STIRLING, Sir Thomas, bart., British soldier, d. 9 May. isos. He became captain in July. I ;.>7. in the l-'l. in- Royal Highland regiment, which funk part in the expeditions of 17~>8-'9 to Lake George and Lake Champlain. It was afterward M-nt in aist at the siege of Niagara, and in 1700 accompanied Sir Jeffrey Amherst from Oswego to Montreal. Capt. Stirling was stationed at Fort Chartres, 111., in 1705. and in June, 1766, he re- turned to Philadelphia, after a march of more t han 3,000 miles, with his entire detachment of 100 men in perfect health and without accident. He became major in 1770, and lieutenant-colonel in 1771, commanding his regiment throughout the Revolutionary war. He was in the engagement on Staten island, the battle on Brooklyn heights in 1776, the storming of Fort Washington, the cap- ture of Red Bank, the battle of the Brandywine. and that of Springfield, 7 June, 1780, where he was wounded. He was made colonel in 1770. and held the rank of brigadier-general under Sir Henry Clinton in the expedition against Charleston. S. ( '., in 1780. He became colonel of the 71st Highland- ers in February, 1782, major-general in November following, lieutenant-general and a baronet in 17'Jlj. and general, 1 Jan., 1801.
STITH, William, historian, b. in Virginia, in
KiS'l; d. in Villiamsburg, Va., 27 Sept.. 175o.
He was a nephew of Sir John Randolph, and
brother-in-law of Peyton Randolph. After study-
ing theology, he was ordained in England as a
minister of the established church, and in 1731
became master of the grammar-school of William
and Mary college. He was chaplain of the house
of burgesses in 1738, and in 1752-'o rector of Hen-
rico parish and president of William and Mary.
He published a " History of Virginia from the
First Settlement to the Dissolution of the London
Company " (Williamsburg, 1747 : new ed.. with
bibliographical notice by Joseph Sabin, limited to
250 copies. New York, 1866). Thomas Jefferson
says of this work that it is " inelegant and often
too minute to be tolerable," and De Tocqueville
calls it " long and diffuse," but it is praised highly
by others for its accuracy. St it h acknowledges in
his preface his indebtedness to the writings of
William Byrd, and he also made use of materials
that Sir John Randolph had collected for a pur-
pose similar to his own. All the documents that he
used have been recently destroyed by fire. He also
wrote " The Nature and Extent of Christ's Re-
demption." a sermon (Williamsburg. 1753).
STOBO, Robert, soldier, b. in Glasgow, Scot-
land, in 1727: d. after 1770. His father, William,
was a wealthy merchant. The son was very deli-
cate in his youth, but early gave evidence of taste for
arms >pendini: his play-hours in drilling hi- com-
panions. Both his parents had died before 1742,
and, after studying for some time in the university
of his native place, he went to Virginia about that
year and became a merchant. Here he kept open
house and wa- a great social favorite, but met
with little success in business, and in 1754 was ap-
pointed senior captain in a regiment that was
raised by the province to oppose the French.
Under his direction the intrenchments called Fort
Necessity were thrown up, and when finally Maj.
George Washington was obliged to surrender the
work, Stolio was one of two hostages that were
given to the French to secure proper performance
of the articles of capitulation. He was sent to
Fort Du Quesne, and occupied himself with draw-
ing a plan of that stronghold, which, with a writ-
ten scheme for its reduction, he sent to the com-
manding officer at Wills Creek. He was gicaiK
aided in obtaining his information by the ladies in
the fort, whose good graces he soon succeeded in
gaining. He considered that the want of good
faith that the French had shown in various mat-
ters absolved him " from all obligations of honor
on this point." His letters fell into the hands of
the French at Braddock's defeat, whereupon Stobo
was closely imprisoned at Quebec. He escaped in
175ii, but was captured, confined in a dungeon, and
on 28 Nov. was condemned to death as a spy, but
the king failed to approve the sentence. Un ::ti
April, 1757, he escaped again, but he was recap-
tured three days later. On 30 April, 1758, he
made another attempt, and succeeded in effecting
his escape with several companions in a birch-bark
canoe. After meeting with many adventures and
travelling thirty-eight days they reached the Brit-
ish army before Louisburg. where Stobo was of
much service by his knowledge of localities. He
had been promoted major during his captivity, and
after returning to Virginia sailed in 1760 for Eng-
land, where, on 5 June, 1761, he was commissioned
captain in the 15th foot. He served in the West
Indies in 1762, but returned to England in 1767,
and resigned in 1770. On his visit to Virginia
after his captivity the legislature thanked him by
name for his services, and voted him the sum of
1,300. Stobo was a friend of Tobias Smollett, the
novelist, who, it has been suggested, describes him
as Captain Lismahago in "Humphrey Clinker."
The original edition of Stobo's " Memoirs " (Lon-
don, 1800) is now rare. A manuscript copy was
obtained by James McHenry from the British
museum, and published, with notes, addenda, and
a fac-simile of Stobo's plan of Fort Du Quesne, by
" N. B. C." as Memoirs of Major liobcrl Stobo of
the Virginia Regiment" (Pittsburg, 1854). This
unique work is largely written in an imitation of
the classical epic style.
STOCKBRIDGE, Francis Brown, senator, b.
in Bath. Me., 9 April, 1826; d. in Chicago, 30 April,
1SH4. He resided in Boston from 1842 till 1847,
when he became a lumber merchant in Chicago.
In 1854 he removed to Saugatuck, Mich., and after
1863 he resided in Kalamazoo. He had served as
a colonel of Michigan militia, was successively ia
both branches of the legislature in 1869-'71. and
in January. lss7, was elected to the U. S. senate,
and re-elected in 1893 for term ending in 1899.
STOCKBRIDGE, Levi, agriculturist, b. in North Hadley. Mass., 13 March, 1820. He was educated in New England common schools and
academies, and then turned his attention to farming. His application of scientific principles to his occupation led to his appointment on the State board of agriculture, where he served for four terms of three years each, and after 1868 he had been
chairman of the State board of cattle commissioners. In 1867 he was called to a professorship in the Massachusetts agricultural college. Amherst. where he was also acting president in 1876-'9, and president in 1880-'2. Prior to the establishment of experiment stations he began and prosecuted during several years a laborious and extended series of investigations on the movement of sap in growing plants especially trees, and the force that plants exert in their growth. About the same time he devised and prosecuted a series of experiments as to the effect of moisture, and with apparatus that he invented for the purpose made observations on percolation, evaporation, and dew. But his most valuable work to the agricultural was a series of investigations that he conducted during 1868-'70 on the chemical composition of farm crops, and the effect of supplying to the soil on which
