r) J ^^.«^ ^^ m :.>^jfe': " if?- r COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY This book is due on the date indicated below, or at the expiration of a definite period after the date of borrowing, as provided by the rules of the Library or by special ar- rangement with the Librarian in charge. EMINENT AMERICANS: COMPRISING BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES OF THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTY DISTINGUISHED PERSONS. BENSON J. LOSSING, AtTTHOK OF " inSTOaY OF THE UNITED STATES," "PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK OP TIIE EEVOLTJTION," ETC. ILLUSTRATED WITH OVER 100 FINE PORTRAITS BY LOSSING AND BARKITT. NEW YORK: MASON B K () T H E K S 108 & 110 DUANE STREET. 1857. Entered, according to Act of Cor.press, in the year 1S50, by MASON BROTHERS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. BLECTBOTTPED BT THOMAS B. SMITH, 82 & 84 Beekman Street. PRINTED BT C. A. ALTOBD, '5 Vandewater St. .-^ 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." ■piOGRAPHY 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 Maximus, Pub- lius Scipio, and other renowned persons 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 acquii-ed equal fame and glory," It is with the earnest desire of producing precisely such effects 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. Tlie 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 aspirations for noble 1R142H IV PREFACE achievements awakened and cherished more by the silent yet potent ministration of Books Avhich 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 lives, 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 Republic. 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. New York, December, 1856. INDEX A. Adams, Samuel . Adams, John Adams, John Q. Allerton, Isaac . Allison, Francis . Alexander William Allen, Ethan Allstou, Washington Ames, Fisher Anderson, Richard C. Armstrong, John Arnold, Benedict Asbury, Francis Ashe, John, Ashmun, Jehudi Astor, John Jacob Audubon, John J. B. Bacon, Nathaniel Bainbridge, William Baldwin, Thomas Baldwin, Abraham Ballou, Hosea . Banneker, Benjamin Bartrara, John . Barlow, Joel Bard, Samuel Barney, Joshua . Barry, John Barton, William Bayard, James A. Beck, T. Romeyn Belknap, Jeremy Biddle, Nicholas Bland, Richard . Blennerhassett, Harman Boone, Daniel . Boudinot, Elias . Boudoin, James . 76 87 309 14 47 106 128 262 71 299 316 135 195 99 325 379 272 256 318 406 45 117 118 120 121 137 267 409 104 346 142 377 192 133 65 Bowditch, Nathaniel Boyleston, Zabdiel Bradford, William Brainerd, David Brant, Joseph . Brewster, William Brooks, John Brown, Charles B. Brown, Jacob Brown, James . Brown, Moses . Buel, Jesse, Burr, Aaron, Burke, ^danus Burnett, Robert . Byrd, William . C. Calvert, Leonard Calhoun, John C, 42 Canonicus . 340 Carroll, John 204 o Carroll, Charles Carver, Jonathan Cary, Lett . Carey, Matthew Caswell, Richard Channiug, William E. Chauncey, Isaac Chittenden, Thomas Church, Benjamin Claiborne, William C. Clarke, George R. Clay, Henry Clinton, Dewitt . Clinton, George . Colden, Cadwallader Colburn, Zerah . CoUes, Christopher Cooper, Thomas Cooper, James F. PAGE 246 61 62 101 158 10 145 290 338 348 371 356 253 258 401 31 223 326 15 49 146 74 275 300 96 373 342 125 12 358 138 398 257 339 33 351 235 239 344 VI INDEX. PAGF, PACK Copley, John S. . . 52 H. Cornplanter 231 Habersham, Joseph . 134 Coxe, Tench . 80 Hale, Nathan 212 Craik, James . 164 Hamilton, Alexander 213 Crockett, David . 311 Hancock, John . 159 Cruger, Henry . - 266 Harnett, Cornelius Harrison, Benjamin 83 103 D. Harrison, William H. 240 Dana, Francis . 92 Harrington, Jonathan 376 Davie, Wilham R. 89 Hayne, Robert Y. 280 Davidson, Lucretia M. 315 Hedding, Elijah 382 Day, Stephen 11 Henry, Patrick •. 126 Deane, Silaa 79 Henderson, Richard 180 Dearborn, Henry 328 Hicks, Elias 268 Decatur, Stephen 343 Holmes, Abiel . 329 De Kalb, Baron . 291 Hooker, Thomas, 26 Dickenson, John 209 Hopkinson, Francis 57 Downing, Andrew J. 375 Hopkins, Samuel 240 Drayton, William H. . 86 Hopkins, Stephen 320 Dunlap, William 337 Hopkinson, Joseph 370 Dwight, Timothy 107 Howard, John E. Howe, Robert . 141 173 E. Hull, Wilham . 219 Edwards, Jonathan . 177 Humphreys, David 215 Eliot, John 17 Hutchinson, Thomas 58 Ellsworth, Oliver 102 I. Inman, Henry, . . . .386 F. Ferguson, Catharine . 404 Izard, Ralph . . . .282 Fitch, John 93 Flint, Timothy . 391 J. Franklin, Benjamin . 39 Jackson, James .... 131 Prankhn, William 129 Jackson, Andrew 244 Francis, John W., jr. . 407 Jay, John . 171 Fulton, Robert . 155< Jefterson, Thomas Johnson, William 123 100 G. Johnson, Richard M. 367 Gadsden, Christopher 109 Jones, John Paul 95 Galloway, Joseph 72 Jones, David 140 Gallatin, Albert 321 Judson, Adoniram 364 GaUaudet, Thomas H. 381 Judson, Ann H. 368 Gaston, William 350 Gates, Horatio . 295 K. Girard, Stephen . 271 Kent, James .... 335 Godfrey, Thomas 69 King, Rufus . 150 Gordon, William 166 Kinnison, David. . 403 Graham, Isabella 332 Kirkland, Samuel . 66 Gray, William . 214 Knox, Henry . 274 Greene, Nathaniel 59 Kosciusczko, Thaddeus . 306 Greene, Joseph . 130 Greenough, Horatio . 393 L. Gridley, Richard 122 La Fayette, M. de . . . 287 Grundy, Felix . 366 Lamb, John 263 INDEX. Vll PAGE PAGE Langdon, John . . . .154 NeweU, Harriet . . . .285 Laurens, Henry . 161 Lawrence, James 352 0. Lawrence, Abbot 411 Oglethorpe, James E 51 Ledyard, John . 82 Olin, Stephen . 384 Lee, Ann . 68 Osceola 357 Lee, Henry 152 Otis, James 162 Lee, Richard H. 186 Otis, Harrison G. 402 Lee, Charles 307 Lee, Arthur 234 P. Legare, Hugh S. 308 Paine, Thomas . . . .198 Leisler, Jacob . 64 Paine, Robert Treat . 228 LillingtoD, John A. . 94 Patterson, Robert M. . 396 Lincoln, Benjamin 298 Peale, Charles W. 176 Livingston, Robert R. 105 Penn, William . 24 Livingston, Edward . . 174 Perry, Oliver H. 348 Livingston, John H. . . 200 Percival, James G. 413 Lovel, John . 97 Peters, Richard . 169 Lyman, Phineas . 113 Phipps, William . 21 Philip, King 38 M. Philipse, Mary . 227 Macdonough, Thomas. . . 323 Physic, PhiUp S.. 330 Macomb, Alexander . 303 Pickens, Andrew 194 M'Intosh, Lachlin . 279 Pickering, Timothy 165 M'Kean, Thomas • 203 Pierce, Benjamin 283 Macon, Nathaniel . 312 Pike, Zebulon M. 191 Madison, Jame.s . 255 Pinckney, Charles C. 143 Madison, James . 296 Pinckney, Thomas 230 Manly, John . 114 Pinkney, William . 237 Marion, Francis . . 184 Pocahontas 16 Marshall, John . . 216 Polk, James K. . 388 Martin, Francois X. . 243 Pontiac 70 Mason, John . 28 Porter, David 302 " Mather, Cotton . . 27 Preble, Edward . . 199 - Mather, Increase . 48 Prentiss, Sargeant S. . 397 Meigs, Return J. . 362 Prescott, William . 175 Mercer, Hugh . . 396 Putnam, Rufus . . 182 Miantonomoh . 20 Putnam, Israel . . 226 Mitchill, Samuel L. . 232 Milnor, James . . 360 Q. Miller, William . . 387 Quincy, Josiah, jr. . . . 187 Monroe, James . . 304 Montgomery, Richard . 157 R. Morris, Robert . . 90 Ramsay, David . . . .167 Morris, Gouverneur . 202 Randolph, Peyton . 84 Morgan, Daniel . . 222 Randolph, Edmund . 170 Motte, Rebecca . . 75 Randolph, John . . 292 Moultrie, William . 262 Red Jacket . 264 Muhlenberg, Peter . 210 Reed, Joseph . 207 Murray, Lindley . 63 Rittenhouse, David . 35 Rivington, James . 208 N. Rodgers, John . . 872 Nelson, Thomas, jr. . Ill Rogers, Robert . . 11 via INDEX. Kuggleg, Timothy Ruraford, Count . Rush, Benjamin . Rutledge, John . St. Clair . Schuyler, Philip . 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 Talbot, Silas Taylor, Zachary . Telfair, Edward . Tennent, William Thacher, William Thomas, Isaiah . Thomson, Charles Trumbull, Jonathan Trumbull, John . Trumbull, John . PAGE 13 269 78 153 242 189 110 251 331 98 168 313 34 324 392 414 13 248 144 148 415 49 289 114 22 347 236 211 353 252 116 254 149 46 43 196 259 Uncas V. Van Rensselaer, Stephen W. Warren, Mercy . Warren, Joseph . Warner, Seth Washington, George Washington, Martha Wayne, Anthony Weare, Meshech Webster, Noah . Webster, Daniel . Weems, Mason L. West, Benjamin . Wheatley, Philips Wheatou, Henry Wheelock. Eleazer White, William . Whitney, Eli" Whipple, Abraham Weiser, Conrad . Williams, Roger. Williamson, Hugh Willett, Marinus Wilson, Alexander Winthrop, John . Winslow, Edward Winthrop, John . Wirt, William . Witherspoon, John Wolcott, Oliver . Wooster, David . Woods, Leonard . Wright, Silas Wright, Benjamin Wythe, George . PAOK 37 260 190 206 55 119 286 183 224 276 112 29 249 334 32 53 132 220 251 18 156 247 181 9 23 44 218 179 238 322 390 355 363 278 ^^^c Vv*/r//;^^= JOHN WINTHROP. THE PiiiGRni Fathers' planted the seeds of the Plymouth Colony, amid tho 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 1608, John Robinson, a pious pastor of a flock in the norlh of England, who would not conform to the rituals of the Established Church, tied, with his people, to Holland, to avoid persecution. They felt that they were only PUgrims, and assumed that name. Toward the close of 1620. about 100 of them, including women and children, arrived on the shores of Capefod Bay in the shipMav Flower, and planted a colony where the town of Plymouth now stands. They are known as The Pilgrim Fathers. 10 WILLIAM BREWSTER. which 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.' 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 provisio7i for the sup2)ort of the gosiyel. Mr. Winthrop was a man of great benevolence, it was his practice to send his servants among the people at meal-time, on trifling 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 dealing "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 strictest 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 iittle faith in " the people." Worn out with toils and afflictions, this faithful and upright magistrate entered upon his final rest on the 26th 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 policy 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 named in honor of John Cotton, minister of Boston, England, who came to Americi in 168.3, 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 great purity of life, as well as of doctrine, were called Puritans, in derision. It has since become an honorable title. STEPHEN" DAY, 11 he could serve him, and then retired among his friends in the North of Enghmd. His rehgious zeal there burned brightly, and his hand and purse were ever open in well-doing. He 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 obhged to flee from hierarchical persecution, that good Christian attempted to leave friends and country, and follow. He was arrested, with others, and imprisoned at Boston, in Lincolnshire, in 1607 ; but as soon as he obtained his liberty, he sailed for Holland. His estate had become exhausted, and at Leyden he opened a school for instruction in the English language. He also established a printing-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. Robinson'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 laity. 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 16th of April, 1G44, at the age of eighty-three years. STEPHEN DAY. THE first printer who practiced his art within 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 tjrpe, and others contributed money to buy a press. In ] 638, 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 safety, with his patron's widow and children, and commenced work in January, 1639. His first production was The Freeman'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 hundred 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 the^irs^ printer. Day expired at Cambridge, on the 22d of December, 1668, at the age of about fifty-eight years. 12 BENJAMIN CHURCH. 6 ^rn^^^^-^rhv^yi- i^^lu-y^ BKNJAMIN CHURCH. ■\TEXT to Miles Standish, the warrior-pilgrim of the May Flower, Benjamin ll Church was the most distinguished military hero in early New England history. He was born 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 his domains, acre by acre, breaking up his hunting grounds, diminishing his fisheries, and menacing his nation with servitude or annihilation, — liis 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 tlie valley of the Connecticut river. Nearly all 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 son nf Massasoit, and he and his brother were named respectively Philip and Alex- ander, by the white people, in compliment to their bravery. Because, after the death of his father, he became chief sachem of his powerful tribe, he was called King Philip. — See page 38. MILES STANDISH. 13 leaders, Captain Church was the bravest of the brave ; and in the Spring of 107(5 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 were 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 and rot above the ground, not one of his bones sliall 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 mont j^rofiiable 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 ALLERTON. protect a new colony at Wissagusset (now Weymouth), who had exasperated the Indians by begging and steahng. They had been sent over by a wealthy London merchant, and most of them were quite unlit 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 English, the conspiracy was revealed to the Plj'^mouth people in time for Captain Standish to march thither with a small company and avert the blow. When he arrived, liis anger was fiercely kindled by the insolence of Pecksuot, the chief, and his few followers. Pceksuot sharpened his knife in the presence of Standish, and said, " Though you are a great captain, you are but a little 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, tlie 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. Robmson (the original pastor of the Pilgrims, and who remained m 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 that the Lord had sent him 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 Flotuer 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 finallj^ 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 aSairs 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 trritien constitution adopted by a free people. 2. Of the one luindred Pilgrims onlv 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 us, 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, the spiritual guide of the Pilgrim adventurers.' She, also, died in 1634. He was again marrried, for we have an account of his shipwreck, icith Ms 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 in the city of New Amsterdam (New York), in 1 659. CANONICIJS. ONE of the 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 162 J!, 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 English. His token of deliance 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 with 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. When 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 tliat 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. The 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 prisoner 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 June, 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 e'^'ng their children the names of moral qualities, was exemplified in Brewster's family. His two daughters were named respectively Fear and Love : and bis son's name was WresUing. 16 POCAHONTAS. POCAHONTAS. I " She was a soft landscape of mild earth. Where all was harmony and calm quiet, Luxuriant, budding." Byron. 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 was 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 life. ' How could that stern old king 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 gave A power to soothe, and still subdue, Until, though humble as a slave. To more than queenly sway she grew?" — Simms. The Emperor yielded, and Smith was 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 emperor, the same as the title of Pharaoh, for "the Egyptian kings, in the time of the Jewish bondage. JOHN ELIOT. 17 Two years after this event, the Indians formed a conspiracy to exterminate the white people. Again Pocahontas became an angel of deliverance. During a dark and stormy night she left her father's cabin, sped to Jamestown, informed Smith of his danger, and was back to her couch before dawn. It was no won- der that the English regarded the Indian princess with great esteem ; and yet, when Smith had left the colony, and indolence and licentiousness had full sway, that gentle girl was ruthlessly torn from her kindred, and held a prisoner on board of an English vessel. Argall, a rough, half-piratical mariner, desirous of extorting advantageous terms of peace from her father, bribed a savage, by the gift of a copper kettle, to betray her into his hands. Powhatan loved his child tenderly, and offered tive hundred bushels of corn, and a promise of friendship toward the English, for her ransom. But other bonds, more holy than those of Argall, now detained her. While on the ship, a mutual attachment had budded and blossomed between her and John Rolfe, a fine young Englishman, of good family. With the consent of her father, Pocahontas received Christian baptism, with the title of "the Lady Rebecca," and she and her lover were married. In 1616, Pocahontas accompanied her husband to P:ngland, where she was received at Court with all the distinction due to a princess. But the silly bigot on the throne was highly indignant because one of his suljects had dared to marry a lady of royal blood, and absurdly apprehended that Rolfe might lay claim "to the crown of Virginia 1" Afraid of the royal displeasure. Captain Smith, who was then in England, would not allow her to call him father, as she desired to do. She could not comprehend the cause ; and her tender, simple heart was greatly grieved by what seemed to be his want of affection for her. She remained in England about a year ; and when ready to embark for America with her husband, she was taken sick, and died at Gravesend, in the flowery month of June, 1617, when not quite twenty-two years of age. She left one son, Thomas Rolfe, who afterward became quite a distinguished man in Vir- ginia. His only child was a daughter, and from her some of the leading fam- ilies in Virginia trace their descent. Among these were the Boilings, Hem- mings, Murrays, Guys, Eldridges and Randolphs. The late John Randolph, of Roanoke, boasted of his descent from the Indian princess. JOHN ELIOT. GREAT efforts have been made from time to time to Christianize portions of the aboriginals of our country, but none have been more successful than those put forth during the early days of New England settlements, by one who has been justly termed the Apostle to the Indians. John Eliot was born in Essex county, England, in 1604. He was educated at the university of Cam- bridge, and was engaged in school teaching for several years. He became a gospel minister; and in 1631, arrived at Boston, and commenced ministerial labors there. He was afterward associated with Mr. Wilde at the head of a congregation in Roxbury ; and these, with Richard Mather, v/ere appointed, in 1639, to make a new metrical version of the Psalms. Looking out upon the dusky tribes around him, the heart of Mr. Eliot was troubled by a view of their spiritual destitution, and he resolved to preach the gospel among those heathen neighbors. The twenty tribes known to the Eng- lish spoke a similar language, and when he had mastered it sufficient to be un- derstood by them, he began his labors. His first sermon was preached to them 18 ROGER WILLIAMS. in the present town of Newton, in October, 1(546. He saw blossoms of promise at that lirst gathering, and very soon fruit appeared, to his great joy. Although violently opposed by the Indian priests, whose "craft was in danger," and also by some of the sachems and chiefs, he was not dismayed, but penetrated the deep wilderness iu all directions, relying solely upon his God for protection. Finally, an Indian town was built at Natick, and a house of worship, the first for the use of the Indians ever erected by Protestants in America,' was reared there in IGiiO. Many received the rites of baptism and the Lord's Supper, after being thoroughly instructed in religious doctrines and duties. Mr. Eliot translated the New Testament into the Indian language, and pub- lished it in 1661 ; and in the course of a few years he established several con- gregations among these children of the forest, extending even as far as Cape Cod. He obtained unbounded influence over them ; and he was also their pro- tector when, during King Philip's war, the Massachusetts people wished to exterminate the Indians, without discrimination. It was estimated that there were five thousand "praying Indians," as the converts were called, among the New England tribes, when Philip raised the hatchet. When the weight of fourscore years bowed the pious apostle, and he could no longer visit the Indian churches, he persuaded a number of families to send their negro servants to him to be instructed in Gospel truth, and thus he labored for benighted minds, until the last. With the triumphant words, " welcome joy." upon his lips, the venerable and faitliful servant died, on the 20th of May, 1090, at the age of eighty-six years. ROaER WILLIAMS. THE annunciation of new theories, whether in science, government, religion. or ethics, which clash with prevailing dogmas, is always met with scoffs and frowns, if not with actual persecution. The stand-point of reformers is always in advance of current ideas, and the true value of such men can only bo appreciated when their labors have ceased, and they are sleeping with the dead. To such a character we turn when we contemplate Roger Williams, the great champion of toleration, and of private judgment in religious matters. He was born in Wales, in 1599, and was educated at Oxford. He was a minister in the Church of England for a short time, but his independent principles soon led him to non-conformity, and he came to America to indulge in the free exercise of his opinions. He arrived in February, 1631, and in April following, he was chosen assistant minister at Salem. His extreme views concerning entire sep- aration from the Church of England were not palatable to many of his brethren; and his asserted independence of the magistracy in religious matters drew upon him the condemnation of that entire class and their friends. He left Salem and went to Plymouth in 1632 ; but, on the death of the minister at the former place, he returned there, and took sole charge of the congregation, in 1634. There he proclaimed his peculiar views with more vehemence than ever; and in his excessive zeal for toleration, and individual liberty of thought and action, he became as intolerant as his opposers, without their excuse of care for the stability of the church and civil government. He asserted that an oath ought not to be administered to an unregenerate man ; that a Christian ought not to 1. Frenrh Jesuits had already established missionary stations on the St. Lawrence, and even on the borders of the great lakes. ROGER WILLIAMS. 19 Wjf^^ pray with an unregenerate man ; that "grace " at table ought to be omitted : and having formed a separate congregation, he even refused to commune with members of his own church who did not separate entirely from all connection with the "polluted New England churches." He finally declared the Massa- chusetts charter void, because the land had not been purchased from the Indians, and " reviled magistrates." The general court passed a sentence of banishment against him in 16.35, and early in January, 16.36, he left the colony for the wil- derness toward Narraganset Bay, to avoid being seized and sent to England. After severe trials and hardships, he purchased lands from the Indians at the head of Narraganset Bay, and there founded a town, and named it Providence. He offered a free asylum to all persecuted people, and many joined him there. Time mellowed his extreme opinions, and he became a pattern of toleration. He also became a Baptist ; and when he formed a civil government, it was purely democratic. He, as the head, had no privileges but those which were common to all. He labored zealously for the spiritual and temporal good of the Indians; and in 1643 he went to England to obtain a royal charter. Already other settlements of his friends had been made on Rhode Island.^ In the spring of 1644, a free charter of incorporation was granted, and these several settle- ments were united under the title of the Rhode Island and Providence Planta- 1. The Indian came was Aqidday, or Aquitneck. It was named Rhode Island because of its supposed resemblance to the ancient Island of Bhoaes. 20 MIANTOjSTOMOH. lions. He again went to England in 1651, as agent for the colony, where he remained until 1654. On his return he was made president of the colony, in which office he was succeeded, in 1657, by Benedict Arnold. Roger Williams was an eminent peace-maker between the white people and the Indians, and on two occasions he no doubt saved those who banished him to thQ wilderness, from utter destruction. While all sects were permitted to enjoy entire freedom within his domains, he was fierce in controversy against the Quakers. In 1672, he held a public dispute with leaders of that sect at New- port, for three daj^s, and one day at Providence, an account of which he after- ward published, under the title of " George Fox digged out of his Burrows." A preacher, named Burroughs, was one of the disputants in favor of the principles of Fox. Roger Williams died at Providence, in April, 1683, aged eighty-four years. His name is cherished as the first founder of a state in the New World, where freedom to worship God according to the dictates of the individual conscience, was made an organic law. MIANTONOMOH. ONE of the most renowned of the warriors of the New England Indians, was Miantonomoh, sachem of the Narragansets, and nephew and successor of Canonicus. He took a share in the government of his aged uncle, in 1636, and was the warm friend and benefactor of the first settlers of Rhode Island. He joined Captain Mason against the Pequods in 1637 ; and the following year he was associated with Uncas, the chief sachem of the Mohegans, in a treaty of peace and friendship with the English at Hartford The two sachems agreed not to make war upon each other, without first appealing to the English. An occasion soon appeared. Uncas was the aggressor ; and by the consent of the governor at Hartford, Miantonomoh, at the head of eight hundred warriors, marched into the Mohegan countrj^ A severe battle ensued on a great plain near Norwich. By stratagem Uncas gained the victory, and Miantonomoh was made a prisoner, with one of his brothers, and t^^-o sons of Canonicus. They were sent to Hartford, and the English were asked to decide what should be done with the royal prisoner. The question was referred to an ecclesiastical tribunal, consisting of five of the principal ministers of New England. They decided to hand him over to Uncas for "execution without torture," within the dominions of that sachem. It was an ungenerous and wicked decision, for Miantonomoh had ever been a firm friend of the English, without the selfish incentives that governed Uncas. But just then, a covetous desire to possess the land of Uncas made them willing to secure his favor, even by so foul a pro- cedure. Delighted with the verdict of his Christian allies, the equally savage Mohegan, with a few trusty followers, conducted Miantonomoh to the spot where he was captured, near Norwich, and there a brother of Uncas stepped up behind the unsuspecting victim and cleft his head with a hatchet. The noble Mian- tonomoh was buried where he was slain; and to this day the locality is called Sachem's Plain. This transaction aroused the fierce ire of the Narragansets against the English, and they had the sympathy of the surrounding tribes. Hatred of the English and of their boasted Christianity, became deep-rooted, and was one of the principal causes which led to the bloody contest known as King Philip's war, about thirty years later. Miantonomoh was about forty-four years of age at the time of his death. WILLIAM PHIPPS. 21 WILLIAM PHIPPS. CIRCUMSTANCES make men what they are," is a general truth which few persons of observation will deny. WilHam Phipps illustrated the truth in his life and character, in an eminent degree. He was born in the then far-off wilderness at Pemaquid, now Bristol, in the state of Maine, on the 2d of February, 1651. His father was a gun-smith, and migrated to America, with "Winthrop's party, in 1630. William was the tenth of twenty-six cliildren by the same mother. He lived in the wUderness untU he was eighteen years of age, without any special aim for life. Then he was apprenticed to a ship carpenter for four years. At the expiration of his minority and servitude he went to Boston, and there, for the first time, studied reading and writing. Charmed with the tales of seamen, among whom his business cast his lot, he resolved to seek his fortunes on the ocean. He left Boston when he was twentj-- four years of age, and after many adventures and hardships, he discovered a Spanish wreck on the coast of St. Domingo, and from it fished up pearls, plate, and jewels, to the value of a million and a half of dollars. With this treasure he sailed for England, where he divided the booty so equitably among the sea- men, that his own share amounted to only eighty thousand dollars. That was a large fortune for the time; and James the Second was so much charmed by the talent and general character of Phipps, that ho knighted him. Three years afterward he returned to Boston, where he took rank in the best society. In 1690, Sir William Phipps commanded an expedition against Port Royal, in the French territory of Acadie, now Nova Scotia. His expedition comprised eight or nine vessels, and about eight hundred men. He seized Port Royal, brought Acadie into subjection, and obtained sufficient property, by plundering the people, to pay the expenses of the enterprise. This success encouraged the New England colonies to coalesce with New York in efforts to subdue Canada, then held by the French. Sir William commanded a naval expedition against Quebec, which Massachusetts alone fitted out. He sailed from Boston with thirty-four vessels and a thousand men, reached Quebec in safety, and landed his troops; but the strength of the city, and the lack of cooperation on the part of the land troops, caused him to abandon the undertaking and return home. He was soon afterward sent to England to solicit aid in further wartarc against the French and Indians. He also asked for the restoration of the old charter of Massachusetts, taken away by Andros.' Aid for war was refused; and King William, instead of restoring the old charter, granted a new one, under which Sir William was appointed the first governor, by the king, on the nomination of Increase Mather. He arrived at Boston in May, 1692, and was instrumental in stopping prosecutions for witchcraft, then in fearful activity in the colony.2 The same year he went to Pemaquid, with four hundred and fifty men, and built a fort there. He was removed from office in 1694, when he went to Eng- land, and received positive promises of restoration. But death soon closed his career. He died in London, on the 18th of February, 1695, at the age of forty- four years. 1. Edmund Andros was sent to New England, by James the Second, to take away the several charters of .he colonies, and consolidate the whole under one government, with himself at the head as (he direct reprs-enta'.ive of royalty. The revolution of 16?8, drove James from (he throne, and placed William or Orange and his wife, Mary, there. It was to William that Phipps appealed for the restoration of the charters taken away liy Andros. The new charter was not so acceptable to the people as the old one. 2. See sketch of l)r Mather. 22 PETER STUYVESANT. PETER S T U Y V E S AN T . THE founding of the great commercial city of New York was the work of beaver-hunting Hollanders, at a time when ships from the Zuyder-Zee were in the far-distant waters of the East Indies, and tlie navies that sailed from the Texel were mistresses of the ocean. Holland then controlled the commerce of tlie world. A company was chartered to plant trading stations in the region discovered by Henry Hudson,' and when settlements were established there, governors were sent to administer political rule. Of the five employed at dif- ferent times by the company, Peter Stuyvesant was the ablest and the last. Ho was a son of a clergyman in Friesland, where he was born in 1602, and was edu- cated for the ministry in tlie Higli School at Franeker. There he acquired a knowledge of Latin, with which ho played the pedant in after life. Liking the military art better than theology, he entered the army, and rose to distinction 1. Hudson discovered the Bay of New York and the river bearing his name, at the close of the Sum- mer of 1609. He was then in the service of the Dutch East India Company. EDWARD WINSLOW. 23 on account of his bravery. His talent commended him to the Dutch "West India Company, ' and he was appointed its first director, or governor, of Curacoa. In IG-ii, Stuyvesant led an expedition against the Portuguese on the island of St. Martin, and lost a leg in an engagement there. He went to Holland for .surgical aid, and soon afterward he received the appointment of first director of the province of New Netlierland, as the Dutch possessions on the Hudson were called. He arrived at New Amsterdam (now New York) in May, 1647. He found everything in confusion, and the seeds of democracy growing rapidly, be- cause of the tyrannous and dishonest rule of his predecessor. Stuyvesant was an aristocrat, and his profession made him an iron man, as a ruler. He at once commenced ranch-needed reforms, and declared his honest desire to improve the condition of the people; but he told them frankly that he considered it "treason to petition against one's magistrates, whether there be cause or not." Governed by such sentiments, he ruled vigorously for almost twenty years. He destroyed the power of a growing Swedish colonj'' on tlic Delaware,^ settled boundary dis- putes with the English in Connecticut, and by conciliatory measures made the Indians so friendly, that the New England people believed the silly story that lie was leagued with the savages to destroy the Puritans. When Charles the Second was restored to the throne of his fathers, he gave the territory of New Netherland to his brother James, Puke of York. The duke sent a fleet to take possession.^ Stuyvesant 3-ielded with great reluctance; and in September, 1664, New Amsterdam was surrendered to the English, and was named New York. Stuyvesant retired to his bouerie or farm, near the East River, where he lived in dignity and quiet until August, 1682, when he died. His wife was Rath Bayard, a Huguenot. Their remains lie in a vault under St. Mark's Church, in the city of New York. E D \V A 11 D W I N S I^ O W. ONE of the most accomplished men who came to America in the May Flower, was Edward Winslow, a native of Worcestershire, England, where he was born on the 19th of October, 1595. Whilst travelling in Europe, he became acquainted, at Leyden, with the Rev. John Robinson, the pastor of the Pilgrims there. He joined that church in 1617, married a young lady there, and made Leyden his place of residence until his departure for America. He was one of the companions of Miles Standish in the search for a landing-place for the May Flower passengers; and being a young man of great energy, he became one of the most useful men in the colony. Massasoit became much attached to him ; and in 1623, hearing of the severe illness of that sachem, Winslow visited him, and by the skilful use of some medicines, restored him to health, and won his unbounded gratitude. On that occasion, as on many others, the brave young Hobbomac, one of Massasoit's warriors, who lived with the white people, was guide and interpreter. In the following Autumn, Mr. Winslow went to England as an agent for the colony ; and the next Spring he returned, and introduced 1. This company was formed after the discoveries of Hudson, and was invested with almost vice-regal powers for carrying on trade and making settlements in America and on the coast of A frica. 2. Peter Minuit, an offended director of the Dutch West India Company, went to Sweden and proposed to lead a colony of Swedes to the New World. A Swedish Went India Company was formed ; and in the Spring of 1638, Minuit and a considerable number of settlers located upon the Delaware, on the site of the present New Castle. They called the country New Sweden, and proposed to establish a provincial government, but the more powerful Dutch overthrew all their plans, and the colonists became subjects to Stuyvesant. 3. England claimed all America from Newfoundland to Florida, by virtue of early coast explorations. 24 WILLIAM PENN. the first cattle into New England.' He made voyages to England and other places for the benefit of the Plymouth colony, and for private commercial pur- suits; and, in 1633, was elected governor. Twice, subsequently, he was elected chief magistrate of the colony, when Bradford declined serving, and always per- formed his duties with great satisfaction to his constituents. Ho made many coast voyages, even as far south as Manhattan, for trading purposes ; and in 1635, went to England again, when, on a charge of performing illegal clerical services at Plymouth, made by the mendacious Thomas Morton, he was impris- oned four months. There, and during a subsequent visit to his native country, he was active in founding a society for propagating the gospel in New England, which was incorporated in 1649. He was so highly esteemed in his native country, that public employments were thrust upon him, and he never returned to America. He was appointed a commissioner to determine the amount of tho restitution to be made to England, by Denmark, for marine spoliations ; and in 1655, Cromwell appointed him the first of three commissioners to superintend an expedition against the Spaniards in the West Indies, in which admiral Penn, father of William, was a conspicuous actor. Governor Winslow accompanied the expedition. It failed to accomplish its object ; and while the fleet was passing between the islands of St. Domingo and Jamaica, he died of a fever, on the 8th of May, 1655, at the age of sixty years. Mr. Winslow's wife was among those of tho May Flower, who died during the Winter and Spring of 1621. William White also died at about the same time, and within two months after- ward Winslow and White's widow were married. This was the first marriage of Europeans in New England. Mrs. Winslow was not only the first bride, but the mother of the first white child born in New England, her son. Peregrine White, having been born on board the May Flower while that vessel lay an- chored in Cape Cod Bay. WILLIAM PENN. IN glorious contrast with the inhumanity of Spaniards, Frenchmen, and many Englishmen, stands the record on History's tablet of the kindness and jus- tice toward the feeble Indian, of the founder of Pennsylvania. " Thou'lt find," said the Quaker, " in me and mine, But friends and brothers to thee and to thine, Who abuse no power, and admit no line 'Twixt the red man and the while." And bright was the spot where the Quaker came To leave his hat, his drab, and his name, That will sweetly sound from the trump of Fame, 'Till its final blast shall die. — Hannah F. Gould. William Penn was born in the city of London, on the 14th of October, 1644, and was educated at Oxford. His father was the eminent admiral Penn, a great favorite of royalty. William was remarkable, in early youth, for brilliant talent and unaffected piety. While yet a student he heard one of the new sect of Quakers preach, and, with other students, became deeply impressed with the evangelical truths which they uttered. He, with several others, withdrew from the Established Church, worshipped by themselves, and for non-conformity were expelled from the college. Penn's father sought, in vain, to reclaim him ; and when, at length, he refused to take ofi* his hat in the presence of the admiral, and 1. Horses were not introduced until 1644. The people often rode on bulls. It is said that when John Alden went to be married to Priscilla Mnllins, he covered his bull with a handsome cloth. On his re- turn, he seated his bride on the animal's back, and he led him by a rope fastened to a ring in his nose. WILLIAM PENN. 25 even of the king, he was expelled from the parental roof He was sent to gay France, where he became a polished gentleman after a residence of two years ; and on his return he studied law in London until the appearance of the great plague in 1665. He was sent to Ireland in 1666, to manage an estate there belonging to his flither, but was soon recalled, because he associated with Qua- kers. Again expelled from his father's house, he became an itinerant Quaker preacher, made many proselytes, suffered revihngs and imprisonments " for conscience sake," and at the age of twenty-four years, wrote his celebrated work, entitled No Cross, no Grown, while in prison because of his non-conformity to the Church of England. He was released in 1670, and soon afterward be- came possessor of the large estates of his father, who died that year. He con- tinued to write and preach in defence of his sect, and went to Holland and Germany, for that purpose, in 1677. In March, 1681, Penn procured from Charles the Second, a grant of the terri- tory in America which yet bears his name ; and two years afterward he visited ^e colony which he had established there. He founded Philadelphia — city of brotherly love — toward the close of the same year; and within twenty-four months afterward, two thousand settlers were planting their homes there. Penn returned to England in 1684, and through his influence with the king, obtained f 26 THOMAS HOOKER. the release of thirteen hundred Quakers, then in prison. Because of his personal friendship toward James, the successor of Charles (who was driven from the throne by the revolution of 1688, and had his place filled by his daughter, Mary, and "William, Prince of Orange), he was suspected of adherence to the fallen monarch, and was imprisoned, and deprived of his proprietary rights. These were restored to him in 1694 ; and in 1 699, he again visited his American colony. He remained in Pennsylvania until IVOI, when he hastened to England to op- pose a parliamentary proposition to abolish all proprietary governments in America. He never returned. In 1712, he was prostrated by a paralytic dis- order. It terminated his life on the 30th of July, 1718, at the age of seventy- four years. Penn was greatly beloved by the Indians ; and it is worthy of remark that not a drop of Quaker's blood was ever shed by the savages. THOMAS HOOKER. THE true heroes of America are those who, from time to time, have left the comforts of civilized life and planted the seeds of new states deep in the wilderness. Among the remarkable men of that stamp was the Reverend Thomas Hooker, the first minister of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and one of the pioneer settlers in Connecticut. He was born in Leicestershire, England, in 1586, and was educated in Emanuel College, Cambridge. He began his labors as a Christian minister at about the time of the death of James the First, when Archbishop Laud began to harass the non-conformists. In 1630, Mr. Hooker was silenced, because of his non-conformity to the Established Church, and he founded a grammar school at Chelmsford. His influence was great; and falling under the ban of Laud, he was obliged to fly to Holland, where he became an assistant minister to Dr. Ames, both at Delft and Rotterdam. He came to America with the Reverend Mr. Cotton, in 1633, and was made pastor of the church at Cambridge in the Autumn of that year. In 1636, this "light of the western churches," with other ministers, their families and flocks, in all about one hundred, left the vicinity of Boston for the Connecticut valley, where the English had already planted settlements. It was a toilsome journey through the swamps and forests. They took quite a number of cows with them. These browsed upon the shrubs and grazed in swamp borders, and their milk afibrded subsistence for the wanderers. The journey was made in the pleasant month of June, and on the 4th of July they reached the flowery banks of the Connecticut, and received the hearty greetings of wel- come of the httle band of settlers who were seated on the site of the present (3ity of Hartford. There, in the little meeting-house already built, Mr. Hooker preached when the Sabbath came, and administered the sacrament of the Lord's Supper to all. A greater portion of Mr. Hooker's followers settled at Hartford, while some chose Wethersfield for a residence; and others, from Eoxbury,went up the river twenty miles, and founded Springfield. Mr. Hooker was one of the most powerful preachers of his time, and wrote much and well, on religious subjects. While preaching in the great church of Leicester, before he left England, one of the magistrates of the town sent a fiddler to the church-yard to disturb the worship. Mr. Hooker's powerful voice not only drowned the" music, but it attracted the fiddler to the church door. He listened to the great truths uttered, and became converted. Mr. Hooker was A man of great benevolence, and in every sphere of life he was eminently useful. He died at Hartford, of an epidemic fever, on the 7th of July, 1647, at the age of sixty-one years. COTTON MATHER. 27 COTTON MATHER, SOME of the early New England divines, as well as the magistrates, were ex- ceedingly superstitious, while their piety and general good sense could not be doubted? Cotton Mather, one of the earliest of Aniericau-born clergymen, was a prominent specimen of the kind of men alluded to. He was born in Boston, on the 12th of February, 16G3, and was educated at Harvard College, ^ where he was graduated at the early age of sixteen years. He was so expert ' in learning, that before he was nineteen years old, the degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him, by the college. At the age of twenty-two years, he was ordained a gospel minister, and became the assistant of his father. Increase Mather. Preaching and authorship were the joint professions of his life, and he excelled all others, of his time, in both. He became master of several languages, and was considered a prodigy of learning. He held a fluent pen, yet his writ- ings were not fitted for imniortality. They lacked solidity and that true genius which is undying. Many of his productions are already forgotten, and none but his Magnolia will probably " live forever." Its extravagances form its chief element of vitality. With all his learning, Dr. Mather was a man of narrow views, a conceited heart, and unsound judgment. He was a firm believer in witchcraft, and probably did more than any other man to promote the spread of that fearful delusion, known in history as Salem Witchcraft'. He wrote a book 1. A belief in witchcraft was almost universal, at that time. It had produced terrible tragedies on the 28 JOHN MASON. on the subject, and stimulated the authorities to prosecute all suspected persons. Several years before, his father had published an account of all the supposed cases of witchcraft in New England, under the title of "Remarkable Provi- dences," which directed public attention to the subject. After the delusion had passed away. Cotton Mather's credulity was exposed by a man named Calef, in a series of letters. Mather sneered at him at tirst, but when Calef laid his blows on thick and fast, the Doctor called him "a coal from hell," and prosecuted him for slander. The suit was wisely ^^ithdrawn. With all his vagaries and foil}'. Dr. Mather exhibited much good sense. Dr. Franklin has thus illustrated the fact, in a letter to Mr. Mather's son, Samuel, whose house and fine library were consumed at Charlestown during the battle on Breed's Hill, in 1775. "The last time I saw your father was in the begin- ning of 1724, when I visited him after my first trip to Pennsylvania. He re- ceived me in his library ; and on my taking leave, showed me a shorter way out of the house through a narrow passage, which was crossed by a beam overhead. We were still talking as I withdrew, he accompanying me behind, and I turning partly towards him, when he said hastily, 'Stoop! stoop!' I did not under- stand him until I felt my head hit against the beam. He was a man that never missed an occasion of giving instruction, and upon this he said to me, ' You are young, and have the world before you 5 stoop as you go through it, and you will escape many hard thumps.' This advice, thus beat into my head, has fre- ([uenth' been of use to me ; and I often think of it when I see pride mortified, and misfortunes brought upon people by carrying their heads too high." Cotton Mather married three times, and had fifteen children. He died on the 13th of February, 1728, at the age of sixty-five years. JOHN MASON. MILES STANDISH is called the "hero of New England" because of priority. There were other men of that olden time who were greater •' heroes " than he, when measured by the common standard. John Mason was a greater "hero" than Standish, for he caused the destruction of more Indians than his rival for the palm. He was born in England about the year 1600. He was a soldier by profession, and had practiced his murderous art in that cock-pit of Europe, the Netherlands. In 1630, he came to America, and was one of the original settlers at Dorchester. He went to the Connecticut Valley in 1635, and assisted in founding a settlement at Windsor. The peace of the little colony was soon disturbed by the depredations of the powerful Pequods, whose chief rendezvous was between the Thames and Mystic rivers. They believed the white people to be friendly to their enemies, the Mohegans and Narragansets, and they had resolved to exterminate them. They kidnapped children, stole cattle, and finally made murderous attacks upon the outskirts of the settlement at Saybrook, near the mouth of the Connecticut river. The danger became im- minent, and Captain Mason went down to Saybrook, with some followers, to reinforce and command the garrison of the little fort there. In the Spring of 1637, the settlers in the Connecticut Valley declared war coDtinent of Europe, nearly two hundred years before. Within fifty or sixty years, during the sixteenth century, more than one hundred thousand persons accused of witchcraft, perished in the flames, in Germany alone. The delusion prevailed in Massachusetts for more than six months, in 1692 ; and during that time, twenty persons suffered death, fifty-five were tortured or frightened into a confession of witchcraft, and over one hundred were imprisoned. The delusion commenced at l)anvers, and spread over a great extent of country in the vicinity of Boston. BENJAMIN "WEST. 29 against the Pequods, and the Plymouth and Massachusetts people promised to assist them. Through the influence of Roger Williams, the Narragansets be- came allies of the English; and when, late in May, Captain Mason, with eighty white men and seventy Mohcgan Indians, anchored his pinnaces near Conanni- cut Island, he was joined by Miantonomoh, the great chief of the Narragansets, with two hundred warriors. With these, Mason proceeded toward the I'equod country, and was joined, on the way, by the Niantics. Sassacus, a fierce warrior, was the chief sachem of the Pequods. He could summon two thousand braves to the field, and his confidence in his great strength made him less vigilant than a weak leader would have been. He had no intelhgence or suspicion of the approach of Mason, from the East. He was first informed of it by the seven sur- vivors of a dreadful massacre. The invaders crept as stealthily along as a panther, and just at dawn, on the 5th of June, 1637, fell upon the chief fort of the Pequods, on the Mystic river. Before sunrise, more than six hundred men, women, and children, had perished by weapons, or by the flames of their own burning wig- wams. Only seven escaped to arouse the nation to vengeance. The English, aware of their danger, hastened toward Saybrook ; but the power of the Pequods was broken. When, a few days afterward, about one hundred Massachusetts men joined Mason, Sassacus and his followers fled westward, hotly pursued by the English. They took shelter in Sasco swamp, near Fairfield, where, after a severe battle, they all surrendered, except Sassacus and a few others, who fled to the Mohawks for refuge. There the great sachem was treacherously slain. The blow was terrible. A nation had disappeared in a day.' The New England tribes were awed ; and for forty years afterward the colonists were unmolested by them. Soon after the war, the governor of Connecticut appointed Mason major-general of all the forces of the colony, which office he filled until his death. He was also a civil magistrate for eighteen consecutive years; and in 1660, he was elected deputy-governor. He retired from public life in 1670; and in 1673, he died at Norwich, at the age of seventy-two years. BENJAMIN WEST. " T^HERE have been more volumes written about this great painter in Eng- X land," says Lester, "than there have been pages devoted to him in the land of his birth." Here he grew to young manhood, and chose the mother of his children ; in sunny Italy he achieved his first triumph in high art, and in England he reigned and died. His birth occurred at Springfield, in Chester county, Pennsylvania, on the 10th of October, 1738. He was the youngest of the nine children of excellent Quaker parents; and at seven years of age, while keeping flies from the sleeping baby of his eldest sister, he sketched her portrait so accurately with black and red ink, that his mother, snatching the paper (which he modestly attempted to conceal) from his hand, exclaimed, " I declare he has made a likeness of little Sally ! " His parents encouraged his efforts, and the Indians supplied him with some of the pigments with which they painted their faces. His mother's "indigo bag" furnished him with blue, and from pussy's tail he drew the material for his brushes. Such was the juvenile be- 1. Captain Mason wrote a Brief Memoir of (he Pequod War. It makes one shudder to read his blas- phemous aUusion to the interposition of God in favor of the English, as if the poor Indian was not an object of the care and love of the Deity 1 Happily the time is rapidly passing by when men believe that they are doing God service by slaughtering, maiming, or in the least injuring, with vengeful feelings, any of his creatures. 30 BENJAMIN WEST. ginning of tlie greatest historical painter of tlie last century — such were the first buddings of the genius of that boy, who would not ride in company with another, because he aspired to nothing gi-eaterthan a tailor's shop-board. "Do you really mean to be a tailor?" asked little West. "Indeed I do," replied his boy-companion. "Then 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'll not ride with one willing to be a tailor!" 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 liath bestowed on this youth a genius for art; shall we question his wisdom? 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 he became the best painter in Italy. He crossed the Alps and went to England. There prejudice and bad taste met him, but his genius overcame both. Among his earliest and best "WILLIAM EYED. 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 Begulus, that noble picture exhibited in the New York Crystal Palace, in 1853. Tliat achievement placed him on the throne of English art. The King, and Reynolds, and West, founded the Royal Academy ; and he who, in the face 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 j^ears, was soon an exile from the court of his excellent friend, and many cherished anticipations of his prime were blighted in his de- clining years. But when royalty deserted him, the generous people sustained him. lie 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. 4 BOUT half-wa3^ between Richmond and Old Jamestown, on the James River, Ix in Virginia, is a fine brick mansion, surrounded by a fertile plantation, known as Westovcr. It was the residence of Colonel William Byrd, a wealthy cavalier, who came from England during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. He 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 early as 1645; but about 1680, Colonel Byrd, having received a conditional grant of land at the Falls, sent more than fifty able-bodied men there to make a settlement. He erected a mill and other buildings for the use of their productions, and the settlement was known as ByrcVs 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 jjleasant homes in the Virginia colonj^ 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 line 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 Society. His munificence and style of living were un- equalled in the .colonies. They were like those of an English nobleman. Ho died in 1743, at the age of almost eighty years, leaving Ins 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 expedition against Fort Duqucsne, under Wash- ington's command, in 1758. Being a spendthrift and a gambler, his immense wealth was greatl}^ 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. 82 ELEAZER "WHEELOCK. ELEAZER WHEELOCK. THOSE good men who by personal sacrifices and diligent efforts seek to elevate tlieir fellow-beings of low degree, should be remembered and honored. Among those of the past who deserve such reward, is Eleazer Wlieelock, the founder of the first school for the Christiau education of Indian youths in New England. He was born at AVindham, Connecticut, in April, 1711 ; and in 1733, was graduated at Yale College. Two j-ears 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 j^ears, named Samson Occuni, who had been converted to Christianity under the preaching of a clergyman at Norwich. Before entering Mr. Wheelock'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 Mr. 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 missionarj'' labors, believing that they would be more efficient among the savages, than white 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 laud, adjoining Mr. Wheelock'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 1766, Occum and Rev. Mr. Whitaker of Norwich, went thither for that jjurpose. The money collected by them was put into the hands of trustees, in England, at the liead 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. Ho also founded a college there, and named it Dartmouth, in honor of the Earl, notwithstanding that gentleman was opposed to the project, learing 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 affected the prosperity of both en- terprises, yet the self-sacrificing founder saw glorious fruit produced by his planting. Among tliose white missionaries whom he prepared for their work, was the faithful 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 oue-half of those educated for the ministry returned to their old habits and vices, when thej' got among their people again. Among Mr. Wheelock's pupils was Brant, the celebrated Moliawlc 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. CADWALLADER GOLDEN. C A D W A L L A D E 11 GOLDEN. THE representatives of royal power, in America, generally regarded the people as their subjects, rather than as fellow-citizens, and ruled by despotic power rather tlian by kindness and conciliation. There were honorable exceptions, and among these was Cadwallader Golden, whose character and public life wero truthfully portrayed, more tlian forty years ago,by John "W. Francis, M.D., now [1854] 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 tho same time was highly respected by them as a man and valuable citizen. Gadwallader Golden was born in Dunse, Scotland, on the 17th of February, 1688. He completed his collegiate studies at the university of Edinburgh, in 1705, and after devoting three years to the study of mathematics and medical science, he came to America, where he 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 tho city of New York. Golden soon abandoned his profession, for public employment. He was made surveyor-general of the province, a master in chancery, and finally became ono 2* 34 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 family-, most of the time, engaged in agriculture and in literary and scientific pursuits. Many learned essays from his pen enriched the medical and scientific publications of his day; and his History of the Five Nations of Indians, is a noble monument in testimony of his careful and judicious researches in that special field of inquiry. 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- n«us, 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 Societj'. 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 tho Stamp- Act excitement; and the Sons of Liberty respected him, while they defined 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, 1770'; 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, which 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 1559, and in early childhood was distinguished for his daring spirit and love of adventure. At the age of thirteen years, he sold his Ijooks 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 Gountries, 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 imperial army. His valor soon procured him the command of a troop of horse, which, in the war against the Turks, obtained the name of The Fiery Dragoons. On one occasion, during a siege, a Turkish ofBcer 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 liis DAVID RITTENHOUSE. 35 tyrant, fled into Muscovy, and found his way to Austria. Tiie war had ended, and Smith departed from tlie Adriatic, with a French sea-captain, for Morocco. He was engaged in a sea-fight 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 first English expedition which successfully planted a settlement in America, he be- came the real founder of the Virginia colony. The settlers became jealous of his talent, on the voyage, 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 energj^, and he not only 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 Pamhco 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 his aristocratic notions, his proffered ser- vices were declined. He died in London, in 1631, at the age of seventy-two years. DAVID KITTENHOUSE. "VTEAR the banks of the beautiful "Wissahiccon, in the vicinity of Germantown, ll four miles from Philadelphia, lived three hermits a century and a half ago ; and near their hiding-places from the world's 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 mathematidan, 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 maifliood. 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 I. The sillv King .Tames, 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 their arrival on the shores of the New World. j . ^ 1. Zinzendorf was the founder of the Moravians, or United Brethren, and preached in Germantown, for a while. 36 DAVID RITTENHOUSE. he derived from study and reflection, to the meclianic arts, he produced a plan- etarium, or an exhibition of tlie movements of the solar system, 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 Jersey, at Princeton, it having been purchased on the recommendation of President ^Yitherspoon.' It gave liira great reputation ; and in 1770, he went to Philadelphia, where ho 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 ho had calculated, with great exactness, the transit of Venus, which oc- curred on the 3d of June, 1769. Rittenhouse 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.- Upon the exactitude of the performance according to calculations, depended many' important astronomical problems, and the hour was looked for- 1. When Cornwallis arrived at Frinceton, after the severe battle at that place on the morning of the 2d of January, 1777, ho saw and admired that work of art, and determined to carry it away with him. The Americana cansed 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 planetarinm to the French king, as a bonus for his good will I The conqueror and the diplomatist were both foiled. 2. See sketch of John Winthrop, LL.D., page 44. UNCAS. 87 ward to by philosophers, with intenee interest. As the moment approached, according to his own calculations, Rittenhouse became greatly excited. When the discs°of the two planets touched, at precisely the expected moment, the philosopher fainted. His highest hopes were reahzed ; and on the 9th of No- vember following he 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 his place; and from his own earnings he gave the • institution fifteen hundred dollars, on the day of his inauguration. His fame was now world-wide, and many official honors awaited his acceptance. He held the office of treasurer of the state of Pennsylvania, for many years ; and in 1792, he was appointed the first Director of the Mint. Failing health compelled him to resign that trust, in 1795; and on the 6th of June, the following year, be died the death of a Christian, at the age of sixty -four years. u UNCAS. NLIKE 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. UncQS was a Pequod, by birth. 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 tho Pequods, in 1637. 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 witli Major Talcott to Brookfleld and Hadlej^,_ and at the latter place assisted in defeating seven hundred of Philip's savage allies.^ Like Philip, Uncas was opposed to the preaching of Christianity 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 tho 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 : , „, ,_een dolh bring to beg a little food. As they go along their friends among, to try how kind and good ; ■ ef, for their relief ; and if yon can't spare bread, " Oneco, King, his queen As tliey go along their fi ^, „ ^ . Some pork, some beef, for their relief; and if yon 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. Tho foundation stone was laid in 38 KING PHILIP, 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 Uving, near Norwich ; but soon it may be written upon a tomb-stone, "The last of the Mohegans." KING PHILIP. AG-ENEROUS 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 symijathies of civilization, are often compelled to yield reluctant admiration of the qualities which make men heroes, sages, and patriots, when exhibited by this tahoo'd race. No one appears more prominent as a claimant for consideration on account of these qualities, than Metacomet, the last chief of the "Wampanoags of Rhode Island, known in history as King Philip. lie 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 Philip, 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- croachments of the white people, yet he faithfully kept the treatj^ of his father, with them. He even endured insults and gross indignities ; and when his hot- blooded warriors gathered around his tlirone 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 ho had suffered 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. Sarhem and Chief are distinct chnraeters, yet they are sometimes found in the same person. A tachem is the civil head of a tribe ; a chief is a military leader. Philip was both. 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-cliandler's son, when he was yet in yonthhood. That youth was the immortal Benjamin Franklin, who was born on the morning of the 17tli of January, 1706, anil was christened that afternoon. At the age of eight years he went 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 ho 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, which attracted much attention. The author was unknown and unsuspected. At about the same time he read the 1. The other two were The Boston Ne^e Letter and The Boston Gazette. 40 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. productions of Shaftesbury and Collins, and he became a sceptic in religion, uu J a powerful disputant, by the use of the Socratic method of argument — askings questions. Because of his scepticism he became unpopular in Boston. This feet, 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 "With 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-workrnen, against useless expenses for beer and other filings, was beneficial. At night he 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 Mandevillc and other infidel writers. Franklin always looked back to these early efforts of his pen, in opposition to Christian ethics, with great regret. Frankhn returned to Philadelphia in the Autumn of 1726, 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 employer, for ho engraved devices on typo 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, biit it was dissolved the following }-ear. Ho then purchased Kcimor'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 Library, was laid.' The following year he commenced the publication of Poor Richard's Almanac. It was full of sound maxims, and its popularity was so great, that ho 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 ho 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 failed. He was chosen a member of the Assembly in 1747, and was regularly re-elected for ten years. Although Franklin was no orator, yet no man possessed greater influence than he, in that bodv. 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 members. The library was first established in the house of Franklin's warm friend, Robert Oraoe. In 1740, it was placedin the .State House. In 1773, it wan removed to Carpenter's Hall ; and in 1730, the biiildins ercc-ted for its nse, was completed. The assoeis Mon was incorporated in 1742, as The Lihrary 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 liighest part of a house to the ground, would preserve the house from lightning, by conducting it into the earth. Th^ 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 pLin of union, similar, in many respects, to our Federal Constitution, but it was rejected by the British government and the colonial assemblies for widely different reasons. Three years afterward, Franklin was sent to England as the agent of Pennsylvania, and was employed in the same capacity by three other colonies. There 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. He returned to America in 17G2, and resumed his seat in the Assembly; but two years afterward, the dispute between the colonics and the government having commenced in earnest, he was again sent as agent for Pennsylvania, to P^ngland. lie remained abroad until 1775, during which time he 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 he was one of the signers of the Declara- tion of Independence the following year. During the wliole 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 life, being then eighty-two years of ago. 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 with his knuckles, and received a spark. It was a bold but successful experiment. 2. According to his directions, the only inscription on the broad slab is, BENJAMIN ) AND S FRANKLIN. DEBORAH S 1790. Many years before, he wrote the following epitaph for himself; "the bodv of Benjamin Kuankun. Printer. Like the cover of an old Book, Its contents torn out, (And stripped of its letterinK and gildinfc,) Lies here, food for worms. But (ho work shall not be lost, For it will (as he believed) appear once more, In a new and more elegant edition, Revised and corr«cted, by The Adthor." 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, failed, and history recorded his name among traitors. He was a young 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. He came to America during CromweH's rule in England, acd was soon called to a seat in the council of Governor Berkeley. Thoroughly democratic in his view.s, Bacon often crossed the official path of the haughty cavaUer, 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 far as Bacon's plantation in the vi- cinity of Richmond. Berkeley appeared indiflerent, and the j^lanters asked the privilege of protecting themselves. The governor refused ; when at least five hundred men collected together, chose Bacon for connuander, 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. Pie was compelled to attest the bravery and loyalty of Bacon; and on the 4th of July, 1676, jnst a hundred years before the colonies were declared free states, a more liberal and enlightened legislation commenced in Virginia. That 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- versmg the proceedings of the assembly, repudiating Bacon's commission, and declarmg 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 he met a foe to his life luore 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 brave 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, score's were imprisoned, and much property was confis- cated. Because the patriots were unsuccessful, this episode in Virginia historr is known as "Bacon's Rebellion." JONATHAN TRUMBULL, 43 JONATHAN TRUMBULL. ONE of the main pillars of support upon which General Washington relied durint^ the "War for Independence, was Jonathan Trumbull, then Governor of Connecticut. He 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 profession, and he commenced its study with the Rev. Solomon Williams, of Lebanon. The death of an elder brother, who was engaged in mercantile business with his ftxther, 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-oflficio chief justice of the superior court. He espoused the patriot cause very early; and in 1768, he 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 tlie 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, sclf-sacriticing, 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 magistrac}' 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 17th of that month. His son and grandson both filled his chair of office, the latter having been governor in 1849. The Marquis de Chastellux, who came to America with Rochambeau in 1780, 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 ratlier, with respect to him, there is none of tho latter description. He has all the simplicity in his dress, all the importance,- and even pedantry, becoming the great magistrate of a small republic. Ho brought to my mind the burgomasters of Holland in the time of the Heinsius'a 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 1715, 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 his 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 twentv-two years had elapsed since a similar phenomenon had 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 .Tolin Hollis. He founded Iwo professorships in that institu- tion — divinity and malhematics. Mr. Winlhrop was professor of matliemalics. 2. It cannot be seen with the naked eye. The telescope was first nsed nmorp moderns early in th« 17th century, and the first transit of Venus observed wilh it, was on the fith of Perember, Ifi.'!. Th» next was on Ihe 4th of December, iaS9. Again, on the 5th of June, 1761, and the 3d of June, 17G9. The next transit will take place on the 8th of December, 1874. 3. See sketih of David Rittenhouse. JOHN BAKTRAM. 45 procured Lis admissiou to membership iu the most emiueut scieutiliu societies oi' the world. In 1767, Dr. Winthrc^) published liis Gogita de Cometis, a work of profound research, and of great value to the scientilic 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, ho was a tirra patriot, a wise counsellor, and efficient pro- moter of the good cause. lie held his professorship until his death, which occurred on the 3d of May, 1779, in the sixty-tifth year of his age. JOHN BART RAM. 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 hero and there the evidences of such genius intruded upon their stately opinions, and they were compelled to offer the liand of fellowship to American brethren, equal in pro- fundity of knowledge with themselves. Of this class was John I3artram, an eminent botanist, who was born near Darby, in Chester countj^, Pennsylvania, in the year 1701. He found few hcli).s to education in early life, but study and perseverance overcame a host of ditficulties. He seldom sat down to a meal with- out a book, and ho learned the classic languages with great facilit}'. In the study of medicine and surgery he greatly delighted ; and drawing his medicines chietiy from the vegetable kingdom, ho practiced successfully among the poor of his neighborhood. His avocation was that of a farmer, and his flxvorito study was botany. Mr. Bartram was the first American who conceived tho plan of estabhshing a botanic garden for American plants and vegetables. He carried his plan into execution, by devoting about six acres, near Philadelphia, to the purpose. Ho traversed tho country in every 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. Ho 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 ho was in the seventy-sixth year of his ago. 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 fatiicr in many of these excursions, published, in 1792, an interesting account of their travels through East Florida, tho Cherokee country, &c. John Bartram lived and died an exemplary member of the Society of Friends. 46 CHAELES THOMSON. y^ p^n^ CIHAKLES THOMSON. OF all the patriots of the Revolution, no man was better acquainted with the jnen and events of that struggle, than Charles Thomsqn, 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. In 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 asa son, according to an ancient custom. With all tlie 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 cahed to the responsible duty of secretary to that body.' At about that tune, 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), whose brother, Benjamin, was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Year after year, Mr. Thomson kept the records of the proceedino-s of Cons^ress, 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. He had a passion for the study of Greek authors, and actually translated the Septuagint from the original into English. Ho made copious notes of the progress of the Revolution, and after retiring from public life, in 1789, he 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 families rising into repute, whose progenitors were proved to be unworthy of the friendship of good men, because of their bad conduct during the war. So the world has lost the most authentic civil history of the struggle for independence, ever produced. Mr. Thomson died on the IGth of August, 1824, when in the ninety-fifth year of his age. He then resided at Lower Merion, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, where he was buried. In 1838, his nephew removed his remains to Laurel Hill Cemetery, over which is a handsome monument, bearing an appropriate inscrip- tion, composed by John ¥. 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 the men distinguished in the councils of the nation during our War for Independence, stands Francis Allison. He was born in Ireland in 1705, and completed his education at the University of Glasgow, in Scotland. At the ago of thirty years he emigrated to America, and having been ordained a minister in the 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 Master's vineyard, and he opened a free school in which he taught many who expressed themselves desirous of becoming gospel bearers. About the year 1747, he was invited to take charge of an academy in Philadelphia, where he became instructor of many youths, who afterward oc- cupied conspicuous public stations. He had educated Charles Thomson, the 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 s'igners 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 the age of seventy-two years. from his chaise, when a messenger from the delegates in Carpenter's Hall came to him, and said they wanted him to come and take minutes of their proceedings, as he was an expert at such business. * or his first year's service, he received no pay. So Congress informed his wife, that they wished to com- pensate her for the absence of lier husband during that time, and wished her to name what kind 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. AMONG the most eminent divines and boldest asserters of freedom in New- England during the angry discussions between those settlements and tho 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 twelve 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 he 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 live 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- dres from New England,- Mr. Mather went to the court of William and Mary, and by the use of great diplomatic skill, in connection with 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 body, expressive of their appreciation of his faithful 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 eflQcient 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 faculty 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 deattC 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, Duke of York, and brother of Charles Uie Seconrl, 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. He and his wife, Mary, James' daughter, ruled jointly. Their profiles appeared together on the coins, and that fact was the origin of the expression of endearment — " Cooing and billing, Like William and Mary on a shilling." 2. Andros has been termed "The Tyrant of New England." When the revolution became known, Xndros was seized, at Boston, put on board a vessel, and, with fifty of his political associates, was Kent to Eugland, nn'der a charge of mal-administration of public affairs. 3. See sketch of Cotton Mather. 4 We have noticed the etiects of this delusion, in a note on page 27. We may add here, that punish- ments for witchcraft were first sanctioned by the Romish Church a little more than three hundred years ago Henry the Eighth made the practice of witchcraft a capital offenco ; and professional " witch h'inters" were common in fJreat iJritain. Even the learned Sir Matthew Hale, one of the brightest ornaments of the English judiciary, repeatedly tried and condemned persons accused of witchcraft. JOHN CARROLL. 49 EZRA STILES. A FEW weeks before the British under Governor Tryon, entered New Haven, in Connecticut, with incendiary intent, a diminutive man of fifty years, with a face beaming with benevolent emotions, and a heart burning with 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. Ho was educated at Yale, Avhere he was grad- uated in 1742. lie possessed a clear intellect, brilliant genius, and remarkable grace in deportment. He became a tutor in the College, and prepared himself for the Christian ministry. 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 profession 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. WJien the storm of the Revolution burst over Narraganset Bay and vicinity, and Rhode Islan l became a prey to the British invaders, Mr. Stiles' congregation was dispersed, an I ho preached in various places, until the year 1777, when, on the resignation of Dr. Daggett, he was elected President of Yale College. It was a wise choice, for liis 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 C All ROLL. IT is a fact worthy of notice, that the Maryland charter, granted by King Charles the First, in 1G32, to Lord Baltimore, a Roman Catholic gentleman of fortune and influence, was the first of all the roj^il 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 Afaria, the Queen of Charles the First,) and to this day, men of that faith have held a controlling influence in the affairs of the colony and state, in civil, militaiy, 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, 1735, 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 he was sent to the college of St. Omer, in French Flan- ders, where he remained until he was transferred to the Jesuits' college, at Liege. 50 JOHN CAREOLL. six years afterward. He was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1769, renounced all claims to the estate left him by his father, and then became a teacher at St. Omer, and afterward at Liege. In 1773, the 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 vindication of the Jesuits, but it availed nothing, for he dared not print it, and the manuscript is lost. In England, the accomplislied 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 office 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 his nephew, John Carroll Brent, and published, in Baltimore, in 1843. JAMES EDAYARD 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 be of great service. The mission proved unsuccessful, however, and the devoted priest returned to his ministerial labors. Throughout the war, he was attached to the patriot cause, yet he did not neglect his religious duties. His talent and devotion were widelyknown ; 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, tlie venerable prelate's zeal seemed to increase, and he labored faithfully until his death, which occurred on the 3d of December, 1815, at the age of eighty years. JAMES EDWARD 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 ho 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, he was placed upon a committee to inquire into the condition of imprisoned debtors in Great Britain. His benevolent heart was pained at the recitals of woe that fell upon his ears. The virtuous and the good wore ahko cast into loathsome prisons. A glorious idea was awakened in hi»mind; and in 1729, he submitted to Parliament a plan for establishing a military colony south of the Savannah river, as a barrier between the Carolinians and the Spaniards in Florida, to be composed of the virtuous debtors then in prison tliroughout the kingdom. The plan was heartily approved. A royal charter for twenty-ono 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 PJnglish throne. Oglethorpe was a practical philanthropist; and when sufficient money had been subscribed, and the emigrants were almost ready for departure, he offered to accompany them as governor. He went up the Savannah river early in 1733, and upon Yamacraw Bluff he held a "talk" witli some of the Creek chiefs; and there he founded the city of Savannah. In the prosecution of his benevolent enterprise he crossed the ocean several times. His colony rapidly increased, and within eight years twenty-five hundred settlers 52 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 military 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 1745 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 ot 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 HaU, on tlie 30th of June, 1785, at the age of eighty-seven years. JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY. THE fine arts were but little appreciated and less 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 painter, who accompanied Dean Berkeley to Eliode 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 v/aned, and, in 1769, he went to England. This circumstance, and the fact that his father-in- law was one of the consignees of the East India Company'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 his renown; and in 1770, ho was admitted a member of the Royal Academy, then lately estabhshed under the auspices of the young king. 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 177G, he there met his wife and children, whom he had left in Boston. They had come with his flither- in-law, who was one of the many loyalists who fled to Haliflix when Washington drove the British from Boston in the Spring of that year. Copley devoted *im*- 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, he 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 Gliailmm, and Charles the First in Parliaiimit. 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. Ho 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 Lyndhurst. WILLIAM WHITE. 53 £f^(frc'c^o^9z. ;^^-^k^ WILLIAM WHITE. BECAUSE the Established Church of England was always 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 failed, until after the revolution. Episcopal ministers in America could obtain ordma- tion in England and Scotland, only, until 1785, when Dr. Seabury was consecrated a bishop. William White, the son of a sound Philadelphia lawyer, was the second who received that exalted honor in the church, in America. He was born in Philadelphia, on the 4th of April, 1748, and entered the college in that city, at the age of fourteen years. He had serious religious impressions at the age of sixteen years, and these were greatly deepened by the persuasive elo- quence of Whitefield, 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 acquamted with Dr. Johnson, Goldsmith, and other men of letters, he received priest's orders. He 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: he 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 tinancier), 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, he ceased officially pray- ing for the king, and soon took the oath of allegiance to the United States. Ah-eady 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 serve until the seat of government was removed to New York. Wlien, 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. Wliite was the only episcopal clergyman in Pennsylvania 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 Unked 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 Philadelphia, in October,. 178-1. He presided; and then and there the broad foundations of the Episcopal Church, in America, were 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 Fehruiiry, 1787, they were consecrated bishops, the former for the diocese of Pennsylvania, and tho» 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 ofiBce. 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 upon 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 17th of the next month, his spirit ascended to the New Jerusalem. In his writings, and in his example. Bishop White still lives, and the church yet feels his conservative influence. 1. It has been erroneously stated that he was the first chaplain of the Continental Congress. That honor belongs to Eev. Jacob Duche. 2. The other was Rer. Patrick Allison, minister of the Presbyterian Church m Baltimore. They were chosen on the 23d of December, 1776. GEOEGE WASHINGTON. 55 G E O R a E WASHINGTON. FIRST IN War — first ix Peace — first in the hearts of his Countrymen —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 Washington was born. That stone yet lies on the site of his birth-place, in Westmoreland county, Virginia, near the banks of the Potomac. The calendar having been changed,^ we celebrate his birth-day on the 2 2d of February. George Washington was descended from an old and titled family m Lan- cashire, England, and was the eldest child of his father, by Mary Ball, his second wife. He died when George was little more than ten years of age, and the guidance of the future Leader, through the dangers of j^outhhood, 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 justiceNvere the cardinal virtues of his character.3 jje was always beloved by his young 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 he was seventeen years old, he was one of the most accomplished land surveyors in Virginia. In the forest rambles incident to his profession, he learned much 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 invalid 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 Vu-- 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 1755, Braddock came to drive the French from the vicinity of the Ohio, Washington was chosen his principal aid. The young Leader had already 1. Georgre Washington Parke Custis, grandson of Mrs. Washington, and adopted son of the distin- guished patriot. , „ , ., i , <• Tni„ 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 the beginning of the year. It fell on the 21st of March, at the time of the council of Nice, m 323 Pope Gregory the Thirteenth reformed the calendar in 1582 (when the equinox fell on the 11th ot March ) by suppressing ten days in the calendar, acd thus restoring the equinox to the 21st of March. The Protestant states of Europe adhered to the old calendar, until 1700 ; and popular prejudice in i,ng- land opposed the alterations, until 1752, when the Julian calendar, called 0!d Style, was abolished by Parliament. The retrogression since Gregory's time made it necessary to drop 11 days, instead ot ten. Now the difference is about twelve days, so that Washington's birth-day, according to the New Uyle, is on the 2id of February. . , , . , j „ „„ 3. Young Washington was playing in a field one day with another boy, when he leaped upon an un- tamed colt belonging to his mother. The frightened animal used such great exertions to get rid ot uis rider, that he burst a blood vessel and died. George went immediately to his mother, and gave ner a truthful relation of all that had happened. This is a noble example for all boys. 56 GEORGE WASHINGTON. been iu that wilderness at the head of a military expedition, and performed his duty so well, that he was publicly thanked by the Virginia legislature. Brad- dock was defeated and killed, and his whole army escaped utter destruction only through the skill and valor of Colonel Washington, in directing their retreat.' He continued in active military service most of the time, until the close of 1758, when he resigned his commission, and retired to private life. At the age of twenty-seven years, Washington married the beautiful Martha Custis, the young widow of a wealthy Virginia planter, and they took up their abode at Mount Vernon, on the banks of the Potomac, an estate left him by his half-brother. There he quietly pursued the business of a farmer until the Spring of 1774, when he was chosen to fill a seat in the Virginia legislature. The storm of the great revolution was then gathering ; and toward the close of Summer he was elected a delegate to the first Continental Congress, which assembled at Philadelphia, in September. He was a delegate the following year, when the storm burst on Bunker Hill, after the first lightning flash at Lexington ; and by the unanimous voice of his compatriots he was chosen commander-in-chief of the army of freemen which had gathered spontaneously around Boston. For eight long years Washington directed the feeble armies of the revolted colonies, in their struggle for independence. That was a terrible ordeal tln-ough which the people of America passed ! During the night of gloom which brooded over the hopes of the patriots from the British invasion of New York, until the capture of Cornwallis, he was the lode-star of their hopes. And when the blessed morning of Peace dawned at Yorktown, and the last hoof of the oppress- or had left our shores, Washington was hailed as the Deliverer of his people ; and he was regarded by the aspirants for freedom in the eastern hemisphere as the brilliant day-star of promise to future generations. During all the national perplexities after the return of peace, incident to financial embarrassments and an imperfect system of government, Washington was regarded, still, as the public leader; and when a convention assembled to modify the existing government, he was cliosen to preside over their delibera- tions. And again, when the labors of that convention resulted in the formation of our Federal Constitution, and a president of the United States was to be chosen, according to its provisions, his countrymen, with unanimous voice, called him to the highest place of honor in the gift of a free people. Washington presided over the affairs of the new Republic for eight years, and those the most eventful in its history. A now government had to be organized without any existing model, and new theories of government were to be put in practice for the first time. The domestic and foreign policy of the country had to be settled by legislation and diplomacy, and many exciting questions had to be met and answered. To guide the ship of state through the rocks and quick- sands of all these difficulties required great executive skill and wisdom. Wash- ington possessed both ; and he retired from the theatre of public life without the least stain of reproach upon his judgment or his intentions. The great Patriot and Sage enjoyed the repose of domestic life, at Mount Vernon, in the midst of an affectionate family and the almost daily congratula- tions of visitors, for almost three years, when the effects of a heavy cold closed his brilliant career, in death. He ascended to the bosom of his God on the 14th of December, 1799, when almost sixty-eight years of age.^ 1. Braddock persisted in fighting the Indians according to the military tactics of Europe ; and when Washington modestly suggested the policy of adopting the Indian method of warfare, it is said that Braddock haughtily answered, "What 1 a provincial buskin teach a British general how to fight !" 2. See the Frontispiece. On the left, below the portrait, is his birth-place ; on the right, his tomb. Liberty and Justice are supporters, in the midst of Plenty, and surmounting Fame is proclaiming his deeds. FRANCIS HOPKINSON. 57 FRANCIS HOPKINSON. THE bud of a keen wit and zealous patriot appeared when, at almost midnight on the 3d of September, 1738, Francis Hopkinson was born in the city of Philadelphia. His father was a fine scholar, and an intimate friend of Dr. Franklin ; his mother was a woman of great refinement, and niece of the Bishop of Worcester. They came from England immediately after their marriage, settled in Philadelphia, and died there. When Francis was fourteen years old, his mother was left a widow with a large family of children. She discharged the holy duties of her station with fidelity and success. Francis Hopkinson was the first scholar and first graduate of the College of Philadelphia, of which his father was one of the founders. He was an honor to the institution. The profession of the law was his choice, and he studied in the ofBce of Benjamin Chew, afterward the eminent chief justice of Pennsylvania. He was fond of literary and scientific pursuits, and for the purpose of expanding and strengthening his faculties by contact with eminent men, he went to Eng- land, and resided with the Bishop of Worcester, about two years. Soon after his return, in 1768, he married Ann Borden, the accomplished daughter of a wealthy gentleman, the founder of Bordentown, New Jersey ; and that became his place of residence. His country was then agitated by the premonitions of the approaching Revolution, and his active mind often found powerful expression 3* THOMAS HUTCHINSON. through his pen. His first iJubUcation, of moment, was a small pamphlet en- titled, A Pretty Story, which is said to have had great influence on the public mind, in quickening its perceptions of the true relations existing between Great Britain and her colonies. It abounds with fine specimens of imagination, com- position, and elegant wit. So in his conversation ; it was ever marked by great refinement. Ho was never known to use a profane word, or utter an expression that would make a lady blusli. When the colonies had drawn the sword and cast away the scabbard, Mr. Ilopkinson, who had been an unflinching patriot from the beginning, was chosen a delegate to represent New Jersey in the Continental Congress. In that ca- pacity he signed the Declaration of I)idej)endence, and soon afterward received the commission of Judge of Admiralty, for Pennsylvania. Wliile in that station he wrote that exceedingly witty poem, entitled The Battle of the Kegs.^ "When the Federal Constitution was before the people, Judge Hopkinson be- came one of its most zealous and eloquent supporters, with tongue and pen; and in 1790, President Washington appointed him a judge of the United States court, for the district of Pennsylvania, under the new organization of the judi- cia^J^ He did not bear the ermine and its honors long, for on the 9th of May, 1791, he was suddenly smitten with epilepsy, which terminated his life in the course of a few hours. Mr. Hopkinson's genius was versatile. He was proficient in the knowledge of music, mathematics, mechanics, and chemistry. As a satirical writer he has few peers; and he held a front rank as a statesman and jurist. His works, arranged by himself, were published in three volumes, after his death, and are now exceedingly rare. THOMAS HUTCHINSON. MANY good men, whose actions have been governed by the purest and loftiest motives, have been made the targets of scorn by partisan writers ; and it is difficult, when perusing the pages of history, to judge correctly of the real characters of the prominent men whose actions make up the sum of the record. Thomas Hutchinson, Governor of Massachusetts during some of the most excit- ing scenes of the early years of the revolutionary struggle, is generally regarded with contempt and indignation by readers of American history, because, like thousands of conscientious men, he chose the royal side in the controversy. He was born in Massachusetts, in 1711, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1727. His father had been a public man, and Thomas studied English constitu- tional law, with the intention of becoming a statesman. He first embarked in commercial pursuits, however, but did not succeed. For ten consecutive years he was elected a member of the Massachusetts Assembly, and he was Speaker of that body for three years. In 1752, he succeeded his uncle as judge of pro- bate; and from 1749 until 1756, he was a member of the governor's council. In 1758, he was elected heutenant-governor of the province, and held that office until 1771, when he was appointed governor. In the meanwhOe he had held the office of chief justice, after the death of Judge SewaU, in 1760. That offica 1. A man, named Bushnell, of Coneneticut, invented a Bubmarine explosive apparatus, by which sliips might be blown up. An ineffectual attempt was made to blow up the Eagle, General Howe's flag- ship, in the harbor of New York, in 1776. In 1778, while the British had possession of Philadelphia, and several of their ships were lying in the Delaware, some Whigs at Bordentown prepared several kegs of powder with a similar machine, and sent them floating down the current of the river, toward the British shippine. They caused great alarm, and in commemoration of that event the Battle of the Kegs was written. The author's son, Joseph, wrote the popular national song, Hail Columbia. NATHANIEL GKEENE. 59 had been promised to the elder Otis, and the disappointment gave a keener point to the opposition of the younger Otis to the person and administration of Hutchinson, when the dispute between Great Britain and her colonies was pro- gressing. Other things had made Hutchinson unpopular with many of the people. In 1748, he was chiefly instrumental in abolishing the paper currency of the colony, and substituting gold and silver therefor ; and he fevored the law granting writs of assistance, or general search-warrants for contraband goods, by which no man's house was safe from prying officials. He was also active, with Governor Bernard, in bringing troops to Boston, in 1768, to awe the people; and much of the odium, of the massacre in Boston, in March, 1770, was cast upon him.' These things created a strong popular feeling against him; and when, in 1772, certain letters which he had written to a former member of Parliament, were sent back from England to Boston by Dr. Franklin, and published, in which he gave advice, in disparagement of popular liberty in America, the people could scarcely be restrained from manifesting their indignation by inflicting personal violence upon him. He was compelled to leave the country in 1774, when he went to England. He died at Brompton, in that realm, on the 3d of June, 1780, at the age of sixty-nine years. However much Governor Hutchinson sinned against our republican faith, his memory deserves to be revered for his faithful labors in the field of historical research. He prepared, with great care, a History of Massachusetts, from the earliest settlements in 1628, until 1 760. The first volume was published in 1760, and the second in 1767. He had also prepared much more historical matter concerning the colony ; and his unpublished manuscripts were procured for publication in this country, thirty years after his death. His History of Massachusetts is standard authority. NATHANIEL GREENE. THIS ablest of "Washington's generals was the son of an anchor-smith at "War- wick, Rhode Island, where the future hero was born, in 1740. Nathaniel was trained to his father's business, and was taught to love God and his neigh- bor by his pious Quaker mother. "While yet a bo}^, he acquired some knowledge of Latin ; and before his apprenticeship expired, his little earnings, judiciously used, had furnished him with a small library. Contrary to Quaker teachings, he loved the military art, read much of military history with delight, and when' the clang of arms came from Lexington and Concord, he went forth to act mili- tary history, in a nobler cause than warriors usually engage in. At the age of twenty-one years, he had been called to a seat in the Rhode Island legislature ; at the age of thirty-five years, he led to Roxbury, after the affair at Lexington' the three regiments which formed the army of observation, raised by his State for the defence of the country. The Quakers disowned him, and "Washington and his country adopted him. His State had made him a Brigadier; Congress appointed him a Major-general in the Continental army. He was sick during the battle on Long Island, in August, 1776, but was'in the engagements at Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, and Germantown, during the next fifteen months. He was honored with the important office of Quarter-master general in March, 1778, and in June he fought gallantly on the plains of Monmouth. In the Autumn of 1780, ho took command of the remnant of the southern army 1. A dispute between some of the people and the troops occurred. A larfre crowd gathered in the streets ; the troops were drawn up in line, and after being buffeted with words and missiles, for some time, some of (he soldiers fired. Three persons in the crowd were killed. It was made the occasion of great mdignation against the troops and government officials. 60 NATHANIEL GREENE. which had been defeated and dispersed at Camden, under General Gates ; and before the close of 1781, he had driven the British from every strong interior position, in the Soutli, and contined them to the cities of Charleston and Savan- nah. During that year, his famous retreat before Lord CornwaUis, across North Carolina, and the battles at Guilford, Camden, Ninety-Six, and Eutaw Springs, were achieved ; and the following year he marched victoriously into Charleston, amid the booming of cannons, the waving of handkerchiefs in fair hands from balconies and windows, and shouts of welcome 1 from crowds of liberated free- men. At the same hour, the white sails of a British fleet, bearing the last hos- tile foot from our shores, south of New York, were glistening in the evening sun. And yet the last resting-place, on earth, of this patriot and hero, is un- known to this generation. The grateful Georgians gave him a fine estate in that land of the orange and palm ;' and while there, in June, 1786, he was over- come by the heat of the sun, fell and expired. His remains were buried in a vault in Savannah, but there is nothing to distinguish them from the common 1. In testimony of the prratefiil appreciation of his services in the South, the Legislature of South Carolina voted him fifty thousand dollars ; that of North Carolina, twenty-five thousand dollars ; and of CJeorgia, twenty-four thousand acres of land, in the vicinity of Savannah. ZABDIEL BOYLSTON. 61 relics of mortality around them. Even the particular vault wherein they were deposited is unknown, and they are lost to humanity forever. His memory, however, shall bloom, ever fresh, in the hearts of his countrymen, and his fame, less perishable than brass or marble, will endure while freeck;m has a temple or a worshipper. Congress ordered a monument to be erected to his memory at the seat of the Federal Government, but the stone for it is yet in the quarry.' ZABDIEL BOYLSTON. INOCULATION for the small-pox, so as to ward off the violence of that foul and fatal disease, was first practiced in England, in 1721, by Lady Mary Wortley Montague, whoso son had been successfully treated, in that way, at Constantinople. She tried the experiment upon seven capital convicts, and was successful. At about the same time, and while ignorant of the fact of Lady Mary's operations. Doctor Boylston introduced the practice at Boston. 2 He was a Aan of courage and benevolence; a native of Brookline, Massachusetts, where he was born in 1680. He studied medicine and surgery at Boston, and soon became an eminent practitioner and rnan of fortune. Dr. Boylston's attention was first called to the subject of inoculation by Dr. Cotton Mather, who had read an account of its successful practice at Smyrna, in the Ea.st. The small-pox was then raging with fearful fatality in Boston; but of all the physicians there, Boylston was the only one who possessed suf- ficient courage to try the experiment. On the 26th of June, 1721, he inocu- lated his little son, aged six years, and two servants. He was successful, and began to enlarge the practice. The other physicians opposed him, and in the course of the next month the selectmen of Boston forbade its practice. At that moment six venerable clergymen of the city gave their infiuence in its favor, and benevolence and good sense triumphed over prejudice and ignorance. In the course of a year he inoculated two hundred and forty-seven persons in Boston; and of two hundred and eighty-six inoculated by himself and physi- cians in neighboring towns, only six died, while of five thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine persons who had the small-pox the natural way, eirjJit hundred and forty-four died. Notwithstanding this triumphant vindication of the utility of the practice, Dr. Boylston was mercilessly persecuted by other physicians ; and the common people became so exasperated against him, that it was unsafe for him to be seen out after dark. They went so far, at one time, as to parade the streets with halters, declaring their intention to hang him,^ and those who submitted to his practice were grossly insulted. Dr. Mather and others adhered to him, and he triumphed. Dr. Boylston went to England in 1725. The fame of his practice preceded him, and he was honored with membership in the Royal Society. When he returned home, prejudice had given way to common sense ; and to the end of 1. At West Point are two brass cannons, captured from the British, and presented to General Greene. On them is the following inscription : "Taken from the British army, and presented, by order of the United States, in Congress assembled, to Major-general Greene, as a monument of their Iiigh sense of the wisdom, fortitude, and military talents which distinguished his command in the Southern Depart- ment, and of the eminent services wtich, amid complicated dangers and difficulties, he performed for his country. October ye 18th, n»3." 2. The safer preventive practice of vaccination, now universally used instead of inoculation, was discovered by Kdward .Jenner in 1776. Among those who first introduced the new practice into this country, was Doctor Eneas Munson, of Connecticut. He used vaccination in 17^2. 3. His alleged offence was the spreading of a loathsome disease throughout the community ; and it was also argued that the small-pox being a judgment Bent upon the people for their sins, any endeavor to avert the blow would offend God still more ! 62 WILLIAM BRADFORD. his days he stood at the head of his profession in America. Bodily infirmity induced him to retire to his patrimonial estate at Brookline, where he engaged in literary and scientific pursuits in connection with agriculture. He had the pleasure of seeing inoculation universally practiced. On the 1st of March, 1766, he said to his friends, " My work in this world is done, and my hopes of futurity are brightening;" and then closed his eyes forever. WILLIAM BRADFORD. " T^HANK God there are no free schools in this province, nor printing press ; J. and I hope we shall not have for these hundred years," said Berkeley, the royal governor of Virginia, in 1671. His hope was almost realized in respect to the press ; but in other colonies that mighty worker, then in its childhood, began its labors early. More than thirty years before the utterance of these sentiments, a press had been established at Cambridge, Massachusetts; and sixteen years afterward, William Bradford, who came to America with William Penn, set up a press and printed an Almanac at Philadelphia, or in its imme- diate vicinity. Mr. Bradford was a Quaker, and native of Leicestershire, England. He learned the printer's trade in London, and married the daughter of his master, through whom he became acquainted with George Fox, the founder of his sect.' The Almanac printed by him was for the year 1687, and was made at Burlington, New Jersey. He printed several controversial pamphlets, and among them was one by George Keith against some of the Quakers of Philadelphia. It was deemed seditious, and Keith and Bradford were arrested and imprisoned, in 1692. They were tried and acquitted; but having incurred the ill-will of the dominant party of Quakers, Bradford took up his residence in New York the following year, where he was appointed government printer, and for a period of about thirty years he was the only practitioner of his art in that province. His first produc- tion was a folio volume of laws of the province. In the Autumn of 1725, Bradford commenced the publication of the first newspaper printed in that colony, which he called The New York Gazette. John Peter Zenger, one of his apprentices, became a business competitor in 1726; and in 1733 he, too, published a newspaper, called The New York Weekly Journal. Much enmity existed between them, and their respective papers became the organs of the two political parties then existing in New York. Bradford al- ways supported the government party, while Zenger spoke boldly for the people. Bradford had two sons, Andrew and William, whom he instructed in his art, and made them partners in business. He owned a paper mill at Elizabethtowu, New Jersey, in 1728, which is believed to have been the first one established in America. At the age of seventy years, he retired from business, and lived with his son, Andrew, until his death, which occurred on the 23d of May, 1752, when he was ninety-four years of age. He had been printer to the government more than fifty years; and during his long life he had never been seriously sick. At the time "of his death, it was announced in his Gazette, that "being quite worn out with old age and labor, his lamp of life went out for want of oil." 1 Fox promulgated his peculiar tenets about 1650. He boldly condemned ein in high places : and it •was while admonishing Justice Bennet, of Derby, that he was first called a Quaker, because he told that magistrate to quake atid tremble at the word of the Lord. Fox came to America In 1670. LINDLEY MURRAY. 63 LINDT.EY MURRAY. " M^RR'^'^'S GRAMMAR " is as widely known as the English Linguago, and ITL forms a part of the vision of school-daj'S which comes up occasionally Ijefore the memory of every educated American. It emanated from an invalid, confined for sixteen j-ears in a sick room. lie was the son of an eminent Qua- ker merchant in the city of New York, but was born at Swetara, near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1Y45, while his father was engaged in the vocation of a miller, there. "While yet a small boy, Lindley Murray was placed in a school in Philadelphia, where he was thoroughly instructed in the EngUsh branches of education, by Ebenezer Kinnersly, a friend and correspondent of Dr. Franklin. He accom- panied his father to New York, and was eagerly engaged in the study of the Greek and Latin languages, preparatory to a collegiate course, when failing health compelled him to leave his books. He entered his father's counting- room, but the routine of service there, and the restraints of a stern parent, be- came exceedingly irksome to him. He thirsted intensely for knowledge to be derived from books ; and a punishment which he deemed unmerited, inflicted by his flxther's hand, was made an excuse for his sudden flight from home. For many weeks he was a close student in a boarding-school at Burlington, New Jersey, before his friends ascertained, by accident, his place of concealment. A reconcOiation was effected, and Lindley returned to the drudgery of a merchant's desk. 64 JACOB LEISLER. After much persuasion, young Murray's father permitted him to enter the law oflBce of Benjamin Kissam, as a student, where he enjoyed the fellowship of John Jay, then preparing for that brilliant public career upon which he soon afterward entered. His fiither gave him a fine law library, and Lindley Murray commenced the practice of his profession, in the city of New York, with prom- ises of great success. He married an amiable woman, and regarded himself as permanently settled for life, when feeble health admonished him to try a change of climate. He went to England, was greatly benefited, and sent for his family; but yearning for his native land, he returned in 1771. When the "War for Independence broke out, he acted consistently with the principles and discipline of the Society of Friends, of which he was a valued member, and re- mained neutral and in retirement, at IsliiJ, Long Island. His father died during the war,' and on the return of peace, Lindley went back to the city, resumed the mercantile business, which ho abandoned in youth, purchased a beautiful country-seat on the Hudson, and seemed about to take rank with the merchant princes. Again ill-health warned him away from the changeable climate of New York. He went to England, purchased a beautiful estate in Yorkshire, and there gradually sunk into the confirmed invalid's chair. His malady was a disease of the muscles, which finally deprived him of the use of his limbs. For sixteen years he was confined to his room, and it was during that long season of bodily affliction that he produced his popular English Grammar, English Reader, and several religious works. At his death, which occurred on the 16th of February, 1826, in the eighty-first year of his age, he left a fund, the interest of which was to be devoted to the diffusion of religious sentiments in America. The Trustees faithfully execute that provision of his will, and have gratuitously distributed many thousands of his " Power of Religion on the Mind." Thej^ have just published Dymond's "Inquiry into the Accordance of War with the Prin- ciples of Christianity," for the same purpose. JACOB LEISLER. THE public life of Jacob Leisler, the first martyr to the democratic faith in America, presents a picture of the active development of republican ideas which had taken root in the New World, and began to germinate, more than half a century before. He was a native of Frankfort, in Germany, and came to America in 1660. He first settled at Fort Orange (Albany), in New Netlierland ; and about the time when the province passed into the hands of the English, and New Amsterdam became New York, he began commercial life in that city. While on a voyage to Europe, about the year 1675, he was made a prisoner by some Mediterranean pirates, and sold to a Turk, with seven others. He paid a high price for his ransom, and then returned to New York, where he became one of the most successful and influential merchants. In 1683, notwithstanding his well-known Protestant feelings, the Roman Catholic governor Dongan ap- pointed him one of the commissioners of the court of admiralty. He also had command of a mQitia corps, and was very popular. When, in the Spring of 1689, the dethronement of James the Second was known, and changes took place in the governments of the several colonies, the people of New York imme- diately appointed a committee of safety, under whose direction Leisler was re- 1. Robert Murray, the father of Lindley, owned one of the first three coaches introduced into the city of New York, about ninety years ago. Another, owned by Mr. Beekman, is yet well preserved, and in possession of his descendant, Hon. James W. Beekman. There was much prejudice against coaches, when they were introduced, and Murray called his " a leathern conveniency." His country seat was on land now known as Murray Hill, in the city of New York. JAMES BOWDOIN. 65 quested to take charge of the fort, in the name of the new sovereigns, "William and Mary. Nicholson, the successor of Dongan, fled on board a vessel and departed, and the people consented to Leisler's assuming the powers of governor until a new one should be appointed by the crown. This act offended the magistrates and the aristocracy; and when Governor Sloughter arrived in 1691, Leisler was accused of high treason. His son-in-law, Milborne, who acted as his deputy, was included in the charge. Although Leisler surrendered his authority into the hands of the legally-appointed governor, yet, when he went in person to deliver up the keys of the fort, both he and Milborne were seized and cast into prison by those who had resolved on their destruction. They were tried on a charge of treason, found guilty, and condemned to death. Sloughter felt the injustice of the sentence, and withheld , his signature to their death- warrants. He was an inebriate, and at a dinner party, given for the purpose, he became drunk, and while in that state, was induced, unconsciously, to put his name to the fatal instrument. Before he became sober, Leisler and Milborne were suspended upon a gallows on the verge of Beekman's swamp, near the spot where Tammany Hall now [1854] stands. These were the proto-martyrs of liberty in America. Their death lighted an intense flame of party spirit; and the pretence made by their enemies, that Leisler was inimical to the Protestant King and Queen, had not the shadow of a foundation. The fact that in 1689, he purchased a tract on Long Island Sound, in Westchester county, for the per- secuted Huguenots (which they named New Rochelle), was a sufficient refuta- tion of the false charge. Leisler's property, which the local government confis- cated, was afterward restored to his family. JAMES BOWDOIN. FROM the stock of the Huguenots, or French Protestants, who fled from France on the revocation of the edict of Nantes, came many noble men who shine as stars in the firmament of our political and social history. James Bowdoin, the eminent statesman and governor, was of that stock. He was born in Bos- ton on the 18th of August, 1727. His grandfather fled from France in 1685, and came to America by way of Ireland, two years later, and settled at Fal- mouth (now Portland), in Maine. James was the son of an eminent merchant, and was educated at Harvard College, where he was graduated in 1745. He was remarkable for his application, while a student, and his deportment was always correct. He had just laid the foundation of a good character, when, at the age of twenty-one years, his father died, and left him an ample fortune. Yet that possession did not cause him to fold his hands in idleness. His thirst- ing mind sought out the pleasant fountains of knowledge ; and soon after his marriage, in 1749, he commenced a system of literary and scientific research. He was elected to represent Boston in the General Court, in 1753, where his learning and eloquence soon made him a conspicuous leader. Three years after- ward, he was chosen to a seat in the Council, where he was a highly-respected member for many years. When grievances began to be complained of by the colonists, Bowdoin was found upon the side of the people, and for this ofi'ence, he was refused a seat in the council, by Governor Bernard, in 1769. Hutchinson, however, allowed him to take a seat at the council board, saying, " His opposi- tion to our measures will be less injurious here than in the house of represent- atives," to which the people had elected him. He was chosen a delegate to the first Congress in 1774, but the illness of his wife prevented his attendance. 66 SAMUEL KIKKLAND. The following year he was chosen president of the council of Massachusetts, and he held that important office most of the time until the adoption of the State Constitution in 1780. He was president of the convention which formed that instrument; and in 1785, when John Hancock resigned the chair of chief magistrate of the State, Bowdoin was chosen to succeed him in office. It was during his administration that the troubles, known as Shai/s Rebellion, took place in Massachusetts. By his orders, four thousand troops were placed under the command of General Lincoln, to suppress the insurrection ; and he was one of the largest contributors to a voluntary subscription of money, which was raised in Boston, within a few hours, to pay the expenses of the troops. Pie was a member of the Massachusetts convention, called to deliberate on the Federal Constitution, and he gave that instrument his hearty support. Governor Bow- doin was a patron of letters. He subscribed liberally for the restoration of the library of Harvai'd College, destroyed in 1764; and from 1779 till 1784, he was a fellow of the corporation. In 1780, he was instrumental in founding the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in Boston ; and his fostering care was given to other societies, humane and scientific. The University at Edinburgh conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws, and he was chosen a member of the Royal Societies of London and Dublin. He was a benevolent Christian, in the highest sense of the term ; and in all his numerous writings fundamental truths of Christianity were prominently recognized. This eminent man died at Boston, in 1790, at the ago of sixty-three years. SAMUEL K I R K L A N D . " TTOW beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those " who carry the J-L gospel of peace, love, and brotherhood to the dark-minded without the pale of civilization. Peerless among such faithful messengers, was Samuel Kirkland, who, for forty years, labored with untiring zeal among the pagans of central New York. Ho was born at Norwich, Connecticut, on the 1st of Decem- ber, 1741, and through life exhibited the indomitable courage, energy, and per- severance of his Scotch lineage. Of his childhood we know very little. In early j-outh he entered Dr. Wheelock's school at Lebanon, and prepared to be a missionary among the Indians. There he was much beloved for his gentleness, a quaUty which endeared him to his fellow-students at Princeton, where he pur- sued a collegiate course of studies from 1762 until 1764. He left the institution before completing his education, and dwelt with the Seneca Indians from 1764 until 1766. He received his collegiate degree, however, in 1765; and in June, 1766, he was ordained, at Lebanon, as a missionary to the Indians, under the sanction of the Scotch Society for propagating the gospel among the heathen. He entered upon his work in August, and made his residence among the Oneidas at their "council house," a little south-west of Fort Stanwix, now Rome. There he built a house with his own hands, and labored day and night for the good of the poor Indians. Toil and exposure impaired his health, and he sought its restoration by passing the Summer of 1769 with his friends in Connecticut. In the Autumn he married a niece of Dr. Wheelock, and soon afterward he returned to his post of duty in the wilderness, accompanied by his excellent wife, as far as the house of General Herkimer, at the Little Falls of the Mohawk.' She re- mained there a few weeks, until her forest home was made comfortable ; and 1. Early the following Summer, Mrs. Kirkland started to yisit her mother in Connecticut. She pro- ceeded on horseback, but went no fiirtlier tlian the house of General Herkimer, where she gave birth to twin sons, in August, 1770. One of these was afterward President Kirkland of Harvard College. SAMUEL KIRKLAND. 67 (/(/(^C^/l^^^^^^?^ then they commenced those joint missionary labors, which were exceedingly successful until the preparations of the War for Independence were commenced. Those disturbances deranged their noble plans ; and the growing insecurity of forest life caused Mr. Kirkland to fix the residence of his family at Stockbridge, in "Western Massachusetts. Yet ho did not desert his post, but labored on through all the dark scenes of the seven years' war that ensued, not only for the spiritual benefit of the dusky tribes, but in unceasing endeavors to keep the Six Nations' neutral. He succeeded with the Oneidas, only ; the other tribes be- came active allies of the British, for the influence of Sir William Johnson and his family was greater than that of the missionary. Mr. Kirkland was chaplain at Fort Schuyler (formerly Fort Stanwix, new- Rome, in Oneida county) for some time, and in that capacity he accompanied General Sullivan in his expedition from Wyoming, against the Senecas, in 1V78. After that, he was at Fort Schuyler and vicinity, or with his fomily at Stock- bridge, until peace was declared. In subsequent treaties with the Indians, ho was very active and useful ; and when the field of his labors began again to whiten, under the blessed sun of peace, his family prepared to make their resi- dence in the Indian country. It was never accomplished, for Mrs. Kirkland sickened at the close of 1787, and late in January followdng, she died. The be- reaved missionary left her grave for his harvest field in the wilderness, and toiled 1. The Iroquois confederacy in the State of New York. It originally consisted of five tribes, namely, Onondaga, Seneca, Oneida, Mohawk, and Cayuga. These were joined by their kindred in language, the Tuscaroras of North Carolina, in the early part of the last century. 68 ANN" LEE. on, year after year, in civil and religious duties, lie accompanied a delegation of Senecas to Pliiladelphia, in 1790, and was rewarded by the conversion to Christianity of the great chief, Cornplanter, with whom he travelled, instructed and convinced. In 1791, he made a census of the Six Nations, and at the same time he succeeded in establishing an institvition of learning, which was incor- porated in 1793, under the title of The Hamilton Oneida Academy. This was the origin of Hamilton College. Mr. Kirkland continued his labors among the Oneidas untd his death, which occurred, after a brief illness, at his residence in Paris, Oneida county, on the 28th of February, 1808, in the sLxty-seventh year of his age. ANN LEE, FOUNDERS of sects become famous by their fruits, whether they be good or evil ; and in the consistent, upright character of followers, impostors have obtained canonization as saints. Of such as these was the immortal Ann Lee, the founder, in America, of the sect known as Shaking Quakers. She was born in Manchester, England, about the year 1736. Her father was a blacksmith, and she was taught the trade of cutting fur for hatters. She married young, and had four children, who all died in infancy. At the age of twenty-two years, she became a convert to the doctrines of James Wardley, a Quaker, who preached the holiness of celibacy, and the wickedness of marriage, and whose followers, because of the great agitations of their bodies when religiously exercised, were called Shakers.' After nine years of discipline, she opened her mouth as a teacher; and in 1770, while confined in prison as a half-crazed fanatic, she pre- tended to have had a revelation of great spiritual gifts. She declared that in her dwelt the "Word;" and her followers say, "the man who was called Jesus, and the woman who was called Ann, are verily the two great pillars of the church." She was acknowledged to be a spiritual mother in Israel, and is known by the common appellation of " Mother Ann." She came to New York in 1774, with her brother and a few followers; and in the Spring of 1776, they settled at Niskayuna (now "Watervliet, opposite Troy), where the sect still flourishes. Some charged Mother Ann with witchcraft ; and vigilant Whigs, knowing that she preached against war in every shape, suspected her of secret correspondence with her countrymen, the British. A charge of high treason was preferred against her, and she was imprisoned in Albany during the Summer of 1776. In the Autumn she was sent as far as Poughkeepsie, with the intention of forward- ing her to New York, within the British lines. She remained a prisoner at Poughkeepsie, until sometime in 1777, when she was released by Governor Clinton. She then returned to Watervhet. Persecution had awakened sym- pathy for her, and her followers greatly increased. A wild revival movement in the vicinity, in 1780, poured a flood of converts into her lap, and she deluded the silly creatures with the assertion that she was the " woman clothed with the sun," mentioned in the Apocalypse. She told them that she daily judged the dead of all nations, who came to her, and that no favor could be had, except through a confession of sins to her. She became a Pontifix Maximus — a second Pope Joan — and under her directions, the fixithful discarded all worldly things, and gave into her hands all their jewels, knee-buckles, mone.7, and other valu- ables. She excited their fear and admiration by mutteriugs, groans, and strange 1. For a similar reason, George Fox (the founder of the Society of Friends) and his followers were called Quakers. See note on page 62. THOMAS GODFREY. 69 gestures ; and introduced 'dancing, whirling, hopping, and other eccentricities, into the ceremonials of pretended worship. Mother Ann declared to her deluded followers that she would not die, but be suddenly translated into heaven like Enoch and Elijah. Notwithstanding she did actually die at "Watervliet, on the 8th of September, 1784, her followers beUeve that it was not real death. In a poetic "Memorial to Mother Ann," written by one of them, occurs the stanza: " How much thev are mistaken, who think that Mother 's dead, When through'her ministrations so many souls are saved. In union with the Father, she is the second Eve, Dispensing full salvation to all who do believe." THOMAS GODFREY. A PLAIN" mechanic was one day replacing a pane of glass in a window on the north side of Arch Street, Philadelphia, opposite a pump, when a girl, after fiUing her pail with water, placed it on the side walk. The mechanic observed the rays of the sun reflected from the window, into the pail of water. This cu-- cumstanee produced a train of reflections in a highly mathematical mind, and led to an important discovery. That mechanic was Thomas Godfrey, who was born about a mile from Germantown, in Pennsylvania, in the year 1704. Godfrey's early education was limited ; and at a proper age he was appren- ticed to a glazier, in Philadelphia. He entered into the business on his own account in 1725, and was employed in glazing Christ Church and the State House,' both of which are yet standing in the old part of Philadelphia. From early boyhood Godfrey exhibited great taste for figures ; and, like Rittenhouse, he often exhibited his diagrams in his place of labor. A work on mathematics having fallen into his hands, he soon mastered the science, and then he learned the Latin language, so as to read the works of the best writers upon his favorite subject. In the Summer of 1729, Godfrey was employed by James Logan to glaze some windows in his library, and there he first saw Newton's Principia. He borrowed the work; and early in 1730, he communicated liis invention of the Quadrant (an astronomical and nautical instrument, of great value) to that gen- tleman. His reflections on the Arch Street incident, with the perusal of New- ton's work, had resulted in this invention. Mr. Logan took great interest in the matter, and conveyed information of the invention to the Royal Society of London, through his friend. Sir Hans Sloane. That institution rewarded Mr. Godfrey for his ingenuity, by presenting to him a quantity of household fur- niture, valued at one thousand dollars, but divided the honor of first discoverer equally between him and John Hadley, then vice-president of the institution. That the sole honor was justly due to Godfrey, there can be no doubt, for the fact appears to be well authenticated, that the first instrument made of brass, from Godfrey's wooden model, was taken by the inventor's brother, captain of a vessel in the West India trade, to the island of Jamaica, and there exhibited to some English naval officers. Among these was a nephew of John Hadley. He purchased the instrument of Captain Godfrey for a large sum of money, and took it to his uncle, in London, who was a mathematical instrument maker. That gentleman made another instrument like it, except a few alterations, and presented it to the Royal Society, with an explanatory paper, as his invention. 1 Independence Hall, wherein Congress was assembled when the Declaralion of Independence was adopted on the 4th of July, 1776, is in this State House. The exterior of the building has been somewhat changed since then. 70 PONTIAC. That presentation occurred on the 13th of May, 1731, just about the time that Sir Hans Sloane called the attention of the Society to Godlrey's invention. The American inventor, like Columbus, lost the honor of having his name identified with the discovery, and the instrument is known as Hadley's Quadrant. Mr. Godfrey died in Philadelphia, in December, 1749, at the age of forty-five years. PONTIAC. SAVAGE and treacherous as he is, the native Indian, in his forest home, has many generous and noble qualities, such as we have been taught to admire when displayed by Roman warrior or Greek law-giver. Pontiac, the great chief of the Ottawa tribe a hundred years ago, possessed these in an eminent degree ; and had his natural endowments been nurtured under the warm sun of civilization, no doubt his name would have been high among the great ones of earth. But he was forest born, and forest bred, and history speaks of him only as a great cliief, filled with deadly hatred of the white man, and renowned for bloody deeds and bloodier intentions. Pontiac, when he first became known to the white man, was ruler of the whole north-west portion of our present domain. Where Cleveland now stands in its pride. Major Rogers first met the great chief^ one bright morning in the Autumn of 1760. He informed Pontiac that the English had taken Canada from the French, and then made a treaty of friendship with him. Though Pon- tiac had been the fast friend of the French during the war just ended, he now appeared upon the field of history, for the first time, in the full strength of mature manhood. He was doubtless sincere in his treaty with the English, but the non-fulfilment of their promises, and the influence of French emissaries, soon made him trample all compacts beneath his feet. He did more, far more than any North American Indian ever effected before or since. He confederated all the Indian tribes of the North-west to utterly exterminate the English, or drive them from all their posts on the great lakes, and in the country around the head waters of the Ohio. Like Philip of Mount Hope, Pontiac viewed the approach of white settlements with jealousy and alarm. He saw, in the future, visions of the displacement, perhaps destruction, of his race, by the pale-faces; and he determined to strike a blow for life and country. So adroitly were his plans matured, that the commanders of the western forts had no suspicion of his con- spiracy until it was ripe, and the first blow had been struck. Early in the Summer of 1763, within a fortnight, all of the posts in possession of the English, west of Oswego, fell into his hands, except Niagara, Fort Pitt, and Detroit. Early the following Spring, Colonel Bradstreet penetrated the country to Detroit, with a strong force. The Indians were speedily subdued, their power was broken, and the hostile tribes sent their chiefs to ask for pardon and peace. The haughty Pontiac refused to bow. He went to the country of the Illinois tribe, where he was basely murdered, in 1769, by a Peoria Indian, who was bribed by an English trader to do the deed, for a barrel of rum. The place of his murder was at Cahokia, on the east side of the Mississippi, a little below St. Louis. A great man fell, when Pontiac died. He was the greatest of all chiefs known to the white men, and deserved a better fate. It is said that during his operations in 17'^3, he appointed a commissary, and even issued bills of credit, which passed current among the French inhabitants of the North-west. When he died, he wore a uniform presented to him by Montcalm, who esteemed him highly. Pontiac was an actor in the last scene in the drama of the French and Indian War. FISHER AMES. 71 FISHER AMES. HAPPILY he did not need the smart of guilt to make him virtnous, nor the regret of folly to make him wise," were the words uttered by one who knew Fisher Ames well, and appreciated his noble character. He was a son of Dr. Ames, a physician and a wit,' of Dedham, Massachusetts, where he was born on the 9th of April, 1756. He was a delicate child ; and so precocious was he in the acquirement of knowledge, that at six years of age he commenced tlie study of Latin. At the age of twelve he was admitted to Harvard College, where he was graduated in 1774. That was a year of great gloom in Massa- chusetts, and indeed throughout the whole country; and as young Ames' mother was poor, and the times made a choice of business difficult, he taught a common school for awhile. He read and studied incessantly, and, finally, prepared for the profession of the law, under William Tudor, in Boston. He commenced its 1. He kept a public-house at Dedham, and on one occasion, the colonial judges having, as he (bougM. decided a case against him unlawfully, he sketched their honors upon a sign-board in front ot his tavern, in their full-bottomed wigs, tippling, with their backs to an open volume, labelled Frovmce Law " The Boston authorities sent some officers to Dedham, to remove the sign. The doctor was pre- pared for them ; and when they arrived, they found nothing banging but a board on which was in- scribed, " A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh for a sign, but rto sign shall be given them. JOSEPH GALLOWAY. practice at Dedham, in 1781, and soon stood at the head of the bar in his native district. Prom early youth he had exhibited rare oratorical powers. These powers now had fine opportunities for expansion, and with pen and tongue Fisher Ames soon attracted the attention of all classes of his countrymen. Ho was a member of the convention for ratifying the Federal Constitution, in 1788, and there his eloquence gained him the heartiest applause. He was elected a member of the Massachusetts Legislature the same year, and in 1789, he was the first representative of his district, in the Federal Congress. There he was the chief speaker in all important debates. It is said that on one occasion,^ in 1796, his eloquence was so powerful, that a member, opposed to him, moved that the question on which he had spoken should be postponed until the next day, " that they should not act under the influence of an excitement of wliicli their calm judgment might not approve." John Adams bluntly said, in allusion to that speech, "there was n't a dry eye in the house, except some of the jack- asses that occasioned the necessity of the oratory." Mr. Ames was the author of the " Address of the House of Representatives," to President Washington, on his signifying his intention to withdraw from office. At about the same time, his own feeble health compelled him to decline a re- election, and he retired partially from pubhc life. He was a member of the council of his State for some years; and in 1800, he pronounced a eulogy on Washington, before the State Legislature. He was chosen President of Harvard College, in 1805, but he declined the honor. His powers of life gradually failed for several years; and on the 4th of July, 1808, his pulse ceased to beat, at the age of fifty years. In the old church-yard at Dedham is a plain white monu- ment, on which is the simple inscription — Fisher Ames. Mr. Ames was a fluent and voluminous writer, and his collected productions are among the choicest things in our hterature. JOSEPH OALLOWAY, AMONG the eminent loyalists of Pennsylvania, who adhered to the patriot cause until the war had fairly begun, Joseph Galloway was, perhaps, tlie most distinguished. He was born in Maryland, in 1730, and early in life he went to Philadelphia to practice law, in which profession he soon took a high rank. He obtained a beautiful wife and a considerable fortune by marrying .the daughter of Lawrence Growdon, who was Speaker of the Assembly of Pennsj-l- vanfa, for many years. Mr. Galloway was a member of that body in 1764, and his sympathies, as manifested by his words and actions, were always on the side of the people. So well convinced were the people of his staunch repubhcanism, that he was elected a member of the first Continental Congress in 1774, and was a very active participant in the debates in that body. He submitted a plan of union between Great Britain and the colonies, by which the latter might be comparatively independent, with a president at their head, appointed by the king. His plan was not adopted ; and when the Congress agreed upon a non- importation, non-eonsumption, and non-exportation scheme, called the American Association, Mr. Galloway signed it. He was never in favor of a political sepa- ration from Great Britain, yet he was always in fivor of the most stringent meas- ures for compelling the government to redress the grievances of the colonists. In 1775, he began to show signs of wavering, by earnestly asking to be excused 1. Speech on Jay's Treaty. TIMOTHY EUGGLES. 73 from serving as a delegate in the Continental Congress; and in 1776 when the question of independence began to be agitated, he abandoned the Whigs, and became one of the most violent and proscriptive Loyalists. Afraid to remain in Philadelphia, he joined the royal army in New York, where he remained until early in the Summer of 1788, when he went to England, accompanied by his only dauo-hter.' In 1779, he was summoned before parliament to testify concerning the state of affairs in America. He was severe upon General Howe and other^British officers, in relation to their stupid management. He kept up an extensive correspondence with the Loyalists, in America, during the remain- der of the war, and wrote several pamphlets on subjects connected with the hostilities. Mr. Galloway's large estates in Pennsylvania were confiscated ; and when a commission was appointed, in London, for prosecuting the claims ot the Loyalists, he was made a member of the board for Delaware and Peunsylvania. A large part of his property was afterward restored to his daughter, and is still in possession of his descendants. Mr. Galloway never returned to America. He died in England, in September, 1803, at the age of seventy-three years. During the war, all the Whig writers took delight in making him a target tor their ^it and scorn. Trumbull, in his McFingall, gave him many hard hits ; and 1 hihp Frenau, and other poets, scorched liim severely. T TIMOTHY RUaaLES. IHERE were many able men who stood in opposition to the British govern- ^ ment in the first revolutionary movements of the American colonies, but who timidly receded when the quarrel became fierce, and the government ut- tered its menacing thunders. Timothy Ruggles, of Massachusetts, was of that class He was born at Rochester, in that province, in 1711, and was graduated at Harvard in 1732. He became a lawyer ; and at the age of twenty-five years, he was an influential member of the General Assembly. He rose rapidly in his profession, and was often called to measure forensic weapons with the Otises, father and son. He was fond of military life, and held the commission of colonel in the provincial forces under Sir William Johnson. At the battle at Lake Georp-e, in 1755, he was second in command to Johnson ;2 and was active m the campaigns of the two years following, under Amherst, when he held the com- mission^ of Brigadier-general. He also served with distinction, under that officer, in 1759-'60, in his expedition against Quebec and Montreal. In 1762, he was appointed chief justice of the common pleas, and was Speaker of the Assembly at the same time. In 1763, he made Hardwick his residence, where he practiced his profession. Tlie storm of the Revolution soon began to lower; and when, in the Autumn of 1765, a congress of delegates, from the different provinces, to consider the grievances of the people, was held at New York, General Ruggles was a delegate thereto, from Massachusetts, and was chosen president of the convention. " He was unwilling to go as for as his colleagues, and refused his cooperation in the proceedings of the congress, for which he was 1. It is supposed that Galloway's departure from Pliiladelphia was hastened by the discovery that his daughter was about to marry Judge Griffin, a firm Whig, and afterward President of the Contmental Congress. . . m p a 2. For his good conduct in that campaign, he was rewarded with the almost smecure omce oi bur- veyor-general of the king's forests. It was a lucrative office, with very little labor. 74 JONATHAN CARVER. greatly censured. From that time he ranked among the royalists, and in 1774, was made a councillor, and accepted the office. That act made him very ob- noxious to the patriots, and he was compelled to leave the country, and take refuge under royal mihtary rule, in Boston. His large estates were contiscated, and he became a refugee, when the British were driven from Boston, by Wash- ington, in the Spring of 1776. He afterward returned to the vicinity of New York, and organized a corps of about three hundred loyalists, but seems not to have performed much active service. In 1779, he went to Nova Scotia, where he resided until his death, which occurred in 1798, when he was eighty-seven years of age. General Ruggles was a scholar, but rude in manners and speech. He has many descendants in Nova Scotia. JONATHAN CARVER. THE earliest American-born traveller, of note, was Jonathan Carver, who first saw the light of life in Connecticut, in 1732. He was educated for the medical profession, but chose the military art as a vocation, and led a company of Connecticut provincials in some of the expeditions against the French in northern New York, from 1756 to 1759. He served with reputation until the peace in 1763, and soon afterward he formed the bold resolution to explore the continent of America from Lake Superior to the Pacific Ocean. He also hoped thereby to be instrumental in finding the long-sought north-west passage to India. Mr. Carver left Michillimackinac in the Autumn of 1766. That was the most westerly of the British military posts. Bearing a few gifts for the Indians, he penetrated the present Minnesota Territory to the head waters of the St. Pierre, more than a thousand miles from the point of his departure. He was foiled in his grand design ; and after spending some time on the northern and eastern shores of Lake Superior, exploring its bays and tributaries, carefully observing the productions of nature and the habits of the Indians, he returned to the set- tlements, and laid his papers before tlie governor of Massachusetts, at Boston. He had 'been absent about two years, and had travelled over seven thousand miles. -,r r, 1. i T-> Havino- carefullv arranged his journals and charts, Mr. Carver went to Eng- land for the purpose of publishing them. He petitioned the king for a re-im- bursement of funds which he had spent in the service of the government, m these explorations, but his claims were deferred. He received permission, how- ever to publish his papers, and he sold them to a bookseller. Just as they were ready for the press, he was ordered to deliver all his charts and papers mto the hands of the Commissioners of Plantations, and he was compelled to re-purchase them from the bookseller. Ten years elapsed before he was allowed to lay them before the pubhc. In disappointment and poverty, he became a lottery clerk ; and finally in 1779 his necessities induced him to sell his name to a historical compilation published in folio, and entitled The New Universal Traveller. This act caused the loss of his clerkship, and many professed friends abandoned lam. He died in the suburbs of London, in extreme want, in 1780, at the age of only forty-eight years. Such is sometimes the fate of genius. An edition of his travels was published in Boston in 1797. REBECCA MOTTE. 75 REBECCA MOTTE. THE fortitude, courage, and unfaltering patriotism of tlie women of tlie Revolu- tion, were remarl^ably and universally displayed. Everywhere — in every province, they were actors as well as sufferers ; and many a scheme of British aggression was frustrated by the sisters, wives, and daughters of those who were in the camp or field. South Carolina presents many such bright examples, but none appear more brilliant than Rebecca Motte, whose unwavering courage and fidelity, as well as sacrifices, attest her ardent patriotism. Slie was the youngest daughter of Robert Brewton, who emigrated to America in 1733, and "married, at Charleston, an accomplished young lady, a native of Ireland. He made Charleston his residence, and there Rebecca was born on the 28th of June, 1738. At the age of twenty, she married Jacob Motte, a descendant of one of the Huguenot families of South Carolina. He owned a fine plantation near the banks of the Congaree, a,nd there Mrs. Motte, the mother of six children, and a widow, resided during the War for Independence. After the fall of Charleston, in 1780, the British commander sought to hold military possession of South Carolina, by establishing fortified camps in the in- terior. The fine mansion of Mrs. Motte was taken possession of; fortified for the purpose, and named Fort Motte. The garrison was commanded by Major McPherson, in May, 1781, when Marion and Lee appeared and commenced a siege. Mrs. Motte had been driven from her mansion by the British, and had 76 SAMUEL ADAMS. taken up her abode in her farm-house, whither her mother' (who resided with her) had carried a beautiful bow and bundle of arrows, presented to her son by an East India captain. Having but one cannon, the Americans could make but little impression on the British works. Lee's fertile mind conceived the idea of dislodging the enemy by burning the mansion, that act to be effected by hurling ignited combustibles upon the dry roof, by means of arrows. He suggested the plan to Mrs. Motte. She heartily approved of it, notwithstanding it involved the destruction of her property ; and she presented Lee with the East India bow and arrows, for the service. The hoped-for result was accomplished ; and after the British had surrendered, Mrs. \ioite regaled the officers of both armies with a sumptuous dinner. One of her daughters married General Thomas Pinckney, one of the most valuable ofBcers of the South. Mrs. Motte hved, greatly beloved by all, until the year 1815, when she died, at the age of seventy-seven years. " Her children " (and children's children) " rise up and call her blessed." SAMUEL ADAMS. " OUCH is the obstinacy and inflexible disposition of the man, that he can U never be conciliated by any office or gift whatever," was the unintentional eulogium of Samuel Adams, by the royal governor, Hutchinson, when asked why he did not purchase the patriot by offers of place and money. The eulogium was just, for a more inflexible patriot never bared his arm for conflict, than that scion of the old Puritan stock of Boston. He was born in that city on the 2'7th of September, 1722, and in 1'740, was graduated at Harvard CoUege. His ideas of popular rights seem to have had an early growth, for in 1743, when he re- ceived the degree of Master of Arts, he proposed for discussion the question, "Is it lawful to resist the supreme magistrate, if the commonwealth cannot otherwise be preserved ?" He maintained the affirmative, with great vigor. His pen was early employed in political discussion, and the soundness of his judgment, and purity of his thoughts, made him very popular, even before public affairs called his patriotism into activity. His earliest public office was that of tax-gatherer, by which he became personally acquainted with all classes of people. In 17C5, he was chosen a member of the Massachusetts Assembly. He was also clerk of that body, and for almost ten years he swayed a powerful influence in the Colonial Assembly, as a leading and bold representative of the republican party among the people. Step by step, inch by inch, Samuel Adams fought the enemies of popular liberty during the dark hours which preceded the bursting of the storm of the Revolution ; and he was the most active of the patriots of Boston in ex- citing the people to acts like that of the destruction of the cargoes of tea, in 1773. When royal government was repudiated, in 1774, he was chosen a member of the provincial council ; and when General Gage sent his secretary to dissolve the assembly, just previous to that popular congress, he found the door of the legislative chamber locked, and the key was in Samuel Adams' pocket. Adams 1 Mrs Brewton was remarkable for her boldness in the presence of danger, and for her keen wit. While in Charleston, when the British had possession of that city, her society was courted by the ehte of the State down to that point, just neioreine siege oi ruii x.iuiic, a ^mu..b ui.1,01. ouk.»i.^.u ,..o^.,^,.. the family, by sriving the names of different American officers to pme saplmgs, and then cutting oQ their tops with his sword. After their surrender, Mrs. Brewton requested him to amuse her again, in that way and expressed her regret that the loss of his sword would deny her the privilege. Colonel Mon- crief occupied Governor Rutledge's house, in Charleston. Passing it with a British officer, Mrs. Brew- ton took a piece of a crape flounce accidenlallv torn from her dress, and tied it to the front railing, ot) serving that the house and friends of the governor ought to mourn for his absence. She was arrested, and sent to Philadelphia a few hours afterward. EGBERT ROGERS. 77 was chosen a delegate to the Continental Congress, in 1774, and there he was an exceedingly useful public servant for several years. He was an earnest ad- vocate of the resolution which declared the colonies "free and independent states;" and when some members faltered through fear of failure, the stern Puritan exclaimed, " I should advise persisting in our struggle for liberty, though it were revealed from heaven that nine hundred and ninety-nine were to perish, and only one of a thousand were to survive, and retain his liberty 1 One such free man must possess more virtue, and enjoy more happiness, than a thousand slaves ; and let him propagate his like, and transmit to them what he hath so nobly pre^rved." Such was the temper of the man who originated the idea of a Colonial Congress, in 1765, and was the earliest advocate of a Continental Congress, in 1774. He afBxed his signature to the Declaration of Independence in 1776; and in 1781, he retired from Congress, but not from public hfe. He was a leading member of the Massachusetts convention to form a state consti- tution; and in 1789, he was chosen lieutenant-governor of his native State. In 1794, he was elected governor, as the successor of John Hancock, and was an- nually re-elected, until 1797, when the infirmities of old age compelled him to retire from public life. On the morning of the 2d of October, 1803, that noble patriot expired, in the city of his birth, at the age of eighty-two years. ROBERT ROGERS. THE French and Indian war developed much military genius among the American colonists, which was aftervi'ard brought into requisition by the demands of the revolutionary contest. It did not always take its place on the side of republicanism, as in the case of Ruggles and many others. Major Robert Rogers, the bold commander of a corps of Rangers, and a companion-in-arms with Putnam and Stark, was another example of defection to the cause of free- dom in America. He was a native of Dunbarton, in New Hampshire, and hav- ing entered the military service in 1755, became an eminent commander of a corps which performed signal services as scouts, and executors of small but important enterprises, when not engaged with the main army. After the peace in 1763, he returned to his native place, and received the half-pay of a regular British ofQcer of his rank, until the War for Independence broke out. In 1766, he Avas made governor of Michillimaekinac, in the far North-west, where he had confronted the confederates of Pontiac, a few years before. He was accused of a design to plunder his own fort, and was sent in irons to Montreal. After his release he went to England, was presented to the king, and met with royal favor ; but extravagant habits led him into debt, and he was cast into prison. He finally returned to America, and when the revolutionary contest began, the color of his politics was doubtful. His movements, toward the close of 1775, gave reason to suspect him of being a spy; and in June, 1776, Washington had him arrested, at South Aijiboy, and brought to New York, where he professed great friendship for his native country. He was released on parole, by Congress, and directed to return to New Hampshire, which he did. He soon afterward boldly espoused the royal cause, raised a corps, which he called the Queen's Rangers, and was with Howe, in Westchester, previous to the battle at White Plains. He soon afterward left his corps in command of Lieutenant-colonel Simcoe, and went to England. By an act of his native State, he was banished, and never returned to America. When, and where he died, is not on History's record. He was a brave soldier ; but, according to his own confession, his half- pay from the crown made him an adherent of royalty. BENJAMIN RUSH. ■sSI*^ BENJAMIN RUSH. MANY faithful practitioners of the medical art have justly borne the honorable title given to St. Luke, of "beloved physician;" but none have better de- served it than Dr. Rush of Philadelphia. He was born at Byberry, about twelve miles north-east from that city, on the 24th of December, 1745. When six years of age, death deprived him of his father, and his mother placed him under the care of his maternal uncle. Dr. Finley, who was at the head of an academy in Maryland. Desirous of giving him a classical education, his mother sold her little estate in the country, engaged in trade in Philadelphia, with success, and in 1759, was able to place him in college at Princeton, where he was graduated at the close of 1760. The medical profession was his choice; and he studied the science under the eminent Doctors Redman and Shippen, until 1766, when he went to Edinburgh to complete his scientific studies there. In the Summer of 1768, he went to Paris; and in the Autumn he returned home, bearing the diploma of Doctor of Medicine, which he had received at Edinburgh. He im- mediately commenced practice in Philadelphia, and never was success more brilliant. His skill, polished manners, intelligence, and kind attentions to the poor, made him popular with all classes, and he soon found hunself possessed of a very lucrative practice. SILAS DEANE. 79 In 1769, Dr. Rush was appointed professor of chemistry in the Medical Col- lege of Philadelphia, yet his professional duties did not occupy his whole time. He espoused the patriot cause immediately after his return home, and his pen became a powerful instrument in arousing the people to energetic action in favor of popular freedom. He dechned a proffered seat in the Continental Congress in 1775; but when, the following year, some of the Pennsylvania delegates were opposed to independence, and withdrew, he consented to take the seat of one of "them, and his name was affixed to the great Declaration, in August. The following year. Congress appointed him physician-general of the middle depart- ment; and from that time he declined aU public employment, until 1787, when he was a member of the Pennsylvania convention which ratified the Federal Constitution. In 1789, he was made professor of the theory and practice of medicine in the Medical College of Philadelphia; and in 179(3, he was made professor of the practice of medicine in the Medical College of Pennsylvania. He held his three professorships until his death. His lectures were of the highest order, and students from all parts of the United States flocked to Philadelphia, to attend them. Dr. Rush was also connected with the United States mint, for many years. When, in 1793, the yellow fever appeared in Philadelphia, of most malignant type, and many alarmed physicians fled. Dr. Rush remained at the post of duty, with a few faithful students, and was instrumental in saving scores of lives. Some of his pupils died, and he was violently attacked by the disease, yet ho did not remit his labors, when he could leave his bed. For his fidelity in that trying hour he was greatly beloved. Nor did his usefulness end with his life. The impress of his mind and energy is upon several institutions; and the general appreciation of his character was manifested by his being made honorary mem- ber of many literary and scientific societies, at home and abroad.' In all stations he exhibited the character of a consistent Christian, and his principles remained unscathed amid all the infidelity which French writers had infused into the minds of men in high places, toward the close of the last century. That great and good man died peacefully at Philadelphia, on the 19th of April, 1813, when in the sixty-eighth year of his age. That event was the disappearance of a bright star from the social firmament. SILAS DEANE. THE first diplomatic agent employed by the Continental Congress, in Europe, was Silas Deane, a native of Groton, Connecticut. The date of his birth is unknown. He was graduated at Yale College in 1758, and being an active patriot, was chosen a delegate to the first Continental Congress, in 1774. Early in 1776, he was sent by that body, as a political and commercial agent, to the court of France, to sound the cabinet of Louis the Sixteenth on the subject of granting military supplies to the revolted colonies. The French King, willing to injure England, listened to Deane's overtures with eager ears, and he obtained noble verbal promises. In the Autumn of 1776, when the colonies had been declared independent. Dr. Franklin and Arthur Lee were appointed commission- ers, with Mr. Deane, to negotiate treaties with foreign powers. They met at 1 He founded the Philadelphia Dispensary, in 1786 ; and he was also one of Ihe principal fonndera of Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He was president of the American Society for the aboli- tion of slavery ; of the Philadelphia Medical Society ; vice-president of the Philadelphia Bible Society ; and one of the vice-presidents of the American Philosophical Society. 80 TENCH COXE. Paris, in December of that year, but it was soon discovered by Deane's col- leagues, that his appointment was an injudicious one. He exceeded his instruc- tions concerning the employment of engineers for the continental army, and he was profuse in his promises of offices of high rank, to induce French gentlemen to go to America. Influenced by Deane's promises, many French ofiBcers came over, and Congress became very much embarrassed by their applications for commissions. Deane was recalled in the Autumn of 1777, and John Adams was appointed in his place. Deane arrived at Philadelphia the following Spring, in company with Mr. Gerard, the first minister sent hither by France, after the treaty of amity between the two governments, in February, 1778. He was called upon to ex- plain his official course abroad, before the assembled Congress, but he did not entirely acquit himself of the suspicion that he had misapplied the public funds, while in office, and he evaded thorough scrutiny by pleading that his vouchers were left among his papers, in Europe. In order to mislead public opinion, he published an address, in which he arraigned members of Congress and those in charge of the operations of tlie office for foreign affairs, at Philadelphia. Thomas Paine was at the head of that office, and in his reply to Deane, he revealed some secrets concerning transactions with the French government, and was requested to resign. In 1784, Deane published another address to the people of the United States, complaining of ill treatment by the government. Very little at- tention was paid to his complaints, and he soon afterward went to England. He died in extreme poverty at Deal, in England, in 1789, at the age of about fifty years. TENCH COXE. AS we survey the labors of useful men, we are often compelled to regret the paucity of their personal history, left on record. We admire their deeds, and wish to know more of the men, but Time has drawn the veil of obhvion, even over the traditions of their private life. Such is the case in relation to Tench Coxe, one of the most indelatigable of the public-spirited men of our country, and to whom the Cotton interest, especially, is vastly indebted, for he labored 'long, assiduously, and efficiently, in its behalf He was a grandson of Dr. Daniel Coxe, physician to the Queen of Charles the Second, and of Queen Anne of England, who became one of the principal proprietors of the soil of "West'jersey." His son, William Coxe, married the daughter of Tench Francis, attorney-general of the province of Pennsylvania, and these were the parents of Tench Coxe, who was born in Philadelphia, on the 22d of May, 1755. His chief distinction is that of a lucid and powerful advocate of the cultivation of cotton in the United States, and of other industrial pursuits. He says that as early as 1785, when he was but thirty years of age, he "felt pleasing convictions that the United States, in its extensive regions south of Anne Arundel and Talbot counties, Maryland, would certainly become a great cotton producing country." He made these suggestions pubUc at that time ; and after the convention at Annapolis, in 1786, called to consider the business and general interests of the new Republic, the matter received considerable attention. While the conven- tion that framed the Federal Constitution was in session in Philadelphia, in 1787, Mr Coxe delivered an admirable address on his favorite theme, before a large number of gentlemen who had assembled in that city, for the purpose of estab- lishing a society for the encouragment of manufactures and the useful arts. That address thoroughly awakened the public mind. Before that time, not a TENCH COXE. 81 bale of cotton had ever been exported from the United States to any country, and no planter had adopted its cultivation as a "crop." "What a change has taken place within less than seventy years! That then neglected article has now become a staple of several of the States of our Union, and the source of great national wealth. From 1787, until the death of Mr. Coxe, on the 17th of July, 1824, there was never any important movement in favor of the introduction and promotion of manufactures, in which his name did not appear prominent. In 1794, he published a large octavo volume, which contained what he had previously written on the subject of the growth of cotton, and cognate topics. At that time he was commissioner of the revenue at Philadelphia, and his whole time was devoted to the investigation of the subjects of national industry and national prosperity.* In 1806, he published an essay on naval power and the encourage- ment of manufactures. The following year he pubhshed a memoir on the culture and manufacture of cotton, and this was followed by other similar productions, at various times, until his death, when at the age of sixty-eight years. Tench Coxe is regarded by those who appreciate his usefulness, as a national bene- factor. 82 JOHN" LEDYAED. JOHN LEDYAKD. THE world has never produced a more indefatigable traveller and explorer, than John Ledyard, the eldest son of a sea captain, who resided at Groton, Connecticut. There John was bora in 1751. His father died while he was yet a lad ; and after his mother had married again, he was taken into the family of his grandfatlier, at Hartford, and treated as a son. His guardian died, vrhen John was about eighteen years of age, and he entered Dartmouth College as a divinity student. He became dissatisfied, and resolved to leave the institution. He had already been a wanderer among the Five Nations in New York for three months, and had tasted the pleasures of exciting travel. Having no money to pay travelling expenses to Hartford, ho constructed a canoe, laid in " sea stores" contributed by kind friends, and all alone he made a perilous voyage down the winding Connecticut and its numerous rapids, to Hartford, a distance of one hundred and forty miles. This first adventure revealed the spirit within. He soon made his way to New London, and shipped as a common sailor, for Gibraltar. There he joined the army, but being released, he made his way back by way of the Barbary coast and the West Indies, in 1771. He then saUed from New York to England, where ho entered the navy, and as corporal of marines, accompanied Captain Cook in his tliird and last great voyage. Ever brave and resolute, young Ledyard became the favorite of his commander, and he was frequently intrusted with little enterprises, which required skill and courage. He was with Cook when he was killed by the people of the Sandwich Islancfs, in 1778. After visiting the shores of Kamschatka, the expedition re- turned to England, and Ledyard came to America. He arrived after an absence of eight years, and took lodgings under his mother's roof at Southold, Long Island, without being recognized by her, for some hours. The war of the Revo- lution was then in progress, and Ledyard could not consistently remain among the enemies of his country, so he crossed over to Connecticut, joined his friends at Hartford, and there wrote an account of the voyage with Captain Cook. Ledyard now planned a voyage to the north-west coast of America, but re- ceived" very little encouragement. He sailed for Cadiz, tlicnce to L'Oricnt, and going to Paris, he had an interview there with Mr. Jefferson and La Fayette. They approved of his projected voyage, for commercial purposes, to tho north- west coast, and Paul Jones, then in Paris, entered heartily into the scheme. The plan failed, however, and Ledyard conceived the bold project of making a journey by land, through the Russian dominions, to Behring's Straits, by way of Kamschatka, and thus reach the north-west coast. He went to London, and Sir Joseph Banks and other scientific gentlemen contributed funds to aid him in his enterprise. He proceeded to Hamburg, thence to Copenhagen and Stock- holm ; and without a companion he traversed the country north of the Gulf of Bothnia, under tlie Arctic circle, and made his way to St. Petersburg. _ There he procured a passport from the Empress Catharine, and started for Siberia, over the Ural Mountains. After dreadful hardships, which few men could have en- dured, he reached Yakutsk, on the great Lena river, six thousand miles east- ward of St. Petersburg. He pushed on further to the Karaschatkan Sea, but finding much ice, he returned to Yakutsk, to await tho opening of Spring. There, for reasons unknown to him, he was suspected of being a spy, and was seized by two Russian soldiers, in the name of the Emiircss. In the depth of "Winter he was conveyed through the north of Tartary, by the way of I^Ioscow, to the confines of Poland, and there his conductors wished him a pleasant jour- ney, and told him he would be hanged if he entered the Russian dominions CORNELIUS HARNETT. again. Ragged and penniless, he made his way to Konigsberg, where a cor- respondent of Sir Joseph Banks gave him five guineas, with which he proceeded to England. . There he found a project on foot, for exploring the interior of Africa. Ledj^ard at once engaged, with enthusiasm, in the enterprise. When one of the managers of the association, which had been formed for the purpose, asked Ledyard how soon he would be ready to start, he promptl}'^ repUed, " To- morrow morning." After writing to his mother, he sailed from London, in June, 1788, reached Cairo on the 19th of August, and then prepared to penetrate the interior. He joined a caravan for Sennaar, and was on the point of departure, with high hopes, when he was attacked by a bilious fever, which terminated his hfe on the 17th of January, 1789, at the age of thirty-seven years. Ledyard was a fluent and even elegant writer. He was a man of keen observation, and his notes of travel, truthful in the extreme, exhibited tales of romantic interest, such as the brain of the most expert writer of fiction could never have conceived. His narrative of Captain Cook's voyage, pubHshed at Hartford, in 1783, is full of exciting interest. From his papers in the possession of his relative. Dr. Isaac Ledyard, Mr. Sparks, the historian, compiled an interesting hfe of the traveller, and published it in 1828, CORNELIUS HARNETT. ONE of the chief master spirits of the Eovolution, in North Carolina, was Cor- nelius Harnett, of Wilmington. He was born in England in 1723, and came to America in early Ufe. He was a man of wealth and distinction before the disputes, which led to the Revolution, commenced ; and he was among tho earliest of the Southern patriots to denounce the Stamp Act and kindred meas- ures. In 1770 and 1771, he represented the borough of Wilmington in the colonial legislature, and was chairman of the most important committees of that body. In conjunction with Robert Howe (afterward a general in the Revolu- tion) and Judge Maurice Moore, Mr. Harnett was appointed by the Assembly to draw up a remonstrance against the appointment of commissioners, by the royal governor, to run the southern boundary of tho province, and he was then known as one of the firmest Whigs' in all the South. Josiah Quiney, the young and ardent patriot of Boston, visited Mr. Harnett in 1773, and after describing the pleasures of a visit spent with him and Robert Howe, he spoke of Harnett's unflinching integrity, and called him "the Samuel Adams of North Carolina." Toward the close of that year, Mr. Harnett was made chairman of the committee of correspondence, of Wilmington District, and, throughout the Cape Fear region, he was the master spirit of the storm of tho revolution, as it gathered and burst over the country. AVhen a provincial congress was called, in 1775, he was tl;en the representative of his old constituents ; and in that Congress at Halifax, on the Roanoke, in 1776, from which issued the first official voice in favor of the inde- pendence of the colonies, Cornelius Harnett was a bold leader, and with his own hand drew up those noble instructions to the North Carohna delegates in tho Continental Congress. When, in the Spring of 1776, Sir Henry Clinton appeared at Capo Fear, with a British fleet, Harnett and Howe were honored with an exemption from the terms of a general pardon, because, like John Hancock and Samuel Adams, they were considered arch-rebels. Wlien, on the 26th of July, # 1. The terms Whig and Tory were copied from the politicnl vocabulary of Great Britain, where they origiuated in the time of Charles the Second. The term Whig denote,-! the opposers of government, and that of Tory its adherents. In that relation to public affairs, they were first used in America, about the year 1770. The Kepublicans were called Wldgs, the Loyalists, Tories. 84 PEYTON RANDOLPH. ITTB, the Declaration of Independence arrived at Halifax, Harnett read it to the people, who, when he had finished it, took him upon their shoulders, and bore him in triumph through the town. In the Autumn, he drafted a State Constitution and Bill of Rights. When, under that constitution, Richard Cas- well was made governor of the new State, Harnett was one of his council. He was afterward a member of the Continental Congress, and his name is attached to the Articles of Confederation.^ When, in 1780 and 1781, the British took pessession of the country around the Cape Fear, Harnett vvas made a prisoner, and died while a captive. Upon a slab of brown stone, at the head of his grave in St, James' church-yard, Wilmington, is the simple inscription — "Cornelius Harnett. Died 1781, aged fifty-eight years." PEYTON RANDOLPH. THE chroniclers of ancient dynasties are often foiled in their researches con- cerning early kings, and when they have lost the clue of regular descent, or find it leading back into the domains of mere myth, they conveniently con- clude that the first monarch of the line was begotten by a god. We have no such ditficulty in this great republican empire of the West, for dynasties change with men, and eyes are yet undimmed' which saw tlie first chief magistrate of this free nation. He was a Virginian — a native of the State called "the mother of presidents " — and his name was Peyton Randolph. He was born in the year 1723, and was a descendant of one of the oldest of the aristocratic families of Virginia who boast of having the royal blood of Powhatan^ in their veins. According to a then prevailing custom, young Randolph was sent to England to be educated. He was graduated at Oxford, with honor, and received the de- gree of Master of Arts. He commenced the study of law on his return home ; and so rapid was his success in his profession, that he was made attorney-general of the colony of Virginia, in 1756, when thirty-three years of age. At that time, the French and Indian War was progressing, and the Indians, incited by the French, were desolating the Virginia frontier. Narratives of these outrages aroused the indignation of Mr. Randolph, and collecting a hundred men, he led them to the borders of the Indian country, and taught the savages some terrible retributory lessons. Toward the close of that contest, Mr. Randolph was elected to a seat in the Virginia Legislature, and he often presided over that body. There his influence was very great, and as the storm of the Revolution came on apace, his voice was ever liet^rd on the side of freedom. Mr. Randolph was elected a delegate to the first Continental Congress, which assembled in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, on the 5th of September, 1774. Charles Thomson recorded on that day: "The Congress proceeded to the choice of a President, when the Hon. Pej-ton Randolph, Esq., was unanimously elected." This vote made him really the first President of the United States, for then and there our Union had its birth. He was again chosen President when another Congress met at the same place, in May following, but feeble health compelled him to resign the office, fourteen days afterward, when John Hancock was chosen to fill his place. Mr. Randolph resumed his seat in Congress early the following Autumn; and on the 22d of October, 1775, he died at Philadelphia, from the effects of apoplexy, in the fifty-third year of his age. 1. These formed a constitution of government for the United States, until 1789, when the present Federal Constitution went into operation, as a substitute. 2. See sketch of Pocahontas. MERCY WARREN". 85 MERCY WARREN. 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 faithful 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, Massachusetts, 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 Hmited, 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 happily 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 pen, in the great 86 WILLIAM HEXRY DRAYTON. cause. She was in correspondence with most of the controlHng spirits of that day, and her pohtical 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 pubhshed her satirical drama, in two acts, entitled The Group, in which she mtroduced 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 Casiile. 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 Revolu- tion 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 j^ears before. The preface, 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 Uved, and the boon was vouchsafed. When, on thel9th of October, 1814, her spirit took its flight, her reason was unclouded, though its earthly tenement was almost eighty-eight years of age. WILLI AIM 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 cavaher 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 behef that Great Britain would speedily redress the grievances of the colonists, he accepted the appointment of a seat in the royal governors council. Being soon undeceived, he opposed government meas- ures with great energj', and was finally dismissed for his contimiacy. In September, 17 74, 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 office. He re- tained hLs 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, Ta/nar and Cherokee, menaced Charles- ton with bombardment, because of the rebelUous 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 hostihties at the South commenced. JOHN ADAMS. 87 In March, 1776, Judge Dra3rtoii 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, dehvered 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 iu the same honorable position as John Hancock and Samuel Adams, of Massachusetts, who were denounced as arch- traitors. From that 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 minute detail, the preliminary and current events of the great struggle. He 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 thirty-seven years. "A Ilemoir 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 flither 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 the case of the elder and younger 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 lied to America, to avoid the persecutions of Laud, dining 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 iu that study, but in the acquirement of general information, for he there had the free use of an extensive library, belonging to Mr. Oridley, the attorne}' -general of Massachusetts. The value of such a fountain of knowledge, to him, was soon apparent; 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 height, Mr. Adams wrote and published his famous Essay on the Canon and Feudal Laiu, which at once placed him high the public esteem. Mr. Adams married in 1766, 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 1. His popularity was put to the severest test in 1770, when Captain Preston, and some of his soldiers who liad fired upon a mob and 1, the following inscription, written by Jefferson himself, the present [1855J proprietor has removed it to his '"""Here lies bnried. Thomas .Teffersok, Anthor of the Declaration of American Independence; of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom ; aiid Father of the University of Virginia. 124 THOMAS JEFFEESOlSr. 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. Pie 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 Stanij) Act, and it lighted a flame of patriotism in 3'oung 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 Virginia Assembly. He was one of the most active workers in that bod}', untilcalled 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 public sentiment in the Declaration of Independence, he labored intenscl}^ and potentiall}'.' 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 the 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. Jefl'erson resigned his seat in Con- gress, and became a leading actor in the civil events of tlie 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, were quartered in his vicinity, and lie 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 Jefl'erson, in June, 1781, and almost succeeded.^ It was a most trjnng time for Virginia, and Jefterson, saga':'iously perceiving that a military man was needed in the executive office, declined a re-election, and was succeeded by General Nelson, of Yorktown. Mr. Jefl'erson 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 tliere. 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 p]ngland. Intelligence of the accomplishment of that duty reached him before his departure, and he returned home. He was at Annapolis wlien Washington resigned his ctmmission, in December, 1783, and the Address of President Mifflin to the chief was from Mr. Jefferson's pen. In 1784, he went to France, as as.sociate 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. lie succeeded Dr. Franklin as minister at the French court, in 1785 ; and on his return to America, 1. His pamphlet entitled "A Summary View of the Riphts of Rritish Americn," was so much ad- mired, that Edmund Bnrke caused it to Ije reprinted in London, with a few alterations. 2. .lefferson was advised of the approach of Tarleton, when he was within half a mile of his house, and escaped by flecinp to the dark recesses of Carter's Mountain, lyinsr southward of Monticello. Tarle- ton captured .some members of the Virfrinia Legislature, then in session at Chnrlottesville. 3. His Notes on Viiyiuia is the most important of the various productions of his pen. THOMAS CHITTENDEN, 125 in 1189, before he reached his home at Monticello, he received from Washington the appointment of Secretary of State. He resigned that office in 1793, and be- came the head of the republican party, in opposition to Washington's adminis- tration. In the Autumn of 1796, he was chosen vice-president of the United States, and in tlie Spring of 1801, he took his seat as chief magistrate of the nation. After eight years of iliithful service in that exalted ofBce, he retired forever, from piibhc life. With untiring perseverance he succeeded in establish- ing that yet flourishing institution, tlie University of Virginia ; and until the last, his life was spent in pursuits of public utility. Tlie latter years of his life were clouded by pecuniary embarrassment. He sold his library to the Federal Government, in"l815, consisting of six thousand volumes, for twenty -four thousand dollars. He survived that great sacrifice eleven years, and then his spirit took its flight, while his countrvmen were celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the independence of the United States, lie died on the 4th of July, 1826, at the age of eighty-three years,' THOMAS CHITTENDEN. THERE are crises in the history of States, sometimes occurring in their infancy, at other times in their maturity, when the concentration of influence m one man has made him instrumental in conferring great benetits upon the public. Thomas Chittenden, the first governor of the independent State of Vermont, was an illustration of this fact. He was born at East Guilford, Connecticut, on the 6th of January, 1729; received only the meagre rudiu.ents of an English educa- tion, then furnished by the common schools, and married at the early age of twenty years. Then lie made his residence at Salisbury ; and his natural abil- ities, combined with a pleasing person and address, soon made him popular. He was chosen commander of a militia regiment, and for several years he represented his district in the legislature of Connecticut. Unlearned as he was, he became a leading man ; and by performing the duties of a justice of the peace for Litch- field county, for several years, he became acquainted with the laws and the proper manner of administering them. Agriculture was his delight, and every day spared from his official duties was devoted to a personal engagement m the affairs of his farm. His family had a rapid growth, and he emigrated to the borders of the Onion river,^ in 1774, on what was known as the Neiv Hampshire Grants, on the east side of Lake Champlain, for the purpose of laying the foun- dations of a fortune for his children. There, separated by an almost trackless wilderness from his early friends, he opened many fertile acres to the blessed sunlight, and invited settlers to come and form the nucleus of a State. Soon, political agitations disturbed his repose; and, in 1775, he was appointed one of a committee to visit the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, and ask pohtical advice. The threatening aspect of affairs in the North, toward the close of the Summer of 1776, caused the settlers to flee southward, and Mr. Chittenden took up his abode in Arlington, in the present Bennington county, where he was made president of the committee of safety. He warmly espoused the cause of the people of the New Hampshire Grants, in their controversy with New York.? 1. See sketch of John Adams. . r^iriiii.t™, 2. The Indian name of this river was Oiiinoosl-f. His location was in the present town ot WiUiston, Vermont, southeast from liiirlington. . ^ .v, i „ ,„ „. 3 The State of New York claimed jurisdiction over the present territory of Vermont, then known a» the New Hampshire (irants, and a very warm dispute arose. Bloodshed was often threatened, but the matter was finally settled by a purchase of the claims of New York for $30,U0U. 126 PATEICK HENRY. He was one of the oouiiuittee who drafted a declaration of the independence of Vermont,' adopted on the 15th of January, 1777. lie also assisted in the for- mation of a State constitution, in Julj^, 1777, and was elected the first governor under it. That office he held uhtil his death, with the exception of one year. 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 family, where he passed the remain- der of his days. He resigned the office of governor in the Summer of 17D7, and on the 25th of August, of that year, he died, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. PAT HICK HENRY. GIVE mo Liberty, or give me Death I" were the burning words which fell 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.2 He was the son of a Virginia planter in Hanover countj^, 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 father-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 twenty-seven years of age be- fore he was known to himself or others, except as a lazy pettifogger. Then lie was employed in the celebrated Parsons' cause,^ and in the old Hnnover court- house, witli his father on the 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 county his residence, and his fame was greatly heightened by a noble defence of the right of suffrage, Avhich, 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 owiiiR tn the troubles with Xcw York, Vermont would 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. lu 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 great orator, and ended with the words quoted above. They were afterward placed on flafjs, and adopted as a motto under many circumstances. 3. This was a contest between the clersv and the State leeislature, on the question of an annual stipend claimed bv the former. A decision of the court had left nothine undetermined but the amount of damage. Henry's eloquence electrified judpe, .iury, and people. The jury brousrht in a verdict of onr pennij damaqra, and the people took Henry upon their shoulders, and carried him in triumph about the court-house yard. PATRICK HENEY. 127 Act.' In 1769, he was admitted to the bar of the general court, and was rocojr- nized as a leader, in legal and political matters, until the Revolution broke oui. lie was a member of the first Continental Congress, in 1774, and gave the first impulse to its business ;2 and when, in 1775, Governor Dunmore attempted to rob the colony of gunpowder, by haAing it conveyed on board a British war-vessel. Patrick Henrj-, at the head of resolute armed patriots, compelled him to pay its value in money. In 1776, Henry was elected the first republican governoV of Virgmia, and was reelected three successive years, when he was succeeded by Thomas Jefferson. During the wliole struggle, he was one of the most efficient public officers of the State; and in 17S4, he was again chosen governor. Patrick Henry was a consistent advocate of State Rights, and' was over jealous of any mfringement upon them. For that reason, he was opposed to the Ped- tl,L^vli'lfh;l"'™'^'i"^''f' f f™^ of resolutions, highly finc^m-ed with rebellious doctrines, and supported o (^ru t. o »i M l'> V. <^'<«<"™''?-. The house wns greatly excited ; and when, at length, he alluded here wn,'n pi „;1: ^ ^'*^'"-,l'i''l 1"« R.V't"?. Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third-" ex?m,^P Tft^.?f V. Treason ! treason !" He paused a moment, and then said, "may profit by their example. It that be Treason, make the most of it " . j i .j r,r«V i^in Vl'i '^■■" ''o"'^^^"'' I'ositation at the opening of the session, and no one seemed ready to take th- IsW.rl ^pi.r^i T"' ''■'I?',?'' '!• ,n'!"'s'"s' grey, arose and proposed aetion. " Who is it ?' who is it ?'• as.xcd seyeral members. Patrick Ueury," replied the soft voieo of his colleague, Teyton Randolph. 128 ETHAN ALLEN. eral Constitution, and in the Virginia convention, called in 1788, to consider it, he opposed its ratification with all the power of his great eloquence. He finally acquiesced, when it became the organic law of the Republic, and used all his efforts to give it a fair trial and make it successful. Washington nominated him for the office of Secretary of State, in 1795, but Mr. Henry declined it. In 1799, President Adams appoirited him an envoy to France, with JJlsworth and Mur- ray, but feeble heaUh and advanced age compelled him to decline an office he would have been 2)leased to accept. A few weeks afterward, his disease became alarmingly active, and he expired at his seat, at Red Hill, in Charlotte county, on the 6th of June, 1799, at th(i age of almost sixty-three years. Governor Henry was twice married. By his first wife he had six children, and nine by the second. His widow married the late Judge Winston, and died in Halifax county, Virginia, in February, 1831. T ETHAN ALLEN. IHE name of Green Mountain Boys is always associated with ideas of personal jL valor and unflinching patriotism ; and Ethan Allen has ever been regarded as the impersonation of the prcnerbial independence of character, of the early settlers along the eastern shores of Lake Champlain. He was born in Litchfield county, .Connecticut, near the borders of New York, and at an early age emi- grated to the region above alluded to, known as the New Hampshire Grant'?, now Vermont. At about the year 1770, a violent controversy arose between the settlers of this tract and the civil authorities of New York, respecting ter- ritorial claims. Ethan Allen took an active part in the controversy, and became a leader of the Green Mountain Boys, as the settlers were called, against the alleged usurpations of the New York government.' The latter finally declared Allen and his associates to be outlaws, offered fifty pounds colonial currency for his apprehension,'- and contemplated an armed invasion of the territory. Allen believed himself in the right, and boldly maintained his position, until a common danger alarmed all the colonics, and made them unite as brethren for common defence. When the news of the affair at Lexington reached those remote settlers, they were electrified with zeal for the maintenance of freedom ; and in less than thirty davs afterward, we find Colonel Allen and some of his Green Mountain boys and Massachusetts militia, in concert with Colonel Benedict Arnold and some Connecticut men, wresting the strong fortresses of Ticonderoga and Crown Point from the British.3 Early in the following Autumn, Colonel Allen was sent to Canada, to ascertain the temper of the people there ; and in an attempt, with Colonel Brown, to capture Montreal, with a small force, he was made a prisoner, put in irons on board a vessel, and sent to England, with the assurance tiiat he would be hanged. Great crowds fiocked to see him, on his arrival, for the fame of his exploits had reached England. His grotesque garb attracted great attention. He was regarded almost as a strange wild beast of the forest, and for more than a year he was kept a close prisoner. In January, 1776, Colonel Allen was sent, in a frigate, to Halifax, where he 2 He came'v^y near being captured by a party of New Yorkers, while on a visit to bis friends in Salisbury They intended to seize him, and convey him to the jai! at Poughkeep^e. \ When \llen thundered at the door of the commander of the garrison of Ticonderoga, after the soldiers were subdued, and that allrighled ofhci;il asked by what authority he demanded a surrender, the colonel's reply was. "By the Great Jehovah and the (:;ominental Congress I" It was on the morning of the day when Congress was to assemble at Philadelphia. WILLIAM FRANKLIN. 129 remained in jail until the following October, when he was conveyed to New York, then the British head-quarters. There he was kept, part of the time on parole on Long Island, and part of the time in the Provost and other prisons in New York, urTtil May, 1778, when he was exchanged for Colonel Campbell of the British army. His health had suffered much during his imprisonment, yet he repaired to head-ciuarters, and offered his services to Wasliington, Avhen his strength should be restored. He arrived at Bennington, his place of residence, on the evening of the last day of May, and he was welcomed by booming can- nons and the huzzas of tlie people. The civil authorities of the now independent State of Vermont commissioned him major-general of the State militia, but an opportunity for the exercise of his bravery and military skill did not again occur. He was active, with Governor Chittenden and others, in the adroit political game played by Vermont with the autliorities of the United States and of Can- ada; and his patriotism ever burned pure, even at a time when General Clinton wrote to Lord George Germain, " There is every reason to suppose that Ethan Allen has quitted the rebel cause." General Allen continued active in public affairs after the war, until his death, which occurred suddenly at Colchester, on the 13th of February, 1789, when he was about sixty years of age. Colonel Allen was the author of several political pamphlets ; a theological work, entitled Oracles of Reason, and a Narrative of his Observations during his captivity.' WILLIAM FRANKLIN. [T is worthy of note, that one of the most distinguished Loyalists during the "War for Independence, was the only son of one of the noblest Patriots in that struggle. That Loyalist was William, the tirst-born child of Benjamin Franklin. He was born in Philadelphia, in 1731, and was carefully educated by his father, for professional life. He was postmaster of the city of Philadel- phia ; clerk of the Assembly for awhile ; and entered the provincial army as captain, early in the French and Indian war. He was warmly commended for his services at Ticonderoga. After the war, he went to England with his father, and in Scotland he became acquainted with the Earl of Bute, who, for almost ten years, had great influence in the councils of George the Third. In 1763, William Franklin was appointed governor of Nevr Jersey, and was very popular for a time. Like all other royal governors, he soon assumed undue personal dignity, and quarrelled with the legislature. He was a thorough monarchist in principle, and when the disputes between the colonists and the imperial government com- menced in earnest, ho did not hesitate in taking sides with the crown, in opposi- tion to his distinguished father. At the beginning of 1774, all intercourse be- tween father and son was suspended, and as the political troubles thickened, the breach widened. Month after month the breach between the governor and the New Jersey Assembly also widened ; and finally a Provincial Congress at Tren- ton assumed political authority, and royal government ceased in that province. A State Constitution was adopted in July, 1776, and William Livingston became 1. The stem integrity and truthfulness of Colonel Allen were well illustrated on one occasion, when he "was prosecuted for the payment of a note for sixty pounds, given to a man in Boston. It was sent to Vermont for collection, but it was inconvenient for him to pay it then, and he was sued. The trial came on ami liis lawyer, in order to postpone the matter, denied the genuineness of the signature. To prove it, it would be necessary to send to Boston for a witness. Allen was in a remote part of the court -room, when tiie lawyer denied the signature. With long strides Allen rushed through the crowd, and, stand- ing before his advocate, he said, in angry tone, " Mr , I did not hire you to come here and lie. That is a true note — I signed it — I '11 swear to it — and I '11 p.ay it. I want no shuffling — I want time. What [ employed you for was to get this business put over to the ne.'ct court, not to come here and lie and iuirele about it." The time was given, and Allen paid the note. 6* 130 . JOSEPH GREEN. Franklin's successor, by the choice of the people. The Whigs went still further. Franklin was declared to be an enemy of his country, and was sent, a prisoner, to East Windsor, Connecticut, lie was kept under the eye of Governor Trum- bull, until 1778, when he was exchanged, released, and took refuge with the British army in New York. There he was secretly active in fomenting discon- tents among the people, wherever he could make an impression. lie was pres- ident of the Board of Loyalists, who had their head-quarters near Oyster Bay, Long Island, but went to England before the close of the contest. In the picture of the RecepUon of the American Loyalists by Great Britain, in 178J, painted by Benjamin West, Governor Franklin appears at the head of a group of figures. After an estrangement of ten years, he solicited and obtained a reconciliation ■ witli his father. Although Dr. Franklin accepted the olive branch thus filially hold out, and proposed ""mutually to forget" the past, he seems to have re- membered the estrangement, wlien ho made his will, for, after making a com- paratively small bequest to William, he remarks, " The part he acted against me in the late war, which is of public notoriety, will account for my leaving him no more of an estate he endeavored to deprive me of." Governor Franklin continued in England until his death, and enjoyed a pension, from the British government, of four thousand dollars a year. He died in November, 1813, at the age of about eighty-two years. His wife died of grief, while he was a pris- oner, In 1778, and a monumental tablet was erected to her memory in St. Paul's church, New York city. JOSEPH GREEN. IN the same year when Dr. Franklin first saw the light, a genuine wit and poet was born in the same city of Boston. His name was Joseph Green. He was first instructed in the South Grammar School, and then entered Harvard College, where he was graduated in 1726. He became an accomplished scholar, and man of business ; and by successful mercantile life, for a few years, he ac- quired a competent fortune. Generous, polite, elegant in deportment, and ex- ceedingly popular with all classes, Mr. Green might have acquired almost any mark of public distinction, but he loved private life, and could never be prevailed upon to accept office. He took very little part in politics, yet when Hutchinson left the government of Massachusetts, ho was one of those who signed a com- plimentary address to that functionary. This act offended the republicans, and the royal party claimed him; but when, in 1774, Massachusetts was deprived of her charter, and a number of counsellors were appointed by mandamus, Green refused to serve, and sent his resignation to General- Gage. Yet the tendencies of Mr. Green were so decidedly loyal, that he was included in the act of banish- ment, of 1778. He had been absent from Boston about three years already, and he never returned to his native country. He died in London, on the 11th of December, 1780, at the age of seventy -four years. Mr. Green's poetry was generally humorous. He wrote a burlesque on a psalm written by his fellow wit. Doctor Bylcs. Also a burlesque on the Free Masons, and a " Lamentation on Mr. Old Tenor " (paper money), which gained him great applause. He was a member of a club of sentimentalists, who published several pamphlets; and ho attacked the administration of Governor Belcher, exposed its anti-republican tendencies, and ridiculed thcchief magistrate by putting his speeches into rhyme. Mr. Green was a Loyalist of the milder stamp, and was governed by a pure heart and clear head in his choice of government. JAMES JACKSON. 131 ^^ JAMES JACKSON, WHEiSr the British army was about to leave Savannah, in July, 1T82, General Wayne, then in command in Georgia, chose an accomplished young man of twenty-five, whose valor was the theme for praise in the Southern army, to receive the keys of the city from a committee of British officers. That young officer was Major James Jackson, a native of Devonshire, England, where he was born on the 21st of September, 1757. He came to America, with his father, in 1772, and studied law in Savannah. He loved his adopted country, and in 1776, shouldered his musket, and was active in repelling an invading force that menaced Savannah. In 1778, he was appointed brigade major of the Georgia militia, and was wounded in a skirmish on the Ogeechee, in which General Scriven was killed. At the close of that year he participated in the unsuccess- ful defence of Savannah ; and when it fell into the hands of Colonel Campbell, he was among those who fled into South Carolina and joined Moultrie's brig- ade. His appearance was so wretched and suspicious, during that flight, that he was arrested by some Whigs, and tried and condemned as a si)y. They were about to hang him, when a gentleman of reputation, from Georgia, recognized him, and saved his life. He was active in the siege of Savannah by Lincoln and D'Estaing, in October, 1779, and in 1780, ne was in the battle at Black- 132 ELI WHITNEY. stocks under Colonel Elijah Clarke, of Georgia. General Andrew Pickens miidc him his brigade major, in 1781, and his fluent speech expressing his ardent patriotism, infused new zeal into that corps. He was at the siege of Augusta, in Jane, 1781, and when the Americans took possession, Jackson was left in command of the garrison. Subsequently he performed more active and arduous services, as commander of a legionary corps; and at Ebenezer, on the Savannah, he joined General Wayne, and was the right arm of his force until the evacua- tion of the Georgia capital, in 1782. As some reward for his patriotic services daring the war, the legislature gave him a house and lot in Savannah. He married in 1785, and the next year was commissioned brigadier-general of the State militia. In 1788, he was elected governor of Georgia, but modestly de- clined tlie honor on account of his youth and inexperience, being then only little more than thirty years of age. He was one of the first representatives of Georgia in Congress, after the organization of the Federal Government; and from 1792 to 1795, was a member of the United States Senate. In the meanwhile he was promoted to major-general, and never failed in the faithful performance of his duties, civil and military. The State Constitution of Georgia, framed in 1793, was chiefly the work of his brain and hand. From that year until 1801, ho was governor of the State, when he was again chosen United States' senator. He held that office until his death, which occurred at Washington city, on the 19th of March, 1806, at the age of forty-nine years. His mortal remains lie beneath a neat monument in the Congressional burial-ground, upon which is an inscription, written by his personal friend and admirer, John Randolph, of Roanoke. Governor Jackson made many powerful enemies in the South, be- cause of his successful exposures of stupendous land frauds, but his course in- creased the zeal and number of his friends. There never lived a truer patriot or more honest man, than General James Jackson. ELI WHITNEY. EVERY labor-saving machine is a gain to humanity; and every inventor of such machine is a public benefactor. High on the list of such worthies is the name of Eli Whitney, the inventor of a machine for cleaning cotton to pre- pare it for the bale, known by the technical term of gin. He was born at West- borough, Massachusetts, on the 8th of December, 1763. His mechanical genius was early manifested ; and while yet a mere child, he constructed many things with great skill. He entered Yale College in 1789, and was graduated in 1792. He then engaged to go to Georgia as a private tutor in a family, and on his way, he fell in with the widow of General Greene, who was returning to Savannah, with her flimily. On liis arrival, he found himself without occupation and witli very little money, for the person with whom he had made an engagement had hired another preceptor. Mrs. Greene had become much interested in j'oung Whitney, and at once invited him to make her house his home, to pursue what studies he pleased. He commenced the study of law, but his mind was much on mechanics. Several distinguished visitors at the house of Mrs. Greene, from the interior, on one occasion, expressed their regret that there was not some machine for cleaning the green seed cotton,' as its culture, with such aid, would 1. This labor was then performei chiefly by female servants. To separate one pound of clean staple cotton from the seeds was considered a good day's work for one person. ELIAS BOUDINOT. 133 be ^'ely proDtable at the South. The great mechanical genius of young Whitney was known to Mrs. Greene, and she said, "Apply to my young friend liere, he can make anything." Altliough he had never yet looked upon a cotton seed, his mind began to plan. He procured a small quantity of uncleaned cotton, and with such rude tools as a plantation afforded, he went to work and constructed a machine, under the kind auspices of Mrs. Greene and Phineas Miller, who be- came her husband. The machine was examined with delight, for it would do the work of months in a single day. With it, one man could do the work of a thousand. It opened a way to inanense wealth to the Southern jjlanters. Great excitement prevailed ; and when the people found that they could not see the great invention untU it was patented, they broke open the building in which it stood, carried it away, and soon many similar machines were in use. Whitney went to his native State, patented his invention, and in partnership with Mr. Miller, commenced the manufacture of machines for Georgia. Before he could secure a patent, it was in common use ; ' and to complete his misfortunes, his shop with all its contents, and his papers, were consumed. He was made a bankrupt ; and the inventor of the cuUon gin, which has been worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the people of the South, never received a sufficient amount of money from it, to reimburse his actual outlays and losses, lie was treated with the utmost unflxirness by some southern legislatures, as well as by individ- uals ; and everywhere among those who were profiting immensely by the in- vention, his rights were denied. Even Congress denied his application to extend his patent. Disappointed, and disgusted with the injustice of his fellow-men, Mr. Whitney turned his attention to other pursuits. lie commenced the manu- facture of fire-arms, in 1798, for the United States. But misfortune seemed to be uniformly his lot in life, except in his choice of the excellent Henrietta, daughter of Pierpont Edwards, for his wife. After great sufferings from disease, he died near New Haven, on the 8th of January, 1825, at the age of fifty-nine years. ELIAS BOUDINOT. THE American Bible Society, whose labors have accomplished a vast amount of good, in the dissemination of the Holy Scriptures, was established in 1816 ; and Elias Boudinot, one of its founders, and a warm patriot of the Revo- lution, was its first president. He was born in Philadelphia, on the 2d of May, 1740. He inherited a love of freedom and religious devotion from his Huguenot ancestors, and when the colonists began to question the right of Great Britain to tax them without their consent, he took a stand for his countrymen. He had received a classical education, studied law with Richard Stockton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and married that patriot's sister. Boudinot practiced his profession in New Jersey, and soon rose to distinction. In 1777, he was appointed commissary-general of prisoners, by Congress, and the same year he was elected to a seat in the Continental Congress. In Novem- ber, 1782, he was elected president of that body, and in that capacity he signed th3 preliminary treaty of peace with Great Britain. At the close of the war he resumed the profession of the law, but was again called into public life in 1789, 1. On one occasion, when suits for the infringement of the patent in Georgia were oomraenced, Mr. Miller wrote, " The jurymen at Augusta have come to an unrlerstanding among themselves, that they •will never give a cause in our favor, let the merits of the case be as they may.'* 134 JOSEPH HABERSHAM. by an election to a seat in Congress, under the I'ederal Constitution, lie was a member of the House of Representatives six years, when Washington appointed him Director of the Mint, on the death of Rittenhouse. He held that position untQ 1805, when he retired from public life, and made his residence the re- mainder of his days, at Burlington, New Jersey. In 1812, he was elected a member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, to which he made a donation of live thousand dollars ; and when he was elected president of the American Bible Society, in 1816, he gave that institution ten thousand dollars. He was a trustee of the College at Princeton for many years, and there founded a cabinet of natural Iiistory, at a cost of three thousand dollars. His whole life was one of usefulness ; and at his death, he bequeathed a great por- tion of a large fortune to institutions and trustees, for charitable purposes. The remainder of his estate he left to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, of which he was a member. He died at Burlington, on the 24th of October, 1821, at the age of eightj^-one years. JOSEPH HABERSHAM. GEORGIA may boast of many noble patriots, but she had none, in the War for Independence, of truer stamp, than Joseph Habersham, the son of a merchant of Savannah, where he was born in 1750. He was one of the earliest advocates of popular rights in the Georgia capital, and, with other young men, acted, as well as spoke, against unjust royal rule. Plarly in the Summer of 1775, a letter from Sir James Wright, the royal governor of Georgia, to General Gage, was intercepted by the vigilant Whigs of Charleston, who had seized the mails. It contained a request for that officer to send some troops to Savannah, to sup- press the rising rebellion there. The letter was sent to the committee of safety at Savannah, and aroused the fiercest indignation of the Whigs. At about that time, a British vessel arrived at the mouth of the Savannah, witli many thousand pounds of powder. It was determined to seize the vessel and secure the powder, for the use of the patriots. On the night of the 10th of July, thirty volunteers under young Habersham (then holding the commission of colonel) and Commo- dore Bowen, captured the vessel, placed the powder, under guard, in the mag- azine at Savannah, and sent live thousand pounds of the ammunition, to General Washington at Boston. In January, 1770, Colonel Habersham was a member of the Georgia Assembly; and on the 18th of that month, he led a party of volunteers, to the capture of Governor Wright. They paroled him a prisoner in his own house, from which, on a stormy night in February', he escaped, made his way to the British ship, Scarborough, and went to England. Thus Colonel Habersham put an end to royal rule, in Georgia. He was active in the council and field, during the whole war, and held the commission of lieutenant-colonel in the Continental army. In 1785, he was chosen a member of Congress, to represent the Savannah district; and in 1795, President Washington appointed him Postmaster-general of the United States. He resigned that office in the year 1800, and two years afterward, was made president of the Branch Bank of the United States, at Savannah. He filled that office with distinguished ability until a short time before his death, which occurred in November, 1815, at the age of sixty-five years. BENEDICT ARNOLD. 135 /^,>^-^^^^^^^ ^^^ BENEDICT A KNOT. 13. " IITE accept the treason, but despise the traitor," was the practical expression VY of British sentiment when Arnold, one of the bravest of the American generals, was purcliased with British gold, and attempted to betray the liberties of his country. He was a native of Norwich, Connecticut, where he was born on the 3d of January, 1740. He was a descendant of Benedict Arnold, one of the early governors of Rhode Island, and was blessed with a mother who, ac- cording to her epitaph, was " A pattern of patience, piety, and virtue." But he was a wayward, disobedient, and unscrupulous boy; cruel in his tastes and wicked in his practices.' He was bred to the business of an apothecary, at Norwich, under the brothers Lathrop, who were so pleased with him as a young man of genius, that they gave him two thousand dollars to commence business with. From 1763 to 1767, he combined the business of bookseller and druggist^ in New Haven, when he commenced trading voj'-ages to the West Indies, and 1. While yet a mere youth, he attempted murder. A younp Frenchman was an accepted suitor or Arnold's sister. The young tyrant (for Arnold was always a despot among his play-fellows) disliked him, and when he could not persuade his sister to discard him, he declared he would shoot the French- man if he ever entered the house again. The opportunity soon occurred, and Arnold discharged a loaded pistol at him, as he esr-nped through a window. The yo\ing man left the place forever, and Hannah Arnold lived the life of a maiden. Arnold and the Frenchman afterward met at Honduras, and fought a duel. The Frenchman was severely wounded. IS 6 BENEDICT AKISrOLD. horse dealing in Canada. He was in command of a volunteer company, in New Haven, when the war broke out, with whom ho marched to Cambridge, and joined the army under Washington. Then commenced his career as tlie bravest of tlie brave. His first bold exploit had been in connection with Ethan Allen in the capture of Ticonderoga, in May, 1775. In September following he started from Cambridge for Quebec, by way of the Kcnnebeclv and the wilderness be- yond its head waters, in command of an expedition ; and after an unsuccessful attempt to take the capital of Canada, he joined ^Montgomery, and participated in the disastrous siege of that walled town on the last day of the year. There he was severely wounded in the leg, but escaping up the St. Lawrence, held command of the broken army Tmtil the arrival of trcnoral Wooster in April fol- lowing. Arnold retired to Montreal, then to St. Johns, and left Canada alto- gether, in June, 177G. During the Summer and Autumn of that year, ho was active in naval command on Lake Champlain. Ho assisted in repelling the in- vasion of Connecticut, by Tryon, in April, 1777; and during the latter part of that Summer, he was with General Schuyler, in his preparations for opjjosingtho attempt of Burgoyne to penetrate bej^ond Fort Edward, or Saratoga. "While the American army was encamped at the mouth of the Mohawk, Arnold marched up that stream, and relieved the bcleagured garrison of Fort Schuyler (or Stanwix), on the site of the present village of Rome.' He was in the battles at Stillwater; and despite the jealous eObrts of Gates to cripple his movements, his intrepidity and personal example were chiefly instrumental in securing the victory over Burgoyne, for which the commanding general received the thanks of Congress and a gold medal, while Arnold was not even mentioned in the official despatclies from Saratoga. This was one of the first affronts that planted seeds of treason in his mind. He was again severely wounded at Saratoga, and suffered much for many months. When, in the Spring of 1778, the British evacuated Philadelphia, Arnold was appointed military governor there, because of his incapacity for active field service, on account of his wounds. There ho Uved extravagantly, married the beautiful daughter of Edward Shippen, a lead- ing Tory of Pliiladclphia, and commenced a sj'stem of fraud, peculation, and oppression, which caused him to be tried for sundry ofifeuces by a court-martial, ordered by Congress. He was found guilty on some of the charges, and deli- cately reprimanded by Washington. Indignant and deeply in debt, he brooded upon revenge on one hand, and pecuniary relief on the other. He opened a correspondence Avith the accomplished Major Andre, adjutant-general of the British army, and after procuring tlie command of the fortresses at West Point, on the Hudson, and vicinity, he arranged, with Andre, a plan for betraying them into the hands of Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander at New York. His price for his perfidy was fifty thousand dollars and a brigadier's commission in the British army. After a personal negotiation with Arnold, Andre was captured,- the treason became known, but the traitor had fled to his new friends in New York. He soon afterward went on a marauding expedition into Vir- ginia,3 and then on the New England coast, near his birth-place, everywhere exhibiting the most cruel spite toward the Americans whom he had sought to injure beyond measure. The war ended, and he went to England. There ho 1. While Biirsovne penetrated the State from the Noith, St. Leger, with Tories and Indians, attempted to take Kort Schuyler, and then sweep the Mohawlc Valley. 2. Andre was hanjied as a spy, at Tappan, on the west side of the Hudson, in Octoher, 1780. He liad been drawn into that position by the villany of Arnold, and could the traitor have been caught, Andra would have been saved. 3. In a sltirmish between Richmond and Petersburg, some Americans were made prisoners. One of them was asked by .Vrnolrt, what liis countrymen would do with him, if they should catch him. Th» young man promptly replied, " Bury the leg that was wounded at Quebec and Saratoga, with military honors, and hang the vest of you." (xreat effort-! were made to rapture the traitor, while he was in Virginia. That was the chief object of La Fayette's expedition to that State. WILLIAM BARTON. 137 was everywhere shunned as a serpent, and he made his abode in St. Johns, JNew Brunswick, from 1786 until 1793. He went to the West Indies, in 1794, and from thence to England. He died in Gloucester Place, London, on the 14th of June, 1801, at the age of sixty-one years. Just three years afterward, his wife died at the same place, aged forty -three. ' WILLIAM BARTON. " W!mt hath the gray -haired prisoner donef Hath murder stained his hand with gore? Ah, no I his crime 's a fouler one — God made the old nian poor I" THUS indignantly did the gifted pen of Whittier refer to the brave Colonel 1 Barton, in his noble protest against imprisonment for debt. Barton was a worthy scion of old Rhode Island stock, and was born iu Providence in 1750. Of his early life we know nothing, but when the War for Independence appealed to the patriotism and romance of the young men of America, we find him among the most daring of those who gave the British great annoyance after they had taken possession of Rhode Island, in 1776, and were encamped at Newport and vicinity. Young Barton had passed through the several grades of office, until the opening of 1777, when we lind him holding the commission of lieutenant- colonel of militia, and performing good service in preparations for driving the British from Rhode Island. General Prescott, an arrogant, tyrannical man, was the commander-in-chief of the enemy there, and the people suffered much at his hands.'2 They devised various schemes to get rid of him, but all foiled until a. plan, conceived by Colonel Barton, was successfully carried out. Prcscott's head-quarters were at the house of a Quaker, five miles uortli of Newport. On a sultry night in July, 1777, Barton, with a few trusty followers, crossed Nar- raganset Bay from Warwick Point, in whale boats, directly through a British fleet, and landed in a sheltered cove a short distance from Piescott's quarters. They proceeded stealthily in two divisions, and secured the sentinel and tho outside doors of the house. Then Barton boldly entered, with four strong men and a negro, and proceeded to Prescott's room on the second floor. It was now about midnight. Tlie door was locked on tho inside. There was no time for parley. The negro, stepping back a few paces, used his head as a battciing- ram, and the door flew open. Prescott, supposing the intruders to be robbers, sprang from his bed and seized his gold watch. The next nioment Barton's hand was laid on his shoulder, and he was admonished that he was a prisoner, and must be silent. Without giving him time to dress, he was conveyed to one of the whale-boats, and the whole party retm'ned to Warwick Point, undis- covered by the sentinels of the fleet. Prescott's mouth was kept shut by a pis- tol at each ear. The prisoner first spoke after landing, and said, "Sir, you have made a bold push to-night." Barton coolly replied, "We have been fortunate." At sunrise the captive was in Providence, and in the course of a few days he was sent to the head-quarters of Washington, in New Jersey.^ For this brave 1. Their son, .Tames Kobertson Arnold, bom at West Point, became a distinguished officer in (bo British army. He passed through all the grades of office, from lieutenant. On the accession of Qneeu Victovia, lie was made one of her aids-rte-camp, and rose to the rank of major-general, with the badge of a Knight of the Royal Hanoverian (Juelphic Order. 2. This was the same Prescott who commanded at Montreal, in 1775, and treated Colonel Ethan Allin 80 cruelly when he was made prisoner. 3. Prescott's haughty demeanor was not laid aside in his captivity. On his way to New JerFey, I c 138 GEORGE ROGERS CLARKE. service, Congress presented their thanks and an elegant sword, to lieutenant- colonel Barton, and in December following, he was promoted to the rank and pay of colonel in the Continental army. He was also rewarded by a grant of land, in Vermont. In the action at Butt's Hill, near Bristol Ferry, in August, 1778, Colonel Barton was so badly wounded, that he was disabled for the re- mainder of tlie war. In after years, the land in Vermont proved to bo an un- fortunate gift. By the transfer of some of it he became entangled in the meshes of the law, and was imprisoned for debt, in Vermont, for many years, in his old age. " For this be shares a felon's cell, The fittest earthly l.vpe of hell ! For this, the boon for which he poured His young blood on the invader's sword, And counted light the fearful cost — nis blood-gained liberty is lost." When La Fayette was "our nation's guest," in 1825, he heard of tho situation of his old companion-in-arms, paid the debt and set him at liberty ! It was a significant rebuke, not only to the Shylock who demanded the "pound of flesh," but to the American people. Colonel Barton died at Providence, in 1831, at the age of eighty-four years. OEORCtE KOOERS CLARKE. ONE of the most interesting episodes in tho history of our country, is that Avhich relates to the conquest of the region long known as the North- western Territory,' from the motley masters of the soil — English, French, and Indians. The chief actor in those events, was George Rogers Clarke, a hardy Virginia borderer, whose youth was spent in those physical pursuits which give vigor to the frame and activity to the mind. He was born in Albemarle county, Vh-ginia, on the 19th of November, 1752, and first appeared in history as an adventurer beyond the Alleghanies. in 1772. He had been engaged in the business of land-surveyor, for some time and that year he went down the Ohio, in a canoe, as far as the mouth of the Great Kanawha, in company with Rev. David Jones, then on his way to preach the gospel to the western iribes.2 Ho was captain of a company in Dunmore's army, which marched against the In- dians on the Ohio and its tributaries, in 1774.-' Ever since his trip in 1772, he ardently desired an opportunity to explore those deep wildernesses in the great vallies; and in 1775, he accompanied some armed settlers to Kentucky, as their commander. During that and the following year, he traversed a great extent of country south of the Ohio, studied the character of the Indians, and made himself master of many secrets which aided in his future success. He beheld a beautiful country, inviting immigration, but the pathway to it was made dan- nnd his escort dined at the tavern of Taptain Alden, at Lebanon, Oonneclicut. The common dish of corn and beans was set before him. He supposed the act to be an intrnlional insult, and strewing the anccotaah on the floor, exclaimed, " Do yon treat me with the fond of boRS." ('iiptain Alden haled tho tyrant, and for this act he horsewhipped him. After Prescott was exchanged for General Charles_ I,ee, and was again in command on Rhode Island, he treated a genllcman. who called upon him on business, with much discourtesy. He said in excuse, " He looked so much like a cursed Connecticut man thai horsewhipped me, that I could not endure his presence." 1. It embraced the present States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. 2. See sketch of David Jones. .?. The Sliawnees and other tribes had committed many depredations on the Virginia frontier for several years, and in 177^. I.ord Dunmore, then governor of Ihat province, led quite a large force against them. A severe battle was fouglit at Toint Pleasant, at the mouth of the great Kanawha ; and at Chil- licothe, Dunmore made a treaty of peace and friendship with them. GEOUGE EOGERS CLARKE. 130 gerous by the enemies of the colonists, who sallied forth from tlio British posts at Detroit, Kaskaskia, and Vinconnes, with Indian allies. Convinced of the necessity of jjossessinj? these posts, Clarke submitted the plan of an expedition against them, to the Virginia legislature, and early in the Spring of 1778 he was at the Falls of the Ohio (now Louisville), with four companies of soldiers'. There he was joined by Simon Kenton, another bold pioneer. He marched through the wilderness toward those important posts, and at the close of Summer all but Detroit were in his possession. Clarke w;is now promoted to colonel, and was instructed to pacify the western tribes, if possible, and bring them into friendly relations with the Americans. Wliile thus engaged, he was informed of the re-capture of Vincennes. With his usual energy, and followed by less than two hundred men, he traversed the drowned lands of Illinois, through deep morasses and snow-floods, in February, 1779; and on the 19th of that month, appeared before Vinconnes. To the astonished garrison, it seemed as if those rough Kentuckians had dropped from 140 DAVID JONES. the clouds, for the whole country was inundated. The fort was speedily sur- rendered, and commander Hamilton (governor of Detroit), and several others, were sent to Virginia as prisoners. Colonel Clarke also captured a quantity of goods, under convoy from Detroit, valued at $50,000; and having sufficicntlv garrisoned Vinceunes and the other posts, he proceeded to build Fort Jefiersori, on the western bank of the Mississippi, below the Ohio. When Arnold invaded Virginia, in 1781, Colonel Clarke joined the forces under the Baron Steuben, and performed signal service until the traitor had departed. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier, the same year, and went beyond the mountains again, hoping to organize an expedition against Detroit. His scheme failed, and, for awhile, Clarke was in command of a post at the Falls of the Ohio. In the Autumn of 1782, he penetrated the Indian country between the Ohio and the Lakes, with a thousand men, and chastised the tribes severely for their marauding excursions into Kentucky, and awed them into comparatively peaceful relations. For these deeds, John Randolph afterward called Clarke the "American Hannibal, who, by the reduction of those military posts in the wil- derness, obtained the lakes for the northern boundary of our Union, at the peace in 1783." Clarke made Kentucky his future home; and during Washington's administration, when Genet, the French minister, attempted to organize a force in the West, against the Spaniards, Clarke accepted fiom him the commission of major-general in the armies of France. The project was abandoned, and the hero of the north-west never appeared in public life afterward. He died near Louisville, Kentucky, in February, 1818, at the age of sixty'Six years. DAVID JONES. THE ministers of the "church militant " frequently performed double service in the righteous cause of truth, during the War for Independence, for they had both spiritual and temporal enemies to contend with. Among these, the Rev. David Jones was one of the most faitliful soldiers in both kinds of warfore. He was born in New Castle county, Delaware, on the 12th of Ma}', 1736, and, as his name imports, was of Welsh descent. He was educated for the gospel ministry under the Rev. Isaac Eaton, at Hopewell, New Jersey, and for many years was pastor of the Upper (Baptist) Freehold church. Impressed with a desire to carry the gospel to the heathen of the wilderness, he proceeded to visit the Indians in the Ohio and Illinois country, in 1772. On his way down the Ohio river, he was accompanied by the brave George Rogers Clarke, whose valor gave the region, afterward known as the North-western Territory, to the struggling colonists, toward the close of tlie Revolution. Mr. Jones' mission was unsuccessful, and he returned to his charge at Freehold. Because of his zealous espousal of the republican cause, he became very obnoxious to the Tories, who were numerous in Monmouth county. Believing his life to be in danger, he left Now Jersey, settled in Chester county, in Pennsylvania, and in the Spring of 1775, took charge of the Great Valley Baptist church. He soon afterward preached a sermon before Colonel Davie's regiment, on tlie occasion of a Continental Fast, which was published, and produced a salutary effect. It was entitled, Defensive War in a Jus^ Cause, Sinless. In 1776, Mr. Jones was appointed chaplain to Colonel St. Clair's regiment, and proceeded with it to the Northern Department. He was on duty at Ticonderoga, when the British approached, after the defeat of Arnold on the Lake below, and tliere preached a characteri^ic sermon to the soldiers, which was afterward published. He served JOHN EAGAR HOWARD. 141 through two campaigns under General Gates, and was chaplain to General Wayne's brigade in the Autumn of 1777. He was with that officer at the Paoli Massacre,' where he narrowly escaped death, but lived to make an address at the erection of a monument there, over the remains of his slaughtered comrades, forty years afterward. He was in the battles at Brandywme and Germantown, suffered at White Marsh and Valley Forge, and continued with Wayne in all his varied duties from the battle at Monmouth in June, 1778, until the surrender of Cornwallis, at Yorklown, in October, 1781. Sucli was his activity as a sol- dier, that General Howe offered a reward for him, while the British held pos- session of Pliiladelphia ; and on one occasion, a detachment of soldiers were sent to the Great Valley to capture him.- At the close of the war, he returned to his farm, and resumed liis ministerial labors. When General Wayne took command of the army in the North-western Ter- ritory, in 1794, Mr. Jones was appointed his chaplain, and accompanied him to the field; and when, again, in 1812, a war between the United States and Great Britain commenced, the patriotic chaplain of the old conflict entered the army, and served under Generals Brown and Wilkinson, until the close of the contest. He was then seventy-six years of age. Wlien peace came, he again put on the armor of the gospel, and continued his warfare with the enemy of souls until the last. His latest public act was the delivery of the dedicatory address on laying tlie corner-stone of the Paoli Monument, in 1817. On the 5th of Feb- ruary, 1820, this distinguished servant of God and of the Republic, died in peace, in the eighty -fourth year of his age, and was buried in the Great Valley church- yard, in sight of the pleasant little village of VaUey Forge. JOHN EAGAR HO\VARD. MARYLAND may boast of many lovely sons, but she cherishes the memory of none more warmly than that of John Eagar Howard. He was born in Baltimore county, on the 4th of June, 1752. He was a very young man when the War for Independence commenced, and entered eagerly into the plans of the republicans. He became a soldier in 1776, and commanded a company of militia in the service known as The Flying Camps, under General Hugh Mercer. In that capacity he served at White Plains, in the Autunm of that year; and when, in December, 1776, that corps was disbanded, he accepted the connnission of major in one of the Continental battalions of his native State. Then commenced liis useful military career. In the Spring of 1777, he joined the army under Washington, at Middlebrook, in New Jersey, but returned home in June, on account of the death of his fother. He again joined the army, a few days after the battle on the Brandy wine, in September; distinguished himself for cool courage in the engagement at Germantown ; and afterward wrote a graphic account of the whole affair. He was also at the battle on the plains of Mon- mouth the following year; and in June, 1779, he was commissioned a heuten- ant-colonel in the 5tli Maryland regiment, "to take rank from the 11th day of May, 1778." In 1780, he went to the field of duty, in the South, when De Kalb 1. Near the Paoli Tavern, in Chester county, Pennsylvania, General Wayne was surprised a few nights after the battle on the Biandywine, by General Grey of the British aimy, and a large number of his command were slain. That event is known in history as the Paoli Massacre. 2. While reconnoitring alone one night. Chaplain Jones saw a dragoon dismount, and enter a house for refreshments. Mr. Jones boldly approached, seized the horseman's pistols, and going into the house, claimed the owner as his prisoner. The unarmed dragoon was compelled to obey his captor's orders, to mount and ride into the American camp. The event produced great merriment, and Wayne laughed immoderately at the idea of a British dragoon being captured by his chaplain. 142 RICHARD BLAND. marched thither with Maryland and Delaware troops, with the vain hope of aiding the besieged Lincoln, at Charleston. He served under Gates until after the disastrous battle near Camden, in August, and his corps formed a part of the Southern army, under General Greene, at the close of that year. In January following, he won unfading laurels by his skill and bravery at the Cowpens, under Morgan, and received a vote of thanks and a silver medal from Congress. At Guilford, a month afterward, he greatly distinguished himself wlien Greene and Cornwallis contended for the mastery. There he was wounded, returned home, and did not engage in active military services afterward. When peace came, the intrepid soldier was conquered by the charms of Margaret, daughter of Chief Justice Chew, around whose house, at Germantown, he had battled manfully, and they were married. He sought the pleasures of domestic life, but in the Autumn of 1788, he was drawn from his retirement, to fill the chair of chief magistrate of his native State. He held that ofBco three years. In 1794, Jie declined the proffered commission of major-general of militia, and the follow- ing year ho also declined the office of Secretary of War, to which President Washington invited him. He was then a member of the Maryland Senate; and in 1796, he was chosen to a seat in the Senate of the United States, where ho served until 1803. Then he retired from public life forever; yet when, in 1814, the British made hostile demonstrations against Baltimore, the old veteran, un- mindful of the weight of threescore years, prepared to take the field. Tlie battle at North Point rendered sueli a step unnecessary, and he sat down in the midst of an affectionate family, to enjoy thirteen years more of his earthly pilgrimage. His wife was taken from him, by death, early in 1827; and on the 12th of October, of tliat year, he followed her to the spirit land, at the age of seventy- five years. Honor, wealth, and the ardent love of friends, were his lot in life ; and few men ever went down to the grave more truly beloved and lamented, than John Eagar Howard. RICHARD BLAND. A MONG the galaxy of patriots who composed the real strength of the Virginia ix House of Burgesses, in 1774, no one was more beloved and reverenced, than Richard Bland, who was born early in the last century. Ho was a mem- ber of the colonial legislature of Virginia many years, and a leader of the pop- ular branch, or House of Burgesses. Although a true republican, he was not prepared, at the moment, to stand by Patrick Henry in his denunciations of British tyrannj^, in 1765, yet he did not flinch, soon afterward, when duty de- manded bold action. He was one of the committee to prepare a remonstrance with parliament, in 1768 ; and in 177,'], he was one of the first general committee of correspondence, proposed by Dabney Carr. He was chosen a delegate to the first Continental Congress in 1774, but declined the appointment the following year, because, as he said, he was " an old man, almost deprived of sight." Francis Lightfoot Lee, who signed the Declaration of Independence the following year, was appointed in his place ; and three years afterward, the aged patriot went to his final rest. Mr. Wirt speaks of him as "one of the most enlightened men in the colony ; a man of finished education, and of the most unbending habits of application. His perfect mastery of every feet connected with the settlement and progress of the colony, had given him the name of the Virginia Antiquary. He was a politician of the first class, a profound logician, and was also considere)anded without beinff paid the amount of arrears dtie, or any piovision for the future beinjj made for Ibem. An anonymous writer {afterward nckuowledg^ed to be Mfijor Armstrong), called a meeting of the officers to adopt measures to compel Congress to make a satisfactory arrangement, or else to take redress in their own bands. Washington took immediate si cps to prevent the convention, and called a meeting, himself, of the officers. It resulted in a noble exhibition of patriot- ism on the part of the great body, and the army was saved the disgrace of a mutiny, after so much suffering in the glorious cause. 2. Ilis gr.andfalber, Daniel Carroll, was a native of Littemourna, in Ireland. He was a clerk in the otBce of Liord Fowls, and imdor the patronage of the tliird Lord Baltimore, principal proprietor of Mary- land, he emigrated to that colony in the reign of James II. CHARLES CARROLL ^-^^^^^^Ti^t^C of the mlonvTii if."" ^^^"•^'PO"^ newspaper discussion with the secretarv to tax ttroolnn^^ H ?T'^ ^^' '''''"™"^^ "-l^t of the British government bvthe I pliStTr.r '!*.?"'' ^r°"*- ^'^« unknown writer #as thanked ri^h wi .K ' m"^"^,^' *'''' 1™^''° P""*^' f""- l"s noble defence of popular of^t;^%ooSe'" ' " ^"'^'"' ^' ^"' ^' °^^^ ^^^''^^'^^'1 ^ the fewite to arm^'and^irl^nf '''''^''^;, "''^ ^''"''^''''^^ ^^P''^^^<^<^ ^^' "^^^^^it^ «f ^ resort penTnce of t P Jnlo "" ^^'^T'* "'^'^°"' advocates for the political inde- fhe public mind Ij^"' 'T ^'^^'^ ^^"'' ^"•^^^''^" ^'^'"'^'''^ ^ t'-^'^gible form hi AnnWlis ami in m W 'J"f''' "" '''"'^'' ^^ ^^^^^ ^'•^^ committee^f safety, at land convpnt^n V I ' ","'' '"' '^''* '" ^^^^ Provincial Congress. The Marv- Tkin' hoM r., '^^r'^'^^. T''''^ *''^ sentiment of independence which was Mr/feu- o 1 to fii V""? 7fn ^"'^ ^^'""^ ^""'^ '^^^°""^^ f«^ t'^^ delay in sending and Con<^l, .*i'' Contmental Congress. He visited Philadelphia early in 1776^ cSse tfvflT "i"'^ '""' T ^^ ^ <^«"i"i''ttee. with Dr. Franklin atfd Samuel of the S.^tn?" '^ ""V ^f '*'?^^ ^'"^'^''°"-' '"^^"^ '-^ft^r his return, the views ContiLSf rL—^^r^'^V'^f '°" '^ ^''^^' '^''^^'^ to a seat in the v ^ontinental C ongr ess, too late to vo te for independence, on the 4th of July, but 1. See sketch of Archbishop Carroll. 148 EBENEZER RTEVENP, in time to affix his signature to the instrument on the 2d of August.' Ten days Hfterward he was appointed a member of the Board of War, and held that posi- tion during the remainder of his service in Congress. He assisted in framing a constitution for his native State, in 1776, and in 1778, he left the national coun- cil to take a more active part in the public aflairs of Maryland. He was a mem- ber of the Mar3dand Senate, in 1781, and in 1788, he was elected one of the first senators from that State in the Federal Congress. Tlicre he remained two j^cars,. when he again took his seat in his State Senate, and retained it for ten consec- utive years. He then retired from public life, at the age of sixty-four years, and in the quiet seclusion of a happy home he watched witli interest the progress of his beloved country for more than tliirty years longer. When Adams and Jefferson died, in 1826, Mr. Carroll was left alone on earth, in the relation which he bore to his flfty-five colleagues who signed the Declaration of Independence. He lived on, six years longer, an object of the highest veneration ; and finally, on the 14th of November, 1832, his spirit passed peacefully and calmly from earth, when ho was in the ninety -sixth year of his age. EBENEZER STEVENS. MANY of the meritorious officers of the artillery service in the War for Inde- pendence have not found that prominence in historj^ which they deserve. Among those thus overlooked was General Stevens, who, from the earliest until the latest period of the contest, was one of tiie most efficient and patriotic sol- diers of the time. He was born in Boston, in 1752, and at an early age became thoroughly imbued with the principles of the Sons of Liberty. - He was one of those who "made Boston Harbor a tea-pot,"-* in December, 1773, when fearing unpleasant consequences, he withdrew to Rhode Island. He went witli the Rhode Island Army of Observation to Roxburj-, under General Greene, in 1775, and his skill in the artillery and engineering department was such, that early in December of that j'ear, Washington directed him to raise two companies of ar- tillery in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and proceed to join Montgomery in his attack on Quebec. The commission was speedily executed by the young soldier, and after great fatigue in dragging cannons through snow and over rough hills, the little expedition reached Three Rivers on tlie St. Lawrence, and heard of the disastrous blow given to the Americans, at Quebec. Stevens returned to St. John's on the Sorel, and rendered efficient service in the Nortliern Department' during 1776. He was in command of the artillery at Ticonderoga, in 1777, and shared in the mortifications of St. Clair's retreat before Burgoyne, in July. He joined General Schuyler at Fort Edward, and was so distinguished as the com- mander of the artillery in the battles which resulted in the capture of Burgoyne, that Trumbull, in his picture of that scene, introduced Captain Stevens in a con- 1. Mr. Carroll was electefl on the 4th of July, anrt took his seat on the ISth of the same month. He affixed his si.snature to the Declaration, with most of the others, a little more than a fortnight afterward. See sketch of John Carroll. 2. During the excitement incident to the Stamp Act, the patriotic opposers of the measure formed associations for the purpose in the different colonies, and styled themselves .Son.vo/'ii'.o^y. In like maoner a large association of ladies was formed in Boston, whoplertfred Ihemselves not lor.se tea, while an obnoxious duty was upon it, and called themselves nnufflilerf! of Tjiherty. A full account of these associations will be found in Lossing's PirtorinI Field Bnnl; of the Srvoluli'm. X Th'? people of Roslon and other seaports resolved that cargoes of tea, which the East India Com- pany had sent to consignees in America, should rot be lam' d so long as an impost dtity was levied on the article. An attempt (o land two cargoes in Boston caused a large company, some of them in the disguise of Mohawk Indians, to go on board of the vessels on a moonlight night, in December, 1773, and break open aud cast into the waters of the harbor, all the chests of the obnoxious article. ISAIAH THOMAS. 149 spicuous position. He continued in command of tlie artillery, at Albanj^, until the Autumn of 1778, when he became attached to Colonel Lamb's regiment, in the New York line. He was made lieutenant-colonel, by brevet, in April, 1778. For the contemplated invasion of Canada, La Fayette selected him as theji'hief of his artillery; and early in 1781, he accompanied the Marquis into Virginia, to oppose Arnold. General Knox, the commander-in-chief of the artillery, had the highest confidence in his excellence, and invested lum with full powers, in the Autumn of 1781, to collect and forward artillery munitions for the siege of Yorktown. In the decisive actions which resulted in the capture of Cornwallis and his army. Colonel Stevens was eminently eflQcient ; and in Trumbull's pic- ture of that event, he is seen mounted, at the head of his regiment. From that time until the close of the war, he was with Colonel Lamb at West Point and vicinity; and when peace came, he commenced njercantile life in the city of New York. He accepted office in the military corps of his adopted State, and ro.se to the rank of major-general, commanding the division of artillery of the State of New York. In 1800, he superintended the construction of the fortifi- cations on Governor's Island, in the harbor of New York. He held the ofBce of major-general of artillery when another war with England occurred, in 1812, and he was called into the service of the United States, in defence of the city of his adoption. He was senior major-general until the return of peace, in 1815. For many years he was among the most distinguished merchants of the com- mercial metropolis, and died at the green old age of about seventy -one years, on the 2d of September, 1823. ISAIAH THOMAS. PRINTING, "the art preservative of all arts," has been represented, at aU times in its history, by men eminent for their intellectual greatness and extensive social and political influence. Philosophers, statesmen, and theolo- gians, of the highest order of genius, have been fellows of the craft. Eminent among the best was Isaiah Thomas, the historian of the art. He was born in Boston, in 1749, and at six years of age, being the son of a poor widow, he was placed in charge of Zechariah Fowle, a ballad and pamphlet printer, to learn the great art. After an apprenticeship of eleven years, he went to Nova Scotia, where he worked for a Dutch printer, awhile. There, as well as in tl^^ other colonies, the Stamp Act was just beginning to create much opposition to the imperial government, and young Thomas, who had been nurtured in the Boston school of politics, took a prominent part against the measure. He was threat- ened with arrest, but the repeal of the act lulled the storm, and in 1767, he returned to New England. He afterward went to Wilmington, North Carolina, and also to Charleston, in search of employment, but without success. Disap- pointed and poor he returned to Boston, in 1770, and formed a business partner- ship with his old master. It continued only three months, when Thomas pur- chased the printing establishment of Fowle, on credit, worked industriously and well, and in March following he issued the first number of " TJie Massachusetts Spy ;' a weekly political and commercial Paper ; open to all Parties, but influ- enced by None." It gav^ the ministerial party a great deal rf uneasiness, and vain efforts were made to control or destroy it.2 When the British held martial 1. Fowle & Thnmas hiid issued a (Ti-weekly paper with this name the previoiis year, hiit it did rot continue long. The new weekly paper was printed on a larger sheet than any vet pnhlished in I'ostcn. 2. An article against the Rovernment, whieh appeared in the .Spy toward the close of 1771, caused Governor Hutchinson to order Thomas before 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 Spi/, 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 estabUshments in other places, to the number of eight ; and in 1791, they published a fine foho 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 History 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 KINQ. ALMOST every young man of talent, at the commencement of the "War for Independence, engaged in the public service, civil or militarj', 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 council,?. These were schools of the highest practical importance to those who were to be par- ticipants in the founding of the new repubhcan confederation. Among the worthiest and most active of tliese, 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 tliere until the students w^ere dispersed when the American army gathered around Boston. Young King 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 Newburypoit. after having served as aid to General Glover, for a short, time, in Sullivan's expedition against the British on Rl^de 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, he introduced a resolution, in that body, to prohibit slavery in the terri- tories north-west of the Oliio 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 government at length deemed it prudent to cease efforts to silence hia seditious voice. EUFUS KING. 151 of that year, lie 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 much excitement, and King and Hamil- ton warmly defended it, in a series of papers signed Camillm, all of which, ex- cept the first ten, were written by 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 represent 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 difficulties between his own government and that of Great Britain, and he possessed the warmest personal esteem of the first men in Europe. After his return home, in 1803, he 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, he had made unwearied efforts to induce that government to abandon its unjust and offensive system of impressing seamen into the naval service, and ho took an active part in public affairs during the first year of the war. He waa 152 HENRY LEE. elected to the United States Senate, for six years, in 1813, and in 1820, he was reelected for the same length of time. Hoping to bo 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 failed, 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 comniander was one of tlie 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 aud 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 accomplished Colonel Theodoric Bland.' In 1777, Lee's corps was placed under the immediate command of Washington, and it soon cicquired a higli character for discipline and bravery. Its leader was pro- 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.^ 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 the 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, Init cast it a?ide for the duuB» ,f a soldier, when the war broke out. He performed many brilliant services with his corps ol dragoonsv, ^nd he was in command of the British and German captives, taken at Saratoga while on their mai jj to and residence in Virginia. In 1780, he was elected to a seat in Congress. lie was op- posed to til , Federal Constitution, but acquiesced in the will of the majority, and represented his district in the Fedei'ni Congress. He died at New York, in June, 1790, while attending a session of Congress, at the age of forty-eight years. „ ^, , , , j 2. Washing jon was anxious to save Andre, and made great efforts to secure the person ot Arnold. Sergeant Chan, p^ went to the British in New York, as a deserter, enlisted in Arnold's corps, and just as his scheme fo.^ seizing the traitor and conveying him across the Hudson, on a dark niglit, was per- fected, that corps embarked for Virginia, with Champe. He afterward deserted, and joined Lee's legion in North Carolina. JOHX RUTLEDGE. 153 the Ooutiiiental Congress, where lie served Ills coustitueney iliithtuUy uutil the 'adoption of the Federal Constitution. In 1791, he succeeded Beverly Randolph as governor of Virginia, and held that office three consecutive years. "When, in 1794, resistance to excise laws was made in Western Penns3dvania, and the speck of civil war, known as The WIdskey Insurrection, appeared, 'W'ashingtou appointed (jrovernor Lee to the command of the troops sent to quell the rebellion. He performed his duty well, but made man}^ 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. Ho retired to private life, in 1801, and for many years was much annoyed by pecuniary embarrassments. It was while restrained within the limits of Spottsylvauia county, by his creditors, in 1809, that he wrote his interesting Jfe/woiVs of the War in the Southern Depart- ment of the United Slates: He was active in attempts to quell a political mob, in Baltimore, in 1814, and was so severely wounded, that ho never recovered. Towards the close of 1817, he went to the West Indies, for his health, but found no sensible relief. On his return tlie following .Spring, he stopped to visit a daughter of General Greene, on Cnmborland Island, on the coast of Georgia, and there he expired ou the 25th of March, 1818, at the age of sixty-two years. JOHN KUTI.EDGE. LIKE Governor Trumbull in New England, John Rutledge was the soul of patriotic activity iu South Carolina, during the darkest period of the Revo- lution, whether in civil authority or as general director of military movements. He 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 adopted State, in the first Continental Congress, witli his brother, Edward, as one of his colleagues. When, in the Spring of 177G, 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, Cliarleston 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 the wisdom and integrity of the people. When, therefore, in 1778, a permanent constitution for South Carolina was adopted, he 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 civiPand military afflxirs with great skill and energy, until after the fall of Charleston, in 1780.2 When (Jreene, aided by the southern partisan leaders, drove the British from the interior, to 1. This was the most celebratert place for law students in liOndon. The huildinp or Imiklirp-s were so cal erl, heeaiise they formerly belonped to the Knights Templars. They are designated as (he Inner and the Middle Temple. The original Temple-hall, or house of the Templars, was erected in 1572 ; and Temple-bar was built just one hundred years afterward. ^2. Charleston was besicKed in Ihe .Spring of 17H0, bv a combine*fi prcat effect upon VerBemies, for he most dreaded a reeoncHiation 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 tot^ountSesur, and on the followinp; day Laurens was officially informed that the re you know V Otis immediately picked up a missile, and, hurling it through the window of the crockery J.64 JAMES CRAIK. bitterly, than his gifted sister, Mercj^ Warren, and to her hand and voice hia occasionally turbulent spirit lent a quick and willing obedience. Wlien, 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 lightning. 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 like a swift messenger from God to his 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, that his spirit departed for the realm of unclouded intelligence. JAMES CRAIK. OF 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 youtli. He accompanied lieutenant-colonel "Washington in his expedition against the French and Indians in "V\'estern Penn- sylvania, in 1754, and was a surgeon in one of the provincial corps, under Brad- dock, the following year. He dressed that officer'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 Kcnhawa, he met a venerable chief; 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 behoved 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-bedside 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 Washington left earth for the world of light and immortality. He was then in the eighty-fourth year of his age. store, it Bmashing everything in its way, exclaimed, Fregi tot, nescin quot, Sci.i r,e tu ? '"I hare broken so many, I know not how many. Do you know?" 1. Honorable Thomas Dawes wrote a commemorative ode, in which he thus referred to the manner cf Otis' death ; " Hark ! the deep thnnders 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 PICKEKINO. ' Through Salem strait, without delay, The bohl battalion tooli its -way ; Marched o'er a bridge, in open sight Of several Yankees armed for fight; 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 TmmbuU, in his McFingal,^ concerning an event at Marblehead, in Massachusetts, in wliich Colonel Timothy Pickering, one of the most useful of the military and civil officers of the Republic in its earlier days, was cliief 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. lie 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 polit- 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 1774, the people of Salem resolved to address General Gage on the subject of the Boston Port-Bill, Colonel Pickering was chosen to prepare it, and present it in person to the governor.'^ A few months afterward, he had the 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, the 25th of February, 1775. The ministers of the churches dismissed their congregations. The men gathered at the call of Colonel Pickering, and when the 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 event 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 1 9th of April, intelligence of the skirmish at Lexington reached him, he 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 the Board of War. In the battles at Brandyvvine 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. Ho performed the duties of that office efficiently until the close of the war, and then he made Philadelphia his residence. Difficulties soon afterward occurred among the Connecticut and Pennsylvania people, in the Wyoming ■ Valley, and Mr. Pickering was appointed by his adopted St^e, to attempt a settlement of the 1. See sketch of John Trumbull, the poet. 2. For the purpose of pimisbing the people of Bo'-ton for the destruction of the cargoes of tea, in 1773, pirliament decreed that the port of that city should be closed — that no vessels should enter or clear Ih^re, and that the Custom House and other public offices should be removed to Salem. The act took eCfjct on the 1st of June, 1774. (Jreat distress ensued. The people of Marblehead gave the Bostonians free use of their docks, and in the Address alluded to in the le.-it, the people of Salem refused to receive any favors 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 ajipointed 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 officer 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 political 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 Penns_ylvania, and commenced the arduous task of clearing it for cultivation. Generous friends purchased the tract at a liberal price, and he returned to his native State, out of debt and possessing a moderate competence. The legislature of Massachusetts chose him 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, he was elected a member of the United States House of Representatives. Old age now began to demand repose, and he retired from public life, in ISlt. He was permitted to live about twelve years longer; and on the 29th of January, 1829, lie died at Salem, when almost eighty-four years of age. AVILLIAM GORDON. THE most faithful and impartial History of the American Ptcvolution, by a cotemporary author, was written by William Gordon, an English independ- ent clergj-man, 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 ho had long yearned to make America his home, and, in 1770, he sailed for Boston. For about a year he preached in one of the churches at Roxbury; and in July, 1772, he was chosen its pastor. He was a republican, and soon became identified with the popular party, in Massa- chusetts, in opposition to the crown. When tlie Provincial Congress of that colony was formed, in 1774, Dr. (tordon was chosen its chaplain, and he con- tinued a faithful adherent to tlio 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 was ended, he was allowed free access to public records, and to the papers of Washington, Greene, Gates, and other distinguished officers. In 178G. ho returned to his native country, completed his history, and published it in Lon- don, in 1788. It was soon afterward re-published in Xew York, in three volumes. The work is now very scarce. The author received about fifteen hundred dollars for his service in its preparaiion. In 1793, he was settled as a pastor at St. Neots, 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, wiien about seventy- seven years of age. DAVID RAMSAY. 167 ^,^?6.4v-^Z^ DAVID KAMSAY. 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 lirst suggestions and efforts 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 1765, and after performing the duties of tutor in a private family in Maryland for about two 3'ears, he commenced the study of medicine, in Philadelphia. In 1772, he entered upon its practice there, but, at the solicit- ation of friends, he 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 after the nssembling of the first Federal Congress, under the new Cons'itntion, in 17?9, Dr. Ramsay sent in a petition, asking for the passage of a law for secnring to him and his heirs the exclusive right to vend and dispose of his books, respectively enlitled, The HUtory of the Eevnlution in South Carolina, and A Bistory of the American Rernlution. A hill for that purpose was framed and discussed. Finally, in_ August, it was "postponed until the next Congress." A similar bill was introduced in .Tinuary, 1790, and on the 30th of April following, the first copyright law recorded on the statute books cf Congress, was passed. 168 ROGER SHERMAN. the republican army as a surgeon much of the time until after the siege of Savannah, in which he participated. Dr. Ramsay was an eflacient member of the Council of Safety, and also of tho Legislative Assembly of South Carolina, and became a distinguished object of British and Tory hatred. He was in Charleston during tho memorable siege in 1780; and when it fell into the hands of the British, he was made a captive, and with many other eminent citizens, suffered banishment to, and imprisonment at, St. Augustine, in Florida. After an absence of eleven months, he returned, resumed his seat in the legislature at Jacksonborough, in the early part of 1782, and therein, after all his sufferings, he was one of the most earnest advocates of leniency toward the Tories. He was elected a member of Congress that same year, and continued to represent his adopted State, in that body, until after the close of the war. He was again elected to Congress, in 1785, and in November, 1786, he was chosen its president, pro tempore, during the protracted absence of President Hancock. His first historical work, mentioned in his petition referred to in the note on the preceding page, was published in 1785, and his History of tJie American Revolution was issued in 1790. He now declined all official stations and honors, and devoted himself to his profession, and to literary pursuits. Ho wrote a life of Washington, and published it in 1801 ; and in 1808, he published & History of South Carolina} He then wrote a History of the United States; and he continued the employment of all of his leisure hours in the preparation of a series of historical works, intended to illustrate the state of society, literature, religion, and form of government of the United States of America, by a general historical view of the Avorld. These he did not live to complete, according to his original intention, yet they were sufBciently perfect to warrant their pub- lication, in twelve octavo volumes, in 1819. His History of the United States was brought down to the treaty of Ghent, in 1814, by the reverend Samuel Stanhope Smith, and other literary gentlemen, and published in three octavo volumes, in 1817. In the midst of his useful and unwearied labors,^ literary and professional. Dr. Ramsay was snatched from earth. He was shot by a maniac, near his residence, and on the 8th of May, 1815, his labors and his mortal life closed forever, when he was little more than sixty -six years of age. ROaER SHERMAN. IT is said that " Love laughs at locksmiths." So true Genius laughs at im- pediments, and gathers strength for conquests in proportion to the severity of its conflicts. The life of Roger Sherman, a humble shoe-maker, illustrates the fact. He was born in Newton, Massachusetts, on the 19th of April, 1722. "While Roger was an infant, his parents removed to Stonington, where they resided until the death of his father, in 1741. Roger was then nineteen years of age. He had been apprenticed to a shoemaker, but now the necessities of his mother required him to take charge of a small farm that her husband had left. They sold the estate in 1744, and went to reside in New Milford Connec- ticut, where Roger's elder brother had married and settled. The journey was performed on foot by Roger, and he carried his " kit " of shoemaker's tools, on his back. There he worked industriously at his trade, and at the same time ho appUed himself assiduously to study, for his early education was exceedingly 1. This was an extension of a work, publislieii in 1796, entiUed, " A sketch of the soil, climate, weather Bid diseases of South Carolina." ■J. Di'. Bamsay seldom slept more than four hours of the twenty-four, each c'.av. EICHARD PETERS. 169 limited, lie learned rapidly, for his mind was quick, comprehensive, and logical, and at his bench he acquired a vast amount of knowledge from books.' After awhile, he became a partner of his brother, in mercantile business, and employed his now more numerous leisure hours in the study of the law, but without a tutor or guide. He soon became proficient in the requisite knowledge, and at the close of 1754, he was admitted to the bar. His talents at once drew public attention toward him, and in 1755, he was elected to a seat in the General As- sembly of Connecticut, lie was appointed a justice of the peace the same year ; and after a law-practice of about live years, he received the appointment of judge of the court for Litchfield county. lie made his residence in New Haven, in 17G1, where he received the same official honors and emoluments. lie was also chosen treasurer of Yale College ; and that institution conferred upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts. In 1766, ho was' elected to the State Senate, and he fearlessly took part with the people in their opposition to tho Stamp Act. He was a leading patriot in Connecticut, until the commencement of tho Revolution; and all through that struggle ho was ever at his post of duty, for he regarded eternal vigilance as tho price of liberty. He was elected a delegate for Connecticut in the first Continental Congress, in 1774, and ho held a seat there during a greater portion of the war. IIo advocated independence, and signed the great Declaration. In 1783, he assisted in tho revision of tho laws of Connecticut, artd he was a representative of that State in the convention that framed the Federal Constitution. In his State convention called to act upon it, he ably advocated its ratification, and for two years after the organiza- tion of our present government, he represented Connecticut in the Federal Congress. He was then promoted to a seat in the Senate of the United States, and occupied that honorable position at the time of his death, which occurred on tho 23d of July, 1793, when in the seventy-third year of his age. Ho then held the office of mayor of New Haven, having been tho first chosen to that post of duty, after the borough was organized as a city. RICHARD PKTERS. THE first Secretary of War, of the United States, was Richard Peters, an em- inent jurist and agriculturist of Pennsylvania. He was born near Phila- delphia, on the 22d of August, 1744, and was educated at the college in that city, where he was graduated in 1764. He had acquired a thorough knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages, and spoke the French and German fluently. He chose the profession of law as a pursuit, and his knowledge of the German language was of essential service to him in the management of property cases in the interior of Pennsylvania. He was distinguished for wit and humor, and when he accompanied a delegation to confer with some of the Six Nations of Indians, his vivacity so pleased the children of tho forest, that he was formally adopted as a son, by the Senecas. At the opening of the Revolution he appeared in the field as captain of a company of volunteers; and when, in June, 1776, a Board of War was appointed by Congress, Mr. Peters was chosen its Secretary, and thus became the first incumbent of that ofBce, now one of the cabinet bureaus. He held that position until 1781, and performed the duties of his sta- 1. lie always had an open book by his side, on the bench, and read at intervals, when his eyes were not reqnired upon.his work. He thus acquired a fair knowledpe of mathematics, and before he waa twenty-one years of age he made astronomical calculaMons for an Almanac published in New York. 170 EDMUND RANDOLPH. tion with great ability.' lie was succeeded by General Lincoln, and retired witli tlie expressed thanks of Congress. He was then elected a member of that body, and was a representative of his State therein for several years. On the organization of the Federal Government, in 1789, Mr. Peters declined a fiscal office tendered to him by "Washington, but accepted that of judge of tlie United States District Court of Pennsylvania. He bore the ermine with great honor to himself and country, for thirty-six years, and was always zealous in the promo- tion of the material interests of his State. In the construction of public works of utility he was always foremost ; and to him the country is indebted for the use of gypsum in agriculture, and the introduction of clover. The subject of farming occupied much of his attention, and he was one of the founders, and for a long time president of the Philadelphia Agricultural Society. Judge Peters died at Bloeklc.y, near Philadelphia, on the 21st of August, 1828, at the age of eighty-fjur years. EDMUND RANDOLPH. AMONG the most important members of the convention which framed the Constitution of the United States, was Ednmnd Eandolph, the only son of John Randolph, attorney-general of Virginia. Of his birth and youthful career History bears no record. He was quite a young man when the Revolution commenced, and was one of Washington's aids, at Cambridge, in 1775. He left the army in November following, and returned to Virginia, on account of the death of his relative, Peyton Randolph, president of the Continental Congress. Pour years later he was elected a member of that body, and rcprc fenced his native State there until March, 1782. He succeeded Patrick Ilcniy as -gov- ernor of Virginia, in 1786, and it was chiefly through his agency that "Washing- ton was persuaded to represent that State in the Federal Convention, in 1787. Randolph was very active in that convention, but, like Patrick Hcnrj-, he was so jealous of State Rights, that ho dechned to affix his name to the Constitution, desiring to be free to act upon it afterward, as his judgment or the opinicns of his constituents might dictate.' "When the time came to act, his dcsiie for union overcame his narrower scruples ; and in the Virginia State Ccnvtnticn he elo- quently advocated the adoption of the Federal Constitution. "Wf.sliii:ptcn made him the first attorney-general of the United States, under that compact ; and in 1794, Randolph succeeded Mr. Jefferson as Secretary of State. He resigned that office in August, 1795, and turned his attention to liiS embarrassed private affiiirs. His resignation was in consequence of some misunderstanding with the administration; and in the Autumn of that year he published a Vh\dication. He then withdrew from public life, and never again entered the arena. He died in Frederick county, Virginia, on the 12th of September, 1813. 1. Next to Robert Morris, Mr. Peters was one of the most efficient men rf (he Eevolulion, in piovidirg the "ways and means" of carrying on the war. In the Summer of 1781, Waphirpton prepared toaltack the British in New Yorl<, and was expecting the aid of Count De (Jrasse, with his squadron of French ships of war. He received notice that DeUrasse's aid could not be piven. Wnshirpton was greatly disappointed, but instantly he conceived the expedition to Virginia, which resulted in the capture of Cornwallis. Peters and Morris were then both in Washington's camp, on the Hudson. At the momert when he conceived the Virginia expedition, he turned to Peters, and said, "What can you do for me? "With money, everything— without it, nothing," Peters replied, at the same time casting an arxions look toward Morris, the great financier. "Let me know the sura you desire," said Morris. Pefore noon Washington had completed his plans and estimates. Morris promi.sed the money, and raised it upon his individual security. 2. He endeavored to procure a vote in the convention, authorizing amendments to he submitted by the State conventions, and to be finally decided on by another general convention. This plC^o^ilion wfs rejected. JOHN" JAY, 171 JOHN JAY. AMONG- the many tiiousancls of the Huguenots of France who fled to England and America toward the close of the seventeenth century, to escape fiery persecutions, was Augustus Jay, a young merchant. He landed at Charleston, in South Carolina, but soon proceeded northward, and settled in the city of New York. There he married the daughter of Balthazar Bayard, one of the refugees who eame with the New Rochelle colony.' These were the grand-parents of John Jay, the venerated American patriot and statesman. He was born in the qity of New York, on the 12t]i of December, 1745. At eight years of age ho was placed in a boarding school at New Rochelle, and at fourteen he entered King's (now Columbia) College, as a student. He was an apt scholar, and gave early promises of his subsequent brilliant career. He was graduated in 1764, bearing the 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, lie was one of the most prominent members of tlie New Yorlc committeo of correspondence, in the Spring of 1774, and in September following, he took a seat in the first Continental Congress. Ho was the youngest member of that body, being less than twenty-nine years of age, and he was the latest survive.-. His genius as a statesman was exhibited in the Address to the People of Great Britain.,^n\t forth by Congress. Jefferson, 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 he also performed much duty in the Continental Congress, until the Summer of 1776, when all his energies were devoted to public business in New Yorl:. "With tongue, pen, and hand, ho was indefatigable; and as a member of the convention at Kingston, in the Spring of 1777, he was chosen to draft a State Constitution. Under that instrument he was appointed chief justice of Nevr York, and held his first term at Kingston, in September, 1777. He was an cfScient member of the Council of Safety, appointed to act in place of the leg:.=:- 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, lie filled the chair with dignity and vigor, until September, 1779, wlien ho v.-aa appointed minister to Spain to obtain the acknowledgment of the independence of the United States, to form a treaty of alliance, and to borrow money. Wo cannot even refer to his numerous and efQcient diplomatic services from thr.t time until 1782, when he was appointed one of the commissioners for negotiat;::;r a peace with Great Britain. In aH of them he exhibited consummate skill and statesmanship ; and to his vigilance we are indebted for advantages obtained by the treaty, of Avhieh the artful French minister attempted to deprive us. Ho signed the preliminary treaty, in November, 1782, with Adams, Franklin, and Laurens, and the following year he affixed his signature to tho definitivo treaty. Mr. Jay returned to the United States, in July, 17S-1, and immediately entered upon the duties of chief of the foreign department of tho government, to which lie was chosen before his arrival. He occupied that station until the new or- franization of government under the Federal Constitution, when he was appointed tlio first chief justice of the United States. He was a zealous advocate of the Constitution, with his pen,' and in the verbal debates in the State convention called to consider it. In 17!)-1, Mr. Jay was appointed an envoy extraordinary to negotiate a commercial treaty, and settle some disputes between the United Stater. .ind Great Britain. The treaty was not satisfactory to a great portion of his cour.- trynien, and as it also offended France and the "French party" here, intense ex- citement prevailed throughout the country. Yet he was sustained, and on hi:! return home, in 1795, he 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 Boudinct 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 tho Republic went peacefully to his rest, on the I7th of May, 1829, in tho eighty- fourth year of his age. 1 He was a colleague with Madison and Hamilton, in writing the series of papers known, m llio collected form as The Federalist. In Uiat labor he was interrupted, for some lime, on account ot a gevere wound in the head, from a stone, hurled during a riot in New York, known as The Doctors' Mob. EGBERT HOWE. 173 iioBEiiT howp:. 1)ECAUSE 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 Quincy was in Wilmington, in 1773, he 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 the Cape Fear region, early in 1776, he sent Cornwallis, 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, he 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. He 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 tiie Southern army. At liis head-quarters at Savannah, he planned a campaign against the 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 under lieutenant-colonel Campbell. These reverses caused him to be censured unjustly ;2 and when General Lincoln took command of the Southern army, Howo attached himself to that of the northern department, the following year. He cooperated with Wayne in his attack upon Stony Point, on the Hudson, in 1779. He was on duty in the vicinity of West Point and the Hudson Highlands from that time until near the close of the war. Washington appointed him, in two instances, to discharge the important duty of quelling a mutinj^ first in the New Jersey line, and then in that of Pennsylvania. He always had the unbounded confidence of the com- mander-in-chief. Though always a very useful officer, Howe never became distinguished for any great achievement. Like the actions of General Heath and many others, his line of duty lay in the useful rather than the hrilliard — their military history is an epic, not an epigram. 1. Diinmorc, tho royal governor of Virginia, having been driven from Williamsburg, by Ihe people, commence 1 a depredatory warfare upon tlie coast of that State. His force consisted of Tory refugees .ind negroes, yet, with the aid of some British ships, he succeeded in burning Norfolk, on the 1st of January, 1776. 2. Among those who raised their voice against fieneral Howe, was Christopher Gadsden, of Charles- ton. Howe required him to denv or retract. Gadsden would do neither, and a duel ensued. All the damage sustained by the parties, "in the fight, was a scratch upon Gadsden's ear, by Howe's ball. Maim Andre wrote a humorous account of the duel, in eighteen stanzas, to the tune of YanUec Doodle. He concludes by saying : " Such honor did they both display, They highly were commended, And thus, in short, this gallant fiay. Without mischance, was ended. No fresh dispute, we may suppose, Will e'er by them be started ; And now the chiefs, no longer foes. Shook hands, and so they parted." 174: EDWARD LIVINGSTON, EDWARD LIVINOSTON. THE Livingston family in America, an off-shoot of a stock noted among the Scotch nobihty 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 Livingstones 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 ho 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 only 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 Bobei-t R. Livingston. WILLIAM Pr.ESCOTT. Ho maintained a seat there until 1801, when he declined a reflection, and resumed the jDractice of his profession. President Jefferson soon afterward appointed him United States Attorney for the District of New York, lie had filled the ofQce •with great ability, until the yellow fever broke out in Ihe city of New York, iu 1803, wlien he was called to the performance of holier duties. Thousands fled, but Edward Livingston remained amid the pestilence, to visit the sick and burr the dead. He was finally smitten by tlie destroyer, l)ut his useful life was spared. His public and private business had suffered greatly, and the unfaithfulness of some of those unto whoni he had entrusted the performance of public duties, placed upon his shoulders almost crushing pecuniary responsibilities. He re- signed his ofiice, took up his residence iu Now Orleans, and by assiduous atten- tion to his profession, was enabled to liquidate every debt, with interest. When the British attempted the invasion of Louisiana, in 1814, Mr. Livingston offered 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 tyranny. Mr. Livingston was tlie principal of a commission appointed to codify the laws of Louisiana ; and lie is the sole author of the jjenal code of tha? State, adopted in 1824. On the very night when the last page of manuscript was prepared for the press, a fire con- sumed tlie whole, and he was two years engaged iu reproducing it. That work is his noblest and most enduring monument. Mr. Livingston was chosen a delegate to the Federal Congress, in 1823; and in 1829, the legislature of Louisiana appointed him United States Senator. He became one of the brightest ornaments of that higher house, but after serving two sessions, ho 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 iu Paris, and he returned to America, not, however, until he had satisfied his countrymen that he was fully competent to perform any duty to which they might call him. He was with his relatives in Eedliook, Dutchess countj^, New York, when, on a bright mornipg 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 carhest regular battle of the Revolution, known as that of "Bunker's Hill," some awarding that honor to General Israel Putnam, and others to Colonel William Prescott. Documentary evidence is conclusive in favor of the claim of Prescott, and its justice is not questioned at the present day. lie was born in Goshen, Massachusetts, in 1726. Of his early life we have no reliable record. His fatlier was for some years a member of the Massachusetts council. We first find a notice of William's public life, in his commission of lieutenant, under General Winslow, in the expedition against Capo 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. lie took quite an active part in the popular movements while the Revolution was ripening, and had command of a regiment of minute-mon, 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 the impromptu army that gathered around Boston, in May and Juno 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 IGth of June, 1775, he crossed Charlestown Neck, for that purpose, with a thousand men, anci intrenching tools, after an impressive prayer in their behalf was oftered 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 next 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 17th 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 tlie 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 lie 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. CHAKI.ES WILSON PEALE. " T)RAY tell me, Mr. Hesselius," said a saddler's apprentice — a handsome J young man of twenty — to an eminent portrait-painter in Annapolis, ilaryland, 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 Cliarles Wilson Peale, afterward one of the most eminent painters in our eountiy. 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 reniained 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, C'ermantown, and Monmouth. While at Valley Forge, in the Winter of 1777-8, ho 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 vicjor.i In the Spring of 1 778, when the army moved, he gathered up his art materials, and, at the head of his company, he fought gal- lantly at Monmouth. He had commenced a full-length portrait of Washington, 1 One of the vessels, named Falrnn, anchored within short cannon shot of Breed's Hill, was com- manded bv Captain Lin.ee, of the ]?,itish navy. It is a singular fact in the .'^"''""S,, !f t«'-ypOL"','J" cidences that William II. Prescott, the eminent historian, and prandson of Colonel William Prescott, marded 'a Krand-danghter of Captai'n Linree. The swords used by Colonel Prescott and Captain I-.n.ee, at the time of the battle on Breed's Hill, are crossed in a conspicuous place in the library of the His- 'T.^He also painted many in miniature, some of which I have seen in the possession of his son, at Washington city. JON^ATHAN EDWARDS, 177 ■at Valley Forge ; after the Monmouth battle, he had another sitting, and i.t Princeton he completed it.' Mr. Peale paid much attention to the preservation of animals after death, and possessed a decided antiquarian taste, ^fter the war, he opened a picture gallery, for exhibition, in Philadelphia, and then estab- lished a museum of Natural History and miscellaneous curiosities. He alfjo practiced dentristry, invented machinery, and in various ways was one of the 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.- He died in February, 1827, at the age of almost eightj'-six 3'ears. His son, Rembrandt Peale, a worthy successor of his father in the lino of art, is yet [1855] living, in Philadelphia, at the age of seventy-six years. JONATHAN E D W A 11 D S . 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 October, 1703. The remarkable analytical powers cf his mind were developed in early childhood, and 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 j^ears longer, in the eager study of theology, preparatory to the assumption of the 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 jireach to a small body of Presbj'terians in the city of New York. In 1724, l;c was appointed a tutor in Yale College, where he remained until called to a par- toral charge in Northampton, Massacliusctts, 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 Stockbridgo Indian.s, in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and in that field ho labored for about six years. His duties being comparatively light, he devoted much of his time to theological and metaphj'sical studies, and in that comparative retirement ho wrote his great work on The Freedom of the Will, which has been considered by of the damage done to the biiildiiigr. The Faculty employed Peale to paint a full-length portrait of the ^"^f''*! w."'"^""' ^""^ 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 painted at the age of eighty. In October, 1S54, all of his paintings remaining in the miisenm at Philadelphia, were sold at auclion. Many of them «'"« 'J>"'ch;ised by the City Council, and now decorate the walls of Independence Hall. 6. Mr. Edwards had been informed of immoralities in which many of (he young people of his congre- gation mdulged, and he thought the matter ought to be inquired into. The"chnrch readily favored his views, lint when it was found that the accused persons belonged to some of the wealthiest and most '".niienlial families in the place, it was impossible to proceed with the inquiry. The conscientious pastor did not swerve from duty, hut the failure of his attempt to correct the morals of the young people, Btrengtheued their hands. For six years before his dismissal he fought the enemy manfully. 8* •17: JONATHAN EDWAED?:. i, 'A 't^^^^A^^C^n. ^ &/.l.^y^'--7^^-^ ^ t'.io most learned men in I-^nrope and America, to be one of tlie greatest efforts of the human mind. In 1754, a severe illness, and the troubles incident to the French and Indian ^-ar, then progressing, interrupted his labors, and, beyond the eflbrts of his pen, his field of usefulness was very limited. It was soon en- larged. In tlie Autumn of 1757, his son-in-law, Rev. Aaron Burr, president cf 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 the call, for ho 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 he re- garded his labors with his pen as more useful than any others in which he might engage at that time of life. He was inaugurated in Fcbruarj', 1758. Five 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 skilful physician Avas brought frona Pliiladelphia 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 bj swallowed, and the disease, gathering increased strength, terminated his hfe on the 22d of March, 1758, when ho was in the fifty-fifth year of his age. TIio 1. See Note 2, page 61. JOHN WITHERSPOON. 179 published theological writings of President Edwards are voluminous, and are ranked among the most valuable uninspired contributions to rehgious literature, of any aofe. JOHN WITHERSPOON. IN the fjimily 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 loveUness of his mind and temper was transmitted to his son. He educated the 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 age of fourteen years he 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 he was graduated, with a license to preach. He accepted a call to Beith, in the west of Scotland; and in 1745, 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 August of that 3'ear, and under his efficient administration the affairs of the 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'^ He was a faithful member of Congress until 1782, and took a conspicuous part in mihtary 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, Yice-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 age of almost seventy-three years. 1. Charles Kdward, prandson of James the Second, who was dethroned in 1688. 2. In the course of debate on the subject of independence, John Dickenson, of Pennsylvania, ventured to assert that the people were not "ripe for a declaration of independence." Doctor Witherspoon warmly observed, " In my judgment, sir, we are not only ripe, but rotting." 180 RICHARD HENDERSO:?^. 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 beautiful land, yet Colonel Richard Henderson must be regarded, polit- 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 sheriff of that district, Richard had an opportunity of learning many useful lessons in mat- ters pertaining to law. He prepared liimself 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 the ill-wiU of the common people. Bold, ardent, and adventurous, he resolved to go beyond 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 company, 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. Tlie legislature of Virginia did the same, but Judge Henderson paid no regard to their fulminations against him, and pro- ceeded to establish a proprietary government, in imitation of the old colonies. Its capital was Boonesborough, and its title was Transylvania. Under a large 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 efficiency 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 them 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 ; «lso sketch of John Ashe. 2. It was composed of .Squire Boone, Daniel Hoone, William Colcc, Samuel Henderson, Richard Moore, Richard Calloway, Thomas Slaughter, John Lythe, Valentine Hammond, James Douglas, James Har- rod, Nathan Hammond, Isaac Hite, Azariah Davis, John Todd, Alexander S. Dandridge, John Floyd, and Samuel Wood. Thomas Slaughter was chosea chairman, Mathew Jcwett clerk, and John Lythe fbaplain. ALEXANDER WILSON. 181 of solution by the whole people of the newly-proclaimed Union. Judge Hen- derson did not take part in public affairs, but Uved on in quiet until the 30th of January, 1785, when he died at the ago of fifty years. Henderson county, Kentucky, was named in Ms honor. ALEXANDER WILSON. WE may justly claim Alexander Wilson as an American, though bom in North Britain, for here the genius which has made liim world-renowned, as The American Ornithologist, was developed, and cultivated, and bore fruit. He was born in Paisley, Scotland, and in a grammar school, 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 the youth would not allow him to be a sectarian, and the scheme was abandoned. From earliest boyhood he loved the fields and the sky ; and he regarded the towering mountains and grand old forests as the most appropriate temples wherein man should worship the Creator of all. Pecuniary misfortune compelled his father to suspend Alex- ander's hterary pursuits, on which he had &tered with enthusiasm, and finally the necessity of learning some mechanical trade seemed imperative. The ardent youth could not brook the idea of having liis powers confined to such a narrow sphere, for he felt a great soul stirring within ; yet he reverently bent his in- clinations to his father's wishes. Every leisure moment, however, was employed in study, and in the midst of his mechanical employment, he composed articles, in prose and verse, which attracted public attention, before he was nineteen years of age. He soon became the life of a select literary circle, yet his daily avocations, so repugnant to his nature, burdened his spirit with gloom. He saw no chance for expansion in his native country; and in 1794, he embarked for America, to profit by the free air and as free institutions. For more than a. dozen years afterward he was engaged in the humble but honorable employment of a district school teacher. 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 Bartrara, 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 he formed the idea of making a complete system of American Ornithology. He at once applied himself successfully to the study of drawing and coloring from nature. At about 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 facility for preparing that magnificent work, The American Ornithology^ in seven volumes, which appeared in 1808. Every portion of our country, from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, and from the 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 he did not live long to enjoy either. The hardships and privations to which he had been exposed, impaired a never rugged constitution, and on the 23d of August, 1813, he died, peacefully, at Philadelphia, when at the age of about forty ycarfi. 1. See Eketcli of Bartram. 182 JtinEUS. PUTNAM. ■i.yfl ■*'•") O'gbf'Iwririi' # I ••••<; '^m-. is ^ri ^.^^ RUFUS PUTNAM. rE 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. Rufus 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 illiterate man denied the lad all opportunities for education. At the age of sixteen ho was apprenticed to a mill-wright. At that time the French and Indian war was kindling brightly, and the campaign of Braddock, and the bold exploits of his kinsman, Israel, warmed a martial spirit within him. At the 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. He remained in service until 1761, when he resumed his em- 1. Captain Ebenezer Learned, who was a colonel in the array under Qeneral Gates at the capture of Burgoyne, iu 1777, and afterward a brigadier in the ContiDental 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 England, in 17 63 ;' and ItYS, he accompanied Colonel Israel Putnam and others to the " Yazoo country." Mr. Putnam joined the revolutionary army at Cambridge, in 1175, 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, 1776, he was appointed by Congress, an engineer, with the rank of colonel. In February, 1778, he succeeded Colonel Greaton in command of troops in the northern department, and during the remainder of the war he 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 he soon afterward retired to his farm. From 1783 to 1788, he was engaged in organizing a company for emigrating to and settling in the Ohio country, 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 hostility oh the part of the neighboring Indians, he built a fort near by, and called it Campus Martius. 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 inhabitants. In 1789, Pres- ident Washington appointed liim judge of the supreme court of the North-west Territory; and, in 1792, he was appointed a brigadier, under General "Wayne. In 1796, he was made surveyor-general of the United States, and held that office until after the accession of Mr. Jefierson to the presidency. He was a member of the convention that framed a constitution for the State of Ohio, in 1802, and this jvas 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 Father of Ohio. MESHECH WEARE. " TTE dared to love his country and be poor," was the epigramatic encomium 11 bestowed upon Meshech Weare, 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 abihties 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 waa graduated in 1735. In the disputes between Governor Wentworth and the 1. See sketch of General Lyman. 2. See sketch of George Rogers Clarke. 184 FRANCIS MARION. Colonial Assembly, Mr. Weare, (for a number of years a member of that body), was always found ou the side of the people. In 1752, he 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 colonics and Great Britam grew warm, Mr. Weare was a staunch supporter of all republican measures. In January, 1776, a hastily-prepared Constitution went into operation in New Hampshire, and Mr. Weare was chosen to an office 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 he 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 people, 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 which 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, FRANCIS MARION. THERE is scarcely a plantation within thirty miles of the banks of the Con- garee and Santee, from Columbia to the sea, that has not some local t»adi- 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 fi-om France 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, he 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 ho obtained great applause for his braverj' ; 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 dining with some friends at a house in Tradd Street, Charleston, when, on an attempl being made to cause him to drink wine contrary to his practice and desire, he leaped from a window, and sprained his ankle. The Americans yet kept the country toward the Santee, open, and Marion was conveyed to his home. FRANCIS MARION, 185 r-.i'riO'i S,n,; .■o3 ^.;;oiaiff he left the city before its surrender, and made his way home, where he remained until just before the defeat of Gates near Camden, in August following. Then, notwithstanding he was quite lame, he mounted his horse, collected a score of volunteers, and offered 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 Pedee rivers, he formed his famous Brigade, with which he performed such wondrous feats during the remainder of the ws^r. 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 1181. 1. According to Colonel Williams, they must have appeared worse than Faletaffs " ragged regim^tet.' 186 RICHARD HENRY LEE. Just before the war, Marion had occupied a seat in the legislature of South Carolina, 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 1182, 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 office — 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 Bluff 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 then 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 had 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 all 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 famihes 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 years, where he was a thoughtful student, and lover of ancient classic and historical hterature. At the age of nineteen years he returned to Virginia, and his time was spent in athletic 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 offered 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 homo with his troops. Then was planted in his bosom the first seeds of hatred and disgust of the insolence of British officials, and it germinated and bore abundant fruit twenty years afterward. 1 Genaral Braddock called a council of colonial governors, at Alexandria, on the Potomac, to consult noon a campai^ against the French and Indians. Several of those magistrates, with Admiral Keppel, met there, arranged satiBfactory plans, and Braddock started on his unfortunate march toward the Alleghsnies. JOSIAH QUINCY, JR. 187 In 1757, Governor Dinwiddie 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. He 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 the earliest opposers 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 tbe necessity of independence. He was a member of the first Continental Congress, in 1774, and while in that body he was always upon the most important committees. In June, 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 t essay esteemerl, that tho legislature of Poiinsylvaniavotocl the aiUhort went y-Cvo hundred dollars. WashinKlmi regarded it as his most powerful iiid. In a leltcr to Joseiih Keed, he said, " By private letters which I have lately received from Virginia, I find that Common Sense is work- iug a powerful change there in the minds of many men." EDWARD PREBLE. ICO chief portions of his Age of Reason. He escaped death by a seeming accident.' In 1802, he returned to America, and resided a part of the time upon a farm at New Rochelle, presented to him by the State of New York, for his revolutionary services. Paine became very intemperate, and fell low in the social scale, not only on account of his beastlj^ habits, but because of his blasphemous tirado against Christianity. Plis Age of Reason is a coarse and vindictive assault upon revealed religion, exhibiting neither sound logic nor honest argument. The corruptions of Christianity as he saw them in France and England, at that time, afford extenuating apologies for his vindictiveness. Had Thomas Paine lived at this day, he would 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 hopes are centered, he is to be pitied and condemned. Mr. Paine died in Now York, in ] 809. Jarvis, the painter, took an impression of his fece in plaster, after his death. That impression is now in possession of the New York Historical Society. His friend and admirer, "William Cobbett, had his bones exhumed, and conveyed to England; and in 1839, his friends in political and religious sentiment erected a beautiful monument to his meniory over his emptied grave, near New Rochelle, on which is inscribed, beneath a medallion bust, "Thomas Paine, Author of Common Sense." E D W A 11 D P II E B L E . 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 Massachusetts colony, one of the first commanders of the army at Cambridge, in 1775, and a civilian of eminence when the Revolu- tion had fairly commenced. Edward was born at the homestead, on the 15th of August, 1761, and received an academic education at Newbury. In early 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 he made a voyage to P^urope, in a privateer, in 1778. The following year he became a midshipman in one of the Massachusetts vessels, and was captured during the second cruise. Through the influence of Colonel Tyng. a friend of young Preble's father, the young man was released at New York, while the remainder of the crew were sent to England. He now entered as first lieutenant, on board tho sloop of war, Wmthrop, in which ho continued during the remainder of the con- test, and performed many deeds of valor. After the war, Preble was a ship- master in many successive voyages, but stood ready for public service when his country should call him to duty. When, in 1798, our hostile relation.? with France 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. He was saved by a sinjr.ular providence. Every night an .onicer passed along the rows of cells ii» the prison, and with a piece of clialk marked the doors from which prisoners were to be taken to the Kcaffold. Puine'3 door happened to be open. It was marked, but when it was closed for the night, the fatal sign was on the inside, and he escaped. 200 JOHN H. LIVINGSTON. 1800, he was sent to convoy our merchantmen from the East India seas. He was afterward appointed to the connnand of tlie Adams, on tlie Mediterranean station, but ill-health soon compelled him to leave the service, for awhile. In 1803, he was placed in command of the frifjate Constitution, and with the Phila- delphia and several smaller vessels, he proceeded to the Mediterranean to humble the Algerine 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 ai)peared before Tripoli, with his squadron. There he lost the Philadelphia, which struck upon a rock in the harbor, was captured by the Tripolilans, and the officers and crew were made prisoners.' Preble was soon afterward relieved by his senior. Commodore Barron. The 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- plimentary address. Ilis 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 the 25th of August, 1807, he died, when in the forty- sixth year of his age. He was buried in his native town, with military honors. JOHN H. LIVINOSTON. THE friend and earliest biographer of President Livingston says of him, " Ho 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, oidy, until his seventh j^ear, 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 he commenced its study under Bartholomew Crannel, of Pouglikeepsie. His habitual seriousness was deepened into strong religious convictions, by hearing a sermon from the lips of the eminent "VVhitefield, 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 Cliurch 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 he 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 follo\\ing year, Dr. Livingston went 1. See sketches of BainViridRe and Decatur. 2. The house in which he was born is yet in possession of the family of his only child, the late Oolone! Ilenry A. Livinsstim. When the British went up the Hudson, in 1777, '" hnin KiiiKSlon, they fired a heavy round shut at this mansion, because its proprietor was a staunch Whijj, It i)asBcd into the builil ing, and the hall is preserved by the family. The house stands on the margiu of the river. It was built ia 1714, the year when the father of Dr. Livingbton was born. JOHN H. LIVINGSTON. 201 down frequently, and preached to the remnant of his flock, who were compelled to remain.' He officiated ministerially at Albany and Livingston's Manor; and, in 1781, he took up his abode at his father's mansion, in Poughkeepsic. and oc- cupied tlie pulpit of tlie Dutch Church there, for about two years. When the British left New York, Dr. Livingston resumed his pastoral charge there, and tho following year he was chosen, by the first convention, Professf)r of Theology. ITo performed liis 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, he was chosen its president. Ilis inaugural address is a model of its kind, fall 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 th.at denomination. As the college under his charge did not flourish as a lUarary institution, an effort was commenced, in 1815. to make it a Tiieo- logical Seminary, exclusively. That measure was carried into effect, and from that time, until the present, it has held that cliaracter. Its name has been changed to Rutger's College, in honor of a distinguished citizen of New York who nobly patronised it. 1. Pr. LiviTiKston administered the Lord's Siiprcr in the Middlp Diitcli Chnrfh (now [1855] the city Post OSce), ia June, 1776, the last until the Briti-sh left 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. Fmally, in January, 1825, he was at- tacked with acute pain, but was soon relieved. On the evening of the 28th he 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 60 faithfully served. lie was then in the seventy-ninth year of his age. aOUVEKNEIJIi MORRIS. I^HE preparation of the Constitution of the United States in the form adopted by the convention, in 1787, and ratilicd 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, lie 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. He was graduated at King's (now Columbia) College, in the city of New York, in May, 17G8, at the ago 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 imder "William Smith, the historian of New York, and afterward chief justice of the province, and was licensed to practice, in the Autumn of 1771. He was not yet twenty years of age, yet ho had already engaged in political discussions of the day, esjiecially 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 that body. He was placed on a committee to confer with General Washington on the subject of a new organization of the Continental army, and ho spent nearly three months in the camjj 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 Pliiladelphia. He Avas now a per- manent resident of tliat city, where, by an accident, he lost a log.' He remained there until 1786, when ho 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 carriage in II10 streets of PliilBrtelphia, .inri (he bones of one of his lefjs wero no much shattered, (1iat amnii'ation became necessary. He always wore a rough stick, as a substitute, and would never consent to have a handsome leg made. THOMAS M'KEAN. 203 private agent to transact important business with tlie British ministry, he went to London. After accomphshing his business, he made a brief tour on the Con- tinent. Early in 1792, ho received intelligence of his appointment as minister plenipotentiaiy to the French court, and that important station he filled until the Autumn of 1794, when 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 1708, 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, fie was soon afterward elected to fill a vacancy in the United States Senate, and held a seat there from May, ISOO, until March, 1803. lie 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 Ilawley'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. Ho 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 ago. Mr. Morris was a fino writer, and his pen wielded an extensive influence during half a century. THOMAS M'KEAN. AMOXCr the numerous men of note, in Pennsylvania, who received an aca- demic education under Francis Allison,' was the eminent Chief Justice M'Kean, of that State. He was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, on the 19th of March, 1734. 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 Conunon Pleas, for that count}^. He was adnntted 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 him a colleague, with Caesar Rodne'y, to revise and jmnt 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 lie 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 publii? life, and even while, for six years of the time, ho was a resident of the city of Philadelphia. This was an extraordinary proof of his ability and fidelity.^ In 1764, the legislature appointed him one of three trustees of the provincial loan office, and he 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. Pee sketch of Francis Allison. 2. The present State of Pelaware, which William Penn obtained hv prant and purchase, in 1682, and annexed to his province of Pennsylvania, was originally known as The Ti:rr!lone.'', comprising the three counties of New Castle, Kent, ard Sussev. Pi'nn Rave the people of Pennsylvania a new and move liberal charter, in 1701, but the people of The Territnrie>: preferred a separate nr^d independent govern- ment. A compromise was effected. The Delaware connties were allowed a ditn^t and independent assembly, under the same governor and council as Pennsylvania. Such was the political condition of the two commonwealths, until finally separated in 1776. 3. When he finally positively declined a re-election, in 1777. *he 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 177 1, 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 tirst 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. He 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 cliief justice of Pennsylvania, and lield that exalted office for twenty years. It was a position of great responsibility, but Judge M'Kean was equal to the task he 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 Pennsylvania. In 1789, Judge M'Kean assisted in amending the constitution of his native State ; and ten years after- ward, at the end of a warm party contest, he was elected governor of Pennsyl- vania. He was rather violent in his party zeal, and his course as chief magis- trate created tlie 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 of June, 1817, whea 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 \fay. "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 capaV)le of performing such ser- vice. Oidy 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 Euth Huntington, of Norwich, in 1775, and 1. The oriKin of this name is a little amusing. A plain man, who lived where Fitchrille now is, was not remarkable for quotinf; Scripture correctly. On one occasion, in qiiotinp; the sentence from Isaiah, "Who is this that eometh from Edoni. with dyed garments from Bozrali,'' «!cc., he stated that the PTophH 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 y^^-gf^'^''^ i soon afterward became a member of the Baptist Church. He was ordained for the Christian miiiistr}^, 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 callinp:, than was this eminent youner 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 Mr. 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 hia 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 Baptist Magazine. He was its sole editor until 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 WARNER. time, it was the only publication issued hy tliat denomination on this side the Atlantic. Although eminent ns a preacher and editor, Dr. Baldwin is more widel}- 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 bj^ 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 hy 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 Ilalloweli. His departure was on the 29th of August. 1825, at the age of seventy-two j-ears. Temperate and regular in his habits, his old age was like a sunnj' landscape just at evening, sufiFused with golden light. SETH WAKNEK. A MONO- the Green Moimtain Boys of the last century, the man next to Ethan ix Allen in their esteem, for daring courage, unflinching patriotism, and pleas- ant companion.ship, was Seth Warner, a native of Woodbury, Connecticut, where he was born at about the year 1714. We 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 llimous 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 New York passed an act of outlawry against him. He was with Etlian Allen at the capture of Ticonderoga, in May, 1775, and commanded the little force that took possessioir 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 177G, 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 7th of July. Defeated in that engagement, he made a successful retreat to Manchester, and on the IGth 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 greatlj'- 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 fortv-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 EEED. 207 JOSEI'lI HEED. " T AM not worth purchasing, but, such as I am, the Khig of Great Britain is 1 not rich enough to do it," are the noble words attributed by tradition to Joseph Reed, of Pennsylvania, and uttered when a bribe was offered for his influence in flxvor of Great Britain, in 1778. He was born at Trenton, New Jersey, on the 27th of August, 1711. His father 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. lie 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. Ho 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 tlie chief during that campaign, and the following j^'ar, when Gates was appointed to the command in the Northern Department. Mr. Reed was then appointed adjutant-general of the American army, with the rank of colonel. He performed efficient service in the battle near Brooklyn, in August, 17 7G, especially in the management of the admirable retreat of the Americans. In the Spring of 1777, he was appointed a brigadier, in command of cavalry, but declined the honor, yet he remained at- tached to the army until after tlie battle at Germantown, in the Autumn of 1777. He was soon afterward elected to a seat in Congress, and was a member of that bod}"- 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.' The fact became known, and Congress re- fus3d further intercours3 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 publio lifa, and resumed tlio practice of the law. Like all dutiful men, lie 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 3-ears. 1. The agent chosen was Mrs. Ferguson, a native nf Pennsylvania, whose hnsbanrt was a relative of Acl.im Forgdson, the secretary of the commission. She was a womanof superior attainments, nntl loved her country. She was a passive, rather than an active agent in the matter. In her account of hei m- terview with Mr. Reerl, she says his words were, " My influence is but small, but were it as great as Governor Johnstone [the commissioner who approached treneral Reed, tlirougli Mrs. Ferguson] would insinuate, the King of CJreat Britain has nothing within his gift that would tempt me." Alluding to this, Trumbull, iu his " M'Fiugall," says : " Behold, at Britain's utmost shifts, Oomes Johnstone, loaded with like gifts, To venture through the Whiggish tribe, To cuddle, wheedle, coax, and bribe ; And call to aid his desp'rate mission, His petlicoated politician ; While Venus, joined to act the farce, Strolls forth embassadress of Mars." 2. iMr. Reed married a daughter of Dennis de Berdt, a TiOndon merchant, in 1770. Though in delicate health, she was active in her sphere of dutv in relation to public events. Slic was at the head of an association of ladies, formed in Philadelphia in 1780, to furnish clothing for the array. No less than twenty -two hundred ladies joined the association, and contributed by their money and needles to the comfort of the soldiers. ?08 JAMES EIVINGTON. JAMES RIVINOTON. 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 his acquaint- ances. He was a bookseller in London, but faihng in business, he came to America, in 1760, and opened a book-store in Pliiladelpliia. The following year he opened another at the foot of Wall Street, New York; and, in 1762, ho established a third, in Boston. His partner in the latter died three years after- ward, and it was closed. In the course of a few years 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, lie pubhshed tlie first number of his Royal Gazetteer, a weekly newspaper. It was conducted with considerable fairness, but after the hostilities in Massachusetts, in the Spring of 1775, he took strong ground against the Whigs, and excited their fiercest indignation. Their ire took tangible shape in November of that year, 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 the Autumn of 1776, when the British had taken possession of New York. Early in 1777, ho resumed tlie publication of his paper, and from that time till tlio close of the war, he dealt hard and unscrupu- lous blows upon the patriots, from Washington and Congress down to the most obscure oflQcial. 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 the 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 books which he printecl, he performed his treason -without suspicion. He wrote his information upon thin paper, and bound those billets in the covers of books which he adroitly manaped to sell to persons employed by Washington to buy of him, but who were ignorant of the transaction. Wash- ington removed the covers, and found the desired information. Keferrirg to the change in the tone of Rivington's paper, at the close of the war, Philip Frenau, the vigorous epic and lyric poet of the Revolution, wrote, in the editor's name : " You know I was zealous for George's command, But since he disgraced it, and left ns 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 true one is best, I worship no sun that declines to the west." 2. deferring 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, V\'hen our liquor is gone, and our money is spent." JOEN DICKENSON". 209 JOHN DICKENSON. THE " Letters of a Farmer of Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies," published in the Pennsylvania Chronicle, during the Summer and Autumn of 176*7, had a powerful influence on the American mind, in preparing it for the great struggle for freedom, even then impending. The author was John Dickenson, a native of Maryland, where he was born, on the 13th of November, 1732. 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 ease, 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, lie first appeared 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 1765. He soon afterward commenced writing political essays; and during the whole conflict, which commenced in earnest in 1775, hi.s pen was always active and efficient. His Lciters of a Penn- sylvania Farmer, above alluded to, were published in London, by Dr. Franklin, in 1768, and the following year they were translated into French, and pubhshcd at Paris.' 1. The people of Boston passed a vote of th.anks to Mr. Dickenson for those Letters, and the Society of Fort St. David, of Piuladelphia, presented him with an address in "a box of heart of oak." 210 PETER MUHLENBERG. Mr. Dickenson was a member of the first Continental Congress, in 1774, and his pen was instrumental in the preparation of two of the State papers put forth by that body. He wrote the Declaratioa of the Congress of 1775, setting fortli 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 inteutionally 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 Autumn of 1777, President M'Kean, of Delaware, commissioned him a brigadier-general, but his military career was short. He 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, ho 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. lie 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 College, 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 tlio Methodist Episcopal Church. PETER M U H L E N B E R a . SPIRITUAL and temporal warfare was the lot of many Gospel ministers, dur^ ing the War for Independence. Of those wlio wielded weapons manfully, in both fields of conflict, was John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, who generally wrote his name with the John and Ciabricl omitted. He was a native of Trajjpe, a village in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, where he was born on the 1st of October, 1746. He was the son of Dr. Mclchoir 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 ministry, 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 ho could enter upon his duties there, ho went to London for the purpose, at the beginning of the following year. He and Mr. (afterward Bishop) White wero ordained at the same time. On his return, he became minister of the parish of Woodstock, Virginia, and was soon an apknowlcdged leading spirit of that section among those who opposed British aggressions. Ho 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 firewell sermon, he quoted (he languas:e of Holy Writ, which declares that there Is " a timj far all thir'gs," and added, with a trumpet voice, " there isn time to fight, and tliat lime has now com3 !" 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 bca ei at the church door fr recruits, and almoit three hundred men, chiefly of his congregation, were enrolled under his banner, that day. • SILAS TALBOT. 211 Juue, 177G. Congress commissioned him a brigadier, in February, 1717, and he was ordered to take charge of all the Virginia Continental troojis. He joined the army, under Washington, at Middlebrook, in May, and was with the chief in all his movements from that time until 1779 — 13randywine, Germantown, White" Marsh, Vallej' Forge, and Monmouth. He was with Wayne at the cap- ture of Stony Pohit, in July, 1779, and was very active afterward, in Virginia, until the capture of Cornwallis, in the Autumn of 17S1. He was a brave par- ticipator in that last great battle of the Revolution. At the close of the war ho 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. He was a member of the first and third Congress, after the organization of tho Federal Government, and was also a United States Senator, in 1801. He was appointed supervisor of tho revenue of Pennsylvania the same year; and, in 1802, he was made collector of the port of Philadelphia. In that office ho re- mained until his death, which occurred at his country seat, near Philadelphia^ ou tho 1st of October, 1807, when he was precisely sixty-ono years of age. His remains lio buried in the burial-ground at Trappe, near tho 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 tho case of Arnold, Drayton, and others. Silas Talbot was of this class, and ono of the bravest and most devoted. His memory has been rescued from oblivion by an accomplished writer of our day (II. T. Tuckerman, Esq.), who, with in- finite pains, has grouped tho chief incidents of his checkered life into a miniaturo volume. Our hero was a lineal descendant of Sir Pachard do Talbot of the time of William the Conqueror, and seems to have inherited tho 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 he 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 Juue 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 1770. There he 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 tho memorable siege of Fort Mifflin, on tho Delaware, whero he was twice badly woitndcd. The following year we find Major Talbot busily engaged in furnish- ing boats for General Sullivan to transport his troops across tlio channel at the upper end of Rhode Island; and from that time, until the evacuation of tho Island, by tho British, he was active in all military and naval events, in that vicinity. In the Autumn of 1779, he was commissioned a captain in tho navy, and ho afterward made as successful cruises, as he had already during his six months of naval command previous to tho date of his commission. Ho was captured by a small British fleet, in 1780, and suffered tho horrors of the Jersey prison-ship,' and the Provost jail, at 'Now York, for several months. IIo was 1. This was an old hulk, moored where the Brooklyn Nary Yard now is, and nsed as a prison for captured American seamen. Soldiers were also immured there. Several thousands perished of famina 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 ho superintended the construction of the ConstiMion, 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, wa3 Captain Naihan Halo, whose fate, and that of Major Andre, history may properly parallel. He was a son of Richard Hale, of Coventry, Connecticut, and was born in that town, twenty miles from Hartford, about the year 1754. Ho was graduated at Tale College, with distinguished approbation, in 1773, when the tempest of tlie Revolution was gathering force. Fired with zeal for liberty, he joined the Connecticut troops that hastened to Boston after tiie skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, and Avas 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 particijiated 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 Congress' Oini, that assumed a sort of bodj'-guardianship to the commander-in-chief, and young Hale held a captain's commission in it. While the American army were upon Harlem Heights, and the great body of the British Avcre yet on Long Island (in the vicinity of Brooklyn, and of the present Astoria), Washington was very anxious to ascertain tlie exact condition of the enemy'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, wlien he was discovered and exposed, it is said, by a Tory relative, and was made a prisoner. He was taken to Sir WiUiam Howe's head-quarters at Turtle Bay, confined in Ecckman's green-house in the garden, until morning, and then, Avithout 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 hini to have the company of a clergyman, nor the use of a Bible; and he even destro3'ed 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 with 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 not 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. , . ^ , j, ^ , „ , .■ t -^ ^ 1. A full account of Hale's rapture and death may he found mOn^eiaonk^s SnohiUonary Jncidn.U on Long Island, and in Lossing's Pictorial Field-Booh of the Eevohdion. ALEXANDER HAMILTOIST. 213 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. AROUND the name of Hamilton, the pure patriot, the brave soldier, the ao- compHshed statesman, and acute financier, there is a halo which brightens with the lapse of years, for he was peerless among his fellows. lie was a native of the island of Nevis, in the West Indies, and was descended from a Scotch father and a French mother. He was born on the 11th of January, 1757. He received a fair education in childliood, and at the age of twelve years he became a clerk in the mercantile house of Nicholas Cruger, at St. Croix. Every leisure moment he 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 sixteen 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 pubHc meetings, and he assisted the Sons of Liberty in carrying off British cannon from the battery of Fort George, at the foot of Broadwav, in 177.5. He entered the army as captain of an artillery com- pany, raised chiefly by himself and performed good service at White Tlains, Trenton, and Princeton. His pen was as active as his sword, and many articles, attributed to more mature and eminent men, were the offspring of his brain. 214 "WILLIAM GRAY. He attracted the special attention of "Washington, and in March, 1111, the com- mander-in-chief appointed him his aid-de-camp, with the rank of Heutenant- colonel. During the remainder of the war, until the capture of Cornwallis in the Autumn of 1781, he was "Washington's chief secretary, and was also the leader of a corps of light infantrv, 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 daugliter of General Philip Schuyler, in 1780, and ho looked to his profession for the sup- port of his family. He rose to distinction very rapidly, yet in tlie 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 fraaied the Federal Con- stitution, and in connection with Madison and Jay, wrote the scries of articles in favor of that instrument, known as Tlie Federalist Of the eighty-five num- bers, Hamilton wrote fifty-four. Ho 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 lilorris, placed Mr. Hamilton at the head of the Treasury. It was a wise choice, for financial difiBculties 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. His consummate skill soon regulated money matters ; but while he was improving the fiscal condition of the govern- ment, ho was injuring his own. He accordingly resigned his ofiice, in 1795, and turned his attention to his profession. "When a provisional army was raised, in 1798, "Washington accepted the commission of commander-in-chief^ only on con- dition that Hamilton should be his associate, and second in command. This was Hamilton's last public service. In the "Winter of 1804, he became involved in a political dispute with Colonel Aaron Burr, Avhich 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. WILLIAM ORAY. THE successful and honorable merchant is one of the most valuable integrals of a nation's strength, for ho 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 bo_y, 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 LexijiKton and Concord, on the 19th of April, 1775, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, in session at Watertown, with Joseph Warren at its head, prepared a full and elaborate statement of the afTair, with an Address to the Ptople of Great Britain. Richard Derby (Iho master of yonng Gray) was employed to carry these documents to England, and place them in the hands of Pr. franklin, in London. He arrived there on the 29th of May, and the Address and Statement were pub- lished in the London papers. This was the 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 whola communitj'. Prosperity waited upon him in all his transactions, and in less than twcnty-fivo years after he commenced business, he was taxed as the wealthiest man in Salem, notwithstanding some of the largest fortunes in tha 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 the 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 afloat on the 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. Jilr. Gray was a democrat, and his sincerity was evinced by the fact that dur- ing the embargo, he took sides with Jcflerson, notwithstanding all Now England was in a blaze against the president, and it was an injury to the amount of tens of thousands of dollars to the great merchant's business. In the midst of ths commercial distress, he removed to Boston, and having pleased the people while a State Senator, he 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, ho engaged largely in business again, but he lost often and heavily. Yet he died a rich man, honored and beloved for his virtues, on the 4th of November, 1825, at the age 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 the Royal Society 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 eight 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, with a captain's commission, and was under the immediate command of General Putnam until 1778, when that officer made him one of his aids, with the rank of major. He held that commission until the Autumn of 1 780, when he was promoted to the office of aid to Washington, with the rank of colonel. He remained in the 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 May, 1784, Colonel Humphreys was appointed secretary to the commission for negotiating treaties with foreign powers, and with his friend Kosciusczko, ac- companied Mr. Jefferson to Paris. He returned in I'tSi), and was elected to a seat in the Connecticut legislature. 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 Roger Morris. See page 227. 216 JOHN MARSHALL. 1786 till 1788, he resided at Hartford, where, with Trumbull, Barlow, and Hop- kins, ho wrote the Anarcliiad. By invitation of "Washington, Colonel Humphreys resided in the family of the great Patriot from 1788 until appointed by his 0- lustrious friend minister to Portugal, in 1790. lie 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 witli TripoU and Algiers, and was successful in all his diplomatic duties. He was succeeded in office 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 cviltivation 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, which 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 »ge. 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 lips, 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. Ho 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, hi 1775, young Marshall was appointed lieutenant in the "minute battalion," and, with his father, performed good service in the battle at the Great Biidge, near the Dismal Swamp. In July, the following year, he was attached to the Vir- ginia Contmental line, with the same commission; and, early in 1777, he joined the army under "Washington. He was in the battles of Brandywino and Ger- mantown, suffered at Valley Forge, and fought at Monmouth in the Summer of 1778, as commander of a Virginia company. He remained in service until early in 1780, when he turned his attention to the study of the law. Ho attended the lectures of Mr. "Wythe (afterward chancellor of Virginia), and toward the dose 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, ho 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. In 1797, Colonel Humphreys married the daughter of a very wealthy English merchant, of Lisbon. JOHN MAESHALL. 217 council board, in 1784, and immediately afterward (though a resident of Rich- mond) he was chosen to represent his native county in the legislature. He represented Henrico county, in 1787. In the Virginia convention called to con- sider the Federal Constitution, Mr. Marshall was one of the most zealous and effective supporters of that instrument. He served in the Virginia legislature until 1792, when he again devoted his whole time to his profession. He was a member of tlie Virginia House of Delegates, in 1795, and nobly defended Jay's memorable treaty.' His speech, on that 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. Within three weeks after entering upon his dutie.« there, he was called upon to announce, in tliat 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 1800, he was chosen 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 he performed his exalted duties with great dignity and unsuspected integrity, during the remainder of liis life. He was 1. See sketch of John Jay. 10 218 WILLIAM WIRT. not unmindful of the claims of his native State, and as his residence was at its capital, ho frequently assisted in public duties. Tliis eminent jurist died at Philadelphia, on the 6th of July, 1835, in the eightieth year of his ago. Two days before his deatli ho enjoined his friends to place only a plain slab over the graves of himself and wife, and he wrote the simple inscription himself Judge Marshall's Life of Washington, published in 1805, and revised and repubhshed 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 the competition of rival abilities." Hundreds of tlio 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 Bladcnsburg, in Maryland, on the 18th of November, 1772, and was left a poor orphan at an early age. liis paternal uncle took charge of him, and at the ago of seven years he was placed in a school at Georgetown, in the District of Columbia. From his eleventh until liis lifteenth year he was at the same school in Montgomery county, continuously, where ho was taught the Latin and Greek languages, and some natural i^hilosophy. Ho there had the advantages of a good library, and improved it; and as early as his thirteenth year, he commenced authorship with promise. Young Wirt was a tutor in the family of the late Ninian Edwards, governor of Illinois, for about eighteen montlis. 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. lie 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, ho became a fivorite, and married the daughter of an accomplished gentleman (the intimate 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 clerkof the House of Delegates during three sessions. There he was greatly esteemed for his talents and social accomplishments, and he received the appointment, in 1802, of chancellor of the eastern district of Virginia. In the Autumn of that year ho married an accomplished young lady of Richmond, and soon resumed the jiractice of the law. In 1803-4, ho wrote his beautiful essays under the name of The British Sjvj, and at about the same time he took up his abode in Norfolk. Tie returned to Richmond, in 1806, and the following year he was engaged in the 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, he 1. Thsir graves are in the plain cemetery on Shoccoe Hill, Richmond, andthe inscription is as follows : " JOHX Marshall, son of Thomas and Mary Marshall, was born (ily because he could not hire a person to carry his turkey home for h:m. A plain man .'■iai.dirg by, offered to perform the service, and when they arrived at the door, (he young man asked, " What sliall I pay yon?" " Oh, nothing," replied the old man, "you arc welcome; it was on my way, and no trouble." "Who is that polite old gentleman who brought home my turkey for me?" inquired the young man of a bystander. " That," he replied, " is John Marj-hall, chief justice of the United States." The astonished young man exclaimed, " Why did he bring home my turkey ?" "To give you a severe reprimand," replied the other, "and to learn you to attend to your own business." The lesson was never forgotten. WILLIAM HULL. 219 pursued his profession successfully. In the Winter of 1817-18, ho removed to Washington city, having received, from Mr. Monroe, the appointment of Attor- ney-general of the United States. lie held that oiBce through three presidential terms, and at the end of Mr. Adams' administration, he made Baltimore his residence. In 1832, he was nominated by the Anti-Masonic party for President of the United States, but received the majority of the electoral votes in only one State — Vermont. During 1 833 he was engaged in founding a colony of GJormans, in Florida. It jjroved a failure. In January following he attended the Supreme Court at Washington, and his feebleness of health was then very much increased by hearing of the death of his eldest daughter. A severe cold hastened the progress of his disease, and on the 18th of February, 1834, he expired, at the ago of sixty-three years. His Life of Patrick Henry is the most brilliant of the published productions of his pen. WILLIAM HULL. " T CAN wait," said tho great and good Lavater, when an enemy assailed his 1 character. Many injured men have been compehed to wait, and finally to go into the grave without the solace of vindication ; yet posterity, more just than cotemporaries, usually render a righteous judgment. General William Hull, a brave patriot of the Revolution, waited many long years for a vindica- tion of his character from the imputations of cowardice, and even of treason, uttered by a judicial verdict and the prejudices ofpublic opinion. Long after he fell asleep in death, his vindication was made complete. lie was a native of Derby, Connecticut, where he was born on tho 24th of June, 1753. He acquired physical vigor while a youth, by farm labor, and at tho age of fifteen years he entered Yale College, as a student. He was graduated" with u.^ual 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 the 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 tho army under Washington, at Cambridge. He continued with Washington during the siege of Boston, and tho subsequent operations in the vicinity of Now York and in New Jersey. Ho acted as field officer in the battle at Trenton, and soon after- ward Washington promoted him to major in a Massachusetts regiment. He behaved bravely in the battle at Princeton. In the following May he marched some recruits to Ticouderoga, and was active during the Summer and Autumn of that year, until Burgoyne was humbled at Saratoga. In the battles on that occasion, ho was particularly distinguished. Ho suffered at Valley Forge, fought at Monmouth, and in tho Autimin was in command of a regiment, first at Pough- keepsie, antl then at White Plains. He was at the capture of Stony Point, in the 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 the treaty of peace, in 1783, tho British still retained possession of several frontier forts, in violation of the stipulations of that treaty. Colonel Hull was sent to Quebec, by the United States government, to make a formal demand upon the governor-general of Canada for their immediate surrender. On his return, he 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. aa S/i.ay's RehelUon. He was also very active in civil afiairs. In 1793, he was appointed a commissioner to make arrangements with the British government to hold a treaty witli the Western Indians. He visited England and France, in 1798, and soon after his return, was honored with the office of judge of the 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. Ho 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 Cteneral 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 enemj'. For this he was tried for treason and cowardice, and being unable to produce certain ofiicial testimony which subsequently vindicated his character, he was found guilty of the latter, and sentenced to be shot. The President of the United States, " in consideration of his age and revolutionary services," pardoned him, 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 1 848. It fully vindicates the character of the injured patriot, by documentary evidence. "I A B R A H A M ^V H I P P L E . OU, Abraham Whipple, on the 17th 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 commanders 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 the 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 countrj^men, and was among those who committed the first overt act of rebel- lion, in New England, in tlie burning of the British armed schooner, Gaspe, 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 whs stationed in Narrapanset Bay to enforce the revenue laws. While chasing an American vessel up the bay, it ran aground on a sandy shoal. Captain Whipple and a number 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 th» affair, and a large reward was offered for the perpetrators, their names were not made known until war with Great Britain had actually commenced. ABRAHAM WHIPPLE. 221 In the Spring of 1715, Sir James Wallace, in command of the British frigate Rose, blockaded Narraganset Bay. The legislature of Rhode Island fitted out two Vessels for the purpose of driving the intruder away. These were under the general command of Whipple, and ho soon expelled Wallace from the Rhode Island waters. In this business Whipple had the honor of firing the first gun in tlie naval service of the Revolution." In the Autumn following, Captain Whipple was ordered on a cruise to the Bermudas, to seize powder, but was unsuccessful. In December, he received a commander's commission, from Con- gress; and, in February, 1776, he sailed on a cruise in tlie squadron of Com- modore Hopkins, the naval commander-in-chief. From that time until the fall of Charleston, in May, 1780, he was in active service. There ho was in command of quite a strong, but inadequate naval force, aU 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, ia 1782, and was allowed to go almost entirely unrequited to a citizen's 1. A British vessel had been captured at Machias earlier than this, hut no authority had been given for the act. Wliipple was the first to act legally. ... ^^ r, 2. Whipple sunk several of hia vessels to prevent British ships from going up the Cooper nver 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' Beat 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. Tiie 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 colon3% 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 soventy-eight years of age when tardy justice awarded its benefits. Commodore Whipple died near Marietta, on the 29th of May, 1819, at the age of eighty-five years. Over liis grave, at Marietta, is a neat stone, bearing an appropriate inscription. DANIEL MORQAN. "AH, people said old Morgan never feared — they thought old Morgan never J\ prayed — they did not know — old Morgan was often 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 scliool, 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. Ho owned a team when Braddock marched to the fatal field of the Monongahela, and he accompanied that expedition as a bearer of supplies. For alleged insult to a Britisli officer, ho 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 Britisli officers was never very ardent afterward; and when they became his foes on tlie 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 military skill and service in the former campaign, and then he fir.st be- came acquainted with Washington. From that time until the Revolution com- menced, he 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 tlio Alleghanies. In May, 1775, Congress appointed him a captain, and in less than a week tliere- after, uinetj'-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. Some enterprising men at Marietta built a square-rigged vessel there, named it Si. 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 (Julf. 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 Cowpens, 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- gelf, and then, in his rough vpay, cheered on his men. LEONAED CALVERT. 223 of 1775 ; and in the siege of Quebec, ho led the forlorn hope of Arnold's division. When Arnold was wounded there, Morgan took command, fought desperately, and was mado prisoner.' When exchanged, ho was commissioned a colonel in the Continental army, and from that time Washington considered ^Morgan's rifle corps tho right arm of his forces. He was the chief instrument in the capture of Burgoyne, in the Autumn of 1777 ; and because of his brilliant achievements on that occasion, his neighbors called his fine estate "Saratoga." Ho received tho commission of brigadier, and was one of the most active officers in the Southern campaigns. His military glory culminated when, on the 17th of January, 1781, he defeated the British, under Tarleton, at tho Cowpens, west of the Broad river, in South Carolina. For that achievement Congress awarded him tho thanks of tho nation, and a gold medal. In consequence of the infirm state of his health, he then left tho service, and retired to his farm, Avhere ho devoted liimself to agricultural pursuits. Washington desired him to be placed at the head of the expedition against the AVestern Indians, in 1791, but St. Clair was chosen. In 179-4, ho commanded the troops in Western Pennsylvania, designed to secure the power over the whiskey insurgents, obtained by General Lee. Ho was elected to Congress tho same year, where he served two sessions. He re- moved to Winchester, Virginia, in tho year 1800, where, after confinement to Ms house and bed by extreme debility, he expired, on the Gth of July, 1802, in the 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. ALTHOUGH George Calvert, who was created Lord Baltimore by James the First of England, was the founder of Maryland, j'ct tho 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- stitutions. He was born about the year 1G06, when his flithcr was clerk of the Privy Council under the patronage of Ptobert Cecil, James' Secretary of State His father died in April, 1G32, just before his patent for Maryland had possessed the seals of office. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Cecil. Tho charter wag comijletcd in June, 1G32, and Leonard Calvert, with about two hundred persons of good families, all of the Roman Catholic faith, reached Old Point Comfort, near tho entrance to Chesapeake Bay, in February, 1634. He was appointed governor of the colony which he was sent to plant. As they passed up the bay, and entered the broad Potomac, Calvert fired a cannon, erected a cross, and took possession of the country " in the name of the Saviour of tho world and of the king of England." At tho mouth of a creek on the north side of the 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 the wilderness. They dealt justly with the natives, and pros- pered. To every emigrant, fifty acres of land, iu foe, were granted; and, ac- cording to the terms of tho charter, every person who professed a belief in the Trinit)', of whatever sect, Protestant or Roman Catholic, was allowed full priv- ilege to worship as he pleased. This toleration was a noblo feature in that first charter of Maryland, and is very properly regarded with pride by tho descendants of thoso early colonists. 1. While a prisoner, he was urged to accept the commission of a colonel in the i3ritish army, but he Indignantly refused it. 224 NOAH WEBSTER. Governor Calvert built himself a commodious house at St. Mary's, and was managing the affairs of the province with prudence and energy, when the civil war in England, which resulted in the death of King Charles and the exaltation of Oliver Cromwell to the scat of chief magistrate of the realm, disturbed the repose of all the Anglo-American colonies. Lord Baltimore was deprived of his proprietary rights, and Governor Calvert was superseded by a Protestant ap- pointed by tho Parliament. He then retired to Virginia. In 1646, after an absence of almost two years, he returned, with a mihtary force, and recovered possession of the province. In April, 1647, he issued a general pardon, jjro- ceeded to St. Mary's to firmly reestablish good government there, and sat down in tho 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 j^ears. NOAH WEBSTEPl. " TJB taught millions to read, but not one to sin," was the glorious and com- Jl prehensivo eulogy awarded to the memory of Noah Webster, the great lexicographer. He was maternally descended from William 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 bravo Virginians to the capture of Fort du Quesue. He acquired his early education at a district school, and at the age of sixteen years entered the fresh- man class in Tale College. The murmurs of the storm of the Revolution were then becoming louder and louder, and, during tho 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 one dollar in his pocket, but a noble capital of industry, a good education, and an indomitable wOl. 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. While 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 spelling-book, an English grammar, and a reader. At least twenty millions of Webster's Spelling-book have already [1854] been sold in the 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 i^reparation of his first Dictionary. It was published in 1806, and in the Preface, he pubhcly announced that he had now NOAH WEBSTER, 225 yyim^^ entered upon tho great work of his life. That was at a time when a growing family and slender pecuniary means appeared great obstacles ; but he possessed an iron will, and his spirit was undaunted. He toiled on in the midst of many discouragements; and, in 1812, he made his abode at Amherst, Massachusetts, where his fiimily expenses were less. He returned to New Haven, in 1822, and the Faculty of Yale College then conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Civil Law. He was 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 task was completed in 1827; and, in 1828, his American Dictionary, the grelxtest work of its kind ever undertaken, was published. It was soon after- ward republished in England, and at once took an exalted position hi the world of letters, and gave its author great renown. An enlarged edition, carefully revised by the author, was published in 1841 ; and so he left it, a precious legacy to his country and mankind. During the long years in which Dr. Webster was enga'?ed on his Dictionary ho 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 the 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 28tli of May, 184.3, 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 comprehensive knowledge. 10* 226 ISRAEL PUTNAM. ISRAEL PUTNAM. FULL of romance and stirring interest was tlie 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 ! hail, thou venerable name, Though dark oblivion threats thy mighty fame, It threats in vain — for long shalt thou be known, Who first in virtue and in battle shone." Israel Putnam was born at Salem, Massachusetts, on the Vtli of January, 1718. He was descended from one of the first settlers of that ancient Xev/ England town. His education was neglected, and ho grew to manhood with a vigorous but uncultivated mind. Ho delighted in athletic exercises, and generally bore the palm among his fellows. At the age of twenty-one years ho commenced the hfo of a fanner, in Pomfret, Connecticut,' where ho "pursued the even tenor of his way" until 1T55, 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 ho had command of a corps of Rangers, and bore the commission of a captain in tho provincial army. Ho had many stirring adventures in the neighborhood of Lako Champlain. In August, 1T58 (then bearing a major's commission), ho was near the present Whitehall, at the head of the lake, watching the movements of tho enemy, and had a severo encounter with the French and Indians, in tho forest. Putnam was finally made prisoner, and the savages tied him to a tree, and pre- pared to roast him alive. A shower of rain and tho interposition of a French officer, saved his life, and he was taken to the liead-quarters of the enemy at Ticondcroga. From tlienco he was sent, a prisoner, to Montreal, in Canada, where, through the kindness of Colonel Peter Schuyler, of Albany (who was also a prisoner), ho was humanely treated. The following Spring he was exchanged, and returned home. He joined the army again, soon afterward, and v/as pro- moted to lieutenant-colonel. He was a bold and efficient leader during tho remainder of the war, and then he 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 inteUigenco of bloodshed at Lexington reached him, while plowing in tho 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 wdiolo struggle until tho close of 1779, General Putnam was a faithful and greatly-esteemed leader. His ser- 1. During one night,awolf that had been depredating in the neighborhood for sometime, 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 ai^d 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 wero waiting in exultation, in the moonlight above. MAEY PHILIPSE. 227 vices were too numerous to be detailed liere — 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 1'7'79, he set out to visit liis family in Connecticut, and on the way he suffered a partial paralysis of his system, which impaired both his mind and body. At his liome in Brooklyn, Connecticut, he remained an invalid the remainder of liis days. With Christian resignation,' and the fortitude of a courageous man, he bore his afflictions for more 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 by Colonel David Humphreys, from narratives uttered by the patriot's own lips, was first published, by order of the State Society of the Cin- cinnati of Connecticut, in 1788, and afterward published in Humphrey's collected wTitings, in 1790. A neat monument, bearing an epitaph, is over his grave in Brooklyn, Connecticut. MARY PI-III.IPSE. THE beautiful and accomphshed 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 Phihpse was the daughter of the Honorable Frederick Philipse, Speaker of the New York Colonial Assembly, 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 the 3d of July, 1.730. 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 3'ear, 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 Mary Pliilipse, and his young heart was touched by her charms. He left her with reluctance and went on to Boston. On his return, he was again the wilUug guest of Colonel Robinson, and he lin- gered there, in the society of Mary, as long as duty would allow. It is believed that ho offered 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 liappiness 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 Putnam was a professing Christian and member of the Congregational Church at Brooklyn. It IS said that after the war lie arose in the congregation and apologized for swearing pretty seveiely on Bunker's Hill, when he 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 century old, is yet standing, and is in the present [1855] pos- session of the Honorable W. W. Woodworth, who resides there, and has the good taste to preserve it in jts ancient condition. 228 ROBERT TREAT PAINE. Harlem Heights, iu the Autumn of 1776, his beautiful mansion, overlooking the Harlem river, became the head-quarters of tlio commander-in-chief. Both Colonel Morris and his wife were included m 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 Morrisdied in England, in 1794, at the age 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 tlie 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. ROBERT TREAT PAINE. " Ne'er was a noWer spirit born, A loftier soul, a gentler heart ; Above the world's ignoble scorn, Above the reach of venal ar(." 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, 1773, and was the second son of Robert Treat Paine, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He 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. Paine was educated at Harvard, where his poetic genius was early developed.^ He was intended for tlie profession of the law, but soon after leaving college he 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 new theatre in Boston, in 1793 ;• and the 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 j^oung 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 afterward, his Ruling Passion brought him twelve hundred dollars; and his Adams and Liberty, written in 1798, at the request of the Massachusetts Charita- ble Fire Society, yielded him seven hundred and fifty dollars, or more than eleven dollars a fine.'' Mr. Paine was appointed master of ceremonies at the 1. This purchase was necessary to qniet the occupants of the land in their possession, for they had purchased from the commissioners under the confiscation act. 2. I have given his signature, written before the death of his brother. 3. A class-mate abused him, in rhyme, ui)on the college wall. Young Paine had never written a line of poetry, but instantly resolved to answer his antagonist in meter, nnd did so. To that circumstance he attributed his attention to rhvme. When he was graduated, in 1792, he delivered a poem. 4. The Federal Street Theatre', yet [18561 devoted to the drama. It was destroyed by fire, in 1T9S, and rebuilt on a larger scale, in the Autumn of that year. 5. Never w,as a political song more popular, or more widely sung, than this. Paine showed the verses to Mr. Russell, editor of the Bok/or Cen.tinel. It was in (he midst of company at Mr. Russcir3_ house, faine was about to take a glass of wine, when his host said, " You have said nothing about Washington ; ROBERT TREAT PAINF. 229 theatre, with a salary, and that connection threatened his health and reputation with shipwreck. A happy change soon occurred. He abandoned dissipation, and, on tlie solicitation of friends, he 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. In 1803, when fortune and bright character were within his grasp, he was again allured to the theatre, its associations and its habits, and he fell to rise no more. Ho neglected business, became intemperate, and died in wretchedness, on the 14th of November, 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 you cannot drink until you have added a verse in his honor.' and then, calling for pen and ink, wrote with great rapidity ; The poet paced the room a few moments, ' 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 Ihuuderl His_ sword from the sleep Of its scabbard would leap, And conduct, with its point, every flash to the deep 1" 230 THOMAS PINCKNEY. 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. 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 Pmckney 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 he felt a martial spirit sthring within him. It grew with his growth, and his studies were almost exclusively military, on his arrival home. 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 17*79, 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 Perry, just below Charleston. He 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 aiiairs of his mission with great skOl. 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 lived 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 Eebecca :MDtte, the patriotic widow of the Congaree, whose portrait and memoir may be found in another part of this work. CORNPLANTER. 231 CORNPLANTER. CENTENARY honors crowned Ga-nio-di-eugh, or the Cornplanter, a chief of ' the Seneca nation, who, for seventy-five years, held a conspicuous place in the history of his race, as one of the bravest and most eloquent of its warriors. He i3 supposed to have been born about the 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 alliance with the French against the English. He was a participator in the bloody battle in which General Braddock 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, he was one of the most distinguished of the dusky leaders who spread destruction over the white frontier settlements in New York, and in the Vallej^ of Wyoming. In the bloody forays at Cherry Valley and Wyoming, Cornplanter was conspicuous ; and during the invasion of the Seneca country, bj- Sullivan, in 1779, and the fearful vengeance therefor inflicted by the Indians afterward, Cornplanter was a chief leader of his peoi^le.'- 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 1784, 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 Mmself upon the ruins of Cornplanter, Red Jacket fostered the discontent, and the life of the former was placed in jeopardy. He repaired to Philadelphia and applied to President Washington for counsel and relief Cornplanter laid a most touching appeal for himself and his nation, before the President. The reply was kind, but Wash- ington could not go behind treaties. ReUef, however, was promised, and Corn- planter went back, a happier man. During the troubles with the Indians in the north-west, until Wayne's victory in 1794, Cornplanter remained neutral; and he was at the council held in the Seneca country to treat with Thomas Morris respecting portions of the territory afterward known as the Holland Land Purchase. During the years of repose which followed, Cornplanter was assiduous in endeavors to improve the moral character of his nation. He made great efforts to stay the progress of intem- perance ; and he was the first and most eloquent of temperance lecturers in America.3 Ho readily assumed many of the habits and pursuits of the white men ; and having failed to become chief sachem of his nation, through the in- 1. In his own language, ha said, " When I was a child I played with the hutterfly, the grasshopper, and the frog The Indian boys took notice of my skin being dififerent in color from theirs, and spoke about it. I inquired of my mother the canse, and she told me that my father lived in Albany. I still ate my victuals out of a bark dish. I grew up to be a young man, and married me a wife, and I liad no kettle or gnn. I then knew where my father lived, and went to see him, and found he was a, white man and spoke the English language. He gave me victuals while I was at his house, but when I started to return home, he gave me no 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. While speaking upon this subject, in 1822, Cornplanter said, " The Great Spirit first made the world, next the flying animals, and found all things good and prosperous. He is immortal and ever- lasting. After 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. Ihit slilU to make whinkey to give to the Indiana he did not make The Great Spirit has ordered me to stop drinking, and He wishes me to inform the people that they should quit drinking intoxicating 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 life. 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 on 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. MITCfllLi.. " A MONG those," says Knapp, " who did not gain all the laurels at home, that -l\. 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 Nortii Hempstead, Queen's county. Long Island, where he was born of Quaker parents, on the 20th of August, 17(J4. He was educated by private tutors, supphed cliiefly by his maternal uncle, Dr. Samuel Latham, whose name he bore. Tliat gentleman saw and admired the budding of his genius. Young MitchOl soon became an excellent classical scholar. Nature wooed him ; and so enamored was he 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, ;uid after a little more than three years, he went to Edinburgh, in Scotland, then the seat of science, in Great Britain. There he had Tliomas Addis Emmet and Sir James M'lntosh 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 indefiitigable in his study of the natural sciences. In 1790, he 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 fiuious report of a mineralogical survey of tlie State of New York; and the followuig year he commenced the publication of the Medical Eepusitory, of which lie was chief editor for sixteen years. He was the founder (and a long time i)resident) of the Lyceum of Natural History, 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 manuftctures 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 efibrts in behalf of 1. See sketch of Samuel Kirkland. 2. He was a member of the New York logislature, in 1798, wlien 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 steam navigation on the Hudson, his name should be associated with that of Fulton, Barlow, and Livingston.' For about twenty years, Dr. Mitchill acted as one of the physicians ot the New York Hospital. Notwithstanding his immense labors in the field of scien- tific research, and his voluminous publications upon almost every variety of subjects, he found time to mingle in political strife, and share in the labors and honors of official 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 hi.s usual forecast, Dr. Mitchill perceivedthe feasibility of the P^J'?';*' .^^ '!he''wholcma«eJ acoorrtinslv. Everybody ridiculed him. The elder portion of the l''f^\>^l«'"™ ^.^f' ;^'^^f'l *,^5,,^ too absurd to be seriously entertained, while the younger "en^.h^^^^'l?" '''^■Ji "^'L Hoc or nerse7e°ed call up Dr. Mitchill's "hot w.ater bill," and bandy jokes without stint. Yet the Doctor P'r^^ye.ea procured the passage of his bill, and had the pleasure of laughmg at his persecutors, a tew jears alter ''"''since preparing the sketches of these three men, printed on preceding P«?es I ^i^y^ ^^™ /"^.'^'Sfs with evidence from the correspondence of Barlow (now in possession ,f «7\''f '"?,f^.<;':"^^^^^ arranging them for the press), that Fulton was far more indebted to that f" end for pec"^'^'/ "^^'J *™ general encouragement, than to anyone else. When Livingston fir.st met Fulton, in Prance, ne was duWo s c'oncerning the' feasibility 6f his scheme while Barlow was ^•■'"^•""^'^"d'^as doing all m his nower to assist Fulton When experiments h.id furnished actual demonstration, and ,V'™f „ "• „^^^ nrior.ger doubMhen hrient his wealth and influeuce to Fulton. Barlow was I Mon' s benejactor . Livingston was his business partner and friend. 234 AETHUR LEE. opinions of whicli 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. Mitctiill 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. He was born at Stratford, in Westmoreland county, Virginia, on the 20th of December, 1740. Ho 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 17G6, whOe the Americans were yet greatly excited concerning the Stamp Act, he went to London, and commenced the study of the law, in the Temple. There he formed a close intimacy with Sir Williani Jones, (the eminent Oriental scholar), and many other men of note. During all the agitations frona tliat period until the beginning of the war. Dr. Lee kept the Americans informed, chiefly through his brother, Richard Henr}-, of the plans and measures of tile ministry, and was of essential service to the cause of popular liberty in America. He wrote much for the press in favor of the colonics ; 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 tho United States at the French court, as colleague of Dr. Franklin and Silas Deane. He held that position until 1779, wlien Franklin was appointed sole 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.2 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 he 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 farm near Urbuna, on the Rappahannock, and there he died, on the 14th of December, 1792, at the age of almost fifty-two years. 1. Dr. Lee was successful in his mission to both Spain and Pnissia. Although the King of Prussia would not receive him openlv, 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 king, and obtained favors for the United States. 2. See sketch of Deaue. CHRISTOPHER COLLES. 235 CHRISTOPHER COLLES. IN that superb Offering of Intellect to Worth and Genius, the Knickerbocker Gallery,' pubhshed at the close of 1854, Dr. John W. Francis has given an exceedingly interesting sketch of Christopher Colles, 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 suo-gestive. This kindly embalming by an appreciating hand, has saved a name deserving of honor from that forgetfulness which the world too often indulges toward genius in linsey-woolsey. Mr. Colles was born in Ireland about the year 175*7. Under the care and instructions of Richard Pococke, the celebrated Oriental traveUer, he acquired much scientitic knowledge and considerable expertness in the use of different languages. His patron died in 1765, and Colles came to America soon after- ward. ''Ho 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 the 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 New York with wholesome water, and steps were taken for the purpose, when the Revolution interfered. Year after year he 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 the Croton, was the proposed fountain of supply. In 1808, he pubhshed an interesting pamphlet on canals. In 1789, lh\ CoUes published a series of sectional Road Maps, for the use of travellers in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia; and, in 1794, he issued the first 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 living, when he made New York his permanent residence, and frequently assisted al- manac makers in their calculations. He manufactured painters' colors, and proof-glasses to test the quality of liquors. Finally " we find our ttbiquitous 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 the Government House at the Bowling-green. These hum- ble employments did not lessen him in the esteem of the eminent men of that time, who knew and admired the profundity of his acquirements ; and De Witt Clinton always regarded him as among the most prominent and efficient pro- moters of internal improvements. Dr. Milclnll was his warm friend; Jarvis thought it an honor to paint his portrait; 2 and Dr. Ilosack commemorated him 1. A volume composed of contributions from the surviving writers for The Knicl-erhocker Magazine, and embellished with their portraits. It was prepared us a testimonial of esteem for Lewis Gaylord Clarke, the editor of the Magazine, and for his benefit the profits of the worl< are to be devoted. The above sketch is tlie substance of l>r. Francis' Memoir of Colles. 2. That picture is now 11856) in the possession of the New York Historical Society. 236 THOMAS SUMTER. 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 two be- sides the officiating clergyman followed his body to the grave! These honored two were Dr. Prancis and Jolm 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 ! THOMAS SUMTER. THE "South Carolina Game-Cock," as Sumter was caUed, was, next to Marion, tlie 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 l^lace of his birth is unknown. That event occurred, as some circumstances in- dicate, about the year 1734. His name tirst appears in public as heutenant- colonel of a regiment of riflemen, in March, 177G, and he appears to have been in Charleston until within a few days before its surrender to the Brilish, in May, 1780. He was not among the prisoners, and was doubtless in the vicinit\' 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 Rock}^ Mount, on the Ca- tawba; and, early in August, he fouglit a severe battle with the British and Loyalists 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 camp at the Fish Dam Ford, in Chester district. Twelve days afterward, he defeated Tarle- ton in an engagement at Blackstocks, on the Tj^ger river; but, being severely wounded, he proceeded immediately to North Carolina, where he remained until his wounds were healed. p]arly in February, 1781, Sumter again took the field, and while Greene was retreating before Lord Cornwallis, he was aiding Marion, Pickens, and others, in humbling the garrisons of the enemy on the borders of the low country-. He continued in activ^e 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 Santee (now Statesburg), South Carolina. There he lived until he had almost reached cen- tenary honor.s. He died there, on the 1st of .June, ]83'2, 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 P]lli?on, 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 ^^/^^^ WILLIAM PINKNEY. ONE of the most profound and brilliant of the orators and statesmen of his age, was the equally-renowned diplomatist, William Pinkney, of Maryland. He was born at Annapolis, on the 17 th of March, 1764. Although his father was a staunch loyalist, William, as soon as he reached young manhood toward the close of the Revolution, warndy 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. He 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 vState legislature. The follow- ing year, President Washington appointed him one of the commissioners under 238 OLIVER WOLCOTT. the provisions of Jay's treaty, and be 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 Marj'land. 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 Anally 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. He 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. He went to the tield in defence of his native State, in 1814, and fought the British bravely at Bladensburg. He was soon afterward elected to Congress; and, in 1816, he was appointed minister to the court of St. Petersburg. There he remained until 1820, Avhen he returned home, and was immediately chosen to a seat in the United States Senate. In that body, and in the Supreme Court of the United States, ho labored intensely until the close of 1821, when his health suddenly gave way. He died on the 25th of February, 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 VaUey, whither he went from Dorchester, near Boston, in 1736, and made his residence at Windsor. There, on the 26th of November, 1'726, his distinguished descendant, Oliver Wolcott, was born. At the age of seventeen years ho 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 George's War, was then in progress, and young Wolcott obtained a captain's commission, raised a company, 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 county, Connecticut, where he resided. He was distinguished for his early advocacy of the cause of the colonists in the disjDute with Great Britain, and was a member of the council of his native State from 1774 until 1786. In tlie meanwhile he 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 affiiirs for the northern 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 he was in command of a body of troops in the army of Gates, at Saratoga, when Burgoyne 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 Btatueof George the Third, which stood in the Bowling-green at the foot of Broadway, New York, a greater portion of it was sent to (rovemor Wolcott, at Litchfield, to be converted into bullets. This service was performed by a son and two dauehters of Governor Wolcott, Mr. and Miss Marvin, and Mrs. Beach. According to an aocount-cnrrent 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, Ebcnezer Hazzard, in a letter to Gates, said, " His [the king's] troops will probably have melted majesty fired at them." THOMAS COOPER. 280 governor of Connecticut, and was annually reelected to that office for ten years, when he was chosen chief magistrate. He was again chosen governor, in 1797, and was an incumbent of the chair of State at the time of his death, which oc- curred on the 1st of December, of that year, when he was in the seventy-second year of his age. Inflexible integrity, sterling virtue, and exalted pietj^, were the prominent traits of Governor Wolcott's character. He was also a bright example as 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 the public esteem than Dr. Thomas Cooper, for many years president of the Col- lege of South Carolina. He was a native of England, where he was born in 1759. He was graduated at Oxford University at the age of eighteen years. Bearipc- 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 i^olitics, with a democratic idea as his guiding star. When the French Revolution blazed fortli, 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 P]ngland, and enthusiasm began to cool, Cooper found his country an uncomfortable and perhaps a dangerous place to domicil in ; and. in 1794, he came to America, with his friend Dr. Priestly, and other reformers. He resided awhile in New York city, then in Philadelphia, and became first a judge of a court of common pleas 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, he was a dispenser as well as a recipient of knowledge. His attainments were multiforious and extraordinary; and he WTote and published works on Law, Medical Jurisprudence, and Political Econ- omy. He 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 Mm the Professorsliip of Chemistry in the University of Virginia, but he dechned it. He 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 Enghsh 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 his care. He was the niore dangerous in this respect, because his man- ners were captivating, 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 jiresideut of the college, on the 11th of May, 1839, in the eightieth year of his 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 Hopldnsians. He was born in Waterburv, Connecticut, on the 17th of September, 1721, and in the excellent society of that town his youth was spent, and the labors of a farm 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 father'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 b3'an ecclesiastical council. He went to Newport, Rliode 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 thej^ 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 family, 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 faithful pastor there, and sub- sisted upon the weekly contributions of his friends. He was deprived of the use of his limbs, by paralysis, in 1799, but so far recovered as to be able to preach again. He died on the 20th of December, ISO."?, at the age of eighty-two years. Dr. Hopkins was an inefficient preacher. His pen, and not his tongue, was the chief uttercr 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. T)r. Hopkins not only embraced the whole Calvinistic doctrine of "total depravity " and "pre- destination and election," bnt added thereto some extraordinary views concerning the origin and nature of sin, qnite incompatihle with reason or common Fense. Yet niany embraced his doctrines : and his two volumes of sermons have been extensively read and admired by those who have a taste for such meta- physical disfiuisitions. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 241 (C^ f/^ //i^^^-^i^CA^ army was gathering to chastise tlie hostile Indians in the North-west. Young Harrison's mihtary 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 Heutenancy, in 1792; and, in 1794, he followed Wayne to conflicts with the North-western tribes, where he greatly distinguislied himself. He was appointed secretary of the North-western Ter- ritory, in 1797, and resigned his military commission. Two years afterward, when only twenty-sis years of age, he was elected the first delegate to Congress from the Territory.' On the erection of Indiana into a separate territorial government, in 1801, Harrison was appointed its chief magistrate, and he was continued in that oflSce, by consecutive reappointments, until 1813,2 when the war with Great Britain called him to a more important sphere 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 a 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. He was 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 had also held the office of commissioner of Indian affairs, in that Territory, and had concluded no less than thirteen important treaties with the different tribes. 11 242 ARTHUR ST. CLAIR. and other victories in the lake country, his military 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. He 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 on 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 ofQce 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 fiiiled in winning that fame to which 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 1T34, 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 tliousand acres of land in that then wilderness, and resided there untU the beginning of the Revolution. He was appointed to the command of a battalion of Pennsylvania militia, in January, 1776, and received from Congress the commission of colonel. He 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, Burgovne, 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, be proceeded to join General FRANCOIS XAVIER MARTIN", 243 Greene, in the South, and on his way he drove the British from "Wilmington, North Carolina. General St. Clair was a member of the executive council of Pennsylvania, in 1783, and was elected to Congress three years afterward. lie was president of .that body, early in 1787. Upon the erection of the North-western Territory into a government, in 1788, he was appointed its governor, and held that office until 181)2, when Ohio 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 liimself 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. He resided in dreary loneliness near Laurel Hill, Westmoreland county, and for a long time vainly petitioned Congress to allow certain claims. He tinally obtained a pension of sixty dollars a month, and his last davs 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 country, was Fraugois Xavier Martin, better known to the general reader as the accomplished Historian of North Carolina.' He was born at Marseilles, in France, on the I7th of March, 1762. At the age of twenty years he came to America. The war of the Revo- lution was then just drawing to a close, a*nd he took up his residence at New- born, in North Carolina, and prepared himself for the profession of the law. On his first appearance at the bar, he gave evidence of that acutonesa which marked his whole career, in whatever station in life ho was called to act. His practice became extensive and lucrative, and he soon took a high social position in hia adopted State. In 180G, ho was called to represent Newborn 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 Territory, and he made his residence at Natchez. On the 1st of February, 1815, he was"^ elevated by Governor Claiborne to the bench of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, as one of tlio associate judges. Ho 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 Supremo Court of Louisiana until the adoption of the present constitution of that State, in the Autumn of 1815, 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 with 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 wliich he lived. 1. His History of North Carolina, including' the story of its discovery, settlement, and progress of colonization, nn'ti! the beginning of the Revolution, was commenced in 1791, but was not published until 1829, when it was issued from a New Orleans press, in two octavo volumes. 244 ANDTIEW JACKSON". ANDREW JACKSON. " A SK nothing but what is right — submit to notliinp: wrong," was Andrew ii Jaclvsou's great poUtica] maxim ; and it was an abiding principle in his character from iiis earliest j^outh 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 tlie upper part of South Carolina, in the vicinity of Waxhaw Creek. Jackson's father lived north of the dividing Une between North and South Carolina, in Mecklenburg county, and there Andrew was borl^ on the 15th of March, 17G7. His father died five days afterward, and a month later, his 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 fumulta 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 young Jackson's nature was aroused by this event, and, boy as he was, not yet fourteen years of age, he joined the patriot army and went to the field. One of his brothers was killed at Stono, and himself and another brother were made cajDtives, in 1781. The widow 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 day.' 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 licensed to practice, in 1786. He was soon afterward ap- pointed solicitor 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 dilBculties with gamblers and fraudulent creditors and land speculators, and his wonderful personal triumphs in hours of greatest danger, make the record of hjs life one of rare interest and instruction. In 1790, Jackson made his residence at Nashville, and there he married an accomplished woman, who had been divorced from her husband. In 1795, ho 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, he took a seat in the United States Senate, to which he 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 Supremo Court of his State. He resigned that office, in 1804, and retired to his beautiful estate near Nashville. There ho 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 trreat Britain was proclaimed, 1. Tarleton gave no quarter, and about one hunrlrpi and fifty men, ready to surrender to superior numbers, were kiUed or cruelly maimed. Thewou d?'l and (he dying: were taken into the Waxhaw meeting-liouse, and there the mother of Jackson, and olher women, attended them. Tinder Ihe roof of that sacred edifice, young Jackson first saw Ihe demon of war in its mo.st horrid form, and all that misery and British power and oppression, were ever afterward associated in his mind. ANDEEW JACKSON, in 1812, he longed for employment in the field. ITe was called to duty in 1813, Early the following year he wai? made a major-general, and from that time until his great victory at New Orleans, on the 8th of January, 1815, his name 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 Seminoles and other Southern Indians, and, at the same time, he taught the Spanish authorities in Florida some useful lessons, and hastened the cession of that territory to the United States. In 1821, President Monroe appointed General Jackson governor of Florida; and, in 1823, he offered him the station of resident minister in Mexico. He declined the honor, but accepted a seat in the United States Senate, to which the legislature of Tennessee had elected him. He was one of the four candi- dates for President of the United States, in 1824, btit was unsuccessful. He was elevated to that exalted station, in 1828, by a large majority, and was reelected, in 1832. His administration of eight years was marked by great energy; and never were the affairs of tlie Republic, in its domestic and foroisrn relations, more prosperous than at tlio close of his term of office. In tiio 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. He lived qm'etlv at his residence near Nashville, called The Hermitage, until on a calm Sunday, tlie 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 liis 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 BOWDITCH. 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. He 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 Neio American Pradkal 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 1804, 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 wind-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 age. In 180G, 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 Society of London, in 1818. Ho contributed many valuable papers to scientific publications, but the great work of his life was the translation and annotation of Laplace's Mecanique Celevte. He published it at his own expense entirely, remarking that ho would rather spend a thousand dollars a year, in that way, than to rkle 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 183-1. 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 dieil on the 16th of March, 1838; and his last words were "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word." Ho 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 bcticRts. On' the day previous to his sailing on his last voyage, he was called ripon by Eilumnd N. Blunt, then a noted publisher of charts and nautical books, at Newburyport, and requested to continue the corrections which he had previously commenced on Moore's book on navigation, then in common use. In perform- ance of his promise to do so, he detected so many and important errors, that he resolved to prepare an entire new work. That work was his Practical Navigator. MARINUS WILLETT. 247 Latin, Greek, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and German languages. lie 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 hfe was pure. MAKINUS WILLETT. NO member of the associated Sons of Liherhj, in New York, exceeded Marinus Willett in devotion to republican principles, and in boldness of action when called to their support, lie was born at Jamaica, Long Island, on the 10th of Auo-ust, 1740. lie was one of thirteen children, and lived to survive them all. The Frencli and Indian war v/as burning fiercely in northern New York when ho approached young manhood. His military passion was fired, and, before ho was eighteen years of age, ho entered the provincial army with a second lieu- tenant's commission, under the command of Colonel Oliver Delancy.' He shared in the misery of Abercrombie's defeat at Ticonderoga, in 1758; and immediately afterward he accompanied Colonel Bradstrect in his successful expedition against Fort Frontenac (now Kingston, Upper Canada), at the foot of Lake Ontario. Fatigue and exposure impaired his health, and he left the service soon afterward. When, a few years later, the Stamp Act spread a deep and ominous murmur over the land, Mr. "Willett had chosen Ins 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 British troops in New York were ordered to Boston, after the skirmish at Lexington, they attempted to carry oft' a large quantity of spare arms, in ad- dition to their own. ' Willett resolved to prevent it, and, though opposed by tho mayor and other Wliigs, 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 Chambly, to Ticonderoga, and then was placed in command of St. John's. Ho held that post until January, 177(5. In November of that year ho was appointed lieutenant-colonel; and, at the opening of the campaign of 1777, he was placed in command of Fort Constitution, on tho 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 be joined the army under Washington, 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'l7S0, 1781, and 1782. At the close of the war ho 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 army intended to act against tho North-western Indians. Ho declined the appointment, for he was opposed to the expedition. He was for some time sheriff of New York, and was elected mayor of the city, in 1807. Ho was chosen elector of president and 1 It may be interesiinp; to the voung to know the style of a military dress nt that lime. Willett thus describes his own uniform : A preen coat trimmed with silver twist, white under-clolhes, and black gaiters ; also a cocked hat, 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-lirst vear of his age. JOHN ^TARK. " "DOTS! there 's the enemy. They must he heat, or Molly Stark must sleep a 13 widow tliis night! Forward, boys! March!" Sucli 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, and 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 agaiiist these very Indians and their sometimes equally savage FrcDch allies, four years afterward. He became a captain, under Major Rogers, in IVSG, and in that school he was taught those lessons winch he practiced so usefully twenty years later. "When intelligence 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, with eight hundred men under his banner. With these he 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 Cliaraplain : and near the close of the year, he commanded the right wing of Sullivan's colunni 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 victorj'. Congress Avas 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 victor}'. 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-Gkn- ERAL Stark. His eulogium is daily uttered by our free institutions — his epitai^h is in the memory of his deeds. PHILLIS WHEATLET 249 fTZ^ ^7^..^-*^ 7 PHILLIS WHEATLEY. " 'Twas mercy brought me from my pagan land, Taught my benighted soul to understand That there 's a God — that there 's a Saviour too ; Once I redemption neither sought nor knew." SO felt the heart, and so recorded the pen of a child of Africa, who, by her talent and virtue, honored her race and challenged the kindly regard of many of the good and great of our country. The lady of a respectable citizen of Boston, named Wheatley, went to the slave-market, in that city, in ITCI, 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. "Wheatley took her home in her chaise, and gave her the name of Phillis. The child seemed to bo about seven years of age, and exhibited remarkable intehigence, and apt imitative powers. Mrs. Wheatley's daughter taught the child to read and write, and her progress was wonderful. She appeared to have very little recollection of her birth-place, but remembered 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 j)erfect docility. She soon attracted the attention of men of learning ; aiid as rhillis 11* 250 PHILLIS WHEATLEY. read books with great avidity, tliey supplied her. Piety was a ruling sentimeut 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 prose but more frequently in verse ; and she was often an invited guest in the families 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 poom, 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 firo was always made in her room, at night. In the Summer of 1773, her health gave waj-, and a sea-voyage was recommended. She accom- panied a son of Mr. Whcatlej', to England, and there she was cordially received by Lady Huntingdon, Lord Dartmouth, and other people of distinction. While there, her poems, which 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 Phillis grieved as deeply ;is any of her children. Mr. Wheatloy died soon afterward, and then his excel- lent daughter was laid by the side of her j^arcnts. Phillis was left destitute, and the sun of her carthlj' happiness went dov.m. A highlj^-intelligent colored man, of Boston, named Peters, o3ered 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 tho State, to live, for awhile, and then returned to Boston. Misfortune seems to have expelled her muse, for wo have no production of her pen bearing a later date than those in her volume published in 1773, except a poetical epistle to GeneranVashington, in 1775," 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 j'outh had been passed in ease and even luxury, was allowed to perish, alone ! Her spirit took wing on the 5th of December, ] 704, when she was about forty-one years of age. 1. On one occasion, Phillis was from homo on a visit, aurl, as the weather was inclement, lier mis>tre^.s pent one of her slaves, with a chaise, afier her. Prince took his sent beside Phillis. As they drew up to the house, and their mistress saw ihem, the good woman indignantly exclaimed, " Do but look at the saucy varlel — if he has not the impudence to sit upon the same seat with Pliillis !" And she severely reprimanded Prince for foigeliing the dignity of Phillis. 2. Phillis' letter was dated the 2U',h of October, l~,15. Washington answered iton the 28th of February, 1776, as follows. His letter was wiitien at his hcad-quarteis, at Cambiidpc : " Miss Phillis, — Your favor of the 20th of October did not reach my hands till the middle of necem- ber. Time enough, you 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 yon most sincerely for your polite notice of me in the elegant lines yon incloFcd ; and however undeserving I may be of such encoraiura and panegyric, the style and manner exhibit a striking proof of your poetical 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 yoin* 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 sltould ever come to Cambridge, or near head-quarters, I ^hall be iiappy to see a person so favored by the Muses, and to wlinm nature has been so liberal and beneficent in her dispensations. I am, with great respect, your obedient, humble servant, " Geo, Wa!!Kikgto>\" CONRAD WEISEE. — ISAAC SEAES. 251 CONRAD WEISEK. NE of the most noted agents of communication between the white men and , . the Indians, was Conrad Wciser, a native of Germany, who came to Amer- ica in carlv hfe, and settled, with his flither, in the present Scholiane county. New Yorlc, 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 the Schoharie and Mohawk Valleys, with whom he spent much of his life. Late in 17.14, 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 Weiser was enamored of the free life of the savage, lie was naturalized by them, and became thoroughly versed in the languages of the whole Six Nations, 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 1737, and, with only a Dutchman and three Indians, he traversed the track- less forest for five hundred milep, 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 was commissioned a colonel of a volunteer regiment from Berks countv ; and, in 1758, he attended the great gathering of the Indian chiefs in council with white commissioners, at !■ 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 Melchou- Muhlenburg, D.D., the founder of the Lutheran Church, in America, ISAAC SEARS. I7EW men have occupied so largo a space in the public attention, of whom bo 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 of King Sears, by which title he is better known than by his commercial one of captain. Of him, a Loyalist writer in Rivington's Gazette wrote, exultingly, when the New York Assembly yielded to ministerial require- ments : " And so, my good masters, I find it no joke. For York "has stepp'd forward and thrown off Uio yoke Of CoiiKicss, committees, and even Kini/ f!ears, WIio shows you good nature by showing his cars." Isaac Sears was lineally descended from one of the earlier settlers in Massa- chusetts, Avho came from Colchester, England, in ] 630. He was born at Nor- walk, Connecticut, in 1729. Of his youth and early manhood we know little, except that he was a mariner. He first appeared in public life as a prominent member of the association called Sons of Liherty, in 1765, when he was a suc- cessful mcrcliant in the city of New York, and a sea-captain of note. Ho_ was the chairman of the first Committee of Correspondence appointed by the citizens of New York, in 17fi5, and had for his colleagues John Lamb, Gcrshom Mott, William Wiley, and Thomas Robinson. At a later period, be was wounded in 252 EDWARD TELFAIR. an aifray with some soldiers ; and in every enterprise against the scliemes 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 Broadwa}', 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 printing-press, and carried off his type, at midday.- Although Captain Sears continued to be an active Whig during tlie 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. E D W A 11 D 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 17.35, and received an English education at the grammar school of Kirkcudbright, on the domain of the Earl of Selkirk.3 He came to America wheu twenty-three years of age, and resided some time in Virginia, as agent of a commercial house. From thence ho vrent to Halifix, on the Roanoke; and, in 176G, made his residence in Savannah. Ho was one of tlie earliest and most efficient promoters of the rebellion there, and was one of the leading members of the committee of safety, in 1774. Witli 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 roval governor. Sir James Wriglit.i 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 178.3, when he was appointed a commissioner to conclude a treaty with the Cherokee chiefe, by wliich the boundary line between their nation and Georgia was determined. He was governor of Georgia, first in 1786, and then from 1790 to 1793. Ho had the honor of entertaining President Washington, when he visited Georgia, in 1791, at his family seat, near Augusta. Governor Telfeir died at Savannah, on the 19th of September, 1807, in the seventy-second year of his age. He was buried with military honors. 1. (Jne of the biiilclings injured by thai cannonade was the tave-n of Samuel Fraunce, commonly known by the name of iJ^acA: Sam, on account of his dark complexion. It was the same building in which WashinRton 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. AARON BUER. 253 AARON BUKK. TN this country, where character alone is the accepted standard of respectabiUty, and where the shield of class does not avert the odium of public 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 spectacle of such a character as that of Aaron Burr may appear to the eye of the Christian and Patriot, the detestation in which it is held is a confirmation of faith in that public virtue. Burr was undoubtedly 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. He was a wayward boy, yet full of in- tellectual promise. At twelve years of age he entered Princeton College, and left it in 1772, a ripe scholar for one of his years, and the recipient of academic 254 JAMES THACHEE. 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 countrj-, and he joined the Continental army, at CanibrLdge. Full of adventurous spirit, ho volunteered to accompan}' Arnold through the wilderness, to Quebec. There he was made one of Montgomery's aids, and was with that officer when he fell. Soon after that he entered the military family of General Washington, from which ho was expelled in consequence of some immoral conduct which disgusted tho com- mander-in-chief. Burr was commissioned a lieutenant-colonel, in 1777, and con- tinued in active service until 1779, when failing health compelled him to resign his office. lie had already acquired an unenviable character for expcrtness in intrigue ; and his hostility to AVashiugton was always bitter and uncompromising. Burr commenced the practice of law, at Albanj", in 1782, and soon afterward removed to the city of New York, where lie became distinguished in his pro- fession, lie was appointed attornej'-general of the State, in 1789; and from 1791 to 1797, he was a member of the United States Senate, and an influentiid republican leader, in that ho(]y. His winning manners gave him wonderful influ- ence. The power of his fascinations over tho other sex was almost unbounded and ho used it for the basest purposes. As a politician he was artful and intrig- uing; and ho managed so adroitly for himself, that he 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 Je.fTersou, after thirty-six ballotings, and Burr was declared Vice-President, according to usage in the early days of the Republic. Burr was the bitter enemj^ 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 he was engaged in forming an expedition in the western couutry, professedly to invade Mexico. It was sus- pected that Burr intended to attempt a severance of the Western from tho Eastern States, and make himself president of the former. Ho was arrested on a charge of high treason, tried at Richmond, in Virginia, in 1807, and acquitted. He passed tho remainder of his life in comparative obscurity and almost total neglect. Profligate and unscrupulous until the last, that wretched man, whoso libertinism had carried desolation into many households, went down into the grave, " Unwept, unhonorcd, and unsung ;" a warning to all. He died on Staten Island, near New York, on tho llth of September, 1836, at the age of eighty years. JAMES THACHER. ONE of the latest survivors of the medical staff of the Continental army, was James Thacher, M.D., whose interesting Journal, kept during the entire war, was published in 1827, and is regarded as standard authorit}^ in relation to matters of which it treats. James Thaciier was born at Barnstable, Massa- chusetts, in 1754. lie studied medicine in his native town, under Dr. Abner ilersey, and was prepared to enter upon the practice of his profession, "at the 1. ThP friends of bnth parries endeavored, in vain, to settle the dif^pute without recourse to arms, but Burr seemed resolved on takinp: the life of Hamilton. He exacted «nch concessions and humiliating terms of ci>mpromise, as he l itrli West India Conipanj, under whose auspices the province was founded, granted to i->i 1 in i ^ \^llcl^lluldd lead or send a certain number of fsniilies to make a settleniei't in America, I.I : - I -' .rf Iniid willi spoi'ilied social and political privileges. Among the director.' I.IAM 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 1730. He was descended from one of that Huguenot company of which Marion's ancestor was a member, and inherited the ])atient endurance, courage, and love of libcrt}' of that per- secuted people. History first notices him as a subaltern in an expedition against the Cherokee Indians, in 17G0, under the command of Governor Littleton. Ho was also prominent in subsequent expeditions against that unhappy people. He was active in civil aflairs before the Revolution ; and, when the hour fi^r decision in that matter came, he was found in tiio ranks of the patriots as a military officer. When, early in the Summer of 177G, a strong land and naval force JOHN LAMB. 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 he was promoted to a brigadier, and the fort was named Moultrie, in Ids honor.2 From that time until the fall 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. After the surrender of Charleston, he was kept a prisoner in the vicinitv, for awhile, and was then paroled to Philadelphia, where lie remained until the'close of hostilities, in 1782. After his return home he was chosen governor of his native State, and was repeatedly reelected to that office. His integrity as a statesman and public officer was a bright example: his disinterestedness was beyond all praise. His 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 repo.se he prepared his Memoirs of the Revohitiou in the South, wliich were published in two octavo volumes, in 1802. Like a bright sun setting without an ob.sCm-ing cloud, the hero and sage descended peacefully to his final rest. On the 27th of September, 1805, at the age of seventy- five years. T JOHN LAMB. HE Sons of Liberty m Xcw 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 of his father. He abandoned it in 1700, 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 hquor trade, and, at the same time, was one of the most active politicians of the day, after the pass- age of the Stamp Act had aroused the American people. He spoke French and German lluentl}^ was a good scholar, and was exceedingly expert in the use of liis tongue and pen. These he devoted to the public good. On one occasion^ in 1769^ wlien an inflammatory hand-bill had called ''the betrayed inhabitants to the fields."^ Lamb harangued the nmltitude in seditious words. He was taken before the Legislative Assembly to testify concerning the authorship of the hand- bill, but was s'oon discharged.^ This event intensified his zeal, and he contmued 1. During the action, a cannon ball cut tlie American flaR-staCf, and the banner fell outside of (he fort Serseanl William .Jasper, of Moultrie's regiment, immediately leaped down from the parapet, P^ Ked uP the flaK while the balls were falling thick and fast, coolly fastened it to a sponge s aff, and unfurled it again over the bastion of the fort. For this daring feat, (Jovernor Rutledge presented Jaspei wilh liis own sword, the next day, and offered him a lieutenant's commission. The yourg hero mofiesny re- fused it, saying, " I car. neither read nor write ; I am not fit to keep officers' company ; 1 am only a ""^ On ilie day when the enemy departed from Charleston, Mrs. Bernard KUiott (a niece of Mrs Rebecca Motte), presented General Moultrie's reeiment with a pair of elegant silk colors, wrongM 1 ^ the ladies of Charleston. These were afterward planted upon the fortifications at Savannah, when l.mcoln and IV Kstaing besieged that citv, in October, 177P. Both the young officers who .'^"'■'^ , ^em ''^^^ ki ed .■Sergeant .lasper was there, and, seizing one of them, he mounted a If'"'"". j''«" M' {"^iyhTs ;„' he I'V a bullet. These flags were Mirrendered at Charleston, in 1780, and were afterward trophies in itie Tower of London. , -o1i»h " iho fiplriu "' X The ground now occupied bv the Citv Hall and ils surroiindirg Park was called the Hems. ■.-here a " Libertv Pole" was erected, and there the popular assemblages weie heio „„„,._,„, .,._,. i. The hand-bill was written by Alexander MacDougall, afterward a general in the Continental arni>. KED JACKET. to be an accepted political leader until 1775, wlien he entered the artillerj- ser- vice of the array, with the commission of captain. He accompanied Montgomery to Quebec at the close of that year. He was severely wounded there, in the 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 the 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, dming the remainder of the war. It is sufficient to say that he was everywhere brave and skilful, and shared in the dangers and lienors of the final victory at Yorktown. He was as warm a politician after the war as before it, and served his fellow-citizens faithfully hi 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 J A C K E T . THE renowned Seneca warrior and orator, Sa-go-ye-ica-thef, the Red Jacket,' was born about the year 1750, near the spot where the city of Bufialo 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. Hq took part with the British and Tories during the Revolution, but was more 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 liatred and contempt, as a traitor and dishonest man.- The colebrated Seneca first appears in historj^ in the record of Sullivan's campaign, and then in an un- f.ivorablc light. After that we have no trace of liim until HS-l, when he ap- [)eared at the great treaty at Fort Stanwix (now Rome), where, l)y certain con- cessions of territory b\- 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 tlie mouth of the Detroit river, in 1786. After that there were many disputes and lieart-liurnings between the white peoiile 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 wis grivcn him from the circumstance that a British officer, toward tlic close of (hu Revolution, gave him a liclily-embroideied scarlet jacltet, whicli he took fireat iileusme in wearinp. Others were presented to him, as one was worn out ; and even as late as the t'caty nt ('anandaipua, in 1794, Captain Parish, one of the United States' inteipreters, pave him one. The led jacliet 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 tight, was found, during the engagement, in a place of safety, cutting up a cow that he had killed, which lielonged to another Indian. Whei Cornplanter, Brani, and Red .Jacket, were at Morris' table, one day, rornplanter told the story, as if another Indi.an had committed the act. The narr.itor and Brant laughed heartily, and Red Jacket c;.- daavored to. join Ihi^n, but was evidently very much embarrassed, / .S. See sketch of Cornplanter. RED JACKET of our national government, in behalf of his race, and was always treated witli the utmost respect.' Unlike Corn planter, 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. lie had become a slave to strong drink, and he attributed the prevalence of the vice among his people to the missionaries, who, he said, sold liquor 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 ihc 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 tliis 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.'- Eleven of them died of that terrible disease, the consumjMon, one after another, and Red Jacket felt his bereavement to be the chastisement of the Great Spirit for his habitual drunkenness. On being asked about his femily, by a lady who once knew them, the chief said, sorrowfully, "Red 1. On one occasion, Washington presented a large silver medal to Rod .Jacket, bearing- (he representa- tion of a white man and an Indian shalsing hands, and the names of Washington and Red Jacket en {;raved upon it. 2. His second wife became a professed Christian, in 1826. She is represented as a woman of remark r.hle personal dignity and superiority of mind. Her conversion alienated her husband for ."everal months, and he resided some distance from her. He finallv thought better of it, asked and obtained her forgiveness, and they lived iu perfect hiiimony afterward. ' 12 2('] HENRY CRUGER. Jacket was once a groat man, and in flivor with the Great Spirit. He was a lofty pine among the smaller trees of the forest. But after years of glory he degraded himself by drinking the fire-water of the white man. The. Great Spirit has looked uqwn him in ariger, and his lightnuig has stnp2xd the pine of its branches .'" The influence of Christianity and civilization upon the Seneca nation disturbed the repose of Red Jacket, during the latter part of his Ufe. These influences, working with a general disgust produced by Ins excessive intemperance, alien- ated his people; and, in 1827, he was formally deposed.' It was a dreadful blow to the proud chief and he went to Washington city to invoke the aid of government in his behalf Ho returned with good advice in his memory, ob- tained a grand council, and was restored to authority. But his days were al- most numbered. Ho soon afterward became imbecile, and, in a journey to the Atlantic sea-board, he permitted Inmself to be exhibited in museums, for money! 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, tlae comedian, placed an inscribed slab of marble, in 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 representation, and were thus, practically^, the victims of tyranny. Yet they ivere represented by a few, in the British parliament, when tbe quarrel which resulted in dismemberment was progressmg, but of that few, only one was a native of the western world. It was Henry Crviger, who Avas 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 famih^, 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, Jiaving for his colleague the afterward eminent Edmund Burke. That then fledgling statesman was introduced at the hustings by Mi\ Cruger, and delivered an address at the conclusion, which elicited warm aj)- plausc. It is reported tliat 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 Cliatham, he deprecated a severance of the colonies from the British realm; but, in 1780, when the continuance of union becatne impossible, he declared that "the Amer- ican war should be put an end to, at all events, in order to do which the indc- ))endency 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, he 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, was signed by twenty-six chief men of the itio^i. i:atio:i. JAMES A. KAYARl). 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 miUtary service previous to the Revolution, adhere'd 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 Gruger was a son-in-law of Colonel Oliver Delancey. He died in London, in 1807, at the age of sixty-nine years. His wife died at Chelsea, England, in 1S22, 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 Jul}^, 1767. At a very early ago 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 .Jersej'-, where he was graduated with the highest honors, in 1784, at the ago of seventeen years. He chose the profession of law, studied it witli 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 Representatives, from 1797 until 1S04, no man was more highly esteemed for talents and personal wortli tlian ]\lr. 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 Mouse of Representatives, and Mr. Bayard and three other Federal members held the choice in their own hands, his colleagues submitted the matter to his judgment, and he fortunately gave the office to Jefferson. A few days after- ward President Adams appointed Mr. Bayard minister plenipotentiary to France, but he patriotically declined it for political reasons. In 1804, he was elected to a seat in the United States Senate, to fill a vacancy; and, in February, 1805, he was reelected for the full term of six years. Li that body, also, lie was an esteemed leader; and, in 1811, the legislature of Delaware again elected him United States Senator, for another full term. He opposed the declaration of war against Great Britain, in 1812, but, when a majority in Congress gave sanc- tion to the measure, he cheerfully acquiesced, and, it is said, actually labored with liis own hands in the erection of defences at Wilmington, where he resided. In 1813, the Emperor of Russia offered his mediation between the United State.s 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 they were informed that England would not accept the Tnediation 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, ELIAS HICKS. ia August, 181-1, 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, Vjut lingering disease. He waited there until duty sliould 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 dechnerl 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 there is no return. He died on the 6th of August, 1815, when a little more than forty-eiglit years of age. ELIA8 HICKS. THE Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers, having but one accepted standard of futli and discipline, were remarkable for tlieir unity until about 1825, when Elias Hicks, a distinguished and iutiuential preacher, boldly enun- ciated Unitarian doctrines. This produced much dissatisfaction, and the hitherto united and peaceful society exhibited two parties, styled respectively Ortlwdox, or Trinitarians, and Hicksites, or Unitarians, and was agitated by much and violent party feeling.?. The breach widened, and finally a separation took place. The two parties assumed distinct organizations, and the Unitariiins. being in tlic majorit}^ generally took possession of the meeting-houses, and compelled the Orthodox to erect new ones. Tho breach still continues. Elias Hicks was born in Hcm{)Stead, Long Island, on the 19th of March. 1748. Of his early life we have no record, except that it was passed in the quiet pur- suits of a farmer. He was married in Januarj-, 1771, and at about that period was acknowledged a member of the Society of Friends. Four yeUrs afterward he first appeared as a minister; and for fifty-three j-ears 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 vears he visited his brethren and sisters in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, and Indiana, like Paul, "confirming them in the fiitli." Soon after liis return home, his wife died, and the following Summer he visited the nortlicrn and western parts of the State of New York, everywhere preaching with great clearness and power. The writer heard him 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 wrote a long and interesting letter to a "Western friend, and immediately afterward his whole right side was smitten with paralysi.s. ■, Ho died on the 27th fif the same month, aged eighty-two years. During his ministry, he travelled almost ten thousand miles, and delivered at least one thousand discourses.^ 1. Bayard's colleagues were John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, Jonathan Russell, and Albert (lallatiu. Those of (ireat Britain were Lord Gambier, Henry Goulbourn, and William .-^dains. 2. An anecdote is told which illustrates his conscientiousness. He was informed bv his son-inlaw 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 repl.v in the nefrative, he said, " That is not right ;' and he insisted upon the creditors placing him and his son-in-law on the same footing with others. COUNT RUMFOIiD. 2 GO ^':n^^ (y^^'X^ COUNT RUMFOKL). BY industry, perseverance, and integrity, working in hiirmony with genius and a trulv benevolent spirit, Benjamin Tliompson, a humble New Hampslnre schoolmaster, became a " Count of the Holy Roman Empire,'^ and a companion of kings and philosophers. He was born at Woburn, Massachusetts, on the 2Sth 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 stady of medical science in his native town. He attended lectures at Cambridge, m 1771, and employed a portion of his time in teaching schools, first at Wilmmgton. and then at Bradford. He was finally invited to take charge of a school at Runi- ford (now Concord), in New Hampshire. The fame of his philosophical experi- ments already made preceded him, and his handsome fiice, noble person, and grace of manners, made him a flivorite. Before he was twenty years of age, he was the husband of a young and wealthy widow, daughter of Rev. Tnnothy Walker, minister of the town. His talent and this connection gave hmi high social position, at once, and he found leisure to pursue scientific investigations. Thus he was emploved 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 decUned to act with the 70 CO ['NT EUMFORD. Whigs. His neutrality was construed as opposition, and he was linally com- pelled to fly, for personal safety, to the protection of tlie British, in Boston, leav- iiig 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 hi Boston until the Spring of 1776, when General Howe sent him to lingland with important despatches for the Britisli ministry concerning the evacuation of the Xew England capital. The ministry appre- ciated his worth, and scientific men sought his acquaintance, lie was ottered public employment, and accepted it ; and in less than four years after ho 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 Germany, bearing letters of introduction from eminent men in England. He was introduced to the Elector of Bavaria, who at once offered liiin honorable employment in his service. He repaired to England to ask per- mission to accept it, received the fevor, and was knighted by the king. Soon after his return to Munich he entered upon public service, and the ■•Yankee schoolmaster,'' like Joseph, became the second man in the kingdom. The Elec- tor made him Licutenant-General ; Commander-in-chief of tlie Staff; Mini.ster of War ; Member of the Council of State ; a Knight of Poland ; Member of the Academy of Sciences in three cities ; Comraandcr-in-chief of the General Staff; Superintendent of the Police 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 tlie unbounded love and admiration of all classes.' tV^hen, in 179G, Muhicli was assailed by an Austrian army. Sir Benjamin Tliompson 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 sei-- vices, by creating him a Count of the Holy Roman Empire. He chose the name of tlie birth-place of his wife and child for his title, and liencefortli he 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. Prom there, in 1794, he wrote to his daughter, the infant 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 ho 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 liis compliance, and he again went to Munich, where he remained until the death of the Elector, in 1799, wiion he 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 tlie 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 I. He established .a military workhouse at Manheim, and, by stringent, yet benevolent repnlations, he almost totally abolishiMl vajrranoy and mendicity from Munich, which had ever bcnn nuteii for these nuisances. In th' c\,TciBe of his goo 1 tast« and enterprise, he greatly .adorned and bciiulilieil Munich. A barren waste near the city was cnnvertcd iiitci a charming park for the enjoyment of the people, and there pleasure-irardens bloomed. To express their frratitude for (hesc various reformatory eftorls, the nobility and other principal inhabitants of Munich erected a handsome monument, with appropriate in- scriptions upon it, commemorative of his deeds, within the beauiiful pleasure-grounds he had given Ihera. STEPHEN GIRAKD. 271 large fortune, and the title of Countess of Rumford.i After many vicissitudes ni Europe, she returned to her native laud, and died at Concord, on the 2d ot December, 1852, at the age of sevent.y years.^ The death of Count Rumlbrd, says Professor Rcnwick, deprived " ni'ankind of one of its eminent benefactors, and science of one of its brightest ornaments." STEPHEN G I R A 11 r> . 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 Stepht^TPO ,fisa& Girard of Philadelphia, where the memory of his opulence is perpetuated by a college bearing his name. He was a native of France, and was born near Bor- deaux, on the"24th of May, 1750. He was the child of a peasant, and the onl;r school in which he was educated was the great world of active life. _Wlu n about eleven years of nge he left his native country, and sailed as a cabin-boy for the West Indies, lie 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 fmally as master. Having saved some money, he opened a small shop in Philadelphia^ in 1769, and the next year he married the beautiful daughter of a caulker. His own asperity of temper made their connubial life lUi- happy. She became insane, in 1790, and died in the Philadelphia hospital, in 1815. leaving no childreu. After his marriage. Girard occasionally sailed to the West Indies, ns mastei- 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 thein, for whole families were destroyed. A large sum of money was thus placed in his possession and never called for. Me 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 unllion 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 foi- his mother, Oount Rumford gave tlie American Academy of \rts and Sciences live thousand dollars, in 1796, and also very liberally endowed a professorship ni Har- vard University. The Rumford Professorship in that institution was established in 1816. 2 The reside'nce of Miss Sarah Thompson, Countess of Rumford, was a beautiful villa on the banks of the Merriraac, south of the village of Concord. A Kentleman of the highest respectability, who was i'ltimately acciuainted with that ladv, informs me that it was her firm belief that her father did not die m France, as is supposed. She related that on hearing of the death of her father, she repaired to Auteuil, but the servants could not show his grave, and their conduct appeared mysterious. She afterward wen to England, and lived in a house that belonged to her father, at Brompton, and which was bequeatliud to her in his Will. An adioining landholder soon afterw.ard 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. F'ourteen years atter tbe re- ported death of her father, the Countess, while repairing her house, was looking out of a window upon a iirighboring dwelling, when she plainbj mir thr Cnunt district school. Master Tappan survived his distin- giiisbe'd pupil a few months. He died on the 9th of February, 1853, at the age of almost cighty-six ^ 3 There are two academies bearinp; the same name — one at Exeter, founded by Honorable John Phillips ; the other at Andover, Massachusetts, found-ed by Honorable Samuel Phillips. i. See sketcli ofEleazer Wheelock. DANIEL WEBSTER. 277 Q^a^j^ //^^z^ as one of the soundest lawyers in the State; and during his nine years' residence in Portsmouth, he made constitutional law 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 then discussed. It was soon after war was declared against Great Britain, and the two great political parties, Federalists and Republicans, Avere violently opposed. Henry Clay was Speaker of the Lower House, and he im- mediately placed the newmembcruponthe very important Committee on Foreign Affairs. 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 seat in tlie House of Representatives, in 1814, by a large majority. At the close of the term he resumed the practice of his profession; and, in ISlfi, he removed to Boston, because it afforded a wider field for his expa'^ding legal business. In 181 T, he retired from Congress, and the following year ne was employed in the great Dartmouth College case, in which difficult constitutional questions were involved. Ilis efforts in that trial placed him at the head of constitutional law- yers in New England, a position which he always held. 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 aftlietion. 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 nulhfiers 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. Webster 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 his 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 favor of the Compromise Act, in which the Fugitive Slave law was embodied. On tho 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. GEORGE 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, born of the necessity for effort, to die within him, and his manhood becomes dwarfed by idleness or dissipation. Sucb 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 tliat 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 emi.nence in his profession. Honor was an every-day virtue with him, and lie was never engaged in an unrighteous cause. For several years preceding the Revolution, Mr. Wythe 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. Ho 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 Declai'ation of Independence. During the viutumn of that year, he was associated with Thomas Jefferson and Edmund Randolpli, 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. That office he held during the remainder of his life, a period of more than twenty years. Chancellor 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. He 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 he was twice chosen United States Senator. Notwithstanding his public duties were raultifirious 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 the 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'Intosli, a native of Scotland. He was born near Inverness) in 1727, and was a son of the head of the Borlam 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 afforded small means for acquiring an education, and Mrs. M'Intosh was unable to send her 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 Cliarleston, where his fine personal appearance, and the remembrance of his fatlier's military services in (Tcorgia, procured him many warm friends. Among these was the noble John Laurens, and he entered that gentleman's counting-room as under clerk. Disliking the inaction of commercial life witiiin doors, he left the business, returned to his paternal estate and the bosom 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 military taste of his father, he made himself fa- miliar with military tactics, and thus was prepared for the part he was called upon to act in the War for Independence. He was a leading patriot in his sec- tion of Georgia; and when the war broke out, he entered the army, received the commission of colonel, and was exceedingly active in the 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 ROBEET Y. HAYNE. 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 ibr niurder, and acquitted; but the trouble did not end there. The feud spread among the respective friends of the parties, and, at ono 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 department, with his head-quarters at Pittsburg. Early in 1778, General M'IntosIi decended the Ohio with a considerable force, erected a fort thirty miles below Pittsburg, and after considerable delay, ho 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'lntqsh 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. Ho 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 ho 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 ho died, at the age of seventy-nine years. ROBERT Y. HAYNE. THE names of Daniel Webster and Robert Y. 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 lOtli of November, 1791, near Charleston, South Carolina. His education was obtained at a grammar-school in Charleston, and at the age of seventeen year?; he commonced the study of law under the direction of the since eminent jurist and statesman, Langdon Cheves. He had not j^et 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, he volunteered his services, early in 1812, for the military defence of the sea-board, and entered the army as lieutenant. IIo 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 connnenced 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 age his business was very extensive ; and from that time until his death, his practic? 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 South Carolina Assembly. There he was distinguished for his elo- quence,' and his firm support of President Madison's administration, in its war 1. Mr. Ha3me's first effort at oratory was an oration on the 4th of July, 1S12, at Fort Moultvie, 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, ho was chosen Speaker of the Assembly; and the same- year he received the appointment of attorney-general for the State. In every duty to which he was called, young Hayne acquitted himself nobly; and the moment he 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. He 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 Ilayne was chosen governor of the State, and a few days after President Jack- sou'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 Hayne tilled the executive chair, with great energy, until 1834; and, on of remark, that his election to the South Carolina Assembly, at the head of thirty-one candidates, by ft larger vote than any individual had ever received, in a contested election, in Charleston, was an eviQence of his great popularity. Ho was then not twenty-three years of age. 282 RALPH izahd. 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 fiftietli year of his age. Governor Hayno may be ranked among the purest-minded men of his age. RALPH IZARD. TN 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 which 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 flimily-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 arriving at his majority, he returned to America, took possession of his ample fortune left by his Either, and, having no taste for the professions, ho 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 De Lancey, of Westchester countj^, 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 etiquette would compel him to bow the knee to tlie king and queen. He watclied the course of political events with great interest; and finally, in 1774, the excitement in London on the subject of American affairs so troubled liim, 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 liome 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 littlo 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 connnission and return home. In the meanwhile the false representations of Silas Deano had induced Congress to recal him. Tliat body afterward made ajiiple 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 tor funds needed byCommodoro Gillon, who had been sent from Soutli Carolina to Europe, to purchase frigates. On his return to America, in 1780, Mr. Izard inuiieiliately repaired to tho Iiead-quarters of Washington, and was there when tlie treason of Arnold was discovered. It is evident from his correspondence that he was chiefly instrn- 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 lie received the thanlcs 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 familj^, 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 South 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 sought repose, with the pleasant anticipations of many years of earthly happiness. But two years afterward he was suddenly prostrated by paralysis. His intellect was mercifully spared, and he lived in comparative comfort until the 30th 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, tlie father of the fourteenth President of the United States, affords a noble example of true manhood in private and public life, which 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 otTeuce, a long life, and the love and honor of fellow-men. In these lies hidden the priceless pearl of earthly haijpi- ness. Benjamin Pierce was descended from ancestors who settled at Pl3miouth, Massachusetts, three years after tlie Pilgrim Fathers first landed on that snowy beach.' He was the seventii 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 fur education v.^ere small, but the lad, possessing a naturally 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 physically, for a soldier of truest stamp. He hastened to Lexington, pushed on to Cambridge, and six days after the retreat of tlie British troops from Con- cord, he was enrolled in Captain Ford's company as a regular soldier. He fought bravely on Breed's Hill seven weeks afterward ; was faithful- in camp and on guard until the British were driven from Boston, in the Spring of 1776 ; followed the fortunes of Washington during the ensuing campaigns of that year, and was orderly sergeant of his company, before he was twenty years of age, in the glo- rious conflicts which resulted in tlie capture of Burgoyne at Saratoga, in the Autumn of 1777. His valor there won for him the commission of ensigm The young man who bore that commission and the American flag, in the hottest of the fight, was killed. Young Pierce rushed forward, seized tlie banner, and 1. The facts in this brief sketch of the life of Oovernor Pierce are gleaned from a well-wrilten biog- raphy, from (be pen of the Honorable C. E. Potter, editor of The Farmer'n Mnnlhli/ Visitor, published at Manchester, New Hampshire. It appears in the number for July, 1852, accompanied by au accurate portrait of Governor Pierce. 28-i 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 fcaptain. 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. Tiiis 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 soutliern 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 sooial relations with the scattered population around him; and, in the Autumn of 1786, the governor of New Hampsliii'e 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 retJlection 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 ho 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 form 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 linger on the shores of Time.2 " Oh 1 honored be each silvery hair ! Each furrow trenched by toil and care I 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 lionored 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. HARRIET NEWELL. 285 HARRIET NEWELL. TO be a martjT in any cause requires tlie truest elements of heroism. To fi.)r- 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 faithful 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 ever known in girlhood as "sweet little Hatty Atwood," became a bright example^ of faith and self-denial. Siio 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 chamber.s of paganism there, the candle of the Lord God Omnipotent. Her example is her glory. Harriet Atwood was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on the 10th of October, 1793. She was blessed with a sweet disposition, and was always a favorite with her playmates. Studious and thoughtful from early childhood, her mind was naturally imbued with 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- 28G ANTIIOi^Y WAYNE, pany of frivolous persons, read religious books and her Bible Kiuch of her leisure time; and, in 1809, when not yet 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 Februar}--, 1812, 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 days after it had expanded in the atmosphere of earth, and its spirit wag 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 Bosi;on, in July, 1853, at the age of eighty-four years. ANTPIONY WAYNE. THE fearless courage and desperate energy of General Anthony Wayne ob- tained for him, among his countrymen, the title of "Mad Anthonj^;" 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 j'ears. Skill and popularity in his profession soon established his repu- tation permanently; and, in 17G5, 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 Brandywine,' Germantown, and Monmouth, in all of which his skill and valor were 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 Paoli tavern, in Chester county, Pennsylvania, after the battle at Bran- dywine, his command was attacked at midnight, hy a strong force of Britifh and Hessians, under Gen cral Grey, and many of them were killed. Over the spot where they were burie«^ a neat marble mono- (nent stands. See sketch of the Keverend 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, ftnd there coiiids. 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 i^.ir him a midshipman's warrant ; and at the time when war with France was yet a probability, lie sailed in the frigate Oonsfellation. His first experience in naval warfare was during that cruise, when the Constellation, in February, 1799, captured the French frigate, L Lisitrgente. 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 j^ear later; and in the Autumn of 1803, he accompanied the first United States squadron to 1. See sketch of Mr. Weems. ALEXANDER MACOMB. oO;i the Mediterranean, sent thither to protect American commerce against the Bar- bary pirates. He was on board the PldhuMphia, when that vessel struck upon a rock in the harbor of TripoH, and was among tliose wlio suffered a painful im- prisonment in tlie hands of that barbarous people.' After that [1806] he was appointed to the command of the brig Enterprise, 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, v/here he remained until war was declared against G-reat Britain, in 1812. Then he was promoted to captain ; and, in the frigate Essex, he achieved, during the remainder of that year, and greater part of 181.3, those brilliant deeds which made him so femous. 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 P'ebruary, 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 the 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 affairs. In 1817, ho commanded a small fleet, sent to suppress the depredations of pirates and free- booters in the Gulf of Mexico, and along its shores. Commodore Porter resigned his commission in the Summer of 1826, and wa»s 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. VMONG 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 juvenile dignity. At the age of sixteen years he joined a company of Rangers, whoso services were offered to the government of the United States, then anticipating a war with France. The following year ho was promoted to a cornetcy in the regular army, but the cloud of war passed 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. He was commissioned second-lieutenant, in Feb- ruary, 1801, and first-lieutenant, in October, 1802, when ho was stationed at Philadelphia, in the recruiting service. On completing a corps, he marched to the Cherokee country to join General Wilkinson. Afxer 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 Bainbridgc. 301 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 failures. 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 mihtary 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-C4eneral Brown, in 1828, he was promoted to General-in- G Jtief oHhe army of the United States. He died at hia 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 William 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 Jerseys ; 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. Jefl'erson ; but when Arnold and Comwallis 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, Itlr. 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 MONROE, 305 /<^-^cr^^-^-^^ ^^-^ 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 1794, when he was 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 office 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. Piuckney 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 unsatisfictory, and was never ratified. Tluit 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 cnlMnet 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 306 THADDEUS KOSCIUSCZKO. unanimity, tlie i'ederal party, tu wliicli he liad always been opposed, having become almost extinct, as a separate organization. At tlie end of his second term, in 1825, Mr. Monroe retired from office, and made his residence in Loudon county, Virginia, until carlj^ 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 liim as our own, though born in flxr-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 tlie profession of a soldier, first in the military school at Warsaw, and afterward in France. Lovo enticed him from "Warsaw. He eloped with a young lady of rank aud fortune, was pursued and overtaken by her proud father, and was driven to tlie 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 tilled the soul of the young Pole with intense zeal to fight for liberty in America, and Man 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. Wasliington 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 (Treene 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 had 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-chicf. Soon afterward, at the head of four tliousand 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!" "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 slio died, the Kmperor 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 Avith distinguislied honors. Congress awarded him a hfe-pension, and gave him a tract of kind, for his revolutionary services. The following year he went to France, purchased an estate near Fontainebleau, and resided there until 1814. fie went to Switzerland, and settled at Soleure, in 1816. Early the following year he 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. His 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 tho heights 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. Tho cadets of the Military Academy, at "West Point, on the Hudson, erected an im- posing monument there to the memory of Kosciusczko, in 1829, at a cost of five thousand dollars. Ilis most enduring monument is the record of his deeda on the pages of History. CHARLES LEE. " 1> OILING WATER" was the significant name which the Mohawk Indians -O gave to Charles Lee, when he resided among them, and bore the honors of a chief.' His character was indeed like boiling water — hot and restless. Ho was a native of Wales, where he was born in 1731. His father was an ofBccr in the British army ; and it is asserted that the fiery litMo Charles received a military commission from George the Second, when only eleven years of age. In all studies, and especially tliose 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 tho British army, and he remained in service here during a greater part of the French and Indian war. Ho then returned to England; and, in 17G2, ho bore a colonel's com- mission, and served under Burgoyno, in Portugal. After that ho became a violent politician, in England; and, in 1770, he crossed the channel, and rambled all over Europe, like a knight-orraut, for about three years. His energy of character and militarv skill made him a favorite at courts, and he became an aid to Poniatowski, King of Poland. With that monarch's embassador, he 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 county, Virginia, and settle there. Ho resigned his com- mission in tho British army, and became an A merican citizen. When tho Continental army was organized, in June, 1775, Charles Leo was appointed one of the four major-generals, and accompanied Washington to Cam- bridge. Ho was active there until tho British were driven from Boston, in tho Spring of 1776, when he marched, with a considerable force, to New York, and afterward proceeded southward to watch the movements of Sir Henry Clinton. lie participated in tho defence of Charleston, as commander-in-chief; and after the British wore repulsed, he joined Washington, at New York. After tho battle 1. His tarry among the Mohawk Indians was at near the close of the French and Indian war, or about the year 17^2. They were prrcatly plea'^ed with his martial and energetic character, adopted him as a son, according to custom, and made him a chief of the nation, with the title of Boiling Water. 308 HUGH SWINTON LEGAEE. at White Plains, and the withdrawal of a great portion of the American army to New Jersej', General Leo 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, Leo tardily obeyed his orders to reinforce the fl5'ing armj', 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 sternly rebuked by Washington, for a shameful and unnecessary retreat. That rebuke on tlic battle-field wounded Lee's pride, and lie wrote insulting letters to the commander-in-chief. Por this, and for misconduct before the enemy, he was suspended 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, he bequeathed his "soul to the Almightj% and his body to the earth;" and then expressed a desire not to be buried within a mile of any Presbyterian or Ana- baptist meeting-house, giving as a reason that ho had " kept so much bad com- pau}^ in life, that he did not wish to continue the connection when dead." His remains lie in the burial-ground of Christ Church, Philadelphia. HUGH SWINTON LEG A RE. NE of tho most promising men of the Palmetto State was Hugh S. Legare, who was " Snatched all too early from that angrust 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 ho was left to the charge of an excellent mother. At the age of nine years he was placed in tho 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 j^ears. Soon after his return, he was elected to a seat in tho South Carolina legislature. While there, some of those measures which tended toward political disunion were commenced, but Mr. Legare 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. Legari and other cultivated gentlemen in the South commenced the publication of the " Southern Review," a literary 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 t!ie appointment of attorney -general of South Carolina. He performed the duties of that offlce with great ability, until 1832, when he was appointed minister to Bely,ium, 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. He first appeared there at the extraordinary session called by President Van Buren to consider the financial afiairs of the country. There ho 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 tliat 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 truthfully says: " Whoe'er amidst tho sons Of reason, valor, liberty, and virtue, Displays distinguished merit, is a noble Of nature's own creating." 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 the worthy son of a worthy sire, the elder Pres- ident Adams, and was born at the family mansion at Quincy, Massachusetts, on the 11th of July, 1767. At the age of eleven years he accompanied his father to Europe, who went thither as minister of the newly-declared independent United Sta!tes 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 ho was twelve years of age, for then he learned the 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 years of age, ho accompanied Mr. Dana (United Slates minister) to St. Petersburg, as private secretary; and during tho Winter of 1782-3, he 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, ho returned home, and en- tered Harvard Universitj-, 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 necessity of neutrality, on the part of the United States, 1 While Adams was a student, Judge Parsons was chosen to address President Washington on the occasion of his visit to New England. The judge asked each of his students to write an address. That of Adams was chosen and delivered by the tutor. 310 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. J 2,, cA=La/^v^ in relation to the quarrels of other nations. On the recommendation of Mr. Jefferson President Washington introduced him into the public service of hia country, by appointing him resident minister in the 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. Ho 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 pohtical 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 tlie Russian court. There he was much caressed by tlie Emperor Alexander; and when, in 1812, war was declared between the United States and Great Britain, that monarch oflered 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 Plnglish 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 pence with foreign nations, and fi-iendly 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 reeleetions. There he was^disthi- guished for wise, enlightened, and liberal statesmanship ; and, like the Earl of Chatham, 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 the following day. His last words were, " This is the end of earth." Ha was in the eighty-first year of his age. DAVID CROCKETT. " T)E sure you are right, then go ahead," is a wise maxim attributed to ono J3 whose life was a continual illustration of the sentiment. Every body ha.s heard of "Davy Crockett," the immortal back-woodsman of Tennessee — the "crack shot" of the wilderness — eccentric but honest member of Congress — tho " hero of the Alamo " — yet few know his origin, his early struggles, and tho 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, 178G. His fixther 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 ho received in his own rude homa When only seven years of age, David's father was stripped of most of his littlo property, by fire. He opened a tavern in Jefferson county, where David was his main "help " until the age of twelve years. Then he was hired to a Dutch cattle-trader, who collected herds in Tennessee and Kentucky, and drove them to tho 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 awaj', joined another cattle-merchant, and at the end of the journey, iu Vir- ginia, ho was dismissed, with precisely four dollars in his pocket. For threo years ho 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 finally, after several unsuccessful love adventures, he married an excellent girl, and became a father, in 1 8 1 0, when twenty-four years of age. He settled on the banks of the Elk river, and w^ 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 ho was engaged in several skirmishes and battles. He received the commission of colonel, at tlKj close 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 clioscn to represent the district in the State legislature. Generous, full of fun, possessing great shrewdness, and " honest to a limit,"' 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 Wlion the Americans in Texas commenced their war for independence, toward tlio 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 born in Warren county. North Carolina, in 1757. His early youth gave noble promise of excellent maturity, and it was fultilled 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 Witlierspoon, and lie entered the military service witli liis brotlier, 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 office 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 tho 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-flrst year of his age, he resigned, and retired to private life. At that time ho 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. Dur- ins a season of scarcity, he boncht a fl;it-boat load of corn, and offered it for sale cheap. " Have yoii got money to pay for it?" was his first question when a man came to bny. 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 different places. David was al- ways original, and he readily yielded to his friend's reqnest 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 David repeat his own speech. The colonel had heard it so often that it was fixed in his memory. The other candidate was tpeechless, and lost his election. SAMUEL SLATEE. 313 Mr. Macon was called from bis retirement, in 1835, to assist in revising the Constitution of North Carolina. He was chosen president of the convention as- sembled for that purpose ; and the instrument then framed bears the marked impress of his genius and thoroughly democratic sentiments. The following year he was chosen a presidential elector, gave his vote in the Electoral College for Martin Van Buren, and then left the theatre of public life, forever. The sands of his existence were almost numbered. God mercifully spared him the pains of long sickness. Ho had been subject to occasional cramps in the stomach. On the morning of the 29th of June, 1837, ho arose early, as usual, dressed, and shaved himselif; 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, he expired. Peacefully his noble soul left its earth-tenement for its home in light ineftablo. As he lived, so he 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. He 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. THE man who contributes to the comfort of a people and tho 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 tho 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 firmer, apprenticed Samuel to the celebrated Jedediah Strutt, an eminent mechanic,' and then a partner with Sir Richard Arkwright, in the cotton-spinning business. Samuel was then fourteen years of age, and being expert with the pen and at figures, ho was much employed as a clerk in the counting-room. At about that time ho lost his fxther, but found a good guardian in his master. He evinced an invent- ive genius and mechanical skill, at the beginning, and he soon became tho " 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 ho had reached his majority, young 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 bis 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 lie was employed for a sliort time, when a better prospect appeared in a proposition from Messrs. 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,3 and there, on the 18th of Jan- uary, 1790, he commenced making machinery with his own hands. Eleven 1. Mr. Strutt was the inventor of the Derby ribbetl-stnckinf: machine. 2. Just as the ship sailed, he intrusted a letter for his raotlier to the hands of a friend, ir. which no gave her information of his destination and his intentions. TUuy never met again on earth. 3. See sketch of Moses Brown. 14 314 SAMUEL SLATER. (^^;^aypi^^. months afterward they " started throe card?, drawing and roving^, and seventy- two spindles, which were worked b}' an old fulhng-niill 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 Alniy & 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 fomily; and, in 1795, imi- tated Mr. Strutt by opening a Sabbath-school for children and youths, in his own house. The manuflicturing business was gradually extended, and Mr. Slater took pride in sending to Mr. Strutt, specimens of cotton yarn, 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 tlie census of 1850, the number of cotton establishments then in the United States, was 1,094, ia whicla more than seventy-four millions of dollars were invested. These gave employment to LUCRETIA MARIA DAVIDSON. 815 When Presideat 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 ho 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 f;ictory, 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 foreet cast the leaf, And we wept that one so lovely should have a lot so brief; Yet not unmeet it was, that one, lilte that young friend of ours. So gentle and so beautiful, should perish with the flowers." — Bryant. " THIIERE is no record." says Dr. Sparks, "of a greater prematurity of intellect, L or a more beautiful development of native delicacy, sensibility, 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 Platt.sburg, New York, on the 27th of September, 1808. Her body was extremely fr.-jgilo 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 tlie 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 sLx years of age her mother found a large quantitj^ of paper covered with rude characters and ruder drawings of objects, which Lucretia had made, and carefully hidden. 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 wore intended as illustrative pictures. Here was an author illustrating her own writings before she was six years of age I 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 slie 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 birtli-day of Washington in. The ornaments had no charms for her; the c/jaroder of Wash- ington occupied all her thoughts; and, on returning home, she wrote five excel- lent verses on that theme. An aunt ventured to express doubts of their origin- ality. The truthful 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 millions of dollars. The value of the raw material used was almost thirty-live mil- lions of dollars. 816 JOHN ARMSTRONG. Before she was twelve years of ago Lucretia had read most ©f tho works of the standard Enghsh poets; the whole of the writings of Shakspeare, Kotzebue, and G-oldsmith ; much history, and several romances of the better sort. She was passionately fond of Nature, and she would sit for hours watching tlic 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 light up witli ethereal splendor, and she seemed really to commune with beings of angelic natures. At length her mother became an invalid, and the cares of the household devolved on Lucretia. The little maiden toiled on and hoped on; ever obedient, self-sacrificing, and thouglitful of her mother's happiness, while the wings of her spirit fiuttered vehemently against the prison bars of circumstances, wliich kept it from soaring. "Oh," slie said one day to her mother, " if / only possessed half tho 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 her every advantage of education. Tho boon was joyfully accepted, and Lucretia was placed in Mrs. "Willard's school, in Troy. There she drank too deep and ardently at tho fount- ain of knowledge — her application 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 ralhed, and then went home to die. Like a liowcr when early frost hath touched it, that sweet creature fided and drooped; and on tlio 27th of August, 1825, tho perfume of her mortal life was exhaled in the sunbeams of mimortality, beforo she had completed her seventeentli year. Tho 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 coraes o'er me in the honr Of grief, of sickness, or of sadness ; 'Tis not the dread of Death — 'lis more: It is the dread of Madness I" God mercifully spared her that affliction, and her intellect was clear as a sun- beam when death closed her eyelids. JOHN AllMSTRONO. WHILE tho remnant of tJio Continental army was encamped near Newburgh, a few months before they were finally disbanded, and much dissatisfaction 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. Tliose 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 then about twent3^-five j'ears of age. Lie was a son of General John Armstrong, of Pennsylvania, who was distinguished in tlie French and 1. Tn 1S29, a collection of her writings was published, with the tide of Amir Khan and oihrr Poems, prefaced with a biograpliical sketch, by Professor S. F. B. Morse. That volume forms her appropriate monument. JOHN ARMSTRONG. 317 Indian war, and participated in the military events of the Revolution. John was born at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on the 25th of November, 1758, and was educated in the college at Princeton. While a student there, in 1775, he joined tho army as a volunteer in Potter's Pennsylvania regiment, and was soon after- ward appointed aid-de-camp to General Mercer. He continued with that bravo officer until his death, at Princeton, early in 1777, when he took tho same posi- tion in the military family of General Gates, with the rank of major. Ho was with that officer until the capture of Burgoyne. In 1780, he was promoted to adjutant-general of the Southern army, wlicn Gates took tho command, but be- comin!ection .3, article I. of the Constitution of the United States. 2. See sketches of John Quincy Adams and James A. Bayard. 14* S22 DAVID WOOSTETJ. and first president of the council of the New York 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 he was elected one of the first members of the Smithsonian In- stitute. His departure occurred at his residence at Astoria, Long Island, on tho 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 Woostor, who lost his life in the defence of the soil of his native State against that ruthless invader, General Tryon. He was born at Stratford, Connecticut, on the 2d of March, IT 10, 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 tho captaincy of a vessel built and armed by the colony as a guarda costa, 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 tho 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 ho sailed for England, where he was received with great honor. He was presented to the king, -became a fovorito 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. lie was in serv- ice to the end of that war; and when, in 1775, the revolutionary fires kindled into a flame, he was found ready to battle manfully for his country in its struggle for freedom. He was with Arnold and Allen at the capture of Ticondcroga; and when the Continental army was organized, a few weeks later, ho received tho appointment of brigadier-general, third in rank. He was in command in Canada, in the Spring of 177(5 ; 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, ho 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 sootho 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 accomphshed 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 tho grave, the remains of the hero's epaulettes and plume, and the fatal bullet, were found among his bones. 1. A vessel commissioned in lime of war to carry proposals between belligerent powers. It claims Iha lame respect as a flaj; s-ent from one army to another. 2. On that occasion the Honorable Henry C. Deming pronounced an eloquent oration, which wa« subsequently published in pamphlet form. THOMAS MACDONOUGH. 328 THOMAS MAODONOUOH. ON the very day when Washington resigned his military commission into the custody of Congress, from whom he had received it, a future American naval , hero 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 distinguislied for bravery. He was one of the daring men selected by Decatur to assist him in burning the PMladelj^Ma frigate,' and he partook of the honors of that brilliant exploit. "When war with Great Britafn 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, he 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. 324 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." Greneral 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 fame 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, j^et ho 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 foults of humanity. His bravery was born of true courage, not of mere intrepidity, and he never quailed in the face of most imminent danger.2 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 2*7111 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 was completed at an academy in Elkton, Maryland, 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 fxther's vessels. After travelling extensively on the Continent, he returned home, and found his countrj'men 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 followed. A British ball demolished a hen-coop on board the Saratoga. A cock, released from his prison, flew into the rigging, and crowed lustily, at the same time flapping his wings with triumphant vehemence. Tlie seamen regarded the event as a good omen, and they fought like tigers, while the cock cheered them on with its Growings, 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 tlie seaman. The captain of the man-of-war came aboard Macdonough's vessel, and in a great rage asked him liow he dared to take the man from his majesty's boat. "He was an American seaman, and I did ray 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 you have dared to commit such an act?" " I should have made the attempt, sir," was the calm replv. " What I" shouted the captain, " if I were to impress men fiom that brig, would you interfere?" " You have only to try it, sir," was Macdonough's tantalizing reply. The haughty Briton was over-matched, and he did not attempt to try the metal of such a brave young man. There were cannon balls in bis coolness, full of danger. JEHUDI ASHMUN". 325 battles at Lexington, Concord, and Breed's Hill, had been fought. Fired 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-colonel'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 Mifflin, a little below Philadelphia, of which he was commander. There, for seven weeks, he sustained a siege by a greatly superior force, and abandoned the fort only when the defences were no longer tenable. For his services there, Congress voted him a sword, and the country rang with his 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. He was active in support of Washington's administration throughout; and, in 1793, he was elected to represent the Baltimore district in the Federal Congress, where he 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 years afterward he was again elected to Congress, and served in the House of Representatives for six 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 authorit}', and were wantonly destroying propert}^, 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, he 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. JEHUDI ASHMUN. 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 pious 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 made his residence in the District of Columbia, became attached to the Protestant Episcopal Church there, and took a zealous part in tlie 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 reenforcement 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. His wife died; and within three months after his arrival, when the whole force of the colonists consisted of only thirty-tive 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 TOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN. certain. Again the savages were repulsed, and thoroughly defeated. For six years Mr. Ashmun labored faitlifully 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. lie 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 they should see his foce 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 iiis memory in a cemetery in New Haven. JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN. BY far the most profound, consistent, and 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, &s 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. John was born in Abbe- vOle 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 and 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 he 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 the legislature of South Carolina, the following year [1808], and after serving two terms there, he was chosen to represent his district 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 181 T, 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 ofBco 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 xx. 38. JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN. 327 ^^^^^^'0-<:<^^'t^^ the United States, in 1825, and held that position more than six years, having been reelected, with President Jackson, in 1828. In 1831, when Robert Y. Hayne left the Senate to become governor of South Carolina, Mr. Callioun 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 family. In 1 843, he was called to the cabinet of President Tyler, as Secretary of State ; and, in 1845, he was again chosen United States Senator, by the legislature of South Carolina. He continued in tliat exalted position until his death, which occurred at Washington city, on the 31st of March, 1850, at the age of sixty-eight years. Few men have exerted a more powerful and controUing sway over the opinions of vast masses of men, than Mr. Calhoun, for his views on several topics coin- cided with those of the great majority of the Southern people; and he was known to be inflexibly 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 tlie French Republic liad been proclaimed, it was proposed, in tho 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 have waited seven years, and France is yet [1855] 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 tlie 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, I'lSl. 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 mditary aftairs. 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 l7th°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 them, and a fine dog belonging to Captain Dearborn, that accompanied them, was used for food. Even moose-skin breeches were boUed; the extracted mucilage served as soup, and the hide was roasted and eaten. l^Iany died from hunger and fatigue, and Captain Dearborn himself was left iU of a fever in the hut of a former, 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 Montgomery, 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. In the eventful conflicts at Saratoga, in tlie 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 oflQcer 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. 320 territory. Mr. Jefferson called him to his cabinet as Secretary of "War, in 1801, and he discharged the duties of that office with great ability and fidelity, 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. He continued in command, for awhile longer, when the President recalled him on the 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 he was permitted to re- turn home, after an absence of two years, and resided most of the time in Boston, until his death. Tliat event occurred at the house of his son, in Roxbury, Mas- sachusetts, on the 6th of June, 1829, at the age of seventy-eight years. ABIEL HOLMES. THE faithful annalist is a nation's benefactor; and it may be truthfully said to all such clironiclers, as the poet said to the liistorian of Rome — '* And Rome shall owe For hev memorial to your learned pen More than to all those farting 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 ho is best known to the world. Abiel Holmes was born at Woodstock, Connecticut, in December, 1163. He was graduated at Yale College at the age of twenty years, and went immediately to South Carolina as an instructor in a private famOy. He had received religious impressions at an early age, and these deepened with the lapse of years. The gospel ministry opened to his mind a field of great usefulness, and he entered upon it as 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 the first Congregational Church at Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was ever studious, and Biography and History had great charms for him. In 1798, ho 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 the record is continued until 1827, was published at Cambridge. With this edition of Holmes' Annals, the American Register from ]826 to 1830 inclusive, and the 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 tliirty i^araphlets, consisting chiefly of sermons and historical disquisitions. He died at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on the 4th day of June, 1837, at the age of almost seventy-four years. 330 PHILIP SYNG PHYSIC. PHILIP SYNO PHYSIC. PHILIP STNGr 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 the most complicated dififieulties. 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 Penn 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 tiie admission of Philip to the friendship 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 surgery, 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 theatre of his career, and after remaining with Hunter during 1791, he went to Edinburgh, studied and observed diligently there, in the University and in the Royal Infirmary, obtained the degree of M.D., in Ma}^, 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 ho was chosen to be one of tlie surgeons of the Pennsylvania Hos- pital; and, when the yellow fever again prevailed, in 1798, his services were of the greatest importance. In 1801, ho Avas appointed surgeon extraordinary to the Philadolpiiia Almsliouse Infirmary. The following year, on the earnest re- quest of a number of medical students, he delivered a course of lectures on Sur- gery. They 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 Phila- delphia Medical Society, a station which he filled with great dignity tnitil 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 immediately elected JOHN SEVIER. 331 Emeritus Professor of Surgery and Anatomy, iu that institution. His physical system gradually gave Avay under his incessant professional toil, and on the 15th of December, 1837, that eminent surgeon expired in Philadelphia, at the age of sixty-nine years. The innnediate cause of his death was hydrothorax. Besides his lectures, Dr. Physic wrote but little. He labored intensely, iu his profession, and left authorship to others. JOHN SEVIER. SOON after the return of peace when the "War for Independence had ceased, the hardy mountaineers of the extreme western portions of North Caro- lina, established a separate government, and, in honor of Dr. Franklin, called the new State Frankland. 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 fan:ily, the original orthog- raphy of which was Xavier. He was born on the banks of the Shenandoah, in Virginia, about the year 1'740. He was a bold and fearless youth, and was engaged much in athletic exercises during the earlier years of his manhood. In 1769, he accompanied an exploring party to East Tennessee, and settled on the llolston river, with his father and brother. Tliere he assisted in erecting Fort "Watauga, and was afterward made the commander of the little garrison, with tiie commission of captain. The Cherokees were then prowling around, with hostile intentions, British emissaries having excited them against the col- onists. One pleasant morning in June, 1776, the gallant captain saw a j-oung lady running with the speed of a doe, toward the fort, pursued by a party of Cherokees 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 Avas an active "Whig partisan on the mountain frontiers of the Carolinas ; and, in 1780, when Corn wallis was pene- trating toward the hills, he 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 Musgrove's MOls. 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 Frankland, above alluded to, he was elected governor by unanimous acclamation. He was so often engaged in conferences with the Indians, that they gave him a name wliich 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 1813. He was a firm supporter of President Madi- son's administration, and was appointed an Indian commissioner for his State and the adjoining territories. "While engaged in the duties of his ofSce near Fort Decatur, on. the east side of the Tallapoosa river, he died, on the 24th of Septem- ber, 1815, at the 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 his grave ; but in a cemetery at Nashville, a handsome marble cenotaph has been erected to his memory, by "An admu-er of Patriotism and Merit unrequited." 832 ISABELLA GRAHAM. ISABELLA OKAHAM. 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 tlie 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 hope is a golden chain of promises suspended from the throne of infinite goodness ; their examp)le 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, 1*742. 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 teacliing of Dr. Witherspoon (afters ward president of the college at Princeton, jSTew 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. 333 1774, her excellent husband was taken from her, after a few daj's' illness, leaving her in a strange land, with tliree 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 acquaintances among the rich and gay passed the humble widow by, but old friends, with hearts in their hands, assisted her in establishing a boarding-school in Edinburgh. 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 would walk among the poor and destitute, in the lanes and alleys of the Scottish capital, dispensing physical benefits and religious con- solations. Thoroughly purified in the crucible of sorrow, her heart was ever alive with sympathy for suftering humanity, and that became tlie great controlling emotion that shaped her labors. She often lent small sums of money to young persons about entering upon business, and would never receive interest, for she considered the luxury of doing good sufficient usury. Slie encouraged poor laboring people to unite in creating a fund for mutual relief in case of sickness, by a small deposit each week, and thus she founded the "Penny Society," out of which grew that excellent institution, in Edinburgh, "The Society for the Relief of the Destitute Sick." At the solicitation of Dr. "Witherspoon, and of some friends in New York, Mrs. Graham came to America, in 1785; and in the Autumn of that year opened a school, with five pupils, in our commercial metropolis. Before the end of a montli the number of her pupils had increased to fifty, and for thirteen years she continued that vocation with increasing prosperity. A great blessing came to her, in 1795, when her second daughter married the excellent Divie Bethune, an enterprising j'oung merchant of New York, who became an earnest co-worker in the cause she had espoused.^ Sorrow came at about the same time, for her eldest daughter was taken away by death. But the widow was not diverted from the path of Christian duty by prosperity nor adversity. She walked daily among the poor, like a sweet angel, dispensing with bountiful hand the blessings she had received from above. At her house, in 1796, a number of ladies formed that noble institution, the Society for the Relief of Poor Widotvs ivith Children; and two years afterward she gave up her school, went to reside with her daugh- ters, and dedicated her time to the services of an abounding charity. We can- not follow her in all her ministrations, public and private, for they were as man- ifold as the hours of the day. She was one of the promoters of the OrjiJtan Asijlum and the Majdalene Society. She had printed and distributed several tracts, before any society for the purpose was formed, which were calculated to excite the public sympathy for the destitute and suffering. She was active in giving popularity to Lancasteriau schools for the poor, and the Sabbath-school was her special delight. Every where, by night and by day, in the city of her 1. Her husband's mate, in the regiment, was an excellent yonng man, and Mrs. Graham shared so largely in the doctor's respect and affection for him, that, slender as were her own means, she presented the young surgeon with her husband's medical library anil sword. The young man was grateful, and when his eirciimstances were improved, and Mrs. Graham's were made worse by losses, he steadily re- mitted small sums to her, for several years. At the time when she became easier in pecuniary matters, his letters were suspended, and she never heard any thing more of him. 2. That eminent philanthropist (father of the Kev. Dr. Bethune, now [1855] of Brooklynl, was also a. native of Scotland. Before any tract society was formed in this country, he printed 10,(H30 tracts at his own expense, and distributed them with his own hand. He also imported many Bibles for distribution, supported one or more Sunday-schools, and always devoted a tenth of his gains to charitable and relig- ious purposes. He died in 1824. His wife, Joanna, yet [1856] lives in the city of New York. 334 HEISTRY WHEATOjST. adoption, that noble Sister of Charity might be met, dispensing her blessings, and rewarded by the benedictions of the aided.' Iler last public labor was in forming a society for the promotion of industry among the poor. That was in the Spring of 1814, when the infirmities of health and age Iiad shortened her journeys of love. On the 27th of July following, that ftiithful servant of the great Pattern of benevolence went home to receive her final reward, at the age of seventy-two years. HENKY WHEAT ON. THE most eminent American writer on International Law that has yet appeared, was Henry Wheaton, a native of Providence, Rhode Island, where he was born in November, 1785. He entered Brown University at the age of thirteen years, and was graduated there in 1802. The law was his chosen profession, and he commenced its study under the direction of Nathaniel Searle. After two years' close application, he went to France, became a welcome guest in the family of General Armstrong (then United States minister there), resided in Paris eighteen months in the earnest study of the French language, and then wont to London and made himself thorouglily acquainted witli the constitutional and international jurisprudence of Europe. On his return to Rhode Island he was admitted to the bar. In 1812, he made his residence in the city of New York, where he took a high position as a lawyer. The same year he assumed the editorial control of the National Advocate, and its columns abounded with able disquisitions on International Law, from his pen. The subject was of special current interest, for unsettled questions of tliat nature were some of the imme- diate causes of the war then in progress between tlie United States and Great Britain. Mr. Wheaton was also appointed a judge of the Marine Court, in the city of New York, the same year; and, in 1815, he relinquished his coimection with the National Advocate. In May of that year he published his Digest relative to Marine CajJtures, which attracted much attention. The same year he was ■appointed reporter of the Supremo Court of the United States, and performed the duties of that important station with signal ability until 1827, when he was appointed Charge d'Affaires to Denmark, by President Ad:mis. His reports were published in twelve volumes, and form an invaluable library of legal de- cisions. He was engaged in public life but once during his long connection with the Supreme Court. That service, was perfoaned in 1821, as a member of the convention that revised the Constitution of the State of New York. Mr. Wheaton was the first regular minister sent to Denmark by the United States. There he employed his leisure time in making diligent researches into Scandinavian literature ; and he published the result of his investigations in a volume entitled Ilistonj of the Northmen. No diplomatic duty was neglected, by these researches, and his mission was performed to the entire satisfaction of his government. In 1830, he visited Paris, and was highly esteemed in diplomatic circles there, as well as in London, the following year. In 1836, President Jackson transferred Mr. Wheaton from Copenhagen to Berlin, and a few months afterward he was raised to the rank of minister plenipotentiary at the court of 1. On one occasion, she was absent for some time on a visit to Boston, when, to the surprise of Mrs. Bethune, a great many people called to inquire about her mother. She asked the reason of their nu- merous inquiries, and was told that they lived in the suburbs of the city, where she visited and relieved the sick, and comforted the poor. '" We had missed her so long," one of them said, " that we were afraid she was sick. When she walks in our streets," she continued, " it was customary with us to go to the door and bless her as she passed." JAMES KENT. 835 Prussia. There his services were of the greatest importance, and he stood, con- fessedly, at the head of American diplomacy in Europe. To him other American legations looked for counsel, and the various sovereigns of Europe held him in the highest esteem. In 1840, Mr. Wheaton made a treaty with Hanover; and the same year he attended the conference of representatives of twenty-seven German States, and there advanced the commercial interests of his country. Mr. Wheaton is known as one of the best writers on the law of nations, and his works, on that topic, are held in the same estimation, in the cabinets of Europe, as were those of Grotius and Yattel before his day. He wrote a Life of William Piiilnivy ; and in addition to his voluminous despatches on all sorts of subjects, he delivered many discourses, some of which have been published in pamphlet form. That skilful diplomatist, ripe scholar, accomplished author, and thorough gentleman, died at Roxbury, Massachusetts, on the 11th of Jlarch, 1848, at the age of sixty-three years. JAMES KENT. " I've scanned the actions of his daily life With all the industrious malice of a fot' ; And nothing meets mine eyes but deeds of honor." THESE words of Hannah More may justly be applied to the character of that brilliant light of the American judiciary. Chancellor Kent, for no jurist ever laid aside a more spotless ermine than he. He was born in the Fredericksburg precinct of Dutchess county (now Putnam county), New York, on the 31st of Julj^, 1703. At the age of five years he went to Uve with his maternal grand- father, at Norwalk, Connecticut, and remained there, engaged in preparatory studies, until 1717, when he entered Yale College, as a student. The war of the Revolution was then developing its worst features, for British, Hessians, and Tories were desolating various districts, by fire and plunder. For a time the students of the college were scattered; yet, with all the disadvantages produced by these interruptions, young Kent was graduated with distinguished honor, in 1781. The perusal of ^tocfoto??e's Gommenlaries, soon after he entered college, gave him a taste for law, and, on leaving Yale, he commenced its study with Egbert Benson, then attorney-general of the State of New York. Mr. Kent was admitted to practice, in 1785, as attorney of the Supreme Court of his native State; and, in 1787, he was admitted as counsellor of the same court. He was then married and settled at Poughkeepsie, on the Hudson. Ho was exceedingly studious, and always methodical.' While his profession was his chief care, he did not escape the influence of the ambitious desire of a pol- itician ; and joining with Hamilton and other leading Federalists in his State, ho soon became identified with the public measures of the day. In 1790, and again in 1792, ho represented the Poughkeepsie district in the State legislature. Hav- ing failed as a candidate for the same office, in 1793, he removed to the city of New York, and became Professor of Law in Columbia College. In 1796, he wa.s appointed master in Chancery, and the following year he was made recorder of the city of New York. At about this time the Faculty of Columbia College evinced their appreciation of his great legal learning, by conferring upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. Those of Harvard and Dartmouth after- 1. At that time he commenced a system of self-training, of great value. lie divided the day into six portions. From dawn until'eight o'clock, he devoted two hours to Latin ; then two to Greek, and the remainder of the time before dinner to law. The afternoon was given to French and English authors, aad the evening to friendship and recreation, in which he took special delight. 336 JAMES KENT. ward imitated their example. He was very highly esteemed by Governor Jay; and in 1T97, that chief magistrate of the State of New York appointed Mr. Kent associate justice of the Supreme Court. Three years afterward, he and Judge Radcliffe were appointed to revise the legal code of the State, for which they received the highest encomiums of the best jurists in the country. Step by step Justice Kent went up the ladder of professional honor and distinction. In 1804, he was appointed chief justice of the State, and he filled that important office with great dignity and ability until February, 1814, when he accepted the ofSce of chancellor. In that exalted station he labored on with fidelity, until 1823, when he had reached the age of sixty years, and was ineligible for service there- in, according to the unwise provisions of the Constitution of 1821. He finished his labors as chancellor, by hearing and deciding every case that had been brought before him; and he left tlie office bearing the most sincere regrets of every member of his profession, and of tlie people at Inrge. Soon after retiring from public life, he was again elected Law Professor in Columbia College. He revised his former lectures, added new ones to them, and then published the whole in four volumes, with the title of Commentaries an AmericoM Law. That great work is a text-book, and has given Chancellor Kent the palm, in the opinion of the best judges in this country and in Europe, as one of the first legal writers of his time. Chancellor Kent possessed all those pubhc and private virtues which constitute a true man. Industrious, temperate, social and religious, he was blessed with WILLIAM DUNLAP. 387 sound health, warm friends, devoted family affection, and an unclouded faith in Divine promises. He retained his robust health and activity until within a few weeks of his death,' which occurred at his residence on Union Square, New York, on the 12th of December, 1847, when at the age of eighty-four years. ^VILLIAM DUNLAP. AMONG the privileged few who had the honor of painting the portrait of Washington, from life, was William Dunlap, who is eciuallv distinguished as artist and author. He was born at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, on the 19th of February, 1766, and at the house of a kind neighbor, his taste for pictures and reading was early developed by familiarity there with paintings and books. The storm of the Revolution produced great confusion in New Jersey, and young Dunlap's education was almost utterly neglected, until his father removed to the city of New York, in 1777, which was then in possession of the British. There, while at play, William lost an eye, by accident. He had become very expert in copying prints, in India ink, and this accident perilled all his future career as a painter, of which he now dreamed continually. The difficulty was soon over- come by habit, and he used his pencil almost incessantly, with occasionally a word of instruction from an artist. He commenced -portrait-painting at the age of seventeen years, and at Rocky Hill, in New Jersey, he was allowed to paint the portrait of Washington.2 In 1784, young Dunlap went to England, and became a pupil of the great Benjamin West. His progress was slow, for he spent much of his time in the enjoyments of the amusements of London. After an absence of three years, he returned to New York, commenced portrait-painting, but being an indifferent artist, he found very little employment. Discouraged by his ill success, he aban- doned the art, "took refuge," he says, ''in literature," and afterward joined his father in mercantile business. He married a sister of the wife of Dr. Dwight, of Yale College, and he was much benefited by his connection with the family of one who proved a most excellent companion. That connection turned him from the paths that led to profligacy and ruin. He continued to be a thrifty merchant until 1805, when he unfortunately became the lessee of the New York theatre, and by losses was made a bankrupt. He immediately returned to portrait- painting for a livelihood, first in Albany, and then in Boston, but with his former ill success. Half-despairing, he again laid aside his pallette, and became general superintendent and occasional manager of the New York theatre. He continued in that business until 1812, when he again returned to his art. It failed to give him bread. He employed his pen in writing the Memoirs of George Frederick Cooke, the celebrated ICnglish actor, for the press ; and he became editor of a magazine called The Recorder. In 1814, he was appointed paymaster-general of the militia of the State of New York, in the service of the United States. This employment took him from his pencil and pen, and continued until 1816. Then, at the age of fifty-one years, he first became permanently a painter, and his true artist-life began. Pie went from place to place in the United States and Canada, painting portraits with considerable success. He also turned his atten- tion to the higher walks of art, and produced, in succession, three large pictures 1. The writer saw him often, during the Snmmer precedins his death, step from the city railway cars with the firmness and agility of a man of fifty. 2. It was at Rocky Hill, a little while before the disbanding of the Continental forces, in the Autumn of 1783, that Washington issued his Farewell Address to the Army. Congress was then in session at Princeton, a few miles distant. 15 JACOB BEOWISr. — Christ Rejected, Death on the Pale Horse,^ and Calvary. The exhibition of these in various parts of tlie Union, contributed materially to the support of his family, for many years. He painted other and smaller pieces, some of which, and especially The Historic Muse, were productions of great excellence. In 1830, Mr. Dunlap commenced lecturing on Fine Art topics, and attracted much attention; and, in 1832, he published a Flistory of the American Theatre. It was very favorably received, and was followed by his history of the Arts of Design in the United States. In the meanwhile [February, 1833], he received a complimentary benefit at the Park theatre, New York, which gave him over two thousand five hundred dollars. In 1839, he published the first volume of a History of the State of New York. The second volume was unfinished at the time of his death. Not long before that occurrence, his friends got up an ex- hibition of paintings for his benefit, and the last days of his life were made happy by plenty. Ho died in New York city, on the 28th of September, 1839, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. JMr. Dunlap was the author of several dramas ; also a biography of Charles Brockden Brown. G JACOB BIIOWN. REAT events as often produce eminent men as eminent men produce great ^' events. The heavings of the earthquake cast up lofty hills ; so do the political and social convulsions of nations make dwarfs in quietude giants arnid commotions. The war of the Revolution called a vast amount of latent genius into action, and great statesmen and warriors appeared, where even the germs were not suspected. The second War for Independence, commenced in 1812, had a like eft'ect, and statesmen and military leaders catne from the work-shop and the furrow. Of the latter was Jacob Brown, a native of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and the son of Quaker parents. He was born on the 9th of May, 1175. He was well educated. At the age of sixteen years, Jacob's father lost his property, and the well-trained youth at once resolved to earn his own living. From eighteen to twenty-one ye;u-s of age he taught a school at Crosswicks, in New Jersey, and at the same time he studied with great assiduity. Then, for about two years, he was employed as a surveyor in the vicinity of Cincinnati ; and, in 1798, he was teaching school in the city of New York. There ho com- menced the study of law, but finding it not congenial to his taste, he abandoned it, purchased some wild land in the present Jefferson county, near the foot of Lake Ontario, and settled upon it, in 1799. He pursued the business of a farmer with skill and industry; and, in 1809, he was appointed to the command of a re-^iment of militia. The governor of New York commissioned hmi a brigadier, in''l811 ; and when, the following year, war with Great Britain commenced, ho was intrusted with the command of the first detachment of New York militia, which was called into the service of the United States, and charged with the defence of the frontier, from Oswego to Lake St. Francis, a distance of almost two hundred miles. In October of that yeair, he gallantly defended Ogdensburg, with only about four hundred men, against eight hundred Britons. At the ex- piration of his term, the government offered him the commission of colonel m the regular army, but he declined it. In the Spring of 1813, he drove the enemy from Sackett's Harbor. In his operations there ho displayed so much judgment and skill, that Congress gave him the commission of a brigadier-general in the 1. This composition he made from a printed description of West's great picture on the same subject. GEORGE CLINTON". 339 Federal array. In the Autumn of tliat year he was activo and efficient on the banks of the St. Lawrence ; and after the retreat of the American troops from Canada, in November, the illness of General Wilkinson made the chief counnarid devolve upon General Brown. Toward the close of January, 1814, he was pro- moted to major-general, and he was assiduous during the few weeks preceding the opening of the campaign for that year, in disciplining the troops and giving them encouragement. He was ordered to the command on the Niagara frontier, in the Spring of 1814, and during the succeeding Summer and Autumn he won imperishable honors for himself and country. For his gallantry and good con- duct in the successive battles of Chippewa, Niagara Falls, and Fort Erie, he re- ceived the thanks of Congress and a gold commemorative medal, and the plaudits of tlie nation. He was twice severely wounded in the battle at Niagara Falls, but ho was in service at Fort Erie, a few weeks later. At the close of the war General Brown was retained in the army, and was appointed to the command of the northern division. In 1821, he was appointed general-in-chief of the armies of the United States, and hold that office until his death, which occurred at his head-quarters, in Washington city, on the 24th of February, 1828, at the age of llfty-three years. His widow now [1855] resides at Brownsville, the place of their early settlement. aEOROE CEINTON. I7NERGY, decision, courage, and purest patriotism, were the prominent features J in the character of George Clinton, the first republican governor of New York, and afterward Vice-President of the United States. He was the youngest 6on of Colonel Charles Clinton, and was born in that portion of old Ulster county now called Orange, on the 26th of July, 17. "5 9. His education was intrusted to a private tutor, and at an early age his adventurous spirit yearned for the sea. He finally left his father's house clandestinely, and sailed in a privateer. On his return, ho entered the military company of his brother James,' as lieutenant, and accompanied him in Bradstreet's expedition against Fort Frontenac, at the foot of Lake Ontario, in 1758. At the close of the French and Indian war, he Btudied law under Chief Justice Smith, and rose to distinction in that profession. The troubled sea of politics was consonant with his nature, and he embarked upon it with great zeal. He was a zealous Whig, and was a member of the Colonial Assembly of New York, in the Spring of 1775. In May of that year ho took a Beat in the Continental Congress, where he remained until the following Sum- mer, aud voted for the Declaration of Independence on the 4th of Juh'. Having been appointed brigadier-general of the militia of Now York, his new duties called him away from Congress before that instrument was signed by tho mem- bers, and thus he was deprived of the immortal honor of an arch-rebel. In March, 1777, General Clinton was commissioned a' brigadier-general, by Congress, and a month afterward he was chosen both governor and lieutenant- governor of the State of New York, under its republican constitution. He ac- cepted the former office, and the latter was filled by Mr. Van Cortlandt. Gov- ernor Clinton exercised tho duties of chief magistrate for six consecutive terms. 1. James was born on the 9lh of August, 173r). After the French and Indian war, lie commanded fotir companies of provincial troops, in his native county, employed to bar the inroads of Indians. Ho ac- companied Montgomery to Quebec, in 1775, and was an active olBcer, with the rank of brigadier, during a great portion of the Revolution. He returned to his estate near Newburpli, Orange county, New York, after the war, and there he di-d, on the 22d of December, 1S12, at the age of seventy-five years. He wai the father of Dewitt Clinton, the eminent governor of New York. 840 WILLIAM BAINBRIDGE. or eighteen years, when, in 1795, he was succeeded by John Jay. Acting in his civil and mihtary capacity at tlie same time, the energetic governor and gen- eral performed the most essential service during the whole war. He was in command of Fort Montgomery, in the Hudson Higlilands, wlieu it was captured, with Fort Clinton, in the Autumn of 1777 ; and he did more than any otlierman • not in service with the army, in preventing a communication between tlie British in Canada and tlie city of New York. In 1788. ho presided over the convention held at Poughlceepsie to consider the Federal Constitution. After retiring from office, in 1795, he remained in private life about live 3'ears, when he was again chosen governor of his State. He was succeeded by Morgan Lewis, in 1804, and the same year he was elevated to the station of Vice-President of the United States. He was reelected, with Mr. Madison, in 1808, and was acting in dis- charge of the duties of that office at the time of his death. That event occurred at "Washington city, ou the 20th of April, 1812, when in the seventy-third year of his age. WII^LIAM BAINBRIDQE. THE first man who unfurled the American flag in the harbor of Constantinople, was Captain William Bainbridge, who was then in the unwilling service of the haughty Dey of Algiers, as bearer of that barbarian's ambassador to tho court of the Turkish Sultan. That sovereign i-egarded the event as a happy omen of peace and good-will between his throne and the government of that far- off country (ol which, perhaps, he had never heard), for there seemed an affinity between his own crescent flag and the sto--spangled banner of the new empire in the West. • William Bainbridge was born at Princeton, New Jersey, on the 7th of May, 1774, and at tho age of fifteen years went to sea as a common sailor. Three years afterward he was promoted to mate of a ship engaged in the Dutch trade, and at the age of nineteen he was its captain. He became very popular in the merchant service; and when an anticipated war with France caused the organ-- ization of an American navy, Caj^tain I3aiubridge was offered the commission of a lieutenant and the position of a commander. His first cruise was in tho schooner Retaliation, which was captured by two French vessels and taken to Guadaloupe. The governor of the island, desiring to remain neutral, offered Captain Bainbridge his liberty and his schooner, if he would promise to return to the United States without molesting any French vessel that might fall in his way. Bainbridge peremptorily refused to make any stipulation concerning his own conduct, yet the governor gladly allowed him to depart. On returning home, his conduct was approved, and lie was promoted to Master and Com- mander. In 1799, Captain Bainbridge was appointed to the command of a small vessel to cruise off Cuba. He behaved so well that ho was promoted to post captain, the following year. Ho soon afterward took command of the frigate Washing- ion, and was ordered to proceed to Algiers with the annual tribute which the United States had agreed to pay that power. The Dey compelled liim to carry an Algerine ambassador to the Sultan, and in the harbor of Constantinople Bain- bridge received honors awarded only to the Lord High Admiral of the Turkish navy. On his return to Algiers, he was instrumental in saving the Fi'ench residents there, for the Dey had declared war with France, and would have im- prisoned or enslaved the few French people in his dominions. For this generous WILLIAM BAINBRIDGE. 341 act, Napoleon, then First Consul, thanked Captain Bainbridge, and his own government highly approved the act. In June, 1801, he was appointed to the fommand of the Essex frigate, and proceeded to the Mediterranean, to protect American commerce there against the piratical Tripolitans. He returned the following year; and in July, 1803, he sailed in the frigate Philadelphia, to join the squadron of Commodore Preble, in the Mediterranean, lie captured a hos- tile Moorish vessel, and at once cooled the war spirit of the Emperor of Morocco. Under the directions of Preble, Captain Bainbridge proceeded to blockade the harbor of Tripoli, where the PMladelpMa, on the morning of the last day of Octo- ber, ran upon a reef of rocks, and was captured by the gun-boats of the Tripol- itans.i Bainbridge and his crew were made captives, and suffered imprison- ment and slavery until 1805, when they were liberated, by treaty. From that time until the commencement of war, in 1812, Captain Bainbridge was employed 1. See skelch of Decatur. S42 ISAAC CHAUNCEY. alternately in the public and the merchant service. Then he was appointed to the command of the Constellation frigate. He was transferred to the Gonstitidion, afcer the destruction of tlie Guerriere, and off the coast of Brazil he captured the British frigate Java, late in December, 1812. In that action he was dangerously wounded. Among the prisoners was General Hislop, governor of Bombay, who was so pleased with the kind attentions which he received from Captain Bain- bridge, that ho presented him with a splendid gold-mounted sword. For his gallantry, Congress awarded him a gold medal. In 1813, he took command of the Navy Yard at Charlestown. After the war he went twice to the Mediter- ranean, ui command of squadrons sent to protect American commerce. He waa president of tlie Board of Navy Commissioners for three years; and ho prepared the signals now in use in our navy. Commodore Bainbridge suffered from sick- ness, for several years, and his voyage of earthly life finally ended at Philadelphia, on the 27th of July, 1833, when he was about fifty-nine years of age. ISAAC CHAUNCEY. C10MM0D0RE ISAAC CHAUNCEY ranks among the noblest of the naval ) heroes of the second "War for Independence, notwithstanding his operations were confined during that war to the smallest of the great Lakes on our northern frontier. Ho was a native of Black Rock, Fairfield count}^ Connecticut, where he was born at about the commencement of the Revolution. His father was a wealthy farmer, and descendant of one of the earlier settlers of that colony. Isaac was well educated, and was designed for the profe:-sion of the law, but at an early ago ho ardently desired to try life on the sea, and was gratified by sail- ing with an excellent ship-master from the port of Now York. IIo loved the occupation, very rapidly acquired a thorough knowledge of nautical affairs, and at the age of nineteen years was master of a vessel. Ho made several successful voyages to the Fast Indies in ships belonging to the late John Jacob Astor. In l7'98^ho entered the navy of the United States, with a lieutenant's commission, under Commodore Truxton. He behaved gallantly in the Mediterranean ; and in actions off Tripoli he was acting- captain of the frigate Constitution. For his gallantry and seamanship in that capacity, he received the highest praise from Commodoro Preble, and Congress presented him with an elegant sword. He was also promoted to master commandant, in 1804; and, in 1806, he received the commission of captain. When war with England commenced, in 1812, Commodoro Chauncey was appointed to the highly-important post of commander of the naval forces to be created on Lako Ontario. A few months after his arrival at Sackett's Harbor, then in tho midst of a wilderness, he had quite ' a fleet of merchant-vessels equipped for naval service ; and in the following Spring ho had a sloop-of-war and a frigato ready for duty. One was built in twenty-eight days, the other in forty-four, from the time of laying the keel. With these, and some other addi- tions to his sciuadron, Commodoro Chauncey performed very important services during the war, especially in the transportation of troops. He could never bring the British naval commander on tho lako into action, and so failed of making any brilliant achievement. ^ 1. After the war, Commodore Chauncey and Commander Yeo were dining together, when iho Litter explained the reasons of his avoiding action. Ilia government instructed him to do so, becat"c r,!l ho would gain by a victory would be tho destruction of the American fleet, while a defeat would bo likely to lead to tha entire loss of Canada. STEPHEN DECATUR. 343; At tho close of the war, Commodore Cliauncey was appointed to the command of the Wusliington, of seventy-four guns; and, in 1816, he commanded a small squadron in tiie Mediterranean. There he assisted the American consul-general at Algiers, in negotiating a treaty with that power,' which continued in forca until tho French conquest of the province, in 1830. In every Mediterranean port that he visited, Counnodoro Cliauncey left a most favorable impression of the Americans, lie returned to tlio United States in 1818, and after reposing awhile upon his estate on the East River, near the city of New York, he was called to Washington city to perform the duties of Navy Commissioner. Ho remained in tlie Federal city, in that capacity, until 1824-, when he was appointed to tho command of the naval station at Brooklyn, New York. In 1833, he was again chosen one of the Board of Navy Commissioners, and continued in that service until his death, when he was president of that body. He died at Wash- ington city, on the 27th of January, 1840, at tho age of about sixty-fivo years. STEPHEN DECATUR. AMONG- the naval heroes whom tho Americans delighted to honor, tho memory of no one is cherished with moro affection than that of tho gallant Decatur, who, liko Hamilton, "lived like a man, but died like a fool." Ho was of French lineage, and Avas born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, on tho 5th of January, 1779. His father was a naval officer, who, after the establishment of the United States navy, in 1798, had command first of the sloop-of-war Delaware, and after- ward of tho frigato Philadeljjhia, in connection with whoso fato his son gained immortal honors. Stephen Decatur was educated in Philadelphia, and at tho ago of nineteen years entered tiie navy as a midshipman, under Commodore Barrj-. He was promoted to lieutenant, in 1799. Three times he sailed to the Mediterranean, while holding tliat subordinate commission. Just before his third arrival there, the Philadelpltia frigate had struck- upon a rock in the harbor of Tripoli, and had fallen into the hands of tho Tripolltans.- Lieutenant Decatur imniediately con- ceived a plan for re-capturing or dcstroj'ing tho vcsseL Commodore Pi'cble gave him permission to execute it. At tho head of seventy volunteers, in the ketch Intrepid, he entered tho harbor of Tripoli at eight o'clock on a dark evening in February, 1804. Tho Philadelphia lay moored within half gun-shot of tha bashaw's castle and tho main battery, with her guns mounted and loaded, and watched by Tripolitan gun-boats. Nothing daunted, Decatur approached within two hundred yards of tho frigate, at eleven o'clock, and was then discovered and hailed. His Maltese pilot misled tho Tripolitans, and Decatur's intentions wera unsuspected, until he was alongside. Decatur and Midshipman Morris sprang upon the deck of tho frigate, followed by tho volunteers, and soon the vessel was in complete possession of the Americans. She could not bo borne away, so Decatur fired her in several places, and escaped without losing a man. Only four were wounded. For that daring achievement he was promoted to post- captain. During tho remainder of tho war with Tripoli he performed many bold exploits, which gave him rank among tho noblest spirits of tho age. Aftei»liis return home, Decatur was employed in tho superintendence of gun- 1. The trcnty which Commodore Decatur had previously negotiated bad been violated immediatelj after that officer hail left the Mediterranean. 2. See Bketcb of Bainbridge. §44 JAMES FENIMOEE COOPER, boats, until ordered to supersede Commodore Barron in command of the Chesa- peake. During the war with Great Britain that soon followed, he was distin- guished for his gallantry in action and generosity to the vanquished. In January, 1815, while in command of the President, he v/as made a prisoner, but was soon released by tlio treaty of peace. He was afterward despatched, with a squadron, to the Mediterranean, and in a very short time, during the Summer of 1815, lie completely humbled the piratical Barbary Powers — Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli — and compelled them to make restitution of money and prisoners. He did more: he compelled them to relinquish all claims to tribute hitherto given by the United States since 1795. Full security to American commerce in the Mediter- ranean was obtained, and the character of the government of the United States was greatly elevated in the opinion of Europe. Then was accomplished, during a, single cruise, what the combined powers of Europe dared not to attempt. On his return to the United States, Commodore Decatur was appointed one of the Board of Navy Commissioners, and resided at Kalorama, formerly the seat of Joel Barlow, near Washington city. For a long time unpleasant feelings had existed between Decatur and Barron; and, in 1819, a correspondence between them resulted in a duel at Bladensburg. Both were wounded ; Decatur mortally. That event occurred on the 22d of March, 1820, and Decatur died that night, at the age of forty years. The first intimation that his wife had of the matter was the arrival at home of her dying husband, conveyed by his friends. Thirty-five years have since rolled away, and his "beloved Susan" yet [1855] remains the widow of Stephen Decatur. JAMES FENIMOKE COOPER. THE name of James Fenimore Cooper, is first on the list of American novelists, and it will be long before one so gifted shall wear his mantle as an equal. •' He was one of those "frank and decided characters who make strong enemies and warm friends — who repel by the positiveness of their convictions, while they attract by the richness of their culture and the amiability of their lives." Mr. Cooper was born at Burlington, New Jersey, on the 15th of September, 1789. His father, an immigrant from England, had settled there some twenty years before. When James was two years of ago, the family removed to the banks of Otsego Lake, and there founded the settlement and beautiful village of Coopers- town. The lad was prepared for college by Rev. Mr. Ellison, rector of St. Peter's Church, Albany; entered Yale as a student, in 1802, and was graduated there in 1805. Ho chose the navy as the theatre of action, and entered it as a mid- Bhipman, in 1S06. After a service of six years, he was about to be promoted to lieutenant, when he loved and married Miss Delancey (sister of the present [1855] Bishop Delancey of the diocese of Western New York), and left the navy forever. It was a school in which he was trained for the special service of ht- erature in a peculiar way ; and to his nautical information and experience during that six years, we are indebted for those charming sea-stories from his pen, which gave him such great celebrity at home and abroad. Mr. Cooper's tirst production, of any pretensions, was a novel entitled Persecu- tion, EL tale of English life. It was published anonymously, met with small suc- cess, and the author was inclined to abandon the pen that had so deceived him with flilse hopes. He resolved to try again, and The Spy was the result. His triumph was now greater than his previous ftnlure. That work was a broad foundation of a brilliant superstructure, and Fame waited upon the author with JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. 345 abundant laurels. In 1823, his Pioneers appeared ; and as the series of Leather- Stocking Tales — The Prairie, The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, and The Deerslayer — were published, they were read with the greatest eagerness. His fame was fully established ; and by the publication of his novels in' Europe, American Hterature began to attract attention in quarters where it had been sneered at. His series of admirable sea-stories were equally successful ; and as The Pilot, The Bed Rover, The Water Witch, The Two Admirals, and Wing and Wing, were issued from the press, they were sought after and read with the greatest avidity. In 1826, Mr. Cooper went to Europe, preceded by a fame that gave him a key to the best society there. On all occasions he was the noble and fearless cham- pion of his country and democracy, and his pen was often employed in defence of these, even while his genius was receiving the homage of aristocracy. While abroad, he wrote The Bravo, The Heidenmaur, The Headsman, and one or two inferior tales; and on his return home, he wrote Homeward Bound, and Home as Found. These were preceded by a Letter to his Countrymen. The preparation and publication of these works were unfortunate for the reputation and personal ease of Mr. Cooper; and his sensitiveness to the lash of critics speedily involved him in law-suits with editors whom he prosecuted as libelers. Ilis feuds in- creased his naturally irritable nature, and for several years they embittered his life. They finally ceased ; his ruffled spirit became calm ; the current of popular feelin"- wliich had been turned against him resumed its old channels of admira- 15* 346 NICHOLAS BTDDLE. tion, and the evening- of liis days were blessed with tranquillity-. At his hospit- able mansion on the banks of tlie Otsego, ho enjoyed domestic peace and tho Bociety of intellectual friends; and there, on the "uth of September, 1851, his spirit went to its linal rest, when ho lacked but one day of being sixty-two years of age. Mr. Cooper is best known to tho world as a novelist, yet ho was the author of several works of graver import. Among theso may be named a Naval History of the United States, Gleanings in Europe, Sketches vf Switzerland, and several emaller works, some of them controversial, '-lie still lives," says a pleasant writer, "in the hearts of grateful millions, whose spirits have been stirred within them by his touching pathos, and whoso love of country has been warmed into new hfc by the patriotism of his eloquent pen." NICHOLAS BIDDLE. THE contest between President Jackson, chief magistrate of tho Republic, and President Piddle, chief magistrate of the Bank of the United States, forma a most interesting chapter in our political and social history. The latter was a native of Philadelphia, tho scene of that warfore, where ho was born on tho 8th of January, 1780. His ancestors were among the earlier settlers in that State, and came to America with William Penn. His father was distinguished for his patriotic services during the War for Independence; and while Dr. Franklin was chief magistrate of that commonwealth, ho was vice-president. Nicholas was educated first in tho academy at Philadelphia, then in tho coll'ege department of the University of Pennsylvania, and completed his collegiate course in the col- lege at Princeton, in September, 1801. He was unsurpassed in his class, for Bcholarship, when he was graduated. The law was his choice as a profession, and ho was almost prepared to enter upon its practice, in 1801:, when ho ac- cepted an invitation from General Armstrong (who hud been appointed minister to France), to aecompanj^ him as his private secretary. Ho visited several coun- tries on tho Continent before his return, and was private secretarj', for awhilo, to Mr. Monroe, representative of the United States at the English court. Mr. Biddlo returned to America, in 1807, and commenced the practice of his profession in Philadelphia, where, in connection with Mr. Dcnnie, he edited tho "Port-Folio," until the death of tlio latter. He also prepared a history of Lewis and Clarke's expedition to the Pacific Ocean, across the Continent, from material, placed in his hands. In tho Autunm of 1810, ho was elected to a scat in tho lower house of the legislature of Pennsylvania, where he distinguished himself by efforts in flxvor of a common-school sj'stem; and also in favor of tho re-charter of the Bank of the United States. Ho declined a reelection, in 1811, but was a member of the State Senate, in 1814, where ho evinced much sound statesman- ehip. He was afterward twice nominated for Congress, but his party (demo- cratic) being in the minorit}-, he was not elected. In 1819, he was appointed one of the government directors of tho Bank of the United States, at which timo Langdon Cheves became its president. That gentlcinan resigned, in 1823, and Mr. Biddle was chosen to succeed him, by an unanimous vote. For sixteen years he stood at the head of that great moneyed institution, and conducted its aifairs with wonderful ability. When President Jack.son brought all tlie influ- ence of his position to bear against the re-charter of the bank, Mr. Biddle sum- moned the resources of his genius, and sustained tho unequal contest for a lon^' JOHN SULLIVAN, 347 time. But ho was obliged to }'ielcl. Tlic bank expired by its charter-limitation, in I80G, wlieu it was incorporated by the State of Pennsylvania. Mr. Biddlo continued at the head of the institution until 1839, when he retired to private life, to enjoy repose at his beautiful estate of Andalusia, on the banks of tho Delaware, abovo Philadelphia. There the great financier died, on the 27th of February, 1844, at tho age of fifty-eight 3'ears. Among other papers of valuo prepared by Mr. Biddle, was a volume compiled at the request of Mr. Monroe, and published by Congress, entitled Commercial Digest. JOHN SULLIVAN. LIKE General St. Clair, General Sullivan was a meritorious but often unfortu- nate officer. His chief fault seemed to be a want of vigilance ; and during the Revolution that weakness proved disastrous — first at Bedford, near Brooklyn, in 17 7G, and on the Brandywine a year later.' John Sullivan was of Irish descent, and was born in Berwick, Maine, on the 17th of February, 1740. His youth was spent chicfiy in farm labor. At maturity ho studied law, and estab- lished himself in its practice in Durham, New Hampshire, where he soon rose to considerable distinction as an advocate and politician. He was chosen a delegate to tho Continental Congress, in 1774, and soon after his return from Philadelphia I'c was engaged, with John Langdon and othcis, in seizing Fort William and Marj', at Portsmouth.- When, the following year, the Continental army was organized, he was appointed one of the eight brigadiers first commis- sioned by Congress; and early in 1776, he was promoted to major-general. Early in the Spring of that year he superseded Arnold in command of the Con- tinental troojjs in Canada; and later in tho season he joined Washington at New York. General Greene commanded tho chief forces at Brooklyn, designed to repel tho invaders, then on Staten Island, but was taken sick, and the leadership of his division was assigned to Sullivan. In the disastrous battle tliat soon fol- lowed, he was made prisoner, but was soon afterward exchanged, and took com- mand of Lee's division, in New Jersey, after that officer's capture, later in the season. In the Autumn of 1777, General Sullivan was in the battles of Brandy- wine and Germantown; and in tho succeeding Winter, he was stationed in Rhode Island, preparatory to an attempted expulsion of the British therefrom. He besieged Newport, in August, 1778, but was unsuccessful, because the French Admiral D'Estaing would not cooperate with him, according to promise and arrangement. General Sullivan's military career clo.sed after his memorable campaign against the Indians, in Western Now York, early in the Autumn of .1779. lie resigned his commission because he felt aggrieved at some action of tho Board of War, and was afterward elected to a seat in Congress. From 1786 to 1789, ho was president or governor of New Hampshire, when, under the provision of the new Federal Constitution, he was appointed district judge. That office he held until liis death, which occurred on the 23d of January, 1795, when ho was in tlie fifty-fifth year of his age. 1. The first was at tlie close of Anpist, \-^C^. That conflict is cenerally known as the Battle of Long Island. On account of Sullivan's want of vigilance, Sir Henry Clinton, unobserved, cot in his rear near ISedford, cut off his retreat to the American lines, and placed the Americans between the balls and bayonets of the British in the rear and the Hessians in front. Because of a lack of vifrilance on the Brandywine, in September, 1777, Snllivan allowed Coriiwallis to cross that stream, unobserved, and to fall upon thi» rear of the American army. 2. See sketch of Langdon. 848 JAMES BROWN. — OLIVER HAZZARD PERRY. JAMES BROWN. ONE of the early enterprising Americans who sought and obtained wealth and renown in the newly-acquired Territory of Louisiana, was James Brown, a distinguished Senator and diplomatist. He was born near Staunton, Virginia, on the 11th of September, 1766. He was one of a dozen children of a Presby- terian clergymen, and was educated at William and Mary College, at Williams- burg. After studying law under tlie eminent George Wythe, he went to Ken- tucky, and joined his elder brother, John, who represented that State in Congress for about twenty years. When that brother was called to political life, James succeeded him in his law practice, and soon rose to eminence. In 1791, ho commanded a company of mounted riflemen, under General Charles Scott, in an expedition against the Indians in the Wabash Valley. Wlien, in 1792, Kentucky was admitted into thi Union as a sovereign commonwealth, Governor Shelby appointed Mr. Brow^n Secretary of State. He resided at Frankfort most of the time. He and Henry Clay married sisters, daughters of Colonel Thomas Hart, and were cotemporaries at the bar. After the purchase of Louisiana, Mr. Brown went to New Orleans, and at onco entered into an extensive and lucrative practice, for there was an immense amount of valuable property requiring identification of ownership, through tho medium of the new courts. He was associated with Mr. Livingston in Mie com- pilation of the civil code of Louisiana, and continued his lucrative law practice in New Orleans, until 1813, when he was elected one of the first Senators in Congress from the newly-organized State. He also held the office of LTnited States District Attorney, by the appointment of President Jefferson. In Con- ^ gress he ably sustained the administration, in its war mc^asures. He left tho Senate in 1817, but returned to it again, after a reelection, in 1819. President Monroe esteemed him very highly; and, in 1823, ho appointed him minister plenipotentiary to France. He filled that station with great dignity and ability until the Autumn of 1829, when he obtained permission to return home. Ho then retired to private life, and could never be induced to leave its coveted repose afterward. He died of apoplexv, in the city of Philadelphia, on the 7th of April, 1835, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. OLIVER HAZZARD PERRY. THE laconic despatch of Commodore Perry — We have met iJie enemy and they are ours — and the Veni vidi vici of the old Roman, will ever stand as paral- lels on the page of History. The gallant author of that despatch was born in South Kingston, Rhode Island, on the 23d of August, 1785. His father was then in the naval service of the United States, and dedicated his infant son to that profession. He entered the navy as a midshipman, at the age of thirteen years, on board of the sloop-of-war. General Greene. At that time, Avar with France seemed inevitable ; but young Perry was not permitted to see active service until the difficulties with Tripoli afforded him an opportimity. he being in the squadron of Commodore Preble. Always thoughtful, studious, and in- quisitive on ship-board, he soon became a skilful seaman and navigator, and an accomplished disciplinarian. In 1810, Midshipman Perry was promoted to lieutenant, and placed in com- OLIVER HAZZARD PERRY, U9 mand of tlio schooner Revenge, attached to Commodore Rodger's squadron, then cruising in the vicinity of New London, in Long Island Sound. In that vessel ho was^-wrocked tlio following Spring, but was not only acquitted of all blame by a court of inquiry held at his request, but his conduct in saving guns and stores was highly applauded. Early in 1812, he was placed in command of a flotilla of gun-boats in New York harbor. Ho soon became disgusted with that service, and solicited and obtained, for himself and his men, permission to reen- foroe Commodore Chauncey on Lake Ontario. That officer immediately despatched Perry to Lake Erie, to superintend the building of a small squadron there to oppose a British naval force on those western waters. Wlicn ready, Perry cruised about the west end of the Lake, and on the 10th of September, 1813, ho had a severe engagement with the enemy. In the Lawrence, which displayed at its mast-head'the words of the hero after whom she was named— Z'on'i! give up the ship^ — Perry led the squadron, and after many acts of great skill and courage, ho achieved a complete victory. He was then only twenty-seven years of age. It was one of the most important events of the war. The victor waa promoted to captnin, received the thanks of Congress and State legislatures, and was honored by his government with a gold commemorative medal. After tho war, Captain Perry was placed in command of the Java, a first-clas3 frigate, and sailed with Commodore Decatur to the Mediterranean, to punish the piratical Dey of Algiers. After his return to the U nited States, he performed a 1. See sketch of James Lawrence. 350 WILLIAM GASTON. deed of heroism equal to any achieved in the pubUc service. His vessel was lying in Newport harbor, in mid-Winter. During a fearful storm, intelligence reached him that a merchant vessel was wrecked upon a reef, six miles distant. He immediately manned liis barge, said to liis crew, "Come, my boys, wo are , going to the relief of shipwrecked seamen; pull away!" and soon afce-rward ho had rescued eleven half-exhausted men, -who were clinging to the floating quar- ter-deck of their broken vessel. To Perry, it was an ac^t of simple duty in the cause of humanity ; to his countrj'men, it appeared as holiest heroism, deserving of a civic crown. The commerco of the United States -was greatly annoyed and injured by Bwarms of pirates who infested the West India seas. A small American squad- ron Avas stationed there; and, in 1819, Commodoro Perry was sent thither, in the John Adams, to take command of the little fleet, chastise the buccaneers, and exchange friendly courtesies with the new republics on the Caribbean coast. When he arrived, the yellow fever was prevailing in the equadron. The com- modore was soon attacked by that terrible disease, and on his birth-da)-, the 23d of August, 1819, just as his vessel was entering the harbor of Port Spain, Trin- idad, iio expired, at the ago of thirty-four years. He v,-as buried with military honors, the following day. Seventeen years afterward, his remains were brought to his native land, in a vessel of war, and interred in the North burying-ground, at Newport, Rhode Island. Over liis grave the State of Pihodc Island erected a granite monument; and soon after his decease, Congress made a liberal provision for his aged mother, and his v/idow and children. That widow yet [1855] lives, at Newport, the beloved relict of one cf the most gallant and accomplished men whoso deeds have honored our Republic. ' WILLIAM a A S T O N . A MONGr the moro recent lights of the North Carolina bar, was William Gaston, A. the eminent statesman, the upright judge, and the profound scholar. He was born at Newbern, North Carolina, on the 19th of September, 1778. His family was greatly distinguislied for patriotism during the War for Independence, and that moral quality occui)ied a large space in his character. His father died when ho was only three 3'ears of age, and he was left to the care of his excellent mothci', a member of the Roman Catholic Church. At the age of thirteen j-ears be was sent to the college at Georgetown, District of Columbia,- where he took special delight in the study of the ancient classics. Ilis health became impaired by excessive application to liis studies, and ho Avas called home. After some further preparation ho entered the college at Princeton, as a student, in 1794, where he was graduated, two j-ears afterward, with the highest honors. He studied law in his native town, with Francis Xavier Martin, and was admitted to practice in 1798. Before ho was twenty-two years of nge, ho was a member of the Senate of North Carolina, where his talents soon became vcr}^ conspicuous. In 1808, ho was one of the electors of President and Vice-President of the United States; and from 1813 until 1817, ho was a representative of his district in the Federal Congress. Ho was a warm opponent of Madison's administration, and 1. A brother of Commodore Perrv, beaiing (be same (itle, li.is been instnmienlal in gaining great eommercial advantages for the United Statep. In command of a squadron, he made an otiicial vKMt to Japan, and, hv admirablv-condncted negotiations, he sncoeeded in forming a treaty with the govern- ment of ihat einpire, in 1854, by which its long-sealed ports have been opened to American vessels for ever. i.'. See sketch of Archbishop Carroll. ZERAH COLBURN. 851 ably battled against the war, with his Federal associates of New England. One of his most powerful speeclics in Congress was in the early part of 1815, against the proposition for authorizing the President to contract a loan of twenty-fivo millions of dollars, for the purpose of carrying on the war. His learning and eloquence created great surprise, and he was regarded as one of the ablest and most useful men in'Congress. His own State was enriched by his labors after 1817, where, for twenty-seven years longer, ho was unremitting in active duties at the bar, in the legislature, in the conv"ention to amend tlie Constitution of the State, and as a judge of the Supremo Court of North Carolina. He was chosen to tlie latter office in 1834, with the universal approbation of the people, not- withstanding a provision of the then existing State Constitution, prohibited all but Protestant Christians, holding a judicial station. The memory of ,'ew men is so warn^ly cherished as that of Judge Gaston, by the North Carolinians. Ho was an elegant writer of both prose and poetry, pure in all his tlioughts and acts, and a noble citizen in every particular. During all his life he cherished the memory of his motlier with fondest affection, and uniformly attributed to her tender care and wise counsels, under Providence, all of the moral strength of his character, and his success in life.' Sweetly has Mrs. Sigourncy sung — " This tells to mothers what a holy charge Is theii-s ; with what a kinprly power their lore May rule the fountains of the new-born mind ; W;irns them to wake at early rlawii and sow Good seed before the world doth sow its tares." Judge Gaston died on the 23d of January, 1844, in the sixty-sixth year of his ZERAH COLBURN. THE career of Zerah Colburn, who was remarkable for his extraordinary per- formances in mental arithmetic, exhibits the melancholy spectacle of a life made comparatively miserable by a dependence upon one precocious faculty, and the greed of a misguided parent. He was born at Cabot, Vermont, on the 1st of September, 1804, and until he was almost six years of age, he appeared the dullest of his Other's children. At about that time he exhibited extraordinary powers of calculation, by a mental i^rocess wholly his own, and which he could not explain. His father was led to expect great achievements by his gifted bo}^, and at the same time, with the avowed purpose of procuring money to have him educated, he took him to different places in New England, to be examined, hop- ing to meet with some generous aid. It was offered by the president of Dart- mouth College, who proposed to educate Zerah at his own expense. Hoping for a more fivorable offer, his father took him to Boston, where his wonderful powers created a great sensation. They were indeed wonderful. The most difficult questions on the various arithmetical rules, were solved almost instantly, by a mental process, for the manual labor of making figures was altogether too tardy for his calculations. i — — 1. When he was only seven or eight years of age, ho was remarkable for his expertnesg in learning his lessons in school. A little boy said to him one day, " William, why is it that yon arc always at tba head of the class, and I am always at the foot?" "There is a reason," William replied, "but if I tell you, yon must promise to keep it a secret, and do as I do. Whenever I take up a book to Etndy. I first say a little praver my mother taught me, that I may be able to learn my lessons." And such was his practice through life. He never attempted any thing of moment, without first invoking Divine assist- ance. 852 JAMES LAWRENCE. Several gentlemen in Boston offered to educate the lad, but his father would not consent. He travelled with him through many of tlio Middle and Southern States, exhibiting him for money; and, in 1812, he went with him to England, for the same purpose. After travelling through much of Great Britain and Ire- land, they went to France, and young Colburn became a student in the Lycee Napoleon, for a short time. But in all these wanderings the education of the boy was neglected, and tlic unwise father had utterly failed in what appeared to be his main object— money-making— when, in 1816, they returned to Eng- land. There the lad found'a generous pauron iu the Earl of Bristol, who placed him in "Westminster school, and kept him there about three years. Young Colburn was making fine progress, and gave many promises of future success, when his father refused to comply with some wishes of the earl, and the patron- age of that peer was lost. The foolish and greedy father then had his son pre- pared for the stage, but he was a poor actor, and was soon obliged to abandon that profsssion, and become an assistant teacher in a school iu London, to pro- cure bread. Zerah finally opened a school on his own account, and he earned some money by making astronomical calculations for Dr. 1 oung, then Secretary of the Board of Longitude. The elder Colburn died in 1824, and the Earl of Bristol and others, assisted Zcrah with means to return to his native country. He was then twenty years of age. After spending some time with his mother and sisters, he became assistant teacher in an academy connected with Hamilton College, iu the State of New York. Ho soon afterward went to Burlington, Verniont, where he gained a precarious living by teaching the French language. There he united himself with the ilethodist Society, and soon afterward became an itinerant preacher. He was an indifferent speaker. Finall\^, in 1835, he settled at Norwich, Connecticut, and became Professor of Latin, Greek, French, and Spanish languages, in the " Norwich University." Two years previously, lie had written and published a memoir of himself, which contains a great deal of curious narrative. He died at Norwich, on the 2d of March, 1840, in the thirty-fifth year of his age. The moral of his life is, that the wonderful develop- ment of a single faculty^ only, is no guaranty of success. A JAMES LAWRENCE. SINGLE act — a single expression — is sometimes sufficient to give a name an earthly. immortality. The acts and words of Captain James Lawrence present an illustrative example. He was the son of a lawyer in Burlington, New Jersey, where he was born on the 1st of October, IT 81. While yet a small boy he felt irrepressible longings for the sea ; and at the age of sixteen years he was gratified by receiving the appomtment of midshipman in the navy. He was schooled in the war against Tripoli. He acted as Decatur's first lieutenant in the daring achievement of burning the Philadelplda frigate under the guns of the Tripofitan batteries ; and ho remained for scvei'al years in the Mediterranean, in command successively of the Vixen, Wasp, Argus, and Hornet. With the latter he captured the Peacoch off the coast of Demerara, in February, 1813 ; and on his return he was promoted to post captain, and j^laced in command of the frigate Chesapeake. While lying in Boston Harbor, at the close of May, the British frigate Shannon appeared, and signalled a challenge for the Chesapeake to come out and fight. It was accepted by Lawrence, and on the morning of the 1st of June, he went out to engage in that naval duel which proved so dis- astrous. They opened their guns upon each other, late in the afternoon. Early ZACHARY TAYLOR. 853 in the action Captain Lawrence was wounded in the leg. The vessels came so near each other, that the anchor of the C/tempeake caught in one of the ports of the Shannon, and lier guns could not be brought to bear upon the enemy. "While in that situation, Captain Lawrence received his death-wound, from a bullet, and when carried below, he cried out in those imperishable words — words which the brave Perry placed at his mast-head three months afterward — " BouH give up the ship."' The G/iesapeakx was captured after an action of eleven minutes, and a loss of one hundred and forty-six men, in killed and wounded. Captain Lawrence lived, in great pain, four days, when he died, on the Gtli of June, 1813, at the age of thirty-one years. He was buried at Halifax, Nova Scotia, with military honors. His remains were afterward conveyed to New York, and interred in Triuitj' church-yard, where an appropriate monument was erected to his memory. It fell into decay, and a more beautiful one has since been reared. ZACHAKY TAYLOR. THE people of the United States are professedly peace-loving, yet nowhere is a militarjr hero moi-e sincerely worshipped by vast masses than here, not, we may charitably hope, because of his vocation, but because of the good achieved for his countrj'- by his brave deeds. And when that worship is excessive be- cause of some brilliant act, then the people desire to apotheosize the hero by crowning him with the highest honors of the nation — the civic wreath of chief magistrate. Of four already thus rewarded. General Zaehary Taylor was the last. Ho was a native of Virginia, the' " mother of Presidents," and was born in Orange county, on the 24th of September, 1784. His father removed to Ken- tucky the following year, and settled near the site of the present city of Louis- ville. At the age of about twenty -four }'ears he entered the army of the United States as first lieutenant of infantry, and two j-ears afterward he married Miss Margaret Smith, a young lady of good family in Maryland. When war was declared against Great Britain, in 1812, he held a captain's commission, and he was placed in command of Fort Harrison, a stockade on the Wabash river. There, in his gallant operations against the Indians, he gave promise of future renown, and for his heroic defence of his post he was breveted major. During the whole war he was an exceedingly useful officer in the North-west. At the close of the contest, when the army was reduced, he was deprived of his majority and re-commissioned a captain. His pride would not brook the measure, and he left the service. He was soon after reinstated as major, by President Madi- son. In 1816, Major Taylor was placed in command of a post at Green Bay; and two years afterward ho was promoted to lieutenant-colonel. In that position he remained until 18;)2, when President Jackson, who appreciated his great merits, gave him the commission of colonel. He served with distinction under General Scott in the "Black Hawk War," and remained in command of Fort Crawford, at Prairie du Chien, until 18:!G. Then he went to Florida, and in his operations against the Seminoles, he evinced generalship superior to any officer there. Be- cause of his gallantry in the battle at Okeechobee swamp, at the close of 1 837, he was breveted brigadier-general ; and the following year the command of all the troops ]. Recently a newspaper paragraph asserted lliat a person now livinp, who was with Captain Lawrence when he uttered Iho expression attributed to him, says (hat his words were, instead of " Don't give vp the ship I tlie more probablo ones, oa such an occasion, Fiyht her till ehe tinks." 354 ZACHARY TAYLOR.' in Florida was assigned to him. Tiiere he remained until 1840, when he was appointed to the command of the South-western division of the army. He took post at Fort Gibson, in 1841, and removed his family to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the same year, where he had purchased an estate. Pursuant to general expectation, the annexation of Texas to the United States, in 1845, caused a rupture witli Mexico, and hostilities were threatened. Gen- eral Taylor was ordered to take post in Texas, toward the Mexican frontier, and in August, he concentrated his troops, as an Army of Observation, at Corpus Christi. The following Spring he crossed the Colorado with about four thousand regular troops, and approached the Rio Grande. On the 8th and 9th of May he gained those brilliant victories at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, which gave him imperishable renown as a military leader. Late in September following, he gained another great victory at Monterey, in Mexico ; and on the 23d of February, 1847, at the head of only six thousand men, mostly volunteers, he achieved a great victory at Buena Vista, over Santa Anna, with an army of twenty thousand Mexicans. In all of his movements, from the first blow at Palo Alto until the last one at Buena Vista, Taylor displayed the highest order of generalship, the most daring intrepidity, and the most unwavering courage. On his return home, he was every where greeted with the wildest enthusiasm ; and, in 1848, the SILAS WRIGHT. 355 Whig party, governed by the applauding voice of the nation, regarded Lhn ns eminently " available," and nominated him for the office of President of the United States. In the Autumn of that year, he was elected by a very large majority, and was inaugurated chief magistrate of the Republic on the 4th of March following. The cares, the duties, the personal inaction incident to his station, bore heavily upon him ; and when disease appeared, these aggravated it. After holding tlie reins of the Federal government for sixteen months, death came to the presidential mansion, and on the 9th of July, 1850, the brave hero died, at the age of sixty-five years. He was the second chief magistrate who had died while in office, and was succeeded by the Vice-President, MiUard Fillmore. SILAS WRiailT. THE origin and career of Silas Wright, presents a striking illustration of the flict that, under the fostering care of our free institutions, genius may lift its possessor to the pinnacle of fame and fortune, without the factitious aids of wealth and power which too frequently stand sponsors at the baptism of (jreat men, so called, in the elder work!. Silas Wright was born at Amherst, ilassa- chusetts, on the 24th of May, 1795, and while he was an infant, his parents settled in Weybridge, Vermont. There he received his early education, entered Mid- dlebury College, as a student, at a proper age, and was graduated in 1815. While yet a student, his active mind grasped the subject of politics. War with Great Britain was then progressing, and young Wright became quite distinguished as a democratic politician, in Middleljury. After leaving college, he studied law at SAiidy Hill, New York, and commenced its jjractice, in 1819. The same year he was induced to settle at Canton, New York, and there ho lived the remainder of his days, except when absent on public duty. His superior abilities were soon manifested, and he was successively chosen to fill several local offices. He also took pride in military matters, and rose to the rank of brigadier-general of militia. As a magistrate, he always endeavored to allay feuds and keep the people from litigation ; and as a lawyer, he conscientiously pursued the same course. In 1823, he was elected to the State Senate, from St. Lawrence county, that district then embracing that ai|d eight others of the sparsely-settled counties of Northern New York.' He soon became a distinguished member of the Senate, as a sound logician, fluent speaker, and industrious laborer in the public cause.^ He remained there about three years, when he was elected to a seat in Congress, in 1826. There he took an active part in the discussions concerning a tariff, and cognate measures. At the next election he was a candidate for Congress, but the omission of the word junior, in printing his name on the tickets, caused his defeat. In 1829, he was appointed comptroller of the State of New York, and was reelected to the same office, by the legislature, in 1832. The following year that body chose him to represent New York in the Senate of the United States, which position he occupied with great honor to himself and his country until he was elected governor of that State, in 1 844. The nomination for the 1. Saratoga, Montgomery, Hamilton, Washington, Warren, Clinton, Essex, and Franklin. 2. It is said that on one occasion, while a member of the Senate, he was indirectly offered the sum of fifty thousand dollars, if he wonld feign sickness the next day, be absent from his seat, and not oppose, with his great influence, a bill for chartering certain banks. He spurned the bribe with honest indigna- tion, and he was so much agitated by the occurrence during that night, that he came very near being absent from his seat the next day, on account of real illness. 356 JESSE BUEL, ofSce of Vice-President of the United States was tendered to him by a national convention, the same year, but was decUned. Two years before he had deeUned a nomination for governor, and also the appointment of judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. Governor Wright was again nominated for chief magistrate of his adopted State, in 1846, but lost his election. At the close of his official terra he retired to private life, followed by the grateful appreciation of his countrymen. There he seemed to be gathering strength for greater and more brilliant achievements in the field of statesmanship, to which his countrymen desired to invite him, when death came suddenly, and laid him in the grave. He had consented to deliver the annual address at the State Agricultural Fair, to be held at Saratoga Springs. "While preparing for that service, he was at- tacked by acute disease, and expired within two hours afterward. That event ocaorred on th9*27th of August, 1847, when he was a little more than fifty-two years of age. The people of St. Lawrence county have erected a beautiful monument over his grave at Canton, composed of pure white marble, from the Dorset quarry. The citizens of Weybridge, where he spent his earlier years, have also erected a monument to his memory. It is a shaft of wliite marble, about thirty-eight feet in height, standing upon a pedestal. JESSE BUEE. IT has been justly said of Jesse Buel, one of the most eminent patrons of Agricul- ture, in this country, that "in example not less than in precept, he may be said to have conferred blessings upon the times in which he lived — blessings that will continue to fructify, and ripen into fruit, long after his body shall have mingled with his favorite earth." Mr. Buel was a native of Coventry, Connecticut, where he was born on the 4th of Januarj', 1778, and was the 3^oungest of fourteen chil- dren of the same mother. When Jesse was twelve years of age, his flither made Eutland, Vermont, his residence ; and there, two years afterward, the lad, at his own urgent request, was apprenticed to a printer. At the age of eighteen years he purchased from his employer, the unexpired term of his apprenticeship, worked as a journeyman first in the city of New York, and then in Lansingburg and Waterford, and, in 1797, commenced the publication of a political newspaper at Troy. He married in 1801, made Pouglikeepsie, in Dutchess county, his res- idence, and established a newspaper there. It was an unsuccessful enterprise, and Mr. Buel lost sufficient by it to make him a bankrupt. He left the scene of his disaster, went to Kingston, in Ulster county, and there, in 1803, he estab- lished a weekly paper, and continued it for ten years. Success attended him there. His daily life was marked by great diligence in business, and upright- ness in conduct. He obtained and deserved the public confidence, and, for awhile, filled the ofRce of judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Ulster county. In 1813, Judge Buel removed to Albany. He had accumulated some prop- erty, bore a high reputation, and with this capital, at the urgent sohcitation of Judge Spencer and others, he assumed the editorial management of the Albany Argus. The following year he received the appointment of State printer, and held that lucrative office until 1820, when he sold out his interest in the Argus, disposed of his printing establishment, and upon a small form near Albany com- menced his eminent career as a practical agriculturist. There, for nineteen years, he was engaged in those experiments in Agriculture and Horticulture whicli have rendered his name famous throughout our Union, and in Europe. Desirous of in- OSCEOLA. 057 ducing others to adopt his improvements, he commenced the pubhcation of the Cul- tivator, in 1834, under the auspices of the New York State Agricultural Society, and conducted it with great ability and success, until his death. In addition to his contributions to that paper, he wrote and delivered many addresses before agri- cultural societies in his own State and elsewhere; and associations of cultivators delighted to honor him with tokens of their esteem. He was chosen honorary member of the Loiuer Canada AgricuUural Society; the London Hortkullural Society ; the Royal and Central Society of Agriculture at Paris, and of the Society of Universal Statistics in the same city. For several years, at intervals, Judge Buel was a member of the New York legislature; and, in 1836, he was an un- successful candidate for the office of governor of the State. At the time of his death he was one of the i-egents of the University. His final departure occurred at Danbury, Connecticut, on the 6th of October, 1839, when he was in the sixty- second year of his age. He was then on a journey to New Haven, to address an Agricultural Society there, when death suddenly prostrated him. OSCEOLA. FADING-, fading, fading I Such is the doom of the Aborigines of our Continent Civilization is to them like the sunbeams upon snow or hoar-frost. They are fast melting in its presence ; and the burden of many a sad heart among the tribes is expressed in the touching lines of Schoolcraft — I will go to my tent and lie down in despair ; I will paint me with black and will sever my hair ; I will sit on the shore wlien the hurricane blows, And reveal to the God of the Tempest, my woes. I will weep for a season, on bitterness fed. For my kindred are gone to the hills of the dead ; But they died not of hunger, or ling'ring decay — The hand of the white man hath swept them away I'' From time to time, some daring spirit, bolder than his fellows, and fired with patriotic zeal and burning hatred, like Philip or Pontiac, have, in more recent times, made desperate efforts to retain the land of tlieir fathers when the hand of the white man had grasped it. Among tlie latest of these gallant men was Osceola, a brave chief of the Seminoles. His people yet remain on their ancient domain^ the everglades of Florida. They were a remnant of the once powerful Creek Confederacy ; and while other tribes were emigrating to the wilderness beyond the Mississippi, they pertinaciously clung to the graves and the hunting-grounds of their ancestors. A treaty made by some of the chief men, which provided for their removal beyond the Father of Waters, was repudiated by the nation. Micanopy, as its representative, declared that the Indians had been deceived, and refused to go. The government of the United States resolved to remove them by force. A long and cruel war was kindled, in 1835; and at the be- ginning of the contest, a young chief of powerful frame, noble bearing, and keen sagacity, appeared as leader of the warriors. It was Osceola. By conunon consent the Seminoles regarded him as their general-in-chief and destined liber- ator. With all the cunning of a Tecumseh and bravery of a Philip, he was so successful in stratagem, skilful in manojuvres, and gallant in conflict, that he baffled the efforts of the United States' troops sent against hini, for a long time. For more than two years the war was prosecuted vigorously amid the. swamps of the great Southern Peninsula, and a vast amount of blood and treasure was wasted in vain attempts to subdue the Indians. Some of the most accomplished 358 WILLIAM C, C. CLAIBOENE, commanders in the army of the Republic — Scott, Taylor, Gaines, and Jesup — were there, but Osceola, in his way, out-generalled them all. At last lie was subdued by treachery. He was inyited to a conference in the camp of General Jesup, under the protection of a flag. Several chiefs, and about seventy war- riors, accompanied him ; and when they supposed themselves safe under the pledges of the white man's honor and the sacred flag, they were seized and con- fined. Osceola was sent in irons to Charleston, and immured in Fort Moultrie. This act of treachery was defended by General Jesup by the plea of Osceola's known infidelity to solemn promises, and a desire to put an end to blood-shed by whatever means he might be able to employ. It was the logic of mercy enforced by dishonor. The misfortune of Osceola was too great, even for his mig'uty spirit. That spirit, chafed like a leashed tiger, would not bend until the physical frame of the chief gave way, and a fatal fever seized it. Gradually the stern warrior assumed the weakness of a little child; and on the 31st of January, 1839, Osceola died in his military prison. Since then a small monument to his memory has been erected near the entrance-gate to Fort Moultrie.' His capture and death was the severest blow yet felt by the Seminoles. The spirit of the nation was broken, yet they fought on with desperation. They did not finally yield until 1842. A remnant yet [1855] inhabit the everglades of Florida. They are quiet but defiant. WILLIAM O. C. CLAIBORNE. WHEN, early in the year 1804, intelligence reached the government of the United States, that the broad and beautiful territory of Louisiana had become a part of the Republic by actual cession, and the importance of appoint- ing an extremely judicious man to govern the mixed population of Spaniards, Frenchmen, and Negroes, was palpable. President Jefferson, to the astonishment of many old and wise heads, sent thither a handsome young man of niue-and- twenty years, a descendant of one of the earliest settlers in Virginia. Tliat young man was William Charles Cole Claiborne, who was born in 1^15. He was nursed in the bosom of patriotic sentiment, and grew to manhood in the atmosphere of noble eftbrts in the founding of a new and glorious empire. He was a student in William and Mary College, for a while, but completed his edu- cation at an academy in Richmond. He inherited notliing but a good education and excellent character, and with these he entered upon the battle of life, con- fident of victories. With a determination to help himself^ he went to New York, and sought employment under ilr. Beckley (with whom he was acquainted), then clerk to the Federal House of Representatives. He succeeded, and at the age of sixteen years the accomplished and resolute boy ate bread earned by his own industry. He became perfect master of the French language, and was very useful to his employer, in many ways. His talent and sprightliness attracted the attention of Jefferson, then Washington's Secretary of State, and that states- man gave the youthful Claiborne many of the encouragements which young men need. From General John Sevier, then a member of Congress, ho received many kind attentions, and his young ambition grew apace. The profession of the law opened a high road to distinction, and he left New-York, studied Black- stone, in Richmond, for' three months, was then admitted to practice, and, bid- 1. See sketch of General Moultrie. The present fortress, near the site of the palmetto fort of the Revo- lution, is a strong, regular work ; one of the finest belonging to the United States. WILLIAM C. C. CLAIBOENE. 859 -^ H^ -^ ^i::t^c^t7c>r^u^ ding adieu to the charms of society in the East, he T^ent over the mountains, and estabhshed himself in the present Sulhvan county, Tennessee. In eloquence, he exceeded every man west of the Blue Ridge, and in less than two years, he was at the head of liis profession, and was called hundreds of miles to manage law-suits. A yearning for home took possession of his feelings, and he was about to return to Richmond, when Tennessee prepared to enter tlie Union as a sover- eign State, and Claiborne was chosen a member of a convention to form a con- stitution. In that convention he began his political career ; and he was regarded by all as a prodigy, for he was then only about twenty-one years of age. His friend, Sevier, was elected governor of-tho new State. One of his first acts was the appointment of young Claiborne as a judge of the Supreme Court of law and equity, of the budding commonwealth. He was not yet twentj'-two years of age, yet he entered upon his duties with all the gravity and legal wisdom of many jurists of fifty. The ermine did not rest long upon his shoulders, for the people, by an immense majority, elected him their representative in Congress. He was again triumphantly reelected, and there he repaid the kindness he had received from Mr. Jefferson, by giving him his vote for President of the United States. In that Congress Claiborne greatly distinguished himself by his learning, logic, and eloquence. Soon after President Jefferson's accession, he appointed Mr. Claiborne govern- or of the Mississippi Territory, on the request of the people there ; and on the 23d of November, 1801, he was enthusiastically received at Natchez, the seat of 360 JAMES MILNOE. goverament. He found society heaving with the turbulence of faction ; he poured the oil of concihation upon the billows, and they soon became calm. He mar- ried a beautiful and wealthy girl in Nashville, and passed the two years that Ke was governor of Mississippi, in the greatest happiness. His duties of governor of Louisiana, to which office he was appointed early in 1804, were more arduous and perplexing, yet he performed them with signal ability and success. His justice and urbanity endeared him to all classes; and when, in 1812, Louisiana became an independent State, the people chose him for their governor, by an almost unanimous vote. He was in .tlie executive chair during the memorable invasion of the British, and their repulse at New Orleans by General Jackson, early in 1815. On that occasion Governor Claiborne wisely and generously sur- rendered to Jackson all power and command, and, under that general's orders, the magistrate led a large body of the militia of his State. His long career as governor of Louisiana terminated in 1817, when he was chosen to represent that State in the Federal Senate. But his useful life closed too soon to allow himto serve his countrymen any more. He died of a disease of the liver, in the city of New Orleans, on the 23d of November, 1817, in the forty-second year of his age. The municipal authorities decreed a public funeral, and money was ap- priated to erect a marble monument to his memory. JAMES MILNOR. IT has been the privilege of few men, who have passed their lives in public labors, to be so warmly, tenderly, and universally loved, as the Rev. James Milnor, D. D., tlie rector of St. G-eorge's Church, New York, for almost thirty years. And it has been the privilege of very few men to be so eminently use- ful as he in all that pertains to the well-being of his fellow creatures. In the domestic circle, he was reverenced for his unalloyed goodness ; in the legal pro- fession he was called ''the honest lawyer"; as a legislator he was benehcelit and patriotic ; as a Christian he was without guile ; and in the Protestant Epis- copal Church, he was one of the most prominent of all her evangelical clergy, yet in nothing wanting as one of her most loyal sons. James Milnor was the son of Quaker parents, and was born in Pliiladelphia on the 20th of June, 1773. He was educated partly in the Philadelphia Acade- my, and partly in the University of Pennsylvania. To reheve his father of heavy expenses on his account, James left the University before taking his de- gree, and at the age of about sixteen j^ears, commenced the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1794, before he was quite twenty -one years of age, and commenced practice in Norristow.n. There, among a preponderating G-er- man population, he was very successful, he having acquired a knowledge of the language at an early age. After remaining there about three years, he returned to Philadelphia, and, in 1799, married the lady who yet [1855] survives him. That ceremony having been performed by "a hireling priest," (the bride was an Episcopalian, by education) contrary to the discipline of Friends, Mr. Milnor was disowned, and his membership in the Society ceased forever. In the" year 1800, Mr. Milnor was chosen a member of the city council. He held the same position from 1805 until 1809 ; and during the latter year, he was its President. He was extremely popular among all classes; and in 1810, he was elected to a seat in Congress by the Federal vote in his district. There ho remained until the Spring of 1813, and was a steady and consistent opponent of the war, and the beUigerent measures of the Administration. He took a JAMES MILNOR. 361 prominent part in the debates; and on account of a report of one of his speeches, which appeared in a Philadelphia paper, Henry Clay, then Speaker of the House, challenged him to fight a duel. Mr. Milnor bravely refused, first be- cause Mr. Clay had no right to call him to account for his public acts, and secondly because he was opposed, in principle, to the cowardly practice of duel- ling. There the matter ended, and in after years, when Mr. Milnor was an eminent minister of the Gospel, he and the great statesman met on the most friendly terms. It was during his Congressional career, that religious truths were pressed with greatest force upon his attention. He had been careless for many years ; then he stood wavering between the doctrine of universal salvation and the orthodoxy of the day, but when his term of service in the national council had ended, his mind fully comprehended those great truths which he afterward so eloquently proclaimed, and he abandoned the legal profession and prepared for entrance upon the Gospel ministrj-.' He was admitted to the communion by Bishop White, and was ordained a deacon by that excellent prelate, in August, 1814. Twelve months afterward 'he was ordained a presbyter, and labored for about a year as an assistant minister in the Associated Churches, in Philadel- phia. In 1816, he was called to the rectorship of St. George's Church, in New York, and commenced his long and useful labors there in September of that year. The Bishop of the diocese (Hobart) had been his play-fellow in boyhood, and Mr. Milnor anticipated pleasant pastoral relations with him. These antici- pations were not realized. The rector of St. George's would indulge his heart and lips in the utterance of extemporaneous prayer at occasional religious meet- ings, and he also joined heartily with other denominations of Christians, im- mediately after his arrival in New York, in the formation of the Bible Society ; and during the remainder of his life he was continually associated with disciples of every name, in other works of Christian benevolence. These were grave of- fences in the eyes of the Bishop, and a harmony of views, on these subjects, never existed between the prelate and the presbyter.2 Dr. Milnor was extremely active in the promotion of schemes of Christian benevolence. He was one of the founders of the American Tract Society, in 1824, and continued to be one of its most active members until his death. The Institution for the Deaf and Dumb ; the Orphan Asylum ; the Home for aged indigent Females, and many kindred institutions, felt his fostering care. In 1830 ho went to England as a delegate of the American Bible Society to the British and Foreign Bible Society; and ever afterward his visit there was re- ferred to with the greatest pleasure by all who enjoyed the privilege of his com- pany and ministrations. He visited Paris, then the Isle of "Wight, and then made a general tour through England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, everywhere engaged in the duties of a Cliristian minister, and human benefactor. He re- turned home in the Autumn of the same year, bringing with him a vast amount of useful information for the various associations with which he was connected. In the excitements produced by Tractarianism, he was bold in the maintenance of evangelical truth, yet always kind and conciliatory. He labored on zeal- ously until the Spring of 1845, when he was summoned away suddenly by a _ 1 On one of liis visits liome, during his term in Congress, his little daughter, Anna, met him as he en- tered the house, and said, " Papa, do you know I can read?" " No, let me hear you," he replied. She selected the words, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." This incident made a great impression on his mind. 2 Bishop Hobart objected to the prayer meetings, which the members of St. George's Church were in the habit of holding, and which Dr. Milnor warmly encouraged, though he did not always attend tliem. On one of those evenings, the Bishop was in the rectory, and requested Dr. Milnor to go and dismiss the assembly. " Bishop," he said firmly, " I dare not prevent my parishioners from meeting for prayer ; but if you are willing to take the responsibility of dismissing. tliem, you have my permission." The praying members remained undisturbed. 16 362 RETURN" JONATHAN MEIGS. disease which had twice brought him to death's door. On the eveuing of the 8th of April, 1845, a meeting of the Directors of tlie Deaf and Dumb Institu- tion was held at his study. Five hours afterward his spirit was in the imme- diate jjresence of his divine Master. RETURN JONATHAN MEIGS. 4 BRIGHT-EYED Connecticut girl was disposed to coquette with her lover, J\ Jonathan Meigs ; and on one occasion, wlien he had pressed his suit with great earnestness, and asked for a positive answer, she feigned coolness, and would give him no satisfaction. The lover resolved to be trifled with no longer, and bade her farewell, for ever. She perceived her error, but he was allowed to go far down the lane before her pride woidd yield to the more tender emotions of her heart. Then she ran to the gate and cfied, " Return, Jonathan! Return, Jonathan!" He did return, they were joined in wedlock, and in commemoration of these happy words of the sorrowing girl, they named their first child, Return Jonathan. That child, afterward a hero in our War for Independence, a noble "Western pioneer, and a devoted friend of the Cherokees, was born at Middletown, Connecticut, in December, 1740. He received a good common education, and learned the trade of a hatter. Of his earlier life we have no important informa- tion ; and he first appears in public at the opening of the Revolution. He was then thirty-five years of age ; and one of the companies of minute-men, in his native town, had chosen him their captain. When intelligence of bloodshed at Lexington reached him, he marched his company to Cambridge, and soon re- ceived" the appointment of major, from Governor Trumbull. In the ensuing Autumn, he accompanied Arnold in his memorable expedition from the Kenne- bec to the St. Lawrence. He participated in the attack on Quebec, at the close of the year, and was made a prisoner there. His fellow-captives were much in- debted to him for comforts during the remainder of the dreary Winter. In the course of the following year he was exchanged, and, receiving the commission of colonel from the Continental Congress, he raised a regiment in Connecticut, which was known as The Leather-cap Battalion. With a part of his force (seventy in number), he made a bold attack upon the British post at Sag Har- bor, east end of Long Island, in May, 1777, where he destroyed a good deal of property, and carried off almost a hundred prisoners, without losing a man. Congress gave him thanks and an elegant sword, for that exploit. ' In the capture of Stony Point, on the Hudson, in 1779, Colonel Meigs and his regiment, under the direction of General Wayne, performed a gallant part. He was one of the first to mount the parapet and enter the fort. He remained in active service until the close of the war, and then sat down quietly in his native town, to enjoy the honors he had so bravely won. His knowledge of surveying, acquired in early life, was now called into practice. He was appointed one of the surveyors of the Ohio Land Company,' and in the Spring of 1778, he went over the mountains, and halted at Marietta, the head-quarters of emigrants to that region. lie at once became a prominent man among the settlers ; and soon after the arrival of General St. Clair, as governor of the newly-organized North- western Territory, Colonel Meigs was appointed one of the judges of the Court of Quarter Sessions. He was also appointed clerk of the same court, and pro- thonotary of the Court of Common Pleas. He was much engaged in surveying, until interrupted by the Indian war. At the time of the treaty at GreenviUe, in 1. See sketch of Rufus Putnam. BENJAMIN" WRIGHT. 363 1795 Colonel Meigs was commissary of clothing ; and in all his duties, public and private, he exhibited such a kindly heart, perfect justice, and unselfish benevolence, that he w^on the esteem of the white people and the Indians. In 1798, Colonel Meigs was elected a member of the Territorial legislature; and in 1801, President Jefferson appointed him Indian agent, among the Cher- okees where he resided until his death, which occurred at the Cherokee agency, on the 28th of January, 1823, at the age of eighty-three years. The Indians with whom he lived so long, loved and revered him as a father. Even until the last week of his liie, he engaged with them in theu- athletic sports. BENJAMIN WRIGHT. THERE is an unwritten, early, and secret history of the great Erie Canal, which, if brought to the light of to-day, would give to men a title to true renown, on' whom eulogiura has bestowed only a passing remark. AmOng these, the names of Hawley, Brooks, M'Neil, ElUcott, Watson, Eddy, and Wright, would appear conspicuous. The latter was a native of Weathersfield, Connec- ticut, where he was born on the 10th of October, 1T70. His parents were humble, and his opportunities for early education were very limited. At the age of sixteen years he went to live with an uncle, in Litchfield county, where he acquired a knowledge of surveying. When in his nineteenth year, he ac- companied his flxther and family to the wilderness of central New York, and settled at Fort Stauwix, now Rome. All beyond was the " Indian country." Settlers were locating rapidly in that region, and young Wright was constantly em- ployed in surveying' lands. Within four years [1792-1796], he surveyed over five hundred thousand acres of land in the counties of Oneida and Oswego. _ His fame for speed and accuracy in his occupation became wide spread, and his services were constantly sought, in all directions. He was employed by the Western In- land Lock Navigation Company, in their efforts to connect Lake Ontario and the Hudson river, by a canal between Oneida Lake and the Mohawk. He became the general agent of the proprietors of extensive tracts of land, in that region ; and," in 1801, and again in 1807, he represented the district in the State legislature. During the lat'ter year, Mr. Wright, Jesse Hawley, General M'Neil, and Judge Forman, discussed the feasibility of making a canal through the Mohawk Valley, and westward, so as to connect Lake Erie with the Hudson. The legislature, at the suggestion of Forman and Wright, appropriated six hundred dollars for a preliminary survey. It was accomplished; and, in 1810, a board of Canal Com- missioners was appointed. Such were the incipient measures which led to a great result. Mr. Wright was very active, until operations were suspended by the war with Great Britain. They were resumed, with vigor, in ISlC^when Judge Geddes and Mr. Wright were charged with the construction of the Erie Canal. Under their direction the work went steadily on, until 1825, when the stupendous undertaking was completed.' In 1814, Mr. Wright was appointed one of the judges for Oneida county; and during the remainder of his life, he was either a consulting or chief engineer in the construction of almost every important work of internal improvement through- out the country. In 1835, he went to Cuba, by invitation of tlie authorities and capitahsts there, to consult respecting a railroad from Havana to the in- terior of tlie island. After that he did not engage much in active life ; and on the 24th of August, 1842, he died, in the city of New York, when in the seventy- second year of his age. 1. See sketch of Dewitt Clinton. 864 ADONIRAM JUDSOISr. ^/^ i^^c^t>^>«V^ ADONIRAM JUDSON. IN" the little parlor of the late Professor Stuart, at Andover, Massachusetts, on a sultry day in June, 1810, a few grave men consulted uijon the expediency of forming a Foreign Missionary Society. A few pious and zealous young men, students in the Andover Theological Seminary, who ardently desired emplo}'- ment in the missionary field of far-off India, bad urged the propriety of such a measure. Tliat consultation was fevorable, and at the meeting of the General Association, the following day, at Bradford, an earnest memorial was presented, signed by four of those young men. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreigfi 3Iissioiis, was then established;* and in February, 1812, three of the signers of that memorial sailed for India, the pioneer American missionaries to the heathen in distant lands. The three were Adoniram Judson, jr. (author of the memorial), Jamuel Nott, jr., and Samuel Newell. Adoniram Judson was born at Maiden, Massachusetts, on the 9th of August, 1788. His father was a Congregational clergyman, and cultivated the mind and heart of his promising boy with great care. He was graduated with highest honors at Brown University, in 1807, and after hngering, for a while, in great doubt upon the borders of the dank marsh of infidelity, the light of Christian 1. The following gentlemen pomposed that first Board : John Treadwell (governor of Connecticut), Rev. Timothy Dwight, D.D., General .Tedediah Huntington, Rev. Calvin Chapin, Rev. Joseph Ljman, D.D., Rev. Samuel Spring, D.D., William Bartlett, Rev. Samuel Worcester, and Deacon Samuel H. Walley. ADONIRAM JUDSOlSr. 365 truth beckoned him away to the beautiful land of gospel blessings. He entered the Andover Theological Seminarj^, as a student. There he experienced a desire to preacli the gospel to the heathen, and was about to offer his services to the London Missionary Society, when, after much effort, the formation of the Amer- ican Boai'd, above mentioned, opened the way for him. He married the lovely Ann Ilasseltine, early in February, 1812, and, on the 19th of that month, sailed with her and other companions, for Calcutta. Tliey reached that port in Juno following, and were lodged, for a short time, at the house of the eminent Baptist missionary. Dr. Carey, at Serampore. Compelled to leave the British East Indies, they fled to the Isle of France,' and from thence went to Rangoon, in Bunnah. Mr. and Mrs. Judson had embraced Dr. Carey's views of baptism, were immersed by him, and were afterward sustained by the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, which was established in 1814. At Rangoon the missionaries employed themselves diligently in studying the Burmese language, and in otherwise preparing for labor in the great missionary field before them. They translated portions of Scripture and other words of in- struction concerning Christianity, into the Burmese language ; and the first fruit of their labors appeared in March, 1817, when an intelligent native came to them with an earnest desire for spiritual knowledge. A month later, Mr. Jud- son was allowed to preach to the .peojile, publicly; and, in June following, the first convert was baptized. Tlicn the heart of the missionary was filled with gladness, for he saw the dawning of a glorious morning for tlie pagans of Bur- mah. He labored on hopefull3r, and now and then a disciple would appear. He prepared a small dictionary ai^l a grammar, and many were taught but few seemed profited. At the beginning of 1820, there were only ten converts, yet these were prepared to be each at the head of a cohort of disciples in after jeavf. if Providence should call them to act. A printing-press, sent from Seramporcj was erected at Rangoon, and a translation of the Gospel of St. Matthew, and some tracts, were printed and distributed among the people. In the sketch of ilrs. Judson, events from this period, until her return from America, and the close of the Burmese war with the English, have been glanced at, and need not be repeated here. After that, in a new town named Amherst, within territory ceded by the King of Ava to the British, Mr. Judson and his missionary family resumed their labors, in 1826. There Mrs. Judson died; and soon afterward their little daughter was laid by her side under the hope-tree. Eight years afterward, Mrs. Sarah Boardman, tlie widow of a missionary, became Mr. Jud- Gon's wife, and they labored on together witli groat zeal, at Rangoon, Amherst, and Maulmain. Dr. Judson had thou just completed his wonderful task of translating the Holy Scriptures into the Burmese language. He was also em- ployed in forming a complete Burmese and English Dictionary, for the use of those who desired to learn the language, as well as for the natives. At length the health of his second wife fliiled; and, in 1845, Dr. Judson started with her to visit his native laud, after an absence of two and thirty years. Bereavement smote him on the voyage. In the harbor of St. Helena, his excehent wife died, and the sorrowing husband left her body upon that lonely spot in the ocean. He reached Boston, with his children, in the Autumn of 1845, and was every where greeted with the most affectionate reverence by Christians of every name. He remained in America until July, the following year, when he departed for his chosen field of labor in Burmah, accompanied by a third wife,2 whom ho had married a few weeks previously. But the day of his pilgrimage was drawing to a close. The tooth "of disease began its work in the Autumn of 1849, and in 1. See sketch of Mrs. Newell. 2.-The accomplished Miss Emily Chubbuck, better known in the literary world as Fanny Forester She and Dr. Judson accidentally met in Philadelphia, and were soon afterward married. 366 FELIX GEUNDY. April following, he sailed for the isle of Bourbon, for the benefit of his health, leaving his wife and infants at Maulmain. They never met again on earth. Nine days after he left them, being the 12th of April, 1850, that eminent servant of the Most High expired on ship-board, and his grave was made in the depths of the Indian Seas. His widow returned to America, and died in the arms of her mother, at Hamilton, New York, on the 1st of June, 1854, FELIX ORUNDY. THE Great "West, including the broad valleys between the Alleghany Moun- tains and the Mississippi River, has ever been remarkable, since its redemp- tion from the wilderness state, for its redundancy of powerful men, physically and intellectually. The free air and the virgin soil ; the simple aliment and daily dangers of that region, seemed congenial to the birth and growth of true men. Among these, Felix Grundy, a distinguished member of Congress, was long eminent. He was born in Virginia, but nurtured in the wilderness, at a time when, to use his own forcible expression, "death was in almost every bush, and when every thicket concealed an ambuscade." His nativity occurred in Berkeley county, Virginia, on the 11th of September, 1777. Three years later, his father went, with his family, to Kentucky, then " the dark and bloody ground." There the opportunities for education were small, but Felix was favored abo'\'e the rest of his famUy, for, being the seventh son, he was destined, according to the superstitious notion of the times, to become a physician. His father died when he was a lad, and his mother, a behevor in omens, had him educated for the purpose of preparing for the medical profession. lie finished his studies under Dr. Priestly, at Bardstown, Kentucky, when, preferring law, he disregarded the oracles, and prepared himself for the legal profession, under tlie charge of Colonel George Nichols, then one of the ablest counsellors west of the moun- tains. Grundy was admitted to practice, in 1798, soon rose to eminence, and, in 1799, was chosen a member of the committee called to revise the constitution of Kentucky. He was elected to a seat in the legislature, the same year, and served in that body with distinction until 1806, wlien he was appointed one of the judges of Supreme Court of Errors and Appeals. He was soon afterward appointed chief justice of Kentucky, on the resignation of Judge Todd. The salary was insufficient for the wants of a growing family, and he resigned the office, in 1808, and removed to Nashville, Tennessee, where he prosecuted his vocation witlr industry and great success. He ranked highest among tlie crim- inal lawyers of the West, and practiced in the courts of several of the States. His eloquence was pure and forcible ; and he took the j^roud position, by general consent, as the head of the Tennessee bar. Mr. Grundy was elected to a seat in the Federal Congress, in 1811. The tem- pest of war was then brooding in the horizon, and Mr. Grundy was placed upon the Committee of Foreign Relations — the most important section of the House, at that time. He remained in that body until 1814, and was always a hearty, consistent, and sincere supporter of the administration of President Madison. At the close of the contest he returned to Nashville, and resumed the practice of his profession, but was soon called to duty in tlie State legislature, where he served for six years. In 1829, he was elected a Federal Senator, and by reelec- tion he held a seat there during the whole eight years of Jackson's administra- tion. From first to last, he was that chief magistrate's firm and cordial adherent EICHAED M. JOHNSON. • 367 and supporter. In 1839, he was called to the cabinet of Mr. Van Buren, aa attorney-general of the United States; and, in 1840, he was again elected to a seat in the Federal Senate. He was not permitted to occupy that exalted posi- tion again, for, in December following, at about the time when he would have presented his credentials there, death removed him to another sphere. He was then a little more than sixty -tlxree years of age. RICHARD M. JOHNSON. KENTUCKY is justly proud of her noble son, Richard M. Johnson; and throughout the Union his memory is cherished as one of the most enlight- ened, industrious, and honest of the servants of the Republic, whose zeal and valor have been tried in the legislative council and on tlip field of battle. That distinguished man was born at Bryant's station,' five miles north-east of Lexing- ton, Kentucky, on tlie 17th of October, 1781. He received very little instruc- tion from books during boyhood, but at the age of fifteen years he acquired the rudiments of the Latin language. , He then entered Transylvania University, as a student, and on leaving that institution, he studied law under the directions of the eminent James Brown.^ He possessed great mental and physical energy, and these, acting in concert with perseverance and industry, soon placed him high in his profession. Before he was twenty years of ago the foundation of his future popularity and fame was laid, and his patriotism and military genius were developed by circumstances which seemed to menace the peace then exist- ing between the United States and its Spanish neighbor in Louisiana. In vio- lation of then existing treaties, the Spanish authorities closed the port of New Orleans against vessels of the United States, in 1802. The people of the South- west were greatly excited, and nothing but a resort to arms seemed likely to be the result. Young Johnson took an active part in the public proceedings, in his section, and volunteered, with others, to make a descent upon New Orleans, in the event of a war. The difficulty was speedily settled by negotiations, the cloud passed by, and Johnson's military ardor was allowed to cool before other and more important events again awakened it. Before he was twenty-two years of age, young Johnson was elected to a seat in the Kentucky ^legislature, where he served two years, to the great satisfaction of his constituents. In 1807, he was elected a representative in the Federal Congress, and took his seat there when he was just twenty-five years of age. There he took a prominent position at the beginning, and was continually r£- elected during the whole of that momentous period of our history, from 1807 until 1819. In the meanwhile, he acquired that military distinction in tho service of his country, for which he is better tnown to the people, than as a sound and judicious legislator. He was a firm supporter of President Madison's war measures ; and when Congress adjourned, after the declaration of war against Great Britain, in 1812, he hastened home, raised a battahon of volunteers, and pushed forward toward the Canada frontier in tho "West, bearing the commission of colonel, given to him by Governor Shelby. At the close of Autumn, he laid aside his sword, took his seat in Congress, worked faithfully in the prosecution of measures for the public defence, and when the adjournment came, he went 1. That station was settled in 1779, by fonr brothers, named Bryant, one of whom married a sister of the renowned Daniel Boone. These stations were usually palisaded log-houses, arranged for protection against the Indians. 2. See sketch of James Brown. 368 ANN HASSELTINE JUDSON. home and called another regiment of volunteers to the field. Under the com- mand of General Harrison, he was the chief actor in the sanguinary battle on the Thames, in Canada "West, in October, 1813, when the Americans gained such a decisive victory over the combined forces of British regulars, under Proc- tor, and fifteen hundred Indians, under the renowned Tecumseh, that it ended the war in the "West. Colonel Johnson led the division against the Indians, and he was in the thickest of the fight during the whole contest. Even when his bridle-arm was shattered, and his horse was reeling from the loss of blood, ho fought on, encouraged his men, and put the Indians to flight. '\,\''hen he was borne from the field, there were twenty-five bullet-holes in his person, his cloth- ing, and his horse. He was taken to Detroit, and from thence was borne home, in great pain. In February following, though not able to walk, he took his scat in Congress. He was every where greeted by the peoi^le with wildest enthusiasm as the Hero of the "West. Colonel Johnson retired from Congress, in 1819, and was immediately elected a member of his State^ legislature. He had just taken his seat in that body, when it chose him to represent Kentucky in the Federal Senate. He entered that assembly, as a member, in December, 1819, and served his constituents and the country faithfully until ] 829, when he was again elected to a seat in the Lower House. There he remained until March, 1837, when he became president of the Senate, having been elected Vice-President of the United States in. the preceding Autumn. After four years of dignified service in the Senate, he re- tired from public life, and passed the remainder of his days on his farm in Scott county, Kentucky, except a brief period of service in his State legislature.^ Ho was engaged in that service, at Frankfort, when he was prostrated by paralysis, and expired on the 15th of November, 1850. His State has erected a beautiful marble monument to his memory, in the cemetery at Frankfort. ANN HASSELTINE JUDSON. WHEN we glance retrospectively over the field of modern missionary labor, we see no form more lovely in all that constitutes loveliness ; no heart more heroic, and no hand more active in the service of tlie Great Master, than that of the first wife of Adoniram Judson, the eminent Amerigan missionary in Burmah. She appears upon the page of missionary history like an illuminated initial letter, for she was the pioneer in the service — the first American woman who volunteered to carry the Gospel to the pagans of the old world. Ann Hasseltine was born in Bradford, Massachusetts, on the 22d of December, 1789. She was a gay and active girl, full of enterprise, eager in the jDursuit of knowledge, extremely beautiful in person, and lovely in all her ways. She was educated at the Bradford Academy, where she always bore off" the palm of su- perior scholarship. On the 5th of February, 1812, she was married to Adoniram Judson, who had been aj^pointed one of the first American missionaries to India; and twelve days afterward she sailed, with Harriet Newell and others, for Cal- cutta. On the passage, she and her husband embraced the principles of the Baptists, and were baptized on their arrival at Calcutta, in September following. When, as has been observed in the sketch of Harriet Newell, the American 1. Colonel Johnson was the author of the laws which abolished imprisonment for debt, in Kentucky ; and of the famous report in Congress, against the discontinuance of the mail on Sunday. He is greatly revered for his unwearied efforts in behalf of the soldiers of the Revolution, and of the war of 1812, who asked Congress for pensions or relief. # ANN HASSELTINE JUDSON. 360 missionaries were ordered to quit India, Mr. and Mrs. Judson sailed to tlie Isle of France, and tliere tliey heard of tlie death of their beloved female friend. Tluey remained there until the following July, when they went to Rangoon, in Burmah, and there began to cultivate the missionary field in earnest. Other missionaries joined them there, but death took them away, and in 1820 Mr. and Mrs. .Judson alone remained in the vineyard. Disease, incident to the climate, now began to manifest its power upon Mrs. Judson, and at the close of the Sum- mer of 1821, she went first to Calcutta, then to England, and finally returned to America in Sei)tember, 1822. After remaining a few weeks with her friends at Bradford, she accepted an invitation to pass the Winter in Baltimore, in the fixmily of her husband's brother. There she wrote an interesting History of tlie Biinnan Mission, in a series of letters to Mr. Butterworth, a member of Parlia- ment, in whose family she had tarried while in England. In June, 1823, Mrs. Judson again sailed for the field of missionary labor, with renewed bodily strength and increased earnestness of purpose, and joined her husl)and in December following. A few days afterward they started for Ava, the capital of Burmah, and had just completed their preparations for missionary eflbrt there, when war between the Burmese and the British government of Bengal, broke out. Mr. Judson was seized, cruelly treated, and kept a prisoner Ijy the Burman government for more than eighteen months, half of the time in triple fetters, and two months in five pair. The labors of Mrs. Judson, during that time, form one of the yiost wonderful chapters in the record of female hero- 16* 370 JOSEPH HOPKINSON. ism. Day after day she made intercessions before government officers for the liberation of her husband and other prisoners, but to no purpose ; and every day she walked two miles to carry them food prepared with her own hands. With- out her ministrations they must have perished. She had readily learned the language ; and finally her appeals, written in elegant Burmese, were given to the Emperor, when no officer dared mention the subject to him. The sagacious monarch, trembling for the fate of his kingdom, (for a victorious English army was marching toward his capital,) saw safety in employing her, and he appointed her his embassadress to General Sir Archibald Campbell, the British leader, to prepare the way for a treaty. She was received by the British commander with all the ceremony of an envoy extraordinary. She managed the affairs of the Emperor with perfect fidelity, and a treaty was made through her influence, for which the proud monarch gave her great praise. She secured the release of her husband and his fellow-prisoners, and they all recommenced their missionary work. When the intense excitement which she had so long experienced, was over, Mrs. Judson felt the reaction with terrible force. This, added to her great suf- ferings, prostrated her strength, and in the course of a few months, while Mr. Judson was absent at another post of duty, that noble disciple of Jesus fell asleep and entered upon her blessed rest. Iler spirit departed on the 24th of October, 1826, when she was almost thirty-seven years of age. A few months afterward her only surviving child died. They both lie buried beneath a spread- ing hope-tree, near the banks of the Salween river. She is one of the most be- loved in memory of the laborers during the earliest missionary seed time, and she will have her full reward of sheaves at the harvest. JOSEPH HOPKINS ON. THE author of our spirited national song. Hail Columbia, was highly distin- guished for other intellectual achievements. But that production was suffi- cient to confer upon him the crown of earthly immortality.' He was a son of Francis Hopkinson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and was born in Philadelphia, on the 12th of November, 1770. He was educated in the University of Pennsylvania, and then studied law, first with Judge Wilson, and afterward with William Rawle. He was admitted to the bar, at the close of 1791, and commenced its practice at Easton, on the Delaware. He was begin- ning to be quite successful there, when he returned to PhOadelphia, and there took a high rank in his profession. He was the leadmg counsel of Dr. Rush in 1. That songr was produced almost impromptu, for a special occasion. A youn^ mau named Fox, at- tached to the Philadelphia theatre, chiefly as a singer, was about to have a benefit. At that time [1798] there was a prospect of war between the United States and France, and Fox, anxious to produce some novelty for his benefit, conceived the idea of having an original song that should arous • the national spirit." The theatrical poets tried to produce one, but failed. The benefit was to take place on Monday, and on the previous Saturday afternoon, Fox called on .Judge Hopkinson (who had known him from a school-boy), and asked him to write a song for him, adapted to the popular air of The President' f^ March. Hopkinson consented, and with the object of awakening a trniy American spirit, without oflence to either of the violent political parties of the day, he wrote Hail CoUimhia. It was received by the audience at the theatre with the wildest applause, and was encored again and again. The words flashed all over the land, as soon as the press could conduct them, and were every where electrical in their effect. By common consent. Bail Columbia became, and remains, a national anthem. It is an interesting fact in this connection, that The President's March was composed, in 1789, by a German, named Feyles, leader of the orchestra of the old theatre in John Street, New York ; and was first performed there on the oc- casion of President Washington's first visit at that play-house, by invitation of the managers. This fact was mentioned to the writer, by Mr. Custis, the adopted son of Washington, who was then a lad, and waa present on the occasion. MOSES BROWK 871 his famous suit against "William Cobbott, in 1799, and also in tho insurgent trials before Judge Chase, in 1800. The legal knowledge, acute logic, and eloquent advocacy which he displayed on those occasions, caused Judge Chase to employ ^fr. Ilopkinson as his counsel, when, afterward, he was impeached before the Senate of the United States. His eQbrts in behalf of Judge Chase before that august tribunal, drew forth the warmest voluntary eulogiums from Aaron Burr, and other distinguished men. In 1815, and again in 1817, Mr. Ilopkinson was elected a representative of Philadelphia in the Federal Congress, and ranked among tho first of the many .sound statesmen who graced that body at that interesting period of our political history. His speeches, against re-chartering the Bank of the United States, and on the Seminole war and other topics of interest, were regarded as exceedingly able. His constituents would gladly have reelected him, in 1819, but he pre- ferred the retirement of private life. At the close of his second term in Congress, Mr. Hopkinson made his residence at Bordentown, in New Jersey, and was soon elected to a seat in the legislature of that State. After an absence of three years, he resumed the practice of his profession, in Philadelphia, in which he continued until 1828, when Pi'csident Adams appointed him a judge of the United States Court, for the Eastern Dis- trict of Pennsylvania. That ofBco had been filled by his father and grandfother; and he performed its duties with dignity and marked ability, until his death. Judge Hopkinson was a member of the convention which met at Harrisburg, in May, 1837, to revise the constitution of Pennsylvania. He was chairman of the judiciary committee in that body, and eloquently sustained a report which he submitted, in a long and brilhant speech. Judge Hopkinson was very public- spirited, and took part in many movements intended for the moral and intellectual advancemenlj of his fellow-citizens. At the time of his death he was one of the vice-presidents of the' American Philosophical Society; a trustee of the Univer- sity of 'Pennsylvania; and the president of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, of which he was the chief founder. For more than twenty years he was the intimate and confidential friend of Joseph Bonaparte, who owned, and lived lipon, a fine estate at Bordentown. During the ex-king's absence. Judge Hop- kinson always managed his affairs ; and he was one of the two executors of his will. Judge Hopkinson died at Philadelphia, on the 15th of January, 1842, at the age of a little more than seventy-one years. MOSES BROWN. AN" eminently good man was lost to earth when the spirit of Moses Brown, one of the founders of the Rhode Island College (afterward called Brown University), departed for its hom.e. He was the youngest of four brothers, who were all remarkable for public spirit, generous enterprise, and practical benevo- lence. He was born at Providence, Rhode Island, in 1738. Having lost his faiher while he was yet a small bo.y, he left school at the age of thirteen years, and made his residence with a paternal uncle, an eminent and wealthy merchant of Providence. There he was trained to useful habits and a mercantile pro- fession ; and in the bosom of that excellent home he found a treasure in a pretty cousin, the daughter of his patron, whom he married, in 1764. Young Brown had commenced mercantile business on his own account the previous year, in connection with his three brothers. After ten years' close apphcation, he retired 372 JOHN RODGERS. from business, chiefly on account of feeble health, and passed much of his time in those intellectual pursuits to which his taste led him. Mr. Brown was a Baptist until 1773 (about the time when he left business), when he became a member of the Society of Friends, and remained a shiniug_ light in that connection until his death. He had accumulated wealth by his' business, and inherited a large property through his wife. These possessions he used as means for carrying on an active and practical philantliropy during a long life. He manumitted all his slaves, in 1773, and was ever a consistent and zealous opponent of all systems of human servitude. He was a munificent patron of a Friends' Boarding-school at Providence ; founded the Rhode Island Abolition Society, and was an active member and supporter of the Rhode Island Peace So- ciety. When Slater, the father of the cotton manufactures in this country, went to Providence, Moses Brown was the first to give him encouragement and substan- tial friendship ; and it was in his carriage that the enterprising Englishman Avas conveyed to"Pawtucket, to commence the preparation of a cotton-mill.' Though always in feeble health, Mr. Brown never suffered severe illness. His corre- spondence was very extensive, yet he seldom employed any one to write for him. Even his Will, prepared when he was ninetj'-six years of age, was drawn by his own hand. That eminent servant of goodness died at Providence, on the 6th of September, 1836, in the ninety-eighth year of his age. JOHN RODGERS. MORE than a year before the American Congress declared war against Great Britain, a naval engagement took place near our coast between vessels of the two nations, being partly, it was alleged, the result of accident. The issue of the engagement was a foreshadow of what occurred during the succeeding few years. The American vessel alluded to was in command of Captain John Rodgers, a gallant American officer, who was born in the present Harford County, Maryland, on the 11th of July, 1771. His passion for the sea was very early manifested, and at the age of thirteen years it was gratified by a voyage. He loved the occupation, prepared himself for it as a profession, and at the age of nineteen years he was intrusted with the command of a ship, which made trading voyages between Baltimpre and the north of Europe. Captain Rodgers con- tinued in the merchant service until the organization of the American navy, in 1797, when he entered it as a first lieutenant on board the frigate Constellation, under Commodore Truxton. He commanded the prize crew that took charge of the captured French ship, H Insurgents, in February, 1798, and in that ca- pacity he behaved with great coolness and ability in times of imminent danger. On his return home, he obtained a furlough, purchased a brig, traded at St. Do- mingo, and during the terrible massacre of the white people there, in 1804, was instrumental in saving many lives. In the Spring of 1799, Lieutenant Rodgers was promoted to Post-Captain in the navy, and ordered to the command of the Sloop-of-War Maryland. He cruised on the " Surinam Station" until the Autumn of 1800, when he returned home, and the following Spring was sent with dispatches to France. He served gallantly in the war with the Barbary Powers ; and in conjunction with Colonel Lear, the American consul-general, he signed a treaty with the Bey of Tripoli, in June, 1805, which put an end to the contest with that State. Captain Rodgers 1. See sketch of Slater. WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING-. 373 had cortimand of the flotilla of gun-boats, in the harbor of New York, in 1807, where he remained until 1809, when he put to sea in the frigate Constitution. In 1811 he was in command of the President, cruising off the coasts of Mary- land and Virginia. English ships of war were then hovering upon our shores, engaged in the nefarious business of kidnapping seamen from American vessels. With that vessel he compelled the commander of the British Sloop, Little- Belt, to be frank and courteous, when he had met her under suspicious circumstances in the waters of Chesapeake Bay. These were the vessels alluded to at the com- mencement of this memoir. The event created a great sensation, and the two governments fully sustained the conduct of their respective commanders. War was finally declared, and within an "hour after receiving his orders from the Secretary of the Navy, Commodore Rodgers sailed from the port of New York, with a small squadron, to cruise on the broad Atlantic. He made successful cruises in the President until 1814, when he was engaged on the Potomac in operations against the British, who burned Washington City hi August of that year. He soon afterward participated with gallantry in the defence of Balti- more. Commodore Rodgers twice refused the proffered office of the Secretaryship of the Navy, first by President Madison, and then by President Monroe. During almost twenty-one years he was President of the Board of Naval Commissioners, except for about two years, from 1825 to 1827, when he commanded the Ameri- can squadron in the Mediterranean, having the North Carolina for his flag-ship. There he won the highest respect from the naval officers of all nations, whom he met. In the Summer of 1832 he was prostrated by cholera, but recovered. His constitution, however, was permanently shattered. A voyage to England for the improvement of his health, was of no avail, and he lingered until 1838, when, on the first day of August, he expired at Philadelphia, in the sixty- seventh year of his age. ^VILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING. RHODE ISLAND has produced some of the noblest specimens of the true American, in almost every department of life. Of these, there was never a mind and heart more truly noble in emotion and expression, than that of William Ellery Channing. He was born at Newport, Rhode Island, on the 7th of April, 1780. He was a lovely child in person and disposition — "an open, brave, and generous boy." William Ellery, one of the signers of the Declaration of In- Ependence, was his maternal grandfather, and he inherited that statesman's strength of character and honest patriotism. At twelve years of age ho was placed in the family of an uncle, at New London, where he prepared for college, and entered Harvard, as a student, in 1794. He bore the highest honors of the institution at his'graduation, in 1798, and then went to Virginia, as tutor in the family of David M. Randolph, Esq., of Richmond. Ill health compelled him to return home, and he prepared for the gospel ministry. He was made regent in Harvard University, in 1801, was licensed to preach, in 1802, and was ordained pastor of the Federal Street Unitarian Society, in Boston, in 1803. Then com- menced his noble labors in the cause of Christianity, whose doctrines he so elo- quently enforced by precept and example. He continued to discharge the duties of pastor, Avithout aid, until 1824, when the great increase of his congregation, and the multiphcation of his labors, caused his people, who loved him as a fother, to employ a colleague for him. He visited Europe, held communion with some 874 WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING. of the best minds there, and he returned home with larger views, and more ennobhng thoughts and purposes. For ahiiost forty years, Dr. Channing (the title of D.D. was conferred by the Faculty of Harvard University) was connected with the same society ; and during all that time he was afflicted with ill health, sometimes in only a slight degree. His fervid eloquence made his permanent congregation a large one, and crowds of strangers attended his ministrations. He wrote much and nobly, for the honor of God and the good of humanity. He was an uncompromising advocate for freedom in all its relations and conditions, and yet he urged his plea for humanity with so much gentleness and affectionate persuasion, tliat no one could be offended, however unpalatable his truths or his doctrines might be. In the Christian world he moved as a peace-maker, labor- ing incessantly to break down the hedges of creeds, and to '^nite all who loved righteousness, under the broad and beautiful banner of a pure practical Chris- tianity. He was a man of the purest nature and most guileless hfe ; and he moved like the gentle spirit of love among his fellow-men, scattering roses and sunshine upon every lonely patiiway of life's weary pilgrims, and always teUing the care-worn and afflicted travellers of the sweet resting-places by the side of the still waters of a better sphere. His spirit yet breathes out his noble human- ities in his writings ; and he is to-day a powerful preacher of love and justice, ANDREW JACKSON DOWNING. 875 though his voice was hushed into eternal silence, long years ago. His spirit was called home on the 2d of October, 1842, when he was tarrying at Benning- ton, in Vermont, while on a journey for the benefit of his health. ANDREW JACKSON DOWNING. NO American ever contributed so much toward the creation and cultivation of a taste for beautiful rural architecture, landscape gardening, and the ar- rangement of fruit and ornamental trees, as A. J. Downing, who was drowned on the occasion of the destruction of the steamer Henry Glmj, near Yonkers, in July, 1852. An extensive traveller in the Atlantic States said, soon after the sad event, " Much of the improvement that has taken place in this country during the last twelve years, in Rural Architecture, and in Ornamental Gardening and Planting, may be ascribed to him;" and another, speaking of suburban cottages in the West, said, " I asked tlie origin of so much taste, and was told it might principally be traced to Downing's Cottage Residences, and his IIortkLdturistJ^ Mr. Downing was born in Newburgh, Orange County, New York, iu 1815. From early boyhood ho delighted to commune with nature, and loved flowers with a passionate delight. The beautiful was worshipped by him long before his acute logical and analytical mind could give a reason for his devotion ; and his dislike of everything that wanted symmetry and fitness, was an early mani- festation of his pure taste. ' When ho grew to manhood, these tastes and facul- ties were nobly developed and actively employed ; and at the age of twenty-six years he published the results of his practice, observations and reflections, in a valuable book on Landscape Gardening. It was a work eminently original, for he had few precedents, either in personal example or in books, as guides in his peculiar method of treating the subject. He seized upon the great principles of the science as developed iu the works of Repton, Loudon, and others ; and then, bringing the great powers of his mind to bear upon the topic, produced a book which caused an eminent British writer on the subject to say of him, " no Eng- lish landscape gardener has written so clearly, or with so much real intensity." Mr. Downing next turned his attention to the kindred art of Architecture, and soon produced a volume on Cottage Residences. Then appeared his Architecture of Country Homes, in which he gave designs for Cottages, Farm Houses and Villas, exterior and interior, with valuable suggestions respecting furniture, ven- tilation, &c. In 1845 his large work on Fruit and Fruit Trees of America, was published in New York and London, which has passed through man}'- editions. His mind and hands wero ever actively employed in his favorite pursuit ; and through the Horticulturist, a monthly repository of practical knowledge on the subject of cultivation of every kind, which ho edited, Mr. Downing communi- cated the results of his observations and personal experiences. Every movement having for its object the promotion of the science of cultivation, received hia ardent support, and by lectures, essays, reports of societies and other vehicles of information, he was continually pouring a flood of influence that is seen and felt on every sidfe. In addition to his large works, he had published Rules of American Pnmonology, and edited the productions of others. Mr. Downing was eminently practical in all his efforts. His beautiful resi- dence and grounds around it, at Newburgh, formed the central point of his la^ bors. He was continually called upon for plans for buildings, and pleasure p^ounds, public and private ; and at the time of his death he was on his way to Washington City, in the prosecution of his professional engagements there, in 376' JONATHAN HAERINGTON. laying out and adorning the public grounds around the Smithsonian Institute. A part of his plan for beautifying that public square was to make a great central avenue, and to border it with trees and shrubs which should exhibit every va- riety produced in America, that would flourish in the climate of Washington city. But, alas I this labor, as well as all of his other numerous professional en- gagements, was suddenly arrested by a fearful calamity in which he was involved. On a beautiful afternoon, the 31st of July, 1852, he was a passenger, for New York, in the steamer Henry Clay. When opposite Forrest Point, a little below Yonkers, it was discovered that the vessel was on fire. Her bow was turned toward the shore, when the smoke and flames rushed over that part of the boat Where most of the passengers were collected. Just as she struck the beach these were compelled by the heat to leap into the water, and fifty-six persons perished by being either drowned or burned. In attempting to save the life of bis mother-in-law, Mr. Downing lost his own, although he was an expert swim- mer. That last act of his life reflected a prominent trait in his daily intercourse with society — unselfish goodness. He was not yet thirty-eight years of age, when he was stopped in the midst of a useful career. JONATHAN HARRINOTON. ON a lovely afternoon in the Autumn of 1848, the writer reined up his horse at a little picket-gate in front of a neat residence in East Lexington, Massa- chusetts. A slender old man, apparently not more than seventy years of age, was splitting fire-wood in the yard near by, and plied the axe with a vigorous hand. The residence belonged to Jonathan Harrington, who, when a lad not eio-hteen years of age, played the fife for the minute-men upon the green at Lexington, on the morning of the memorable 19th of April, 1175. The vigorous axe-man in the yard was the patriot himself. I had journeyed from Boston, a dozen miles or more, to visit him ; and when he sat down in his rocking-chair, and related the events of that historic morning, the very spirit of Liberty seemed to burn in every word from those lips that touched that little instrument of music at the gray dawn. He kindly allowed me to sketch his features for my port- folio ; and then, writing his name beneath the picture — " Jonatlian Harrington, aged' 90, the 8th of July, 1848 " — he apologized for the rough appearance of his signature, and charged the unsteadiness of his hand to his labor with the axe. His younger brother, who sat near him, appeared more feeble than he. Mr. Harrington was born on the 8th of July, 1757, in the town of Lexington; and though a mere youth when tlie train-bands were formed, in 1774, he en- rolled himself as one of the militia of his district, who. because they were bound to appear in arms at a moment's warning, were called minuti-men. When the few patriots gathered upon the green at Lexington to oppose the invading march of British troops from Boston, young Harrington was there with his fife, and with its martial music he opened the ball of the Revolution, where " Yankees skilled in martial nile. First put the British troops to school ; Instructed them in warlike trade, And new mancBuvres of parade ; The true war-dance of Yankee reels, And manual exerriae of heels ; Made them give up, like saints complete, The arm of flesh and trust the feet, And work, like Christians undissemblirfr, Salvation out with fear and trembling.'" — TBUMBtrii. HARMAN BLENNERHASSETT. 377 After performing that prelude, he retired. He was not a soldier during the war ; nor was his life afterward remarkable for any thing except as the career of a good citizen. He lived on in the quiet enjoyment of rural pursuits, not specially noticed by his follow-men, until the survivors of the Revolution began to bo few and cherished. Then the hearts of the generation around him began to be moved with reverence for him. On the seventy-fifth anniversary of the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, the event was celebrated at the latter place. In the procession was a carriage, bearing the venerable Harrington and his brother ; Amos Baker, of Lincoln ; Thomas Hill, of Panvers ; and Dr. Preston, of Billerica — the assembled survivors of those first bloody struggles for American Independence. Edward P^verctt made an eloquent speech on the occasion ; and, when alluding to the venerated fifer, he repeated the words of David to the good son of Saul, "Very pleasant art thou to me, my brother Jonathan." Mr. Har- rington lived almost four j^ears longer, and by the death of his compatriots just mentioned, he became the last survivor of the minute-men of Lexington.' He died on the 28th of March, 1854, in the ninet}'-sixth year of his age. His funeral was attended by the governor and legislature of Massachusetts, and at least six thousand other citizens. HARMAN BLENNERHASSETT. IN the bosom of the Ohio river, about fourteen miles below the mouth of the Muskingum, is a beautiful island, around which cluster memories and asso- ciations, and the elements of many legends ; and these increase in interest with the flight of years. Those memories, and associations, and legends, are con- nected with the name and destiny of a family whose history illustrates the won- derful vicissitudes of human life, and the uncertainty of earthly possessions. It was that of Blennerhassett, whose name, radiant with light, will ever be as- sociated with that of Aaron Burr, clouded in darkness. Harman Blennerhassett was descended from an ancient Irish family of the county of Kerry, whose residence w.^s Castle Conway. While his mother was visiting in Hampshire, England, 1767, he was born. His father, belonging to one of the oldest aristocratic families of Ireland, gave his son every educational advantage that wealth could afford, first at Westminster School, and then in Trinity College, Dublin. He and his friend and relation, the late Thomas Addis Emmett, of New York, were graduated at the same time ; and after young Blennerliassett had made a tour of the Continent, he and Emmett were admit- ted to the practice of the law, on the same day. Mr. Blennerhassett had a great fondness for science and literature, and being an expectant of a large for- tune, he paid more attention to those attractive pursuits than to business in his profession. That fortune was possessed by him, on the death of his father, in 1796. At that time he had become a popular politician, of the liberal stamp, and having involved himself in some difficulties, he sold his estate, went to England, and there married Miss Agnew, a young lady possessed of great beauty and varied accomplishments.^ Each appeared worthy of the other, and the at- 1. Eavlv in 1855, one of the British soldiers who followed Pitcairn to Lexington, eighty years before, died in England, at the age of 107 years. He was a Wesleyan minister, named George Fletcher. For eighty-three years he was in active life : twenty-six of which he was a soldier in the royal army. He is supposed to liave been the last survivor of that detachment sent out by General Gage, on the night of the 18lh of April, 1775, to capture or destroy the American stores at Concord. 2. She was a granddaughter of Brigadier-General James Agnew, of the British army, who was killed in the battle at Germantown, in the Autumn of 1777- 378 HARMAN BLENNERHASSETT. mosphere of their future was all rose-tinted. Charmed by the free institutions of the United States, Mr. Blcnnerhassett resolved to make his home in the bosom of the Republic of the West. With a fine library and philosophical appara- tus, and a competent fortune, he came hither toward the close of the Summer of 1797. After spending a few weeks in New York, the reports of the beauty, fertility, and salubrious climate of the Ohio country beckoned him thither, and early in Autumn he reached Marietta. In ^Nlarch, followinsr, he purchased a fino plantation upon an island in the Ohio (above alluded to), and at once commenced transforming that luxuriant wilderness into a paradise for himself and family. A spacious and elegant mansion was erected ; tlie grounds were tastefully laid out and planted, and that island soon became the resort of some of the best minds west of the mountains. Science, music, painting, farm culture and social pleasures, made up a great portion of the sum of daily life in that elegant re- treat. For almost five years that gifted fiimily enjoyed unalloyed happiness, and they regarded their dwelling as their home for life. One day in the Spring of 1805, a small man, about fifty years of age, elegantly attired, landed from a boat and sauntered about the grounds. With his usual frankness, ilr. Blennorhas- eett invited him to partake" of his hospitalitj', though a stranger to him in name and person. It was Aaron Burr, the wily serpent, that beguiled the unsuspect- ing Blcnnerhassett from his books, his family and home, to feed on the danger- ou's fruit of political ambition atd avaricious desires. Burr was then weaving his scheme of conquest in the for south-west, and fired the imagination of Blcnnerhassett with dreams of wealth and power. When he had departed, Blennerhassett was a changed man, and clouds began to gather around the bright star of his destiny. He placed his wealth and reputation in the keeping of an unprincipled demagogue, and lost both. For a year and a half the scheme was ripening, when the Federal government, suspecting Burr of treason, put forth its arm and crushed the viper in the egg.^ Burr and Blennerhassett wero arrested on a charge of treason. The former v/as tried and acquitted, when pro- ceedings against the latter were suspended. From that time poor Blonnerhas- eett was a doomed man. His paradise was laid waste, and with a sad heart he went to Mississippi and became a cotton planter. There he struggled against losses, which were more depressing because, from time to time, he was called upon with Burr's notes endorsed by himself, and was compelled to pay them. At the end of ten years his fortune was almost exhausted, and with the promise of a judgeship in Lower Canada, he went to Montreal in 1819. Disappoint- ment'awaited him, and ho returned to England in expectation of public employ- ment there. That hope, too, was blighted ; and after residing awliile at Bath with a maiden sister, he went, with his family, to the island of Guernsey. There that highly-gifted and unfoitunate man died in 1831, at the age of sixt}'- three years. In 1842 his widow came to America, with her two invalid sons, for the purpose of seeking remuneration from Congress for losses of property sustained at the time of her husband's arrest. She petitioned Congress, and her suit was eloquently sustained by Henry Clay and others. Wiiile the matter was pending, Mrs. Blennerhassett sickened. She was in absolute want, and her necessities were relieved by some benevolent Irish females of New York, where ehe resided. Death soon removed her, and that beautiful and accomplished -woman, the 'child of social honor and of opulence,, was buried by the kind hands of the Sisters of Charity, in August, 1842. 1 See sketch of Aaron Burr. JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 379 JOHN JACOB ASTOR- "VrOT far from lovely Heidelberg, on the Rhine, in the grand-duchy of Baden, li is the picturesque little village of Walldor^ nestled among quiot hills, away from the din of commerce and the vexations of promiscuous intercourse with the great world of business and politics. Near that little village, in the mid-summer of 1763, an infant was born of humble parents, who, in after years, became a "merchant prince," and died a Croesus among an opulent people. His name was John Jacob Astor. He was nurtured in the simplicity of rural life, yet he manifested ambition for travel and traffic, at an early age. While a mere strip- ling, he left home for London. He started for a sea-port, on foot, with all his worldly wealth in a bundle lianging over his slioulder; and beneatli a linden tree, in wliose shadow he sought repose, he resolved to he honest, to be industrious, and to avoid gambling. Upon this solid moral basis he built the superstructure of Iiis feme, and secured his great wealth. Mr. Astor left London for America, in the same month when the British troops left New York, at tlie close of the War for Independence, bringing with him some merchandize for traffic. His elder brother had been in this country several years, and had often written to him concerning its advantages for a young man of enterprise. Mr. Astor soon became acquainted with a furrier (one of his 380 JOHN JACOB ASTOR. countrymen), and, having obtained from him all necessary information concern- ing the business, he resolved to employ the proceeds of his merchandize in the fur trafflc. Ho commenced the business in New York, and was successful from the beginning. His enterprise, guided by great sagacity, always kept in advance of his capital ; and year after year his business limits expanded. He made reg- ular ^'isits to ^[ontrcal, where he- purchased furs of the Hudson's Bay Company, and shipped them for London. When commercial treaties permitted, after 1*794, he sent his furs to all parts of the United States, and for many years carried on a very lucrative trade with Canton, in China. Success was always at his right hand. After spending many years as a second-hand operator in furs, and h.aving accumulated a large fortune, he resolved to do business on his own account en- tirely, b}' trading with the Indians directly, who were supplying a new corpora- tion, known as the North-western Company, with the choicest furs, from tho Mississippi and its tributaries. Tho general government approved of his plan for securing that vast trade of the interior; and, in 1809, the State of New York incorporated The American Fur Company, with a capital of one million of dollars and the privilege of extending it to two millions. The president and directors were merely nominal officers, for tho capital, management, and profits, all be- longed to Mr. Astor. In 1811, Mr. Astor bought out the North-western Company, and, with some associates, formed a system of operations by which the immense trade in furs of the middle regions of North America might be controlled by him. Under tho name of the South-western Fur Company, their operations were commenced, but the war between the United States and England, kindled in 1812, suspended their movements, for a while. In the meanwhile, the mind of Mr. Astor had grasped a more extensive enterprise. The Pacific coast was a rich field I'or car- rying on the fur trade with China. Already the country of the Columbia river had been made known by tho visits of Boston merchant-ships, and the expedi- tion of Lewis and Clarke, across- the Continent, in 1804. Mr. Astor conceived the idea of making himself "sole master" of that immense trade. In 1810, tho Pacific Fur Company was chartered, with Mr. Astor at its head. His jilan was to have a line of trading posts across the Continent to the mouth of the Columbia "river, and a fortified post there to be supplied with necessaries by a ship passing around Cape Horn once a year. The post at tho mouth of the Columbia was established, and named Astoria. It was the germ of the budding State of Ore- gon. Then commenced a series of operations on a scale altogether beyond any thing hitherto attempted by individual enterprise. The history is full of wildest romance ; and the chaste pen of Irving has woven the wonderful incidents into a charming narrative that fills two volumes. We cannot even glance at it, in this brief memoir. The whole scheme was the offspring of a capacious mind ; and had the plans of Mr. Astor been faithfully carried out by his associates, it would, no doubt, have been eminently successful. But the enterprise soon failed. During the war, a British armed sloop captured Astoria, and the British fur traders entered upon the rich fie^d which Mr. Astor had planted, and reaped the golden harvest. When the war had ended, and Astoria was left within the domain of the United States, by treaty, Mr. Astor solicited the government to aid him in recovering his lost possessions. Aid was withheld, and the grand scheme of opening a high-way across the continent, with a continuous chain of military and trading posts, which Mr. Astor had laid before President Jefferson, became a mere figment of history, over which sound statesmen soon lamented. His dream of an empire beyond the mountains, " peopled by free and independent Americans, and linked to us by ties of blood and interest," vanished like the morning dew ! It has since become a reality. After the failure of this great enterprise, Mr. Astor gradually withdrew from THOMAS H. GALLAUDET. 881 commercial life. He was tlie owner of much real estate, especially in the city of New York and vicinity, and held a large amount of public stocks. The re- mainder of his days was chiefly spent in the management of his accumulated and rapidly-appreciating property. He died in the city of New York, in the montli of Marcli, 1848, at tlie age of almost oighty-tive years. The great bulk of his immense property, amounting to several millions of dollars, was left to his family. Before his death, he provided ample funds for the establishment and support of a splendid public library in the city of New York; and he also gave a largo sum of money to his native town, for the purpose of founding an institu- tion for the education of the young, and as a retreat for indigent aged pei'sons. The Astor Library in New York, and the Anior House in Walldorf, were both opened in 1854. They are noble monuments to the memory of the "merchant prince." THOMAS H. OALLAUDET. " 'PHE cause of humanity is primarily indebted to liim for the introduction of X deaf mute instruction into the United States, and for the spread of the in- formation necessary for prosecuting it successfully in public institutions, of which all in the country are experiencing the benefits." What greater eulogium need any man covet than this expression of the Board of Directors of the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, at Hartford, when they accepted the resigna- tion of the Rev. Thomas II. fxallaudct, as president of that institution ? Tho winning of such laurels in the field of active philanthropj^, is a result more noblo than any achieved upon Marathon or Waterloo. Thomas H. G-allaudet was a native of Philadelphia, where he was born on the 10th of December, 1787. Ho acquired a good Academic education in his native city, and soon after his parents removed to Hartford, in Connecticut, in 1800, he entered Yale College. There he was graduated in 1805, and com- menced the study of law. The profession had but few charms for him, and on being chosen a tutor in Yale College, in 1808, he abandoned it. Ho continued his connection with Yale until 1810, and then engaged in commercial business. That employment was also uncongenial to his taste, and he abandoned it after a trial of a few months. In the meanwhile his mind had received deep religious convictions, and he felt called to the Gospel ministry. Ho entered the Andover Theological Seminary in 1811, completed his studies there in 1814, and was then licensed to preach. Again ho was diverted from a chosen pursuit, and he was led by Providence into a field for useful labor, far above what ho had as]jired to. His attention had been drawn to the instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, while at Andover, and when he left that institution Dr. Mason Co,o[gswell, of Hartford, invited him to instruct his little daughter, who was a deaf mute. Mr. Gallau- det's experiments were eminently successful, and Dr. Coggswell fclt an irre- pressible desire to extend the blessings of his instruction to others similarly afflicted. An association of gentlemen was formed for the purpose ; and in tho Spring of 1815, they sent Mr. Galla-udet to Europe to visit institutions for tho Deaf and Dumb, already established there. The selfishness and jealousy of tho managers of those in England prevented his learning much that was new or useful there ; but at the Royal Institution in Paris, under tlio care of the Abb.'; Sicard, every facility was given to him. He returned in 1816, accompanied by Lawrence Le Clerc to be his assistant. Measures had been taken, in tho mean- 882 ELIJAH HEDDING, while, to found a public institution; and on the 15tli of April, 1817, the first Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, established in America, was opened at Hart- ford, under the charge of Mr. Gallaudet' It prospered greatly, and became the centre of abundant blessings. There ho labored witli intense and increasing zeal until 1830, when impaired health compelled him to resign his charge as principal, though he remained a director, and always felt a lively interest in its welfare. After a brief cessation from labor, he commenced the preparation of Beveral works designed for educational purposes ; and wherever a field of Chris- tian philanthropy called for a laborer, there he was found, a willing worker. In the Summer of 1838, Mr. Gallaudet became chaplain of the Connecticut Retreat for the Insane, at Hartford, and in that important duty he laboVed with abundant useful results, imtil the last. He died at Hartford on the 9th of Sep- tember, 1851, at the age of about sixty-four j^ears. His name is a sj'nonym of goodness and benevolence. A handspme monument to his memory was erected near the Asylum building, at Hartford, in 1854, wholly by contributions of deaf mutes iu the United States. The designer and architect were both deaf mutes. ELIJAH HEDDINQ. ONE of the most useful and beloved of the mhnstersof the Methodist Episcopal Church, in America, was Elijah Iledding, D.D., who, for almost thirty years, was one of its chief pastors, and at the time of his death the senior bishop of that church. Ho was born iu the town of Pine Plains, Dutchess county, New York, on the fth of June, 1780. His good mother taught him to know and love God, and at the ago of four years ho could pray uuderstandingly. During his boyhood, the celebrated Benjamin Abbott was on the Dutchess Cireuii, and under his powerful preaching the zeal of Elijah's mother was fired, and she be- came an earnest Methodist." She loved the communion of that people, and her heart was greatly rejoiced when her son took delight in her Christian way of life. In 17D1, the family removed to Vermont, and at the age of eighteen years, young Hodding made an open profession of Christianity, and joined the Methodist 1. It soon becama llie asylum for all New England ; .ind lh3 several legislatures, except that of Rhode Island, mad3 appropriaiions for its support. The second institiilion of ihe kind was established in the city of New Yorlt, in 1S18. The American system, as that of Mr. Gallaudet (an improvement on tlio French) was called, was not adopted there until Dr. Harvey P. Peet, ateacher at Hartford, became a tutor in that inslituiion. Dr. Peet has been at the head of the New York Asylum many years, and has managed its affairs with eminent success. There are now about a dozen institutions for the instruction of the Deaf and Durab, iu the United States, and all employ the system introduced by Mr. Gallaudet. There ara now |Hj')] fiill ten thousand Deaf and Dumb persons in the United States. There is one in the Asy- lum at Hartford (Julia Brace) who is also hiind. Sha lost these several senses by sicl;ness. when she was four years of age. She continued to talk some for about a year, and the word she was longest per- mitted to speak, was tha tender one of mother. In the Bliud and IJeaf Asylum in Boston, is a young woman (Li ira Bridgman) whose history possesses the most thrilling interest. She was born puny and sickly, in Hinover, New Hampshire, in 1829, and by severe disease she lost both yiglit and hearimj be- fore sha was two years of age. When her health was restored, she had almost entirely lost the senses of taaie and smdl .' An she grew tn girlh lo I sh-:" evince! a strong mind, but oh I in what silence and dark- ness was she enveloped I In 1837, Dr. Howe took her to his Asylum in Boston, and successfully at- tempted tha developement of lier intellect, at the age of eight years. We have not space to speak of her acquirements. They are wonderful indeed; and that poor girl seems to live in an atmospliere of ex- quisite enioyroent. Her moral faculties have full play, and she is a loving and lovely creature. 2. Th3 mother of the writer once mentioned a circumstance that occurred in the ministry of Mr. Ab- bott, which was witnessed by herself f)ii a sultry afternoon, a heavy thunder-shower occurred while Mr. Abbott was preaching at the little hamlet of Beekmauville. When his discourse was about half finished, lightning struck the building, with a terrible crash. The preacher stopped, and, with a caln> voice, said, " When God speaks, let man hold his peace," and then sat down. ELIJAH HEDDINa. 883 Church. In the Summer of 1799, he became a local preacher, as those who are licensed to exhort are called, and labored partly in Vermont and partly in Can- ada, on a circuit just v'acated by the eccentric Lorenzo Dow. In the Spring of 1800, he was licensed to preach ; and in June, the following year, he was ad- mitted to the New York annual conference as a travelling preacher, on proba- tion. His itinerant labors were very great. The circuits .often embraced almost a wilderness, requiring journeys from two hundred to five hundred miles, to be made in the space of from two to six weeks, while every day a sermon was to be preached and a class met. Mountains were climbed ; swamps and rivers were forded ; tangled forests were thridded ; and in sunshine or in storm, the travelling preacher went on in his round of duty. Privations were cheerfully suffered ; and as those messengers of glad tidings went on their way, the forests were made vocal with their hymns. In severe and earnest labors for tlie real good of souls, the Methodist Church is preeminent. For a time Mr. lledding was stationed on the Plattsburg circuit, which ex- tended along the western shore of Lake Champlain, far into Canada. Then he took a circuit on the east side of the lake, extending back to the Green Moun- tains. After two years of hard service, in this waj', he was ordained a Deacon, in 1803, and was sent to a circuit in New Hampshire. There he labored in- tensely until his health gave way. He arose from the borders of the grave, after being ill eight months, with a constitution much shattered, but a soul burning with more intense zeal for the Gospel, than before. His labors were highly esteemed; and, in 1805, he was ordained an Elder, by Bishop Asbury. Two years afterward he became a presiding elder; and he performed the duties of that office with great ability and dignitj% Plain in speech and earnest in man- ner, his preaching always seemed accompanied with the demonstrations of the spirit, and revivals everywhere attended his ministrations. Yet in all his labors he won no earthly gain. During ten years, his average cash receipts were only forty-five dollars a year ! Yet he says the sisters were kind to him, for they put patches upon the knees of his pantaloons, and often turned an old coat for him. From 1810 until 1824, Mr. Hedding's field of ministerial labor was in New England. At the general conference, in 1824, he was elevated to the office of Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was ordained, by the imposition of hands, on the 28t]i of May, of that year. With great humilitj', but with un- wavering faith in the sustaining grace of God, he entered with zeal upon tho responsible duties of the prelacy ; and during tho first eight years of his epis- copal life, he presided over fifty-two conferences, extending over the wholo Union. That was a most interesting period in the history of Methodism in America, and no man contributed more to its growth and respectability, than Bishop Hedding. "When he commenced his ministerial labors, in tho j-ear 1800, the Methodist Church in the United States and Canada numbered less than seventy-three thousand members; when he left'the field, in 1852, that member- ship had swollen to over a million and a quarter. In 1832, Bishop Hedding was at the door of death; but he was spared to the church twenty years longer. After 1844, his bodily infirmities abridged his sphere of active labor, yet he continued to be the oracle of wisdom when advice was needed. His last episcopal services were performed in 1850. Then he sat down in his pleasant residence at Poughkeepsie, and in the midst of much bodily suffering, he waited to be called home. The message came on the 0th of April, 1852, and his spirit went joyfully to the presence of the greatHead of the Church in earth and heaven. 384 STEPHEN OLIN. 1^^-^3-d:::^ STEPHEN OLIN. WE have few records in human liistory more touching and insturctive than that of the ministerial labors of the Reverend Dr. oiin, one of .the brightest luminaries of the Metliodist Episcopal Church, who was continually struggling with great bodily infirmity while engaged in arduous toils. The possessor of a huge frame more than six feet in height, he had all the appearance of an iron man, outwardly, but from earliest years that frame was wealc and deceptive. Stephen Olin was born in Leicester, Vermont, on the 2d of March, 1797. His father, a descendant of one of the earlier settlers of Rhode Island, was success- ively a State legislator, Judge of the Supreme Court of Vermont, Member of Con- gress and Lieutenant G-overnor. Stephen was carefully educated, chiefly at home under the direction of his father, and at the age of fifteen years he commenced teaching a village school. His father designed him for the profession of the law, and he was placed under legal instruction in Middleburj'-, Vermont. He yearned to enter the College there, for he soon perceived that his education was not sufficient for success in professional life. He finally told his father that he was willing to return to labor on the farm, but ho was unwilling to be " half a lawyer." The hint was sufficient, and Judge Olin placed his son in Middlebury Collage, at the age of nineteen jears. He was an apt scholar, and was graduat- ed with highest honors. STEPHEN OLIN. 885 Although he was of large frame, he felt much physical weakness on leaving College. The South presenting a field for its recovery, he went thither in 1820, and became a teacher in a Seminary in Abbeville District, South Carolina, which was located in 'a rudo log-cabin. He boarded in the family of an exemplary "local" Methodist preacher, and became a converted man. With the joy of re- ligious impressions came a desire to spread the glad tidings of Christianity, and abandoning all idea of becoming a lawyer, ho assumed the duties and privations of a Methodist preacher, in 1822. He was soon afterward invited to a professor- ship in the college at Middlebury, but declined it, because, notwithstanding his feeble liealth would not allow him to enter upon the itineracy, he could not give up his devotion to Motliodism and its ministry. In 1824, he was stationed in Charleston, in the travelling connection, where he labored zealously. Ill health demanded relaxation, and he visited his friends in Vermont, after an absence of four years. In the Autumn of 1824, he travelled back to Charleston on horse- back. In 1825, Mr. Oliu became editor of the Wesleyan Journal, assisted by the late Bishop Capers, but his healtli would not allow him to conduct it as he desired, and he became only an occasional contributor. In 1826, he was chosen Pro- fessor of belles-lettres in Franklin College, at Athens, Georgia, and soon after entering upon his duties there ho was married to a beautiful and exemplary young lady. At about the same time, he was ordained an elder in the Method- ist Episcopal Church. He soon afterward made another visit to his native State, and then resided in Virginia for some time, all the while suffering from disease. In 1834, he attended the conference at Charleston, where he was greeted with much love ; and the same year three Colleges conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. Dr. Olin was active for the benefit of Randolph Macon College in Georgia, and was chosen its president ; but ill health compelled him to relinquish that field of useful endeavor. In the Summer of 1837, he went to Europe with his wife, and after spending some time on the continent and in the British Isles, ho went to Greece, Egypt, and the Holy Land. During his journeyings, he suf- fered several attacks of severe illness, and finally he returned home in the Autumn of 1840. He had been elected President of the "Wesleyan University at Middletown, Connecticut, to fill the place of the deceased Dr. Piske, but his feeble health would not permit him to accept the appointment. In 1842, his strength seemed to warrant him in accepting an urgent call to that institution, and he became its President. He suffered much; and in the AVinter of 1842-3, he withdrew from active duty there, and passed the time in the house of his friend, Eletchor Harper, of New York, where he revised the proof-sheets of his Travels in the East. That interesting work was published in two volumes the ensuing season. In the troubles between the Methodists North and South, occasioned by the slavery question, Dr. Olin was eminently a peace-maker, and commanded the highest respect of both parties. Gladly would his brethren have honored him with the office of Bishop, but his feeble health denied to him the privilege of such hard labor. He worked on and suffered on ; and in the Autumn of 1845, he made another trip to Europe, but of short duration. On his return he be- came a zealous member of the Evangelical Alliance, but his feebleness now be- came more and more general. Yet he travelled, and preached, and wrote much, until the Summer of 1851, when at Middletown, he was compelled to put off the armor of a brave soldier in the Church militant, and prepare for communion with the Church triumphant. His spirit departed for that blessed community on the morning of the 16th of August, 1851, Avhen he was in the fifty-fifth year of his age. 17 886 HENRY INMA"Nr. HENRY INMAN. ART, literature, and social life, were all widowed by the death of Henry In- man, one of the most gifted men of our century. Wordsworth pronounced him the most decided man of genius, he had ever seen from America ; and our own Brj'aut has said of him that " he was no less beloved as a friend, than ad- mired as a painter; that his social qualities were of the richest order, and al- though he seldom indulged in rhyme, his conversation and letters were often instinct with the spirit of poetry." That child of genius was born in Utica, New York, then a beautiful little village in tlie upper valley of the Mohawk, on the 20th of October, 1801. Ilis talent for drawing was evinced at a very early age, and his father, who had a taste for the beautiful in nature or in art, warmly encouraged it. An itinerant teacher of drawing gave the lad some lessons in the science, but he did not enter even the vestibule of the great temple in which he was afterward such a distinguished worshipper, until the removal of his family to the city of New York, in 1812. While under the care of an element- ary teacher there, his superior talent attracted the attention of John Wesley Jarvis, then in the zenith of his fame as the best living portrait painter in America, except Stuart. Young Inman was then about thirteen years of age, and his father had just obtained a warrant for his entrance to the Military Academy at West Point. Jarvis invited him to become his pupil. The father left the choice to his son, and fortunately for art ho chose to be a painter. A bargain for a seven years' apprenticeship was soon concluded, and both parties faithfully fulfilled their engagements during that time. Mr. Inman erected his easel in Iscw York, in 1822, as a portrait and miniature painter, and in both departments of tlie art he M'as eminently successful, from the beginning. Miniatures pleased him best, and he devoted himself almost ex- clusively to that branch of art, until his pupil, Thomas S. Cummings, (now [1855] one of the best miniature painters in America), displayed such superior merit in that line, that Inman left the field to him. Life-sized portraits, and sketches on Bristol board, now occupied his attention, and he labored with great zeal and assiduity. In 1825, when the National Academy of Design was established in New York, Mr. Inman was elected its Vice-President, and held that office until he made Philadelphia his residence. After prosecuting his vocation there for awhile, with great success, he purchased a small rural estate in the neighbor- hood of Mount Hollj^ New Jersey, where he was continually engaged in his delightful art. There he produced many beautiful compositions in landscape and historical painting, copies of wliich have since been scattered broadcast over the land by engraving. In 1834 Mr. Inman returned to New York, His health was now becoming delicate, yet he labored incessantly, and with the highest re- muneration ever received by any painter in this country. The gorgeous bubble of speculation, glowing with rainbow hues, fascinated him, and in an evil hour he grasped at its beauties. Its promises all vanished in thin air, and in 1836 he found himself a hopeless bankrupt. lie had received a commission from Con- gress to paint a picture for one of the vacant panels in the Rotunda of the Federal Capitol, but this terrible blow deferred his labor upon it, for he was obliged to work hard for bread for his growing family. He had already received some money in part payment for the work. Because he did not go forward with that public commission as a man in full health and prosperity might have done, slander began to cast its venom upon his spotless fame. His noble nature was deeply wounded, and his disease (an enlargement of the heart) was aggravated. Finally, in 1844, he went to England, hoping to regain health and to paint his WILLIAM MILLER. 387 promised picture there. But his hopes were soon clouded, and he returned home to die, bringing with him the finest of all the trophies of his genius — the por- traits of Wordsworth and Dr. Chalmers. He continued the practice of his art with great zeal until within a few weeks of his death. That event occurred on the 17 th of January, 1846, at the age of about forty -four years. He was, at that time, President of the Academy of Design, and after his death, a large col- lection of his works was exhibited for the benefit of his family. In that collec- tion there were one hundred and twenty-seven paintings. \VILLIAM MILLER. IN all ages of the world credulity has produced strange shapes in society. The most absurd notions, honestly entertained by deluded persons, or art- fully promulgated by wicked impostors, for personal benefit, have found ardent supporters, fired with martyr zeal, especially when the dogma was arrayed in the mysterious garb of a religious necessity. Time and again the broad mantle of Christianity has been used to cover up the deformities of these par;isitical systems ; and, apparently under the awful sanctions of divine revelation, multi- tudes have " believed a lie." In our day, the peculiar doctrines concerning the second personal appearance of Jesus upon earth, known as Millerism, have had a more wide-spread and disastrous influence than any other, except that of the wicked and obscene system of Mormonism. The author of Millerism, familiarly known, like the founder of Mormonism, as The Prophet, was William Miller a plain, uneducated, religious zealot, who was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1771. Of his early life we have no important record. He seems not to have been distinguished from his fellow-men by anything remarkable, except that he was an honest man and good citizen. When war between the United States and Great Britain was kindled in 1812, Mr. Miller was captain of a company of volunteers on the northern frontier, and did good service at Sacketts Harbor, Williamsburg and Plattsburg. When peace came he resumed his farm labors, and we hear nothing more of him until about 1826, when, almost simultaneously with Joe Smith's annunciation of his pre- tended visions, Mr. Miller began to promulgate his peculiar views concerning prophecy. It was not until 18.33, that he commenced his public ministry on the subject of the approaching Millennium. Then he went forth from place to place throughout the Northern and iliddle States, boldly proclaiming the new inter- pretation of Scripture, and declaring that Christ would descend in clouds, the true saints would be caught up into the air, and the earth would be purified by fire, in 1843. No doubt the aged zealot was sincere. He labored with great fervor; and during the ten years of his ministry he averpged a sermon every two days. As the -time for the predicted consummation of all prophecy ap- proached, his disciples rapidly increased. Hundreds and thousands embraced lais doctrine, withdrew from church-fellowship, and banded together as The Church of Latter Bay Saints. Other preachers ajipeared in the field. The press was diligently employed ; and an alarming paper, called The Midnight Gi-y, was pubhshed in New York, embellished, sometimes, with pictures of hideous beasts, and the image seen by the Babylonian Emperor in liis dream ; at others with representations of benignant angels. The ofBce of that publication was the head-quarters of the deluded sect, and the receptacle of a large amount of money continually and bountifully contributed by the disciples, even up to the very 388 JAMES KNOX POLK. evening before " the last day," in the Autum of 1843.' The excitement became intense. Many gave up business weeks before. Some gave away their property to the managers of the solemn drama. Families were beggard, and scores of weak men and women were made insane by excitement, and became inmates of mad houses. The appointed day passed by. The earth moved on in its ac- customed course upon the great highway of the ecliptic. The faith of thou- sands gave way, and infidelity poured its slimy flood over the wrecks. And these were many — very many. Full thirty thousand people embraced the doctrine of Miller, and had unbounded faith in his interpretation of all prophecy. Alas ! who shall estimate the desolation of true religion in the hearts of that multitude, when the delusion vanished like a dream at dawn ? In the course of a few weeks the excitement subsided, and soon the rushing torrent of delusion dwin- dled into an almost imperceptible rill. Mr. Miller acknowledged his error, and seldom preached about the Millennium. He died at Hampton, "Washington County, New York, on the 29th of December, 1849, at the age of seventy-eight years. JAMES KNOX POLK. MECKLENBURG COUNTY, in North Carolina, was settled chiefly by Scotch- Irish and their descendants, and when the "War for Independence broke out, the people of that section were so zealous and active in the cause of popular liberty, that Mecklenburg was called The Hornet's Nest. Among the energetic patriots who led the rebellion there, were the relatives of James Knox Polk, the eleventh President of the United States. He was born in that Hornets Nest, on the 2d of November, 1*795, and was the eldest of ten children. His father was an enterprising farmer, and a warm supporter of Jefferson. "When James was eleven years of age, his family remold from Mecklenburg to the wilderness, on the banks of a branch of the Cumberland river, in Tennessee, and there the future President passed the greater portion of his life. The wilderness disappeared before the hand of cultivation, and that portion of Tennessee became famous for its productiveness. After acquiring a fair English education, James was placed with a merchant to be fitted for commercial life. The pursuit was not congeniai to his taste, and after some preparatory studies, he entered the University of North Carolina, in the Autumn of 1815, to be educated for a professional life. He was one of the most remarkable students in that institution, and, at the end of three years, he was graduated with the highest honors. His character in after life was fore- shadowed there ; for he never missed a recitation, nor omitted the punctilious performance of his duty. At the beginning of 1819, he commenced the study of law with Felix Grundy; and, in 1820, was admitted to the bar. He had suffered feeble health from childhood, but the energies of his mind overcame the infirmities of his body, and he soon arose to the front rank in his profession. His talent and urbanity won him many fi-iends ; and, in 1823, he was elected to 1. During the Summer and early Antnran of 1843, the pencil and prraver of the writer were frequently brought into requisition in making illustrative pictures for the Arch Saints of the new faith, who em- ployed the press. At sunset, on the evening previous to " the last day" a person connected wilh The Jlidnighl Cry, came rushing into my studio in hot haste, and anxiously implored me to draw and en- grave two flying angels witli trumpets, before eleven o'clock that night, for the last hours for doing good on earth were rapidly passing away. The '' commission" was executed in time. I shall never forget the appearance of the dozen men in the office of the Cry, when I handed the little pictures to the pub- lisher, and received my pay without being asked for a " hill of particulars." It was a " serious family" indeed ; yet there appeared to be one or two Aminidab Sleek's among them, who, like Judas, had charge of the treasury bag, and evidently expected to have a place in the next census. JAMES KNOX POLK. 380 _j^:^ a seat in the legislature of Tennessee. As a warm personal and political friend of General Jackson, he was chiefly instrumental in drawing him from his retire- ment, and electing him a United States Senator. In August, 1825, Mr. Polk, then thirty years of age, was chosen a representative in the Federal Congress, where he was distinguished for his faithfulness in every thing, and as a demo- cratic republican of the strictest stamp. He took a position of highest respect, at once, and was one of the most efBcient opposers of the administration of Pres- ident Adams. Year after year he was continued a member of the House of Representatives by the suffrage of his admiring constituents. As chairman of important committees, he was indefatigable in labor and careful in the prepara- tion of reports. He took sides with President Jackson against the Bank of the United States, at the beginnino:, and was one of its most powerful enemies in the popular branch of the Federal legislature. His course arrayed against him the friends of the Bank, and efforts were made to defeat his reelection. But he was always triumphant. In 1835, he was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, and was reelected in 1837. Never was the presiding officer of that body more vigorously assailed and annoyed than Mr. Polk, yet with dig- nified equanimity he kept on consistently in his course of duty, and the House thanked him for his services. After a service in Congress of fourteen years, Mr. Polk declined a reelection, in 1839, and the same year he was elected governor of Tennessee by a very large 390 LEONAED WOODS. majority. He was nominated for Vice-President of the United States, with Mr. Van Buren, by the Legislature of Tennessee, and in other States, but received only one electoral vote. He was an unsuccessful candidate for governor of Tennessee, in 1841, and also in 1843 ; and from that time until his elevation to the Presidenc; of the United States, in 1845, he remained in private life. His administration o, four years was a stormy one, and included the period of the Mexican war, the excitements incident to the Oregon boundary question, and the finding of gold in California. His administration will be looked back to as a brilliant one. It is yet too early to judge of its permanent effects upon the commonwealth. The verdict must be awarded by another generation. President Polk retired from office in March, 1849, and died at his residence at Nashville, Tennessee, on the I5th of Juno following, at the age of fifty -four years. -♦-♦-v^ LEONARD WOODS. BLESSED are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God." So spake the Head of the Church ; and the fulfilment of that promise was eminently exemplified in the person of Leonard "Woods, D.D., the father of the Andover Theological Seminary. In the history of the Presbyterian Church, in New England, he appears prominent as a peace-maker, at a time when con- tention about unessential points of doctrine and discipline menaced their unity; and all over the Union he was intimately known and loved as a " child of God." Leonard Woods was born in Princeton, Massachusetts, on the 19th of June, 1774, and, like the inflxnt Franklin, he was baptized on the day of his birth. He was educated at Harvard University, where ho was graduated in 1796. He taught school at Medford, for a while ; and after studying theology under Dr. Backus, of Connecticut, for three months, ho entered the Christian ministry, by ordination at West Newbury, in 1798. At that time there was a warm conten- tion between Dr. Morse,' of Cliarlestown, and Dr. Spring.^ of Newburyport, the former planting his foot firmly upon the Westminster catechism as a ba.sis of faith for individuals as well as for the General Association, and the latter willing to be more latitudinarian in both faith and polity. Dr. Morse promulgated his views in the Fanoplist, and Dr. Spring gave his arguments through the Mission- ary Magazine. Mr. Woods was known as a vigorous writer, and both divines endeavored to secure the services of his pen. Ho wrote for the FanojMst, and then commenced his long career as a theologian. Mr. Woods soon discovered that Drs. Morse and Spring had each projected a theological seminary, without the knowledge of the other, and that each had selected the same locality. The comprehensive and benevolent mind of Mr. Woods immediately devised a plan to fraternize the belKgerents, and to prevent the great evil that would flow from the establishment of two seminaries hold- ino- ^conflicting views. Ho applied to men of both parties, and after a series of "negotiations for six months, carried on with great s^ill, he broke down the partitfou, and had the pleasure of seeing those men unite in founding one sem- 1 Eev Jedediah Morse, D.D., the father of Professor S. F. B. Morse, the inventor of the electro- maenetie' telegraph Dr. Morse was pastor of a church at Charlestown about thirty-two years, and died at New Haven, in June, 1826, at the age of sixty-five years. He was the first American author of a Geography He also wrote a History of the American Revolution, and prepared a Gazetteer. *> Rev Samuel Spring D D., was some sixteen years older than Dr. Morse. He was the chaplain of Arnold's'reeiment, in the expedition from the Kennebec to the St. Lawrence, in 1775. He was the father of the Rev. Gardiner Spring, D.D., pastor of the church fronting the City Hall Park, New York. He died in March, 1819, aged seventy-three years. TIMOTHY FLINT. 391 inary, their respective publications merged into one, and the General Association placed upon a lirmer basis than ever. Andover was chosen as the locality for the seminary, and, by common consent, tlie person who had secured the happy union, was chosen the first professor in the new institution. Tlie seminary was founded in 1808, and the same year ho was inaugurated Abbott Professor of Christian Theology. In that position ho labored until 1846, a period of thirty- eight years, when he resigned, its duties into younger hands, and was made Emeritus Professor in the same institution. Dr. "Woods was distinguished for his zealous encouragement of every effort directed to tlie promotion of morality and the spread of the Gospyel. Within the sphere of his influence, several of the noblest societies of our day had their ger- mination and early culture, among which the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and the American Tract Society, are the most prominent. The cause of Temperance, Education, Human Freedom, all found in Dr. Woods a warm and judicious friend. After his retirement from the seminary, ho care- fully revised his theological lectures and miscellaneous works, and superintended their publication, in five volumes. During the last few years of his life he was engaged in writing a history of the seminary o\-er which he had presided so long. It was almost completed at the time of his death, when, according to his expressed desire, it was placed in the hands of his son, to be completed from materials that ho had left, and then published. Dr. Woods died at Andover, on the 24th of August, 1854, at the age of little more than eighty years. The simple inscription for the stone that should mark his grave was found in his wiU. TIMOTHY FLINT. TTERT few men in private life have engaged so large a share of public atten- I tion and cordial esteem as Timothy Flint, especially in the Groat West, beyond the Alleghanies. Though betiring the heavy burden of ill health for many weary years, he labored incessantly in the inviting fields of science, lit- erature, and history. He was a native of North Reading, Massachusetts, wliere he was born in July, 1780. He was graduated at Harvard University, in 1800, and entered immediately upon the study of theology, preparatory to assuming the labors of a gospel minister. He became pastor'of a Congregational church at Lunenburg, in his native State, in 1802, where he performed liis responsible duties with fidelity for twelve years. In the meanwhile, he enriched his mind with much scientific knowledge, and was very fond of philosophical experiments. Some ignorant neighbors, seeing him at work with his alembic and crucibles, in chemical experiments, charged him with the crime of counterfeiting coin. ' In defence of his character ho prosecuted the slanderer. Unpleasant feelings grew into bitterness, and as Mr. Flint diftered in politics from most of his congregation, who were Federalists and opposed to the war then in progress, he thought it expedient to resign his pastoral charge, in 1814. After preaching in several parishes in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, he accepted, from a missionary society in Connecticut, the appointment of a Gospel laborer in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. In the pleasant month of September, 1815, he started for the Far West, with his wife and three children, in a two-horse wagon. For several years ho spread the glad tidings of Christianity over Ohio, Indiana, Ken- tucky, and Missouri, when he resigned his mission, tried farming, and, with the assistance of his wife, taught several pupils, who became inmates of liis fomily. In 1822, Mr. Flint and his flimily went down the Mississippi to New Orleans. 392 AMBEOSE SPENCER. After a short residence near the borders of Lake Pontehartrain, he went to Alex- andria, on the Red River, and there took charge of a collegiate school. His health gave way; and, m 1825, he went to the North, and on reaching the house of a friend at Salem, Massachusetts, greatly emaciated, he told him he had come there to die. The change of climate was beneficial, and while under the roof of that friend he wrote the first part of his Recollections of Ten Years' Eesidence and Travels in the Mississippi Valley. It was published in 1826, and attracted much attention throughout the United States and Europe. It was republished in London, and parts ol' it were translated and published in Paris. With renewed health he joined his family at Alexandria, in the Autumn of 1826, and then commenced writing his first novel— Frcincis Berrmn, or the Mexican Patriot. He again went to New England, the following Spring, published his new work, and returned to Alexandria, in the Autumn. In 1828, he removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he remained engaged chiefly in literary pursuits, for almost seven years. During that time he wrote and published Arthur Ckirer- ing ; Historij and Geography of the Western Stales ; George Mason, or the Back- woodsman; and Shoshonee Valley. He edited a monthly magazine, entitled The Western Revieio, for three years. He also wrote a sketch of the Life of Daniel Boone; a narrative of the adventures and explorations of a pioneer named Pattie; and compiled a History of the Indian Wars of the West. In 1833, Mr. Elint re- moved to New York city, and became editor of the Knickerbocker Magazine, but ill health compelled him to relinquish it before the end of that year. He soon afterward went to Alexandria, where a son and daughter were living, and there he spent a greater part of the remainder of his days. His Summers were passed in New England. On the last visit to his friends there, he took with him the manuscript of the second part of his Recollections of the Mississixi2n Valley. He died at the house of one of his friends in Salem, on the 16th of August, 1840, at the age of sixty years. "Of a genius liighly imaginative and poetical, he united with a vigorous intellect and discriminating judgment a quick sensibility, and warm affections, a vivid perception and enjoyment, a deep-felt and ever grateful recognition of the Author of the beautiful, grand and lovely in nature, of the true and good, the elevated and pure, the brilliant and divinely-gifted in himian endowments and character." AMBROSE SPENCER, ONE of the most active and influential of the jurists and politicians of the State of New York, was Ambrose Spencer, a native of Salisbury, Connecticut, where he was born on the 13th of December, 1765. His father was a farmer and mechanic, yet his limited pecuniary means did not prevent his exercise of a wise discretion, in giving his two sons, Ambrose and Philip, a good education. They both entered Yale College, as students, in the Autumn of 1779, where they remained three years, and after studying twelve months longer at Harvard University, they were graduated there in July, 1783. Ambrose was then only seventeen years and six months old. He commenced the study of law with John Canfield. of Sharon, and completed his course with Mr. Gilbert, of Hudson, New York. Before he was nineteen years of age, he married a daughter of his earliest law preceptor, settled at Hudson, and commenced the practice of his profession there. The clerkship of that city was given to him, in 1786; and, in 1793, he was elected a representative of Columbia county in the State legislature. Two years afterward he was elected to the State Senate, for three years; and, HORATIO GREENOUGH. 393 in 17 9S, was reelected to the same office, for four years. In the meanwhile ho had been chosen assistant attorney-g-eneral of the State, for the counties of Co- lumbia and Rensselaer; and, in 1802, he was appointed attorney-general. At that time he was confessedly at the head of the bar in the State of New York, as an advocate, counsellor, and jurist. His talents were appreciated ; and, in 1804, he was appointed one of the justices of the Supreme Court of that State. Although he was always remarkable for his strict attention to his judicial business, he became an active and widely potential politician of the demo- cratic school. He had been a Federahst, but joined the Republican party at an early day in its history. He and Dewitt Clinton were warm personal and polit- ical friends for many years, and acted in concert in the Republican party until 1812, when they took ditYerent views of the question of war with Great -Britam. Judge Spencer "warmly supported President Madison, in his hostile measures, and°in his own State he labored shoulder to shoulder with Governor Tompkins in opposition to a great moneyed scheme. At that time he \vielded_ immense political influence in his State, and his support was considered so important by President Madison, that Judge Spencer might have received any office asked for, in the gift of the chief magistrate. In 1819, Judge Spencer was raised to the seat of chief justice of the State of New York, but retired from the bench in 1823, and resumed the practice of his profession in the city of Albany. In 1821, he was a representative in the con- vention to amend tlie constitution of the State. He took great interest m its proceedings, and many sections of the new instrument bear the impress of his strong practical mind. After retiring from the bench, Judge Spencer was mayor of Albany, filled several public stations in his own State; and, m 1829, was elected to a seat in the Federal Congress, where he served two years. For many years toward the close of his life Judge Spencer was deeply engaged in agricultural pursuits, in the vicinity of Albany. He left these, in 1839, and made his residence in the pleasant village of Lyons, in Wa.vne county. In 1844, he presided at the Whig National Convention, held at Baltimore, when Henry Clay was nominated for the chief magistracy of the Republic. His last public act was the issuing of a letter to his fellow-citizens, in which he opposed the provision of the new constitution of the State, by which judges were made elective by the people. His sands of life were now almost run out; and on the 13th of March, 1848, his spirit went home, when he was in the eighty-third year of his ase. HORATIO OKEENOIJOH. " A RT, though a grand and beautiful, is not a universal language, and when A her gifted votaries are also priests at the altar of humanity, they are doubly mourned and honored." Such was the just reflection of the intimate personal friend' of Greenough, the Sculptor, expressed in closing a brief memoir of that gifted and earth-lost artist. Throughout life, Greenough was, indeed, a "priest at the altar of humanity," for his noble soul was the eager recipient of all good impressions, and his heart and hand were the almoners of a multitude of 1. Henry T. Tuckerman, Esq., whose Memorial of Greenough, published bv Putnam in a small vol- ume, is a most beautiful tribute of a warm heart to the memory of a beloved friend and brilliant genius. That little volume also contains many of the literary productions of the artist, and tributes ot otners to his genius, in prose and verse. I am indebted to Mr. Tuclterman for tht- .tccorapanying portrait, which is a copy of a fine daguerreotype from life, in his possession ; and to his Memonal lor the principal tacts in this sketch. 1 V* 394 HOEATIO GREENOUGH. bounties. Superior to all jealousies, he recognized no rivals in art, for all who loved the Good, the Beautiful and the True, were loved by him and reciprocated that love. Horatio Greenough was born in Boston, on the 6th of September, 1805. His father was one of those enterprising merchants who, at the commencement of our century, held highest social position in the New England metropolis. The home of the gifted child of whom we are writing, was a model of excellent in- fluences, and'liis education was entrusted to the most eminent instructors. His genius, and his taste for art, were developed simultaneously in liis early child- hood ; and hours devoted by other boys in romping play, were employed by him in carving toys for his companions, the implements of his atelier being a pencil, knife and scissors. One day he sat upon the doorstep of a neighbor, and with his pen-knife and a nail, he f\ishioned from plaster, in miniature form, the head of a Roman, copied from a coin. He was watched by the lady of the house, who became the possessor of that earliest of his works of art, and in after years gave him his first commission. For her he produced that beautiful ideal bust, of the Genius of Love. His boyish efforts were appreciated, and artists and arti- sans gave him aid and encouragement. Librarians lent him books, and he studied and wrought, and wrought and studied, for he felt irrepressible desires to express his ideas in tangible art. Yet he did not neglect learning, the com- panion of all true art ; and in the Academy and in the College, he was always HORATIO GREENOUGH, 395 a thoughtful, assiduous and successful student. His perceptions were active, his memory remarkably attentive, ' and his thirst for knowledge was ardent. His phj-sical developement kept pace with his mental activity, and he excelled in all manly exercises. He was the intimate and loving friend of Allston the poet- painter, and they became as one in sentiment and feeling, for their souls affiliated by mutual attraction. Sometimes Greenough would express his thoughts in Painting; sometimes in Poetry, but most frequently in Sculpture. To the latter art he dedicated his genius ; and soon after the close of his collegiate studies, he went to Italy as a pupil of art and nature there. He took up his residence in Rome, and was the tirst American student of art who made the Eternal City his permanent abiding place. There he studied and wrought in a far higher sphere of influence and cfibrt, than when in his college days. There he enjoyed the friendship of Thor- walsden, the great Danish Sculptor ; and with {he purest of our living painters, Mr. "Weir, he occupied rooms in the house of Claude, on the Pincian Hill. The sky bent in beauty over them, but from the Pontine Marshes came a deadly malaria that menaced the life of the j'oung sculptor, and with his friend and brother artist, he returned home. His health was soon restored, and he again sailed for Europe. While tarrying in Paris, the generous Cooper was his friend ; and there he executed a bust of La Fayette, more truthful, in the estimation of judges, than that of the same subject produced by the eminent David. lie did not re- main long in Paris, but hastene'd across the Alps, and took up liis abode in a somewhat dreary "palace" near the Pinti Gate. Eor a long time he waited there for a commission. Cooper was again the encouraging friend, and, at his request, Greenough produced for him that exquisite group. The Chanting Cherubs. That work, in the hands of such a zealous possessor, introduced the Sculptor to his countrymen, and his successful career then commenced. "We cannot, in this brief memoir, follow the artist in all his pleasant, laborious life, from the modelling of his Abel, in 1826, until the completion of The Rescue, in 1851.- The work in which he took the greatest pride, because of the sub- ject, was his collossal statue of Washington, completed in 1843, and now oc- cupying the public square eastward of the Federal Capitol. He executed more than twenty other ideal groups or single statues, and a great many busts of living men* but that will be his chief memorial" in the public mind. For many years in. Florence — beautiful, classic Florence — his studio, a model of its class, was on the Piazza Maria Antonia; and there he dispensed a generous but unostenta- tious hospitality. Finally, in the Autumn of 1851, he returned to his native land, ostensibly to erect his group of The Rescue, but really to breathe again the free air of the Republic. He chose Newport as his place of residence, and there he resolved to erect a studio, and leave his country no more. He had become acclimated in Italy, and the changeful seasons here disturbed him. Here he lacked the quiet social routine of Florence. All around him was activity to which he had not been accustomed, and his whole being became excited. A brain fever ensued, and after a few days' illness, he expired in the bosom of his loving family, at the age of little more than forty-seven years. That sad event occurred at Newport, on the 18th of December, 1852. So perished in the merid- ian of his life and fime, a noble, kindly and generous man ; and an artist whose works form a part of the rising glory of our country. 1. While yet a mere boy, he could repeat two thousand lines of English verse, without error or hesi- tation. 2. This is a colossal group ordered by Congress for the Federal Capitol. It consists of four figures, a niother and child, an American Indian and the father. It is intended to illustrate the unavoidable con- flict between the Anglo-Saxon and the aboriginal races. HUGH MERCER. — ROBERT M. PATTERSON. HUQH MEKCEK. ON the first day of December, 1853, Colonel Hugh Mercer, the foster-child of the Republic, died at the "Sentry-Box," his pleasant residence, near Fred- ericksburg, Virginia, at the age of little more than seventy-aeven years. He was a son of the brave General Hugh Mercer, who was mortally wounded in the battle at Princeton, on the morning of the 3d of Januar}-, 1777, and who is re- vered as one of the eminent martyrs of libertj-, who fought for American Inde- pendence. That brave soldier was a native of Scotland, and was a surgeon on the bloody field of Culloden, in 17-45. Ten years later he was the companion- in-arms of Washington, in the sanguinary conflict on the Monongahela, where Braddock was kiUed; and when another ten years had elapsed, he left his apothecary shop, his medical practice, and his beloved family, and drew his sword for the liberties of his adopted country. Sixty-three days after he had fallen on the battle-field, the Continental Congress resolved to erect a monument to his memory, in Fredericksburg, with a suitable inscription ; and also resolved, "That the eldest son of General Warren,' and the youngest son of General Mer- cer, be educated, from this time, at the expense of the United States." That "j'oungest son of General Mercer" was the subject of our brief memoir. - He was born at Fredericksburg, Virginia, in July, 1776. His mother was Isa- bella Gordon, who survived her martyred husband about ten years, and during that time made an indelible impression of her own excellence of character upon that of her son. He was educated at William and ilary College, in Virginia, during its palmiest days, while under the charge of the good Bishop Madison. For a long series of years he was colonel of the militia of his native county (Spottsylyania), and for twenty years he was an active magistrate. For five consecutive years ho represented his district in the Virginia legislature, when, preferring the sweets of domestic life, to the turmoils of politics and public 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 country, was Dr. Robert M. Patterson, of Philadelphia, who is better known to the public in general as the accomplished Director of the United States Mint, during many of the latter years of his life. 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. ^- -^.','°''i''?'' °f Colonel Mercer may he found in Lossing's Pictorial Fidd-Jlook of the Itrvolution, page Cba of the second edition. SARGEANT S. PRENTISS. 397 son afterward filled. That son was born in Philadelphia, in 1787, was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, and at an early age 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 age of twenty-seven years he was elected Vice-Provost of that institution. Having paid much attention to the science of engineering, ho 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 duty so satisfactorily, that he won a public vote of thanks. For fourteen years Dr. Patterson remained a professor in the University, and was always distinguished for extensive and varied scientific attainments. Other objects of taste and refinement occupied his attention. Ho was one of the founders and most ofBcient officers of the Franklin Institute, of Philadelphia, tho pioneer association, of its kind, in this country. In 1820, he joined, with others, in establishing the Musical Fund Society, whicli was also the first of its class, and is stUl [1855] a rich and prosperous institution. Ho was its president for many years, and its most efficient member, from tho 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 tho 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 J?hilosophy 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 administration;?, 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 enlisted his sympathy, and his hearty co- operation. His intercourse with society was exemplary in the highest degree, and he 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 liighest 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, 398 HENRY CLAY, where, in the vicinity of ■ Natchez, he spent about two years as tutor in a private family, and in th6 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 (tlicn a small village) his residence, in 1830, and he 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 xcry 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 liim, 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 lavor 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 iu the Hall of Representatives were brief, but brilliant in the extreme. Private engagements, and a distaste for political life, produced b}- his discover_y of its hollowness and its dangers, cause4 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. His social qualities were of the highest order, and the attachment of his friends was" 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 sad, the outward form's decay, A soul of genius 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- J\. 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 worldlj'^ means, and at an early age Henry became a copyist in the office of the clerk of the Court of Chancery, at HENRY CLAY. 399 Richmond. There the estraordinary powers of his intellect began to develope, and at the age of nineteen years he commenced the study of law. Close appli- cation and a remarkably retentive memory overcame many difficulties, and he was admitted to practice at the age 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 iu 1799, and settled at Lexing- ton. ' He was admitted to the bar there, in the Autumn of that year, and com- menced the practice of law and politics 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 efforts to elect such delegates as would fivor the emancipation of the slaves. Thus early that subject assumed great import- ance in his mind ; and throughout his long life he earnestly desired the abolition of the slave system. His course offended many, and he was unpopular for a time ; but his noble opposition to the Alien and Sedition laws restored him to favor; and, in 1803, he was elected a member of the Kentucky legislature, by a large majorit}'. "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 scat in the Senate of the United States, for one year, made vacant by the resignation of General Adair. There he left an impression of that 400 IIEXEY 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 scat in the Kentucky legislature, and was chosen Speaker of the Assembly, by a largo majority. That station he held during two consecutive sessions. In 1809, ho was again sent to tlie Senate of the United States, for two years, to fill a vacancy, and tiiere he became distinguished by several brilliant speeches on important occasions. A crisis in the affairs 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, ho 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 reL4ectcd him to a scat 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 bis giant strength in behalf of a national system of internal improvements. A grateful jieople commemorated his services in that direction, by placing a monument on the margin of the great Cumberland road, inscribed with liis name. In 1819 and 1820, Mr. Clay entered upon the great work, in Congress, of estabhshing 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. Tlien he retired from Congress, to attend to his embarrassed private affairs. Three years of professional services retrieved his pecuniary losses ; and in 1823, he returned to Congress, andwaselected 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 Quiucy Adams to the presidency of the United States, Mr. Clay was appointed his Sec- retary of State, and held the ofQco until the accession of General Jackson to tho chief magistracy, in 1829. He remained in retirement g- short time ; and, in 1831, he was elected to tlie 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 ho was instrumental, by tho proposition of a compromise measure in Con- gress, in saving the country from civil war. He was reL-lected to the Senate, in 183G; and, in 13-42, ho took, as he supposed, a final leave of that body. He had earnestly labored for his favorite protective policy; and, in 1844, the Whig party nominated him for the office of President of the United States. He was defeated by Mr. Polk, and ho remained in retirement until 1849, when he was again elected to the Federal Senate. There he put forth his energies in securing tiiat series of measures known as the Compromise Act of 1850. His health was now greatly impaired ; and in the Winter of 1850 and 1851, he sought relief by a visit to Havana and New Orleans. The effort was of no avail. Notwith- standing his feeble health, ho 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. He died at Washington city, on the 20th of June, 1852, at the age of about seventy-five years. EGBERT BURNET. 401 ROBERT BURNET. ON a cold, frosty, bulf clear and brilliant morning in November, 1783, the rem- nant of the American Continental army, led by General Knox, and accom- panied by civil officers of the State, crossed King's bridge, at the upper end of Manhattan Island, and marched triumphantly 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, the principal officers of the army, yet remaining in the service, assembled at the 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 the 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 yonr latter days may be as prosperous and happy as j'our former ones have been glorious and honorable." After the 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 me by the hand." Knox stood by the side of the Great Leader, and as he turned, with eyes brimming with tears, to grasp his hand, Washington affectionately kissed him. This he did to all of his officers in turn, and then, without uttering a word, he left the room, passed through a flanking corps of infantry to a barge at Whitehall, and proceeded on his journey to An- napolis, to surrender his commission into tlie hands of Congress. Of all the officers who participated in that tender scene. Major Robert Burnet, of Little Britain, Orange county, was, for many years, the sole survivor. His fatlier was a Scotchman, and his mother was a native of Ireland. She was one of those who accompanied the first members of the Clinton family, wl:o settled in the vicinity of Newburgli. Major Burnet was born in Little Britain, on the 22d of February, 1762, and was engaged in agricultural pursuits untfl about 1779, when he entered the revolutionary army, in the artillery branch of the service, under Captain Ebenezer Stevens.' He was a lieutenant in Stevens' company, and commanded Redoubt No. 3, at West Point, at the time of Arnold's defection, in September, 1780. Ho 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 tho seditious tendency of the anonymous Address put forth by Major Armstrong, at Newburgh, in the Spring of 1783.3 He continued in the army, under 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 Avas the last to grasp the hand of Washington at that solemn parting at Fraunce's ; and then he returned to his rural pursuits in the town of his nativity. There he lived in the enjoyment of great domestic happi- ness, until called to his final home. He lived to see, what few men in modern times have beheld — the living representatives of seven generations of his kin- 1. See sketch of Ebenezer Stevens. 2. Wasliingrton, in a letter to Greene, dated " Newburgh, 6th February, 1782," refers to Major Bnmet as follows : " I intended to write you a long letter on sundry matters ; but Major Burnet came unex- pectedly, at a time when I was preparing for the celebration of the day, and was just Roing: to a review of the troops previous to the fen dejoie. Ashe is impatient, from an apprehension that the sleiphinp 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 him." The celebration spoken of was that of the anniversary of the signing of tha treaty of alliance between the United States and France, four years before. 3. See sketch of John Armstrong. 402 HARRISON 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 residence, in Little Britain, on the 1st of December, 1854, when almost mnety- three years of age. His funeral was attended by his seighbor, Uzal Knapp, who was almost three years his senior. Mr. Knapp, the last survivor ot Wash- ington's Life- Guard,'' died about a year afterward. HARRISON ORAY OTIS. OP 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 tlie United States. Harrison was born in 17G5, 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 the United States was acknowledged by Great Britain, he was graduated at Harvard Uni- versity, at tlie age of eighteen years. He had been a successful student, and ho then entered upon the study of law with a preparation possessed by few young men. Before lie 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, Pahie, 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 intelUgent 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 lh\ Jeflerson. For many years lie 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 tlie 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 thut body during the exciting scenes preceding the admission of Missouri into the Union as a'sovoreign State, won for him the highest applause of his constituents. After five years' service tliero he retired, and contemplated repose in private life ; but his fellow-citizens of tlie Federal fiiith, for which he had contended manfully ao-ainst the growing Democratic party, in his State, begged him to continue his le°adership. 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. Tliat vigor he retained until his death, which occurred in the city of Boston, on the 28th of October, 1843, at the age of about eighty-three years. 1. Portraits of Major Burnet and Jlr. Knapp are published in hossing's Pictorial Field- Book of Ihc devolution. DAVID KINNISON. 40c DAVID KINNISON. THE latest survivor of the notable band of patriots, in 1773, known as The Boston Tea Party,^ was David Kinnison, who lived to the remarkable ago of more than one hundred and fifteen years. The facts of this brief memoir were obtained from his own lips, by tho writer, in August, 1848, together with a daguerreotype likeness. He was then one hundred and eleven years of age. Ho was born in Old Kingston, Maine, on the 17th of November, 1736, and was employed in forming until the tempest of tho Revolution began to lower. Ho was a member of a secret club, who were pledged to destroy tho obnoxious article of Tea, wheresoever it might be found ; and when the East India Com- pany's ships had arrived at Boston, Kinnison and others hastened thither, wero among the "Mohawks"- in the gallery of the Old South Church, and assisted in casting the two cargoes of tea into the waters of Boston harbor, on the evening of thelGth of December, 1773. Kinnison remained in tho vicinity of the Now England capital, working on a farm, until the Spring of 1775, when, as a minute- man, he participated in tho events at Lexington and Concord. With his father and two brothers, ho fought in the battle of Bunker's Hill ; and after tho British were driven from Boston, he accompanied tho American army to New York. Prom that time until tho Autumn of 1781, he led the life of a Continental sol- dier, under the immediate command of Washington most of the tune. Then, while engaged as a scout in Saratoga, he was captured by some Mohawk Indians, and did not regain his liberty until peace came, after a captivity of more than eighteen months. At the close of the Revolution, Mr. Kinnison resumed tho labors of agricul- ture, at Danville, Vermont, where ho resided about eight years, and then re- moved to Wells, in Maine. There he lived until the commencement of tho war with Great Britain, in 1812, when he again went to tho field as a private soldier. He was under General Brown at Sackett's harbor; and in the battle at Williams- burg, on the St. Lawrence, he was badly wounded in tho hand by a grape-shot. That was the 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 rheumatism had dislocated one of his hip joints. As he forcibly expressed it, he had been "completely bunged up and stove in." Mr. Kinnison was an illiterate man, and possessed none of tho elements of greatness. He wa,s eminent because of the peculiar associations of his life, his long experience, and his remarkable longevity. He learned to write his name when in the revolutionary camp ; and he was sixty-two years of age when his granddaughter taught him to read. Ho had married and buried four wives, who had borne him twenty-two ciiildren. When he related this narrative, ho had lost all trace of his relatives, and supposed himself childless.^ His pension of eight dollars a month was insufficient for his wants, and until his one hundred and tenth year, he added sufficient for a livelihood, by tho labor of his hands. Then a benevolent stranger, in Chicago, gave him a home. He was little less than six feet in height, with powerful arms, shoulders, and chest ; and at the 1. See note .S, page 14S. 2. Mivtiy of those who cast the tea into Boston harbor were disguised as Mohawl; Indians. After it harangue in the Old South ChurcB, Boston, just at twilight, some of them gave a war-whoop in the gal- lery, and all started for Uriffin's wharf, where the ships lay. 3. About a year before his death, his daughter, living in Oswego, New York, saw the portrait and biographical sketch of her long-lost father, in Lansing's Pictorvil. Field Book of the Revolulion. She at once 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, he 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. " 'THIS poor widow hath cast in more than they all ; for they did cast in of J. their abundance, but she, of her penury, hath cast 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 sacriiice alone are considered ; tlie 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 iier mother was on her passage from Virginia to New York. For almost fifty years she was known in tliat 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 tauglit 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 her retentive memory treasured up avast amount of Scripture knowledge, which she dispensed as opportunity allowed. When she approached womanhood her mind became agitated respecting her soul and its destinj^, and she ventured to call on Dr. Mason for advice and consolation. She went with trembling, and was met by the kind pastor witlr an inquiry whether she had come to talk to him 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 Betlume 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 efforts 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. Mason' 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 lie procured assistants for her. Such was the origin of the Murray Street Sabbath-school ; and it is 1. This was the son anti pulpit successor of Dr. Mason, the elder, under whom Katy became converted. That excellent pastor died soon after the interview named in the text, at the age of fifty-seven years. CATHERINE FERGUSON. 405 believed that Katy Ferguson's was the iirst school of the kind established iu the city of New Yorlc.' katy's benevolent labors did not end with 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 i^rayer-meeting there. Such was her habit for forty years, wherever in the great city she dwelt. Her good influence was always palpable ; and tract distributors uniformly testifled that wherever Katy resided, the neighborhood improved. Nor 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 than herself; and during her' life, she took forty-eight children (twenty of them white) from the almshouse or from dissolute parents, and hronghf them up or kept them until she could find good homes for them ! "Who shall estimate the social blessings which have flowed from those labors of love by a poor, unedu- cated colored woman I Do not those 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 dut}'- ? The example of such a life ought not to be lost; and I have endeavored thus to perpetuate the memory of Katy Ferguson and her deeds for the benefit of posterity.^ She was a philanthropist of truest stamp. Her earthly labors have ceased. She died of cholera, in New 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 Rev. Dr. Fevris, now [18551 chancellor of tlie New York University, informed the writer that his first extemporary expositions of the Scriptures, while he was yet a theological student, were made in Katy's Sunday-school, in the Murray Street Church. 2. The accompanying 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 BANNEKER. 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. This 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 motlier, married an African, who assumed her surname. Benjamin was their only son, and he was born on the 9th of November, 17:^1. His grandmotlier taught him to read, and instructed him in religious tilings. 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 Banueker 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 que.stions in return, expressed in verse. On the suggestion of George Ellicott, who appreciated his genius, Banneker made astronomical calculations for almanacs; and, in tho 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 liis little farm for a competent annuity, and lived alone. Wrapped in his cloak, he lay many a night upon his back oa the bare earth, in contem- plation of the heavenly bodies. In 1790 he was emploj^ed, by commissioners, to assist them in surveying the lines of the District of Columbia, then called the Federal Territory. This was the only time that he was ever f;\r from his little dwelling ; and, on his return, speaking of the good treatment he had re- ceived, ho said, " I feared to trust myself, even with wine, lest it should steal away the little sense I have." Banneker's first almanac was published in 1T92. He sent a copy of it, in his own hand-writing, to Tliomas Jefterson, 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. Ho kept a common-place book, in which he recorded the events of his daily life. That book is preserved, and in it is the memorandum, " Sold on the 2d of April, 1795, to Butler, Edward.s, and Kiddy, the right 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 beheved, that he died. It was a brilliant JOHN W. FRANCIS, JE. 407 day when having been upon the neighboring hills, for fresh air, he 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 talt, Both being so gioggy that neither could walk ; Says Cooper to Vintner, ' I'm the first of my trade, There 's no kind of vessel but what I have made, And of anyshape, sir,— just what you will, And of any size, sir,— from a tun to a gill !' ' Then,' said the Vintnei^ ' you 're the mau for me— Make me a vessel if we can agree. The top and the bottom's diameter define, To bear ihat proportion as fifteen to nine ; Thirty-five inches are 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 !' So the next day the Cooper, his work to discharge, Soon made the new vessel, but made it too large ; He took out some staves, which made it too small, And then cnrsed the vessel, Ihe Vintner and all. He beat on his b-.east— 'By the Powers!' 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, wo 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, "Ere fame ordained or genius had achieved," we often behold greatness, and goodness, and all else that ennobles man, bene- fits the world, and bono s the Creator, as clearly manifested as 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 tlie benefits of great achievements. John W. Francis, jr, was the eldest son of Dr.- John W. Franci.s, the well- known, well-beloved, and eminent physician and scholar. He was born in the city of New York, on the 5th of July, 1832. From the dawn of life he lived in the midst of intellectual influences of the highest and purest kind. His fltther's house was the welcome resort of men distinguished in science, art, and literar - ture; and in the domestic circle his heart and mind were th-^ daily and hourly recipients of tlie noblest culture. His wise fitiier wntched his physical de- velopment witli great care, and he grew to manhood with robust health. With such preparations he entered upon the tasks and pleasures of the school-ropm. He sought knowledge with a miser's greed, but not witli a miser's sordid aim ; for, like his father, he delighted as much in distyibuting as in gathering. Hab- ituated from infancy to the society of the mature, ho was always manly beyond his years. His love of reading, and his free personal intercourse with the dis- 408 JOHN' W. FRANCIS, JR. tiuguished 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 he completed it with a thoroughness of discipline and culture, possessed by few. He was the fivorite of his class- mates, as well as his tutors, and to all he was kuown 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 trait in 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 Buch a father deserves to be loved, and earnestly desired to relieve that good man's professional toil. Ho made thorough preparations for the duties he was about to assume, by attendance upon medical lectures, and extensive practical study in the Hospital. There he assumed duties of great responsibility. Ho 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 wag 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 the most dis- tinguished citizens of New 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 public 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 ! The love-light of fond eyes ! When such a man departs, 'Tis 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 ROM:feiYN 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 (he case ol 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 bo far off as not to be recognized by less devoted eyes, he took offhis hat to welcome ' Master Francis," as he called him even when grown to young mauhood. 2. Rev. Dr. Campbell of Albany. 410 THEODOKIC ROMEYN BECK. much he accomplished ; yet he never appeared, in any thing he did, to be 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 other sons in charge. After attending the Common Schools of his native town, lie entered Union College, in Schenectadj^, as a student, in 1803. Ho was graduated at the age of si:s;teen 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 ooca- eion of receiving his degree, as Doctor of Medicine, in 1811, the subject of his inaugural thesis was " Insanity," a topic which, in after life, occupied much of his attention. He commenced the practice of medicine and surgerj', 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 which was Chancelor Livingston. At the second meeting after his election he was made chairman of a committee appointed for " the purpose of collecting and arranging such minerals as our State afifords ;•" and less than two months after his admission, when in the twenty-first year of his age, he was appointed to deliver the annual 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 Hfe 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. He 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 effect 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 tho Elements of Medical Juris2]rudence. 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, iu 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- Btances, that the Empire State, which was so long rendered famous 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 %n 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. Anniyersary Discourse before the New York Academy of Medicine, 1S17. ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 411 tion of Secretary of the Board of Regents of the State of New York. In Feb- ruary, 1855, Dr. Beck became seriously ill, and from that time he gradually wasted awav, until the 19th of November following, when the spirit of this 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. Beck will be regarded as one of the noblest, wisest, and best of the sons of the State of New York. ABBOTT LAWRENCE. THE wise man in Holy Writ said, " Seestthou a man diligent in his business? i 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. Pie 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 Coeur de Lion, toward the close of the twelfth century ; and he was lineally descended from Sir Robert Lawrence of that period, whose family, in subsequent years, intermarried with the noble family of Washington. Abbott Lawrence was born at Groton, Massachusetts, on the I6th of December, 1192, and received hft 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 composed his whole fortune. After five years of faithful 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- rupt. 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 purchase goods, and forward them to Boston. Through his skill, industry, and prudence, he greatly 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 manufactures, and with uncommon foresight, Amos and Abbott Lawrence ceased importing British goods, and employed their energies and capital in the establishment of home manufactures. They associated them- selves witli the Lowells and others ; and the most ennoblinn- monuinents 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. Dr. l?eok was an honorary member of no less than twenty-one learner! societies, st home and abroad, and was a member of many others. He was also presented with the honorary degi ee of I/L.D. by two colleges. 412 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. he wag a delegate in a convention held at Harrisburg, in Pennsylvania, whoge memorial to Congress resulted in the tariff act of 1828, that so aroused the violent opposition of the cotton-producing States. In 183-4 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 wilhngness 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 feeling 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 Iiis 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 crean 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 England. At the funeral of Daniel Webster he met several of his Boston friends, for the first time, after his return, and this solemn occasion prevented his aceeiDtance of a public dinner, tendered to him. This truly great and good man (for he was a Christian philanthropist) • died on the ISth 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 business ; the bells of the cimrches 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 a. PERCIVAL. "The world is full of Poetry— the air Is living with its spirit ; and the waves Dance to the music of its melodies, And sparkle in its brightness— earth is veiled, And mantled with 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 speak 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 raelancholj% 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 the 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 in brief time, entered Yale College, at the age of sixteen j^ears, and was at the 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 Charleston, 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 thou- sand dollars for the establishment of a scientific school in connection with Harvard 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 the establish- ment of model houses for the poor in Boston. For charitable purposes he left, in all, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, of which the Public Library of Boston 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 ! He was blessed with wealth, and he gladly shared vith the needy. 414 JOHN C. SPENCEK, 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. lu 1827, he pub- lished the third part of Glio, in New York ; and about that time he was en- gaged in assisting Dr. Webster in the preparation of tlie first quarto edition of his great Dictionnry. He then translated and edited Malte Brun's Geography, the publication of which was completed in three quarto volumes, in 1 843. Pond 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 deatli, 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 alW 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, (Ijt Svoerd bier en Lire : Himmclen gav liendes Toner, Hiertet ok Sielen at atyre, Fuld som af Kummereus 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. THE Revised Statutes of tlie State of New York bear evidence of the learning. i talent, acumen, and industry of John C. Spencer, one of the most honored sons of the State of New York. He Avas the son of Chief Justice Ambrose Spencer, and was born at Hudson, New York, on the 8th of January. 1788. He was educated chiefly at Union College, Schenectadj-, and was admitted to the bar, as a practising lawyer, in 1809, at Canandaigua, where ho resided until 1845. At tlie age of nineteen years he became connected with public afiairs, 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. ROBEET L. STEVENS. 415 year he was appointed Assistant Attorney General for the western part of New York. He was elected to Congress in 1816, and as chairman of a com- mittee of that body, he drew up a report concerning the affairs 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. He 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-ofiicio. 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 he was appointed one of the Regents of the University ; and the same year President Tyler called him to his cabinet as Secretary of War. He was made Secretary of the Treasury in 1843, but resigned that office the following year, chiefly because of his opposition to the admission of Texas. Eminent as was ilr. Spencer in every 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 perfect was the confidence in his ability, that he was selected so revise the whole body of the 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 year 1845, on the 18th of May, 1855, at the age of sixty-seven years. ROBERT L. STEVENS. 'I'^HE history of successful steam navigation forms a wonderful chapter in the X 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 tlie name of Stevens, fiither and son, of Hoboken, New Jersey The father was John Stevens, a man of inventive genius, and owner of the territory now known as Hoboken, opposite New York city. He was engaged with John Fitch" in some of his experiments in steam navigation; and thus, in earliest life, his son, Robert L. (who 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 exhibition of his steam- boat, he and his father had succeeded in propelling a small paddle-wheel vessel, by steam, upon a broad ditch near Hoboken. This little craft tliey named the Mary Ann. They also built a screw-propeller at Hoboken, similar in form and principle to that of Captain Ericsson'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 the productions of his genius. He was the first to discover a method for saving the power lost in the working of machinery by steam. The remedy which he first applied was the contrivance known as the Eccentric Wheel. Subsequently 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 improvements upon his valuable hints. He was the A'iC) ROBEET 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 the 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 plates 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 little 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 tlian 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 ball 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 hundred 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, midwa}"^ between the Battery and the Narrows. The work upon it is carried on in secret, within an inclosure. Already a million of dollars have been spent upon it, and at the last session of Congress [1856] an appropriation of a quarter of a million more was asked. Mr. Stevens was actively engaged in business until a month before his death, which occurred at his residence, at River Terrace, Hoboken, on Sun- day morning, the 20th of April, 1856, when he was about sixty-eight years of age. THE END. # •^7214 m^ nmmmmm^^S^mm^. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 0068357214 rW a^Sl ^"-B o I il ^i