Encyclopedia of Civil War Military Biography – She-Spo
SHELDON, George William, author, born in Summerville, South Carolina, 28 January, 1843. He was graduated at Princeton in 1863, and served during 1864 at City Point, Virginia, in charge of the sick and wounded of General Grant's army. In 1865 he was appointed tutor in Latin and belles-lettres in Princeton, and in 1869 he became instructor in the oriental languages at Union Theological Seminary, New York, where he remained until 1873, after which he studied for two years in the British Museum. Mr. Sheldon then devoted himself to journalistic work and was art critic of the New York "Evening Post" in 1876-'82. and dramatic critic and city editor of the New York " Commercial Advertiser in 18846. He has published "American Painters" (New York, 1879); "The Story of the Volunteer Fire Department of the City of New York" (1882); "Hours with Art and Artists " (1882); "Artistic Homes" (1882); "Artistic Country Seats" (1886); "Selections in Modern Art" (1886); and "Recent Ideals of American Art" (1888). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 493.
SHELDON, Lionel Allen, soldier, born in Otsego County, New York, 30 August, 1829. He was brought up on a farm in Ohio, educated at Oberlin, taught for several years, and after attending the law-school in Poughkeepsie, New York, was admitted to the bar in 1851, and settled in Elyria, Ohio. He served one term as judge of probate, supported John C. Fremont for the presidential nomination in the Philadelphia Republican Convention in 1856, was commissioned brigadier-general of militia in 1860, and actively engaged in raising recruits for the National Army at the beginning of the Civil War. He became captain of cavalry in August, 1861, was chosen major soon afterward in the 2d Ohio Cavalry, transferred as lieutenant-colonel to the 42d Ohio Infantry, became colonel in 1862. and commanded the latter regiment in West Virginia, Kentucky, and eastern Tennessee. In November of that year, when his regiment was placed under General William T. Sherman at Memphis, he commanded a brigade which participated in the battles of Chickasaw Bayou and Arkansas Post. He led a brigade in the 13th Army Corps in 1863, was wounded at the battle of Fort Gibson, and participated in the capture of Vicksburg and in subsequent skirmishes. In March, 1855, he was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers. After the war he settled in New Orleans, Louisiana, practised his profession, and in 1869-'75 was in Congress, having been elected as a Republican. During this service he was chairman of the committee on militia. He was appointed governor of New Mexico in 1881, served till 1885, and was receiver of the Texas and Pacific Railway in 1885-'7. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 493.
SHEPARD, Elliott Fitch, lawyer, born in Jamestown, Chautauqua County, New York, 25 July, 1833. He was educated at the University of the city of New York, admitted to the bar in 1858, and for many years in practice in New York. In 1861 and 1862 he was aide-de-camp on the staff of Governor Edwin D. Morgan, was in command of the depot of volunteers at Elmira, New York, and aided in organizing, equipping, and forwarding to the field nearly 50,000 troops, he was instrumental in raising the 51st New York Regiment, which was named for him the Shepard Rifles. He was the founder of the New York State Bar Association in 1876, which has formed the model for the organization of similar associations in other states. In March, 1888, he purchased the New York " Mail and Express." Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 494.
SHEPARD, Irving, educator, born in Marcellus, Onondaga County, New York, 5 July, 1843. He received his primary education in the public schools in Michigan, entered the National Army in 1862, and served nearly three years in the 17th Michigan Volunteers. He commanded the party that burned the Armstrong House in the enemy's lines, in front of Knoxville, Tennessee, in November, 1863, was promoted captain for bravery in that action, and wounded in the battle of the Wilderness in May, 1864. He was graduated at Olivet College in 1871, was superintendent of city schools and principal of the high school, Charles City, Iowa, in 1871-'5, occupied a similar office at Winona, Michigan, from the latter date till 1879, and has since been president of the Michigan Normal School. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 494.
SHEPARD, Isaac Fitzgerald, soldier, born in Natick, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, 7 July, 1816. He was graduated at Harvard in 1842, was principal of a Boston grammar-school in 1844-'57, and served in the legislature in 1859-60. He became lieutenant-colonel and senior aide-de-camp to General Nathaniel G. Lyons in 1861, colonel of the 3d Missouri Infantry in 1862, and in 1863 colonel of the 1st Regiment of Mississippi Colored Troops, commanding all the colored troops in the Mississippi Valley. On 27 October, 1863, he was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, he was adjutant-general of Missouri in 1870-'l, and U. S. consul at Swatow and Hankow, China, in 1874-'86. He was chairman of the Missouri State Republican Committee in 1870-'l, and department commander of the Grand Army of the Republic at the same time. He edited the Boston " Daily Bee" in 1846-'8, the "Missouri Democrat" in 1868-'9, the "Missouri State Atlas" in 1871-2. and has published "Pebbles from Castalia," poems (Boston, 1840); "Poetry of Feeling" (1844); "Scenes and Songs of Social Life" (1846); "Household Tales" (1861); and several single poems and orations. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 494-495.
SHEPHERD, Oliver Lathrop, soldier, born in Clifton Park, Saratoga County, New York, 15 August, 1815. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1840, and assigned brevet 2d lieutenant, 4th U.S. Infantry, was promoted 2d lieutenant, 3d U.S. Infantry, on 2 October, 1840, served in the Seminole War, and became 1st lieutenant in the 3d U.S. Infantry, 3 November, 1845. In 1846 he was selected by General Zachary Taylor as commissary of the supply train in its march from Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande, and served in the war with Mexico, receiving the brevet of captain for gallant and meritorious conduct at Contreras and Churubusco, and that of major for Chapultepec. He was appointed captain on 1 December, 1847, served on the frontier, and commanded Fort Defiance, New Mexico, which he defended with three companies against a night attack of the Navajo Indians, with about 2,500 braves, on 30 April, 1860, and was afterward stationed at Fort Hamilton, New York. He then commanded a battalion of the 3d U.S. Infantry in the defences of Washington, became lieutenant-colonel of the 18th U.S. Infantry. 14 May, 1861, served in the Tennessee and Mississippi Campaign in the Army of the Ohio, and was engaged in the pursuit of the Confederates to Baldwin, Mississippi, 30-31 May, 1862, receiving the brevet of colonel for service during the siege of Corinth, 17 May, 1862. He participated in General Don Carlos Buell's movement through Alabama and Tennessee to Louisville. Kentucky, in July and September, and also in General William S. Rosecrans's Tennessee Campaign, serving with the Army of the Cumberland from November, 1862, till April, 1863, and commanding a brigade of regular troops from 31 December, 1862, till 3 January, 1863. He became colonel of the 15th Infantry on 21 January, 1863, and was brevetted brigadier general on 13 March, 1865. for service at Stone River. He became colonel of the 15th Infantry on 21 January, 1863, and from 7 May, 1863, till 13 February, 1866, he was superintendent of the regimental recruiting service at Fort Adams, Rhode Island, and he afterward commanded the 15th Regiment in Alabama during the reconstruction of that state in 1868, in which he performed an important part, and was also a commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau for Alabama. Consolidating the 15th and 35th Infantries, he marched with them to New Mexico in 1869. He was retired from the army on 15 December, 1870. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 495.
SHEPLEY, George Forster, soldier, born in Saco, Maine, 1 January, 1819; died in Portland, Maine, 20 July, 1878, was graduated at Dartmouth in 1837, and, after studying law at Harvard, began practice in Bangor, Maine, in 1840, but in 1844 moved to Portland. From 1853 till 1861 he was U. S. District Attorney for Maine, during which period he argued important cases in the U. S. Supreme Court. In 1860 he was a delegate at large to the National Democratic Convention in Charleston, and attended its adjourned session in Baltimore. He was commissioned colonel of the 12th Maine Volunteers at the beginning of the Civil War, and participated in General Benjamin F. Butler's expedition against New Orleans, commanding as acting brigadier-general a brigade at Ship Island, and at the capture of New Orleans he led the 3d Brigade, Army of the Gulf. On the occupation of that city he was appointed military commandant and acting mayor, and assigned to the command of its defences, resigning in June, 1862, when he was appointed military governor of Louisiana, serving until 1864. On 18 July, 1862, he was made brigadier-general of volunteers. After the inauguration of a civil governor of Louisiana, General Shepley was placed in command of the Military District of Eastern Virginia, became chief of staff to General Godfrey Weitzel, and for a short time during the absence of that officer commanded the 25th Army Corps. He continued with the Army of the James to the end of the war, entered Richmond on 3 April, 1865, and was appointed the first military governor of that city. Resigning his commission on 1 July, 1865, he declined the appointment of associate judge of the Supreme Court of Maine, but in 1869 accepted that of U. S. Circuit Judge for the First Circuit of Maine, which office he held until his death. Dartmouth gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1878. His decisions are reported in Jabez S. Holmes's " Reports" (Boston. 1877). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 496.
SHERIDAN, Philip Henry, soldier, born in Albany, New York, 6 March. 1831; died in Nonquitt, Massachusetts, 5 August, 1888. After attending the public school he was entered as a cadet in the United States Military Academy, 1 July, 1848. On account of a quarrel with a cadet file-closer in 1850, whose conduct toward him he deemed insulting, he was suspended from the academy for a year, but returned, and was graduated, 1 July, 1853, standing thirty-fourth in a class of fifty-two, of which James B. McPherson was at the head. General John M. Schofield and the Confederate General John B. Hood were also his classmates. On the day of his graduation he was appointed a brevet 2d lieutenant in the 3d U.S. Infantry. After service in Kentucky, Texas, and Oregon, he was made 2d lieutenant in the 4th U.S. Infantry, 22 November, 1854, 1st lieutenant, 1 March, 1801, and captain in the 13th U.S. Infantry, 14 May, 1861. In December of that year he was chief quartermaster and commissary of the army in southwestern Missouri. In the Mississippi Campaign from April to September, 1862, he was quartermaster at General Halleck's headquarters during the advance upon Corinth. It then became manifest that his true place was in the field. On 20 May, 1862, he was appointed colonel of the 2d Michigan Cavalry, and on 1 July was sent to make a raid on Booneville, Mississippi. He did excellent service in the pursuit of the enemy from Corinth to Baldwin, and in many skirmishes during July, and at the battle of Booneville.
In reward for his skill and courage he was appointed, 1 July, a brigadier-general of volunteers, and on 1 October was placed in command of the 11th Division of the Army of the Ohio, in which capacity he took part in the successful battle of Perryville, on 8 October, between the armies of General Buell and General Bragg, at the close of which the latter retreated from £ In this action Sheridan was particularly distinguished. After the enemy had driven back McCook's corps and were pressing upon the exposed left flank of Gilbert, Sheridan, with General Robert B. Mitchell, arrested the tide, and, driving them back through Perryville, re-established the broken line. His force marched with the army to the relief of Nashville in October and November. He was then placed in command of a division in the Army of the Cumberland, and took art in the two days' battle of Stone River (or Murfreesboro), 31 December, 1862, and 3 January, 1863. Buell had been relieved from the command of the army on 30 October, and Rosecrans promoted in his lace. The Confederate army was still under Bragg. The left of Rosecrans was strong, and his right comparatively weak. So the right was simply to hold its ground while the left should cross the river. The project of Bragg, well-conceived, was to crush the National right, and he almost succeeded. Division after division was driven back until Cheatham attacked him in front, while Cleburne essayed to turn his flank, and Sheridan was reached; the fate of the day seemed to be in his hands. He resisted vigorously, then advanced and drove the enemy back, changing front to the south (a daring manoeuvre in battle), held the overwhelming force in check, and retired only at the point of the bayonet. This brilliant feat of arms enabled Rosecrans to form a new line in harmony with his overpowered right. Sheridan said laconically to Rosecrans, when they met on the field, pointing to the wreck of his division, which had lost 1,630 men: “Here are all that are left.” After two days of indecision and desultory attempts, Bragg abandoned Murfreesboro and fell back to Tullahoma, while Rosecrans waited for a rest at that place.
Sheridan's military ability had been at once recognized and acknowledged by all, and he was ap£ a major-general of volunteers, to date from 31 December, 1862. He was engaged in the pursuit of Van Dorn to Columbia and Franklin during March, and captured a train and many prisoners at Eaglesville. He was with the advance on Tullahoma from 24 June to 4 July, 1863, taking part in the capture of Winchester, Tennessee, on 27 June. He was with the army in the crossing of the Cumberland mountains and of the Tennessee River from 15 August to 4 September, and in the severe battle of the Chickamauga, on 19 and 20 September The National right, under McCook, was driven off the field, and in #eat danger of being cut off, but General George H. Thomas held the centre with an iron grip, and General Thomas L. Crittenden commanded the left. Bragg maneuvered to turn the left and cut Rosecrans off from Chattanooga. During the battle there was a misconception of orders, which left a gap in the centre of the line which the enemy at once entered. The right being thus thrown out of the fight, the centre was greatly imperilled. For some time the battle seemed irrecoverably lost, but Thomas, since called “the Rock of Chickamauga,” held firm; Sheridan alone rallied many soldiers of the retreating centre, and joined Thomas; and, in spite of the fierce and repeated attacks of the enemy, the entire force fell slowly back in good order within the defences of Chattanooga, whither Crittenden and Rosecrans had gone. Rosecrans was superseded by Thomas, to whom was presented a problem apparently incapable of solution. He was ordered to hold the place to the point of starvation, and he said he would. The enemy had possession of the approaches by land and water, men and animals were starving, and forage and provisions had to be hauled seventy-five miles.
General Grant was then invested with the command of all the southern armies contained in the new Military Division of the Mississippi, embracing the departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee. He reached Chattanooga on 23 October, and the condition of affairs was suddenly changed. He ordered the troops relieved by the capture of Vicksburg to join him, and Sherman came with his corps. Sheridan was engaged in all the operations around Chattanooga, under the immediate command and personal observations of General Grant, and '' an important part in the battle of Mission Ridge. From the centre of the National line he led the troops of his division from Orchard Knob, and, after carrying the intrenchments and rifle-pits at the foot of the mountain, instead of using his discretion to pause there, he moved his division forward to the top of the ridge and drove the enemy across the summit and down the opposite slope. In this action he first attracted the marked attention of General Grant, who saw that he might be one of his most useful lieutenants in the future—a man with whom to try its difficult and delicate problems. A horse was shot under him in this action, but he pushed on in the pursuit to Mission Mills, with other portions of the corps of Thomas harassing the rear of the enemy, for Bragg, having abandoned all his positions on Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga Valley, and Missionary Ridge, was in rapid retreat toward Dalton.
After further operations connected with the occupancy of east Tennessee, Sheridan was transferred by Grant to Virginia, where, on 4 April, 1864, he was placed in command of the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac, all the cavalry being consolidated to form that command. Here he seemed in his element; to the instincts and talents of a general he joined the fearless dash of a dragoon. Entering with Grant upon the overland Campaign, he took part in the bloody battle of the Wilderness, 5 and 6 May, 1864. Constantly in the van, or on the wings, he was engaged in raids, threatening the Confederate flanks and rear. His fight at Todd's Tavern, 7 May, was an important aid to the movement of the army; his capture of Spottsylvania Court-House, 8 May, added to his reputation for timely dash and daring; but more astonishing was his great raid from the 9th to the 24th of May. He cut the Virginia Central and the Richmond and Fredericksburg Railroads, and made his appearance in good condition near Chatfield station on 25 May. In this raid, having under him kindred spirits in Merritt, Custer, Wilson, and Gregg, he first made a descent upon Beaver Dam on 10 #. where he destroyed a locomotive and a train, and recaptured about 400 men who had been made prisoners. At Yellow Tavern, on 11 May, he encountered the Confederate cavalry under J. E. B. Stuart, who was killed in the engagement. He next moved upon the outer defences of Richmond, rebuilt Meadow's bridge, went to Bottom's bridge, and reached Haxall's on 14 May. He returned by Hanovertown and Totopotomoy creek, having done much damage, created fears and misgivings, and won great renown with little loss. He led the advance to Cold Harbor, crossing the Pamunky at Hanovertown on 27 May, fought the cavalry battle of Hawes's Shop on the 28th, and held Cold Harbor until General William P. Smith came up with the 6th Corps to occupy the place. The bloody battle of Cold Harbor was fought on 31 May and 3 June. Setting out on 7 June, Sheridan made a raid toward Charlottesville, where he expected to meet the National force under General Hunter. This movement, it was thought, would force Lee to detach his cavalry. Unexpectedly, however. Hunter made a detour to Lynchburg, and Sheridan, unable to join him, returned to Jordan's point, on James River. Thence, after again cutting the Virginia Central and Richmond and Fredericksburg Railroads and capturing 500 prisoners, he rejoined for a brief space the Army of the Potomac. In quick succession came the cavalry actions of Trevillian station, fought between Wade Hampton and Torbert. 11 and 12 June, and Tunstall station, 21 June, in which the movements were feints to cover the railroad-crossings of the Chickahominy and the James. There was also a cavalry affair of a similar nature at St. Mary's Church on 24 June. Pressed by Grant, Lee fell back on 28 July, 1864. The vigor, judgment, and dash of Sheridan had now marked him in the eyes of Grant as fit for a far more important station. Early in August, 1864, he was placed in command of the Army of the Shenandoah, formed in part from the army of Hunter, who retired from the command, and from that time till the end of the war Sheridan seems never to have encountered a military problem too difficult for his solution. His new army consisted at first of the 6th Corps, two divisions of the 8th, and two cavalry divisions, commanded by Generals Torbert and Wilson, which he took with him from the Army of the Potomac. Pour days later, 7 August, the scope of his command was constituted the Middle Military Division. He had an arduous and difficult task before him to clear the enemy out of the valley of Virginia, break up his magazines, and relieve Washington from chronic terror. Sheridan grasped the situation at once. He posted his forces in front of Berryville, while the enemy under Early occupied the west bank of Opequan Creek and covered Winchester. In his division, besides the 6th Corps under Wright and the 8th under Crook, Sheridan had received the addition of the 19th, commanded by Emory. Torbert was placed in command of all the cavalry. Having great confidence in Sheridan, Grant yet acted with a proper caution before giving him the final order to advance. He went from City Point to Harper's Ferry to meet Sheridan, and told him he must not move till Lee had withdrawn a portion of the Confederate force in the valley. As soon as that was done he gave Sheridan the laconic direction, “ Go in." He says in his report: " He was off promptly on time, and I may add that I have never since deemed it necessary to visit General Sheridan before giving him orders." On the morning of 19 September, Sheridan attacked Early at the crossing of the Opequan, fought him all day, drove him through Winchester, and sent him "whirling up the valley," having captured 5,000 prisoners and five guns. The enemy did not stop to reorganize until he had reached Fisher's hill, thirty miles south of Winchester. Here Sheridan again came up and dislodged him, driving him through Harrisonburg and Staunton, and in scattered portions through the passes of the Blue Ridge. For these successes he was made a brigadier-general in the regular army on 10 September Returning leisurely to Strasburg, he posted his army for a brief repose behind Cedar creek, while Torbert was despatched on a raid to Staunton, with orders to devastate the country, so that, should the enemy return, he could find no subsistence, and this was effectually done. To clear the way for an advance, the enemy now sent "a new cavalry general," Thomas L. Rosser, down the valley; but he was soon driven back in confusion. Early's army, being re-enforced by a part of Longstreet's command, again moved forward with celerity and secrecy, and, fording the north fork of the Shenandoah, on 18 October approached rapidly and unobserved, under favor of fog and darkness, to within 600 yards of Sheridan's left flank, which was formed by Crook's corps. When, on the early morning of the 19th, they leaped upon the surprised National force, there was an immediate retreat and the appearance of an appalling disaster. The 8th Corps was rolled up, the exposed centre in turn gave way, and soon the whole army was in retreat. Sheridan had been absent in Washington, and at this juncture had just returned to Winchester, twenty miles from the field. Hearing the sound of the battle, he rode rapidly, and arrived on the field at ten o'clock. As he rode up he shouted to the retreating troops: "Face the other way, boys; we are going back!" Many of the Confederates had left their ranks for plunder, and the attack was made upon their disorganized battalions, and was successful. A portion of their army, ignorant of the swiftly coming danger, was intact, and had determined to give a finishing blow to the disorganized National force. This was caught and hurled back by an attack in two columns with cavalry supports. The enemy's left was soon routed; the rest followed, never to return, and the valley was thus finally rendered impossible of occupancy by Confederate troops. They did not stop till they had reached Staunton, and pursuit was made as far as Mount Jackson. They had lost in the campaign 16,952 killed or wounded and 13,000 prisoners. Under orders from Grant, Sheridan devastated the valley. He has been censured for this, as if it were wanton destruction and cruelty. He destroyed the barns and the crops, mills, factories, farming-utensils, etc., and drove oft5 all the cattle, sheep, and horses. But, as in similar cases in European history, although there must have been much suffering and some uncalled-for rigor, this was necessary to destroy the resources of the enemy in the valley, by means of which they could continually menace Washington and Pennsylvania. The illustration is a representation of "Sheridan's Ride," a statuette, by James E. Kelly. The steel portrait is taken from a photograph made in 1884. The terms of the president's order making Sheridan a major-general in the army were: "For personal gallantry, military skill, and just confidence in the courage and patriotism of his troops, displayed by Philip H. Sheridan on the 19th of October at Cedar Run, where, under the blessing of Providence, his routed army was reorganized, a great national disaster averted, and a brilliant victory achieved over the rebels for the third time in pitched battle within thirty days, Philip H. Sheridan is appointed major-general in the United States Army, to rank as such from the 8th day of November, 1864." The immediate tribute of Grant was also very strong. In an order that each of the armies under his command should fire a salute of one hundred guns in honor of these victories, he says of the last battle that "it stamps Sheridan, what I have always thought him, one of the ablest of generals." On 9 February, 1865, Sheridan received the thanks of Congress for " the gallantry, military skill, and courage displayed in the brilliant series of victories achieved by his army in the valley of the Shenandoah, especially at Cedar Run." During the remainder of the war Sheridan fought under the direct command of Grant, and always with unabated vigor and consummate skill. In the days between 27 February and 24 March, 1865, he conducted, with 10,000 cavalry, a colossal raid from Winchester to Petersburg, destroying the James River and Kanawha Canal, and cutting the Gordonsville and Lynchburg, the Virginia Central, and the Richmond and Fredericksburg Railroads. During this movement, on 1 March, he secured the bridge over the middle fork of the Shenandoah, and on the 2d he again routed Early at Waynesboro, pursuing him toward Charlottesville. He joined the Army of the Potomac and shared in all its battles. From Grant's general orders, sent in circular to Meade, Ord, and Sheridan, on 24 March, 1865, we learn that a portion of the army was to be moved along its left to turn the enemy out of Petersburg, that the rest of the army was to be ready to repel and take advantage of attacks in front, while General Sheridan, with his cavalry, should go out to destroy the Southside and Danville Railroad and take measures to intercept the enemy should he evacuate the defences of Richmond. On the morning of 29 March the movement began. Two corps of the Army of the Potomac were moved toward Dinwiddie Court-House, which was in a measure the key of the position to be cleared by Sheridan's troops. The court-house lies in the fork of the Southside and Weldon Railroads, which meet in Petersburg. A severe action took place at Dinwiddie, after which Sheridan advanced to Five Forks on 31 March. Here he was strongly resisted by the bulk of Lee's column, but, dismounting his cavalry and deploying, he checked the enemy's progress, retiring slowly upon Dinwiddie. Of this General Grant says: "Here he displayed great generalship. Instead of retreating with his whole command, to tell the story of superior forces encountered, he deployed his cavalry on foot, ... he despatched to me what had taken place, and that he was dropping back slowly on Dinwiddie." There re-enforced, and assuming additional command of the 5th Corps, 12,000 strong, he returned on 1 April with it and 9,000 cavalry to Five Forks and ordered Merritt. to make a feint of turning the enemy's right, while the 5th struck their left flank. The Confederates were driven from their strong line and routed, fleeing westward and leaving 0,000 prisoners in his hands. Sheridan immediately pursued. Five Forks was one of the most brilliant and decisive of the engagements of the war. and compelled Lee's evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond. Sheridan was engaged at Sailor's Creek, 6 April, where he captured sixteen guns, and in many minor actions, 8-9 April, harassing and pursuing the Army of Northern Virginia, and aiding largely to compel the final surrender. He was present at the surrender at Appomattox Court House on 9 April. He made a raid to South Boston. North Carolina, on the river Dan on 24 April, returning to Petersburg on 3 May, 1865. After the war Sheridan was in charge of the Military Division of the Gulf from 17 July to 15 August, 1866, which was then created the Department of the Gulf, and remained there until 11 March, 1867. From 12 September to 16 March he was in command of the Department of the Missouri, with headquarters at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Thence he conducted a winter campaign against the Indians, after which he took charge of the Military Division of the Mississippi, with headquarters at Chicago. When General Ulysses S. Grant became president. 4 March, 1869. General William T. Sherman was made general-in-chief and Sheridan was promoted to lieutenant-general, with the understanding that both these titles should disappear with the men holding them. In 1870 Sheridan visited Europe to witness the conduct of the Franco-Prussian War. He was with the German staff during the battle of Gravelotte, and presented some judicious criticisms of the campaign. He commanded the western and southwestern Military Divisions in 1878. On the retirement of Sherman in 1883, the lieutenant-general became general-in-chief. In May, 1888, he became ill from exposure in western travel, and, in recognition of his claims, a bill was passed by both houses of Congress, and was promptly signed by President Cleveland, restoring for him and during his lifetime the full rank and emoluments of general. He was the nineteenth general-in-chief of the United States army. Sheridan never was defeated, and often plucked victory out of the jaws of defeat. He was thoroughly trusted, admired, and loved by his officers and men. He bore the nickname of "Little Phil," a term of endearment due to his size, like the "petit corporal" of Napoleon I. He was below the middle height, but powerfully built, with a strong countenance indicative of valor and resolution. Trustful to a remarkable degree, modest and reticent, he was a model soldier and general, a good citizen in all the relations of public and private life, thoroughly deserving the esteem and admiration of all who knew him. In 1879 Sheridan married Miss Rucker, the daughter of General Daniel H. Rucker, of the U. S. army. He was a Roman Catholic, and devoted to his duties as such. He was the author of " Personal Memoirs" (2 vols., New York, 1888). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 497-500.
SHERMAN, Buren Robinson, governor of Iowa, born in Phelps, New York, 28 May, 1830. In 1849 the family moved to Elmira, where he attended the public schools, and in 1852 was apprenticed to a jeweler. In 1855 the family emigrated to Iowa, where he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1859, and began practice in Vinton in January, 1860. In 1861 he enlisted as a private in the 13th Iowa Infantry, was promoted lieutenant, was severely wounded at Shiloh, and advanced to captain for gallant conduct on the field, but in the summer of 1863 his wounds compelled him to resign. On his return he was elected county judge of Benton County, which post he resigned in 1866 to accept the office of clerk of the district court, to which he was three times re-elected. He was chosen auditor of the state in 1874, and twice reelected, retiring in January, 1881. In 1882-'6 he was governor of Iowa. During his two terms of service many new questions were presented for settlement, among which was that of total prohibition of the liquor traffic, which Governor Sherman favored in letters and speeches. He held public officers to strict accountability, and removed a high state official for willful misconduct. In 1885 he received the degree of LL. D. from the University of Iowa. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 501.
SHERMAN, Thomas West, soldier, born in Newport, R. I., 26 March, 1813; died there, 16 March, 1879. He was graduated at the U S. Military Academy in 1836, assigned to the 3d U.S. Artillery, served in the Florida War until 1842, became 1st lieutenant on 14 March, 1838, and subsequently was employed in recruiting and garrison service until 1846. He became captain on 28 May, 1846, engaged in the war with Mexico, and was brevetted major for gallant, and meritorious conduct at Buena Vista, 23 February, 1847. He served again on garrison and frontier duty from 1848 till 1861, during which time he engaged in quelling the Kansas border disturbances, and commanded an expedition to Kettle Lake, Dakota. On 27 April, 1861, he became major, and until 10 May, 1861, commanded a battery of U. S. U.S. Artillery and a battalion of Pennsylvania volunteers at Elkton, Maryland. From 21 May till 28 June he was chief of light artillery in the defence of Washington, D. C, having been made lieutenant-colonel, 5th U.S. Artillery, on 14 May, and brigadier-general, U. S. volunteers, on 17 May, 1861. He organized an expedition for seizing and holding Bull's Bay, South Carolina, and Fernandina, Florida, for the use of the blockading fleet on the southern coast, commanded the land forces of the Port Royal Expedition from 21 October, 1861, till 31 March, 1862, and led a division of the Army of the Tennessee from 30 April till 1 June, 1862. He participated in the siege of Corinth. Mississippi, commanded a division in the Department of the Gulf from 18 September, 1862, till 9 January, 1863, and in the defences of New Orleans from 9 January till 19 May, 1863, when he joined the expedition to Port Hudson, Louisiana, commanding the 2d Division of the 19th Army Corps, which formed the left wing of the besieging army. While leading a column to the assault on 27 May he lost, his right leg, in consequence of which he was on leave of absence until 15 February, 1864. He was made colonel of the 3d U.S. Artillery on 1 June, 1863. On his return to duty he was in command of a reserve brigade of artillery in the Department of the Gulf, of the defences of New Orleans, and of the southern and eastern Districts of Louisiana. On 13 March, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general, U. S. Army, for gallant services at the capture of Port Hudson, and also major-general of volunteers and major-general. U. S. Army, for gallant and meritorious services during the war. After the war, he commanded the 3d U.S. Artillery at Fort Adams, Rhode Island, the Department of the East, and the post of Key West, Florida. He was retired from active service as major-general on 31 December, 1870, for disability. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 502.
SHERMAN, William Tecumseh, soldier, born in Lancaster, Ohio, 8 February, 1820. His branch of the family is traced to Samuel Sherman, of Essex, England, who came to this country in 1634 with his brother, the Reverend John Sherman, and his cousin, Captain John Sherman. Roger Sherman, signer of the Declaration of Independence, traces his lineage to the captain, and General Sherman to that of the Reverend John, whose family settled in Woodbury and Norwalk, Connecticut, whence some of them moved to Lancaster, Fairfield County, Ohio, in 1810. The father of General Sherman was a lawyer, and for five years before his death in 1829 judge of the supreme court. His mother, who was married in 1810, was Mary Hoyt. They had eleven children, of whom William was the sixth and John the eighth. William was adopted by Thomas Ewing, and attended school in Lancaster till 1836. In July of that year he was sent as a cadet to West Point, where he was graduated in 1840 sixth in a class of forty-two members. Among his classmates was George H. Thomas. As a cadet, he is remembered as an earnest, high-spirited, honorable, and outspoken youth, deeply impressed, according to one of his early letters, with the grave responsibility properly attaching to "serving the country." He also at that time expressed a wish to go to the far west, out of civilization. He was commissioned as a 2d lieutenant in the 3d U.S. Artillery, 1 July, 1840, and sent to Florida, where the embers of the Indian War were still smoldering. On 30 November, 1841, he was made a 1st lieutenant, and commanded a small detachment at Picolata. In 1842 he was at Fort Morgan, Mobile Point. Alabama, and later at Fort Moultrie, Charleston Harbor, where he indulged in hunting and society, the immediate vicinity of the fort being a summer resort for the people of Charleston. In 1843, on his return from a short leave, he began the study of law, not to make it a profession, nut to render himself a more intelligent soldier. When the Mexican War began in 1846 he was sent with troops around Cape Horn to California, where he acted as adjutant general to General Stephen W. Kearny, Colonel Mason, and General Persifer F. Smith. Returning in 1850, on 1 May he married Miss Ellen Boyle Ewing, at Washington, her father, his old friend, then being Secretary of the Interior. He was appointed a captain in the commissary department, 2 September, 1850, and sent to St. Louis and New Orleans. He had already received a brevet of captain for service in California, to date from 30 May, 1848. Seeing little prospect of promotion and small opportunity for his talents in the army in times of peace, he resigned his commission, 6 September, 1853, the few graduates of West Point being at that period in demand in many walks of civil life. He was immediately appointed (1853) manager of the branch bank of Lucas, Turner and Company, San Francisco, California. When the affairs of that establishment were wound up in 1857 he returned to St. Louis and lived for a time in New York as agent for the St. Louis firm. In 1858-'9 he was a counsellor-at-law in Leavenworth, Kansas, and in the next year became superintendent of the State Military Academy at Alexandria, Louisiana, where he did good work; but when that state seceded from the Union he promptly resigned and returned to St. Louis, where he was for a short time president of the Fifth street Railroad.
Of the Civil War he took what were then considered extreme views. He regarded President Lincoln's call for 75,000 three-months' men in April, 1861, as trifling with a serious matter, declaring that the rising of the secessionists was not a mob to be put down by the posse comitatus, but a war to be fought out by armies. On 13 May he was commissioned colonel of the 13th Infantry, with instructions to report to General Scott at Washington. That officer had matured a plan of campaign, and was about to put it into execution. Sherman was put in command of a brigade in Tyler's division of the army that marched to Bull Run. His brigade comprised the 13th, 69th, and 79th New York and the 2d Wisconsin Regiments. The enemy's left had been fairly turned, and Sherman's brigade was hotly engaged, when the Confederates were re-enforced; the National troops made fatal delays, and, struck by panic, the army was soon in full retreat. Sherman's brigade hall lost 111 killed, 205 wounded, and 293 missing. On 3 August, 1861, he was made a brigadier-general of volunteers, to date from 17 May, and on 28 August he was sent from the Army of the Potomac to be second in command to General Robert Anderson in Kentucky. Few persons were prepared for the curious problem of Kentucky politics. What has been called the "secession juggle" was at least partially successful. On account of broken health, General Anderson soon asked to be relieved from the command, and he was succeeded by Sherman on 17 October It was expected by the government that the men, to keep Kentucky in the Union, could be recruited in that state, and that the numbers required would be but few; but this expectation was doomed to be disappointed. Sherman looked for a great war, and declared that 60,000 men would be required to drive the enemy out of the state and 200,000 to put an end to the struggle in that region. Most men looked upon this prophetic sagacity as craziness. He was relieved from his command by General Buell on 12 November and ordered to report to General Halleck, commanding the Department of the West. He was placed in command of Benton Barracks. At this time General Ulysses S. Grant was in command of the force to move on Forts Henry and Donelson in February, 1862, and just after the capture of these strongholds Sherman was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee. It consisted of six divisions, of which Sherman was in command of the 5th. In the battle of Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing, 6 and 7 April (see Grant, Ulysses S.), Sherman’s men were posted at Shiloh Church, and the enemy were so strong that all the detachments were hotly engaged, and Sherman served as a pivot. When the Army of the Ohio came up, during the night, Grant had already ordered Sherman to advance, and when the combined forces moved, the enemy retreated rapidly upon Corinth. The loss in Sherman's division was 2,034. He was wounded in the hand, but did not leave the field, and he richly deserved the praise of General Grant in his official report: "I feel it a duty to a gallant and able officer, Brig.-General W. T. Sherman, to make mention. He was not only with his command during the entire two days of the action, but displayed great judgment and skill in the management of his men. Although severely wounded in the hand on the first day, his place was never vacant." And again: "To his individual efforts I am indebted for the success of that battle." General Halleck declared that " Sherman saved the fortunes of the day on the 6th, and contributed largely to the glorious victory of the 7th." After the battle General Halleck assumed command of all the armies, and advanced slowly upon Corinth, acting rather with the caution of an engineer than with the promptness of a strategist. In the new movement General Sherman was conspicuous for judgment and dash. He was employed constantly where promptness and energy were needed. Two miles in advance of the army, as it was ranged around Corinth, he captured and fortified Russell's house, which is only a mile and a half from Corinth. Deceiving Halleck, the enemy were permitted to evacuate the town and destroy its defences. Sherman was made a major-general of volunteers, to date from 1 May, 1862. On 9 June he was ordered to Grand Junction, a strategic point, where the Memphis and Charleston and the Mississippi Central Railroads meet. Memphis was to be a new base. He was to repair the former road, and to guard them both and keep them in running order. General Halleck having been made general-in-chief of the armies of the United States, Grant was, on 15 July, appointed to command the Department of the Tennessee, and he at once ordered Sherman to Memphis, which had been captured by the National Flotilla, 6 June, with instructions to put it in a state of defence. Sherman, to secure himself against the machinations of the rebellious inhabitants, directed all who adhered to the Confederate cause to leave the city. He allowed them no trade in cotton, would not permit the use of Confederate money, allowed no force or intimidation to be used to oblige Negroes, who had left their masters, to return to them, but made them work for their support. He also effectually suppressed guerilla warfare.
The western armies having advanced to the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, the next step was to capture Vicksburg and thereby open to navigation the Mississippi River. Vicksburg was strongly fortified and garrisoned and was covered by an army commanded by General Pemberton posted behind the Tallahatchie. Grant moved direct from Grand Junction via Holly Springs, McPherson his left from Corinth, and Sherman his right from Memphis to Wyatt, turning Pemberton's left, who retreated to Grenada behind the Yalabusha. Then Grant detached Sherman with one of his brigades back to Memphis to organize a sufficient force out of the new troops there and a division at Helena to move in boats escorted by Admiral Porter's gun-boat fleet to Vicksburg to capture the place while he, Grant, held Pemberton at Grenada. The expedition failed from natural obstacles and the capture of Holly Springs by the enemy, and at the same moment General McClernand arrived to assume command of the expedition by orders of President Lincoln, and the Army of the Tennessee was divided into the 13th, 15th, 16th, and 17th Corps, of which Sherman had the 15th. To clear the flank, the expeditionary force before Vicksburg under McClernand returned in their boats to the mouth of the Arkansas, ascended that river a hundred miles, and carried by assault Fort Hindman, capturing its stores and five thousand prisoners, thereby making the Mississippi safe from molestation. In this movement Sherman bore a conspicuous part. The expedition then returned to the Mississippi River, and General Grant came in person from Memphis to give direction to the operations against Vicksburg from the river, which resulted in its capture, with 31,000 prisoners, on 4 July, 1863, thereby opening the Mississippi and fully accomplishing the original purpose. During this brilliant campaign General Sherman was most active, and therefore was appointed a brigadier-general in the regular army, to date 4 July, 1803. Meantime Rosecrans, having expelled the enemy from middle Tennessee, had forced him to evacuate Chattanooga, fought the bloody battle of Chickamauga, and fell back into Chattanooga, where he was in a precarious condition. On 4 October Sherman was ordered to take his corps, the 15th, from the Big Black via Memphis, with such other troops as could be spared from the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railway, toward Chattanooga. He moved, repairing the road as he went, according to the express orders of General Halleck. But on the 27th he received orders from General Grant to discontinue all work and inarch rapidly toward Bridgeport on the Tennessee. He lost no time in doing so. Sherman's 15th Corps, with other commands, by the rapid movement for Chattanooga, was now getting into position; he was preparing to cross the river from the west bank, below the mouth of the Chickamauga, with the purpose of attacking the northern end of Mission ridge, while a division of cavalry was sent to the enemy's right and rear to cut the railroad behind him. At 1 o'clock, on the morning of 24 November, Sherman crossed on pontoon bridges, and by 3 o'clock P. St. he was intrenched at the north end of Mission ridge. Thus the disposal of troops in Grant's line of battle was: Sherman on the left, in front of Tunnel Hill; Thomas in the centre, at Fort Wood and Orchard Knob: while Hooker was to come up from Wauhatchie. take Lookout mountain, and, crossing to Rossville, advance upon the ridge, to complete the organization. There was open communication between these bodies by special couriers. While preparations were making for the centre attack under Thomas, it was evident that the enemy's design was to crush Sherman. Pierce assaults were made upon him in quick succession, which he resisted, and thus performed good service in drawing the foe to his flank, while Thomas was making the main attack upon the ridge, which was successful. On the morning of the 25th Sherman pursued the enemy by the roads north of the Chickamauga, arriving at Ringgold on that day. and everywhere destroying the enemy's communications. During these operations General Burnside was besieged by Longstreet in Knoxville, Tennessee. and was in great straits. On 3 December, under orders from Grant, which another commander was slow to obey, Sherman made forced marches to Burnside's relief, and reached Knoxville not a minute too soon, and after supplying Burnside with all the assistance and re-enforcements he needed marched back to Chattanooga. Toward the end of January. 1864. he returned to Memphis and Vicksburg, whence with parts of McPherson's and Hurlburt's corps, then unemployed, he marched to Jackson and Meridian, where he broke up the Confederate combinations and destroyed their communications. On 2 March. Grant had been made lieutenant-general: on the 12th he assumed command of all the armies of the United States, with the purpose of conducting in person the campaign of the Army of the Potomac. On 12 March he assigned Sherman to the command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, comprising the Departments of the Ohio, the Tennessee, the Cumberland, and the Arkansas—in a word, of the entire southwestern region, with temporary headquarters at Nashville. In a letter of 4 March, 1864, Grant acknowledges to Sherman his great gratitude for the co-operation and skill which so largely contributed to his own success, and on 19 February. 1864, Sherman received the thanks of Congress for his services in the Chattanooga Campaign. On 25 March he began to prepare his command for action, to put the railroads in good condition, and protect them and to make provision for the supplies of the army in its approaching campaign. On 10 April he received his final instructions from Grant to move against Atlanta. Ordering his troops to rendezvous at Chattanooga, he made it his headquarters on 28 April. His force consisted of the armies of the Cumberland, General George H. Thomas; the Tennessee. General James B. McPherson; and the Ohio, General John M. Schofield. It was 09,000 strong, with 254 guns, while the Confederate army, under Johnston, about 41,000 strong, soon re-enforced up to 62,000 men. was prepared to resist his advance, and if Sherman had the advantage of attack, Johnston had that of fighting behind intrenchments and natural obstacles. Moving from Chattanooga, Sherman came up with him at Dalton, 14 May, and turned his position at Buzzard's Roost by sending McPherson through Snake Creek gap, when Johnston fell back to Resaca, After an assault. 15 May, Johnston retreated to Cassville and behind the Etowah on the 17th. After the turning of Allatoona pass, which he made a secondary base, and fierce battles near New Hope Church, in the neighborhood of Dallas. Johnston still further retreated to a strong position on Kenesaw mountain, having contracted and retired his flanks to cover Marietta. Sherman advanced his line with each retrograde movement of the enemy and pressed operations, continually gaining ground. Both armies habitually fought from behind log parapets until Sherman ordered an attack on the fortified lines, 27 June, but did not succeed in breaking through. He then determined to turn the position, and moved General James B. McPherson's army on 3 July toward the Chattahoochee, which compelled Johnston to retire to another intrenched position on the northwest bank of that river, whence he fell back on Atlanta as Sherman began to cross the river, threatening to strike his rear with a part of the army, while the rest lay intrenched in his front. On 17 July began the direct attack on Atlanta. General John B. Hood, who had superseded General Johnston on 17 July, made frequent sorties, and struck boldly and fiercely. There was a severe battle at Peach Tree creek on 20 July, one on the east side of the city two days later, and on the 28th one at Ezra Church, on the opposite side of Atlanta, in all of which the National forces were victorious. After an ineffective cavalry movement against the railroad. General Sherman left one corps intrenched on the Chattahoochee and moved with the other five corps on the enemy's only remaining line of railroad, twenty-six miles south of Atlanta, where he beat him at Jonesboro', occupied his line of supply, and finally, on 1 September, the enemy evacuated the place. Here Hood's presumption led to his own destruction. Leaving the south almost defenceless, he moved upon Nashville, where he was disastrously defeated by Thomas.
Sherman had sent Thomas to that city purposely to resist his advance, and with the diminished army he moved upon Savannah, threatening Augusta and Macon, but finding little to oppose him m his inarch to the sea. Sherman moved steadily forward until he reached the defensive works that covered Savannah and blocked Savannah River. These were promptly taken by assault, and communications were opened with the fleet, which furnished ample supplies to his army. Savannah thus became a marine base for future operations. Sherman announced in a brief note to President Lincoln the evacuation of the city. "I beg to present you," he writes," as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns, plenty of ammunition, and 25,000 bales of cotton." His army had marched 300 miles in twenty-four days, through the heart of Georgia, and had lived in plenty all the way. The value of this splendid achievement cannot be overestimated. On 12 August he had been appointed major-general in the U. S. army, and on 10 January he received the thanks of Congress for his "triumphal march." After the occupation of Savannah the question arose whether Sherman should come north by sea or march with his army through the Atlantic states. He preferred the latter plan. Schofield, leaving Thomas in Tennessee, was sent by rail and steamers to the coast of North Carolina with his corps (23d) to march upon Goldsboro', North Carolina, to co-operate with him. Sherman left Savannah in February, moved through the Salkehatchie swamp, flanked Charleston, compelled its evacuation, and entered Columbia on the 17th. Thence he moved on Goldsboro' by way of Winnsboro', Cheraw, and Fayetteville, opening communication by Cape Fear River with Schofield on 12 March, fighting at Averysboro and Bentonville, where the enemy resisted
Lee's surrender on the 12th, and on the 14th sent a flag of truce to Sherman to know upon what terms he would receive his surrender. "I am fully empowered," Sherman wrote to him, " to arrange with you any terms for the suspension of hostilities, and am willing to confer with you to that end. That a base of action may be had, I undertake to abide by the same conditions entered into by Generals Grant and Lee at Appomattox Court-House, Virginia, on the 9th inst." After considerable correspondence and a long interview with General Johnston, having in view an immediate and complete peace, Sherman made a memorandum or basis of agreement between the armies, which was considered by the government as at once too lenient and exceeding his powers. It included in terms of capitulation not only the army of Johnston, but all the Confederate troops remaining in the field. By the 7th article it was announced in general terms " that the war is to cease; a general amnesty so far as the executive of the United States can command, on condition of the disbandment of the Confederate army, the distribution of arms, and the resumption of peaceful pursuits by officers and men hitherto composing said armies." In order to secure himself against the assumption of power, the article is thus continued: "Not being fully empowered by our respective principals to fulfil these terms, we individually and officially pledge ourselves to promptly obtain authority, and will endeavor to his advance vigorously. At Averysboro' on the 16th General Henry W. Slocum with four divisions attacked the intrenched position of General William J. Hardee, and, turning his left flank, compelled him to fall back, while the cavalry, under General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick, were attacked and driven back by the Confederate Infantry of General Lafayette McLaws on the road to Bentonville. At the latter point General Johnston's force was attacked in a strongly intrenched position on the 19th by the left wing of Sherman's army, under General Slocum, whose right flank had been broken and driven back. After an obstinate combat, the Confederates withdrew in the night. Sherman and Schofield met at Goldsboro' on 23 and 24 March as originally planned. Leaving his troops there, he visited President Lincoln and General Grant at City Point, returning To Goldsboro' on the 30th. The interview on board the "Ocean Queen" is represented in the accompanying vignette copy of a painting by G. P. A. Healy, entitled " The Peacemakers," the fourth member of the group being Admiral Porter. Sherman is shown at the moment that he said to Mr. Lincoln: "If Lee will only remain in Richmond till I can reach Burkesville. we shall have him between our thumb and Angers." suiting the action to the word. He was now ready to strike the Danville road, break Lee's communications, and cut off his retreat, or to re-enforce Grant in front of Richmond for a final attack. He would be ready to move on 10 April. Johnston at Greensboro' received news of carry out the above programme." It was an honest effort on the part of a humane commander to put an end to the strife at once. Perhaps affairs were somewhat complicated by the assassination of President Lincoln on 14 April, which created great indignation and sorrow. It not only affected the terms between Johnston and Sherman, but it caused the latter to fall under the suspicion of the Secretary of War. On their arrival in Washington they were promptly and curtly disapproved by a despatch sent, not to Sherman, but to General Grant, on the morning of 24 April, directing him to go at once to North Carolina, by order of Secretary Stanton, to repudiate the terms and to negotiate the whole matter as in the case of Lee. General Sherman considered himself rebuked for his conduct. It was supposed that in the terms of agreement there was an acknowledgment of the Confederate government and a proposed re-establishment of the state authorities and that it might furnish a ground of claim for the payment of the Confederate debt in the future. Such certainly was not its purpose, nor does it now appear that such could have been its effect. Sherman was a soldier treating with soldiers, and deserved more courteous and considerate treatment from the government authorities, even if in his enthusiasm he had exceeded his powers. On 10 March. Sherman set out for Alexandria, Virginia, and arrived on the 19th. He determined then not to revisit Washington, but to await orders in camp; but he afterward, at the president's request, went to see him. He did not complain that his agreement with Johnston was disapproved. It was the publication that constituted the gravamen of the offence, its tone and style, the insinuations it contained, the false inferences it occasioned, and the offensive orders to the subordinate officers of General Sherman which succeeded the publication. These he bitterly resented at the time, but before Mr. Stanton's death they became fully reconciled. Preliminary to the disbandment of the National armies they passed in review before President Johnson and cabinet and Lieutenant-General Grant—the Army of the Potomac on 23 May. and General Sherman's army on the 24th. Sherman was particularly observed and honored. He took leave of his army in an eloquent special field order of 30 May. From 27 June, 1865, to 3 March, 1869, he was in command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, with headquarters at St. Louis, embracing the Departments of the Ohio, Missouri, and Arkansas. Upon the appointment of Grant as general of the army on 25 July, 1806, Sherman was promoted to be lieutenant-general, and when Grant became president of the United States, 4 March, 1869, Sherman succeeded him as general, with headquarters at Washington. From 10 November, 1871, to 17 September, 1872, he made a professional tour in Europe, and was everywhere received with the honors due to his distinguished rank and service. At his own request, and in order to make Sheridan general-in-chief, he was placed on the retired list, with full pay and emoluments, on 8 February, 1884. He has received many honors, among which may be mentioned the degree of LL. D. from Dartmouth, Yale. Harvard, Princeton, and other universities, and membership in the Board of regents of the Smithsonian institution, 1871-'83. A thorough organizer, he is also prompt in execution, demanding prompt and full service from all whom he commands. He is an admirable writer, and goes at once to the very point at issue, leaving no one in doubt as to his meaning. His favorites are always those who do the best work in the truest spirit, and his written estimate of them is always in terms of high commendation. Without being a natural orator, he expresses himself clearly and forcibly in public, and as he is continually called out, he has greatly developed in that respect since the war. In personal appearance he is a typical soldier and commander, tall and erect, with auburn hair carelessly brushed and short-cropped beard, his eyes dark hazel, his head large and well-formed; the resolution and strong purpose and grim gravity exhibited by his features in repose would indicate to the stranger a lack of the softer and more humane qualities, but when he is animated in social conversation such an estimate is changed at once, and in his bright and sympathizing smile one is reminded of Richard's words:
“Grim-visaged War has smoothed his wrinkled front." His association with his friends and comrades is exceedingly cordial, and his affection for those allied to him is as tender as that of a woman. A life of General Sherman has been written by Colonel Samuel M. Bowman and Lieutenant-Colonel Richard B. Irwin (New York. 1865), and he has published " Memoirs of General William T. Sherman, by Himself" (2 vols., New York, 1875; new ed.,'1885). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 502-506.
SHERMAN, John, 1823-1900, statesman. Whig U.S. Congressman, 1855. Republican U.S. Senator. Brother of General William T. Sherman. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. Brother of Union commander, (Appletons’, 1888, pp. 506-508; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 1, p. 84; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 19, p. 813; Congressional Globe)
SHERMAN, John, statesman, born in Lancaster, Ohio, 10 May, 1823, after the death of their father in 1829, leaving the large family with but limited means, the boy was cared for by a cousin named John Sherman, residing in Mount Vernon, where he was sent to school. At the age of twelve he returned to Lancaster and entered the academy to prepare himself for college. In two years he was sufficiently advanced to enter the sophomore class, but a desire to be self-supporting led to his becoming junior rodman in the Corps of Engineers engaged on the Muskingum. He was placed in charge of the section of that work in Beverly early in 1838, and so continued until the summer of 1839, when he was removed because he was a Whig. The responsibilities attending the measurements of excavations and embankments, and the levelling for a lock to a canal, proved a better education than could have been procured elsewhere in the same time. He began the study of law in the office of his brother Charles, and in 1844 was admitted to the bar. He formed a partnership with his brother in Mansfield, and continued with him until his entrance into Congress, during which time his ability and industry gained for him both distinction and pecuniary success.
Meanwhile, in 1848, he was sent as a delegate to the Whig Convention, held in Philadelphia, that nominated Zachary Taylor for the presidency, and in 1852 he was a delegate to the Baltimore Convention that nominated Winfield Scott. His attitude as a conservative Whig, in the alarm and excitement that followed the attempt to repeal the Missouri Compromise, secured his election to the 34th Congress, and he took his seat on 3 December, 1855. He is a ready and forcible speaker, and his thorough acquaintance with public affairs made him an acknowledged power in the house from the first. He grew rapidly in reputation as a debater on all the great questions agitating the public mind during that eventful period: the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the Dred-Scott Decision, the imposition of slavery upon Kansas, the Fugitive-Slave Law, the national finances, and other measures involving the very existence of the republic. His appointment by the speaker, Nathaniel P. Banks, as a member of the committee to inquire into and collect evidence in regard to the border-ruffian troubles in Kansas was an important event in his career. Owing to the illness of the chairman, William A. Howard, of Michigan, the duty of preparing the report devolved upon Mr. Sherman. Every statement was verified by the clearest testimony, and has never been controverted by any one. This report, when presented to the house, created a great deal of feeling, and intensified the antagonisms in Congress, being made the basis of the canvass of 1856. He acted with the Republican Party in supporting John C. Frémont for the presidency because that party resisted the extension of slavery, but did not seek its abolition. In the debate on the submarine telegraph he showed his opposition to monopolists by saying: “I cannot agree that our government should be bound by any contract with any private incorporated company for fifty years; and the amendment I desire to offer will reserve the power to Congress to determine the proposed contract after ten years.” All bills making appropriations for public expenditures were closely scrutinized, and the then prevalent system of making contracts in advance of appropriations was denounced by him as illegal. At the close of his second congressional term he was recognized as the foremost man in the house of representatives. He had from deep and unchanged conviction adopted the political faith of the Republican Party, but without any partisan rancor or malignity toward the south.
He was re-elected to the 36th Congress, which began its first session amid the excitement caused by the bold raid of John Brown. In 1859 he was the Republican candidate for the speakership. He had subscribed, with no knowledge of the book, for Hinton R. Helper's “Impending Crisis,” and this fact was brought up against him and estranged from him a few of the southern Whigs, who besought him to declare that he was not hostile to slavery. He refused, and after eight weeks of balloting, in which he came within three votes of election, he yielded to William Pennington, who was chosen. Mr. Sherman was then made chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means. He took a decided stand against in drafting new legislation upon appropriation bills, saying: “The theory of appropriation bills is, that they shall provide money to carry on the government, to execute existing laws, and not to change existing laws or provide new ones.” In 1860 he was again elected to Congress, and, when that body convened in December, the seceding members of both houses were outspoken and defiant. At the beginning of President Buchanan's administration the public indebtedness was less than $20,000,000, but by this time it had been increased to nearly $100,000,000, and in such a crippled condition were its finances that the government had not been able to pay the salaries of members of Congress and many other demands. Mr. Sherman proved equal to the occasion in providing the means for the future support of the government. His first step was to secure the passage of a bill authorizing the issue of what are known as the treasury-notes of 1860.
On the resignation of Salmon P. Chase, he was elected to his place in the Senate, and took his seat on 4 March, 1861. He was re-elected senator in 1867 and in 1873. During most of his senatorial career he was chairman of the Committee on Finance, and served also on the committees on agriculture, the Pacific Railroad, the Judiciary, and the Patent Office. After the fall of Fort Sumter, under the call of President Lincoln for 75,000 troops he tendered his services to General Robert Patterson, was appointed aide-de-camp without pay, and remained with the Ohio regiments till the meeting of Congress in July. After the close of this extra session he returned to Ohio, and received authority from Governor William Denison to raise a brigade. Largely at his own expense, he recruited two regiments of infantry, a squadron of cavalry, and a battery of artillery, comprising over 2,300 men. This force served during the whole war, and was known as the “Sherman Brigade.” The most valuable services rendered by him to the Union cause were his efforts in the Senate to maintain and strengthen the public credit, and to provide for the support of the armies in the field. On the suspension of specie payments, about the first of January, 1862, the issue of United States notes became a necessity. The question of making them a legal tender was not at first received with favor. Mainly through the efforts of Senator Sherman and Secretary Chase, this feature of the bill authorizing their issue was carried through Congress. They justified the legal-tender clause of the bill on the ground of necessity. In the debates on this question Mr. Sherman said: “I do believe there is a pressing necessity that these demand-notes should be made legal tender, if we want to avoid the evils of a depreciated and dishonored paper currency. I do believe we have the constitutional power to pass such a provision, and that the public safety now demands its exercise.” The records of the debate show that he made the only speech in the Senate-in favor of the National-Bank Bill. Its final passage was secured only by the personal appeals of Secretary Chase to the senators who opposed it. Mr. Sherman's speeches on state and national banks are the most important that he made during the war. He introduced a refunding act in 1867, which was adopted in 1870, but without the resumption clause. In 1874 a committee of nine, of which he was chairman, was appointed by a Republican caucus to secure a concurrence of action. They agreed upon a bill fixing the time for the resumption of specie payment at 1 January, 1879. This bill was reported to the caucus and the Senate with the distinct understanding that there should be no debate on the side of the Republicans, and that Mr. Sherman should be left to manage it according to his own discretion. The bill was passed, leaving its execution dependent upon the will of the Secretary of the Treasury for the time being.
Mr. Sherman was an active supporter of Rutherford B. Hayes for the presidency in 1876, was a member of the committee that visited Louisiana to witness the counting of the returns of that state. He was appointed Secretary of the Treasury by President Hayes in March, 1877, and immediately set about providing a redemption fund by means of loans. Six months before 1 January, 1879, the date fixed by law for redemption of specie payments, he had accumulated $140,000,000 in gold, and he had the satisfaction of seeing the legal-tender notes gradually approach gold in value until, when the day came, there was practically no demand for gold in exchange for the notes. In 1880 Mr. Sherman was an avowed candidate for the presidential nomination, and his name was presented in the National Convention by James A. Garfield. During the contest between the supporters of General Grant and those of James G. Blaine, which resulted in Mr. Garfield's nomination, Mr. Sherman's vote ranged from 90 to 97. He returned to the Senate in 1881, and on the expiration of his term in 1887 was re-elected to serve until 1893. At present (1888) he is chairman of the committee on foreign relations, and is an active member of the committees on Expenditures of Public Money, Finance, and Rules. In December, 1885, he was chosen President of the Senate Pro Tem, but he declined re-election at the close of his senatorial term in 1887. His name was presented by Joseph B. Foraker in nomination for the presidency at the National Convention held in 1884, but the Ohio delegation was divided between him and James G. Blaine, so that he received only 30 votes from this state. Again in 1888 his name was presented by Daniel H. Hastings, in behalf of the Pennsylvania delegation at the National Convention, and on the first ballot he received 229 votes and on the second 249, being the leading candidate, and continued so until Benjamin Harrison received the support of those whose names were withdrawn. Mr. Sherman has published “Selected Speeches and Reports on Finance and Taxation, 1859–1878" (New York, 1879). See “John Sherman, What he has said and done: Life and Public Services,” by Reverend Sherlock A. Bronson (Columbus, Ohio, 1880). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 506-508.
SHIELDS, James, soldier, born in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1810; died in Ottumwa, Iowa, 1 June, 1879. He emigrated to the United States in 1826, studied law, and began practice at Kaskaskia, Illinois, in 1832. He was sent to the legislature in 1836, elected state auditor in 1839, in 1843 appointed a judge of the state supreme court. and in 1845 made commissioner of the general land office. When the war with Mexico began he was appointed a brigadier-general, his commission dating from 1 July, 1846, and was assigned to the command of the Illinois. He served under General Zachary Taylor on the Rio Grande under General John E. Wool in Chihuahua and through General Winfield Scott's campaign. At Cerro Gordo he gained the brevet of major-general, and was shot through the lung. After his recovery he took part in the operations in the valley of Mexico, commanding a brigade comprised of Marines and of New York and South Carolina volunteers, and at Chapultepec he was again severely wounded. He was mustered out on 20 July, 1848, and in the same year received the appointment of governor of Oregon Territory. This office he resigned on being elected U.S. Senator from Illinois as a Democrat, and served from 3 December, 1849, till 3 March, 1855. After the expiration of his term he moved to Minnesota, and when the state government was organized he returned to the U.S. Senate as one of the representatives of the new state, taking his seat on 12 May, 1858, and serving till 3 March, 1859. At the end of his term he settled in California, and at the beginning of hostilities in 1861 was in Mexico, where he was engaged in superintending a mine. Hastening to Washington, he was appointed a brigadier-general of volunteers on 19 August. He was assigned to the command of General Frederick W. Lander's brigade after the latter's death, and on 23 March, 1862, at the head of a division of General Nathaniel P. Banks's army in the Shenandoah Valley, he opened the second campaign with the victory at Winchester, Virginia, after receiving a severe wound in the preparatory movements on the preceding day. He was in command at Port Republic on 9 June, and was defeated by General Thomas J. Jackson. Resigning his commission on 28 March, 1863, he settled in California, but soon moved to Carrollton, Missouri, where he resumed the practice of law. He served as a railroad commissioner, and was a member of the legislature in 1874 and 1879. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 509.
SHIPPEN, Edward, surgeon, born in New Jersey, 18 June, 1826, is the son of Richard Shippen. He was graduated at Princeton in 1845, and at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1848, entered the U.S. Navy as assistant surgeon, 7 August, 1849, and was commissioned surgeon, 26 April, 1861. He was on the "Congress" when she was destroyed by the "Merrimac" at Newport News, Virginia, and was injured by a shell, and in 1864-'5 was on the ironclad frigate " New Ironsides " in both attacks on Fort Fisher and the operations of Bermuda Hundred. He made the Russian cruise under Admiral Farragut, was commissioned medical inspector in 1871, was fleet-surgeon of the European Squadron in 1871-3, in charge of the Naval Hospital in 1874-'7, commissioned medical director in 1876, and was president of the Naval Medical Examining Board at Philadelphia in 1880-'2. Dr. Shippen has contributed largely to Hamersley's "Naval Encyclopaedia," the "United Service Magazine," and to kindred publications. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 513.
SHIRAS, Alexander Eakin, soldier, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 10 August, 1812; died in Washington, D. C, 14 April, 1875. His grandfather emigrated from Petershead, Scotland, about 1765. The son was appointed to the U. S. Military Academy through his uncle, Major Constantine M. Eakin, and was graduated there in 1833. He was assigned to the 4th U.S. Artillery, and served on frontier and garrison duty till 1839, when he was assistant professor of mathematics at West Point till 1843. He was made commissary of subsistence, 3 March, 1847, with the staff rank of captain, and served in the Subsistence Bureau in Washington till his death, rising to the head of his department, with the rank of brigadier-general, which he attained on 23 June. 1874. A large share of the credit for the manner in which the National Armies were supplied during the Civil War is due to General Shiras. At the close of the war he was brevetted brigadier-general and major-general, U. S. Army. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 513.
SHIRLEY, Paul, naval officer, born in Kentucky, 19 December, 1820; died in Columbus, Ohio, 24 November, 1876. He entered the U.S. Navy in 1839 became master, 3 December, 1853; lieutenant, 21 July, 1854; commander, 5 November, 1863; and captain, 1 July, 1870. While in command of the sloop "Cyane," of the Pacific Squadron, he captured the piratical cruiser "J. M. Chapman " in 1863, for which service he was complimented by Rear-Admiral Charles H. Bell. He also, while in command of the "Suwanee," took the piratical steamer "Colon," at Cape St. Lucas, Lower California, and thereby saved two mail steamers that would have been captured. He was fleet-captain of the North Pacific Squadron, and commanded the flag-ship " Pensacola in 1867-8, and was in charge of the receiving-ship "Independence," at Mare Island, California, in 1869-'70. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 514
SHOCK, William Henry, naval officer, born in Baltimore, Maryland, 15 June, 1821. He entered the U.S. Navy as 3d assistant engineer. 18 January, 1845, and served in the Mexican War. He was promoted 2d assistant engineer. 10 July. 1847, became 1st assistant engineer, 31 October, 1848, was senior engineer of the coast-survey steamer "Legaree " in 1849, and superintended the construction of the machinery of the steamer "Susquehanna " at Philadelphia in 1850-'l. He was promoted to chief engineer, 11 March, 1851, superintended the construction of the machinery of the steamer "Princeton" at Boston in 1851-2, and, after a year's service as engineer inspector of U. S. Mail Steamers, made a cruise as chief engineer of the "Princeton" and superintended the construction of marine-engines at West Point, New York, in 1854-'5. He was president of the Examining Board of Engineers in 1860-'2, after which he superintended the building of river monitors at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1862-'3. He was fleet engineer under Admiral Farragut during the operations at Mobile, where he rendered valuable services, as also under Admiral Thatcher in 1863-'5. In the summer of 1870 he was temporarily appointed chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, which post he filled again in 1871, and received the written thanks of the department for the efficient manner in which he had discharged the duties. In 1873 he went to Europe to inspect foreign dock-yards and to represent the Bureau of Steam Engineering at the Vienna Exhibition, and was appointed one of the American judges of award by the president. He was appointed engineer-in-chief of the U.S. Navy, 3 March, 1877, in which capacity he served until 15 June, 1883, when he was retired. He has been for many years an active member of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia and a contributor to the journal of that institution. In 1868 he designed and constructed projectiles to have a rotary motion when fired from smooth bore guns, the experiments with which resulted satisfactorily. He has also invented and patented a relieving cushion for wire rigging for ships, which has been adopted in the navy (1869), a projectile for small arms, improving the efficiency of muskets (1870), and steam radiators and attachments for heating purposes (1874). He is the author of "Steam Boilers: their Design, Construction, and Management" (New York, 1881). This became the text-book of the U.S. Naval Academy on the subject and is a standard work. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 514-515.
SHOUP, Francis Asbury, soldier, born in Laurel, Franklin County, Indiana, 22 March, 1834. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1855, and assigned to the artillery, but resigned, 10 January, 1860. He then studied law, was admitted to the bar at Indianapolis, and moved to St. Augustine, Florida, early in 1861. He erected a battery at Fernandina under orders of the governor of Florida, was appointed lieutenant in the Confederate Army, became major of artillery in October, 1861, and was assigned to duty with General Hardee in the Trans Mississippi Department. He was afterward with General Albert Sidney Johnston at Shiloh as senior artillery officer of his army, and massed the artillery against General Prentiss’s position. He was inspector of artillery under General Beauregard after the latter's succession to the command, subsequently served under Hindman as chief of artillery, commanded a division, as major, at the battle of Prairie Grove, and was appointed brigadier general, 12 September, 1862, and ordered on duty at Mobile, Alabama. Afterward he commanded a Louisiana brigade at Vicksburg, and received the first attack of the National forces. He surrendered at that place, and after his exchange was chief of artillery to General Joseph E. Johnston, and constructed the defensive works on Chattahoochee River. On the succession of General John B. Hood to the command of the army in July, 1864, General Shoup was made chief of staff. He was relieved at his own request, and prepared a pamphlet, which was submitted to the Confederate Congress, recommending the enlistment of Negro troops. After the close of the war in 1866 he was elected to the chair of applied mathematics in the University of Mississippi. He then studied for the ministry, took orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and has been rector of churches in Waterford, New York, Nashville, Tennessee, Jackson, Mississippi, and New Orleans, Louisiana. He was professor of metaphysics in the University of the South in 1888-'8. He is the author of "Infantry Tactics" (Little Rock, Arkansas, 1862); "Artillery Division Drill" (Atlanta, 1864); and "Elements of Algebra" (New York, 1874). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 516-517.
SHUBRICK, William Branford, naval officer, born on Bull's Island. South Carolina, 31 October, 1790; died in Washington, D. C, 27 May, 1874, entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman, 19 August, 1806, was commissioned lieutenant, 5 January, 1813, commanded a gun-boat in Hampton Roads in 1813, and assisted in defending Norfolk against the British. He was 3d lieutenant of the " Constitution " at the capture of the " Cyane” and “Levant,” 23 February, 1815, and executive in her subsequent escape from a British fleet. He received a silver medal, and was included in the vote of thanks by Congress to Stewart and his officers, and South Carolina gave him thanks and a sword for his services. He was commissioned master-commandant, 28 March, 1820, and captain, 21 February, 1831, commanded the West India Squadron in 1838–'40, and was chief of the Bureau of Provisions and Clothing in 1845–’6. On 22 January, 1847, he arrived on the coast of California in the “Independence” and assumed command-in-chief of the U. S. naval force in the Pacific. He captured the city of Mazatlan, 11 November, 1847, and, landing the naval brigade, held it against superior forces. He also took Guaymas, La Paz, and San Blas, which laces, together with other ports in Mexico and California, he held until the close of the war. He commanded the “Princeton” in 1853, with a small squadron, to protect the fisheries in a dispute with the British, was chief of the Bureau of Construction in 1853, chairman of the Light-House Board in 1854–8, and in 1858 was appointed to command a fleet of 19 vessels with 200 guns and 2,500 men, flying the flag of a vice-admiral, to operate against Paraguay for firing upon the U.S. steamer “Water Witch.” He reached Asuncion, 25 January, 1859, and by display of force obtained apologies and pecuniary indemnity on 10 February. The president highly commended his zeal and ability in the conduct of this mission, and the president of the Argentine Confederation presented him with a sword. In 1861 unsuccessful efforts were made to induce him to join the Confederates in behalf of his native state. In December, 1861, he was placed on the retired list, but he continued on duty as chairman of the Light-House Board from 1860 till 1870. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 517-518.
SHUFELDT, Robert Wilson, naval officer, born in Red Hook, Dutchess County, New York, 21 February, 1822. He entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman, 11 May, 1839, was attached to the naval school at Philadelphia in 1844-'5, and became a passed midshipman, 2 July, 1845. He was promoted to master, 21 February, 1853, and to lieutenant, 26 October, 1853, but resigned from the navy, 20 June, 1854, and was connected with the Collins Line of Liverpool Steamers as chief officer for two years. He then commanded the steamers " Black Warrior" and " Catawba" on the line between New York and New Orleans, and had charge of the party that surveyed the Isthmus of Tehuantepec for a railroad and interoceanic canal. When the Civil War began he was in command of the steamer "Quaker City," of the New York and Havana line of steamers, and was appointed U. S. consul-general at Havana. In April, 1863, he resigned, and was reinstated in the navy with a commission of commander, dated 19 November, 1862. He was given the steamer "Conemaugh," on the blockade at Charleston, where he participated in the engagements on Morris Island. He commanded the steamer " Boteus," of the Eastern Gulf Blockading Squadron, in 1864-'6. After the war he had the "Hartford," of the East India Squadron, in 1865-'6, and the " Wachusett," of the Asiatic Squadron, in 1866-'8. He was commissioned captain, 31 December, 1869, and commanded the monitor " Miantonomoh " in 1870, after which he had charge of the Tehuantepec and Nicaraguan Surveying Expeditions of 1870-'l. He was chief of the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting in the Navy Department in 1875-8, and was commissioned commodore, 21September,1876. In 1879-'80 he sailed in the "Ticonderoga" on a special mission to Africa and the East Indies, to ascertain and report on the prospects for the revival of American trade with those countries. While he was on this expedition the Sultan of Zanzibar, Said Barghash, presented him with a sword. He was promoted to rear-admiral on 7 May, 1883, and was retired, 21 February, 1884. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 519.
SHURTLEFF, Roswell Morse, artist, born in Rindge, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, 14 June, 1838. About 1857 he went to Buffalo, where for two years he studied drawing. In 1859 he was in Boston, studying at the Lowell Institute, and drawing on wood for John Andrew. In 1861 he enlisted in the National Army, and he afterward continued to furnish drawings to various periodicals and to the wood-engravers. About 1870 he began to devote himself entirely to painting. His animal paintings first gained him distinction, and of these the best known are "The Wolf at the Door" and " A Race for Life" (1878). Among his later works in oil, most of which are scenes in the Adirondacks, are " On the Alert" (1879); "Autumn Gold " (1880); "Gleams of Sunshine " (1881); and "A Song of Summer Woods" (1886). His watercolors include "Harvest Time," "Basin Harbor, Lake Champlain," and "The Morning Draught" (1881), and " A Mountain Pasture" (1882). He was elected an associate of the National Academy in 1880. and is a member of the Water-Color Society. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 520.
SIBLEY, Henry Hopkins, soldier, born in Nachitoches, Louisiana, 25 May, 1816; died in Fredericksburg, Virginia, 23 August, 1886. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1838, served in the Florida War as 2d lieutenant of U.S. Dragoons, was promoted 1st lieutenant on 8 March, 1840, took part in the expedition against the Seminoles in the Everglades, and served as adjutant of his regiment till 1846. He was engaged in the military occupation of Texas, was made a captain on 16 February, 1847, and took part in all the principal operations of the Mexican War, gaining the brevet of major for gallantry in the affair at Medelin, near Vera Cruz. He served for several years on the Texas frontier against the Indians, was stationed in Kansas during the antislavery conflict, took part in the Utah Expedition and in the Navajo Expedition of 1860, and, while stationed in New Mexico, was promoted major, but resigned on the same day, 13 May, 1861, in order to join the Confederate Army. He soon received a commission as brigadier-general, and on 5 July was assigned to the command of the Department of Mexico, and intrusted with the task of driving therefrom the National forces. He raised a brigade in northwestern Texas, left Fort Bliss in January, 1862, to effect the conquest of New Mexico, appeared before Fort Craig on 16 February, and on 21 February fought with Colonel Edward R. S. Canby the engagement of Valverde, which resulted in the withdrawal of the National troops. He occupied Albuquerque and Santa Fe, but in April was compelled to evacuate the territory. Subsequently he served with his brigade under General Richard Taylor and General E. Kirby Smith. In December, 1869, he entered the service of the Khedive of Egypt with the rank of brigadier-general, and was assigned to the duty of constructing sea-coast and river defences. At the termination of his five years' contract he returned, with broken health, to the United States. He was the inventor of a tent for troops modelled after the wigwams of the Sioux and Comanche Indians. He obtained letters-patent, and the U. S. government, while he was in its service, contracted for the use of the tent. At the close of the Civil War the U. S. officials refused to carry out the terms of the contract, and after his death the claim was brought before Congress in the interest of his family. He occasionally lectured on the condition of the Egyptian fellaheen. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 520-521.
SIBLEY, Henry Hastings, pioneer, born in Detroit, Michigan, 20 February, 1811, received a classical education, and began the study of law, but abandoned it to engage in mercantile business at Sault Sainte Marie, soon afterward entered the employment of the American Fur Company, became a partner, and on 7 November, 1834, during one of his trips, reached the mouth of the Minnesota River, and was so delighted with the spot that he made it his permanent home, building at Mendota the first stone house within the present limits of the state of Minnesota. He devoted much of his time to the sports of the frontier, which he described in graphic style in the "Spirit of the Times" and "Turf, Field, and Farm," over the pen-name of "Hal, a Dacotah." When the State of Wisconsin was admitted into the Union, 29 May, 1848, the western boundary was fixed at St. Croix River, leaving an area of about 23,000 square miles, on the east of Mississippi River, including some organized counties, without a government. The acting governor of the territory issued a proclamation providing for the election of a delegate to represent this district in Congress, and Mr. Sibley was chosen in November, 1848. After much delay and discussion, he was admitted to his seat, 15 January, 1849, and secured the passage of an act creating the territory of Minnesota, which embraced the rest of Wisconsin and a vast area west of the Mississippi. He was elected a delegate to Congress from Minnesota in 1849, and reelected in 1851, when he declined longer to be a candidate. He was a member of the Democratic branch of the convention that framed in 1857 the state constitution that was adopted bv the people in November of the same year. The state was admitted to the Union on 11 May, 1858, and he was inaugurated as governor in the same month. He opposed the loan of state credit to railroad companies, and. when a constitutional amendment was carried authorizing the issue of bonds, he refused to send them out except on security of trust deeds from the companies giving a priority of lien upon all their property. But this ruling was negatived by the decision of the supreme court, thus leaving the way open for the issue of an indefinite amount of first mortgage bonds, and resulting in the bankruptcy of the companies and the repudiation of the bonds by the people of Minnesota. When the great Sioux rising occurred on the Iowa and Minnesota frontier in 1862 (see Little Crow) he commanded the white forces composed of volunteer citizens. Notwithstanding the delay in procuring arms and ammunition, only five weeks elapsed before the decisive battle of Wood Lake, 23 September, broke the power of the [Indians]. Their capture followed two days later. He was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, and afterward brevetted major-general. He was appointed a member of the Board of Indian Commissioners during President Grant's administration, and in 1871 was elected to the legislature, where, during the ensuing session, he made a vigorous speech against the repudiation of the state railroad bonds, being thus instrumental in restoring the credit of Minnesota. He received the degree of LL. D. from Princeton in 1888. General Sibley has held the offices of president of the Chamber of Commerce of St. Paul, where he resides, of the board of regents of the State University, and of the State Historical Society, to whose "Collections" he has made many contributions. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 522.
SICKEL, Horatio Gates, soldier, born in Belmont, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 3 April, 1817. He was educated at the Friends' school in Byberry, engaged in the business of coach-making, invented in 1848 a now method of producing artificial light, and became an extensive manufacturer of lamps. Before the Civil War he was connected with various militia organizations. He entered the U. S. service on 17 June, 1801, as colonel of the 3d Regiment of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, and succeeded General George G. Meade in the command of the brigade. He commanded a brigade in General George Crook's Kanawha Valley Expedition of 1864, and afterward one in the 5th Army Corps till the close of the war. He participated in the principal battles of the Army of the Potomac, lost his left elbow-joint, besides receiving two other wounds in the service, and was brevetted brigadier-general on 21 October, 1864, and major-general on 13 March, 1865. He was health officer of the port of Philadelphia in 1865-'9, in 1869-71 collector of internal revenue, and in 1871-'84 U. S. pension-agent. He has been an officer in banking and railroad corporations, was for eight years a member of the Philadelphia School Board, and since 1881 has been president of the Board of Health of Philadelphia. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp 522-523.
SICKLES, Daniel Edgar, soldier, born in New York City, 20 October, 1823. He was educated at the University of the City of New York, but left to learn the printer's trade, which he followed for several years. He then studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1844, and began practice in New York City. In 1847 he was elected to the legislature, in which body he took rank as a leader of the Democrats. In 1853 he was appointed corporation counsel of New York City, and on 30 July of the same year he was commissioned as secretary of legation at London, and accompanied James Buchanan to England. He returned in 1855, was elected, after an energetic canvass, to the state senate in the autumn, and a year later was chosen a member of Congress, taking his seat on 7 December, 1857. Discovering a guilty intimacy between his wife, who was the daughter of Antonio Bagioli, and Philip Barton Key, U. S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, he shot the latter in the street on 27 February, 1859. He was indicted for murder, and after a trial of twenty days was acquitted. He had been elected for a second term in 1858, and served till 3 March, 1861. At the beginning of the Civil War he raised the Excelsior Brigade of U. S. volunteers in New York City, and was commissioned by the president as colonel of one of the five regiments. On 3 September, 1861, the president nominated him brigadier-general of volunteers. The Senate rejected his name in March, 1862, but confirmed a second nomination. He commanded a brigade under General Joseph Hooker, and gained distinction at Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, and Malvern Hill. His brigade saw severe service in the seven days' fight before Richmond and in the Maryland Campaign, and bore a conspicuous part at Antietam. He succeeded General Hooker in the command of the division, and was engaged at Fredericksburg. On the reorganization of the Army of the Potomac he was assigned to the command of the 3d Army Corps, and was appointed major-general on 7 March, 1863, his commission dating from 29 November, 1862. At Chancellorsville he displayed gallantry and energy, gaining the first success of the day by cutting off an ammunition-train of the enemy, arresting a general panic by rallying the retreating artillery, and withstanding the force of Stonewall Jackson's attack with determination after the line was formed. At Gettysburg his corps was posted between Cemetery hill and Little Round Top. He advanced to an elevation which he thought desirable to hold, and in this position was assailed by General James Longstreet's column, while General John B. Hood endeavored to gain the unoccupied slope of Little Round Top. In the desperate struggle that followed, the 3d Corps effectively aided in preserving that important position from the enemy, but was shattered bv the onset of overwhelming numbers. After the line was broken. General Ambrose P. Hill followed the Confederate advantage with an attack on Sickles's right, during which General Sickles lost a leg. He continued in active service till in the beginning of 1865, and was then sent on a confidential mission to Colombia and other South American countries. On 28 July, 1866, he joined the regular army as colonel of the 42d Infantry. On 2 March, 1867, he was brevetted brigadier-general for bravery at Fredericksburg, and major-general for gallant and meritorious service at Gettysburg. He commanded the Military District of the Carolinas in 1865-'7, and carried out the work of reconstruction so energetically that President Johnson relieved him from his command, after first offering him the mission to the Netherlands, which he declined. He was mustered out of the volunteer service on 1 January, 1868, and on 14 April, 1869, was placed on the retired list of the U. S. Army with the full rank of major-general. He was active in promoting the candidacy of General Ulysses S. Grant for the presidency, and on 15 May, 1869, was appointed minister to Spain. He relinquished this post on 20 March, 1873, and resumed his residence in New York City. He is president of the New York State Board of Civil Service Commissioners, and likewise of the Board of Commissioners for the Erection of New York Monuments at Gettysburg. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 523.
SIDELL, William Henry, soldier, born in New York City, 21 August, 1810; died there, 30 June, 1873. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1833, and assigned to the artillery, but resigned in order to follow the profession of civil engineering, he was successively city surveyor of New York, assistant engineer of the Croton Aqueduct, and division engineer of railroads in Massachusetts and New York. In the construction of the Panama Railroad he acted as chief engineer. He was employed by the U. S. government on surveys of the delta of Mississippi River. In 1849-'55 he was chief engineer of the railroad between Quincy and Galesburg, Illinois. He was appointed in 1859 chief engineer of the projected Tehuantepec Railroad, and had completed the surveys when the political troubles in the United States caused the abandonment of the enterprise. He volunteered at the beginning of the Civil War, but before he received an appointment he was restored to the regular army on its enlargement, with the rank of major, 14 May, 1861. He mustered and organized recruits in Louisville, Kentucky, and Nashville, Tennessee, was also disbursing officer, and planned a system by which more than 200,000 soldiers were mustered in, and at the end of their terms of service disbanded, without errors or delays. From May, 1863, till the close of the war he was acting assistant provost-marshal for Kentucky. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel of the 10th Infantry on 6 May, 1864, and received the brevets of colonel and brigadier-general on 30 March, 1865, and on 15 December, 1870, was retired from service, in consequence of a paralytic attack. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 523.
SIGEL, Franz, soldier, born in Sinsheim, Baden, 18 November, 1824. After completing his studies at the gymnasium of Bruchsal, he entered the military school at Carlsruhe, and was graduated in 1843. While a lieutenant, stationed at Mannheim, he assailed the standing army in public writings, and thus became involved in quarrels with his brother officers. Toward the close of 1847, after a duel that terminated fatally for his antagonist, he resigned. When the Baden revolution began, in February, 1848, he raised a corps of volunteers, organized the Lake District at Constance, led a body of more than 4,000 volunteers against Freiburg, and was beaten in two encounters with the royal troops. He escaped across the French border, 28 April, and made his way into Switzerland. The insurrection of May, 1849, recalled him to Baden. He was made commandant of the Lake and Upper Rhine District, then placed in charge of the army of the Neckar, met the royal forces at Heppenheim on 30 May, became minister of war, and finally succeeded to the chief command of the troops. He fought in several battles under General Louis Mieroslawski, whom he succeeded, conducted the army of 15,000 men in retreat through three hostile army corps, and crossed the Rhine with the remnant into Switzerland on 11 July. While residing at Lugano he was arrested by the Federal authorities in the spring of 1851 and delivered over to the French Police, who conducted him to Havre with the intention of placing him on a ship bound for the United States. He, however, went to England, lived in London and Brighton, and in May, 1852, sailed for New York. After his marriage to a daughter of Rudolf Dulon, he taught in the latter's school, at the same time translating manuals of arms into German, and conducting- “Die Revue," a military magazine, till 1858, when he was called to St. Louis, Missouri, as teacher of mathematics and history in the German Institute. He was elected a director of the public schools of that city, edited a military journal, and during the secession crisis defended northern principles in newspaper articles. At the beginning of the Civil War he organized a regiment of infantry and a battery, which rendered efficient service at the occupation of the arsenal and the capture of Camp Jackson. In June, 1861, he was sent with his regiment and two batteries to Rolla, whence he marched to Neosho, compelled the retreat of General Sterling Price into Arkansas, then turned northward in order to confront Claiborne Jackson, at Carthage sustained a long conflict on the open prairie with a force much greater than his own, and finally retreated in good order, with constant fighting, to Springfield and Mt. Vernon. He took part in the fight at Dug Springs, and after the battle of Wilson's Creek conducted the retreat of the army from Springfield toward Rolla, He was commissioned as brigadier-general, to date from 17 May, 1861. In the autumn campaign of General John C. Fremont he had command of the advance-guard, and in the retreat from Springfield he commanded the rear-guard, consisting of two divisions. He took command of the right wing of the troops assembled under General Samuel R. Curtis at Rolla, and gained the battle of Pea Ridge by a well-timed assault. He was thereupon made a major-general, dating from 21 March, 1862, and was ordered to the east and placed in command of the troops at Harper's Ferry. He cooperated in the movement against General Thomas J. Jackson at Winchester. When General John Pope was placed in command of the newly created army of Virginia, Sigel, in command of the 1st Corps, took part in the engagements beginning with Cedar Creek and ending with Bull Run, where he commanded the right wing, and won in the first day's fight a decided advantage over Jackson. After the battle he covered the retreat to Centreville. His corps held the advanced position at Fairfax Court House and Centreville. He commanded the 4th Grand Reserve Division until that organization was abolished, when he resumed command of the 11th Corps, took leave of absence on account of failing health, and was superseded by General Oliver O. Howard. In June, 1863, he took command of the reserve army of Pennsylvania, and organized a corps of 10,000 men to aid in repelling Lee's invasion. In February, 1864, President Lincoln appointed him to the command of the Department and the Army of West Virginia. He fitted out an expedition that operated under General George Crook in the Kanawha Valley, and led a smaller one of 7,000 men through the Shenandoah Valley against Lynchburg and Staunton, but was defeated by General John C. Breckinridge at New Market. He was thereupon relieved, and in June, 1864, put in command of the division guarding Harper's Ferry. He repelled the attack of General Jubal A. Early on Maryland Heights, but was relieved of his command soon afterward, and retired to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to recruit his health. He resigned his commission on 4 May, 1865, and became editor of the Baltimore "Wecker." In September, 1867, he moved to New York City. In 1869 he was the Republican candidate for Secretary of State in New York. He was appointed collector of internal revenue in May, 1871, and in October was elected register of the city of New York. After his three years' term expired he lectured, and edited a weekly paper. Since 1876 he has been an adherent of the Democratic Party, and in 1886 he was appointed pension-agent in New York City. He contributed a memoir of his part in the German revolution to Friedrich Hecker's " Erhebung des Volkes in Baden fur die deutsche Republic " (Basel, 1848), and while in Switzerland published a republican brochure entitled "Furstenstaat und Volkstaat" (St. Gall, 1848), the circulation of which was forbidden in Germany, and the author was sentenced in contumaciam to four years' imprisonment.—His brother, Albert, soldier, born in Sinsheim, Baden, 13 November, 1827; died in St. Louis, Missouri, 15 March, 1884, was graduated at the Military Academy at Carlsruhe in 1845, and served as an officer in the grand-ducal army. He was sentenced to a year's confinement in the fortress of Kislau for his sympathy with the revolutionary movement, but was liberated in time to take part in the general uprising of the army and people in 1849 in command of a regiment of volunteers. He emigrated to England, and in 1852 came to the United States. Joining the 2d New Jersey Volunteers at the beginning of the Civil War, he was elected captain. After taking part in the battle of Bull Run, he assisted in organizing a New York regiment, and afterward organized and commanded a regiment of Missouri cavalry militia, and was stationed for some time at Waynesville, Missouri, in command of a brigade. He was made U. S. land recorder after the war, and was appointed adjutant-general of Missouri by Governor Gratz Brown. He was connected with the press as editorial writer and correspondent, and published a volume of German poems (St. Louis, 1863; enlarged ed., 1885). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p.524-525.
SILL, Joshua Woodrow, soldier, born in Chillicothe, Ohio, 6 December, 1831; died near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, 31 December, 1862. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1853, assigned to the ordnance, and, after being on duty at Watervliet Arsenal, returned to the academy, where he was assistant professor of geography, history, and ethics from 23 September, 1854, till 29 August, 1857. He was promoted 2d lieutenant in 1854, and 1st lieutenant in 1856. He was engaged in routine duty at various arsenals and ordnance depots until 25 January, 1861, when he resigned to accept the professorship of mathematics and civil engineering in the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute. At the beginning of the Civil War in April he at once offered his services to the governor of Ohio, and was commissioned assistant adjutant-general of that state. On 27 August he was commissioned colonel of the 33d Ohio Volunteers, after taking part in the battle of Rich Mountain on 11 July. From September, 1861, till September, 1862, he participated in the operations in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama, after 30 November, 1861, being in command of a brigade. On 16 July, 1862, he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, and in the following autumn and winter he took part in the battle of Perryville, the pursuit of General Braxton Bragg's army, and the Tennessee Campaign of the Army of the Cumberland. He was killed at the battle of Stone River while endeavoring to rally his men. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 527.
SILLIMAN, Justus Mitchell, mining engineer, born in New Canaan, Connecticut, 25 January, 1842,[died 15 April, 1896]. He studied at New Canaan Academy, enlisted at the beginning of the Civil War, and served for three years, being wounded at Gettysburg. At the close of the war he settled in Troy, New York, where he taught in an academy, and was graduated at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1870 with the degree of M.E. In September of that year he was called to the charge of the department of mining engineering and graphics in Lafayette College, which place he still (1888) holds. Professor Silliman has invented an instrument for orthographic, clinographic, and crystallographic projection, also a water manometer and anemometer. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and has been president of the Lehigh Valley Microscopical Society. His special work has included various investigations, of which his examination of the Bessemer flame with colored glasses and the spectroscope is the best known. Professor Silliman's writings have been confined to professional papers that have been published in the transactions of societies of which he is a member. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 530.
SILVA, Francis Augustus, artist, born in New York City, 4 October, 1835; died there, 31 March, 1886. He worked as a sign-painter until the opening of the Civil War, when he entered the National Army. At the close of the war he settled in New York and devoted himself to the painting of marine subjects. He was elected a member of the Watercolor Society in 1872. Among his works are “Gray Day at Cape Ann”; “Sunrise in Boston Harbor”; “New London Light”; “September Day on the Coast” (1879): “Old Town by the Sea" (1880); “Old Connecticut Port” (1882); “Passing Showers” (1885); and “Near Atlantic City” (1886). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 530.
SIMONS, Thomas Young, lawyer, born in Charleston, S. C., 1 October. 1828; died there, 30 April, 1878. He was graduated at Yale in 1847, and two years later began to practise law in his native city. In 1854-'60 he was a member of the legislature, and in the latter year a presidential elector. He was also a member of the convention that passed the Ordinance of Secession in December, 1860, and in the Civil War be served as captain of the 27th South Carolina Regiment, and later as judge-advocate. He was sent to the National Democratic Conventions of 1860, 1868, and 1872, and was a member of the executive committee of his parry from the latter year till 1876. Besides his other labors, he was editor of the Charleston "Courier" in 1805-'73. In the tax-payers' conventions of 1871 and 1874 he was an active member, and his later years were identified with the efforts to procure local self-government and the creation of a Union Reform Party in South Carolina. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 535-536.
SIMONSON, John Smith, soldier, born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, 2 June, 1796; died in New Albany, Indiana, 5 December, 1881. His father, Adam Smith Simonson, was a well-known physician of western Pennsylvania. When but seventeen years old he enlisted in the New York volunteers and served as sergeant through the campaign on the Niagara frontier, receiving an honorable discharge in November, 1814. Three years later he settled in Charlestown, Indiana. He was a member of the state senate in 1828–30, and in 1841–’6 of the lower house, serving as speaker during the last year. In 1846 he was appointed captain of U.S. Mounted Rifles, and served through the Mexican War under General Scott, engaging in the capture of Vera Cruz and the battles that followed. He was brevetted major in 1847 for gallant service at Chapultepec, where he commanded his regiment after the fall of its colonel, and he also took a creditable part in the attack on the Belen gate. The succeeding years were spent on duty in Texas, and New Mexico, commanding expeditions against the Indians and in making explorations. In May, 1861, he was promoted colonel of the 3d U.S. Cavalry, and he was retired in the following September. At the opening of the Civil War he was made superintendent of the volunteer recruiting service at Indianapolis, Indiana, and he continued on active military duty till 1869. In 1865, on the recommendation of General Grant, he was brevetted brigadier-general, U. S. army, for long and faithful service. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 536.
SIMPSON, Edward, naval officer, born in New York City, 3 March, 1824. He entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman, 11 February, 1840, was in the first class that was attached to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1845–6, and was graduated at Annapolis in the latter year. During the Mexican War he was attached to the steamer “Vixen,” in which he participated in various engagements, including the bombardment and capture of Vera Cruz. He served on the U.S. Coast Survey, 1848-'50, in the brig "Washington" and steamers "Vixen " and "Legare." In 1850-'3 he cruised in the frigate "Congress" on the Brazil Station, as acting master, and in 1853-'4 he was attached to the Naval Academy as assistant instructor in naval gunnery and infantry tactics. He was promoted to master, 10 July, 1854, and to lieutenant, 18 April, 1855, and served in the sloop "Portsmouth" in the East India Squadron, 1856-'8, participating in the capture of the Barrier Forts near Canton, China. He went to the Naval Academy upon his return, and was in charge of the department of naval gunnery in 1858-62, and commandant of midshipmen in 1862-'3. He was commissioned lieutenant-commander, 16 July, 1862, and in the monitor " Passaic," off Charleston, in 1863-'4, participated in various engagements. He was commissioned commander, 3 March, 1865, and served as fleet-captain of the consolidated Gulf Squadron, being present at the fall of Mobile and receiving the surrender of the Confederate fleet on Tombigbee River. He was commissioned captain, 15 August, 1870, and went on a special naval mission to Europe in 1870-'2. He was in charge of the torpedo station at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1873-'5, was commandant of the New London Naval Station in 1878-'80, and of the Philadelphia League Island U.S. Navy-yard in 1880-'4. He was promoted to commodore, 26 April, 1878, and to rear-admiral, 9 February, 1884, and placed on the retired list, 3 March, 1886. Admiral Simpson was president of the U.S. naval Institute in 1886-'8, and is the senior member of the Naval Academy Graduates Association. He has devoted himself to the scientific development of the navy, especially in the science of gunnery and torpedoes. Besides articles in magazines on professional subjects, he has published "Ordnance and Naval Gunnery," which was the text-book at the Naval Academy until 1868 (New York, 1862); "The Naval Mission to Europe" (2 vols., Washington, 1873); and " Report of the Gun-Foundry Board " (1885). Several of his articles are republished in "Modern Ships of War" (New York, 1887). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 536-537.
SIMPSON, James Hervey, soldier, born in New Jersey, 9 March, 1813; died in St. Paul, Minnesota, 2 March, 1883. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1832, and assigned to the artillery. During the Florida War he was aide to General Abraham Eustis. He was made 1st lieutenant in the Corps of Topographical Engineers on 7 July, 1838, engaged in surveying the northern lakes and the western plains, was promoted captain on 3 March, 1853, served as chief Topographical Engineer with the army in Utah, and in 1859 explored a new route from Salt Lake City to the Pacific Coast, the reports of which he was busy in preparing till the beginning of the Civil War. He served as chief Topographical Engineer of the Department of the Shenandoah, was promoted major on 6 August, 1861, was made colonel of the 4th New Jersey Volunteers on 12 August, 1861, and took part in the Peninsular Campaign, being engaged at West Point and at Gaines's Mills, where he was taken prisoner. After his exchange in August, 1862, he resigned his volunteer commission in order to act as chief Topographical Engineer, and afterward as chief engineer of the Department of the Ohio, where he was employed in making and repairing railroads and erecting temporary fortifications. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel of engineers on 1 June, 1863, had general charge of fortifications in Kentucky from that time till the close of the war, was brevetted colonel and brigadier-general in March, 1865, and was chief engineer of the interior department, having charge of the inspection of the Union Pacific Railroad, till 1867. He afterward superintended defensive works at Key West, Mobile, and other places, surveys of rivers and harbors, the improvement of navigation in the Mississippi and other western rivers, and the construction of bridges at Little Rock, Arkansas, St. Louis, Missouri, Clinton, Iowa, and other places. General Simpson was the author of “Shortest Route to California across the Great Basin of Utah.” (Philadelphia, 1869), and “Essay on Coronado's March in Search of the Seven Cities of Cibola” (1869). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 538.
SIMPSON, Josiah, surgeon, born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, 27 February, 1815; died in Baltimore, Maryland, 3 March, 1874. He was graduated at Princeton in 1833, and in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1836. The following year, being made assistant surgeon, U.S. Army, he served through the Florida War, receiving honorable mention by General Zachary Taylor for his services at the battle of Okeechobee. He was also commended by General Winfield Scott and General William J. Worth, under whom he served in the Mexican War at Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Churubusco, and Chapultepec. In 1848–’55 he was attending surgeon with headquarters at New York, acting also as post-surgeon at Bedlow's Island. He was then promoted surgeon and was medical director of the Department of the Pacific till 1858, of the Middle Department in 1862–6, and of the Department of the Tennessee till 1867, when he was transferred to Baltimore. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 538.
SIMPSON, Marcus de Lafayette, soldier, born in Esperance, Schoharie County, New York, 28 August 1824. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1846, and, serving the same year in the war with Mexico, was brevetted 1st lieutenant in 1847 for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco, and captain for the battle of Chapultepec. From 1848 till 1861 he was quartermaster at various posts, and assistant in the office of the commissary-general, acting as chief commissary of the Department of the Pacific in 1859–61. During the Civil War he served in the commissary-general's office, and he was brevetted colonel, brigadier-general, and major-general on 13 March, 1865. In 1867-'73 he was chief commissary of subsistence of the Division of the Pacific, till 1879 of that of the Atlantic, and since 1879 he has held the same office in the Division of the Missouri, at Chicago. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 538.
SIMS, Clifford Stanley, author, born in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 17 February, 1839, was educated at the academy of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1860, but never practised. He served as acting assistant paymaster in the U.S. Navy in 1863, and was chosen lieutenant-colonel of the 4th Arkansas Infantry in 1864, but was taken prisoner before he could be mustered in. He was judge-advocate-general of Arkansas in 1864–'9, a delegate to the Arkansas Constitutional Convention in 1867-'8, a commissioner to digest the statutes of Arkansas in 1868, and a representative in the legislature in 1868–'9. For the next nine years he was U.S. consul for the District of Prescott, Canada. Mr. Sims has published “The Origin and Signification of Scottish Surnames, with a Vocabulary of Christian Names.” (Albany, 1862): “The Institution of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Jersey” (1866); and an edition of William Noye's “Maxims of the Laws of England,” with a memoir of the author (1870). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 540.
SIMS, Winfield Scott, inventor, born in New York City, 6 April. 1844. He was graduated at the Newark High-School in 1861, and served during the Civil War in the 37th New Jersey Regiment. Subsequently he turned his attention to the invention of electric apparatus, and devised various improvements in electro-magnets. In 1872 he constructed an electric motor to be used for light work. By means of this motor, weighing forty-five pounds and battery of twenty hall-gallon Bunsen cells, he was able to propel an open boat sixteen feet long, with six persons on board, at the rate of four miles an hour, Mr. Sims was the first to apply electricity for the propulsion and guidance of movable torpedoes for harbor and coast defence. His torpedo is a submarine boat, with a cylindrical hull of copper and conical ends, supplied with a screw propeller and rudder. The power is electricity generated by a dynamo-electric machine on shore or on ship-board, and by its means the torpedo is propelled, guided, and exploded. During 1879 this system was tested by General Henry L. Abbot, of the U. S. Engineer Corps, at Willett's point, and since that time the U. S. government has purchased ten of these boats having a speed of ten to eleven and a half miles an hour. These boats carry from 400 to 450 pounds of dynamite. Mr. Sims has now in course of construction a boat, to have a speed of eighteen miles an hour, which is to carry a 250-pound charge of dynamite. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 541-542.
SITGREAVES, Lorenzo, soldier, born in Pennsylvania about 1811: died in Washington. D. C, 14 May, 1888. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1832, and was assigned to the artillery. He resigned to engage in civil engineering, but was reappointed in the army as 2d lieutenant of Topographical Engineers on 18 July, 1840, and was employed in surveys of the Sault Sainte Marie, Portsmouth Harbor, and the Florida Reefs. During the Mexican War he took part in the march through Chihuahua and in the battle of Buena Vista, where he gained the brevet of captain for gallantry. He was in charge in 1851 of the survey of Zuni and Colorado Rivers, New Mexico, of which a report was published (Washington, 1853). He mustered volunteers at Albany, New York, in 1861-'2, being promoted major on 6 August, 1861. He reached the grade of lieutenant-colonel of engineers on 22 April, 1864, and subsequently had charge of harbor improvements on Lake Michigan till 10 July, 1866, when he was retired. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 543.
SKILTON, Julius Augustus, physician, born in Troy, New York, 29 June, 1833. He was graduated at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1849, and at Albany Medical College in 1855, and began to practise in Troy in 1855. He was a member of the board of education in 1856, and city physician in 1857-'8. In 1861 he was made assistant surgeon of the 30th New York Regiment, and surgeon of the 87th New York in 1862. He was taken prisoner in the summer of that year, and was released in feeble health, but recovered sufficiently to become surgeon of the 14th New York Cavalry in 1863, served in New York City during the draft riots, and was medical director of cavalry department of the southwest in 1864–5. In 1869 he was appointed U.S. consul at the city of Mexico, and in 1872 he was promoted to be consul-general, holding the office until 1878. He received the degree of A. B. from Wesleyan University in 1853. Besides his annual reports he has published “Mining Districts of Parhuca, Real del Monte, El Chico, and Star Rosa, State of Hidalgo, Republic of Mexico.” Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 544.
SKINNER, Frederick Gustavus, born in Annapolis, Maryland, 11 March, 1814, at the age of twelve years was taken to La Grange by General Lafayette, and received his early education there. On returning to this country, he entered West Point. When General Lafayette died, Congress passed complimentary resolutions upon his life and services, and Mr. Skinner was selected by President Jackson to convey these resolutions to Lafayette's family. After remaining two years in France, as working attaché of the American legation, he made a tour of the continent, and enjoyed the widest possible range of field sports. At the opening of the Civil War he was given command of the 1st Virginia Infantry, and he was colonel of that regiment until disabled by wounds. After the war he went to Egypt, and, refusing a commission in the Egyptian Army, devoted his attention to the field sports of that country. Upon returning to his native land, he joined the staff of the "Turf, Field, and Farm," in New York, and, as field editor of that journal, was instrumental in bringing about the first field trial, the first bench-show of dogs, and the first international gun-trial that was ever held in the United States. He was at one time chief of the Agricultural Bureau of the U. S. Patent-Office, and published "Elements of Agricultural Chemistry, from the French " (Philadelphia. 1854). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 545.
SKINNER, Mark, born in Manchester, Vermont, 13 September, 1813; died there, 16 September, 1887, was graduated at Middlebury in 1833, and studied law at Saratoga Springs, Albany, and New Haven. He settled at Chicago in 1836, was elected city attorney in 1839, appointed U. S. District attorney for Illinois in 1844 and chosen to the legislature in 1846. He became judge of Cook County Court of Common Pleas in 1851. In 1842 he was made school-inspector for Chicago, and gave much time and labor to the cause of education. The city in 1859 honored his services by naming its new school-building “the Skinner school.” He was president of the Illinois General Hospital of the lake in 1852, of the Chicago Home for the Friendless in 1860, first president of the Chicago Reform-School, one of the founders and patrons of the Chicago Historical Society, a founder of the New England Society of Chicago, and delivered an address before it in 1848, entitled “A Vindication of the Character of the Pilgrim Fathers” (1849). He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and a liberal contributor to all church charities. Judge Skinner was chairman of the meeting in November, 1846, to make arrangements for the River and Harbor Convention of 1847, and was a delegate to that convention. He took an active part in building the Galena and Chicago Railroad and was for years one of its directors, and a director in the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad. He was originally a Democrat, one of the founders of the Anti-Nebraska Party in 1854, and a member of the Republican Party from its organization in 1856. In October, 1861, he was elected president of the Northwestern Sanitary Commission, and he continued such until 1864. Judge Skinner owned a large and valuable library, comprising a full collection of books relating to America. This was burned in 1871, and since that time he has more than duplicated his former collections. See a memoir by E. W. Blatchford, published by the Chicago Historical Society (1888). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 546.
SLACK, James Richard, soldier, born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 28 September, 1818; died in Chicago, Illinois, 28 June, 1881, moved with his father's family to Indiana in 1837, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and became a successful lawyer. In September, 1861, he was commissioned colonel of the 47th Indiana Regiment, and was ordered with his command to Kentucky. He was assigned to General Don Carlos Buell's army, but was subsequently transferred to Missouri and placed under General John Pope. With his command he participated in numerous actions. He was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, 31 December, 1864, major-general by brevet, 13 March, 1865, and was mustered out of the service, 15 January, 1866. After the war he resumed the practice of law, and at the time of his death, and for many years preceding, was a judge of the 28th Judicial Circuit of Indiana. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 546.
SLADE, Daniel Denison, physician, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 10 May, 1823. He was graduated at Harvard in 1844, and at the medical department in 1848 with the appointment of house surgeon to the Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1849 he went abroad for the purpose of higher studies, and on his return in 1852 he settled in practice in Boston, where he continued until 1863. Dr. Slade then gradually relinquished his profession for literary and horticultural pursuits, and in 1870 was chosen professor of applied zoölogy in Harvard, which chair he held for twelve years. In 1884 he was appointed assistant in the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy and lecturer on comparative osteology in Harvard. During the Civil War he was appointed one of the inspectors of hospitals under the U.S. Sanitary Commission, and for some time he was house surgeon of the Boston Dispensary. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society and of the Boston Society of Medical Improvement. Dr. Slade won the Fiske prize by his essays on " Diphtheria" in 1850 and " Aneurism" in 1852, the Boylston prize by one on " Spermatorrhoea" in 1857, and the Massachusetts Medical Prize by one on " Bronchitis" in 1859. In addition to his contributions to medical, agricultural, and horticultural journals, he published "Diphtheria, its Nature and Treatment" (Philadelphia, 1861). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 546-547.
SLAUGHTER, William Bank, lawyer, born in Culpeper County, Virginia, 10 April, 1798 ; died in Madison, Wisconsin, 21 July, 1879. He was educated at William and Mary, admitted to the bar, practised first in Bardstown, Kentucky, and then in Bedford, Indiana, and in 1832 was elected to the legislature of the latter state. While in that body he introduced a set of resolutions strongly sustaining President Andrew Jackson's proclamation to the South Carolina nullifiers. He was appointed register of the land-office at Indianapolis in 1833, and at Green Bay in 1835, and in the latter year was elected a member of the legislative council of Michigan, and introduced a memorial to Congress asking that the territory to the west of Lake Michigan be organized into a new territory to be named Wisconsin. After residing in Wisconsin and in his native place, he returned in 1861 to Middleton, Wisconsin, and in 1862 was appointed commissary of subsistence and quartermaster. He wrote for periodicals and encyclopedias, and published "Reminiscences of Distinguished Men I have Met" (Milwaukee. 1878). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 548.
SLAUGHTER, Philip, clergyman, born in Springfield, Culpeper County, Virginia, 26 October, 1808. He is a son of Captain Philip Slaughter, of the 11th Continental Regiment in the Army of the Revolution. His education was obtained partly at home and partly in a classical academy at Winchester, Virginia. He entered the University of Virginia in 1825, and, after studying law, was admitted to the bar in 1828. Five years later, having resolved to enter the ministry, he went to the Episcopal Theological Seminary, Alexandria, Virginia. He was ordained deacon in Trinity Church, Staunton, 25 May, 1834, by Bishop Meade, and priest in St. Paul's Church, Alexandria, in July, 1835, by Bishop Richard C. Moore. His first charge was in Dettingen Parish, Virginia. In 1836 he accepted a call to Christ Church, Georgetown, D. C, in 1840 he assumed charge of Meade and Johns Parishes, and in 1843 he became rector of St. Paul's Church, Petersburg, Virginia. Health failing, he spent 1848-'9 in Europe. On returning home he established in 1850, and edited, "The Virginia Colonizationist" at Richmond, Virginia. Six years later he built a church on his farm in Culpeper County, and officiated gratuitously for his neighbors and servants until his chinch was destroyed by the National army in 1862. He then edited in Petersburg "The Army and Navy Messenger," a religious paper for soldiers, and also preached and visited in camp and hospitals. When peace returned in 1865 he was for a time associate editor of the " Southern Churchman." Then he went back to his old home, where, as the churches were destroyed, he fitted up a recess-chancel in his own house for church services. Emmanuel Church in Slaughter Parish having been rebuilt, he accepted charge of it, and served there while health and strength sufficed. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 548.
SLEMMER, Adam J., soldier, born in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in 1828; died in Fort Laramie, Kansas, 7 October, 1868. He was graduated at the United States Military Academy in July, 1850, and assigned to the 1st U.S. Artillery. After a short campaign against the Seminole Indians in Florida, in which he took a creditable part, he was for four years on frontier service in California, and in 1855-'9 was assistant professor of mathematics at the U. S. Military Academy. He afterward returned to garrison duty at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, and in 1860 was transferred to Florida, where in 1861 he commanded a small body of U. S. soldiers in Pensacola Harbor, occupying with them Fort Barrancas; but when intelligence of the surrender of Pensacola U.S. Navy-yard reached him, he transferred his troops on 10 January to Fort Pickens, opposite, which he successfully held until he was relieved by Colonel Harvey Brown, thus preserving the key to the Gulf of Mexico. He was promoted major of the Fifth Infantry in May, 1861, was for a short time inspector-general of the Department of the Ohio, returned to active duty in May, 1862, and participated in the siege of Corinth and the subsequent movement to Louisville, Kentucky, and to the relief of Nashville, Tennessee. He was made brigadier-general of volunteers, 29 November, 1862, and took part in the battle of Stone River, 31 December, 1862, where he was so severely wounded as to be incapacitated for further active service in the field. On 8 February, 1864, he was promoted lieutenant-colonel of the 4th U.S. Infantry, and in March, 1865, he was brevetted colonel and brigadier-general, U. S. Army, for his meritorious services. He was mustered out of the volunteer service in August, 1865, and was afterward sent to command Fort Laramie, where he died of heart disease. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 548-549.
SLOAT, John Drake, naval officer, born in New York City in 1780; died in New Brighton, Staten Island, New York, 28 November, 1867. He entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman, 12 February, 1800, and was honorably discharged by the peace-establishment act, 21 May, 1801. He re-entered the U.S. Navy as a sailing-master, 10 January, 1812, and served in the frigate “United States” in 1812–15. In this ship, on 25 October, 1812, he participated in the capture of the British frigate ''Macedonian” and was subsequently blockaded in Thames River, Connecticut, by the British fleet until the end of the war. He received a vote of thanks and silver medal for the victory over the “Macedonian,” and was promoted to lieutenant, 24 July, 1813. After the war he was on leave until 1817. In 1823–5 he cruised in the schooner “Grampus,” suppressing piracy in the West Indies, and participated in the capture of the pirate brig “Palmyra.” near Campeachy. He succeeded to the command of the “Grampus” in 1824, and assisted at the capture and destruction of the town of Foxhardo, the headquarters of the pirates on Porto Rico. In the spring of 1825 he captured a piratical brig near St. Thomas, W.I., with the pirate chief Colfrecinas, who was subsequently executed by the Spaniards. He was promoted to master-commandant, 21 March, 1826, and to captain, 9 February, 1837, and was commandant of the U.S. Navy-yard at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1840–’4. In 1844–’6 he had command of the Pacific Squadron, during which he occupied Monterey in anticipation of a similar attempt by the English admiral, and when the Mexican War began he secured possession of San Francisco and other points in California until he was relieved by Commodore Robert F. Stockton, when he returned to Norfolk, 27 April, 1847. He had command of the Norfolk U.S. Navy-yard in 1847-51, after which he was superintendent of the construction of the Stevens battery until 1855. He was placed on the reserved list, 27 September, 1855, and retired, 21 December, 1861, but was promoted to commodore, 16 July, 1862, and to rear-admiral, 25 July, 1866. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 551.
SLOCUM, Henry Warner, 1827-1894, New York, lawyer, entrepreneur, Major General, United States Army, Commander, Twelfth, Fourteenth and Twentieth Corps, Sherman’s Army of Georgia, 1864-1865. Slocum was an abolitionist before the Civil War. While he was a cadet at West Point, Slocum openly expressed his opposition to slavery. This was a very unpopular position, as many of the cadets at the U.S. Military Academy were from the South. During Sherman’s March, including the Savannah and Carolinas Campaigns, many thousands of enslaved individuals escaped to the Union lines and followed the Union Army to freedom.
(Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 551-552; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 1, p. 216; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 20, p. 104; Cullum, 1891; U.S. Congress, Biographical Directory of The United States Congress, 1774–2005. Washington, DC: GPO, 2005; U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. 128 vols. Washington, DC: GPO, 1881-1901. Series 1; Warner, 1964)
SLOCUM, Henry Warner, soldier, born in Delphi, Onondaga County, New York, 24 September, 1827. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1852, appointed 2d lieutenant in the 1st U.S. Artillery, and ordered to Florida the same year. He was promoted 1st lieutenant in 1855, but resigned in October, 1856, and, returning to New York, engaged in the practice of law at Syracuse, and was a member of the legislature in 1859. At the opening of the Civil War he tendered his services, and on 21 May, 1861, was appointed colonel of the 27th New York Volunteers. He commanded this regiment at the battle of Bull Run on 21 July, where he was severely wounded, on 9 August was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, and was assigned to the command of a brigade in General William B. Franklin's division of the Army of the Potomac. In the Virginia Peninsula Campaign of 1862 he was engaged in the siege of Yorktown and the action at West Point, Virginia, and succeeded to the command of the division on 15 May, on Franklin's assignment to the 6th Corps. At the battle of Gaines's Mills, 27 June, he was sent with his division to re-enforce General Fitz-John Porter, who was then severely pressed by the enemy, and rendered important service, as he did also at the battles of Glendale and Malvern Hill, his division occupying the right of the main line at both engagements. He was promoted to the rank of major-general of volunteers, 4 July, 1862, engaged in the second battle of Bull Run, at South Mountain, and at Antietam, and in October was assigned to the command of the 12th Army Corps. In the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg he took an active part. At Gettysburg he commanded the right wing of the army, and contributed largely to the National victory. Having been transferred with his corps to the west, he served in the Department of the Cumberland till April, 1864, when, his corps being consolidated with the 11th, he was assigned to a division and the command of the District of Vicksburg. In August, 1864, he succeeded General Joseph Hooker in the command of the 20th Corps, which was the first body of troops to occupy Atlanta, Georgia, on 2 September. In Sherman's march to the sea and invasion of the Carolinas, he held command of the left wing of the army, and participated in all its engagements from the departure from Atlanta till the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston at Durham Station, North Carolina. In September, 1865, General Slocum resigned from the army and resumed the practice of law in Brooklyn, New York. In 1866 he declined the appointment of colonel of infantry in the regular army. In 1865 he was the unsuccessful candidate of the Democrats for Secretary of State of New York, in 1868 he was chosen a presidential elector, and he was elected to Congress the same year, and reelected in 1870. In 1876 he was elected president of the Board of City Works, Brooklyn, which post he afterward resigned, and in 1884 he was again elected to Congress. He was one of the commissioners of the Brooklyn Bridge, and was in favor of making it free to the public.” Source: Wilson, James Grant, & Fiske, John (Eds.). Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography. New York: Appleton, 1888, 1915. Pp. 551-552.
SLOUGH, John P. (slo), soldier, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1829; died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 16 December, 1867. He became a lawyer in his native city, and in 1850 was elected to the legislature of Ohio, from which he was expelled for striking a member. In 1852 he became a secretary of the Central Democratic Committee of Ohio, and soon afterward he went to Kansas, and in 1860 to Denver City, Colorado. At the opening of the Civil War he raised a company of volunteers, assumed command of Fort Garland, and afterward became colonel of the 1st Colorado Regiment forming part of General Edward R. S. Canby's expedition to New Mexico. He fought there, in opposition to orders, the battle of Pigeon's Ranche, gaining a victory over General Henry H. Sibley, who was forced to retire into Texas. Immediately after this he gave up his commission as colonel and proceeded to Washington, where he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers and military governor of Alexandria. At the close of the war he was appointed chief justice of New Mexico by President Johnson; but his manner and irritable temper rendered him unpopular. A series of resolutions were passed in the legislature advocating his removal from the chief justiceship, which so incensed him against William D. Rynerson, the member who had introduced them, that a personal encounter took place between the two men, resulting in General Slough's death. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 552.
SMALL, Michael Peter, soldier, born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 9 August, 1831. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1855, assigned to the artillery, served against the Seminole Indians and on frontier and other duty, and was promoted 1st lieutenant, 27 April, 1861. He served as chief commissary and quartermaster at Rolla, Missouri, from 4 September, 1861, till 31 January, 1863; as chief commissary of the 13th Army Corps, and of the army during the field, in the Teche Campaign in the Department of the Gulf from 15 September till 9 November, 1863; and was supervising commissary of the states of Illinois and Indiana from December, 1863, till February, 1864. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel on the staff, 15 September, 1863, became chief commissary of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina at Fortress Monroe, supplied the armies operating against Richmond, and acted in a similar capacity for other armies and other military departments till the close of the war. He became brevet colonel of U. S. volunteers, 1 January, 1865, and brevet brigadier-general, 9 April, 1865, for meritorious services in the subsistence department during the war. Since 31 October, 1884, he has been purchasing and depot commissary at Baltimore, Maryland. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 553.
SMALLEY, Eugene Virgil, journalist, born in Randolph, Portage County, Ohio, 18 July, 1841. He was educated in the public schools of Ohio and New York, and passed one year in New York Central College at McGrawville. He enlisted at the beginning of the Civil War in the 7th Ohio Infantry, and frequently sent letters about different engagements to the newspapers, for which descriptions he had shown a predilection before entering the field. He served until nearly the close of the struggle, when he was discharged on account of wounds, and as soon as he was able went to Washington, D. C. where, in 1865, he was appointed clerk of the Military Committee of the House of Representatives. He retained the post until 1873, at the same time corresponding at intervals for different journals. He then formed a connection with a New York journal, continuing to be its correspondent and editorial writer for nine years. During his residence in Washington he had formed an intimate acquaintance with public men and measures, which aided him greatly as a journalist. In 1882 he entered the employment of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and in 1884 established the "Northwest," an illustrated magazine, in St. Paul, Minnesota, of which he is still (1888) the editor and publisher. He is a frequent contributor to periodicals, mainly on subjects relating to the resources and development of the region in which he has made his home. He has published " History of the Northern Pacific Railroad " (New York, 1883), and "History of the Republican Party " (1885). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 553.
SMALLEY, George Washburn, journalist, born in Franklin, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 2 June, 1833. He was graduated at Vale in 1853, read law with George F. Hoar at Worcester in 1853-'4, and in Harvard Law-School in 1854-'5, and in 18 was admitted to the Boston Bar. He practised law in Boston until the opening of the Civil War, when, in the service of the New York " Tribune," he accompanied the National Troops to Port Royal, afterward going with General John C. Fremont into Virginia. Remaining with the Army of the Potomac, he witnessed the battle of Antietam. Immediately upon its close, Smalley rode thirty miles, found a train, and, going direct to New York, wrote his narrative of the engagement on the cars. This vivid description, with the energy that had been shown in its transmission and publication, gave him rank among the best-known war correspondents. In 1863 he was a member of the editorial staff of the "Tribune." At the sudden beginning of the war between Prussia and Austria in 1866 Mr. Smalley was sent on a day's notice to Europe. At the close of the war he returned for a few months to New York, but was sent to England in May, 1867, by the "Tribune," with instructions to organize a London bureau for that journal. This he did, and the success that has attended the European department of the " Tribune " is largely due to his efforts. In 1870, at the opening of the Franco-German War, the " Tribune devised a new system of news-gathering. Mr. Smalley, as the agent of this policy, showed an energy and foresight which gave him an eminent rank in journalism. The English writer Kinglake, in his "History of the Crimean War," says: "The success of that partnership for the purpose of war news which had been formed between one of our London newspapers and the New York 'Tribune.' was an era in the journalism of Europe." Mr. Smalley's letters from Berlin, in April, 1888, descriptive of the Emperor William's death and burial, were among the most brilliant that appeared on that occasion. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 553.
SMALLS, Robert, member of Congress, born in Beaufort, South Carolina, 5 April, 1839. Being a slave, he was debarred from attending school, and was altogether self-educated. He moved to Charleston in 1851, worked at the rigger's trade, afterward led a seafaring life, and in 1861 was employed as a pilot on " The Planter," a steamer that plied in Charleston Harbor as a transport. In May, 1862, he took this vessel over Charleston bar, and delivered her to the commander of the U. S. Blockading Squadron. After serving for some time as pilot in the U.S. Navy, he was promoted captain for gallant and meritorious conduct, 1 December, 1863, and placed in command of “The Planter,” serving until she was put out of commission in 1866. He returned to Beaufort after the war, was a member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1868, was elected a member of the state house of representatives the same year, and of the state senate in 1870, and was re-elected in 1872. He was elected to the 44th Congress from South Carolina, has been reelected to every succeeding Congress except the 46th, for which he was defeated, and s' with this exception, from 6 December, 1875, till 1888. He has been major-general of state troops. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 553-554.
SMITH, Alfred Baker, soldier, born in Massena, St. Lawrence County, New York, 17 November, 1835. He was graduated at Union College in 1851, taught, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1855, and practised in Poughkeepsie, New York. He entered the National Army in October, 1862, as major of the 150th New York Volunteers, and was with his regiment in every march and action from Gettysburg till the close of the war, succeeding to the command as senior officer at Atlanta. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel and colonel, and was made brigadier-general of volunteers by brevet for meritorious services in the campaign of Georgia and the Carolinas. He has long been a member of the Poughkeepsie Board of Education, of which he was president for several years, and in 1867-'75 was postmaster of that city. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p.556.
SMITH, Andrew Jackson, soldier, born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 28 April, 1815. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1838, became 1st lieutenant in 1845 and captain in 1847, and was engaged on the frontier in operations against hostile Indians. He became major in May, 1861, colonel of the 2d California Cavalry on 2 October of that year, from 11 February to 11 March, 1862, was chief of cavalry of the Department of the Missouri, and in March and July of the Department of the Mississippi. He became brigadier-general of volunteers in March, 1862, engaged in the advance upon Corinth and siege of that place, was transferred to the Department of the Ohio, and subsequently to the Army of the Tennessee, which he accompanied on the Yazoo River Expedition, and participated in the assaults of Chickasaw Bluffs, 27-29 October, 1862, and of Arkansas Post, 11 January, 1863. During the Vicksburg Campaign he led a division in the 13th Army Corps. He was then assigned to the command of a division of the 16th Army Corps, which captured Fort De Russy, engaged in the battle of Pleasant Hill, and in almost constant skirmishing during the Red River Campaign, in April, 1864, receiving the brevet of colonel, U. S. Army, for "gallant and meritorious service at Pleasant Hill." He became lieutenant-colonel, U. S. Army, in May, 1864, and major-general of volunteers on the 12th of that month, was ordered to Missouri, aided in driving General Sterling Price from the state, and was then called to re-enforce General George H. Thomas at Nashville, and to aid in pursuit of General John B. Hood's army, being engaged at Nashville. He received the brevets of brigadier-general and major-general, U.S. Army, on 13 March. 1865, for gallant service at the battles of Tupelo, Mississippi, and Nashville, Tennessee. From February till June of that year he commanded the 16th Army Corps in the reduction and capture of Mobile. He was mustered out of volunteer service in January, 1866, and on 28 July became colonel of the 7th U. S. Cavalry. He then commanded the Department of the Missouri from 14 September, 1867, to 2 March, 1868, and was on leave of absence till 6 May, 1869, when he resigned. On 3 April of that year he became postmaster of St. Louis. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 556.
SMITH, Ashbel, diplomatist, born in Hartford, Connecticut, 13 August, 1805; died in Harris County, Texas, 21 January, 1880. He was graduated at Yale in 1824, and at the medical department in 1828. after studying law in the interval. He also attended the Paris hospitals in 1831-'2, and practised in North Carolina till 1830, when he moved to Texas, and was appointed in the same year surgeon-general of the new republic. He was joint commissioner in making the first treaty with the Comanches in 1837, Texan minister to the United States, Great Britain, France, and Spain, during the administration of President Samuel Houston and President Anson Jones, was recalled in 1844, and became Secretary of State under the latter, which office he held until the annexation of Texas to the United States in 1845. He was a member of the legislature from Harris County for several years, and served throughout the Mexican War. In the early part of the Civil War he raised the 2d Texas Volunteers for the Confederate service, leading that regiment in several campaigns east of Missouri River. He retired to his plantation on Galveston Bay in 1865, and while taking an active part in state politics as a Democrat was also occupied in the preparation of papers on scientific and agricultural topics. In his profession his services were rendered gratuitously, and in every yellow-fever epidemic he went to Houston or Galveston and devoted himself to the sufferers. He was instrumental in the establishment of the state university, and president of its board of regents. His publications include "Account of the Yellow Fever in Galveston, in 1839" (Galveston, 1840); "Account of the Geography of Texas" (1851); and "Permanent Identity of the Human Race " (1860). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 556-557.
SMITH, Caleb Blood, Secretary of the Interior, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 16 April, 1808; died in Indianapolis, Indiana, 7 January, 1864. He emigrated with his parents to Ohio in 1814, was educated at Cincinnati and Miami Colleges, studied law in Cincinnati and in Connersville, Indiana, and was admitted to the bar in 1828. He began practice at the latter place, established and edited the "Sentinel" in 1832, served several terms in the Indiana Legislature, and was in Congress in 1843-'9, having been elected as a Whig. During his congressional career he was one of the Mexican claims commissioners. He returned to the practice of law in 1850, residing in Cincinnati and subsequently in Indianapolis. He was influential in securing the nomination of Abraham Lincoln for the presidency at the Chicago Republican Convention in 1860, and was appointed by him Secretary of the Interior in 1861, which post he resigned in December, 1862, to become U. S. Circuit Judge for Indiana. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 558.
SMITH, Charles Henry, humorist, born in Lawrenceville, Georgia, 15 June. 1826. He was graduated at Franklin College, Athens, Georgia, and in 1848 became a lawyer in Rome, Georgia. He served in the Confederate Army, and after the war settled as a planter near Cartersville, Georgia, was state senator in 1866, and mayor of Rome, Georgia, in 1868-'9. He began his literary career in 1861 in a series of newspaper letters under the signature of "Bill Arp." They enjoyed a wide popularity, and are remarkable for homely humor and shrewd philosophy. A southern writer says of his widely read and quoted letter to Artemus Ward in July, 1865, that "it was the first chirp of any bird after the surrender, and gave relief and hope to thousands of drooping hearts." He is also a successful lecturer. His publications include " Bill Arp's Letters " (New York, 1868); "Bill Arp's Scrap-Book" (Atlanta, 1886); and many humorous and philosophical sketches that he has contributed to the press. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 558.
SMITH, Charles Henry, soldier, born in Hollis, York County, Maine, 1 November, 1827. He was graduated at Colby University in 1856, entered the National Army in 1861 as captain in the 1st Maine Cavalry, was attached with his regiment to the Army of the Potomac, and served throughout its operations, participating in numerous battles. He became major of volunteers in 1862, lieutenant-colonel in March, 1863, and colonel of the 1st Maine Cavalry, commanding that regiment at Upperville, Gettysburg, Shepardstown, and through the movements southward to the Rapidan. In the Mine Run Campaign, in November, he conducted the rear-guard of the left column of the army from Mine run to and across the Rapidan. During General Philip H. Sheridan's cavalry campaign in May and June, 1864, he fought at Todd's Tavern and South Anna, at Trevillian Station, and on 1 August, 1864, was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers for gallant and meritorious conduct at St. Mary's Church, where two horses were killed under him, and he was shot through the thigh. He commanded a cavalry brigade and was wounded at Reams's Station, and the 3d Brigade of General David M. Gregg's division from October, 1864, till the operations that ended in the surrender of Lee's army. During the Appomattox Campaign he was wounded, and a horse was killed under him at Dinwiddie Court-House, and he participated in the battles of Sailor's Creek, Brier Creek, and Farmville. In May and July, 1865, he was in command of a sub-district of the Appomattox, comprising five counties. He was brevetted major-general of volunteers, 13 March. 1865, for gallant, and meritorious service during the Civil War, and in March, 1867, brigadier-general, U. S. Army, for Sailor's Creek, and major-general for gallant service during the Civil War. He became colonel of the 28th U.S. Infantry on the reorganization of the U. S. Army in 1866, was transferred in 1869 to the 19th U.S. Infantry, and now (1888) holds that command. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 558-559.
SMITH, Charles Shaler, engineer, born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 16 January, 1836; died in St. Louis, Missouri, 19 December, 1886. He attended a private school in Pittsburg, but at the age of sixteen entered on the study of his profession by securing an appointment as rodman on the Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven Railroad. After various services he became in 1856 engineer in charge of the Tennessee division of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. Subsequently he became chief engineer of bridges and buildings of the Wilmington, Charlotte, and Rutherford Railroad in North Carolina, where he remained until the beginning of the Civil War. He then entered the Confederate Army as captain of engineers, and continued so until 1865, during which time, as chief engineer of government works in the Augusta District, he constructed the Confederate States Powder-Works, with a daily capacity of 17,000 pounds of powder, and one of the largest that had then been built. Mr. Smith continued in the south as engineer of bridges, and constructed the Catawba and Congaree Bridges on the Charlotte and South Carolina Railroad. In 1866, with Benjamin H. Latrobe, he organized the engineering firm of Smith, Latrobe and Company, which in 1869 became the Baltimore Bridge Company, with Mr. Smith as president and chief engineer. This company continued in business until 1877, and did a large amount of work. He moved to St. Charles, Missouri, in 1868, to take charge of the railroad bridge then just begun across Missouri River, and in 1871 he went to St. Louis, where he remained until the end of his life, mainly occupied as a consulting engineer. His name will ever be connected with the great bridges that were built under his supervision. They are hundreds in number and include four over the Mississippi, one over the Missouri, and one over the St. Lawrence. His most important work was the practical demonstration of the uses and value of the cantilever, beginning in 1869 with the 300-foot draw-span over Salt River on the line of the Elizabeth and Paducah Railroad, and including the Kentucky River Bridge on the Cincinnati Southern Railroad, that over the Mississippi near St. Paul, and finally his last great bridge across the St. Lawrence River a short distance above the Lachine rapids. Mr. Smith was elected a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1873, and was a director of that organization in 1877-'8. His publications are confined to a few professional papers, notably "A Comparative Analysis of the Fink, Murphy, Bollman, and Triangular Trusses " (1865); "Proportions of Eyebars, Heads, and Pins as determined bv Experiment" (1877); and " Wind-Pressure upon Bridges " (1880). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 558.
SMITH, Francis Henney, soldier, born in Norfolk, Virginia, 18 October, 1812. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1833, and was assistant professor there in 1834, but resigned in 1836, was professor of mathematics at Hampden Sidney in 1837-'9, and, on the organization of the Virginia Military Institute in the latter year, became its superintendent, and professor of mathematics and moral and political philosophy, which office he still (1888) holds. He was appointed colonel of a Virginia regiment soon after the beginning of the Civil War, and was stationed at Norfolk and in command of the fort at Craney Island. During the campaigns against Richmond in 1864, with his corps of cadets he aided in its defence, and was subsequently transferred to Lynchburg to protect that city against the National forces under General David Hunter. The institute buildings having been destroyed by fire during the war, he took active measures to reconstruct them when he returned to his duties there in 1865, and subsequently he has successfully administered its affairs. William and Mary gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1878. He has published, with Robert M. T. Duke, a series of arithmetics (New York, 1845): a series of algebras (1848); and is the author of "The Best Methods of conducting Common Schools" (1849); "College Reform" (1850); and a " Report to the Legislature of Virginia on Scientific Education in Europe" (1859). He translated Bicot's "Analytical Geometry " from the French (1840). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 563-564.
SMITH, Gustavus Woodson, soldier, born in Scott County, Kentucky, 1 January, 1822. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1842, appointed to the Engineer Corps, and for the subsequent two years engaged in constructing fortifications in New London Harbor, Connecticut. He was assistant professor of engineering in the U. S. Military Academy in 1844-'6, commanded the sappers, miners, and pontoniers during the siege of Vera Cruz and in the subsequent operations of the war with Mexico, and in 1847 was brevetted 1st lieutenant for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battle of Cerro Gordo, and captain for Contreras. He was recalled to the U. S. Military Academy as principal assistant professor of engineering in 1849, became 1st lieutenant in 1853, and resigned from the army the next year. He was subsequently employed in the construction of various government buildings, and in the iron-works of Cooper and Hewitt, Trenton, New Jersey. He was street commissioner of New York City in 1858-'61, and a member of the board to revise the programme of instruction at the U. S. Military Academy in 1860. He returned to Kentucky at the beginning of the Civil War, entered the Confederate Service, and in September, 1861, was appointed major-general. He succeeded General Joseph E. Johnston in temporary command of the Army of Northern Virginia on 31 May, 1862, and subsequently commanded at Richmond, was in charge of the state forces of Georgia in 1864-'5, and was taken prisoner at Macon on 20 April of the latter year. He was superintendent in charge of the Southwest Iron-Works at Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1866-'9, was insurance commissioner of the state of Kentucky in 1870-6, and since that time has resided in New York City. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 566.
SMITH, Henry Hollingsworth, surgeon, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 10 December, 1815. He was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1837, and at the medical department in 1839, spent the subsequent eighteen months in study abroad, and on his return settled in practice in Philadelphia. He became a surgeon to St. Joseph's Hospital in 1849, surgeon to the Episcopal Hospital soon afterward, one of the surgical staff to Blockley Hospital in 1854, and was professor of surgery in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania from 1855 till 1871, when he became professor emeritus. At the beginning of the Civil War he was appointed to organize the hospital department of Pennsylvania, and at the same time made surgeon-general of Pennsylvania. In this capacity he contributed much to the efficiency of the medical services of the Pennsylvania reserves and other state regiments. At the first battle at Winchester, Virginia, he originated the plan of removing the wounded from the battle-field to large hospitals in Reading, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and other cities, and established the custom of embalming the dead on the battle-ground. He organized and directed a corps of surgeons, with steamers as floating hospitals, at the siege of Yorktown. and served the wounded after the battles of Williamsburg, West Point, Fair Oaks, and Cold Harbor. After thoroughly organizing the department of which he was in charge, he resigned his commission in 1862, and has since been actively engaged in the practice of his profession. Dr. Smith is widely known as a medical author. His publications include " An Anatomical Atlas," to illustrate William E. Horner's "Special Anatomy " (Philadelphia, 1843); "Minor Surgery" (1846); "System of Operative Surgery," with a biographical index to the writings and operations of American surgeons for 234 years (2 vols., 1852); ' The Treatment of Disunited Fractures by Means of Artificial Limbs" (1855); "Professional Visit to London and Paris" (1855); "Practice of Surgery " (2 vols., 1857-63); and numerous surgical articles in medical journals; and he has translated from the French Civiale's "Treatise on the Medical and Prophylactic Treatment of Stone and Gravel" Philadelphia, 1841), and edited the " United States Dissector " (1844), and Spenser Thompson's " Domestic Medicine and Surgery " (1853). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 566-567.
SMITH, James Milton, governor of Georgia, born in Twiggs County, Georgia, 24 October, 1823. He was educated at Culloden Academy, Monroe County, Georgia, became a lawyer, entered the Confederate Army in 1861 as major in the 13th Georgia Regiment, became colonel in 1862, and was a member of the Confederate Congress from that year until the close of the Civil War. He served in the legislature in 1871-'2. was speaker, and in 1872 was chosen governor to fill the unexpired term of Rufus B. Bullock, which office he held by re-election till 1874. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 569.
SMITH, Jesse C., soldier, born in Butternuts, Otsego County, New York, 18 July, 1808; died in Brooklyn, New York, 11 July, 1888. He was graduated at Union in 1832, and studied law in New York City, under Alva Clark. He took much interest in military affairs, became adjutant, and subsequently major, of the 75th Regiment of New York Militia, and afterward colonel of the 14th Regiment. While commanding the latter, he suppressed the "Angel Gabriel" riots, which were caused by the preaching of a lunatic who gave himself that appellation. General Smith was surrogate of Kings County in 1850-'5, and state senator in 1862. At the beginning of the Civil War he was instrumental in the reorganization of the National Guard, and in forming the 139th Regiment of New York Volunteers. He commanded the 11th Brigade of the National Guard at the battle of Gettysburg. After the war he practised law in Brooklyn. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 569.
SMITH, John Gregory, Governor of Vermont, born in St. Alban's, Vermont, 22 July, 1818, was graduated at the University of Vermont in 1838, and at the law department of Yale in 1841. He began practice with his father, whom he succeeded as chancellor in 1858, became active in railroad interests in Vermont, was a member of the state senate in 1858–'9, and of the house of representatives in 1861–2, becoming speaker in the latter year. He was governor of Vermont in 1863–’5, and actively supported the National cause during the Civil War. He became president of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1866, and subsequently was president of the Central Vermont Railroad. The University of Vermont gave him the degree of LL.D. in 1871. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 572.
SMITH, John Eugene, soldier, born in the canton of Berne, Switzerland, 3 August, 1816. His father was an officer under Napoleon, and after the emperor's downfall emigrated to Philadelphia, where the son received an academic education and became a jeweler. He entered the National Army in 1861 as colonel of the 45th Illinois Infantry, engaged in the capture of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, and in the battle of Shiloh and siege of Corinth, became brigadier-general of volunteers, 29 November, 1862, commanded the 8th Division of the 16th Army Corps in December, 1862, was engaged in the Vicksburg Campaign, leading the 3d Division of the 17th Corps in June, 1863, and was transferred to the 15th Corps in September, taking part in the capture of Mission Ridge, and in the Atlanta and Carolina Campaigns in 1864–’5. In December, 1870, he was assigned to the 14th U.S. Infantry. He was mustered out of the volunteer service in April, 1866, and became colonel of the 27th U.S. Infantry in July of that year. He received the brevet of major-general of volunteers on 12 January, 1865, for faithful services and gallantry in action, and the brevets of brigadier and major-general, U. S. Army, on 2 March, 1867, for his conduct at the siege of Vicksburg and in action at Savannah in December, 1864. In May, 1881, he was retired. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 572.
SMITH, Green Clay, soldier, born in Richmond, Kentucky, 2 July, 1832, was named for his grandfather, General Green Clay. After serving a year in the Mexican War as lieutenant of Kentucky cavalry, he entered Transylvania University, where he was graduated in 1850, and at Lexington law school in 1853, and practised in partnership with his father. In 1858 he moved to Covington. In 1853-7 he served as school commissioner. In 1860 he was a member of the Kentucky legislature, where he earnestly upheld the National government, and in 1861 he entered the army as a private. He became colonel of the 4th Kentucky Cavalry in February, 1862, served under General Ebenezer Dumont, and was wounded at Lebanon, Tennessee. He was made brigadier-general of volunteers, 11 June, 1862, but, having been chosen a member of Congress, resigned his commission on 1 December, 1863, after taking part in numerous engagements. He served till 1866, when he resigned on being appointed by President Johnson governor of Montana, where he remained till 1869. He was a delegate to the Baltimore Republican Convention in 1864. and on 13 March, 1865, was given the brevet of major-general of volunteers. On his retirement from the governorship of Montana he entered the Christian ministry, was ordained in 1869, and became in the same year pastor of the Baptist Church in Frankfort. Kentucky. Much of his later ministry has been employed in evangelistic service. General Smith has also taken an active part in furthering the temperance reform, and in 1876 was the candidate of the Prohibition Party for the presidency of the United States, receiving a popular vote of 9,522. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 574.
SMITH, Joseph, naval officer, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 30 March, 1790; died in Washington, D. C, 17 January, 1877. He entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman, 16 July, 1809, and was commissioned a lieutenant, 24 July, 1813. He was the 1st lieutenant of the brig "Eagle" in the victory on Lake Champlain, 11 September, 1814, and was severely wounded in the battle, but continued at his post. With other officers, he received the thanks of Congress and a silver medal for his services. In the frigate "Constellation," in the Mediterranean in 1815-'17, he co-operated in the capture of Algerine vessels, and he sailed again to the Mediterranean in 1819. returning in 1822. He was commissioned commander 3 March, 1827, and captain, 9 February, 1837. During two years, until December, 1845, he commanded the Mediterranean Squadron, with the frigate "Cumberland" as flag-ship. Upon his return home he was appointed chief of the bureau of yards and docks, which post he filled until the spring of 1809. He was then president of the examining board for the promotion of officers until September, 1871. He had been retired, 21 December, 1861, and promoted to rear-admiral, 10 July, 1862. He resided at Washington after his service with the examining board until his death, at which time he was the senior officer in the navy on the retired list. He was highly esteemed by Commodore Isaac Hull, whose flag-ship "Ohio" he commanded in 1839. His son was killed on board the " Congress" when she was attacked by the "Merrimac," 8 March, 1862. When the admiral heard that the ship had surrendered, he exclaimed: "Then Joe is dead." Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 575.
SMITH, Edmund Kirby, soldier, born in St. Augustine, Florida. 16 May, 1824, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1845, and appointed brevet 2d lieutenant of infantry. In the war with Mexico he was twice brevetted, for gallantry at Cerro Gordo and Contreras. He was assistant professor of mathematics at West Point in 1849—'52, became captain in the 2d U.S. Cavalry in 1855, served on the frontier, and was wounded, 13 May, 1859, in an engagement with Comanche Indians near old Fort Atchison, Texas. In 1861 he was thanked by the Texas legislature for his services against the Indians. He was promoted major in January, 1861, but resigned on 6 April, on the secession of Florida, and was appointed lieutenant-colonel in the corps of cavalry of the Confederate Army. He became brigadier-general, 17 June, 1861, major-general, 11 October, 1861, lieutenant-general, 9 October, 1862, and general, 19 February, 1864. At the battle of Bull Run, 21 July, 1861, he was severely wounded in the beginning of the engagement. In 1862 he was placed in command of the Department of East Tennessee, Kentucky. North Georgia, and Western North Carolina. He led the advance of General Braxton Bragg's army in the Kentucky Campaign, and defeated the National forces under General William Nelson at Richmond, Kentucky, 30 August, 1862. In February, 1863, he was assigned to the command of the Trans-Mississippi Department, including Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Indian Territory, and was ordered to organize a government, which he did. He made his communications with Richmond by running the blockade at Galveston, Texas, and Wilmington, North Carolina, sent large quantities of cotton to Confederate agents abroad, and. introducing machinery from Europe, established factories and furnaces, opened mines, made powder and castings, and had made the district self-supporting when the war closed, at which time his forces were the last to surrender. In 1864 he opposed and defeated General Nathaniel P. Banks in his Red River Campaign. General Smith was president of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company in 1866-'8, and chancellor of the University of Nashville in 1870-'5, and has been professor of mathematics in the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, since 1875. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 577.
SMITH, Joseph Lee Kirby, soldier, born in New York City in 1836: died at Corinth, Mississippi., 12 October, 1862, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1857, served as assistant Topographical Engineer in the office of the Mississippi Delta Survey in Washington, D. C, in 1857-'8, on the Utah Expedition, the survey of the northern lakes in 1859-'61, and then became 1st lieutenant of Topographical Engineers. During the Civil War he served on General Nathaniel P. Banks's staff in July and August, 1861, received the brevet of captain, U. S. Army, in the latter month "for gallant and meritorious service in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia," became colonel of the 43d Ohio Volunteers in September, and was in command of a brigade of the Army of the Mississippi in the capture of Mew Madrid, Missouri, in March, 1862. He was brevetted major, U. S. Army, for the capture of Island No. 10. 7 April, 1862, served on the expedition to Fort Pillow, fought at the siege of Corinth in May of that year, and was brevetted lieutenant-colonel in the U. S. Army for repelling a Confederate sortie from that city. He was in command of a regiment in operations in northern Mississippi in September and October, was engaged at the battle of Iuka, and mortally wounded at Corinth, 4 October, while charging " front forward" to repel a desperate attack on Battery Robinett. For this service, he was brevetted colonel in the regular army, his commission dating 4 October, 1862. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 577.
SMITH, Joseph Rowe, soldier, born in Stillwater, New York, 8 September, 1802; died in Monroe, Michigan, 3 September, 1868. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1823, became 1st lieutenant in 1832 and captain in 1838, and served in the Florida War in 1837-'42. During the Mexican War he was brevetted major for gallantry at Cerro Gordo, and lieutenant-colonel for Contreras and Churubusco, receiving in the latter engagement a wound that ever afterward disabled his left arm. He became major of the 7th U.S. Infantry in 1851, and in 1861 was retired on account of his wounds, but in the following year was appointed mustering and disbursing officer for Michigan, with headquarters on the lakes. He became chief mustering officer of Michigan in 1862, military commissary of musters in 1863. and in 1865 was brevetted brigadier-general, U. S. Army, for " long and honorable service." Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 578.
SMITH, Martin Luther, soldier, born in New York City in 1819: died in Rome, Georgia, 29 July, 1866. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1842, served in the Mexican War as lieutenant of Topographical Engineers, became 1st lieutenant in 1853 and captain in 1856, and resigned 1 April, 1861. He then entered the Confederate service, became a brigadier-general, commanded a brigade in defence of New Orleans, was at the head of the Engineer Corps of the Army, and planned and constructed the defences of Vicksburg, where he was taken prisoner. He subsequently attained the rank of major-general. After the war he became chief engineer of the Selma, Rome, and Dayton Railroad. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 579.
SMITH, Melancton, naval officer, born in New York City, 24 May, 1810, entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman, 1 November, 1826, attended the naval school in New York in 1831, and became a passed midshipman, 28 April, 1832. He was commissioned lieutenant, 8 March, 1837, served in the steamer “Poinsett” until 1840, and in 1839, on this cruise, he commanded a fort during engagements with the Seminoles in Florida. He made a full cruise in the frigate “Constitution” on the Mediterranean Station in 1848–51, and, after being on waiting orders for several years, he was commissioned commander, 14 September, 1855, after which he was light-house inspector. On 9 July, 1861, while in command of the “Massachusetts” off Ship Island, he had an engagement with a Confederate fort and three Confederate steamers, and on 31 December, 1861, the fort at Biloxi, Louisiana, surrendered, cutting off all regular communication between North Carolina and Mobile, and getting possession of the sound. When in command of the “Mississippi” he passed Forts Jackson and St. Philip with Farragut, and destroyed the Confederate ram “Manassas,” for which he was highly commended by the admiral. He participated in the attack on Port Hudson. In an attempt to run the batteries the “Mississippi" grounded, and he set his ship on fire to prevent her falling into the hands of the enemy. This course was approved by the Navy Department. He was promoted to captain, 16 July, 1862 (under orders to return north), but was assigned to the temporary command of the “Monongahela,” on which vessel the admiral hoisted his flag on his passage from New Orleans to Port Hudson. In 1864 he had command of the monitor “Onondaga,” and appointed divisional officer on James River, and subsequently he had charge of the squadron in Albemarle Sound, North Carolina, and recaptured the steamer “Bombshell.” He participated in both attacks on Fort Fisher in the steam frigate “Wabash.” He was commissioned commodore, 25 July, 1866, and served as chief of the Bureau of Equipment and recruiting in the Navy Department until 1870. He was commissioned rear-admiral, 1 July, 1870, had charge of the New York U.S. Navy-yard in 1870–2, and was retired, 24 May, 1871. After he was retired, he was appointed governor of the Naval Asylum at Philadelphia. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 580.
SMITH, Morgan Lewis, soldier, born in Oswego County, New York, 8 March, 1822; died in Jersey City, New Jersey, 29 December, 1874. He settled in New Albany, Indiana, about 1843, and enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army in 1846, rising to the rank of orderly sergeant, but resigned, and at the beginning of the Civil War was engaged in the steamboat business. He then re-entered the service, having raised the 8th Missouri Infantry, a regiment whose members were bound by an oath never to surrender. He was chosen its colonel in July, 1861, took part in the advance of General Ulysses S. Grant's army to Fort Henry, commanded the 5th Brigade of the 3d Division of the Army of the Tennessee at Fort Donelson, and successfully stormed a strong position of the enemy. He led the 1st Brigade of the same army at Shiloh, was engaged at Corinth and Russell House, accompanied General William T. Sherman to Moscow, Tennessee, and was subsequently in charge of an expedition to Holly Springs, Mississippi, and Memphis, Tennessee. He was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers in July, 1862, and made expeditions and reconnoissance into Mississippi till November of that year, when he was placed in command of the 2d Division of General William T. Sherman's army, and was severely wounded at Vicksburg, 28 December, 1862. He assumed his command on his recovery in October, 1863, and was engaged at Missionary Ridge in the movements for the relief of Knoxville and in the Atlanta Campaign. He was then placed in charge of Vicksburg, and, by his stern adherence to military law, brought that city into peace and order. He was subsequently U. S. consul at Honolulu, declined the governorship of Colorado Territory, and became a counsel in Washington, D. C, for the collection of claims. At the time of his death he was connected with a building association in Washington, D. C. General William T. Sherman said of him: "He was one of the bravest men in action I ever knew." [Brother of Giles Alexander Smith, soldier]. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 580-581.
SMITH, Giles Alexander, soldier, born in Jefferson County, New York, 29 September, 1829; died in Bloomington, Illinois, 8 November, 1876, engaged in the dry-goods business in Cincinnati, and subsequently in Bloomington, Illinois, and at the beginning of the Civil War was the proprietor of a hotel in the last named town. He became captain in the 8th Missouri Volunteers in 1861, was engaged at Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and Corinth, and became lieutenant-colonel and colonel in 1862. He led his regiment at the first attack on Vicksburg, was wounded at Arkansas Post, and in the capture of Vicksburg rescued Admiral David Porter and his iron-clads when they were surrounded and hemmed in by the enemy. In August, 1863, he was promoted brigadier-general of volunteers " for gallant and meritorious conduct in the field." He commanded his brigade in the 15th Army Corps in the siege of Chattanooga and the battle of Missionary Ridge, in which he was severely wounded. He led a brigade in the 15th Corps in the Atlanta Campaign, was transferred to the command of the 2d Division of the 17th Army Corps, fought at Atlanta, and, in Sherman's march to the sea, engaged in all the important movements, especially in the operations in and about Columbia, South Carolina. After the surrender of General Robert E. Lee he was transferred to the 25th Army Corps, became major-general of volunteers in 1865, and continued in the service till 1866, when he resigned, declining the commission of colonel of cavalry in the regular army, and settled in Bloomington, Illinois. He was a defeated candidate for Congress in 1868, was second assistant Postmaster-General in 1869-'72, but resigned on account of failing health. He was a founder of the Society of the Army of Tennessee. [Brother of Morgan Lewis Smith, soldier]. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 581.
SMITH, Persifer Frazer, soldier, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in November, 1798; died in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 17 May, 1858. His grandfather. Colonel Robert Smith, was an officer in the Revolution, and his maternal grandfather, Persifer Frazer, was a lieutenant-colonel in the same army. Persifer was graduated at Princeton in 1815, studied law Tinder Charles Chauncey, and settled in New Orleans, Louisiana. At the beginning of the Florida War, being adjutant-general of the state, he volunteered under General Edmund P. Gaines as colonel of Louisiana volunteers and served in the campaigns of 1830 and 1838. He was appointed colonel of a rifle regiment in May, 1846, commanded a brigade of infantry from September of that year till the close of the war with Mexico, and received the brevet of brigadier-general, U. S. Army, for his service at Monterey, and major-general in the same for Churubusco and Contreras, 20 August, 1847. The official report of the latter battle records " that he closely directed the whole attack in front with his habitual coolness and ability." He also fought at Chapultepec and at the Belen gate, and in the latter battle is described by General Winfield Scott as "cool, unembarrassed, and ready." He was commissioner of armistice with Mexico in October, 1847, afterward commanded the 2d Division of the U. S. Army, became military and civil governor of Vera Cruz in May, 1848, and subsequently had charge of the departments of California and Texas. He was brevetted major-general, U. S. Army, in 1849, appointed to the full rank of brigadier-general, 30 December, 1856, and ordered to Kansas. Just before his death he was placed in command of the Utah Expedition. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 583.
SMITH, Preston, soldier, born in Giles County, Tennessee, 25 December, 1823; died in Georgia, 20 September, 1863. He received his early education at a country school, and at Jackson College, Columbia, Tennessee. He studied law in Columbia, and after practising there for several years moved to Waynesboro’, Tennessee, and subsequently to Memphis. He became colonel of the 154th Tennessee Regiment of Militia, which was afterward mustered into the service of the Confederacy, and he was promoted to brigadier-general, 27 October, 1862. He was severely wounded at the battle of Shiloh, and commanded his brigade under General E. Kirby Smith at Richmond, Kentucky. He was killed, with nearly all his staff, by a sudden volley during a night attack at Chickamauga, Georgia. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 584.
SMITH, Richard Somers, educator, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 30 October, 1813; died in Annapolis, Maryland, 23 January, 1877. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1834, but resigned from the army in 1836, was assistant engineer of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad Company in 1836-7, of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in 1839–40, and projected several other important railroads. He was reappointed in the U.S. Army in the latter year with the rank of 2d lieutenant, was assistant and afterward full professor of drawing at the U.S. Military Academy in 1846–52, and was then transferred to the 4th U.S. Artillery, becoming quartermaster and treasurer, but in 1856 he again resigned. He was professor of mathematics, engineering, and drawing in Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute in 1855–'9, director of Cooper Institute, New York City, for two years. He was reappointed in the army as major of the 12th U.S. Infantry in 1861, and served as mustering and disbursing officer in Maryland and Wisconsin in 1861–2. He then took part in the Rappahannock Campaign with the Army of the Potomac, participating in the battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, 2–4 May, 1863. He resigned in the same month to become president of Girard College, Pennsylvania, which post he held till 1868. For the next two years he was professor of engineering in the Polytechnic College of Pennsylvania, and from 1870 till his death he was at the head of the department of drawing at the U.S. Naval Academy, Columbia gave him the degree of A. M. in 1857. He published a “Manual of Topographical Drawing ” (Philadelphia, 1854), and a work on “Linear Perspective Drawing” (1857). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 584.
SMITH, Charles Ferguson, soldier, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 24 April, 1807; died in Savannah, Tennessee, 25 April, 1862, was the son of Dr. Samuel Blair Smith, assistant surgeon, U. S. Army. His maternal grandfather, Ebenezer Ferguson, of Pennsylvania, was a colonel in the Continental Army. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1825, became 2d lieutenant in the 2d U.S. Artillery, and was promoted 1st lieutenant, 30 May, 1832, and captain, 7 July, 1838, in the same regiment. He served at the Military Academy from 1829 till 1842, as assistant instructor of infantry tactics in 1829-'31, adjutant in 1831-'8, and as commandant of cadets and instructor of infantry tactics till 1 September, 1842. He was with the army of General Zachary Taylor in the military occupation of Texas in 1845-'6, and was placed in command of four companies of artillery, acting as infantry, which throughout the war that followed was famous as "Smith's Light Battalion." When in March, 1846, General Taylor crossed Colorado River, the passage of which, it was believed, would be disputed by the Mexicans, this battalion formed the advance. He was present at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, and for "gallant and distinguished conduct" in these two affairs he received the brevet of major. At the battle of Monterey, Major Smith was in command of the storming party on Federation hill, which, in the words of General Worth, was "most gallantly carried." For his conduct in the several conflicts at Monterey he received the brevet of lieutenant-colonel. He was present at Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, San Antonio, and Churubusco, and in these operations he commanded and directed his light battalion with characteristic gallantry and ability. For his conduct in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco he received the brevet of colonel, 20 August, 1847. He was present at the storming of Chapultepec and the assault and capture of the city of Mexico, and was again honorably mentioned in despatches. In 1849-51 he was a member of a board of officers to devise a complete system of instruction for siege, garrison, sea-coast, and mountain artillery, which was adopted, 10 May, 1851, for the service of the United States. He was promoted major of the 1st U.S. Artillery. 25 November. 1854, and in 1855, on the organization of the new 10th Regiment of Infantry, he was made its first lieutenant-colonel. He commanded the Red River Expedition in 1856, engaged in the Utah Expedition in 1857-'61, and for a time was in command of the Department of Utah. At the beginning of the disturbances that preceded the Civil War he was placed in charge of the city and department of Washington, D. C. On 1 August, 1861, he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, and ordered to Kentucky. The next month he became colonel of the 3d U.S. Infantry, and was placed in command of the National forces then at Paducah. He acquired reputation as an adroit tactician and skilful commander in the operations about Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. In the severe fight for the possession of Fort Donelson he commanded the division that held the left of the National investing lines, and, lead it in person, he stormed and captured all the high ground on the Confederate right that commanded the fort. He was then ordered to conduct the new movement up Tennessee River, arrived at Savannah, about 13 March, with a large fleet, took command of that city, and prepared the advance upon Shiloh. On 22 March, 1862, he was promoted major-general of volunteers, but the exposure to which he had been already subjected aggravated a chronic disease, which ended his life soon after his arrival in Savannah. General William T. Sherman says of him in his “Memoirs”: “He was adjutant of the Military Academy during the early part of my career there, and afterward commandant of cadets. He was a very handsome and soldierly man, of great experience, and at the battle of Donelson had acted with so much personal bravery that to him many attributed the success of the assault.” Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 585-586.
SMITH, Xanthus, born in Philadelphia, 26 February, 1839, is known as a marine and landscape painter. He served during the Civil War under Admiral Samuel F. DuPont, and has painted many of the naval engagements of the war. [Son of artist Russell Smith]. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 586.
SMITH, Thomas Church Haskell, soldier, born in Acushnet, Massachusetts, 24 March, 1819. He was graduated at Harvard in 1841, was admitted to the bar of Cincinnati in 1844, engaged in the establishment of the Morse Telegraph System in the west and south, and was president of the New Orleans and Ohio Telegraph Company. At the beginning of the Civil War he became lieutenant-colonel of the 1st Ohio Cavalry, served under General John Pope in Virginia, and became brigadier-general of volunteers in September, 1862. He was placed in command of the District of Wisconsin in 1863 to quell the draft riots, became inspector-general of the Department of the Missouri in 1864, and while commanding that district dealt with the disturbances that arose from the return of 1,800 Confederate soldiers to their homes after the surrender. He carried out General Pope's policy of withdrawing government troops from Missouri, and restored the state without delay to its own civil control. He was mustered out of the volunteer service in 1866, and in 1878 entered the regular army as major and paymaster. In 1883 he was retired. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 590.
SMITH, Thomas Kilby, soldier, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 23 September, 1820; died in New York City, 14 December, 1887. His father, George, was a captain in the East Indian trade for many years, but moved to Ohio about 1828, and settled on a farm in Hamilton County. Thomas was graduated at Cincinnati College in 1837, read law with Salmon P. Chase, was admitted to the bar in 1845, and practised till 1853, when he became bureau and special agent in the Post-Office Department in Washington, D. C. He was U. S. Marshal for the Southern District of Ohio in 1855-'6. and subsequently deputy clerk of Hamilton County, Ohio. He became lieutenant-colonel in the 54th Ohio Infantry in September, 1861, was promoted its colonel in October, and commanded the regiment at Pittsburg Landing, the advance on Corinth, and the Vicksburg Campaign. He was assigned to the 2d Brigade, 2d Division of the 15th Army Corps, in January, 1863, was on a court of inquiry, and on staff duty with General Ulysses S. Grant from May till September, 1863, and was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers in August of that year. He commanded brigades in the 17th Army Corps, and led a division of artillery, cavalry, and infantry in the Red River Expedition. His special duty being to protect the gun-boats when the main body of the army at Sabine cross roads, endeavoring to reach Shreveport, fell back, General Smith was left with 2,500 men to protect the fleet in its withdrawal down the river. He accomplished the task in the face of opposing armies on both banks of the stream. Subsequently he commanded the 3d Division detachment of the Army of the Tennessee, and then had charge of the District of Southern Alabama and Florida and the District and port of Mobile. He was compelled to resign field duty in July, 1864, on account of the failure of his health, was brevetted major-general of volunteers, 5 March, 1865, and in 1866 became U. S. consul at Panama. He moved to Torresdale, Pennsylvania, in 1865, and resided there until his death. In the spring of 1887 he became engaged in the business department of the "Star," New York City. He was an active member of the Loyal Legion, and was at one time junior vice-commander of the Pennsylvania Commandery. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 590-591.
SMITH, Richard Penn, soldier, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 9 May, 1837; died in West Brighton, Staten Island, New York, 27 November, 1887, was educated at West Chester College, Pennsylvania. Immediately after leaving college he settled in Kansas, and successfully engaged in business there, but returned to Philadelphia in 1860, became lieutenant in the 71st Pennsylvania Volunteers, and rose to the rank of colonel. He was engaged in the battles of Yorktown, Fair Oaks, White Oak Swamp, and Malvern Hill, covered the retreat at second Bull Run, was wounded at Antietam, and at Gettysburg did good service by bringing guns into use against General George Pickett's charge. He was mustered out of service in 1864, and engaged in business in New York City. On 3 July, 1887, he delivered an address at Gettysburg on the unveiling of the monument erected in honor of Lieutenant Alonzo H. Cushing and the 4th U.S. Artillery by the 71st Pennsylvania Volunteers. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 593.
SMITH, William, governor of Virginia, born in King George County, Virginia, 6 September, 1796; died in Warrenton, Virginia, 18 May, 1887. He was educated at classical schools in Virginia and Connecticut, began to practise law in Culpeper County, Virginia, in 1818, and engaged in politics. After serving the Democratic Party in a dozen canvasses as a political speaker, ne was chosen state senator in 1830, served five years, and in 1840 was elected to Congress, but was defeated in the next canvass, his district having become strongly Whig. He then moved to Fauquier County, where in December, 1845, he was one day addressed as Governor Smith. He then heard for the first time that, without consulting him, the Virginia legislature had chosen him governor for the term beginning 1 January, 1846. He moved to California in 1850, was president of the first Democratic Convention that was held in that state, returned to Virginia the same year, and in 1853-'61 was a member of Congress, during which service he was chairman of the Committee on the Laws of Public printing. In June, 1861, he became colonel of the 49th Virginia Infantry, and he was chosen soon afterward to the Confederate Congress, but he resigned in 1862 for active duty in the field. He was promoted brigadier-general the same year, and severely wounded at Antietam. He was re-elected governor in 1863, served till the close of the war, and subsequently sat for one term in the state house of delegates. Although he was never a student of statesmanship, he was a marvellously adroit politician, and few members of the Democratic Party were furnished with so large a number of ingenious pleas. As a soldier he was noted, on the contrary, for valor rather than tactical skill. Throughout his long career he was a familiar figure in many legislative bodies, and his eccentricities of habit and his humor endeared him to his constituents. In early manhood he established a line of post-coaches through Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, on which he contracted to carry the U. S. Mail. His soubriquet of "Extra Billy," which clung to him throughout his life, grew out of his demands for extra compensation for that service. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 594.
SMITH, William Waugh, educator, born in Warrenton, Fauquier County Virginia, 12 March, 1845, was educated at the University of Virginia and at Randolph Macon College, entered the Confederate service at seventeen years of age. He fought through the war in the ranks, twice refusing commissions, and was wounded at the battles of Fair Oaks and Gettysburg. He was principal of Bethel Academy in 1871—'8, when he became professor of languages in Randolph Macon, held office till 1886, and since that time has been president of that college. He has published "Outlines of Psychology" (New York, 1883), and "Chart of Comparative Syntax of Latin, Greek, French, German, and English " (1885). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 594.
SMITH, William, naval officer, born in Washington, Kentucky, 9 January, 1803; died in St. Louis, Missouri, 1 May, 1873. He entered the U. S. Navy as a midshipman in 1823, was attached to the " Sea-Gull," and served in Commodore David Porter's squadron against the West Indian pirates. He became lieutenant in 1831, co-operated in the " Vandalia " with the army in several expeditions against the Seminole Indians in Florida in 1835-'7, and during the Mexican War assisted at the capture of Tuspan and Tobasco. He became commander in 1854, was in charge of the "Levant," of the East Indian Squadron, and participated in the capture of the barrier forts at Canton, China, in 1856. During the Civil War he was in the frigate “Congress” when she was sunk by the "Merrimac," became commodore, 16 July, 1862, commanded the "Wachusett" and gun-boats co-operating with General George B. McClellan's army in that year, and was subsequently in command of the Pensacola Naval Station till 9 January, 1865, when he was retired. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 595.
SMITH, William Farrar, soldier, born in St. Albans, Vermont, 17 February, 1824. He was graduated at the , U. S. Military Academy in 1845, appointed to the Corps of Topographical Engineers, and, after a year's service on lake survey duty, was assistant professor of mathematics at West Point in 1846-'8. He was then engaged in surveys in Texas for the Mexican Boundary Commission, and in Florida till 1855, when he returned to his former duty at the Military Academy. In 1853 he became 1st lieutenant of Topographical Engineers. He was placed on lighthouse construction service in 1856, became captain of Topographical Engineers, 1 July, 1859, and was engineer secretary of the Light-House Board from that year till April, 1861. After serving on mustering duty in New York for one month, he was on the staff of General Benjamin F. Butler in June and July, 1861, at Fort Monroe, Virginia., became colonel of the 3d Vermont Volunteers in the latter month, and was engaged in the defences of Washington, D. C. He became brigadier-general of volunteers on 13 August, participated in the Virginia Peninsula Campaign, and was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, U. S. Army, for gallant and meritorious service at the battle of White Oak Swamp, 30 June, 1862. He became major-general of volunteers, 4 July, 1862, and led his division at South Mountain and Antietam, receiving the brevet of colonel, U. S. Army, 17 September, 1862, for the latter battle. He was assigned to the command of the 6th Corps, and engaged at the battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia., in December, was transferred to the 9th Corps in February, 1863, and became major in the Corps of Engineers on 3 March. The next day his appointment of major-general of volunteers, not having been confirmed by the Senate, expired by constitutional limitation, and he resumed his rank of brigadier-general in the volunteer service. He was in command of a division of the Department of the Susquehanna in June and July, 1863, became chief engineer of the Department of the Cumberland in October, and of the Military Division of the Mississippi in November, 1863. He was engaged in operations about Chattanooga, Tennessee, participating in the battle of Missionary Ridge. He rendered important services in carrying out the Brown's Ferry movement, which made it possible not only to maintain the Army of the Cumberland at Chattanooga, but to bring Sherman and Hooker to its assistance. In his report to the Joint Committee of Congress on the conduct of the war, General George H. Thomas said: "To Brig.-General W. F. Smith should be accorded great praise for the ingenuity which conceived, and the ability which executed, the movement at Brown's Ferry. When the bridge was thrown at Brown's Ferry, on the morning of the 27th October, 1863, the surprise was as great to the army within Chattanooga as it was to the army besieging it from without." The house Committee on Military Affairs, in April, 1885, unanimously agreed to a report that "as a subordinate, General William P. Smith had saved the Army of the Cumberland from capture, and afterward directed it to victory." He was confirmed as major-general of volunteers in March, 1864, and in May assigned to the 18th Corps, which he commanded at Cold Harbor and at Petersburg till July, when he was placed on special duty. On 13 March, 1865, he received the brevets of brigadier-general, U. S. Army, for "gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Chattanooga, Tennessee," and that of major-general for services in the field during the Civil War. He resigned his volunteer commission in 1865, and that in the U. S. Army in 1867. He became president of the International Telegraph Company in 1865, police commissioner of New York City in 1875, and subsequently president of the board. Since 1881 he has been a civil engineer. He was known in the army as "Baldy" Smith. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 595-596.
SMITH, William Sooy, civil engineer, born in Tarlton, Ohio, 22 July, 1830. He was graduated at Ohio University in 1849, and at the U. S. Military Academy in 1853. He resigned in 1854 and became assistant to Lieutenant-Colonel James D. Graham, of the U. S. Topographical Engineers, then in charge of the government improvements in the great lakes. In 1855 he settled in Buffalo, New York, and was principal of a high-school. In 1857 he made the first surveys for the international bridge across Niagara River, and was employed by the city of Buffalo as an expert to examine the bridge plans that were submitted. He was then elected engineer and secretary of the Trenton Locomotive-Works, New Jersey, which was at that time the chief iron-bridge manufacturing company in this country, and he continued so until 1861. While serving in this capacity he was sent to Cuba by the company, and he also constructed an iron bridge across Savannah River, where he introduced improvements in sinking cylinders pneumatically. The beginning of the Civil War stopped this work, and he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of Ohio volunteers and assigned to duty as assistant adjutant-general at Camp Denison. On 26 June, 1861, he was commissioned colonel of the 13th Ohio Regiment and participated in the West Virginia Campaigns, after which he joined the Army of the Ohio, and was present at Shiloh and Perryville. He was promoted brigadier-general of volunteers on 15 April, 1862, and commanded successively the 2d and 4th Divisions of the Army of the Ohio until late in 1862, after which he joined the army under General Grant and took part in the Vicksburg Campaign as commander of the 1st Division of the 16th Corps. Subsequently he was made chief of cavalry of the Department of the Tennessee, and as such was attached to the staffs of General Grant and General William T. Sherman until, owing to impaired health, he resigned in September, 1864. Returning to his profession, he built the Waugoshanee Light-House at the western entrance of the Straits of Mackinaw, where in 1867 he sank the first pneumatic caisson. He aided in opening the harbor of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and has been largely engaged in building bridges. He built the first great all steel bridge in the world, across Missouri River at Glasgow, Missouri, and was concerned in the construction of the Omaha and the Leavenworth Bridges, as well as many others, including that over Missouri River at Plattsmouth, Nebraska. General Smith has served on numerous engineering commissions, both for the government and for private corporations. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and was president of the Civil Engineers' Club of the northwest in 1880. His writings have been confined to reports and professional papers. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 596-597.
SMYTH, Thomas A., soldier, born in Ireland; died in Petersburg, Virginia, 9 April, 1865. In his youth he emigrated to this country, settling in Wilmington, Delaware, where he engaged in coach-making. At the beginning of the Civil War he raised a company in Wilmington and joined a three months' regiment in Philadelphia, serving in the Shenandoah Valley. On his return he was made major of a Delaware regiment, rose to the ranks of lieutenant-colonel and colonel, and commanded a brigade, winning a high reputation for bravery and skill. For gallant conduct at Cold Harbor, Virginia, he was appointed brigadier-general, U.S. volunteers, on 1 October, 1864. He was mortally wounded by a sharpshooter near Farmville, Virginia, on 6 April, 1865. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 600.
SNEAD, Thomas Lowndes, soldier, born in Henrico County, Virginia, 10 January, 1828. He was graduated at Richmond College in 1846 and at the University of Virginia in 1848, was admitted to the bar, and moved in 1850 to St. Louis, where he was editor and proprietor of the “Bulletin” in 1860–1. He was aide-de-camp of Governor Claiborne F. Jackson, and adjutant-general of the Missouri State Guard in 1861, and as such was in the battles of Booneville, Carthage, Wilson's Creek, and Lexington. He was commissioned from Missouri to negotiate a military convention with the Confederate states in October, 1861, became assistant adjutant-general in the Confederate Army, served with General Price in Arkansas, Missouri, and Mississippi, and was elected to the Confederate Congress by Missouri soldiers in May, 1864. He moved to New York in 1865, was managing editor of the “Daily News” in 1865-'6, and was admitted to the bar of New York in 1866. He has published the first volume of a projected history of the war in the Trans-Mississippi Department, entitled “The Fight for Missouri” (New York, 1886). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp.600-601.
SNEED, John Louis Taylor, jurist, born in Raleigh, North Carolina, 12 May, 1820. He was educated at Oxford Male Academy, North Carolina, moved to Tennessee, became a member of the legislature in 1845, and was captain of a Tennessee Company in the Mexican War in 1846–7. He was attorney-general of the Memphis Judicial District in 1851, attorney-general of the state of Tennessee in 1854–'9, and in 1861 was commissioned brigadier-general of the provisional army of the state of Tennessee. He was judge of the state supreme court in 1870–8, and of the court of arbitration in 1879, presidential elector on the Hancock ticket in 1880, and judge of the state court of referees in 1883-'4. In 1888 he was chosen president of the Memphis School of Law. He is the author of “Reports of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, 1854–'9” (Nashville). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 601.
SNOW, William Dunham, lawyer, born in Webster, Worcester County, Massachusetts, 2 February, 1832. He settled in Rochester, New York, where he published "The Tribune" in 1852-'4. Afterward he moved to Arkansas, was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1863 that made Arkansas a free state, and was elected U. S. Senator in 1864 under the proclamation of President Johnson, but was not admitted to a seat. He was largely instrumental in raising a brigade of Arkansas troops for the U. S. Army in 1865, and declined the commission of brigadier-general. Since his graduation at Columbia Law-School in 1876 he has practised in New York City and in the Federal courts. He has invented a successful carburetor, a gas-regulator, a thermostatic apparatus for the maintenance of equal heat for furnaces and steam apparatus, and a system for facsimile telegraphy. Mr. Snow is the author of several anti-slavery poems, and has contributed to magazines. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 602.
SOULE, George, educator, born in Barrington, Yates County, New York, 14 May, 1834. After the death of his father in 1838 he was taken to Illinois by his mother. He was graduated at Sycamore Academy, Illinois, in 1852. During the next three years he studied medicine, law, and the commercial sciences in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1856 he founded the Soule Commercial and Literary College in New Orleans, Louisiana, of which he is still (1888) president. He was an officer in the Confederate Army from 1862 to the close of the war, attaining the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was captured at Shiloh. and afterward was chief of the labor bureau of General Kirby Smith's army. Colonel Soule is engaged in lecturing and writing on educational and social topics, and has held many offices in benevolent and civic societies. He has published "Practical Mathematics" (New Orleans, 1872); a series of "Philosophic Arithmetics "on a new system (1884); and "Science and Practice of Accounts" (1887). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 610.
SOWARDS, Joseph, scout, born in eastern Kentucky about 1840; died there about 1863. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, and at the beginning of the Civil War occupied, with his aged father, a small farm in the upper part of Johnson County, Kentucky. He was a decided Unionist. The threats of his neighbors caused him to take refuge in the woods. While he was thus in hiding a party demanded of his father his place of concealment, and, on the latter's refusal to disclose it, Judge Cecil, one of the number, shot the old man dead before his own doorway. Sowards now enlisted in the 8th Kentucky Regiment in the National Army, and in December 1861, was selected by General James A. Garfield as a scout. Sowards rendered important services, among others going, at imminent risk, into Marshall's camp on the eve of the battle of Middle Creek and reporting to Garfield an ambuscade into which he would doubtless have fallen but for this timely information. On Marshall's retreat from that battle, Judge Cecil was captured, and Sowards upbraided him with the death of his aged father. A taunting reply caused Sowards to lose his self-control, and he shot Cecil as Cecil had shot his father. A court-martial sentenced Sowards to death; but Garfield was careful to enjoin upon his colonel to select as his guard only such men as were especially friendly to the prisoner, who naturally was allowed to escape. After this he performed the most important services, hanging about Garfield's camp and giving constant information as to the movements of the enemy. No one knew how he lived or where he could be found, but he was sure to appear whenever he was wanted. Through him Garfield was enabled to drive the last organized body of General Humphrey Marshall's men from Kentucky. They had strongly intrenched themselves at Pound Gap, and were fast receiving re-enforcements from Virginia, when Sowards penetrated their camp, learned their strength and position, and then returned to Garfield's lines with the suggestion that he should fall upon and destroy them. The result was the Pound Gap Expedition, which Sowards guided over a hundred miles of rough road and through a blinding snow-storm. He was so thoroughly disguised that Garfield, though he knew Sowards was with the troop, did not recognize him until he disclosed himself on the eve of the battle. This is the last that is certainly known of Sowards, but he is reported to have been killed in the following year by a band of Confederate guerillas. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 616.
SPALDING, Martin John, archbishop, born near Lebanon, Marion County, Kentucky., 23 May, 1810; died in Baltimore, Maryland., 7 February, 1872. In 1821 he was sent to St. Mary's Seminary in Marion County, where he was graduated in 1826. He then studied theology in St. Joseph's Seminary, Bardstown, for four years, and then in the Urban College of the Propaganda, Rome, where he won his doctor's diploma by defending for seven hours in Latin 256 theological propositions against some of the ablest theologians in the city. He was ordained priest on 13 August, 1834, and on his return to Kentucky was charged with the pastorship of the cathedral at Bardstown and with the professorship of philosophy in the diocesan seminary Louvain, which up to 1884 has sent 301 priests to the missions of the United States. At the beginning of the Know-Nothing movement he became involved in a controversy with George D. Prentice, and during the riots in Louisville in 1855 he showed great prudence, his influence probably preventing the disturbances from assuming larger proportions. Bishop Spalding did much to secure hospital accommodations for the sick of the National troops that were encamped around Louisville in the first year of the Civil War. On the death of Archbishop Kenrick in June, 1864, Bishop Spalding was transferred to the see of Baltimore and installed as archbishop on 31 July. He founded the House of the Good Shepherd in Baltimore, and began a boys' protectory, which he placed in charge of the Xaverian Brothers. In 1865 he was appointed administrator of the diocese of Charleston, the bishop of which was unable to return, and made successful appeals to the Roman Catholics of the north in aid of their southern brethren. He also secured important contributions for the American College at Rome. […] Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 619-612.
SPEAR, John Murray, abolitionist, Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, Counsellor, 1846-55, Vice-President, 1843-46. Severely beaten by a mob of pro-slavery supporters in Portland, Maine.
SPEAR, Charles, philanthropist, born in Boston. Massachusetts, 1 May, 1801; died in Washington, D. C, 18 April, 1863. He became a Universalist minister, and was settled over societies in Brewster and Rockport, Massachusetts, but afterward moved to Boston, where he devoted many years to prison-reform, urging upon legislatures the adoption of measures for the benefit and reformation of convicts. He also visited prisons and took discharged convicts to his own home, sometimes six at a time, keeping them till they found employment. During his last efforts in behalf of the prisoners of war in Washington he contracted a disease which resulted in his death. His second wife, Catharine Swan Brown, is now (1888) writing his life. He published "Names and Titles of Christ." (Boston, 1842); "Essays on the Punishment of Death" (1844); "Plea for Discharged Convicts" (1844); and "Voices from Prison." a selection of poems (1849). He edited " The Prisoner's Friend" (Boston, 1848-'54), a monthly periodical, and was connected with several religious newspapers. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 624-625.
SPEAR, Ellis, commissioner of patents, born in Warren, Knox County, Maine, 15 October, 1834. He was graduated at Bowdoin in 1858, entered the National Army in August, 1862, as a captain of Maine volunteers, was promoted through the intermediate grades to colonel, and from October, 1863, till February, 1865, commanded a regiment in the Army of the Potomac. He was brevetted for his services at Peebles Farm, where he was in command of a brigade while holding the rank of major, subsequently received the brevet of colonel for gallantry in action, and on 9 April, 1865, that of brigadier-general. He served for a short time as inspector of division, and at the close of the war was in command of a brigade. He was mustered out in July, 1865. In November of that year he became an assistant examiner of railway and civil engineering in the U. S. Patent-Office. He was appointed examiner in 1868, examiner-in-chief in the same bureau in 1872, and Assistant Commissioner of Patents in 1874. In 1876 he resigned and engaged in private business till January, 1877, when he was appointed Commissioner of Patents. He held this office till November, 1878, when he again resigned. He has since been in practice as an attorney and solicitor in patent eases. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 625.
SPEAR, Samuel P., soldier, born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1815; died in New York City, 5 May, 1875. He enlisted in the U. S. Army in 1833, and served in the 2d U.S. Dragoons in the Seminole War and through the Mexican Campaign, in which he was wounded at Cerro Gordo. Subsequently he served on the plains against hostile Indians and in the Utah Expedition, and was long sergeant-major of his regiment. In the beginning of the Civil War he entered the volunteer army as lieutenant-colonel of the 11th Pennsylvania Cavalry, his commission dating from 25 September, 1861. The regiment was raised as an independent body for scouting service, under authority of the Secretary of War, but in November, 1861, was incorporated in the Pennsylvania state organization. Spear became its colonel on 25 August, 1862. He commanded several expeditions during the war, was brevetted brigadier-general on 13 March, 1865, received severe wounds at Five Forks, and resigned on 9 May, 1865. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 625.
SPEED, James, 1812-1887, Kentucky, lawyer, soldier, statesman, U.S. Attorney General. Ardent opponent of slavery. Early friend of Abraham Lincoln. Emancipation candidate for Kentucky State Constitutional Convention. Unionist State Senator. U.S. Attorney General appointed by President Lincoln in 1864, he served until 1866. Appletons’, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 625-626; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 1, p. 440.
SPEED, James, lawyer, born in Jefferson County, Kentucky., 11 March, 1812; died there, 25 June, 1887. He was graduated at St. Joseph's College, Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1828, studied law at Transylvania, and began practice at Louisville. His ancestors were identified with that state from pioneer days, and were active participants in the best political life of the young commonwealth. Inheriting a repugnance to every form of oppression and injustice, he was naturally opposed to slavery, and his well-known opinions on that subject prevented his taking any prominent part in politics until the opening of the Civil War. He was then nearly fifty years old, but he had established his reputation as a jurist, and was recognized even by those wholly opposed to him on the issues of the time as able, consistent, and upright. He also held at this time a chair in the law department of the University of Louisville. A powerful element in Kentucky strove to commit the state to the disunion cause, and against that element he exercised all his talents and influence. To him as much as any one man is ascribed the refusal of Kentucky to join the Confederacy. He became in early manhood a friend of Abraham Lincoln, and their subsequent relations continued to be intimate. When the war came, he promptly yielded to the president’s request that he should assist in organizing the National troops in his native state, and he devoted himself to the cause of loyalty until 1864, when he was made Attorney General of the United States. He was a member of the legislature in 1847, and in 1849 was the Emancipation candidate for the State Constitutional Convention, but was defeated by James Guthrie, pro-slavery. He was a Unionist state senator in 1861-‘3, mustering officer of the U.S. volunteers in 1861 for the first call for 75,000 men, and U.S. Attorney-General of 1864 till 1866 when he resigned from opposition to Andrew Johnson’s administration. He was also a delegate to the Republican Conventions of 1872 and 1876. His last appearance in public was in delivering an address on Lincoln before the Loyal League of Cincinnati, 4 May, 1887. In 1875, he returned to his law professorship. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 625-626.
SPEIR, Samuel Fleet, surgeon, born in Brooklyn, New York, 9 April, 1838. He was educated at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and at the medical department of the University of the City of New York, where he was graduated in 1860, with three prizes. He also received the prize essay gold medal from the American Medical Association in 1864. After spending two years in study abroad, chiefly in Paris, he settled in his native city, where he still (1888) practices his profession. Dr. Speir has been connected with various hospitals and dispensaries, and during the Civil War served under the U. S. Sanitary Commission. He has contributed to professional literature and is the inventor of a new method of arresting surgical haemorrhage by artery-constriction, for which he received a prize from the State Medical Society in 1871, and of a new method for the differential diagnosis of morbid growths, based on the examination of minute specimens. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 626.
SPENCER, George Eliphaz, senator, born in Jefferson County, New York, 1 November, 1836. He was educated in Montreal, Canada, and after studying law was admitted to the Iowa bar in 1856. Two years later he was secretary of the Iowa Senate, and in October, 1862, he entered the National Army as assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of captain. In the autumn of 1863 he recruited the 1st Alabama Cavalry, of which he became colonel, and during General William T. Sherman's march to the sea he commanded a brigade of cavalry under General Judson Kilpatrick in the Army of the Tennessee. He received the brevet of brigadier-general of volunteers on 13 March, 1865, and resigned from the army on 4 July of that year. In May, 1867, he was appointed register in bankruptcy for the 4th District of Alabama, and he was also chosen U. S. Senator from that state as a Republican, serving with re-election from 25 July, 1868, till 3 March, 1879. After he had left the Senate he was active in the prosecution that led to the exposure of the star-route frauds, and in furthering the legislation that reduced letter postage to two cents. In 1881 he was appointed commissioner of the Union Pacific Railroad, and he has since engaged in ranching and mining business in Nevada.—His first wife, Bella Zilfa, born in London. England, 1 March, 1840; died in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 1 August, 1867, came to this country in infancy, and married General Spencer in 1862. She published "Ora, the Lost Wife" (Philadelphia, 1864); "Tried and True, a Story of the Rebellion" (Springfield, 1866); and "Surface and Depth" (1867).—His second wife, William Loring, born in St. Augustine, Florida, is a niece of General William W. Loring, and daughter of Albert A. Nunez. She is called " Major," perhaps because of her masculine name. She married General Spencer in 1877. She has published "Salt-Lake Fruit" (Boston, 1883); "Story of Mary " (New York, 1884; republished as "Dennis Day, Carpet-Bagger," 1887); "A Plucky One " (1887); and "Calamity Jane" (1887). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 629-630.
SPENCER, Thomas, physician, born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, in 1793; died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 30 May, 1857. From 1835 till 1850 he was professor of the theory and practice of medicine in Geneva (now Hobart) College, New York, and subsequently he held chairs in medical colleges in Chicago and Philadelphia. Dr. Spencer served as surgeon in the army during the war with Mexico. He was president of the New York Medical Association, and was the author of "Practical Observations on Epidemic Diarrhoea known as Cholera" (Utica, 1832); "Introductory Lecture at Medical Institute of Geneva College " (1842): " Lectures on Vital Chemistry, or Animal Heat" (Geneva, 1844-'5); and a paper on "The Atomic Theory of Life and Vital Heat" (1853). See "Memoir of Dr. Spencer," by Sylvester D. Willard, M. I). (Albany, 1858). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 631.
SPICER, William Francis, naval officer, born in New York City, 7 February, 1820; died in the Boston U.S. Navy-yard, 29 November, 1878. He entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman, 21 June, 1839, attended the naval school at Philadelphia in 1843-'5, and became a passed midshipman, 2 July, 1845. He cruised in the steamer " Vixen " during the latter part of the Mexican War in 1846-8, participating in the capture of Tuspan, and was promoted to master, 28 June, 1853, and, lieutenant, 25 February, 1854. His first service during the Civil War was in the steam frigate "Niagara" in 1861. He was commissioned lieutenant-commander, 16 July, 1862, and commander, 2 January, 1863, served in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron in command of the steamer " Cambridge," and took part in the attacks on Fort Fisher in 1863-'5. He was commissioned captain, 22 April, 1870, and commanded the monitor "Dictator" in 1874-'5 during the threatened war with Spain on account of the " Virginius" affair, after which he was at the rendezvous at Boston in 1875-'6. He was made commodore, 25 April, 1877, and was commandant of the Boston U.S. Navy-yard until his death. He was well known as a poet and musician, and was the author of several popular ballads, among which are " Absent Friends and you, Mary," "The Gale," "Manhattan's Dear Isle," "Ah, who can tell t" "The Commodore's Return," "Death at Sea," "Coming Home," " All Hands, up Anchor," ' The Old Relief," " Off Scillys Isles," "Adeline," "Maurice," "The Norfolk Girls," "The Date of '39," and " The Last Voyage." Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 631.
SPINOLA, Francis B., soldier, born in Stony Brook, Long Island, New York, 19 March, 1821. He was educated at Quaker Hill Academy, Dutchess County, New York, and engaged in business in New York City, where he was elected alderman and supervisor. He subsequently served as a member of the assembly and as a state senator, and in 1860 was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Charleston, South Carolina. In 1862 he raised the Empire Brigade of New York State Volunteers, and on 1 October he was commissioned as brigadier-general. He served in the National Army till the close of the war. resigning on 8 June, 1865. He was subsequently connected with banking and insurance companies in New York City, returned to the state senate, and in 1886 was elected to Congress for the term that will end on 3 March, 1889. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 633.
SPOONER, Benjamin F., soldier, born in Mansfield, Ohio, 27 October, 1828; died in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, 3 April. 1881. At the beginning of the Mexican War he enlisted in the 3d Indiana Regiment, and was chosen 2d lieutenant. After serving in General Zachary Taylor's campaign he returned home, studied law, and practised in Lawrenceburg, holding the office of prosecuting attorney of Dearborn County for several years. At the beginning of the Civil War he became lieutenant-colonel of the 7th Indiana Regiment, with which he fought at Philippi and Laurel Hill, and he afterward held the same commission in the 51st Indiana, with which he was present at Shiloh and the siege of Corinth. He then resigned and returned home, but was soon made colonel of the 83d Indiana, and took part in the engagements around Vicksburg, the battle of Mission Ridge, and the Atlanta Campaign, receiving a wound at Kenesaw Mountain that necessitated the amputation of his left arm. He then served on a military commission till his resignation in April, 1865, and on 13 March of that year was brevetted brigadier-general and major-general of volunteers. He was U. S. Marshal of the District of Indiana till 1879, when failing health compelled him to resign. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 634.
SPOONER, John Coit, senator, born in Lawrenceburg. Indiana, 6 January, 1843. His father, Judge Philip L. Spooner, was an authority on the law of real estate. The family moved to Madison, Wisconsin in June, 1859, and the son was graduated at the state university in 1864, when he enlisted as a private in the 40th Wisconsin Infantry. He subsequently returned and served as assistant state librarian, but entered the army again as captain in the 50th Wisconsin Regiment. After he was mustered out in July, 1866, with the brevet of major, he studied law with his father, was admitted to the bar in 1867, became Governor Lucius Fairchild's private secretary, and was then assistant in the attorney-general's office till 1870, when he moved to Hudson, Wisconsin, and began the general practice of his profession. He was elected a member of the legislature in 1872, and was active in his support of the state university, on whose board of regents he served in 1882-'5. In 1885 he took his seat in the United States Senate, having been chosen as a Republican for the term that will end in March, 1891. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 634.
SPOTTS, James Hanna, naval officer, born in Port Johnson, Wilmington Harbor, North Carolina, 11 March. 1822; died at Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, 9 March, 1882. His father was an officer in the U. S. Army, and commanded the artillery under General Andrew Jackson at the battle of New Orleans. In acknowledgment of his bravery, General Jackson presented Major Spotts with a sword. The son entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman, 2 August, 1837, and made a cruise around the world in the sloop "John Adams" in 1837-'40, in which he participated in two battles on the island of Sumatra with the natives, who had committed piratical acts against American merchant ships. He attended the naval school at Philadelphia in 1842-'3. During the Mexican War he served in the " Lexington " on the Pacific Coast in 1846-'9, participated in the engagements that resulted in the conquest of California, on the blockade of the Mexican Pacific ports, and at the capture of Guaymas, San Blass, and La Paz. He was promoted to master, 8 April, 1851, and to lieutenant, 25 November, 1851. Though a native of the south, he promptly announced his devotion to the Union, taking command of the schooner “Wanderer" in June, 1861, and acted as captain of the port of Key West. In July, 1862, he took charge of the steamer " Magnolia" on the Eastern Gulf blockade. He was promoted to commander, 5 August. 1862, and had the steamer " South Carolina" on the South Atlantic Blockade in 1863-'4 he was transferred to the steamer " Pawtucket," in which he participated in both attacks on Fort Fisher. In June, 18/15, he was detached and ordered to the Mare Island U.S. Navy-yard, where he served until October, 1867. His duties had taken him to California so often that he made his home in San Francisco, and was one of the first naval officers to identify himself with the interests and development of California. He was promoted to captain, 6 August, 1866. commanded the steamers "Saranac " and "Pensacola" in the Pacific Squadron in 1870-'2, and served as light-house inspector on the Pacific Coast in 1872-4, being commissioned commodore, 25 September, 1873. He served as president of the Board of Inspection on the Pacific Coast until 1880. He was promoted to rear-admiral. 28 May, 1881, and took command of the U. S. Naval force on the South Atlantic Station in July. He was on a cruise to visit, the ports of that station when he was stricken with apoplexy while receiving the farewell visit of the British colonial governor at Port Stanley. After his death the authorities gave a lot in the cemetery for his burial, and every honor was paid to the American admiral. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 636.
