Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/93

This page needs to be proofread.
POPE
POPKIN

teen years' continuous service. In the political campaign of 1860 Capt. Pope sympathized with the Republicans, and in an address on the subject of " Fortifications," read before a literary society at Cincinnati, he criticised the policy of President Buchanan in unsparing terms. For this he was court-martialed, but, upon the recommen- dation of Postmaster- General Joseph Holt, further proceedings were dropped. He was still a captain of engineers when Sum- ter was fired upon, and he was one of the officers detailed by the war department to escort Abraham Lincoln to Washing- ton. He was made brigadier - general of volunteers, 17 May, 1861, and placed in

command first of the

district of northern, and afterward of southwestern and central, Missouri. Gen. Pope's operations in that state in protecting railway communication and driving out guerillas were highly successful. His most important engagement was that of the Black- water, 18 Dec., 1861, where he captured 1,300 pris- oners, 1,000 stand of arms, 1,000 horses, 65 wagons, two tons of gunpowder, and a large quantity of tents, baggage, and supplies. This victory forced Gen. Sterling Price to retreat below the Osage river, which he never again crossed. He was next intrusted by Gen. Henry W. Halleck with the com- mand of the land forces that co-operated with Ad- miral Andrew H. Foote's flotilla in the expedi- tion against Xew Madrid and Island Xo. 10. He succeeded in occupying the former place, 14 March. 1862. while the latter surrendered on the 8th of the following month, when 6,500 prisoners. 125 cannon, and 7.000 small arms, fell into his hands. He was rewarded for the capture of Xew Madrid by a commission as major-general of volunteers. As commander of the Army of the Mississippi, he advanced from Pittsburg landing upon Corinth, the operations against that place occupying the period from 22 April till 30 May. After its evacu- ation he pursued the enemy to Baldwin, Lee co., Miss. At the end of June he was summoned to Washington, and assigned to the command of the Army of Virginia, comprised of Fremont's (after- ward Sigel's), Banks's, and McDowell's corps. On 14 July he was commissioned brigadier-general in the regular army. On 9 Aug. a division of his army, under Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, had a -even- engagement with the Confederates, commanded by Gen. Thomas J. Jackson, at Cedar mountain. For the next fifteen days Gen. Pope, who had been re- enforced by a portion of the Army of the Potomac, fought continuously a greatly superior force of the enemy under Gen. Robert E. Lee. on the line of the Rappahannock, at Bristow station, at Groveton, at Manassas junction, at Gainesville, and at German- town, near Chantilly. Gen. Pope then withdrew his force behind Difficult creek, between Flint hill and the Warrenton turnpike, whence he fell back within the fortifications of Washington, and on 3 Sept. was, at his own request, relieved of the com- mand of the Army of Virginia, and was assigned to that of the Department of the Northwest, where in a short time he completely checked the outrages of the Minnesota Indians. He retained this com- mand until 30 Jan., 1865, when he was given charge of the military division of the Missouri, which, in June following, was made the Department of the Missouri, including all the northwestern states and territories. From this he was relict 'I 6 Jan., 1866. He afterward had command suc- cessively of the 3d military district, comprising Georgia. Alabama, and Florida, under the first Reconstruct inn act, lSli7-'8 ; the Department of the Lakes, 1868-' 70; the Department of the Mi*- souri. headquarters at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1870-'S4; and the Military Department of the Pa- cific from 1884 until he was retired. Hi March. 1886. In Washington, in December. 1862, he testified be- fore a court-martial, called for the trial of Gen. Fitz-John Porter (q. v.), who had been accused by him of misconduct before the enemy at the second battle of Manassas or Bull Run. Gen. Pope was bre- vetted major-general, 13 March, 1865, " for gallant and meritorious services" in the capture of Island No. 10, and advanced to the full rank, 26 Oct., 1882. The fullest account of his northern Virginia campaign is to be found in the report of the con- givs-iniial committee on the conduct of the war (.Supplement, part xi., 1865). Gen. Pope is the au- thor of "Explorations from the Red River to the Rio Grande," in " Pacific Railroad Reports." vol. iii., and the "Campaign of Virginia, of July and August, 1862 " (Washington, 1865).


POPE, Richard. Canadian author, b. in Toronto, 19 Oct., 1827. He was called to the bar of Lower Canada in 1855, and was assistant editor of the Lower Canada " Law Reports " in 1855-'60. After serving as commissioner for the Chaudiere gold- mining association from 1866 till 1871 he was clerk in the department of public works, and private secretary to the minister from 1872 till 1873, when he was appointed clerk of the crown in chancery. He was major in the Canadian militia, and organ- ized the Quebec volunteer rifle association. Mr. Pope won the first prize medal of the Literary and historical society of Quebec for the best " Essay on Canada " (Quebec, 1853), and is also the author of "Canadian Minerals and Mining Interest" (1857); "Gold Fields of Canada" (1858); and "Notes on Emigration and Mining and Agricultural Labor in Canada" (1859).


POPHAM, George, colonist, b. in Somerset- shire, England, about 1550 ; d. in Maine, 5 Feb., 1608. He became associated with Sir Ferdinando Gorges (q. v.) as one of the patentees of an exten- sive territory in what is now the state of Maine, and sailed from Plymouth, 31 May, 1607, with two ships and one hundred men. Popham was in com- mand of one ship, and Raleigh Gilbert, a nephew of Sir Walter Raleigh, of the other. On 15 Aug., 1607, they landed at the mouth of the Sagadahoc or Kennebee river. After listening to a sermon, and the patent laws, the company proceeded to build a storehouse, with a fort, which they called Fort George. This was the first English settlement in Xew England. The ships sailed on the home voyage on 5 Dec., leaving a colony of forty-five persons, Popham being president and Gilbert ad- miral. After Popham 's death the colonists, having become discouraged, returned to England. His brother. Sir John. b. in Somersetshire in 1531 : d. 10 June, 1607, became lord chief justice about 1592, and was active in colonization schemes. Sir Fran- cis, supposed to be a son of Sir John, and named as a patentee of Xew England, was a member of parliament in 1620.


POPKIN, John Snelliug. clergyman, b. in Boston, Mass., 19 June, 1771; d. in Cambridge, Mass., 2 March, 1852. His ancestors, of Welsh