Washington Township (part 2 of 21)

Samuel J. Tilden was born in New Lebanon, New York, February 9, 1814. He pursued his academic studies at Yale College and the University of New York, taking the course of law at the latter. He was admitted to the bar in 1841. His rare ability as a thinker and writer upon public topics attracted the attention of President Van Buren, of whose policy and administration he became an active and efficient champion. He made for himself a high place in his profession and amassed quite a fortune as the result of his industry and judgment. During the days of his greatest professional labor he was ever one of the leaders and trusted counsellors of the Democratic party. He was a member of the conventions to revise the state constitution, both in 1846 and 1867, and served two terms in the lower branch of the state leg- islature. He was one of the controlling spirits in the overthrow of the notorious "Tweed ring" and the reformation of the government of the city of New York. In 1874 he was elected governor of the state of New York. While in this position he assailed corruption in high places, successfully battling with the iniquitous "canal ring " and crushed its sway over all departments of the government. Recognizing his character and executive ability Mr. Tilden was nominated for president by the national Democratic convention in 1876. At the election he received a much larger popular vote than his opponent, and 184 uncontested electoral votes. There being some electoral votes contested, a commission appointed by congress decided in favor of the Republican electors and Mr. Hayes, the candidate of that party was declared elected. In 1880, the Democratic party, feeling that Mr. Tilden had been lawfully elected to the presidency tendered the nomination for the same office to Mr. Tilden, but he declined, retiring from all public functions, owing to failing health. He died August 4, 1886. By will he bequeathed several millions of dollars toward the founding of public libraries in New York City, Yonkers, etc.

NOAH WEBSTER. - As a scholar, lawyer, author and journalist, there is no one who stands on a higher plane, or whose reputation is better established than the honored gentleman whose name heads this sketch. He was a native of West Hartford, Connecticut, and was born October 17, 1758. He came of an old New England family, his mother being a descendant of Governor William Bradford, of the Plymouth colony. After acquiring a solid education in early life Dr. Webster entered Yale College, from which he graduated in

1778. For a while he taught school in Hartford, at the same time studying law, and was admitted to the bar in 1781. He taught a classical school at Goshen, Orange county, New York, in 1782-83, and whilethere prepared his spelling book, grammar and reader, which was issued under the title of "A Grammatical Institute of the English Language," in three parts, - so successful a work that up to 1876 -something like forty million of the spelling books had been sold. In 1786 he delivered a course of lectures on the English language in the seaboard cities and the following year taught an academy at Philadelphia. From December 17, 1787, until November, 1788, he edited the "American Magazine," a periodical that proved unsuccessful. In 1789-93 he practiced law in Hartford having in the former year married the daughter of William Greenleaf, of Boston. He returned to New York and November, 1793, founded a daily paper, the "Minerva," to which was soon added a semi-weekly edition under the name of the " Herald." The former is still in existence under the name of the " Commercial Advertiser . " In this paper, over the signature of "Curtius," he published a lengthy and scholarly defense of "John Jay's treaty."

In 1798, Dr. Webster moved to New Haven and in 1807 commenced the preparation of his great work, the "American Dictionary of the English Language," which was not completed and published until 1828. He made his home in Amherst, Massachusetts, for the ten years succeeding 1812, and was instrumental in the establishment of Amherst College, of which institution he was the first president of the board of trustees. During 1824-5 he resided in Europe, pursuing his philological studies in Paris. He completed his dictionary from the libraries of Cambridge University in 1825, and de-

Dr. Webster was a member of the legislatures of both Connecticut and Massachusetts, was judge of one of the courts of the former state and was identified with nearly all the literary and scientific societies in the neighborhood of Amherst College. He died in New Haven, May 28, 1843.

Among the more prominent works emanating from the fecund pen of Dr. Noah Webster besides those mentioned above are the following: "Sketches of American

Policy," " Winthrop's Journal," " A Brief History of Epidemics," "Rights of Neutral Nations in time of War," " A Philosophical and Practical Grammar of the English Language," "Dissertations on the English Language," "A Collection of Essays," "The Revolution in France," "Political Progress of Britain," Origin, History, and Connection of the Languages of Western Asia and of Europe ," and many others.

WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, the great anti-slavery pioneer and leader, was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, December 12, 1804. He was apprenticed to the printing business, and in 1828 was induced to take charge of the "Journal of the Times" at Bennington, Vermont. While supporting John Quincy Adams for the presidency he took occasion in that paper to give expression of his views on slavery. These articles attracted notice, and a Quaker named Lundy, editor of the "Genius of Emancipation," published in Baltimore, induced him to enter a partnership with him for the conduct of his paper. It soon transpired that the views of the partners were not in harmony, Lundy favoring gradual emancipation, while Garrison favored immediate freedom. In 1850 Mr. Garrison was thrown into prison for libel, not being able to pay a fine of fifty dollars and costs. In his cell he wrote a number of poems which stirred the entire north, and a merchant, Mr. Tappan, of New York, paid his fine and liberated him, after seven weeks of confinement. He at once began a lecture tour of the northern cities, denouncing slavery as a sin before God, and demanding its immediate abolition in the name of religion and humanity. He opposed the colonization scheme of President Monroe and other leaders, and declared the right of every slave to immediate freedom.

In 1831 he formed a partnership with Isaac Knapp, and began the publication of the " Liberator " at Boston. The " immediate abolition " idea began to gather power in the north, while the south became alarmed at the bold utterance of this journal. The mayor of Boston was besought by southern influence to interfere, and upon investigation, reported upon the insignificance, obscurity, and poverty of the editor and his staff, which report was widely published throughout the country. Rewards were offered by the southern states for his arrest and conviction. Later Garrison brought from England, where an emancipation measure had just been passed, some of the great advocates to work for the cause in this country. In 1835 a mob broke into his office, broke up a meeting of women, dragged Garrison through the street with a rope around his body, and his life was saved only by the interference of the police, who lodged him in jail. Garrison declined to sit in the World's Anti-Slavery convention at London in 1840, because that body had refused women representation. He opposed the formation of a political party with emancipation as its basis.

He favored a dissolution of the union, and declared the constitution which bound the free states to the slave states " A covenant with death and an agreement with hell." In 1843 he became president of the American Anti-Slavery society, which position he held until 1865, when slavery was no more. During all this time the " Liberator " had continued to promulgate anti-slavery doctrines, but in 1865 Garrison resigned his position, and declared his work was completed. He died May 24, 1879.

JOHN BROWN ("Brown of Ossawatomie"), a noted character in American history, wasbornatTorrington, Connecticut, May 9, 1800. In his childhood he removed to Ohio, where he learned the tanner's trade. He married there, and in 1855 settled in Kansas. He lived at the village of Ossawatomie in that state, and there began his fight against slavery. He advocated immediate emancipation, and held that the negroes of the slave states merely waited for a leader in an insurrection that would result in their freedom. He attended the convention called at Chatham, Canada, in 1859, and was the leading spirit in organizing a raid upon the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. His plans were well laid, and carried out in great secrecy. He rented a farm house near Harper's Ferry in the summer of 1859, and on October 1 6th of that year, with about twenty followers, he surprised and captured the United States arsenal, with all its supplies and arms. To his surprise, the negroes did not come to his support, and the next day he was attacked by the Virginia state militia, wounded and captured. He was tried in the courts of the state, convicted, and was hanged at Charlestown, December 2, 1859. The raid and its results had a tremendous effect, and hastened the culmination of the troubles between the north and south. The south had the advantage in discussing this event, claiming that the sentiment which inspired this act of violence was shared by the anti-slavery element of the country.

EDWIN BOOTH had no peer upon the American stage during his long career as a star actor. He was the son of a famous actor, Junius Brutus Booth, and was born in 1833 at his father's home at Belair, neat Baltimore. At the age of sixteen he made his first appearance on the stage, at the Boston Museum, in a minor part in " Richard III." It was while playing in California in 1851 that an eminent critic called general atten^ tion to the young actor's unusual talent. However, it was not until 1863, at the great Shakspearian revival at the Winter Garden Theatre, New York, that the brilliancy of his career began. His Hamlet held the boards for 100 nights in succession, and from that time forth Booth's reputation was established. In 1868 he opened his own theatre (Booth's Theater) in New York. Mr. Booth never succeeded as a manager, however, but as an actor he was undoubtedly the most popular man on the American stage, and perhaps the most eminent one in the world. In England he also won the greatest applause.

Mr. Booth's work was confined mostly to Shakspearean roles, and his art was characterized by intellectual acuteness, fervor, and poetic feeling. His Hamlet, Richard II, Richard III, and Richelieu gave play to his greatest powers. In 1865, when his brother, John Wilkes Booth, enacted his great crime, Edwin Booth resolved to retire from the stage, but waspursuaded to reconsider that decision. The odium did not in any way attach to the great actor, and his popularity was not affected. In all. his work Mr. Booth clung closely to the legitimate and the traditional in drama, making no experiments, and offering little encouragement to new dramatic authors. His death occurred in New York, June 7, 1 894.

JOSEPH HOOKER, a noted American officer, was born at Hadley, Massachusetts, November 13, 1814. He graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1837, and was appointed lieutenant of artillery. He served in Florida in the Seminole war, and in garrison until the outbreak of the Mexican war. During the latter he saw service as a staff officer and was breveted captain, major and lieutenant-colonel for gallantry at Monterey, National Bridge and C'napultepec. Resigning his commission in 1833 he took up farming in California, which he followed until 1861. During this time he acted as superintendent of military roads in Oregon. At the outbreak of the Rebellion Hooker tendered his services to the government, and, May 17, 1861, was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers. He served in the defence of Washington and on the lower Potomac until his appointment to the command of a division in the Third Corps, in March, 1862. For gallant conduct at the siege of Yorktown and in the battles of Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Frazier's Farm and Malvern Hill he was made major-general. At the head of his division he participated in the battles of Manassas and Chantilly. September 6, 1862, he was placed at the head of the First Corps, and in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam acted with his usual gallantry, being wounded in the latter engagement. On rejoining the army in November he was made brigadier-general in the regular army. On

General Burnside attaining the command of the Army of the Potomac General Hooker was placed in command of the center grand division, consisting of the Second and Fifth Corps. At the head of these gallant men he participated in the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862. In January, 1863, General Hooker assumed command of the Army of the Potomac, and in May following fought the battle of Chancellorsville. At the time of the invasion of Pennsylvania, owing to a dispute with General Halleck, Hooker requested to be relieved of his command, and June 28 was succeeded by George G. Meade. In September, 1863, General Hooker was given command of the Twentieth Corps and transferred to the Army of the Cumberland, and distinguished himself at the battles of Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and Ringgold. In the Atlanta campaign he saw almost daily service and merited his wellknown nickname of " Fighting Joe." July 30, 1864, at his own request, he was relieved of his command. He subsequently was in command of several military departments in the north, and in October, 1868, was retired with the full rank of major-general. He died October 31, 1879.'

JAY GOULD, one of the greatest financiers that the world has ever produced, was born May 27, 1836, at Roxbury, Delaware county, New York. He spent his early years on his father's farm and at the age of fourteen entered Hobart Academy, New York, and kept books for the village blacksmith. He acquired a taste for mathematics and surveying and on leaving school found employment in making the surveyor's map of Ulster county. He surveyed very extensively in the state and accumulated five thousand dollars as the fruits of his labor. He was then stricken with typhoid fever but recovered and made the acquaintance of one Zadock Pratt, who sent him into the western part of the state to locate a site for a tannery. He chose a fine hemlock grove, built a sawmill and blacksmith shop and was soon doing a large lumber business with Mr. Pratt. Mr. Gould soon secured control of the entire plant, which he sold out just before the panic of 1857 and in this year he became the largest stockholderintheStroudsburg, Pennsylvania, bank. Shortly after the ! crisis he bought the bonds of the Rutland & Washington Railroad at ten cents on the dollar, and put all his money into railroad securities. For a long time he conducted this road which he consolidated with the Rensselaer & Saratoga Railroad. In 1859 he removed to New York and became a heavy investor in Erie Railroad stocks, entered that company and was president until its reorganization in 1872. In December, 1880, Mr. Gould was in control of ten thousand miles of railroad. In 1887 he purchased the controlling interest in the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Co., and was a joint owner with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Co. of the western portion of the Southern Pacific line. Other lines soon came under his control, aggregating thousand of miles, and he soon was recognized as one of the world's greatest railroad magnates. He continued to hold his place as one of the master financiers of the century until the time of his death which occurred December 2, 1892.

THOMAS HART BENTON, a very prominent United States senator and statesman, was born at Hillsborough, North Carolina, March 14, 1782. He removed to Tennessee in early life, studied law, and began to practice at Nashville about 1810.

During the war of 1812-1815 he served as colonel of a Tennessee regiment under General Andrew Jackson. In 1815 he removed to St. Louis, Missouri, and in 1820 was chosen United States senator for that state. Having been re-elected in 1826, he supported President Jackson in his opposition to the United States bank and advocated a gold and silver currency, thus gaining the name of " Old Bullion," by which he was familiarly known. For many years he was the most prominent man in Missouri, and took rank among the greatest statesmen of his day. He was a member of the senate for thirty years and opposed the extreme states' rights policy of John C. Calhoun. In 1852 he was elected to the house cf representatives in which he opposed the repeal of the Missouri compromise. He was opposed by a powerful party of States' Rights Democrats in Missouri, who defeated him as a candidate for governor of that state in 1856.

Colonel Benton published a considerable work in two volumes in 1854-56, entitled " Thirty Years' View, or a History of the Working of the American Government for Thirty Years, 1820-50." He died April 10, 1858.

TEPHEN ARNOLD DOUGLAS. - One of the most prominent figures in political circles during the intensely exciting days that preceded the war, and a leader of the Union branch of the Democratic party was the gentleman whose name heads this sketch.

He was born at Brandon, Rutland county, Vermont, April 23, 1813, of poor but respectable parentage. His father, a practicing physician, died while our subject was but an infant, and his mother, with two small children and but small means, could give him but the rudiments of an education.

At the age of fifteen young Douglas engaged at work in the cabinet making business to raise funds to carry him through college. After a few years ol labor he was enabled to pursue an academical course, first at Brandon, and later at Canandaigua, New York. In the latter place he remained until 1833, taking up the study of law. Before he was twenty, however, his funds running low, he abandoned all further attempts at education, determining to enter at once the battle of life. After some wanderings through the western states he took up his residence at Jacksonville, Illinois, where, after teaching school for three months, he was admitted to the bar, and opened an office in 1834. Within a year from that time, so rapidly had he risen in his profession, he was chosen attorney general of the state, and warmly espoused the principles of the Democratic party. He soon became one of the most popular orators in Illinois. It was at this time he gained the name of the " Little Giant." In 1835 he resigned the position of attorney general having been elected to the legislature. In 1841 he was chosen judge of the supreme court of Illinois which he resigned two years later to take a seat in congress. It was during this period of his life, while a member of the lower house, that he established his reputation and took the side of those who contended that congress had no constitutional right to restrict the extension of slavery further than the agreement between the states made in 1820. This, in spite of his being opposed to slavery, and only on grounds which he believed to be right, favored what was called the Missouri compromise. In 1847 Mr. Douglas was chosen United States senator for six years, and greatly distinguished himself. In 1852 he was re-elected to the same office. During this latter term, under his leader- ship, the " Ivansas-Nebraska bill " was carried in the senate. In 1858, nothwithstanding the fierce contest made by his able competitor for the position, Abraham Lincoln, and with the administration of Bu- ' chanan arrayed against him, Mr. Douglas was re-elected senator. After the trouble j in the Charleston convention, when by the * T withdrawal of several state delegates without a nomination, the Union Democrats, ! , in convention at Baltimore, in i860, nomi- i nated Mr. Douglas as their candidate for j , presidency. The results of this election are : well known and the great events of 1861 coming on, Mr. Douglas was spared their full development, dying at Chicago, Illinois, June 3, 1861, after a short illness. His j last words to his children were, " to obey the laws and support the constitution of the United States."

I AMES MONROE, fifth president of the k-J United States, was born in Westmore- j land county, Virginia, April 28, 1758. At j the age of sixteen he entered William and ! Mary College, but two years later the j Declaration of Independence having been j adopted, he left college and hastened to New |j York where he joined Washington's army as i* a military cadet.

At the battle of Trenton Monroe per- j formed gallant service and received a wound - in the shoulder, and was promoted to a j captaincy. He acted as aide to Lord Ster- ( ling at the battles of Brandywine, German- 1 town and Monmouth. Washington then , sent him to Virginia to raise a new regiment : of which he was to be colonel. The ex- ; hausted condition of Virginia made this impossible, but he received his commission. He next entered the law office of Thomas Jefferson to study law, as there was no opening for him as an officer in the army. In

1782 he was elected to the Virginia assembly, and the next year he was elected to the Continental congress. Realizing the inadequacy of the old articles of confederation, he advocated the calling of a convention to consider their revision, and introduced in congress a resolution empowering congress to regulate trade, lay import duties, etc. This resolution was referred to a committee, of which he was chairman, and the report led to the Annapolis convention, which called a general convention to meet at Philadelphia in 1787, when the constitution was drafted. Mr. Monroe began the practice of law at Fredericksburg, Virginia, and was soon after elected to the legislature, and appointed as one of the committee to pass upon the adoption of the constitution. He opposed it, as giving too much power to the central government. He was elected to the United States senate in 1789, where he allied himself with the Anti-Federalists or "Republicans," as they were sometimes called. Although his views as to neutrality between France and England were directly opposed to those of the president, yet Washington appointed him minister to France. His popularity in France was so great that the antagonism of England and her friends in this country brought about his recall. He then became governor of Virginia. He was sent as envoy to France in 1802; minister to England in 1803; and envoy to Spain in 1805. The next year he returned to his estate in Virginia, and with an ample inheritance enjoyed a few years of repose. He was again called to be governor of Virginia, and was then appointed secretary of state by President Madison. The war with England soon resulted, and when the capital was burned by the British, Mr. Monroe became secretary of war also, and planned the measures for the defense of New Orleans.

In 1817 Mr. Monroe became president of the United States, having been a candidate of the "Republican" party, which at that time had begun to be called the ' ' Democratic " party. In 1820 he was re-elected, havingtwo hundred and-thirty-one electoral votes out of two hundred and thirty-two. His administration is known as the " Era of good-feeling, " and party lines were almost wiped out. The slavery question began to assume importance at this time, and the Missouri Compromise was passed. The famous "Monroe Doctrine" originated in a great state paper of President Monroe upon the rumored interference of the Holy Alliance to prevent the formation of free republics in South America. President Monroe acknowledged their independence, and promulgated his great "Doctrine," which has been held in reverence since. Mr. Monroe's death occurred in New York on July 4, 1831.

THOMAS ALVA EDISON, the master wizard of electrical science and whose name is synonymous with the subjugation of electricity to the service of man, was born in 1847 at Milan, Ohio, and it was at Port Huron, Michigan, whither his parents had moved in 1854, that his self-education began - for he never attended school for more than two months. He eagerly devoured every book he could lay his hands on and is said to have read through an encyclopedia without missing a word. At thirteen he began his working life as a trainboy upon the Grand Trunk Railway between Port Huron and Detroit. Much of his time was now spent in Detroit, where he found increased facilities for reading at the public libraries.

He was not content to be a newsboy, so he got together three hundred pounds of type and started the issue of the " Grand Trunk Herald." It was only a small amateur weekly, printed on one side, the impression being made from the type by hand. Chemical research was his next undertaking and a laboratory was added to his movable publishing house, which, by the way, was an old freight car. One day, however, as he was experimenting with some phosphorus, it ignited and the irate conductor threw the young seeker after the truth, chemicals and all, from the train. His office and laboratory were then removed to the cellar of his father's house. As he grew to manhood he decided to become an operator. He won his opportunity by saving the life of a child, Whose father was an old operator, and out of gratitude he gave Mr. Edison lessons in telegraphy. Five months later he was competent to fill a position in the railroad office at Port Huron. Hence he peregrinated to Stratford, Ontario, and thence successively to Adrian, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Memphis, Louisville and Boston, gradually becoming an expert operator and gaining experience that enabled him to evolve many ingenious ideas for the improvement of telegraphic appliances. At Memphis he constructed an automatic repeater, which enabled Louisville and New Orleans to communicate direct, and received nothing more than the thanks of his employers. Mr. Edison came to New York in 1870 in search of an opening more suitable to his capabilities and ambitions. He happened to be in the office of the Laws Gold Reporting Company when one of the instruments got out of order, and even the inventor of the system could not make it work. Edison requested to be allowed to attempt the task, and in a few minutes he had overcome the difficulty and secured an advantageous engagement. For several years he had a contract with the Western Union and the Gold Stock companies, whereby he received a large salary, besides , a special price for all telegraphic improvements he could suggest. Later, as the head of the Edison General Electric company, with its numerous subordinate organizations and connections all over the civilized world, he became several times a millionaire. Mr. Edison invented the pho- - nograph and kinetograph which bear his name, the carbon telephone, the tasimeter, : and the duplex and quadruplex systems of [ telegraphy.

AMES LONGSTREET, one of the most | conspicuous of the Confederate generals [ during the Civil war, was born in 1820, in I South Carolina, but was early taken by his parents to Alabama where he grew to man- f hood and received his early education. He graduated at the United States military f academy in 1842, entering the army as lieutenant and spent a few years in the frontier service. When the Mexican war broke out he was called to the front and participated in all the principal battles of that war up to the storming of Chapultepec, where he received severe wounds. For gallant conduct at Contreras, Cherubusco, and Molino del Rey he received the brevets of captain and major. After the close of the Mexican war Longstreet served as adjutant and captain on frontier service in Texas until 1858 when he was transferred to the staff as paymaster with rank of major. In June, 1861, he resigned to join the Confederacy and immediately went to the -front, commanding a brigade at Bull Run the following month. Promoted to be major-general in 1862 he thereafter bore a conspicuous part and rendered valuable service to the Confederate cause. He participated in many of the most severe battles of the Civil 11 war including Bull Run (first and second), Seven Pines, Gaines' Mill, Fraziers Farm, Malvern Hill, Antietam, Frederickburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, the Wilderness, Petersburg and most of the fighting about Richmond.

When the war closed General Longstreet accepted the result, renewed his alle- 1 giance to the government, and thereafter labored earnestly to obliterate all traces of war and promote an era of good feeling between all sections of the country. He took up his residence in New Orleans, and took an active interest and prominent part in public affairs, served as surveyor of that port for several years; was commissioner of engineers for Louisiana, served four years as school commissioner, etc. In 1875 he was appointed supervisor of internal revenue and settled in Georgia. After that time he served four years as United States minister to Turkey, and also for a number of years was United States marshal of Georgia, besides having held other important official positions.

JOHN RUTLEDGE, the second chiefjustice of the United States, was born at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1739. He was a son of John Rutledge, who had left Ireland for America about five years prior to the birth of our subject, and a brother of Edward Rutledge, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. John Rutledge received his legal education at the Temple, London, after which he returned to Charleston and soon won distinction at the bar. He was elected to the old Colonial congress in 1765 to protest against the "Stamp Act," and was a member of the

South Carolina convention of 1774, and of the Continental congress of that and the succeeding year. In 1776 he was chairman of the committee that draughted the constitution of his state, and was president of the congress of that state. He was not pleased with the state constitution, however, and resigned. In 1779 he was again chosen governor of the state, and granted extraordinary powers, and he at once took the field to repel the British. He joined the army of General Gates in 1782, and the same year was elected to congress: He was a member of the constitutional convention which framed our present constitution. In 1 789 he was appointed an associate justice of the first supreme court of the United States. He resigned to accept the position of chief-justice of his own state. Upon the resignation of Judge Jay, he was appointed chief-justice of the United States in 1795. The appointment was never confirmed, for, after presiding at one session, his mind became deranged, and he was succeeded by Judge Ellsworth. He died at Charleston, July 23, 1800.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON was one of the most noted literary men of his time. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, May 25, 1803. He had a minister for an ancestor, either on the paternal or maternal side, in every generation for eight generations back. His father, Rev. William Emerson, was a native of Concord, Massachusetts, born May 6, 1769, graduated at Harvard, in 1789, became a Unitarian minister; was a fine writer and one of the best orators of his day; died in 181 1.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was fitted for college at the public schools of Boston, and graduated at Harvard College in 1821, winning about this time several prizes for es- says. For five years he taught school in Boston; in 1 826 was licensed to preach, and in 1829 was ordained as a colleague to Rev. Henry Ware of the Second Unitarian church in Boston. In 1832 he resigned, making the announcement in a sermon of his unwillingness longer to administer the rite of the Lord's Supper, after which he spent about a year in Europe. Upon his return he began his career as a lecturer before the Boston Mechanics Institute, his subject being''Water." His early lectures on "Italy" and "Relation of Man to the Globe" also attracted considerable attention; as did also his biographical lectures on Michael Angelo, Milton, Luther, George Fox, and Edmund Burke. After that time he gave many courses of lectures in Boston and became one of the best known lecturers in America. But very few men have rendered such continued service in this field. He lectured for forty successive seasons before the Salem, Massachusetts, Lyceum and also made repeated lecturing tours in this country and in England. In 1835 Mr. Emerson took up his residence at Concord, Massachusetts, where he continued to make his home until his death which occurred April 27, 1882.

Mr. Emerson's literary work covered a wide scope. He wrote and published many works, essays and poems, which rank high among the works of American literary men. A few of the many which he produced are the following: "Nature;" "The Method of Nature;" " Man Thinking;" "The Dial;" "Essays;" "Poems;" "English Traits;" "The Conduct of Life;" "May-Day and other Poems " and " Society and Solitude;" besides many others. He was a prominent member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, of the American Philosophical Society, the Massachusetts Historical Society and other kindred associations.

the famous merchant princes of New York, was born near the city of Belfast, Ireland, in 1803, and before he was eight years of age was left an orphan without any near relatives, save an aged grandfather; The grandfather being a pious Methodist wanted to make a minister of young Stewart, and accordingly put him in a school with that end in view and he graduated at Trinity College, in Dublin. When scarcely twenty years of age he came to New York. His first employment was that of a teacher, but accident soon made him a merchant. Entering into business relations with an experienced man of his acquaintance he soon found himself with the rent of a store on his hands and alone in a new enterprise. Mr. Stewart's business grew rapidly in all directions, but its founder had executive ability sufficient for any and all emergencies, and in time his house became one of the greatest mercantile establishments of modern times, and the name of Stewart famous. Mr. Stewart's death occurred April 10, 1876.

wrote for mankind at large, hence it is that he has earned a fame wider than any American author of modern times. The creations of his genius shall survive through centuries to come, and only perish with our language." Another eminent writer (Prescott) said of Cooper: " In his productions every American must take an honest pride; for surely no one has succeeded like Cooper in the portraiture of American character, or has given such glowing and eminently truthful pictures of American scenery." tember 15, 1789, at Burlington, New Jersey, and was a son of Judge William Cooper. About a year after the birth of our subject the family removed to Otsego county, New York, and founded the town called " Cooperstown." James Fenimore Cooper spent his childhood there and in 1802 entered Yale College, and four years later became a midshipman in the United States navy. In 181 1 he was married, quit the seafaring life, and began devoting more or less time to literary pursuits. His first work was "Precaution," a novel published in 1819, and three years later he produced "The Spy, a Tale of Neutral Ground," which met with great favor and was a universal success. This was followed by many other works, among which may be mentioned the following: ' 1 The Pioneers," "The Pilot, " " Last of the Mohicans," "The Prairie," "The Red Rover," "The Manikins," "Homeward Bound," "Home as Found," "History of the United States Navy," "The Pathfinder," "Wing and Wing," "Afloat and Ashore," "The Chain-Bearer," "Oak- Openings," etc. J. Fenimore Cooper died at Cooperstown, New York, September 14, 1851.

MARSHALL FIELD, one of the merchant princes of America, ranks among the most successful business men of the century. He was born in 1835 Conway, Massachusetts. He spent his early life on a farm and secured a fair education in the common schools, supplementing this with a course at the Conway Academy. His natural bent ran in the channels of commercial life, and at the age of seventeen h,c was given a position in a store at Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Mr. Field remained there four years and removed to Chicago in 1856. He began his career in Chicago as a clerk in the wholesale dry goods house of Cooley, Wadsworth & Company, which later became Coole}', Farwell & Company, and still later John V. Farwell & Company. He remained with them four years and exhibited marked ability, in recognition of which he was given a partnership. In 1865 Mr. Field and L. Z. Leiter, who was also a member of the firm, withdrew and formed the firm of Field, Palmer & Leiter, the third partner being Potter Palmer, and they continued in business until 1867, when Mr. Palmer retired and the firm became Field, Leiter & Company. They ran under the latter name until 1881, when Mr. Leiter retired and the house has since continued under the name of Marshall Field & Company. The phenomenal success accredited to the house is largely due to the marked ability of Mr. Field, the house had become one of the foremost in the west, with an annual sale of $8,000,000 in 1870. The total loss of the firm during the Chicago fire was $3,500,000 of which $2,500,000 was recovered through the insurance companies. It rapidly recovered from the effects of this and to-day the annual sales amount to over $40,000,000. Mr. Field's real estate holdings amounted to $10,000,000. He was one of the heaviest subscribers to the Baptist University fund although he is a Presbyterian, and gave $1,000,000 for the endowment of the Field Columbian Museum - one of the greatest institutions of the kind in the world.

EDGAR WILSON N YE, who won an immense popularity under the pen name of " Bill Nye," was one of the most eccentric humorists of his day. He was born August 25, 1850, at Shirley, Piscataqua county, Maine, "at a very early age" as he expresses it. He took an academic course in

Compendium Of Biograpiit

River Falls, Wisconsin, from whence, after his graduation, he removed to Wyoming Territory. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1876. He began when quite young to contribute humorous sketches to the newspapers, became connected with various western journals and achieved a brilliant success as a humorist. Mr. Nye settled later in New York City where he devoted his time to writing funny articles for the big newspaper syndicates. He wrote for publication in book form the following : "Bill Nye and the Boomerang," "The Fort)' Liars, " "Baled Hay," "Bill Nye's Blossom Rock," "Remarks," etc. His death occurred February 21, 1896, at Asheville, North Carolina.

the most celebrated American preachers, was born January 7, 1832, and was the youngest of twelve children. He made his preliminary studies at the grammar school in New Brunswick, New Jersey. At the age of eighteen he joined the church and entered the University of the City of New York, and graduated in May, 1853. The exercises were held in Niblo's Garden and his speech aroused the audience to a high pitch of enthusiasm. At the close of his college duties he imagined himself interested in the law and for three years studied law. Dr. Talmage then perceived his mistake and prepared himself for the ministry at the Reformed Dutch Church Theological Seminary at New Brunswick, New Jersey. Just after his ordination the young minister received two calls, one from Piermont, New York, and the other from Belleville, New Jersey. Dr. Talmage accepted the latter and for three years filled that charge, when he was called to Syracuse, New York. Here it was that his sermons first drew large crowds of people to his church, and from thence dates his popularity. Afterward he became the pastor of the Second Reformed Dutch church, of Philadelphia, remaining seven years, during which period he first entered upon the lecture platform and laid the foundation for his future reputation. At the end of this time he received three calls, one from Chicago, one from San Francisco, and one from the Central Presbyterian church of Brooklyn, which latter at that time consisted of only nineteen members with a congregation of about thirty-five. This church offered him a salary of seven thousand dollars and he accepted the call. He soon induced the trustees to sell the old church and build a new one. They did so and erected the Brooklyn Tabernacle, but it burned down shortly after it was finished. By prompt sympathy and general liberality a new church was built and formally opened in February, 1874. It contained seats for four thousand, six hundred and fifty, but if necessary seven thousand could be accommodated. In October, 1 878, his salary was raised from seven thousand dollars to twelve thousand dollars, and in the autumn of 1889 the second tabernacle was destroyed by fire. A third tabernacle was built and it was formally dedicated on Easter Sunday, 1891.

JOHN PHILIP SOUSA, conceded as cJ being one of the greatest band leaders in the world, won his fame while leader of the United States Marine Band at Washington, District of Columbia. He was not originally a band player but was a violinist, and at the age of seventeen he was conductor of an opera company, a profession which he followed for several years, until he was offered the leadership of the Marine Band at Washington. The proposition was repugnant to him at first but he accepted the offer and then ensued ten years of brilliant success with that organization. When he first took the Marine Band he began to gather the national airs of all the nations that have representatives in Washington, and compiled a comprehensive volume including nearly all the national songs of the different nations. He composed a number of marches, waltzes and two-steps, prominent among which are the "Washington Post," "Directorate," "King Cotton," " High School Cadets," "Belle of Chicago," "Liberty Bell March," "Manhattan Beach," "On Parade March," "Thunderer March," "Gladiator March," " El Capitan March," etc. He became a very extensive composer of this class of music.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, sixth president J of the United States, was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, July n, 1767. the son of John Adams. At the age of eleven he was sent to school at Paris, and two years later to Leyden, where he entered that great university. He returned to the United States in 1785, and graduated from Harvard in 1788. He then studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1791. His practice brought no income the first two years, but he won distinction in literary fields, and was appointed minister to The Hague in 1794. He married in 1797, and went as minister to Berlin the same year, serving until i8or, when Jefferson became president. He was elected to the senate in 1803 by the Federalists, but was condemned by that party for advocating the Embargo Act and other Anti-Federalist measures. He was appointed as professor of rhetoric at Harvard in 1805, and in 1809 was sent as minister to Russia. He assisted in negotiating the treaty of peace with England in .1814, and became minister to that power the next year. He served during Monroe's administration two terms as secretary of state, during which time party lines were obliterated, and in 1824 four candidates for president appeared, all of whom were identified to some extent with the new " Democratic" party. Mr. Adams received 84 electoral votes, Jackson 99, Crawford 41, and Clay 37. As no candidate had a majority of all votes, the election went to the house of representatives, which elected Mr. Adams. As Clay had thrown' his influence to Mr. Adams, Clay became secretary of state, and this caused bitter feeling on the part of the Jackson Democrats, who were joined by Mr. Crawford and his following, and opposed every measure of the administration. In the election of 1828 Jackson was elected over Mr. Adams by a great majority.

Mr. Adams entered the lower house of congress in 1830, elected from the district in which he was born and continued to represent it for seventeen years. He was known as " the old man eloquent," and his work in congress was independent of party. He opposed slavery extension and insisted upon presenting to congress, one at a time, the hundreds of petitions against the slave power. One of these petitions, presented in 1842, was signed by forty-five citizens of Massachusetts, and prayed congress for a peaceful dissolution of the Union. His enemies seized upon this as an opportunity to crush their powerful foe, and in a caucus meeting determined upon his expulsion from congress. Finding they would not be able to command enough votes for this, they decided upon a course that would bring equal disgrace. They formulated a resolution to the effect that while he merited expulsion, the house would, in great mercy, substitute its severest censure. When it was read in the house the old man, then in his seventy-fifth year, arose and demanded that the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence be read as his defense. It embraced the famous sentence, "that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to those ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, etc., etc." After eleven days of hard fighting his opponents were defeated. On February 21, 1S48, he rose to address the speaker on the Oregon question, when he suddenly fell from a stroke of paralysis. He died soon after in the rotunda of the capitol, where 'he had been conveyed by his colleagues.

Quaker. She received a good education and became a school teacher, following that profession for fifteen years in New York. Beginning with about 1852 she became the active leader of the woman's rights movement and won a wide reputation for her zeal and ability. She also distinguished herself for her zeal and eloquence in the temperance and anti-slavery causes, and became a conspicuous figure during the war. After the close of the war she gave most of her labors to the cause of woman's suffrage.

PHILIP D. ARMOUR, one of the most conspicuous figures in the mercantile history of America, was born May 16, 1832, on a farm at Stockbridge, Madison county, New York, and received his early education in the common schools of that county. He was apprenticed to a farmer and worked faithfully and well, being very ambitious and desiring to start out for himself. At the age of twenty he secured a release from his indentures and set out overland for the gold fields of California. After a great deal of hard work he accumulated a little money and then came east and settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He went into the grain receiving and warehouse business and was fairly successful, and later on he formed a partnership with John Plankinton in the pork packing line, the style of the firm being Plankinton & Armour. Mr. Armour made his first great "deal" in selling pork "short " on the New York market in the anticipation of the fall of the Confederacy, and Mr. Armour is said to have made through this deal a million dollars. He then established packing houses in Chicago and Kansas City, and in 1875 he removed to Chicago. He increased his business by adding to it the shipment of dressed beef to the European markets, and many other lines of trade and manufacturing, and it rapidly assumed vast proportions, employing an army of men in different lines of the business. Mr. Armour successfully conducted a great many speculative deals in pork and grain of immense proportions and also erected many large warehouses for the storage of grain. He became one of the representative business men of Chicago, where he became closely identified with all -enterprises of a public nature, but his fame as a great business man extended to all parts of the world. He founded the "Armour Institute " at Chicago and also contributed largely to benevolent and charitable institutions.

ROBERT FULTON. - Although Fulton is best known as the inventor of the first successful steamboat, yet his claims to distinction do not rest alone upon that, for he was an inventor along other lines, a painter and an author. He was born at Little Britain, Lancaster county, Pennsyl- vania, in 1765, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. At the age of seventeen he removed to Philadelphia, and there and in New York engaged in miniature painting with success both from a pecuniary and artistic point of view. With the results of his labors he purchased a farm for the support of his mother. He went to London and studied under the great painter, Benjamin West, and all through life retained his fondness for art and gave evidence of much ability in that line. While in England he was brought in contact with the Duke of Bridgewater, the father of the English canal system; Lord Stanhope, an eminent mechanician, and James Watt, the inventor of the steam engine. Their influence turned his mind to its true field of labor, that of mechanical invention. Machines for flax spinning, marble sawing, rope making, and for removing earth from excavations, are among his earliest ventures. His "Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Navigation, " issued in 1796, and a series of essays on canals were soon followed by an English patent for canal improvements. In 1797 he went to Paris, where he resided until 1806, and there invented a submarine torpedo boat for maritime defense, but which was rejected by the governments of France, England and the United States. In 1 803 he offered to construct for the Emperor Napoleon a steamboat that would assist in carrying out the plan of invading Great Britain then meditated by that great captain. In pursuance he constructed his first steamboat on the Seine, but it did not prove a full success and the idea was abandoned by the French government. By the aid of Livingston, then United States minister to France, Fulton purchased, in 1806, an engine which he brought to this country. After studying the defects of his own and other attempts in this line he built and launched in 1807 the Clermont, the first successful steamboat. This craft only attained a speed of five miles an hour while going up North river. His first patent not fully covering his invention, Fulton was engaged in many law suits for infringement. He constructed many steamboats, ferryboats, etc., among these being the United States steamer "Fulton the First," built in 1814, the first war steamer ever built. This craft never attained any great speed owing to some defects in construction and accidentally blew up in 1829. Fulton died in New York, February 21, 1815.

SALMON PORTLAND CHASE, sixth chief-justice of the United States, and one of the most eminent of American jurists, was born in Cornish, New Hampshire, January 13, 1808. At the age of nine he was left in poverty by the death of his father, but means were found to educate him. He was sent to his uncle, a bishop, who conducted an academy near Columbus, Ohio, and here young Chase worked on the farm and attended school. At the age of fifteen he returned to his native state and entered Dartmouth College, from which he graduated in 1826. He then went to Washington, and engaged in teaching school, and studying law under the instruction of William Wirt. He was licensed to practice in 1829, and went to Cincinnati, where he had a hard struggle for several years following. He had in the meantime prepared notes on the statutes of Ohio, which, when published, brought him into prominence locally. He was soon after appointed solicitor of the United States Bank. In 1837 he appeared as counsel for a fugitive slave woman, Matilda, and sought by all the powers of his learning and eloquence to prevent her owner from reclaiming her. He acted in many other cases, and devolved the trite expression, "Slavery is sectional, freedom is national." He was employed to defend Van Zandt before the supreme court of the United States in 1846, which was one of the most noted cases connected with the great struggle against slavery. By this time Mr. Chase had become the recognized leader of that element known as " free-soilers." He was elected to the United States senate in 1849, and was chosen governor of Ohio in 1855 and re-elected in 1857. He was chosen to the United States senate from Ohio in 1861, but was made secretary of the treasury by Lincoln and accepted. He inaugurated a financial system to replenish the exhausted treasury and meet the demands of the greatest war in history and at the same time to revive the industries of the country. One of the measures which afterward called for his judicial attention was the issuance of currency notes which were made a legal tender in payment of debts. When this otuestion came before him as chief-justice of the United States he reversed his former action and declared the measure unconstitutional. The national banking system, by which all notes issued were to be based on funded government bonds of equal or greater amounts, had its direct origin with Mr. Chase.

Mr. Chase resigned the treasury portfolio in 1864, and was appointed the same year as chief-justice of the United States supreme court. The great questions that came up before him at this crisis in the life of the nation were no less than those which confronted the first chief-justice at the formation of our government. Reconstruction, private, state and national interests, the constitutionality of the acts of congress passed in times of great excitement, the construction and interpretation to be placed upon the several amendments to the national constitution, - these were among the vital questions requiring prompt decision. He received a paralytic stroke in 1870, which impaired his health, though his mental powers were not affected. He continued to preside at the opening terms for two years following and died May 7, 1873.

STOWE, a celebrated American writer, was born June 14, 1812, at Litchfield, Connecticut. She was a daughter of Lyman Beecher and a sister of Henry Ward Beecher, two noted divines; was carefully educated, and taught school for several years at Hartford, Connecticut. In 1832 Miss Beecher married Professor Stowe, then of Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio, and afterwards at Bowdoin College and Andover Seminary. Mrs. Stowe published in 1849 "The Mayflower, or sketches of the descendants of the Pilgrims," and in 1851 commenced in the " National Era" of Washington, a serial story which was published separately in 1852 under the title of "Uncle Tom's Cabin." This book attained almost unparalleled success both at home and abroad, and within ten years it had been translated in almost every language of the civilized world. Mrs. Stowe published in 1853 a* 'Key to UncleTom's Cabin" in which the data that she used was published and its truthfulness was corroborated. In 1853 she accompanied her husband and brother to Europe, and on her return published ' ' Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands " in 1854. Mrs. Stowe was for some time one of the editors of the ' ' Atlantic Monthly " and the " Hearth and Home," for which she had written a number of articles. Among these, also published separately, are " Dred, a tale of the Great Dismal Swamp " (later published under the title of "Nina

Gordon"); " The Minister's Wooing;" "The Pearl of Orr's Island;" "Agnes of Sorrento;" "Oldtown Folks;" " My Wife and I;" "Bible Heroines," and "A Dog's Mission." Mrs. Stowe's death occurred July I, 1896, at Hartford, Connecticut.

Thomas Jonathan jackson, better known as "Stonewall" Jackson, was one of the most noted of the Confederate generals of the Civil war. He was a soldier by nature, an incomparable lieutenant, sure to execute any operation entrusted to him with marvellous precision, judgment and courage, and all his individual campaigns and combats bore the stamp of a masterly capacity for war. He was born January 21, 1824, at Clarksburg, Harrison county, West Virginia. He was early in life imbued with the desire to be a soldier and it is said walked from the mountains of Virginia to Washington, secured the aid of his congressman, and was appointed cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point from which he was graduated in 1846. Attached to the army as brevet second lieutenant of the First Artillery, his first service was as a subaltern with Magruder's battery of light artillery in the Mexican war. He participated at the reduction of Vera Cruz, and was noticed for gallantry in the battles of Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Moline del Rey, Chapultepec, and the capture of the city of Mexico, receiving the brevets of captain for conduct at Contreras and Cherubusco and of major at Chapultepec. In the meantime he had been advanced by regular promotion to be first lieutenant in 1847. In 1852, the war having closed, he resigned and became professor of natural and experimental philosophy and artillery instructor at the Virginia State Military Institute at Lexington, Virginia, where he remained until Virginia declared for secession, he becoming chiefly noted for intense religious sentiment coupled with personal eccentricities. Upon the breaking out of the war he was made colonel and placed in command of a force sent to sieze Harper's Ferry, which he accomplished May 3, 1861. Relieved by General J. E. Johnston, May 23, he took command of the brigade of Valley Virginians, whom he moulded into that brave corps, baptized at the first Manassas, and ever after famous as the " Stonewall Brigade." After this " Stonewall " Jackson was made a major-general, in 1861, and participated until his death in all the famous campaigns about Richmond and in Virginia, and was a conspicuous figure in the memorable battles of that time. May 2, 1863, at Cliancellorsville, he was wounded severely by his own troops, two balls shattering his left arm and another passing through the palm of his right hand. The left arm was amputated, but pneumonia intervened, and, weakened by the great loss of blood, he died May 10, 1863. The more his operations in the Shenandoah valley in 1862 are studied the more striking must the merits of this great soldier appear.

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER. - kJ Near to the heart of the people of the Anglo-Saxon race will ever lie the verses ©f this, the "Quaker Poet." The author of "Barclay of Ury," "Maud Muller" and "Barbara Frietchie," always pure, fervid and direct, will be remembered when many a more ambitious writer has been forgotten.

John G. Whittier was born at Haverhill, Massachusetts, December 7, 1S07, of Quaker parentage. He had but a commonschool education and passed his boyhood days upon a farm. In early life he learned the trade of shoemaker. At the age of eighteen he began to write verses for the Haverhill '' Gazette." He spent two years after that at the Haverhill academy, after which, in 1829, he became editor of the "American Manufacturer," at Boston. In 1830 he succeeded George D. Prentice as editor of the "New England Weekly Review," but the following year returned to Haverhill and engaged in farming. In 1832 and in 1836 he edited the " Gazette." In 1835 he was elected a member of the legislature, serving two years. In 1 836 he became secretary of the Anti-slavery Society of Philadelphia. In 1838 and 1839 he edited the " Pennsylvania Freeman," but in the latter year the office was sacked and burned by a mob. In 1840 Whittier settled at Atnesbury, Massachusetts. In 1847 he became corresponding editor of the "National Era," an anti-slavery paper published at Washington, and contributed to its columns many of his anti-slavery and other favorite lyrics. Mr. Whittier lived for many years in retirement of Quaker simplicity, publishing several volumes of poetry which have raised him to a high place among American authors and brought to him the love and admiration of his countrymen. In the electoral colleges of i860 and 1864 Whittier was a member. Much of his time after 1876 was spent at Oak Knoll, Danvers, Massachusetts, but still retained his residence at Amesbury. He never married. His death occurred September 7, 1892.

The more prominent prose writings of John G. Whittier are as follows: "Legends of New England," "Justice and Expediency, or Slavery Considered with a View to Its Abolition," " The Stranger in Lowell," "Supernaturalism in New England," " Leaves from Margaret Smith's Journal," "Old Portraits and Modern Sketches" and "Literary Sketches. "

DAVID DIXON PORTER, illustrious as admiral of the United States navy, and . famous as one of the most able naval officers of America, was born in Pennsylvania, June 8, 1814. His father was also a naval officer of distinction, who left the service of the United States to become commander of the naval forces of Mexico during the war between that country and Spain, and through this fact David Dixon Porter was appointed a midshipman in the Mexican navy. Two years later David D. Porter joined the United States navy as midshipman, rose in rank and eighteen years later as a lieutenant he is found actively engaged in all the operations of our navy along the east coast of Mexico. When the Civil war broke out Porter, then a commander, was dispatched in the Powhattan to the relief of Fort Pickens, Florida. This duty accomplished, he fitted out a mortar flotilla for the reduction of the forts guarding the approaches to New Orleans, which it was considered of vital importance for the government to get possession of. After the fall of New Orleans the mortar flotilla was actively engaged at Vicksburg, and in the fall of 1862 Porter was made a rear-admiral and placed in command of all the naval forces on the western rivers above New Orleans. I The ability of the man was now conspicuously manifested, not only in the battles in which he was engaged, but also in the creation of a formidable fleet out of river steamboats, which he covered with such plating as they would bear. In 1864 he was transferred to the Atlantic coast to command the naval forces destined to operate against the defences of Wilmington, North Carolina, and on Jan. 15, 1865, the fall of Fort Fisher was hailed by the country as a glorious termination of his arduous war service. In 1866 he was made vice-admiral and appointed superintendent of the Naval Academy. On the death of Farragut, in 1870, he succeeded that able man as admiral of the navy. His death occurred at Washington, February 13, 1891.

best known of the distinguished generals who led the Continental soldiery against the hosts of Great Britain during the Revolutionary war. He was the son of Quaker parents, and was born at Warwick, Rhode Island, May 27, 1742. In youth he acquired a good education, chiefly by his own efforts, as he was a tireless reader. In 1770 he was elected a member of the Assembly of his native state. The news of the battle of Lexington stirred his blood, and he offered his services to the government of the colonies, receiving the rank of brigadier-general and the command of the troops from Rhode Island. He led them to the camp at Cambridge, and for thus violating the tenets of their faith, he was cast out of the Society of Friends, or Quakers. He soon won the esteem of General Washington. In August, 1776, Congress promoted Greene to the rank of major-general, and in the battles of Trenton and Princeton he led a division. At the battle of Brandywine, September 11, 1777, he greatly distinguished himself, protecting the retreat of the Continentals by his firm stand. At the battle of Germantown, October 4, the same year, he commanded the left wing of the army with -credit. In March, 1778, he reluctantly accepted the office of quartermaster-general, but only with the understanding that his rank in the army would not be affected and that in action he should retain his command. On the bloody field of Monmouth, }une 28, 1778, he commanded the right wing, as he did at the battle of Tiverton Heights. He was in command of the army in 1780, during the absence of Washington, and was president of the court-martial that tried and condemned Major Andre. After General Gates' defeat at Camden, North Carolina, in the summer of 1780, General Greene was appointed to the command of the southern army. He sent out a force under General Morgan who defeated General Tarleton at Cow'pens, January 17, 1781. On joining his lieutenant, in February, he found himself out numbered by the British and retreated in good order to Virginia, but being reinforced returned to North Carolina where he fought the battle of Guilford, and a few days later compelled the retreat of Lord Cornwallis. The British were followed by Greene part of the way, when the American army marched into South Carolina. After varying success he fought the battle of Eutaw Springs, September 8, 1781. For the latter battle and its glorious consequences, which virtually closed the war in the Carolinas, Greene received a medal from Congress and many valuable grants of land from, the colonies of North and South Carolina and Georgia. On the return of peace, after a year spent in Rhode Island, General Greene took up his residence on his estate near Savannah, Georgia, where he died June 19, 1786.

EDGAR ALLEN POE. - Among the many great literary men whom this country has produced, there is perhaps no name more widely known than that of Edgar Allen Poe. He was born at Boston, Massachusetts, February 19, 1809. 1 1 is parents were David and Elizabeth (Arnold) Poe, both actors, the mother said to have been the natural daughter of Benedict Arnold. The parents died while Edgar was still a child and he was adopted by John Allen, a wealthy and influential resident of Richmond, Virginia. Edgar was sent to school at Stoke, Newington, England, where he remained until he was thirteen years old; was prepared for college by private tutors, and in I 826 entered the Virginia University at Charlottesville. He made rapid progress in his studies, and was distinguished for his scholarship, but was expelled within a year for gambling, after which for several years he resided with his benefactor at Richmond. He then went to Baltimore, and in 1829 published a 71 -page pamphlet called " A1 Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems," which, however, attracted no attention and contained nothing of particular merit. In 1830 he was admitted as a cadet at West Point, but was expelled about a }'ear later for irregularities. Returning to the home of Mr. Allen he remained for some time, and finally quarrelled with his benefactor and enlisted as a private soldier in the U. S. army, but remained only a short time. Soon after this, in 1833, Poe won several prizes for literary work, and as a result secured the position of editor of tshe "Southern Literary Messenger," at Richmond, Virginia. Here he married his cousin, Virginia Clemm, who clung to him with fond devotion through all the many trials that came to them until her death in January, 1848. Poe remained with the "Messenger" for several years, writing meanwhile many tales, reviews, essays and poems. Pie afterward earned a precarious living by his pen in New York for a time; in 1839 became editor of "Burton's Gentleman's Magazine " ; in 1840 to 1842 was editor of " Graham's Magazine," and drifted around from one place to another, returning to New York in 1844. In 1845 his best known production, "The Raven, " appeared in the "Whig Review," and gained him a reputation which is now almost world-wide. He then acted as editor and contributor on various magazines and periodicals until the death of his faithful wife in 1848. In the summer of 1849 he was engaged to be married to a lady of fortune in Richmond, Virginia, and the day set for the wedding. He started for New York to make preparations for the event, but, it is said, began drinking, was attacked with dilirium tremens in Baltimore and was removed to a hospital, where he died, October 7, 1849. The works of Edgar Allen Poe have been repeatedly published since his death, both in Europe and America, and have attained an immense popularity.

HORATIO GATES, one of the prominent figures in the American war for Independence, was not a native of the colonies but was born in England in 1728. In early life he entered the British army and attained the rank of major. At the capture of Marti nico he was aide to General Monkton and after the peace of Aix la Chapelle, in 1748, he was among the first troops that landed at Halifax. He was with Braddock at his defeat in 1755, and was there severely wounded. At the conclusion of the French and Indian war Gates purchased an estate in Virginia, and, resigning from the British army, settled down to life as a planter. On the breaking out of the Revolutionary war he entered the service of the colonies and was made adjutant-general of the Continental forces with the rank o{ brigadier-general. He accompanied Washington when he assumed the command oi the army. In June, 1776, he was appointed to the command of the army of Canada, but was superseded in May of the following year by General Schuyler. In August, 1777, however, the command of that army was restored to General Gates and September 19 he fought the battle of Bemis Heights. October 7, the same year, he won the battle of Stillwater, or Saratoga, and October 17 received the surrender of General Burgoyne and his army, the pivotal point of the war. This gave him a brilliant reputation. June 13, 1780, General Gates was appointed to the command of the southern military division, and August 16 of that year suffered defeat at the hands of Lord Cornwallis, at Camden, North Carolina. I11 December following he was superseded in the command by General Nathaniel Greene.

On the signing of the peace treaty General Gates retired to his plantation in Berkeley county, Virginia, where he lived until 1790, when, emancipating all his slaves, he removed to New York City, where he resided until his death, April 10, 1806.

LYMAN J. GAGE. - When President Mc- Kinley selected Lyman J. Gage as secretary of the treasury he chose one of the most eminent financiers of the century. Mr. Gage was born June 28, 1836, at De Ruyter, Madison county, New York, and was of English descent. He went to Rome, New York, with his parents when he was ten years old, and received his early education in the Rome Academy. Mr. Gage graduated from the same, and his first position was that of a clerk in the post office. When he was fifteen years of age he was detailed as mail agent on the Rome & Watertown R. R. until the postmaster-general appointed regular agents for the route. In 1854, when he was in his eighteenth year, he entered the Oneida Central Bank at Rome as a junior clerk at a salary of one hundred dollars per year. Being unable at the end of one year and a half's service to obtain an increase in salary he determined to seek a wider field of labor. Mr. Gage set out in the fall of 1855 and arrived in Chicago, Illinois, on October 3, and soon obtained a situation in Nathan Cobb's lumber yard and planing mill. He remained there three years as a bookkeeper, teamster, etc., and left on account of change in the management. But not being able to find anything else to do he accepted the position of night watchman in the place for a period of six weeks. He then became a bookkeeper for the Merchants Saving, Loan and Trust Company at a salary of five hundred dollars per year. He rapidly advanced in the service of this company and in 1868 he was made cashier. Mr. Gage was next offered the position of cashier of the First National Bank and accepted the offer. He became the president of the First National Bank of Chicago January 24, 1891, and in 1897 he was appointed secretary of the treasury. His ability as a financier and the prominent part he took in the discussion of financial affairs while president of the great Chicago bank gave him a national reputation.

ANDREW JACKSON, the seventh president of the United States, was born at the Waxhaw settlement, Union county, North Carolina, March 15, 1767. His parents were Scotch-Irish, natives of Carrickfergus, who came to this country in 1665 and settled on Twelve-Mile creek, a tributary of the Catawba. His father, who was a poor farm laborer, died shortly before Andrew's birth, when the mother removed to Waxhaw, where some relatives lived. Andrew's education was very limited, he showing no aptitude for study. In 1780 when but thirteen years of age, he and his brother Robert volunteered to serve in the American partisan troops under General Sumter, and witnessed the defeat at Hanging Rock. The following year the boys were both taken prisoners by the enemy and endured brutal treatment from the British officers while confined at Camden. They both took the small pox, when the mother procured their exchange but Robert died shortly after. The mother died in Charleston of ship fever, the same year.

Young Jackson, now in destitute circumstances, worked for about six months in a saddler's shop, and then turned school master, although but little fitted for the position. He now began to think of a profession and at Salisbury, North Carolina, entered upon the study of law, but from all accounts gave but little attention to his books, being one of the most roistering, rollicking fellows in that town, indulging in many of the vices of his time. In 1786 he was admitted to the bar and in 1788 removed to Nashville, then in North Carolina, with the appointment of public prosecutor, then an office of little honor or emolument, but requiring much nerve, for which young Jackson was already noted. Two years later, when Tennessee became a territory he was appointed by Washington to the position of United States attorney for that In 1791 he married Mrs. Rachel Robards, a daughter of Colonel John Donelson, who was supposed at the time to have been divorced from her former husband that year by act of legislature of Virginia, but two years later, on finding that this divorce was not legal, and a new bill of ^separation being granted by the courts of Kentucky, they were remarried in 1793. This was used as a handle by his opponents in the political campaign afterwards. Jackson was untiring in his efforts as United

States attorney and obtained much influence. He was chosen a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1796, when Tennessee became a state and was its first representative in congress. In 1797 he was chosen United States senator, but resigned the following year to accept a seat on the supreme court of Tennessee which he held until 1804. He was elected major-general of the militia of that state in 1801. In 1804, being unsuccessful in obtaining the governorship of Louisiana, the new territory, he retired from public life to the Hermitage, his plantation. On the outbreak of the war with Great Britain in 1812 he tendered his services to the government and went to New Orleans with the Tennessee troops in January, 1813. In March of that year he was ordered to disband his troops, but later marched against the Cherokee Indians, defeating them at Talladega, Emuckfaw and Tallapoosa. Having now a national reputation, he was appointed major-general in the United States army and was sent against the British in Florida. He conducted the defence of Mobile and seized Pensacola. He then went with his troops to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he gained the famous victory of January 8, 1815. In 1817-18 he conducted a war against the Seminoles, and in 1821 was made governor of the new territory of Florida. In 1823 he was elected United States senator, but in 1824WC1S the contestant with J. Q. Adams for the presidency. Four years later he was elected president, and served two terms. In 1832 he took vigorous action against the nullifiers of South Carolina, and the next year removed the public money from the United States bank. During his second term the national debt was extinguished. At the close of his administration he retired to the Hermitage, where he died June 8, 1845.

ANDREW CARNEGIE, the largest manufacturer of pig-iron, steel rails and coke in the world, well deserves a place among America's celebrated men. He was born November 25, 1835, at Dunfermline, Scotland, and emigrated to the United States with his father in 1845, settling in Pittsburg. Two years later Mr. Carnegie began his business career by attending a small stationary engine. This work did not suit him and he became a telegraph messenger with the Atlantic and Ohio Co., and later he became an operator, and was one of the first to read telegraphic signals by sound. Mr. Carnegie was afterward sent to the Pittsburg office of the Pennsylvania Railroad Co., as clerk - to the superintendent and manager of the telegraph lines. While in this position he made the acquaintance of Mr. Woodruff, the inventor of the sleeping-car. Mr. Carnegie immediately became interested and was one of the organizers of the company for its construction after the railroad had adopted it, and the success of this venture gave him the nucleus of his wealth. He was promoted to the superintendency of the Pittsburg division of the Pennsylvania Railroad and about this time was one of the syndicate that purchased the Storey farm on Oil Creek which cost forty thousand dollars and in one year it yielded over one million dollars in cash dividends. Mr. Carnegie later was associated with others in establishing a rollingmill, and from this has grown the most extensive and complete system of iron and steel industries ever controlled by one individual, embracing the Edgar Thomson Steel Works; Pittsburg Bessemer Steel Works; Lucy Furnaces; Union Iron Mills; Union Mill; Keystone Bridge Works; Hartman Steel Works; Frick Coke Co.; Scotia Ore Mines. Besides directing his immense iron industries he owned eighteen English newspapers which he ran in the interest of the Radicals. He has also devoted large sums of money to benevolent and educational purposes. In 1879 he erected commodious swimming baths for the people of Dunfermline, Scotland, and in the following year gave forty thousand dollars for a free library. Mr. Carnegie gave fifty thousand dollars to Bellevue Hospital Medical College in 1884 to found what is now called ' ' Carnegie Laboratory, " and in 1885 gave five hundred thousand dollars to Pittsburg for a public library. He also gave two hundred and fifty thousand dollars fora music hall and library in Allegheny City in 1886, and two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to Edinburgh, Scotland, for a free library. He also established free libraries at Braddock, Pennsylvania, and other places for the benefit of his employes. He also published the following works, "An American Four-in-hand in Britain;" "Round the World;" "Triumphant Democracy; or Fifty Years' March of the Republic."

GEORGE H. THOMAS, the "Rock of Chickamauga, " one of the best known commanders during the late Civil war, was born in Southampton county, Virginia, July 31, 1816, his parents being of Welsh and French origin respectively. In 1836 young Thomas was appointed a cadet at the Military Academy, at West Point, from which he graduated in 1840, and was promoted to the office of second lieutenant in the Third Artillery. Shortly after, with his company, he went to Florida, where he served for two years against the Seminole Indians. In 1841 he was brevetted first lieutenant for gallant conduct. He remained in garrison in the south and southwest until 1845, a* which date with the regiment he joined the army under General Taylor, and participate ed in the defense of Fort Brown, the storming of Monterey and the battle of Buena Vista. After the latter event he remained in garrison, now brevetted major, until the close of the Mexican war. After a year spent in Florida, Captain Thomas was ordered to West Point, where he served as instructor until 1854. He then was transferred to California. In May, 1855, Thomas was appointed major of the Second Cavalry, with whom he spent five years in Texas. Although a southern man, and surrounded by brother officers who all were afterwards in the Confederate service, Major Thomas never swerved from his allegiance to the government. A. S. Johnston was the colonel of the regiment, R. E. Lee the lieutenant-colonel, and W. J. Hardee, senior major, while among the younger officers were Hood, Fitz Hugh Lee, Van Dorn and Kirby Smith. When these officers left the regiment to take up arms for the Confederate cause he remained with it, and April 17th, 1861, crossed the Potomac into his native state, at its head. After taking an active part in the opening scenes of the war on the Potomac and Shenandoah, in August, 1861, he was promoted to be brigadier-general and transferred to the Army of the Cumberland. January 19-20, 1862, Thomas defeated

Crittenden at Mill Springs, and this brought him into notice and laid the foundation of his fame. He continued in command of his division until September 20, 1862, except during the Corinth campaign when he commanded the right wing of the Army of the Tennessee. He was in command of the latter at the battle of Perryville, also, October 8, 1 862.

On the division of the Army of the Cumberland into corps, January 9, 1863, General Thomas was assigned to the command of the Fourteenth, and at the battle of Chickamauga, after the retreat of Rosecrans, firmly held his own against the hosts of General Bragg. A history of his services from that on would be a history of the war in the southwest. On September 27, 1864, General Thomas was given command in Tennessee, and after organizing his army, defeated General Hood in the battle of Nashville, December 15 and 16, 1864. Much complaint was made before this on account of what they termed Thomas' slowness, and he was about to be superseded because he would not strike until he got ready, but when the blow was struck General Grant was the first to place on record this vindication of Thomas' judgment. He received a vote of thanks from Congress, and from the legislature of Tennessee a gold medal. After the close of the war General Thomas had command of several of the military divisions, and died at San Francisco, California, March 28, 1870.

Harvard in 1778, became a minister, and for half a century was rated as one of the ablest preachers in New England. He was also a prolific writer and published a number of works among which was " Life of George Washington." Aaron Bancroft died August 19, 1839.

The subject of our present biography, George Bancroft, graduated at Harvard in 1817, and the following year entered the University of Gottingen, where he studied history and philology under the most eminent teachers, and in 1820 received the de- gree of doctor of philosophy at Gottingen. Upon his return home he published a volume of poems, and later a translation of Heeren's " Reflections on the Politics of Ancient Greece." In 1834 he produced the first volume of his " History of the United States, " this being followed by other volumes at different intervals later. This was his greatest work and ranks as the highest authority, taking its place among the greatest of American productions.

George Bancroft was appointed secretary of the navy by President Polk in 1845, but resigned in 1846 and became minister plenipotentiary to England. In 1849 he retired from public life and took up his residence at Washington, D. C. In 1867 he was appointed United States minister to the court of Berlin and negotiated thetreaty by which Germans coming to the United States were released from their allegiance to the government of their native land. In 1871 he was minister plenipotentiary to the German empire and served until 1874. The death of George Bancroft occurred January 17, 1891.

George Gordon meade, a famous Union general, was born at Cadiz, Spain, December 30, 1815, his father being United States naval agent at that port. After receiving a good education he entered the West Point Military Academy in 1831. From here he was graduated June 30, 1835, and received the rank of second lieutenant of artillery. He participated in the Seminole war, but resigned from the army in October, 1836. He entered upon the profession of civil engineer, which he followed for several years, part of the time in the service of the government in making surveys of the mouth of the Mississippi river. His report and results of some experiments made by him in this service gained Meade much credit. He alsu was employed in surveying the boundary line of Texas and the northeastern boundary line between the United States and Canada. In 1842 he was reappointed in the army to the position of second lieutenant of engineers. During the Mexican war he served with distinction on the staff of General Taylor in the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma and the storming of Monterey. He received his brevet of first lieutenant for the latter action. In 1851 he -was made full first lieutenant in his corps; a captain in 1856, and major soon after. At the close of the war with Mexico he was employed in lighthouse construction and in geodetic surveys until the breaking out of the Rebellion, in which he gained great reputation. In August, 1861, he was made brigadier-general of volunteers and placed in command of the second brigade of the Pennsylvania Reserves, a division of the First Corps in the Army of the Potomac. In the campaign of 1862, under McClellan, Meade took an active part, being present at the battles of Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mill and Glendale, in the latter of which he was severely wounded. On rejoining his command he was given a division and distinguished himself at its head in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. During the latter, on the wounding of General Hooker, Meade was placed in command of the corps and was himself slightly wounded. For services he was promoted, November, 1862, to the rank of major-general of volunteers. On the recovery of General Hooker General Meade returned to his division and in December, 1862, at Fredericksburg, led an attack which penetrated Lee's right line and swept to his rear. Being outnumbered and unsupported, he finally was driven back. The same month Meade was assigned to the command of the Fifth Corps, and at Chancellorsville in May, 1863, his sagacity and ability so struck General Hooker that when the latter asked to be relieved of the command, in June of the same year, he nominated Meade as his successor. June 28, 1863, President Lincoln commissioned General Meade commander-in-chief of the Army of the Potomac, then scattered and moving hastily through Pennsylvania to the .great and decisive battlefield at Gettysburg, at which he was in full command. With the victory on those July days the name of Meade will ever be associated. From that time until the close of the war he commanded the Army of the Potomac. In 1864 General Grant, being placed at the head of all the armies, took up his quarters with the Army of the Potomac. From that time until the surrender of Lee at Appomatox Meade's ability shone conspicuously, and his tact in the delicate position in leading his army under the eye of his superior officer commanded the respect and esteem of General Grant. For services Meade was promoted to the rank of major-general, and on the close of hostilities, in July, 1865, was assigned to the command of the military division of the Atlantic, with headquarters at Philadelphia. This post he held, with the exception of a short period on detached duty in Georgia, until his death, which took place November 6, 1872.

DAVID CROCKETT was a noted hunter and scout, and also one of the earliest of American humorists. He was born August 17, 1786, in Tennessee, and was one of the most prominent men of his locality, serving as representative in congress from 1827 until 1831. He attracted considerable notice while a member of congress and was closely associated with General Jackson, of whom he was a personal friend. He went to Texas and enlisted in the Texan army at the time of the revolt of Texas against Mexico and gained a wide reputation as a scout. He was one of the famous one hundred and forty men under Colonel W. B. Travis who were besieged in Fort Alamo, near San Antonio, Texas, by General Santa Anna with some five thousand Mexicans on February 23, 1836. The fort was defended for ten days, frequent assaults being repelled with great slaughter, over one thousand Mexicans being killed or wounded, while not a man in the fort was injured. Finally, on March 6, three assaults were made, and in the hand-to-hand fight that followed the last, the Texans were wofully outnumbered and overpowered. They fought desperately with clubbed muskets till only six were left alive, including W. B. Travis, David Crockett and James Bowie. These surrendered under promise of protection; but when they were brought before Santa Anna he ordered them all to be cut to pieces.

HENRY WATTERSON, one of the most conspicuous figures in the history of American journalism, was born at Washington, District of Columbia, February 16, 1840. His boyhood days were mostly spent in the city of his birth, where his father, Harvey M. Watterson, was editor of the "Union," a well known journal.

Owing to a weakness of the eyes, which interfered with a systematic course of study, young Watterson was educated almost entirely at home. A successful college career was out of the question, but he acquired a good knowledge of music, literature and art from private tutors, but the most valuable part of the training he received was by associating with his father and the throng or public men whom he met in Washington in the stirring days immediately preceding the Civil war. He began his journalistic career at an early age as dramatic and musical critic, and in 1858, became editor of the "Democratic Review" and at the same time contributed to the "States," a journal of liberal opinions published in Washington. In this he remained until the breaking out of the war, . when the "States," opposing the administration, was suppressed, and young Watterson removed to Tennessee. He next appears as editor of the Nashville "Republican Banner," the most influential paper in the state at that time. After the occupation of Nashville by the Federal troops, Watterson served as a volunteer staff officer in the Confederate service until the close of the war, with the exception of a year spent in editing the Chattanooga "Rebel." On the close of the war he returned to Nashville and resumed his connection with the "Banner." After a trip to Europe he assumed control of the Louisville "Journal," which he soon combined with the "Courier" and the "Democrat" of that place, founding the well-known "Courier-Journal," the first number of which appeared November 8, 1868. Mr. Watterson also represented his district in congress for several years.

Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore

PATRICK SARSFIELD GILMORE, one of the most successful and widely known bandmasters and musicians of the last half century in America, was born in Ballygar, Ireland, on Christmas day, 1829. He attended a public school until apprenticed to a wholesale merchant at Athlone, of the brass band of which town he soon became a member. His passion for music conflicting with the duties of a mercantile life, his position as clerk was exchanged for that of musical instructor to the youne sons of his employer. At the age of nineteen he sailed for America and two days after his arrival in Boston was put in charge of the band instrument department of a prominent music house. In the interests of the publications of this house he organized a minstrel company known as "Ordway's Eolians," with which he first achieved success as a cornet soloist. Later on he* was called the best E-flat cornetist in the United States. He became leader, successively, of the Suffolk, Boston Brigade and Salem bands. During his connection with the latter he inaugurated the famous Fourth of July concerts on Boston Common, since adopted as a regular programme for the celebration of Independence Day. In 1858 Mr. Gilmore founded the organization famous thereafter as Gilmore's Band. At the outbreak of the Civil war this band was attached to the Twenty-Fourth .Massachusetts Infantry. Later, when the economical policy of dispensing with music had proved a mistake, Gilmore was entrusted with the re-organization of state military bands, and upon his arrival at New Orleans with his own band was made bandmaster-general by General Banks. On the inauguration of Governor Hahn, later on, .in Lafayette square, New Orleans, ten thousand children, mostly of Confederate parents, rose to the baton of Gilmore and, accompanied by six hundred instruments, thirty-six guns and the united fire of three regiments of infantry, sang the Star-Spangled Banner, America and other patriotic Union airs. In June, 1867, Mr. Gilmore conceived a national musical festival, which was denounced as a chimerical undertaking, but he succeeded and June 15, 1869, stepped upon the stage of the Boston Colosseum, a vast structure erected for the occasion, and in the presence of over fifty thousand people lifted his baton over an orchestra of one thousand and a chorus of ten thousand. On the 17th of June, 1872, he opened a still greater festival in Boston, when, in addition to an orchestra of two thousand and a chorus of twenty thousand, were present the Band of the Grenadier Guards, of London, of the Garde Republicaine, of Paris, of Kaiser Franz, of Berlin, and one from Dublin, Ireland, together with Johann Strauss, Franz Abt and many other soloists, vocal and instrumental. Gilmore's death occurred September 24, 1892.