Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/334

BOSS. 303 KOSS. preceded him in the Antarctic regions, relying upon the report of a merchant captain, had in- dicated land. Ross, therefore, asserted that all other reports of Wilkes concerning land dis- covered in the Antarctic regions were untrust- ■Horthy, and thus arose a controversy among geograjjliers. For some years Wilkes's Land did not appear on British charts. (See Wilkes, t'UAKLES.) Ross indicated a location of the southern magnetic pole in Victoria Land, and though his observations have proved not alto- gether accurate, his expedition was the best con- ducted and perhaps the most important of any of the early Antarctic voyages. He arrived in England in 184-1 and was knighted. In 1848 he commanded an expedition to Baffin Bay in a vain quest for Sir John Franklin. He was made rear-admiral in 1850. He died at Aylesbury. He described his Antarctic discoveries in A 'Nar- ratiie of a Voyage in Antarctic Regions (1847). ROSS, Sir John (1777-1856). A British -Arctic explorer and naval officer, born at Inch, Wigtonshire. Scotland. He entered the navy in 1780. and he took part in the wars with France. In 1818 he was sent to the Arctic regions west of Greenland to attempt the discovery of the supposed Northwest Passage. His vessel was the Isabella, and lie was accompanied by Parry, in charge of the Alexander. He sailed along the west coast of Greenland to latitude 76° 54' X. beyond the Carey Islands, met the Cape York natives and gave them the name of Arctic High- landers, which has ever since been applied to them. Turning south along the west side of Baffin Bay. he penetrated Lancaster Sound, which he explored for 50 miles. He erroneously concluded that it was nothing more than a deep bay and turned back, thus losing his opportunity to discover the beginnings of the Northwest Pas- sage. In England lus voyage was regarded as a failure, and it was not till 1829 that Ross, who was recognized as an able and courageous sailor, was intrusted with the command of another ex- pedition. He started on another quest for the Northwest Passage in command of the small paddle-wheel steamer Victori/, the first steam vessel used in Arctic exploration. The steam power proved a failure and the useless engine was thrown away. Ross crossed Bellot Strait, thinking it was only a bay. He discovered and named Boothia Felix, the most northerly extension of the American 5nainland, and other very important discoveries were made, largely by sledging parties in which .Tames C. Ross, the nephew of the commander, bore a brilliant part. In 18.31 the position of the north magnetic pole was determined. Three winters were spent in the ice of this region, imtil failure of food supplies compelled Ross to abandon his vessel, still frozen in the pack, and make a desperate march north to Fury Beach, where caches of food supplies saved the lives of the party. They were compelled to spend the winter here in a house which they had erected, and in the following summer (18.'?.'j) fell in with a whaler on which they reached home. Only three men had been lost during this long and remarkable journey. Ross was knight- ed, made C, B., and honored by many learned societies. In 1850 he participated in the search for Sir John Franklin, in command of the small vessel Felix, but returned home after a year of fruitless endeavor. He was mada rear-admiral and died in London in 1856. His published works are: A Narrative of a Second Voijage. Including the Reports of Commander James V. Ross and the Discorcrii of the Xorthrrn Magnetic Pole (London, 18H5): also a treatise on steam navigation and many papers. EOSS, John (1790-1860). A chief of the Cherokee Nation and a determined champioa of his people in the struggle which culminated in their removal to the est. He was born October 3, 1790, at Rossville, Georgia, not far from Chattanooga, He was of mixed blood, his father, Daniel Ross, having emigrated from Scot- land before the Revolution and mariied a quar- ter-blood Cherokee woman, the daughter of .John JIcDonald, also from Scotland. He was edu- cated at Kingston, Tennessee, and began his public career in 1809. In the Creek War of 1813-14 he served as Adjutant of the Cherokee Regiment, which coiiperated with General Jack- son, and took part in the battle of Horseshoe Bend. In 1817 he was elected to tlie National Committee of the Cherokee Council, his first duly in that capacity being to prepare a reply to the L'nited States commissioners, declining to ne- gotiate for the sale of the Cherokee lands. In 1819, as president of the national committee, he was active in introducing schools, blacksmiths, and mechanics into the nation. In 1827 he pre- sided over the convention which formulated a regular constitution for the government of the Cherokee Nation, and was elected assistant chief. In the next year. 1S28, he was made principal chief and held the position until his death in 1866, which occurred at Washington. During this long period his history is the history of the Cherokee Nation. BOSS, LuDWiG (1806-59). A German archie- ologist, born at Altekoppel, Holstein. In 1832 he went to Greece, where he was appointed, by the Greek Government, superintendent of the an- tiquities of the Peloponnesus (1833), and in 1837-43 was professor of archicology at the L"ni- versity of Athens. While in the latter post he explored the greater part of Greece, collected valuable documents, and fixed the topography of various classical localities. In 1845 he became professor of arch;eology at Halle. His works include: Reisen. auf den griechischen Inseln drs Aegiiischen ileers (1840-52) ; Inscriptiones (Ira-- cw Ineditce (1836); Die Demen von Attiha nach Inschriften (1846) ; Das Theseion und der Tempel des .ires sii Athen (1852) ; Arch«ologische Aufsiifze (185.5-61): and Italiker vnd Griiken (1858), where, in opposition to the discoveries of modern philologists, he maintained the Greek origin of the ancient inhabitants of Italy. Consult Otto Jahn, Biographische Aiifsutze (Berlin, 1867). BOSS, Robert (c.1766-1814). A British sol- dier. He was born at Ross Trevor, Devonshire, and after graduating at Trinity College, Dublin, entered the British army and served in Holland and Egypt. At the beginning of the War of 1812 he was selected by the Duke of Wellington to command a brigade in America. After defeating the American troops at .Bladensburg, he pro- ceeded to Washington, where he set fire to the public buildings (August. 1814). This proceed- ing the English justified on the ground that Amer-