tion in 1775, and drafted its Declaration of Rights and Plan of Government.
His most conspicuous service was in the Federal convention of 1787, of which
he was a member. He took part in most of the debates, and exerted a strong
influence on the decision of almost every question before the convention.
Some of his strongest utterances were on the subject of slavery, and his
language on one occasion (Aug. 22) might have served as a model to an
anti-slavery orator of later times. He was dissatisfied with the constitution,
and opposed its ratification. He died Oct. 7, 1792.
Meade, George Gordon (1815–1872), general in the United States army, was born in Cadiz, Spain, where his father was an agent of the United States navy, Dec. 30, 1815. He graduated at West Point in 1835, and, after serving but one year in the army, resigned to begin practice as a civil engineer. He was frequently employed by the Government, and re-entered its military service in 1842. He served with distinction on the staffs of Taylor and Scott in the Mexican war, and in scientific work. At the outbreak of the civil war he was placed in command of a brigade of volunteers, soon rising to the command of a division, and joining his fortunes permanently to those of the army of the Potomac. He led his division through the seven days battles, being severely wounded at Glendale, through the Antietam campaign, and at Fredericksburgh, where he particularly distinguished himself. At Chancellorsville he commanded the 5th corps; and when Hooker resigned the command of the army, and while the army itself was in hasty movement northward to check Lee’s invasion of the North in 1863, Meade was appointed to the command. He accepted it with the greatest reluctance, and altogether from a sense of duty. He had inclined to fight on the line of Pipe Creek, to the south of Gettysburgh; but Reynolds fell into collision with Lee’s advance at Gettysburgh, other corps hurried to support, and Gettysburgh became historical. When Grant assumed general command in 1864, Meade continued to command the army of the Potomac under him, and mutual good-feeling enabled them to maintain this delicate relation without friction, and with the best results. At the close of the war, being major-general in the regular army, he commanded the military division of the Atlantic until his death at Philadelphia, Nov. 6, 1872.
Montgomery, Richard, was born near Raphoe, Ireland, Dec. 2, 1736, and died in the assault on Quebec, Dec. 31, 1775. He served in the British army from 1754 to 1772, when he retired, emigrated to America, and settled in New York, marrying the daughter of R. R. Livingston. He was appointed a brigadier-general in the American army in 1775, and, for his services in Canada, was made a major-general the same year.
Morgan, Edwin Dennison, governor of New York, was born at Washington, Mass., Feb. 8, 1811. After a successful career as a merchant in Hartford, Conn., and New York city, he served in the New York State senate, 1850–53, and was chairman of the Republican National Committee, 1856–64. Elected governor of New York in 1858, he served through the year 1862, supervising the raising and equipment of about 20,000 soldiers. He was United States senator, 1863–69. He died Feb. 14, 1883.
Morton, Oliver Perry (1823–1877), one of the leaders of the Republican party, was born in Wayne county, Ind., Aug. 4, 1823. He was admitted to the bar in 1847, and was elected a circuit judge in 1852. He had been a Democrat, but became a Republican in 1855, and was the Republican candidate for the governorship in 1856. He was defeated, and in 1860 was nominated for the office of lieutenant-governor, with the understanding that the governorship candidate was to be sent to the United States senate, if possible. This arrangement took effect, and Morton was left to fill the office of governor throughout the civil war. He was active and successful in raising troops for the support of the Federal Government, and bold, almost to recklessness, in his means of action. He knew, or at least believed, that his political opponents in the State were determined to support the Confederacy by refusing to supply any more troops to the Federal Government; and the meeting of a hostile legislature in 1863 brought matters to a head. The Republicans left the legislature, thus leaving their opponents without a quorum; the governor ordered money for war expenses to be borrowed on the credit of the State; the Democratic attorney-general and the State Supreme Court held that this was illegal, but the indomitable governor borrowed the money on his personal responsibility, and managed the State government without a legislature. The borrowed money was afterwards repaid by the State. In 1866 he was elected to the United States senate, and remained till his death, taking a prominent part in every debate, and exercising a strong influence on the party policy. He introduced the resolution for the repeal of the twenty-second joint rule, which had governed the count of the electoral votes since 1865. He died at Indianapolis, Nov. 1, 1877.
Pinckney, Charles (1758–1822), American statesman, was born at Charleston, S.C., March 9, 1758. He was admitted to the bar in 1779, was a delegate to the Continental Congress, 1777–78 and 1784–87; a delegate to the Federal convention of 1787; governor of South Carolina, 1789–92 and 1796–98; United States senator (Democrat), 1797–1801; minister to Spain, 1803–5; governor of South Carolina, 1806–8; member of the State legislature, 1810–14; and member of the house of representatives, 1819–21. He died at Charleston, Feb. 25, 1822.
Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth (1746–1825), born at Charleston, S.C., Feb. 25, 1746, and died at the same place, Aug. 16, 1825. He was educated at Oxford and the Middle Temple, served with distinction in the American revolutionary army, was one of the envoys to France in 1797, and was the Federalist candidate for the presidency in 1804 and 1808.
Pulaski, Casimir, Count, born in Lithuania, March 4, 1747, joined in the insurrection of 1769, escaped to Turkey in 1772, and was induced by Franklin to emigrate to America in 1777. He served in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, receiving the rank of brigadier-general for his gallantry, and was placed in command of the cavalry. Forming a separate corps, known as Pulaski’s legion, he went to the South, where he commanded the cavalry in the assault on Savannah. He was mortally wounded, and died Oct. 11, 1780.—See Spark’s Life of Pulaski.
Putnam, Israel, was born at Salem, Mass., Jan. 7, 1718, removing to Pomfret, Conn., in 1739. Courage, strong will, and knowledge of men rather than of books soon made him a leader among his neighbours; and his shooting of a wolf by torch-light in a cavern in which she had sought refuge has almost become a nursery story. In the French and Indian war he became one of the most renowned of the “rangers” or partisan soldiers, who fought the Indians with their own weapons; and at the end of the war he had reached the rank of lieutenant-colonel of the Connecticut troops. At the outbreak of the revolutionary war, one of the four major-generals commissions was given to Putnam. He was an active leader at Bunker Hill, commanded at New York, and in the battle of Long Island, and was put in charge of the Hudson river defences in 1777, being the first to see the strategic importance of West Point. He died at Brooklyn, Conn., May 19, 1790.—See Lives by Cutler, Humphreys, and Peabody.
Schuyler, Philip, American general, was born at Albany, N.Y., Nov. 20, 1733. He was of an old and wealthy Dutch family, and in early manhood became a leader in the affairs of the colony of New York. He reached the rank of major in the French and Indian war, and at the beginning of the revolutionary struggle was made one of the American major-generals. He took part in the expedition against Canada in 1775, but ill-health compelled him to retire. He took the leading part in preparing to meet Burgoyne’s expedition in 1778; but troops had to be called in from other States, and he was subjected to jealousies which thwarted him at every step. Nevertheless, his arrangements were so complete that he had really checkmated Burgoyne before Congress superseded him in the command by the appointment of Gates, who reaped all the glory which should have accrued to Schuyler. Retiring from the army, he served for three years in the Continental Congress, and in the United States senate, 1789–91 and 1797–98. He died at Albany, Nov. 18, 1804.—See his Life and Times, by Lossing.
Seymour, Horatio, governor of New York, was born at Pompey, N.Y., May 31, 1810. He was admitted to the bar in 1832, but never practised law, having a large private property. He soon became a leader of the Democratic party of the State, serving three terms in the State legislature after 1842, one of them as speaker. He was elected governor in 1852. In 1862 he was nominated again, and his success alarmed the national administration with a fear that the great State of New York would now be lukewarm or unfriendly. He proved to be one of the best of the “war governors,” active, zealous, and prompt in raising and forwarding men and supporting the war, though he was accused of adopting temporizing measures with the draft mob in New York city in July 1863. He was nominated for the presidency in 1868, but was defeated by Grant, and then retired from public life. He died at Utica, N.Y., Feb. 17, 1886.—See Croly’s Life of Seymour and M‘Cabe’s Life of Seymour (1868).
Steuben, Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand, Baron von, was born at Magdeburg, Prussia, Nov. 15, 1730. Entering the army at fourteen, he rose to be adjutant-general and staff-officer to Frederick the Great. After his retirement from active service, Deane induced him to go to America, where he was made major-general and inspector-general. He rendered eminent service by giving the army its first systematic drill. In this department he was the most important accession which the American army received from Europe. He settled as a farmer on land in what is now Steuben county, N.Y., given him by the State, and died there Nov. 28, 1794.—See his Life by Kapp, Bowen’s Life in Spark’s American Biography, and Greene’s German Element in the War of American Independence.
Sumter, Thomas, was born in Virginia in 1734, and died near Camden, S.C., June 1, 1832. He removed to South Carolina when a boy, and entered the American army as lieutenant-colonel in 1776. When the British had apparently overrun the State he kept up the struggle, retreating, when hard pressed, to the swamps of the interior. He was made brigadier-general, and thanked by Congress. He was a representative for South Carolina from 1789 to 1793 and from 1797 to 1801, United States senator from 1801 to 1810, and minister to Brazil from 1810 to 1811.
Taney, Roger Brooke, chief justice, was born in Calvert county, Md., March 17, 1777. He graduated at Dickinson College in 1795, and was admitted to the bar in Maryland in 1799. Like many other Federalists, he became a supporter of Jackson about 1824, and was called by him to the office of secretary of the treasury in 1833. The charter of the Bank of the United States contained a clause, allowing the secretary of the treasury to order the revenues to be deposited in other places than the bank, giving his reasons therefor to Congress. This clause was meant to cover the case of places where there was no branch bank; Jackson wanted to use it to cover a refusal to deposit any of the revenues in any of the branch banks or in the mother bank. Taney gave the necessary orders, and the bank was deprived of the further use of the revenues. The senate refused to confirm Taney in his position, but his real work in this office had been done. Taney succeeded Marshall as chief justice of the Supreme Court. The leading incidents of his career were his opinion in the Dred Scott case, and his attempt in 1861 to maintain the writ of habeas corpus against President Lincoln’s suspension of it (the Merryman case). His life has been written by Tyler, and is in Van Santvoord’s Lives of the Chief Justices.
Thomas, George Henry (1816–1870), general in the United States army, was born in Southampton county, Va., July 31, 1816. He graduated at West Point in 1840, and served on frontier duty and in the Mexican war. His fellow officers in the South unhesitatingly entered the Confederate service in 1861; but he declared for the Federal cause. He was sent at first into his native State, and then to the West, where he soon rose to the command of a division in the army of the Cumberland, with the rank of major-general. His victory of Mill Spring (Jan. 19–20, 1862) was the first encouraging event in the war in the West. He led his division in the advance on Nashville, and in all the campaigns leading up to the occupation of Corinth, of which place he was given command. He was now really second in command of the army of the Ohio, and distinguished himself at the battles of Perryville and Murfreesboro, but his reputation was fully made at Chickamauga. When the right of the army had been routed and was in full retreat on Chattanooga, Thomas, who had sustained the brunt of the attack of the first day, held his ground all through the second day against the whole Confederate army, retreated with persistent and stubborn fighting, covered the rest of the army and saved it from destruction, and gave so much time for fortification that Chattanooga was found by Bragg to be too strong for anything but a siege. From this time Thomas was in command of the army of the Cumberland, and held the centre at the storming of Missionary Ridge and in the campaigns up to the capture of Atlanta. When Hood undertook to transfer the war to Tennessee, Sherman left Thomas to oppose him. Thomas gathered up all his forces at Nashville, and inflicted a check on the advancing Confederates at Franklin (Nov. 30), but continued his preparations for a final battle near Nashville. His numbers were equal to those of Hood, but he persisted in refusing battle until he had prepared cavalry and made every arrangement for pursuit. Public clamour against Thomas’s delay had become so loud that Grant had started from Virginia to assume command himself when Thomas attacked Hood (Dec. 15), routed him, and kept up so merciless a pursuit that the Confederate army was scattered almost beyond recovery. In 1869 he was transferred to the division of the Pacific, where he died at San Francisco, March 28, 1870. His name has come more and more to be synonymous with all that Americans regard as best in the character of a military leader.—See Van Horne’s History of the Army of the Cumberland.
Wheeler, William Almon, vice-president of the United States from 1877 to 1881, was born at Malone, N.Y., June 30, 1819. He was admitted to the bar in 1843, served several terms in the State legislature and as president of the State constitutional convention of 1867, and was a member of the house of representatives from 1861 to 1877. He was nominated for the vice- presidency in 1876 by the Republicans, and was elected, after a contest before the electoral commission. He died at Malone, June 4, 1887.
Woodbury, Levi, was born at Francistown, N.H., Dec. 22, 1789, and was admitted to the bar in New Hampshire in 1812. He became a leader of the Democratic party of his State, was appointed to the supreme court of the State in 1816, was elected governor in 1823, and speaker of the State house of representatives in 1825, and served in the United States senate from 1825 to 1831. He was secretary of the navy in 1831, and secretary of the treasury from 1834 to 1841. Again elected to the United States senate in 1841, he served until 1845, when he was appointed an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. He died at Portsmouth, N.H., Sept. 7, 1851.—See Democratic Review, vols. ii. and xii. (A. J.)
