Encyclopedia of Civil War Military Biography – R
RADFORD, William, naval officer, born in Fincastle, Botetourt County, Virginia, 1 March, 1808. He was appointed midshipman on 1 March, 1825, and became lieutenant on 9 February, 1837. During the war with Mexico he served on the western coast of that country, and commanded the party that cut out the “Malek Adel,” a Mexican vessel-of-war, at Mazatlan in 1847. He was made commander on 14 September, 1855, assigned to the “Cumberland” in 1861, and became captain on 16 July, 1862, and commodore on 24 April, 1863. He served on court-martial duty at Fort Monroe, and commanded the “New Ironsides” and the iron-clad division of Admiral Porter's Squadron at the two attacks on Fort Fisher in December, 1864, and January, 1865. Admiral Porter wrote: “Commodore Radford has shown ability of a very high order, not only in fighting and manoeuvring his vessel, but in taking care of his division. His vessel did more execution than any other in the fleet, and I had so much confidence in the accuracy of his fire that even when our troops were on the parapet he was directed to clear the traverses of the enemy in advance of them. This he did most effectually, and but for this the victory might not have been ours.” He was appointed rear-admiral on 25 July, 1866, commanded the European Squadron in 1869–70, and was retired on 1 March, 1870. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 158.
RAINS, Gabriel James, soldier, born in Craven County, North Carolina, in June, 1803; died in Aiken, South Carolina 6 September, 1881. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1827, assigned to the infantry, and served in garrison and against hostile Indians till the Mexican War, being promoted captain on 25 December, 1837, and brevetted major, 28 April, 1840, for gallantry in the action with the Seminoles near Fort King, Florida, where he routed a superior force, and was twice severely wounded. One of his injuries was considered mortal, and several obituary notices of him were published. He was one of the first to be engaged in the Mexican War, being one of the defenders of Fort Brown in Mav, 1846. When the demand for the surrender of this post was made by General Ampudia, Captain Rains gave the deciding vote against compliance with it in a council of officers. After the battle of Resaca de la Palma he was ordered to the United States on recruiting duty, and organized a large part of the recruits for General Scott's campaign. He became major on 9 March. 1851, and from 1853 till the Civil War was on the Pacific Coast, where he made a reputation as a successful Indian fighter, and in 1855 was a brigadier-general of Washington Territory Volunteers. He was made lieutenant-colonel on 5 June, 1860, but resigned on 31 July, 1861, and joined the Confederate Army, in which he was commissioned brigadier-general. He led a division at Wilson's Creek, did good service at Shiloh and Perrysville, and after the battle of Seven Pines, where he was wounded, was highly commended by General Daniel H. Hill for a rapid and successful flank movement that turned the tide of battle in favor of the Confederates. He was then placed in charge of the conscript and torpedo bureaus at Richmond, organized the system of torpedoes that protected the harbors of Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, and other places, and invented a sub-terra shell, which was successfully used. At the close of the war General Rains resided for some time at Augusta, Georgia, but he afterward moved to Aiken, South Carolina. His death resulted from the wounds that he had received in Florida in 1840. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 161.
RAINES, George Washington, soldier, born in Craven County, North Carolina, in 1817, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1842, and assigned to the Corps of Engineers, but was transferred to the 4th U.S. Artillery in 1843, and in 1844-6 was assistant professor of chemistry, mineralogy, and geology at West Point. He served with credit during the war with Mexico on the staffs of General Winfield Scott, and General Pillow, and was brevetted captain and major for gallantry at Contreras, Churubusco, and Chapultepec. Afterward he served on garrison and recruiting duty and against the Seminole Indians in 1849-'50, and was promoted captain, 14 February, 1856. On 31 October of that year he resigned and became part proprietor and president of the Washington Iron-works and the Highland iron-works at Newburg, New York. He entered the Confederate Army in 1861, was commissioned colonel, and was at once given the task of building and equipping a powder-mill. This he did under great difficulties, and created at Augusta, Georgia, the Confederate Powder-Works, which were, at the close of the war, among the best in the world. He was promoted brigadier-general before 1865. Since 1867 he has been professor of chemistry and pharmacy in the medical department of the University of Georgia, and he was dean of the faculty till 1884. General Rains has obtained three patents for improvements in steam portable engines. He has published a treatise on "Steam Portable Engines" (Newburg, New York, 1860); "Rudimentary Course of Analytical and Applied Chemistry" (Augusta, Georgia,* 1872); "Chemical Qualitative Analysis" (New York, 1879); a pamphlet " History of the Confederate Powder-Works," which he read before the Confederate survivors' Association (Augusta, 1882), and numerous essays.— Gabriel James's son, Sevier McClelan, soldier, born in 1851, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1876, and killed in the action of Craig's Mountain, Idaho, with hostile Indians, 3 July, 1877. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 161.
RAINS, James Edward, soldier, born in Nashville, Tennessee, 10 April, 1833; died near Murfreesboro', Tennessee, 31 December, 1862. After graduation at Yale in 1854 he studied law, was city attorney of Nashville in 1858, and attorney-general for his judicial district in 1860. He was a Whig, and in 1857 edited the "Daily Republican Banner." In April, 1861, he entered the Confederate Army as a private, was appointed lieutenant-colonel, and made commandant of a garrison of two regiments at Cumberland Gap. In 1862 he was commissioned brigadier-general. While ordering a charge at the battle of Stone River, 31 December, 1862, he received a bullet through his heart. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 161.
RAMSAY, George Douglas, soldier, born in Dumfries, Virginia, 21 February, 1802; died in Washington, D. C, 23 Mav, 1882. His father, a merchant of Alexandria, Virginia, moved to Washington early in the 19th century. The son was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1820, assigned to the artillery, and served on garrison and topographical duty till 25 February, 1835, when he was made captain of ordnance. He then had charge of various arsenals till the Mexican War, when he was engaged at Monterey and brevetted major for gallantry there. He was chief of ordnance of General Taylor's army in 1847-'8, and again commanded arsenals till 1863, when he was a member of the ordnance board. He was made lieutenant-colonel, 3 August, 1861, and was in charge of Washington Arsenal from that time till 1863. On 15 September of that year he was made Chief of Ordnance of the U. S. Army with the rank of brigadier-general, and he was at the head of the Ordnance Bureau in Washington till 12 September, 1864, when he was retired from active service, being over sixty-two years of age. He continued to serve as inspector of arsenals till 1866, then in command of the arsenal at Washington till 1870, and afterward as member of an examining board. He was brevetted major-general. U. S. Army. 13 March, 1865, "for long and faithful services." General Ramsay was an active member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and for many years served as senior warden of St. John's Church, Washington. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 167.
RAMSAY, Francis Munroe, naval officer, born in the District of Columbia, 5 April, 1835, entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman in 1850. He became lieutenant in 1858, lieutenant-commander in 1862, participated in the engagements at Haines's Bluff, Yazoo River, 30 April and 1 May, 1863, in the expedition up the Yazoo River, destroying the Confederate navy-yard and vessels, and in the fight at Liverpool’s' Landing. He commanded a battery of three heavy guns in front of Vicksburg from 19 June till 4 July, 1863, and the 3d Division of the Mississippi Squadron from the latter date till September, 1864. He was in charge of the expedition up Black and Ouachita Rivers in March, 1864, and of that into Atchafalaya River in June of that year, and engaged the enemy at Simmsport. Louisiana. He commanded the gunboat " Unadilla," of the North Atlantic Squadron, in 1864-'5, participated in the attacks on Fort Fisher, for which he was commended in the official report for " skill, conduct, judgment, and bravery," and in the several engagements with Fort Anderson and other forts on Cape Fear River. He became commander in 1866, fleet-captain and chief of staff of the South Atlantic Squadron in 1867-'9, captain in 1877, and was in command of the torpedo station in 1878-'80. He was superintendent of the U. S. Naval Academy from 1881 till 1886. and since 1887 has been in command of the " Boston." He was a member of the Naval examining board in 1886-'7. [Son of George Douglas Ramsay] Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 167.
RAMSEUR, Stephen Dodson, soldier, born in Lincolnton, N. C., 31 May, 1837; died in Winchester, Virginia, 20 October, 1864. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1860, assigned to the 4th U.S. Artillery, and placed on garrison duty at Fortress Monroe. In 1861 he was transferred to Washington, but he resigned on 6 April and entered the Confederate service as captain of the light artillery. Late in 1861 he proceeded to Virginia and was stationed on the south side of the James, and in the spring of 1862 he was ordered to report with his battery to General John B. Magruder. During General McClellan's advance up the Peninsula he had command of the artillery of the right wing with the rank of major. Soon afterward he was promoted colonel, assigned to the 49th North Carolina Infantry, and with this regiment participated in the latter part of the Peninsular Campaign. He received the appointment of brigadier-general on 1 November, 1862, succeeded to the brigade, composed of North Carolina regiments, that was formerly commanded by General George B. Anderson, and was attached to General Thomas J. Jackson's corps, serving with credit at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. Subsequently he served in the Wilderness, and on 1 June, 1864, was given the temporary rank of major-general and assigned a division that had been commanded by General Jubal A. Early. General Ramseur followed the latter commander in the brief campaign in the Shenandoah valley, participated in the battle of Winchester, and was mortally wounded at Cedar Creek while rallying his troops. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 167-168.
RAMSEY, James Gattys McGregor, author, born in Knox County, Tennessee, in 1796; died in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1884. His father, Francis A. Ramsey, (1760–1819), emigrated to the west early in life, and became secretary of the state of “Franklin.” which was subsequently admitted to the Union under the name of Tennessee. The son was liberally educated, and studied medicine, receiving the degree of M. D., but never practised his profession. In early manhood he engaged in banking, and in later days he was elected president of the Bank of Tennessee, at Knoxville. While yet a young man he began the collection of material for a history of Tennessee. The papers of Governor Sevier and Governor Shelby were placed in his hands, and from them and other valuable documents he published the “Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century” (Charleston, South Carolina, 1853). He also founded the first historical Society in the state, and at his death was president of the one at Nashville, which he left in a flourishing condition. When Tennessee seceded from the Union he was appointed financial agent for the southern wing of the Confederacy. He joined the Confederate Army on its retreat from Knoxville, and remained with it till its final dissolution. During the occupation of that city by National troops the house in which his father had lived and he had been born was burned, and all the valuable historical papers it contained were destroyed. In consequence of the war he lost most of his property. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 168.
RANDALL, James Ryder, song-writer, born in Baltimore, Maryland, 1 January, 1839. He was educated at Georgetown College, D. C., but was not graduated, and afterward travelled in South America. When he was a young man he went to Louisiana and edited a newspaper at Point Coupee, and afterward was engaged on the New Orleans " Sunday Delta." His delicate constitution prevented him from entering the Confederate Army, but he wrote much in support of the southern cause. His "Maryland, My Maryland," which was published in Baltimore in April. 1861, was set to music, and became widely popular. It has been called "the Marseillaise of the Confederate cause." Other poems from his pen were " The Sole Sentry," " Arlington," "The Cameo Bracelet," "There's Life in the Old Land Yet," and "The Battle-Cry of the South." After the war he went to Augusta, Georgia, where he became associate editor of " The Constitutionalist," and in 1866 its editor-in-chief. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 170.
RANDOLPH, Alfred Magill, P. E. bishop, born in Winchester, Virginia, 31 August, 1836. He is the fourth child of Robert Lee Randolph, who, after studying law, devoted himself to farming on his inherited estate, Eastern View, Fauquier County, Virginia. After graduation at William and Mary in 1855, the son studied at Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, where he was graduated in 1858. In the autumn of the same year he was appointed rector of St. George's Church, Fredericksburg, Virginia. After the bombardment of the town, in December, 1862, by which the church edifice was much in the congregation dispersed, Dr. Randolph left, and from 1863 until the close of the Civil War served as a chaplain in the Confederate Army, in hospitals, and in the field. He was appointed rector of Christ Church, (Alexandria erected in 1772), in 1865, and in 1867 became pastor of Emmanuel Church, Baltimore, where he remained until he was elected, in 1883, assistant bishop of Virginia. He received the degree of D.D. from William and Mary College in 1875, and that of LL. D. from Washington and Lee University in 1884. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp, 171-172.
RANDOLPH, George Wythe, born at Monticello, 10 March, 1818; died at Edge Hill, near Charlottesville, Virginia, 10 April, 1878, at the death of his grandfather. laced under the rare of Thomas Jefferson, was his brother-in-law, Joseph Coolidge, of Boston, by whom he was sent to school at Cambridge, Massachusetts. At the age of thirteen he received from President Jackson a midshipman's warrant, and he was at sea almost continuously until his nineteenth year, when he entered the University of Virginia. After two years of study he resigned his naval commission, studied law, and gained high rank at the Richmond bar. At the time of the John Brown raid at Harper's Ferry he raised a company of artillery, which continued its organization, and was the main Confederate force against General Butler at the battle of Bethel. He was then given a large command, with the commission of brigadier-general, which he held until he was appointed Secretary of War of the Confederate states. He afterward resigned and reported for service in the field. He was one of the commissioners sent by Virginia to consult President Lincoln, after his election, concerning his intended policy, with the hope of maintaining peace. A pulmonary affection having developed during the war, he ran the blockade to seek health in a warmer region, and remained abroad for several years after the fall of the Confederacy. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 174.
RANKIN, David Nevin, physician, born in Shippensburg, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, 27 October, 1834. After graduation at Jefferson Medical College in 1854, he practised with his father in his native town until beginning of the Civil War, in which he served as acting assistant surgeon, and aided in opening many of the largest U.S. Army Hospitals during the war, among which were the Mansion House Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia, and the Douglas Hospital in Washington, D.C. Afterward he was appointed one of the thirty surgeons in the volunteer aid corps of surgeons of Pennsylvania, which rendered efficient service. In 1864–6 he was medical examiner of the U. S. Pension Bureau, and since 1865 he has been chief physician of the Penitentiary of Western Pennsylvania. Dr. Rankin was a member of the British Medical Association in 1884, a delegate to the 8th and 9th International Medical Congresses, and is a member of various medical societies. He has contributed numerous articles to medical journals. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 180.
RANSOM, George Marcellus, naval officer, born in Springfield, Otsego County, New York, 18 January, 1820. He was educated in the common schools of New York and Ohio, entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman on 25 July, 1839. studied at the naval school in Philadelphia, became a passed midshipman on 2 July, 1845, a master on 28 June, 1853, and a lieutenant on 21 February, 1854. He served on the coast of Africa in 1856-'7, was commissioned lieutenant commander on 16 July, 1862, and, in command of the steam gun-boat "Kineo" of the Western Gulf Blockading Squadron, had several engagements with the enemy in March and April, 1862. He passed the Forts Jackson and St. Philip in Farragut's fleet, engaged the ram " Manassas." and in May, 1862, a field-battery at Grand Gulf. He performed effective service in shelling General John C. Breckinridge's army at Baton Rouge, 5 August, 1862, and engaged a battery and a force of guerillas on 4 October He was promoted commander on 2 January, 1863, and served with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron in command of the steamer "Grand Gulf" in 1864, and captured three steamers off Wilmington. He was commissioned captain on 2 March, 1870, and commodore on 28 March, 1877, and was retired, 18 June, 1882. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 181.
RANSOM, Matt Whitaker, senator, born in Warren County, North Carolina, 8 October, 1826. He was graduated at the University of North Carolina in 1847, and admitted to the bar the same year, and was presidential elector on the Whig ticket in 1852. For the subsequent three years he was state attorney-general, and then, joining the Democratic Party, was a member of the legislature in 1858, and in 1861 one of the three North Carolina commissioners to the Confederate Congress in Montgomery, Alabama. He did his utmost to avert the war, but, on the secession of his state, volunteered as a private in the Confederate service, and was at once appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 1st North Carolina Infantry, with which he marched to the seat of war in Virginia. He was chosen colonel of the 35th North Carolina Infantry in 1862, participated with his regiment in all the important battles of the Army of Northern Virginia, was severely wounded in the seven days' fight around Richmond, and was promoted brigadier general in 1863 and major-general in 1865, out the fall of the Confederacy prevented the receipt of the latter commission. He resumed his profession in 1866, exerted a pacific influence in the politics of his state, was elected to the U. S. Senate as a Democrat in 1872, and has served since by re-election. His present term will end in 1889. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 181.
RANSOM, Robert, soldier, born in North Carolina about 1830. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy, and assigned to the 1st dragoons. He was promoted 1st lieutenant in the 1st U.S. Cavalry, 3 March, 1855, and captain, 31 January, 1861, but resigned, 24 May, 1861, and was appointed captain of cavalry in the Confederate Army in June. He was made colonel of the 9th North Carolina Cavalry soon afterward, became brigadier-general, 6 March, 1862, and major-general, 26 May, 1863. He commanded a brigade and the defences near Kinston, North Carolina, in 1862, and the Department of Richmond from 25 April till 13 June, 1864. He also commanded the sub-District, No. 2. of the department that included South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida in November, 1864. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 181.
RANSOM, Thomas Edward Greenfield, soldier, born in Norwich, Vermont, 29 November, 1834; died near Rome, 29 October, 1864, was educated at Norwich University, learned civil engineering, and in 1851 moved to Illinois, where he engaged in business. He was elected major and then lieutenant-colonel of the 11th Illinois, and was wounded while leading a charge at Charlestown, Missouri, 20 August, 1861. He participated in the capture of Fort Henry, and led his regiment in the assault upon Fort Donelson, where he was again severely wounded, yet would not leave the field till the battle was ended. He was promoted colonel for his bravery and skill. At Shiloh he was in the hottest part of the battle, and, though wounded in the head early in the action, remained with his command through the day. He served as chief of staff to General John A. McClernand and inspector-general of the Army of the Tennessee, and subsequently on the staff of General Grant, and in January, 1863, was made a brigadier-general, his commission dating from 29 November, 1862. He distinguished himself at Vicksburg, and was at the head of a division in the Red River Campaign, taking command of the corps when General McClernand became ill. In the battle of Sabine Cross-Roads he received a wound in the knee, from which he never recovered. He commanded a division, and later the 17th Corps, in the operations about Atlanta, and, though attacked with sickness, directed the movements of his troops in the pursuit of General John B. Hood's army until he sank under the disease. General Ransom was buried in Rose Hill cemetery, Chicago. He was brevetted major-general on 1 September, 1864. Both Grant and Sherman pronounced Ransom to be among the ablest volunteer generals in their commands. A Grand Army of the Republic Post in St. Louis was named in his honor, and a tribute to his memory was delivered at Chicago on Decoration-day, 1886, by General William T. Sherman. See “Sketches of Illinois Officers,” by James Grant Wilson (Chicago, 1862). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 181-182.
RATHBONE, John Finley, manufacturer, born in Albany, New York, 18 October, 1821. He was educated at Albany Academy and the Collegiate Institute at Brockport, New York. In 1845 he built a foundry in Albany that is now one of the largest establishments of the kind in the world. In 1861 he was appointed brigadier-general of the 9th Brigade of the National Guard of New York, and at the beginning of the Civil War he was made commandant of the Albany depot of volunteers. From this depot he sent to the front thirty-five regiments. In 1867 he resigned his office as commander of the 9th Brigade. Under the administration of Governor John A. Dix he was appointed adjutant-general of the state, with the rank of major-general. As a private citizen General Rathbone has been conspicuous for his zeal in promoting works of philanthropy. He is one of the founders of the Albany Orphan Asylum, and for many years has been president of its board of trustees. He is a trustee of the University of Rochester, in connection with which he established, by his contribution of $40,000, the Rathbone library.—His cousin, Henry Reed, soldier, born in Albany, New York, 1 July, 1837, was appointed major of U. S. volunteers on 29 November, 1862, and resigned on 8 July, 1867. He received a wound from the assassin's dirk in the theatre-box with President Lincoln on the evening of his murder.— Henry Reed's brother, Jared Lawrence, soldier, born in Albany, New York, 29 September, 1844, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1865, was assigned to the 12th Infantry, in 1866-'70 was aide to General John M. Schofield, and was transferred to the artillery in 1869. Resigning in 1872, he engaged in stock raising and mining in California. He was appointed U. S. consul-general in Paris on 18 Mav, 1887. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 185.
RAUCH, John Henry, physician, born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, 4 September, 1828. He was graduated in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1849. In the following year he settled in Burlington, Iowa. In 1850, on the organization of the State Medical Society, he was appointed to report on the “Medical and Economic Botany of Iowa,” and this report was afterward published (1851). He was an active member of the Iowa Historical and Geological Institute, and made a collection of material – especially ichthyologic—from the upper Mississippi and Missouri Rivers for Professor Agassiz, a description of which was published in “Silliman's Journal” (1855). In 1857 he was appointed professor of materia medica and medical botany in Rush Medical College, Chicago, which chair he filled for the next three years. In 1859 he was one of the organizers of the Chicago College of Pharmacy and filled its chair of materia medica and medical botany. During the Civil War he served as assistant medical director of the Army of Virginia, and then in Louisiana till 1864. At the close of the war he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel. On his return to Chicago, Dr. Rauch published a paper on “Intramural Interments and their Influence on Health and Epidemics” (Chicago, 1866). He aided in reorganizing the health service of the city, and in 1867 was appointed member of the newly created board of health and sanitary superintendent, which office he filled until 1873. During his incumbency the great fire of 1871 occurred, and the task of organizing and enforcing the sanitary measures for the welfare of 112,000 houseless men, women, and children was suddenly thrown upon his department. In 1876 he was elected president of the American Public Health Association, and delivered the annual address on the “Sanitary Problems of Chicago” at the 1877 meeting of the association. In 1877, when the Illinois State Board of Health was created, Dr. Rauch was appointed one of its members, and elected its first president. He was elected secretary, to which office he has been re-elected annually ever since. In 1878–9 the yellow-fever epidemics in the southwest engaged his attention, resulting in the formation of the Sanitary Council of the Mississippi Valley and the establishment of the river-inspection service of the National Board of Health, inaugurated by Dr. Rauch in 1879. His investigations on the relation of small-pox to foreign immigration are embodied in an address before the National Conference of State Boards of Health at St. Louis, 13 October, 1884, entitled “Practical Recommendations for the Exclusion and Prevention of Asiatic Cholera in North America” (Springfield, 1884). In 1887 he published the preliminary results of his investigations into the character of the water-supplies of Illinois. Dr. Rauch is a member of many scientific bodies and the author of monographs, chiefly in the domain of sanitary science and preventive medicine. His chief work as a writer is embodied in the reports of the Illinois State Board of Health in eight volumes. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 186.
RAUM, Green Berry, commissioner of internal revenue, born in Golconda, Pope County, Illinois, 3 December, 1829. He received a common-school education, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1853. In 1856 he moved with his family to Kansas, and at once affiliated with the Free-state Party. Becoming obnoxious to the pro-slavery faction, he returned the following year to Illinois and settled at Harris£ At the opening of the Civil War he made his first speech as a “war.” Democrat while he was attending court at Metropolis, Illinois. Subsequently he entered the army as major of the 56 Illinois Regiment, and was promoted lieutenant-colonel, colonel, and brevet brigadier-general. He was made brigadier-general of volunteers on 15 February, 1865, which commission he resigned on 6 May. He served under General William S. Rosecrans in the Mississippi Campaign of 1862. At the battle of Corinth he ordered and led the charge that broke the Confederate left and captured a battery. He was with General Grant at Vicksburg, and was wounded at the battle of Missionary Ridge in November, 1863. During the Atlanta Campaign he held the line of communication from Dalton to Acworth and from Kingston to Rome, Georgia. In October, 1864, he re-enforced Resaca, Georgia, and held it against General John B. Hood. In 1866 he obtained a charter for the Cairo and Vincennes Railroad Company, aided in securing its construction, and became its first president. He was then elected to Congress, and served from 4 March, 1867, till 3 March, 1869. In 1876 he was president of the Illinois Republican Convention, and in the same year he was a delegate to the National Convention of that party in Cincinnati. He was appointed commissioner of internal revenue, 2 August, 1876, and retained the office till 31 May, 1883. During this period he collected $850,000,000 and disburse $30,000,000 without loss. He wrote “Reports” of his bureau for seven successive years. He is also the author of “The Existing Conflict between Republican Government and Southern Oligarchy.” (Washington, 1884). He is at present (1888) practising law in Washington, D.C. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 186.
RAVENEL, St. Julien, chemist, born in Charleston, South Carolina, 15 December, 1819; died there, 16 March, 1882. He was educated in Charleston and graduated at the Medical College of the state of South Carolina in 1840. Subsequently he completed his studies in Philadelphia and in Paris, and on his return settled in practice in Charleston, and became demonstrator of anatomy. Dr. Ravenel spent the years 1849-'50 in studying natural history and physiology under Louis Agassiz, also acquiring considerable skill as a microscopist. In 1852 he retired from practice and devoted his attention chiefly to chemistry as applied to agriculture. He visited the marl-bluffs on Cooper River in 1856, and ascertained that this rock could be converted into lime. In consequence, he established with Clement H. Stevens the lime-works at Stoney Landing, which furnished most of the lime that was used in the Confederate states. At the beginning of the Civil War he enlisted as surgeon in the Confederate Army. While in Charleston he designed the torpedo cigar-boat, the "Little David," which was built on Cooper River and did effective service during the investment of Charleston in 1863 by Admiral Du Pont. He was surgeon-in-chief of the Confederate Hospital in Columbia, and was director of the Confederate Laboratory in that city for the preparation of medical supplies. At the close of the war he returned to Charleston, and in 1866 he discovered the value of the phosphate deposits in the vicinity of that city for agricultural purposes. Dr. Ravenel then founded the Wando Phosphate Company for the manufacture of fertilizers, and established lime-works in Woodstock. The last work of his life was the study of means of utilizing the rich lands that are employed for rice-culture along the sea-coast, which would be thrown out of cultivation and rendered useless when the import duty on that article should be removed. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 187.
RAWLE, William Henry, lawyer, born in Philadelphia, 31 August, 1823, was graduated in 1841 at the University of Pennsylvania, from which he received in 1882 the degree of LL. D. He studied law with his father, was admitted to practice in 1844, and has won reputation in his profession. In 1862, upon the "emergency " call, Mr. Rawle enlisted as a private of artillery, and in 1863, under a similar call, he served as quartermaster. He was a vice-provost of the Law Academy from 1865 to 1873, has been vice-chancellor of the Law Association since 1880, and for several years has been the secretary, and afterward a director, of the Library Company. He has published a treatise on the "Law of Covenants for Title" (Philadelphia, 1852): the 3d American edition of John W. Smith's " Law of Contracts," with notes (1853; with additional notes by George Sharswood, 1856); the 2d American edition of Joshua Williams's " Law of Real Property " (1857); "Equity in Pennsylvania," a lecture, to which was appended "The Registrar's Book of Governor William Keith's Court in Chancery" (1868): "Some Contrasts in the Growth of Pennsylvania in English Law" (1881); "Oration at Unveiling of the Monument erected by the Bar of the U. S. to Chief-Justice Marshall " (Washington, 1884); and "The Case of the Educated Unemployed," an address (1885). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p.189.
RAWLE, William Brooke-Rawle, lawyer, born in Philadelphia, 29 August, 1843, is the son of Charles Wallace Brooke by his wife, Elizabeth Tilghman, daughter of the second William Rawle. and has taken for his surname Brooke-Rawle. He was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1863, and immediately afterward entered the army as lieutenant in the 3d Pennsylvania Cavalry. He was promoted captain and brevetted major and lieutenant-colonel, at the close of the war, studied law, and in 1867 was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar. He is secretary of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, treasurer of the Law Association of Philadelphia, and agent for the Penn Estates in Pennsylvania. Colonel Brooke-Rawle has published "The Right Flank at Gettysburg" (Philadelphia, 1878); "With Gregg in the "Gettysburg Campaign" (1884); and "Gregg's Cavalry Fight at Gettysburg," an address delivered at the unveiling of the monument on the site of the cavalry engagement (1884). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 189-190.
RAWLINS, John Aaron, soldier, born in East Galena, Illinois, 13 February, 1831; died in Washington, D. C. 9 September, 1869. He was of Scotch-Irish extraction. His father, James D. Rawlins, moved from Kentucky to Missouri and then to Illinois. John passed his early years on the family farm, and attended the district school in winter. He also assisted at burning charcoal and hauling it to market; but this work became disagreeable to him as he approached manhood, and after reading all the books within his reach, he attended the Mount Morris seminary in Ogle County, Illinois, in 1852-'3. His money having given out, he resumed his occupation of charcoal-burner that he might earn more: but, instead of returning to the seminary, as he had intended, he studied law with Isaac P. Stevens at Galena, and in October, 1854, was admitted to the bar and taken into partnership by his preceptor. In 1855 Mr. Stevens retired, leaving the business to be conducted by Rawlins. In 1857 he was elected attorney for the city of Galena, and in 1860 he was nominated for the electoral college on the Douglas ticket. During the contest that followed he held a series of joint discussions with Allen C. Fuller, the Republican candidate, and added greatly to his reputation as a public speaker. He held closely to the doctrines of Judge Douglas, but was, of course, defeated with his party. His own opinions were strongly opposed to human slavery, and yet he looked upon it as an evil protected within certain limits by the constitution of the United States. His love for the Union was, however, the master sentiment of his soul, and while he had followed his party in all peaceful advocacy of its claims, when the South Carolinians fired upon Fort Sumter, April 12. 1861, he did not hesitate for a moment to declare for coercion by force of arms. He was outspoken for the Union and for the war to maintain it, and at a mass-meeting at Galena on 16 April, 1861, Rawlins was called on to speak; but, instead of deprecating the war. as had been expected, he made a speech of an hour, in which he upheld it with signal ability and eloquence. Among those of the audience that had acted with the Democrats was Captain Ulysses S. Grant. He was deeply impressed by the speech, and thereupon offered his services to the country, and from that time forth was the warm friend of Rawlins. The first act of Grant after he had been assigned to the command of a brigade. 7 August, 1861, was to offer Rawlins the post of aide-de-camp on his staff, and almost immediately afterward, when Grant was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, he offered Rawlins the position of captain and assistant adjutant-general, to date from 30 August. 1861. He joined Grant at Cairo, Illinois, 15 September, 1861. and from that time was constantly with the latter till the end of the war. except from 1 August to 1 October, 1864, when he was absent on sick-leave, he was promoted major, 14 April, 1862, lieutenant-colonel, 1 November, 1862, brigadier-general of volunteers, 11 August, 1863, brevet major-general of volunteers, 24 February, 1865, chief-of-staff to Lieut-General Grant, with the rank of brigadier-general, U. S. Army, 3 March, 1865, and brevet major-general, U. S. Army, 13 March, 1865. Finally he was appointed Secretary of War, 9 March, 1869, which office he held till his death. Before entering the army Rawlins had never seen a company of uniformed soldiers nor read a book on tactics or military organization, but he soon developed rare executive abilities. During Grant's earlier career he was assistant adjutant-general, but as Grant was promoted and his staff became larger, Rawlins became chief of staff. Early after joining Grant, Rawlins acquired great influence with him. He was bold, resolute, and outspoken in counsel, and never hesitated to give his opinion upon matters of importance, whether it was asked or not. His relations with Grant were closer than those of any other man, and so highly did the latter value his sterling qualities and his great abilities that, in a letter to Henry Wilson, chairman of the senate military committee, urging his confirmation as brigadier general, he declared that Rawlins was more nearly indispensable to him than any officer in the army. He was a man of austere habits, severe morals, aggressive temper, and of inflexible will, resolution, and courage. He verified, re-arranged, and re-wrote, when necessary, all the statements of Grant's official reports, adhering as closely as possible to Grant's original drafts, but making them conform to the facts as they were understood at headquarters. While he did not originate the idea of running the batteries at Vicksburg with the gun-boats and transports and marching the army by land below, he was its first and most persistent advocate. His views upon such questions were sound and vigorous, and were always an important factor in General Grant's decisions concerning them. At Chattanooga he became an ardent advocate of the plan of operations devised by General William P. Smith, and adopted by Generals Thomas and Grant, and for the relief of the army at Chattanooga, and for the battle of Missionary Ridge, where his persistence finally secured positive orders from Grant to Thomas directing the advance of the Army of the Cumberland that resulted in carrying the heights. He accompanied Grant to the Army of the Potomac, and, after careful study, threw his influence in favor of the overland Campaign, but throughout the operations that followed he deprecated the repeated and costly assaults on the enemy's intrenched positions, and favored the flanking movements by which Lee was finally driven to the south side of the Potomac. It has been said that he opposed the march to the sea, and appealed to the government, over the head of his chief, to prevent it; but there is no evidence in his papers, nor in those of Lincoln or Stanton, to support this statement. It is doubtless true that he thought the time chosen for the march somewhat premature, and it is well known that he opposed the transfer of Sherman's army by steamer from Savannah to the James River for fear that it would leave the country open for the march of all the southern forces to a junction with Lee in Virginia before Sherman could reach that field of action, and it is suggested that the recollection of these facts has been confused with such as would justify the statement above referred to, but which was not made till several years after his death. He was a devoted and loyal friend to General Grant, and by far too good a disciplinarian to appeal secretly over his head to his superiors. His whole life is a refutation of this story, and when it is remembered that General Grant does not tell it as of his own knowledge, it may well be dismissed from history. Rawlins, as Secretary of War, was the youngest member of the cabinet, as he was the youngest member of Grant's staff when he joined it at Cairo in 1861. He found the administration of the army as fixed by the law somewhat interfered with by an order issued by his predecessor, and this order he at once induced the president to countermand. Prom that time till his death he was a great sufferer from pulmonary consumption, which he had contracted by exposure during the war; but he performed all the duties of his office and exerted a commanding influence in the counsels of the president to the last. A bronze statue has been erected to his memory at Washington. He was married twice. After his death provision was made by a public subscription of $50,000 for his family. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 190-191.
RAYNOLDS, William Franklin, soldier, born in Canton, Ohio, 17 March, 1820. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1843, and entered the army in July, as brevet 2d lieutenant in the 5th Infantry. He served in the war with Mexico in 1847–8, and was in charge of the exploration of Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers in 1859–61. He was chief topographical engineer of the Department of Virginia in 1861, and was appointed colonel and additional aide-de-camp, 31 arch, 1862. Besides serving as chief engineer of the middle department and the 8th, Army Corps from January, 1863, till April, 1864, he was in charge of the defences of Harper's Ferry during the Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania in June, 1863, and was chief engineer of the defences of Baltimore, Maryland, 28 June, 1863. He was superintending engineer of north and northwest lakes, and engineer of light-houses on northern lakes, and in charge of harbor improvements in the entire lake region from 14 April, 1864, till April, 1870. At the end of the Civil War he was brevetted colonel and brigadier-general in the regular army. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel, 7 March, 1867, and colonel, 2 January, 1881. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 195.
REA, John Patterson, soldier, born in Lower Oxford, Chester County, Pennsylvania, 13 October, 1840. He was educated in the public schools, and, after working for some time in a factory, he moved in the autumn of 1860 to Miami County, Ohio. In the spring of 1861 he enlisted as a private in the 11th Ohio Infantry, and in August he joined the 1st Ohio Cavalry. He was commissioned 2d lieutenant soon afterward, promoted 1st lieutenant, 12 March, 1862, captain, 1 April, 1863, and brevet major, 23 November, 1863. He participated in all the campaigns and battles of his regiment, which formed part of Loring's cavalry brigade, Army of the Cumberland, and during his service was never absent from duty except while he was a prisoner for eight days. After leaving the army he entered the Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, where he was graduated in 1867. He afterward returned to Pennsylvania, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1868. In 1869-'73 he was assessor of internal revenue. Moving to Minnesota, he then became editor of the Minneapolis " Tribune," but in May, 1877, he resumed the practice of law, and in November was elected a judge of probate for Hennepin County. He was next elected judge of the 4th Minnesota District, and in November, 1886, was re-elected for the term of six years. He was quartermaster-general of Minnesota from 1883 till 1886. holding the rank of brigadier-general, and in 1887 was chosen commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic at the National Encampment at St. Louis. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 195-196.
READ, Abner, naval officer, born in Urbana, Ohio, 5 April, 1821; died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 12 July, 1863, was educated at the Ohio University, but left in his senior year, having received an appointment as midshipman in the U. S. Navy. After a voyage to South America, he studied for a year at the Naval School in Philadelphia, and was appointed acting sailing-master, in which capacity he gained a reputation as a navigator. He took part in the later naval operations of the Mexican War, and in 1855 was placed on the retired list with the rank of lieutenant, but was afterward reinstated by the examining board. In the early part of the Civil War he performed important services as commander of the " Wyandotte” in saving Fort Pickens from falling into the hands of the Confederates. He was assigned to the command of the "New London" in 1862, and cruised in Mississippi Sound, taking more than thirty prizes, and breaking up the trade between New Orleans and Mobile. He captured a battery at Biloxi, and had several engagements with Confederate steamers. He was commissioned lieutenant-commander on 16 July, and commander on 13 September, 1862. In June, 1863, he was placed in charge of the steam sloop "Monongahela," and, while engaging the batteries above Donaldsonville, received a fatal wound. —Daniel's son, Theodore, soldier, born in Athens, Ohio, 11 April, 1836; died near Farmville, Virginia, 5 April, 1865, was graduated at the Indiana State University in 1854, studied law, was appointed district attorney, afterward held a clerkship in the interior department at Washington, and in 1860 began practising law at Paris, Illinois. At the beginning of the Civil War he enlisted, and served his term of three months in the ranks. He was then given a staff appointment with the rank of captain, 24 October, 1861, received a wound at Chancellorsville, at Gettysburg, and for the third time at Cold Harbor. He was promoted major on 25 July, 1864, and was chief of staff to General Edward O. C. Ord from the time when the latter took command of a corps in the Army of the James. He served in various battles in General Grant's campaign, and on 29 September, 1864, was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers for services in the field. He lost his life in the last encounter between the armies of Generals Grant and Lee. General Ord had directed General Read to burn the bridge at Farmville, in the line of Lee's retreat. The small party was overtaken by the advance of the entire Confederate Army, and surrendered after every officer had been killed, having, however, accomplished its purpose of checking Lee's movement. (See Dearing, James.) Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 196-197.
READ, George Campbell, naval officer, born in Ireland about 1787; died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 22 August, 1862. He came to the United States at an early age, was appointed a midshipman in the U.S. Navy on 22 April, 1804, and advanced to the rank of lieutenant on 25 April, 1810. He was 3d lieutenant on the "Constitution" when the British frigate "Guerriere " was captured, and Captain Isaac Hull assigned to him the honor of receiving the surrender of Captain James R. Dacres, the British commander. He took an active part in other engagements of the war of 1812, and near its close commanded the brig "Chippewa," of the flying squadron commanded by Commodore Oliver H. Perry that was sent out to destroy the enemy's commerce. He was promoted commander on 27 April, 1816, and captain on 3 March, 1825, took charge of the East India Squadron in 1840, and of the squadron on the coast of Africa in 1846, and, after commanding the Mediterranean Squadron for some time, was placed on the reserve list on 13 September, 1855. In 1861 he was appointed governor of the Naval Asylum in Philadelphia, and on 31 July, 1862, by virtue of an act of Congress that had been recently passed, was made a rear-admiral on the retired list. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 197.
READ, John Meredith, jurist, born in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania, 21 July, 1797; died in Philadelphia, 29 November, 1874. was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1812, and admitted to the bar in 1818. He was a member of the Pennsylvania legislature in 1822-3, city solicitor and member of the select, council, in which capacity he drew up the first clear exposition of the finances of Philadelphia, U. S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1837-'44, solicitor-general of the United States, attorney general of Pennsylvania, and chief justice of that state from 1860 until his death. He early became a Democrat, and was one of the founders of the Free-soil wing of that party. This induced opposition to his confirmation by the U. S. Senate when he was nominated in 1845 as judge of the U. S. Supreme Court, and caused him to withdraw his name. He was one of the earliest and staunchest advocates of the annexation of Texas and the building of railroads to the Pacific, and was also a powerful supporter of President Jackson in his war against the U. S. bank. He was leading counsel with Thaddeus Stevens and Judge Joseph J. Lewis in the defence of Castner Hanway for constructive treason, his speech on this occasion giving him a wide reputation. He entered the Republican Party on its formation, and at the beginning of the presidential canvass of 1856 delivered a speech on the " Power of Congress over Slavery in the Territories." which was used throughout that canvass (Philadelphia, 1856). The Republican Party gained its first victory in Pennsylvania in 1858, electing him judge of the supreme court by 30,000 majority. This brought him forward as a candidate for the presidency of the United States in 1860: and Abraham Lincoln's friends were prepared to nominate him for that office, with the former for the vice-presidency, which arrangement was defeated by Simon Cameron in the Pennsylvania Republican Convention in February of that year. He nevertheless received several votes in the Chicago Convention, notwithstanding that all his personal influence was used in favor of Mr. Lincoln. The opinions of Judge Read run through forty-one volumes of reports. His " Views on the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus" (Philadelphia, 1863) were adopted as the basis of the act of 3 March, 1863. which authorized the president of the United States to suspend the habeas corpus act. He refused an injunction to prevent the running of horse-cars on Sunday, since he could not consent to stop "poor men's carriages." Many thousand copies of this opinion (Philadelphia, 1867) were printed. His amendments form an essential part of the constitutions of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and his ideas were formulated in many of the statutes of the United States. Brown gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1860. Judge Read was the author of a great number of published addresses and legal opinions. Among them are " Plan for the Administration of the Girard Trust "(Philadelphia, 1833); 'The Law of Evidence" (1864); and "Jefferson Davis and his Complicity in the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln" (1866).—John Meredith's son, John Meredith, diplomatist, born in Philadelphia, 21 February, 1837, received his education at a military school and at Brown, where he received the degree of A. M. in 1866, was graduated at Albany law school in 1859, studied international law in Europe, was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia, and afterward moved to Albany, New York. He was adjutant-general of New York in 1860-'6, was one of the originators of the "Wide-Awake" political clubs in 1860. He was chairman in April of the same year of the committee of three to draft a bill in behalf of New York state, appropriating $300,000 for the purchase of arms and equipments, and he subsequently received the thanks of the War Department for his ability and zeal in organizing, equipping, and forwarding troops. He was first. U. S. consul-general for France and Algeria in 1869-'73 and 1870-'2, acting consul-general for Germany during the Franco-German war. After the war he was appointed by General de Cissey, minister of war, to form and preside over a commission to examine into the desirability of teaching the English language to the French troops. In November, 1873. he was appointed U. S. minister resident in Greece. One of his first acts was to secure the release of the American ship " Armenia " and to obtain from the Greek government a revocation of the order that prohibited the sale of the Bible in Greece. During the Russo-Turkish war he discovered that only one port in Russia was still open, and he pointed out to Secretary Evarts the advantages that would accrue to the commerce of the United States were a grain-fleet despatched from New York to that port. The event justified his judgment, since the exports of cereals from the United States showed an increase within a year of $73,000,000. While minister to Greece he received the thanks of his government for his effectual protection of American persons and interests in the dangerous crisis of 1878. Soon afterward Congress, from motives of economy, refused the appropriation for the legation at Athens, and General Read, believing that the time was too critical to withdraw the mission, carried it on at his individual expense until his resignation, 23 September, 1879. In 1881, when, owing in part to his efforts, after his resignation, the territory that had been adjudged to Greece had been finally transferred, King George created him a Knight grand cross of the order of the Redeemer, the highest dignity in the gift of the Greek government. General Read was president of the Social Science Congress at Albany, New York, in 1868, and vice-president of the one at Plymouth, England, in 1872. He is the author of an " Historical Enquiry concerning Henry Hudson," which first threw light upon his origin, and the sources of the ideas that guided that navigator (Albany, 1866). and contributions to current literature. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 199.
REALF, Richard (relf), poet, born in Framfield, Sussex, England, 14 June, 1834; died in Oakland, California, 28 October, 1878. At the age of fifteen he began to write verses, and two years later he became amanuensis to a lady in Brighton. A travelling lecturer on phrenology recited some of the boy's poems, as illustrations of ideality, and thereupon several literary people in Brighton sought him out and £ him. Under their patronage a collection of his poems was published, entitled “Guesses at the Beautiful” (London, 1852). Realf spent a year in Leicestershire, studying scientific agriculture, and in 1854 came to the United States. He explored the slums of New York, became a Five-Points missionary, and assisted in establishing there a course of cheap lectures and a self-improvement association. In 1856 he accompanied a party of free-state emigrants to Kansas, where he became a journalist and correspondent of several eastern newspapers. He made the acquaintance of John Brown, accompanied him to Canada, and was to be Secretary of State in the provisional government that Brown projected. The movement being deferred for two years, Realf made a visit to England and a tour in the southern states. When Brown made his attempt at Harper's Ferry in October, 1859, he was in Texas, where he was arrested and sent to Washington, being in imminent danger of lynching on the way. Early in 1862 he enlisted in the 88th Illinois Regiment, with which he served through the war. Some of his best lyrics were written in the field, and were widely circulated. After the war he was commissioned in a colored regiment, and in 1866 was mustered out with the rank of captain and brevet lieutenant-colonel. In 1868 he established a school for freedmen in South Carolina, and a year later was made assessor of internal revenue for Edgefield District. He resigned this office in 1870, returned to the north, and became a journalist and lecturer, residing in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. In 1873 he delivered a £ before the Society of the Army of the Cumberland, and in 1874 wrote one for the Society of the Army of the Potomac. He was a brilliant talker and a fine orator. Among his lectures were “Battle-Flashes” and “The Unwritten Story of the Martyr of Harper's Ferry.” His most admired poems are “My Slain,” “An Old Man's Idyl,” “Indirection,” and the verses that he wrote just before he took the poison that ended his life. He committed suicide in consequence of an unfortunate marriage and an imperfect divorce. He appointed as his literary executor Colonel Richard J. Hinton, who now (1888) has his complete poems ready for publication, together with a biographical sketch. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 202.
REDPATH, James, 1833-1891, author, journalist, editor, abolitionist leader. At the age of 19, he became an editor of the New York Tribune. Redpath interviewed enslaved individuals in the South and reported on conditions of slavery in the region. During his travels, he met with both the slaves and the slaveholders. He carefully observed slave life. He even slept in slave cabins. Redpath published his interviews and observations in his book, The Roving Editor: or, Talks with Slaves. Redpath was hired to be a correspondent of the St. Louis Democrat, writing about the events in the Kansas controversy. Redpath became a friend of militant abolitionist John Brown. He later wrote, The Public Life of John Brown (1859). Redpath visited Haiti in 1859 with the purpose of exploring the possibilities of African American emigration to that country. As a result, numerous African Americans emigrated to Haiti. During this time, Redpath was appointed a Haitian Consul to the United States in Philadelphia.
(Horner, 1926; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 358; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 206; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 443; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 681-682; Annals of Congress; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 18, p. 257; Hinks, Peter P., & John R. McKivigan, Eds., Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition. Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood, 2007, Vol. 2, pp. 567-568)
REDPATH, James, author, born in Berwick-on-Tweed, Scotland, 24 August, 1833. He emigrated with his parents to Michigan. At the age of eighteen years he came to New York, and since then he has mainly devoted himself to journalism. At the age of nineteen he became an editor of the New York “Tribune,” and soon afterward he formed a resolution to visit the southern states in order to witness for himself the conditions and effects of slavery. He not only visited the plantations of slave-owners as a guest, but went on foot through the southern seaboard states. In the course of his long journey he slept frequently in slave-cabins, and visited the religious gatherings and merry-makings where the Negroes consorted. Although at that period it was social outlawry to speak the truth about slavery, he did not hesitate to do so, and he consequently became noted as a fiery Abolitionist. In 1855 he became the Kansas correspondent of the St. Louis “Democrat.” He took an active part in the events of that time, and in 1859 made two visits to Hayti. During the second one he was appointed by President Garfield commissioner of emigration in the United States. Immediately upon his return home, Mr. Redpath founded the Haytian bureau of emigration in Boston and New York, and several thousand Negroes availed themselves of it. In connection with the Haytian bureau Mr. Redpath established a weekly newspaper called “Pine and Palm,” in which were advocated the emigration movement and the general interests of the African race in this country. He was also appointed Haytian consul in Philadelphia and then joint commissioner to the United States, and was largely instrumental in procuring recognition of Haytian independence. He was with the armies of General William T. Sherman and General George H. Thomas during the Civil War, and subsequently with General Quincy A. Gillmore in Charleston. At the latter place he was appointed superintendent of education, organized the school system of South Carolina, and founded the Colored Orphan Asylum at Charleston. In 1868 he established the Boston Lyceum Bureau, and subsequently Redpath's Lecture Bureau. In 1881 he went to Ireland, partly to recruit his health and partly to describe the famine district for the New York “Tribune.” On his return in the following year he made a tour of the United States and Canada, lecturing on Irish subjects, and in the same year founded a newspaper called “Redpath's Weekly,” devoted to the Irish cause. In 1886 he became an editor of the “North American Review.” Besides contributions to the newspapers, magazines, and reviews, he has published “Hand-Book to Kansas” (New York, 1859); “The Roving Editor” (1859); “Echoes of Harper's Ferry” (Boston, 1860); “Southern Notes” (1860); “Guide to Hayti” (1860); “The John Brown Invasion” (1860); “Life of John Brown” (1860); “John Brown, the Hero” (London, 1862); and “Talks about Ireland” (New York, 1881). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 206.
REED, Horatio Blake, soldier, born in Rockaway, Long Island, 22 January. 1837; died in Togus, Kennebec County. Maine, 7 March, 1888. He was educated at Troy Polytechnic Institute, and on 14 May, 1861, was commissioned 2d lieutenant in the 5th U. S. Artillery. He took part in the battles of Bull Run (for which he was brevetted 1st lieutenant), Hanover Court-House, Mechanicsville, Gaines's Mills, Malvern Hill, and Manassas. He was also present at Antietam, where he was severely wounded. He was brevetted captain, 1 July, 1862, for the Peninsular Campaign, and commissioned lieutenant, 19 September, 1863. The following October he was brevetted major for the skilful handling of his guns at Bristol Station, Virginia. The latter appointment was made at the special request of General Gouverneur K. Warren, who declared in his report that Captain Reed had saved the day. From November, 1863, till April, 1864, he was acting assistant adjutant-general of the 1st Brigade of Horse Artillery. In October, 1864, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the 22d New York Cavalry, having already commanded the regiment at the crossing of the Opequan, and in the action at Lacey's Springs. He was promoted colonel in January, 1860, and commanded a cavalry brigade in the valley of Virginia from May till August of that year under General George A. Custer. On 13 March, 1865, he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel in the regular army for meritorious services during the war. On 8 May, 1870, he resigned from the army to become a civil engineer in the employ of a railroad through the Adirondacks, New York, and he subsequently served in the Egyptian Army. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 207.
REESE, Chauncey B., soldier, born in Canastota, New York, 28 December, 1837; died in Mobile, Alabama, 22 September, 1870. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1859, and at the beginning of the Civil War sent to Fort Pickens, Florida, as assistant engineer in defence of that work. He was then transferred to similar duty at Washington, D.C., and became 1st lieutenant of engineers, 6 August, 1861. He rendered valuable service in the Virginia Peninsular Campaign from March till August, 1862, in constructing bridges, roads, and field-works, particularly the bridge, 2,000 feet in length, over the Chickahominy. He became captain of engineers in March, 1863, and was engaged in the Rappahannock Campaign in similar service, constructing a bridge before Fredericksburg, defensive works and bridges at Chancellorsville, and at Franklin's crossing of the Rappahannock, in the face of the enemy. He participated in the battle of Gettysburg, in the siege of Fort Wagner, South Carolina, and was retained in that organization. chief engineer of the Army of the Tennessee during the Atlanta Campaign, the subsequent march to the sea, and that through the Carolinas. In December, 1864, he was brevetted major, lieutenant-colonel, and colonel, “for gallant and distinguished services during the campaign through Georgia and ending in the capture of Savannah.” and in March, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general in the U.S. Army for faithful and meritorious service during the same campaign. He became lieutenant-colonel in June, 1865, was superintending engineer of the construction of Fort Montgomery, New York, and recorder of the Board of Engineers to conduct experiments on the use of iron in permanent defences in 1865-'7. In March of the latter year he became major in the Corps of Engineers. He was then secretary of the Board of Engineers for fortifications and harbor and river obstructions for the defence of the United States. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 212.
REESE, John James, physician, born in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, 16 June, 1818. He was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1837, and at the medical department in 1839, and began practice in his native city. He entered the U.S. Army as surgeon of volunteers in 1861, and was in charge of a hospital in Philadelphia. Dr. Reese has continued to reside in that city, is professor of jurisprudence and toxicology in the University of Pennsylvania, and is a member of foreign and domestic professional societies. He was president of the Philadelphia Medical Jurisprudence Society in 1886–77, and is physician to several city hospitals. He has contributed largely to professional literature, edited the 7th American Edition of Taylor’s “Medical Jurisprudence." and published “American Medical Formulary” (Philadelphia, 1850): “Analysis of Physiology” (1853); “Manual of Toxicology” (1874); and a “Text-Book of Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology” (1884). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 212.
REEVE, Isaac Van Duzen, soldier, born in Butternuts, Otsego County, New York, 29 July, 1813. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1835, became 1st lieutenant in 1838, was engaged in the Florida War in 1836-'7 and in 1840-'2, and served throughout the war with Mexico. He became captain in 1846, and received the brevet of major and lieutenant-colonel for gallant and meritorious service at Contreras, Churubusco, and Molino del Rey. He commanded the expedition against the Pinal Apache Indians in 1858-'9, became major in May, 1861, was made prisoner of war by General David E. Twiggs on 9 May of that year, and was not exchanged till 20 August, 1862. He was chief mustering and disbursing officer in 1862-'3, became lieutenant-colonel in September, 1862. and was in command of the draft rendezvous at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1864-'5. He became colonel of the 13th Infantry in October, 1864, and was brevetted brigadier-general in the U. S. Army, 13 March, 1865, for faithful and meritorious service during the Civil War." In January, 1871, he was retired at his own request. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 213.
REID, Hugh Thompson, soldier, born in Union County, Indiana, 18 October, 1811; died in Keokuk, Iowa, 21 August, 1874. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, and, after graduation at Bloomington College, Indiana, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and moved in 1839 to Fort Madison, Iowa, practising there until 1849, when he moved to Keokuk and practised occasionally. In 1840-'2 he was prosecuting attorney for Lee, Des Moines, Henry, Jefferson, and Van Buren Counties, holding high rank as a land lawyer. He was president for four years of the Des Moines Valley Railroad. He entered the volunteer service as colonel of the 15th Iowa Infantry in 1861, and commanded it at Shiloh, where he was shot through the neck and fell from his horse, but remounted and rode down the lines, encouraging his men. He was in other actions, was appointed brigadier-general on 13 March, 1863, and commanded the posts of Lake Providence, Louisiana, and Cairo, Illinois, until he resigned on 4 April, 1864. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 215.
REID, Sam Chester, lawyer, born in New York City, 21 October, 1818, shipped before the mast at the age of sixteen, in 1838 was attached to the U. S. Survey of Ohio River, and in 1830 settled in Natchez, Mississippi, where he studied law under General John A. Quitman, and was appointed U. S. Deputy Marshal. He was admitted to the bar of Mississippi in 1841, to that of Louisiana in 1844, to the U. S. Supreme Court in 1846. Reid served in the Mexican War in Captain Ben McCulloch's Company of Texas Rangers, being mentioned for " meritorious services and distinguished gallantry," at Monterey. In 1849 he was attached to the "New Orleans Picayune," and in 1851 he was a delegate to the National Railroad Convention in Memphis, Tennessee, to decide upon a line to the Pacific. In 1857 he declined the appointment of U. S. minister to Rome. He reported the proceedings of the Louisiana Secession Convention in 1861, and during the Civil War was the Confederate war correspondent for a large number of southern newspapers. In 1865 he resumed his law-practice, and in 1867 he delivered an " Address on the Restoration of Southern Trade and Commerce " in the principal cities of the south, he established and incorporated in 1874 the Mississippi Valley and Brazil Steamship Company in St. Louis, Missouri he presented the battle-sword of his father to the United States in 1887. Mr. Reid is the author of " The U. S. Bankrupt Law of 1841, with a Synopsis and Notes, and the Leading American and English Decisions " (Natchez, 1842); "The Scouting Expeditions of McCulloch's Texas Rangers " (Philadelphia, 1847); "The Battle of Chickamauga, a Concise History of Events from the Evacuation of Chattanooga" (Mobile, 1863); and “The Daring Raid of General John H. Morgan, in Ohio, his Capture and Wonderful Escape with Captain T. Henry Hines" (Atlanta, 1864): and reported and edited " The Case of the Private-armed Brig-of-War "General Armstrong,' with the Brief of Pacts and Authorities on International Law, and the Arguments of Charles O'Conor, Sam C. Reid, and P. Phillips, before the U. S. Court of Claims at Washington, D. C. with the Decision of the Court" (New York, 1857). He also prepared "The Life and Times of Colonel Aaron Burr in vindication of Burr's character, but the manuscript was destroyed by fire in 1850. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 216-217.
REID, Whitelaw, journalist, born near Xenia, Ohio, 27 October, 1837. He was graduated at Miami University in 1856, took an active interest in journalism and polities before attaining his majority, made speeches in the Fremont Campaign on the Republican side, and soon became editor of the Xenia "News." At the opening of the Civil War he was sent into the field as correspondent of the Cincinnati "Gazette," making his headquarters at Washington, whence his letters on current politics (under the signature of "Agate") attracted much attention by their thorough information and pungent style. From that point he made excursions to the army wherever there was a prospect of active operations. He served as aide-de-camp to General William S. Rosecrans in the western Virginia Campaign of 1861, and was present at the battle of Shiloh and the battle of Gettysburg. He was elected librarian of the House of Representatives in 1863, serving in that capacity three years. He engaged in cotton-planting in Louisiana after the close of the war, and embodied the results of his observations in the south in a book entitled "After the War" (Cincinnati, 1866); then returning to Ohio, he gave two years to writing " Ohio in the War" (2 vols., Cincinnati. 1868). This work is by far the most important of all the state histories of the Civil War. It contains elaborate biographies of most of the chief generals of the army, and a complete history of the state from 1861 till 1865. On the conclusion of this labor he came to New York at the invitation of Horace Greeley, and became an editorial writer upon the " Tribune." On the death of Mr. Greeley in 1872, Mr. Reid succeeded him as editor and principal owner of the paper. In 1878 he was chosen by the legislature of New York to be a regent for life of the university. With this exception, he has declined all public employment. He was offered by President Hayes the post of minister to Germany, and a similar appointment, by President Garfield. He is a director of numerous financial and charitable corporations, and has been for many years president of the Lotos Club. Mr. Reid has travelled extensively in this country and in Europe. Besides the works mentioned above and his contributions to periodical literature, he has published " Schools of Journalism " (New York, 1871); "The Scholar in Politics" (1873): "Some Newspaper Tendencies" (1879); and " Town-Hall Suggestions" (1881). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 217.
REILLY, James W., soldier, born about 1842. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1863, appointed 1st lieutenant of ordnance, and served as assistant ordnance officer at Watertown Arsenal, Massachusetts. from 24 July, 1863, till 24 February, 1864, as inspector of ordnance at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, from March till July, 1864, and as assistant ordnance officer of the Department of the Tennessee from 11 July till 11 November, 1864, being engaged in the battles of Atlanta, 22 and 29 July, 1864. He was chief of ordnance of the Department of the Ohio from 11 November, 1864, till April, 1865, participating in the battles of Franklin, 30 November, 1864, and Nashville, 15-16 December, 1864, after which he was on sick leave of absence. He was made brigadier-general of volunteers on 30 July. 1864, resigning on 20 April, 1865. In May, 1866, he was assistant ordnance officer in the arsenal in Washington, D. C., and he was afterward assistant officer at Watervliet Arsenal, New York. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 218.
RENO, Jesse Lee (re-no ), soldier, born in Wheeling, W. Virginia, 20 June, 1823; died on South Mountain, Maryland, 14 September, 1862. He was appointed a cadet in the U.S. Military Academy from Pennsylvania, where he was graduated in 1846, and at once promoted brevet 2d lieutenant of ordnance. He served in the war with Mexico, taking part in the battles of Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, and Chapultepec, and in the siege of Vera Cruz. He was commissioned 2d lieutenant. 3 March. 1847, brevetted 1st lieutenant, 18 April, for gallant conduct in the first-named engagement, and captain, 13 September. for bravery at Chapultepec, where he commanded a howitzer battery, and was severely wounded. He was assistant professor of mathematics at the Military Academy ' January till July, 1849, secretary of a board to prepare a “system of instruction for heavy Artillery” in 1849–50, assistant to the ordnance board at Washington, Arsenal, D.C, in 1851–3, and on topographical duty in Minnesota in 1853–4. He was chief of ordnance in the Utah Expedition in 1857–'9, and in command of Mount Vernon Arsenal, Alabama, from 1859 until its seizure by the Confederates in January, 1861. On 1 July, 1860, he was promoted captain for fourteen years' continuous service. From 2 February till 6 December, 1861, he was in charge of the arsenal at Leavenworth, Kansas. After being made brigadier-general of volunteers, 12 November, 1861, he was in command of the 2d Brigade during General Ambrose E. Burnside's expedition into North Carolina, being engaged in the capture of Roanoke Island, where he led an attack against Fort Bartow, and the battles of New Berne and Camden. From April till August, 1862, he was in command of a division in the Department of North Carolina, and on 18 July he was commissioned major-general of volunteers. In the campaign in northern Virginia, in the following month, he was at the head of the 9th Army Corps, and took part under General John Pope in the battles of Manassas and Chantilly. Still at the head of the 9th Corps, General Reno was in the advance at the battle of South Mountain, where he was conspicuous for his gallantry and activity during the entire day. Early in the evening he was killed while leading an assault. REN0, Marcus A., soldier, born in Illinois about 1835. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1857, and assigned to the dragoons. After serving on the western frontier and being made 2d and 1st lieutenant, he was commissioned captain in the 1st U.S. Cavalry, 12 November 1861. Subsequently he took part, among other engagements, in the battles of Williamsburg, Gaines's Mills, Malvern Hill, Antietam, and the action at Kelly's Ford, Virginia, 17 March, 1863, where he was wounded, and was brevetted major for gallant and meritorious conduct. He was also present at Cold Harbor and Trevillian Station, and at Cedar Creek on 19 October 1864, when he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel. From January till July, 1865, as colonel of the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry, he was in command of a brigade and encountered Mosby's guerillas at Harmony, Virginia. On 13 March, 1865, he was brevetted colonel in the regular army and brigadier-general of volunteers for meritorious services during the Civil War. After serving as assistant instructor of infantry tactics in the U.S. Military Academy, and in the Freedmen's Bureau at New Orleans, he was assigned to duty in the west. On 26 December, 1868, he was promoted major of the 7th U.S. Cavalry, and in 1876 he was engaged with the lieutenant-colonel of the regiment, General George A. Custer (q.v.), in the expedition against the hostile Sioux Indians. Owing to official censure of his conduct in that campaign, he was dismissed the service, 1 April, 1880. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 221-222
RENSHAW, William Bainbridge, naval officer, born in Brooklyn, New York, 11 October, 1816; died near Galveston, Texas, 1 January, 1863. He was appointed a midshipman on 22 December, 1831, passed the examination for advancement in 1837, and was promoted lieutenant on 8 September, 1841, and commander on 26 April, 1861. He was assigned the steamer “Westfield,” of Admiral David G. Farragut's squadron, and was by him placed in command of the gunboats blockading Galveston, which place he captured on 10 October, 1862. The city and island were held as a landing-place for future operations by the gun-boats alone, until in the latter part of December, 1862, a detachment of troops arrived. Before others could follow, the Confederate General John B. Magruder attacked and captured the town. As the action began, the “Westfield,” in taking position, ran aground on a sand-bank. After the defeat, Commander Renshaw determined to transfer his crew to another of the gun-boats and blow up his own vessel, on which there was a large supply of powder. After his men had been placed in boats, he remained behind to light the fuse, but a drunken man is supposed to have ignited the match prematurely, and in the explosion the commander was killed together with the boat's crew that was waiting for him alongside. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 222.
REVERE, Joseph Warren, soldier, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 17 May, 1812; died in Hoboken, New Jersey, 20 April, 1880. He was made a midshipman in the U. S. Navy, 1 April, 1828, became a passed midshipman on 4 June, 1834, and lieutenant on 25 February, 1841. Revere took part in the Mexican War, and resigned from the navy on 20 September, 1850. He then entered the Mexican service. For saving the lives of several Spaniards he was knighted by Queen Isabella of Spain. He was made colonel of the 7th Regiment of New Jersey Volunteers on 31 August, 1861, and promoted brigadier-general of U. S. volunteers on 2 October. 1862. He led a brigade at Fredericksburg, was then transferred to the command of the Excelsior Brigade in the 2d Division, fought with it at Chancellorsville, and after the engagement fell under the censure of his superior officer. In May, 1863, he was tried by court-martial, and dismissed from the military service of the United States. He defended his conduct with great earnestness, and on 10 September, 1864. his dismissal from the army was revoked by President Lincoln, and his resignation was accepted. His "Keel and Saddle" (Boston, 1872) relates many of his personal adventures. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 225.
REVERE, Edward Hutchinson Robbins, physician, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 23 July, 1827; died near Sharpsburg, Maryland, 17 September, 1862, entered Harvard, but left in 1846, pursued the course in the medical school, and received his diploma in 1849. He practised in Boston, and on 14 September, 1861, was appointed assistant surgeon of the 20th Massachusetts Volunteers. At Ball's Bluff, he was captured by the enemy's cavalry, and was kept as a prisoner at Leesburg, and afterward at Richmond, Virginia, until 22 February, 1862, when he was released on parole. He was exchanged in April, 1862, and served with his regiment through the Peninsular Campaign and General John Pope's Campaign on the Rappahannock, was present at Chantilly, and was killed at the battle of Antietam. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 225.
REVERE, Paul Joseph, soldier, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 10 September, 1832; died in Westminster, Maryland, 4 July, 1863, was graduated at Harvard in 1852, and at the beginning of the Civil War entered the National Army as major of the 20th Massachusetts Volunteers. At Ball's Bluff he was wounded in the leg and taken prisoner, and he was confined in Libby Prison until he and six other officers were selected as hostages to answer with their lives for the safety of Confederate privateersmen who had been convicted of piracy in the U. S. Court. They were transferred to the Henrico County prison, and confined for three months in a felon's cell. Major Revere was paroled on 22 February, 1862, and in the beginning of the following May was exchanged. He was engaged in the Peninsular Campaign until he was taken sick in July. On 4 September, 1862, he was made a lieutenant-colonel, and served as assistant inspector-general on the staff of General Edwin V. Sumner. At Antietam, where he displayed great gallantry, he received a wound that compelled him to retire to his home. On his recovery he was appointed colonel of his old regiment, 14 April, 1863, and returned to the field in May. He was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers for bravery at Gettysburg, where he received a fatal wound in the second day's battle. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 225.
REYNOLDS, Alexander W., soldier, born in Clarke County, Virginia, in August, 1817; died in Alexandria, Egypt. 20 May, 1870. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1838. Reynolds served in the Florida War, became 1st lieutenant in 1839, became captain in 1848, and was dismissed in 1855. He was reappointed, with his former rank, in 1857, but joined the Confederate Army in 1861, and was made captain of infantry. He became colonel of the 50th Regiment of Virginia Infantry in July of the same year, and brigadier-general, 14 September, 1863, his brigade being composed of North Carolina and Virginia troops. He went to Egypt after the Civil War, received the appointment of brigadier-general in the Khedives Army in 1866, and served in the Abyssinian War, but subsequently resigned, and resided in Cairo, Egypt. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 226.
REYNOLDS, Daniel H., soldier, born near Centreburg, Knox County, Ohio, 24 December, 1862. He was educated at Ohio Wesleyan University, settled in Someryille, Fayette County, Tennessee, in 1857, studied law, and was admitted to practice in 1858. He moved to Arkansas in May, 1858, settling at Lake Village, Chicot County. On 25 May, 1861, he was elected captain of a company for service in the Confederate Army, and he served in the campaigns in Arkansas and Missouri until April, 1862, when his regiment was ordered to the eastern side of Mississippi River, and fell back to Tupelo, Mississippi. He was promoted brigadier-general, 5 March. 1864. General Reynolds participated in many of the battles of the western Confederate Armies from Oak Hills, Missouri, to Nashville, Tennessee. He was several times wounded, and lost a leg. He was state senator in Arkansas in 1866-'7. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 226.
REYNOLDS, Elmer Robert, ethnologist, born in Dansville, Livingston County, New York, 30 July, 1846. He emigrated with his parents to Wisconsin in 1848, and was educated in the public schools and at the medical school of Columbian University, Washington, D. C. He served in the 10th Wisconsin Battery in 1861-'5, participated in the battles of Corinth, Stone River, Knoxville, Resaca, Jonesboro, Atlanta, Bentonville, and numerous minor engagements, and at the end of the Civil War entered the U. S. Navy as school-teacher, serving in the Mediterranean Fleet in 1867, and in the West Indies and Yucatan in 1868. Since 1877 he has been in the U. S. civil service. His last twenty years have been devoted to the exploration of aboriginal remains in the valleys of the Potomac, Piscataway, Wicomico, Patuxent, Choptank, and Shenandoah Rivers, his researches embracing their mortuary mounds, shell banks, copper and soapstone mines, cemeteries, burial-caves, and ancient camps and earthworks. He was a founder of the Anthropological Society of Washington, D. C, and its secretary in 1879-81, received a silver medal from Don Carlos, crown prince of Portugal, in 1886, in recognition of his scientific researches, was knighted by King Humbert of Italy, in 1887, " for distinguished scientific attainments," and is a member of numerous scientific societies. His publications include "Aboriginal Soapstone Quarries in the District of Columbia" (Cambridge, 1878); "The Cemeteries of the Piscataway Indians at Kittamaquindi, Maryland" (Washington, D. C, 1880); "A Scientific Visit to the Caverns of Luray, and the Endless Caverns in the Massanutton Mountains" (1881); "Memoir on the Pre-Columbian Shell-Mounds at Newburg, Maryland,. and the Aboriginal Shell-Fields of the Potomac and Wicomico Rivers" (Copenhagen, General Denmark, 1884); "The Shell-Mounds, Antiquities, and Domestic Arts of the Choptank Indians of Maryland" (1880); and " Memoir on the Pre-Columbian Ossuaries at Cambridge and Hambrook Bay, Maryland" (Lisbon, Portugal, 1887). He has also a large amount of similar material in manuscript. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 226.
REYNOLDS, Joseph Jones, soldier, born in Flemingsburg, Kentucky, 4 January, 1822. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1843, served in the military occupation of Texas in 1845-'6, became 1st lieutenant in 1847, and was principal assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy in the U. S. Military Academy from 1849 until his resignation from the army in 1856. He was then professor of mechanics and engineering in Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, till 1860, returned to the army as colonel of the 10th Indiana Volunteers in April, 1861, became brigadier-general of volunteers the next month, and was engaged in various skirmishes and in the action at Green Brier River, 3 October, 1861. He resigned in January, 1862, served without a commission in organizing Indiana Volunteers, became colonel of the 75th Indiana Regiment, 27 August. 1862, and brigadier-general, 17 September of that year. He was in the campaign of the Army of the Cumberland in 1862-'3, became major-general of volunteers in November, 1862, and was engaged at Hoover's Gap, 24 June, 1863, and Chickamauga, 19-20 September, 1863. He was chief of staff of the Army of the Cumberland from 10 October to 5 December of that year, and participated in the battle of Chattanooga. He commanded the defences of New Orleans, Louisiana, from January till June, 1864, commanded the 19th Army Corps, and organized forces for the capture of Mobile. Fort Gaines, and Fort Morgan in June and August. He was in charge of the Department of Arkansas from November, 1864, till April, 1866, mustered out of volunteer service, 1 September, 1866, and reappointed in the U. S. Army as colonel of the 26th U.S. Infantry, 28 July, 1866. He received the brevet of brigadier-general, U. S. Army, 2 March, 1867, for gallant and meritorious service at the battle of Chickamauga, and that of major-general, U. S. Army, at the same date for Mission Ridge. During the reconstruction period, in 1867-'72, he was in command of the 5th Military District, comprising Louisiana and Texas, was elected U. S. Senator from the latter state in 1871, but declined, commanded the Department of the Platte in 1872-6, and in June, 1877, he was retired. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 227.
REYNOLDS, Joseph Smith, soldier, born in New Lenox, Illinois, 3 December 1839. He went to Chicago in 1856, was graduated at its high-school in July, 1861. and in August of that year enlisted in the 64th Illinois Regiment. He was commissioned 2d lieutenant on 31 December, and was in active service three years and ten months. He took part in seventeen battles, was wounded three times, and for "gallant and meritorious service " was promoted to a captaincy, subsequently to colonel. On 11 July, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers. He then began the study of law, was graduated at the law department of Chicago University in 1865, admitted to the bar, and has since practised his profession in Chicago. General Reynolds has been elected as representative and senator to the Illinois Legislature, was a commissioner from Illinois to the Universal Exposition at Vienna in 1873, and has held other offices. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 227.
REYNOLDS. William, naval officer, born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 18 December, 1815; died in Washington, D. C, 5 November, 1879. He was appointed midshipman in the U. S. Navy in 1831, served on Captain Charles Wilkes's Exploring Expedition in 1838-'42, was commissioned lieutenant in 1841, and was placed on the retired list in consequence of failing health in 1851. He was then assigned to duty in the Sandwich Islands, where he was instrumental in effecting the Hawaiian Treaty of Reciprocity. He returned to active service in 1861, was made commander in 1862, with the charge of the naval forces at Port Royal, became captain in 1866, senior officer of the ordnance board in 1869-'70, and commodore in the latter year. He served as Chief of Bureau and acting Secretary of the Navy in 1873 and again in 1874, became rear-admiral in December, 1873, and in December, 1877, was retired on account of continued illness. His last service was in command of the U. S. naval forces on the Asiatic Station. Of Admiral Reynolds's services the Secretary of the Navy, Richard W. Thompson, in the order that announced his death, said: "In the administration of the duties committed to him, he did much to improve the personnel and efficiency of the enlisted men of the navy, and in the discharge of all the duties devolving on him, during a long career in the service, he exhibited zeal, intelligence, and ability, for all of which he was conspicuous." See " Reynolds Memorial Address," by Joseph G. Rosengarten (Philadelphia. 1880). brother, Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 227-228.
REYNOLDS, John Fulton, soldier, born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 20 September, 1820; died near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 1 July, 1863, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1841, became 1st lieutenant in 1846, received the brevet of captain in June of that year for his service at Monterey, and was given that of major for Buena Vista in January, 1847. He became captain in 1855, was mentioned in general orders for his services in the expedition against the Rogue River Indians in Oregon, took part in the Utah Expedition under General Albert Sidney Johnston in 1858, and in 1859 became Commandant of Cadets at the U. S. Military Academy. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 14th Infantry in May, 1861, and on 20 August brigadier-general of U. S. volunteers, and was assigned to the command of the 1st Brigade of Pennsylvania Reserves. He was appointed military governor of Fredericksburg, Virginia, in May, 1862, and was engaged at the battles of Mechanicsville, Gaines's Mills, and Glendale, where he was taken prisoner. So great was his popularity in Fredericksburg that the municipal authorities went to Richmond and solicited his exchange. During his captivity he prepared a careful report of the operations of his command under General George B. McClellan. He rejoined the army on his exchange, 8 August, 1862, second battle of Bull Run. At a critical time in that battle, when his brigade, unable to hold the enemy in check, fell back in confusion, observing that the flag-staff of the 2d Regiment had been broken by a bullet, he seized the flag from the color-bearer and, dashing to the right, rode twice up and down the line, waving it and cheering his men. The troops rallied, and General George H. Gordon, in his " Army of Virginia," says: "Reynolds's division, like a rock, withstood the advance of the victorious enemy, and saved the Union Army from rout." He was assigned to the command of the state militia in defence of Pennsylvania during the Maryland Campaign, and on 29 September. 1862, received the thanks of the legislature for his services. He was commissioned major-general of volunteers, 29 November, 1862, succeeded General Joseph Hooker in command of the 1st Corps of the Army of the Potomac, was engaged on the left at the battle of Fredericksburg, and was promoted colonel of the 5th U. S. Infantry, 1 June, 1863. On the opening day of the battle of Gettysburg, 1 July, 1863. where he was in command of the left wing— the 1st, the 3d, and the 11th Corps, and Buford's cavalry division—he encountered the van of Lee's Army, and, after making disposition of his men in person, and urging them on to a successful charge, he was struck by a rifle-ball that caused instant death. A sword of honor was awarded him by the enlisted men of the Pennsylvania reserves at the close of the Peninsula Campaign. The men of the 1st Corps erected a bronze heroic statue of him, by John Q. A. Ward, on the field of Gettysburg, and subsequently placed his portrait, by Alexander Laurie, in the library of the U. S. Military Academy, and the state of Pennsylvania placed a granite shaft on the spot where he fell at Gettysburg. On 18 September, 1884, the Reynolds memorial Association unveiled in Philadelphia a bronze equestrian statue of General Reynolds, by John Rogers, the gift of Joseph E. Temple. See "Reynolds Memorial Address," by Joseph Q. Rosengarten (Philadelphia, 1880), and "The Unveiling of the Statue of General John F. Reynolds, by the Reynolds Memorial Association" (1884). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 228.
RHETT, Thomas Grimké, soldier, born in South Carolina about 1825; died in Baltimore, Maryland, 28 July, 1878. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1845, assigned to the Ordnance Corps, and served at Washington Arsenal till 1846, when he was transferred to the mounted rifles and ordered to Mexico. He was brevetted captain, 12 October, 1847, for gallantry in the defence of Puebla, and after the war was on frontier duty, becoming captain in 1853, and paymaster, with the rank of major, 7 April, 1858. He resigned on 1 April, 1861, and reported to the provisional Confederate government at but, not receiving the recognition to which he thought himself entitled, returned to his native state, and was commissioned major-general by Governor Francis W. Pickens. He was chief of staff to General Joseph E. Johnston till June, 1862, when he was ordered to the Trans-Mississippi Department. After the war General Rhett was colonel of ordnance in the Egyptian Army from 1870 till 1873, when he had a paralytic stroke, and resigned. He remained abroad till 1876, but found no relief from his malady. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 230.
RHIND, Alexander Colden, naval officer, born in New York City, 31 October, 1821. He entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman, from Alabama, 3 September, 1838, became passed midshipman, 2 July 1845; master, 21 February, 1853; and lieutenant, 17 March, 1854. He served in the “John Adams,” of the Pacific Squadron, in 1855–6, and in the “Constellation,” on the coast of Africa, in 1859–61. At the beginning of the Civil War he commanded the steamer “Crusader,” on the South Atlantic Blockade, and participated in a series of operations in Edisto Sound, South Carolina, for which he received the thanks of the Navy Department in 1861–2. He was commissioned lieutenant-commander on 16 July, 1862, and had charge of the “Seneca" in 1862, and the monitor “Keokuk” in 1862-63. On 7 April, 1863, he took the “Keokuk" within 550 yards of Fort Sumpter, becoming the special target of all the forts. His vessel was hit ninety times and nineteen shot penetrated at or below the water-line. She withdrew from action sinking, but Rhind kept the ship afloat till next morning, when she sank, but the crew were saved. He was commissioned commander, 2 January, 1863, continued on duty off Charleston, commanding the steamer “Paul Jones” and the flag-ship “Wabash,” and participated in engagements with Fort Wagner and other forts in 1863–74. In the attack, 18 July, 1863, he commanded the division of gunboats. He was given the gun-boat “Agawam," of the North Atlantic Squadron, in 1864–’5, was in James River from May till October, 1864, co-operating with Grant's army, and bombarded forts and batteries, especially Howlett's, for which he received the thanks of the Navy Department. In the attack on Fort Fisher he was selected to command the “Louisiana” with a volunteer crew from his vessel. She was loaded with 215 tons of gunpowder and bombs, fitted with fuses set to explode by clockwork, and towed to within 200 yards of the beach and 400 yards from the fort. The perilous undertaking, suggested by General Benjamin F. Butler, was successful, but did not injure the fort. Commander Rhind was recommended for promotion, was commissioned captain, 2 March, 1870, commanded the “Congress,” on the European station, in 1872, was light-house inspector in 1876–’8, and was commissioned commodore, 30 September, 1876. He was on special duty and president of the Board of Inspection from 1880 till 1882, became a rear-admiral on 30 October, 1883, and on the following day was placed on the retired list. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 230.
RICE, Americus Vespucius, soldier, born in Perrysville, Ohio, 18 November, 1835. He was graduated at Union College in 1860, and began the study of law. On 12 April, 1861, he enlisted in the National Army, soon afterward was appointed a lieutenant, and then a captain in the 22d Ohio Volunteers, and served in West Virginia. When his term of enlistment expired in August, 1861, he assisted in recruiting the 57th Ohio Infantry, returned to the field as captain of a company, and became lieutenant-colonel, and afterward colonel, of the regiment. He fought in General William T. Sherman's campaigns, in General William B. Hazen's division, was wounded several times, and during the march to the sea lost his right leg. The people of his district gave him a majority of votes as the Democratic candidate for Congress in 1864, but he was defeated by the soldiers vote. He was promoted brigadier-general on 31 May, 1865, and mustered out on 15 January, 1866. In 1868 he became manager of a private banking business in Ottawa, Ohio. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Baltimore in 1872, and was elected in 1874 to Congress, and re-elected in 1876. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 233.
RICE, Benjamin Franklin, U.S. Senator, born in East Otto, Cattaraugus County, New York, 26 May, 1828. After obtaining his education in an academy, he taught for several winters, studied law, and was admitted to the bar at Irvine, Kentucky. He was a presidential elector in 1856, and was elected to the Kentucky Legislature in 1865. Mr. Rice moved to Minnesota in 1860, enlisted in the National Army in 1861, was appointed a captain in the 3d Minnesota Infantry, and served in that grade till 1864, when he resigned and established himself in the practice of law at Little Rock, Arkansas. He was the organizer of the Republican Party in Arkansas in 1867, was chairman of its central committee, managed the electoral canvass during the predominance of his party, and was elected to the U. S. Senate, serving from 3 June, 1868, till 3 March, 1873. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 233.
RICE, James Clay, soldier, born in Worthington, Massachusetts, 27 December, 1829; died near Spottsylvania Court House, Virginia, 11 May, 1864. He obtained an education by his own efforts, and, after graduation at Yale in 1854, engaged in teaching at Natchez, Mississippi, and conducted the literary department of a newspaper. He also began the study of law, and continued it in New York City, where he was admitted to the bar in 1856 and entered into practice. When the Civil War began he enlisted as a private, became adjutant and captain, and, on the organization of the 44th New York Regiment, was appointed its lieutenant-colonel. He became colonel of the regiment soon afterward, and led it in the battles of Yorktown, Hanover Court-House, Gaines's Mills, Malvern Hill, Manassas, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville, and at Gettysburg commanded a brigade, and (luring the second day's fight performed an important service by holding the extreme left of the line against repeated attacks and securing Round Top mountain against a flank movement. For this he was commissioned as brigadier-general of volunteers, 17 August, 1863. He participated in the advance on Mine Run and in the operations in the Wilderness, and was killed in the battle near Spottsylvania. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 235
RICE, Samuel Allen, soldier, born in Penn Yan, New York, 27 January, 1828; died in Oskaloosa, Iowa, 6 July, 1864. He was educated at Ohio University and at Union College, where he was graduated in 1849. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1852, and began practice at Oskaloosa, Iowa, where he was elected county attorney in 1853. In 1856 he was chosen attorney-general of Iowa, and in 1858 he was continued in that office for a second term. He entered the National Army as colonel of the 33d Iowa volunteers, his commission dating from 10 August, 1862, promoted brigadier-general of volunteers. For bravery at Helena, Arkansas, he August, 1863, and served with credit through the campaigns of 1863–4 in Arkansas until he was mortally wounded at Jenkin's Ferry, 30 April, 1864. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 236.
RICE, Elliott Warren, soldier, born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 16 November, 1835; died in Sioux City, Iowa, 22 June, 1887, was educated at Ohio University and Union law-school, admitted to the bar, and practised in Oskaloosa, Iowa. At the beginning of the Civil War he entered the National Army as a private, and first met the enemy at Belmont, Missouri, 7 November, 1861. He rose to the rank of brigadier-general, his commission dating from 20 June, 1864, fought with distinction in the important battles of the southwest, and in General William T. Sherman's campaign in Georgia and the Carolinas a brigade in General John M. Corse's division. He was brevetted major-general on 13 March, 1865, and mustered out on 24 August.[Brother of General Samuel Allen Rice]. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 236.
RICHARDSON, Albert Deane, journalist, born in Franklin, Massachusetts, 6 October, 1833; died in New York City, 2 December, 1869. He was educated at the district school of his native village and at Holliston Academy. At eighteen years of age he went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he formed a newspaper connection, wrote a farce for Barney Williams, and appeared a few times on the stage. In 1857 he went to Kansas, taking an active part in the political struggle of the territory, attending anti-slavery meetings, making speeches, and corresponding about the issues of the hour with the Boston “Journal.” He was also secretary of the territorial legislature. Two years later he went to Pike's Peak, the gold fever being then at its height, in company with Horace Greeley, between whom and Richardson a lasting friendship was formed. In the autumn of 1859 he made a journey through the southwestern territories, and sent accounts of his wanderings to eastern journals. During the winter that preceded the Civil War he volunteered to go through the south as secret correspondent of the “Tribune,” and returned, after many narrow escapes, just before the firing on Sumter. He next entered the field as war correspondent, and for two years alternated between Virginia and the southwest, being present at many battles. took, in company with Junius Henri Browne, a fellow-correspondent of the “Tribune,” and Richard T. Colburn, of the New York “World,” to run the batteries of Vicksburg on two barges, which were lashed to a steam-tug. After they had been On the night of 3 May, 1863, he under fire for more than half an hour, a large shell struck the tug, and, bursting in the furnace, threw the coals on the barges and set them on fire. Out of 34 men, 18 were killed or wounded and 16 were captured, the correspondents among them. The Confederate government would neither release nor exchange the “Tribune” men, who, after spending eighteen months in seven southern prisons, escaped from Salisbury, North Carolina, in the dead of winter, and, walking 400 miles, arrived within the National lines at Strawberry Plains, Tennessee, several months before the close of the war. They had had charge of the hospitals at Salisbury, where a dreadful mortality prevailed, and brought with them a complete list, so far as procurable, of the deaths there, which they printed in the “Tribune,” furnishing the only information that kindred and friends in the north had of their fate. Richardson's death was the result of a pistol-shot fired by Daniel McFarland in the “Tribune” office on 26 November, 1869. McFarland had lived unhappily with his wife, who had obtained a divorce and was engaged to marry Mr. Richardson. A few days before his death they were married, the ceremony being performed by the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher. Richardson's first wife had died while he was in prison. The last four years of his life were passed in lecturing, travel, and writing. He published “The Field, the Dungeon, and the Escape” (Hartford, 1865); “Beyond the Mississippi.” (1866); and “A Personal History of Ulysses S. Grant” (1868), all of which sold largely. A collection of his miscellaneous writings, with a memoir by his widow, Abby Sage Richardson, was printed under the title “Garnered Sheaves” (1871). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 240-241.
RICHARDSON, Israel Bush, soldier, born in Fairfax, Vermont, 26 December, 1815; died in Sharpsburg, Maryland, 3 November, 1862. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1841, entered the 3d U.S. Infantry, and served through the Florida War. He became 1st lieutenant in 1846, participated in the principal battles of the Mexican War, and received the brevets of captain and major for gallantry at Contreras, Churubusco, and Chapultepec. His coolness in action won him the name of “fighting Dick” in the army. He became captain in 1851, resigned in 1855, and settled on a farm near Pontiac, Michigan. At the beginning of the Civil War he was appointed colonel of the 2d Michigan Regiment, and when he reported with his regiment in Washington, D.C., to have my “Fighting Dick’ with me again.” A few days afterward he was placed at the head of a brigade with which he covered the retreat of the army at Bull Run, his commission of brigadier-general of volunteers dating from 17 May, 1861. He commanded a division of General Edward V. Sumner's corps at the battle of the Chickahominy, where he acted with great gallantry, became major-general of volunteers, 4 July, 1862, was engaged at the second battle of Bull Run, at South Mountain, and Antietam, receiving fatal wounds in the latter fight. He was a lineal descendant of Israel Putnam. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 242.
RICHARDSON, James, clergyman, born in Dedham, Massachusetts, in 1817; died in Washington, D.C., 10 November, 1863. He was graduated at Harvard in 1837, and during his course aided in collecting Thomas Carlyle’s “Miscellanies,” which were published under Ralph Waldo Emerson's supervision (Boston, 1836). He afterward became a clerk of a county court, taught in New Hampshire, and was principal of a school near Providence, Rhode Island. He was graduated at the Harvard Divinity-School in 1845, ordained in Southington, Connecticut, and in 1847 became pastor of the Unitarian Society in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He took charge of the church in Rochester, New York, in 1856, but was compelled by the failure of his health to resign in 1859, and returned to his former home in Dedham. He continued to preach and lecture for many years, and constantly contributed to the press. During the Civil War his services were given to the hospitals in Washington, D.C. He published several discourses, which include two farewell sermons at Southington, Connecticut. (Boston, 1847). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 242.
RICHARDSON, John Smythe, Congressman, born in Sumter District, South Carolina, 29 February, 1828, was graduated at the College of South Carolina in 1850, admitted to the Sumter bar in 1852, and, while practising his profession, also engaged in planting. He served in the Confederate Army throughout the Civil War, attained the rank of colonel, and was a member of the South Carolina legislature in 1865-'7, of the Democratic National Convention in 1876, and of Congress in 1879-'83. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 243.
RICHE, George Inman, educator, born in Philadelphia, 21 January, 1833. He was graduated at the Philadelphia High-School in 1851. studied law, and was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia in 1854. During the Civil War he was paymaster of U. S. volunteers, and in 1864-'7 he was a member of the common council. He was for several years president of the Republican Invincibles, a political organization in Philadelphia. Mr. Riche is best known for his educational work. In 1867-'86 he was the principal of the Philadelphia High-School. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 244.
RICKETTS, James Brewerton, soldier, born in New York City, 21 June, 1817; died in Washington, D.C., 22 September, 1887. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1839, assigned to the 1st U.S. Artillery, and served during the Canada border disturbances on garrison duty, and in the war with Mexico, taking part in the battle of Monterey, and holding the Rinconada Pass during the battle of Buena Vista. He had been made 1st lieutenant, 21 April, 1846, became captain on 3 August, 1853, and served in Florida against the Seminole Indians, and subsequently on frontier duty in Texas. At the beginning of the Civil War he served in the defence of Washington, D.C., commanded a battery in the capture of Alexandria, Virginia, in 1861, was wounded and captured at Bull Run on 21 July, and on that day was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, and made brigadier-general of U.S. volunteers. He was confined as a prisoner of war, and afterward was on sick leave of absence until June, 1862, when he engaged in operations in the Shenandoah Valley, and participated with the Army of the Potomac in the Northern Virginia, the Maryland, and the Richmond Campaigns, fighting in all the chief battles. On 1 June, 1863, he became major of the 1st U.S. Artillery, and he received the brevet of colonel, U.S. Army, for gallant and meritorious services at Cold Harbor, Virginia, 3 June, 1864. He served in the siege of Petersburg, Virginia, in that year in the defence of Maryland against General Jubal Early's raid, and in the Shenandoah Campaign, receiving the brevet of major-general of volunteers on 1 August, 1864, for gallant conduct during the war, particularly in the battles of the campaign under General Ulysses S. Grant and General Philip H. Sheridan. He was severely wounded at Cedar Creek, Virginia, 19 October, 1864, and was on sick-leave from that date until 7 April, 1865. On 13 March, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general, U.S. Army, for gallant services at Cedar Creek, and major-general, U.S. Army, for gallant and meritorious service in the field. On 28 July, 1865, he was assigned to the command of a District in the Department of Virginia, which post he held until 30 April, 1866, when he was mustered out of the volunteer service. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel, 21st U.S. Infantry, on 28 July, 1866, but declined this post. He was retired from active service on 3 January, 1867, for disability from wounds received in battle, and served on courts-martial from that date until 22 January, 1869. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 247.
RIDDLEBERGER, Harrison Holt, senator, born in Edinburg, Shenandoah County, Virginia, 4 October, 1844. After receiving a common-school education he studied at home for two years under a tutor. During the Civil War he served for three years in the Confederate Army as lieutenant of infantry and captain of cavalry. At the close of the war he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began to practise at Woodstock, Virginia, where he still (1888) resides. His first civil office was that of commonwealth's attorney for his county, which he held for two terms. He was then elected and re-elected to the state house of delegates, serving for four years, and subsequently sat in the Senate of Virginia for the same period. Since 1870 he has edited three local newspapers, "The Tenth Legion," "The Shenandoah Democrat," and " The Virginian." He was a member of the state committee of the Conservative Party until 1875, a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1870, and on the "Readjuster " ticket in 1880. He was commonwealth's attorney and state senator when, in 1881, he was elected to the U. S. Senate as a Readjuster in the place of John W. Johnston, Conservative. His term of service will expire on 3 March. 1889. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 248-249.
RIDGELY, Daniel Boone, naval officer, born near Lexington, Kentucky, 1 August, 1813; died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 5 May, 1868. He entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman, 1 April, 1828, and was commissioned lieutenant, 10 September, 1840. During the Mexican War he was attached to the sloop “Albany,” and participated in the bombardment and capture of Vera Cruz, Tuspan, Alvarado, and Tampico in 1846–'9. He was attached to the Naval Observatory at Washington in 1850–2, cruised in the sloop “Germantown" in 1854 in the West Indies, and, was commissioned commander, 14 September, 1855. In 1857–’8 he commanded the steamer “Atalanta " in the Paraguayan Expedition. He was on leave when the Civil War began, but volunteered for active service promptly, commanded the steamer “Santiago de Cuba" in the West Indies during the early part of the contest, from 1861 till 1863, and was successful in capturing blockade-runners. He was commissioned captain, 16 July, 1862. In 1864–5 he commanded the steamer “Shenandoah " on the north Atlantic Blockade, and assisted on both attacks on Fort Fisher. In the year 1865… Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 250.
RIKER, John Lafayette, a colonel in the National Army, was killed at the battle of Fair Oaks, 31 May, 1862.
RINGOLD, Samuel, soldier, born in Washington County, Maryland, in 1800; died in Point Isabel, Texas, 11 May, 1846. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1818, served for several years as aide-de-camp to General Winfield Scott, became 1st lieutenant in 1822, and was brevetted captain in 1832. He became captain in 1836, participated in the Florida War, and was brevetted major " for active and efficient conduct" during hostilities. He then organized a corps of flying artillery, and was mortally wounded at Palo Alto, the first battle of the Mexican War. He introduced flying artillery into this country, invented a saddle-tree, which was subsequently known as the McClelland saddle, and a rebounding hammer made of brass for exploding the fulminating primers for field-guns, that prevented the blowing away of the hammer. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 257.
RINGOLD, Cadwalader, naval officer, born in Washington County, Maryland, 20 August, 1802; died in New York City, 20 April, 1867. He entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman, 4 March, 1819, served in Commodore Porter's “mosquito fleet" in the West Indies in 1823-'4 for the suppression of piracy, and was commissioned lieutenant, 17 May, 1828. In 1838 he was appointed to command the brig "Porpoise" in Lieutenant Charles Wilkes's Exploring Expedition, and participated in making the discovery of the Antarctic Continent. In August, 1840, he took part in an attack on the natives of Suahib, Feejee Islands, where two of the officers of the exploring expedition had been killed by cannibals. He assisted in the survey of Columbia River, Puget sound, the harbor of San Francisco and Sacramento River, and among the South Sea Islands. He returned to New York in June, 1842, by way of the Cape of Good Hope, after circumnavigating the globe, and collected valuable scientific information concerning the Pacific and Antarctic Oceans. On 16 July, 1849, he was commissioned a commander. He was on special duty in California in 1849-'51, and in the Bureau of Construction at the Navy Department in 1852, and took command of the North Pacific Exploring Expedition, sailing in the "Vincennes," but feeble health compelled him to return home. In September, 1855, he was placed on the reserved list, and on 2 April, 1856, he was promoted to captain on the active list. He had special duty in Washington in 1859-60. When the Civil War began, he was placed in command of the frigate " Sabine." He was commissioned commodore, 16 July, 1862, and placed on the retired list, 20 August, 1864. He was promoted to rear-admiral on the retired list, 25 July, 1866. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 257.
RINGOLD, George Hay, soldier, born in Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1814; died in San Francisco, California, 4 April, 1864, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1833, and became 2d lieutenant, 6th U.S. Infantry, on 15 August, 1836. He resigned from the army in 1837 and engaged in farming. He was reappointed with the rank of additional paymaster in 1846, and became major on the staff, and paymaster in 1847. He served in the pay department during the Mexican War, became lieutenant-colonel and deputy paymaster-general in May, 1862. and was in charge of the paymasters of the Department of the Pacific from 1861 till his death, he was an accomplished scholar, draughtsman, and painter, and published "Fountain Rock, Amy Weir, and other Metrical Pastimes " (New York, 1860). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 257.
RIPLEY, James Wolfe, soldier, born in Windham, Connecticut, 10 December, 1794; died in Hartford, Connecticut, 16 March, 1870. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1814, entered the artillery, served in the second war with Great Britain, and participated in the defence of Sackett’s Harbor. He became battalion quartermaster of artillery in 1816, 1st lieutenant in 1818, was engaged during the Seminole War in the seizure of Pensacola and the capture of San Carlos de Barrancas, and was commissioner for running the boundary-line of the Florida Indian reservations in 1823-'4. He became captain in 1825, was in command at Charleston Harbor during the threatened South Carolina nullification disturbances in 1832-'3, and became major in 1838. He was superintendent of the Springfield Armory in 1841-'54, and in May, 1848. was brevetted lieutenant-colonel "for the performance of his duty in the prosecution of the Mexican War." He became full lieutenant-colonel in 1854, was chief of ordnance in the Department of the Pacific in 1855-'7, and became colonel and Chief of Ordnance, U. S. Army, which he held till his retirement in 1863. He received the brevet of brigadier-general, U. S. Army, in July, 1861, and in August was promoted to the full rank. From his retirement until his death he was inspector of the armament of fortifications on the New England Coast. In March, 1865, he received the brevet of major-general, U. S. Army, for "long and faithful service." Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 260.
RIPLEY, Roswell Sabine, soldier, born in Worthington, Franklin County, Ohio, 14 March, 1823; died in New York City, 26 March, 1887, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1843, served in the Mexican War, where he was engaged at Monterey, Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, Molino del Rey, Chapultepec, and the capture of the city of Mexico, and was brevetted captain for Cerro Gordo and major for Chapultepec. He engaged in the Florida War in 1849, but resigned from the army in 1853 and engaged in business in Charleston, South Carolina. At the beginning of the Civil War he entered the Confederate service, directed the fire on Fort Sumter, 13 April, 1861, and in August of that year was appointed brigadier-general, with command of the Department of South Carolina and its coast defences. He was in charge of the 2d Military District of that state from December, 1861, till May, 1862, commanded a brigade that was composed of two Georgia and two North Carolina regiments in the defence of Richmond, Virginia, in June, 1862, and with it participated in the battles of Mechanicsville, Gaines's Mills. Malvern Hill, South Mountain, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. He then returned to South Carolina in charge of the 1st Military District of that state, constructed the defences of Charleston, and met the naval attack on 7 April. 1863. After the evacuation of that city he joined General Robert E. Lee in Richmond, and continued with him till the surrender. He went abroad after the war, resided in Paris for several years, and subsequently returned and engaged in business in Charleston, South Carolina. He published a "History of the Mexican War" (2 vols., New York, 1849). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 260.
RIVES, John Cook (reeves), journalist, born in Franklin County, Virginia, 24 May, 1795; died in Prince George County, Maryland, 10 April, 1864. He moved to Kentucky at eleven years of age, was brought up by his uncle, Samuel Casey, acquired a good education, and in 1824 moved from Edwardsville, Illinois, (in which city he had been connected with a bank), to Washington, D. C, where he became a clerk in the fourth auditor's office. During the early part of President Jackson's administration, with Francis Blair, senior, he founded the "Congressional Globe," of which he was sole proprietor till 1864. He possessed much humor, and was generous in the extreme in his public and private benefactions. Altogether he gave about $30,000 to the wives of soldiers who had enlisted in the National Army from the District of Columbia, besides innumerable smaller amounts to private individuals, and he subsequently gave $12,000 toward the equipment of two regiments in the District of Columbia. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 267.
ROANE, John Selden, governor of Arkansas, born in Wilson County, Tennessee, 8 January, 1817; died in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, 7 April, 1867. He was graduated at Cumberland College, Princeton, Kentucky, and served in the legislature of Arkansas as speaker in 1844. Participating in the Mexican War as lieutenant-colonel of Colonel Archibald Yell's Arkansas Cavalry, he served with gallantry at Buena Vista, and commanded the regiment after Colonel Yell was killed, being made colonel on 38 February, 1847. From 1848 till 1852 he was governor of Arkansas. Governor Roane served in the Civil War, being appointed brigadier-general in the Provisional Confederate Army on 20 March, 1862, commanding the District of Little Rock, Arkansas. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 269.
ROBERT, Henry Martyn, soldier, born in Beaufort District, South Carolina, 2 May, 1837, was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1857. He received his commission with the rank of lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers, and has ever since remained in that service. Soon after his graduation he was appointed assistant professor of natural philosophy at West Point, but he was subsequently transferred to the department of practical engineering. In 1858 he was stationed at Fort Vancouver, and during the northwest boundary difficulties between this country and Great Britain he had charge of the construction of defences on San Juan Island. At the beginning of the Civil War, though of southern birth and with all his relatives in the south, Colonel Robert unhesitatingly, espoused the Union cause. He served on the staff of General McClellan, and assisted in building the fortifications around Washington. He was subsequently employed in similar services at Philadelphia and New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was promoted captain in 1863, and at the close of the war he was placed again at the head of the department of practical engineering at West Point, where he remained till 1867. In that year he was made major, and in 1871, with headquarters at Portland, he had charge of the fortifications, lighthouses, and harbor and river improvements in Oregon and Washington Territory. He was transferred in 1873 to Milwaukee, and assigned to a like duty on Lake Michigan. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel in 1883, and is now (1888) superintendent of river and harbor improvements and defences in the District of Philadelphia. Colonel Robert is the author of “Robert's Rules of Order” (Chicago, 1876) and has supervised the preparation of “An Index to the Reports of the Chief Engineers of the U. S. A. on River and Harbor Improvements” (vol. i., to 1879, Washington, 1881; vol. ii., to 1887, in preparation). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 272.
ROBERTS, Benjamin Stone, soldier, born in Manchester, Vermont, in 1811; died in Washington, D.C., 29 January, 1875. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1835, and assigned to the 1st Dragoons, but after several years of frontier service he resigned on 28 January, 1839, and as principal engineer built the Champlain and Ogdensburg Railroad. He was assistant geologist of New York in 1841, and in 1842 aided Lieutenant George W. Whistler in constructing the Russian system of railways. He then returned to the United States, was admitted to the bar, and in 1843 began to practise in Iowa. He became lieutenant-colonel of state militia in 1844, and on 27 May, 1846, was reappointed in the U.S. Army as a 1st lieutenant of mounted rifles, becoming captain, 16 February, 1847. During the war with Mexico he served at Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, where he led an advance party of stormers and for which he was brevetted major, and the capture of the city of Mexico. He then took part in the actions at Matamoras and the Galajara Pass against guerillas, and was brevetted lieutenant-colonel. At the close of the war he received, 15 January, 1849, a sword of honor from the legislature of Iowa. From this time till the Civil War he served on the southwestern frontier and on bureau duty at Washington, with frequent leaves of absence on account of feeble health. At the beginning of the Civil War he was in New Mexico, and after his promotion to major, on 13 May, 1861, he was assigned to the command first of the northern and then of the southern district of that territory, being engaged in the defence of Fort Craig against the Texan forces under General Henry H. Sibley in 1862, the action at Valverde in the same year, where he was brevetted colonel for gallantry, and the combats at Albuquerque and Peralta. On 1 June, 1861, he was ordered to Washington, and on 16 July he was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, and assigned as chief of cavalry to General John Pope, with whose Army of Virginia he served during its campaign in 1862, acting also as inspector-general. In the latter part of the year he was acting inspector-general of the Northwestern Department, and led an expedition against the Chippewa Indians, and in 1863 he was in command first of the upper defences of Washington and then of an independent brigade in West Virginia and Iowa. In 1864, after leading a division of the 19th Corps in Louisiana, he was chief of cavalry of the Gulf Department, till he was ordered, early in 1865, to the charge of a cavalry division in western Tennessee. At the close of the war he was brevetted brigadier-general in the regular army for services at Cedar Mountain, and major-general of volunteers for that action and the second battle of Bull Run. He became lieutenant-colonel of the 3d U.S. Cavalry on 28 July, 1866, served on frontier and recruiting service till 1868, and then as professor of military science at Yale till his retirement from active service on 15 December, 1870. He was the inventor of the Roberts breech loading rifle, to the perfection and introduction of which he devoted many years of his life. In 1870 he formed a company for its manufacture, which finally failed, though General Roberts had secured a contract in Europe. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 272.
ROBERTS, George Washington, soldier, born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, 2 October, 1833; died near Murfreesborough, Tennessee, 31 December, 1862. After graduation at Yale in 1857, he studied law and practised in his native county, and in Chicago after 1860. He was commissioned major of the 42d Illinois Volunteers on 22 July, 1861, and participated in the march of General John C. Fremont to Springfield, Illinois. He became lieutenant colonel and colonel. He won honor in the campaign of 1862, commanding a brigade of the Army of the Mississippi, served at the siege of Corinth in April and May, 1862, and at Farmington, Tennessee, 7 October, 1862. At the battle of Stone River, Tennessee, 31 December, 1862, he had the advance of the 20th Army Corps, drove the enemy to their breastworks, and was killed while leading the 42d Illinois in a successful charge. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 273.
ROBERTS, Joseph, soldier, born in Middletown, Delaware, 30 December, 1814. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1835, assigned to the 4th U.S. Artillery, and served in the Florida War of 1836-'7 as captain in a regiment of mounted Creek Volunteers. From 1837 till 1849 he was assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy at the U. S. Military Academy, and he was made 1st lieutenant on 7 July, 1848, and captain on 20 August, 1848. In 1850-'8 he was engaged in hostilities against the Seminoles in Florida and on frontier duty in Texas, Kansas, and Nebraska, and in 1859 he was assigned to the artillery-school for practice at Fort Monroe, Virginia, where he was a member of the board to arrange the programme of instruction in 1859-'61. He was appointed major on 3 September, 1861, became chief of artillery of the 7th Army Corps on 19 September, 1862, and commanded Fort Monroe in 1863-'5 and Fort McHenry, Maryland, in 1865-'6, receiving the appointments of colonel of the 3d Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery, 19 March, 1863, and lieutenant-colonel, 4th U.S. Artillery, 11 August, 1863. He was brevetted colonel and brigadier-general, U. S. Army, to date from 13 March, 1865. and brigadier-general of volunteers on 9 April, 1865, for meritorious and distinguished services during the war. On 9 November, 1865, he was mustered out of the volunteer service. From 1 May, 1867, till 1 April, 1868, he was acting inspector-general of the Department of Washington, when he was made superintendent of theoretical instruction in the artillery-school at Fort Monroe, Virginia, serving until 13 February, 1877. He was promoted colonel in the 4th Artillery on 10 January, 1877, and was placed on the retired list on 2 July, 1877. General Roberts is the author of a "Hand-Book of Artillery" (New York. 1860). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 274.
ROBERTS, Oran Milo, governor of Texas, born in Laurens District, South Carolina, 9 July, 1815. He was graduated at the University of Alabama in 1836, studied law, began to practise, and served in the Alabama Legislature in 1839-'40. Moving to Texas in 1841, he was appointed district-attorney in 1844 and district judge in 1846, holding this office for five years. In 1857 he was elected to the supreme bench as associate justice, which post he held until the beginning of the Civil War in 1861. He was elected president of the Secession Convention, and was colonel of a regiment in the Confederate Army from 1862 till August, 1864, when he was called from the field to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In 1866 he was elected to the U. S. Senate, but was not allowed to take his seat. From 1868 till 1874 he taught law in private schools. In 1874 and 1870 he was again elected Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court. He was governor of Texas from 1879 till 1883, in which year he was made professor of law in the University of Texas, which post he now (1888) holds. He has published a description of Texas entitled " Governor Roberts's Texas" (St, Louis. 1881). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 275.
ROBERTSON, Edward White, lawyer, born near Nashville, Tennessee, 13 June, 1823; died in Washington, D. C, 2 August, 1887. His parents moved to Iberville Parish, Louisiana, in 1825, and he was educated at Nashville University, but not graduated. He began to study law in 1845, but served in the war with Mexico in 1846 as orderly sergeant of the 2d Louisiana Volunteers, a six-months regiment. In 1847-'9 he was a member of the legislature, and after his graduation at the law department of the University of Louisiana in 1850 he practised in Iberville Parish, served in the legislature, and was state auditor of public accounts in 1857-'62. He entered the Confederate Service in March, 1862, as captain, and participated in the engagements around Vicksburg and the siege of that place, after which his regiment was not in active service. After the war he resumed practice in Baton Rouge, and was elected to Congress as a Conservative Democrat, serving from 15 October, 1877, till 4 March, 1883. In 1886 he was chosen again, serving until the day of his death. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 279.
ROBESON, George Maxwell, Secretary of the Navy, born in Warren County, New Jersey, in 1827. He was graduated at Princeton in 1847, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1850, and began practice in Newark, New Jersey, moving afterward to Camden, where he was appointed prosecuting attorney for the county in 1859. He took an active part in organizing the state troops at the beginning of the Civil War, holding a commission as brigadier-general under the governor. In 1867 he became Attorney-General of New Jersey, but he resigned on receiving the appointment of Secretary of the Navy in the cabinet of President Grant on 25 June, 1869. He held this office till March, 1877, and was subsequently a member of Congress from 18 March, 1879, till 3 March, 1883. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 281.
ROBINSON, Charles, 1818-1894, territorial governor, Kansas, member Free Soil Anti-Slavery Party, 1855 (Rodriguez, 2007, p. 58; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 283; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 2, p. 34; Annals of Congress; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 18, p. 641)
ROBINSON, Charles, governor of Kansas, born in Hardwick, Massachusetts, 21 July, 1818. He was educated at Hadley and Amherst Academies and at Amherst College, but was compelled by illness to leave in his second year. He studied medicine at Woodstock. Vermont, and at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he received his degree in 1843, and practised at Belchertown, Springfield, and Fitchburg, Massachusetts, till 1849, when he went to California by the overland route. He edited a daily paper in Sacramento called the “Settler's and Miner's Tribune” in 1850, took an active part in the riots of 1850 as an upholder of squatter sovereignty, was seriously wounded, and, while under indictment for conspiracy and murder, was elected to the legislature. He was subsequently discharged by the court without trial. On his return to Massachusetts in 1852 he conducted in Fitchburg a weekly paper called the “News” till June, 1854, when he went to Kansas as confidential agent of the New England Emigrants' Aid Society, and settled in Lawrence. He became the leader of the Free-State Party, and was made chairman of its executive committee and commander-in-chief of the Kansas Volunteers. He was a member of the Topeka Convention that adopted a free-state constitution in 1855, and under it was elected governor in 1856. He was arrested for treason and usurpation of office, and on his trial on the latter charge was acquitted by the jury. He was elected again by the Free-State Party in 1858, and for the third time in 1859, under the Wyandotte Constitution, and entered on his term of two years on the admission of Kansas to the Union in January, 1861. He organized most of the Kansas regiments for the Civil War. He afterward served one term as representative and two terms as senator in the legislature, and in 1882 was again a candidate for governor. In 1887 he became superintendent of Haskell Institute in Lawrence. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 283.
ROBINSON, James Sidney, soldier, born near Mansfield, Ohio, 14 October, 1827. He learned the printer's trade in Mansfield, and in 1846 established the Kenton “Republican,” which he edited for eighteen years. In 1856 he was secretary of the first convention of the Republican Party that was held in Ohio. He was for two sessions clerk of the state house of representatives. At the beginning of the Civil War he enlisted in the 4th Ohio Regiment, and was soon made a captain. He took part in the operations at Rich Mountain, Virginia, was promoted major in October, 1861, served under General John C. Frémont in the Shenandoah Valley, and became lieutenant-colonel in April, and colonel in August, 1862. He was engaged at the Second Battle of Bull Run, and at Cedar Mountain and Chancellorsville, and was severely wounded at Gettysburg. He commanded a brigade under General Joseph Hooker and General Alpheus S. Williams in the Atlanta Campaign and the march to the sea, was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers on 12 January, 1865, received the brevet of major-general on 13 March, and was mustered out on 31 August. On his return to Ohio he became chairman of the state Republican committee. In 1879 he was appointed by the governor commissioner of railroads and telegraphs. He was elected to Congress for two successive terms, serving from 5 December, 1881, till 12 January, 1885, and subsequently held the office of Secretary of State of Ohio. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 286.
ROBINSON, John Cleveland, soldier, born in Binghamton, New York, 10 April, 1817. He was appointed a cadet at the U. S. Military Academy in 1835, left a year before graduation to study law, but returned to military service in October, 1839, when he was commissioned as 2d lieutenant in the 5th U. S. Infantry. He joined the army of occupation in Texas at Corpus Christi in September, 1845, as regimental and brigade quartermaster, being promoted 1st lieutenant in June, 1846, was at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, served with distinction at Monterey, and participated in the concluding operations of the Mexican War. He was made captain in August, 1850, was engaged against hostile Indians in Texas in 1853-'4, was ordered in 1856 to Florida, where he led expeditions against the Seminoles in the Everglades and Big Cyprus Swamp, and in 1857-8 took part in the Utah Expedition. At the beginning of the Civil War he was in command at Fort McHenry, Baltimore, and prevented its capture by the insurgents by means of a successful ruse. Subsequently he was engaged in mustering volunteers at Detroit, Michigan, and Columbus, Ohio, and in September, 1861, he was appointed colonel of the 1st Michigan Volunteers. He was promoted major in the U. S. Army in February, 1862, was commissioned as brigadier-general of volunteers on 28 April, 1862, and commanded a brigade at Newport News. He was soon transferred to the Army of the Potomac, and commanded the 1st Brigade of General Philip Kearny's division. He took part in the Seven Days' Battles before Richmond, and commanded a division at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, where he earned the brevet of lieutenant-colonel, U. S. Army, and in the operations at Mine Run and in the battles of the Wilderness, receiving the brevet of colonel for his services there. At Spottsylvania Court-House, while leading a gallant charge on the enemy's breastworks, he received a bullet in his left knee, necessitating amputation at the thigh. He received the brevet of major-general of volunteers on 24 June, 1864. He was unfit for further service in the field, and subsequently commanded districts in New York State, being brevetted brigadier and major-general, U. S. Army, in March, 1865, served as military commander and commissioner of the Bureau of Freedmen in North Carolina in 1866, was promoted colonel in the regular army in July, 1866, mustered out of the volunteer service on 1 September, 1866, commanded the Department of the South in 1867, and the Department of the Lakes in 1867-8, and on 6 May, 1869, was retired with the full rank of major-general. In 1872 he was elected by the Republicans lieutenant-governor of New York on the ticket with Governor John A. Dix. He was chosen commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic in 1877 and 1878, and president of the Society of the Army of the Potomac in 1887. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 287.
ROCKINGHAM, William Beatty, soldier, born in Angelica, New York, 15 February, 1826, entered the U.S. service as major and additional paymaster of volunteers on 1 June, 1861. He was transferred to the permanent establishment as paymaster on 17 January, 1867, and on 17 February, 1882, was appointed paymaster-general of the army, with the rank of brigadier-general. See “Early History of the Rochester Family in America,” by Nathaniel Rochester (Buffalo, 1882). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 294.
ROCKWELL, Alphonso David, physician, born in New Canaan, Connecticut, 18 May, 1840. He was educated at Kenyon College and graduated in medicine at Bellevue Medical College, New York City, in 1864. Entering the army as assistant surgeon of the 6th Ohio Cavalry, he was soon promoted surgeon of brigade with the rank of major, and served through the campaigns of 1864 and 1865 in Virginia. […] Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 294-295.
RODDEY, Philip Dale, soldier, born in North Carolina in 1818. He was for many years owner and captain of steamboats in the navigation of Tennessee River. He organized a company of scouts early in 1861 for the Confederate service, and subsequently a brigade and was commissioned brigadier-general, 31 August, 1863. His command was clothed, armed, and subsisted without cost to the Confederate government. He was one of the most successful of partisan officers, and was engaged in many of the great battles. Since 1870 he has resided chiefly in London, England. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 295-296.
RODENBOUGH, Theophilus Francis, soldier, born in Easton, Pennsylvania, 5 November, 1838. He was educated at Lafayette College, engaged in mercantile business, and on 27 March, 1861, was appointed 2d lieutenant in the 2d U.S. Dragoons. He was promoted 1st lieutenant on 14 May, was engaged at Gaines's Mills and the subsequent operations of the Peninsular Campaign of 1862, being promoted captain on 17 July, was captured at Manassas, but was immediately exchanged, and commanded a squadron in Stoneman's raid, and a regiment at Gettysburg. He was engaged in the cavalry operations of 1864, was wounded at Trevillian's Station, and again at Winchester, losing his right arm while leading his regiment in a charge. He was brevetted major for his bravery on this occasion, and lieutenant-colonel for meritorious conduct during the war, was appointed colonel of the 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry on 29 April, 1865, and received the brevets of brigadier-general of volunteers for services during the war, of colonel, U. S. Army, for bravery at Todd's Tavern, and of brigadier-general, U. S. Army, for gallant conduct at Cold Harbor. He was mustered out of the volunteer service on 31 October, 1865, became major of the 42d U.S. Infantry on 28 July, 1866, and was retired from active service on 15 December, 1870, on account of wounds received in the line of duty, with the full rank of colonel of cavalry. He became secretary of the Military Service Institution in 1879, and as assistant inspector-general of the state of New York in 1880–’3 was efficient in improving the militia organization. General Rodenbough is the author of “From Everglade to Cañon with the Second Dragoons” (New York, 1875); “Afghanistan and the Anglo-Russian Dispute” (1886); and “Uncle Sam's Medal of Honor” (1887). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 296.
RODES, Robert Emmett, born in Lynchburg, Virginia, 29 March, 1829; died in Winchester, Virginia, 19 September, 1864. He was graduated at Virginia Military Institute in 1848, and was professor in the institute for several years. He then moved to Mobile, Alabama, entered the Confederate Army as colonel of the 5th Alabama Infantry in 1861, and was promoted brigadier-general, 21 October, 1861, and major-general, 2 May, 1863. His brigade was composed of six Alabama regiments of infantry, in General Daniel H. Hill's division, Jackson's corps, Army of Northern Virginia. His division was composed of the brigades of Generals Doles, Daniel, and Ramseur. He was killed at the battle of Winchester. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 296.
RODGERS, John, naval officer, born in Harford County, Maryland, 8 August, 1812; died in Washington, D. C, 5 May, 1882, entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman, 18 April, 1828, served in the "Constellation" in the Mediterranean in 1829-'32, attended the naval school at Norfolk in 1832-'4, and became passed midshipman in the last-named year. After a year's leave, during which he attended the University of Virginia, he was in the brig " Dolphin," on the Brazil Station, in 1830-'9, and commanded the schooner "Wave" on the coast of Florida in 1839. He was commissioned lieutenant, 22 January, 1840, had charge of the schooner "Jefferson " in surveying the Florida Keys, and in hostilities with the Seminoles in 1840-'3, and was again surveying on the coast of Florida in 1849-'52. The charts and sailing directions for this coast bear witness to his faithful work. He commanded the steamer "John Hancock" and the U. S. Surveying and Exploring Expedition in the North Pacific and China Seas 1852-'5. In April, 1855, he took the "Vincennes" into the Arctic Ocean, and obtained valuable commercial and scientific information. He was commissioned commander, 14 September, 1855, and continued on special duty in connection with the report of the exploring expedition. In 1861 he was among the first to ask for duty in the Civil War, and in May, 1861, was ordered to superintend the building of the "Benton " class of western river iron-clads. In November he joined the expedition to Port Royal, where he hoisted the flag on Fort Walker after the engagement. In May, 1862, he commanded an expedition in James River, leading in the attack on Fort Darling, 15 May, 1862, during which his vessel, the " Galena," an iron-clad steamer, was hit 129 times, two thirds of his crew were killed or wounded, and all his ammunition was expended, when he withdrew. He was commissioned captain, 16 July, 1862, and in 1863 sailed in command of the monitor "Weehawken" from New York, encountering a heavy gale off the Delaware breakwater, where he declined to take refuge because he wished to test the sea-going qualities of monitors. On 17 June, 1863, he fought the powerful Confederate iron clad "Atlanta," which he captured, after an engagement of fifteen minutes, in Warsaw Sound, Georgia, during which the "Weehawken" fired only five shots. Congress gave him a formal vote of thanks for his "eminent zeal and ability," and he was promoted to commodore from 17 June, 1863, the date of his victory. He commanded the monitor "Dictator" in 1864-'5, on special service. In 1866 he took the double turret monitor "Monadnock " through the Straits of Magellan to San Francisco. He stopped at Valparaiso just before its bombardment by the Spanish, which, with General Kilpatrick, the U. S. minister, he strove to prevent. He proposed joint armed interference to the English admiral, but the latter refused to co-operate. These negotiations added to his reputation as a diplomatist. He had charge of the Boston U.S. Navy-yard in 1866-'9, was commissioned rear-admiral, 31 December, 1869, and commanded the Asiatic Fleet in 1870-'2, when he rendered great service by suppressing outrages on American commerce by the Coreans. Admiral Rodgers was commandant of Mare Island U.S. Navy-yard, California, in 1873-'7, and superintendent of the U. S. Naval Observatory at Washington from 1 May, 1877, until his death. His services at the observatory contributed to the advancement of science, and under his administration Professor Asaph Hall discovered the moons of Mars. Admiral Rodgers was also successful in his efforts to have a new site selected for a future observatory. He was president of the transit of Venus Commission. In 1863 he had been one of the fifty corporate members of the National Academy of Sciences that were named by Congress in that year. On 23 June, 1878, he was elected to succeed Professor Joseph Henry as chairman of the Light-House Board, and personally superintended and participated in experiments in optics and acoustics to improve the service. His able counsels were in constant demand on advisory boards, especially for reconstructing the navy, and for the “Jeannette” relief expedition, for which his personal knowledge of the Polar Sea was valuable. See a memoir by Professor J. Russell Soley, U.S. Navy privately, Annapolis, 1882). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 296-297.
RODGERS, Christopher Raymond Perry, naval officer, born in Brooklyn, New York, 14 November, 1819, was appointed a midshipman on 5 October, 1833, and while serving on the schooner “Flirt" in 1839 and in command of the schooner “Phoenix” in 1840–’1, was actively engaged in the Seminole War. He was promoted lieutenant on 4 September, 1844, was engaged in blockading the coast of Mexico in 1847, and was in the trenches at the siege of Vera Cruz and the capture of Tabasco and Tuspan. In 1856–’7 he commanded the steamer “Bibb " and the schooner “Gallatin” in the coast survey. He was commissioned as commander on 15 October, 1861, and served with distinction on the “Wabash,” and as fleet-captain of Rear-Admiral Samuel F. Du Pont's fleet at the battle of Port Royal and in command of the naval force in the trenches at the capture of Fort Pulaski. He directed the movements of a fleet of gun-boats that was engaged in occupying strategic points on the coast south of Port Royal, commanding an expedition to St. Augustine and up St. Mary's River in March, 1862, and was fleet-captain in the “New Ironsides” in the attack of 7 April, 1863, on the defences of Charleston and in the subsequent operations of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, till in the autumn of 1863 he was assigned to the command of the steam sloop “Iroquois,” in which he was employed on special service till the end of the war. He was commissioned as captain on 25 July, 1866, commanded the “Franklin " in the Mediterranean in 1868–70, became a commodore on 28 August, 1870, was on special service in Europe in 1871, then chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks till 1874, was commissioned as rear-admiral on 14 June, 1874, and was superintendent of the Naval Academy, except in 1878–80, when he commanded the naval forces in the Pacific, until on 14 November, 1881, he was placed on the retired list. Rear-Admiral Rodgers presided over the international conference at Washington in 1885 for the purpose of fixing a prime meridian and universal day. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 298.
RODGERS, George Washington, naval officer, born in Brooklyn, New York, 30 October, 1822; died off Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, 17 August, 1863, entered the Navy as midshipman, 30 April, 1836, became passed midshipman, 1 July, 1842, and was in the steamer “Colonel Harney” and the frigate “John Adams” during the Mexican War, at Vera Cruz, Tuspan, Alvarado, and other points on the Gulf Coast, where he served as acting master from 4 November, 1846. He was on the U.S. Coast Survey in 1849–50, was commissioned lieutenant, 4 June, 1850, cruised in the “Germantown" on the home station in 1851–’3, and was at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1861–2. In April, 1861, he saved the “Constitution” from a threatened attack by secessionists at Annapolis, and took the Naval Academy to Newport, Rhode Island. He was commissioned commander, 16 January, 1862, and in October commanded the monitor “Catskill,” in which he participated in the attacks on Charleston. On 7 April, 1863, he impetuously took her almost under the walls of Fort Sumter. Admiral Dahlgren appointed him chief of staff, 4 July, 1863, and, still commanding the “Catskill,” he was distinguished by the cool and deliberate manner in which he fought his ship. In the attack on Fort Wagner, 17 August, 1863, he took command of his vessel as usual, and while in the pilot-house he was instantly killed by a shot that struck the top of the house and broke it in. It was of Commander Rodgers that Miles O'Reilly wrote one of his most admired stanzas: “Ah me! George Rodgers lies With dim and dreamless eyes, He has fairly won the prize of the striped and starry shroud.” Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 298.
RODMAN, Isaac Peace, soldier, born in South Kingston, Rhode Island, 18 August, 1822; died in Sharpsburg, Maryland, 30 September, 1862. He received a common-school education, entered into partnership with his father, and became a prominent woollen-manufacturer. He sat in both houses of the legislature for several terms. At the first call for troops in 1861 he raised a company, which was incorporated in the 2d Rhode Island Regiment, and was engaged at Bull Run. For gallantry in that action he was made lieutenant-colonel of the 4th Rhode Island Volunteers, 25 October, 1861, and soon afterward was promoted colonel. He served with great credit at Roanoke Island and New Berne, and in the capture of Fort Macon, and in July, 1862, was commissioned as brigadier-general of volunteers, to date from 28 April. At the Antietam he commanded the 3d Division of the 9th Corps, and was mortally wounded while leading a charge. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 298.
RODMAN, Thomas Jefferson, soldier, born in Salem, Indiana, 30 July, 1815; died in Rock Island, Illinois, 7 June, 1871. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1841, assigned to the Ordnance Department, and served at Alleghany Arsenal till 1848, going to Richmond, Virginia, in 1845 to prepare machinery for testing gun-metal and supervise the manufacture of cannon, and to Boston in September, 1846, for the purpose of experimenting with Colonel George Bomford's columbiads of 12-inch calibre. He invented a method of casting guns on a hollow core, through which a stream of cold water is kept running, greatly improving their tenacity. In 1847 he supervised the manufacture of columbiads on this system at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. During the Mexican War he served as ordnance officer at Camargo and Point Isabel Depots. Returning to Alleghany Arsenal, he continued his experiments. He was in command of the arsenal in 1854, and of the one at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1855-'6. Although columbiads made by his method showed greater power of resistance than those that were cast solid, yet they failed under severe tests, and, as the result of a series of experiments at Pittsburg in 1850, he recommended that no more guns of large calibre should be made of that pattern. In 1857-'8 he experimented with a pressure-gauge of his invention, consisting of a piston working in a hole bored into the wall of a gun and acting on an indenting tool, for the purpose of determining the pressure in the bore at different points. He devised a new form of columbiad which was determined on the hypothesis that the pressure is inversely as the square root of the space behind the shot. The first 15-inch Rodman gun was completed in May, 1860. In the trials, mammoth (or very large-grained) powder, and powder in perforated cakes, were also tested, and in the following year the mammoth powder was adopted for heavy ordnance. The perforated cake powder for rifled cannon of large calibre was at once adopted by the Russian government, which obtained specimens from Fortress Monroe in 1860, and soon afterward came into use in Prussia, and more recently the military authorities in England decided on using the mammoth powder, there called pebble powder, in their big rifled guns. Rodman, who had reached the grade of captain of ordnance on 1 July, 1855, and was promoted major on 1 June, 1863, was in command of Watertown Arsenal during the Civil War, being detached at intervals for various services, especially to supervise the manufacture and trials of 12-inch rifled and 20-inch smooth-bore cannon. Many sound 15-inch Rodman guns were made during the war for the monitors and the forts along the coast. The method of casting about a hollow core and cooling the metal from the inside was applied to shells as well as to cannon, and from 27 September, 1864, he was engaged in supervising the manufacture of ordnance and projectiles by this method. He originated the idea of making heavy guns without preponderance at the breech, on which plan all the heavy cast-iron cannon were subsequently constructed in the United States. In March, 1865, he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, colonel, and brigadier-general for his services in the Ordnance Department. He was placed in command at Rock Island on 4 August, 1865, and promoted lieutenant-colonel on 7 March. 1867, served on various boards for testing inventions in fire-arms, and at the time of his death was engaged in completing the arsenal at Rock Island, which was constructed at his suggestion and under his superintendence. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 298-299.
ROE, Edward Payson, author, born in Moodna, New Windsor, Orange County, New York, 7 March, 1838; died in Cornwall, New York, 19 July, 1888. He was educated at Williams, but not graduated, owing to an affection of the eyes. In after years the college gave him the degree of B. A. He studied at Auburn and at Union Theological Seminary. New York City, and in 1862 became a chaplain in the volunteer service, where he remained till October. 1865. He then became pastor of a Presbyterian Church at Highland Falls, New York, where his lectures on topics connected with the Civil War, to raise funds for a new church, first brought him into notice as a successful speaker. He visited the ruins of Chicago after the great fire, and wrote " Barriers Burned Away," a novel, which was published as a serial in the New York " Evangelist," and afterward appeared in book-form (New York, 1872). Of the cheap edition (1882), 87,500 copies were sold. The great success of his book, together with impaired health, induced Mr. Roe to resign his pastorate… Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 302.
ROE, Francis Asbury, naval officer, born in Elmira, New York, 4 October, 1823. He entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman, 19 October, 1841, and was at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1847-'8. He left the service for eleven months from June, 1848. In 1851-'2 he served in the mail-steamer "Georgia," on the New York and West India Line. He was attached to the brig "Porpoise" in the North Pacific Exploring Expedition. He was commissioned master, 8 August, 1855, and lieutenant, 14 September, 1855. In 18578 he served in the U.S. Coast Survey. In 1862 he was executive officer of the "Pensacola" in Farragut's squadron, and, on account of the illness of his commanding officer, took charge of the ship in passing Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip. He was commissioned lieutenant-commander, 16 July, 1862, had charge of the steamer " Katahdin " in 1862-'3 in the operations on Mississippi River, defeated General John C. Breckinridge's attack on Baton Rouge, and assisted in the destruction of the Confederate ram "Arkansas," 7 August, 1862. In 1864 he commanded the steamer " Sassacus " in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and captured and destroyed several blockade runners in the sounds of North Carolina, and co-operated in the defeat of the Confederate iron-clad ram "Albemarle," 5 May, 1864. In this engagement Roe gallantly rammed the iron-clad, which then fired a 100-pound rifle-shell through the "Sassacus," killing and scalding many of the crew by exploding in the boiler. In the confusion that was caused by escaping steam. Roe skilfully handled his ship and compelled the "Albemarle's "consort, the "Bombshell," to surrender. After the war he commanded the steamer " Michigan" on the lakes in 1864-'6. He was commissioned commander, 25 July, 1866, and in 1866-'7 commanded the steamer "Tacony" on a special mission to Mexico. His firmness as senior officer prevented a bombardment of Vera Cruz. On 8 August, 1867, he was detached, and in recognition of his services was ordered as fleet-captain of the Asiatic Station, where he served until December. 1871. He was commissioned captain, 1 April, 1872, and was attached to the Boston U.S. Navy-yard in 1872-'3. His last cruise was in command of the " Lancaster" on the Brazil Station in 1873-5. He was attached to the naval station at New London in 1875-'6, on special duty at Washington in 1879-'80, and promoted to commodore, 26 November. 1880. In 1883-4 he was governor of the Naval Asylum at Philadelphia. He was commissioned rear-admiral, 3 November, 1884, and placed on the retired list, 4 October, 1885. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 302-303.
ROEBLING, Washington Augustus, civil engineer, born in Saxenburg, Pennsylvania, 26 May, 1837, was graduated as a civil engineer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1857, and began his professional work at once under his father on the Alleghany Suspension-Bridge. In 1861 he enlisted as a private in the 6th New York Artillery, and served a year with that battery in the Army of the Potomac. In 1862 he was transferred to the staff of General Irvin McDowell, and assigned to various engineering duties, notably the construction of a suspension-bridge across Rappahannock River. Later he served on General John Pope's staff, and was present at South Mountain, Antietam, and the campaign that ended in the second battle of Bull Run, during which time he built a suspension-bridge across Shenandoah River at Harper’s Ferry. He was also engaged on balloon duty, and was in the habit of ascending every morning in order to reconnoiter the Confederate Army. By this means he discovered, and was the first to announce, the fact that General Lee was moving toward Pennsylvania. From August, 1863, till March, 1864, he was attached to the 2d Corps, serving on engineering duty and then on staff duty with the 5th Corps during the overland campaign. He attained the rank of major on 20 April, 1864, also receiving three brevets, including that of colonel, and resigned in January, 1865. Colonel Roebling then assisting his father on the Cincinnati and Covington Bridge, of which he had almost the entire charge. He then went abroad to study pneumatic foundations before sinking those of the East River bridge, to the charge of which he was called on the death of his father, but before any of the details had been decided on. In 1869 he settled in Brooklyn, and gave his attention almost exclusively to the sinking of the caissons. His devotion to the work, with the fact that he spent more hours of the twenty-four in the compressed air of the caissons than anyone else, led to an attack of caisson fever early in 1872. He soon rallied and resumed his work, but he was so weak that he was unable to leave his room. Nevertheless, he prepared the most minute and exact directions for making the cables, and for the erection of all the complicated parts of the superstructure. In 1873 he was compelled to give up work entirely, and spent several months in Europe, but on his return he resumed charge of the bridge, which he held until ... its completion in 1883. The structure he built, which is the longest suspension-bridge in the world, cost about $13,000,000. The picture shows it before completion. Its total length, including approaches, is 5,989 feet, of which the middle span takes up 1,596 feet, while the length of the suspended structure from anchorage to anchorage is 3,456 feet. He has since spent his time in directing the wire business in Trenton, New Jersey, and in the recuperation of his health. Besides various pamphlets on professional subjects, he is the author of “Military Suspension-Bridges” (Washington, 1862). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 303-304.
ROGERS, Fairman, civil engineer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 15 November, 1833. He was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1853, and two years later became professor of civil engineering, which chair he held until 1870, also lecturing on mechanics in the Franklin Institute from 1853 till 1865. Professor Rogers served as a volunteer in the National Cavalry in 1861, and then became a volunteer officer in the U. S. Engineers. Under the auspices of the U. S. Coast Survey in 1862 he completed the survey of Potomac River northward from Blakiston Island. In 1871 he was elected a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, and he is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and of the American Philosophical Society. He was one of the original members of the National Academy of Sciences, and has served on its committees and its council. Among his more important scientific papers are " Combinations of Mechanism Representing Mental Processes" (1874); "Notes on Grant's Difference Engine" (1874); and "Terrestrial Magnetism and the Magnetism of Iron Ships" (New York, 1883). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 305.
ROGERS, George Clarke, soldier, born in Piermont, Grafton County, New Hampshire, 22 November, 1838. He was educated in Vermont and Illinois, whither he moved in early life, began the study of the law while teaching, and was admitted to the bar in 1860. He earnestly supported Stephen A. Douglas during the presidential canvass of 1860, in which he made a reputation as an extemporaneous speaker. He was the first to raise a company in Lake County, Illinois, at the opening of the Civil War, became 1st lieutenant, 24 May, 1861, and soon afterward captain. At the battle of Shiloh he received four wounds, but refused to leave the field, and led his regiment in the final charge. He was at once promoted to lieutenant-colonel for his gallant conduct, and soon afterward was commissioned colonel for gallantry at the battle of the Hatchie. At Champion Hills he received three wounds, from one of which he has never fully recovered. To the engineering skill of Colonel Rogers were due the works at Allatoona, Georgia, where General John M. Corse (g. v.) checked General Hood in his flank movement after the capture of Atlanta. He commanded a brigade nearly two years, including the Atlanta Campaign, and on 13 March, 1805, was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers. He has practised law in Illinois and Kansas since the war, and was three times a delegate to National Democratic Conventions. He was made chairman of the board of pension appeals on 15 June, 1885. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 305.
ROGERS, Henry J., inventor, born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1811; died there, 20 August, 1879. He devised the code of signals by means of flags that is known by his name, which was adopted by the United States Navy in 1846 and modified in 1861. Mr. Rogers also devised a code of signals by means of colored lights, which was the first pyrotechnic system in the United States. He was one of the practical advisers of Samuel F. B. Morse in the construction of the first electro-magnetic recording telegraph-line in the United States which was established in 1844 between Washington and Baltimore. When the experiment had reached a successful issue he was appointed superintendent of the line, with his office in Baltimore, and there made numerous improvements in the system. Subsequently he invented several important telegraphic instruments, and he was one of the incorporators, on 15 March, 1845, of the Magnetic Telegraph Company. the first telegraph company in the United States. He was associated in 1848 in the incorporation of the American Telegraph Company, and had charge of its lines from Boston to New York. Mr. Rogers was its first superintendent, and was likewise superintendent of the Western Union, Bankers and Brokers', and Southern and Atlantic Lines. During the Civil War he was acting master in the volunteer navy, and he afterward returned to Baltimore, where he spent the remaining years of his life. Mr. Rogers published “Telegraph Dictionary and Seaman's Signal-Book” (Baltimore, 1845); “American Semaphoric Signal Book " (1847); “American Code of Marine Signals" (1854); and, with Walter F. Larkins, edited “Rogers's Commercial Code of Signals for all Nations” (1859). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 305-306.
ROGERS, Horatio, lawyer, born in Providence, Rhode Island, 18 May, 1836. His grandfather, John Rogers, and two of his great-uncles, were officers in the Revolution. The grandson was graduated at Brown in 1855, admitted to the bar, served with great credit during the Civil War, and was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers, 13 March, 1865. General Rogers has served for several years as attorney-general of Rhode Island. He is a prolific newspaper and magazine writer, and has delivered several orations on public occasions, the most notable being at the unveiling of the equestrian statue of General Burnside in Providence, Rhode Island, 4 July, 1887. He also published “The Private Libraries of Providence” (Providence, 1878), and annotated and published the “Journal of Lieutenant James M. Hadden, Chief of the English Artillery during the Burgoyne Campaign” (Albany, 1884), the prefatory chapter and the notes to which work are characterized by great research. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 306.
RONCKENDORFF, William, naval officer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 9 November, 1812. He entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman, 17 February, 1832, became passed midshipman. 23 June, 1838, was commissioned lieutenant, 28 June, 1843, and in June, 1845, was bearer of despatches to the commander-in-chief of the Pacific Squadron, with which he served during the Mexican War. He was in the "Savannah " at the capture and occupation of Monterey and points on the coast of California, and returned to New York in September, 1847. He commanded the steamer " M. W. Chapin " in the Paraguay Expedition of 1859 and on Coast Survey duty in 1860, was commissioned commander. 29 June, 1861, and had charge of the steamer "Water Witch" from 1 March till 12 October, 1861, in the Gulf Squadron. On 27 December, 1861, he took command of the steamer "San Jacinto," with which he was present in Hampton Roads to fight the " Merrimac," and participated in the attack on Sewell's Point, 15 May, 1862, and in the capture of Norfolk on 18 May. He was in the " Ticonderoga," searching for privateers in 1863, and in February, 1864, he commanded the monitor " Monadnock " in operations in James River until the evacuation of Richmond, when he cruised to Havana in search of the " Stonewall." In July, 1865, he was transferred to the monitor "Tonawanda." He was commissioned captain, 27 September, 1866, and was at Philadelphia until 1 October, 1870, when he took charge of the iron-clads at New Orleans until 8 April, 1872. He commanded the steamer "Canandaigua," of the North Atlantic Squadron, in 1872-'3, was promoted to commodore, 12 September, 1874, and was placed on the retired list on 9 November, 1874, by reason of his age. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 316.
ROSE, Thomas Ellwood, soldier, born in Bucks County. Pennsylvania, 12 March, 1830. He was educated in the common schools, entered the National army as a private in the 12th Pennsylvania Regiment in April, 1861, became captain in the 77th Pennsylvania in October of the same year, was engaged at Shiloh, the siege and battles of Corinth and Murfreesboro', became colonel in January, 1863, and fought at Liberty Gap and Chickamauga, where he was taken prisoner. He escaped at Weldon, North Carolina, was retaken the next day, and sent to Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia, on 1 October, 1863. He almost immediately began preparations to escape. With the aid of Major Archibald G. Hamilton, of the 12th Kentucky Cavalry, he cut a hole in the solid masonry of the kitchen fire-place large enough to admit a man's body into the cellar below, their only implements being a broken jack-knife and an old chisel found in the prison, and their time of working between the hours of 10 p. m. and 4 a. m. This having been completed, a working-party of fifteen men was organized, under the command of Colonel Rose, who undertook the most dangerous and arduous part of the task. They cut through the stone wall of the cellar, and dug a tunnel fifty feet long through an earthen embankment, emerging at a point where the sentry could not see them, whence they found easy access to the street. This work occupied nearly three months, and during much of the time Colonel Rose and Major Hamilton worked alone. On the night of 9 February, 1864, the tunnel was completed, and 109 soldiers escaped, of whom 48 were retaken, including Colonel Rose. Rose was suffering from a broken ankle, and was in sight of the National lines when he was recaptured. He was again confined in Libby Prison, but left there on 30 April, 1864, and was ordered to Columbus, Ohio, where he was formally exchanged on 20 May, 1864, rejoined his regiment, and served with it from 6 June, 1864, until the close of the war, participating in the engagements around Atlanta and in the battles of Columbia, Franklin, and Nashville. He was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers "for gallant and meritorious service during the Civil War" on 22 July, 1865, and major and lieutenant-colonel in the regular army on 2 March, 1867, for Liberty Gap and Chickamauga. He became captain in the 11th U.S. Infantry in 1866, and in 1870 was transferred to the 16th Infantry. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 323.
ROSECRANS, William Starke, soldier, born in Kingston. Ohio, 6 September, 1819. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1842, standing fifth in his class, and entered the Corps of Engineers as brevet 2d lieutenant. He served for a year as assistant engineer in the construction of fortification at Hampton Roads, Virginia, and then returned to the Military Academy, where he remained until 1847 as assistant professor, first of natural and experimental philosophy, and then of engineering. Subsequently he served as superintending engineer in the repairs of Fort Adams, Rhode Island, on surveys of Taunton River and New Bedford Harbor, improvements of Providence and Newport Harbors, and at the Washington U.S. Navy-yard until 1 April, 1854, when he resigned, after attaining the rank of 1st lieutenant. He then established himself in Cincinnati as an architect and civil engineer. In 1855 he took charge of the Cannel Coal Company, Coal River, West Virginia, becoming also in 1856 president of the Coal River Navigation Company, and in 1857 he organized the Preston Coal-Oil Company, manufacturing kerosene. At the beginning of the Civil War he volunteered as aide to General George B. McClellan, who was then commanding the Department of the Ohio, and assisted in organizing and equipping home-guards. He was appointed chief engineer of Ohio, with the rank of colonel, on 9 June, 1861, and on 10 June was made colonel of the 23d Ohio Volunteers. Soon after organizing Camp Chase, at Columbus, Ohio, he received a commission as brigadier-general in the regular army, to date from 16 May, 1861; he took the field with command of a provisional brigade under General McClellan in western Virginia. His first important action was that of Rich Mountain, which he won on 11 July, 1861. After General McClellan's call to higher command, Rosecrans succeeded him, on 25 July, in the Department of the Ohio, which consisted of western Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. He had command of the National forces, and defeated General John B. Floyd at Carnifex Ferry, 10 September, 1861, and thwarted all Lee's attempts to gain a footing in western Virginia. These services were recognized by unanimous votes of thanks of the legislatures of Ohio and West Virginia, and in May he was ordered to report to General Henry W. Halleck, before Corinth, and given command of General Eleazar A. Paine's and General David Stanley's divisions in the Army of the Mississippi, with which he participated in the siege of Corinth. He succeeded General John Pope in the command of the Army of the Mississippi, and with four brigades fought the battle of Iuka on 19 September, where he defeated General Sterling Price, after which he returned to Corinth, where, anticipating an attack, he fortified the town, and on 3 and 4 October defeated the Confederate army under General Earl Van Dorn and General Sterling Price, which he pursued for forty miles when he was recalled. On 25 Oct: he was sent to Cincinnati, where he found orders awaiting him to supersede General Don Carlos Buell, and was made commander of the Department of the Cumberland, which was to consist of whatever territory south of the Cumberland he should wrest from the enemy. This command he held from 27 October, 1862, till 19 October, 1863, and during that time conducted a campaign remarkable for brilliant movements and heavy fighting. After reorganizing his army and providing twenty days' rations at Nashville, he advanced on the Confederate forces under General Braxton Bragg, on Stone River, 30 December, 1862. On the following morning the Confederates attacked the right wing of the National army and drove it back, while the left wing engaged the Confederate right. Meanwhile Rosecrans was obliged to re-enforce his right, and personally directed the reformation of the wing, thereby saving it from rout, although not without very hard fighting, in which both sides lost heavily. Two days later the battle was renewed by a furious assault on the National lines, but after a sharp contest the enemy was driven back with heavy loss. Unwilling to engage in a general action, the Confederate Army retreated to the line of Duck River, and the Army of the Cumberland occupied Murfreesboro’. This battle was one of the bloodiest in the war, and resulted in a loss of 9,511 by the National forces and 9,236 by the Confederates. As soon as Vicksburg was beyond the reach of possible succor from Bragg, by a brilliant flank movement Rosecrans dislodged him from his intrenched camps at Shelbyville and Tullahoma, and in fifteen days, 24 June to 7 July, 1863, drove him out of middle Tennessee. As soon as the railway was repaired, he occupied Bridgeport and Stevenson. From 7 July till 14 August railway bridges and trestles were rebuilt, the road and rolling-stock put in order, supplies pushed forward, and demonstrations made to conceal the point of crossing Tennessee River. From 14 August till 1 September he crossed the Cumberland mountains and the Tennessee River, and, threatening Bragg's communications, compelled him to withdraw from impregnable Chattanooga, 9 September, and retire behind the Chickamauga until General Joseph E. Longstreet's arrival with his corps. Rosecrans concentrated his forces with the utmost despatch to meet the inevitable combat. The battle was opened on the 19th by an attempt to gain possession of the road to Chattanooga, continued through the day, and resulted in Rosecrans defeating the attempt and planting General George H. Thomas's corps, re-enforced by General Richard W. Johnson's and General John M. Palmer's divisions, firmly upon that road; but during the night Longstreet came up, and was immediately given command of the Confederate left. On the following morning the contest was renewed by a determined attack on the National left and centre. At this moment, by the misinterpretation of an order. General Thomas J. Wood's division was withdrawn, leaving a ga in the centre, into which General Longstreet pressed his troops, forced Jefferson C. Davis's two brigades out of the line, and cut off Philip H. Sheridan's three brigades of the right, all of which, after a gallant but unsuccessful effort to stem this charge, were ordered to re-form on the Dry Valley road at the first good standing-ground in rear of the position they had lost. The two divisions of Horatio P. Van Cleve and Davis, going to succor the right centre, were partly shattered by this break, and four or five regiments were scattered through the woods, but most of the stragglers stopped with Sheridan's and Davis's commands. The remainder, nearly seven divisions, were unbroken, and continued the fight. The gallant General George H. Thomas, whose orders the night before, reiterated a few moments before this disaster, were to hold his position at all hazards, continued the fight with seven divisions, while General Rosecrans undertook to make such dispositions as would most effectually avert disaster in case the enemy should turn the position by advancing on the Dry Valley road, ' capture the remaining commissary stores, then in a valley two or three miles to the west. Fortunately, this advance was not made, the commissary-train was pushed into Chattanooga, the cavalry, ordered down, closed the ways behind the National right, and General Thomas, after the most desperate fighting, drew back at night to Rossville in pursuance of orders from General Rosecrans. On the 22d the army was concentrated at Chattanooga. The battle was a victory to the Confederates only in name; for Chattanooga, the objective point of the campaign, remained in the possession of the National forces. The total National loss, in killed, wounded, and missing, was 16.179; the Confederate loss, 17,804. General Rosecrans was relieved of his command on 23 October, and he was assigned to the Department of the Missouri in January, 1864, with headquarters in St. Louis, where he conducted the military operations that terminated in the defeat and expulsion from the state of the invading Confederate forces under General Price. He was placed on waiting orders at Cincinnati on 10 December, 1864, mustered out of the volunteer service on 15 January, 1866, and resigned from the army on 28 March. 1867, after receiving the brevet of major-general in the regular army for his services at the battle of Stone River. Later in 1867 he was offered the Democratic nomination for governor of California, but declined it. He was appointed minister to Mexico on 27 July, 1868, and held that office until 26 June, 1869, when he returned to the United States, and declined the Democratic nomination for governor of Ohio. Subsequently he resumed the practice of engineering, and in 1872-'3 was engaged in an effort to initiate the construction of a vast system of narrow-gauge railways in Mexico, at the instance of President Juarez. He became president in 1871 of the San Jose Mining Company, and in 1878 of the Safety Powder Company in San Francisco. He was also intrusted with a charter for an interoceanic railway from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific, made by the Mexican republic under considerations urged by him when envoy to Mexico, and he was requested to use his influence to induce American railway building skill and capital to undertake the work. He memorialized congress to cultivate friendly and intimate commercial relations with Mexico, and to encourage and assist the material progress of that country: and at the instance of American and English railway builders, and of President Juarez, he went to Mexico. He had for fifteen months so ably discussed in the newspapers the benefits of railway construction to Mexico that the legislatures of seventeen of the Mexican states passed unanimous resolutions urging their national congress to enact the legislation advocated, and the governors of six other states sent official recommendations to the same effect. In 1876 General Rosecrans declined the Democratic nomination for Congress from Nevada. He was elected as a Democrat to Congress from California, served from 5 December, 1881, till 4 March, 1885, and was appointed register of the U. S. Treasury in June, 1885, which office he still (1888) holds. For a full account of the Tennessee Campaigns, see General Henry M. Cist's "Army of the Cumberland" (New "fork, 1882); "Rosecrans's Campaign with the 14th Army Corps, or the Army of the Cumberland." by W. D. Bickham (Cincinnati, 1863): and Van Home's "History of the Army of the Cumberland" (2 vols., Cincinnati. 1875). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 323-325.
ROSENGARTEN, Joseph George, lawyer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 14 July, 1835. He was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1852, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1850, studied in Heidelberg in 1857, and practised after his return to his native city. During the Civil War he served on the staff of General John F. Reynolds in the Army of the Potomac. He has delivered numerous addresses before various literary and charitable associations, including one before the Pennsylvania Historical Society on the " Life and Public Services of General John F. Reynolds" (Philadelphia, 1880), and contributed frequently to periodicals. He is the author of "The German Soldier in the Wars of the United States " (Philadelphia, 1881). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 326.
ROSS, Alexander Milton, 1832-1897, physician, anti-slavery activist, abolitionist. Ross became active in the anti-slavery movement in 1856. Ross was an agent for the Underground Railroad, aiding escaping slaves to Canada. He was known among fugitive slaves as the “Birdman,” because he used the cover of being an ornithologist. He was a personal friend of radical abolitionist John Brown. During the Civil War, he served as a surgeon in the Union Army. Afterwards, he was employed as a confidential correspondent to President Abraham Lincoln in Canada. (Mabee, 1970, p. 285; Rodriguez, 2007; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 327)
ROSS, Alexander Milton, Canadian naturalist, born in Belleville, Ont., 13 December, 1832. He attended school at Belleville till his eleventh year, when the death of his father compelled his removal. He evinced a great love for natural history at an early age. In his boyhood he came to New York City, and after struggling with many adversities became a compositor on the “Evening Post.” William Cullen Bryant, its editor, was much interested in him, and remained his friend ever afterward. During this period he became acquainted with Garibaldi, who was then a resident of New York; and in 1874 Ross was instrumental in securing a pension for Garibaldi from the Italian government. In 1851 he began the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. Valentine Mott, in New York, and after four years of unremitting toil, working as a compositor during the day and studying medicine at night, he received his degree of M. D. in 1855. Soon after his graduation he was appointed a surgeon in the forces in Nicaragua, under William Walker. In 1856 he became actively engaged in the anti-slavery struggle in the United States becoming a personal friend of John Brown. During the Civil War he served for a short time as a surgeon in the National army, and afterward he was employed by President Lincoln as presidential correspondent in Canada, where he rendered important services to the U. S. government, receiving the thanks of the president and Sec. Seward. At the close of the war Dr. Ross offered his services to President Juarez of Mexico, and received the appointment of surgeon in the Mexican army. After the overthrow of the empire he returned to Canada and began to collect and classify the fauna and flora of that country, a work that had never before been attempted by a native. He has collected and classified hundreds of species of birds, eggs, mammals, reptiles, and fresh-water fish, 3,400 species of insects, and 2,000 species of Canadian flora. After his return to Canada he became a member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Quebec and Ontario, and was one of the founders of the Society for the Diffusion of Physiological Knowledge in 1881. Dr. Ross has been appointed Treasurer and Commissioner of Agriculture for the province of Ontario, and he has moved from Montreal to Toronto. He was knighted by the emperor of Russia, and by the kings of Italy, Greece, and Saxony in 1876, and by the king of Portugal in 1877. He was appointed consul in Canada by the kings of Belgium and Denmark, and received the decoration of the “Académie Française” from the government of France in 1879. He is a member of many scientific societies, and is the author of “Recollections of an Abolitionist” (Montreal, 1867); “Birds of Canada” (1872); “Butterflies and Moths of Canada” (1873); “Flora of Canada” (1873); “Forest Trees of Canada” (1874); “Ferns and Wild Flowers of Canada” (1877); “Mammals, Reptiles, and Fresh-water Fishes of Canada” (1878); “Vaccination a Medical Delusion” (1885); and “Medical Practice of the Future” (1887). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 327.
ROSS, Edmund Gibson, 1826-1907, U.S. Senator. Editor, Kansas Tribune, Free State Newspaper. (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 327-328; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 2, p. 175; Annals of Congress; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 18, p. 905)
ROSS, Edmund Gibson, senator, born in Ashland, Ohio, 7 December, 1826. He was apprenticed at an early age to a printer, received a limited education, and in 1847 moved to Wisconsin, where he was employed in the office of the Milwaukee “Sentinel” for four years. He went to Kansas in 1856, was a member of the Kansas Constitutional Convention in 1859, and served in the legislature until 1861. He was also editor of the Kansas “State Record” and the Kansas “Tribune,” which was the only Free-state paper in the territory at that time, the others having been destroyed. In 1862 he enlisted in the National army as a private, and in 1865 became major. On his return to Kansas, after the war, he was appointed to succeed James H. Lane in the U. S. Senate, and was elected to fill out the term, serving from 25 July, 1866, till 4 March, 1871. He voted against the impeachment of President Johnson, thus offending the Republican Party, with which he had always acted, and was charged with having adopted this course from mercenary and corrupt motives. After his term ended he returned to Kansas, united with the Democratic Party, and was defeated as their candidate for governor in 1880. In 1882 he moved to New Mexico, where he published a newspaper, and in May, 1885, was appointed by President Cleveland governor of that territory. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 327-328.
ROSS, Lawrence Sullivan, soldier, born in Bentonsport, Iowa, 27 September, 1838. He was graduated at Florence Wesleyan University, Florence, Alabama, commanded Texas frontier troops under General Samuel Houston, and became colonel of the 6th Texas Regiment of Cavalry in the Confederate Army on 24 May, 1862. He was made brigadier-general 21 December, 1863, and led a brigade in Wheeler's cavalry corps of the Army of Tennessee. In 1886 General Ross became governor of Texas. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 331.
ROSS, Leonard Fulton, soldier, born in Fulton County, Illinois, 18 July, 1823. He was educated in the common schools of Illinois and at Jacksonville College, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1845. In 1846 he joined the 4th Illinois Volunteers for the Mexican War, became 1st lieutenant, and was commended for services at Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo, commanding the body-guard of General James Shields while making a difficult reconnaissance. He also bore important despatches from Metamora to General Zachary Taylor and to General Robert Patterson in Victoria, Mexico. After the war he resumed his practice, and was probate judge for six years. He was chosen in May, 1861, colonel of the 17th Illinois Regiment, which he had raised, and served with it in Missouri and Kentucky, bearing himself with great gallantry at Fredericktown, Missouri, 21 October, 1861, where his horse was shot under him. In 1862 he was in command of Fort Girardeau, Missouri. He was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers on 25 April, 1862, after commanding a brigade since the capture of Fort Donelson, Tennessee, 16 February, 1862. After the evacuation of Corinth, 30 May, 1862, he was promoted to the command of a division and stationed at Bolivar, Tennessee. In 1867 he was appointed by President Johnson collector of internal revenue for the 9th District of Illinois. He has been three times a delegate to National Republican Conventions, and was twice a defeated candidate for Congress. Since 1860 he has given his attention to farming and has been interested in various agricultural societies. He has imported fine stock into this country, and now (1888) has a large farm in Iowa.—His brother, Lewis W, was a representative in Congress in 1863-'9. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 331.
ROSSER, Thomas Lafayette, soldier, born in Campbell County, Virginia. 15 October, 1830. He entered the U. S. Military Academy in 1850. but when Virginia seceded from the Union, although in the graduating class and about to receive a commission in the U. S. Army, he resigned and entered the Confederate army as 1st lieutenant of artillery. His services soon gained him promotion, and he was made captain in October, 1861, and lieutenant-colonel of artillery in June, 1862. During the same month he was given command of a regiment of cavalry and attached to the Army of Northern Virginia. He attained the rank of brigadier-general on 10 October, 1863, and was given command of the Virginia cavalry in the Shenandoah Valley. In this capacity he served under General Jubal A. Early when the latter was ordered to command the Confederate forces in the valley of the Shenandoah, and was present at the battle of Cedar Creek. General Rosser was conspicuous for his services in this campaign, and was constantly opposed by General George A. Custer, who had been his classmate at the Military Academy. In November, 1864, he was made a major-general of cavalry. After the war he turned his attention to engineering, and had charge of the Dakota, Yellowstone, and Missouri Divisions of the Northern Pacific Railway from 1870 till 1879. He held the office of chief engineer of the Canadian Pacific Railroad in 1881-'2, and is now (1888) president and general manager of the New South Mining and Improvement Company, and consulting engineer of the Charleston, Cincinnati, and Chicago Railroad Company. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 332.
ROUMFORT, Augustus Louis, soldier, born in Paris. France, 10 December, 1796; died in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 2 August, 1878. He came with his father to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, about 1805, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1817, and. after a short service in the Marine Corps in Washington and Philadelphia, resigned on 18 August. 1818. He was then professor of mathematics at Mount Airy College, Germantown, till 1826, and from that time till 1834 superintendent of a military school in that town, where many young men were prepared for West Point. He was reappointed in the army by General Jackson as military store-keeper of ordnance in 1834, and served at Frankford Arsenal till 1841, when he resigned again. Meanwhile he had become an active Democratic politician, and was in the legislature in 1843-'4, and harbor-master of Philadelphia in 1845-'8. He had been made captain of Pennsylvania Militia in 1820, and in 1843 had risen to the rank of brigadier-general, in which capacity he showed much vigor and prudence in suppressing the native American riots in 1844. He was connected with railroads from 1850 till 1860, and from 1863 till 1866 was mayor of Harrisburg, where he won reputation by his success in maintaining order during the crisis of the Confederate invasion. After this he engaged in literary pursuits till his death. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 335.
ROUSSEAU, Lovell Harrison, soldier, born in Lincoln County, Kentucky, 4 August, 1818; died in New Orleans, Louisiana, 7 January, 1869. He received but little schooling, and in 1838 his father died, leaving a large family in reduced circumstances. On becoming of age he went to Louisville, Kentucky, and began the study of law. Subsequently he moved to Bloomfield, Indiana, where in February, 1841, he was admitted to the bar in 1844-'5 he was elected to the Indiana legislature, of which he became an active member. He raised a company during the Mexican War. and was attached to the 2d Indiana Regiment, with which he participated in the battle of Buena Vista. After losing nearly one third of his men in that contest, he fell back to the hacienda, doing good service when the wagon-trains were attacked by the Mexicans. In 1847, four days after his return from Mexico, he was elected to the Indiana Senate, and served for two terms. He moved to Louisville, Kentucky, in 1849, and there followed his profession, being very successful in the management of difficult cases, especially in addressing the jury. At the beginning of the Civil War he was earnest in his efforts to restrain Kentucky from joining the Confederacy, and, resigning his seat in the state senate, began the organization of troops for the National army, and was appointed colonel of the 5th Kentucky Volunteers in September, 1861. On 1 October, 1861, he was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers and attached to General Don Carlos Buell's army. He took part in the battle of Shiloh. where he led a brigade of General Alexander M. McCook's division, and participated in the battle of Perryville on 8 October, 1862, where for his bravery he was promoted major-general of volunteers. Subsequently he succeeded General Ormsby M. Mitchel in the command of the 5th Division of the Army of the Cumberland, serving with great credit in the battle of Stone River, the Tullahoma Campaign, the movement at Chattanooga, and the battle of Chickamauga. From November, 1863, till November, 1865, when he resigned, he had command of the districts of Nashville, Tennessee, and Middle Tennessee, and during this time made a raid into Alabama, destroying the Montgomery and Atlanta Lines of railway. In 1864 he held the important post of Fort Rosecrans in the defence of Nashville against General John B. Hood. He was elected to Congress from Kentucky as a Republican, serving from 4 December, 1865, to 21 July, 1866, when he resigned after being censured by the house for publicly assaulting Josiah B. Grinnell, of Iowa, in the capitol, but he was reelected, serving from 3 December, 1866, till 3 March, 1867. He served on the Committee on Military Affairs, and was one of the representatives that were selected to attend the funeral of General Winfield Scott in 1866. President Johnson appointed him brigadier-general in the regular army on 28 March, 1867, and he also received at the same time the brevet of major-general in the U. S. Army for services during the Civil War. He was then sent officially to receive Alaska from the Russian government and to assume control of the territory. General Rousseau was summoned to Washington to testify in the impeachment trial of President Johnson, and was subsequently assigned to the command of the Department of the Gulf, with headquarters at New Orleans. He succeeded General Philip H. Sheridan in this command and continued there until his death. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 336.
ROWAN, Stephen Clegg, naval officer, born near Dublin, Ireland, 25 December, 1808. He came to this country in early life, and was appointed midshipman in the U.S. Navy from Ohio, 15 February, 1826, when he was a student at Oxford College. He became passed midshipman, 28 February, 1832, and during the Seminole War cruised in the sloop " Vandalia" on the west coast of Florida, conducting boat expeditions and participating in operations on shore from November, 1832, till October, 1836. He was commissioned as lieutenant, 8 March, 1837, served in the U.S. Coast Survey in 1838-'40, was executive officer of the sloop “Cyane " in the Pacific Squadron in 1846-'8, and during the Mexican War took part in the capture of Monterey and San Diego, where he landed and hoisted the American flag, 29 July, 1846. On blockade duty in the Gulf of California the " Cyane " captured twenty Mexican vessels and caused the destruction of several gun-boats. Lieutenant Rowan commanded the naval brigade under Commodore Robert F. Stockton at the victories of San Gabriel and La Mesa, 9 and 10 January, 1847, was slightly wounded in the shoulder, and highly commended for his valor and ability. He subsequently commanded an expedition ten miles into the interior of Mexico, where he routed a large force of Mexicans, who then ceased to attack the U. S. naval garrison. He was on ordnance duty in 1850-'3 and again in 1858-'61, commanded the store-ship "Relief" in 1853-'5, and was promoted to commander, 14 September, 1855. When the Civil War opened he was in charge of the steam sloop " Pawnee," which he brought to Washington from Philadelphia in February, 1861. Rowan was a resident of Norfolk, Virginia, where he had married, but, notwithstanding this and his affection to the south, he announced his adhesion to the National government, and was continued in the command of the "Pawnee." At the capture of Alexandria he covered the city with his guns. On 25 May, 1861, he took the " Pawnee" to Acquia Creek and participated in the first naval engagement of the war by the attack on the Confederate batteries there. He commanded this vessel in the bombardment and capture of the forts at Hatteras inlet by the squadron under Commodore Stringham, and fully shared the honor of this success. Rowan then destroyed Fort Ocracoke, twenty miles south of Hatteras. In January, 1862, he led the vessels in Goldsborough's expedition to the sounds of North Carolina. The "Delaware" was his divisional flag-ship, and, in the attack on Roanoke Island, 8 February, 1862, he directed the movements of the vessels. After the forts surrendered, the enemy's flotilla "was pursued by Rowan with fourteen improvised gun-boats into Pasquotank River, where he completely destroyed the Confederate vessels and defences. Several expeditions were conducted by Rowan through the sounds of North Carolina. On 12 March, 1862, he and General Burnside co-operated in the expedition to New Berne, North Carolina, where he compelled the forts to capitulate. He also captured Fort Macon at Beaufort, North Carolina, 25 April, 1862, and continued to follow up his successes by expeditions until the authority of the government was completely re-established in the waters of North Carolina. Rowan was commissioned captain, 16 July, 1862, and for his conspicuous gallantry he was also promoted to commodore on the same day. He next commanded the "New Ironsides" off Charleston, and in many months of constant conflict with the enemy increased his reputation. In the spring of 1864 his services in the " New Ironsides " were no longer required, and Rowan was relieved. He received a vote of thanks from Congress, and on 25 July, 1866, was promoted to rear-admiral by selection, in recognition of his eminent services. He commanded the Norfolk U.S. Navy-yard in 1866-'7, was commander-in-chief of the Asiatic Squadron in 1868-'70, and while on this duty was promoted to vice-admiral. He was in command of the naval station at New York in 1872-'9, served as president of the Board of Examiners in 1879-'81, was governor of the Naval Asylum at Philadelphia in 1881, and became superintendent of the Naval observatory in 1882. Admiral Rowan has been chairman of the Light-House Board since January, 1883, at Washington, D. C. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 337.
ROWLEY (rhymes with Cowley), Thomas Algeo, soldier, born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 5 October, 1808. He was educated in private schools, held several public offices in Pittsburg, and entered the U.S. Army as 2d lieutenant of Pennsylvania Volunteers to serve in the war with Mexico. He was afterward to captain, and served in Maryland and District of Columbia regiments. From 1857 till 1860 he was clerk of the courts of Alleghany County, and at the beginning of the Civil War he enlisted as captain in the 13th Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was promoted to be major and colonel. Re-enlisting as colonel of the 102d Pennsylvania Volunteers, he served three years, was made brigadier-general for services at Fredericksburg, Virginia, on 29 November, 1862, and resigned his commission on 29 December, 1864. From 1866 till 1870 he was U. S. Marshal for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and he now (1888) practices law in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 338.
ROWLEY, William Reuben, soldier, born in Gouverneur, St. Lawrence County, New York, 8 February, 1824; died in Chicago, Illinois, 9 February, 1886. After teaching in Brown County, Ohio, he settled in Galena, Illinois, where he held various civil offices, and in November, 1861, entered the military service as 1st lieutenant in the 45th Illinois Regiment. After the capture of Fort Donelson he was commissioned captain, 26 February. 1862, and appointed aide-de-camp on the staff of General Ulysses S. Grant. He distinguished himself at Shiloh by riding from the thickest of the fight at the Hornet's Nest toward Clump's Landing with orders to General Lewis Wallace to bring his troops to the field, for which service he was promoted major, 1 November, 1862. He served on the staff until the siege of Vicksburg, when he was temporarily detached from headquarters, and acted as provost-marshal-general of the departments of the Tennessee and Cumberland, with headquarters at Columbus, Kentucky. When General Grant was promoted lieutenant-general, Major Rowley was made lieutenant-colonel and military secretary on his staff, which office he held until 30 August, 1864, when he resigned, owing to impaired health. He was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers on 13 March, 1865. He then returned to Galena, Illinois, was elected county judge in 1877, which office he held at his death, and was also engaged in real estate business. Before his death he was the only surviving member of General Grant's military staff when he commanded the Army of the Tennessee, and he died on the day that closed the official term of mourning for General Grant. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 338-339.
ROYALL, William Bedford, soldier, born in Virginia, 15 April, 1825. He took part in the Mexican War in New Mexico as 1st lieutenant of Missouri mountain Volunteers, and did good service at the capture of Puebla de Taos and in the skirmish with Comanche Indians on Coon Creek, 18 June, 1848. He returned to civil life in October, 1848. In recognition of his gallantry he received a commission in the regular army, dating from 3 March, 1855, and he participated in an expedition to the headwaters of Conchos River in the following year. In 1859 he won great credit by a brilliant defence of his camp against hostile Comanches. Escaping from Texas in the beginning of the Civil War, he was commissioned as captain, 21 March, 1861, and was engaged at Falling Waters, the siege of Yorktown, Williamsburg, Hanover Court-House, where he earned the brevet of major, and Old Church, where he cut through the enemy to escape capture, receiving sabre wounds which disabled him for several years. He was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, was made a major on 7 December, 1863, and during the remaining period of the war was engaged in recruiting service. On 13 March, 1865, he was brevetted colonel. In 1868 he took the field against the hostile Indians in Kansas, commanding in a combat at Prairie Dog Creek. For a part of the time he was the commander of the Republican River Expedition of 1869, and was engaged in several affairs with the hostile Indians. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel on 2 December, 1875, and in 1876 took part in the Yellowstone Expedition, and was engaged at Rosebud Creek and in other actions. He was promoted colonel of cavalry on 1 November, 1882, and retired from active service on 19 October, 1887. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 340.
RUCKER, Daniel Henry, soldier, born in Belleville, New Jersey, 28 April, 1812. In his youth he moved to Grosso Isle, Michigan. He entered the U. S. Army as 2d lieutenant in the 1st Dragoons on 13 Oct, 1837, became 1st lieutenant, 8 October, 1844, and captain, 7 February, 1847, and served in Michigan, and against the Indians in the west and southwest. He participated in the war with Mexico, and commanded a squadron at Buena Vista, where for gallantry he was brevetted major on 23 February, 1847. On 23 August, 1849, he was transferred to captain assistant quartermaster. He declined the post of major of the 6th U.S. Cavalry on 14 May, 1861, became major quartermaster on 3 August, 1861, and colonel and aide-de-camp on 28 September, 1861. He was appointed brigadier-general, U. S. volunteers, on 23 May, 1863, and on 5 July, 1864, was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, colonel, and brigadier-general, U. S. Army, for diligent and faithful service during the war. On 13 March, 1865, he received the brevets of major-general, U. S. Army, and major-general, U. S. volunteers, for faithful and meritorious service during the war. He was appointed colonel and assistant quartermaster-general on 28 July, 1866, and was mustered out of the volunteer service on 1 September, 1866. Since that date he has served as quartermaster-general at various points, and on 13 February, 1882, was appointed Quartermaster-General of the army. He was retired on 23 February, 1882, and now (1888) resides in Washington, D. C. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 341.
RUFF, Charles Frederick, soldier, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 10 October, 1818: died there, 1 October, 1885. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1838, assigned to the 1st Dragoons, served in garrison and frontier duty in Kansas and Iowa, and resigned on 31 December, 1843. Until 1846 he practised law in Liberty, Missouri, and on 18 June, 1846, he enlisted for the war with Mexico as lieutenant-colonel of Missouri volunteers, being made captain in a regiment of Mounted Rifles in the U. S. Army on 7 July, 1846. He was brevetted major for gallant and meritorious conduct at the skirmish at San Juan de los Llanos, 1 August, 1847, and participated in the battles of Contreras, Molino del Rey (where he was wounded), and Chapultepec, and in the capture of the city of Mexico, after which he served on frontier duty in Washington Territory. In 1852–3 he was superintendent of the cavalry recruiting service, and in 1853 commanded the cavalry-school for practice at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. He was made major of Mounted Rifles on 30 December, 1856, served on the Navajo Expedition in 1858–'9, the Comanche Expedition in 1860, and was the bearer of despatches to the War Department in 1860–’1. He became lieutenant-colonel of the 3d U.S. Cavalry, 10 June, 1861, was mustering and disbursing officer at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 15 April, 1861, till 29 April, 1863, acting inspector-general of the Department of the Susquehanna from 29 June till 30 September, 1863, and retired from active service, owing to impaired health, on 30 March, 1864, having mustered into service more than 50,000 volunteers. He was brevetted colonel and brigadier-general, U.S. Army, on 13 March, 1865, for faithful and meritorious services in recruiting the armies of the United States. From 1868 till 1870 he served as professor of military science in the University of Pennsylvania. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 341-342.
RUFFIN, Edmund (ruf-fin), agriculturist, born in Prince George County, Virginia, 5 January, 1794; died on his estate of Redmoor, in Amelia County, Virginia, 15 June, 1865. In 1810—"12 he attended William and Mary College. He served in the legislature, was secretary of the State Board of Agriculture, agricultural surveyor of South Carolina, for many years was president of the Virginia Agricultural Society, and was the discoverer of the value of marl as a fertilizer of poor soil, by the use of which millions of dollars were added to the value of the real estate of eastern Virginia. He was a state-rights man and a secessionist, and was a member of the Palmetto Guard of South Carolina. At the beginning of the Civil War he went to South Carolina, and, by order of General Beauregard, his company was ordered to open fire on Fort Sumter, and as the oldest member he was selected by his comrades to fire the first gun, 14 April, 1861. He shot himself because he was unwilling to live under the U.S. government. Among other agricultural papers he edited the “Farmer's Register” from 1833 till 1842, and he also published “Essay on Calcareous Manures” (Richmond, 1831); “Essay on Agricultural Education ” (1833): “Anticipations of the Future to serve as Lessons for the Present Time” (1860); and edited “The Westover Manuscripts, containing the History of the Dividing-Line betwixt Virginia and North Carolina; a Journey to the Land of Eden, A. D. 1783; and a Progress to the Mines.” by William Byrd, of Westover (Petersburg, 1841; 2d ed., 2 vols., Albany, 1866). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 342.
RUGER, Thomas Howard, soldier, born in Lima, Livingston County, New York, 2 April, 1833. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1854, assigned to the Engineer Corps, and worked on the defences of New Orleans, Louisiana, but resigned, 1 April, 1855, and from 1856 till the Civil War practised law in Janesville, Wisconsin. He became lieutenant-colonel of the 3d Wisconsin Regiment, 29 June, 1861, and its colonel on 20 August, and commanded it in Maryland and the Shenandoah Valley till August, 1862, after which he was in the northern Virginia and Maryland Campaigns. He was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, 29 November, 1862, led a brigade in the Rappahannock Campaigns, and commanded a division at Gettysburg. In the summer of 1863 he was in New York City, where he aided in suppressing the draft riots. He then guarded the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad in Tennessee till April, 1864, led a brigade in Sherman's advance into Georgia till November, 1864, and with a division of the 23d Corps took part in the campaign against General John B. Hood's army in Tennessee, receiving the brevet of major-general of volunteers, 30 November, 1864, for services at the battle of Franklin. He then organized a division at Nashville, led it from February to June, 1865, in North Carolina, and then had charge of the department of that state till June, 1866, when he was mustered out. He accepted a colonelcy in the regular army, 28 July, 1866, and on 2 March, 1867, was brevetted brigadier-general, U. S. army, for services at Gettysburg. From January till July, 1868, he was provisional governor of Georgia, and from 1871 till 1876 .he was superintendent of the U. S. Military Academy. From the last year till 1878 he was in charge of the Department of the South, and in 1876 he commanded the troops during the trouble in South Carolina incident to the claims of rival state governments. (See Chamberlain, D. H.) He then commanded posts in the south and west, and on 19 March, 1885, was promoted brigadier-general. After temporarily commanding the Department of the Missouri in April and May, 1886, he was placed in charge of that of Dakota, with headquarters at St. Paul, Minnesota, where he is at present (1888) on duty. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 343.
RUGGLES, Daniel, soldier, born in Barre, Massachusetts, 31 January, 1810. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1833, entered the 5th U.S. Infantry, and served on frontier and recruiting duty till the Mexican War, in which, after his promotion as captain, 18 June, 1840, he won the brevet of major for gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco, and that of lieutenant colonel for Chapultepec. He then served mostly in Texas till his resignation on 7 May, 1801, for two years before which he had been on sick leave of absence. He then joined the Confederate army, was commissioned brigadier-general in the same year, served in New Orleans, and led a division at Shiloh and at Baton Rouge. He became major-general in 1863, and commanded the Department of the Mississippi. He repelled raids on the northern and southern borders of the state in 1863-'4, and in 1865 was commissary-general of prisoners. After the war he took charge of his large estate near Palafox, Texas, and also resided at Fredericksburg, Virginia. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 343.
RUGGLES, George David, soldier, born in Newburg, New York, 11 September, 1833, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1855, and assigned to the Mounted Riflemen. He served on frontier duty, including three Indian Expeditions, till the Civil War, and in 1858 was acting adjutant-general of the Department of the West, at St. Louis. In July, 1861, he was made assistant adjutant-general, with the staff rank of captain, and assigned to special duty in the War Department in the organization of volunteer forces. He became colonel on the staff on 28 June, 1862, was chief of staff of the Army of Virginia in General John Pope's campaign, and continued to serve as an additional aide-de-camp throughout the war, sometimes with the Army of the Potomac, of which he was adjutant-general from February till June, 1865, and sometimes in Washington, he took part in the battles of Antietam and South Mountain, and the assault and capture of Petersburg. On 9 April, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers for services during the operations that resulted in the fall of Richmond and surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee, and he was also given brevet commissions in the regular army to date from 13 March, including that of brigadier-general. Since the war he has served as adjutant-general of various departments, and on 15 June, 1880, he attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 344.
RUSCHENBERGER, William S. W., naval surgeon, born in Cumberland County, New Jersey, 4 September, 1807. After attending schools in Philadelphia and New York he entered the U.S. Navy as surgeon's mate, 10 August, 1826, was graduated in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1830, and was commissioned surgeon, 4 April, 1831. He was fleet surgeon of the East India Squadron in 1835-'7, attached to the naval rendezvous at Philadelphia in 1840-'2, and at the Naval Hospital in Brooklyn in 1843-'7, when he organized the laboratory for supplying the service with unadulterated drugs. He was again fleet surgeon of the East India Squadron in 1847-50, of the Pacific Squadron in 1854-'7, and of the Mediterranean Squadron from August, 1860, till July, 1861. During the intervals between cruises he was on duty at Philadelphia. During the Civil War he was surgeon of the Boston U.S. Navy-yard. He was on special duty at Philadelphia in 1865-'70, was the senior officer in the Medical Corps in 1866-'9. and was retired on 4 September, 1869. He was president of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia in 1870-'82, and president of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia in 1879-'83. He was commissioned medical director on the retired list, 3 March, 1871. Dr. Ruschenberger has published some of the results of his investigations during his cruises, by which he has acquired a wide reputation. Among his works are " Three Years in the Pacific " (Philadelphia, 1834; 2 vols., London, 1835); "A Voyage around the World, 1835-'7" (Philadelphia, 1838; omitting strictures on the British government, 2 vols., London, 1838); "Elements of Natural History" (2 vols., Philadelphia. 1850); "A Lexicon of Terms used in Natural History " (1850); " A Notice of the Origin. Progress, and Present Condition of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia" (1852); and "Notes and Commentaries during Voyages to Brazil and China, 1848" (Richmond, 1854). He has also published numerous articles on naval rank and organization (1845-'50), and contributed papers to medical and scientific journals, and he edited the American edition of Mrs. Somerville's " Physical Geography," with additions and a glossary (1850; new ed., 1853). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 348-349.
RUSK, Jeremiah McLain, governor of Wisconsin, born in Morgan County, Ohio, 17 June, 1830. He divided his time between farm-work and the acquisition of a common-school education till he attained his majority, and in 1853 moved to Wisconsin and engaged in agriculture in Vernon County. He entered the National army in l862, was commissioned major of the 25th Wisconsin Regiment, rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and served with General William T. Sherman from the siege of Vicksburg till the close of the war. In 1865 he received the brevet of brigadier-general of volunteers for meritorious service at the battle of Salkehatchie. He was elected bank comptroller of Wisconsin in 1866, which post he held till 1870, was chosen to Congress as a Republican in the latter year, served three terms, and as chairman of the Committee on Pensions performed important services in readjusting the pension rates. He declined the appointment of charge d'affaires in Paraguay and Uruguay, and that of chief of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which were offered him by President Garfield. Since 1882 he has been governor of Wisconsin, having been elected for three successive terms. During the threatened Milwaukee riots in May, 1886, he did good service by his prompt action in ordering the militia to fire on the dangerous mob when they attempted to destroy life and property. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 351.
RUSSELL, John Henry, naval officer, born in Frederick City, Maryland, 4 July, 1827. He entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman, 10 September, 1841, was attached to the "St. Mary's" in the Gulf of Mexico, 1844-'6, and participated in the first operations of the Mexican War and the blockade at Vera Cruz prior to the capture of that city. He became a passed midshipman, 10 August, 1847, and was graduated at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1848. He was attached to the North Pacific Exploring Expedition in 1853'6, and served in the sloop " Vincennes” under an appointment as acting lieutenant, and also as navigator. In this cruise the U. S. envoy to China was indebted to Lieutenant Russell for opening communication with the Chinese, who had refused all intercourse. Russell boldly pushed his way alone to the senior mandarin, and delivered despatches by which American and English envoys were admitted to audience. He was commissioned master, 14 September, 1855, and lieutenant, 15 September, 1855, and in 1860-'l, when on ordnance duty at the Washington U.S. Navy-yard, he was one of two officers there that remained loyal, notwithstanding that his ties and affections were with the south. He went to Norfolk to assist in preventing vessels at the navy-yard from falling into the hands of the secessionists, and had charge of the last boat that left the yard, 28 April, 1861. He was next attached to the frigate "Colorado," and on 14 September, 1861, he commanded a boat expedition to cut out the privateer " Judah " at Pensacola, under the protection of shore batteries and about 9,000 men. Russell boldly approached during the night, and after a severe hand-to-hand conflict, in which 20 of his force of 100 sailors were killed or wounded, himself among the latter, he succeeded in destroying the "Judah and regained the “Colorado." Admiral Porter, in his " Naval History," says that "this was without doubt the most gallant cutting-out affair that occurred during the war." The Navy Department complimented Russell. The state of Maryland gave him a vote of thanks, and President Lincoln personally expressed his gratitude. Russell was then placed in command of the steamer "Kennebec" in Farragut's squadron, was present at the surrender of the forts below New Orleans, and received the garrison of Fort Jackson as prisoners on his ship. Farragut thanked him for his service in saving lives of officers and men in the flag-ship's boat during a guerilla attack at Baton Rouge. He was commissioned lieutenant-commander, 16 July, 1862, was on ordnance duty at Washington in 1864, and commanded the sloop 'Cyane," of the Pacific Squadron, in 1864-'5. After being commissioned commander on 28 January. 1867, he took charge of the steamer "Ossipee" of the Pacific Squadron, in 1860-'71, and during a gale in the Gulf of California rescued the passengers and crew of the Pacific mail-steamer " Continental" in September, 1869. He became captain, 12 February, 1874, commanded the sloop " Plymouth" in 1875, and by prompt measures saved the vessels of the North Atlantic Squadron from an epidemic of yellow fever at Key West. In 1876-'7 he commanded the steamer " Powhatan" on special service. He was made commodore, 30 October, 1883, had charge of the Mare Island U.S. Navy-yard in 1883-'6. was promoted rear-admiral, 4 March. 1886, and voluntarily went upon the retired list, 27 August, of the same year. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p.
RUSSELL, David Allan, soldier, born in Salem, New York, 10 December, 1820; died near Winchester, Virginia, 19 September, 1864, was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1845, served in the Mexican War, and received the brevet of 1st lieutenant in August, 1847, for gallant and meritorious conduct in the several affairs with guerillas at Paso Ovejas, National Bridge, and Cerro Gordo. He became captain in 1854, was engaged in the defences of Washington, D.C., from November, 1861, till January, 1862, when he was appointed colonel of the 7th Massachusetts Volunteers, served with the Army of the Potomac in the Virginia Peninsular Campaign, and was engaged at Yorktown, Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, and the seven days' battles around Richmond. He was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, U. S. army, 1 July, 1862, for these services, became major of the 8th U.S. Infantry on 9 August of the same year, and participated in the battles of Crampton's Gap and Antietam. In November, 1862, he became brigadier-general of volunteers. He commanded a brigade of the 6th Corps in the Rappahannock Campaign, was engaged at Fredericksburg, Salem, and Beverly Ford, and at Gettysburg, for which battle he was brevetted colonel, 1 July, 1863. During the Rapidan campaign he participated in the capture of the Confederate works at Rappahannock Station, commanded a division in the 6th Corps in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, and North Anna, was brevetted brigadier-general, U. S. Army, 6. May, 1864, and participated in the actions at Cold Harbor and the siege and battles around Petersburg. He was then engaged in the defence of Washington, D.C., and in August and September, 1864, served in the Shenandoah Campaign in command of his former division. He was killed at the head of his column in the battle of Opequan, Virginia. He was brevetted major-general in the United States army, 19 September, 1864. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 354.
RUTHERFORD, Friend Smith, soldier, born in Schenectady, New York, 25 September, 1820; died in Alton, Illinois, 20 June. 1864. He was the great-grandson of Dr. Daniel Rutherford, of the University of Edinburgh, who is regarded as the discoverer of nitrogen. He studied law in Troy, New York, moved to the west, and settled in practice at Alton, Illinois. On 30 June, 1862, he was commissioned as captain and commissary of subsistence, but he resigned on 2 September in order to assume the command of the 97th Illinois Regiment. He participated in the attack on the Confederate works at Chickasaw Bayou, near Vicksburg, led the assault on Arkansas Post, and served with credit at the capture of Port Gibson and in the final operations against Vicksburg. He subsequently served in Louisiana, and died from exposure and fatigue a week before his commission was issued as brigadier-general of volunteers.—His brothers, Reuben C. and George V., served also in the volunteer army during the Civil War, and were both made brigadier-general by brevet on 13 March, 1865. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 356.
RYAN, Abram Joseph, poet, born in Norfolk, Virginia, 15 August, 1839; died in Louisville, Kentucky, 22 April, 1886. At an early age he decided to enter the Roman Catholic priesthood, and, after the usual classical and theological studies, he was ordained, and shortly afterward became a chaplain in the Confederate Army, serving until the close of the war. He wrote "The Conquered Banner" soon after Lee's surrender. In 1865 he moved to New Orleans, where, in addition to his clerical duties, he edited the "Star," a weekly Roman Catholic paper. From New Orleans he went to Knoxville, Tennessee, after a few months to Augusta. Georgia, and founded the "Banner of the South," a religious and political weekly. This he soon relinquished, and for several years was pastor of St. Mary's Church, Mobile, Alabama, but in 1880 his old restlessness returned, and he went to the north for the twofold object of publishing his poems and lecturing. He spent the month of December in Baltimore, where his "Poems, Patriotic, Religious, and Miscellaneous," were published. There also, about the same time, he delivered his first lecture, the subject being " Some Aspects of Modern Civilization." During this visit he made his home at Loyola College, and in return for the hospitality of the Jesuit fathers he gave a public reading from his poems, and devoted the proceeds, $300, to found a medal for poetry at the college. His lecturing tour was not successful, and in a few months he returned to the south, where he continued to lead the same restless mode of life. Father Ryan was engaged on a "Life of Christ" at the time of his death. His most popular poems, besides that mentioned above, are " The Lost Cause," " The Sword of Lee," "The Flag of Erin," and the epic "Their Story Runneth Thus." Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 359.
RYAN, George Parker, naval officer, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 8 May, 1842; died at sea, 24 November, 1877. He was appointed a midshipman, 30 September, 1857, and graduated at the U.S. Naval Academy second in his class in 1860. He was commissioned lieutenant, 16 Jury, 1862, and was navigator of the steamer "Sacramento" on special service in chase of the " Alabama" and " Florida" in 1862-'4. He was promoted to lieutenant-commander, 16 July, 1866, and attached to the U. S. Naval Academy as assistant professor of astronomy and navigation in 1866-'9. He was again on duty at the Naval Academy in 1871-'4, and was promoted to commander, 3 October, 1874. He organized parties for the observation of the transit of Venus of 1874, and was selected to take charge of the expedition to Kerguelen Islands. He was ordered to take command of the iron steamer "Huron" in 1876, and on 23 November, 1877, he sailed for Havana. The vessel was wrecked on Body Island, North Carolina, and Ryan, with most of his officers and crew, was drowned. At the time of his death he was one of the most scientific navigators of the service. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 359.
RYAN, William Albert Charles, soldier, born in Toronto, Canada, 28 March, 1843; died in Santiago, Cuba, 4 November, 1873. He was educated in Buffalo, New York. At the beginning of the Civil War enlisted in the New York volunteers, serving through the war, and rising to the rank of captain. He volunteered in the service of the Cuban junta in 1869, and when Thomas Jordan was made commander-in-chief of the revolutionary army became his chief of staff and inspector-general. He displayed bravery and military skill in conflicts with the Spanish troops, and several times returned to the United States to recruit new forces for carrying on the insurrection. His last expedition was in the “Virginius,” which was captured by the Spanish man-of-war “Tornado" on 31 October, 1873, seven days after leaving the port of Kingston, Jamaica, and taken into Santiago. crew were tried by court-martial, and all were condemned to death as pirates. After the sentence had been executed on General Ryan, and fifty-one others, the massacre was arrested through the interference of the captain of a British war vessel, and the surviving prisoners were subsequently released on the demand of the U.S. government. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 360.
