ROBINSON, John, clergyman, b. in Cabarrus county, N. C., 8 Jan., 1768; d. in Poplar Tent, N". (.'.," Doc., 1843. He received an academic education at Winnsborough, S. C., studied theology, was licensed to preach on 4 April. 1793. and organ- ized several churches in Dupin county, N. C. He accepted the charge of the Presbyterian church at Fuvrtteville in 1800, established a classical school, preached in Poplar Tent in 1801-'o. and then in Fayetteville again till 1818, when he returned to Poplar Tent. The University of North Carolina gave him the degree of D. D. in 1829. He was one of the most popular and persuasive preachers of his faith, and not less eminent as an instructor. He published only a " Eulogy on Washington " (1800).
ROBINSON, John Cleveland, soldier, b. in
Binghamton, N. Y., 10 April, 1817; d. there, 18
Feb., 1897. He was appointed to the U. S. mili-
tary academy, left before graduation to study law,
but returned to military service in October, 1839,
when he was commissioned as 3d lieutenant in the
5th U. S. infantry. He joined the army of occu-
pation in Texas at Corpus Christi in September,
1845. as regimental and brigade quartermaster,
being promoted 1st lieutenant in June. 1846, was
at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, served with
distinction at Monterey, and participated in the
concluding operations of the Mexican war. He was
made captain in August, 1850, was engaged against
hostile Indians in Texas in 1853-'4, was ordered in
1856 to Florida, where he led expeditions against
the Seminoles in the Everglades and Big Cyprus
swamp, and in 1857-'8 took part in the Utah expe-
dition. At the beginning of the civil war he was
in command at Fort McHenry, Baltimore, and pre-
vented its capture by the insurgents by means of a
successful ruse. Subsequently he was engaged in
mustering volunteers at Detroit, Mich., and Colum-
bus, Ohio, and in September, 1861, he was appoint-
ed colonel of the 1st Michigan volunteers. He was
promoted major in the U. S. army in February,
1862, was commissioned as brigadier-general of
volunteers on 28 April, 1862, and commanded a
brigade at Newport News. He was soon trans-
ferred to the Army of the Potomac, and com-
manded the 1st brigade of Gen. Philip Kearny's
division. He took part in the seven days' battles
before Richmond, and commanded a division at
Frederieksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg,
where he earned the brevet of lieutenant-colonel,
U. S. army, and in the operations at Mine Run and
in the battles of the Wilderness, receiving the
brevet of colonel for his services there. At Spott-
sylvania Court-House, while leading a gallant
charge on the enemy's breastworks, he received a
bullet in his left knee, necessitating amputation at
the thigh. He received the brevet of major-gen-
eral of volunteers on 27 June, 1864. He was unfit
for further service in the field, and subsequently
commanded districts in New York state, being
brevetted brigadier- and major-general, U. S. army,
in March, 1865, served as military commander and
commissioner of the Bureau of freedmen in North
Carolina in 1866, was promoted colonel in the regu-
lar army in July, 1866, mustered out of the volun-
teer service on 1 Sept., 1866, commanded the De-
partment of the South in 1867, and the Department
of the Lakes in 1867-'8, and on 6 May, 1869, was
retired with the full rank of major-general. In
1872 he was elected by the Republicans lieutenant-
governor of New York on the ticket with Gov
John A. Dix. He was chosen commander-in-ohie:
of the Grand army of the republic in 1877 and 1878
and president of "the Society of the Army of tht
Potomac in 1887. In his last years he was blind
ROBINSON, John M., senator, b. in Ken-
tucky in 1793; d. in Ottawa, 111., 27 April, 1843.
When a boy he moved with his parents to Carmi,
111., where he afterward resided, engaging in the
practice of law. He was chosen to the U. S. sen-
ate in place of John McLean, deceased, and served
from 4 Jan., 1831, till 3 March, 1841. In the year
of his death he was elected one of the supreme
court judges of Illinois.
ROBINSON, Lucius, governor of New Ymk,
b. in Windham. Greene co., N. Y., 4 Nov., 1810;
d. in Eliuira, 21 March, 1891. He sva> educated at
Jelhi, N. Y., and was admitted to the bar in 1832.
le became district attorney, and was appointed
naster of chancery in New York city in 1843 and
eappointed in 1845. Leaving the Democratic
jarty on the formation of the Republican organi-
zation, he was elected a member of the assembly
n 1859 and controller of the state in 1861 and
1863. In 1865 he was nominated for the same of-
ice by the Democrats, but failed of election. In
L871-'2 he was a member of the constitutional com-
mission. In 1875 he was elected comptroller by
,he Democrats. He was chosen governor in 1876.
tn 1879 he was again nominated by the Demo-
crats for the governorship, but was not elected.
3ne of the entrances to the Niagara Falls park is
lamnl in his honor.
ROBINSON, Matthew, Baron ROKEBY, b. near
Hythe, Kent Co., England, in 1713 : d. 30 Nov.,
1800. He was educated at Westminster and Cam-
bridge, and elected to parliament from Canterbury
in 1747 and 1754. He led a life of primitive sim-
plicity, and was an enthusiast for liberty, and the
measures for the coercion of the American colonies
were especially repugnant to his sense of justice.
He succeeded his cousin, Richard Robinson, arch-
bishop of Armagh, as Baron Rokeby in the peerage
of Ireland on 10 Oct., 1794. He published " Con-
siderations on the Measures Carrying on with re-
spect to the British Colonies in North America"
(2d ed., London, 1774); "Considerations on the
British Colonies " (1775) ; "A Further Examina-
tion of our American Measures " (1776) ; and
Peace the Best Policy " (1777).
ROBINSON, Merritt M., lawyer, b. in Louisi-
ana about 1810 ; d. there, 5 June, 1850. He was the
reporter of the supreme court of Louisiana from
1841 till 1847. He published a useful "Digest of
the Penal Laws of Louisiana, Analytically Ar-
ranged" (New Orleans. 1841). His "Reports,"
comprising sixteen volumes, including four that
he edited, were enriched with valuable marginal
notes (New Orleans. 1842-7).
ROBINSON, Samuel, soldier, b. in Cambridge, Mass., 4 April, 1707; d. in London, England, 27 Oct., 1767. His father, of the same name, was the third son of William Robinson, one of the early Cambridge colonists, and who. it is said, was a kinsman of Rev. John Robinson, of Leyden, pastor to the pilgrims that came in the " Mayflower." In 1736 Samuel settled in Hardwick, Mass., where he was selectman ten years, assessor three years, and town-clerk four years, and a deacon of the church. From 1755 till 1759 he commanded a company in the French war. On his return to Massachusetts from one of his campaigns, mistaking his route, he p.-issrd by accident through what is now Bennington, Vt., and. impressed by the attractiveness of the country, determined to settle there. He formed a company at Hardwick, purchased the right-; of the original grantees of lands, and. taking a colony with him in 1761, settled Bennington, this being the first town in what is now Vermont. He " was the acknowledged leader in the band of pioneers
