PROMINENT PERSONS
179
Buckingham, James Silk, born in Flush-
ing. England, in 1786. He was intended for
the church, but being of an adventurous
turn of mind, became a sailor, bookseller*s
clerk, law student, printer and captain of a
West Indiaman. He was employed in 1813
by the Pasha of Egypt to select a route for
a canal across the Isthmus of Suez, but
after being robbed the pasha relinquished
his design and Buckingham went to India
and commanded a ship in the service of the
Sultan of Muscat. After this he went
through many adventures. He published,
at various times, volumes of his travels in
Palestine, in Arabia, in Mesopotamia, in
Assyria and Media, and two volumes on
Belgium, the Rhine and Switzerland, and
two volumes on France, Piedmont and Swit-
zerland. He lectured through Great Britain
in support of various reforms, and repre-
sented Sheffield in parliament from 1832 to
1837. He subsequently traveled in America
as a lecturer on temperance and slavery.
He became a citizen of the United States in
18 10. as appears by papers filed in the re-
corder's office in the borough of Norfolk,
Norfolk county. Virginia. He died June
30. 1855.
Call, Richard Keith, born near Peters- burg, Virginia, in 179 1. He was appointed first lieutenant in the Forty-fourth United States Infantry Regiment, July 15, 1814; brevet captain, November 7, 1814; was vol- unteer aide to General Jackson in April, 1818; promoted to captain in July, 1818, and resigned from the army. May i, 1822. He was a member of the legislative council of Florida in April. 1822; brigadier-general of West Florida militia in January, 1823; delegate to congress from 1823 to 1825 : and
receiver of the West Florida land office in
March, 1825. He was governor of Florida
from 1835 ^o 1840, and led an army against
the Seminole Indians from December 6,
1835, ^o December 6, 1836, commanding in
the second and third battles of Wahoo
Swamp. November 18-21, 1836. It is said
that at the battle of Ouithlacoochie, Gov-
ernor Call personally saved General Clinch
and his command from being cut to pieces,
contrary to the statement made by the lat-
ter in the history of the Florida war. A con-
troversy with Secretary of War Poinsett
hi President Van Buren's cabinet cost Gov-
ernor Call his office. He was subsequently
a Whig and worked earnestly for Harrison's
election, canvassing the northern states in
his behalf. President Harrison reappointed
him governor of Florida, which office he
held until 1844, but was an unsuccessful
candidate for governor the following year.
He had sacrificed his fortune, health and
popularity to protect the people of Florida
during the Seminole war, but they could
not forgive him for turning to the Whigs,
and he never again was elected to an office
in the state, but was major-general of militia
fiom July I to December 8, 1846. He labor-
ed industriously in the interest of Florida.
He projected and built the third railroad in
the United States, from Tallahassee to St.
Marks, and located and laid out the town
of Port Leon, which was afterwards destroy-
ed by a cyclone. He was devoted to Gen-
eral Jackson, by whose side he had fought
for every inch of ground from Tennessee to
the Peninsula, and, regarding himself as one
of the builders of the nation, during the
civil war he was one of the few men in the
South who regarded secession as treason.
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