Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/598

This page needs to be proofread.
564
CHALMERS
CHAMBERLAIN

ing tours to the Bai'badoes, and through Mary- land, Nortli Carolina, and Rhode Island, at times riding 1,000 miles on horseback. He continued his work till 1707. and in that year again visited the Barbadoes, sailing thence to Great Britain, and, after a visit to Holland and Germany, returned to Philadelphia. His death was the result of a fever contracted while on one of his visits to the West Indies. The library of the four monthly meetings of Friends in Philadelphia was founded by a be- quest from hira. He left an interesting journal of his " Life, Labors, and Travels," which was pub- lished with a collection of his tracts (Philadel- phia, 1747 ; New York, 1808).


CHALMERS, Joseph Williams, senator, b. in Halifax county, Va., 21 July, 1807; d. in Holly Springs, Miss., 10 June, 1853. He was the son of a planter, who came from Scotland, and was trained to mercantile pursuits. After the death of his fa- ther, having spent two years in the University of Virginia, he studied law in the office of William Leigh at Halifax Court-IIouse, Va. In 1834 he removed to Jackson, Tenn., and in 1839 to Holly Springs, Miss. In 1841-'3 he was vice-chancellor, and in 1845 he was appointed to the seat in the U. S. senate rendered vacant by the appointment of Robert J. Walker to the head of the treasury de|)art- nient, being subsequently elected for the remainder of the term. He served in the senate from 7 Dec, 1845, till 3 March, 1847, and was succeeded by Henry S. Poote. — His son, James Roland, soldier, b. near News Ferry, Halifax co., Va., 11 Jan., 1831 ; d. in j\Iem- phis, 9 April, 1898. Leaving Dr. 11 awks's scliool he was grad- uated at South Caro- lina college second in his class. He stud- ied law, and was ad- niilted to the bar in Holly Springs, Miss., in 1853. Il£ accept- ed the colonelcy of tlie 9th Mississippi infantry in March, 1861, and a year later was made brigadier- general. At Sliiloh lie commanded the extreme right of the

confederate army,

and succeeded in forcing his way nearer to Pitts- burg Landing than any other brigade commander. Gen. Chalmers was seriously wounded in the bat- tle of Murfreesboro', on Stone river, and after his transfer from infantry to cavalry service he com- manded the 1st division of Forrest's cavalry from January, 1864, to May, 1865, when he was paroled at Gainesville, Ga. He was elected to the state sen- ate in 1875, was a member of the 45th and three suc- ceeding congresses, being a prominent member of that body, and wrote a work entitled " Probate Law and Practice in Mississippi and Tennessee" (Mem- phis, 1890). — Another son, Hamilton Henderson, b. in Mount Pleasant, N. C, 3 Oct., 1834; d. in Mem- phis, Tenn., 20 Jan.. 1885. He was graduated at the University of Oxford, Miss., in June, 1853, studied law, and soon achieved distinction in that profes- sion. He was a judge of the Mississippi supreme court from May, 1876, to the date of his death. — A third son, Alexander Henderson, b. in Holly Springs in 1840, was colonel of the 18th Mississippi cavalry, served through the war, and died on his plan- tation in Crittenden county, Ark., in January, 1873.


CHALMERS, Lionel, physician, b. in Cara- bleton, Scotland, about 1715 ; d. in Charleston, S. C, in 1777. He studied medicine at the Uni- versity of Edinburgh, and then settled in South Carolina, where he practised for more than forty years, first in Cliiist church parish and then in Charleston. Dr. Chalmers recorded observations on the weather of South Carolina for ten successive years, beginning with 1750, and the results were published as " A Treatise on the Weather and Dis- eases of South Carolina " (London, 1776). He also wrote a paper on " Opisthotonus and Tetanus,"' which he communicated to the London medical society, and it was published in their " Transac- tions " in 1754. He was also the author of a valu- able " Essav on Fevers " (Charleston, 1767).


CHAMBERLAIN, Daniel Henry, governor of Soutli Carolina, b. in West Brookfield, Mass., 23 June, 1835. He was graduated at Yale in 1862, and at Harvard law-school in 1803. He entered the army in 1864 as lieutenant in the 5th Massa- chusetts colored cavalry, was promoted to be cap- tain, and served in Maryland, Louisiana, and Texas. He went to South Carolina in 18G6, and became a cotton-planter. He was a delegate to the constitu- tional convention of 1868, and in the same year became attorney-general of the state. On his re- tirement from this office in 1872 he resumed his law practice at Columbia, S. C, and in 1874 was elected governor of the state. In 1875 he refused to issue commissions to two judges who had been elected by the legislature, and who were condemned as corrupt by the best men of both parties. For this action the governor was publicly thanked by prominent citizens of Charleston. Gov. Chamber- lain was renominated by the republicans in Septem- ber, 1876. The year had been marked by several serious conflicts between whites and negroes, and it was reported that more than 16,000 of the for- mer, in all parts of the state, had organized " rifle- clubs." On 7 Oct., 1876, the governor issued a proclamation commanding these clubs to disband, on the grovmd that they had been formed to in- tmiidate the negroes and influence the coming election. An answer to this proclamation was made by the democratic executive committee, de- nying the governor's statements. Gov. Charaber- hiin then applied to President Grant for military aid, and the latter ordered U. S. troops to be sent to South Carolina. After the election, the return- ing-board, disregarding an order of the state su- preme court, whose authority they denied, declared the republican ticket elected, throwing out the vote of Edgefield and Laurens counties, on account of alleged fraud and intimidation. The members from these counties were refused admission to the house, whereupon the democratic members of the legislature withdrew, and, organizing by them- selves, declared Wade Hampton, the democratic candidate for governor, elected, as he had received a majority of the votes cast, counting those of the two disputed counties. The republican members declared Chamberlain elected, and he refused to give up his office to Hampton, who was supported by the majority of white people in the state. After the inauguration of President Hayes, both claim- ants were invited to a conference in Washington, the result of which was that the president withdrew the troops from South Carolina, and Chamberlain issued a proclamation declaring that he should no longer assert his claims. He then removed to New York city. See "Governor Chamberlain's Administration," by Walter Allen (New York, 1888).


CHAMBERLAIN, Jeremiah, educator, b. near Great Conewago, York co., Pa., 5 Jan., 1794; d. in