“Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States,” with additional chapters on the “New Amendments” (1873); “The Law of Taxation” (1876); “The Law of Torts” (1879); “General Principles of Constitutional Law in the United States” (1880); and “Michigan: A History of Governments” (Boston, 1885).
COOLIDGE, Carlos, governor of Vermont, b. in Windsor, Vt., in 1792 ; d. there, 15 Aug., 1866.
He was graduated at Middlebury in 1811, and
practised law in his native place for fifty-two years.
He was attorney for the county from 1831 till 1836,
and a representative in the legislature from 1834
till 1837, and from 1839 till 1842. He was speaker
in 1836, and during his latter term was governor
of Vermont, 1848-'50, and senator from 1855 till
1857. He received the degree of LL. D. from Mid-
dlebury in 1849.
COOLIDGE, Richard H., military surgeon, b.
in the state of New York in 1816 ; d. in Kaleigh,
N. C, 23 Jan., 1866. He was appointed assistant
surgeon in tlie U. S. army from New York state in
August, 1841, and served at various posts. In
June, 1860, he was promoted surgeon, and was
medical purveyor and director, Department of the
Pacific, from January, 1861, till April, 1862. He
was lieutenant-colonel and medical inspector from
June, 1862, till October, 1865, was in the provost-
marshal's department, Washington, D. C, till April,
1864, and on duty at Louisville, Ky., from May till
November, 1864. He was made medical inspector
of the Northern Department and of the Department
of Pennsylvania in 1865, and subsequently pro-
moted to a brevet lieutenant-colonelcy for faithful
and meritorious services during the war. He was
medical director of the Department of North Caro-
lina at the time of his death.
COOLIDGE, Sidney, scientist, b. in Boston,
Mass., in 1830 ; d. near Chickamauga, Ga., 19 Sept.,
1863. He studied abroad from 1839 till 1850, first
in Geneva and Vevay, and afterward in the Royal
military college in Dresden. After his return to
this country he assisted in the construction of the
Richmond and Danville railroad, and in running
the boundary-line of Minnesota. After working in
the nautical-almanac office and in the Cambridge
observatory, he was appointed in 1853 assistant as-
tronomer to Com. Perry's Ja[)an exploring expedi-
tion. In 1854 he assisted Prof. George P. Bond
in his observations of the planet Saturn, and con-
tributed drawings and notes to the published an-
nals of the observatory. He took charge in 1855 of
the chronometrie expedition for determining the
difference of longitude between Cambridge and
Greenwich, and in 1856-'7 studied the dialects and
astronomical superstitions of the Indians near
Saguenay river and Lake Mistassinnie. Being in
Mexico in 1858, he took part in the civil war of
that year, was taken prisoner and sentenced to be
shot, but was finally released and sent to the city of
Mexico on parole. He took part in an Arizona
land-survey in 1860, and in May, 1861, became
major in the 16th U. S. infantry. He was super-
intendent of the regimental recruiting service in
1862, commanded regiments at different posts and
camps, and was engaged at the battles of Hoover's
Gap and Chickamauga, where he was killed. For
his services in the latter fight he received the
brevet of lieutenant-colonel.
COOLIDGE, Susan. See Woolsey, Sarah C.
COOMBE, Thomas, clergyman, b. in Philadel-
phia, 21 Oct., 1758 ; d. in London, 15 Aug., 1822.
He was graduated at the College of Philadelphia in
1766, and in 1768 went to England, where he was
ordained priest and appointed chaplain to the
Marquis of Rockingham. He returned to Phila-
delphia in 1772, and was chosen an assistant min-
ister of Christ church and St. Peter's. On 20 July,
1775, the day appointed for a general fast by the
Continental congress, he delivered a sermon, which
was published (Philadelphia, 1775; 3d ed., New-
port, 1776). Mr. Coombe supported the cause of
the colonies until the passage of the Declaration
of Independence, but felt that his ordination-oath
did not permit him to follow the same course after
that event. This decision caused him to be looked
upon with suspicion, and just previous to the occu-
pation of the city he was ordered to be arrested ;
but the order was not executed, and, after the Brit-
ish left the city in 1778, h'e obtained permission to
go to New York, whence he sailed for England.
He was subsequently chaplain to the Earl of Car-
lisle, and in 1794 was appointed chaplain in ordi-
nary to the king. The degree of D. D. was con-
ferred upon him in 1781 by the University of Dub-
lin. He was an eloquent and impi'essive preacher.
Josiah Quincy, Jr., speaks of one of his extempore
prayers " which, in point of sentiment, propriety
of expression, and true sublimity, excelled any-
thing of the kind " he had ever heard. Dr. Coombe
was the friend of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Johnson,
and Goldsmith. He issued under two titles : " Ed-
win, or the Emigrant" (Philadelphia, 1775), and
"The Peasant of Auburn" (London, 1783).
COOMBS, Leslie, soldier, b. near Boonesboro,
Clark CO., Ky., 28 Nov., 1793; d. in Lexington,
Ky., 21 Aug., 1881. His father, who served at the
siege of Yorktown, removed from Virginia in 1782,
and settled in the wilderness of Kentucky. Leslie,
the twelfth child of this pioneer farmer, entered
the army at the age of nineteen. In the campaign
that ended in the disaster at the river Raisin, he
was sent by Gen. Winchester with important des-
patches to Gen. Harrison. To deliver these he was
obliged to traverse a wilderness, occupied by sav-
ages and covered with snow, for over a hundred
miles, and suffered great privations. On 2 June,
1813, he was commissioned captain of spies in Dud-
ley's regiment of Kentucky volunteers. He volun-
teered, with an Indian guide, to carry the intelli-
gence of the approach of Gen. Clay's forces to Gen.
Harrison, when the latter was besieged in Fort
Meigs, but was overpowered in sight of the fort,
and escaped to Fort Defiance. He bore a conspicu-
ous part in tl:e defeat of Col. Dudley, on 5 May,
and was wounded at Fort Miami. After the war
he studied law, was admitted to the bar at the age
of twenty-three, attaining high rank in the profes-
sion. In 1836 he raised, at his own expense, a regi-
ment to aid Texas in her struggle for independ-
ence, and was commissioned colonel in August of
that year. He was for several terms state auditor,
and was many times elected to the legislature.
When his old commander, Gen. Harrison, was a
candidate for president. Coombs took a prominent
part in the canvass. As a stump orator he was
unsurpassed. At the beginning of the Mexican
war he aided largely in raising volunteers in Ken-
tucky. He was a strong whig, and earnestly de-
voted to the Union from the time when the question
of secession was first advanced. In 1849 Henry
Clay, who placed great trust in Gen. Coombs, wrote
to him suggesting that Union meetings should be
held throughout" Kentucky, enclosing resolutions
to be adopted. During the canvass of 1844 he
made many speeches in the north and east in sup-
port of his friend Clay as a candidate for president.
It was in defeating Gfen. Coombs for congress that
John C. Breckinridge won his earliest success in
public life. Gen. Coombs's last public office was
