Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/82

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58
POLK
POLLARD

college of physicians and surgeons in 1869. He entered the Confederate army in April, 1801, as a cadet of the military institute, was commissioned 1st lieutenant in Scott's battery of artillery in 1862, and in lsii:i va- promoted ai-tant chief of artil- lery in his father's corps, Army of the Tennessee. In March. ls(j."i. he was made captain and adjutant in the inspector-general's department. After his graduation as a physician he practised in New York city, and from 1875 till 1879 he was professor of therapeutics and clinical medicine in Bellevue col- lege. He then accepted the chair of obstetrics and the diseases of women in the medical department of the University of the city of New York, which he still (1898) holds. He is also surgeon in the department of obstetrics in Bellevue hospital. Dr. Polk has contributed to medical literature " Origi- nal Observations upon the Anatomy of the Female Pelvic Organs," "On the Gravid and Non-Gravid Uterus," and "Original Observations upon the Causes and Pathology of the Pelvic Inflammations of Women." Leonidas's brother, Thomas (iil- christ, lawyer, b. in Mecklenburg county, N. C., 22 Feb., 1790; d. in Holly Springs, Miss., in 1869, was graduated at the University of North Caro- lina in 1810, and at the law-school at Litchfield, Conn., in 1813. He soon after began to practise his profession, and for several years was a mem- ber of the lower branch of the North Carolina legislature. He was also at one time in command of the militia. In 1839 he removed to Tennessee, where he purchased a large plantation. Being a stanch Whig in politics, he took an active part in the presidential campaign of 1844 in support of Henry Clay, and against his relative, James K.. Polk. William's grandson, Lucius Ellirene, soldier, b. in Salisbury, N. C.. 10 July, 1838 : d. 1 Dec., 1892, was the son of William J. Polk. He was graduated at the University of Virginia in 1852. At the be- ginning of the civil war he entered the Confederate army as a private under Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne, but "was soon commissioned 1st lieutenant, and as such fought at Shiloh, where he was wounded. He was rapidly promoted until he was made briga- dier-general in December, 1862. and joined his brigade in time to take part in the battle of Mur- freesboro, where his command made a charge, for which he was complimented by Gen. Braxton Bragg in his report of the engagement. Gen. Polk was also present at Ringgold gap, Ga., in 1863, and at many other actions. At Kenesaw mountain, Ga., in the summer of 1864, he was severely wounded by a cannon-ball and disabled for further service. He then retired to a plantation in Maury county, Tenn., where he afterward resided. In 1884 tie was a delegate to the National Democratic con- vention at Chicago, and he was afterward a mem- ber of the senate of the state of Tennessee, having been elected on 1 Jan., 1887.


POLK, Trnsten, senator, b. in Sussex county, Del., 29 May, 1811 ; d. in St. Louis, Mo.. 16 Apri'l. 1876. He was graduated at Yale in 1831, and then began the study of law in the office of the attorney- general of Delaware, but completed his course at Yale Jaw-school. In 1835 he removed to St. Louis, Mo., and. establishing himself there in the practice of his profession, soon rose to a high place at the bar. lie was a member of the Stair , , >n-t itutional convention in 1845, and in 184S a presidential elector. He was elected governor of Missouri as a Democrat in 1856, and sunn after his accession to office w.i- eho-eii I". S. senator, serving from 4 March. I Vi 7, until his expulsion for disloyalty on 10 Jan.. isi'c 1 . Meanwhile he had joined the Con- federate government and tilled various offices of responsibility within its jurisdiction. In 1864 he was taken prisoner, and after his exchange held the office of military judge of the Department of Mississippi. At the close of the war he returned to St. Louis, and there devoted himself to the prac- tice of his profession until his death.


POLLARD, Edward Albert, journalist, b. in Nelson county, Va., 27 Feb., 1828; d. in Lynch- burg, Va., 12 Dec., 1872. He was graduated at the University of Virginia in 1849. and studied law at William and Mary, but finished his course in Balti- more, Mr. Pollard then emigrated to California and took part in the wild life of that country as a journalist until 1855, after which he spent some time in northern Mexico and Nicaragua, and then re- turned to the eastern states. Subsequently he went to Europe, and also travelled in China" and Japan. During President Buchanan's adminis- tration he became clerk of the judiciary commit- tee in the house of representatives, and he was an open advocate of secession in 1860. At the be- ginning of the civil war he was without political employment, and was studying for the Protestant Episcopal ministry, having been admitted a candi- date for holy orders by Bishop William Meade. From 1861 till 1867 he was principal editor of the " Richmond Examiner," and, while an earnest advocate of the Confederate cause during the war, he was nevertheless a merciless critic of Jefferson Davis. Toward the close of the war he went to England in order to further the sale of his works, and was then captured, but, after a confinement of eight months at Fort Warren and Fortress Monroe, was released on parole. In 1867 he began the publication in Richmond of "Southern Opinion," which he continued for two years, and also in IsiiS established "The Political Pamphlet," which ran for a short time during the presidential canvass of that year. Mr. Pollard then made his residence in New York and Brooklyn for several years, often contributing to current literature. His books include "Black Diamonds Gathered in the Darkey Homes of the South" (New York. 1859); "Letters of the Southern Spy in Washington and Elsewhere" (Baltimore, 1861); "Southern History of the War" (3 vols., Richmond, 18G2-'4 : 4th Vol., New York, 1866); "Observations in the North: Eight Months in Prison and on Parole" (Richmond, 1865); "The Lost Cause: A New Southern History of the War of the Confederacy " (New York, 1866; written also in French for Louisiana, 1867); "Lee and his Lieutenants" (1867); "The Lost Cause Regained" (1868): " Life of Jefferson Davis, with the See ret Ili-tory of the Southern Confederacy " (1869) ; and " The Virginia Tourist " (Philadelphia, 1870). His wife. Marie Antoinette Nathalie ftranier-Dowell,b. in Norfolk, Va.. married James R. Dowell, from whom she separated during the civil war on account of political differences. She then made her way. with great difficulty, through the lines of the armies, to her brother's residence in New Orleans, and later returned to Richmond, where she met Mr. Pollard, whom she married after the war. Subsequent to the death of Mr. Pollard, she became a public -peaki T. and in I In- 1 apacity she canvassed California for the Democratic presidential ticket in 1*7(5. She has also li el ured on the Irish and ( Chinese questions, aihoc.ating greater liberty to these people, and has been active in the temperance movement, holding the "Hire of deputy grand worthy patriarch of the states of New York and New Jersey. Beside- contributions 10 the newspapers, she has published occasional poems. His brother. Henry Rives, editor, b. in Nelson county. Va.. 29 Aug., 1.833: d. in