Encyclopedia of Civil War Biography - She-Smi
SHEDD, James A., Iowa, abolitionist, American Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1854-1857.
SHEPARD, Charles O., New York, abolitionist leader (Sorin, 1971)
SHEPPARD, Moses, 1771-1857, Baltimore, Maryland, businessman, philanthropist. American Friends (Quaker). Member of the Protective Society of Maryland to protect free African Americans. The American Anti-Slavery Society. Society of Friends Indian Affairs Committee. Lobbied Maryland General Assembly to block legislation to keep free Blacks out of the state. Sheppard was a Manager of the American Colonization Society (ACS), 1833-1834. (Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 496-497; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961.
SHERATT, W. R., New York, American Abolition Society (Radical Abolitionist, Vol. 1, No. 1, New York, August 1855).
SHERMAN, Henry, New York, abolitionist leader (Sorin, 1971)
SHERMAN, Jarvis, New York, abolitionist leader (Sorin, 1971)
SHEA, George, lawyer, born in Cork. Ireland, 10 June, 1826. emigrated to the United States in early life and settled in New York, where he studied law. After being called to the bar, he attained distinction in his profession, and was appointed corporation attorney of New York from 1865 to 1867. He became chief justice of the Marine Court of New York in 1870, and held the position up to 1882. He was associate counsel with Charles O'Conor in defending Jefferson Davis, and was counsel for the Kings County Elevated Railroad in Brooklyn, establishing its charter by a decision of the court of appeals, reversing the special and general terms in Brooklyn. He wrote "Hamilton, a Historical Study" (New York, 1877). An enlarged edition was issued under the title "The Life and Epoch of Alexander Hamilton, a Historical Study " (Boston, 1880). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 488.
SHEAFER, Peter Wenrick, mining engineer, born in Halifax, Pennsylvania, 31 March, 1819. He completed his education in the academy at Oxford, New York, in 1837, and was associated with Henry D. Rogers in the first geological survey of Pennsylvania in 1838. In this connection he was specially engaged in tracing the geological features of the range of mountains that extends from near Pottsville to beyond Shamokin and Tamaqua. In 1848 he settled in Pottsville and devoted his attention to mining engineering, and he has been specially active in the development of the coal and iron interests of that district. The management of the coal-mines of the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company, and of those that were bequeathed by Stephen Girard to Philadelphia, were for a long time confided to him. He has been consulted frequently in complicated questions of mining law, and has testified in court as an expert in these subjects. In 1849 he secured the passage of a bill for completing the first state survey, and in 1873 he was influential in securing the appointment of J. P. Lesley (q. v.) to undertake the charge of the second survey of Pennsylvania. Mr. Sheafer is a member of various societies, including the American Institute of Mining Engineers, to whose transactions he has contributed professional papers. He issued in 1875, under the auspices of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, a map of Pennsylvania as it was in 1775. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 489.
SHELDON, George William, author, born in Summerville, South Carolina, 28 January, 1843. He was graduated at Princeton in 1863, and served during 1864 at City Point, Virginia, in charge of the sick and wounded of General Grant's army. In 1865 he was appointed tutor in Latin and belles-lettres in Princeton, and in 1869 he became instructor in the oriental languages at Union Theological Seminary, New York, where he remained until 1873, after which he studied for two years in the British Museum. Mr. Sheldon then devoted himself to journalistic work and was art critic of the New York "Evening Post" in 1876-'82. and dramatic critic and city editor of the New York " Commercial Advertiser in 18846. He has published "American Painters" (New York, 1879); "The Story of the Volunteer Fire Department of the City of New York" (1882); "Hours with Art and Artists " (1882); "Artistic Homes" (1882); "Artistic Country Seats" (1886); "Selections in Modern Art" (1886); and "Recent Ideals of American Art" (1888). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 493.
SHELDON, Lionel Allen, soldier, born in Otsego County, New York, 30 August, 1829. He was brought up on a farm in Ohio, educated at Oberlin, taught for several years, and after attending the law-school in Poughkeepsie, New York, was admitted to the bar in 1851, and settled in Elyria, Ohio. He served one term as judge of probate, supported John C. Fremont for the presidential nomination in the Philadelphia Republican Convention in 1856, was commissioned brigadier-general of militia in 1860, and actively engaged in raising recruits for the National Army at the beginning of the Civil War. He became captain of cavalry in August, 1861, was chosen major soon afterward in the 2d Ohio Cavalry, transferred as lieutenant-colonel to the 42d Ohio Infantry, became colonel in 1862. and commanded the latter regiment in West Virginia, Kentucky, and eastern Tennessee. In November of that year, when his regiment was placed under General William T. Sherman at Memphis, he commanded a brigade which participated in the battles of Chickasaw Bayou and Arkansas Post. He led a brigade in the 13th Army Corps in 1863, was wounded at the battle of Fort Gibson, and participated in the capture of Vicksburg and in subsequent skirmishes. In March, 1855, he was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers. After the war he settled in New Orleans, Louisiana, practised his profession, and in 1869-'75 was in Congress, having been elected as a Republican. During this service he was chairman of the committee on militia. He was appointed governor of New Mexico in 1881, served till 1885, and was receiver of the Texas and Pacific Railway in 1885-'7. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 493.
SHELLABARGER, Samuel, Congressman, born in Clark County, Ohio, 10 December, 1817. He was graduated at Miami in 1842, studied law under General Samson Mason, was admitted to the bar in 1847, was a member of the first legislature in Ohio that met under the present constitution, and in 1860 was elected to Congress as a Republican. He took his seat in the special session that met in accordance with President Lincoln's call, on 4 July, 1861, and served in 1861-3, in 1865-'9, and in i870-'3. He was chairman of the Committees on Commerce, that on charges by Prey against Roscoe Conkling, and that on the Provost-Marshal's Bureau, and was on the Special Committees on the Assassination of President Lincoln, Civil Service, and the New Orleans riots. He was U. S. minister to Portugal in 1869-70, and in 1874-'5 was one of the civil service commission. He then resumed the practice of his profession in Washington, D. C. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 483
SHEPARD, Elliott Fitch, lawyer, born in Jamestown, Chautauqua County, New York, 25 July, 1833. He was educated at the University of the city of New York, admitted to the bar in 1858, and for many years in practice in New York. In 1861 and 1862 he was aide-de-camp on the staff of Governor Edwin D. Morgan, was in command of the depot of volunteers at Elmira, New York, and aided in organizing, equipping, and forwarding to the field nearly 50,000 troops, he was instrumental in raising the 51st New York Regiment, which was named for him the Shepard Rifles. He was the founder of the New York State Bar Association in 1876, which has formed the model for the organization of similar associations in other states. In March, 1888, he purchased the New York " Mail and Express." Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 494.
SHEPARD, Irving, educator, born in Marcellus, Onondaga County, New York, 5 July, 1843. He received his primary education in the public schools in Michigan, entered the National Army in 1862, and served nearly three years in the 17th Michigan Volunteers. He commanded the party that burned the Armstrong House in the enemy's lines, in front of Knoxville, Tennessee, in November, 1863, was promoted captain for bravery in that action, and wounded in the battle of the Wilderness in May, 1864. He was graduated at Olivet College in 1871, was superintendent of city schools and principal of the high school, Charles City, Iowa, in 1871-'5, occupied a similar office at Winona, Michigan, from the latter date till 1879, and has since been president of the Michigan Normal School. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 494.
SHEPARD, Isaac Fitzgerald, soldier, born in Natick, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, 7 July, 1816. He was graduated at Harvard in 1842, was principal of a Boston grammar-school in 1844-'57, and served in the legislature in 1859-60. He became lieutenant-colonel and senior aide-de-camp to General Nathaniel G. Lyons in 1861, colonel of the 3d Missouri Infantry in 1862, and in 1863 colonel of the 1st Regiment of Mississippi Colored Troops, commanding all the colored troops in the Mississippi Valley. On 27 October, 1863, he was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, he was adjutant-general of Missouri in 1870-'l, and U. S. consul at Swatow and Hankow, China, in 1874-'86. He was chairman of the Missouri State Republican Committee in 1870-'l, and department commander of the Grand Army of the Republic at the same time. He edited the Boston " Daily Bee" in 1846-'8, the "Missouri Democrat" in 1868-'9, the "Missouri State Atlas" in 1871-2. and has published "Pebbles from Castalia," poems (Boston, 1840); "Poetry of Feeling" (1844); "Scenes and Songs of Social Life" (1846); "Household Tales" (1861); and several single poems and orations. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 494-495.
SHEPHERD, Nathaniel Graham, author, born in New York City in 1835; died there, 23 May, 1869. He studied art in New York, taught drawing in Georgia for several years, returned to his native city, and engaged in the insurance business, devoting his leisure to study and to writing poems. At the beginning of the Civil War he became a war correspondent for the New York "Tribune." He contributed largely to periodicals and journals, and was the author of "The Dead Drummer-Boy." "The Roll-Call," " A Summer Reminiscence," and other poems, which were widely circulated. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 495.
SHEPHERD, Oliver Lathrop, soldier, born in Clifton Park, Saratoga County, New York, 15 August, 1815. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1840, and assigned brevet 2d lieutenant, 4th U.S. Infantry, was promoted 2d lieutenant, 3d U.S. Infantry, on 2 October, 1840, served in the Seminole War, and became 1st lieutenant in the 3d U.S. Infantry, 3 November, 1845. In 1846 he was selected by General Zachary Taylor as commissary of the supply train in its march from Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande, and served in the war with Mexico, receiving the brevet of captain for gallant and meritorious conduct at Contreras and Churubusco, and that of major for Chapultepec. He was appointed captain on 1 December, 1847, served on the frontier, and commanded Fort Defiance, New Mexico, which he defended with three companies against a night attack of the Navajo Indians, with about 2,500 braves, on 30 April, 1860, and was afterward stationed at Fort Hamilton, New York. He then commanded a battalion of the 3d U.S. Infantry in the defences of Washington, became lieutenant-colonel of the 18th U.S. Infantry. 14 May, 1861, served in the Tennessee and Mississippi Campaign in the Army of the Ohio, and was engaged in the pursuit of the Confederates to Baldwin, Mississippi, 30-31 May, 1862, receiving the brevet of colonel for service during the siege of Corinth, 17 May, 1862. He participated in General Don Carlos Buell's movement through Alabama and Tennessee to Louisville. Kentucky, in July and September, and also in General William S. Rosecrans's Tennessee Campaign, serving with the Army of the Cumberland from November, 1862, till April, 1863, and commanding a brigade of regular troops from 31 December, 1862, till 3 January, 1863. He became colonel of the 15th Infantry on 21 January, 1863, and was brevetted brigadier general on 13 March, 1865. for service at Stone River. He became colonel of the 15th Infantry on 21 January, 1863, and from 7 May, 1863, till 13 February, 1866, he was superintendent of the regimental recruiting service at Fort Adams, Rhode Island, and he afterward commanded the 15th Regiment in Alabama during the reconstruction of that state in 1868, in which he performed an important part, and was also a commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau for Alabama. Consolidating the 15th and 35th Infantries, he marched with them to New Mexico in 1869. He was retired from the army on 15 December, 1870. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 495.
SHEPLEY, George Forster, soldier, born in Saco, Maine, 1 January, 1819; died in Portland, Maine, 20 July, 1878, was graduated at Dartmouth in 1837, and, after studying law at Harvard, began practice in Bangor, Maine, in 1840, but in 1844 moved to Portland. From 1853 till 1861 he was U. S. District Attorney for Maine, during which period he argued important cases in the U. S. Supreme Court. In 1860 he was a delegate at large to the National Democratic Convention in Charleston, and attended its adjourned session in Baltimore. He was commissioned colonel of the 12th Maine Volunteers at the beginning of the Civil War, and participated in General Benjamin F. Butler's expedition against New Orleans, commanding as acting brigadier-general a brigade at Ship Island, and at the capture of New Orleans he led the 3d Brigade, Army of the Gulf. On the occupation of that city he was appointed military commandant and acting mayor, and assigned to the command of its defences, resigning in June, 1862, when he was appointed military governor of Louisiana, serving until 1864. On 18 July, 1862, he was made brigadier-general of volunteers. After the inauguration of a civil governor of Louisiana, General Shepley was placed in command of the Military District of Eastern Virginia, became chief of staff to General Godfrey Weitzel, and for a short time during the absence of that officer commanded the 25th Army Corps. He continued with the Army of the James to the end of the war, entered Richmond on 3 April, 1865, and was appointed the first military governor of that city. Resigning his commission on 1 July, 1865, he declined the appointment of associate judge of the Supreme Court of Maine, but in 1869 accepted that of U. S. Circuit Judge for the First Circuit of Maine, which office he held until his death. Dartmouth gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1878. His decisions are reported in Jabez S. Holmes's " Reports" (Boston. 1877). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 496.
SHERIDAN, Philip Henry, soldier, born in Albany, New York, 6 March. 1831; died in Nonquitt, Massachusetts, 5 August, 1888. After attending the public school he was entered as a cadet in the United States Military Academy, 1 July, 1848. On account of a quarrel with a cadet file-closer in 1850, whose conduct toward him he deemed insulting, he was suspended from the academy for a year, but returned, and was graduated, 1 July, 1853, standing thirty-fourth in a class of fifty-two, of which James B. McPherson was at the head. General John M. Schofield and the Confederate General John B. Hood were also his classmates. On the day of his graduation he was appointed a brevet 2d lieutenant in the 3d U.S. Infantry. After service in Kentucky, Texas, and Oregon, he was made 2d lieutenant in the 4th U.S. Infantry, 22 November, 1854, 1st lieutenant, 1 March, 1801, and captain in the 13th U.S. Infantry, 14 May, 1861. In December of that year he was chief quartermaster and commissary of the army in southwestern Missouri. In the Mississippi Campaign from April to September, 1862, he was quartermaster at General Halleck's headquarters during the advance upon Corinth. It then became manifest that his true place was in the field. On 20 May, 1862, he was appointed colonel of the 2d Michigan Cavalry, and on 1 July was sent to make a raid on Booneville, Mississippi. He did excellent service in the pursuit of the enemy from Corinth to Baldwin, and in many skirmishes during July, and at the battle of Booneville.
In reward for his skill and courage he was appointed, 1 July, a brigadier-general of volunteers, and on 1 October was placed in command of the 11th Division of the Army of the Ohio, in which capacity he took part in the successful battle of Perryville, on 8 October, between the armies of General Buell and General Bragg, at the close of which the latter retreated from £ In this action Sheridan was particularly distinguished. After the enemy had driven back McCook's corps and were pressing upon the exposed left flank of Gilbert, Sheridan, with General Robert B. Mitchell, arrested the tide, and, driving them back through Perryville, re-established the broken line. His force marched with the army to the relief of Nashville in October and November. He was then placed in command of a division in the Army of the Cumberland, and took art in the two days' battle of Stone River (or Murfreesboro), 31 December, 1862, and 3 January, 1863. Buell had been relieved from the command of the army on 30 October, and Rosecrans promoted in his lace. The Confederate army was still under Bragg. The left of Rosecrans was strong, and his right comparatively weak. So the right was simply to hold its ground while the left should cross the river. The project of Bragg, well-conceived, was to crush the National right, and he almost succeeded. Division after division was driven back until Cheatham attacked him in front, while Cleburne essayed to turn his flank, and Sheridan was reached; the fate of the day seemed to be in his hands. He resisted vigorously, then advanced and drove the enemy back, changing front to the south (a daring manoeuvre in battle), held the overwhelming force in check, and retired only at the point of the bayonet. This brilliant feat of arms enabled Rosecrans to form a new line in harmony with his overpowered right. Sheridan said laconically to Rosecrans, when they met on the field, pointing to the wreck of his division, which had lost 1,630 men: “Here are all that are left.” After two days of indecision and desultory attempts, Bragg abandoned Murfreesboro and fell back to Tullahoma, while Rosecrans waited for a rest at that place.
Sheridan's military ability had been at once recognized and acknowledged by all, and he was ap£ a major-general of volunteers, to date from 31 December, 1862. He was engaged in the pursuit of Van Dorn to Columbia and Franklin during March, and captured a train and many prisoners at Eaglesville. He was with the advance on Tullahoma from 24 June to 4 July, 1863, taking part in the capture of Winchester, Tennessee, on 27 June. He was with the army in the crossing of the Cumberland mountains and of the Tennessee River from 15 August to 4 September, and in the severe battle of the Chickamauga, on 19 and 20 September The National right, under McCook, was driven off the field, and in #eat danger of being cut off, but General George H. Thomas held the centre with an iron grip, and General Thomas L. Crittenden commanded the left. Bragg maneuvered to turn the left and cut Rosecrans off from Chattanooga. During the battle there was a misconception of orders, which left a gap in the centre of the line which the enemy at once entered. The right being thus thrown out of the fight, the centre was greatly imperilled. For some time the battle seemed irrecoverably lost, but Thomas, since called “the Rock of Chickamauga,” held firm; Sheridan alone rallied many soldiers of the retreating centre, and joined Thomas; and, in spite of the fierce and repeated attacks of the enemy, the entire force fell slowly back in good order within the defences of Chattanooga, whither Crittenden and Rosecrans had gone. Rosecrans was superseded by Thomas, to whom was presented a problem apparently incapable of solution. He was ordered to hold the place to the point of starvation, and he said he would. The enemy had possession of the approaches by land and water, men and animals were starving, and forage and provisions had to be hauled seventy-five miles.
General Grant was then invested with the command of all the southern armies contained in the new Military Division of the Mississippi, embracing the departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee. He reached Chattanooga on 23 October, and the condition of affairs was suddenly changed. He ordered the troops relieved by the capture of Vicksburg to join him, and Sherman came with his corps. Sheridan was engaged in all the operations around Chattanooga, under the immediate command and personal observations of General Grant, and '' an important part in the battle of Mission Ridge. From the centre of the National line he led the troops of his division from Orchard Knob, and, after carrying the intrenchments and rifle-pits at the foot of the mountain, instead of using his discretion to pause there, he moved his division forward to the top of the ridge and drove the enemy across the summit and down the opposite slope. In this action he first attracted the marked attention of General Grant, who saw that he might be one of his most useful lieutenants in the future—a man with whom to try its difficult and delicate problems. A horse was shot under him in this action, but he pushed on in the pursuit to Mission Mills, with other portions of the corps of Thomas harassing the rear of the enemy, for Bragg, having abandoned all his positions on Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga Valley, and Missionary Ridge, was in rapid retreat toward Dalton.
After further operations connected with the occupancy of east Tennessee, Sheridan was transferred by Grant to Virginia, where, on 4 April, 1864, he was placed in command of the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac, all the cavalry being consolidated to form that command. Here he seemed in his element; to the instincts and talents of a general he joined the fearless dash of a dragoon. Entering with Grant upon the overland Campaign, he took part in the bloody battle of the Wilderness, 5 and 6 May, 1864. Constantly in the van, or on the wings, he was engaged in raids, threatening the Confederate flanks and rear. His fight at Todd's Tavern, 7 May, was an important aid to the movement of the army; his capture of Spottsylvania Court-House, 8 May, added to his reputation for timely dash and daring; but more astonishing was his great raid from the 9th to the 24th of May. He cut the Virginia Central and the Richmond and Fredericksburg Railroads, and made his appearance in good condition near Chatfield station on 25 May. In this raid, having under him kindred spirits in Merritt, Custer, Wilson, and Gregg, he first made a descent upon Beaver Dam on 10 #. where he destroyed a locomotive and a train, and recaptured about 400 men who had been made prisoners. At Yellow Tavern, on 11 May, he encountered the Confederate cavalry under J. E. B. Stuart, who was killed in the engagement. He next moved upon the outer defences of Richmond, rebuilt Meadow's bridge, went to Bottom's bridge, and reached Haxall's on 14 May. He returned by Hanovertown and Totopotomoy creek, having done much damage, created fears and misgivings, and won great renown with little loss. He led the advance to Cold Harbor, crossing the Pamunky at Hanovertown on 27 May, fought the cavalry battle of Hawes's Shop on the 28th, and held Cold Harbor until General William P. Smith came up with the 6th Corps to occupy the place. The bloody battle of Cold Harbor was fought on 31 May and 3 June. Setting out on 7 June, Sheridan made a raid toward Charlottesville, where he expected to meet the National force under General Hunter. This movement, it was thought, would force Lee to detach his cavalry. Unexpectedly, however. Hunter made a detour to Lynchburg, and Sheridan, unable to join him, returned to Jordan's point, on James River. Thence, after again cutting the Virginia Central and Richmond and Fredericksburg Railroads and capturing 500 prisoners, he rejoined for a brief space the Army of the Potomac. In quick succession came the cavalry actions of Trevillian station, fought between Wade Hampton and Torbert. 11 and 12 June, and Tunstall station, 21 June, in which the movements were feints to cover the railroad-crossings of the Chickahominy and the James. There was also a cavalry affair of a similar nature at St. Mary's Church on 24 June. Pressed by Grant, Lee fell back on 28 July, 1864. The vigor, judgment, and dash of Sheridan had now marked him in the eyes of Grant as fit for a far more important station. Early in August, 1864, he was placed in command of the Army of the Shenandoah, formed in part from the army of Hunter, who retired from the command, and from that time till the end of the war Sheridan seems never to have encountered a military problem too difficult for his solution. His new army consisted at first of the 6th Corps, two divisions of the 8th, and two cavalry divisions, commanded by Generals Torbert and Wilson, which he took with him from the Army of the Potomac. Pour days later, 7 August, the scope of his command was constituted the Middle Military Division. He had an arduous and difficult task before him to clear the enemy out of the valley of Virginia, break up his magazines, and relieve Washington from chronic terror. Sheridan grasped the situation at once. He posted his forces in front of Berryville, while the enemy under Early occupied the west bank of Opequan Creek and covered Winchester. In his division, besides the 6th Corps under Wright and the 8th under Crook, Sheridan had received the addition of the 19th, commanded by Emory. Torbert was placed in command of all the cavalry. Having great confidence in Sheridan, Grant yet acted with a proper caution before giving him the final order to advance. He went from City Point to Harper's Ferry to meet Sheridan, and told him he must not move till Lee had withdrawn a portion of the Confederate force in the valley. As soon as that was done he gave Sheridan the laconic direction, “ Go in." He says in his report: " He was off promptly on time, and I may add that I have never since deemed it necessary to visit General Sheridan before giving him orders." On the morning of 19 September, Sheridan attacked Early at the crossing of the Opequan, fought him all day, drove him through Winchester, and sent him "whirling up the valley," having captured 5,000 prisoners and five guns. The enemy did not stop to reorganize until he had reached Fisher's hill, thirty miles south of Winchester. Here Sheridan again came up and dislodged him, driving him through Harrisonburg and Staunton, and in scattered portions through the passes of the Blue Ridge. For these successes he was made a brigadier-general in the regular army on 10 September Returning leisurely to Strasburg, he posted his army for a brief repose behind Cedar creek, while Torbert was despatched on a raid to Staunton, with orders to devastate the country, so that, should the enemy return, he could find no subsistence, and this was effectually done. To clear the way for an advance, the enemy now sent "a new cavalry general," Thomas L. Rosser, down the valley; but he was soon driven back in confusion. Early's army, being re-enforced by a part of Longstreet's command, again moved forward with celerity and secrecy, and, fording the north fork of the Shenandoah, on 18 October approached rapidly and unobserved, under favor of fog and darkness, to within 600 yards of Sheridan's left flank, which was formed by Crook's corps. When, on the early morning of the 19th, they leaped upon the surprised National force, there was an immediate retreat and the appearance of an appalling disaster. The 8th Corps was rolled up, the exposed centre in turn gave way, and soon the whole army was in retreat. Sheridan had been absent in Washington, and at this juncture had just returned to Winchester, twenty miles from the field. Hearing the sound of the battle, he rode rapidly, and arrived on the field at ten o'clock. As he rode up he shouted to the retreating troops: "Face the other way, boys; we are going back!" Many of the Confederates had left their ranks for plunder, and the attack was made upon their disorganized battalions, and was successful. A portion of their army, ignorant of the swiftly coming danger, was intact, and had determined to give a finishing blow to the disorganized National force. This was caught and hurled back by an attack in two columns with cavalry supports. The enemy's left was soon routed; the rest followed, never to return, and the valley was thus finally rendered impossible of occupancy by Confederate troops. They did not stop till they had reached Staunton, and pursuit was made as far as Mount Jackson. They had lost in the campaign 16,952 killed or wounded and 13,000 prisoners. Under orders from Grant, Sheridan devastated the valley. He has been censured for this, as if it were wanton destruction and cruelty. He destroyed the barns and the crops, mills, factories, farming-utensils, etc., and drove oft5 all the cattle, sheep, and horses. But, as in similar cases in European history, although there must have been much suffering and some uncalled-for rigor, this was necessary to destroy the resources of the enemy in the valley, by means of which they could continually menace Washington and Pennsylvania. The illustration is a representation of "Sheridan's Ride," a statuette, by James E. Kelly. The steel portrait is taken from a photograph made in 1884. The terms of the president's order making Sheridan a major-general in the army were: "For personal gallantry, military skill, and just confidence in the courage and patriotism of his troops, displayed by Philip H. Sheridan on the 19th of October at Cedar Run, where, under the blessing of Providence, his routed army was reorganized, a great national disaster averted, and a brilliant victory achieved over the rebels for the third time in pitched battle within thirty days, Philip H. Sheridan is appointed major-general in the United States Army, to rank as such from the 8th day of November, 1864." The immediate tribute of Grant was also very strong. In an order that each of the armies under his command should fire a salute of one hundred guns in honor of these victories, he says of the last battle that "it stamps Sheridan, what I have always thought him, one of the ablest of generals." On 9 February, 1865, Sheridan received the thanks of Congress for " the gallantry, military skill, and courage displayed in the brilliant series of victories achieved by his army in the valley of the Shenandoah, especially at Cedar Run." During the remainder of the war Sheridan fought under the direct command of Grant, and always with unabated vigor and consummate skill. In the days between 27 February and 24 March, 1865, he conducted, with 10,000 cavalry, a colossal raid from Winchester to Petersburg, destroying the James River and Kanawha Canal, and cutting the Gordonsville and Lynchburg, the Virginia Central, and the Richmond and Fredericksburg Railroads. During this movement, on 1 March, he secured the bridge over the middle fork of the Shenandoah, and on the 2d he again routed Early at Waynesboro, pursuing him toward Charlottesville. He joined the Army of the Potomac and shared in all its battles. From Grant's general orders, sent in circular to Meade, Ord, and Sheridan, on 24 March, 1865, we learn that a portion of the army was to be moved along its left to turn the enemy out of Petersburg, that the rest of the army was to be ready to repel and take advantage of attacks in front, while General Sheridan, with his cavalry, should go out to destroy the Southside and Danville Railroad and take measures to intercept the enemy should he evacuate the defences of Richmond. On the morning of 29 March the movement began. Two corps of the Army of the Potomac were moved toward Dinwiddie Court-House, which was in a measure the key of the position to be cleared by Sheridan's troops. The court-house lies in the fork of the Southside and Weldon Railroads, which meet in Petersburg. A severe action took place at Dinwiddie, after which Sheridan advanced to Five Forks on 31 March. Here he was strongly resisted by the bulk of Lee's column, but, dismounting his cavalry and deploying, he checked the enemy's progress, retiring slowly upon Dinwiddie. Of this General Grant says: "Here he displayed great generalship. Instead of retreating with his whole command, to tell the story of superior forces encountered, he deployed his cavalry on foot, ... he despatched to me what had taken place, and that he was dropping back slowly on Dinwiddie." There re-enforced, and assuming additional command of the 5th Corps, 12,000 strong, he returned on 1 April with it and 9,000 cavalry to Five Forks and ordered Merritt. to make a feint of turning the enemy's right, while the 5th struck their left flank. The Confederates were driven from their strong line and routed, fleeing westward and leaving 0,000 prisoners in his hands. Sheridan immediately pursued. Five Forks was one of the most brilliant and decisive of the engagements of the war. and compelled Lee's evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond. Sheridan was engaged at Sailor's Creek, 6 April, where he captured sixteen guns, and in many minor actions, 8-9 April, harassing and pursuing the Army of Northern Virginia, and aiding largely to compel the final surrender. He was present at the surrender at Appomattox Court House on 9 April. He made a raid to South Boston. North Carolina, on the river Dan on 24 April, returning to Petersburg on 3 May, 1865. After the war Sheridan was in charge of the Military Division of the Gulf from 17 July to 15 August, 1866, which was then created the Department of the Gulf, and remained there until 11 March, 1867. From 12 September to 16 March he was in command of the Department of the Missouri, with headquarters at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Thence he conducted a winter campaign against the Indians, after which he took charge of the Military Division of the Mississippi, with headquarters at Chicago. When General Ulysses S. Grant became president. 4 March, 1869. General William T. Sherman was made general-in-chief and Sheridan was promoted to lieutenant-general, with the understanding that both these titles should disappear with the men holding them. In 1870 Sheridan visited Europe to witness the conduct of the Franco-Prussian War. He was with the German staff during the battle of Gravelotte, and presented some judicious criticisms of the campaign. He commanded the western and southwestern Military Divisions in 1878. On the retirement of Sherman in 1883, the lieutenant-general became general-in-chief. In May, 1888, he became ill from exposure in western travel, and, in recognition of his claims, a bill was passed by both houses of Congress, and was promptly signed by President Cleveland, restoring for him and during his lifetime the full rank and emoluments of general. He was the nineteenth general-in-chief of the United States army. Sheridan never was defeated, and often plucked victory out of the jaws of defeat. He was thoroughly trusted, admired, and loved by his officers and men. He bore the nickname of "Little Phil," a term of endearment due to his size, like the "petit corporal" of Napoleon I. He was below the middle height, but powerfully built, with a strong countenance indicative of valor and resolution. Trustful to a remarkable degree, modest and reticent, he was a model soldier and general, a good citizen in all the relations of public and private life, thoroughly deserving the esteem and admiration of all who knew him. In 1879 Sheridan married Miss Rucker, the daughter of General Daniel H. Rucker, of the U. S. army. He was a Roman Catholic, and devoted to his duties as such. He was the author of " Personal Memoirs" (2 vols., New York, 1888). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 497-500.
SHERMAN, Buren Robinson, governor of Iowa, born in Phelps, New York, 28 May, 1830. In 1849 the family moved to Elmira, where he attended the public schools, and in 1852 was apprenticed to a jeweler. In 1855 the family emigrated to Iowa, where he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1859, and began practice in Vinton in January, 1860. In 1861 he enlisted as a private in the 13th Iowa Infantry, was promoted lieutenant, was severely wounded at Shiloh, and advanced to captain for gallant conduct on the field, but in the summer of 1863 his wounds compelled him to resign. On his return he was elected county judge of Benton County, which post he resigned in 1866 to accept the office of clerk of the district court, to which he was three times re-elected. He was chosen auditor of the state in 1874, and twice reelected, retiring in January, 1881. In 1882-'6 he was governor of Iowa. During his two terms of service many new questions were presented for settlement, among which was that of total prohibition of the liquor traffic, which Governor Sherman favored in letters and speeches. He held public officers to strict accountability, and removed a high state official for willful misconduct. In 1885 he received the degree of LL. D. from the University of Iowa. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 501.
SHERMAN, Henry, lawyer, born in Albany, New York, 6 March, 1808; died in Washington, D. C, 28 March, 1879. After graduation at Yale in 1829 he studied theology and then law, returning in 1832 to Albany. He soon moved to New York City, and in 1850 to Hartford, Connecticut, and was employed in the U. S. Treasury Department in Washington from 1861 till 1868, when he resumed his law-practice in that city. He was a personal friend of President Lincoln, who on the morning before his assassination offered him the chief justiceship of New Mexico. He was afterward commissioned by President Johnson, but soon resigned. Mr. Sherman was the author of " An Analytical Digest of the Law of Marine Insurance to the Present Time" (New York. 1841); "The Governmental History of the United States of America" (1843; enlarged ed., Hartford, 1860); and " Slavery in the United States of America" (Hartford, 1858). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 501.
SHERMAN, Thomas West, soldier, born in Newport, R. I., 26 March, 1813; died there, 16 March, 1879. He was graduated at the U S. Military Academy in 1836, assigned to the 3d U.S. Artillery, served in the Florida War until 1842, became 1st lieutenant on 14 March, 1838, and subsequently was employed in recruiting and garrison service until 1846. He became captain on 28 May, 1846, engaged in the war with Mexico, and was brevetted major for gallant, and meritorious conduct at Buena Vista, 23 February, 1847. He served again on garrison and frontier duty from 1848 till 1861, during which time he engaged in quelling the Kansas border disturbances, and commanded an expedition to Kettle Lake, Dakota. On 27 April, 1861, he became major, and until 10 May, 1861, commanded a battery of U. S. U.S. Artillery and a battalion of Pennsylvania volunteers at Elkton, Maryland. From 21 May till 28 June he was chief of light artillery in the defence of Washington, D. C, having been made lieutenant-colonel, 5th U.S. Artillery, on 14 May, and brigadier-general, U. S. volunteers, on 17 May, 1861. He organized an expedition for seizing and holding Bull's Bay, South Carolina, and Fernandina, Florida, for the use of the blockading fleet on the southern coast, commanded the land forces of the Port Royal Expedition from 21 October, 1861, till 31 March, 1862, and led a division of the Army of the Tennessee from 30 April till 1 June, 1862. He participated in the siege of Corinth. Mississippi, commanded a division in the Department of the Gulf from 18 September, 1862, till 9 January, 1863, and in the defences of New Orleans from 9 January till 19 May, 1863, when he joined the expedition to Port Hudson, Louisiana, commanding the 2d Division of the 19th Army Corps, which formed the left wing of the besieging army. While leading a column to the assault on 27 May he lost, his right leg, in consequence of which he was on leave of absence until 15 February, 1864. He was made colonel of the 3d U.S. Artillery on 1 June, 1863. On his return to duty he was in command of a reserve brigade of artillery in the Department of the Gulf, of the defences of New Orleans, and of the southern and eastern Districts of Louisiana. On 13 March, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general, U. S. Army, for gallant services at the capture of Port Hudson, and also major-general of volunteers and major-general. U. S. Army, for gallant and meritorious services during the war. After the war, he commanded the 3d U.S. Artillery at Fort Adams, Rhode Island, the Department of the East, and the post of Key West, Florida. He was retired from active service as major-general on 31 December, 1870, for disability. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 502.
SHERMAN, William Tecumseh, soldier, born in Lancaster, Ohio, 8 February, 1820. His branch of the family is traced to Samuel Sherman, of Essex, England, who came to this country in 1634 with his brother, the Reverend John Sherman, and his cousin, Captain John Sherman. Roger Sherman, signer of the Declaration of Independence, traces his lineage to the captain, and General Sherman to that of the Reverend John, whose family settled in Woodbury and Norwalk, Connecticut, whence some of them moved to Lancaster, Fairfield County, Ohio, in 1810. The father of General Sherman was a lawyer, and for five years before his death in 1829 judge of the supreme court. His mother, who was married in 1810, was Mary Hoyt. They had eleven children, of whom William was the sixth and John the eighth. William was adopted by Thomas Ewing, and attended school in Lancaster till 1836. In July of that year he was sent as a cadet to West Point, where he was graduated in 1840 sixth in a class of forty-two members. Among his classmates was George H. Thomas. As a cadet, he is remembered as an earnest, high-spirited, honorable, and outspoken youth, deeply impressed, according to one of his early letters, with the grave responsibility properly attaching to "serving the country." He also at that time expressed a wish to go to the far west, out of civilization. He was commissioned as a 2d lieutenant in the 3d U.S. Artillery, 1 July, 1840, and sent to Florida, where the embers of the Indian War were still smoldering. On 30 November, 1841, he was made a 1st lieutenant, and commanded a small detachment at Picolata. In 1842 he was at Fort Morgan, Mobile Point. Alabama, and later at Fort Moultrie, Charleston Harbor, where he indulged in hunting and society, the immediate vicinity of the fort being a summer resort for the people of Charleston. In 1843, on his return from a short leave, he began the study of law, not to make it a profession, nut to render himself a more intelligent soldier. When the Mexican War began in 1846 he was sent with troops around Cape Horn to California, where he acted as adjutant general to General Stephen W. Kearny, Colonel Mason, and General Persifer F. Smith. Returning in 1850, on 1 May he married Miss Ellen Boyle Ewing, at Washington, her father, his old friend, then being Secretary of the Interior. He was appointed a captain in the commissary department, 2 September, 1850, and sent to St. Louis and New Orleans. He had already received a brevet of captain for service in California, to date from 30 May, 1848. Seeing little prospect of promotion and small opportunity for his talents in the army in times of peace, he resigned his commission, 6 September, 1853, the few graduates of West Point being at that period in demand in many walks of civil life. He was immediately appointed (1853) manager of the branch bank of Lucas, Turner and Company, San Francisco, California. When the affairs of that establishment were wound up in 1857 he returned to St. Louis and lived for a time in New York as agent for the St. Louis firm. In 1858-'9 he was a counsellor-at-law in Leavenworth, Kansas, and in the next year became superintendent of the State Military Academy at Alexandria, Louisiana, where he did good work; but when that state seceded from the Union he promptly resigned and returned to St. Louis, where he was for a short time president of the Fifth street Railroad.
Of the Civil War he took what were then considered extreme views. He regarded President Lincoln's call for 75,000 three-months' men in April, 1861, as trifling with a serious matter, declaring that the rising of the secessionists was not a mob to be put down by the posse comitatus, but a war to be fought out by armies. On 13 May he was commissioned colonel of the 13th Infantry, with instructions to report to General Scott at Washington. That officer had matured a plan of campaign, and was about to put it into execution. Sherman was put in command of a brigade in Tyler's division of the army that marched to Bull Run. His brigade comprised the 13th, 69th, and 79th New York and the 2d Wisconsin Regiments. The enemy's left had been fairly turned, and Sherman's brigade was hotly engaged, when the Confederates were re-enforced; the National troops made fatal delays, and, struck by panic, the army was soon in full retreat. Sherman's brigade hall lost 111 killed, 205 wounded, and 293 missing. On 3 August, 1861, he was made a brigadier-general of volunteers, to date from 17 May, and on 28 August he was sent from the Army of the Potomac to be second in command to General Robert Anderson in Kentucky. Few persons were prepared for the curious problem of Kentucky politics. What has been called the "secession juggle" was at least partially successful. On account of broken health, General Anderson soon asked to be relieved from the command, and he was succeeded by Sherman on 17 October It was expected by the government that the men, to keep Kentucky in the Union, could be recruited in that state, and that the numbers required would be but few; but this expectation was doomed to be disappointed. Sherman looked for a great war, and declared that 60,000 men would be required to drive the enemy out of the state and 200,000 to put an end to the struggle in that region. Most men looked upon this prophetic sagacity as craziness. He was relieved from his command by General Buell on 12 November and ordered to report to General Halleck, commanding the Department of the West. He was placed in command of Benton Barracks. At this time General Ulysses S. Grant was in command of the force to move on Forts Henry and Donelson in February, 1862, and just after the capture of these strongholds Sherman was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee. It consisted of six divisions, of which Sherman was in command of the 5th. In the battle of Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing, 6 and 7 April (see Grant, Ulysses S.), Sherman’s men were posted at Shiloh Church, and the enemy were so strong that all the detachments were hotly engaged, and Sherman served as a pivot. When the Army of the Ohio came up, during the night, Grant had already ordered Sherman to advance, and when the combined forces moved, the enemy retreated rapidly upon Corinth. The loss in Sherman's division was 2,034. He was wounded in the hand, but did not leave the field, and he richly deserved the praise of General Grant in his official report: "I feel it a duty to a gallant and able officer, Brig.-General W. T. Sherman, to make mention. He was not only with his command during the entire two days of the action, but displayed great judgment and skill in the management of his men. Although severely wounded in the hand on the first day, his place was never vacant." And again: "To his individual efforts I am indebted for the success of that battle." General Halleck declared that " Sherman saved the fortunes of the day on the 6th, and contributed largely to the glorious victory of the 7th." After the battle General Halleck assumed command of all the armies, and advanced slowly upon Corinth, acting rather with the caution of an engineer than with the promptness of a strategist. In the new movement General Sherman was conspicuous for judgment and dash. He was employed constantly where promptness and energy were needed. Two miles in advance of the army, as it was ranged around Corinth, he captured and fortified Russell's house, which is only a mile and a half from Corinth. Deceiving Halleck, the enemy were permitted to evacuate the town and destroy its defences. Sherman was made a major-general of volunteers, to date from 1 May, 1862. On 9 June he was ordered to Grand Junction, a strategic point, where the Memphis and Charleston and the Mississippi Central Railroads meet. Memphis was to be a new base. He was to repair the former road, and to guard them both and keep them in running order. General Halleck having been made general-in-chief of the armies of the United States, Grant was, on 15 July, appointed to command the Department of the Tennessee, and he at once ordered Sherman to Memphis, which had been captured by the National Flotilla, 6 June, with instructions to put it in a state of defence. Sherman, to secure himself against the machinations of the rebellious inhabitants, directed all who adhered to the Confederate cause to leave the city. He allowed them no trade in cotton, would not permit the use of Confederate money, allowed no force or intimidation to be used to oblige Negroes, who had left their masters, to return to them, but made them work for their support. He also effectually suppressed guerilla warfare.
The western armies having advanced to the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, the next step was to capture Vicksburg and thereby open to navigation the Mississippi River. Vicksburg was strongly fortified and garrisoned and was covered by an army commanded by General Pemberton posted behind the Tallahatchie. Grant moved direct from Grand Junction via Holly Springs, McPherson his left from Corinth, and Sherman his right from Memphis to Wyatt, turning Pemberton's left, who retreated to Grenada behind the Yalabusha. Then Grant detached Sherman with one of his brigades back to Memphis to organize a sufficient force out of the new troops there and a division at Helena to move in boats escorted by Admiral Porter's gun-boat fleet to Vicksburg to capture the place while he, Grant, held Pemberton at Grenada. The expedition failed from natural obstacles and the capture of Holly Springs by the enemy, and at the same moment General McClernand arrived to assume command of the expedition by orders of President Lincoln, and the Army of the Tennessee was divided into the 13th, 15th, 16th, and 17th Corps, of which Sherman had the 15th. To clear the flank, the expeditionary force before Vicksburg under McClernand returned in their boats to the mouth of the Arkansas, ascended that river a hundred miles, and carried by assault Fort Hindman, capturing its stores and five thousand prisoners, thereby making the Mississippi safe from molestation. In this movement Sherman bore a conspicuous part. The expedition then returned to the Mississippi River, and General Grant came in person from Memphis to give direction to the operations against Vicksburg from the river, which resulted in its capture, with 31,000 prisoners, on 4 July, 1863, thereby opening the Mississippi and fully accomplishing the original purpose. During this brilliant campaign General Sherman was most active, and therefore was appointed a brigadier-general in the regular army, to date 4 July, 1803. Meantime Rosecrans, having expelled the enemy from middle Tennessee, had forced him to evacuate Chattanooga, fought the bloody battle of Chickamauga, and fell back into Chattanooga, where he was in a precarious condition. On 4 October Sherman was ordered to take his corps, the 15th, from the Big Black via Memphis, with such other troops as could be spared from the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railway, toward Chattanooga. He moved, repairing the road as he went, according to the express orders of General Halleck. But on the 27th he received orders from General Grant to discontinue all work and inarch rapidly toward Bridgeport on the Tennessee. He lost no time in doing so. Sherman's 15th Corps, with other commands, by the rapid movement for Chattanooga, was now getting into position; he was preparing to cross the river from the west bank, below the mouth of the Chickamauga, with the purpose of attacking the northern end of Mission ridge, while a division of cavalry was sent to the enemy's right and rear to cut the railroad behind him. At 1 o'clock, on the morning of 24 November, Sherman crossed on pontoon bridges, and by 3 o'clock P. St. he was intrenched at the north end of Mission ridge. Thus the disposal of troops in Grant's line of battle was: Sherman on the left, in front of Tunnel Hill; Thomas in the centre, at Fort Wood and Orchard Knob: while Hooker was to come up from Wauhatchie. take Lookout mountain, and, crossing to Rossville, advance upon the ridge, to complete the organization. There was open communication between these bodies by special couriers. While preparations were making for the centre attack under Thomas, it was evident that the enemy's design was to crush Sherman. Pierce assaults were made upon him in quick succession, which he resisted, and thus performed good service in drawing the foe to his flank, while Thomas was making the main attack upon the ridge, which was successful. On the morning of the 25th Sherman pursued the enemy by the roads north of the Chickamauga, arriving at Ringgold on that day. and everywhere destroying the enemy's communications. During these operations General Burnside was besieged by Longstreet in Knoxville, Tennessee. and was in great straits. On 3 December, under orders from Grant, which another commander was slow to obey, Sherman made forced marches to Burnside's relief, and reached Knoxville not a minute too soon, and after supplying Burnside with all the assistance and re-enforcements he needed marched back to Chattanooga. Toward the end of January. 1864. he returned to Memphis and Vicksburg, whence with parts of McPherson's and Hurlburt's corps, then unemployed, he marched to Jackson and Meridian, where he broke up the Confederate combinations and destroyed their communications. On 2 March. Grant had been made lieutenant-general: on the 12th he assumed command of all the armies of the United States, with the purpose of conducting in person the campaign of the Army of the Potomac. On 12 March he assigned Sherman to the command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, comprising the Departments of the Ohio, the Tennessee, the Cumberland, and the Arkansas—in a word, of the entire southwestern region, with temporary headquarters at Nashville. In a letter of 4 March, 1864, Grant acknowledges to Sherman his great gratitude for the co-operation and skill which so largely contributed to his own success, and on 19 February. 1864, Sherman received the thanks of Congress for his services in the Chattanooga Campaign. On 25 March he began to prepare his command for action, to put the railroads in good condition, and protect them and to make provision for the supplies of the army in its approaching campaign. On 10 April he received his final instructions from Grant to move against Atlanta. Ordering his troops to rendezvous at Chattanooga, he made it his headquarters on 28 April. His force consisted of the armies of the Cumberland, General George H. Thomas; the Tennessee. General James B. McPherson; and the Ohio, General John M. Schofield. It was 09,000 strong, with 254 guns, while the Confederate army, under Johnston, about 41,000 strong, soon re-enforced up to 62,000 men. was prepared to resist his advance, and if Sherman had the advantage of attack, Johnston had that of fighting behind intrenchments and natural obstacles. Moving from Chattanooga, Sherman came up with him at Dalton, 14 May, and turned his position at Buzzard's Roost by sending McPherson through Snake Creek gap, when Johnston fell back to Resaca, After an assault. 15 May, Johnston retreated to Cassville and behind the Etowah on the 17th. After the turning of Allatoona pass, which he made a secondary base, and fierce battles near New Hope Church, in the neighborhood of Dallas. Johnston still further retreated to a strong position on Kenesaw mountain, having contracted and retired his flanks to cover Marietta. Sherman advanced his line with each retrograde movement of the enemy and pressed operations, continually gaining ground. Both armies habitually fought from behind log parapets until Sherman ordered an attack on the fortified lines, 27 June, but did not succeed in breaking through. He then determined to turn the position, and moved General James B. McPherson's army on 3 July toward the Chattahoochee, which compelled Johnston to retire to another intrenched position on the northwest bank of that river, whence he fell back on Atlanta as Sherman began to cross the river, threatening to strike his rear with a part of the army, while the rest lay intrenched in his front. On 17 July began the direct attack on Atlanta. General John B. Hood, who had superseded General Johnston on 17 July, made frequent sorties, and struck boldly and fiercely. There was a severe battle at Peach Tree creek on 20 July, one on the east side of the city two days later, and on the 28th one at Ezra Church, on the opposite side of Atlanta, in all of which the National forces were victorious. After an ineffective cavalry movement against the railroad. General Sherman left one corps intrenched on the Chattahoochee and moved with the other five corps on the enemy's only remaining line of railroad, twenty-six miles south of Atlanta, where he beat him at Jonesboro', occupied his line of supply, and finally, on 1 September, the enemy evacuated the place. Here Hood's presumption led to his own destruction. Leaving the south almost defenceless, he moved upon Nashville, where he was disastrously defeated by Thomas.
Sherman had sent Thomas to that city purposely to resist his advance, and with the diminished army he moved upon Savannah, threatening Augusta and Macon, but finding little to oppose him m his inarch to the sea. Sherman moved steadily forward until he reached the defensive works that covered Savannah and blocked Savannah River. These were promptly taken by assault, and communications were opened with the fleet, which furnished ample supplies to his army. Savannah thus became a marine base for future operations. Sherman announced in a brief note to President Lincoln the evacuation of the city. "I beg to present you," he writes," as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns, plenty of ammunition, and 25,000 bales of cotton." His army had marched 300 miles in twenty-four days, through the heart of Georgia, and had lived in plenty all the way. The value of this splendid achievement cannot be overestimated. On 12 August he had been appointed major-general in the U. S. army, and on 10 January he received the thanks of Congress for his "triumphal march." After the occupation of Savannah the question arose whether Sherman should come north by sea or march with his army through the Atlantic states. He preferred the latter plan. Schofield, leaving Thomas in Tennessee, was sent by rail and steamers to the coast of North Carolina with his corps (23d) to march upon Goldsboro', North Carolina, to co-operate with him. Sherman left Savannah in February, moved through the Salkehatchie swamp, flanked Charleston, compelled its evacuation, and entered Columbia on the 17th. Thence he moved on Goldsboro' by way of Winnsboro', Cheraw, and Fayetteville, opening communication by Cape Fear River with Schofield on 12 March, fighting at Averysboro and Bentonville, where the enemy resisted
Lee's surrender on the 12th, and on the 14th sent a flag of truce to Sherman to know upon what terms he would receive his surrender. "I am fully empowered," Sherman wrote to him, " to arrange with you any terms for the suspension of hostilities, and am willing to confer with you to that end. That a base of action may be had, I undertake to abide by the same conditions entered into by Generals Grant and Lee at Appomattox Court-House, Virginia, on the 9th inst." After considerable correspondence and a long interview with General Johnston, having in view an immediate and complete peace, Sherman made a memorandum or basis of agreement between the armies, which was considered by the government as at once too lenient and exceeding his powers. It included in terms of capitulation not only the army of Johnston, but all the Confederate troops remaining in the field. By the 7th article it was announced in general terms " that the war is to cease; a general amnesty so far as the executive of the United States can command, on condition of the disbandment of the Confederate army, the distribution of arms, and the resumption of peaceful pursuits by officers and men hitherto composing said armies." In order to secure himself against the assumption of power, the article is thus continued: "Not being fully empowered by our respective principals to fulfil these terms, we individually and officially pledge ourselves to promptly obtain authority, and will endeavor to his advance vigorously. At Averysboro' on the 16th General Henry W. Slocum with four divisions attacked the intrenched position of General William J. Hardee, and, turning his left flank, compelled him to fall back, while the cavalry, under General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick, were attacked and driven back by the Confederate Infantry of General Lafayette McLaws on the road to Bentonville. At the latter point General Johnston's force was attacked in a strongly intrenched position on the 19th by the left wing of Sherman's army, under General Slocum, whose right flank had been broken and driven back. After an obstinate combat, the Confederates withdrew in the night. Sherman and Schofield met at Goldsboro' on 23 and 24 March as originally planned. Leaving his troops there, he visited President Lincoln and General Grant at City Point, returning To Goldsboro' on the 30th. The interview on board the "Ocean Queen" is represented in the accompanying vignette copy of a painting by G. P. A. Healy, entitled " The Peacemakers," the fourth member of the group being Admiral Porter. Sherman is shown at the moment that he said to Mr. Lincoln: "If Lee will only remain in Richmond till I can reach Burkesville. we shall have him between our thumb and Angers." suiting the action to the word. He was now ready to strike the Danville road, break Lee's communications, and cut off his retreat, or to re-enforce Grant in front of Richmond for a final attack. He would be ready to move on 10 April. Johnston at Greensboro' received news of carry out the above programme." It was an honest effort on the part of a humane commander to put an end to the strife at once. Perhaps affairs were somewhat complicated by the assassination of President Lincoln on 14 April, which created great indignation and sorrow. It not only affected the terms between Johnston and Sherman, but it caused the latter to fall under the suspicion of the Secretary of War. On their arrival in Washington they were promptly and curtly disapproved by a despatch sent, not to Sherman, but to General Grant, on the morning of 24 April, directing him to go at once to North Carolina, by order of Secretary Stanton, to repudiate the terms and to negotiate the whole matter as in the case of Lee. General Sherman considered himself rebuked for his conduct. It was supposed that in the terms of agreement there was an acknowledgment of the Confederate government and a proposed re-establishment of the state authorities and that it might furnish a ground of claim for the payment of the Confederate debt in the future. Such certainly was not its purpose, nor does it now appear that such could have been its effect. Sherman was a soldier treating with soldiers, and deserved more courteous and considerate treatment from the government authorities, even if in his enthusiasm he had exceeded his powers. On 10 March. Sherman set out for Alexandria, Virginia, and arrived on the 19th. He determined then not to revisit Washington, but to await orders in camp; but he afterward, at the president's request, went to see him. He did not complain that his agreement with Johnston was disapproved. It was the publication that constituted the gravamen of the offence, its tone and style, the insinuations it contained, the false inferences it occasioned, and the offensive orders to the subordinate officers of General Sherman which succeeded the publication. These he bitterly resented at the time, but before Mr. Stanton's death they became fully reconciled. Preliminary to the disbandment of the National armies they passed in review before President Johnson and cabinet and Lieutenant-General Grant—the Army of the Potomac on 23 May. and General Sherman's army on the 24th. Sherman was particularly observed and honored. He took leave of his army in an eloquent special field order of 30 May. From 27 June, 1865, to 3 March, 1869, he was in command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, with headquarters at St. Louis, embracing the Departments of the Ohio, Missouri, and Arkansas. Upon the appointment of Grant as general of the army on 25 July, 1806, Sherman was promoted to be lieutenant-general, and when Grant became president of the United States, 4 March, 1869, Sherman succeeded him as general, with headquarters at Washington. From 10 November, 1871, to 17 September, 1872, he made a professional tour in Europe, and was everywhere received with the honors due to his distinguished rank and service. At his own request, and in order to make Sheridan general-in-chief, he was placed on the retired list, with full pay and emoluments, on 8 February, 1884. He has received many honors, among which may be mentioned the degree of LL. D. from Dartmouth, Yale. Harvard, Princeton, and other universities, and membership in the Board of regents of the Smithsonian institution, 1871-'83. A thorough organizer, he is also prompt in execution, demanding prompt and full service from all whom he commands. He is an admirable writer, and goes at once to the very point at issue, leaving no one in doubt as to his meaning. His favorites are always those who do the best work in the truest spirit, and his written estimate of them is always in terms of high commendation. Without being a natural orator, he expresses himself clearly and forcibly in public, and as he is continually called out, he has greatly developed in that respect since the war. In personal appearance he is a typical soldier and commander, tall and erect, with auburn hair carelessly brushed and short-cropped beard, his eyes dark hazel, his head large and well-formed; the resolution and strong purpose and grim gravity exhibited by his features in repose would indicate to the stranger a lack of the softer and more humane qualities, but when he is animated in social conversation such an estimate is changed at once, and in his bright and sympathizing smile one is reminded of Richard's words:
“Grim-visaged War has smoothed his wrinkled front." His association with his friends and comrades is exceedingly cordial, and his affection for those allied to him is as tender as that of a woman. A life of General Sherman has been written by Colonel Samuel M. Bowman and Lieutenant-Colonel Richard B. Irwin (New York. 1865), and he has published " Memoirs of General William T. Sherman, by Himself" (2 vols., New York, 1875; new ed.,'1885). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 502-506.
SHERMAN, John, 1823-1900, statesman. Whig U.S. Congressman, 1855. Republican U.S. Senator. Brother of General William T. Sherman. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. Brother of Union commander, (Appletons’, 1888, pp. 506-508; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 1, p. 84; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 19, p. 813; Congressional Globe)
SHERMAN, John, statesman, born in Lancaster, Ohio, 10 May, 1823, after the death of their father in 1829, leaving the large family with but limited means, the boy was cared for by a cousin named John Sherman, residing in Mount Vernon, where he was sent to school. At the age of twelve he returned to Lancaster and entered the academy to prepare himself for college. In two years he was sufficiently advanced to enter the sophomore class, but a desire to be self-supporting led to his becoming junior rodman in the Corps of Engineers engaged on the Muskingum. He was placed in charge of the section of that work in Beverly early in 1838, and so continued until the summer of 1839, when he was removed because he was a Whig. The responsibilities attending the measurements of excavations and embankments, and the levelling for a lock to a canal, proved a better education than could have been procured elsewhere in the same time. He began the study of law in the office of his brother Charles, and in 1844 was admitted to the bar. He formed a partnership with his brother in Mansfield, and continued with him until his entrance into Congress, during which time his ability and industry gained for him both distinction and pecuniary success.
Meanwhile, in 1848, he was sent as a delegate to the Whig Convention, held in Philadelphia, that nominated Zachary Taylor for the presidency, and in 1852 he was a delegate to the Baltimore Convention that nominated Winfield Scott. His attitude as a conservative Whig, in the alarm and excitement that followed the attempt to repeal the Missouri Compromise, secured his election to the 34th Congress, and he took his seat on 3 December, 1855. He is a ready and forcible speaker, and his thorough acquaintance with public affairs made him an acknowledged power in the house from the first. He grew rapidly in reputation as a debater on all the great questions agitating the public mind during that eventful period: the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the Dred-Scott Decision, the imposition of slavery upon Kansas, the Fugitive-Slave Law, the national finances, and other measures involving the very existence of the republic. His appointment by the speaker, Nathaniel P. Banks, as a member of the committee to inquire into and collect evidence in regard to the border-ruffian troubles in Kansas was an important event in his career. Owing to the illness of the chairman, William A. Howard, of Michigan, the duty of preparing the report devolved upon Mr. Sherman. Every statement was verified by the clearest testimony, and has never been controverted by any one. This report, when presented to the house, created a great deal of feeling, and intensified the antagonisms in Congress, being made the basis of the canvass of 1856. He acted with the Republican Party in supporting John C. Frémont for the presidency because that party resisted the extension of slavery, but did not seek its abolition. In the debate on the submarine telegraph he showed his opposition to monopolists by saying: “I cannot agree that our government should be bound by any contract with any private incorporated company for fifty years; and the amendment I desire to offer will reserve the power to Congress to determine the proposed contract after ten years.” All bills making appropriations for public expenditures were closely scrutinized, and the then prevalent system of making contracts in advance of appropriations was denounced by him as illegal. At the close of his second congressional term he was recognized as the foremost man in the house of representatives. He had from deep and unchanged conviction adopted the political faith of the Republican Party, but without any partisan rancor or malignity toward the south.
He was re-elected to the 36th Congress, which began its first session amid the excitement caused by the bold raid of John Brown. In 1859 he was the Republican candidate for the speakership. He had subscribed, with no knowledge of the book, for Hinton R. Helper's “Impending Crisis,” and this fact was brought up against him and estranged from him a few of the southern Whigs, who besought him to declare that he was not hostile to slavery. He refused, and after eight weeks of balloting, in which he came within three votes of election, he yielded to William Pennington, who was chosen. Mr. Sherman was then made chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means. He took a decided stand against in drafting new legislation upon appropriation bills, saying: “The theory of appropriation bills is, that they shall provide money to carry on the government, to execute existing laws, and not to change existing laws or provide new ones.” In 1860 he was again elected to Congress, and, when that body convened in December, the seceding members of both houses were outspoken and defiant. At the beginning of President Buchanan's administration the public indebtedness was less than $20,000,000, but by this time it had been increased to nearly $100,000,000, and in such a crippled condition were its finances that the government had not been able to pay the salaries of members of Congress and many other demands. Mr. Sherman proved equal to the occasion in providing the means for the future support of the government. His first step was to secure the passage of a bill authorizing the issue of what are known as the treasury-notes of 1860.
On the resignation of Salmon P. Chase, he was elected to his place in the Senate, and took his seat on 4 March, 1861. He was re-elected senator in 1867 and in 1873. During most of his senatorial career he was chairman of the Committee on Finance, and served also on the committees on agriculture, the Pacific Railroad, the Judiciary, and the Patent Office. After the fall of Fort Sumter, under the call of President Lincoln for 75,000 troops he tendered his services to General Robert Patterson, was appointed aide-de-camp without pay, and remained with the Ohio regiments till the meeting of Congress in July. After the close of this extra session he returned to Ohio, and received authority from Governor William Denison to raise a brigade. Largely at his own expense, he recruited two regiments of infantry, a squadron of cavalry, and a battery of artillery, comprising over 2,300 men. This force served during the whole war, and was known as the “Sherman Brigade.” The most valuable services rendered by him to the Union cause were his efforts in the Senate to maintain and strengthen the public credit, and to provide for the support of the armies in the field. On the suspension of specie payments, about the first of January, 1862, the issue of United States notes became a necessity. The question of making them a legal tender was not at first received with favor. Mainly through the efforts of Senator Sherman and Secretary Chase, this feature of the bill authorizing their issue was carried through Congress. They justified the legal-tender clause of the bill on the ground of necessity. In the debates on this question Mr. Sherman said: “I do believe there is a pressing necessity that these demand-notes should be made legal tender, if we want to avoid the evils of a depreciated and dishonored paper currency. I do believe we have the constitutional power to pass such a provision, and that the public safety now demands its exercise.” The records of the debate show that he made the only speech in the Senate-in favor of the National-Bank Bill. Its final passage was secured only by the personal appeals of Secretary Chase to the senators who opposed it. Mr. Sherman's speeches on state and national banks are the most important that he made during the war. He introduced a refunding act in 1867, which was adopted in 1870, but without the resumption clause. In 1874 a committee of nine, of which he was chairman, was appointed by a Republican caucus to secure a concurrence of action. They agreed upon a bill fixing the time for the resumption of specie payment at 1 January, 1879. This bill was reported to the caucus and the Senate with the distinct understanding that there should be no debate on the side of the Republicans, and that Mr. Sherman should be left to manage it according to his own discretion. The bill was passed, leaving its execution dependent upon the will of the Secretary of the Treasury for the time being.
Mr. Sherman was an active supporter of Rutherford B. Hayes for the presidency in 1876, was a member of the committee that visited Louisiana to witness the counting of the returns of that state. He was appointed Secretary of the Treasury by President Hayes in March, 1877, and immediately set about providing a redemption fund by means of loans. Six months before 1 January, 1879, the date fixed by law for redemption of specie payments, he had accumulated $140,000,000 in gold, and he had the satisfaction of seeing the legal-tender notes gradually approach gold in value until, when the day came, there was practically no demand for gold in exchange for the notes. In 1880 Mr. Sherman was an avowed candidate for the presidential nomination, and his name was presented in the National Convention by James A. Garfield. During the contest between the supporters of General Grant and those of James G. Blaine, which resulted in Mr. Garfield's nomination, Mr. Sherman's vote ranged from 90 to 97. He returned to the Senate in 1881, and on the expiration of his term in 1887 was re-elected to serve until 1893. At present (1888) he is chairman of the committee on foreign relations, and is an active member of the committees on Expenditures of Public Money, Finance, and Rules. In December, 1885, he was chosen President of the Senate Pro Tem, but he declined re-election at the close of his senatorial term in 1887. His name was presented by Joseph B. Foraker in nomination for the presidency at the National Convention held in 1884, but the Ohio delegation was divided between him and James G. Blaine, so that he received only 30 votes from this state. Again in 1888 his name was presented by Daniel H. Hastings, in behalf of the Pennsylvania delegation at the National Convention, and on the first ballot he received 229 votes and on the second 249, being the leading candidate, and continued so until Benjamin Harrison received the support of those whose names were withdrawn. Mr. Sherman has published “Selected Speeches and Reports on Finance and Taxation, 1859–1878" (New York, 1879). See “John Sherman, What he has said and done: Life and Public Services,” by Reverend Sherlock A. Bronson (Columbus, Ohio, 1880). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 506-508.
SHIPLEY, Judith, Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society (BFASS), Boston, Massachusetts (Yellin, 1994, p. 61)
SHIPLEY, Simon B., Boston, Massachusetts, abolitionist. Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, Counsellor, 1840-1844.
SHOTWELL, William, New York, New York, abolitionist. American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, Treasurer, 1841-46, Executive Committee, 1846-47.
SHIELDS, James, soldier, born in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1810; died in Ottumwa, Iowa, 1 June, 1879. He emigrated to the United States in 1826, studied law, and began practice at Kaskaskia, Illinois, in 1832. He was sent to the legislature in 1836, elected state auditor in 1839, in 1843 appointed a judge of the state supreme court. and in 1845 made commissioner of the general land office. When the war with Mexico began he was appointed a brigadier-general, his commission dating from 1 July, 1846, and was assigned to the command of the Illinois. He served under General Zachary Taylor on the Rio Grande under General John E. Wool in Chihuahua and through General Winfield Scott's campaign. At Cerro Gordo he gained the brevet of major-general, and was shot through the lung. After his recovery he took part in the operations in the valley of Mexico, commanding a brigade comprised of Marines and of New York and South Carolina volunteers, and at Chapultepec he was again severely wounded. He was mustered out on 20 July, 1848, and in the same year received the appointment of governor of Oregon Territory. This office he resigned on being elected U.S. Senator from Illinois as a Democrat, and served from 3 December, 1849, till 3 March, 1855. After the expiration of his term he moved to Minnesota, and when the state government was organized he returned to the U.S. Senate as one of the representatives of the new state, taking his seat on 12 May, 1858, and serving till 3 March, 1859. At the end of his term he settled in California, and at the beginning of hostilities in 1861 was in Mexico, where he was engaged in superintending a mine. Hastening to Washington, he was appointed a brigadier-general of volunteers on 19 August. He was assigned to the command of General Frederick W. Lander's brigade after the latter's death, and on 23 March, 1862, at the head of a division of General Nathaniel P. Banks's army in the Shenandoah Valley, he opened the second campaign with the victory at Winchester, Virginia, after receiving a severe wound in the preparatory movements on the preceding day. He was in command at Port Republic on 9 June, and was defeated by General Thomas J. Jackson. Resigning his commission on 28 March, 1863, he settled in California, but soon moved to Carrollton, Missouri, where he resumed the practice of law. He served as a railroad commissioner, and was a member of the legislature in 1874 and 1879. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 509.
SHIPPEN, Edward, surgeon, born in New Jersey, 18 June, 1826, is the son of Richard Shippen. He was graduated at Princeton in 1845, and at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1848, entered the U.S. Navy as assistant surgeon, 7 August, 1849, and was commissioned surgeon, 26 April, 1861. He was on the "Congress" when she was destroyed by the "Merrimac" at Newport News, Virginia, and was injured by a shell, and in 1864-'5 was on the ironclad frigate " New Ironsides " in both attacks on Fort Fisher and the operations of Bermuda Hundred. He made the Russian cruise under Admiral Farragut, was commissioned medical inspector in 1871, was fleet-surgeon of the European Squadron in 1871-3, in charge of the Naval Hospital in 1874-'7, commissioned medical director in 1876, and was president of the Naval Medical Examining Board at Philadelphia in 1880-'2. Dr. Shippen has contributed largely to Hamersley's "Naval Encyclopaedia," the "United Service Magazine," and to kindred publications. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 513.
SHIRAS, Alexander Eakin, soldier, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 10 August, 1812; died in Washington, D. C, 14 April, 1875. His grandfather emigrated from Petershead, Scotland, about 1765. The son was appointed to the U. S. Military Academy through his uncle, Major Constantine M. Eakin, and was graduated there in 1833. He was assigned to the 4th U.S. Artillery, and served on frontier and garrison duty till 1839, when he was assistant professor of mathematics at West Point till 1843. He was made commissary of subsistence, 3 March, 1847, with the staff rank of captain, and served in the Subsistence Bureau in Washington till his death, rising to the head of his department, with the rank of brigadier-general, which he attained on 23 June. 1874. A large share of the credit for the manner in which the National Armies were supplied during the Civil War is due to General Shiras. At the close of the war he was brevetted brigadier-general and major-general, U. S. Army. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 513.
SHIRLEY, Paul, naval officer, born in Kentucky, 19 December, 1820; died in Columbus, Ohio, 24 November, 1876. He entered the U.S. Navy in 1839 became master, 3 December, 1853; lieutenant, 21 July, 1854; commander, 5 November, 1863; and captain, 1 July, 1870. While in command of the sloop "Cyane," of the Pacific Squadron, he captured the piratical cruiser "J. M. Chapman " in 1863, for which service he was complimented by Rear-Admiral Charles H. Bell. He also, while in command of the "Suwanee," took the piratical steamer "Colon," at Cape St. Lucas, Lower California, and thereby saved two mail steamers that would have been captured. He was fleet-captain of the North Pacific Squadron, and commanded the flag-ship " Pensacola in 1867-8, and was in charge of the receiving-ship "Independence," at Mare Island, California, in 1869-'70. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 514
SHOCK, William Henry, naval officer, born in Baltimore, Maryland, 15 June, 1821. He entered the U.S. Navy as 3d assistant engineer. 18 January, 1845, and served in the Mexican War. He was promoted 2d assistant engineer. 10 July. 1847, became 1st assistant engineer, 31 October, 1848, was senior engineer of the coast-survey steamer "Legaree " in 1849, and superintended the construction of the machinery of the steamer "Susquehanna " at Philadelphia in 1850-'l. He was promoted to chief engineer, 11 March, 1851, superintended the construction of the machinery of the steamer "Princeton" at Boston in 1851-2, and, after a year's service as engineer inspector of U. S. Mail Steamers, made a cruise as chief engineer of the "Princeton" and superintended the construction of marine-engines at West Point, New York, in 1854-'5. He was president of the Examining Board of Engineers in 1860-'2, after which he superintended the building of river monitors at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1862-'3. He was fleet engineer under Admiral Farragut during the operations at Mobile, where he rendered valuable services, as also under Admiral Thatcher in 1863-'5. In the summer of 1870 he was temporarily appointed chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, which post he filled again in 1871, and received the written thanks of the department for the efficient manner in which he had discharged the duties. In 1873 he went to Europe to inspect foreign dock-yards and to represent the Bureau of Steam Engineering at the Vienna Exhibition, and was appointed one of the American judges of award by the president. He was appointed engineer-in-chief of the U.S. Navy, 3 March, 1877, in which capacity he served until 15 June, 1883, when he was retired. He has been for many years an active member of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia and a contributor to the journal of that institution. In 1868 he designed and constructed projectiles to have a rotary motion when fired from smooth bore guns, the experiments with which resulted satisfactorily. He has also invented and patented a relieving cushion for wire rigging for ships, which has been adopted in the navy (1869), a projectile for small arms, improving the efficiency of muskets (1870), and steam radiators and attachments for heating purposes (1874). He is the author of "Steam Boilers: their Design, Construction, and Management" (New York, 1881). This became the text-book of the U.S. Naval Academy on the subject and is a standard work. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 514-515.
SHOEMAKER, George Washington, inventor, born near Williamsport, Pennsylvania, 14 December, 1861. He received his education at Keystone Academy, Factoryville, Pennsylvania, and then entered his father's woollen mill. Having mechanical ability, he made various improvements in the plant, and in 1886 invented a ring-machine, by which wool-spinning may be carried on continuously. With the Crompton mule, now in general use, an output of 150 pounds is obtained in ten hours with 250 spindles, while the new system, with an equal number of spindles, has given during the same time 640 pounds of yarn. It is estimated that, under favorable conditions, from 800 to 1,000 pounds of yarn can be produced in ten hours. The cost of a machine of the Shoemaker type is much less than that of the other. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 515.
SHOLES, Charles Clark, journalist, born in Norwich, Connecticut, 8 January, 1816; died in Kenosha, Wisconsin, 5 October, 1867. He was brought up in Danville, Pennsylvania, and there learned the trade of printing, after which he went to Harrisburg and engaged as a journeyman in the newspaper office of Simon Cameron. In 1836 he went to Wisconsin and conducted in Green Bay the first journal in that part of the west. Mr. Sholes was soon appointed clerk of the territorial district court, and in 1837 was elected to the territorial legislature from Brown County. In 1838 he purchased in Madison the "Wisconsin Inquirer," and early in 1840 the "Kenosha Telegraph," but subsequent business engagements compelled him to relinquish these journals. He fixed his residence in Kenosha in 1847, of which place he was several times mayor, frequently represented Kenosha County both in the assembly and senate of the state, and in one session was chosen speaker of the former body. In 1856 he was the Republican candidate for lieutenant-governor, but failed of election. Mr. Sholes was one of the early organizers of what afterward grew into the Northwestern Telegraph Company, with which corporation he was connected at the time of his death. He was an active abolitionist and zealous promoter of the cause of popular education. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 515.
SHOLES, Christopher Latham, inventor, born in Mooresburg, Pennsylvania, 14 February, 1819, was educated in private schools in Columbia and Northumberland Counties, Pennsylvania, and then followed the printer's trade. In 1819 he went to Wisconsin and was postmaster of Kenosha during Polk's administration. He was a member from Racine County, of the first state senate in 1848, and was elected to the assembly in 1851-'2, and again to the senate in 1856-'8. During the administrations of Lincoln and Johnson he held the office of collector of customs of the port of Milwaukee and he was commissioner of public works for Milwaukee in 1869-'73, and again in 1876-'8. Mr. Sholes was a member of the school board of Milwaukee in 1870-'l, part of which time he was its president. In addition to his work as a journalist, which has been his profession when not holding office, he has interested himself in inventions, the most important of which is the typewriting machine that was introduced through the firm of E. Remington and Sons. It was begun in 1866, and when patented in 1868 was about the size of a sewing-machine. It is worked with lettered keys arranged in four rows, each type-carrier being thrown up as its key is struck. The type letters are engraved on the ends of steel bars, which are pivoted in the circumference of a circle, so that the end of each bar will strike at the same point in the centre of the circle. An inked ribbon passes over the centre of the circle, and over the whole a cylinder carries the paper to receive the impression. The cylinder, by a spring and ratchet movement, revolves the width of a letter, and when a line is completed it is also given a lateral movement. In 1873 this invention passed into the hands of the Remingtons for manufacture, since which time many minor improvements have been added to it, increasing its usefulness. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 515.
SHORTER. James Alexander, A. M. E. bishop, born in Washington, D. C, 4 February, 1817. He is of African descent. After entering the itinerant ministry of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in April, 1846, he held a pastorate in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1863, and organized the women of his church into bands for the relief of the freedmen that, flocked thither. He was elected bishop in 1868, and sent more fully to organize the church in the extreme southwest, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. He was one of the delegates to the Methodist Ecumenical Council in London, England, in 1881, and continued his travels into France and Switzerland. As president of the missionary society of his church, he has succeeded in opening the work in Hayti and Africa, whither missionaries have been sent. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 516
SHORTER, John Gill, governor of Alabama, born in Jasper County, Georgia, in 1818; died in Eufaula, Alabama, 29 May, 1872. He was graduated at the University of Georgia in 1837, and soon afterward began the practice of law in Eufaula, Alabama. In 1842 he was appointed state's attorney, and he subsequently was a member of both branches of the legislature. He was appointed circuit judge in 1852, and continued in this office for nine years. At the beginning of the Civil War he was appointed commissioner from Alabama to Georgia, and in 1861 he was a member of the Provisional Confederate Congress. In the same year he was elected governor of the state, serving till 1863. He was an active member of the Baptist denomination. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 516.
SHOUP, Francis Asbury, soldier, born in Laurel, Franklin County, Indiana, 22 March, 1834. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1855, and assigned to the artillery, but resigned, 10 January, I860. He then studied law, was admitted to the bar at Indianapolis, and moved to St. Augustine, Florida, early in 1861. He erected a battery at Fernandina under orders of the governor of Florida, was appointed lieutenant in the Confederate Army, became major of artillery in October, 1861, and was assigned to duty with General Hardee in the Trans Mississippi Department. He was afterward with General Albert Sidney Johnston at Shiloh as senior artillery officer of his army, and massed the artillery against General Prentiss’s position. He was inspector of artillery under General Beauregard after the latter's succession to the command, subsequently served under Hindman as chief of artillery, commanded a division, as major, at the battle of Prairie Grove, and was appointed brigadier general, 12 September, 1862, and ordered on duty at Mobile, Alabama. Afterward he commanded a Louisiana brigade at Vicksburg, and received the first attack of the National forces. He surrendered at that place, and after his exchange was chief of artillery to General Joseph E. Johnston, and constructed the defensive works on Chattahoochee River. On the succession of General John B. Hood to the command of the army in July, 1864, General Shoup was made chief of staff. He was relieved at his own request, and prepared a pamphlet, which was submitted to the Confederate Congress, recommending the enlistment of Negro troops. After the close of the war in 1866 he was elected to the chair of applied mathematics in the University of Mississippi. He then studied for the ministry, took orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and has been rector of churches in Waterford, New York, Nashville, Tennessee, Jackson, Mississippi, and New Orleans, Louisiana. He was professor of metaphysics in the University of the South in 1888-'8. He is the author of "Infantry Tactics" (Little Rock, Arkansas, 1862); "Artillery Division Drill" (Atlanta, 1864); and "Elements of Algebra" (New York, 1874). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 516-517.
SHREYE, Henry Miller, inventor, born in Burlington County, New Jersey, 21 October, 1785; died in St. Louis, Missouri, 6 March, 1854. He was educated in western Pennsylvania, and as a boy became interested in the navigation of western rivers. In 1810 he carried the first cargo of lead that was taken by an American from Galena River to New Orleans, thus establishing a business that previously had been exclusively in the hands of the British. During the war of 1812 he conveyed supplies to Fort St. Philip past the British batteries by protecting his vessel with cotton-bales. At the battle of New Orleans he had charge of one of the fieldpieces that proved so destructive to that column of the British army that was led by General Sir John Keane. In May, 1815, he ascended the Mississippi to Louisville in the " Enterprise," the first steam vessel that ever performed that voyage, and subsequently he built the "Washington " on a plan of his own invention, with improvements that made it superior to Robert Fulton's boat. By using a cam cut-off that he devised, he was able to save three fifths of the fuel. In March, 1817, his vessel made its first trip laden with passengers and freight, and demonstrated its superiority. When its success was thoroughly shown, Fulton and his associates, having the exclusive right "to navigate all vessels propelled by fire and steam in the rivers of said territory," entered suit against him and seized his boats; but the case was decided in his favor. In 1826 he was appointed superintendent of western river improvements, which place he held until 1841. During that time he had charge of the removal of the great Red River raft, "consisting of an accumulation of trees, logs, and driftwood of every description firmly imbedded in its channel for more than 160 miles," and in consequence the river was opened for a distance of 1,200 miles. He built the snag-boat "Heliopolis" in 1829 for removing snags and "sawyers " from Ohio River, and during the same year invented a steam marine battering-ram for harbor defence. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 517.
SHUBRICK, William Branford, naval officer, born on Bull's Island. South Carolina, 31 October, 1790; died in Washington, D. C, 27 May, 1874, entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman, 19 August, 1806, was commissioned lieutenant, 5 January, 1813, commanded a gun-boat in Hampton Roads in 1813, and assisted in defending Norfolk against the British. He was 3d lieutenant of the " Constitution " at the capture of the " Cyane” and “Levant,” 23 February, 1815, and executive in her subsequent escape from a British fleet. He received a silver medal, and was included in the vote of thanks by Congress to Stewart and his officers, and South Carolina gave him thanks and a sword for his services. He was commissioned master-commandant, 28 March, 1820, and captain, 21 February, 1831, commanded the West India Squadron in 1838–'40, and was chief of the Bureau of Provisions and Clothing in 1845–’6. On 22 January, 1847, he arrived on the coast of California in the “Independence” and assumed command-in-chief of the U. S. naval force in the Pacific. He captured the city of Mazatlan, 11 November, 1847, and, landing the naval brigade, held it against superior forces. He also took Guaymas, La Paz, and San Blas, which laces, together with other ports in Mexico and California, he held until the close of the war. He commanded the “Princeton” in 1853, with a small squadron, to protect the fisheries in a dispute with the British, was chief of the Bureau of Construction in 1853, chairman of the Light-House Board in 1854–8, and in 1858 was appointed to command a fleet of 19 vessels with 200 guns and 2,500 men, flying the flag of a vice-admiral, to operate against Paraguay for firing upon the U.S. steamer “Water Witch.” He reached Asuncion, 25 January, 1859, and by display of force obtained apologies and pecuniary indemnity on 10 February. The president highly commended his zeal and ability in the conduct of this mission, and the president of the Argentine Confederation presented him with a sword. In 1861 unsuccessful efforts were made to induce him to join the Confederates in behalf of his native state. In December, 1861, he was placed on the retired list, but he continued on duty as chairman of the Light-House Board from 1860 till 1870. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 517-518.
SHUFELDT, Robert Wilson, naval officer, born in Red Hook, Dutchess County, New York, 21 February, 1822. He entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman, 11 May, 1839, was attached to the naval school at Philadelphia in 1844-'5, and became a passed midshipman, 2 July, 1845. He was promoted to master, 21 February, 1853, and to lieutenant, 26 October, 1853, but resigned from the navy, 20 June, 1854, and was connected with the Collins Line of Liverpool Steamers as chief officer for two years. He then commanded the steamers " Black Warrior" and " Catawba" on the line between New York and New Orleans, and had charge of the party that surveyed the Isthmus of Tehuantepec for a railroad and interoceanic canal. When the Civil War began he was in command of the steamer "Quaker City," of the New York and Havana line of steamers, and was appointed U. S. consul-general at Havana. In April, 1863, he resigned, and was reinstated in the navy with a commission of commander, dated 19 November, 1862. He was given the steamer "Conemaugh," on the blockade at Charleston, where he participated in the engagements on Morris Island. He commanded the steamer " Boteus," of the Eastern Gulf Blockading Squadron, in 1864-'6. After the war he had the "Hartford," of the East India Squadron, in 1865-'6, and the " Wachusett," of the Asiatic Squadron, in 1866-'8. He was commissioned captain, 31 December, 1869, and commanded the monitor " Miantonomoh " in 1870, after which he had charge of the Tehuantepec and Nicaraguan Surveying Expeditions of 1870-'l. He was chief of the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting in the Navy Department in 1875-8, and was commissioned commodore, 21September,1876. In 1879-'80 he sailed in the "Ticonderoga" on a special mission to Africa and the East Indies, to ascertain and report on the prospects for the revival of American trade with those countries. While he was on this expedition the Sultan of Zanzibar, Said Barghash, presented him with a sword. He was promoted to rear-admiral on 7 May, 1883, and was retired, 21 February, 1884. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 519.
SHUMWAY, Henry Cotton, artist, born in Middletown, Connecticut, 4 July, 1807; died in New York, 6 May, 1884. He studied at the Academy of Design, New York, during 1828-'9, and was one of the early members of the academy, being elected an associate in 1831, and academician the following year. For many years he followed his profession as a miniature-painter successfully in New York and other cities. Among the numerous eminent men that sat to him were Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and Prince Napoleon (afterward Napoleon III.), whose portraits he painted in 1838. He was for many years a captain in the New York 7th Regiment and a member of the veteran corps. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 519
SHURTLEFF, Roswell Morse, artist, born in Rindge, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, 14 June, 1838. About 1857 he went to Buffalo, where for two years he studied drawing. In 1859 he was in Boston, studying at the Lowell Institute, and drawing on wood for John Andrew. In 1861 he enlisted in the National Army, and he afterward continued to furnish drawings to various periodicals and to the wood-engravers. About 1870 he began to devote himself entirely to painting. His animal paintings first gained him distinction, and of these the best known are "The Wolf at the Door" and " A Race for Life" (1878). Among his later works in oil, most of which are scenes in the Adirondacks, are " On the Alert" (1879); "Autumn Gold " (1880); "Gleams of Sunshine " (1881); and "A Song of Summer Woods" (1886). His watercolors include "Harvest Time," "Basin Harbor, Lake Champlain," and "The Morning Draught" (1881), and " A Mountain Pasture" (1882). He was elected an associate of the National Academy in 1880. and is a member of the Water-Color Society. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 520.
SIBLEY, Henry Hopkins, soldier, born in Nachitoches, Louisiana, 25 May, 1816; died in Fredericksburg, Virginia, 23 August, 1886. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1838, served in the Florida War as 2d lieutenant of U.S. Dragoons, was promoted 1st lieutenant on 8 March, 1840, took part in the expedition against the Seminoles in the Everglades, and served as adjutant of his regiment till 1846. He was engaged in the military occupation of Texas, was made a captain on 16 February, 1847, and took part in all the principal operations of the Mexican War, gaining the brevet of major for gallantry in the affair at Medelin, near Vera Cruz. He served for several years on the Texas frontier against the Indians, was stationed in Kansas during the antislavery conflict, took part in the Utah Expedition and in the Navajo Expedition of 1860, and, while stationed in New Mexico, was promoted major, but resigned on the same day, 13 May, 1861, in order to join the Confederate Army. He soon received a commission as brigadier-general, and on 5 July was assigned to the command of the Department of Mexico, and intrusted with the task of driving therefrom the National forces. He raised a brigade in northwestern Texas, left Fort Bliss in January, 1862, to effect the conquest of New Mexico, appeared before Fort Craig on 16 February, and on 21 February fought with Colonel Edward R. S. Canby the engagement of Valverde, which resulted in the withdrawal of the National troops. He occupied Albuquerque and Santa Fe, but in April was compelled to evacuate the territory. Subsequently he served with his brigade under General Richard Taylor and General E. Kirby Smith. In December, 1869, he entered the service of the Khedive of Egypt with the rank of brigadier-general, and was assigned to the duty of constructing sea-coast and river defences. At the termination of his five years' contract he returned, with broken health, to the United States. He was the inventor of a tent for troops modelled after the wigwams of the Sioux and Comanche Indians. He obtained letters-patent, and the U. S. government, while he was in its service, contracted for the use of the tent. At the close of the Civil War the U. S. officials refused to carry out the terms of the contract, and after his death the claim was brought before Congress in the interest of his family. He occasionally lectured on the condition of the Egyptian fellaheen. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 520-521.
SIBLEY, Hiram, financier, born in North Adams, Massachusetts, 6 February, 1807; died in Rochester, New York, 12 July, 1888, received a common-school education. He practised the shoemaker's trade without preparatory training, and, emigrating to western New York at the age of sixteen, worked as a journeyman machinist in a manufactory of carding-machines in Lima, and mastered three other trades before he was twenty-one years old. He carried on the wool-carding business at Sparta and Mount Morris, next established a foundry and machine-shop at Mendon, and in 1843 moved to Rochester, on being elected sheriff of Monroe County. He was instrumental in obtaining from Congress an appropriation in aid of Samuel F. B. Morse's experiments, and interested himself in telegraphy from the beginning. When the invention came into practical use, the business being divided between many companies, Mr. Sibley, who, with other citizens of Rochester, was interested in two of the largest—viz., the Atlantic, Lake, and Mississippi Valley and the New York, Albany, and Buffalo—conceived the plan of uniting the scattered plants and conflicting patents in the hands of a single corporation. Lines that had proved unprofitable were purchased at nominal prices, and the telegraphs that extended over parts of thirteen states were consolidated under the name of the Western Union Telegraph Company, of which Sibley was president for seventeen years, during which period the value of the property grew from $220,000 to $48,000,000. He was unable to interest his associates in a line to the Pacific Coast, and constructed it alone in 1861, transferring it to the company after its completion. With the other managers, he distrusted the practicability of submarine telegraphy, and entered into the project of telegraphic communication with Europe by way of Bering Strait and Siberia. He visited St. Petersburg in 1864, and obtained a promise of co-operation from the Russian government. The Western Union Company expended $3,000,000 in building 1,500 miles of the projected line, but abandoned the enterprise as soon as the first message was sent over the Atlantic cable. Mr. Sibley was the principal promoter of the Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana Railroad. He purchased large tracts of land in Michigan, and was interested in the lumber and salt manufacturing business at Saginaw. After the Civil War he engaged largely in railroad building and various industrial enterprises in the southern states, and did much to revive business activity. He has become the largest owner of improved lands in the United States, and has in recent years engaged in fanning operations on a great scale. The Burr Oaks farm, of nearly 40,000 acres, in Illinois, the Howland Island Farm, comprising 3,500 acres, in Cayuga, New York, and many others, are mainly devoted to seed-culture. Mr. Sibley gave $100,000 for a building to hold a public library and the collections of Rochester University, and a like sum for the establishment of the Sibley College of Mechanical Engineering and the Mechanic Arts connected with Cornell University. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 521-522.
SIBLEY, Henry Hastings, pioneer, born in Detroit, Michigan, 20 February, 1811, received a classical education, and began the study of law, but abandoned it to engage in mercantile business at Sault Sainte Marie, soon afterward entered the employment of the American Fur Company, became a partner, and on 7 November, 1834, during one of his trips, reached the mouth of the Minnesota River, and was so delighted with the spot that he made it his permanent home, building at Mendota the first stone house within the present limits of the state of Minnesota. He devoted much of his time to the sports of the frontier, which he described in graphic style in the "Spirit of the Times" and "Turf, Field, and Farm," over the pen-name of "Hal, a Dacotah." When the State of Wisconsin was admitted into the Union, 29 May, 1848, the western boundary was fixed at St. Croix River, leaving an area of about 23,000 square miles, on the east of Mississippi River, including some organized counties, without a government. The acting governor of the territory issued a proclamation providing for the election of a delegate to represent this district in Congress, and Mr. Sibley was chosen in November, 1848. After much delay and discussion, he was admitted to his seat, 15 January, 1849, and secured the passage of an act creating the territory of Minnesota, which embraced the rest of Wisconsin and a vast area west of the Mississippi. He was elected a delegate to Congress from Minnesota in 1849, and reelected in 1851, when he declined longer to be a candidate. He was a member of the Democratic branch of the convention that framed in 1857 the state constitution that was adopted bv the people in November of the same year. The state was admitted to the Union on 11 May, 1858, and he was inaugurated as governor in the same month. He opposed the loan of state credit to railroad companies, and. when a constitutional amendment was carried authorizing the issue of bonds, he refused to send them out except on security of trust deeds from the companies giving a priority of lien upon all their property. But this ruling was negatived by the decision of the supreme court, thus leaving the way open for the issue of an indefinite amount of first mortgage bonds, and resulting in the bankruptcy of the companies and the repudiation of the bonds by the people of Minnesota. When the great Sioux rising occurred on the Iowa and Minnesota frontier in 1862 (see Little Crow) he commanded the white forces composed of volunteer citizens. Notwithstanding the delay in procuring arms and ammunition, only five weeks elapsed before the decisive battle of Wood Lake, 23 September, broke the power of the [Indians]. Their capture followed two days later. He was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, and afterward brevetted major-general. He was appointed a member of the Board of Indian Commissioners during President Grant's administration, and in 1871 was elected to the legislature, where, during the ensuing session, he made a vigorous speech against the repudiation of the state railroad bonds, being thus instrumental in restoring the credit of Minnesota. He received the degree of LL. D. from Princeton in 1888. General Sibley has held the offices of president of the Chamber of Commerce of St. Paul, where he resides, of the board of regents of the State University, and of the State Historical Society, to whose "Collections" he has made many contributions. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 522.
SICKEL, Horatio Gates, soldier, born in Belmont, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 3 April, 1817. He was educated at the Friends' school in Byberry, engaged in the business of coach-making, invented in 1848 a now method of producing artificial light, and became an extensive manufacturer of lamps. Before the Civil War he was connected with various militia organizations. He entered the U. S. service on 17 June, 1801, as colonel of the 3d Regiment of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, and succeeded General George G. Meade in the command of the brigade. He commanded a brigade in General George Crook's Kanawha Valley Expedition of 1864, and afterward one in the 5th Army Corps till the close of the war. He participated in the principal battles of the Army of the Potomac, lost his left elbow-joint, besides receiving two other wounds in the service, and was brevetted brigadier-general on 21 October, 1864, and major-general on 13 March, 1865. He was health officer of the port of Philadelphia in 1865-'9, in 1869-71 collector of internal revenue, and in 1871-'84 U. S. pension-agent. He has been an officer in banking and railroad corporations, was for eight years a member of the Philadelphia School Board, and since 1881 has been president of the Board of Health of Philadelphia. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp 522-523.
SICKLES, Daniel Edgar, soldier, born in New York City, 20 October, 1823. He was educated at the University of the City of New York, but left to learn the printer's trade, which he followed for several years. He then studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1844, and began practice in New York City. In 1847 he was elected to the legislature, in which body he took rank as a leader of the Democrats. In 1853 he was appointed corporation counsel of New York City, and on 30 July of the same year he was commissioned as secretary of legation at London, and accompanied James Buchanan to England. He returned in 1855, was elected, after an energetic canvass, to the state senate in the autumn, and a year later was chosen a member of Congress, taking his seat on 7 December, 1857. Discovering a guilty intimacy between his wife, who was the daughter of Antonio Bagioli, and Philip Barton Key, U. S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, he shot the latter in the street on 27 February, 1859. He was indicted for murder, and after a trial of twenty days was acquitted. He had been elected for a second term in 1858, and served till 3 March, 1861. At the beginning of the Civil War he raised the Excelsior Brigade of U. S. volunteers in New York City, and was commissioned by the president as colonel of one of the five regiments. On 3 September, 1861, the president nominated him brigadier-general of volunteers. The Senate rejected his name in March, 1862, but confirmed a second nomination. He commanded a brigade under General Joseph Hooker, and gained distinction at Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, and Malvern Hill. His brigade saw severe service in the seven days' fight before Richmond and in the Maryland Campaign, and bore a conspicuous part at Antietam. He succeeded General Hooker in the command of the division, and was engaged at Fredericksburg. On the reorganization of the Army of the Potomac he was assigned to the command of the 3d Army Corps, and was appointed major-general on 7 March, 1863, his commission dating from 29 November, 1862. At Chancellorsville he displayed gallantry and energy, gaining the first success of the day by cutting off an ammunition-train of the enemy, arresting a general panic by rallying the retreating artillery, and withstanding the force of Stonewall Jackson's attack with determination after the line was formed. At Gettysburg his corps was posted between Cemetery hill and Little Round Top. He advanced to an elevation which he thought desirable to hold, and in this position was assailed by General James Longstreet's column, while General John B. Hood endeavored to gain the unoccupied slope of Little Round Top. In the desperate struggle that followed, the 3d Corps effectively aided in preserving that important position from the enemy, but was shattered bv the onset of overwhelming numbers. After the line was broken. General Ambrose P. Hill followed the Confederate advantage with an attack on Sickles's right, during which General Sickles lost a leg. He continued in active service till in the beginning of 1865, and was then sent on a confidential mission to Colombia and other South American countries. On 28 July, 1866, he joined the regular army as colonel of the 42d Infantry. On 2 March, 1867, he was brevetted brigadier-general for bravery at Fredericksburg, and major-general for gallant and meritorious service at Gettysburg. He commanded the Military District of the Carolinas in 1865-'7, and carried out the work of reconstruction so energetically that President Johnson relieved him from his command, after first offering him the mission to the Netherlands, which he declined. He was mustered out of the volunteer service on 1 January, 1868, and on 14 April, 1869, was placed on the retired list of the U. S. Army with the full rank of major-general. He was active in promoting the candidacy of General Ulysses S. Grant for the presidency, and on 15 May, 1869, was appointed minister to Spain. He relinquished this post on 20 March, 1873, and resumed his residence in New York City. He is president of the New York State Board of Civil Service Commissioners, and likewise of the Board of Commissioners for the Erection of New York Monuments at Gettysburg. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 523.
SIDELL, William Henry, soldier, born in New York City, 21 August, 1810; died there, 30 June, 1873. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1833, and assigned to the artillery, but resigned in order to follow the profession of civil engineering, he was successively city surveyor of New York, assistant engineer of the Croton Aqueduct, and division engineer of railroads in Massachusetts and New York. In the construction of the Panama Railroad he acted as chief engineer. He was employed by the U. S. government on surveys of the delta of Mississippi River. In 1849-'55 he was chief engineer of the railroad between Quincy and Galesburg, Illinois. He was appointed in 1859 chief engineer of the projected Tehuantepec Railroad, and had completed the surveys when the political troubles in the United States caused the abandonment of the enterprise. He volunteered at the beginning of the Civil War, but before he received an appointment he was restored to the regular army on its enlargement, with the rank of major, 14 May, 1861. He mustered and organized recruits in Louisville, Kentucky, and Nashville, Tennessee, was also disbursing officer, and planned a system by which more than 200,000 soldiers were mustered in, and at the end of their terms of service disbanded, without errors or delays. From May, 1863, till the close of the war he was acting assistant provost-marshal for Kentucky. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel of the 10th Infantry on 6 May, 1864, and received the brevets of colonel and brigadier-general on 30 March, 1865, and on 15 December, 1870, was retired from service, in consequence of a paralytic attack. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 523.
SIGEL, Franz, soldier, born in Sinsheim, Baden, 18 November, 1824. After completing his studies at the gymnasium of Bruchsal, he entered the military school at Carlsruhe, and was graduated in 1843. While a lieutenant, stationed at Mannheim, he assailed the standing army in public writings, and thus became involved in quarrels with his brother officers. Toward the close of 1847, after a duel that terminated fatally for his antagonist, he resigned. When the Baden revolution began, in February, 1848, he raised a corps of volunteers, organized the Lake District at Constance, led a body of more than 4,000 volunteers against Freiburg, and was beaten in two encounters with the royal troops. He escaped across the French border, 28 April, and made his way into Switzerland. The insurrection of May, 1849, recalled him to Baden. He was made commandant of the Lake and Upper Rhine District, then placed in charge of the army of the Neckar, met the royal forces at Heppenheim on 30 May, became minister of war, and finally succeeded to the chief command of the troops. He fought in several battles under General Louis Mieroslawski, whom he succeeded, conducted the army of 15,000 men in retreat through three hostile army corps, and crossed the Rhine with the remnant into Switzerland on 11 July. While residing at Lugano he was arrested by the Federal authorities in the spring of 1851 and delivered over to the French Police, who conducted him to Havre with the intention of placing him on a ship bound for the United States. He, however, went to England, lived in London and Brighton, and in May, 1852, sailed for New York. After his marriage to a daughter of Rudolf Dulon, he taught in the latter's school, at the same time translating manuals of arms into German, and conducting- “Die Revue," a military magazine, till 1858, when he was called to St. Louis, Missouri, as teacher of mathematics and history in the German Institute. He was elected a director of the public schools of that city, edited a military journal, and during the secession crisis defended northern principles in newspaper articles. At the beginning of the Civil War he organized a regiment of infantry and a battery, which rendered efficient service at the occupation of the arsenal and the capture of Camp Jackson. In June, 1861, he was sent with his regiment and two batteries to Rolla, whence he marched to Neosho, compelled the retreat of General Sterling Price into Arkansas, then turned northward in order to confront Claiborne Jackson, at Carthage sustained a long conflict on the open prairie with a force much greater than his own, and finally retreated in good order, with constant fighting, to Springfield and Mt. Vernon. He took part in the fight at Dug Springs, and after the battle of Wilson's Creek conducted the retreat of the army from Springfield toward Rolla, He was commissioned as brigadier-general, to date from 17 May, 1861. In the autumn campaign of General John C. Fremont he had command of the advance-guard, and in the retreat from Springfield he commanded the rear-guard, consisting of two divisions. He took command of the right wing of the troops assembled under General Samuel R. Curtis at Rolla, and gained the battle of Pea Ridge by a well-timed assault. He was thereupon made a major-general, dating from 21 March, 1862, and was ordered to the east and placed in command of the troops at Harper's Ferry. He cooperated in the movement against General Thomas J. Jackson at Winchester. When General John Pope was placed in command of the newly created army of Virginia, Sigel, in command of the 1st Corps, took part in the engagements beginning with Cedar Creek and ending with Bull Run, where he commanded the right wing, and won in the first day's fight a decided advantage over Jackson. After the battle he covered the retreat to Centreville. His corps held the advanced position at Fairfax Court House and Centreville. He commanded the 4th Grand Reserve Division until that organization was abolished, when he resumed command of the 11th Corps, took leave of absence on account of failing health, and was superseded by General Oliver O. Howard. In June, 1863, he took command of the reserve army of Pennsylvania, and organized a corps of 10,000 men to aid in repelling Lee's invasion. In February, 1864, President Lincoln appointed him to the command of the Department and the Army of West Virginia. He fitted out an expedition that operated under General George Crook in the Kanawha Valley, and led a smaller one of 7,000 men through the Shenandoah Valley against Lynchburg and Staunton, but was defeated by General John C. Breckinridge at New Market. He was thereupon relieved, and in June, 1864, put in command of the division guarding Harper's Ferry. He repelled the attack of General Jubal A. Early on Maryland Heights, but was relieved of his command soon afterward, and retired to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to recruit his health. He resigned his commission on 4 May, 1865, and became editor of the Baltimore "Wecker." In September, 1867, he moved to New York City. In 1869 he was the Republican candidate for Secretary of State in New York. He was appointed collector of internal revenue in May, 1871, and in October was elected register of the city of New York. After his three years' term expired he lectured, and edited a weekly paper. Since 1876 he has been an adherent of the Democratic Party, and in 1886 he was appointed pension-agent in New York City. He contributed a memoir of his part in the German revolution to Friedrich Hecker's " Erhebung des Volkes in Baden fur die deutsche Republic " (Basel, 1848), and while in Switzerland published a republican brochure entitled "Furstenstaat und Volkstaat" (St. Gall, 1848), the circulation of which was forbidden in Germany, and the author was sentenced in contumaciam to four years' imprisonment.—His brother, Albert, soldier, born in Sinsheim, Baden, 13 November, 1827; died in St. Louis, Missouri, 15 March, 1884, was graduated at the Military Academy at Carlsruhe in 1845, and served as an officer in the grand-ducal army. He was sentenced to a year's confinement in the fortress of Kislau for his sympathy with the revolutionary movement, but was liberated in time to take part in the general uprising of the army and people in 1849 in command of a regiment of volunteers. He emigrated to England, and in 1852 came to the United States. Joining the 2d New Jersey Volunteers at the beginning of the Civil War, he was elected captain. After taking part in the battle of Bull Run, he assisted in organizing a New York regiment, and afterward organized and commanded a regiment of Missouri cavalry militia, and was stationed for some time at Waynesville, Missouri, in command of a brigade. He was made U. S. land recorder after the war, and was appointed adjutant-general of Missouri by Governor Gratz Brown. He was connected with the press as editorial writer and correspondent, and published a volume of German poems (St. Louis, 1863; enlarged ed., 1885). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p.524-525.
SIGOURNEY, Lydia Huntley, 1791-1865, Hartford, Connecticut, author. Outspoken supporter of colonization and supporter of the American Colonization Society. Leader of Hartford Female African Society. (Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 525; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 1, p. 155; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, p. 127)
SIGOURNEY, Lydia Huntley, author, born in Norwich, Connecticut, 1 September, 1791; died in Hartford, Connecticut, 10 June, 1865. She was the daughter of Ezekiel Huntley, a soldier of the Revolution. She read at the age of three, and at seven wrote simple verses. After receiving a superior education at Norwich and Hartford, she taught for five years a select class of young ladies in the latter city. In 1815, at the suggestion and under the patronage of Daniel Wadsworth, she published her first volume, “Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse.” In 1819 she became the wife of Charles Sigourney, a Hartford merchant of literary and artistic tastes. Without neglecting her domestic duties, she thenceforth devoted her leisure to literature, at first to gratify her own inclinations and subsequently, after her husband had lost the greater part of his fortune, to add to her income. She soon attained a reputation that secured for her books a ready sale. In her posthumous “Letters of Life” (1866) she enumerates forty-six distinct works, wholly or partially from her pen, besides more than 2,000 articles in prose and verse that she had contributed to nearly 300 periodicals. Several of her books also attained a wide circulation in England, and they were also much read on the continent. She received from the queen of the French a handsome diamond bracelet as a token of that sovereign's esteem. Her poetry is not of the highest order. It portrays in graceful and often felicitous language the emotions and sympathies of the heart, rather than the higher conceptions of the intellect. Her prose is graceful and elegant, and is modelled to a great extent on that of Addison and the Aikins, who, in her youth, were regarded as the standards of polite literature. All her writings were penned in the interest of a pure morality, and many of them were decidedly religious. Perhaps no American writer has been more frequently called upon for gratuitous occasional poems of all kinds. To these requests she generally acceded, and often greatly to her own inconvenience. But it was not only through her literary labors that Mrs. Sigourney became known. Her whole life was one of active and earnest philanthropy. The poor, the sick, the deaf-mute, the blind, the idiot, the slave, and the convict were the objects of her constant care and benefaction. Her pensioners were numerous, and not one of them was ever forgotten. During her early married life, she economized in her own wardrobe and personal luxuries that she might be able to relieve the needy, while later in her career she saved all that was not absolutely needed for home comforts and expenses for the same purpose. Her character and worth were highly appreciated in the city that for more than fifty years was her home. She never left it after her marriage, except when in 1840 she visited Europe, a record of which journey she published in “Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands” (Boston, 1842). During her residence abroad two volumes of her poems were issued in London. Besides the foregoing and an edition of poetical selections from her writings, illustrated by Felix O. C. Darley (Philadelphia, 1848), her books include “Traits of the Aborigines of America,” a poem (Hartford, 1822); “Sketch of Connecticut Forty Years Since” (1824); “Letters to Young Ladies” (New York, 1833; 20th ed., 1853; at least five London eds.); “Letters to Mothers” (1838; several London eds.); “Pocahontas, and other Poems” (1841); “Scenes in My Native Land” (Boston, 1844); “Voice of Flowers” (Hartford, 1845); “Weeping Willow” (1846); “Water-Drops,” a plea for temperance (New York, 1847); “Whisper to a Bride” (Hartford, 1849); “Letters to My Pupils” (New York, 1850); “Olive Leaves” (1851; London, 1853); “The Faded Hope,” a memorial of her only son, who died at the age of nineteen (1852); “Past Meridian” (1854); “Lucy Howard's Journal” (1857); “The Daily Counsellor,” a volume of poetry (Hartford, 1858); “Gleanings,” from her poetical writings (1860); and “The Man of Uz, and other Poems” (1862). Appletons’ Cylocpædia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 525
SILL, Joshua Woodrow, soldier, born in Chillicothe, Ohio, 6 December, 1831; died near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, 31 December, 1862. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1853, assigned to the ordnance, and, after being on duty at Watervliet Arsenal, returned to the academy, where he was assistant professor of geography, history, and ethics from 23 September, 1854, till 29 August, 1857. He was promoted 2d lieutenant in 1854, and 1st lieutenant in 1856. He was engaged in routine duty at various arsenals and ordnance depots until 25 January, 1861, when he resigned to accept the professorship of mathematics and civil engineering in the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute. At the beginning of the Civil War in April he at once offered his services to the governor of Ohio, and was commissioned assistant adjutant-general of that state. On 27 August he was commissioned colonel of the 33d Ohio Volunteers, after taking part in the battle of Rich Mountain on 11 July. From September, 1861, till September, 1862, he participated in the operations in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama, after 30 November, 1861, being in command of a brigade. On 16 July, 1862, he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, and in the following autumn and winter he took part in the battle of Perryville, the pursuit of General Braxton Bragg's army, and the Tennessee Campaign of the Army of the Cumberland. He was killed at the battle of Stone River while endeavoring to rally his men. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 527.
SILLIMAN, Benjamin, 1779-1864, Connecticut, educator, scientist, opponent of slavery. Member and active supporter of the Connecticut Society of the American Colonization Society. Supported Kansas Free State movement. (Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 528-529; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 1, p 160.; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, p. 126)
SILLIMAN, Benjamin, scientist, born in North Stratford (now Trumbull), Connecticut, 8 August, 1779; died in New Haven, Connecticut, 24 November, 1864, was graduated at Yale in 1796, and, after spending a year at home, taught at Wethersfield, Connecticut. In 1798 be returned to New Haven, where he began the study of law with Simeon Baldwin, and in 1799 was appointed tutor at Yale, which place he held until he was admitted to the bar in 1802. Natural science was at that time beginning to attract the attention of educators, and, at the solicitation of President Dwight, he abandoned the profession of law and devoted himself to science. In September, 1802, he was chosen professor of chemistry and natural history at Yale, with permission to qualify himself for teaching these branches. Procuring a list of books from Professor John MacLean (q. v.), of Princeton, he proceeded to Philadelphia, where, during two winters, he studied chemistry under Professor James Woodhouse, then professor of chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania. In 1804 he delivered a partial course of lectures on chemistry, and during the following year he gave a complete course. He went abroad in March, 1805, to procure scientific books and apparatus, and spent about a year in study in Edinburgh and London, also visiting the continent and making the acquaintance of distinguished men of science. On his return he devoted himself to the duties of his chair, which included chemistry, mineralogy, and geology, until 1853, when he was made professor emeritus, but, at the special request of his colleagues, continued his lectures on geology until 1855, when he was succeeded by his son-in-law, James D. Dana. While in Edinburgh he became interested in the discussions, then at their height, between the Wernerians and Huttonians, and attended lectures on geology; and on his return he began a study of the mineral structure of the vicinity of New Haven. About 1808 he persuaded the corporation of Yale to purchase the cabinet of minerals of Benjamin D. Perkins, and a few years later he secured the loan of the magnificent collection of George Gibbs (q. v.), which in 1825 became the property of the college. His scientific work, which was extensive, began with the examination in 1807 of the meteor that fell near Weston, Connecticut. He procured fragments, of which he made a chemical analysis, and he wrote the earliest and best authenticated account of the fall of a meteor in America. In 1811 he began an extended course of experiments with the oxy-hydric or compound blow-pipe that was invented by Robert Hare, and he succeeded in melting many of the most refractory minerals, notably those containing alkalies and alkaline earths, the greater part of which had never been reduced before. After Sir Humphry Davy's discovery of the metallic bases of the alkalies, Professor Silliman repeated the experiments and obtained for the first time in this country the metals sodium and potassium. In 1822, while engaged in a series of observations on the action of a powerful voltaic battery that he had made, similar to Dr. Hare's “deflagrator,” he noticed that the charcoal points of the negative pole increased in size toward the positive pole, and, on further examination, he found that there was a corresponding cavity on the point of the latter. He inferred, therefore, that an actual transfer of the matter of the charcoal points from one to another took place, and, on careful examination, he found that the charcoal had been fused. This fact of the fusion of the carbon in the voltaic arc was long disputed in Europe, but is now universally accepted. In 1830 he explored Wyoming valley and its coal-formations, examining about one hundred mines and localities of mines; in 1832-'3 he was engaged under a commission from the Secretary of the Treasury in a scientific examination on the subject of the culture and manufacture of sugar, and in 1836 he made a tour of investigation among the gold-mines of Virginia, His popular lectures began in 1808 in New Haven, where he delivered a course in chemistry. He delivered his first course in Hartford in 1834, and in Lowell, Massachusetts, in the autumn of that year. During the years that followed he lectured in Salem, Boston, New York, Baltimore, Washington, St. Louis, New Orleans, and elsewhere in the United States. In 1838 he opened the Lowell Institute in Boston with a course of lectures on geology, and in the three following years he lectured there on chemistry. This series was without doubt the most brilliant of the kind was ever delivered in this country, and its influence in developing an interest in the growing science was very great. Many of the present leaders in science trace their first inspiration to these popular expositions of Professor Silliman. Through his influence in 1830 the historical paintings of Colonel John Trumbull, and the building in which they were formerly deposited (now the college treasury), were procured for Yale. He opposed slavery in all its forms. Among the various colonies sent out from the eastern states during the Kansas troubles was one that was organized in New Haven, and, at a meeting held prior to its departure in April, 1856, the discovery was made that the party was unprovided with rifles. A subscription was proposed at once, and Professor Silliman spoke in favor of it. This insignificant action was soon noised abroad, and, owing to the strong feeling between the partisans of slavery and those opposed to it, the matter was discussed in the U. S. Senate. During the Civil War he was a firm supporter of President Lincoln, and exerted his influence toward the abolition of slavery. The degree of M. D. was conferred on him by Bowdoin in 1818, and that of LL. D. by Middlebury in 1826. Professor Silliman was chosen first president in 1840 of the American Association of geologists and naturalists, which has since grown into the American Association for the advancement of science, and he was one of the corporate members the named by Congress in the formation of the National Academy of Sciences in 1863. Besides his connection with other societies in this country and abroad, he was corresponding member of the Geological societies of Great Britain and France. In 1818 he founded the “American Journal of Science,” which he conducted as sole editor until 1838, and as senior editor until 1846, when he transferred the journal to his son and to James D. Dana. This journal is now the oldest scientific paper in the United States. Professor Silliman edited three editions of William Henry's “Elements of Chemistry” (Boston, 1808-'14), also three editions of Robert Bakewell's “Introduction to Geology” (New Haven, 1829, 1833, and 1839), and was the author of “Journals of Travels in England, Holland, and Scotland” (New York, 1810); “A Short Tour between Hartford and Quebec in the Autumn of 1819” (1820); “Elements of Chemistry in the Order of Lectures given in Yale College” (2 vols., New Haven, 1830-'1); “Consistency of Discoveries of Modern Geology with the Sacred History of the Creation and Deluge” (London, 1837); and “Narrative of a Visit to Europe in 1851” (2 vols., 1853). He was called by Edward Everett the “Nestor of American Science.” Professor Silliman was married twice. His first wife was Harriet Trumbull, the daughter of the second Governor Jonathan Trumbull. One of his daughters married Professor Oliver P. Hubbard, and another Professor James D. Dana. A bronze statue of Professor Silliman was erected on the Yale grounds in front of Farnam College in 1884. See “Life of Benjamin Silliman,” by George P. Fisher (2 vols., New York, 1866). Appletons’ Cylocpædia of American Biography, 1888, V Vol. V, pp. 528-529
SIMMONS, Anthony, New York, abolitionist, American Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1841-1841.
SILLIMAN, Benjamin Douglas, lawyer, born in Newport, Rhode Island, 14 September, 1805, was graduated at Yale in 1824, and then studied law with James Kent and his son, William Kent, until 1829, when he was admitted to the bar. He opened an office in New York during that year, and has since been steadily engaged in the practice of his profession in that city, with his residence in Brooklyn. He has often served as a delegate from Kings County to National and state conventions of the Whig and Republican Parties, including the one at Harrisburg in 1839, at which William Henry Harrison was nominated for the presidency. He was elected to the legislature in 1838, and was nominated by the Whigs for Congress in 1843, but failed of election, although he led the ticket of his party at the polls. In 1852 he received, but declined, the Whig nomination for the state senate. During the Civil War he was an earnest, supporter of the government, and in March, 1865, he was appointed by President Lincoln U. S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. He held this office until September, 1866, and during that time argued in behalf of the government important questions that grew out of the Civil War. In 1872 he was a member of the commission for revising the constitution of the state, and, as a chairman of one committee and a member of others, took an active part in the proceedings of that body. He was nominated in 1873 by the Republican Party as their candidate for the office of attorney-general of New York, but failed of election. The degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by Columbia in 1873, and by Yale in 1874. During his career in the state legislature he introduced the charter of Greenwood Cemetery, and he is a trustee of that corporation. He has long been connected with the Long Island Historical Society, of which he is a director, and for more than twenty years he has been president of the Brooklyn Club. Silliman was president of the New England Society of Brooklyn from its beginning until 1876, when he declined a re-election, and is president of the Yale Alumni Association of Long Island. He was one of the founders of the New York Bar Association, one of its vice-presidents, and a trustee of various charitable and benevolent associations. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 529-530.
SILLIMAN, Justus Mitchell, mining engineer, born in New Canaan, Connecticut, 25 January, 1842,[died 15 April, 1896]. He studied at New Canaan Academy, enlisted at the beginning of the Civil War, and served for three years, being wounded at Gettysburg. At the close of the war he settled in Troy, New York, where he taught in an academy, and was graduated at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1870 with the degree of M.E. In September of that year he was called to the charge of the department of mining engineering and graphics in Lafayette College, which place he still (1888) holds. Professor Silliman has invented an instrument for orthographic, clinographic, and crystallographic projection, also a water manometer and anemometer. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and has been president of the Lehigh Valley Microscopical Society. His special work has included various investigations, of which his examination of the Bessemer flame with colored glasses and the spectroscope is the best known. Professor Silliman's writings have been confined to professional papers that have been published in the transactions of societies of which he is a member. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 530.
SILVA, Francis Augustus, artist, born in New York City, 4 October, 1835; died there, 31 March, 1886. He worked as a sign-painter until the opening of the Civil War, when he entered the National Army. At the close of the war he settled in New York and devoted himself to the painting of marine subjects. He was elected a member of the Watercolor Society in 1872. Among his works are “Gray Day at Cape Ann”; “Sunrise in Boston Harbor”; “New London Light”; “September Day on the Coast” (1879): “Old Town by the Sea" (1880); “Old Connecticut Port” (1882); “Passing Showers” (1885); and “Near Atlantic City” (1886). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 530.
SILVER, Thomas, inventor, born in Greenwich, Cumberland County, New Jersey, 17 June, 1813; died in New York City, 12 April, 1888. His parents were Quakers. As a boy he displayed unusual mechanical skill, and when he was only nine years old his toy boat, with hidden propeller-wheel and other ingenious devices, was the wonder of the village in which he lived. He was educated in Greenwich and Woodstown, New Jersey, and in Philadelphia, and became a civil engineer, but continued to devote much time to the perfection of numerous contrivances for lightening human toil and increasing the safety of travellers. Among the patents, upward of fifty in number, granted him, were those for a grain-dryer, a fuel-saving heat-chamber, a gas-consumer, a tension-regulator, a machine for paying out submarine cables, a machinery lubricator, a rotary ascending-railway, and clock work for mechanical lamps. Models of some of these are at the patent-office, Washington, D. C, the South Kensington Museum, London, and the Paris Conservatoire des Arts. The loss of the steamer "San Francisco," bound to California with troops in 1854, suggested his best-known invention. That vessel was wrecked through her engines becoming disabled in a severe storm, and, to meet such emergencies, Mr. Silver devised his "marine governor," which was adopted by the French Navy in 1855. It is also applied to many stationary engines, notably to those in the press-rooms of the great dailies in large cities. It was adopted by the British Admiralty in 1864, and the example has been followed by the navies of all the chief powers, except the United States. Mr. Silver perfected a plan of channel transit for the carrying of coal by car direct from Wales to France, in which Napoleon III. was interested, but it was lost to that country by the surrender at Sedan. Mr. Silver was made a member of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia in 1855. He received the James Watt Medal from the Royal Polytechnic Society of London, and one from Napoleon III. for his " regulateur marine." He published "A Trip to the North Pole, or the Theory of the Origin of Icebergs" (New York, 1887). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 531.
SIMMONS, Franklin, sculptor, born in Webster, Maine, 11 January, 1842. His boyhood was spent in Bath and Lewiston, and his love for sculpture was early developed. Having a facility for portraiture, he made his first attempts in that line. During the last two years of the Civil War he was in Washington, where the members of the cabinet and officers of the army and navy sat to him for life size medallions. They were cast in bronze, and most of them were purchased by the Union League of Philadelphia. In 1868 he went to Rome, Italy, where he has since resided. He visited his native land in 1888. His more important works are the statues of Roger Williams, in Washington and Providence; William King, for the state of Maine; Oliver P. Morton, in Indianapolis; Henry W. Longfellow (1887), in Portland; "Medusa" (1882); "Jochebed with the Infant Moses"; "Grief and History," the group that surmounts the naval monument at Washington; "Galatea" (1884); "Penelope"; "Miriam"; "Washington at Valley Forge"; and " The Seraph Abdiel," from "Paradise Lost " (1886). Among his portrait busts are those of Abraham Lincoln, William T. Sherman, David D. Porter, James G. Blaine, Francis Wayland, and Ulysses S. Grant (1886). The honorary degree of A. M. was conferred on him by Bates College and also by Colby University. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p.532.
SIMMONS, George Frederick, 1814-1855, Unitarian clergyman, active opponent of slavery Appletons’, 1888, Vol. V, p. 532.
SIMMONS, George Frederick, clergyman, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 24 March, 1814; died in Concord, Massachusetts, 5 September, 1855. He was graduated at Harvard in 1832, and, after being employed as a private tutor, prepared for the ministry at Cambridge divinity-school, where he completed his course in 1838. He was ordained the same year as an evangelist of the Unitarian denomination, and at once went to Mobile, Alabama, where he began his ministry. Owing to his decided opposition to slavery, he remained there only until 1840, when he was obliged to fly for his life, and barely escaped the fury of a mob. In November, 1841, he was ordained pastor of the Unitarian Church at Waltham, Massachusetts. Meantime he had become deeply interested in certain theological questions which he felt he could not solve while engaged in pastoral work, and so resigned in the spring of 1843 and sailed for Europe, where he remained until October, 1845, spending most of the time at the University of Berlin, and being brought much in contact with the German historian, Neander. In February, 1848, he was called to Springfield, Massachusetts, as the successor of Dr. William B. O. Peabody. Here, while he was greatly admired by part of his congregation, others regarded him with less favor, and in 1851 he was compelled to resign, after preaching two sermons on a riotous assault that had been made in the town on George Thompson, the English anti-slavery apostle. In January, 1854, he was installed pastor of a church at Albany, New York, but in the summer of 1855 he was attacked by typhus fever, from the effects of which he never rallied. Mr. Simmons was distinguished by an acutely philosophical mind, a strong sense of right, and a thoughtful and reverent spirit. “I knew him well,” said his classmate, Samuel Osgood, “loved him much, and respected him even more.” He was retiring in his habits, and his somewhat unsocial nature was no doubt an obstacle in the way of his exercising a proper influence on his flock. He published “Who was Jesus Christ?” a tract (Boston, 1839); “Two Sermons on the Kind Treatment and on the Emancipation of Slaves, preached at Mobile, with a Prefatory Statement” (1840); “A Letter to the So-Called ‘Boston Churches’” (1846); “The Trinity,” a lecture (1849); “Public Spirit and Mobs,” two sermons delivered at Springfield on the Sunday after the Thompson riot (1851); and “Faith in Christ the Condition of Salvation” (1854). Six of his sermons were published in one volume soon after his death (Boston, 1855). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 532.
SIMS, James, New York, abolitionist leader (Sorin, 1971)
SINGLETON, Benjamin “Pap,” 1809-1900, African American, escaped slave, abolitionist, businessman, community leader. Active in the Underground Railroad. Singleton organized migration of Black colonists, called “Exodusters,” to found settlements in Kansas in 1879-1880. (Entz, Gary R. “Benjamin ‘Pap’ Singleton: Father of the Kansas Exodus.” In Portraits of African-American Life Since 1865, ed. By Nina Mjagkij. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 2003. Entz, Gary R. “Image and Reality on the Kansas Prairie: ‘Pap’ Singleton’s Cherokee County Colony.” Kansas History, 19 (summer 1996): 124-139.
SISSON, Joseph, Jr., Pawtucket, Rhode Island, abolitionist, American Anti-Slavery Society, Manager, 1840-1842, 1846-1847.
SLOAN, Ithamar C., Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Congressional Globe)
SIMMONS, James Fowler, senator, born in Little Compton, Newport County, Rhode Island, 10 September, 1795; died in Johnson, Rhode Island, 10 July, 1864. He received a good English education, and was first a farmer, and subsequently a manufacturer. He was a member of the state house of representatives from 1828 till 1841, when he was chosen to the U. S. Senate, and served from 31 May of the latter year till 3 March, 1847. Ten years later he was again elected to the Senate as a Whig for the full term from 4 March, 1857, but he resigned in 1862. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 533.
SIMONS, Thomas Young, lawyer, born in Charleston, S. C., 1 October. 1828; died there, 30 April, 1878. He was graduated at Yale in 1847, and two years later began to practise law in his native city. In 1854-'60 he was a member of the legislature, and in the latter year a presidential elector. He was also a member of the convention that passed the Ordinance of Secession in December, 1860, and in the Civil War be served as captain of the 27th South Carolina Regiment, and later as judge-advocate. He was sent to the National Democratic Conventions of 1860, 1868, and 1872, and was a member of the executive committee of his parry from the latter year till 1876. Besides his other labors, he was editor of the Charleston "Courier" in 1805-'73. In the tax-payers' conventions of 1871 and 1874 he was an active member, and his later years were identified with the efforts to procure local self-government and the creation of a Union Reform Party in South Carolina. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 535-536.
SIMONSON, John Smith, soldier, born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, 2 June, 1796; died in New Albany, Indiana, 5 December, 1881. His father, Adam Smith Simonson, was a well-known physician of western Pennsylvania. When but seventeen years old he enlisted in the New York volunteers and served as sergeant through the campaign on the Niagara frontier, receiving an honorable discharge in November, 1814. Three years later he settled in Charlestown, Indiana. He was a member of the state senate in 1828–30, and in 1841–’6 of the lower house, serving as speaker during the last year. In 1846 he was appointed captain of U.S. Mounted Rifles, and served through the Mexican War under General Scott, engaging in the capture of Vera Cruz and the battles that followed. He was brevetted major in 1847 for gallant service at Chapultepec, where he commanded his regiment after the fall of its colonel, and he also took a creditable part in the attack on the Belen gate. The succeeding years were spent on duty in Texas, and New Mexico, commanding expeditions against the Indians and in making explorations. In May, 1861, he was promoted colonel of the 3d U.S. Cavalry, and he was retired in the following September. At the opening of the Civil War he was made superintendent of the volunteer recruiting service at Indianapolis, Indiana, and he continued on active military duty till 1869. In 1865, on the recommendation of General Grant, he was brevetted brigadier-general, U. S. army, for long and faithful service. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 536.
SIMONTON, James William, journalist, born in Columbia County, New York, 30 January, 1823; died in Napa, California, 2 November, 1882. He went as a lad to New York City, and was educated at the public schools there. At twenty years of age he was engaged as local reporter on the “Courier and Enquirer.” Within a year or two he was sent, with Henry J. Raymond, to Washington as congressional correspondent, and he continued as such until 1850, winning, by his ability and conscientiousness, the confidence and esteem of Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, Thomas H. Benton, and other statesmen. In the autumn of 1851, when the New York “Times” was founded, he was one of the original proprietors with George Jones, Henry J. Raymond, and others, and soon went to Washington again as its correspondent, as well as the correspondent of New Orleans, San Francisco, and Detroit journals. His letters, entitled “The History of Legislation,” were really a record of the times, and drew wide attention. He became part owner in 1859 of the “Evening Bulletin” in San Francisco, where he lived for years, and subsequently of the “Morning Call,” of the same city, retaining his interest throughout life. Having returned to New York, he was chosen in 1867 general agent of the associated press there, and discharged the duties of the office for fourteen years when he resigned on account of delicate health. He then retired to his California vineyard, and died there suddenly of heart disease. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 536.
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SIMPSON, Edward, naval officer, born in New York City, 3 March, 1824. He entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman, 11 February, 1840, was in the first class that was attached to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1845–6, and was graduated at Annapolis in the latter year. During the Mexican War he was attached to the steamer “Vixen,” in which he participated in various engagements, including the bombardment and capture of Vera Cruz. He served on the U.S. Coast Survey, 1848-'50, in the brig "Washington" and steamers "Vixen " and "Legare." In 1850-'3 he cruised in the frigate "Congress" on the Brazil Station, as acting master, and in 1853-'4 he was attached to the Naval Academy as assistant instructor in naval gunnery and infantry tactics. He was promoted to master, 10 July, 1854, and to lieutenant, 18 April, 1855, and served in the sloop "Portsmouth" in the East India Squadron, 1856-'8, participating in the capture of the Barrier Forts near Canton, China. He went to the Naval Academy upon his return, and was in charge of the department of naval gunnery in 1858-62, and commandant of midshipmen in 1862-'3. He was commissioned lieutenant-commander, 16 July, 1862, and in the monitor " Passaic," off Charleston, in 1863-'4, participated in various engagements. He was commissioned commander, 3 March, 1865, and served as fleet-captain of the consolidated Gulf Squadron, being present at the fall of Mobile and receiving the surrender of the Confederate fleet on Tombigbee River. He was commissioned captain, 15 August, 1870, and went on a special naval mission to Europe in 1870-'2. He was in charge of the torpedo station at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1873-'5, was commandant of the New London Naval Station in 1878-'80, and of the Philadelphia League Island U.S. Navy-yard in 1880-'4. He was promoted to commodore, 26 April, 1878, and to rear-admiral, 9 February, 1884, and placed on the retired list, 3 March, 1886. Admiral Simpson was president of the U.S. naval Institute in 1886-'8, and is the senior member of the Naval Academy Graduates Association. He has devoted himself to the scientific development of the navy, especially in the science of gunnery and torpedoes. Besides articles in magazines on professional subjects, he has published "Ordnance and Naval Gunnery," which was the text-book at the Naval Academy until 1868 (New York, 1862); "The Naval Mission to Europe" (2 vols., Washington, 1873); and " Report of the Gun-Foundry Board " (1885). Several of his articles are republished in "Modern Ships of War" (New York, 1887). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 536-537.
SIMPSON, James Hervey, soldier, born in New Jersey, 9 March, 1813; died in St. Paul, Minnesota, 2 March, 1883. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1832, and assigned to the artillery. During the Florida War he was aide to General Abraham Eustis. He was made 1st lieutenant in the Corps of Topographical Engineers on 7 July, 1838, engaged in surveying the northern lakes and the western plains, was promoted captain on 3 March, 1853, served as chief Topographical Engineer with the army in Utah, and in 1859 explored a new route from Salt Lake City to the Pacific Coast, the reports of which he was busy in preparing till the beginning of the Civil War. He served as chief Topographical Engineer of the Department of the Shenandoah, was promoted major on 6 August, 1861, was made colonel of the 4th New Jersey Volunteers on 12 August, 1861, and took part in the Peninsular Campaign, being engaged at West Point and at Gaines's Mills, where he was taken prisoner. After his exchange in August, 1862, he resigned his volunteer commission in order to act as chief Topographical Engineer, and afterward as chief engineer of the Department of the Ohio, where he was employed in making and repairing railroads and erecting temporary fortifications. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel of engineers on 1 June, 1863, had general charge of fortifications in Kentucky from that time till the close of the war, was brevetted colonel and brigadier-general in March, 1865, and was chief engineer of the interior department, having charge of the inspection of the Union Pacific Railroad, till 1867. He afterward superintended defensive works at Key West, Mobile, and other places, surveys of rivers and harbors, the improvement of navigation in the Mississippi and other western rivers, and the construction of bridges at Little Rock, Arkansas, St. Louis, Missouri, Clinton, Iowa, and other places. General Simpson was the author of “Shortest Route to California across the Great Basin of Utah.” (Philadelphia, 1869), and “Essay on Coronado's March in Search of the Seven Cities of Cibola” (1869). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 538.
SIMPSON, Josiah, surgeon, born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, 27 February, 1815; died in Baltimore, Maryland, 3 March, 1874. He was graduated at Princeton in 1833, and in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1836. The following year, being made assistant surgeon, U.S. Army, he served through the Florida War, receiving honorable mention by General Zachary Taylor for his services at the battle of Okeechobee. He was also commended by General Winfield Scott and General William J. Worth, under whom he served in the Mexican War at Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Churubusco, and Chapultepec. In 1848–’55 he was attending surgeon with headquarters at New York, acting also as post-surgeon at Bedlow's Island. He was then promoted surgeon and was medical director of the Department of the Pacific till 1858, of the Middle Department in 1862–6, and of the Department of the Tennessee till 1867, when he was transferred to Baltimore. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 538.
SIMPSON, Marcus de Lafayette, soldier, born in Esperance, Schoharie County, New York, 28 August 1824. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1846, and, serving the same year in the war with Mexico, was brevetted 1st lieutenant in 1847 for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco, and captain for the battle of Chapultepec. From 1848 till 1861 he was quartermaster at various posts, and assistant in the office of the commissary-general, acting as chief commissary of the Department of the Pacific in 1859–61. During the Civil War he served in the commissary-general's office, and he was brevetted colonel, brigadier-general, and major-general on 13 March, 1865. In 1867-'73 he was chief commissary of subsistence of the Division of the Pacific, till 1879 of that of the Atlantic, and since 1879 he has held the same office in the Division of the Missouri, at Chicago. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 538.
SIMPSON, Matthew, M. E. bishop, born in Cadiz, Ohio, 20 June, 1811; died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 18 June, 1884.[…] His powers as an orator were displayed during the Civil War in a manner that commanded the admiration and gratitude of the people. President Lincoln regarded him as the greatest orator he ever heard, and at his funeral in Springfield Bishop Simpson officiated. He made many addresses in behalf of the Christian Commission, and delivered a series of lectures that had much to do with raising the spirit of the people. […] Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 538-539
SIMS, Clifford Stanley, author, born in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 17 February, 1839, was educated at the academy of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1860, but never practised. He served as acting assistant paymaster in the U.S. Navy in 1863, and was chosen lieutenant-colonel of the 4th Arkansas Infantry in 1864, but was taken prisoner before he could be mustered in. He was judge-advocate-general of Arkansas in 1864–'9, a delegate to the Arkansas Constitutional Convention in 1867-'8, a commissioner to digest the statutes of Arkansas in 1868, and a representative in the legislature in 1868–'9. For the next nine years he was U.S. consul for the District of Prescott, Canada. Mr. Sims has published “The Origin and Signification of Scottish Surnames, with a Vocabulary of Christian Names.” (Albany, 1862): “The Institution of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Jersey” (1866); and an edition of William Noye's “Maxims of the Laws of England,” with a memoir of the author (1870). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 540.
SIMS, Winfield Scott, inventor, born in New York City, 6 April. 1844. He was graduated at the Newark High-School in 1861, and served during the Civil War in the 37th New Jersey Regiment. Subsequently he turned his attention to the invention of electric apparatus, and devised various improvements in electro-magnets. In 1872 he constructed an electric motor to be used for light work. By means of this motor, weighing forty-five pounds and battery of twenty hall-gallon Bunsen cells, he was able to propel an open boat sixteen feet long, with six persons on board, at the rate of four miles an hour, Mr. Sims was the first to apply electricity for the propulsion and guidance of movable torpedoes for harbor and coast defence. His torpedo is a submarine boat, with a cylindrical hull of copper and conical ends, supplied with a screw propeller and rudder. The power is electricity generated by a dynamo-electric machine on shore or on ship-board, and by its means the torpedo is propelled, guided, and exploded. During 1879 this system was tested by General Henry L. Abbot, of the U. S. Engineer Corps, at Willett's point, and since that time the U. S. government has purchased ten of these boats having a speed of ten to eleven and a half miles an hour. These boats carry from 400 to 450 pounds of dynamite. Mr. Sims has now in course of construction a boat, to have a speed of eighteen miles an hour, which is to carry a 250-pound charge of dynamite. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 541-542.
SINCLAIR, Carrie Bell, poet, born in Milledgeville, Georgia, 22 May, 1839. Her father, Elijah, a nephew of Robert Fulton, was a Methodist clergyman who at the time of his death conducted a seminary for girls at Georgetown, South Carolina. The family moved to Augusta, Georgia, where she contributed poetry to the "Georgia Gazette." She published a volume of "Poems" (Augusta. 1860), and during the Civil War wrote lyrics commemorating incidents of the battle-field and praising the Confederate cause, some of which were set to music, while devoting herself to supplying the wants and alleviating the sufferings of southern soldiers in Savannah. After the war she made Philadelphia her residence, and wrote for periodicals. Her war-songs and other poetical productions were collected in " Heart Whispers, or Echoes of Song" (1872). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 542.
SINGER, Isaac Merritt. inventor, born in Oswego, New York, 27 October, 1811; died in Torquay, England, 23 July, 1875. He was a machinist, and devoted himself entirely to the study of improving sewing-machines. After years of close application he succeeded in completing a single-thread, chain-stitch machine, for which he received a patent. In the early part of his career he was assisted by Edward Clark, a wealthy lawyer, by whose aid he was enabled to establish a factory in New York. The Howe Sewing-Machine Company sued him for infringing on their patents, but the matter was finally compromised. He then had some difficulty with Mr. Clark, in consequence of which, while each retained an equal interest in the machine, its manufacture was placed in the hands of a company. Mr. Singer soon became wealthy, and, leaving this country, resided for some time in Paris, but later moved to England, where he lived in a curiously constructed house that he built in Torquay. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 542.
SITGREAVES, Lorenzo, soldier, born in Pennsylvania about 1811: died in Washington. D. C, 14 May, 1888. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1832, and was assigned to the artillery. He resigned to engage in civil engineering, but was reappointed in the army as 2d lieutenant of Topographical Engineers on 18 July, 1840, and was employed in surveys of the Sault Sainte Marie, Portsmouth Harbor, and the Florida Reefs. During the Mexican War he took part in the march through Chihuahua and in the battle of Buena Vista, where he gained the brevet of captain for gallantry. He was in charge in 1851 of the survey of Zuni and Colorado Rivers, New Mexico, of which a report was published (Washington, 1853). He mustered volunteers at Albany, New York, in 1861-'2, being promoted major on 6 August, 1861. He reached the grade of lieutenant-colonel of engineers on 22 April, 1864, and subsequently had charge of harbor improvements on Lake Michigan till 10 July, 1866, when he was retired. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 543.
SKILTON, Julius Augustus, physician, born in Troy, New York, 29 June, 1833. He was graduated at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1849, and at Albany Medical College in 1855, and began to practise in Troy in 1855. He was a member of the board of education in 1856, and city physician in 1857-'8. In 1861 he was made assistant surgeon of the 30th New York Regiment, and surgeon of the 87th New York in 1862. He was taken prisoner in the summer of that year, and was released in feeble health, but recovered sufficiently to become surgeon of the 14th New York Cavalry in 1863, served in New York City during the draft riots, and was medical director of cavalry department of the southwest in 1864–5. In 1869 he was appointed U.S. consul at the city of Mexico, and in 1872 he was promoted to be consul-general, holding the office until 1878. He received the degree of A. B. from Wesleyan University in 1853. Besides his annual reports he has published “Mining Districts of Parhuca, Real del Monte, El Chico, and Star Rosa, State of Hidalgo, Republic of Mexico.” Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 544.
SKINNER, Frederick Gustavus, born in Annapolis, Maryland, 11 March, 1814, at the age of twelve years was taken to La Grange by General Lafayette, and received his early education there. On returning to this country, he entered West Point. When General Lafayette died, Congress passed complimentary resolutions upon his life and services, and Mr. Skinner was selected by President Jackson to convey these resolutions to Lafayette's family. After remaining two years in France, as working attaché of the American legation, he made a tour of the continent, and enjoyed the widest possible range of field sports. At the opening of the Civil War he was given command of the 1st Virginia Infantry, and he was colonel of that regiment until disabled by wounds. After the war he went to Egypt, and, refusing a commission in the Egyptian Army, devoted his attention to the field sports of that country. Upon returning to his native land, he joined the staff of the "Turf, Field, and Farm," in New York, and, as field editor of that journal, was instrumental in bringing about the first field trial, the first bench-show of dogs, and the first international gun-trial that was ever held in the United States. He was at one time chief of the Agricultural Bureau of the U. S. Patent-Office, and published "Elements of Agricultural Chemistry, from the French " (Philadelphia. 1854). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 545.
SKINNER, Mark, born in Manchester, Vermont, 13 September, 1813; died there, 16 September, 1887, was graduated at Middlebury in 1833, and studied law at Saratoga Springs, Albany, and New Haven. He settled at Chicago in 1836, was elected city attorney in 1839, appointed U. S. District attorney for Illinois in 1844 and chosen to the legislature in 1846. He became judge of Cook County Court of Common Pleas in 1851. In 1842 he was made school-inspector for Chicago, and gave much time and labor to the cause of education. The city in 1859 honored his services by naming its new school-building “the Skinner school.” He was president of the Illinois General Hospital of the lake in 1852, of the Chicago Home for the Friendless in 1860, first president of the Chicago Reform-School, one of the founders and patrons of the Chicago Historical Society, a founder of the New England Society of Chicago, and delivered an address before it in 1848, entitled “A Vindication of the Character of the Pilgrim Fathers” (1849). He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and a liberal contributor to all church charities. Judge Skinner was chairman of the meeting in November, 1846, to make arrangements for the River and Harbor Convention of 1847, and was a delegate to that convention. He took an active part in building the Galena and Chicago Railroad and was for years one of its directors, and a director in the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad. He was originally a Democrat, one of the founders of the Anti-Nebraska Party in 1854, and a member of the Republican Party from its organization in 1856. In October, 1861, he was elected president of the Northwestern Sanitary Commission, and he continued such until 1864. Judge Skinner owned a large and valuable library, comprising a full collection of books relating to America. This was burned in 1871, and since that time he has more than duplicated his former collections. See a memoir by E. W. Blatchford, published by the Chicago Historical Society (1888). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 546.
SLACK, James Richard, soldier, born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 28 September, 1818; died in Chicago, Illinois, 28 June, 1881, moved with his father's family to Indiana in 1837, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and became a successful lawyer. In September, 1861, he was commissioned colonel of the 47th Indiana Regiment, and was ordered with his command to Kentucky. He was assigned to General Don Carlos Buell's army, but was subsequently transferred to Missouri and placed under General John Pope. With his command he participated in numerous actions. He was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, 31 December, 1864, major-general by brevet, 13 March, 1865, and was mustered out of the service, 15 January, 1866. After the war he resumed the practice of law, and at the time of his death, and for many years preceding, was a judge of the 28th Judicial Circuit of Indiana. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 546.
SLADE, Daniel Denison, physician, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 10 May, 1823. He was graduated at Harvard in 1844, and at the medical department in 1848 with the appointment of house surgeon to the Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1849 he went abroad for the purpose of higher studies, and on his return in 1852 he settled in practice in Boston, where he continued until 1863. Dr. Slade then gradually relinquished his profession for literary and horticultural pursuits, and in 1870 was chosen professor of applied zoölogy in Harvard, which chair he held for twelve years. In 1884 he was appointed assistant in the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy and lecturer on comparative osteology in Harvard. During the Civil War he was appointed one of the inspectors of hospitals under the U.S. Sanitary Commission, and for some time he was house surgeon of the Boston Dispensary. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society and of the Boston Society of Medical Improvement. Dr. Slade won the Fiske prize by his essays on " Diphtheria" in 1850 and " Aneurism" in 1852, the Boylston prize by one on " Spermatorrhoea" in 1857, and the Massachusetts Medical Prize by one on " Bronchitis" in 1859. In addition to his contributions to medical, agricultural, and horticultural journals, he published "Diphtheria, its Nature and Treatment" (Philadelphia, 1861). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 546-547.
SLATER, Samuel, manufacturer, born in Belper, Derbyshire, England, 9 June, 1768; died in Webster, Massachusetts, 21 April, 1835. He was the son of a respectable yeoman, received a good education, and served an apprenticeship at cotton-spinning with Jedidiah Strutt, the partner of Richard Arkwright. He was a favorite with Mr. Strutt, aided him in making improvements in his mills, and gained a thorough mastery of the theory and practice of the new manufacture. In 1789 Congress passed its first act for the encouragement of manufactures, and the legislature of Pennsylvania offered a bounty for the introduction of the Arkwright patent. Young Slater became cognizant of these circumstances, and determined to introduce the invention in the United States; but, as the laws of England did not admit of his taking drawings or models with him, he had to trust to his memory to enable him to construct the most complicated machinery. He landed in New York in November, 1789, and, having ascertained that Moses Brown had made some attempts at cotton-spinning in Rhode Island, wrote to him and told him what he could do. Mr. Brown, in replying to him, wrote: "If thou canst do this thing, I invite thee to come to Rhode Island, and have the credit of introducing cotton-manufacture into America." Slater proceeded to Pawtucket, R. I., in January, 1790, and immediately entered into articles of agreement with William Almy and Smith Brown to construct and operate the new cotton-spinning machinery. On 21 December, 1790, he started at Pawtucket three 18-inch carding-machines, the necessary drawing-heads with two rolls and four processes, the roving cases and winders for the same, and throstle spinning-frames of seventy-two spindles. In a short time reels were made for putting the yarn into skeins, in which form it was at that time placed upon the market. In doing this Mr. Slater was compelled to prepare all the plans in the several departments of manufacturing, and to construct with his own hands the different kinds of machinery, or else teach others how to do it. The first yarn made on his machinery was equal to the best quality made in England. About 1800 the second cotton-mill went into operation in Rhode Island. In 1800 Mr. Slater was joined by his brother John, from England, and soon afterward a cotton-mill was erected in a locality now known as Slatersville, Rhode Island. In 1812 Mr. Slater began the erection of mills in Oxford (now Webster), Massachusetts, adding in 1815—'16 the manufacture of woollen cloth. He was also interested in iron-manufactures, and acquired great wealth. In 1796 ho established a Sunday-school for the improvement of his work-people, which was the first, or among the first, in the United States. See a memoir of him by George S. White (Philadelphia, 1836). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 547.
SLAUGHTER, William Bank, lawyer, born in Culpeper County, Virginia, 10 April, 1798 ; died in Madison, Wisconsin, 21 July, 1879. He was educated at William and Mary, admitted to the bar, practised first in Bardstown, Kentucky, and then in Bedford, Indiana, and in 1832 was elected to the legislature of the latter state. While in that body he introduced a set of resolutions strongly sustaining President Andrew Jackson's proclamation to the South Carolina nullifiers. He was appointed register of the land-office at Indianapolis in 1833, and at Green Bay in 1835, and in the latter year was elected a member of the legislative council of Michigan, and introduced a memorial to Congress asking that the territory to the west of Lake Michigan be organized into a new territory to be named Wisconsin. After residing in Wisconsin and in his native place, he returned in 1861 to Middleton, Wisconsin, and in 1862 was appointed commissary of subsistence and quartermaster. He wrote for periodicals and encyclopedias, and published "Reminiscences of Distinguished Men I have Met" (Milwaukee. 1878). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 548.
SLAUGHTER, Philip, clergyman, born in Springfield, Culpeper County, Virginia, 26 October, 1808. He is a son of Captain Philip Slaughter, of the 11th Continental Regiment in the Army of the Revolution. His education was obtained partly at home and partly in a classical academy at Winchester, Virginia. He entered the University of Virginia in 1825, and, after studying law, was admitted to the bar in 1828. Five years later, having resolved to enter the ministry, he went to the Episcopal Theological Seminary, Alexandria, Virginia. He was ordained deacon in Trinity Church, Staunton, 25 May, 1834, by Bishop Meade, and priest in St. Paul's Church, Alexandria, in July, 1835, by Bishop Richard C. Moore. His first charge was in Dettingen Parish, Virginia. In 1836 he accepted a call to Christ Church, Georgetown, D. C, in 1840 he assumed charge of Meade and Johns Parishes, and in 1843 he became rector of St. Paul's Church, Petersburg, Virginia. Health failing, he spent 1848-'9 in Europe. On returning home he established in 1850, and edited, "The Virginia Colonizationist" at Richmond, Virginia. Six years later he built a church on his farm in Culpeper County, and officiated gratuitously for his neighbors and servants until his chinch was destroyed by the National army in 1862. He then edited in Petersburg "The Army and Navy Messenger," a religious paper for soldiers, and also preached and visited in camp and hospitals. When peace returned in 1865 he was for a time associate editor of the " Southern Churchman." Then he went back to his old home, where, as the churches were destroyed, he fitted up a recess-chancel in his own house for church services. Emmanuel Church in Slaughter Parish having been rebuilt, he accepted charge of it, and served there while health and strength sufficed. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 548.
SLEMMER, Adam J., soldier, born in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in 1828; died in Fort Laramie, Kansas, 7 October, 1868. He was graduated at the United States Military Academy in July, 1850, and assigned to the 1st U.S. Artillery. After a short campaign against the Seminole Indians in Florida, in which he took a creditable part, he was for four years on frontier service in California, and in 1855-'9 was assistant professor of mathematics at the U. S. Military Academy. He afterward returned to garrison duty at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, and in 1860 was transferred to Florida, where in 1861 he commanded a small body of U. S. soldiers in Pensacola Harbor, occupying with them Fort Barrancas; but when intelligence of the surrender of Pensacola U.S. Navy-yard reached him, he transferred his troops on 10 January to Fort Pickens, opposite, which he successfully held until he was relieved by Colonel Harvey Brown, thus preserving the key to the Gulf of Mexico. He was promoted major of the Fifth Infantry in May, 1861, was for a short time inspector-general of the Department of the Ohio, returned to active duty in May, 1862, and participated in the siege of Corinth and the subsequent movement to Louisville, Kentucky, and to the relief of Nashville, Tennessee. He was made brigadier-general of volunteers, 29 November, 1862, and took part in the battle of Stone River, 31 December, 1862, where he was so severely wounded as to be incapacitated for further active service in the field. On 8 February, 1864, he was promoted lieutenant-colonel of the 4th U.S. Infantry, and in March, 1865, he was brevetted colonel and brigadier-general, U. S. Army, for his meritorious services. He was mustered out of the volunteer service in August, 1865, and was afterward sent to command Fort Laramie, where he died of heart disease. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 548-549.
SLIDELL, John, statesman, born in New York City about 1793; died in London, England, 29 July, 1871. He was graduated at Columbia in 1810, and engaged unsuccessfully in commerce. He then studied law, and in 1819 moved to New Orleans, where, making a specialty of commercial law, he soon acquired a large practice. In 1828 he was a defeated Democratic candidate for Congress, and actively canvassed the state for Andrew Jackson, who appointed him U. S. District Attorney for Louisiana, but after a year in office he resigned. Mr. Slidell was a candidate for the U. S. Senate in 1834, but Charles Gayarre was chosen. He disposed of his practice in 1835 and continued as a leader in Louisiana politics until 1842, when he was elected to Congress as a state-rights Democrat, and served from 4 December 1843, till 10 November, 1845. In November, 1845, he was sent as minister to Mexico by President Polk, to adjust the difficulty caused by the annexation of Texas to the United States; but that government refused to receive him, and he returned in January, 1847, when he resigned. He was again a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1849; but his party were in the minority, and in the canvass of 1852 he was active in behalf of Franklin Pierce. On the inauguration of the latter he refused a diplomatic appointment to Central America, but, on the acceptance by Pierre Soule of the French mission, he was sent to the U. S. Senate and served, with re-election, from 5 December, 1853, to 4 February, 1861. He rarely spoke, but was a member of important committees, and exerted great influence. Preferring to remain in the Senate, he declined a cabinet appointment from President Buchanan, but continued a confidential friend of the latter throughout his administration. Mr. Slidell was a strenuous supporter of the doctrines of state-rights, and, when Louisiana passed the Ordinance of Secession, he withdrew from the Senate with his colleague, after making a defiant speech. In September, 1861, he was appointed Confederate commissioner to France, and set out with James M. Mason for Southampton from Havana in November. He was seized on the high-seas by Captain Charles Wilkes, and brought to the United States. After imprisonment in Fort Warren he was released and sailed for England on 1 January, 1862. From England he went at once to Paris, where, in February, 1862, he paid his first visit to the French minister of foreign affairs. His mission, which had for its object the recognition of the Confederate States by the French government, was a failure, but the well-known sympathy of Napoleon III., who at that time was deeply interested in the project of a Mexican empire under Maximilian, did much to favor the Confederate cause. In order to secure French aid, he proposed a commercial convention, by which France should enjoy valuable export and import privileges for a long period, and which, if carried into effect speedily, on the basis of breaking the blockade, because of its legal inefficiency, would give France control of southern cotton, and in return furnish the Confederacy with ample supplies, including arms and munitions of war. This was not accepted, on account of the emperor's refusal to recognize the Confederate States unless the British authorities should co-operate. But the sympathy of Napoleon III. proved of great value, for by his secret influence Mr. Slidell was able to begin the negotiation of the $15,000,000 Confederate loan. Early in 1863 the emperor permitted him to make proposals for the construction of four steam corvettes and two iron-clad rams at private ship-yards in Bordeaux and Nantes; but later in the year, information of this fact coming to the knowledge of the U. S. representative in Paris, imperial orders were issued that the vessels should be sold to foreign powers. One of them was transferred to the Confederate Navy in January, 1865, after being purchased by Denmark, as is claimed by the Confederates, though it is asserted on the other side that the purchase was fictitious. This vessel, the "Stonewall," set out for the United States, but did not reach Havana till May, after the surrender of the Confederate Armies. Mr. Slidell settled in England at the close of the war, and continued there till his death. A full account of the relations of Mr. Slidell with the French government in regard to the building of the vessels mentioned above is contained in "France and the Confederate Navy," by John Bigelow (New York, 1888).—His brother, Thomas (1810-'60), was a judge of the Louisiana Supreme Court in 1845-'52, and then chief justice till 1855, when he was assaulted by a ruffian and received injuries from which he never recovered. With Judah P. Benjamin, he prepared a " Digest of Supreme Court Decisions." Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 549-550.
SLOANE, Rush Richard, born 1828, lawyer, jurist, opponent of slavery. Helped in escape of slaves. Appletons’, 1888, Vol. V, p. 550.
SLOANE, Rush Richard, lawyer, born in Sandusky, Erie County, Ohio; 18 September, 1828. He was educated at Wesleyan Academy, Norwalk, Ohio, studied law, and was admitted to the bar. He was city clerk of Sandusky, Ohio, in 1855-'7, was elected judge of the probate court for Erie County in 1857, and re-elected in 1860, was appointed by President Lincoln to the general agency of the Post-Office Department, serving from 1861 till 1866, and was mayor of Sandusky in 1870, 1880, and 1881. Mr. Sloane was an ardent anti-slavery man, and was instrumental in the escape of seven slaves in Sandusky, on 20 October, 1850, where they had been arrested by their masters. He was prosecuted, and paid over $4,000 damages and costs, being the first victim of the Fugitive-Slave Law of 1850. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 550.
SLOAT, John Drake, naval officer, born in New York City in 1780; died in New Brighton, Staten Island, New York, 28 November, 1867. He entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman, 12 February, 1800, and was honorably discharged by the peace-establishment act, 21 May, 1801. He re-entered the U.S. Navy as a sailing-master, 10 January, 1812, and served in the frigate “United States” in 1812–15. In this ship, on 25 October, 1812, he participated in the capture of the British frigate ''Macedonian” and was subsequently blockaded in Thames River, Connecticut, by the British fleet until the end of the war. He received a vote of thanks and silver medal for the victory over the “Macedonian,” and was promoted to lieutenant, 24 July, 1813. After the war he was on leave until 1817. In 1823–5 he cruised in the schooner “Grampus,” suppressing piracy in the West Indies, and participated in the capture of the pirate brig “Palmyra.” near Campeachy. He succeeded to the command of the “Grampus” in 1824, and assisted at the capture and destruction of the town of Foxhardo, the headquarters of the pirates on Porto Rico. In the spring of 1825 he captured a piratical brig near St. Thomas, W.I., with the pirate chief Colfrecinas, who was subsequently executed by the Spaniards. He was promoted to master-commandant, 21 March, 1826, and to captain, 9 February, 1837, and was commandant of the U.S. Navy-yard at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1840–’4. In 1844–’6 he had command of the Pacific Squadron, during which he occupied Monterey in anticipation of a similar attempt by the English admiral, and when the Mexican War began he secured possession of San Francisco and other points in California until he was relieved by Commodore Robert F. Stockton, when he returned to Norfolk, 27 April, 1847. He had command of the Norfolk U.S. Navy-yard in 1847-51, after which he was superintendent of the construction of the Stevens battery until 1855. He was placed on the reserved list, 27 September, 1855, and retired, 21 December, 1861, but was promoted to commodore, 16 July, 1862, and to rear-admiral, 25 July, 1866. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 551.
SLOCUM, Henry Warner, 1827-1894, New York, lawyer, entrepreneur, Major General, United States Army, Commander, Twelfth, Fourteenth and Twentieth Corps, Sherman’s Army of Georgia, 1864-1865. Slocum was an abolitionist before the Civil War. While he was a cadet at West Point, Slocum openly expressed his opposition to slavery. This was a very unpopular position, as many of the cadets at the U.S. Military Academy were from the South. During Sherman’s March, including the Savannah and Carolinas Campaigns, many thousands of enslaved individuals escaped to the Union lines and followed the Union Army to freedom.
(Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 551-552; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 1, p. 216; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 20, p. 104; Cullum, 1891; U.S. Congress, Biographical Directory of The United States Congress, 1774–2005. Washington, DC: GPO, 2005; U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. 128 vols. Washington, DC: GPO, 1881-1901. Series 1; Warner, 1964)
SLOCUM, Henry Warner, soldier, born in Delphi, Onondaga County, New York, 24 September, 1827. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1852, appointed 2d lieutenant in the 1st U.S. Artillery, and ordered to Florida the same year. He was promoted 1st lieutenant in 1855, but resigned in October, 1856, and, returning to New York, engaged in the practice of law at Syracuse, and was a member of the legislature in 1859. At the opening of the Civil War he tendered his services, and on 21 May, 1861, was appointed colonel of the 27th New York Volunteers. He commanded this regiment at the battle of Bull Run on 21 July, where he was severely wounded, on 9 August was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, and was assigned to the command of a brigade in General William B. Franklin's division of the Army of the Potomac. In the Virginia Peninsula Campaign of 1862 he was engaged in the siege of Yorktown and the action at West Point, Virginia, and succeeded to the command of the division on 15 May, on Franklin's assignment to the 6th Corps. At the battle of Gaines's Mills, 27 June, he was sent with his division to re-enforce General Fitz-John Porter, who was then severely pressed by the enemy, and rendered important service, as he did also at the battles of Glendale and Malvern Hill, his division occupying the right of the main line at both engagements. He was promoted to the rank of major-general of volunteers, 4 July, 1862, engaged in the second battle of Bull Run, at South Mountain, and at Antietam, and in October was assigned to the command of the 12th Army Corps. In the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg he took an active part. At Gettysburg he commanded the right wing of the army, and contributed largely to the National victory. Having been transferred with his corps to the west, he served in the Department of the Cumberland till April, 1864, when, his corps being consolidated with the 11th, he was assigned to a division and the command of the District of Vicksburg. In August, 1864, he succeeded General Joseph Hooker in the command of the 20th Corps, which was the first body of troops to occupy Atlanta, Georgia, on 2 September. In Sherman's march to the sea and invasion of the Carolinas, he held command of the left wing of the army, and participated in all its engagements from the departure from Atlanta till the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston at Durham Station, North Carolina. In September, 1865, General Slocum resigned from the army and resumed the practice of law in Brooklyn, New York. In 1866 he declined the appointment of colonel of infantry in the regular army. In 1865 he was the unsuccessful candidate of the Democrats for Secretary of State of New York, in 1868 he was chosen a presidential elector, and he was elected to Congress the same year, and reelected in 1870. In 1876 he was elected president of the Board of City Works, Brooklyn, which post he afterward resigned, and in 1884 he was again elected to Congress. He was one of the commissioners of the Brooklyn Bridge, and was in favor of making it free to the public.” Source: Wilson, James Grant, & Fiske, John (Eds.). Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography. New York: Appleton, 1888, 1915. Pp. 551-552.
SLOUGH, John P. (slo), soldier, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1829; died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 16 December, 1867. He became a lawyer in his native city, and in 1850 was elected to the legislature of Ohio, from which he was expelled for striking a member. In 1852 he became a secretary of the Central Democratic Committee of Ohio, and soon afterward he went to Kansas, and in 1860 to Denver City, Colorado. At the opening of the Civil War he raised a company of volunteers, assumed command of Fort Garland, and afterward became colonel of the 1st Colorado Regiment forming part of General Edward R. S. Canby's expedition to New Mexico. He fought there, in opposition to orders, the battle of Pigeon's Ranche, gaining a victory over General Henry H. Sibley, who was forced to retire into Texas. Immediately after this he gave up his commission as colonel and proceeded to Washington, where he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers and military governor of Alexandria. At the close of the war he was appointed chief justice of New Mexico by President Johnson; but his manner and irritable temper rendered him unpopular. A series of resolutions were passed in the legislature advocating his removal from the chief justiceship, which so incensed him against William D. Rynerson, the member who had introduced them, that a personal encounter took place between the two men, resulting in General Slough's death. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 552.
SMALL, Michael Peter, soldier, born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 9 August, 1831. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1855, assigned to the artillery, served against the Seminole Indians and on frontier and other duty, and was promoted 1st lieutenant, 27 April, 1861. He served as chief commissary and quartermaster at Rolla, Missouri, from 4 September, 1861, till 31 January, 1863; as chief commissary of the 13th Army Corps, and of the army during the field, in the Teche Campaign in the Department of the Gulf from 15 September till 9 November, 1863; and was supervising commissary of the states of Illinois and Indiana from December, 1863, till February, 1864. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel on the staff, 15 September, 1863, became chief commissary of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina at Fortress Monroe, supplied the armies operating against Richmond, and acted in a similar capacity for other armies and other military departments till the close of the war. He became brevet colonel of U. S. volunteers, 1 January, 1865, and brevet brigadier-general, 9 April, 1865, for meritorious services in the subsistence department during the war. Since 31 October, 1884, he has been purchasing and depot commissary at Baltimore, Maryland. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 553.
SMALLEY, Eugene Virgil, journalist, born in Randolph, Portage County, Ohio, 18 July, 1841. He was educated in the public schools of Ohio and New York, and passed one year in New York Central College at McGrawville. He enlisted at the beginning of the Civil War in the 7th Ohio Infantry, and frequently sent letters about different engagements to the newspapers, for which descriptions he had shown a predilection before entering the field. He served until nearly the close of the struggle, when he was discharged on account of wounds, and as soon as he was able went to Washington, D. C. where, in 1865, he was appointed clerk of the Military Committee of the House of Representatives. He retained the post until 1873, at the same time corresponding at intervals for different journals. He then formed a connection with a New York journal, continuing to be its correspondent and editorial writer for nine years. During his residence in Washington he had formed an intimate acquaintance with public men and measures, which aided him greatly as a journalist. In 1882 he entered the employment of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and in 1884 established the "Northwest," an illustrated magazine, in St. Paul, Minnesota, of which he is still (1888) the editor and publisher. He is a frequent contributor to periodicals, mainly on subjects relating to the resources and development of the region in which he has made his home. He has published " History of the Northern Pacific Railroad " (New York, 1883), and "History of the Republican Party " (1885). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 553.
SMALLEY, George Washburn, journalist, born in Franklin, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 2 June, 1833. He was graduated at Vale in 1853, read law with George F. Hoar at Worcester in 1853-'4, and in Harvard Law-School in 1854-'5, and in 18 was admitted to the Boston Bar. He practised law in Boston until the opening of the Civil War, when, in the service of the New York " Tribune," he accompanied the National Troops to Port Royal, afterward going with General John C. Fremont into Virginia. Remaining with the Army of the Potomac, he witnessed the battle of Antietam. Immediately upon its close, Smalley rode thirty miles, found a train, and, going direct to New York, wrote his narrative of the engagement on the cars. This vivid description, with the energy that had been shown in its transmission and publication, gave him rank among the best-known war correspondents. In 1863 he was a member of the editorial staff of the "Tribune." At the sudden beginning of the war between Prussia and Austria in 1866 Mr. Smalley was sent on a day's notice to Europe. At the close of the war he returned for a few months to New York, but was sent to England in May, 1867, by the "Tribune," with instructions to organize a London bureau for that journal. This he did, and the success that has attended the European department of the " Tribune " is largely due to his efforts. In 1870, at the opening of the Franco-German War, the " Tribune devised a new system of news-gathering. Mr. Smalley, as the agent of this policy, showed an energy and foresight which gave him an eminent rank in journalism. The English writer Kinglake, in his "History of the Crimean War," says: "The success of that partnership for the purpose of war news which had been formed between one of our London newspapers and the New York 'Tribune.' was an era in the journalism of Europe." Mr. Smalley's letters from Berlin, in April, 1888, descriptive of the Emperor William's death and burial, were among the most brilliant that appeared on that occasion. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 553.
SMALLS, Robert, member of Congress, born in Beaufort, South Carolina, 5 April, 1839. Being a slave, he was debarred from attending school, and was altogether self-educated. He moved to Charleston in 1851, worked at the rigger's trade, afterward led a seafaring life, and in 1861 was employed as a pilot on " The Planter," a steamer that plied in Charleston Harbor as a transport. In May, 1862, he took this vessel over Charleston bar, and delivered her to the commander of the U. S. Blockading Squadron. After serving for some time as pilot in the U.S. Navy, he was promoted captain for gallant and meritorious conduct, 1 December, 1863, and placed in command of “The Planter,” serving until she was put out of commission in 1866. He returned to Beaufort after the war, was a member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1868, was elected a member of the state house of representatives the same year, and of the state senate in 1870, and was re-elected in 1872. He was elected to the 44th Congress from South Carolina, has been reelected to every succeeding Congress except the 46th, for which he was defeated, and s' with this exception, from 6 December, 1875, till 1888. He has been major-general of state troops. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 553-554.
SMITH, Alfred Baker, soldier, born in Massena, St. Lawrence County, New York, 17 November, 1835. He was graduated at Union College in 1851, taught, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1855, and practised in Poughkeepsie, New York. He entered the National Army in October, 1862, as major of the 150th New York Volunteers, and was with his regiment in every march and action from Gettysburg till the close of the war, succeeding to the command as senior officer at Atlanta. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel and colonel, and was made brigadier-general of volunteers by brevet for meritorious services in the campaign of Georgia and the Carolinas. He has long been a member of the Poughkeepsie Board of Education, of which he was president for several years, and in 1867-'75 was postmaster of that city. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p.556.
SMITH, Andrew Jackson, soldier, born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 28 April, 1815. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1838, became 1st lieutenant in 1845 and captain in 1847, and was engaged on the frontier in operations against hostile Indians. He became major in May, 1861, colonel of the 2d California Cavalry on 2 October of that year, from 11 February to 11 March, 1862, was chief of cavalry of the Department of the Missouri, and in March and July of the Department of the Mississippi. He became brigadier-general of volunteers in March, 1862, engaged in the advance upon Corinth and siege of that place, was transferred to the Department of the Ohio, and subsequently to the Army of the Tennessee, which he accompanied on the Yazoo River Expedition, and participated in the assaults of Chickasaw Bluffs, 27-29 October, 1862, and of Arkansas Post, 11 January, 1863. During the Vicksburg Campaign he led a division in the 13th Army Corps. He was then assigned to the command of a division of the 16th Army Corps, which captured Fort De Russy, engaged in the battle of Pleasant Hill, and in almost constant skirmishing during the Red River Campaign, in April, 1864, receiving the brevet of colonel, U. S. Army, for "gallant and meritorious service at Pleasant Hill." He became lieutenant-colonel, U. S. Army, in May, 1864, and major-general of volunteers on the 12th of that month, was ordered to Missouri, aided in driving General Sterling Price from the state, and was then called to re-enforce General George H. Thomas at Nashville, and to aid in pursuit of General John B. Hood's army, being engaged at Nashville. He received the brevets of brigadier-general and major-general, U.S. Army, on 13 March. 1865, for gallant service at the battles of Tupelo, Mississippi, and Nashville, Tennessee. From February till June of that year he commanded the 16th Army Corps in the reduction and capture of Mobile. He was mustered out of volunteer service in January, 1866, and on 28 July became colonel of the 7th U. S. Cavalry. He then commanded the Department of the Missouri from 14 September, 1867, to 2 March, 1868, and was on leave of absence till 6 May, 1869, when he resigned. On 3 April of that year he became postmaster of St. Louis. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 556.
SMITH, Ashbel, diplomatist, born in Hartford, Connecticut, 13 August, 1805; died in Harris County, Texas, 21 January, 1880. He was graduated at Yale in 1824, and at the medical department in 1828. after studying law in the interval. He also attended the Paris hospitals in 1831-'2, and practised in North Carolina till 1830, when he moved to Texas, and was appointed in the same year surgeon-general of the new republic. He was joint commissioner in making the first treaty with the Comanches in 1837, Texan minister to the United States, Great Britain, France, and Spain, during the administration of President Samuel Houston and President Anson Jones, was recalled in 1844, and became Secretary of State under the latter, which office he held until the annexation of Texas to the United States in 1845. He was a member of the legislature from Harris County for several years, and served throughout the Mexican War. In the early part of the Civil War he raised the 2d Texas Volunteers for the Confederate service, leading that regiment in several campaigns east of Missouri River. He retired to his plantation on Galveston Bay in 1865, and while taking an active part in state politics as a Democrat was also occupied in the preparation of papers on scientific and agricultural topics. In his profession his services were rendered gratuitously, and in every yellow-fever epidemic he went to Houston or Galveston and devoted himself to the sufferers. He was instrumental in the establishment of the state university, and president of its board of regents. His publications include "Account of the Yellow Fever in Galveston, in 1839" (Galveston, 1840); "Account of the Geography of Texas" (1851); and "Permanent Identity of the Human Race " (1860). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 556-557.
SMITH, Caleb Blood, Secretary of the Interior, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 16 April, 1808; died in Indianapolis, Indiana, 7 January, 1864. He emigrated with his parents to Ohio in 1814, was educated at Cincinnati and Miami Colleges, studied law in Cincinnati and in Connersville, Indiana, and was admitted to the bar in 1828. He began practice at the latter place, established and edited the "Sentinel" in 1832, served several terms in the Indiana Legislature, and was in Congress in 1843-'9, having been elected as a Whig. During his congressional career he was one of the Mexican claims commissioners. He returned to the practice of law in 1850, residing in Cincinnati and subsequently in Indianapolis. He was influential in securing the nomination of Abraham Lincoln for the presidency at the Chicago Republican Convention in 1860, and was appointed by him Secretary of the Interior in 1861, which post he resigned in December, 1862, to become U. S. Circuit Judge for Indiana. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 558.
SMITH, Charles Henry, humorist, born in Lawrenceville, Georgia, 15 June. 1826. He was graduated at Franklin College, Athens, Georgia, and in 1848 became a lawyer in Rome, Georgia. He served in the Confederate Army, and after the war settled as a planter near Cartersville, Georgia, was state senator in 1866, and mayor of Rome, Georgia, in 1868-'9. He began his literary career in 1861 in a series of newspaper letters under the signature of "Bill Arp." They enjoyed a wide popularity, and are remarkable for homely humor and shrewd philosophy. A southern writer says of his widely read and quoted letter to Artemus Ward in July, 1865, that "it was the first chirp of any bird after the surrender, and gave relief and hope to thousands of drooping hearts." He is also a successful lecturer. His publications include " Bill Arp's Letters " (New York, 1868); "Bill Arp's Scrap-Book" (Atlanta, 1886); and many humorous and philosophical sketches that he has contributed to the press. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 558.
SMITH, Charles Henry, soldier, born in Hollis, York County, Maine, 1 November, 1827. He was graduated at Colby University in 1856, entered the National Army in 1861 as captain in the 1st Maine Cavalry, was attached with his regiment to the Army of the Potomac, and served throughout its operations, participating in numerous battles. He became major of volunteers in 1862, lieutenant-colonel in March, 1863, and colonel of the 1st Maine Cavalry, commanding that regiment at Upperville, Gettysburg, Shepardstown, and through the movements southward to the Rapidan. In the Mine Run Campaign, in November, he conducted the rear-guard of the left column of the army from Mine run to and across the Rapidan. During General Philip H. Sheridan's cavalry campaign in May and June, 1864, he fought at Todd's Tavern and South Anna, at Trevillian Station, and on 1 August, 1864, was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers for gallant and meritorious conduct at St. Mary's Church, where two horses were killed under him, and he was shot through the thigh. He commanded a cavalry brigade and was wounded at Reams's Station, and the 3d Brigade of General David M. Gregg's division from October, 1864, till the operations that ended in the surrender of Lee's army. During the Appomattox Campaign he was wounded, and a horse was killed under him at Dinwiddie Court-House, and he participated in the battles of Sailor's Creek, Brier Creek, and Farmville. In May and July, 1865, he was in command of a sub-district of the Appomattox, comprising five counties. He was brevetted major-general of volunteers, 13 March. 1865, for gallant, and meritorious service during the Civil War, and in March, 1867, brigadier-general, U. S. Army, for Sailor's Creek, and major-general for gallant service during the Civil War. He became colonel of the 28th U.S. Infantry on the reorganization of the U. S. Army in 1866, was transferred in 1869 to the 19th U.S. Infantry, and now (1888) holds that command. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 558-559.
SMITH, Charles Shaler, engineer, born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 16 January, 1836; died in St. Louis, Missouri, 19 December, 1886. He attended a private school in Pittsburg, but at the age of sixteen entered on the study of his profession by securing an appointment as rodman on the Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven Railroad. After various services he became in 1856 engineer in charge of the Tennessee division of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. Subsequently he became chief engineer of bridges and buildings of the Wilmington, Charlotte, and Rutherford Railroad in North Carolina, where he remained until the beginning of the Civil War. He then entered the Confederate Army as captain of engineers, and continued so until 1865, during which time, as chief engineer of government works in the Augusta District, he constructed the Confederate States Powder-Works, with a daily capacity of 17,000 pounds of powder, and one of the largest that had then been built. Mr. Smith continued in the south as engineer of bridges, and constructed the Catawba and Congaree Bridges on the Charlotte and South Carolina Railroad. In 1866, with Benjamin H. Latrobe, he organized the engineering firm of Smith, Latrobe and Company, which in 1869 became the Baltimore Bridge Company, with Mr. Smith as president and chief engineer. This company continued in business until 1877, and did a large amount of work. He moved to St. Charles, Missouri, in 1868, to take charge of the railroad bridge then just begun across Missouri River, and in 1871 he went to St. Louis, where he remained until the end of his life, mainly occupied as a consulting engineer. His name will ever be connected with the great bridges that were built under his supervision. They are hundreds in number and include four over the Mississippi, one over the Missouri, and one over the St. Lawrence. His most important work was the practical demonstration of the uses and value of the cantilever, beginning in 1869 with the 300-foot draw-span over Salt River on the line of the Elizabeth and Paducah Railroad, and including the Kentucky River Bridge on the Cincinnati Southern Railroad, that over the Mississippi near St. Paul, and finally his last great bridge across the St. Lawrence River a short distance above the Lachine rapids. Mr. Smith was elected a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1873, and was a director of that organization in 1877-'8. His publications are confined to a few professional papers, notably "A Comparative Analysis of the Fink, Murphy, Bollman, and Triangular Trusses " (1865); "Proportions of Eyebars, Heads, and Pins as determined bv Experiment" (1877); and " Wind-Pressure upon Bridges " (1880). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 558.
SMITH, Edward Delafield, lawyer, born in Rochester, New York, 8 May, 1826; died in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, 13 April, 1878. He was graduated at the University of the City of New York in 1846, was admitted to the bar in 1848, and practised in New York City. He was U. S. District Attorney for the Southern District of New York in 1861-'5, returned to practice in the latter year, and from 1871 till 1875 was corporation counsel of New York City. He was an active member of the Republican Party, and a member of the law committee of the University of the City of New York. Among his many cases of importance, was that of the People against Nathaniel Gordon, master of the slave-ship " Erie," whom he brought to the scaffold in 1862, and that against John Andrews, a leader of the draft riots in New York City in 1863. At the time of his death he was attorney of record in the Eliza B. Jumel estate case. Mr. Smith also attained success in private practice, and was widely known for his legal ability. He published " Avidae," a poem (New York, 1843); " Destiny," a poem (1846); "Oratory," a poem (1846); "Reports of Cases in the New York Court of Common Pleas" (4 vols., 1850-'9); and “ Addresses to Juries in Slave-Trade Trials " (1861). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 361.
SMITH, Emma, Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society (BFASS), Boston, Massachusetts (Yellin, 1994, p. 61)
SMITH, Erasmus Darwin, jurist, born in De Ruyter, Madison County, New York, 10 October, 1806; died in Rochester, New York, 11 November, 1883. He was educated at Hamilton College, admitted to the bar, became a master in chancery in 1832, serving three successive terms, was made injunction-master for the 8th District of New York in 1840, and clerk of that court in 1841, and was a justice of the Supreme Court of New York from 1855 till 1877, when he was retired on account of age. He served on the court of appeals in 1862 and 1870, and was general term justice in 1872-7. Chief-Justice Chase said of his decision in the legal-tender case of Hayes vs. Powers, which settled the power of the Federal government to issue paper money as a war measure, that " its influence on the credit of the government was equal to a victory in the field." Rochester gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1868. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 562.
SMITH, Ezra C., New York, abolitionist, American Anti-Slavery Society, Manager, 1841-1845.
SMITH, Francis Henney, soldier, born in Norfolk, Virginia, 18 October, 1812. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1833, and was assistant professor there in 1834, but resigned in 1836, was professor of mathematics at Hampden Sidney in 1837-'9, and, on the organization of the Virginia Military Institute in the latter year, became its superintendent, and professor of mathematics and moral and political philosophy, which office he still (1888) holds. He was appointed colonel of a Virginia regiment soon after the beginning of the Civil War, and was stationed at Norfolk and in command of the fort at Craney Island. During the campaigns against Richmond in 1864, with his corps of cadets he aided in its defence, and was subsequently transferred to Lynchburg to protect that city against the National forces under General David Hunter. The institute buildings having been destroyed by fire during the war, he took active measures to reconstruct them when he returned to his duties there in 1865, and subsequently he has successfully administered its affairs. William and Mary gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1878. He has published, with Robert M. T. Duke, a series of arithmetics (New York, 1845): a series of algebras (1848); and is the author of "The Best Methods of conducting Common Schools" (1849); "College Reform" (1850); and a " Report to the Legislature of Virginia on Scientific Education in Europe" (1859). He translated Bicot's "Analytical Geometry " from the French (1840). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 563-564.
SMITH, Francis Osmond Jon, Congressman, born in Brentwood, New Hampshire, 23 November, 1806; died in Deering, Maine, 14 October, 1876. He was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, admitted to the bar, and practised in Portland. He was a member of the legislature in 1832, president of the state senate in 1833, and sat in Congress from December of the latter year till 1839, having been chosen as a Whig. During his later life he was connected with many local and national improvements, was instrumental in establishing the Portland Gas Company, and the York and Cumberland and Portland and Oxford Central Railroads, the latter having been mainly built by him. But his greatest public service was the introduction of the Morse Electric Telegraph, which owes much of its success to his labor. He published "Reports of Decisions in the Circuit Courts-Martial of Maine" (Portland, 1831); "Laws of the State of Maine " (2 vols.. 1834); and "Secret Corresponding Vocabulary : Adopted for Use to Morse's Electro-Magnetic Telegraph " (1845). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 564.
SMITH, Franklin Webster, 1826-1911, Boston, Massachusetts, businessman, anti-slavery. Early member of the Republican Party. Supported election of Abraham Lincoln.
SMITH, Gustavus Woodson, soldier, born in Scott County, Kentucky, 1 January, 1822. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1842, appointed to the Engineer Corps, and for the subsequent two years engaged in constructing fortifications in New London Harbor, Connecticut. He was assistant professor of engineering in the U. S. Military Academy in 1844-'6, commanded the sappers, miners, and pontoniers during the siege of Vera Cruz and in the subsequent operations of the war with Mexico, and in 1847 was brevetted 1st lieutenant for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battle of Cerro Gordo, and captain for Contreras. He was recalled to the U. S. Military Academy as principal assistant professor of engineering in 1849, became 1st lieutenant in 1853, and resigned from the army the next year. He was subsequently employed in the construction of various government buildings, and in the iron-works of Cooper and Hewitt, Trenton, New Jersey. He was street commissioner of New York City in 1858-'61, and a member of the board to revise the programme of instruction at the U. S. Military Academy in 1860. He returned to Kentucky at the beginning of the Civil War, entered the Confederate Service, and in September, 1861, was appointed major-general. He succeeded General Joseph E. Johnston in temporary command of the Army of Northern Virginia on 31 May, 1862, and subsequently commanded at Richmond, was in charge of the state forces of Georgia in 1864-'5, and was taken prisoner at Macon on 20 April of the latter year. He was superintendent in charge of the Southwest Iron-Works at Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1866-'9, was insurance commissioner of the state of Kentucky in 1870-6, and since that time has resided in New York City. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 566.
SMITH, Henry Hollingsworth, surgeon, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 10 December, 1815. He was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1837, and at the medical department in 1839, spent the subsequent eighteen months in study abroad, and on his return settled in practice in Philadelphia. He became a surgeon to St. Joseph's Hospital in 1849, surgeon to the Episcopal Hospital soon afterward, one of the surgical staff to Blockley Hospital in 1854, and was professor of surgery in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania from 1855 till 1871, when he became professor emeritus. At the beginning of the Civil War he was appointed to organize the hospital department of Pennsylvania, and at the same time made surgeon-general of Pennsylvania. In this capacity he contributed much to the efficiency of the medical services of the Pennsylvania reserves and other state regiments. At the first battle at Winchester, Virginia, he originated the plan of removing the wounded from the battle-field to large hospitals in Reading, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and other cities, and established the custom of embalming the dead on the battle-ground. He organized and directed a corps of surgeons, with steamers as floating hospitals, at the siege of Yorktown. and served the wounded after the battles of Williamsburg, West Point, Fair Oaks, and Cold Harbor. After thoroughly organizing the department of which he was in charge, he resigned his commission in 1862, and has since been actively engaged in the practice of his profession. Dr. Smith is widely known as a medical author. His publications include " An Anatomical Atlas," to illustrate William E. Horner's "Special Anatomy " (Philadelphia, 1843); "Minor Surgery" (1846); "System of Operative Surgery," with a biographical index to the writings and operations of American surgeons for 234 years (2 vols., 1852); ' The Treatment of Disunited Fractures by Means of Artificial Limbs" (1855); "Professional Visit to London and Paris" (1855); "Practice of Surgery " (2 vols., 1857-63); and numerous surgical articles in medical journals; and he has translated from the French Civiale's "Treatise on the Medical and Prophylactic Treatment of Stone and Gravel" Philadelphia, 1841), and edited the " United States Dissector " (1844), and Spenser Thompson's " Domestic Medicine and Surgery " (1853). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 566-567.
SMITH, James Milton, governor of Georgia, born in Twiggs County, Georgia, 24 October, 1823. He was educated at Culloden Academy, Monroe County, Georgia, became a lawyer, entered the Confederate Army in 1861 as major in the 13th Georgia Regiment, became colonel in 1862, and was a member of the Confederate Congress from that year until the close of the Civil War. He served in the legislature in 1871-'2. was speaker, and in 1872 was chosen governor to fill the unexpired term of Rufus B. Bullock, which office he held by re-election till 1874. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 569.
SMITH, James Youngs, governor of Rhode Island, born in Groton. Connecticut., 15 September, 1809; died in Providence, Rhode Island, 26 March, 1876. He moved to Providence in 1826, engaged in the lumber business, and in 1838 in the manufacture of cotton goods in Willimantic, Connecticut., and Woonsocket, Rhode Island, acquiring a fortune. He served several terms in the Rhode Island Legislature, was mayor of Providence in 1855-7, and governor of Rhode Island in 1863-'5. During his service he efficiently supported the National cause, and largely contributed to it with his private fortune. He controlled extensive manufacturing enterprises, and occupied many posts of trust in banking and other corporations. He was a Republican from the organization of that party. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 569.
SMITH, Jesse C., soldier, born in Butternuts, Otsego County, New York, 18 July, 1808; died in Brooklyn, New York, 11 July, 1888. He was graduated at Union in 1832, and studied law in New York City, under Alva Clark. He took much interest in military affairs, became adjutant, and subsequently major, of the 75th Regiment of New York Militia, and afterward colonel of the 14th Regiment. While commanding the latter, he suppressed the "Angel Gabriel" riots, which were caused by the preaching of a lunatic who gave himself that appellation. General Smith was surrogate of Kings County in 1850-'5, and state senator in 1862. At the beginning of the Civil War he was instrumental in the reorganization of the National Guard, and in forming the 139th Regiment of New York Volunteers. He commanded the 11th Brigade of the National Guard at the battle of Gettysburg. After the war he practised law in Brooklyn. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 569.
SMITH, John Gregory, Governor of Vermont, born in St. Alban's, Vermont, 22 July, 1818, was graduated at the University of Vermont in 1838, and at the law department of Yale in 1841. He began practice with his father, whom he succeeded as chancellor in 1858, became active in railroad interests in Vermont, was a member of the state senate in 1858–'9, and of the house of representatives in 1861–2, becoming speaker in the latter year. He was governor of Vermont in 1863–’5, and actively supported the National cause during the Civil War. He became president of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1866, and subsequently was president of the Central Vermont Railroad. The University of Vermont gave him the degree of LL.D. in 1871. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 572.
SMITH, John Eugene, soldier, born in the canton of Berne, Switzerland, 3 August, 1816. His father was an officer under Napoleon, and after the emperor's downfall emigrated to Philadelphia, where the son received an academic education and became a jeweler. He entered the National Army in 1861 as colonel of the 45th Illinois Infantry, engaged in the capture of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, and in the battle of Shiloh and siege of Corinth, became brigadier-general of volunteers, 29 November, 1862, commanded the 8th Division of the 16th Army Corps in December, 1862, was engaged in the Vicksburg Campaign, leading the 3d Division of the 17th Corps in June, 1863, and was transferred to the 15th Corps in September, taking part in the capture of Mission Ridge, and in the Atlanta and Carolina Campaigns in 1864–’5. In December, 1870, he was assigned to the 14th U.S. Infantry. He was mustered out of the volunteer service in April, 1866, and became colonel of the 27th U.S. Infantry in July of that year. He received the brevet of major-general of volunteers on 12 January, 1865, for faithful services and gallantry in action, and the brevets of brigadier and major-general, U. S. Army, on 2 March, 1867, for his conduct at the siege of Vicksburg and in action at Savannah in December, 1864. In May, 1881, he was retired. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 572.
SMITH, John Speed, Congressman, born in Jessamine County, Kentucky, 31 July, 1792; died in Madison County, Kentucky, 6 June, 1854. He received a public school education, became a skilled Indian fighter, served under General William H. Harrison at the battle of Tippecanoe, and was his aide in the battle of the Thames, 5 October, 1813. He was frequently in the legislature, its speaker in 1827, and a member of Congress in 1821-'3, having been elected as a Democrat. During the administration of John Quincy Adams he was secretary of the delegation that was sent by the United States to the South American Congress which met at Tacubaya. In 1828-32 he was U. S. District Attorney for Kentucky. In 1839 he was appointed, with James T. Morehead. a commissioner to Ohio to obtain the passage of a law for protecting slave property in Kentucky. For several years previous to his death he was state superintendent of public works, and in 1846-'8 he was a member of the Kentucky senate.—His son, Green Clay, soldier, born in Richmond, Kentucky, 2 July, 1832, was named for his grandfather, General Green Clay. After serving a year in the Mexican War as lieutenant of Kentucky cavalry, he entered Transylvania University, where he was graduated in 1850, and at Lexington law school in 1853, and practised in partnership with his father. In 1858 he moved to Covington. In 1853-7 he served as school commissioner. In 1860 he was a member of the Kentucky legislature, where he earnestly upheld the National government, and in 1861 he entered the army as a private. He became colonel of the 4th Kentucky Cavalry in February, 1862, served under General Ebenezer Dumont, and was wounded at Lebanon, Tennessee. He was made brigadier-general of volunteers, 11 June, 1862, but, having been chosen a member of Congress, resigned his commission on 1 December, 1863, after taking part in numerous engagements. He served till 1866, when he resigned on being appointed by President Johnson governor of Montana, where he remained till 1869. He was a delegate to the Baltimore Republican Convention in 1864. and on 13 March, 1865, was given the brevet of major-general of volunteers. On his retirement from the governorship of Montana he entered the Christian ministry, was ordained in 1869, and became in the same year pastor of the Baptist Church in Frankfort. Kentucky. Much of his later ministry has been employed in evangelistic service. General Smith has also taken an active part in furthering the temperance reform, and in 1876 was the candidate of the Prohibition Party for the presidency of the United States, receiving a popular vote of 9,522. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 574.
SMITH, Joseph, naval officer, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 30 March, 1790; died in Washington, D. C, 17 January, 1877. He entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman, 16 July, 1809, and was commissioned a lieutenant, 24 July, 1813. He was the 1st lieutenant of the brig "Eagle" in the victory on Lake Champlain, 11 September, 1814, and was severely wounded in the battle, but continued at his post. With other officers, he received the thanks of Congress and a silver medal for his services. In the frigate "Constellation," in the Mediterranean in 1815-'17, he co-operated in the capture of Algerine vessels, and he sailed again to the Mediterranean in 1819. returning in 1822. He was commissioned commander 3 March, 1827, and captain, 9 February, 1837. During two years, until December, 1845, he commanded the Mediterranean Squadron, with the frigate "Cumberland" as flag-ship. Upon his return home he was appointed chief of the bureau of yards and docks, which post he filled until the spring of 1809. He was then president of the examining board for the promotion of officers until September, 1871. He had been retired, 21 December, 1861, and promoted to rear-admiral, 10 July, 1862. He resided at Washington after his service with the examining board until his death, at which time he was the senior officer in the navy on the retired list. He was highly esteemed by Commodore Isaac Hull, whose flag-ship "Ohio" he commanded in 1839. His son was killed on board the " Congress" when she was attacked by the "Merrimac," 8 March, 1862. When the admiral heard that the ship had surrendered, he exclaimed: "Then Joe is dead." Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 575.
SMITH, Joseph, clergyman, born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, 15 July, 1796; died in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, 4 December, 1868. He was graduated at Jefferson College in 1815, studied at Princeton Theological Seminary, was licensed to preach in 1819, and became a missionary in Culpeper, Madison, and Orange Counties, Virginia. He was principal of an academy in Staunton, Virginia., for several years, moved to Frederick City, Maryland., about 1832, and was pastor of the Presbyterian Church there and principal of an academy. He was pastor of a church in Clairsville, Ohio, in 1840, and became president of Franklin College, now Athens, Ohio, in 1844, but resigned on account of his conservative views regarding slavery, resumed his former charge in Frederick City, Maryland, and was president of the newly organized college there. He became general agent of the synods of the Presbyterian Church for the territory embracing western Pennsylvania, northwestern Virginia, and eastern Ohio. He subsequently held charges in Round Hill and Greensburg, Pennsylvania. He received the degree of D. D, from Jefferson College. His publications include "Old Redstone, or Historical Sketches of Western Presbyterianism" (Philadelphia, 1854), and " History of Jefferson College, Pennsylvania." (1857). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 575.
SMITH, Joseph, Mormon prophet, born in Sharon, Vermont, 23 December, 1805; died in Carthage, Illinois, 27 June, 1844. His parents were poor, and when he was ten years of age they moved to Palmyra, New York, and four years later to Manchester, a few miles distant. In the spring of 1820, in the midst of great religious excitement, four of his father's family having joined the Presbyterian Church, Joseph claimed to have gone into the woods to pray, when he had a vision in some respects similar to St. Paul's, but was told by his religious advisers that " it is all of the devil," and he was ridiculed by the public. On the evening of 21 September, 1823, after going to bed, he claimed to have had another vision. According to his story, an angel named Moroni visited him and told him of a book written upon golden plates, in which was a history of the former inhabitants of this country and "the fulness of the everlasting gospel," and indicated to him where the book was deposited in the earth. He subsequently went to the spot that he had seen in his vision, found the plates of gold, but an unseen power prevented him from removing them. Moroni, with whom Smith claimed to have had many interviews, told him that he had not kept the Lord's command, that he valued the golden plates more than the records upon them, and not till his love for gold had abated and he was willing to give his time to the Lord and translate the inscriptions upon the plates would they ever be delivered to him. It is claimed that this was done by the angel, 22 September, 1827. Smith told of his visions from time to time, and, to escape the jeers and ridicule of the people of Manchester, he went to reside with his wife's family in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, where, according to his own account, he began to copy the characters on the plates and by the aid of "Urim and Thummim," a pair of magic spectacles, translated them from behind a curtain, dictating the " Book of Mormon" to Martin Harris and later to Oliver Cowdery, who joined him in April, 1829. These two frequently went into the woods to pray for divine instruction, and on 15 May, 1829, they claimed that they were addressed by the materialized spirit of John the Baptist, who conferred upon them the priesthood of Aaron and commanded that they baptize each other by immersion for the remission of sins. Both claimed after they were baptized to have received the gift of the Holy Ghost, and from that time had the spirit of prophecy. The " Book of Mormon " was printed in Palmyra, New York, by Egbert B. Grandin in 1830. The Mormon Church was organized, 6 April, 1830, by six "saints," at the house of Peter Whitmer, in Fayette, New York, and Oliver Cowdery preached the first sermon on the following Sunday, at the house of Mr. Whitmer, when several were baptized. The first conference of the church was held in June, 1830, at which thirty members were present, and thereafter the "prophet" claimed supernatural powers. Numerous miracles were performed by him, of which the casting the devil out of Newell Knight, of Colesville, New York, was the first that was done in the church. The membership increased rapidly, and Kirtland, Ohio, was declared to be the promised land of the Mormons. In February, Smith and the leaders of the church settled in that place, and almost at once missionaries were sent to make converts. Early in June, Missouri was announced by Smith to be the chosen land, and in July he located the new city of Zion. Soon afterward he returned to Kirtland, and during a visit to Hiram, Ohio, with Sidney Rigdon, he was tarred and feathered. (See Rigdon, Sidney, for the subsequent events of this period.) Meanwhile the building of the first "temple" in Kirtland was decided upon, and each Mormon was compelled to give one seventh of his time in labor for its completion in addition to the tithes that were paid into the treasury. It was 80 feet long, 59 feet wide, and 50 feet high, and was dedicated on 27 March, 1836. At a conference of the elders, held 3 May, 1834, the name of "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" was adopted, and on 14 February, 1835, a quorum of the twelve apostles was organized. During 1837-'8 dissensions arose in the church, owing to the financial difficulties of the time, and many of the members left it. Smith was charged with having recommended two of his followers to take the life of Grandison Newell, an opponent of Mormonism, but, although he was brought before the courts, he was discharged, owing to the lack of evidence. The failure of the bank, charges of fraud, and other difficulties occurred, and on 13 January, 1838, he made his escape to Illinois, ultimately reaching Far West, Missouri. Toward the close of the year the conflict between the Mormons and Missourians, who had previously insisted that the former should leave their territory, assumed the proportions of civil war. The Mormons armed themselves and, assembling in large bodies, fortified their towns and defied the officers of the law. The militia of the state was called out by the governor. Smith and many of his associates were lodged in jail, having been indicted for "murder, treason, burglary, arson, and larceny," but on 16 April, 1839, during their removal to Boone County, made their escape to Illinois, whither their families had fled. After this the leaders of the church were frequently arrested on various charges, the " prophet" being in custody nearly fifty times. Most of the refugees met in Hancock County, Illinois, and on the site of the town of Commerce the city of the saints, Nauvoo, was founded and a charter obtained, signed by the governor, 16 December, 1840. The municipal election was held on 1 February, 1841, Smith was elected mayor, and two days previously he was chosen sole trustee of the Mormon Church, with unlimited powers. The charter of the city granted the right to form a military organization, called the Nauvoo Legion, which at one time contained about 1,500 men. and on 4 February, 1841, Smith was elected lieutenant-general. The erection of a new temple was begun, missionaries were sent to England, through whom large accessions were made to the church, and in 1842 Smith was at the height of his prosperity. Not only was his fame known from one end of the land to the other, but his favor was sought eagerly by the leaders of the two great political parties, who flattered and praised him that they might win his support. Jealousies soon arose among the leaders, some of whom were driven from the church, and by his revelation of 12 July, 1813, authorizing him to take spiritual wives, he antagonized certain of his followers, among whom were Dr. Robert D. Foster and William Law, whose wives he had solicited to enter into the married state with him. In 1844, with other apostate Mormons, Foster and Law deckled upon the establishment of a newspaper in Nauvoo. for the purpose of making war upon the leaders of Mormonism. This was the "Nauvoo Expositor," the first and only number of which contained what purported to be affidavits from sixteen women who insisted that Smith and Sidney Rigdon were guilty of moral impurity and were in favor of the "spiritual-wife system, which they openly denounced. These accusations greatly incensed the "prophet," and the city council declared the paper a nuisance, and ordered that it should be abated. Under cover of this ordinance the followers of Smith attacked the building, destroyed the presses, and made a bonfire of the paper and furniture. Foster and Law fled to Carthage, and a warrant was issued for the arrest of Joseph Smith, the mayor of Nauvoo, and seventeen of his adherents. He refused to acknowledge the validity of the warrant, and the constable who served it was marched out of Nauvoo by the city marshal. The militia was called out, and the Mormons gave up their public arms. Joseph and Hyrum Smith were arrested on a charge of treason and taken to Carthage jail. The governor visited the Smiths in jail, made a promise of protection to them, and had a guard placed over the building. On the evening of 27 June, 1844, a band of more than 100 men, with blackened faces, rushed into the jail and fired upon the brothers, killing Hyrum first, while Joseph was pierced with four bullets and fell dead. See "Mormonism and the Mormons," by Daniel P. Kidder (New York, 1842); "The Mormons: or Latter-Day Saints, with Memoirs of Joseph Smith" (London, 1851); and the "Early Days of Mormonism," by J. H. Kennedy (New" York, 1888).—His son, Joseph, born in Kirtland, Ohio, 6 November, 1832, after the death of his father in 1844 remained in Nauvoo with his mother, who would not acknowledge the authority of Brigham Young. For years she kept a hotel, in which her son assisted her. He also was clerk in a store, worked on a farm, was sub-contractor on a railroad, and studied law. After standing aloof from the Mormon Church till he was about twenty-four years of age, he resolved to put himself at the head of a " reorganized " branch of it, which he did in 1860. In 1866 he left Nauvoo and took up his abode as editor and manager of " The Saints Herald "at Piano, Illinois. He then went abroad and preached frequently for about fifteen years, and then moved to Lamoni, Iowa, where he now (1888) resides, as the acknowledged head of the reorganized church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a strong opponent to the doctrine and practices of the polygamists of Utah. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 575-576.
SMITH, Ephraim Kirby, soldier, born in Litchfield. Connecticut., in 1807; died near the city of Mexico, 11 September. 1847, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1826, served on frontier duty in 1828-'9. and was dismissed from the army in October, 1830, for inflicting corporal punishment on mutinous soldiers, but was reinstated in 1832. He became 1st lieutenant in 1833, captain in 1838, and during the war with Mexico was engaged in numerous battles, including Molino del Rev, where he was mortally wounded in leading the light infantry battalion under his command in an assault on one of the enemy's batteries. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 576-577.
SMITH, Edmund Kirby, soldier, born in St. Augustine, Florida. 16 May, 1824, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1845, and appointed brevet 2d lieutenant of infantry. In the war with Mexico he was twice brevetted, for gallantry at Cerro Gordo and Contreras. He was assistant professor of mathematics at West Point in 1849—'52, became captain in the 2d U.S. Cavalry in 1855, served on the frontier, and was wounded, 13 May, 1859, in an engagement with Comanche Indians near old Fort Atchison, Texas. In 1861 he was thanked by the Texas legislature for his services against the Indians. He was promoted major in January, 1861, but resigned on 6 April, on the secession of Florida, and was appointed lieutenant-colonel in the corps of cavalry of the Confederate Army. He became brigadier-general, 17 June, 1861, major-general, 11 October, 1861, lieutenant-general, 9 October, 1862, and general, 19 February, 1864. At the battle of Bull Run, 21 July, 1861, he was severely wounded in the beginning of the engagement. In 1862 he was placed in command of the Department of East Tennessee, Kentucky. North Georgia, and Western North Carolina. He led the advance of General Braxton Bragg's army in the Kentucky Campaign, and defeated the National forces under General William Nelson at Richmond, Kentucky, 30 August, 1862. In February, 1863, he was assigned to the command of the Trans-Mississippi Department, including Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Indian Territory, and was ordered to organize a government, which he did. He made his communications with Richmond by running the blockade at Galveston, Texas, and Wilmington, North Carolina, sent large quantities of cotton to Confederate agents abroad, and. introducing machinery from Europe, established factories and furnaces, opened mines, made powder and castings, and had made the district self-supporting when the war closed, at which time his forces were the last to surrender. In 1864 he opposed and defeated General Nathaniel P. Banks in his Red River Campaign. General Smith was president of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company in 1866-'8, and chancellor of the University of Nashville in 1870-'5, and has been professor of mathematics in the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, since 1875. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 577.
SMITH, Joseph Lee Kirby, soldier, born in New York City in 1836: died at Corinth, Mississippi., 12 October, 1862, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1857, served as assistant Topographical Engineer in the office of the Mississippi Delta Survey in Washington, D. C, in 1857-'8, on the Utah Expedition, the survey of the northern lakes in 1859-'61, and then became 1st lieutenant of Topographical Engineers. During the Civil War he served on General Nathaniel P. Banks's staff in July and August, 1861, received the brevet of captain, U. S. Army, in the latter month "for gallant and meritorious service in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia," became colonel of the 43d Ohio Volunteers in September, and was in command of a brigade of the Army of the Mississippi in the capture of Mew Madrid, Missouri, in March, 1862. He was brevetted major, U. S. Army, for the capture of Island No. 10. 7 April, 1862, served on the expedition to Fort Pillow, fought at the siege of Corinth in May of that year, and was brevetted lieutenant-colonel in the U. S. Army for repelling a Confederate sortie from that city. He was in command of a regiment in operations in northern Mississippi in September and October, was engaged at the battle of Iuka, and mortally wounded at Corinth, 4 October, while charging " front forward" to repel a desperate attack on Battery Robinett. For this service, he was brevetted colonel in the regular army, his commission dating 4 October, 1862. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 577.
SMITH, Joseph Rowe, soldier, born in Stillwater, New York, 8 September, 1802; died in Monroe, Michigan, 3 September, 1868. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1823, became 1st lieutenant in 1832 and captain in 1838, and served in the Florida War in 1837-'42. During the Mexican War he was brevetted major for gallantry at Cerro Gordo, and lieutenant-colonel for Contreras and Churubusco, receiving in the latter engagement a wound that ever afterward disabled his left arm. He became major of the 7th U.S. Infantry in 1851, and in 1861 was retired on account of his wounds, but in the following year was appointed mustering and disbursing officer for Michigan, with headquarters on the lakes. He became chief mustering officer of Michigan in 1862, military commissary of musters in 1863. and in 1865 was brevetted brigadier-general, U. S. Army, for " long and honorable service." Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 578.
SMITH, Julia Evalina, reformer, born in Glastonbury, Connecticut., 27 May, 1792; died in Hartford, Connecticut., 6 March, 1886. Her father was a preacher and physician, an early Abolitionist, and both parents were Sandemanians. She became known throughout the country as one of the five "Glastonbury sisters," who resisted the payment of taxes because they were denied suffrage, and submitted to the sale of their property by the town authorities rather than obey the law. With her sister, Abigail H. (1796-1878), she was an early and active member of the Woman's Suffrage Party and an interesting and conspicuous figure at their conventions. In 1876 they addressed a petition to the legislature of Connecticut, in which they set forth their grievances. Julia kept a weather-record from 1832 till 1880. In 1879 she married Amos G. Parker, a lawyer of New Hampshire, aged eighty-six years. The Glastonbury sisters were well veiled in modern and ancient languages, and for many years were engaged on a translation of the Holy Scriptures literally from the original tongues, which was published (Hartford, 1876). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 578.
SMITH, Junius, pioneer of ocean steam navigation, born in Plymouth, Massachusetts. 2 October, 1780; died in Astoria, New York, 23 January, 1853. His father, General David Smith, was an officer of militia. Junius was graduated at Yale in 1802. studied at the Litchfield law-school, and in 1803 delivered the annual oration before the Society of the Cincinnati of Connecticut. He practised at the New Haven Bar till 1805. when he was appointed to prosecute a claim against the British government for the capture of an American merchant ship. He pleaded the cause in the admiralty court in London, succeeded in obtaining large damages, and on his return to this country extensively engaged in commerce, and conducted a prosperous business for many years. He began the project of navigating the Atlantic Ocean with steamships in 1832, published a prospectus of the enterprise in 1835, in 1836 established the British and American Steam Navigation Company, and in the spring of 1838 proved the feasibility of the scheme by the crossing of the steamer " Sirius." Captain Moses Rogers had crossed in the " Savannah," using both sails and steam, in 1819. Mr. Smith's anticipation of the pecuniary advantages of the project were not realized, and he abandoned it, engaging in the introduction of the tea-plant into South Carolina. He purchased an extensive plantation near Greenville, and was endeavoring to prosecute the industry at the time of his death. Yale gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1840. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 578-579.
SMITH, Martin Luther, soldier, born in New York City in 1819: died in Rome, Georgia, 29 July, 1866. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1842, served in the Mexican War as lieutenant of Topographical Engineers, became 1st lieutenant in 1853 and captain in 1856, and resigned 1 April, 1861. He then entered the Confederate service, became a brigadier-general, commanded a brigade in defence of New Orleans, was at the head of the Engineer Corps of the Army, and planned and constructed the defences of Vicksburg, where he was taken prisoner. He subsequently attained the rank of major-general. After the war he became chief engineer of the Selma, Rome, and Dayton Railroad. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 579.
SMITH, Mary Prudence Wells, author, born in Attica, New York, 30 July, 1840. She was graduated at the Greenville, Massachusetts, High-School in 1857, and at Hartford Female Seminary in 1859. Smith taught in Greenville in 1859-'61, and in 1864-'72 was a clerk in Franklin Savings Institution, being the first woman employed in a bank in Massachusetts. She was secretary of the Greenville Freedmen's Aid Society in 1865-'6, and school commissioner in 1874. She married Judge Fayette Smith, of Cincinnati, in the latter year, and since 1881 has been president of the Cincinnati branch of the Woman's Auxiliary Conference of the Unitarian Church. She has published many magazine articles under the penname of " P. Thorne," and "Jolly Good Times, or Child Life on a Farm" (Boston, 1875); "Jolly Good Times at School" (1877); "The Browns" (1884); and " Miss Ellis's Mission " (1886). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 579.
SMITH, Melancton, naval officer, born in New York City, 24 May, 1810, entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman, 1 November, 1826, attended the naval school in New York in 1831, and became a passed midshipman, 28 April, 1832. He was commissioned lieutenant, 8 March, 1837, served in the steamer “Poinsett” until 1840, and in 1839, on this cruise, he commanded a fort during engagements with the Seminoles in Florida. He made a full cruise in the frigate “Constitution” on the Mediterranean Station in 1848–51, and, after being on waiting orders for several years, he was commissioned commander, 14 September, 1855, after which he was light-house inspector. On 9 July, 1861, while in command of the “Massachusetts” off Ship Island, he had an engagement with a Confederate fort and three Confederate steamers, and on 31 December, 1861, the fort at Biloxi, Louisiana, surrendered, cutting off all regular communication between North Carolina and Mobile, and getting possession of the sound. When in command of the “Mississippi” he passed Forts Jackson and St. Philip with Farragut, and destroyed the Confederate ram “Manassas,” for which he was highly commended by the admiral. He participated in the attack on Port Hudson. In an attempt to run the batteries the “Mississippi" grounded, and he set his ship on fire to prevent her falling into the hands of the enemy. This course was approved by the Navy Department. He was promoted to captain, 16 July, 1862 (under orders to return north), but was assigned to the temporary command of the “Monongahela,” on which vessel the admiral hoisted his flag on his passage from New Orleans to Port Hudson. In 1864 he had command of the monitor “Onondaga,” and appointed divisional officer on James River, and subsequently he had charge of the squadron in Albemarle Sound, North Carolina, and recaptured the steamer “Bombshell.” He participated in both attacks on Fort Fisher in the steam frigate “Wabash.” He was commissioned commodore, 25 July, 1866, and served as chief of the Bureau of Equipment and recruiting in the Navy Department until 1870. He was commissioned rear-admiral, 1 July, 1870, had charge of the New York U.S. Navy-yard in 1870–2, and was retired, 24 May, 1871. After he was retired, he was appointed governor of the Naval Asylum at Philadelphia. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 580.
SMITH, Morgan Lewis, soldier, born in Oswego County, New York, 8 March, 1822; died in Jersey City, New Jersey, 29 December, 1874. He settled in New Albany, Indiana, about 1843, and enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army in 1846, rising to the rank of orderly sergeant, but resigned, and at the beginning of the Civil War was engaged in the steamboat business. He then re-entered the service, having raised the 8th Missouri Infantry, a regiment whose members were bound by an oath never to surrender. He was chosen its colonel in July, 1861, took part in the advance of General Ulysses S. Grant's army to Fort Henry, commanded the 5th Brigade of the 3d Division of the Army of the Tennessee at Fort Donelson, and successfully stormed a strong position of the enemy. He led the 1st Brigade of the same army at Shiloh, was engaged at Corinth and Russell House, accompanied General William T. Sherman to Moscow, Tennessee, and was subsequently in charge of an expedition to Holly Springs, Mississippi, and Memphis, Tennessee. He was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers in July, 1862, and made expeditions and reconnoissance into Mississippi till November of that year, when he was placed in command of the 2d Division of General William T. Sherman's army, and was severely wounded at Vicksburg, 28 December, 1862. He assumed his command on his recovery in October, 1863, and was engaged at Missionary Ridge in the movements for the relief of Knoxville and in the Atlanta Campaign. He was then placed in charge of Vicksburg, and, by his stern adherence to military law, brought that city into peace and order. He was subsequently U. S. consul at Honolulu, declined the governorship of Colorado Territory, and became a counsel in Washington, D. C, for the collection of claims. At the time of his death he was connected with a building association in Washington, D. C. General William T. Sherman said of him: "He was one of the bravest men in action I ever knew." [Brother of Giles Alexander Smith, soldier]. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 580-581.
SMITH, Giles Alexander, soldier, born in Jefferson County, New York, 29 September, 1829; died in Bloomington, Illinois, 8 November, 1876, engaged in the dry-goods business in Cincinnati, and subsequently in Bloomington, Illinois, and at the beginning of the Civil War was the proprietor of a hotel in the last named town. He became captain in the 8th Missouri Volunteers in 1861, was engaged at Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and Corinth, and became lieutenant-colonel and colonel in 1862. He led his regiment at the first attack on Vicksburg, was wounded at Arkansas Post, and in the capture of Vicksburg rescued Admiral David Porter and his iron-clads when they were surrounded and hemmed in by the enemy. In August, 1863, he was promoted brigadier-general of volunteers " for gallant and meritorious conduct in the field." He commanded his brigade in the 15th Army Corps in the siege of Chattanooga and the battle of Missionary Ridge, in which he was severely wounded. He led a brigade in the 15th Corps in the Atlanta Campaign, was transferred to the command of the 2d Division of the 17th Army Corps, fought at Atlanta, and, in Sherman's march to the sea, engaged in all the important movements, especially in the operations in and about Columbia, South Carolina. After the surrender of General Robert E. Lee he was transferred to the 25th Army Corps, became major-general of volunteers in 1865, and continued in the service till 1866, when he resigned, declining the commission of colonel of cavalry in the regular army, and settled in Bloomington, Illinois. He was a defeated candidate for Congress in 1868, was second assistant Postmaster-General in 1869-'72, but resigned on account of failing health. He was a founder of the Society of the Army of Tennessee. [Brother of Morgan Lewis Smith, soldier]. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 581.
SMITH, Truman, senator, a nephew of Nathaniel and Nathan Smith, born in Woodbury, Connecticut., 27 November, 1791; died in Stamford, Connecticut, 3 May, 1884, was graduated at Yale in 1815, studied law, and was a member of the legislature in 1831–4, of Congress in 1839-'49, and U.S. Senator from Connecticut in 1849-'54, when he suddenly resigned from weariness of public life. He was remarkable for his wide, though silent, influence in national politics, having taken a decisive part in the nomination of General Zachary Taylor for president in 1848. He conducted that presidential campaign as chairman of the Whig National Committee, and was offered a post in President Taylor's cabinet, which he declined. He was, in conjunction with Daniel Webster, the foremost opponent of the “spoils system” in Congress. He strenuously combated the views of Stephen A. Douglas in the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. After resigning from the Senate, Mr. Smith practised law in New York until he was appointed by President Lincoln in 1862 judge of the court of arbitration, and afterward of the court of claims. He was also legal adviser to the government in many questions arising out of the Civil War. He wrote one book, “An Examination of the Question of Anaesthesia” (Boston, 1859), published as “An Inquiry into the Origin of Modern Anaesthesia” (Hartford, 1867), and published many separate speeches. Mr. Smith was a man of giant frame, and lived to be nearly ninety-three ears old. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 582.
SMITH, Persifer Frazer, soldier, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in November, 1798; died in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 17 May, 1858. His grandfather. Colonel Robert Smith, was an officer in the Revolution, and his maternal grandfather, Persifer Frazer, was a lieutenant-colonel in the same army. Persifer was graduated at Princeton in 1815, studied law Tinder Charles Chauncey, and settled in New Orleans, Louisiana. At the beginning of the Florida War, being adjutant-general of the state, he volunteered under General Edmund P. Gaines as colonel of Louisiana volunteers and served in the campaigns of 1830 and 1838. He was appointed colonel of a rifle regiment in May, 1846, commanded a brigade of infantry from September of that year till the close of the war with Mexico, and received the brevet of brigadier-general, U. S. Army, for his service at Monterey, and major-general in the same for Churubusco and Contreras, 20 August, 1847. The official report of the latter battle records " that he closely directed the whole attack in front with his habitual coolness and ability." He also fought at Chapultepec and at the Belen gate, and in the latter battle is described by General Winfield Scott as "cool, unembarrassed, and ready." He was commissioner of armistice with Mexico in October, 1847, afterward commanded the 2d Division of the U. S. Army, became military and civil governor of Vera Cruz in May, 1848, and subsequently had charge of the departments of California and Texas. He was brevetted major-general, U. S. Army, in 1849, appointed to the full rank of brigadier-general, 30 December, 1856, and ordered to Kansas. Just before his death he was placed in command of the Utah Expedition. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 583.
SMITH, Gerrit, 1797-1874, Peterboro, New York, large landowner, reformer, philanthropist, radical abolitionist. Smith was one of the most important leaders of the abolitionist movement. Originally, he supported the American Colonization Society (ACS) and served as a Vice President, 1833-1836. Smith later came to reject the idea of sending freed slaves back to Africa. Smith became a leader and important supporter of William Lloyd Garrison and the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS). He served as a Vice President of the AASS, 1836-1840, 1840-1841. Smith also served as Vice President of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1840. He was the founding President of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, October 1836, in Utica, New York. Smith came to believe that slavery could be abolished by political means and he was instrumental in the founding of the Liberty Party in 1840. He was the President and co-founder of the Liberty League in 1848 and was its presidential candidate in 1848. He was active in supporting the Underground Railroad. Smith was a member of the Pennsylvania Free Produce Association. He supported the New England Emigrant Aid Company of Massachusetts, which sent anti-slavery settlers to the Kansas Territory. He was one of six abolitionists (known as the “Secret Six”) who secretly supported radical abolitionist John Brown. Supported women’s rights and suffrage. He served as an anti-slavery member of Congress, 1853-1854. After the Civil War, he supported the right to vote for Blacks.
(Blue, 2005, pp. 19, 20, 25, 26, 32-36, 50, 53, 54, 68, 101, 102, 105, 112, 132, 170; Dumond, 1961, pp. 200, 221, 231, 295, 301, 339, 352; Filler, 1960; Friedman, 1982; Frothingham, 1876; Harrold, 1995; Mabee, 1970, pp. 37, 47, 55, 56, 71, 72, 104, 106, 131, 135, 150, 154, 156, 187-189, 195, 202, 204, 219, 220, 226, 227, 237, 239, 246, 252, 253, 258, 307, 308, 315, 320, 321, 327, 342, 346; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 5, 8, 13, 16, 22, 29, 31, 36, 112, 117-121, 137, 163, 167, 199, 224-225, 243; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 46, 50, 51, 56, 138, 163, 206, 207, 327, 338, 452-454; Sernett, 2002, pp. 22, 36, 49-55, 122-126, 129-132, 143-146, 169, 171, 173-174, 205-206, 208-217, 219-230; Sorin, 1971, pp. 25-38, 47, 49, 52, 66, 95, 96, 102, 126, 130; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 128, 129, 165, 189-190, 201, 213, 221, 224, 225, 230-231; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 583-584; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 1, p. 270; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 20; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, pp. 322-323; Harlow, Ralph Volney. Gerrit Smith: Philanthropist and Reformer. New York: Holt, 1939.)
SMITH, Gerrit, philanthropist, born in Utica, New York, 6 March, 1797; died in New York City, 28 December, 1874, was graduated at Hamilton College in 1818, and devoted himself to the care of his father's estate, a large part of which was given to him when he attained his majority. At the age of fifty-six he studied law, and was admitted to the bar. He was elected to Congress as an independent candidate in 1852, but resigned after serving through one session. During his boyhood slavery still existed in the state of New York, and his father was a slave-holder. One of the earliest forms of the philanthropy that marked his long life appeared in his opposition to the institution of slavery, and his friendship for the oppressed race. He acted for ten years with the American Colonization Society, contributing largely to its funds, until he became convinced that it was merely a scheme of the slave-holders for getting the free colored people out of the country. Thenceforth he gave his support to the Anti-Slavery Society, not only writing for the cause and contributing money, but taking part in conventions, and personally assisting fugitives. He was temperate in all the discussion, holding that the north was a partner in the guilt, and in the event of emancipation without war should bear a portion of the expense; but the attempt to force slavery upon Kansas convinced him that the day for peaceful emancipation was past, and he then advocated whatever measure of force might be necessary. He gave large sums of money to send free-soil settlers to Kansas, and was a personal friend of John Brown, to whom he had given a farm in Essex County, New York, that he might instruct a colony of colored people, to whom Mr. Smith had given farms in the same neighborhood. He was supposed to be implicated in the Harper's Ferry affair, but it was shown that he had only given pecuniary aid to Brown as he had to scores of other men, and so far as he knew Brown's plans had tried to dissuade him from them. Mr. Smith was deeply interested in the cause of temperance, and organized an anti-dramshop party in February, 1842. In the village of Peterboro, Madison County, where he had his home, he built a good hotel, and gave it rent-free to a tenant who agreed that no liquor should be sold there. This is believed to have been the first temperance hotel ever established. But it was not pecuniarily successful. He had been nominated for president by an industrial congress at Philadelphia in 1848, and by the land-reformers in 1856, but declined. In 1840, and again in 1858, he was nominated for governor of New York. The last nomination, on a platform of abolition and prohibition, he accepted, and canvassed the state. In the election he received 5,446 votes. Among the other reforms in which he was interested were those relating to the property-rights of married women and female suffrage and abstention from tobacco. In religion he was originally a Presbyterian, but became very liberal in his views, and built a non-sectarian church in Peterboro, in which he often occupied the pulpit himself. He could not conceive of religion as anything apart from the affairs of daily life, and in one of his published letters he wrote: “No man's religion is better than his politics; his religion is pure whose politics are pure; whilst his religion is rascally whose politics are rascally.” He disbelieved in the right of men to monopolize land, and gave away thousands of acres of that which he had inherited, some of it to colleges and charitable institutions, and some in the form of small farms to men who would settle upon them. He also gave away by far the greater part of his income, for charitable purposes, to institutions and individuals. In the financial crisis of 1837 he borrowed of John Jacob Astor a quarter of a million dollars, on his verbal agreement to give Mr. Astor mortgages to that amount on real estate. The mortgages were executed as soon as Mr. Smith reached his home, but through the carelessness of a clerk were not delivered, and Mr. Astor waited six months before inquiring for them. Mr. Smith had for many years anticipated that the system of slavery would be brought to an end only through violence, and when the Civil War began he hastened to the support of the government with his money and his influence. At a war-meeting in April, 1861, he made a speech in which he said: “The end of American slavery is at hand. The first gun fired at Fort Sumter announced the fact that the last fugitive slave had been returned. . . . The armed men who go south should go more in sorrow than in anger. The sad necessity should be their only excuse for going. They must still love the south; we must all still love her. As her chiefs shall, one after another, fall into our hands, let us be restrained from dealing revengefully, and moved to deal tenderly with them, by our remembrance of the large share which the north has had in blinding them.” In accordance with this sentiment, two years after the war, he united with Horace Greeley and Cornelius Vanderbilt in signing the bail-bond of Jefferson Davis. At the outset he offered to equip a regiment of colored men, if the government would accept them. Mr. Smith left an estate of about $1,000,000, having given away eight times that amount during his life. He wrote a great deal for print, most of which appeared in the form of pamphlets and broadsides, printed on his own press in Peterboro. His publications in book-form were “Speeches in Congress” (1855); “Sermons and Speeches” (1861); “The Religion of Reason” (1864); “Speeches and Letters” (1865); “The Theologies” (2d ed., 1866); “Nature the Base of a Free Theology” (1867); and “Correspondence with Albert Barnes” (1868). His authorized biography has been written by Octavius BORN Frothingham (New York, 1878). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 583-584.
SMITH, Green C., Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Congressional Globe)
SMITH, Horace E., New York, abolitionist leader (Sorin, 1971)
SMITH, Humphrey “Yankee,” 1774-1857, New Jersey, abolitionist, anti-slavery advocate in Clay County, Missouri. (Smith, Calvin, 1907; Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, 1901)
SMITH, Israel, Bainbridge, New York, abolitionist, American Anti-Slavery Society, Manager, 1835-1836.
SMITH, Ithamer, Waitsfield, Vermont, American Abolition Society, Vice-President, 1858-59
SMITH, James McCune (Communipaw), 1813-1865, New York, New York, African American, abolitionist leader, community leader, activist. James McCune Smith was the first African American to receive a medical degree. He was also the first African American to operate a pharmacy in the U.S. He was a leader in the abolitionist American Anti-Slavery Society. In 1853, he helped organize the National Council of Colored People, with Frederick Douglass. In addition, he co-organized the Committee of Thirteen, in New York City, to aid escaped slaves through the Underground Railroad after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act. Recording Secretary, American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1852-1855.
(Dumond, 1961, pp. 268, 333; Mabee, 1970, p. 134; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 454; Smith, James McCune, The Destiny of the People of Color, 1841; Smith, James McCune, A Lecture on the Haitian Revolution, 1841; Sorin, 1971, p. 82; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 1, p. 288; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 20, p. 216; Congressional Globe; Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 10, p. 345; Hinks, Peter P., & John R. McKivigan, Eds., Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition. Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood, 2007, Vol. 2, pp. 639-641)
SMITH, James W., New York, abolitionist, American Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1834-1835.
SMITH, John, Andover, Massachusetts, abolitionist, Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1840-1841.
SMITH, Joshua Bowen, 1813-1879, Boston, Massachusetts, African American, abolitionist, community leader. Abolition leader and supporter of William Lloyd Garrison, Theodore Parker and George Luther Stearns. Aided fugitive slaves in Boston area. Founded the New England Freedom Association, which aided runaway slaves. Active member of the Boston Vigilance Committee. (Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 10, p. 349, Vol. 11, p. 489)
SMITH, Samuel, Delaware, abolitionist, American Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1837-1838.
SMITH, Stephen, 1795-1873, African American, former slave, businessman, clergyman, abolitionist, conductor on the Underground Railroad, temperance activist. (Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 10, p. 383)
SMITHERS, Nathaniel, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Congressional Globe)
