, with wonderful facility. His practice became very lucrative, and the pay- ment of his fee, in land, for his successful management of a suit which involved the most valuable portion of Vicksburg, made him, in a short time, one of the wealthiest men in the State. Mr. Prentiss entered the field of politics with great enthusiasm, and was a brilliant and successful stump orator ; but at about the time when his fellow- citizens called him to service in the national councils, he became embarrassed during the financial troubles of 1836, and removed to New Orleans to retrieve his fortune by professional labor. He first became known to the people of the United States, in general, when, in 1837, he appeared in the House of Represent- atives as the claimant of a disputed seat there. His speech in favor of his claim was listened to with the most profound attention, and it was admitted by all, that he had no superior in the country as an eloquent and logical parliamentary debater. His claim was rejected by the casting-vote of the Speaker, Mr. Polk, and he was sent back to the people. He at once canvassed the State, and was reelected by an overwhelming vote. His services in the Hall of Representatives were brief, but brilliant in the extreme. Private engagements, and a distaste for political life, produced by his discovery of its hollowness and its dangers, caused him to refuse office, and with great industry he applied himself to his profession, in New Orleans. He was eminently successful. No man ever possessed greater powers of fascination by his forensic oratory than he, and few jurors could with- stand that power. Nor was he entirely absorbed in professional duties. He was distinguished for his love and knowledge of literature, and he was always prominent in philanthropic movements in the chosen city of his residence. Hia social qualities were of the highest order, and the attachment of his friends waff exceedingly strong. In the midst of his active career, and bearing the blossoms of greatest promise, he was suddenly cut down by disease, and died at Long- wood, near Natchez, in the pleasant Summer time. " What made more ead, the outward form's decay, A soul of jjeniiis glimmered through the clay ; Genius has so much youth, no care can kill, Death seems unnatural when it sighs, ' Be still.' " HENRY CLAY. A FEW miles from the old Hanover court-house, in Virginia, where the splen- A. dors of Patrick Henry's genius first beamed forth, is a humble dwelling by the road-side, in the midst of a poor region, technically called slashes. There, on the 12th of April, 1777, Henry Clay, the great American statesman, was born, and from the poor district schools of his neighborhood, he derived his education. His father was a clergyman with slender worldly means, and at an early age Henry became a copyist in the ofSce of the clerk of the Court of Chancery, at HENRY CLAY, 399 Richmond. Thero tho oxtraordinary powers of his intellect began to develope, and at the ago of nineteen years lie commenced tho study of law. Close appli- cation and a remarkably retentive memory overcame many difi&culties, and he was admitted to practice at tho ago of twenty. At that time emigration was pouring steady streams of population over the mountains into the fertile valleys of Kentucky, and thither Henry Clay went, early in 1799, and settled at Lexing- ton, lie wa.s admitted to tiie bar thero, in tho Autumn of that year, and com- menced tho practice of law and polities at about the same time, and with equal success. A convention was called to revise the constitution of Kentucky, and young Clay worked manfully iu cfTorts to elect such delegates as would favor tho emancipation of tho slaves. Tims early that subject assumed great import- ance in his mind ; and tliroughout lus long life he earnestly desired tho abolition of tho slave system. His course oflbndcd many, and ho was unpopular for a time ; but his noblo opposition to the Alien and Sedition laws restored him to favor; and, in 1803, ho was elected a member of the Kentucky legislature, by a largo majority. With fluent speech, sound logic, and bold assurance, he soon took front rank in that body, as well as in his profession; and, in 1806, he was chosen to fill a seat in tho Senate of tho TTnited States, for one year, made vacant by tho resignation of General Adair. Thero ho left an impression of that 400 HENRY CLAY. statesmanship, then budding, which afterward gave glory and dignity to that highest legislative council of the Republic. On his return from the Federal city, Mr. Clay was again elected to a seat m the Kentuclvy legislature, and was chosen Speaker of tlie Assembly, by a large majority. That station he held during two consecutive sessions. In 1809, he was again sent to the Senate of the United States, for two years, to fill a vacancy, and there he became distinguished by several brilliant speeches on important occasions. A crisis in the atfairs of the nation was then approaching. Men of the highest character for talent and integrity were needed in the national coun- cils. Perceiving this, the Kentuckians wisely elected Henry Clay to a seat in the House of Representatives, at Washington, where he first appeared in 1811. Almost immediately afterward, he was elected Speaker, by a large majority, and he performed the very important duties of that station with great ability until 1814, when he was appointed one of the commissioners to negotiate a treaty of peace with Great Britain. In that service he exhibited the skill of a good diplomatist ; and when, in 1815, he returned to his constituents, they immediately reelected him to a seat in Congress. Now commenced his series of important services in the Federal legislature, which have distinguished him as one of the first statesmen of his age. There he triumphantly pleaded the cause of the South American Republics; and, in 1818, he put forth his giant strength in behalf of a national system of internal improvements. A grateful people commemorated his services in that direction, by placing a monument on the margin of the great Cumberland road, inscribed with his name. In 1819 and 1820, Mr. Clay entered upon the great work, in Congress, of establishing tariffs for the protection of American industry. At the same time, he rendered signal services in the adjustment of the question known as the Missouri compromise. Then ho retired from Congress, to attend to his embarrassed privato affairs. Three years of professional services retrieved his pecuniary losses; and in 1823, he returned to Congress, and was elected Speaker, by an immense majority. During that session Daniel "Webster presented his famous resolutions in behalf of the suffering Greeks, and Mr. Clay warmly seconded the benevolent move- ment of the great New England statesman. After the election of John Quincy Adams to the presidency of the United States, Mr. Clay Avas appointed his Sec- retary of State, and held the office until the accession of General Jackson to tho chief magistracy, in 1829. Ho remained in retirement a short time; and, in 1831, he was elected to the Senate of the United States, for six years. He was soon afterward nominated for the office of President of the United States, and was the candidate opposed to the successful Jackson, in 1832. At about that time he was instrumental, by the proposition of a comproiuise measure in Con- gress, in saving tho country from civil war. He was reelected to tho Senate, in 1836; and, in 1342, he took, as he supposed, a final leave of that body. He had earnestly labored for his favorite protective pohcy; and, in 1844, the "Whig party nominated him for tho office of President of the United States. He was defeated by Mr. Polk, and he remained in retirement until 1849, when he was again elected to the Federal Senate. There he put forth his energies in securing that scries of measures known as tho Compromise Act of 1850. His health was now greatly impaired; and in the "Winter of 1850 and 1851, ho sought relief by a visit to Havana and New Orleans. The effort was of no avail. Notwith- standing his feeble health, he repaired to "Washington city at the commencement of the session, but was unable to participate in active duties. His system grad- ually gave way, and he resigned his seat, the act to take effect on the 6th of September, 1852- He did not live to see that day. Ho died at "Washington city, on tho 29th of June, 1852, at the age of about seventy-five years. KOBERT BURNET. 401 ROBERT BURNET. ON a cold, frosty, but clear and brilliant morning in November, 1783, the rem- nant of the American Continental army, led by Cleneral Knox, and accom- panied by civil officers of the State, crossed King's bridge, at the upper end of Manhattan Island, and marched triumfdiantly into the city of New York, just as the British troops, who had occupied that city for seven long years, embarked in the harbor, to return no more. Great rejoicings and feastings were had in the emancipated city; and nine days afterward, tho principal ofQcers of the army, yet remaining in the service, assembled at tho public-house of Samuel Fraunce, on the corner of Broad and Pearl Streets, to take a final leave of their beloved commander-in-chief When "Washington entered tho room where they were waiting, he took a glass of wine in his hand, and said, "With a full heart of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may bo as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and lionorable." After tho usual salutation, by drinking, he continued, " I can- not come to each of you to take my leave, but shall be obliged to you if each will come and take mo by tho hand." Knox stood by the side of the Great Leader, and as he turned, with c_yc3 brimming with tears, to grasp his band, Washington alTectionately kissed him. This ho did to all of his officers in turn, and then, without uttering a word, he left tho room, passed through a flanking corps of inf mtry to a barge at Whitehall, and proceeded on bis journey to An- napolis, to surrender his conunission into tho hands of Congress. Of all tho officers who participated in that tender scene. Major Robert Burnet, cf Little Britain, Orango county, was, for many years, the solo survivor. His iiither was a Scotchman, and his mother was a native of Ireland. She was one of those who accompanied tho first members of the Clinton family, who settled in the vicinity of Newburgh. Major Burnet was born in Little Britain, on the 22d of February, 1762, and was engaged in agricultural pursuits until about 1779, when he entered tho revolutionary army, in the artillery branch of the sarvice, under Captain Ebcnezer Stevens.' Ho was a lieutenant in Stevens' companj'-, and connnanded Redoubt No. 3, at West Point, at the time of Arnold's defection, in September, 1780. He was afterward promoted to the rank of major,2 and was one of the delegates who attended a meeting of the officers, convened by Washington, on account of the seditious tendency of the anonymous Address put forth by Major Armstrong, at Newburgh, in the Spring of 1783.3 He continued in the army, imder the immediate command of the chief, until it was disbanded. In the march into the city of New York, on the day when the British evacuated it. Major Burnet commanded the rear-guard. When I visited the veteran, in the Summer of 1850, and he was then in his nintieth year, he gave me a very interesting account of the scenes of that memorable Autumn morning. Major Burnet was the last to grasp the hand of Washington at that solemn parting at Fraunce's; and then ho returned to his rural pursuits in tho town of his nativity. There ho lived in the enjoyment of great domestic happi- ness, until called to his fhial home. He lived to see, what few men in modem times have beheld — the living representatives of seven generations of his kin- 1. See sketch of Eboncier Stevenn. 2. Wasliinglon, in a letter to Oreenc, dated " Newburgh, 6th Febniary, 1782," refers to Major Burnet as follows: " I intended to write yon » Ions letter on sundry matters ; tiut Major Burnet came unex- pectedly, at a time when I was preparing for tho celebration of the day, and was just poine: to a review of the troops previous to the/ex rf^j'ot'e. Ashe is impatient, from an apprehension that the BleighinR may fail, and as he can give you the occurrences of this quarter more in detail, than I have time to do, I will refer you to liira." The celebration spoken of was that of the anniversary of the signing of the treaty of alliance between the United Slates and France, four years before. 3. See sketch of John Armstrong. 26 402 HARRISOlSr GRAY OTIS. dred. These were his great-grandfather of the ancestral part of the connection, and the great-grandchildren of his own posterity. Major Burnet died at his fesidence, in Little Britain, on the 1st of December, 1854, when almost ninety- three years of age. His funeral was attended by his neighbor, Uzal Knapp, who was almost three years his senior. Mr. Knapp, the last survivor of Wash- ington's Life- Guard,^ died about a year afterward. HARRISON aRAY OTIS. OF the New England "gentlemen of the old school," who have graced our generation, and illustrated by their deportment the dignified simplicity of the earlier years of our Republic, the late Harrison Gray Otis was one of the finest examples in person, intellectual acquirements, and amenity of manners. He was a son of Samuel A. Otis, who, for about twenty-five years, was clerk of the Senate of the United States. Harrison was born in 1765, the memorable year when patriots of his name were manfully battling the odious Stamp Act. And the same year when, by definitive treaty, the independence of tlie United States was acknowledged by Great Britain, he Avas graduated at Harvard Uni- versity, at the age of eighteen years. He had been a successful student, and he then entered upon the study of law with a preparation possessed by few young men. Before ho was twenty-one years of age he had commenced his successful career as a practitioner, with promises which were all redeemed in his maturity. He soon stood foremost at the bar with such men as Parsons, Lowell, Gore, Gushing, Paine, Ames, Cabot, and other distinguished lawyers of New England, and was excelled by none of them in acuteness as an attorney, and in impressive and graceful oratory as an advocate. His political and literary acquirements were as extensive as his legal knowledge, and he often employed them with great success before the bench, or an intelligent jury. In 1797, Mr. Otis represented the Suffolk (Boston) district in the Federal Con- gress, as the successor of Fisher Ames; and he held that station until 1801, when the Republicans came into power under the leadership of Mr. Jeffersoru For many years he was a member, alternately, of both branches of the Massa- chusetts legislature, and, at different times he was the presiding officer of both Houses. Although firm and unflinching in his political faith, and exceedingly strict as a disciplinarian in official station, his urbanity and rare consistency commanded the respect of his opponents and the warmest affections of his ad- herents. He was eminently reliable, heartily disliked concealment, and despised stratagem. His constituents always felt their interests perfectly safe in his hands. Mr. Otis was chosen United States Senator, in 1817, and his course in that body during the exciting scenes preceding the admission of Missouri into the Union as a sovereign State, won for him the highest applause of his constituents. After five years' service there he retired, and contemplated repose in private life ; but his fellow-citizens of the Federal faith, for which he had contended manfully against the growing Democratic party, in his State, begged him to continue his leadership. They nominated him for governor, in 1823, but the Federal party, as an efficient organization, was then just expiring, and he was defeated. After filling several local offices (judge of the Court of Common Pleas, mayor of Boston, and others of less note), Mr. Otis withdrew from public life, in the full enjoyment of his intellectual vigor and his rare capacities for social pleasures. That vigor he retained until his death, which occurred in the city of Boston, on the 28th of October, 1848, at the age of about eighty-three years. 1. Portraits of Major Burnet and Mr. Knapp are published in Lossing's Pictorial Fidd-Book of tht Sevolution. DAVID KINNISON. 403 DAVID KINNISON. TIIE latest survivor of the notable band of patriots, in 11*13, known as The Boston Tea Party .^ was David Kiunison, wlio lived to tlio remarkable age of more than one huadred and fifteen years. Tlio facts of this brief memoir were obtained from his own lips, by tlie writer, in August, 1848, together with a dagucrreotvpo likeness. He was then one hundred and eleven years of age. Ho was born in Old Kingston, Maine, on the Htli of November, 1736, and was emplo3'ed in farming until the tempest of the Revolution began to lower. Ho waa a member of a secret club, who were pledged to destroy the obnoxious article of Tea, wlieresoever it niiglit be found ; and when the East India Com- pany's ships had arrived at Boston, Kinnison and others hastened thither, were among the "Mohawks'" in the gallery of tlio Old South Church, and assisted in casting the two cargoes of tea into the waters of Boston harbor, on tlie evening of the IGth of December, 1773. Kinnison remained in the vicinity of tho New England capital, working on a farm, until the Spring of 1775, when, as a minute- man, he participated in the events at Lexington and Concord. With his father and two brothers, he fought in the battle of Bunker's Hill; and after the British were driven from Boston, he accompanied the American army to New York. From that time until the Autumn of 1781, he led the life of a Continental sol- dier, under the immediate command of Washington most of the time. Then, while engaged as a scout in Saratoga, he was cai^tured by some Mohawk Indians, and did not regain his liberty until peace came, after a captivity of more tlian eighteen months. At the close of tho Revolution, Mr. Kinnison resumed the labors of agricul- ture, at Danville, Vermont, where he resided about eight years, and then re- moved to Wells, in Maine. There ho lived until the commencement of the war with Great Britain, in 1812, when he again went to the field as a private soldier. He was under General Brown at Sackett's harbor; and in the battle at Williams- burg, on tho St. Lawrence, he was badly wounded in the hand by a grape-shot. That was tho first and only injury he had ever received in battle, but by acci- dents afterward, his skull had been fractured ; his collar bone and both legs, below the knees, had been broken ; the heel of a horse had left a deep scar on his forehead, and rlieumatism had dislocated one of his hip joints. As he forcibly expressed it, ho had been "completely bunged up and stove in." Mr. Kinnison was an illiterate man, and possessed none of the elements of greatness. Ho was eminent because of the peculiar associations of his Hfe, his long experience, and his remarkable longevity. He learned to write his name when in tho revolutionary camp ; and he was sixty-two years of age when his granddaughter taught him to read. Ho had married and birried four wives, who had borne him tweuty-two children. When he related this narrative, he had lost all trace of his relatives, and supposed liimself childless.^ His pension of ciglit dollars a month was insufficient for liis wants, and until his one hundred and tenth year, ho added sufficient for a livelihood, by the labor of his hands. Then a benevolent stranger, in Cliicago, gave him a home. He was Mttle less than sis feet in height, with powerful arms, shoulders, and chest ; and at the 1. i^ce note S, piiRC 143. 2. Miiiiy of those wlio oust the tea into Boston harbor were disguised as Mohawk Indians. After a harangue in the Old South Church, Boston, just at twilight, some of them gave a war-whoop in the gal- lery, and all started for Griffin's wharf, where the ships lay. 3. About a year before his death, his diiughter, living in Oswego, New York, saw the portrait and biographical sketch of her long-lost fatlier, in LoaHnq'a Pirtorial Field-Book of the Revolution. She at ones hastened to Chicago to see him. Until then, she had no idea that he was among the living. She remained with him, and smoothed the pillow of his death-bed. 404 CATHERINE FERGUSON. age of one hundred and two years, lie was seen to lift a barrel of cider into a wagon, with ease. "When one hundred and ten, he walked twenty miles in one day. At eighty, his sight and hearing failed. Both were restored at ninety- five, and remained quite perfect until his death. That venerable man died at Chicago, Illinois, on the 24th of February, 1852, in the one hundred and six- teenth year of his age. CATHERINE FERQUSON. I " T'HIS poor widow hath cast in more than they all ; for they did cast in of J- their abundance, but she, of her penury, hath east in all the living that she had." Such was the estimate of good works by the Great Pattern of benev' olence. The motive and the sacrifice alone are considered ; the person and the condition are but " dust in the balance." Thus judged, Katy Ferguson seems entitled to the plaudit from men, angels, and her God, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Katy was a colored woman, born a slave while her mother was on her passage from Virginia to New York. For almost fifty years she was known in that city as a professional cake-maker, for weddings and other parties, and was held in the highest esteem. "When Katy was eight years of age her mother was sold, and they never met again. Her own anguish at parting taught her to sympathize with desolate children, and they became the great care of her life. Her mistress was kind and indulgent, and Katy was allowed to attend Divine service, and hear the instruc- tions of the good Dr. John M, Mason, the elder. She never learned to read, but ber retentive memory treasured up a vast amount of Scripture knowledge, which she dispensed as opportunity aUowed. "When she approached womanhood her mind became agitated respecting her soul and its destiny, and she ventured to call on Dr. Mason for advice and consolation. She went with trembling, and was met by the kind pastor with an inquiry whether she had come to talk to Mm about her soul. The question took a burden from her feelings, and she left the presence of the good man with a heart full of joy. A benevolent lady purchased Katy's freedom for two hundred dollars, when she was sixteen years of age, and allowed her one hundred of it, for eleven months' service. The excellent Divie Bethune raised the other hundred, and Katy became free. She married at eighteen, had two children, and lost them, and from that time she put forth pious eSbrts for the good of bereaved and des- olate little ones. At her humble dwelling in "Warren Street, she collected the poor and neglected children of the neighborhood, white and black, every Sun- day, to be instructed in religious things by herself, and such white people as she could get to help her. Sometimes the sainted Isabella Graham would invite Katy and her scholars to her house, and there hear them recite the catechism, and give them instruction. Finally, Dr. ilason' heard of her school, and visited it one Sunday morning. " "What are you about here, Katy ?" he asked. " Keep- ing school on the Sabbath !" Katy was troubled, for she thought his question a rebuke. '• This must not be, Katy ; you must not be allowed to do all this work alone," he continued; and then he invited her to transfer her school to the basement of his new church in Murray Street, where he procured assistants for her. Such was the origin of the Murray Street Sabbath-school ; and it is L This was the son and pulpit successor of Dr. Mason, the elder, under -whom Katy became converted. Th«t (Kcellent pastor died 80on after the interview named in the text, at the age of fifty-seven years. CATHERINE FERGUSON. 405 believed that Katy Fergusoii'3 was the lirst school of the kind established in the city of New York.' Katy's benevolent labors did not end ^vith her Sunday-school duties. Every Friday evening and Sunday afternoon she gathered the poor and outcast of her neighborhood, children and adults, white and black, into her little dwelling, and always secured some good man to conduct the services of a praj'er-meeting tliere. Such was her habit for forty j-ears, wherever in the great city she dwelt. Her good influence was always palpable ; and tract distributors uniformly testified tliat wherever Katy resided, the neighborhood improved. Xor was this alL Though laboring for daily bread at small remuneration, She cheerfully divided her pittance with unsparing generosity. She always found some more needy tiiau herself; and during her life, she took forty-eight children (twenty of them wliite) from the almshouse or from dissolute parents, and hrougld them up or kept them until she could find good homes for litem. ' "Who shall estimate the social blessings which have flowed from those labors of love by a poor, unedu- cated colored woman 1 Do not tliose labors rebuke, as with a tongue of fire, the cold selfishness of society? Ought they not to make our cheeks tingle with the blush of shame for our remissness in duty ? The example of such a life ought not to bo lost ; and I have endeavored thus to perpetuate the memory of Katy Ferguson and her deeds fir the benefit of posterit}'.^ She was a philanthropist of truest stamp. Iler earthly labors have ceased. She died of cholera, in Xew York, on the 11th of July, 1854, at the age of about seventy-five years. Her last words were, " All is well." Who can doubt it? 1. The Ri'v. Dr. Ferris, now (1S551 chiincellor of tliB New York University, informed the writer that his first extemporary expo>itions of the Scriptures, while be was yet a theolosieal student, were made iu K!»ly's Snnilaysehool, in the Murray Street Church. 2. The Bccompanying portrait is from a daguerreotype taken in 1850, at the instance of Lewis Tappan, Esq., of New York, and now in the possession of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, of Brooklyn. 406 BENJAMIN BANNEKEK. BENJAMIN BANNEKER. THE germ of genius is often hidden in very common mold, and springs up into glorious efflorescence, at a time, and in a place, least expected by the common observer. The African race, so inferior in condition everywhere, seldom presents the world with any thing startling in the way of intellect- ual achievements. Tliis is the rule, while the exceptions are sometimes very remarkable. Of these exceptions, there are few characters more prominent than that of Benjamin Banneker, of Maryland, the descendant from a fair-com- plexioned English woman, and a native of Africa. His grandmother came from England, purchased a small plantation in Maryland, and also two negro slaves from a ship just from Africa. She finally liberated and married one of them. Her daughter, Benjamin's mother, married an African, who assumed her surname. Benjamin was their only son, and he was born on the 9th of November, 17.31. His grandmother taught him to read, and instructed him in religious things. He became fond of books, and devoted much of the time which he could spare from farm labors to studies of various kinds. At matur- ity he was possessed of a farm left by his father, and he cultivated it with care and thrift. Arithmetic, and mathematics in general, were his delight, and ex- traordinary mechanical abilities were early displayed by him in the con- struction of a wooden clock. This instrument was long a wonder among the settlers upon the banks of the Patapsco river, where Banneker resided. When, in 1773, Ellicott & Co. built their mills in that deep valley, crossed by the railway from Baltimore to Washington, Banneker was an earnest spectator of the process, not only of construction, but of continued operation. At about that time he had become noted for expertness in the solution of mathematical problems, and scholars in different parts of the country frequently sent him ques- tions to test his capacity. The answers were always correct, and sometimes he would propose questions in return, expressed in verse. On the suggestion of George Ellicott, who appreciated his genius, Banneker made astronomical calculations for almanacs; and, in the spring of 1789, he accurately calculated an eclipse. He was now almost sixty years of age, and, though industrious with his hands, he panted for leisure to pursue scientific studies. He finally "disposed of his little farm for a competent annuity, and lived alone. "Wrapped in his cloak, he lay many a night upon his back on tlie bare earth, in contem- plation of the heavenly bodies. In 17 90 he was employed, by commissioners, to assist them in surveying the fines of the District of Columbia, then called the Federal Territory. This was the only time that he was ever for from his little dweUing ; and, on his return, speaking of the good treatment he had re- ceived, he said, " I feared to trust myself, even with wine, lest it should steal awa}' the little sense I have." Banneker's first almanac was published in 1792. He sent a copy of it, in his own hand-writing, to Thomas Jefferson, then Secretary of State. It excited the warmest approbation of Jefferson, who wrote him a noble letter in reply, assuring him that he had sent the almanac to M. Condorcet, Secretary of the Academy of Sciences at Paris. There it commanded universal admiration, and the " African Astronomer" became well known in the scientific circles of Eu- rope. He kept a common-place book, in which he recorded the events of his daily life. Tliat book is preserved, and in it is the memorandum, " Sold on the 2d of April, 1795, to Butler, Edwards, and Kiddy, the riglit of an almanac for the year 1796, for the sum of eighty dollars, equal to £30." His last recorded astronomical observations appear under date of the month of January, 1804, in the autumn of which year, it is believed, that he died. It was a brilliant JOHN W. FRANCIS, JR. 40T day, when, having been upon the neighboring hills, for fresh air, lie returned to his cottage, complained of feeling ill, and, lying down, soon afterwad ex- pired, at the age of about seventy-three years. The following question, sub- mitted by Banneker to George Ellicott, will give the reader some idea of hia poetic, as well as mathematical talent : " A Cooper and Vintner sat down for to talk, Koth being so groKKy that neither could walk ; Says Cooper to Vintner, * I'm the tirst of my trade, There '» no kind of vessel hut whiit I have made, And of anyshape, sir, — just whut you will, And of any size, sir, — from a tun to a gill I' ' Then,' said the Vintner, 'you 're the man for me— Make me a vessel if we can agree. The top and the bottom's diameter define, To bear that proportion as tifteen to nine ; Thirty-five inches arc Just what I crave, No more and no less, in the depth will I have; Just thirty-nine gallons this vessel must hold, — Then I will reward you with silver or gold — Give me your promise, my honest old friend ?' •I'll make it to-morrow, that you may depend I' So the next day the Cooper, his work to discharge, Soon made the new vessel, but marie it too large ; He took out 6ome staves, which made it too small, And then cursed the vessel, the Vintner and all. He beat on his breast — ' Hy the Powers I' he swore. He never would work at his trade any more. Now, my worthy friend, find out, if you can, The vessel's dimensions, and comfort the man." " Benjamin Banneker." JOHN W. FRANCIS, JR. IN the roseate petal bursting from the calyx in Spring-time, -we see sure promises of the fruit of Autumn ; and if the frost or the canker withers it, we mourn as reasonably as when the frost or the canker blights at full fruition. So with the soul in its calyx of humanity. In its budding promises, " Eire fame ordained or genius had achieved," we often behold greatness, and goodness, and all else that ennobles man, bene- fits the world, and hono:s the Creator, as clearly manifested a.s in the fruit of full consummation. When one, like our young friend of whom we write, is taken from among men, at the full bursting of the buds of promise which pro- phesy of a brilliant and useful career, society is bereaved, indeed, for it is denied tiie benefits of great achievements. John W. Francis, jr., was the eldest son of Dr. John "W. Francis, the well- known, well-beloved, and eminent physician and scholar. He was born in the city of New York, on the 5th of July, 183'2. From the dawn of life he lived in the midst of intellectual influences of the highest and purest kind. His father's house was the welcome resort of men distinguished in science, art, and litera- ture ; and in the domestic circle his heart and mind were the daily and hourly recipients of the noblest culture. His wise father watched his physical de- velopment with great care, and he grew to manhood with robust health. With such preparations he entered upon the tasks and pleasures of the school-room. He sought knowledge with a miser's greed, but not with a miser's sordid aim ; for, like his father, be delighted as much in distributing as in gathering. Hab- ituated from infancy to the society of the mature, ho was alwaj'S manly beyond his years. His love of reading, and his free personal iutercourso with the dis- 408 JOHN W. FKANCIS, JR. tinguished associates and visitors of his father, intensified his thirst for knowl- edge, and made its acquisition easy. He was an ardent lover of nature, and to him the sea-shore seemed like the presence of God. When, in 1848, he entered Columbia College as a student, he was remarkable for general information. He was already familiar with the works and thoughts of the best English writers, and was an adept in the critic's difficult art. His collegiate course was in the highest degree honorable, and lie completed it with a thoroughness of discipline and culture, possessed by few. He was the favorite of his class- mates, as well as his tutors, and to all he was known by the name of " the young doctor." He had become proficient in the classics and other regular studies in the usual course, and wrote and spoke fluently several modern languages. " He had," said his favorite preceptor, " the soul of a classical scholar." Humor was a marked ti'ait ui his character, and it had a beneficent THEODORIC ROMEYN BECK. 409 effect upon his too earnest intellect. Fully equipped for the great battle of life, he chose the medical profession as his chief theater of action. He was led to it by his preference, and by intense filial devotion ; for he loved his father as such a father deserves to be loved, and earnestly desired to relieve that good man's professional toil. He made tliorough preparations for the duties he was about to assume, by attendance upon medical lectures, and extensive practical Btudy in the Hospital. There ho assumed duties of great responsibility. He took special delight in treating poor patients, for whom he always had the balm of kind words, and often relieved their immediate necessities by contributions from his own purse.' Thus, in intense study and important practice, he was preparing for the reception of his degree and diploma as a physician, with all the zeal of an ardent worshiper. The labor was too great for even his strong mind and vigorous body. Both were overwrought, and he fell in the harness. A typhoid fever bore him rapidly to the grave. On the 20tli of January, 1855, his spirit returned to the bosom of its Creator, while the stricken parents — " Two— whose gray hairs with daily joy he crowned," mourned in the midst of sympathizing friends, but not as those without hope. His body was followed to the temple and the tomb by many of tlie most dis- tinguished citizens of Xew York ; his class-mates of Columbia College and of the University Medical School ; and by almost every member of the New York Academy of Medicine. The press testified its sense of the pubhc loss by his departure ; his associates gathered and expressed their approbation of his worth, by appropriate resolutions ; distinguished friends from various parts of the Union, sent letters of tender condolence to his parents ; a beautiful com- memorative poem flowed from the graceful pen of his friend, Henry T. Tucker- man ; and our Lyric Poet, George P. Morris, wrote for his epitaph — "The pulse-beat of true hearts I The love-light of fond eyes I When such a man departs, 'Tia the survivor dies." Few young men are endowed with such intellectual beauty of face as was young Francis. While yet a child. Miss Hall painted a miniature of him. The publisher of the Magnolia had it engraved as " Oberon;" and the editor, one of our most honored literary men, " declared of this ideal of infant strength and loveliness, that he could " ' In every speaking feature trace A brilliant destiny.'" THEODORIC ROMEYN BECK. AS a model of industry and disinterestedness, T. Romeyn Beck, M,D., LL.D., appears prominent among the truly great men of our day. " He never lost a minute," says his friend, co-laborer and pastor, ' " and we all know how 1. Mr. Tuckerman, who has since prepared an admirable Memoir of young Francis, mentions the case of an old lame beggar, who for years had daily taken his station in front of the New York Hospital So constant was young Francis's kindness to this poor fellow, that the mendicant watched regularly for his benefactor ; and when he was so far off as not to be recogniiied by less devoted eyes, he took off his hat to welcome " Master Francis," as he called him even when grown to yonng manhood. 2. Bev. Dr. Campbell of Albany. 410 THEODORIC ROMEYN BECK. much he accompHshed ; yet he never appeared, in any thing he did, to he seek- ing to acquire position or honor for himself. He was a remarkably pure-mind- ed man — of true honor, above all meanness, and of the sternest integrity." Dr. Beck was born at Schenectady, in the State of New York, on the 11th of August, 1791. He was of English and Dutch descent, and inherited the virtues of both. At an early age he was left to the care of a widowed mother, who had four otlier sons in charge. After attending the Common Schools of his native town, he entered Union College, in Schenectady, as a student, in 1803. He was graduated at the age of sisteen years, and at once commenced the study of medicine in the city of Albany. His professional education was completed in New York, under the eminent Dr. David Hosack. On the occa- sion of receiving his degree, as Doctor of Medicine, in 1811, the subject of his inaugural thesis was "Insanity," a topic which, in after hfe, occupied much of his attention. He commenced the practice of medicine and surgery, in Albany, and the same year he was appointed physician to the Almshouse. In 1812 he became a member of "The Society for the Promotion of Useful Arts," at the head of wliich was Chancelor Livingston, At the second meeting after bis election he was made chairman of a committee appointed for " the purpose of collecting and arranging such minerals as our State affords;" and less than two months after his admission, when in the twenty -first year of his age, he was appointed to deliver the annutd address at the following meeting of the Society. From that period he was an active promoter of agriculture and manufactures, and a great portion of his useful life was spent in their advance- ment. In 1815 Dr. Beck received the appointment of Professor of the Insti- tutes of Medicine, and of lecturer on Medical Jurisprudence in the newly es- tablished College of Physicians and Surgeons at Fairfield, in Herkimer County. Ho withdrew from the practice of medicine in 1817, when he was appointed Principal of the Albany Academy. The sufferings he was compelled to witness had a powerful efiect upon his sensitive organization, and he left the practice willingly, while he always delighted in the study of the healing art. From that time he became devoted to Science and Literature, and in those fields he always sustained an exalted position. In 1823, Dr. Beck was elected vice-president of the Albany Lyceum of Natural History ; and the same year he published his popular work, in two volumes, on the Elements of Medical Jurisjjrudence. This production attracted great attention, and gave tlie author substantial fame. Dr. John "W. Francis, who was long Professor of Medical Jurisprudence in the University of the State of New York, speaking of this work, remarks, " I have various editions, in various languages, which the foreign press has issued for enlightened Europe. This, of itself, is eulogium enough concerning this work." He then forcibly adds, " The thought has sometimes crossed my mind of the peculiar circum- stances, that the Empire State, which was so long rendered fiimous by the high decisions of the great Chancelor Kent and Chief Justice Spencer, should cotemporaneously have had its renown in legal authority still further aug- mented by the elaborate work on Medical Jurisprudence, with which the name of Professor Beck will ever be identified." ' In 1829, Dr. Beck was elected president of the Medical Society of the State of New York; and, in 1836, he was appointed Professor of Materia Medica in the College at Fairfield, which position he held until the final closing of the in- stitution in 1840, when he was elected to the same chair in the Albany Medical College. That professorship he held until 1854, when declining health caused him to resign it. From 1841, until his death, he occupied the important posi' 1. Anniversary Discourse before the New York Academy of Medicine, 1847. ABBOTT LAWRENCE. , 411 tion of Sccretan' of the Board of Regents of tlio State of New York. In Feb- ruary, 1855, Dr. Beck became seriously ill, and from that time he gradually •wasted away, until the 19th of November following, when the spirit of thia great and good man departed for its home. His death was a public calamity, and was mourned as such by those numerous societies of which he was a member,' as well as by all who appreciated private worth and eminent public services. The papers from his pen, read before various societies, and his con- tributions to the scientific periodicals of his day, form remarkable and most valuable gifts to the common fund of American literature. The time is near when Dr. Bock will be regarded as one of the noblest, wisest, and best of the sous of the State of New York. ABBOTT LAWRENCE. The wise man in Holy Writ said, " Seest thou a man diligent in his business? 1 he shall stand before kings ; he shall not stand before mean men." Nobly was this assertion vindicated in the life of Abbott Lawrence, one of the " mer- chant princes" of New England, and a philanthropist of truest stamp. He was a practically useful man, and while, in business operations, he helped himself, he was continually helping others. Mr. Lawrence could trace his pedigree back to the reign of Richard Cu-ur de Lion, toward the close of the twelfth century ; and he was lineally descended from Sir Robert Lawrence of that period, whose family, in suV)sequent years, intermarried with the noble family of Washington. Abbott Lawrence was born at Groton, Massachusetts, on the 16th of December, 1792, and received his education at the local school in the place of his nativity. At the age of sixteen years young Lawrence entered the store of his brother Amos, in Boston, as clerk. He took with him his bundle under his arm, with less than three dollars in his pocket, and these ccmposed his whole fortune. After five years of feithful service, his brother took him into partnership. Soon the business horizon was clouded by the gathering storm of war between the United States and England, and Abbott became a bank- rui)t. He applied to the War Department for a commission in the army, but before his application was acted upon, peace was proclaimed. With the gener- ous aid of his brother Amos, the two commenced business again, after the war, and Abbott went to England to purcha.se goods, and forward them to Boston. Through his skill, industry, and prudence, he greatl}' benefited the firm, and they were rewarded by large profits. He made several other voyages to En- gland on business errands: and when in the 27th year of his age [June 28, 1819], he was married to the eldest daughter of Timothy Bigelow, an eminent lawyer in Boston. At about this time his mind was much occupied with the subject of domestic manufiictures, and with uncommon foresight, Amos and Abbott Lawrence ceased importing British goods, and employed their energies and capital in the establishment of homo manufactures. They associated them- selves with the Lowells and others ; and the most ennobling monuments in com- memoration of these men of business, are the great manufacturing towns of Lowell and Lawrence. From the period of the establishment of cotton manufactures, that subject occupied much of the thought and labors of Abbott Lawrence; and in 1827, 1. Pr. Heck was an honorary member of no less than twenty -one learned societies, 8t home and abroail, aiiil was a member of many others. Ue was also presented with the honorary degi ee of LL.D. by two colleges. 412 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. he "was a delegate in a convention held at Harrisburg, in Pennsylvania, whose memorial to Congress resulted in the tariff act of 1828, that so aroused the violent opposition of the cotton-producing States. In 1834 Mr. Lawrence was elected a member of the Federal House of Representatives, and served on the important Committee of Ways and Means. Having no desire for official station, other than a willingness to serve the public when absolutely necessary, he de- clined a re-election ; but, four years later, he yielded to the importunities of friends, and was again sent to Congress. At Washington city he suffered long sickness from fever, and was compelled to resign his seat, and return home. There he was efficient in quieting the public feehng aroused by the suspension of specie payments by the banks. In his judgment the people had implicit confidence ; and Daniel Webster showed great sagacity when he suggested Mr. Lawrence as the proper person to negotiate with the British Commissioner upon the settlement of the North-eastern boundary question. In 1843, Mr. Lawrence, with his family, embarked for England, in quest of health. The vessel in which they departed was wrecked, but Mr. Lawrence and his family arrived safely at Halifax, and from there continued their voyage. President Taylor afterward invited him to a seat in his cabinet, but he declined the honor. Then the mission to England was offered him, and this he ac- JAMES G. PERCIVAL. 413 cepted. The duties of the station he performed with great credit to himself, and the honor of his country. After three years' service as a diplomat, he resigned, and returned home, followed by the warmest expressions of regard from the best men of P^ngland. At the funeral of Daniel Webster ho met several of his Boston friends, for the first time, after his return, and this solemn occasion prevented his acceptance of a public dinner, tendered to him. This truly great and good man (for ho was a Christian philanthropist) ' died on the 18th of August, 1855, at the age of almost sixty-three years. On that occasion it may be truly said, that Boston was in mourning. Many closed their places of bu.siness; the bells of the ciiurches were tolled; the military companies were out on solemn parade; the flags of ships were placed at half-mast, and minute guns were fired. So passed away one of the merchant princes of New England. JAMES G. PERCIVAL. " The world is full of Poetry— the air Is liviiiK witli its spirit ; and the waves Dance ti) the iiiiisic of its melodies, And sjim kle in its brightness— earth is veiled, And mantled witli its beauty : and the walls, That close the Universe, with crystal, in, Are eloquent with voices, that proclaim The unseen glories of immensity, In harmonies, too perfect, and too high For ought but beings of celestial mold, And spe:>k to man, in one eternal hymn. Unfading beauty, and unyielding power." THUS, in his happier years, warbled one of our sweet poets, James Gates Percival, but who, in the vale of elder manhood, was frequently so over- shadowed by a cloud of melancholy, that he could not discern that upper air which was "living with the Spirit" of Poetry, and glorious promises. He was born in Kensington, Connecticut, on tlie 15th of September, 1795. His father was an eminent physician in that town, and died while his three sons were quite young, leaving all of them to the care of an excellent mother. James was a precocious child, and with the first dawnings of his genius in infantile years, he gave promises of a brilliant future. He accomplished his academic course of study ui brief time, entered Yale College, at the age of sixteen years, and was at tl)e head of his class in 1815, when his tragedy of Zamor formed part of the commencement exercises. Previous to this he had written fugitive pieces of poetry of considerable merit. Even as early as his fourteenth year, he wrote a satire in verse, that commanded much attention. In 1820 his first volume of poems was published. It contained the first part of Prometheus, a poem in the Spenserian stanza, and was received with favor. He was ad- mitted to the practice of medicine the same year, and went to Cliarleston, South Carolina, to enter upon the duties of that profession. He found literature far more alluring, and yielded to its temptations. There, in 1822, he published 1. Mr. Lawrence gave freely of his wealth for religious and charitable purposes. He gave fifty thon- land dollars for the establishment of a scientific school in connection with llarv.ird College ; and when it was in operation, he gave an additional sum of fifty thousand dollars for its use in the way of endow- ments of professorships, etc. He also bequeathed, in his will, fifty thousand dollars for tlie establish- ment of model honees for the poor in Hoston. For charitable purposes he left, in all, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, of which the Public Library of ISoston received ten thousand. His brother Amos was still more remarkable for his liberal benefactions. He died in December, 1852, at the age of sixty years. It was found, on an examination of his papers, that during his life he had given away about seven hundred thousand dollars I Ue was blessed with wealth, and he gladly shared with the needy. 414 JOHN C. SPENCER. the first number of Clio, from which the above' epigraph was taken. It was a pamphlet of a hundred pages, in prose and verse. Another number, entirely in verse, appeared soon afterward. In 1824, Dr. Percival was appointed assistant surgeon in the United States army, and Professor of Chemistry at the Military Academy at West Point. In the course of a few months he resigned his situation there, and became con- nected, as surgeon, with the recruiting service at Boston. In 1827, he pub- lished tlie third part of Clio, in New York ; and about that time he was en- gaged in assisting Dr. Webster in the preparation of the first quarto edition of his great Dictionary. He then translated and edited Malte Brun's Geography, the publication of which was completed in three quarto volumes, in 1 843. Fond of nature, he investigated her secrets and her beauties with great zeal, and became a skillful geologist. On account of his extensive knowledge of the sciences, he was appointed in 1835, in conjunction with Professor Shepard, to make a survey of the Mineralogy and Geology of Connecticut ; and in 1842 he published a report on the subject, embraced in nearly five hundred pages. In the summer of 1854 he was commissioned State Geologist of Wisconsin, and entered upon the work at once. His first annual report, in a volume of one hundred octavo pages, was published at Madison, Wisconsin, early in 1855. At the time of his death, on the second day of May, of that year, he held the office of State Geologist of Illinois. Dr. Percival was a man of scholarly tastes and habits, quite eccentric at times, and frequently misanthropic. He was excessively fond of literature and science ; and, as a linguistic scholar, he had few superiors. " As a specimen of his readiness," says Duyckinck," * "it may be mentioned, that when Ole Bull was in New Haven, in 1844 or 1845, he addressed to him a poem of four or five stanzas in the Danish language." The following is one of the stanzas, with the translation, as given by Duyckinck — " Norge, dit Svccrd bier en Lire : Himmelen gav henrtes Toner, Hiertet og Sielen at atyre, Fuld sora af Kummerens Moner." Translation — " Norway, thy Sword has become a Lyre — Heaven gave its tones, to lead heart and soul, filled as with grief's longings." Dr. Percival died at Hazelgreen, Illinois, when at the age of almost sixty years. JOHN C. SPENCER. 'FHE Revised Statutes of the State of New York bear evidence of the learning, X talent, acumen, and industry of John C. Spencer, one of the most honored sons of the State of New York. He was the son of Chief Justice Ambrose Spencer, and was born at Hudson, New York, on the 8th of Januar}', 1788. He was educated chiefly at Union College, Schenectady, and was admitted to the bar, as a practising lawyer, in 1809, at Canandaigua, where he resided until 1845. At the age of nineteen years he became connected with public afiiiirs, as Secretary to Governor Daniel D. Tompkins. He held various offices, connected with his profession, during the war of 1812-15, and in the latter 1. Cyclopedia of American Literature, Vol. II., p. 213. 2. See page 93. ROBERT L. STEVENS. 415 year he was appointed Assistant Attorney General for the western part of New York. Ho was elected to Congress in 1816, and as chairman of a com- mittee of that body, ho drew up a report concerning the aflfairs of the United States Bank. In 1820, Mr. Spencer was elected to the New York Assembly, and was chosen speaker. In 1824 he was elected to the State Senate, where he served four years. Ho joined the Anti-masonic party, and was appointed by Gov- ernor Van Buren, special Attorney-General, under the law passed for that pur- pose, to prosecute the persons connected with the alleged abduction of Morgan. He was again elected to the Assembly in 1832; and in 1839 he was chosen Secretary of State, and became, ex-officio. Superintendent of Common Schools. In that office he rendered important public service, by perfecting the Common School System of the State of New York. In 1841 ho was appointed one of the Regents of the University ; and the same year President Tylav called him to his cabinet as Secretary of War. lie was made Secretary of the Treasury in 1843, but resigned that office the following year, chiefly because of his opposition to the admi-ssion of Texas. Eminent as was Mr. Spencer in everj'' field of labor upon which he entered, his chief fame will ever rest upon his services in revising the Statutes of the State of New York, and his published essays upon that subject, explaining the purposes of the Statutes. So jierfect was the confidence in his ability, that he was selected so revise the wliolo body of tlie Law of his native State, but he declined the task, on account of his age and growing infirmities. He died at Albany, his residence from the yeai- 1845, on the 18th of May, 1855, at the age of sixty-seven years. ROBERT L. STEVENS. THE history of successful steam navigation forms a wonderful chapter in the record of inventions and human progress ; and the first, as well as the greatest achievements by its means, have been won by Americans. Next to the name of Fulton, as one of the pioneers in the progress of this great in- dustrial agent, stands the name of Stevens, father and son, of Hoboken, New Jersey. Tiic fatiier was John Stevens, a man of inventive genius, and owner of the territory now known as Hoboken, opposite New York city. He was engaged witli Joiin Fitch ^ in some of his experiments in steam navigation; and thus, in earliest life, his son, Robert L. (wiio was born at Hoboken in 1788), became familiar with the subject. Tlie inventive and mechanical abilities of Robert were early developed ; and several years before Fulton made the first e.xhibitioii of liis steam- boat, he and his father had succeeded in propelling a small patldle-wheel vessel, by steam, upon a broad ditch near Hoboken. This little craft they named the Marij A)i)i. They also built a screw-propeller at Hoboken, similar in form and principle to that of Captain Ei'icsson's of our day. The greater portion of Robert L. Stevens's life was spent in business con- nected with steam navigation, and many of the most useful inventions pertain- ing thereto are tlie jjroductions of his genius. He was the first to discover a method for saving the power lost in tlie working of machinery by steam. The remedy which he first applied was the contrivance known as the Acentric Wheel. Subsequentl}' he produced a better invention for that purpose known as the Patent Steam Cut Off, which was long in general use, but which has since been superseded by imjirovements upon his valuable hints. He was the 416 ROBERT L. STEVENS. first to devise a plan for passing the exhaust steam from bow to stern, under flat-bottomed boats, by which they may be raised some six inches, thereby allowing them greater speed, and adapting them, in a peculiar manner, to shallow water. Mr. Stevens was also tlie first to use steam in propelling ferry-boats, it having been apphed to a boat on the Barclay-street ferry, as early as 1817. Soon after the war of 1812, Mr. Stevens invented a bomb, but declined ap- plying for a patent. The government, perceiving its value, secured a right to its exclusive use, by granting Mr. Stevens an annuity equivalent to five dollars a day during his life. When railways and locomotives came into use in 1828, the subject instantly attracted the earnest attention of Mr. Stevens. Several of the best of the earlier machines in use in this country were invented by him, and many of the improvements now used are of his suggestion. Several years ago Mr. Stevens's attention was turned to the art of gunnery, and for nearly twelve months he experimented, near Hoboken, for the purpose of testing the powers of a cannon-shot upon jjlates of iron. He erected a tar- get, upon which he fastened iron plates of different thicknesses, in compact order, and fired balls against them. He then fixed plates of the same thickness, a Uttle distance apart, and found the latter mode much the best for resisting the balls. By that arrangement, the force of the heaviest shot might be broken and spent, without perforating more than four or five of such plates. When satisfied with his experiments, he called the attention of our government to them, and proposed the erection of an immense floating battery, with such guards, to be l3all and bomb-proof, for the defense of the harbor of New York. The government authorized him to construct one, and he was busily engaged upon it at the time of his death. It is to be seven Inmdred feet in length, of six thousand tons' burden, to be propelled by engines, without masts, to bear thirty heavy guns upon each side, and four Paixhan guns upon its deck, and to be so constructed that its ends, being driven into an ordinary ship, would cut it in two. It is intended to have this monster of destruction moored in the harbor of New York, midway between the Battery and the Narrows. The work upon it is carried on in secret, within an inclosure. Already more than a million and a quarter of dollars have been spent on it, and yet it is not completed. Mr. Stevens was actively engaged in business until a month before his death, which occurred at his residence, at River Terrace, Hoboken, on Sunday morning, the 20th of April, 1865, when he was about sixty-eight years of age. AT the close of the Indian Summer in 1859, the writer dined at "Sunnyside," on tlie Hudson, at the table of Washington Irving. He was then suflering from difScult breathing, which was an exception to his usual good health and spirits. A fortnight afterwards the mortal remains of the master of " Sunnyside " was laid by the side of those of his mother, in the burial-ground on the borders of that " Sleepy Hollow " so immortalized in Irving's legendary story. That sweetest of humorists and story-tellers was born in the city of New York, on the 3d of April, 1783. His father was a descendant of one of the oldest fami- lies of the Orkney Islands, who had emigrated to America about twenty j^ears before. Books were favorites in his family ; and at an early age Washington delighted in reading the poems of Chaucer and Spenser. Out of their wells of wisdom, fmcy and imagination he drew much of the inspiration which served him and his generation so nobly afterward. Fond of novelty, he was in the WASHINGTON IRVING. 417 habit, ■while jct a little child, of strollingr alone out or town to observe the varied aspects of nature, and to wander along the wiiarves or into tlie bye-places of the city, studying tlie peculiarities of men. In this habit may be found the germ of many of his literary productions. At the age of sixteen years young Irving left the common school in which he had been educated, and began the study of law. He loved literature better, and at nineteen ho began to write for the "Morning Chronicle," edited by his elder brother, Peter, over the signature of " Jonathan Old Style." A little later (1804) his health failed and he went to the South of Europe to seek its recovery. He loitered along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and among its Islands, for several months; and in the Spring of 1805, he found himself in Rome, where he met 'Washington Allston' and resolved to become a painter. He soon clianged his mind, and wandering through Italy, Switzerland, France, a part of Germanj', and Holland, he reached London after an absence from home of eighteen montlis. Mr. Irving returned to New York in March, 1806, and resumed his law studies. He was .«oon admitted to the bar, but sooner left it for literary pursuits. With his brother, William, and James K. Paulding, he produced a series of periodical publications entitled "Salmagundi: orthe Whim Wliams and Opinions of Launce- lot Langstaffand Others." They were full of satire, wit and good humor, and made a great local sensation. Not long afterward appeared the inimitable bur- lesque " History of New York," by Diedrich Knickerbocker, which attracted atten- tion at home and abroad. i. See page 263. 27 418 FRANCIS WAYLAND. Mr. Irving now engaged with two of his brothers, in mercantile pursuits, he being a silent partner and left free to spend his time as he pleased. He edited the '■ Analectic Magazine" duringtheWar of 1812, and wrote for it many charming biographies of naval heroes. For awhile he was on the staff of Governor Tomp- kins. At the close of the war he revisited England, and while there a commer- cial revulsion swept away his business house and reduced him to poverty. He turned to literature for a subsistence. Mr. (afterward Sir "Walter) Scott was his friend in need. "The Sketch Book " laid the foundation of his fame and fortune ; and during seventeen years that he remained abroad, he wrote a large portion of his books. In 1829, Louis M'Lane, American Minister at the British Court, chose him to be his Secretary of Legation. In 1831, the University of Oxford conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. ; and in May, 1832, he returned to his native country. Ten }'ears afterward he was appointed Minister to Spain, which position he filled for four years. Soon after he returned home (1848-'50,) Mr. Putnam published a revised edition of liis works in fifteen volumes. Meanwhile he had resumed labor upon a "Life of "Washington," which he had begun several years before, and laid aside. It was finished in five volumes, early in 1859. This was his longest, most laborious, and last work. He had suffered from unsuspected disease of the heart for some time. He supposed his difQcult breathing, at times, to be the effect of some other cause. "I am suffering," he said in a letter to the writer, a few months before his death, "from a nervous affection, caused by asthma." A sudden paroxysm of his disease terminated his life soon after he had retired to his room on the night of the 28th of November, 1859. A more gentle human spirit never inhabited the form of man. Every body loved him. For more than a year after his burial, the hands of his fair neighbors laid fresh flowers, every morning, upon his modest grave, at whose head is a small white slala bearing only the words — "Washington Irving. AMONG the enlightened and progressive educators of our time, the name of Francis "Wayland appears conspicuous ; and his successful presidency over an important seminary of learning for the space of thirty j^ears, marks him as a man of eminence. He was born in the city of New York, on the 11th of March, 1796. PL's fother was a popular Baptist clergyman, a native of England. He was settled as pastor of a Baptist congregation, in Poughkeepsie, on the Hudson, and afterward at Saratoga Springs. At Poughkeepsie Francis commenced his academic studies under Daniel A. Barnes, and at the age of seventeen years, he was graduated at Union College with honor. In that institution he was noted for his love of metaphysical and economic studies. Young "W"aj'land prepared himself for the practice of medicine, in the office of Eli Burritt, in Troj'^, New York; but he was drawn from that vocation by a con- viction that it was his duty to engage in the work of the Christian ministry. He spent a year at Andover, and then entered LTnion College as a tutor, while pursuing his theological studies, and others connected with literature and science. In 1821, Mr. "Wayland was ordained pastor of the first Baptist church in Boston. He left that pulpit in 1826, to take the chair of Professor of Mathe- matics and Natural Philosophy in Union College. He was soon called from that post to preside over Brown University, at Providence, Rhode Island, into which important office he was installed in February, 1827. That institution was then in a low condition. He soon brought order out of the comparative chaos in GEORGE P. MORRIS. 419 which he found it, and for several years the instruction and discipline of the school were entirel}' in his hands. Ho managed both with great ability. He obtained a liberal endowment for the college, yet it did not flourish. Ho was satisfied that its stagnation was owing chiefly to the vicious system of college education which Americans had borrowed from the English, and made worse. He investigated the subject closely, and gave his views in a little work entitled "Thoughts on the College System of the United States." He finally consented to remain President of the University on condition that the institution should be reorganized upon a plan he had proposed, and be libehilly endowed. The change was agreed upon, and in the course of four months, an endowment fund of $125,000 was raised by subscription. After settling the University upon a solid foundation, under the new system wliicli was inaugurated in 1850-51, and seeing its catalogue of students and its usefulness constantly increasing, he resigned the presidency of it on account of impaired health. That act took place in August, 1855. From that time until his deatli at Providence, Rhode Island, on the 26th of September, 1865, he was engaged in literary pursuits, and in a multitude of services for the good of his fellow men. President Wayland was honored by Harvard University with the degree of LL. D. in recognition of his services as instructor, orally and by writings. His " Elements of Moral Science," " Elements of Political Econoni}-," and "Elements, of Intellectual Philosoi)hy," have maintained their position as text-books. Besides these, he publislicd several volumes, comprising letters and discourses on moral and religious subjects, memoirs, etc. He was greatly beloved by all ; and he was so popular in Rhode Island that ho might have received any official honors in the gift of the people, had ho consented to accept them. G-EO. P. m:oe.ris. THE most genuine lyric poet who has yet honored American literature, was George P. Morris. His songs are almost as familiar to American and English hou-seholds as the music of birds, and tiiey are ever welcome guests, for they are cha.ste in language and sentiment. They are magnetic because of their sympathy with the finer feelings of human nature. Tlie author's genial humor, and kindliness of heart were ever manifest in his writings; and these qualities gave iiim hosts of friends even among those who never looked upon his ruddy face and sparkling black eyes. George P. Morris was a native of Philadelphia, where he was born on the 10th of October, 1802. He became a resident of New York city when a small child; and at the age of fifteen years he commenced his literary life by writing verses for tlie " New York Gazette " and " American " newspapers. In the Summer of 182,'} he formed a partnership with Samuel Woodworth, a brother poet, in the publication of a quarto literary periodical, called "Tiie New York Mirror," which was the first of its class, and was exceedingly popular during a career of nineteen years. It was discontinued at the close of 1842. The " Mirror " was the chosen vehicle of some of their best communications with the public, by Bryant, Halleck, Paulding, Leggett, Fay, Hoflman, Willis, and otliers of lesser note. The latter was associated with Morris in 1843, in the publication of the "New Mirror." This was superseded in 184.4 by the " P^ening Mirror." These publications were not very successful, and in 1845, Morris commenced publishing, alone, a paper called the " National Press." Tiiat title was soon changed to that of " Home Jour- nal" Willis joined Morris in the publication of this paper, and it became very 420 EDWARD EVERETT. popular. Their partnership and warm personal friendship continued until Mor- ris's death, which occurred in the city of New York, on the 6th of July, 1864. It was not as a journalist that General (he held the office of brigadier) Morris won his widest popularity. It was chiefly and most substantially by his songs. These were ever sought after; and Balfe, Sir John Stephenson, Sir Henry Bishop and other English composers wedded them to sweet melodies, when they were sung by Malibran, Braham, Russell, Dempster, Anna Bishop and other noted vocalists, at public concerts. Millions of copies of " Woodman Spare that Tree " were sold; and other songs, such as "Wo were Boys together," "My Mother's Bible," " Origin of Yankee Doodle," "Long Time Ago," were sources of great profit to author and publisher, because of their popularity. General Morris's poems have been published in volumes at different times. He also published a volume of humorous prose, entitled "The Little Frenchman and liis Water Lots." He published a volume in 1853, entitled "The Deserted Bride and other Poems." He also produced a drama called "BrierclifT," its inci- dents drawn from events of the American Revolution. He also wrote an opera entitled "The Maid of Saxony," which was set to music by Charles E. Horn. He edited a volume of "American Melodies," and he and Willis jointly prepared a large volume entitled " The Prose and Poetry of Europe and America." On a picturesque plateau at the foot of a precipitous mountain in the Hudson Highlands near the village of Cold Spring, was the Summer residence of General Morris, which he called " Undercliff." There he ever dispensed an open-handed and open-hearted hospitality to friends and strangers. AMONG the more eminent scholars and statesmen of our land no one has ever been more deservedly honored for intellectual power, purity of character, public and private, and for clearness of perception and judgment, than Edward Everett. He was born in Dorchester, close by the New England capital, on the 11th of April, 1794. He entered Harvard College as a student at the age of thirteen years ; and when he was a little more than seventeen years old he was graduated with the highest honors of his class of uncommonly able students. While he was yet an undergraduate, he was the chief conductor of a magazine called the "Harvard Lyceum." Young Everett remained in the college as a tutor for awhile, and was at the same time a divinity student. He entered the ministry (Unitarian) in 1813, in the city of Boston, and was eminent from the beginning as a polished pulpit orator and logician. In 1814 he was appointed to fill the Eliot chair of Greek literature then recently created in Harvard College, but before entering upon his duties there, he thoroughly qualified himself by travel and study in Europe for about four years. During tliat time he acquired that solid information concerning the history and principles of law, and of the political systems of Europe, which formed the foundation of that broad statesmanship for which he was distinguished. Mr. Everett exalted and commended classical studies by his class instruction, and by a series of brilliant lectures on Greek literature and Ancient Art. At about the same time he became the conductor of " The North American Review." In the course of a few years, Mr. Everett had so well prepared himself for popular oratory, that ever after he entered upon its practice in 1824, he held the first rank among American public speakers. His life as a statesman began at the same time, for he was, that year, elected to a seat in the National Congress. He was a member of that body ten years, and during aU that period he was one EDWARD EVERETT. 421 of the Committee on Foreign Relations, a part of the time as Chairman. He was a laborious and most valuable worker in the public service ; and on nearly every occasion ho was chosen by the Standing or Select Committee of which he was a member, to draw up their report. These papers were models in every sense. His essays on public affairs, in the form of letters or otherwise, were extensively read at home and abroad. In 183-4, Mr. Everett was chosen Governor of his native State, and was three times reelected. In that position as well as in all others, his speeches, prepared with great care, were always most perfect of their kind. In Juno, 1840, Mr. Everett again visited P]urope, accompanied by his family. The same year he was appointed resident Minister of his government at the British Court. It was an important mission, for the relations of his country with Great Britain then wore a grave aspect. His official career in London was emi- nently successful. Pacific relations were preserved and the interests of his countrymen were secured. His personal accomplishments made him a favorite with the leading men and families of England; and his departure, in 1843, to enter upon a new field of duty as Commissioner to China, was regretted by all. On his return from China in 1845, Mr. Everett was chosen President of Harvard University. Ill health compelled him to resign the place at the end of three years. On the death of \\x. Webster, in 1852, President Fillmore called Mr. Everett to fill the thus vacated position in his Cabinet as Secretary of State. He performed tlie arduous and delicate duties of tliat office, at a trying time, with signal ability and success. Meanwhile the Legislature of Massachusetts had elected 422 N. p. WILLIS. him to the National Senate, in which he took his seat in March, 1853. Ill health compelled him to resign his seat in the Spring of 1854. Rest restored him, and he entered upon the patriotic task of assisting the Ladies' Mount Vernon Associa- tion in raising funds for the purchase of the Home of Washington. He delivered a lecture on the character of that great man, more than a hundred times, and applied the proceeds to the good purpose. His efforts placed over sixty thousand dollars in the treasury. He delivered other addresses in aid of benevolent institu- tions ; and it is probable that his oratory won for such purposes at least one hundred thousand dollars. In 1860, Mr. Everett was nominated for Vice President of the United States by the so-called " Union Party," with John Bell, of Tennessee, who was nomi- nated for President. The ticket did not succeed. The late Civil War broke out, and Mr. Everett took strong ground, with great zeal, against the insurgents. The last act of his political life was the casting of his vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1864, in the Massachusetts Electoral College, of which he was a member. Mr. Everett's death was very sudden. On the 9th of January, 1865, he spoke at Faneuil Hall, in Boston, in fovor of sending provisions to the destitute inhab- itants of Savannah. He was affected by a severe cold for a few days afterward. He went to his bed on the evening of the 14th without any apprehensions of serious difficulty, but was found in a dying state early the next morning. Before his physician arrived lie was dead. The Secretary of State at Washington (Mr. Seward) announced the sad tidings to the people of the United States on the same day. IST. P. "V^ILLIS. ¥HEN, about the year 1822, the late Rembrant Peale was painting in Boston, lie met a youth in the street, about sixteen years of age, whose beauty of features, and especially his exquisite complexion, impelled him to invite the lad to his studio for the purpose of painting liis portrait. That youth was Nathaniel Parker Willis, the son of a publisher, who was born in Portland, Maine, on the 20th of January, 1801. His family removed to Boston when he was about six years of age; and at the Latin School in that city, and the Phillips Academy at Andover, he was prepared for a collegiate course. He was graduated at Yale College at the age of twenty years, witli the reputation of a good scholar and poet of much promise. He wrote and published a series of Scripture sketches in rhyme while he was a student; and he won a prize of fifty dollars offered by a publisher for the best poem. Immediately after his graduation, young Willis was employed in editorial labors by Samuel G. Goodrich (Peter Parley,) and at the same time he establislied the "American Monthly Magazine." This was afterward merged into the ''New York Mirror," in which, a few years later, appeared a series of brilliant sketches of travel, entitled "Pencilings by the Way," from Mr. Willis's pen. These were spirited and picturesque descriptions of scenes and incidents of the author's expe- rience during a long tour in the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, Levant and IBlack seas. He went to England, and there, in 1835, he married a daughter of General Stace, commander of Woolwich Arsenal. In England, as well as on the Continent, he enjoyed .society in the higher circles. On his return to America, with his bride, in 18,^7, Mr. Willis purchased a small estate near Owego, New York, which he called ''Glenmary." There he resided until 1839, when he revisited England, and there wrote the letter-press for Bartlett's " Views of the Scenery of the United States and Canada." In 1844, HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT. 423 he was in New York, where he associated himself with General Morris in the publication of the " Eveninj? Mirror." The death of his wife and his own ill- healih caused liim to revisit England in 1845. The following year ho returned to New York, and was married to a daughter of Jo.seph Grinuell of New Bedford. "Witli that accomplished woman he lived in a delightful home in a picturesque .=pot on the western border of Newburgh Ba}', near Cornwall (which he named '■ Idlewild,") until his death, which occurred there on the 20th of January, 1867. He had then been associated for many years with General Morris in editing and publishing the "Home Journal," a popular weekly paper, devoted much to a record of the doings of society in general, and the literary world. Mr. Willis was a prolific writer of prose and poetry. His published works are comprised in about thirty volumes. We can not enumerate them here. Most of them are familiar to American readers. His writings are mostly discursive. He was possessed of those rare gifts which constitute a great and solid thinker — a philosopher; and he was capable of producing works that might have been eminent standards in literature. But he spent his wonderful powers in such a way — diffusive — that he has left a false impression of his real intellectual char- acter. He is generally regarded as an accomplished poet, and an essayist of great brilliancy employed upon unimportant themes; as a journalist who was more fascinated with the frivolties of fashion, dress and the gay and idle world, than with the higher topics of human thought. Mr. Willis was practically untrue to himself. HENRY R. SCKOOIL.CR.^ir'T. TO Henry Rowe Schoolcraft tlie world is more indebted for a variety of knowl- edge of Indian history, ethnology, archicology. character, customs and cos- tumes, than to any other man. He was a native of Watervliet, Albany country, New York, where ho was born on the 28th of March, 1793. His ancestral name was Calcraft. The first immigrant of that name, to this country, taught school in Albanj-, and he was called School-cva^t. Young Schoolcraft entered Union College as a student at the age of fifteen years, and obtained a knowledge of the natural sciences and some foreign lan- guages from other sources also. He learned the business of glass-making from his father, but loved scientific pursuits better. He explored mineral regions in Mis- souri and other parts of the then " West," and published an account of his adven- tures there, in 1825. Mr. Schoolcraft became much interested in the Indians, with whom he had lived much during his travels; and in 18'22 he was appointed Indian Agent on the Northwest frontier, with his headquarters at the Saut St. Marie. He was after- ward stationed at Michillimackinac, where he married the grand-daughter of an Indian chief, who had been well educated in Europe, and was a girl of remarkable beauty. For a long period he devoted a greater part of the time to a study of the Indians. Meanwhile, from 1828 to 1832, he was a member of tho State Legislature of Michigan, and founded the Historical Society of Michigan. He also founded tho Algic Society of Detroit. Two of his lectures on the gram- matical construction of tho Indian languages were translated by Mr. Duponceau, of Philadelphia, and won for the author tlie gold medal of tho French Institute. His mind and pen worked most industriously, and he published poems, essays and addresses. At the head of an exploring party in 1832, Mr. Schoolcraft was the first to discover tho real chief source of tho Mississippi River, in Lake Itasca. He was 42'i JOSIAH QUINCY. engaged successfully in making treaties with the Indians for the cession of lands to the United States; and was, for some time, chief superintendent of Indian affairs and disbursing agent for the northern department. He visited Europe in 1842, and on his return he made a tour in Western Virginia, Ohio and Canada, and communicated what he had discovered of Indian Antiquities to the Eoyal Antiquarian Society of Denmark, of which he was an honorary member. In 1845, Mr. Schoolcraft, by authority of the Legislature of New York, made a census of and gathered a large amount of statistics concerning the Six Nations, which was published in a condensed form, in 1848. Early in 1847, the National Congress, appreciating the importance of his labors, passed a resolution under which he was engaged in the preparation of an elaborate work on the Indians. Six large quarto volumes of this work had appeared at the time of his death, with the title of " Historical and Statistical Information respecting the History, Condi- tion and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States." He resided in the city of "Washington while engaged upon this groat work, and there he died, after suffering sometime from partial paralysis, on the 10th of December, 1864. ^^ TT'ING- Josiah the First " was the title given to a caricature of Josiah Quincy, J\. of Boston, while he was the leader of the Federal party in the National Congress. It was in allusion to his almost regal swa}^ over that body, his party, and the majority of the people of New England at the beginning of our last war with Great Britain. Mr. Quincy was then in the full vigor of mature manhood. He was born in Boston on the 4th of February, 1772, and was the only child of Josiah Quincy, Jr., the eloquent orator and zealous patriot when the old war for independence was a-kindling. Josiah Quincy was graduated at Harvard College in 1790, at the age of eight- een years, with the highest honors of his class. Three years later he commenced the practice of law in Boston, but was more enamored with politics and public life, than with his profession. It was at the period of the formation of the two great political parties known respectively as Federal and Republican. He asso- ciated with the former party, took an active part in all its operations in his section, and in the year 1800 was its candidate for a seat in the national House of Repre- sentatives. He was defeated, but won the honor in 1804, and took his seat in Congress in December, 1805. There he was kept by successive elections until 1813, when he retired to private life with the intention of devoting his time chiefly to agricultural pursuits at his country seat in Quincy, Massachusetts. In Congress Mr. Quincy's fiery eloquence and commanding force of character made him a conspicuous leader. He denounced the war declared against Great Britain, in 1812, as unnecessary and unjustifiable; but when it was begun, he patriotically laid aside all prejudices and opinions of his own, and voted for sup- plies of men and money. Mr. Quincy's abilities were of too high an order to allow him to withhold them altogether from the public service. He was soon drawn out from his quiet retreat to engage in the turmoil of politics. In 1814, he was elected to a seat in the Massachusetts Senate, and he continued to occupy it until 1820. Then he was elected a member of his State's House of Representatives, and chosen to be its Speaker. In 1821, he was made Judge of the municipal court of Boston, in which capacity he was the first to declare, in the face of prevailing ideas and the common practice, that the publication of the truth with good motives is not libelous. In 1823 he was elected Mayor of Boston. He held that office until JOSIAH QUINCV, 425 1 828, when he was chosen President of Harvard University, and entered upon its duties in June, 1829. These duties he continued to perform with signal ahihty until the siuniiier of 1845, when ho was seventy-three years of age. Thou he made a final withdrawal from public life. Mr. Quincy's remaining years, which were many, were happily spent in lite- rary employment, and in rare social enjoyments. A Memoir of his Father; a " History of Harvard Universitj%" in two volumes ; " Municipal History of Eoston during Two Centuries," and a "Life of John Quincy Adams," comprise his most conspicuous writings. He always took a lively interest in public affairs ; and when he was eighty-two years of age (1856,) he wrote and spoke in public in behalf of the Republican party, then just formed, and of its candidate for Pres- ident, Colonel Fremont. Mr. Quincy was a firm supporter of the government when the late civil war broke out, in 18G1 ; and at the age of ninety years, he made a public harangue, in which ho said that he regarded the war as a mpst hopeful sign of the future prosperity of the Rcpuldic, and predicted that the date of its close would be the commencement of a new and more glorious era of our national greatness. To- day that prediction is evidently fulfilled. Mr. Quincy was the last survivor of the members of Congress during the war of 1812. He had outlived the political cotemporaries of his earlier years. He, too, died when he was some months more than ninety-two years of age. That event occurred on the first day of July, 186i, at his ancestral home, in Quincy. 426 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. IN Salem — quaint and curious to the apprehension of the student of our social, religious and political history — the theatre of events which form some of the most remarkable episodes in the chronicles of New England, Nathaniel Haw- thorne was born, on "Independence Day," in the year 1804. He was the product of the genuine Puritan seed planted there when John Endicot set out the pear-tree yet flourishing in green old age. Living on the borders of the sea, Hawthorne's ancestors, for several genera- tions, were mariners. The last of that profession, in direct line, was his father, who died of fever in Calcutta, in 1810. Nathaniel was a delicate boy, yet he went well through preparations for higher studies, and entered Bowdoin College, in Maine, where he was graduated at the age of twenty years, with Longfellow, the poet, and other men who have become eminent. The habits of his early life were peculiar. He was a recluse, seldom walking out excepting at night, and passing the day in his room indulging his imagination in writing wild stories and burning many of them when finished. Some were saved and anonymously published; and in 1837 he made a collection of them and issued them in a volume with the title of " Twice-told Tales." These were recognized by the appreciating few as the fruits of rare genius, and they gradually won their way to popular favor. In the following year, Mr. Bancroft, the historian, then collector of cus- toms at Boston, gave Mr. Hawthorne the office of weigher and gauger. He was displaced by a new collector in 1841, when he joined a community known as the Brook Farm Fraternity, then organizing at Roxbury. In the course of a year he left it, married, made his residence at the old parsonage at Concord, and there hid in seclusion for about three years, when Mr. Bancroft, then Secretary of the Navy, appointed him collector of the port of Salem. In 1849 there was a change of administration, and Mr. Hawthorne was again displaced. He moved to a cottage in Lennox, where he wrote his remarkable romance, "The House with Seven Gables." This was followed by "The Scarlet Letter" and "Blithedale Romance;" and in 1852, by a "Life of Franklin Pierce," his intimate college friend, then a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic. Mr. Pierce was elected, and appointed Mr. Hawthorne consul at Liverpool. He resigned that office in 1857, traveled on the Continent, and returning home resumed the labors of his pen. He wrote " The Marble Faun," and a collection of sketches of English scenery and character which he called "Our Old Home." He wrote several pleasing books for the young; and until a few weeks before his death he was engaged upon a novel which was to have been published in the " Atlantic Monthly " magazine. It was never finished. Journeying with his friend, Mr. Pierce, to the White Mountains, in search of recreation of body and mind, he was a lodger at the Pemigewasset House, in Plymouth, New Hampshire, on the night of the 18th of May, 1864, and there ho died, alone, early on the morning of the 19th. He was a great and original thinker and writer, yet not so well known and admired by the multitude as many men of less genius. JOHlSr TY1L.E!JR. THE tenth President of the Republic was John Tyler, a native of Charles City county, Virginia, where he was born on the 29th of March, 1790. He was MARTIN VAN BUREN. 427 graduated at William and Mary College in 1807, and was admitted to the bar at the age of nineteen years. He was a young man of more than ordinary ability, and soon rose to distinction in his profession. In 1811 he was elected to a seat in the Virginia Legislature, and continued in that position about five j-ears. He was elected to Congress to fill a vacancy, in 1816, where he served, after re- election, until 1819. He was elected governor of A^irginia in 1825, and after serving two vears, was chosen to represent his State in tiie National Senate. He continued in' that office until 183G. In 1840 he was elected Vice President of the United States, when General Harrison was elected President.' The latter died a month after his inauguration, in the Spring of 1841, when Tyler became President. At the close of his administration ho retired to private life, from which he emerged in the winter of 18G1, when he espoused the cause of the con- spirators against the life of the Republic. He was president of the so-called "Peace Convention" held in "Washington, and was one of the committee who, in April following, transferred the control of all the military forces of Virginia to the so-called Confederate Government, at Montgomery, of which Jefferson Davis was chief Mr. Tyler took an active part against his'country, and was rewarded with tlie office of "Senator" in the "Confederate Congress" at Richmond. He was acting iu that capacity when he died, at Richmond, on the 18th of January, 1862. IN the quiet little village of Kinderhook, in Columbia county, New Tork, there was an inditferent tavern at the close of the Revolution, kept by a Dutchman named Van Buren. Tliere his distinguished son, Martin, was born on the 5th of December, 1782. He was educated at the Academy in that village, and at the age of fourteen years commenced the study of law. In 1803 he was admitted to the bar. He had a fondness for politics, and attached himself to the Democratic party. In 1808 ho was appointed Surrogate of Columbia county; and in 1812 he was elected to a seat in the State Senate. In 1815 he was appointed attorney-general of the State, and the following year he was again elected State Senator. Witli a few others he now formed a political organization whicli controlled the politics of the State for twenty years. In 1821 Mr. Van Buren was chosen by his State Legislature to a seat fn the National Senate. He was reeleeted to the Senate in 1827, but resigned that office on being chosen governor of New York to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Dewitt Clinton. While in that office he proposed the admirable "Safety Fund" system of banking, which was set in motion. In 1829 he was called into the cabinet of President Jackson as Secretary of State. He resigned the office in April, 1831, and in September following he arrived in England as American Minister at the British Court. His nomination was rejected by the Senate three months afterward, and ho returned home. He was on the ticket witli Jackson, as a candidate for the Vice-presidency of the republic, in 1832, and was elected; and in 1836 he was elected President of the United States, the eigiitli incumbent of that office. His term was marked by much excitement, growing out of financial embarrassments throughout the country. He called an extraordinary session of Congress, wlien the financial measure known as the ludqiendent Treasury System was adopted, on his earnest recommendation. For several years the Democratic party had been largely in the majority. 1. See page 240. 428 EDWARD ROBINSON. Now came a change, and Mr. Van Buren, who was the Democratic nominee for President, in 1840, was overwhehningly defeated by General Harrison. In 1844 he was a candidate for another nomination, at Baltimore, but was rejected by the slave-holding interest, and Mr. Polk was chosen in his stead. Four years later he was nominated for the presidency by the "Free-soil Democracy," or that portion of the party who were opposed to the extension of slavery. The Demo- cratic party was divided on that issue, and GJeneral Taj'lor, the Wliig candidate, •was elected. From that time until his death Mr. Van Buren remained in private life, living most of the time at his home in the village of his birth, excepting when he made a tour in Europe in 1853, 1854 and 1855. "When the civil war broke out in 1861, Mr. Van Buren expressed himself decidedly in favor of the maintenance of the Union. He did not live to see the end of the conflict. He died at his fine mansion, in Kinderhook, on tlie 24th of July, 1862, at the age of eighty years. THERE are few biblical scholars and writers on the sacred books to whom the world is so much indebted for accurate knowledge of Palestine and its neighborhood, which Jews and Christians fondl}^ call the "Holy Land," as to Edward Robinson, whose learning and patience achieved great things in the field of research. He was a native of Soutliington, Connecticut, where he was born on the 10th of April, 1794. He was graduated at Hamilton College, in New York, at the age of twenty-two, and remained there as tutor until 1821, when he removed to Andover, Massachusetts. At the theological seminary there he studied the Hebrew language ; and he engaged with Professor Stuart in the translation of some text-books in German. In 1826, Mr. Robinson went to Europe, where he spent four years in studying and traveling. At Halle, in Germany, he married the daughter of Professor von Jakob, who afterward became widely known in both hemispheres by her writ- ings over the signature of "Talvi." On his return to America in 1830, he was appointed Professor of Sacred Literature and Librarian, at the Andover Seminary, in which position he remained until 1833, when he removed to Boston. Four years afterward he was appointed Professor of Biblical Literature in Union Theo- logical Seminary, in the city of New York. Before entering upon the duties of that office, he visited Palestine, and spent more than a year there, with Dr. Eli Smith, in making a careful geographical survey of that interesting country. At Berlin he prepared an account of their operations, for the press, and his celebrated work entitled "Biblical Researches in Palestine, and in the Adjacent Countries: a Journal of Travels in the year 1838," was published simultaneously in Europe and in America. He made his residence in New York in 1 840, and from that time until the year of his death, he held the professorship iu the theological seminary there, already mentioned. The honorary titles of D. D. and LL. D. were conferred upon Mr. Robinson, the latter by Yale College ; and ho was always an honor to the title and the insti- tution. In 1852, he revisited Palestine, with Dr. Smitli, and made many imi^ort- ant discoveries, especially among the ruins of Jerusalem. He published a volume embodying a narrative of new discoveries, in 1856. At the time of his death he was engaged in the preparation of a physical and historical geography of the Holy Land. He did not live to complete it. His death occurred in the city of New York on the 27th of January, 1863. Dr, Robinson was not only a most profound biblical scholar, but a philologist ELIPHALET NOTT. 429 and linguist of rare repute. lie translated several Greek and Hebrew text-books, as well as other standard works in the Greek lansuago; also Calmet's "Biblical Dictionary." IIo edited, for several years, the "Biblical Repositorj^," and "Bib- liotheca Sacra ;" and was a prominent member of the New York Historical So- ciety, and of the American Geographical, Ethnological and Oriental Societies. ELIPHj^LET IsTOTT. HISTORY furnishes no other example of longevity in a single public position, like that of Eliphalet Xott, who was, for the space of sixty-two years, Presi- dent of Union College, at Schenectada, in the State of New York. He was a native of Ashton, Windham county, Connecticut, where he was born on the 25th of June, 1773. His father had been a merchant, but by a series of misfortunes, ho was reduced to poverty and rendered unal)le to give his son the college edu- cation ho had intended for him. His mother, a woman of culture, aided him mucii in the dillicult search for knowledge; and his uncle, llev. Samuel Nott, taught him Latin and Greek. He was so well home-educated, that at the age of sixteen years he was a school teacher in Plainfield, Connecticut. There he studied mathematics and the "dead languages" under the Rev. Dr. Benedict, whose daughter ho afterward married. He spent a year at Brown University, and was graduated out of the regular course, in 1795. He studied theology, and entered upon the duties of a minister of the gospel, as a missionary in Central New York, then almost a Avilderness. He accepted an invitation to take charge of a congregation at Cherry Valley, where he was also the successful head of an academy fov boys. In 1798 he accepted a call to the pastorate of a Presbyterian church in Albany, and there he remained preaching to large and admiring con- gregations until 1804, when he was chosen President of Union College, at Sche- nectada; an institution then in its infancy. It was without suitable buildings, library and apparatus, and involved in debt. Mr. Nott gave it the help of his energies of body and mind, without stint; and in 1814 he procured a legislative act for raising money by lottery, wiiich gave it funds and a permanent founda- tion. The management of the lottery and investment of the funds were left entirely with Mr. Nott; and an investigation of the pecuniary affliirs of the insti- tution, made at his request after forty years of his management, showed that every thing had been done wisel.y and well. He not only made tlie property of the college valuable, but ho added to it a large sum from his own private fortune, at the close of that investigation. He had taken the institution in his arms in its infancy and poverty, and lifted it to honor and wealth. In 1854, the semi-centennial anniversary of his presidency was celebrated, when nearly seven hundred men, some of the most distinguished in the land, who had been graduated at Union College, came together to do him honor. During liis Presidency, over four thousand graduates left the institution. Dr. Nott (he had received the degrees of D. D. and LL. D.) paid much attention to the subject of heating apartments, and was the inventor of a celebrated stove that bore his name. Ho was a life-long advocate of temperance, and spoke and wrote much on that subject. Many of his discourses were published. Of these, the most celebrated was a sermon preaclied before the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1804, on the occasion of the death of Alexander Hamilton. Dr. Nott was President of Union College at the time of his death, which occur- red at Schenectada, on the 29th of January, 1866, when he was almost ninety- three years of age. He had lived to see the government of his country which was established in his youth, settled upon a solid foundation of justice and wis- 430 DAVID L. SWAIN". dom ; and the fact demonstrated by the results of a great civil war, that of all forms of government for an enlightened people, the republican is the strongest and most stable. D^V^ID JL,. SMTA-IlSr. F David Lowry Swain it might be justly written as Hannah More wrote of another, saying, " Iv'e scnnned the actions of liis daily life With nil llie industrious malice of a foe; And nothing meets my eyes but deeds of honor." Mr. Swain was an honored statesman and beloved educator. He was born near Asheville, Buncombe county, North Carolina, on the 4th of January, 1801. His earlier education was obtained at the Asheville Academy ; and his studies were completed at the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill. He was admitted to the practice of the law as a life vocation, in 1823. His rare abilities and excellent deportment soon won for him a lucrative business in his profession. Mr. Swain began his public career in 1824, when he Avas elected a representa- tive of his native county in the legislature of North Carolina. He served therein three consecutive years. In 1827 he was solicitor of the Edenton District. He was again in the Legislature in 1828 and 1829; and in 1830 he was elected one of the Board of Internal Improvements. The same year he was chosen to be a judge of the Superior Court of his State. In 1832, he was elected Governor of North Carolina. While holding that office in 1835, he was chosen to a seat in the convention that revised the Constitution of his native State. His influence was potential in that body. In December, that year, he was chosen to fill the important position of President of the University of North Carolina wherein he had been educated. It had been established at Chapel Hill, a few miles from Raleigh, the capital of the State, soon after the old War for Independence. He was the immediate successor of the eminent Dr. Caldwell, its first President. Tlie most useful part of Governor Swain's life was spent in the conduct of that University. When he was called to assume its control, he was only thirty-four years of age. Nine j'ears before, he had married Eleanor White, a grand-daughter of the eminent patriot. Governor Richard Caswell, who yet (1860) survives him. His administration of the affairs of the University, financial and educational, was eminently successful. When he took charge of it in 1835, the number of its students was eighty. Just before the breaking out of the late civil war, its cata- logue contained over four hundred and fifty names. His government was parental, and his influence upon the students was that of " the highest style of man," — a Christian gentleman. President Swain was an ardent delver in the rich mines of American history. No man ever worked those of his native State so industriouslj^, patriotically and wisely as he; and when he was summoned to a liigher sphere of life, he was about to arrange his collected treasures in proper form for use. " He knew more of North Carolina and of her public men," said a cotemporary, at his death, " than any living man. Perhaps it is not going too for to say that his knowl- edge upon these two points was more extensive than the combined knowledge of every man in the State." It may be added that at the time of his death, a very large number of the most distinguished men of North Carolina liad been his pupils at Chapel Hill. More than a thousand living men had listened to his instruction in that school. When the late civil war was impending, and after it was kindled, President JOHN W. FRANCIS. 431 Swain did all in his power to calm the troubled waters. He was a Patriot aiM a Ciiristian, in the highest sense of tlie terms. He enjoyed the confidence of all; and when Slierman's victorious army was approaching Raleigh in the Spring of 18G5, ho was at the head of a commission appointed to wait upon that leader and make arrangements for staying bloodshed and devastation in that region. In the heat of passion that everywhere prevailed tlicn, and immediately after the war, President Swain's wise conduct was misinterpreted and misrepresented; and so bitter was the feeling because Iiis daughter, at the close of the war, mar- ried General Atkins of the National army, that all support was withdrawn from the University at Cliapel Hill, and it -wna allowed to fall asleep.' Its property, excepting its land and buildings, had been wasted by the operations of the war, and it now (18G9) seems dead. It will doubtless one day awake from its slum- bers with increased vigor, and enter upon a new career of usefulness. And on the tomb of David L. Swain, the good, the wise, the generous benefactor of his race, posterity will write, in spirit, " lie was the noblest Roman of them all." President Swain was thrown from his light carriage on the 11th of August, 1868. He lingered until the 27th of the same month, W'hen he died at the age of little more than sixty-eight years. ON a chilly day in February, 1861, there was a large concourse of the most noted inhabitants of the city of New York at old St. Thomas' church, on the corner of Broadway and Houston street, to pay the last tribute of respect to the remains of an eminent and beloved physician and distinguished citizen. The physician so beloved, and the citizen so esteemed, was John Wakefield Francis, a native of New York city, where he was born on the 17th of November, 1789. He was a printer's apprentice when a small lad, but was afterward prepared for a professional life. He entered Columbia College, in New York, as luember of an advanced class, in 1807. At about the same time he began the study of medicine with Dr. Hosaek. He was graduated with the degree of Baclielor of Arts in 1809, and received a diploma as Medical Doctor from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in 1811. He was the first person on whom the degree was conferred by tliat institution. Soon afterward the medical school of Colum- bia College was consolidated with that of Ph3-sicians and Surgeons, and to 3'oung Francis was assigned the chair of materia medica in the united body. He had been associated with Dr. Ilosack, as a business partner, soon after his medical graduation, and was a co-laborer with that distinguislied physician in the editing and publisliing of the "American Medical and Philosophical Register." Soon after his appointment to tlio chair of materia medica, in 1813, he went to Europe for the purpose of increasing his knowledge of his profession. There he became acquainted with most of the living men distinguished in science and 1. General .Atkins' ndvonced eiinnl entered Chnpel Flill on Sunday, the Ifith of April, ]8G5. On the foliowin? day the Genpral himself entered with four thousand cavalry, and took possession. He had orders to protect the University hnildin^s and the villnffe, in consequence of President Swain's services on the commission mentioned in the text. He visited at Governor Swain's house, became Bcqiininted with his daughter, who was, heinj of lawful age, mistress of her own actions, and they were ensnjed to be married before the Governor suspected the fact. It was not known until after General .\tkins' departure, when the niTinnced informed her father. They were married. Because of Ibis, a noble institution of Iciirninc was smitten to death. The folly will soon be repented of, when reason and not passion shall rule. 432 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. literature ; among them Dr. Rees, to whose Cyclopedia he contributed several papers. On his return to New York, he became professor In the College of Physicians and Surgeons, first of the institutes of medicine, and in 1817, of medi- cal jurisprudence. Two years later he was appointed professor of obstetrics, which position he filled until 1826, when, with otliers, he founded the short-lived institution known as the Rutgers' Medical School, and held in it the professorship of obstetrics and forensic medicine. While Dr. Francis held these professional positions and filled them with marked industry and ability, he was engaged in an extensive and increasing practice. In addition to his arduous professional duties, he was also continually engaged in literary pursuits. He was a ready and eloquent writer upon what- ever subject employed his pen. He was particularly eminent as a biographer, especially of distinguished men with whom he was acquainted; and no one man ever made so many and excellent contributions to tlie treasury of American biog- raphy as lie. His essays and discourses on a great variety of topics, occupy a large space in our literature. He was an ardent lover and patron of art ; and the deserving man of genius, however humble, always found in him a benefactor and friend. He was honored and beloved by all of the literary men and artists of his day ; and men of science esteemed him highly for his genial sympathy in their labors. Dr. Francis was an active worker in all efforts around him for the promotion of the good of his fellow men; and his influence and services were continually sought, for botli were powerful. He took great interest in the New York Typo- graphical Society; the New York Historical Society; the Lyceum of Natural History; the New York Academy of Medicine; the American Academy of Design, and other institutions. He was the first president of the New York Academy of Medicine, which was organized in 1847. He was active in the promotion of the objects of the "Woman's Hospital in New York, and the Ine- briate Asylum at Binghampton, N. Y. ; and he was an honorary member of several foreign and domestic associations. In 1850, Trinity College, at Hartford, conferred upon him the lionorary degree of LL. D. In knowledge of the men and things of his native city, he was regarded as an almost unerring oracle. His house was the pleasant resort of intellectual men of every kind, and in their entertainment he was happy in the companionsliip of his wife, one of the best of women. The social gatherings at his house were kept up until a very short time before his death, which occurred in the city of New York on the 8th of February, 1861. In the death of his promising son, J. W. Francis, Jr.,' a few years before, his nervous sj^stem received a shock from which he never recovered. His affection for relatives and friends was very strong. His genial good nature made him a delightful companion, and his skill in medicine won for him the pro- found reverence of his professional cotemporaries. Dr. Francis was "the beloved physician " of his native city. A-BR^ha-m: r.i]srcoiL.isr. fCVTriTH malice toward none, witli charity for all, with firmness in the right YV as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in, to bind up the Nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and orphan, to do all Avhieh may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." These were the 1. See page 407. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 433 closing Avords of the second inaugural address of Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the Republic, just before the end of the great Civil War. They are illustrations of llie ciiaracter of the man, wlio was alwaj's patient, kind, forgiving, trusting, wise and patriotic. Mr. Lincoln was born in Hardin county, Kentucky, on the 12th of February, 1S09. His father was an early settler, and struggled hard for a livelihood. When Abraham was in tlie eighth year of his age, tiie whole family embarked on a raft on Salt river, went down the Ohio, and settled in the then wilderness of Spencer county. Indiana. There, in a log cabin built by the elder Lincoln's own hands, Abraham's mother taught him to read and write. When he was ten years of ago she died. Two yeans later a kind step-mother took her place. At twelve the boy was taught arithmetic and s )me other branches of a common school education. But few books fell in his way, and these he read with avidity. Young Lincoln labored with his father in the solitudes, until, at the age of nineteen, when he was a very tall lad, he made a voyage to New Orleans on a tlat-boat, with the son of the owner of it. It bore a valuable cargo, and at one place they were comjielled to fight for its preservation from a band of plunderers. In 1830, the Lincoln flimily removed to Decatur, Illinois, where young Lincoln assisted his father in clearing and fencing a farm. He was a'so a clerk in a store a part of the time. In 1832, the conflict known as the "Black Hawk War" broke out on the borders of the Mississippi. Abraham Lincoln enlisted as a volunteer, and as Captain of a company went to the seat of war, but had no lighting. On his return he received a heavy vote for a seat in the Illinois Legis- lature, but was defeated. Then he opened a store on his own account; was appointed postmaster; studied hard all the time; became a good surveyor, and for about two years made surveying his chief business. He served a terra in the Illinois Legislature, in 1834, and then studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1837, when ho was twenty-eight years of age. He soon won reputation and a luL'rative practice. He served again in the legislature, ranking as a Whig of the Henry Clay school. He was a ready pleader at the bar, and speaker at public gatherings. In 1846 ho was elected to Congress, and was the only Whig- Representative ti'om Illinois. There he was marked for soundness of judgment and attachment to the principles of justice and right. He was uniformly a decided but conservative anti-slavery man; and when the Nebraska bill was passed and the "Missouri" compromise was violated, in 1854, he greatly assisted in revolutionizing Illinois politically. Judge Douglas originated the Nebraska bill in tiie National Senate, and his party (Democratic) suffered in consequence. The Whigs carried the State, and Mr. Lincoln, who was a prominent candidate for the National Senate, generously withdrew in favor of Mr. Trumbull, a rival candidate, who he knew would receive many Democratic votes. Trumbull was chosen. In 1856, Mr. Lincoln took an active part in favor of the Republicans, and he was a projninent candidate for the Vice-presidency. In 1858, he was a candi- date for the National Senate, in opposition to Stephen A. Douglas. They ably canvassed the State together. It was one of the most interesting and able con- flicts of oratory ever known in this country. Their speeches were afterward pul)lished from phonographic reports. It was generally conceded that Mr. Lin- coln was the victor. Between 1856 and 18G0 Mr. Lincoln made several powerful speeches. In May, the latter year, he was nominated for the presidency of the Republic, and elected in Novemlier. Leading slaveholders made his election a pretext for an open rebellion which they had long contemplated: and he was inaugurated Pres- ident on the 4th of March, 18(51, when insurrection and rebellion had begun in the Slave-labor States. He met the crisis calmly, generously and firmly; and during 28 434 JAMES BUCHANAN. the four years of terrible civil war that ensued, he controlled the helm of the ship of State with eminent wisdom and steadiness. At the moment when peace for the saved Republic and rest for himself was near, lie was mortally wounded by a ball from a pistol in the hands of an assassin, at a place of public entertainment in "Washington city, whitlier he had been invited. The wound was received on the evening of the 14tli of April, 18G5, and early the next morning the victim died. The event produced a profound sensation througliout the civilized world. Among the many impressive testimonials of love, esteem and admiration of the martyred President tliat were given, was a gold medal sent from France to his widow, for the cost of which forty thousand "French Democrats," as they called themselves, made contributions, mostly one sous, each. MANY of the strong men, physically and intellectually, who have appeared conspicuously in the annals of our country, have been the children of Scotch-Irish parents. Of such lineage was James Buchanan, the fifteenth Presi- dent of our Republic. He was born at a place called Stony Batter, in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, on the 23d of April, 1791. He was prepared, at home, for admission to Dickinson College, at Carlisle, as a student, where he was grad- uated with high honors at the age of eighteen years. He was admitted to the practice of law at the Lancaster bar, in 1812; and toward the close of the war with Great Britain which was declared that year, he went as a volunteer soldier to the defense of Baltimore, but had no occasion for fighting. Young Buchanan rose rapidly in his profession and won an extensive and lucrative practice. He was always fond of public life. In 1814 he was elected to the Pennsylvania Legislature by the Federalists. In 1820 he was sent to Congress as a representative of the Lancaster District ; and he was kept there, by reelection, until 1831. During that long service he was ranked among the leading members for ability and industry. During the last two years of his service there, he was cliairman of the Judiciary Committee. He was appointed by President Jackson, in 1831, American minister to the Russian Court, where he remained only two years. On his return in 1833, he was chosen by the Pennsylvania Legi.slature to represent tliat State in the National Congress. Twelve years he was a member of the Senate, and was regarded as the leader of the Democratic party in that body. There he ever strenuously opposed all agitation of the subject of slavery ; and during his whole political life he was a zealous and consistent supporter of the policy of the slaveholders. In 1845, Mr. Buchanan was called to the cabinet of President Polk, as Secre- tary of State, and was influential in shaping that officer's policy concerning a war with Mexico. From the close of Polk's administration until the accession of President Pierce in 1853, he remained in private life. Then he was sent, as minister, to Euglaud. It was durmg his residence at that court, that a coufer- ence of American ministers in Europe, held, at his suggestion, at Ostend, issued that "manifesto" concerning the purchase or seizure of Cuba, which forms one of the most disgraceful records in American diplomacy. Mr. Buchanan returned home early in 1856, and in July, of that year, he was nominated for the chief magistracy of the RepubHc, by the Democratic party. He was elected. His administration was marked by an intense agitation of the slavery question, which culminated in civil war in Kansas. Finallj', in 1860, the last year of his term of office, when Abraham Lincoln, the nominee of the Republican party was elected President, leaders of the slave interest made JAMES HARPER. 435 caruest preparations for a general insurrection and rebellion. It broke out fiercely in the winter of 1860-61, before the close of Mr. Buchanan's adminis- tration. He took no efficient measures to suppress it; and gladly left the grave responsibilities of his office at that perilous hour, for the quiet of private life at ''Wheatland," his seat near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, ^vhere ho died on the first of June, 1868. Mr. Buchanan was never married. In private life he was a courteous gentleman and an excellent citizen. JJLl^LES HARPER. THE sacred Proverbialist says, " Seest thou a man diligent in his business ? he shall stand before kings; he sliall not stand before moan men." The truth involved in this was illustrated by James Harper, the eldest of four brothers who composed the great publishing house of Harper and Brothers, in New York, which was in existence during fifty years previous to his death. James Harper was tlie eldest son of an estimable farmer near Newtown, Long Island, where he was born on the 11th of April, 1795. At the close of 1810, he was apprenticed to Messrs. Paul and Thomas, printers in the city of New York, He was '"diligent in his business;" became a perfect master of his trade, and won the respect and confidence of all who knew him. His next brother, John, learned the same business, and the terms of their apprenticeship ended at about the same time. By saving the earnings of overwork, they had, jointly, a few hundred dollars, and with this capital they commenced business on their own account, in 181S. James was a strong young man and one of tiie best pressmen in the city. John was a very correct compositor and proof-reader. Prompt and skillful in business, they never lacked employment in printing books for others. It was not long before they began to print books for themselves, and selling tiiem to "the trade," as the business of retail bookselling is called. Their first venture was a reprint of "Locke on the Understanding," and it was successful. Otliers followed. Their )'ounger brothers. Josepli Wesley and Fletclier, were apprenticed to them, and in time became busitiess partners, under the name of Harper and Brothers. Mutual confidence, industry and application to business made tiie four as one man. They ranked and acted as equals in all things; and mutual agreement was their rule of life in business and in social relations. It was also an element of power. James was once asked, "Which is the 'Harper,' and who are the 'Brothers?' " He replied, "Either of us is 'Harper,' and the rest are the 'Brothers.' " This was precisel}' their practical relationship. Tiie history of the house of Harper and Brothers for a long series of years was the liistory of James Harper, excepting in his private relations. He was reared under the direct infiuence of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and of that denomi- nation he was a life-long and consistent member. In him the religious sentiment was a controlling power, yet it was never ostentatiously displayed. In his domestic relations he was an excellent exemplar. In the church lie was faithful and generous. In the community in which he lived he was deservedly held in the liighest esteem.' This fact was shown in 1844, when he was elected Mayor of the city of New York by a very large majority, while the party by whom he was nominated was in a decided minority. He had no political ambition, nor a 1. Mr. Horper wns nn nctive niemher of religions nnd benevolent institutions in the city of New York, and n trnstee of literary estnlilishnienls of n liigli cimriicter ; among them the Wesleyan Uni- versity of Midilletown, Connecticut, and Vassar College for Young Women, nt Po'.ighkeepsie, New York. 436 WINFIELD SCOTT. thirst for office; aud on that occasion he yielded to the importunities of his friends rather tlian to any suggestions of his own inclinations. He filled the ofSce with ability and general satisfaction. It was as the head of the leading publishing house in America that James Harper was best and most widely known, and will be chiefly remembered. He dispensed the cheerful hospitality of the establishment; and for each visitor he had a cheery welcome, a kind word, a pleasant anecdote, some sly wit or telling repartee, and a constant flow of good humor, notwithstanding he was often plagued with dull and burdensome people.' "He carried the highest principles into the conduct of business," said a leading newspaper^ at the time of his death, "and he never willingly gave the sanction of his name to unworthy or mischiev- ous productions in literature. No prospects of gain or popular success could tempt him to publish a book which he believed to be injurious to the interests of society Our national literature w^ill reap the benefit of his example in this respect after iiis kindly face shall no more be seen in our busy haunts, and his personal traits shall fade away from the memory of a new generation." "While riding in his carriage, witli his daughter, on Fifth Avenue, New York, his vehicle came in collision with another. He was thrown to the pavement, taken up in an insensible condition and carried to St. Luke's Hospital near by, where he lingered about fifty hours, and then died, on Saturday evening, the 27th of Marcli, 1869. His funeral was attended by the city authorities; the great body of the publishers and booksellers of the city, wlio closed their places of business; a large number of literary men, and a crowd of other friends, and his relatives. By none, excepting his immediate family, was he so sincerely mourned as by the six l^undred men, women and boys employed in the establisli- nient of Harper and Brothers, for he was like a fether to them all. Some had been in his employment between forty and fifty years. "WINFIELID SCOTT. THE military genius of our countrymen was wonderfully developed during the late civil war. Its most distinguished exemplar previous to that was Win- field Seott, who was born in Petersburg, Virginia, on the 13th of June, 1786. He was a grandson of a Scotch soldier who fought for the Young Pretender on the field of Culloden. Young Scott was a student of William and Mary College for two years, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty years. He was a very tall and powerful young man, of fine personal appearance. He had a taste for the military profession, and finding an opportunity to enter the army, he procured the commission of captain of artillery. After recruiting a company he reported to General "Wilkinson, at Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After "V\^ilkinson left the command there. Captain Scott freely expressed what was generally believed, that his late commander was implicated with Aaron Burr in a con- spiracy against the Union.^ For this he was suspended from rank and pay for a year, by recommendation of a court martial During that time he studied the 1. On one occasion a very pro^y clerical friend, who had consumed an hour of his time in small talk, said, "Brother Harper, I am curious to know how you four men distribute the duties of tl e establishment between you." ''.lohn," said Mr. Harper good humoredly, "attends to the finances; Wesley to the correspondence ; Fletcher to the generni bargaining with authors and others ; and— don't you tell anybody," he said, lowering the tone of his voice — '' I entertain the bores." 2. The JVfM York Daily Tribune, March 29, J8G9. 3. See page 253. W INFIELD SCOTT. 437 military art diligently; and when, in June, 1812, war was declared by our gov- ernment against Great Britain, he was appointed a lieutenant-colonel. After the gallant Captain Wool was disabled by wounds at the battle of Queenston, Scott took command there, and lirst won and then lost the field. He was made a prisoner, witii a greater part of the army ; and his personal courage and kindness of heart saved a number of his fellow soldiers, who were natives of Ireland, from the vengeance of the British government. Scott was exchanged in January, 1813, and joined General Dearborn on the frontier as his adjutant. He was very active in the capture of Fort George, where ho pulled down the British flag. Ho served with Wilkinson several month.s, and was commissioned a brigadier general in March, 1814. During that vear he was the hero of many gallant exploits, under General Brown, on the Niagara frontier, where he was twice seriously wounded. For his gallant con- duct in the battle of Niagara, ho was brevetted a major-general, and received a gold medal from Congress. After the war he went to Europe in the service of the government and for the restoration of his health. He returned in 1816, and was soon afterward married to Miss Mayo of Richmond, Virginia. For several years afterward there were no military movements of much importance. In 1832, General Scott led in the Black Hawk war, and then went to Charles- ton to look after the insurrectionary movements of certain Southern politicians. lie was conspicuous in hostilities with the Southern Indians. Afterward he was a good peacemaker when the rebellion in Canada and troubles on the eastern frontier threatened his country with hostile relations with Great Britain. In 1838 he had charge of the removal of the Cherokees to new lands west of the Mississippi. General Scott was presented as the Whig candidate for the Presidency, in 1840, but he declined in favor of General Harrison. On the death of General Macomb the following year, he was appointed general-in-chief of the armies of the Republic, and as such, he conducted military affairs in the war with Mexico, in which he was conspicuously engaged. He was at the head of the victorious American army when it entered the city of Mexico in triumph in September, 1847. He was highly honored by Congress and the people, for his conduct in that war. In 1852, he was nominated for the Presidency, but was defeated. In 1855, he was brevetted lieutenant-general, to take rank from 1847, the close of his services in Mexico. When the leaders of the slave interest had resolved on rebellion, every induce- ment was iield out to General Scott, as a Virginian, to espouse their cause. He rejected all, and did all in his power first to avert the rebellion, and afterward to crush it. But his infirmities were too great to allow him to act etficiently, and he resigned his position as the chief of the ami}', in the autumn of 1861, when he made a voyage to Europe and a brief stay there. He lived to see the war end and the authority of the government vindicated. His character was un- stained. His honor was perfect. His career was brilliant and untarn'shed. His patriotism was pure and exalted. At the time when he left the command of the army, he was regarded as one of the greatest military men of the age. His ])liysioal powers gradually declined, ami on tlie 29th of May, 1866, he died at West Point, on the Hudson, near the Military Academy, at tlie age of eighty years. J6