Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/351

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
ROSECRANS
ROSELIUS

crans was relieved of his command on 23 Oct., and he was assigned to the Department of the Missouri in January, 1804, with headquarters in St. Louis, where he conducted the military operations that terminated in the defeat and expulsion from the state of the invading Confederate forces under Gen. Price. He was placrd on waiting orders at Cincinnati on 10 Dec., 1864, mustered out of the volunteer service on 15 Jan., 1866, and resigned from the army on 28 March, 1867, after receiving the brevet of major-general in the regular army for his services at the battle of Stone River. Later in 1867 he was offered the Democratic nomination for governor of California, but declined it. He was appointed minister to Mexico on 27 July, 1868, and held that office until 20 June, 1869, when he returned to the United States, and declined the Democratic nomination for governor of Ohio. Subsequently he resumed the practice of engineering, and in 1872-'3 was engaged in an effort to initiate the construction of a vast system of narrow-gauge railways in Mexico, at the instance of President Juarez. He became president in 1871 of the San Jose raining company, and in 1878 of the Safety powder company in San Francisco. He was also intrusted with a charter for an interoceauic railway from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific, made by the Mexican republic under considerations urged by him when envoy to Mexico, and he was requested to use his influence to induce American railway building skill and capital to undertake the work. He memorialized congress to cultivate friendly and intimate commercial relations with Mexico, and to encourage and assist the material progress of that country; and at the instance of American and English railway builders, and of President Juarez, he went to Mexico. He had for fifteen months so ably discussed in the newspapers the benefits of railway construction to Mexico that the legislatures of seventeen of the Mexican states passed unanimous resolutions urging their national congress to enact the legislation advocated, and the governors of six other states sent official recommendations to the same effect. In 1876 Gen. Rosecrans declined the Democratic nomination for congress from Nevada. He was elected as a Democrat to congress from California, served from 5 Dec., 1881, till 4 March, 1885, and was appointed register of the U. S. treasury in June, 1885, which office he held many years. For a full account of the Tennessee campaigns, see Gen. Henry M. Cist's "Army of the Cumberland " (New York, 1882); "Rosecrans's Campaign with the 14th Army Corps, or the Army of the Cumberland," by W. D. Bickhain (Cincinnati, 1863) : and Van Home's "History of the Army of the Cumberland" (2 vols., Cincinnati, 1875). His brother. Sylvester Hqrton, R. C. bishop, b. in Homer. Licking co., Ohio, 5 Feb., 1827; d. in Columbus, Ohio, 21 Oct., 1878, was graduated with distinguished honor at Kenyon college, Ohio, in 1845. A letter from his brother, Gen. Rosecrans, announcing the conversion of the latter to the Roman Catholic church, turned his thoughts in the same direction. He became a Roman Catholic in 1845, and entered St. John's college, Fordham, N. Y., where he was graduated in 1846. He then affiliated himself with the diocese of Cincinnati, and was sent by Bishop Purcell to study theology in the College of the propaganda, Rome, where he received his doctor's degree in 1851. He was ordained in 1852, and returned immediately to the United States. For several months after his arrival he acted as pastor of the Church of St. Thomas in Cincinnati, and he was then appointed one of the pastors at the cathedral, which post he held till 1859. A college was opened in that year for the education of Roman Catholic, youths, of which Dr. Rosecrans was made president. He continued to reside in this institution until made bishop of Columbus. He also edited the " Catholic Telegraph," and spent much time in instructing the theological students of his diocese. On 25 March, 1862, he was conse- crated as auxiliary of the archdiocese of Cincinnati, under the title of bishop of Pompeiopolis. In 1868 the archdiocese was divided and a new see was erected at Columbus. Dr. Rosecrans was nominated first bishop, and took possession of his see on 3 March of the same year. Shortly afterward the Academy of St. Mary's of the Springs was founded near Columbus, and the bishop began St. Mary's cathedral, one of the first buildings in the city. He also erected St. Aloysius's seminary, and through his initiative numerous other schools were founded. He was taken suddenly ill on Sunday, 20 Oct., 1878, as he was about to enter his cathedral for vesper service, and died on the following day. Bishop Rosecrans's life was one of great simplicity and self-denial. He lived in the orphan asylum, taught daily in the Academy of the Sacred Heart, and went several times weekly to St. Mary's of the Springs for the same purpose. All that he had he gave to the poor, and he was often obliged to walk long distances, even when in delicate health, because he had not the money to pay his car-fare. All the money that was in his possession at his death was two silver half-dollars.


ROSELIUS, Christian, lawyer, b. near Bremen, Germany, 10 Aug., 1803; d. in New Orleans, 5 Sept., 1873. His early education was limited to the elementary branches, and at sixteen he left his native land on board the bark “Jupiter” for New Orleans, having secured his passage by the sale of his services for a stated period after his arrival, which was in July, 1820. He was employed for several years in a printing-office, and in 1825, with a partner, established and edited the first literary journal published in Louisiana. It was called “The Halcyon,” and, failing to prove remunerative, was abandoned for the study of the law, Mr. Roselius supporting himself at this period by teaching. His legal studies were pursued in company with his friend, Alexander Dimitry, in the office of Auguste Devesac, beginning in December, 1826, and terminating in March, 1828, at which time he was admitted to practice by the supreme court, consisting of Judges Martin, Matthews, and Porter. His love of the civil law became a passion, and soon placed him in the front rank and eventually at the head of the Louisiana bar. In 1841 he was appointed attorney-general of the state and served for a term of two years. During the same decade he was honored with an invitation to become the law partner in Washington of Daniel Webster, which he, however, declined, preferring to remain in the south. For many years he was dean of the faculty of the University of Louisiana, and for the last