Encyclopedia of Civil War Military Biography – Mea-Mye
MEADE, George Gordon, soldier, born in Cadiz, Spain, 31 December, 1815; died in. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 6 November, 1872, attended school in Philadelphia and afterward Salmon P. Chase's school in Washington, D. C. and Mt. Hope Institution near Baltimore, Maryland, from which he went to the U. S. Military Academy, where he was graduated in 1835. He was assigned to the 3d U.S. Artillery, and ordered to Florida. While he was serving in the war against the Seminoles his health failed, and he was detailed to conduct a party of Seminoles to Arkansas, and then ordered to Watertown Arsenal, Massachusetts, and was on ordnance duty there till 26 October, 1836, when he resigned. He was engaged as assistant civil engineer in the is construction of the railroad at Pensacola, Florida, till April, 1837, then, under the appointment of the War Department, made a survey of the mouth of Sabine River, and afterward assisted in the survey of the delta of the Mississippi till February, 1839. In 1840 he was employed in the astronomical branch of the survey of the boundary-line between the United States and Texas, and in August of that year became civil assistant in the survey of the northeastern boundary between the United States and British North America. On 31 December, 1840, he married Margaretta, a daughter of John Sergeant. On 19 May, 1842, he was appointed a 2d lieutenant in the Corps of Topographical Engineers, and continued on duty in the survey of the northeastern boundary till November, 1843. In 1844-'5 he was engaged on surveys in Delaware Bay. In September, 1845, he joined the staff of General Zachary Taylor at Corpus Christi, Texas. He took part in May, 1846, in the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, and in the occupation of Matamoras, and later, under General William Worth, led the assault on Independence Hill at Monterey, for which he was brevetted 1st lieutenant, and shared in the march to Tampico. In the siege of Vera Cruz he served on the staff of General Robert Patterson. Then returning home, he was engaged in 1847-9 in constructing light-houses in Delaware bay and in mapping surveys of Florida reefs. He served in the field against the Seminoles in 1849-50. Mead was on light-house duty in Delaware bay in 1850-'l, was commissioned 1st lieutenant of Topographical Engineers on 4 August, 1851, and for the next five years was engaged in the construction of light-houses at Carysfort Reef, Sand Key, Cedar Key, and Coffins's Patches, in the Florida reefs. He was promoted captain on 19 May, 1856, served on the Geodetic Survey of the northwestern lakes in that year, and in 1857-61 was in charge of all the northern lake surveys. Soon after the beginning of the Civil War Captain Meade was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, dating from 31 August, 1861, and assigned to the command of the 2d brigade of Pennsylvania Reserves, in the Army of the Potomac. On 18 June, 1862, he was promoted major of Topographical Engineers. In the Peninsular Campaign he commanded his brigade in the battles of Mechanicsville and Gaines’s Mills, and at New Market Cross-Roads, otherwise called Glendale, where he was severely wounded. He was taken to Philadelphia, but, soon recovering, rejoined the army in time to render service against the enemy then advancing toward Washington, and took part in the second battle of Bull Run. In the invasion of Maryland he commanded the division of Pennsylvania Reserves, in the absence of General John F. Reynolds, at the battle of South Mountain and at Antietam, where he flanked the enemy from the right, and so signalized himself by his skill and intrepidity that he was placed, by General McClellan, on the field of battle, in command of the 1st Corps after the wounding of General Joseph Hooker. In this engagement General Meade's horse was shot under him. In October and November, 1862, he marched to Falmouth, Virginia, in command of his division, which at Fredericksburg was opposed to the troops of Stonewall Jackson. It alone, of all the army, drove everything before it, and broke through the enemy's lines, finding itself, as General Meade expressed himself in testifying before a commission, "in the presence of the enemy's reserves." During the action two horses were shot under him. For want of timely support, the division was finally forced to fall back. General Meade was now promoted major-general, his commission dating from 29 November, 1862, and on 25 December was placed in command of the 5th Corps. He commanded this corps at the battle of Chancellorsville, and on the first day was pressing forward on the left, meeting with some resistance, but successfully overcoming it, when he was recalled and ordered to retire to his former position before Chancellorsville. General Meade was placed in command of the Army of the Potomac on 23 June, 1863. The change of commanders was made while the corps were on the march in pursuit of an enemy who had pushed far into the invaded country. The general had yet to learn everything of the positions of the enemy and of his own separated corps, of personnel and materiel at his command, and to gain all the essential knowledge that a commander possesses who directs a movement from its inception. He was ordered to relieve General Hooker, without warning, in the night of 27 June, 1863. His army lay encamped about Frederick, Maryland, while Lee's had marched up the Cumberland valley. Meade determined to follow the enemy in a parallel march on the opposite side of South Mountain, dispose his troops so as to guard the passes of the mountain and prevent a descent on Baltimore and harass Lee, with a view of bringing on a general engagement. The troops began to move on the morning of 29 June, and by two forced marches gained positions that would enable them to deploy along the line between Westminster and Waynesborough. When Lee began to concentrate east of South Mountain, Meade ordered his columns to occupy the slope along Pipe Creek, and advanced his left wing to the neighborhood of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, making his dispositions so as to face either north or west. The advanced forces at Emmettsburg and Gettysburg were only expected to delay the march of the Confederates until the concentration could be accomplished on the selected line, fifteen miles in the rear of those positions. On the morning of 1 July, National cavalry came into collision with the head of a Confederate column near Gettysburg. General John F. Reynolds sent infantry to support his cavalry, and at first gained an advantage, but the Confederates soon came up in overwhelming force, and drove the National troops through the town to the hills. General Winfield S. Hancock, who, after Reynolds had fallen, was sent by Meade to conduct operations at Gettysburg, found the Confederate Army approaching by the roads that led to that village, and sent word to General Meade to bring forward his forces to the heights near Gettysburg, on which he posted the remnants of the two corps that had been engaged. Meade, after hearing the report of Hancock, who returned to Taneytown in the evening, was convinced of the superiority of Gettysburg as a defensive position, and ordered a concentration there. During that night and the following morning his troops came up and took position on Cemetery ridge, while Lee posted his on Seminary ridge farther west, both commanders deferring an attack until their main force was on the ground. General Meade arrived at the front soon after noon. The battle was opened at four o'clock in the afternoon by a vigorous attack on the 3d Corps forming the left and left centre, and soon became general along the entire line. The 3d Corps was routed, but the line was not broken, because the National troops, strongly re-enforced from the right, fell back to the ridge more directly connecting the wings of the army, while, after a desperate conflict, they gained possession of Little Round Top, a position of vital importance, which they had neglected to occupy before the battle. The partial defeat impelled General Meade to make preparations for a retreat. Generals Abner Doubleday and Alfred Pleasanton, who were intrusted with the arrangements, subsequently represented that their commander had already given up the hope of holding the position, but he denied, with solemn protestations, before the Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War, "ever having intended or thought, for one instant, to withdraw that army unless the military contingencies which the future should develop during the course of the day might render it a matter of necessity that the army should be withdrawn." In the evening he called a council of war, which advised him against either retreating or attacking, in which opinion he coincided, though expressing the belief, it is said, that the position was bad. Flushed with the success of the day, and relying on the prestige gained at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, General Lee determined to renew the attack on the National Army in its strong position on the following day. In the morning Meade took the offensive against Ewell, and drove him from the intrenchments that he had captured on the right, nearest the town. At one o'clock the Confederates opened fire with 145 guns, to which the National artillery replied with 80, which was all that could be advantageously planted on their ridge. When the National fire ceased, after two hours, General George E. Pickett's division charged Meade's centre under a heavy artillery and infantry fire, poured in from all sides, and was nearly annihilated; a few of them reached the breastworks, only to fall there or be made prisoners. General Meade then ordered an advance on the left, and drove back General John B. Hood's division. Both armies remained in their positions until the evening of the next day, when Lee retreated to the Potomac, and was there obliged to intrench until the waters subsided. Meade followed slowly by a longer route, and when he came up to the Confederates, on 12 July, intrenched himself, postponing an attack, in deference to the decision of a council of war, until he could make a reconnaissance. An advance was ordered to be made on the morning of the 14th, but during the night the enemy had crossed the river. The Confederate force engaged at Gettysburg was about 69,000 men, while the effective strength of the Army of the Potomac was between 82,000 and 84,000, but its numerical superiority was in a measure neutralized by the fatigues of its long marches. General Meade was commissioned brigadier-general in the regular army on 3 July, 1863. After the advance of the Army of the Potomac into Virginia the detachment of large forces caused comparative inactivity, which was followed in the autumn by the actions at Bristoe's Station, Kelly's Ford, and Rappahannock Station, and the operations at Mine Run in December. The army experienced no reverse while General Meade was commander-in-chief, and he was continued in the command of the Army of the Potomac after General Ulysses S. Grant had been made commander of all the armies of the United States and assumed the direction of the operations in person. He was made major-general on 18 August, 1864. During two years, or more than half the period of its existence, General Meade was in immediate command of the Army of the Potomac, and, having been in every campaign of the army since its formation and in all of its battles except two, commanded in the grand review that took place in Washington after the close of the war. During the time that intervened before the southern states resumed regular political relations with the government he commanded the Military Division of the Atlantic. From August, 1866, till January, 1868, he commanded the Department of the East, then till August, 1868, the military district embracing Georgia and Alabama, next the Department of the South, comprising the same states with South Carolina and Florida, and from March, 1869, till his death, he was at the head of the Military Division of the Atlantic again. He received the degree of LL. D. from Harvard in 1865, and was a member of the American Philosophical Society, of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, and of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, and one of the commissioners of Fairmount Park. His death was caused by pneumonia, aggravated by complications resulting from the gun-shot wound that he had received at New Market Cross-Roads. He was buried with imposing military honors. An equestrian statue of General Meade, designed by Milne Calden, was dedicated in Fairmount park, Philadelphia, on 18 October, 1887. The allegation that General Meade planned a retreat on the second day at Gettysburg is controverted in a pamphlet by George Meade, entitled " Did General Meade desire to retreat at the Battle of Gettysburg" (Philadelphia, 1883). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 279-281.
MEADE, George, born in Philadelphia, 2 November, 1843, was educated in Philadelphia, and in September, 1862, enlisted as a private in the 8th Pennsylvania militia Regiment, and served in the ranks during the Antietam Campaign, after which he was honorably discharged. In October he was appointed 2d lieutenant in the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry (Rush's lancers), and served in the Army of the Potomac in the Fredericksburg Campaign, and in General Stoneman's cavalry raid of April and May, 1863. He was promoted to the rank of captain and Aide-de-camp in June, 1863, and appointed to the staff of his father [General George Gordon Meade], who then commanded the 5th Corps, Army of the Potomac, and he served continuously on the staff until the surrender of General Lee. In November, 1865, he was appointed a 2d lieutenant in the 9th U. S. Infantry, and in July, 1866, promoted to a captaincy in the 31st U.S. Infantry. Upon the consolidation of the army in 1869 he was transferred to the 22d U.S. Infantry, after being brevetted major and lieutenant-colonel, U. S. A., for gallant and meritorious services during the Civil War. He continued on the staff of General Meade most of the time until the death of the general, and resigned from the army in October, 1874. Colonel Meade was the only one of his father's sons that was associated with him in the army, his elder brother being in ill health, and his other brothers too young. He is the author of the pamphlet mentioned above and of various articles and letters that have appeared in the daily press regarding his father's career. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 281-282.
MEADE, Richard Worsam, naval officer, born in Cadiz, Spain, in 1807; died in New York City, 16 April, 1870, entered the U. S. Navy as a midshipman on 1 April, 1826, and passed that grade on 14 June, 1834. He became a lieutenant on the reserved list, 20 December, 1837, commander on the active list, 14 September, 1855, and captain on 16 July, 1862. In 1861 he took command of the receiving-ship " North Carolina," which vessel he greatly improved, and in 1864 he commanded the steam sloop-of-war "San Jacinto," which was wrecked and lost on one of the Florida reefs. He was retired with the rank of commodore on 11 December, 1867. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 281.
MEADE, Richard Worsam, naval officer, born in New York City, 9 October, 1837, entered the U. S. Navy as a midshipman, 2 October, 1850, passed that grade, 20 June, 1856, became a lieutenant, 23 January, 1858, lieutenant-commander, 16 July, 1862, commander, 20 September, 1868, and captain, 13 March, 1880. He served during the Civil War on the Mississippi River, and in the South Atlantic and Western Gulf Blockading Squadrons, being highly commended in the official despatches for "skill and gallantry." Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 281.
MEAGHER, Thomas Francis (marr), soldier, born in Waterford, Ireland, 3 August, 1823; died near Fort Benton, Montana, 1 July, 1867. His father, a merchant, who had made a fortune in the Newfoundland trade, represented Waterford in parliament for several years. At the age of nine Thomas Francis was sent to the Jesuit College of Clongowes Wood, County Kildare, where he remained six years, and then entered Stonyhurst College, near Preston, England. In 1843 he left that institution, and soon afterward made his appearance as a public speaker at the great national meeting at Kilkenny, over which Daniel O'Connell presided. From that time he was devoted to the cause of Ireland, and in 1846 became one of the leaders of the Young Ireland Party, whose object was to obtain Irish independence by force of arms. In 1848 he was sent to Paris with an address to the provisional government of France from the Irish confederation, and on his return he presented the citizens of Dublin with an Irish tricolor, upon which occasion he made a fiery patriotic speech. On 21 March he was arrested on the charge of sedition, and was bailed to appear at the court of queen's bench. After the passage of the treason-felony act Meagher was arrested again, and in October, 1848, was convicted of treason and sentenced to death. The sentence was afterward commuted to banishment for life, and on 9 July, 1849, he was transported to Van Diemen's Land, but he escaped in 1852 and took refuge in the United States. In 1855 he had begun the study of the law, and he was subsequently admitted to the bar, but at, the beginning of the Civil War he at once abandoned his profession, and, organizing a company of Zouaves for the National Army, he joined the 69th New York Volunteers, under Colonel Michael Corcoran, and served during the first campaign in Virginia. At the first battle of Bull Run, where he was acting major of his regiment, a horse was shot under him. Upon the expiration of his three months' term of service he returned to New York, and in the latter part of 1861 organized the "Irish Brigade," being elected colonel of the first regiment. He was afterward assigned to command the brigade, his commission as brigadier-general bearing the date of 3 February, 1862. General Meagher and his command fought bravely during the seven days' battles around Richmond, Virginia, and at the second battle of Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and Antietam, where again a horse was shot under him. At Fredericksburg he was wounded in the leg. After Chancellorsville his brigade was so decimated that he resigned, and was out of the war until early in 1864, when he was recommissioned brigadier-general of volunteers and assigned to the command of the District of Etowah. In January, 1865, he was relieved from duty in Tennessee, and ordered to report to General Sherman in Savannah, but the close of the war prevented his performing any further active service. After being mustered out of the service in 1865, General Meagher became secretary of Montana Territory, and in the following September, Governor Sydney Edgerton, being on the point of leaving the territory for a few months, appointed General Meagher governor pro tempore. The hostile attitude of the Indians compelled him to take measures to protect the white settlers. While engaged in this duty he fell into the Missouri, from the deck of a steamboat, and was drowned. He was the author of " Speeches on the Legislative Independence of Ireland" (New York, 1852), of which six editions were issued. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 283.
MEANS, John Hugh, governor of South Carolina, born in Fairfield District, South Carolina, 18 August, 1812; died in Manassas, Virginia, 28 August, 1862. His father, Thomas, was a native of Boston, Massachusetts The son was graduated at South Carolina College in 1832, after which he engaged in planting. His advocacy of state sovereignty brought him into notice, and he served in the legislature during the agitation regarding state rights. He was elected governor of South Carolina in 1850 and served one term, the constitution of the state forbidding re-election. During his administration he made many speeches favoring secession, and gave much attention to the state militia. He was president of the Convention of 1852 which passed a resolution that affirmed the right of the state to dissolve at once all political connection with her co-states and that she forbear the exercise of this manifest right of self-government from considerations of expediency only. He then retired to private life, but was a delegate to the Convention of 1860, affixing his name to the Ordinance of Secession. He was elected colonel of the 17th South Carolina Regiment, and was killed in the second battle of Bull Run, 28 August, 1862. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 283-284.
MEDILL, Joseph, journalist, born in New Brunswick, Canada. 6 April, 1823. His father moved in 1832 to Stark County, Ohio, where the son worked on a farm, subsequently studied law, and practised at Massillon. He founded a Free-Soil paper at Coshocton in 1849, established "The Leader," a Whig journal, at Cleveland in 1852, and in 1854 was one of the organizers of the Republican Party in Ohio. Soon afterward he went to Chicago, and with two partners bought, in May, 1855, the "Tribune," with which he has since been identified. He was a member of the Illinois Constitutional Convention in 1870, and the author of a minority representation clause. In 1871 he was a member of the U. S. Civil Service Commission, and was elected mayor of Chicago. He spent a year in Europe in 1873-'4, and on his return purchased a controlling interest in the "Tribune," of which he became and continues editor-in-chief. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 285.
MEIGS, Montgomery Cunningham, soldier, born in Augusta, Georgia, 3 May, 1816, studied at the University of Pennsylvania, and was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1836 with an appointment in the artillery, but in 1837 was transferred to the Corps of Engineers. He was advanced to 1st lieutenant in 1838 and to captain in 1853. Meanwhile he was occupied in the building of Fort Delaware, in the improvement of harbors in Delaware River and Bay, and in various other works along the Atlantic Coast until 1841, when he became superintending engineer of the construction of Forts Wayne, Porter, Niagara, and Ontario, and so continued during 1841-'9. He then spent the year 1849-'50 in Washington, D. C, in the Engineer Bureau, after which he served again as superintending engineer on the building of Fort Montgomery, where he was sent in 1852, but his orders were changed to Washington, D. C, and he was given control of the survey for the aqueduct before he took charge of this work. In November, 1852, he returned to Washington, under orders to take charge of designing and constructing the Potomac Aqueduct, also superintending the building of the new wings and iron dome of the capitol extension, and the extension of the U. S. general post-office, and completion of Fort Madison in Annapolis, Maryland. He was sent to Florida in October, 1860, to take charge of the building of Fort Jefferson, but in 1861 was appointed to organize an expedition to relieve Fort Pickens. Florida, which was besieged by the Confederate forces. On 14 May, 1861, he was promoted to colonel of the 11th U.S. Infantry, and on the 15th was made quartermaster-general of the U. S. Army with the rank of brigadier-general, which post he continued to hold until his retirement in 1882. During the Civil War he was engaged in directing the equipment and supply of the armies in the field, generally from headquarters in Washington, although he was present at the battle of Bull Run in July, 1861, and during 1863-'4 was specially engaged in providing transportation and supplies for the forces at Chattanooga, being present during the investment and bombardment of that city, and the subsequent battle in November, 1863. During the Overland Campaign in 1864 he had, by orders of the War Department, for a short time personal charge of the base of supplies of the Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg and Belle Plain. He commanded a brigade of quartermasters men and other troops during the threatened invasion of Washington in July, 1864, and was brevetted major-general on 5 July, 1864. Subsequently he visited Savannah, Georgia, supplying and refitting the army under General William T. Sherman, and shipping captured stores, after which he was in Goldsborough, North Carolina, during March, 1865, directing the opening of communications for again supplying General Sherman's armies. After the war he continued in Washington, and in connection with the duties of his office inspected the workings of the department under his control in Texas and the southwest in 1869-70, in California and Arizona in 1871—'2, the western posts and railroad routes in 1872, and in California and Columbia in 1873-'4. He visited Europe in 1867-8 for his health, and again in 1875-'6, on special service, to study the constitution and government of European armies, and then was made a member of the commission for reform and reorganization of the army in 1876. General Meigs has also been a member of the board to prepare plans and specifications for the new War Department Building in 1866, the new building for the National Museum in 1876, and in preparing a plan for a hall of records in 1878. Since his retirement he has been architect of the building for the Pension Bureau in Washington, which was completed during 1887. He is a regent of the Smithsonian Institution, and a member of various scientific societies, including the National Academy of Sciences, to which he was chosen in 1865. He has published annual reports of the Quartermasters' Department in 1861-'82, and other government reports. " Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 289-290.
MEIGS, John Rodgers, soldier, born in Washington, D. C, 9 February, 1842: died near Harrisonburg, Virginia, 3 October, 1864, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1863, standing first in his class, and entered the army as 1st lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. He served as engineer on the staffs of various commanders during the, campaigns in Maryland and at Harper's Ferry, and as aide-de-camp to General Philip H. Sheridan during the Shenandoah Valley Campaign in 1864. For the battles of Opequan and Fisher's Hill he received the brevets of captain and major. He attained the office of chief engineer of the Army of the Shenandoah, and while making a military reconnaissance was shot by guerillas. [Son of Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs]. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 290.
MELINE, James Florant, author, born in Sackett's Harbor, New York, in 1811; died in Brooklyn, New York, 14 August, 1873. His father was a French officer in the U. S. Army. The son was graduated at Mount St. Mary's College, Emmettsburg, Maryland; and after teaching for some time in Cincinnati, Ohio, studied law, and was admitted to the bar. He afterward studied for three years in Europe, and held different U. S. consulships there. On his return he was for several years a banker in Cincinnati, was connected with the "Catholic Telegraph" in that city, and was French consul there a short time before the Civil War. He served during the war, chiefly on the staff of General John Pope, first as major and judge-advocate and afterward as colonel. After the war he was chief of the Bureau of Civil Affairs in the 3d Military District. Subsequently he was employed by the government in connection with the Freedmen's Bureau in Georgia, and during that time was a correspondent of the New York "Tribune." His later years he devoted to literature. He was a regular contributor to the " Catholic World," in which his vindication of Mary, Queen of Scots, in answer to James Anthony Fronde, first appeared. He also wrote for the “ Galaxy," and at the time of his death was completing a series of articles on Savonarola, three of which have been published. His principal works are "Two Thousand Miles on Horseback " (New York, 1867); "Commercial Travelling " Cambridge. 1869); " Mary, Queen of Scots, and her latest English Historian " (New York, 1871); and a "Life of Sixtus the Fifth " (1871). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 292.
MELL, Patrick Hues, educator, born in Walthourville, Georgia, 19 July, 1814; died in Athens, Georgia, 26 January, 1888. His parents died when he was a boy, leaving him without means for his support, but with an elementary education. He spent two years at Amherst, in 1833-'5, but left before graduation, and taught for several years in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Georgia. In 1842 he was elected to the professorship of ancient languages in Mercer University. After thirteen years of service he was called to the same professorship in the state University at Athens. In 1860 he was transferred to the chair of metaphysics and ethics, which he held until his death. In 1878 he was elected chancellor of the university and ex-officio president of the State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. Dr. Mell was a clergyman of the Baptist denomination, to whose ministry he was ordained in 1842. In connection with his educational work he had pastoral charge of various churches. He was president of the Southern Baptist Convention, to which post he was regularly elected during a long term of years. During the Civil War he was in the Confederate service, and was elected colonel of a regiment. He received the degree of D. D., from the University of Georgia in 1858, and that of L.L. D. from Howard College, Alabama, in 1869. Dr. Mell is the author of "Baptism" (Charleston, South Carolina, 1852); "Corrective Church Discipline" (1860); a treatise on " Parliamentary Practice" (Atlanta. Georgia, 1868); "The Philosophy of Prayer" (New York, 1875); and "Church Polity" (Atlanta, 1878). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 292.
MELVILLE, George Wallace, engineer, born in New York City, 10 January, 1841. He was educated in his native city, and entered the U. S. Navy in July, 1861, as third assistant engineer, with rank of midshipman, and has passed through all the intermediate grades to that of chief engineer, with the rank of lieutenant-commander, which he attained in 1881. He was engineer of the "Jeannette," which sailed from San Francisco, 8 July, 1879, under the command of Lieutenant George W. De Long with the object of discovering an opening to the supposed polar sea by a northeast passage near Wrangel land. After the sinking of the "Jeannette," 13 June, 1881, Engineer Melville accompanied De Long over the ice to Bennett Island, and after the party divided. Lieutenant John W. Danenhower being disabled, commanded one of the "Jeannette's" boats on the subsequent perilous passage to one of the eastern mouths of the Lena Delta, which was reached on 17 September, 1881. He now searched for Lieutenant De Long and his party, and discovered some of the huts where De Long had stayed, and obtained from the natives certain of his records. In the following spring Melville explored the delta thoroughly for traces of the missing party, and about the end of March the remains of De Long and his eleven companions were found. Melville subsequently returned to the United States, and was appointed chief of the Bureau of Steam-Engineers, with the rank of commodore, 8 August, 1887, and engineer-in-chief of the U. S. Navy. He is the author of "In the Lena Delta" (Boston, 1885). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 293.
MEMMINGER, Charles Gustavus, financier, born in Würtemberg, Germany, 9 January, 1803. His mother, a widow, emigrated to Charleston, South Carolina, when he was an infant, and soon died. He was placed in an orphan asylum, but at the age of nine was adopted by Governor Thomas Bennett. He was graduated at the South Carolina College in 1820, began to practice law in Charleston in 1825, and was a leader of the Union Party during the nullification excitement. He published "The Book of Nullification " (1832-'3), satirizing the advocates of the doctrine in biblical style. In 1836 he was elected to the legislature, where he opposed the suspension of specie payments by the banks in 1839. He assisted the attorney-general in the prosecution of the principal case, which resulted in a decision that the banks had forfeited their charters. For nearly twenty years he was at the head of the finance committee in the lower house of the legislature, from which he retired in 1852. He was again returned in 1854, having become particularly interested in the reformation of the public-school system. In 1859 he was a commissioner from South Carolina to Virginia to secure co-operation against the movements of abolitionists. He was appointed secretary of the Confederate Treasury in February, 1861, and resigned in June, 1864. Since the Civil War he has lived in retirement. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 294-295
MENDENHALL, George, physician, born in Sharon. Pennsylvania, 5 May, 1814; died in Cincinnati. Ohio, 4 June, 1874. He studied medicine in Salem, Ohio, and was graduated at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1835. He settled in Cincinnati in 1843, and there acquired a large practice, making a specialty of obstetrics, in which he held a high rank. He was professor of that branch in the Miami Medical College, where he was also dean. On the organization of the U. S. Sanitary Commission, at the beginning of the Civil War, he was one of the associate his wife's aid, he rendered valuable services to the work of that body. After the close of the war they continued their philanthropic work in other directions, and were distinguished for their charitable labors. Dr. Mendenhall was a fellow of the Royal Obstetric Society in England, and in 1870 was president of the American Medical Association. In 1854, with other physicians, he established the " Cincinnati Observer" and also contributed to other medical journals. He was the author of "The Medical Student's Vade-Mecum" (Philadelphia, 1852). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 296.
MERCHANT, Charles Spencer, soldier, born in Albany, New York, 22 February, 1795; died in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 6 December, 1879. His father, George, was a graduate of Princeton, a paymaster in the army in the War of 1812-'15, subsequently mayor of Albany, and treasurer of the state of New York. The son was appointed to the recently established U. S. Military Academy. 7 September. 1812, and was the first cadet that presented himself there. He was graduated in 1814, assigned to the Corps of Artillery, and during the war with Great Britain was engaged in garrison and recruiting service. He was promoted 1st lieutenant, 20 April, 1818, and with thirty soldiers escorted General James Miller to Eastport, Maine, where the British garrison of Fort Sullivan was relieved, and Merchant was left in command. At the reorganization of the army, on 1 June, 1821, he was retained as 1st lieutenant in the 2d U.S. Artillery, and on 20 April, 1828, received the brevet of captain for faithful service for ten years in one grade. During the disturbances on the orders of Canada in 1838-'41 he was stationed at northern frontier posts, and during the latter part of the war with Mexico he was in command of Fort Brown, on the Rio Grande. On 14 February, 1849, he was promoted major of the 3d U.S. Artillery. He was with his regiment in December, 1853, on board the steamer "San Francisco" when she was wrecked off Cape Hatteras, and suffered from the effects for several years. On 10 June, 1857, he was promoted lieutenant-colonel of the 3d U.S. Artillery, which he rejoined in California, remaining there until 1861. On 27 August of that year he was promoted colonel of the 4th Artillery, and he was subsequently placed in command of Fort Washington, on the Potomac, until he was retired from active service, 1 August, 1863. Notwithstanding his retirement, he remained on active duty at Bedloe's Island, New York Harbor, and on courts-martial until 1869. On 13 March, 1865, he received the brevet of brigadier-general "for long and faithful service in the army." At the time of his death he was the senior officer of the army in date of original commission, and president of the Association of Graduates of West Point.—His son Charles George, soldier, born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 10 March, 1821 ; died in East Pascagoula, Mississippi, 4 September, 1855, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1843, and assigned to the 8th U.S. Infantry. He was made 2d lieutenant, 9 May 1840, brevet 1st lieutenant" for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battle of Molino del Rey," 8 September, 1847, brevet captain for Chapultepec, 13 September, 1847, and 1st lieutenant. 2 August, 1848. His death was caused by a wound that he received in Indian hostilities in Florida.—Another son, Clarke, naval officer, born in Savannah, Georgia, 20 September, 1830, was graduated at the U. S. Naval Academy in 1857, and promoted successive, and lieutenant-commander, 3 March, 1865. In the early part of the Civil War he was stationed at the Washington U.S. Navy-yard and attached to the " Pensacola," and during the latter part was acting executive officer of the “Roanoke" in James River. Just as the war was closing he was ordered to the Naval Academy as executive officer of the "Constitution" and " Santic." He resigned on 10 August, 1805, and engaged in mercantile business in Philadelphia. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 301-302
MEREDITH, Solomon, soldier, born in Guilford County, North Carolina, 29 May, 1810; died in Cambridge City, Indiana, 21 October, 1875. At the age of nineteen he went to Wayne County, Indiana, and by manual labor earned enough to give himself an education. In 1840 he moved to Cambridge City. He was chosen sheriff of his county in 1834 and 1836, thrice elected to the legislature in 1846-'8, and in 1849 became U. S. Marshal for the District of Indiana. In 1854 he was again chosen to the legislature. In July, 1861, he became colonel of the 19th Indiana Regiment, which saw its first service in Virginia, and lost half its effective force at Gainesville, where Colonel Meredith was wounded. He was promoted brigadier-general of volunteers on 6 October, 1862, and commanded what was known throughout the war as the Iron Brigade. Under his leadership this brigade forced a crossing of the Rappahannock in April, 1863, receiving special thanks in general orders, took part in the battle of Chancellorsville, and opened the battle of Gettysburg, where General Meredith was wounded again and disabled till November, 1863. He was ordered to the command of Cairo, Illinois, early in 1864. and in September to a similar post in Paducah, Kentucky, which he retained till the close of the war. On 14 August, 1865, he was brevetted major-general of volunteers. In 1867-'9 he was surveyor-general of Montana, and he then retired to "Oakland Farm" near Cambridge City, Indiana, where he devoted himself to raising fine stock, and dispensed a generous hospitality. He was also a pioneer in improved methods of agriculture. General Meredith was six feet six inches in height, of commanding presence, and a ready speaker. He was active in securing the passage of the present Indiana school laws, and as financial agent of the Indiana Central Railroad did much for the success of that enterprise. His three sons were all in the National Army during the Civil War, and two lost their lives in the service. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 303.
MERRILL, Moses Emery, soldier, born in Brunswick, Maine, 3 September, 1803; died near Molino del Rey, Mexico, 8 September, 1847. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy, 1 July, 1820, assigned to the 5th U.S. Infantry, and was on frontier duty till 1845. He had been promoted 1st lieutenant in 1833 and captain in 1837. Captain Merrill took part in the military occupation of Texas in 1845-'6 and in the Mexican War, being engaged at Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterey, the siege of Vera Cruz, and the capture of San Antonio. He was killed at Molino del Rey while leading the assaulting column in its attack on the enemy's works.— His son, William Emery, military engineer, born in Fort Howard, Brown County, Wisconsin, 11 October, 1837, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1859 and assigned to the Engineer Corps. He served for nearly a year at the U. S. Military Academy as assistant professor of engineering, acted as assistant engineer in the Army of the Potomac in March and April, 1862, and was chief engineer of the Army of Kentucky from 12 October, 1862, till 25 May, 1863, and of the Army of the Cumberland from 22 August to 17 Sept, of the latter year. He took part in all the more important engagements of those armies till the close of the war. He was brevetted captain for gallantry in an engagement before Yorktown, Virginia. promoted captain, 3 March, 1863, and made colonel of the veteran volunteer engineers, 2 July, 1864, which corps he had organized and with which he had been engaged in fortifying important points on the lines of military railroads in Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. He was brevetted major, lieutenant-colonel, and colonel for "faithful and meritorious services" at the battles of Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, and Resaca, respectively. He was promoted major, 7 March, 1867, and lieutenant-colonel, 20 February, 1883. Since the close of the war he has served as chief engineer on the staff of Lieutenant-General Sherman and on important duty with his corps in the improvement of rivers and in surveys in the west. In 1878 he was ordered to visit Europe to obtain information respecting the construction of movable dams, and other professional subjects. He has since been stationed at Cincinnati in charge of improvements in the Ohio. Alleghany, Monongahela, and Muskingum Rivers. He has published " Iron-Truss Bridges for Railroads" (New York. 1870) and "Improvement of Non-Tidal Rivers" (Washington. 1881). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 306.
MERRILL, Lewis, soldier, born in New Berlin, Pennsylvania, 28 October, 1834, left the class of 1852 at Lewisburg University. Pennsylvania, to enter the U. S. Military Academy, where he was graduated in 1855, and was appointed lieutenant to the 1st Dragoons. After frontier service he was detached to muster in and organize volunteer troops, and in August, 1861, was made colonel and chief of cavalry on the staff of General John C. Fremont. He organized a regiment of Missouri Volunteer Cavalry, of which he was appointed colonel, and the regiment was called Merrill's Horse. He led a brigade in the Army of the Southwest to December, 1861, and the following year look the field in operations against the guerillas of western and northern Missouri. He commanded the District of North Missouri in July, 1863. when he was assigned to the command of a brigade of in the Army of Arkansas. He participated with them and as commander of the cavalry division in the action near Little Rock, 9 September, 1863, and in the battle and capture of Little Rock, and led the pursuit of the enemy, driving them successively in a series of engagements from every position and capturing more than 400 prisoners. On 10 September, 1862, he had been promoted brevet major for "gallant and meritorious service against rebel forces in north Missouri." On 10 September, 1863, he was made brevet lieutenant-colonel for "gallant and meritorious service in the battle of Little Rock." The following year, while in command of the West Division Cavalry Bureau, he organized and commanded a brigade of cavalry in the campaign against Price's invasion of Missouri, participating in the action near Franklin, Missouri. In January, 1865, he was transferred to the Army of the Cumberland and assigned to the command of a brigade of cavalry in northwest Georgia and northern Alabama. On 5 March, 1865, he was promoted brevet colonel for services against the forces under General Wofford in the operations that terminated in his surrender, and on 13 March, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general for "gallant and meritorious service during the war." He then returned to his regiment, and in 1866 was made inspector-general of the Department of the Platte and subsequently judge-advocate of that department. He was promoted major in 1868, and while serving on the frontier was assigned by his brevet rank to the command of a Military district in South Carolina, embracing a territory in which the Ku-klux outrages were most frequent. In return for his services he received the thanks of the War Department and of his department commander for "great work and ability in mastering and breaking up the Ku-klux conspiracy," and those of the legislature of South Carolina for "conspicuous ability" in the performance of his duties. In 1875-'6 he was again called on for similar duty in command of the Red River District of Louisiana. General Merrill was retired from active service on surgeon's certificate of disability in 1886 after several years of frontier duty. Son of James Merrill lawyer, 1790-1841. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 306-307.
MERRIMON, Augustus Summerfield, senator, born in Buncombe County (now Transylvania), North Carolina, 15 September, 1830. He was the son of a Methodist clergyman, and the eldest of ten children. He studied law. was admitted to the bar in 1852, became solicitor to several counties in his circuit, and in 1861 solicitor for the district. In 1860 he was elected to the legislature. At the beginning of the agitation that led to the Civil War, Mr. Merrimon took a decided stand for the Union, but the proclamation of President Lincoln calling for 75,000 men decided him to join the Confederate Army, in which for a short time he was attached to the commissary department as captain. In 1866 he was chosen judge of the superior courts by the legislature, and as such held the first regular sessions on his circuit under circumstances of considerable peril, a police force having to be organized in several counties by the sheriff to preserve the peace. When General Edward R. S. Canby, in command of the U. S. forces, issued military orders to the courts, Judge Merrimon resigned his commission. In 1872 he was nominated for governor, but was defeated by a small majority. He was chosen U. S. Senator in the following December, and served from 1873 till 1879. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 307-308
MERRITT, Edwin Atkins, consul, born in Sudbury, Vermont, 20 February, 1828. He was thrown on his own resources at an early age, and moved in 1841 to St. Lawrence County, New York., and became a surveyor. After holding local offices he was elected to the lower branch of the legislature as a Republican in 1859, and re-elected in 1860. At the beginning of the Civil War he became quartermaster of the 60th New York Regiment, served with the Army of the Potomac, and in Sherman's Georgia Campaign acted as commissary of subsistence. On 1 January, 1865, he was made quartermaster-general of the state of New York, and he superintended the Soldiers' Home in New York City. He also established free agencies for the collection of bounties, back pay, and pensions that were due New York volunteers. In 1869-'70 he was naval officer of the port of New York. In 1875 he was the unsuccessful Republican candidate for state treasurer. In December, 1877, he became surveyor of the Port of New York, and in 1878 he was appointed collector in place of Chester A. Arthur. He was U. S. consul-general in London in 1881-1885. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 308.
MERRITT, Wesley, soldier, born in New York City, 16 June, 1836. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy, 1 July, 1860, assigned to the U.S. Dragoons and promoted 1st lieutenant, 13 May, 1861, and captain, 5 April, 1862. He took part in General Stoneman s raid toward Richmond in April and May, 1863, and was in command of the reserve cavalry brigade in the Pennsylvania Campaign of the same year, being commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers in June. For gallant and meritorious services during the battle of Gettysburg he was brevet ted major. Still in command of his brigade, he took part in the various engagements in central Virginia in 1863-'4, and was brevetted lieutenant-colonel and colonel in the regular army, and major-general of volunteers, for gallantry at the battles of Yellow Tavern, Hawes's Shop, and Winchester respectively. On 13 March, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier general and major-general in the regular army for bravery at the battle of Five Forks, and his services during the final Virginia Campaign, and on 1 April was commissioned major-general of volunteers. After the war he was employed chiefly on frontier duty until 1882, when he was placed in charge of the U. S. Military Academy at West Point. In June, 1887, he was ordered to Fort Leavenworth. He became lieutenant-colonel of the 9th U.S. Cavalry in 1866, colonel of the 5th U.S. Cavalry in 1876, and in 1887 became brigadier-general. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 308-309.
MERVINE, William, naval officer, born in Pennsylvania in 1790; died in Utica, New York., 15 September, 1868. He entered the U.S. Navy, and was made midshipman, 16 January, 1809, lieutenant, 4 February, 1815, commander, 12 June, 1834, and captain, 8 September, 1841. He was placed on the retired list, 21 December, 1861, promoted commodore, 16 July, 1862, and rear-admiral, 25 July, 1866. He spent twenty-five years in active duty afloat, four years in performing shore service, and the remainder of the time on furlough or awaiting orders. At the beginning of the Civil War, although seventy years of age, he reported promptly for duty, and did good service during the first year of the war, but his health was inadequate to the heavy duties of that period, and he reluctantly submitted to be retired. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 309.
MICHIE, Peter Smith (my'-key), engineer, born in Brechin, Scotland, 24 March, 1839. He came to this country in early life, and was graduated at Woodward High-School, Cincinnati, in 1857, and at the U. S. Military Academy in 1863, where he stood second in his class. He was assigned to the Engineer Corps as 1st lieutenant, and served as assistant engineer in the operations against Charleston, South Carolina, 1863-'4, as chief engineer of districts in the Department of the South, and as assistant and then chief engineer of the Army of the James. He was brevetted captain and major, 28 October, 1864, for services in the campaign of that year against Richmond, brigadier-general of volunteers, 1 January, 1865, "for meritorious services in 1864," and lieutenant-colonel, 9 April, 1865, for the campaign that ended in Lee's surrender. He was promoted captain, 23 November, 1865, and since 1867 has served on the staff of instruction at the U. S. Military Academy, first as assistant in the departments of engineering and chemistry, and after 14 February, 1871, as professor of natural and experimental philosophy. From June till November, 1870, he served on a commission that visited Europe to collect information on the fabrication of iron for defensive purposes. Professor Michie has been a member of the board of overseers of the Thayer School of Civil Engineering of Dartmouth since 1871. Princeton gave him the degree of Ph. D. in 1871, and Dartmouth that of M. A. in 1873. He has published " Wave Motion, Relating to Sound and Light" (New York. 1882); "Life and Letters of Emery Upton" (1885); "Analytical Mechanics" (1886); and " Hydromechanics "(West Point, 1887). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 315.
MICHLER, Nathaniel, soldier, born in Easton, Pa„ 13 September, 1827; died in Saratoga Springs. New York, 17 July, 1881. His great-grandfather, John Wolfgang, a Moravian minister, came to this country in 1743. Nathaniel, after studying at Lafayette, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1848, assigned to the Corps of Topographical Engineers, and served on the Mexican Boundary Survey in 1851-'7. He was promoted 1st lieutenant, 19 May, 1856, and in 1857-'60 was chief engineer in charge of surveys of the proposed ship-canal from the Gulf of Darien to the Pacific. After his promotion to captain, 9 September, 1861, he was chief Topographical Engineer successively of the departments of the Cumberland and the Ohio, and the Armies of the Ohio and the Cumberland, he was transferred to the regular Engineer Corps on 3 March. 1863, promoted, major, 22 April, 1864, and was engaged on the defensive works connected with the Wilderness Campaign, the siege of Petersburg, and the subsequent actions of the Army of the Potomac. He received the brevet of lieutenant-colonel, 1 August, 1864, and those of colonel and brigadier-general in the regular army on 2 April, 1865, for services at Petersburg and throughout the war. Afterward he served on various engineering boards, was superintendent of public buildings in the District of Columbia in 1867-'71, and then had charge of river and harbor improvements on the Pacific Coast and in the states of New York and New Jersey. At the time of his death he held the rank of lieutenant-colonel, to which he had been promoted on 16 October, 1877. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 515-316.
MIDDLETON, Henry Edward, naval officer, born in Charleston, South Carolina, 11 December, 1810; died in Washington; D. C, 27 April, 1883, was educated in Europe and appointed from South Carolina to the U. S. Naval Academy in 1828. He became passed midshipman in 1834, and served on the "Constitution," of the Mediterranean Squadron, from 1835 till 1838, and in the Brazil Squadron from 1839 till 1842. After being commissioned lieutenant, 2 March, 1841, he served on the store-ship "Lexington" in 1843-'4, in the Home Squadron, the U.S. Navy-yard, Philadelphia, and the Mediterranean Squadron. He was executive officer of the sloop “Decatur,” of the Pacific Squadron, in 1854-"6, operating against a combination of hostile Indians in Washington and Oregon territories. On 16 April, 1856, he was made commander and assigned the sloop "Decatur," and he commanded steam sloops in the Pacific Squadron from 1861 till 1865. He became captain on 24 April, 1863, was on special duty in New York in 1866, held charge of the U.S. Navy-yard, Mare Island, California, in 1867-'8, and commanded the steam sloop “Pensacola." of the Pacific Squadron, in the latter year. He was made commodore on 26 November, 1868, and had charge of the U.S. Navy-yard, Pensacola, Florida, from 1 June, 1870, till 8 March, 1873. He was retired on 11 December, 1872, and made rear-admiral, 15 August, 1876. Son of Henry Middleton 1771-1846. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 317-318.
MILES, Dixon S., soldier, born in Maryland in 1804; died in Harper's Ferry. Virginia, 16 September, 1862. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1824, and assigned to the infantry. After serving as adjutant for five years, he was commissioned as captain, 8 June, 1836, and held a staff appointment as quartermaster during the Florida War and until the beginning of the war with Mexico. He was brevetted major for gallantry in the defence of Fort Brown, and lieutenant-colonel for brave conduct at Monterey, was promoted major on 16 February, 1847, and was commandant at Vera Cruz for four months. He was advanced to the grade of lieutenant-colonel on 15 April, 1851, commanded a column in the Gila Expedition in 1857, and in the following year conducted an expedition against the Navajo Indians in New Mexico. He was made colonel of the 28th Infantry on 19 January, 1859, was on duty at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1861, and after the beginning of the Civil War ordered to the east, taking part in the defence of Washington, and commanding the reserve at the battle of Bull Run. After several months leave of absence, he was given charge of a brigade guarding the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in March, 1862. In September he was intrusted with the command of the post of Harper's Ferry. He asked for re-enforcements, but they were not sent. After Maryland Heights had been evacuated by the force that was posted there, and when the enemy opened fire from commanding positions in two quarters, he offered no further resistance, but surrendered the post with 11,500 troops and arms, ammunition, and supplies. He was mortally wounded by the bursting of a shell after the capitulation. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 321.
MILES, Nelson Appleton, soldier, born in Westminster, Massachusetts, 8 August, 1839. He received an academic education, and was engaged in mercantile pursuits in Boston when the Civil War began. On 9 September, 1861, he entered the volunteer service as lieutenant in the 22d Massachusetts Infantry, and was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the 61st New York Volunteers, to date from 31 May, 1862. He was engaged in the battles of the peninsula, before Richmond, and at Antietam, and on 30 September was made colonel of his regiment. Colonel Miles fought in all the battles of the Army of the Potomac with one exception up to the surrender of Lee at Appomattox Court-House, Virginia, and was wounded three times. He received the brevet of brigadier-general of volunteers for gallantry at Chancellorsville, and was advanced to the full rank on 12 May, 1864, for his services at the battles of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania Court-House. On 25 August, 1864, he was brevetted major-general of volunteers for his conduct throughout the Richmond Campaign and valuable service at Ream's Station. He was commissioned major-general on 21 October, 1865, and mustered out of volunteer service on 1 September, 1866, after receiving, on 28 July, an appointment in the regular army as colonel of the 40th U.S. Infantry. On 2 March, 1867, the brevets of brigadier-general and major-general, U. S. Army, were conferred on him for bravery at Chancellorsville and Spottsylvania. He was transferred to the 5th U.S. Infantry on 15 March. 1869, defeated the Cheyenne. Kiowa, and Comanche Indians on the borders of the Staked Plains in 1875, and in 1876 subjugated the Sioux and other Indians in Montana, driving Sitting Bull across the Canada frontier, and breaking up the bands that were led by him and by Crazy Horse, Lame Deer, Spotted Eagle, Broad Trail, Hump, and others. In September, he captured the Nez Perces under Chief Joseph in northern Montana, and in 1878 captured a band of Bannocks near the Yellowstone Park. He was commissioned brigadier-general of the U. S. Army on 15 December, 1880, commanded for five years the Department of the Columbia, in July, 1885, assigned to the command of the Department of the Missouri, and in April, 1886, was transferred to Arizona. After a difficult campaign against the Apaches under Geronimo and Natchez, he negotiated those chiefs to surrender, 4 September, 1886. He deemed it advisable, in the interest of the future tranquillity of the Indians, to accept a conditional surrender from Geronimo, agreeing that neither the chief nor any of his lieutenants should suffer death for their past crimes. He received the thanks of the legislatures of Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, and Arizona for services in the west, and the citizens of Arizona presented to General Miles a sword of honor at Tucson on 8 November, 1887, in the presence of a large gathering of citizens of the Territory. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 322-323.
MILLARD, Harrison, musician, born in Boston, Massachusetts. 27 November, 1829. He was educated at public schools in his native city. In May, 1861, he was appointed 1st lieutenant in the 19th U. S. Infantry, and served during the Civil War as aide-de-camp, division commissary, and division inspector, on the staffs of Generals Lovell H. Rousseau, William S. Rosecrans, and Innis H. Palmer. While with the Army of the Cumberland he was wounded at Chickamauga, 19 September, 1863, and soon afterward resigned from the army. He then settled in New York City, where he was appointed in 1864 to a place in the custom-house, and remained there until 1885. Meanwhile he has devoted his leisure to musical composition, producing many songs and several masses. His ability in this direction has been conspicuous, and his efforts have tended toward giving character and dignity to American song literature, going far toward placing them on a level with similar German productions. His best-known songs are " Waiting, "When the Tide comes in," "Viva L' America,'' "Under the Daisies," and "Say not Farewell." Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 324.
MILLER, Homer Martin Virgil, senator, born in Pendleton County, South Carolina, 29 April, 1814. He moved with his parents to Raburn County, Georgia, where he received a classical education, was graduated at the Medical College of South Carolina in 1835, and completed his professional studios in Paris in 1838. On his return he settled in Cassville, Georgia, became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was licensed to preach without joining the itinerancy. He also participated in the presidential canvass of 1840 and in that of 1844, in which his eloquence won for him the title of the Demosthenes of the mountains. He was professor in the Medical College of Memphis, Tennessee, in 1846-'8, and occupied a similar office in the Medical College of Augusta, Georgia, in 1849-'65. During the Civil War, he was surgeon and division surgeon in the Confederate Army, and subsequently medical inspector of the Military Department of Georgia. After the war, he was an active member of the Constitutional Convention under the Reconstruction Acts of Congress. In 1870 he was elected to the U. S. Senate as a Democrat, to fill the seat that had been vacant since the Civil War, and served till 1871. Since 1869 he has been professor of the principles and practice of medicine in Atlanta Medical College. He is an editor of the "Atlanta Medical and Surgical Journal," and for thirty years has been a trustee of the University of Georgia. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 326.
MILLER, James Ferguson, naval officer, born in Peterborough, New Hampshire, 29 April, 1805; died in Boston, Massachusetts, 11 July, 1868. He was appointed midshipman in 1826, passed midshipman in 1832, and lieutenant in 1837. He served through the Mexican War, but in consequence of African fever, from which he never fully recovered, was placed in the reserved list in 1855, He became commander on the retired list in 1861, and commodore in 1867. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 326.
MILLER, Elihu Spencer, lawyer, born in Princeton, New Jersey, 3 September, 1817; died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 6 March, 1879. He was graduated at Princeton in 1836, and studied law, first with James S. Green in Princeton, afterward with Reverdy Johnson in Baltimore. He was admitted to the bar in Baltimore and subsequently, in 1843, in Philadelphia, where he practised his profession during the remainder of his life. As a lawyer, he attained a very high standing among his contemporaries, and was well known for his integrity, intrepidity, and skill. He was a close thinker, a deliberate and careful speaker, and a man of pungent and refined wit. The great facility which he possessed for turning instantly from even the pleasures of life to the most serious work was a remarkable trait, and no less so was the tenacity with which he clung to any course in the conduct of legal work upon which he had deliberately entered. He occupied the chair of real estate and equity in the law department of the University of Pennsylvania for twenty years. During the Civil War he raised and commanded an artillery company. He died suddenly in his office at the close of his day's work. He published a " Treatise on the Law of Partition by Writ in Pennsylvania" (Philadelphia, 1847); and edited the second edition of Sergeant's "Treatise of the Lien of Mechanics and Material Men in Pennsylvania" (1856). He also printed a small collection of fugitive poems entitled "Caprices" (1849). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 327.
MILLER, Samuel, John, clergyman, born in Princeton, New Jersey, 6 April, 1819, was graduated at Princeton in 1836, and at the theological seminary there in 1842. He was pastor successively of Presbyterian Churches in Frederick, Maryland, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Petersburg, Virginia. During the Civil War he was a captain of artillery in the Confederate Army, and since 1871 he has resided in Princeton, where he has founded three "Evangelical" churches and officiated in them. In 1877 he was dismissed from the presbytery of his church for holding heterodox views on the subject of the Trinity, and other minor points of ecclesiastical difference affecting the peccability of Christ, and the state of the dead, but on appealing to the synod of New Jersey was permitted to withdraw as an independent clergyman without deposition. His later years for the most part have been devoted to controversial writings, and his publications include " Design of the Church " (Philadelphia. 1846); "A Commentary on the Proverbs” (New York, 1863); "Fetich in Theology" (1874); "Metaphysics" (1875); "Are Souls Immortal?" (Philadelphia, 1877): "Was Christ in Adam?" (1877): "Is God a Trinity!" (1877); "Creed" (Princeton, 1879); "Theology" (1887): and "Commentary on Romans" (1887). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 327
MILLER, John Franklin, senator, born in South Bend, Indiana, 21 November, 1831; died in Washington, D. C, 8 March, 1886. He was educated in the academies of his native state, graduated at the New York State Law-School in 1852, and began practice in South Bend, Indiana. The failure of his health induced him to spend the next three years in California, but he returned in 1855, resumed his profession, and took an active part in the Republican presidential canvass of 1856. He was a member of the state senate in 1860, but resigned to enter the army, and, after serving on the governor's staff as colonel, was in command of the 29th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers. He was engaged from the beginning of hostilities in the west. At the battle of Stone River he charged at the head of a brigade across the river, drove General John C. Breckinridge from his position, and received a bullet-wound in his neck. For his gallantry in this action he was promoted brigadier general of volunteers. In the battle of Liberty Gap he made another charge with his brigade, and at the moment of victory he was severely wounded in the eye. He commanded a division of 8,000 men on the left at the battle of Nashville, and was brevetted major-general of volunteers in 1860. At the close of the war he was offered a colonel's commission in the regular army, but declined, settled in San Francisco, and for four years was collector of the port. He then engaged in business, and was an originator and president of the Alaska Commercial Fur Company, in which he amassed a large fortune. He was a Republican presidential elector in 1872, 1876, and 1880, a member of the California Constitutional Convention in 1879 and was elected to the U. S. Senate as a Republican in January, 1881, serving from the following March until his death. He was a member of the Senate Committees on Foreign Relations and Naval Affairs in the 47th Congress, and in the 48th and 49th chairman of the former, and a member of that on Civil Service and Retrenchment. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 327-328.
MILLER, Joseph Nelson, naval officer, born in Ohio, 22 November, 1836. He entered the U.S. Navy in 1851, became passed midshipman in 1856, master in 1858, lieutenant in 1860, lieutenant-commander in 1862, commander in 1870, and captain in 1881. He served as executive officer on the iron-clad "Passaic" in the attack upon Fort Sumter and Fort McAllister during the spring of 1863, and in the same capacity on board the "Monadnock" in both the Fort Fisher fights, and. was highly recommended for ability and bravery in these actions. He is now (1888) in command of the receiving-ship " Wabash." Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 328.
MILLER, Madison, soldier, born in Mercer, Pennsylvania, 6 February, 1811. He was educated in the common schools, was captain of the 2d Regiment of Illinois Volunteers in the Mexican War, and wounded at the battle of Buena Vista. He was judge of El Dorado County, California, in 1851-'2, was subsequently for several years a resident of Carondelet, Missouri, and president of the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad. At the beginning of the Civil War he entered the U. S. Army as captain of the 1st Missouri Infantry, was promoted colonel of volunteers in 1862, commanded the 2d Brigade of the 6th Division at Shiloh, where he was captured, and while a prisoner was one of a commission sent by the Confederates to Washington to arrange for an exchange of prisoners. In March, 1865, he received the brevet of brigadier-general for meritorious service at Wilson's Creek and Shiloh. He was in the Missouri Senate in 1865, and since 1867 has been fund commissioner of the Missouri Railroad. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 328.
MILLER, Morris Smith, soldier, born in Utica, New York., 2 April, 1814; died in New Orleans, Louisiana, 11 March, 1870. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1834, became 1st lieutenant in 1837, captain in 1846, quartermaster with the rank of major in 1861, and lieutenant-colonel on the staff and deputy quartermaster-general in 1866. In March, 1865, he was brevetted colonel and brigadier-general for faithful service in the quartermaster's department during the Civil War. He had served during the Canada border disturbances, was in the Florida and Mexican Wars, and in 1861, as quartermaster at Washington. D. C. was responsible for all the arrangements for the arrival of troops to defend the capital. Upon the attack on the Massachusetts volunteers in Baltimore, 19 April, 1861, he was ordered by General Winfield Scott to Annapolis to attend to forwarding the New York and Massachusetts troops that were expected by that route. Finding that no troops had arrived, he returned, but a second attempt was successful, and he reached Annapolis in time to forward the first troops that arrived in Washington. Throughout the entire war he remained in the quartermaster's department at Washington. After four years, during which $20,000,000 passed through his hands, an examination of his accounts showed that less than $20 was to be disallowed. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 326.
MILLER, Stephen, soldier, born in Perry County, Pennsylvania. 7 January, 1816; died in Worthington, Minnesota, 18 August, 1881. His grandfather, Melchior Miller, came from Germany about 1785. Stephen received a common-school education, became a forwarding and commission merchant in Harrisburg in 1837, was elected prothonotary of Dauphin County in 1849 and 1852, and in 1853-'5 edited the "Telegraph," a Whig journal at Harrisburg. In 1855-'8 he was flour-inspector of Philadelphia, and in the latter year he moved to Minnesota for his health, and engaged in business in St. Cloud. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1860, and a presidential elector on the Lincoln ticket in that year. He enlisted as a private soldier in 1861, was made lieutenant-colonel of the 1st Minnesota Infantry, and served with the Army of the Potomac till September, 1862, when he became colonel of the 7th Minnesota, and assisted, with his regiment, in quelling the Indian outbreak of that year in his adopted state. He was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, 26 October, 1863, and shortly afterward elected governor of Minnesota, so that he resigned from the army on 18 January, 1864. He served as governor in 1864-'5, and from 1871 till his death was field-agent of the St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad. He was also in the legislature in 1873, and a presidential elector on the Hayes ticket in 1876. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 329.
MILLER, Warner, senator, born in Oswego County, New York., 12 August, 1838. His parents were of German extraction, and his grandfather served as a colonel in the Revolutionary army. Warner was graduated at Union in 1860. He enlisted a few months later as a private in a New York cavalry regiment, served under General Philip H. Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, and was promoted lieutenant. At the battle of Winchester, he was taken prisoner, and paroled on the field. Soon afterward he was honorably discharged and went, abroad, where he became interested in paper-manufacturing, and on his return, he established himself in this business in Herkimer, New York., where he still (1888) resides. His first active participation in politics was in 1872, when he was a delegate to the National Republican Convention at Philadelphia. He was in the legislature in 1874-'8, was elected to Congress as a Republican in 1878, and re-elected in 1880, but in 1881 was chosen U. S. Senator from New York to fill the unexpired term of Thomas C. Piatt, who had resigned. His term expired in 1887, when he was succeeded by Frank Hiscock. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 329.
MILLS, Robert, architect, born in Charleston, South Carolina, 12 August, 1781; died in Washington. D. C, 3 March, 1855. He studied architecture under Benjamin H. Latrobe, and designed several buildings in Pennsylvania, among which were the fire-proof wings of "Independence Hall, Philadelphia, the capitol in Harrisburg, and the single-arch bridge across the Schuylkill. Subsequently he erected several U. S. custom-houses and marine hospitals. In 1820 he returned to South Carolina, and there became state architect and engineer. He was recalled to Washington in 1830, appointed U. S. Architect, and supervised the building of the U. S. Post-Office, Patent-Office, and Treasury Buildings. The original design of the Washington Monument, the loftiest structure ever erected by man. was made by him. It included a granite shaft faced with white marble, 600 feet high, 55 feet square at the base, 30 feet square at the top, surrounded at its base by a circular colonnade or pantheon, in which to place statues of the nation’s illustrious dead, with vaults beneath for the reception of their remains. The plan for the circular colonnade was never carried out, but, under the auspices of the Washington National Monument Society, the construction of the monument was begun in 1848 on the very spot selected by Washington himself for a memorial of the American Revolution. Funds amounting to nearly $250,000 were contributed by the people of the linked States of all ages and from all quarters of the Union, and the construction continued until 1850, when it reached a height of over 156 feet. The financial embarrassments of the time led to the discontinuance of the work, and it was not until 1877 when, by act of Congress, its completion was authorized, and Colonel Thomas L. Casey, of the U. S. Engineers, placed in charge. Various modifications of the original plan were made by him, including the building of an entire new base, which was found to be necessary, until finally it was dedicated, in the presence of President Arthur and his cabinet, on 22 February, 1885. The address of the occasion was written by Robert C. Winthrop, who in 1848 had delivered an oration on the laying of the corner-stone. As shown in the accompanying illustration, the monument is 555 feet 5 inches, the shaft being 500 feet 5 inches high, and the pyramidion 55 feet. The topmost point is 597 feet 3 inches above mean low water in the Potomac, and 596 feet 9-36 inches above the mean level of the Atlantic at Sandy Hook, New York, as determined, 1 December, 1884, by the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Mr. Mills published " Statistics of South Carolina " with "Atlas of South Carolina" (Charleston, 1826); "The American Pharos or Light-house Guide (Washington, 1832); and "Guide to the National Executive Offices" (1842). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 332-333.
MILROY, Robert Huston, soldier, born in Washington County, Indiana, 11 June, 1816. He was graduated at Norwich University, Vermont, in 1843, taking degrees both in the classical and military departments. In the war with Mexico he served as captain in the 1st Indiana Volunteers. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1849, and in 1850 was graduated at the law department of Indiana University. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of Indiana in 1849-'50, and in 1851 was appointed judge of the 8th Judicial Circuit Court of Indiana. At the beginning of the Civil War he issued a call for volunteers and was made a captain, becoming colonel of the 9th Indiana Volunteers on 26 April, 1861. He served in western Virginia under Generals George B. McClellan and William S. Rosecrans, receiving a commission as brigadier-general on 6 February, 1862. Thereafter Milroy continued in various commands in Virginia under Generals John C. Fremont and Franz Sigel, until 10 March, 1863, when he was made major-general of volunteers. In this capacity, he had charge of the 2d Division of the 8th Army Corps, and was stationed at Winchester, Virginia. Here, on 15 June, 1863, he was attacked by nearly the whole of Lee's army, which was marching toward Pennsylvania. General Milroy resisted this superior force for three days, until his ammunition and provisions were exhausted, and then cut his way out by night, losing a large portion of his forces. He claims that this detention of Lee's army at Winchester enabled General Meade to fight advantageously at Gettysburg; when otherwise the great battle would have taken place farther north. His conduct was made the subject of investigation, and in 1865 he resigned from the army. In 1868 he became a trustee of the Wabash and Erie Canal, which place he held for some time. He was appointed superintendent of Indian Affairs in Washington Territory, and continued in that office until 1874. He was appointed Indian Agent in 1875, and reappointed until 1885, when, consequent upon a change in the administration, he lost the office. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 334.
MINES, John Flavel, author, born in Paris, France, 27 January, 1835, was graduated at Trinity in 1854, and at Berkeley Divinity-School in 1857. He entered the army as chaplain in May, 1861, but later retired from the ministry, was given a commission, and was mustered out in May, 1865, as a lieutenant-colonel. He has been a contributor to various New York newspapers, and has published "The Heroes of the Last Lustre." a poem (New York, 1858), and "A Tour around New York by Mr. Felix Oldboy" (1888). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 336.
MINOR, Virginia Louisa, reformer, born in Goochland County, Virginia, 27 March, 1824. She was educated in part at an academy for young ladies in Charlottesville, Virginia, married Francis Minor, a relative of the same name in 1843, and moved in 1846 to St. Louis, Missouri, where she has since resided. During the Civil War she devoted herself to aid the sick and wounded soldiers in the camps and hospitals around St. Louis. She originated the woman suffrage movement in Missouri in 1866, organized the Woman Suffrage Association in 1867, and presided over the convention of woman suffragists in St. Louis in 1869. She was the first woman in the United States to claim suffrage as a right, and not as a favor. With this end in view, in 1872 she brought the matter before the courts, taking it finally to the U. S. Supreme Court. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 337.
MINTY, Robert Horatio George, soldier, born in County Mayo, Ireland, 4 December, 1831. He entered the British Army as ensign in 1849, and served in the West Indies and Honduras and on the African Coast, but retired from the service in 1853, and, coming to the United States, settled in Michigan. He became major of the 2d Michigan Cavalry and then lieutenant-colonel of the 3d at the beginning of the Civil War. He was made colonel of the 4th in 1862, and in 1863-'5 commanded a cavalry brigade that was known as the " Sabre Brigade," capturing Shelbyville, Tennessee, on 27 June, 1863. He commanded the cavalry on the left at Chickamauga, and afterward covered General Thomas's retreat to Chattanooga. He also did good service at New Madrid, Farmington, the pursuit of Bragg, Stone River, and the Atlanta Campaign, and led a division in Kilpatrick's raid around that city. At the close of the war he received the brevets of brigadier-general and major-general of volunteers, and declined a major's commission in the regular army. Five horses were killed under him during the war. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 338.
MISSROON, John Stoney, naval officer, born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1810; died in Boston, Massachusetts, 23 October, 1865. He was educated in Liverpool, England, entered the U. S. Navy as midshipman, 27 June, 1824, and became passed midshipman, 20 February, 1830, lieutenant, 31 December, 1833, commander, 14 September, 1855, and commodore, 16 July, 1862. At the time of his death he was ordnance-officer at the Boston U.S. Navy-yard, and be had received special commendation in the last report of the chief of the Bureau of Ordnance. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 340.
MITCHEL, Ormsby MacKnight, astronomer, born in Morganfield, Kentucky, 28 July, 1809; died in Beaufort, South Carolina, 30 October, 1862. He received his early education in Lebanon, Ohio, and when thirteen years old became a clerk in a country store. In 1825 he received an appointment to the U. S. Military Academy, where he was graduated four years later, standing fifteenth in the class that included Robert E. Lee and Joseph E. Johnston. He was made 2d lieutenant in the artillery, and assigned to duty as assistant professor of mathematics at the Military Academy until 1832, after which he was stationed at Fort Marion, St. Augustine, Florida, but resigned in September of that year. Subsequently he studied law in Cincinnati and was admitted to the bar, meanwhile also holding the appointment of chief engineer of the Little Miami Railroad. He was professor of mathematics, philosophy, and astronomy in Cincinnati College from 1836 until 1844, when he proposed the establishment of an observatory at Cincinnati, and, after raising nearly all of the funds through his own exertions, was made its director. The corner-stone of the pier which was to sustain the great refracting telescope was laid by John Quincy Adams, with an oration, on 9 November, 1843, and the apparatus for the proper equipment of the observatory was obtained by Professor Mitchel during a visit to Europe in 1842 for that purpose. This was the first of the larger observatories to be built in the United States. He invented in 1848 a chronograph for automatically measuring and recording right ascensions by an electro-magnetic mechanism, similar to that constructed by John Locke (q. v.). In 1849 he devised an apparatus for the accurate measurement of large differences of declination, which, after successful improvement, was in 1854 attached to the equatorial. During 1854-'9 he made nearly 50,000 observations of faint stars. His other work included the discovery of the duplicity of certain stars, notably Antares, observations of nebulae, solar spots, double stars, and comets, the determination of the longitude of Cincinnati with reference to Washington and St. Louis, and the invention of an apparatus for finding the personal equation. He was also adjutant-general of Ohio in 1847-'8, and chief engineer of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad in 1848-'9 and 1852-'3. In 1859 he was called to the charge of the Dudley Observatory in Albany, where he remained until 1861, retaining during the interval his connection with the observatory in Cincinnati. At the beginning of the Civil War he was made brigadier-general of volunteers from Ohio, and at first reported to General George B. McClellan, who assigned him to the command of General William B. Franklin's brigade in the Army of the Potomac, but at the request of the citizens of Cincinnati he was transferred to that city, where his duties largely consisted in fortifying the city and in preparation of recruits for the field. He served with the Army of the Ohio during the campaigns of Tennessee and northern Alabama in the winter of 1861-'2, and occupied Bowling Green, Kentucky, and Nashville, Tennessee, in February, 1862, after which he participated in the action near Bridgeport, Alabama, taking possession of the railroad from Decatur to Stephenson, in one of the most famous raids of the early history of the Civil War, and is best known as the "locomotive chase." See "Daring and Suffering: a History of the Andrews Railroad Raid into Georgia in 1862," by William Pittenger (New York, 1887). These services gained for him the rank of major-general of volunteers on 11 April, 1862: and anxious to advance into the heart of the south, he was restrained by his superior officer until finally he asked to be relieved. Returning to Washington, he was selected by the president for the command of an expedition to the Mississippi; but the necessary order was refused by General Henry M. Halleck, and he remained inactive until September, when he was placed in command of the Department of the South, in South Carolina, at Hilton Head, where he was stricken with yellow fever and died. He was popularly known in the army as "Old Stars." Professor Michel lectured extensively during the years 1842-'8 in the principal cities of the United States. He received the degree of A. M. from Harvard in 1851, and that of LL. D. from Washington in 1853 and from Hamilton in 1856, and was also a member of various scientific societies, both in the United States and Europe. He published a popular astronomical journal, entitled "The Sidereal Messenger," in 1846-'8, and also a revised edition of Elijah H. Burritt's "Geography of the Heavens." His own works include "The Planetary and Stellar Worlds" (New York. 1848); "The Orbs of Heaven" (1851): "A Concise Elementary Treatise of the Sun, Planets, Satellites, and Comets" (I860); and "The Astronomy of the Bible" (1863). See "Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel," by his son, Frederick A. Mitchel (Boston, 1887). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 341-342.
MITCHELL, John Inscho, senator, born in Tioga, Pennsylvania, 28 July, 1838. He received a common school education, and spent the years 1857-'9 in the University of Lewisburg. Subsequently he taught, but. soon after the beginning of the Civil War, he joined the 136th Pennsylvania Regiment and became captain of his company. He then studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1864. He was district attorney of Tioga County in 1868-71, and in 1870 edited "The Tioga County Agitator." During 1872-'6 he was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and served as chairman of the Judiciary and Ways and Means Committees. He was then elected to Congress as a Republican, and served, with re-elections, from 4 March, 1877, till 4 March, 1881, when he was chosen U. S. Senator, and served until 4 March. 1887. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 344.
MITCHELL, Silas Weir, physician, born m Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 15 February, 1829, was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, but left during his senior year on account of illness, and was graduated at Jefferson Medical College in 1850. Dr. Mitchell has attained a high reputation by his physiological researches, and early began the publication of papers on this subject. His first investigations were largely devoted to the chemical nature of the venom of serpents, and he issued through the Smithsonian Institution "Researches on the Venom of the Rattlesnake." with an investigation of the anatomy and physiology of the organs concerned (1860), and, with George R. Moorhouse, "Researches on the Anatomy and Physiology of Respiration in the Chelonia" (1863). During the Civil War he had-charge of the U. S. Army Hospital wards for diseases and injuries of the nervous system at Turner's Lane Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was associated at that time in the preparation of valuable papers on "Reflex Paralysis," "Gunshot Wounds and other Injuries of Nerves." and "On Malingering, especially in regard to Simulation of Diseases of the Nervous System." Subsequently he became president of the Philadelphia College of Physicians. His papers treat chiefly of physiology, toxicology, and nervous diseases, on which subjects he is an acknowledged authority. He received the degree of LL. D. from Harvard in 1886, and in 1865 was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He also holds similar relations to many other societies, including the British Medical Association. He has delivered various orations and addresses before medical faculties, and the titles of his papers exceed one hundred in number. Dr. Mitchell first turned his attention to fiction during the Civil War, when he wrote "The Children's Hour," the sales of which were in aid of the U.S. Sanitary Commission Fair in Philadelphia. Subsequently he wrote short stories for the Children's Hospital, and in 1880 published his first novel. Since then he has also produced a volume of verse. His works include "The Wonderful Stories of Fuz-buz the Fly, and Mother Grabem the Snider" (Philadelphia, 1867); "Wear and Tear, or Hints for the Overworked" (1871); I "On Injuries of the Nerves and their Consequences" (1872); "Fat and Blood, and How to make Them" (1877); "Nurse and Patient, and Croup Cure" (1877); "Diseases of the Nervous System, especially of Women " (1881); " Hephzibah Guinness.' "Thee and You." and " A Draft on the Bank of Spain " (1 vol., 1880): "The Hill of Stones, and other Poems" (1882): "In War-Time" (Boston, 1884); "Roland Blake" (1886): "A Masque and other Poems" (1887); "Proud Little Boy and other Tales out of Fairyland " (Philadelphia, 1888), and "Doctor and Patient, a Series of Essays" (Boston, 1888). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp.
MITCHELL, Robert Byington, 1823-1882, lawyer, political leader, Union soldier. Member of the Kansas Territorial Legislature, 1857-1858. Active in Free State anti-slavery movement in Kansas in 1856. Colonel, 2nd Kansas Volunteers. Commander, 13th U.S. Army Division. Fought in Battle of Perryville. In 1865-1867 was Governor of New Mexico. (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 346; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 7, Pt. 1, p. 60; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 15, p. 625)
MITCHELL, Robert Byington, lawyer, born in Richland County, Ohio, 4 April, 1823; died in Washington, D. C., 26 January, 1882. He was educated at Washington College, Pennsylvania, and then studied law. During the Mexican War he served in the Ohio Volunteers as 1st lieutenant, and on its conclusion he resumed the practice of his profession. In 1856 he moved to Kansas, and took an active part with the free-state men in their struggle with the pro-slavery party. He was a member of the territorial legislature in 1857-'8, and treasurer in 1858-'61. At the beginning of the Civil War he was made colonel of the 2d Kansas Volunteers, and was severely wounded at the battle of Wilson's Creek. On his recovery, he raised a regiment of cavalry, and was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers on 8 April, 1862. He was given command of the 13th Division of General Don Carlos Buell's army, and participated in the battle of Perryville. During 1865-'7 he was governor of New Mexico, and, after completing his term of office, settled in Washington, D. C., where he remained until his death. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 346.
MOFFAT, Edward Stewart, mining engineer, born in Oxford, Ohio, 5 January, 1844, was graduated at Princeton in 1863, and at Columbia School of Mines in 1868, as a mining engineer, serving also during the Civil War as a lieutenant in the U. S. Signal Corps, in which he was brevetted captain. In 1868 he became adjunct professor of mining and metallurgy in Lafayette, where he remained until 1870, and he afterward held the superintendency of various iron-works till 1882, when he became superintendent of the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company, of which corporation he was made general manager in 1886. Professor Moffat has attained a high reputation in his profession, and has held office in the American Institute of Mining Engineers, to whose transactions he has contributed papers. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 351.
MONTGOMERY, James, 1814-1871, Ashtabula County, Ohio, radical/militant abolitionist, Union Army Colonel in the Civil War. In 1854, became leader of a local Free State organization. In 1857, organized a “Self -Protective Company” to oppose pro-slavery settlers. (Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 369; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 7, Pt. 1, p. 97)
MONTGOMERY, James, pioneer, born in Ashtabula County, Ohio, 22 December, 1814; died in Linn County, Kansas, 6 December, 1871. He came with his family early in life to Kentucky, and taught, ultimately becoming a Campbellite preacher. Later he devoted himself to farming, but in 1854 went to southern Kansas, where he was one of the earliest settlers. His residence in Linn County was burned by the Missourians in 1856, and this resulted in his taking an active part in the disturbances that followed. The retaliatory visits into Missouri were frequently led by him, and his discretion, courage, and acknowledged ability gained for him the confidence and support of the southern counties. His enrolled company included nearly 500 men, all of whom were old residents of the territory, and consequently familiar with the peculiar mode of fighting that was followed on the border. Captain Montgomery was one of the acknowledged leaders of the free-state cause during 1857-'61. Next to John Brown he was more feared than any other, and a contemporary sketch of the “Kansas Hero,” as he was then called, says: “Notwithstanding every incentive to retaliate actuates them to demand blood for blood, yet Montgomery is able to control and direct them. He truly tempers justice with mercy, and he has always protected women and children from harm, and has never shed blood except in conflict or in self-defence.” In 1857 he represented his county in the Kansas Senate, and at other times he was a member of the legislature. At the beginning of the Civil War he was made colonel of the 10th Kansas Volunteers, but soon afterward was given command of the 1st North Carolina Colored Volunteers. These troops he led on a raid from Hilton Head into Georgia in July, 1863, and at the battle of Olustee, Florida, on 20 February, 1864, was one of the few officers that escaped with his life. Horace Greeley says of his regiment and the 54th Massachusetts: “It was admitted that these two regiments had saved our little army from being routed.” At the close of the war he returned to Kansas and passed the last years of his life at his home in Linn County. Appletons’ Cyclopædia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 369.
MONTGOMERY, John Berrien, naval officer, born in Allentown, New Jersey, 17 November, 1794; died in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 25 March, 1878. He entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman in June, 1812, and participated in the attack on Kingston, Canada, and the capture of Little York, Fort George, and Newark. In August, 1813, he volunteered for service on Lake Erie, where he took part in Commodore Oliver H. Perry’s capture of the British fleet on 10 September, 1813. Montgomery received a sword and the thanks of Congress for his services in that action, and later was present during the blockade and attack on Mackinaw in August, 1814. He then was transferred to the " Ontario," under Commodore Stephen Decatur, with whom he took part in the Algerine War of 1815. In February, 1818, he was promoted lieutenant. In 1833-'5 he was on recruiting service in Philadelphia and New York, after which he was executive officer of the " Constitution," when that vessel was sent to convey Edward Livingston from France to the United States. He was promoted commander in 1839, and during the war with Mexico he permanently established the authority of the United States at various places along the coast of California, and also participated in the blockade of Mazatlan, Mexico, and the bombardment and capture of Guaymas on the Gulf of California. In April, 1849, he was made executive officer of the Washington U.S. Navy-yard, where he remained until 1851. He was commissioned captain in January, 1853, and in April, 1857, placed in command of the " Roanoke," in which he sailed to Aspinwall. and returned to New York in August with 250 of William Walker's filibusters. During the following two years he served on shore duty, and in 1856-"62 had command of the Pacific Squadron, with the "Lancaster" as his flag-ship. On his return to New York he was placed on waiting orders until May, 1862, when he was given the command of various navy-yards. He was made commodore on the retired list in July, 1862, and rear-admiral. 25 July, 1865. See " A Genealogical History of the Family of Montgomery," compiled by Thomas Harrison Montgomery (printed privately, Philadelphia, 1863). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 370.
MONTGOMERY, Martin Van Buren, lawyer, born in Eaton Rapids, Michigan, 20 October, 1840. He received a common-school education, became a teacher at the age of seventeen, and about 1861 began the study of law. After serving for some time during the Civil War in the 2d Michigan Cavalry, he was admitted to the bar in 1865, and practised at Eaton Rapids, Jackson, and Lansing. During 1871-'2 he was a member of the Michigan Legislature, and was candidate for the office of attorney-general of Michigan in 1874. He was appointed commissioner of patents on 17 March, 1885, and on 1 April, 1887, was made associate justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 370.
MONTGOMERY, William Reading, soldier, born in Monmouth County, New Jersey, 10 July, 1801; died in Bristol, Pennsylvania, 31 May, 1871. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1825 and became 2d lieutenant in the 3d U.S. Infantry, with which regiment he served until 1838 on garrison and frontier duty, also performing the duties of disbursing officer during the removal of the Choctaw Indians from Mississippi to their reservation. After attaining a captaincy on 7 July, 1838, he served on the Canadian border during the disturbances of 1838-'46, in the Florida War of 1840-'2, and in the occupation of Texas in 1845. He took part in the war with Mexico. He was wounded at Resaca de la Palma and brevetted major, and at Molino del Rey he was again wounded, although not until after he had succeeded to the command of his regiment, which he led at Chapultepec and the capture of Mexico. His services again gained for him the further brevet of lieutenant-colonel, and he was promoted major in December. 1852. Meanwhile he served in garrisons, on the frontier, and on recruiting duty, until 1855, when he was removed from the army. He was stationed at Fort Riley, in Kansas, during the trouble in that territory, and there pursued a course of strict impartiality, although his personal feelings were in favor of the free-state men; but his actions failed to meet with the approval of his superiors, and he was dismissed from the service. At the beginning of the Civil War he organized the 1st New Jersey Volunteers, joined the Army of the Potomac, and aided in covering its retreat from Bull Run. He was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers on 17 May, 1861, and appointed military governor of Alexandria, Virginia Subsequently he held a similar office in Annapolis, Maryland, and then in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, until 1863, after which he served on a military commission in Memphis, Tennessee. Failing health caused his resignation on 4 April, 1864, and, after a brief interval of mercantile occupation in Philadelphia, he retired to his home in Bristol. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 370.
MOODY, Dwight Lyman, evangelist, born in Northfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts, 5 February, 1837. He received a limited education, and worked on a farm till he was seventeen years old, when he became a clerk in a shoe-store in Boston. He united with a Congregational Church soon afterward, and in 1856 went to Chicago, where he engaged with enthusiasm in missionary work among the poor, and in less than a year established a Sunday-school with more than 1,000 pupils. During the Civil War he was employed by the Christian Commission, and subsequently by the Young Men's Christian Association of Chicago, as a lay missionary. A church was built for his converts and he became its unordained pastor. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 376.
MOODY, Granville, soldier, born in Portland, Maine. 2 January, 1812; died near Jefferson, Iowa, 4 June, 1887. His ancestor, William Moody, a native of Scotland, settled in the Plymouth Colony in 1632, and his father, William, was graduated at Dartmouth in 1798, and became principal in 1816 of the first female seminary established in Baltimore, Maryland. When four years of age Granville moved with his parents to Baltimore, and was educated there. In 1831 he became a clerk in his brother's store at Norwich, Ohio, and on 15 June. 1833, he was licensed as a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was received into the Ohio Conference, and, after holding various pastorates in that state, was appointed in 1860 to Morris Chapel (now St. Paul's Church), Cincinnati. In 1861 he was invited to take command of the 74th Ohio Regiment, and asked the advice of his colleagues in the church as to the propriety of resigning his pastorate to enter the military service. They approved of his acceptance, and he served till 16 May, 1863, when illness forced him to resign. By his bravery at the battle of Stone River he won the title of " the fighting parson." He was struck four times with bullets, and his horse was shot, but he refused to leave the field. On the recommendation of the Secretary of War, on 13 March, 1865, Colonel Moody was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers "for distinguished services at the battle of Stone River." After his return from the army he resumed his place in the itinerant ministry, and served with acceptance in various localities till 1882, when, on account of failing health, he took a supernumerary relation. Removing to his farm near Jefferson, Ohio, he resided there till his death, which was caused by an accident while he was on his way to preach a memorial sermon before a part of the Grand Army of the Republic at Jefferson. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 376.
MOORE, Samuel, Congressman, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 9 February, 1796; died in Lexington, Virginia, 17 September, 1875, was educated at Washington College (now Washington and Lee University), Virginia In 1823 he was elected to the Virginia Legislature, serving until 1833. He was a member of the Convention of 1829 to amend the constitution of Virginia, and was elected to Congress as a Whig, serving from 2 December, 1833, till 3 March, 1835. Subsequently he was again a member of the legislature. In 1861 he was elected to the Convention of Virginia, and actively opposed secession, for which he was threatened with violence in Richmond. Notwithstanding this, he signed the ordinance, and served in the Confederate Army. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 378.
MOORE, Andrew Barry, governor of Alabama, born in Spartanburg District, South Carolina, 7 March, 1800; died in Marion, Alabama, 5 April, 1873. He moved to Perry County, Alabama, in 1826, and after teaching for two years studied law in Marion, and was enrolled as an attorney in 1833. He was many times in the legislature after 1839, and served three terms as speaker. He was a Whig presidential elector in 1848, and a state circuit judge from 1852 till 1857, when he resigned to accept the Democratic nomination for governor. He was elected and chosen again in 1859. In 1861 he directed the seizure of U. S. forts and arsenals before the secession of the state, and aided greatly in the equipment of state troops. At the close of his term he was appointed special aide-de-camp to the new governor, John G. Shorter. He was confined in Fort Pulaski in 1865, and after his release practised law in Marion till his death. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 378.
MOORE, Clara Jessup, author, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 10 February, 1824. Her father, Augustus E. Jessup, was the scientist of Major Stephen H. Long's Yellowstone Expedition of 1816. Her parents were residents of Massachusetts. She was educated in New Haven. Connecticut, and on 27 October, 1842, married Bloomfield H. Moore, of Philadelphia. She has occupied herself with literary and philanthropic labors. During the war she established the woman's Pennsylvania branch of the U. S. Sanitary Commission, and the special relief committee for Hospital work, and she projected and aided in founding the Union Temporary Home for Children in Philadelphia. Several of her early stories were successful in competition for prizes, and she wrote at first under the pen-name of " Mrs. Clara Moreton." Mrs. Moore's husband died in 1878. and she is now (1888) a resident of London, England. She has obtained the legal right to write her surname, Bloomfield-Moore. Her works include "The Diamond Cross" (Philadelphia, 1857); "Mabel's Mission"; "Master Jaeky's Holiday"; "Poems and Stories " (1875); "On Dangerous Ground," a novel, which was translated into French and Swedish (1876); "Sensible Etiquette"(1878); "Gondaline's Lesson" (1881); "Slander and Gossip" (printed privately, 1882); and "The Wardens Tale and Other Poems. New and Old " (London, 1883). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 379.
MOORE. Jesse Hale, soldier, born in St. Clair County, Illinois. 22 April, 1817; died in Callao, Peru, 11 July, 1883. He was graduated at McKendree College in 1842, taught two years in Nashville, Illinois, and then became principal of Georgetown Seminary. He was licensed to preach in 1846, was pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Shelbyville, subsequently principal of Paris (Kentucky) Seminary, and president of Quincy College, Illinois, in 1854-'6. He resigned his pastorate at Decatur, Illinois. In 1862, he raised the 115th Regiment of Illinois Volunteers, which he commanded at Chickamauga and the subsequent battles of that campaign. He also participated in the pursuit of General John B. Hood, and a part of the time led the 2d Brigade of the Army of the Cumberland. He was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers in 1865 for services during the war, returned to the pulpit, and was presiding elder of Decatur, Illinois, District in 1868. At that date he was elected to Congress as a Republican, serving in 1869-'73, and was chairman of the Committee on Invalid Pensions in the 42d Congress. He was appointed U. S. consul in Callao in 1881, and held that office until his death. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 382.
MOORE, John, surgeon, born in Indiana, 16 August, 1826. He entered the U. S. Army as assistant surgeon in June, 1853, and, after serving in Florida and on the Utah Expedition of 1857, was in the Cincinnati Marine Hospital in 1861-'2. He was promoted surgeon in June of the latter year, and assigned to the Army of the Potomac as medical director of the central grand division. He became medical director of the Department and Army of the Tennessee in May, 1863. accompanied General William T. Sherman on his march to the sea and through the Carolina, and received the brevets of lieutenant-colonel for the Atlanta Campaign, and colonel for services during the whole war. He was made assistant medical purveyor, with rank of lieutenant-colonel, 8 October, 1883, and on 18 November, 1886, was appointed Surgeon-General of the army, with the rank of brigadier-general. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 383-384.
MOORE, John, R. C. bishop, born in Castletown Delvin, County Westmeath, Ireland, 27 June, 1835. He came to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1848, and in 1849 entered the Collegiate Institute of this city. He afterward studied theology in France and Rome, and was ordained priest, 9 April, 1860. Before leaving Rome he underwent a public examination for the degree of doctor of divinity, and received the cap of doctor of theology, which is conferred only upon distinguished theologians. He returned to Charleston in October, and was appointed first assistant at the cathedral, and shortly afterward pastor. During the Civil War Dr. Moore was active in attendance at the hospitals, nursing the sick and wounded of both armies in many parts of the state, and especially at Florence. During the absence of Bishop Lynch in Europe he was appointed administrator of the diocese of Charleston. In 1865 he became pastor of St. Patrick's Church, and he was made vicar-general in 1872. His administration of the parish of St. Patrick's, which had become utterly disorganized during the war, was remarkably successful. He rebuilt the parish church and residence, revived the Sunday-school, which soon had more members than that of any other denomination in this city, and established a temperance society. He was consecrated second bishop of St. Augustine. Florida, by Bishop Lynch in the pro-cathedral," Charleston, on 13 May, 1877. The Roman Catholic Church in Florida has made rapid progress under the administration of Bishop Moore. He has taken great interest in colonization, and has also paid much attention to the spiritual advancement of the colored population, establishing several associations for their benefit. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 384.
MOORE, Walter Burritt, editor, born in Bristol, Vermont, 25 September, 1836. He was graduated at the University of Rochester, New York, in 1861, In that year, became a captain in the 100th New York Volunteers. He was wounded at Fair Oaks, 31 May, 1862, taken prisoner, and confined in Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia After his exchange, he studied law, and was admitted to the bar of Chicago in 1864. Subsequently he moved to New York. With Paul A. Chadbourne he edited "The Public Service of the State of New York " (3 vols., Boston, 1881). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 384.
MORDECAI, Alfred, soldier, born in Warrenton, North Carolina, 3 January, 1804; died in Philadelphia, 23 October, 1887. He was graduated first in his class at the U. S. Military Academy in 1823, assigned to the Corps of Engineers, and was assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy in 1823-'4 and principal assistant professor of engineering in 1824-'5. From 1825 till 1828 he was assistant engineer in the construction of Fort Monroe and Fort Calhoun, Virginia. and he was assistant to the chief engineer in Washington, D. C, from 1828 till 1832. He became captain of ordnance on 30 May, 1832, and in 1833-'4 was on leave of absence in Europe. In 1842 he became assistant to the chief of ordnance in Washington, D. C, and from 1839 till 1860 he was a member of the Ordnance Board. In 1840 he was a member of a commission to visit the arsenals and cannon-foundries of the principal powers of Europe, and in 1842 was assistant inspector of arsenals and engaged in constructing ballistic pendulums. He was a member of a military commission to the Crimea in 1855-'7, and his observations, particularly on military organization and ordnance, were published by order of Congress (Washington, 1860). He was a member of the board to revise the course of instruction at the military academy in 1860. He was brevetted major on 30 May, 1848, for services during the war with Mexico, and became major of ordnance, 31 December, 1854. He resigned on 5 May, 1861, and from 1863 till 1866 was a railway engineer in Mexico. From 1867 till his death he was treasurer and secretary of the Pennsylvania Canal Company. He was the author of a "Digest of Military Laws" (Washington, 1833); "Ordnance Manual for the Use of Officers in the U. S. Army" (1841; 2d ed., 1850); "Reports of Experiments on Gunpowder" (1845 and 1849); and "Artillery for the U. S. Land Service, as devised and arranged by the Ordnance Board," with plates (1849). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 389.
MORELL, George Webb, soldier, born in Cooperstown, New York, 8 January, 1815; died ill Scarborough, New York., 12 February, 1883. He was graduated first in his class at the U. S. Military Academy in 1835, assigned to the Corps of Engineers, and served in the improvement of Lake Erie Harbors. He was made 2d lieutenant of engineers, 31 October, 1836, and was engaged in the Ohio and Michigan Boundary Surveys and in the construction of Fort Adams, Newport Harbor, Rhode Island, in 1836-'7. On 30 June, 1837, he resigned his commission and engaged in railroad construction in North and South Carolina and Michigan until 1840, when he moved to New York, studied law, and was admitted to the bar. From 1854 till 1861 he was commissioner of the U. S. Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York. In 1861 he was colonel and chief of staff to General Edward S. Sanford in organizing regiments and forwarding them to the seat of war, and engaged in the defences of Washington and in operations around Harper's Ferry, Virginia. He was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers on 9 August, 1861, and assigned to a brigade in General Fitz-John Porter's division in the Army of the Potomac. He participated in the siege of Yorktown, and he took General Porter's Division when that officer was promoted to the command of the Fifth Army Corps, 18 May, 1862. He was engaged in the battles of Hanover Court-House, Mechanicsville, Gaines's Mills, and Malvern Hill, and was promoted major-general of volunteers; but his name was not sent to the Senate, and his commission expired on 4 March, 1863. He commanded the forces that guarded the upper Potomac from 30 October till 16 December, 1862, and the draft rendezvous at Indianapolis. Indiana, from 15 December, 1863, till 29 August, 1864. He was mustered out of service on 15 December, 1864, and subsequently resided on a farm near Tarrytown, New York. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 391.
MORGAN, Charles Hale, soldier, born in Manlius, New York, 6 November, 1834; died on Alcatraz Island, California, 20 December, 1875. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1857, assigned to the 4th U.S. Artillery, and took part in the Utah Expedition of 1859. He became 1st lieutenant on 1 April, 1861, and was engaged in the western Virginia operations and in the defences of Washington from December of that year till March, 1862. He served in the Army of the Potomac during the Peninsular Campaign, was promoted captain on 5 August, 1862, and in October appointed chief of artillery of the 2d Corps. He held a volunteer commission as lieutenant-colonel on the staff from 1 January, 1863, till 21 May, 1865. He engaged in the Rappahannock Campaign, and was brevetted major for services at Gettysburg, lieutenant-colonel for the action at Bristoe Station, Virginia, colonel for Spottsylvania, colonel of volunteers, 1 August, 1864, for the Wilderness Campaign, and brigadier-general of volunteers, 2 December 1864, for services as chief-of-staff of the 2d Army Corps during the campaign before Richmond, Virginia. He assisted in organizing an army corps of veterans in Washington, D. C. in 1864-'5, and was assistant inspector-general and chief-of-staff to General Hancock, commanding the Middle Military Division from 22 February till 22 June, 1865. From that date till 7 August. 1865, he was a member of the board to examine candidates for commissions in colored regiments. He was brevetted brigadier-general, U. S. Army, 13 March, 1865, for services in the field during the war, and made full brigadier-general of volunteers on 21 May, 1865. He was mustered out of the volunteer service, 15 January, 1866, and from 10 March to 26 June, 1866, served on a board of officers to make recommendations for brevet promotions in the army. He was on recruiting service from 9 August, 1865, till 15 April, 1867, and became major of the 4th U.S. Artillery on 5 February, 1867. He then served in the Artillery-School at Fortress Monroe and other stations on the Atlantic Coast, and at the time of his death commanded Alcatraz Island, California. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 395-396.
MORGAN, Edwin Dennison, 1811-1883, merchant, soldier, statesman. Member of the Whig Party, Anti-Slavery Faction. Republican U.S. Senator from New York. Chairman of the Republican National Committee, 1856-1864. Governor of New York, 1858-1862. Commissioned Major General of Volunteers, he raised 223,000 troops for the Union Army. U.S. Senator, 1863-1869. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 398; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 7, Pt. 1, p. 168; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 15, p. 825; Congressional Globe)
MORGAN, Edwin Dennison, governor of New York, born in Washington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, 8 February, 1811; died in New York City, 14 February, 1883. At the age of seventeen he moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where he entered the store of his uncle, Nathan Morgan, and became a partner in 1831. He was a member of the city council there in 1832. Removing to New York in 1836, he established himself in business and became a successful merchant. During the cholera epidemic he remained in the city to assist the poor. From 1850 till 1863 he was a member of the state senate, serving at one time as president pro tempore. He was vice-president of the National Republican Convention that met in Pittsburg, 22 February, 1856, and from 1856 till 1864 was chairman of the Republican National Committee. In 1858 he was elected governor of New York, which office he held until 1862. During his term the state debt was reduced, an increase in canal revenue was made, 223,000 troops were sent from New York to the army, and New York Harbor was put in a state of defence. On 28 September, 1861, he was made a major-general of volunteers, the state of New York being created a military department under his command, and for his services under this commission he declined compensation. On the expiration of his term he was elected to the U. S. Senate as a Republican, serving from 4 M arch, 1863, till 3 March, 1869. He opened the proceedings of the Baltimore Convention of 1864, and was a delegate to the Philadelphia Loyalists' Convention of 1866, but took no part in its action. In 1865 he declined the office of Secretary of the U. S. Treasury, which was offered him by President Lincoln. In 1872 he was chairman of the National Republican Committee, and conducted the successful campaign that resulted in the second election of General Grant. He was a Republican candidate for U. S. Senator in 1875, and in 1876 for governor of New York. In 1881 President Arthur offered him the portfolio of Secretary of the Treasury, which he declined, owing to his advanced age. Governor Morgan gave more than $200,000 to the New York Union Theological Seminary and to Williams College Library buildings, and $100,000 for a dormitory. His bequests for charitable and religious purposes amounted to $795,000. In 1867 he received the degree of LL. D. from Williams. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 398.
MORGAN, George Nelson, born on Messina Island, St. Lawrence River, N. F., 7 September, 1825; died in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 24 July, 1866. He moved from Canada to Minnesota in 1856, and, settling at St. Anthony, assisted in erecting the first foundry and machine-shop at the falls. At the beginning of the Civil War he enlisted in the 1st Minnesota Regiment, was elected captain of a company in 1861, was promoted major, and became lieutenant-colonel in 1862. Immediately after the battle of Antietam he succeeded to the colonelcy of the same regiment, and held that command until May, 1863, when, his health failing entirely, he was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps, and became colonel of the 2d Regiment of that corps, which post he held until within a few days of his death, he was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers, 13 March, 1865. General Morgan participated with the 1st Regiment in all its battles, from Bull Run to Fredericksburg, inclusive. He was brave and cool in action and a strict disciplinarian. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 398-399.
MORGAN, George Washington, soldier, born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, 20 September, 1820. His grandfather, Colonel George N. Morgan, was the first to give Jefferson information regarding Aaron Burr's conspiracy. In 1836 he left college, and, enlisting in a company that was commanded by his brother, went to assist Texas in gaining her independence. Upon his arrival there he was commissioned a lieutenant in the regular Texan Army, but, after attaining the rank of captain, he retired from the service. In 1841 he entered the U. S. Military Academy, but left in 1843, and, removing to Mount Vernon, Ohio, began to practice law there in 1845. At the beginning of the war with Mexico he was made colonel of the 2d Ohio Volunteers, and he was subsequently appointed colonel of the 15th U. S. Infantry, which he led with ability under General Scott, receiving for his gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco, where he was severely wounded, the thanks of the Ohio legislature and the brevet of brigadier-general. He afterward practised law until 1856, and was then appointed U. S. consul to Marseilles, where he remained until he was made minister to Portugal, which post he held from 1858 till 1861. He returned to this country, and on 21 November, 1861, was made brigadier-general of volunteers and assigned to duty under General Don Carlos Buell. In March, 1862, he assumed the command of the 7th Division of the Army of the Ohio, with which he was ordered to occupy Cumberland Gap, in southeast Kentucky, then held by the Confederates. He forced the enemy to retire on 18 June, 1862, but in September of that year he retreated toward the Ohio, being harassed by constant attacks from Colonel John H. Morgan's guerillas, and in November he was with Major-General Jacob D. Cox in the valley of the Kanawha. He was with General William T. Sherman at Vicksburg, was afterward assigned to the 13th Army Corps, and commanded at the capture of Fort Hindman, Arkansas. Owing to failing health, he resigned in June, 1863. While in favor of maintaining the Union at any cost. General Morgan was opposed to interference with the state institution of the south. In 1865 he was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for governor of Ohio, and in 1866 was elected to Congress as a Democrat, serving on the Committee on Foreign Affairs. His seat was contested by Columbus Delano, who supplanted him on 3 June, 1868; but he was again elected, and held his seat from 4 March, 1869, till 3 March, 1873, serving on the Committees on Foreign Affairs, Military Affairs, and Reconstruction. He was a delegate-at-large to the National Democratic Convention at St. Louis in 1876. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 399.
MORGAN, James Dady, soldier, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 1 August, 1810. At the age of sixteen he went to sea in the ship "Beverley" for a three years' trading voyage. When the vessel was thirty days out a mutiny occurred, and shortly afterward the ship was burned. Morgan escaped to South America, and, after enduring many hardships, returned to Boston. In 1834 he moved to Quincy, Illinois, and engaged in mercantile pursuits. He aided in raising the "Quincy Grays," and at the time of the difficulties with the Mormons in 1844-'5 he was captain of the " Quincy Riflemen," and was ordered with his company to Hancock County to preserve order. During the Mexican War he served as captain in the 1st Illinois Volunteers. In 1861 he became lieutenant-colonel of the 7th Illinois Regiment, and for meritorious services at New Madrid and Corinth was promoted brigadier-general of volunteers, 17 July, 1862. In November, 1862, he commanded a brigade at Nashville, Tennessee, and for gallantry at Bentonville, North Carolina, he was brevetted major-general of volunteers, 19 March, 1865. He was mustered out of the army on 24 August, 1865. He is now (1888) vice-president of a bank in Quincy. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 401.
MORGAN, John Hunt, soldier, born in Huntsville, Alabama, 1 June, 1826; died near Greenville, Tennessee, 4 September, 1864. In 1830 he settled near Lexington, Kentucky. He served in the war with Mexico as 1st lieutenant in a cavalry regiment. At the opening of the Civil War he was engaged in the manufacture of bagging. He entered the Confederate Army as captain of the Kentucky volunteers, and joined General Simon B. Buckner at the head of the Lexington Rifles. During the winter of 1862-'3 he commanded a cavalry force in General Braxton Bragg's army, and greatly annoyed General William S. Rosencrans's outposts and communications. He soon began a series of raids in Kentucky, in which he destroyed many millions of dollars' worth of military stores, captured and burned railroad-trains filled with supplies, tore up railroad-tracks, burned bridges, and destroyed culverts in the rear of the National Army, and made it necessary to garrison every important town in the state. Moving with the utmost celerity, and taking a telegraph-operator with him, he misled his foes and at the same time acquainted himself with their movements. In 1862 he was appointed major-general. In 1863 he headed a bold and extensive raid into Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana, but with nearly all of his company he was captured and imprisoned in the Ohio Penitentiary. He escaped by digging in November, 1863, and then undertook a raid in Tennessee. While at a farm-house near Greenville, Tennessee, he was surrounded in the night by National troops under General Alvan C. Gillem, and in attempting to escape was killed. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 402
MORGAN, John Tyler, senator, born in Athens, Tennessee, 20 June, 1824. In 1833 his parents moved to Calhoun County, Alabama, and, after receiving a good education, he studied law in Talladega, and was licensed to practice in 1845. In 1860 he was a presidential elector on the Breckinridge ticket, and obtained in the canvass of that year a reputation for eloquence. In 1861 he was a member of the state convention that passed the Ordinance of Secession. He joined the Confederate Army in 1861 as a private, and subsequently became major and lieutenant-colonel, serving in Virginia, he was afterward commissioned as colonel, and, returning to Alabama, raised the 51st Regiment, which he liberally aided in equipping, he went to the front in Tennessee, but was soon assigned to the head of the Conscript Bureau in Alabama, at the request of the state delegation in the Confederate Congress. In 1863 he was appointed brigadier-general by General Robert E. Lee, but declined promotion. He was again commissioned brigadier-general in November, 1863, and commanded a division in the winter of 1863-'4, operating with General James Longstreet in eastern Tennessee, and with General Joseph E. Johnston and General John B. Hood. After the war he resumed his law practice in Selma. In 1876 he was again a presidential elector, and was also elected to the United States Senate as a Democrat, being re-elected in 1883. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 402.
MORGAN, Michael Ryan, soldier, born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, 18 January, 1833. He was appointed from Louisiana to the U. S. Military Academy, where he was graduated in 1854, assigned to the artillery, and served in garrison, and against Indians till the Civil War, during which he was in the Subsistence Department. He was chief of commissariat of the 10th Army Corps in May and June, 1864, and of the armies operating against Richmond in 1864-'5, receiving all the brevets to brigadier-general in the regular army for his services in the campaigns of those two years. On 17 November, 1865, he became commissary of subsistence with the rank of major, and since the war he has been the Commissary-General of various departments. He is now (1888) serving in that capacity in San Francisco, California. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 403.
MORRIS, Charles, naval officer, born in Woodstock, Connecticut, 26 July, 1784; died in Washington, D. C, 27 January, 1856. He entered the U.S. Navy, being made midshipman, 1 July, 1799, and, during the war with Tripoli in 1801-5, served in the squadron under Commodore Edward Preble, he took part in the expedition under Decatur that destroyed the frigate "Philadelphia" in the harbor of Tripoli on the night of 15 February, 1804, and subsequently captured a French privateer. In January, 1807, he was promoted to a lieutenancy, and he was executive officer of the "Constitution" in July, 1812, when she was chased for sixty hours by a British fleet. In the following month, in the engagement between that vessel and the "Guerriere," he was severely wounded. On 5 March, 1813, he was promoted captain, Missing the intermediate grade, and in 1814 was appointed to the command of the "John Adams," twenty-eight guns, in which vessel he cruised off the coasts of the United States and Ireland, greatly injuring British commerce. In August of the same year, when Captain Morris had run up the Penobscot River, Maine, for repairs, a strong British force followed him with the design of effecting his capture. A detachment of militia that was sent to his relief having abandoned him, he was compelled to scuttle the vessel, while the crew made the best of its way in small parties over 200 miles of thinly settled country to Portland. In 1816-'17 he commanded the naval forces in the Gulf of Mexico, and in 1819-'20 a squadron on the coast of Buenos Ayres. From 1823 till 1827, and again from 1832 till 1841, he was navy commissioner, as such having a vote upon every important question of naval administration. In September and October, 1825, he was in command of the "Brandywine," in which Lafayette returned to France. He was afterward employed in inspecting the dock-yards of England and France, he had for many years supervision of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, and from 1851 until his death he was chief of the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography. Entering the navy at the most trying period of its history, when it had little support or encouragement from the government, when it was almost unknown to the country at large, and when its internal organization was loose and imperfect, Captain Morris lived to see it in the height of its prosperity. For more than fifty years all his time, his thoughts, and his energies were devoted to promoting the growth and well-being of the service. As remarkable for judgment and self-control as he was for courage and zeal, he is regarded by many as the foremost man of the navy as it existed prior to the Civil War. See his "Autobiography," published by the U. S. naval Institute (Annapolis, 1880). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 411.
MORRIS, William Hopkins, soldier, born in New York, 22 April, 1826, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1851, but resigned from the army in 1854, and engaged in literary pursuits in 1855-'61. He was commissioned as staff captain and assistant adjutant-general of the U. S. volunteers in 1861, served in the Peninsular Campaign of 1862, on 1 September of that year resigned, and became colonel of the 135th New York Regiment of Infantry, which was changed into the 6th New York Artillery. He was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, 29 November, 1862, served in the Pennsylvania and Rapidan and Richmond Campaigns, and was wounded near Spottsylvania. In March, 1865, he was brevetted major-general of volunteers for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of the Wilderness, May, 1864. He invented a repeating carbine in 1869, and is the author of "A System of Infantry Tactics" (New York, 1865) and "Tactics for Infantry, armed with Breech-loading or Magazine Rifles'" (1882). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 413.
MORRIS, George Upham, naval officer, born in Massachusetts, 3 June, 1830; died in Jordan Alum Springs, Virginia, 15 August, 1875. He entered the U.S. Navy and was commissioned midshipman, 14 August, 1846, lieutenant, 16 September, 1855, and commander, 25 July, 1866. He distinguished himself by his defence of the "Cumberland," of which he was in temporary command, when attacked by the iron-clad ram “Merrimack" in Hampton Roads, Virginia, 8 March, 1862. "As her guns approached the water's edge," said the Secretary of the Navy in his report for that year, "her young commander, Lieutenant Morris, and the gallant crew stood firm at their posts and delivered a parting fire, and the good ship went down heroically with her colors flying." Many of the officers and men, Lieutenant Morris among them, were able to reach the shore, but a large number perished with the vessel. In the following May, while in command of the steam gun-boat "Port Royal," he took part in an engagement with a nine-gun battery on James River, and he was subsequently wounded at Fort Darling. He also participated in the attack on Fort Powell, at Grant's Pass, in February, 1864. He was retired from active service, 21 October, 1874. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 413.
MORRIS, Lewis Owen, soldier, born in Albany, New York, 14 August, 1824; died in Cold Harbor. Virginia. 3 June, 1804, received a commission as 2d lieutenant in the U. S. Army, 8 March, 1847, and took part in the siege of Vera Cruz, and the subsequent advance on the city of Mexico. At the beginning of the Civil War he had attained the rank of captain in the 1st U.S. Artillery. During the winter of 1860-'l he was stationed in Texas, and his battery was the only one that did not surrender to the Confederates. In the winter of 1861-'2 he was designated to direct the operations against Fort Macon, North Carolina, which he captured and afterward commanded. The following summer he was appointed colonel of the 113th New York Volunteers, which, reaching Washington when the city was menaced by General Robert E. Lee, was converted into a heavy artillery regiment. It was stationed at Fort Reno, one of the works defending the National Capital, but the inactive life did not suit Colonel Morris, and he pleaded repeatedly to be sent to the field. At the beginning of the campaign of 1864 his wish was gratified, and during all the engagements from Spottsylvania till his death he commanded a brigade. He fell in the battle of Cold Harbor when, like his father, he was cheering his men in an assault. He was greatly Moved and admired as an officer. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 416.
MORRIS, Henry W., naval officer, born in New York City in 1800: died there, 14 August, 1863, was the son of Thomas, a member of the New York bar, and at one time U. S. Marshal for the Southern District of the state of New York. He entered the U.S. Navy, 21 August, 1819, and from 1828 till 1838, under the commission of lieutenant, served in various posts. From 1839 till 1845 he was on special duty in New York City, passing through six degrees of official promotion during the term of six years. He was then appointed to the command of the store-ship "Southampton," at that time belonging to the African Squadron. In 1846 he was again ordered to the Brooklyn U.S. Navy-yard, where for the next five years he was awaiting orders. In the meantime he was promoted commander, and in 1851 was appointed to the charge of the rendezvous in New York until 1858, when he was ordered to the sloop-of-war "Germantown," of the Brazilian Squadron. In 1855 he was transferred to the Mediterranean Station, where he served as fleet-captain under Commodore Stringham. Upon his return to the United States, in 1856, he received his commission as captain. Toward the close of 1861 he superintended the construction of the steam sloop-of-war " Pensacola" at Washington U.S. Navy-yard. In January, 1862, that vessel, under his command, successfully passed the line of Confederate batteries on the Potomac, and, after anchoring a short time in Hampton roads, set sail to join the blockading squadron in the Gulf of Mexico. The "Pensacola” played a brilliant part in all the attacks upon Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip, and upon the Chalmette batteries. After the capture of New Orleans, Commodore Morris was intrusted with the duty of holding the city and guarding the adjacent coasts. But his health became seriously affected, and he was persuaded to come to the north to recruit his strength, and died soon after his arrival. He was made commodore, 16 July, 1862. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 417.
MORRIS, Thomas Armstrong, soldier, born in Nicholas County, Kentucky, 26 December, 1811. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1834, resigned in 1836 to follow the profession of civil engineering, and was appointed in that year resident engineer of canals and railroads in the state of Indiana. He was chief engineer of two railroads in 1847-52, engineer in 1852-'4. and president in 1854-'7 of the Indianapolis and Cincinnati Railroad, and president of the Indianapolis, Pittsburg and Cleveland Railroad in 1859-'61. In April, 1861, he was appointed brigadier-general by the governor of Indiana, and served in the West Virginia Campaign of that year, but, declining the commissions of brigadier-general and major-general of volunteers, he was mustered out of service in July, 1861. He then resumed the office of chief engineer of the Indianapolis and Cincinnati Railroad, was president of the Indianapolis and St. Louis Railroad in 1867-'70, and in 1870-'3 was receiver of the Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Lafayette Railroad. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 419.
MORRIS, William Walton, soldier, born in Ballston Springs, New York, 31 August, 1801; died in Baltimore, Maryland, 11 December 1865. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1820, became 1st lieutenant in 1823, participated in the attack on the Indian towns in the Arickaree Expedition in that year, and in 1824 was transferred to the artillery. During the Seminole War he commanded a battalion of Creek volunteers, with the rank of major, formed the advance of General Thomas S. Jessup's command, and, marching into Florida to the assistance of the state troops and those under Colonel Zachary Taylor, participated in the battle of Wahoo Swamp, 26 November, 1836. For his conduct on that occasion he was promoted captain. His services in the subsequent engagements of this campaign won him the brevet of major in 1837. He served on the Canadian frontier in the border disturbances of 1839, during the Mexican War was major of the artillery battalion of the army of occupation, and was engaged at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. He had devoted much study to military law between 1839 and 1846, and in the latter year was appointed military governor and alcalde of the city of Tampico, subsequently assuming the same duties in Puebla, where he remained until the close of the war. He was promoted major in 1853, engaged in the Seminole War of 1856-'7, was on frontier duty the next year, and also served in quelling the Kansas disturbances. He became colonel in 1861, and during the Civil War he was stationed at Fort McHenry, Baltimore, Maryland. By training his guns on the insurgents, he quelled the riots that occurred in that city, 19 April, 1861. Shortly after assuming command at Fort McHenry, he refused to obey a writ of habeas corpus that was granted by a Maryland judge, to obtain possession of a soldier of the Fort McHenry garrison, resisting the execution of the writ on the ground that the habeas corpus act had been suspended by the beginning of hostilities. From 1 February, 1865, till his death he commanded the Middle Department and the 8th Army Corps. He received the brevets of brigadier-general and major-general in the regular army on 9 June, 1862, and 10 December 1865, respectively. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 420.
MORRISON. George Washington, Congressman, born in Fairlee, Vermont. 16 October, 1809. He was educated at Thetford. Vermont, admitted to the bar in 1835, settled in Manchester, New Hampshire, soon afterward, and quickly won a high place at the bar, which he maintained for many years, till impaired health, in 1872, obliged him to retire. He was a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives several times between 1840 and 1850, and solicitor of his county in 1845-'7. He was chosen to Congress as a Democrat to fill a vacancy, and re-elected, serving in 1850-'l and in 1853-'5. During his last term he opposed, by speech and note, the Kansas-Nebraska bill, notwithstanding his personal friendship for President Pierce.—His cousin. Charles Robert, jurist, born in Bath, New Hampshire, 22 January, 1819, was educated at Newbury, Vermont, admitted to the bar in July, 1842, and was circuit justice, court of common pleas, from 1851. He was adjutant of the 11th New Hampshire Regiment in 1862-'4. and was wounded thrice in the service. After the war he continued the practice of law at Manchester till 1887, when he moved to Concord, New Hampshire. He is the author of "Digest of New Hampshire Reports" (Concord, 1868); "Probate Directory" (1870); "Justice and Sheriff and Attorney's Assistant" (1872); "Town Officer" (1876); -'Digest of Laws relating to Common Schools" (1881); and "Proofs of Christ's Resurrection, from a Lawyer's Standpoint" (Andover, Massachusetts, 1880; revised ed., 1885). In 1880 he prepared a history of his branch of the Morrison family, which was embodied in the general history of the family by Leonard A. Morrison (Boston, 1880). He has now (1888) in preparation a " Digest of all New Hampshire Reports." Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 420.
MORRISON, Pitcairn, soldier, born in New York City, 18 September, 1795; died in Baltimore, Maryland, 5 October, 1887. He was commissioned 2d lieutenant of artillery in the U. S. Army in October, 1820, promoted 1st lieutenant in 1826, and captain in 1836, and received the brevet of major for gallant conduct at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma in the war with Mexico. He was made major of infantry in 1847. commanded his regiment in 1848-'9, and the post of Fort Lincoln, Texas, in 1850-'l, and became lieutenant-colonel in 1853 and colonel in 1861. He was retired in October, 1863, "for disability incurred in the line of duty," and brevetted brigadier-general in the regular army "for long and faithful services." After this he resided in Baltimore, Maryland, and at the time of his death he was the oldest officer by commission in the army, with the exception of General William S. Harney. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 421.
MORRISON, William Ralls, Congressman, born in Monroe County, Illinois, 14 September, 1825. He was educated at McKendree College, served as a private in the Mexican War, and subsequently studied law and was admitted to the bar. He was clerk of Monroe County in 1852-'6, served in the legislature for the next three years, and was Speaker of the House in 1859. He organized the 49th Illinois Regiment at the beginning of the Civil War, and was wounded at Fort Donelson. While in command of that regiment in the field, he was elected to Congress as a Democrat, and served in 1863-'5, but was defeated for the 39th and 40th Congresses. He was again chosen in 1872, serving from 1873 till 1887, and in 1873-'5 was chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means. In 1886 he was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election. He was a delegate to the National Union Convention in 1866, and to the New York Democratic Convention in 1868. In March, 1887, he was appointed by President Cleveland a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission for a term of five years. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 422.
MORSE, David Appleton, physician, born in Ellsworth, Ohio, 12 December, 1840. He was graduated at Cleveland Medical College in 1862, and began practice in Edinburgh, Ohio. In 1862-'5 he served in the U. S. Army as surgeon, at first under General William S. Rosecrans in Tennessee, and then under General William T. Sherman in Georgia. After his resignation he returned to Edinburgh and subsequently moved to Alliance, Ohio, but in 1867 settled in Madison County, where he remained for ten years. In 1877 he was called to Columbus, Ohio, where he has since held the professorship of nervous disorders and insanity in Starling Medical College and the post of physician to Columbus Hospital for the Insane. More recently he accepted the superintendency of the Oxford Retreat for Nervous and Mental Diseases. Dr. Morse is a member of the American, the Ohio, and other medical societies. He is editor of the department of nervous disorders and insanity in the ' Lancet and Observer," to whose columns, as well as to the transactions of societies to which he belongs, he has contributed papers on medical topics. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 422.
MORSE, Henry Bagg, soldier, born in Eaton, New York, 2 July, 1830; died there, 20 June, 1874. He received an academic education, and then assisted his father in various farming and manufacturing enterprises. In 1862 he was authorized by Governor Edwin D. Morgan to raise a company for the Chenango and Madison Regiment, and successively attained the ranks of captain, major, and lieutenant-colonel. His regiment was sent to the Department of the Gulf, took part in the combat at Fort Bisland, Louisiana, and led in the charge on Port Hudson, where he was severely wounded. Subsequently he had charge of a brigade at Sabine Crossroads, and received the brevet of brigadier-general of volunteers on 13 March, 1865. He was one of the Board of Prison-Inspectors for the Department of the Gulf in New Orleans, and acting chief quartermaster of the 19th Army Corps during the latter part of his service. After the war he studied law in Syracuse, New York, and then settled in Arkansas, where he held the office of U. S. Revenue-Collector. On the reorganization of the state government he was appointed probate judge, and he was afterward circuit judge for six years. Failing health led to his returning to the north, but in March, 1874, he went again to Arkansas in the heat of the Brooks-Baxter excitement (see Baxter, Elisha), and took an active part in state matters as chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Committee. This again prostrated him, and he returned to the north to die. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 423
MORTON, Oliver Perry, 1823-1877, statesman, lawyer, jurist, anti-slavery activist. Member of the Republican Party. U.S. Senator and Governor of Indiana, 1861. (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 431-432; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 7, Pt. 1, p. 262; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 15, p. 956)
MORTON, Oliver Perry, statesman, born in Saulsbury, Wayne County, Indiana, 4 August, 1823; died in Indianapolis, Indiana, 1 November, 1877. His father, a native of New Jersey, whose ancestors came from England with Roger Williams, dropped the first syllable in the family name of Throckmorton. At the age of fifteen the son was taken from school and indentured to a brother, who was a hatter. After working at this trade four years he determined to fit himself for the bar, spent two years at Miami University, studied law at Centreville, and began practice there in 1847. He soon attained professional eminence, and was elected a circuit judge in 1852, but at the end of a year, when his term expired by the adoption of a new state constitution, he willingly left the bench, and before resuming practice spent a year at a law-school in Cincinnati. Having been a Democrat with anti-slavery convictions, he entered into the people's movement in 1854, took an active part in the formation of the Republican Party, and was a delegate to the Pittsburg Convention the same year, and the candidate of the new party for governor. In a joint canvass with Ashbel P. Willard, the Democratic nominee, he established a reputation for political ability, but was beaten at the polls, and returned to his law practice. In 1860 he was nominated for lieutenant-governor on the ticket with Henry S. Lane, and during the canvass took strong ground in favor of exacting from the southern states obedience to the Constitution. Up on convening, the legislature elected Governor Lane U. S. Senator, and on 16 January, 1861, Mr. Morton took the oath as governor. He opposed every compromise with the Secessionist Party, nominated to the Peace Congressmen of equally pronounced views, began to prepare for the coming conflict before Fort Sumter was fired upon, and when President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers he offered to send 10,000 from Indiana. The state's quota was raised at once. He reconvened the legislature on 24 April, obtained authority to borrow $2,000,000, and displayed great energy and ability in placing troops in the field and providing for their care and sustenance. He gave permission to citizens of Indiana to raise troops in Kentucky, allowed Kentucky regiments to be recruited from the population of two of the southern counties, procured arms for the volunteer bodies enlisted for the defence of Kentucky, and by thus co-operating with the Unionists in that state did much toward establishing the ascendency of the National government within its borders. When the question of the abolition of slavery arose, the popular majority no longer upheld the governor in his support of the National administration. In 1862 a Democratic legislature was chosen, which refused to receive the governor's message, and was on the point of taking from him the command of the militia, when the Republican members withdrew, leaving both houses without a quorum. In order to carry on the state government and pay the state bonds, he obtained advances from banks and county boards, and appointed a bureau of finance, which, from April, 1863, till January, 1865, made all disbursements of the state, amounting to more than $1,000,000. During this period he refused to summon the legislature. The supreme court condemned this arbitrary course, but the people subsequently applauded his action, and the state assumed the obligations that he incurred. The draft laws provoked the Secessionists in Indiana to form secret organizations and commit outrages on Union men. They plotted against the life of Governor Morton and arranged a general insurrection, to take place in August, 1864. The governor discovered their plans and arrested the leaders of the Knights of the Golden Circle, or Sons of Liberty, as the association was called. In 1864 he was nominated for governor, and defeated Joseph E. McDonald by 20,883 votes, after an animated joint canvass. He resigned in January, 1867, to take his seat in the U. S. Senate, to which he was re-elected in 1873. In the Senate he was chairman of the Committee on Privileges and Elections and the leader of the Republicans, and for several years he exercised a determining influence over the political course of the party. On the question of reconstruction he supported the severest measures toward the southern states and their citizens. He labored zealously to secure the passage of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, was active in the impeachment proceedings against President Johnson, and was the trusted adviser of the Republicans of the south. After supporting the Santo Domingo Treaty he was offered the English mission by President Grant, but declined, lest his state should send a Democrat to succeed him in the Senate. At the Republican National Convention in 1876 Mr. Morton, in the earlier ballots, received next to the highest number of votes for the presidential nomination. He was a member of the Electoral Commission of 1877. After having a paralytic stroke in 1865 he was never again able to stand without support, yet there was no abatement in his power as a debater or in the effectiveness of his forcible popular oratory. Immediately after his return from Europe, whither he had gone to consult specialists in nervous diseases, he delivered, in 1866, a political speech of which more than 1,000,000 copies were circulated in pamphlet-form. After visiting Oregon in the spring of 1877 as chairman of a senatorial committee to investigate the election of Lafayette Grover, he had another attack of paralysis, and died soon after reaching his home. See “Life and Public Services of Oliver Perry Morton” (Indianapolis, 1876). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 431-432.
MORTON, James St Clair, soldier, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 24 September, 1829; died in Petersburg, Virginia, 17 June, 1864, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1851, entered the Engineer Corps, and was assistant professor of engineering at the U. S. Military Academy in 1855-'7. He explored the Chiriquin country, Central America, for a railroad route across the isthmus in 1860 by authority of Congress, and on his return took charge of the work on the Washington Aqueduct. He superintended the fortifying of Tortugas, in March, 1861, was promoted captain in that year, and in May, 1862, reported to General Don Carlos Buell as chief engineer of the Army of the Ohio. In October he became chief engineer of the Army of the Cumberland, and commanded the bridge brigade of that army, becoming brigadier-general of volunteers, 29 November, 1862. He constructed the intrenchments about Murfreesborough, Tennessee, participated in the capture of Chattanooga, was wounded at Chickamauga, and superintended the engineering operations under General William S. Rosecrans. He was promoted major of engineers in July, 1863, was chief engineer of the 9th Army Corps in the Richmond Campaign of 1864, and was engaged in the battles of North Anna, Tolopotomy, Bethesda Church, and the assault on Petersburg, Virginia, where he was killed while leading the attack, he had received the brevet of lieutenant-colonel for gallantry at Stone River, and colonel for Chickamauga. and after his death was given that of brigadier-general, U. S. Army, for Petersburg. He published " An Essay on Instruction in Engineering'" (New York, 1856); "An Essay on a New System of Fortifications" (1857); "Memoir on Fortification" (1858); "Dangers and Defences of New York City" (1859); and "Life of Major John Saunders, of the Engineers " (1860). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 433.
MORTON, Thomas George, physician, born in Philadelphia, 8 August, 1835, was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated in the medical department there in 1856. He practised general surgery in Philadelphia for the next three years, actively engaged during the Civil War in the establishment of military hospitals, and was a surgeon at Satterlee Hospital, and consulting surgeon to the U. S. Army Hospital, Chesnut Hill, Pennsylvania. He has also held offices in numerous other hospitals, including the Orthopedic, of which he was the originator. In 1876 he was appointed a commissioner to erect the State Insane Asylum for the southern district of Pennsylvania, and was chairman of the committee on plans and buildings, he was chosen president of the Pennsylvania Society for the Restriction of Vivisection in 1880, and vice-president of the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children the same year, was appointed a commissioner of State Public Charities in 1883, and chairman of the Committee of Lunacy in 1886. He is a member of numerous foreign and domestic professional bodies, and has successfully performed numerous difficult surgical operations. He introduced the ward-carriage into the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1866, the bed-elevator and carriage in 1874, and in 1876 received the Centennial medal that was awarded for his hospital ward dressing-carriage. He has published numerous professional papers in the "American Journal of the Medical Sciences" and the " Pennsylvania Hospital Reports "; "Lecture on the Transfusion of Blood and its Practical Application" (New York, 1877); with Dr. William Hunt, "Surgery of Pennsylvania Hospital" (Philadelphia, 1880); and " Transfusion of Blood and its Practical Application " (New York, 1887). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 433.
MOSBY, John Singleton, soldier, born in Powhatan County, Virginia, 6 December, 1833. He entered the University of Virginia, and before completing his course shot and seriously wounded a student who assaulted him. He was fined and sentenced to imprisonment, but was pardoned by the governor, and his fine was remitted by the legislature. He studied law during his confinement, and soon after his release was admitted to the bar, and practised in Bristol, Washington County, Virginia. At the beginning of hostilities in the spring of 1861 he enlisted in a company of cavalry, and served in the campaign of General Joseph E. Johnston in the Shenandoah Valley and the Manassas operations, and on picket duty on the Potomac during the winter. At the expiration of twelve months he and a friend were the only soldiers in his company that were willing to re-enlist without first receiving a furlough. On 14 February, 1862, he was made adjutant of his regiment, but two months later, when the colonel, William E. Jones, was displaced, he returned to the ranks. General James E. B. Stuart, the brigade commander, observed Mosby's abilities, and invited him to serve as a scout at his headquarters. He guided Stuart’s force in a bold raid in the rear of General George B. McClellan's position on the Chickahominy, 14 June, 1862. In January, 1863, he crossed the Rappahannock into northern Virginia, which had been abandoned the year before to the occupation of the National Army, and recruited a force of irregular cavalry, with which, aided by the friendly population of Loudoun and Fauquier Counties, he harassed the National lines, and did much damage by cutting communications and destroying supply-trains in the rear of the armies that invaded Virginia. His partisan rangers, when not on a raid, scattered for safety, and remained in concealment, with orders to assemble again at a given time and place. Several expeditions were sent to capture Mosby and his men; but he always had intelligence of the approach of the enemy, and evaded every encounter, though the district was repeatedly ravaged as a punishment to the people for harboring and abetting the guerillas. Many cavalry outposts were captured by them, and the National forces were compelled to strengthen their pickets, sometimes to contract their lines, and to use constant vigilance against stratagems, surprises, and nocturnal attacks. His force was made up of deserters from the Confederate ranks, of volunteers from civil life, and of furloughed cavalrymen who had lost their horses and joined him temporarily in order to obtain remounts captured from the enemy. One of his boldest lieutenants was a deserter from the National Army. At Chantilly, on 16 March, 1863, he made a counter-charge, and routed a cavalry force much larger than his own. At Dranesville, on 1 April, 1863, he defeated a detachment sent specially to capture him. While the armies were engaged at Chancellorsville he surprised a body of cavalry at Warrenton Junction, but was routed by a detachment that came to the rescue. He raised a new force, obtained a howitzer, passed to the rear of General Hooker's army, wrecked a railroad-train, inflicted severe damage on the troops that surrounded him, and finally cut his way through the lines. In May, 1864, Mosby captured a railroad transport near Aquia Creek, and compelled General Grant, while his army was engaged in the Wilderness, to detach a cavalry force to protect his communications. Mosby received a captain's commission in March, 1863, and two weeks later that of a major, and he reported to General Stuart till the time of that officer's death in May, 1864, and after that to General Robert E. Lee. Before the close of the war he was made a full colonel, he received several bullet wounds. His partisan rangers, under an act of the Confederate Congress, stood on the same footing as the cavalry of the line, and received the same pay, besides being allowed to retain captured spoils. On 21 April, 1865, he took leave of his partisans, saying: "Soldiers of the 43d Regiment: I have summoned you together for the last time. The vision we have cherished of a free and independent country has vanished, and that country is now the spoil of a conqueror. I disband your organization in preference to surrendering it to our enemies. I am now no longer your commander." Remaining in Fauquier County, where he was at the close of the war, he opened a law-office in Warrenton, and obtained a lucrative practice. In 1872 he incurred much obloquy in the south by publicly supporting the Republican presidential candidate, Ulysses S. Grant, who had extended his protection to Mosby's guerillas at the surrender in 1865. He defended his course on the ground that the south, which had already accepted the enfranchisement of the Negroes, might consistently support the Republican Party, and there by most quickly attain tranquillity and home rule. During President Grant's second term he exerted himself to appease the spirit of dissatisfaction in the south, but declined all favors from the administration. He supported the candidacy of Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, in a letter to the New York " Herald," in which first appeared the phrase "the solid south." He was appointed consul at Hong Kong, introduced reforms in the consular service, and remained there more than six years, but was removed on the accession of President Cleveland. On his return to the United States he settled in San Francisco and resumed the practice of law. In December, 1886, he delivered in Boston a lecture on Stuart’s cavalry, which was repeated in other places, and published in a volume entitled "War Reminiscences" (Boston, 1887). See also "Partisan Life with Mosby," by John Scott (New York, 1867): and "Mosby and his Men," by J. Marshall Crawford (1867). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 434-435.
MOSES, Thomas Freeman, physician, born in Bath, Maine, 8 June, 1830. He was graduated at Bowdoin in 1857, and, after attending lectures in New York, London, Paris, and Philadelphia, took his degree at Jefferson Medical College in 1861. During the Civil War he was acting assistant surgeon in the U. S. Army, in charge of government transports and hospitals, and after 1864 he settled in practice in Hamilton County, Ohio. He was elected professor of natural sciences in Urbana University, Ohio, in 1870, and in 1886 became acting president of that institution. Professor Moses is a member of several scientific societies, and has edited the " Proceedings of the Central Ohio Scientific Association " (Urbana, 1878), to which he contributed papers. He has also published an annotated edition of Emile Saigey's ' Unity of Natural Phenomena " (Boston, 1878). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 436.
MOSLER, Henry, artist, born in New York City, 6 June, 1841. He went with his family to Cincinnati in 1851, and three years later to Nashville. Tennessee Here his talent for art was first shown by some engravings that he made on blocks of wood with crude tools. After this his father gave him what assistance he could toward perfecting his drawing, and he obtained later his first knowledge of painting in oils from George Kerr, an amateur. In 1855 he returned with his family to Cincinnati, where for a year he was a draughtsman for the ' Omnibus," a comic weekly, He then went to Richmond, whence he returned in 1857. In 1859 he became a pupil of James H. Beard, in whose studio he painted until 1861. In 1862-'3 he followed the western army as art correspondent for '"Harper's Weekly." He was appointed on General William Nelson's staff, and while the army was in camp painted portraits of that officer, General Richard W. Johnson, General Lovell H. Rousseau, and others. He went to Europe in 1863, studying for two and a half years under Mucke and Kindler in Dusseldorf, and for six months under Ernest Hebert in Paris. He returned to the United States in 1866, remaining eight years, during which time he produced numerous pictures, notably his "Lost Cause," which achieved for him a national reputation. On his return to Europe in 1874 he studied for three years under Piloty in Munich, where he won a medal at the Royal Academy. In 1877 he moved to Paris, where he has since resided, with the exception of a brief visit to this country in 1885, when he exhibited a collection of his works in New York and Cincinnati. His "Le retour," exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1879, was bought by the French government for the Musee du Luxembourg, and in 1885 he was the recipient at the exhibition of the American Art Association of one of the four cash prizes for his " Last Sacrament." He also won a medal at the International Exhibition at Nice in 1884. His best-known works include "Early Cares" and "Quadroon Girl " (1878); "The Return " and " Les femmes et les secrets" (1879); "Purchase of the Wedding Gown" and "Spinning Girl" (1880); "Night after the Battle" and " Return of the Fisherwomen" (1881): "Discussing the Marriage Contract" (1882); "Wedding Morning" and "Rainy Day" (1883); "Last Sacrament" and "Village Clockmaker " (1884); "Approaching Storm " (1885); and "Visit of the Marquise" (1886-'7). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 436.
MOSS, Lemuel, educator, born near Burlington, Kentucky, 27 December, 1829. He was a printer for nine years in early life, but, deciding to enter the Baptist ministry, was graduated at Rochester, New York, University in 1858, and at the theological school there in 1860. He was secretary of the U. S. Christian Commission in 1863-'5, and after holding theological professorships in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and at Crozer seminary, near Philadelphia, was in 1874-'5 president of the University of Chicago, and in 1875-'84 of Indiana University. He received from Rochester the degree of D.D. in 1868 and that of LL. D. in 1883. Dr. Moss edited the " National Baptist" in Philadelphia in 1868-'72, and has written " Annals of the United States Christian Commission" (Philadelphia, 1866) and various articles on educational and religious subjects. He edited "The Baptists and the National Centenary" (1876). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 437.
MOTT, Gershom, soldier, born near Trenton, New Jersey, 7 April, 1822; died in New York City, 29 May, 1884. He was the grandson of Captain John Mott, of the Continental line, who guided the army of General Washington down the Delaware River to the victory at Trenton. After leaving Trenton Academy at the age of fourteen he entered upon commercial life in New York City. At the beginning of the Mexican War he was commissioned as 2d lieutenant in the 10th U. S. Infantry. After the war he was collector of the port of Lamberton, New Jersey, and in 1855 became an officer of the Bordentown Bank. On 4 August, 1861, he was commissioned as lieutenant-colonel of the 5th New Jersey Volunteers, and afterward was made colonel of the 5th Regiment, and received a severe wound in the second battle of Bull Run. He was promoted brigadier-general of volunteers on 7 September, 1862, and again badly wounded at Chancellorsville. On 1 August, 1864, he was brevetted major-general for distinguished services during the war. On 6 April, 1865, he was severely wounded in the fight at Amelia Springs, Virginia After the army was disbanded he commanded for some time a provisional corps. He served on the Wirz Commission, was made a full major-general on 26 May, 1865, and resigned on 20 February, 1866. "When he returned to civil life he was made paymaster of the Camden and Amboy Railroad. On 27 February, 1873, he was appointed major-general commanding the National Guard of New Jersey. On 1 September, 1875, he became treasurer of the state, and in 1876-'81 was keeper of the state prison. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 440-441.
MOTT, Alexander Brown, surgeon, born in New York City, 31 March, 1826, went to Europe with the family in 1836, and received a classical education during their five years' residence abroad. Visiting Europe again in 1842, he travelled for five years and underwent many adventures. Returning to New York City, he studied medicine in his father's office and in the University Medical College, and afterward at the Vermont Academy of Medicine in Castleton, where he was graduated in 1850. He began practice in New York City, and at the same time attended lectures in the New York Medical College, from which he received a diploma in 1851. In 1850 he was appointed surgeon to the New York Dispensary. He also became in 1853 visiting surgeon to St. Vincent's Hospital, which he had assisted in founding in 1849, was attending surgeon in the Jewish Hospital in 1855-'63, and for fourteen years was surgeon to the Charity Hospital. In 1857 he obtained the degree of M. D. from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1859 he was appointed attending surgeon at Bellevue Hospital, and subsequently consulting surgeon to the Bureau of Medical and Surgical Relief to the Outdoor Poor in New York City. In April, 1861, he undertook the organization of the medical corps of the militia regiments that were sent to the seat of war, subsequently acted as medical director in New York, and founded, with the co-operation of patriotic ladies, the U. S. Army General Hospital in New York, of which he was made surgeon in charge, receiving on 7 November, 1862, the commission of surgeon of U. S. volunteers, with the rank of major. Toward the close of 1864 he was made medical inspector of the Department of Virginia, and attached to General Edward O. C. Ord's staff. He was present at the conference between Generals Grant and Lee where the terms of surrender were arranged. He was mustered out of the service on 27 July, 1865, with the brevet rank of colonel. Dr. Mott was one of the founders of Bellevue Medical College, and was professor of surgical anatomy from its opening on 31 March, 1861, till 1872, and since that date has been professor of clinical and operative surgery. Among the important operations performed by Dr. Mott are the ligation of the common and internal carotid, the subclavian, the innominata. the common, internal, and external iliac, and the femoral arteries; resection of the femur; two amputations at the hip-joint: excision of the ulna: removal of the entire jaw for phosphor-necrosis twice; and numerous operations of lithotomy. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 443-444.
MOTT, Thaddeus Phelps, soldier, born in New York City, 7 December, 1831, was educated in the University of New York. In 1848-'9 he served as sub-lieutenant in Italy. In 1850, on account of ill health, he shipped before the mast on the clipper ship " Hornet for California, He was third mate of the clipper " Hurricane " in 1851, second mate of the ship "St. Denis" in 1852, mate of the "St. Nicholas" in 1854, and returned to California in 1855. He served in Mexico under Ignacio Comonfort in 1850-'7. In 1861 he became captain of Mott's battery in the 3d Independent New York Artillery. He was made captain in the 19th U. S. Infantry in 1862, lieutenant-colonel of cavalry in; 1863, and later colonel of the 14th New York Cavalry, and chief of outposts in the Department of the Gulf under General William B. Franklin. He resigned in 1864, and in 1867 was nominated as minister resident to Costa Rica, but declined. He went to Turkey in 1868, and was appointed in 1869 major-general and ferik-pacha in the Egyptian Army. In 1870 he was made first aide-de-camp to the khedive. In 1874, his contract with Egypt having expired, he refused to renew it, and in 1875 went to Turkey, where he remained during the Servian and Russo-Turkish Wars. In 1879 he settled in Toulon, France, on account of his health. In 1868 General Mott was named by the sultan grand officer of the imperial order of the Medjidieh. In 1872 he was made grand officer of the imperial order of the Osmanieh, and in 1878 he was given the war medal of the "Croissant Rouge" nominatif, of which but eighteen had been awarded, the sultan himself being one of the number. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 444.
MOUTON, Jean Jacques Alexandre Alfred, soldier, born in Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, 18 February, 1829; died in Mansfield. DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, 8 April, 1864, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy, 1 July, 1850, but resigned in the following September. Returning to Louisiana, he was assistant engineer of the New Orleans, Opelousas and Great Western Railroad, 1852-'3, and brigadier-general of Louisiana Militia, 1850-'61. At the beginning of the Civil War he recruited a company among the farmers of Lafayette Parish, where he was then residing, and soon afterward accepted the colonelcy of the 18th Louisiana Regiment. He commanded it at the battle of Shiloh, and was severely wounded. He also took part in the expedition that captured Berwick Bay, Louisiana, in 1863, was in the engagement at Bisland on the Teche, and was killed at the battle of Mansfield, Louisiana, where he was in command of a division, when leading his men in an attack. He had been successively promoted brigadier and major-general in the Confederate service. [Son of Alexander Mouton] Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 449.
MOWER, Joseph Anthony, soldier, born in Woodstock, Vermont, 22 August, 1827; died in New Orleans, Louisiana, 6 January, 1870. He received a common-school education and became a carpenter. He enlisted as a private in a company of engineers during the Mexican War, was commissioned 2d lieutenant in the 1st U. S. Infantry, 18 June, 1855, and became captain, 9 September, 1861. He was engaged at the siege and capture of New Madrid, Missouri, and at Corinth. Mississippi, where he was severely wounded, and was for a time a prisoner in the hands of the Confederates. He had been elected colonel of the 11th Missouri Volunteers in May, 1862, and for his gallant defence of Milliken's Bend was promoted brigadier-general of volunteers in November of the same year. He led a brigade in the attack on Vicksburg in May, 1863, was at the head of a division under General Nathaniel P. Banks in Louisiana in April, 1864, and the following August was made major-general of volunteers. He was with General Sherman in the Georgia and Carolina Campaigns, and rose to the command of the 20th Army Corps. He was brevetted major, lieutenant-colonel, colonel, brigadier-general, and major-general in the regular army for gallantry at the battles of Farmington, Iuka, and Jackson, Mississippi. Fort de Russy, Louisiana, and Salkehatchie, Georgia, respectively. He was transferred to the 25th Infantry in 1868, then to the 39th, and at his death commanded the Department of Louisiana, comprising that state and Arkansas. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 450.
MULLANY, James Robert Madison, naval officer, born in New York City, 20 October, 1818; died in Bryn Mawr, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 17 September, 1887. He was a son of Colonel James K. Mullany, quartermaster-general, U. S. Army, and entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman from New Jersey, 7 January, 1832. He was promoted passed midshipman, 23 June, 1838, and lieutenant, 29 February, 1844. He was actively engaged in the Mexican War, and took part in the capture of the city of Tobasco in June, 1847. Prior to the Civil War he saw much service at sea in almost every quarter of the globe. From January till March, 1861, he served on the frigate "Sabine" in the protection of Fort Pickens, and in April and May of that year, in command of the gun-boat " Wyandotte," occupied a position in the harbor of Pensacola, in rear of Fort Pickens, which was then threatened by an attack from the enemy, and he assisted in re-enforcing that fort on 12 April, 1861. He was commissioned commander, 18 October, 1861, and assigned to the steamer "Bienville“ in the North Atlantic and West Gulf Squadrons, where he remained from April, 1862, till May, 1865, except for a short time, including the battle of Mobile Bay, being frequently under the enemy's fire. Having volunteered his services for the battle of Mobile Bay, and the "Bienville " not being considered by Admiral Farragut as fit to engage the forts, he was in the action of 5 August. 1864, in command of the "Oneida." This ship, lashed to the "Galena," was on the side toward Fort Morgan and in the rear of the line of battle, and exposed to a very destructive fire from that fort. Later the "Oneida" was attacked by the ram "Tennessee," which was enabled to rake her. One shot inflicted severe loss on his ship and wounded Commander Mullany in several places, one wound rendering amputation of the left arm necessary. Until this moment he had directed the movements of both ships, and. stationed in a conspicuous place, encouraged his men as well by his example as by his words. After this the engagement, so far as the " Oneida" was concerned, was at an end. From April till September, 1863, he commanded a division of the West Gulf Squadron, and during the course of the war he captured eleven blockade-runners of a great aggregate value, and in addition cut out, with boats, two schooners laden with cotton in the harbor of Galveston, Texas From May, 1865, till May, 1868, he was inspector in charge of ordnance in the Brooklyn U.S. Navy-yard. He was commissioned captain in 1866, was one of the board of visitors to the naval academy in 1868, and commanded the sloop "Richmond" in the European Squadron from December, 1868, till November, 1871. He was commissioned commodore, 15 August, 1870, and was in charge of the Mediterranean Squadron from October, 1870, till November, 1871, and of the Philadelphia U.S. Navy-yard in 1872-'4. After receiving his rear-admiral's commission, 5 June, 1874, he commanded the North Atlantic Squadron till February, 1876, during a part of which time he co-operated efficiently with General William H. Emory and General Philip H. Sheridan, who were successively in command at New Orleans. He was governor of the Naval Asylum, Philadelphia, from 1876 till 1879, when he was retired from active service, and he made, to the close of his life, his home in the last-named city, dying at one of its suburban summer resorts. "No government or people," says one who knew him intimately and well, " ever had a more gallant or faithful public servant; and he was as modest, as genial, as gentle, and as kind as he was faithful and brave." Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 457.
MULLIGAN, James A., soldier, born in Utica, New York, 25 June, 1830; died in Winchester, Virginia, 26 July, 1864. His parents were Irish, and moved to Chicago in 1836. He was the first graduate, in 1850, of the University of St. Mary's of the Lake, and in that year began to study law. He accompanied John Lloyd Stephens on his expedition to Panama in 1851, and, returning to Chicago in the following year, resumed the study of law, and edited a weekly Roman Catholic paper entitled the “Western Tablet." He was soon admitted to the bar, and, after practicing in Chicago, became, in 1857, a clerk in the Department of the Interior in Washington. At the opening of the Civil War he raised the so-called Irish Brigade, which consisted of but one regiment, the 23d Illinois, of which he was made colonel. He conducted the defence of Lexington, Missouri, from July till September, 1861, holding the town for nine days against an overwhelming force under General Sterling Price, was captured on 20 September, exchanged on 25 November, 1861, and returned to Chicago as the hero of Lexington. He reorganized his regiment, and after a short lecturing tour in the eastern states took command of Camp Douglas and participated in several engagements in Virginia. Colonel Mulligan was offered the commission of brigadier-general, which he declined, preferring to remain with his regiment. He was fatally wounded during a charge on the Confederate lines at the battle of Winchester. His men attempted to carry him from the field, but, seeing that the colors of the brigade were endangered, he exclaimed. "Lay me down, and save the flag !" repeating the order when they hesitated. They obeyed, but before their return he was borne away by the enemy, and died in their hands. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 458.
MURPHY, John McLeod, civil engineer, born in Northcastle, Westchester County, New York, 14 February, 1827: died in New York City, 1 June, 1871. He entered the U. S. Navy as midshipman, 18 February, 1841, was promoted passed midshipman, 10 August, 1847, and resigned, 10 May, 1852. He served in the war with Mexico, and in 1851 was detailed as hydrographic assistant on Major John G. Barnard's survey of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. In 1853 he visited Mexico, and in 1855 he was surveyor of the city of New York. He was constructing engineer of the Brooklyn Navy-yard in 1856-'7, and in 1860-'l was a member of the New York State Senate. In the latter year he was commissioned colonel of New York engineers, and took part in the campaigns of the Army of the Potomac until the close of 1862, when he returned to the navy as acting lieutenant and was in command of the "Carondelet" during the Vicksburg Campaign. On 30 July, 1864, he again resigned and resumed his profession as a civil engineer. Lieutenant Murphy was a frequent contributor to the newspaper and periodical press on subjects connected with his specialty. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 466-467.
MURRAY, Alexander, naval officer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1816; died in Washington, D. C., 10 November, 1884, entered the U. S. Navy in 1835, became lieutenant in 1847, commander in 1862, captain in 1866, commodore in 1871, and rear-admiral on the retired list in 1876. He was in service on the east coast of Mexico in 1846-'7, participated in the capture of Alvarado, where he was wounded, and fought at Tampico, Tobasco, Tuspau, and Vera Cruz. He commanded the steamer "Louisiana," of the North Atlantic Squadron, in 1861-'2, defeated the Confederate steamer "Yorktown" off Newport News, fought the battle of Roanoke Island, destroyed the Confederate fleet under Captain William F. Lynch, was in charge of the naval forces at Kingston, North Carolina, and the expedition up York and Pamunkey Rivers, destroying twenty-seven vessels in May, 1862. He was on duty in the North Carolina sounds in 1863, and on special service in 1866-7, was light-house inspector in 1873-6, and after retirement served on the naval board. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 467.
MURRAY, Eli Houston, governor of Utah, born in Breckinridge County, Kentucky, 12 September, 1844. He entered the U. S. Army as a volunteer at seventeen years of age, commanded a brigade in Kentucky in 1862-'3, and in 1865 received the brevet of brigadier-general of volunteers for services during the Civil War. He was appointed U. S. Marshal for Kentucky in 1866, and held office till 1876, when he became manager of the Louisville, Kentucky, 'Commercial." He was appointed governor of Utah by President Hayes in 1880, reappointed by President Arthur in 1884 for a term of four years, but resigned before its completion. Throughout his administration he opposed the encroachments of the Mormon Church and the advance of polygamy. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 467-468.
MURRAY, Robert, surgeon, born in Howard County, Maryland, 6 August, 1822. He was graduated at Jefferson Medical College in 1845, was appointed assistant surgeon in the United States Army in 1846, became captain and assistant surgeon in 1851, major and surgeon in 1860, and received the brevets of lieutenant-colonel and colonel in 1865 for meritorious service during the Civil War. He was assistant medical purveyor and lieutenant-colonel in 1866, colonel and surgeon in 1876, surgeon-general with the rank of brigadier-general in 1883, and was retired in 1886. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 470.
MUSSEY, William Heberdon, surgeon, born in Hanover, New Hampshire, 30 September, 1818; died in Cincinnati, Ohio, 1 August, 1882, studied at Phillips Andover Academy and was graduated at Ohio Medical College in 1848, subsequently studying medicine in Paris. He returned to Cincinnati and made a specialty of general surgery. In 1855 he was surgeon to St. John's Hotel for Invalids, Cincinnati. He served in the Civil War as a surgeon, became medical inspector with the rank of lieutenant-colonel on 14 June, 1862, and resigned on 1 January, 1864. He was appointed surgeon of the Cincinnati Hospital on 15 April, 1864, and also in that year vice-president of the American Medical Association. In 1865 he was given the chair of operative and clinical surgery in Miami Medical College, which post he held until his death. In 1876 he became surgeon-general of Ohio and president of the Cincinnati Natural History Society. He was president of the Cincinnati Board of Education from 1879 till 1880. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp.471-472.
MYER, Albert James, chief signal officer, born in Newburg, New York, 20 September, 1827; died in Buffalo. New York, 24 August, 1880. He was graduated at Hobart College in 1847 and at Buffalo Medical College in 1851. In September, 1854, he entered the U. S. Army as assistant surgeon and was assigned to duty in Texas. While so engaged he devised a system of army signals with flags and torches for day and night, by means of which messages could be sent as fully and accurately as with the electric telegraph, though less rapidly. In 1858-'60 he held command of the Signal Corps and was engaged in perfecting his system. He was commissioned major in 1860 and made chief signal officer of the U. S. Army. His first field-work with the new signal code was in New Mexico, but at the beginning of the Civil War he was ordered to Washington and assigned to duty in the Army of the Potomac. Throughout the Peninsular Campaign he served as chief signal officer to General George B. McClellan, participating in all of the battles from Bull Run to Antietam. He then returned to Washington, where he took charge of the U. S. Signal Office on 8 March, 1863, with the rank of colonel. At this time he introduced the study of military signals at the U. S. Military Academy and was a member of the central board of examination for admission to the U. S. Signal Corps. In December, 1863, he was assigned to reconnaissance on Mississippi River, between Cairo, Illinois, and Memphis, Tennessee, and later he became chief signal officer of the Military Division of West Mississippi under General Edward R. S. Canby, by whom he was commissioned to arrange the terms of surrender of Fort Gaines. He was relieved of his command at this time by the Secretary of War on the ground that his appointment had not been confirmed, and his appointment of chief signal officer was revoked on 21 July, 1864; but he was brevetted brigadier-general on 13 March, 1865. After his removal from the army he settled in Buffalo, and there devoted his time to the preparation of a " Manual of Signals for the U. S. Army and Navy" (New York, 1868). He was reappointed colonel and chief signal officer on 28 July, 1866. An act of Congress, approved 9 February, 1870, authorized provision for taking meteorological observations at the military stations in the interior of the continent and at other points in the states and territories of the United States, and for giving notice on the northern lakes and seaboard by telegraph and signals of the approach and force of storms; and the execution of this duty was confided to General Myer, as he had been interested previously in the subject of storm telegraphy. The preparatory work of organization was prosecuted with energy. Arrangements were made with the telegraph companies for transmitting the observations, and on 1 November, 1870, at 7.35 A. M., the first systematized simultaneous meteorological observations that were taken in the United States were read from the instruments at twenty-four stations and placed on the telegraphic wires for transmission. On the first day of the report weather bulletins were posted at each one of the twenty-four selected stations, and the practical working of the scheme was assured. The work of the weather bureau soon became popular and was rapidly extended. It had increased, at the date of General Myer's death, to more than 300 stations with a force of 500 men. In 1873 General Myer represented the United States at the International Congress of Meteorologists in Vienna. On 1 July, 1875, the Signal Service Bureau began the publication of a daily "International Bulletin," comprising the reports from all co-operating stations, and on 1 July, 1878, this was supplemented by a daily international chart. In 1879 he was a delegate to the Meteorological Congress at Rome. He was promoted brigadier-general on 16 June, 1880, as a special reward by Congress for his services in the line of his profession. General Myer established a system of cautionary day and night signals for the benefit of lake and ocean commerce and navigation, a system of reliable river reports for the benefit of interior commerce, and special series of reports for farmers and planters. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 473-474.
MYERS, William, soldier, born in Reading, Pennsylvania, 4 December, 1830; died in New York City, 11 November, 1887. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1852, and served in various garrisons till the Civil War, when, on 17 May, 1861, he was made assistant quartermaster, with the staff rank of captain. He was chief quartermaster of the Department of the Missouri in 1863-'5, and at the close of the war was given for his services the brevet of brigadier-general of volunteers, and the same in the regular army. After the war he served as chief quartermaster of various departments, becoming lieutenant-colonel in 1881, and on 15 March, 1883, he was retired from active service. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 474.
