Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/358

Cockburn, marched to Bladensburg, where he de- feated the American army, consisting mostly of undisciplined militia, on i4 Aug.. 1814, and burned and sacked Washington. He was killed while lead- ing the advance toward Baltimore. Md.

ROSSEL, Elisabeth Paul Edouard (ros-sel). Chevalier de. French navigator, b. in Sens, 11 Sept.. 1765 ; d. in Paris, 20 Nov., 1829. He entered the marine guards in 1780, served under De Grasse in the West Indies, fought at Yorktown in October, 1781. and afterward served under Vaudreuil till the conclusion of peace in 1783. He was attached under D'Entrecasteaux to the station of the Indian ocean in 1785. became lieutenant in 1789, and was flag-captain during the expedition in search of La Perouse (q. v.) in 1791-'95, of which he assumed command in 1794 after the death of the two com- manders. After publishing, at the expense of the government, the narrative of D'Entrecasteaux's ex- pedition, he succeeded Fleurieu (q. v.) in 1811 as member of the longitude office, and in 1812 Bou- gainville (q. v.) in the institute. He was brevetted rear-admiral in 1822, and became, on 31 Dec., 1826, keeper of the logs and charts in the navy depart- ment, a post which he held up to the time of his death. He was one of the founders of the French geographical society in 1821, and its first president. His works include " Instructions nautiques pour les cotes de la Guyana " (Paris, 1808) ; " V oyage de D'Entrecasteaux a la recherche de La Perouse" (2 vols., 1809) ; " Signaux de jour, de nuit et de brume " (2 vols., 1819-'21); and "Instructions pour la description nautique des cotes de la Martinique " (1823). He was also one of the chief editors of the ' Collection des voyages et decouvertes des Espa- gioles dans I'Amerique du Sud " (10 vols.. 1840). is name has been given to a small island in the Pacific ocean south of America.

ROSSER, Leonldas, clergyman, b. in Peters- burg, 31 July, 1815 ; d. in Ashland, Va., 25 Jan., 1892. He was graduated at Wesleyan. and entered the New York conference of the Methodist church. In 1839 he was transferred to the Virginia confer- ence, where he had since been stationed, and was presiding elder of the districts of Fredericksburg in 1852-'3, Norfolk in 1853-'6, Lynchburg in 1856-'8, Richmond in 1865-'9, and Randolph Macon in 1877-'81. Dr. Rosser was delegate to the general conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, south, every four years from 1850 till 1866, and dur- ing the civil war was general missionary to the Con- federate army. In 1858 the degree of D. D. was conferred on him by Emory and Henry college, and during 1858-'9 he edited the Richmond " Christian Advocate." His publications include "Baptism, it* Nature, Obligation, Mode, Subjects, and Bene- fits" (Richmond, 1843); "Experimental Religion, embracing Justification, Regeneration, Sanctifica- tion, and the Witness of the Spirit" (1854) ; "Class- Meetings" (1855); "Recognition in Heaven" (1856); "Reply to Howell's 'Evils of Infant Baptism'" (1856) ; and "Open Communion" (1858).

ROSSER, Thomas Lafayette, soldier, b. in Campbell county, Va.. 15 Oct., 1836. He entered the V. S. military academy in 1856. but when Vir- ginia seceded from the Union, although in the graduating class and about to receive a commis- sion in the U. S. army, he resigned and entered the Confederate army as 1st lieutenant of artil- lery. His services soon gained him promotion, and he was made captain in October. 1861. and lieutenant-colonel of artillery in June. 1862. Dur- ing the same month he was given command of a regiment of cavalry and attached to the Army of Northern Virginia. He attained the rank of briga- dier-general on 10 Oct., 1863, and was given com- mand of the Virginia cavalry in the Shenandoah valley. In this capacity he served under Gen. Jubal A. Early when the latter was ordered to command the Confederate forces in the valley of the Shenandoah, and was present at the bat- tle of Cedar Creek. Gen. Rosser was conspicu- ous for his services in this campaign, and was constantly opposed by Gen. George A. Ouster, who had been his classmate at the military academy. In November, 1864, he was made a major-general of cavalry. After the war he turned his" atten- tion to engineering, and had charge of the Da- kota, Yellowstone, and Missouri divisions of the Northern Pacific railway from 1870 till 1879. He held the office of chief engineer of the Canadian Pacific railroad, president and general manager of the New South mining and improvement com- pany. and consulting engineer of the Charleston, Cincinnati, and Chicago railroad company. Gen. Rosser served in the war with Spain.

ROSSITER, Thomas Prichard. artist, b. in New Haven, Conn.. 'Jit Sept.. 1817; d. in Cold Spring. N. Y., 17 May, 1871. He was educated in New Haven, and subsequently began the study of art there with Nathaniel Jocelyn. About 1838 he began to practise his profession in his native city, but in 1840-'! he stud- ied in London and Paris. During the next five years he had a studio in Rome, sketching and painting dur- ing the summers in Italy, Germany, and Switzerland. On his return to the United States he es- tablished himself in

New York, where he was chiefly engaged on his scriptural pictures, "Miriam dancing before the Hosts," " Return of the Dove to the Ark."

"Jeremiah the Prophet." "Ascension," "The Ideals," and "The Jews in Captivity." In 1853 he went again to Europe, making an extended tour. In December of the same year he opened a studio in Paris, where he remained about three years. Dur- ing this time he produced "Joan of Arc in Prison." " Venice." " Wise and Foolish Virgins," and many other works. At the Universal exhibition of Is-Vi he received a gold medal for his " Venice in the 15th Century" (1854), and at the salon of the same year he was awarded a medal of th,e third class. From 1856 till 1860 he was in New York, after which he removed to Cold Spring, where he ronled until his death. Hi- ptiinti-d a larire number nf pictures, mostly historical or scriptural Mibjeet-, and also numerous portraits. Besides those already mentioned, they include " The Representative Mer- chants," "The Home of Washington," painted in conjunction with Mignot (1858); "The Discover- ers"(1859); " Washington's First Cabinet " : anil a series of pictures on the "Life of Christ." He was elected an associate of the National academy in 1840, and an academician in 18411.

ROST, Pierre Adolph, jurist, b. in Fran, r about 1797; d. in New Orleans. La.. 6 Sept.. isiis. He was educated at the Lycee Napoleon and the Ecole polytechnic in Paris. With his fellow-stu-