Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/315

This page needs to be proofread.
BLAKELOCK
BLANCHARD
287

terprise," and did good service in protecting the coasting trade. On 34 July, 1813, he was made master commander, and in August was appointed to the command of the new sloop " Wasp," whicii sailed from Portsmouth, N. H., on a cruise, 1 May, 1814. On 28 June he fell in with the Brit- ish' brig "Reindeer," and captured her after a severe action of nineteen minutes. The " Rein- deer " made three unsuccessful attempts to board the " Wasp," and in the last of these her com- mander. Captain Manners, was killed. The loss of the " Reindeer " was 25 killed, 42 wounded ; that of the " Wasp," 5 killed, 22 wounded. Ow- ing to the danger of recapture, Blakeley burned his prize, and, having placed a portion of his wounded prisoners on a neutral vessel, put into L'Orient. Congress voted him a gold medal for his exploit. Sailing from L'Orient on 27 Aug., the " Wasp " made several captures, one of them a vessel laden with military stores. On the evening of 1 Sept. he fell in with the brig " Avon," and compelled her to surrender, but the approach of the two brigs " Castilian " and " Tartarus " forced him to abandon his prize, which soon sank. After capturing and scuttling two more vessels, the " Wasp," on 21 Sept., captured the brig " Atalan- ta," which was sent to Savannah, and on 24 Nov., Blakeley was made captain. After this nothing more was heard of the " Wasp," or those on board of her, until it was discovered that a Swedish ship had spoken her on 9 Oct., which was the last news of her. It seems probable that the vessel, being heavily armed and sparred, and very deep-waisted, foundered in a gale. Blakeley's only child, a daugh- ter, was educated at the expense of the state of North Carolina.


BLAKELOCK, Ralph Albert, artist, b. in New York city, lo Oct., 1847. He was educated in the public schools and in tlie college of the city of New York, being graduated in 1869. In the same year he travelled through the western states, Mexi- co, and the West Indies. He has studied his art with no master, but has grown an artist under his own experiments. Pie has painted landscapes, Indian figures, and moonlight scenes. One of his pictures represents the Ta-vo-kok-i, or cii'cle-dance of the Kavavite Indians. In 1882 he exhibited at the national academy " Cloverdale, Cal.," " Moon- light," and " The Indian Fisherman " ; in 1884, "A Landscape," and " On the Face of Quiet Waters " ; and in 1885, " Cumuli." All his works are ideal or creative. Mr. Blakelock's idea of his art is that " the laws of the art of painting are the laws of the creator, as to expression, color, form, unity, har- mony, height, depth, tone ; when the knowledge is obtained, then we may trust our emotional nature or spirit to create, and then, upon comparison, we find them like nature." He has endeavored to bring out the beauty of a painting by the treat- ment of color, "until it seems to flow upon the senses, as some melody."


BLANC, Anthony, R. C. archbishop, b. in Sury, France, 11 Oct., 1792; d. in New Orleans, 20 June, 1800. He was ordained in 1816, and in the follow- ing year sailed from Bordeaux in company with twenty young missionaries who had volunteered for duty under Bishop Dubourg in the southwest- ern states. He landed at Annapolis and was for some months the guest of Charles Carroll at Car- roUton. In 1818 he was appointed pastor at Vin- cennes under Bishop Flaget, and succeeded in erecting two log chapels, the first seen in that country. Bishop Dubourg recalled him to New Orleans in 1820, and he was created bishop of New Orleans in 1835. In 1838 Texas was added to his diocese, which originally consisted of Louisiana and Mississippi. To remedy the evils caused by the size of his bishopric, he obtained from the pope the erection of two new sees within his jurisdiction, and opened a theological seminary for the training of a native clergy. He introduced the Lazarists and Jesuits, and intrusted the schools of higher education to their control. A controversy between the lay trustees of the cathedral of New Orleans and Bisliop Blanc at one time assumed an alarm- ing aspect. The trustees refused to receive the rector whom the bisliop had appointed, and an in- terdict was laid on the church. With the co-opera- tion of other bishops, however, a reconciliation was effected in 1844. As Bishop Blanc had more than doubled the number of churches in his diocese in a few years after his consecration, and as the num- ber of Catholics had largely increased, the council of Baltimore, which met in 1849, advised the pope to erect it into an archbishopric. In 1850, there- fore. Bishop Blanc was made archbishop of New Orleans with four suffragan dioceses. In 1855 he visited Rome to take part in the council then sit- ting, and on his return he introduced the Christian Brothers and several other educational orders, male and female, into his diocese. Before his death the churches had increased through his efforts from twenty-six to seventy-three, and the number of clergy from twenty-seven to seventy-three. He erected three colleges, eight academies for young ladies, nine free schools, thirteen orphan asylums, and three convents.


BLANC, Vincent Le, traveller, b. in France in 1554 ; d. in 1640. From his twelfth to his sixtieth year he travelled in Asia, Africa, and America, and he gives in his " Voyages fameux " (1648) an ac- count of Canada, which is valuable in some re- spects, though confused in its dates.


BLANCHARD, Albert Gallatin, soldier, b. in Charlestown, Mass., September, 1810; d. in New Orleans, La., 21 June, 1891. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy, and served on frontier duty until 1840, when he resigned, with the rank of first lieutenant. From 1840 till 1846 he was a merchant at New Orleans, La., and was director of public schools there from 1843 till 1845. During the Mexican war he served as captain of Louisiana volunteers, being at the battle of Monterey and the siege of Vera Cruz, and he re-entered the regular army as major of the 12th infantry, serving till 25 July, 1848. After teaching in the New Orleans public schools he became a surveyor, and was after- ward connected with several railroad companies. At the beginning of the civil war. in 1861, he was made a brigadier-general in the confederate army. He was wrongly charged in 1862 with issuing an order that became quite celebrated, urging the in- habitants to fire at the national army from behind trees, and obstruct its passage in every possible way. After the war. Gen. Blanehard was a civil engineer and surveyor in New Orleans.


BLANCHARD, Joseph, soldier, b. in Dun- stable, near Nasinia, N. H., 11 Feb., 1704; d. 7 April, 1758. He was a mandamus councillor from 1740 till 1758; judge of the superior court of New Hampshire from 1749 till 1758 : commanded a New Hampshire regiment in 1755, and was engaged at Crown Point. He speculated in lands, and, in con- junction with the Rev. Samuel Langdon, published, in 1761. a map of New Hampshire.


BLANCHARD, Joshua P., peace advocate, b. in 1782 ; d. in Boston, Mass., in October, 1868. He was the oldest apostle of peace in the United States, laboring for the cause with Dr. Channing and under the leadership of Dr. Worcester. He