columns of that paper. The editor, Gen. James Watson Webb, at once went to Washington and sent a challenge to Mr. Cilley by Mr. Graves; but the former declined to receive any hostile communication from Mr. Graves, on the ground that he had made no reflections on the personal character of Gen. Webb, Mr. Graves himself then chal- lenged Mr. Cilley, and the challenge was accepted. Rifles were the weapons used, and on the third fire Mr. Cilley fell, shot through the body, and died instantly. Mr. Graves was never re-elected to congress. A committee of seven members of the house was appointed to investigate the causes that led to Mr. Cilley's death and the circumstances connected therewith. The report was elaborate and comprehensive, and declared that Mr. Graves deserved "the decided censure of the house, and that he should be censured accordingly." See an article on Mr. Cilley in Nathaniel Hawthorne's works. — Grreenleaf, son of Jonathan, naval officer, b. in Thomaston, Me., 27 Oct., 1829, was appointed midshipman in the navy and attached to the frigate "Cumberland," of the Mediterranean squadron, in 1843-'5. In August, 1847, he was promoted to passed midshipman, and spent some time at the U. S. naval academy, after which he served on the frigate "Raritan" in 1849-'50, on the coast survey in 1851-'2, and on various vessels of the Pacific squadron in 1852-"5. He was commissioned as lieutenant in September, 1855, and connected with the sloop " Saratoga " in 1856-'8, and subseqiiently served on various other vessels. In July, 1862, he was made lieutenant-commander, and during the civil war was in command of the "Unadilla," and later of the monitor " Catskill." At the close of the war he was retired and commissioned as commander. He now (1886) resides in Buenos Ayres. — Another son of Jonathan, Jonathan Prince, soldier, b. in Thomaston, Me., 29 Dec, 1835, was graduated at Bowdoin in 1858, studied law with A. P. Gould in Thomaston, and, after admission to the bar, settled in his native town. At the beginning of the civil war he enlisted 150 men for a light field-battery ; but, that arm of the service not being required, he enlisted in the 1st Maine cavalry, and was commissioned captain. During the re- treat of Gen. Banks from the Shenandoah valley he was wounded and made prisoner at Middletown on 24 May, 1862. Subsequently he was promoted to be major, and assigned to duty as judge-advocate and examining officer at the central guardhouse in Washington, D. C. In 1803 he rejoined his regiment with his wound still unhealed, and during 1864 was made lieutenant-colonel. He was placed in command of the regiment, and continued in this capacity until mustered out in 1865, when he received the brevet of brigadier-general for distinguished services at Five Porks. Farmville, and Appomattox Court-House. In his regiment, which was authorized to bear the names of three more battles upon its standards than any other regiment in the Army of the Potomac, Gen. Cilley was "the first man that enlisted, the first man wounded, and nearly the last mustered out." After the war he resumed his profession in Rock- land, Me., and since has been a member of the state legislature, deputy collector of customs, adjutant-general of the state, and commissioner of the U. S. circuit court. He is a member of the Maine historical society, and, besides addresses and memorial orations, has published a genealogy of the "Cilley Family."
|
.jpg){kind=small}
|
CINQUE, chief of the Mendi Africans, b. in Caw-Mendi, Africa, about 1800. In the spring of 1839 he was captured by slave-traders, with a large company of his countrymen and women, and taken to Havana, Cuba. Fifty-two of them were purchased by Montes and Ruiz, two Cuban planters, and shipped for a port on the southern coast of Cuba, on the schooner “Amistad.” Cinque organized a plan for regaining the freedom of the captives, and, when four days out from Havana, gave the prearranged signal for revolt. The captain of the schooner was killed with one of his crew, and two others were wounded in the fight that followed, while the rest surrendered. The passengers and crew were treated kindly and sent ashore; but Montes and Ruiz, the nominal owners, were retained on board and given to understand that they must navigate the vessel to Africa. The Spaniards managed to steer northward by night and during foggy weather, and after a few days sighted Montauk Point, L. I., where they anchored, and were presently taken in charge by the U. S. coast survey schooner “Washington,” whose commander, Lieut. Gedney, claimed salvage for vessel and cargo. Montes and Ruiz, through the Spanish minister, claimed the Africans as their property. The whole company was sent to Farmington, Conn., where quarters were provided for them pending the decision of the courts. The philanthropists of New England took an active interest in the case, engaged Roger Sherman Baldwin and other eminent lawyers as counsel, and began energetically to educate and convert the heathen thus brought to their doors. It is noteworthy that the residents of the little village where this strange colony was planted soon outgrew their dread of the Africans, and during the months of their stay learned to regard them without apprehension. Cinque exercised a stern rule over them, and would permit no transgression. Many of them, including their chief, learned to read and write a little, and acquired some ideas of civilization. In the mean time the case came up before the U. S. district court for the state of Connecticut, the U. S. district attorney appearing on behalf of Montes and Ruiz as well as of the Spanish minister. Never before had the country been so sharply divided on a question touching slavery. All trials for violation of the law prohibiting the slave-trade had until this time been held before southern courts, and no one had been convicted. The pro-slavery party regarded with natural apprehension the result of such a trial on the soil of a free state. Mr. John Quincy Adams, who was the anti-slavery leader in the house of representatives at the time, introduced resolutions calling on the president to communicate to congress the process or authority by which these Africans, charged with no crime, were kept in custody. Further than this, it was held by the advanced anti-slavery leaders that slavery and slave-dealing constitute a perpetual war between the enslaver and the enslaved. They alleged the
