DIHKKLL
DI CJESNOLA
colored students, a bmneli of the state university.
He was a delegate to the Democratic national
convention at Cincinnati in 1880, and a presiden-
tial elector on the Democratic ticket of the same
year. In 1881 he was apiKjinted to fill the vacancy
in the house of representatives cau.sed by the
death of M. P. O'Connor and took his seat in the
47th conprress, but Mr. O'Connor's claim to an
el-jclion having been successfully contested by E.
W. yi. Mackey, Mr. Dibble lost his seat. He
afterward represented the 1st South Carolina dis-
trict in the 48tli, 49th, oOth and ."ilst congresses,
188:{-iM.
DIBRELL, George Gibbs, representative, was born in White county, Tcnn., April 12, 1823. He matriculated at the East Tennessee university, leaving at the end of the year to devote himself to agriculture. In 1861 lie was elected a member of the state constitutional convention, and later in the same j'ear represented his district in the Tennessee legislature. In 1862 he entered the Confederate armj-, rising by jiromotion from pri- vate to the rank of colonel, and in 1864 to that of brigadier-general of cavalry. After Lee's sur- render he was stationed in Greensboro, N.C., as custodian of the archives. In 1870 he was again a representative in the state legislature. He was a representative in the 44th, 45tli, 46th, 47tli and 48th congresses, 187o-8.j.
DI CESNOLA, Emmanuele Pietro Paolo Maria Luigi Palma, soldier and areha-ologist, was born in Kivarolo, near Turin, June 2!), 1832. His family originally came from Spain in 1190, but resided in Piedmont after 1282, and as early as the four- teenth century. The Palmas were immensely rich and invested
^
with feudal power
over twentj'-two
towns and villages in Naples, in Sicily, and in the region near Turin. Luigi Palma di Cesnola re- ceived a collegiate education with a view to his prepara- tion for the priest- hood. In 1848 war broke out between Austria and Sardinia and he left college and volunteered as a private in the Sardinian army. In February, 1849, he was promoted for military valor to a lieutenancy in the 9th regiment of the Queen's royal brigade on the battle-field at Novara. He was then the youngest commissioned officer in the Sardinian regular army. After the close of this war he was sent to the Royal military acad-
emy at Cherasco. where he was graduated in
1851. He served in the army several years, took
part in the Crimean war, and at the end of 1860
came to America, landing in New York. In
June, 1801, he was married to Mary Isabel, daugh-
ter of Cajit. Samuel Chester Reid of the United
States navy, the heroic commander of the priva-
teer General Armstroruj, and the original designer
of the present American flag. He entered the
volunteer service in the civil war in 1861, as
lieutenant-colonel of the 11th New York cavalry.
In 1862 he was commissioned colonel of the 4th
New York cavalry, led the brigade attached to
the 11th army corps for several months, and for
his "heroic conduct on the battle-field in a
charge on June 17, 1863, he was complimented
by General Kilpatrick and at the sanie time
was presented with the sword of that officer.
In leading the fifth charge on that day he was
severely wounded, was made prisoner of war,
and was confined for over nine months in Libby
prison, where he planned the escape of the
Union prisoners in which the caAalry under Kil-
patrick, Custer and Dalilgren were to take an
important part in their raid around Richmond in
1864, but Secretary of War Stanton declined to
give his consent and the plan was not carried
out. He was with Sheridan throughout the
campaign in the Shenandoah valle)% and when
the term of service of his regiment exjiired he
remained at the head of Devin's brigade at the
written request of Gen. Wesley Merritt, his
division commander. President Lincoln in I860,
in the presence of Senator Ira Harris and the
Hon. W. H. Seward, conferred on him the brevet
rank of brigadier-general, and appointed him the
American consul at Cyprus, and he became an
American citizen. He remained in Cyprus until
1877, when the consulate was abolished. While
holding this ottice, he rendered the inestimable
service characterized by Sir Henry Layard as
" adding a new chapter to the liistory of art and
archicology," by making arch.vological explora-
tions in that island and collecting a large num-
ber of antiquities, afterward displaj'ed in the
Metropolitan museum of art, which furnished
the long missing link connecting Egj^ptian and
Assyrian art with that of Greece. Many lit-
erary and scientific societies of Europe and Amer-
ica conferred upon him honorary membership.
Kings Victor Emmanuel and Humbert of Italy
bestowed upon him several knifjhtly orders as
did the King of Bavaria. In 1882 King Humbert
of Italy caused a large gold medal to be struck in
his lionor and .sent him as a New Year's gift. In
1897, througli the secretary of war, he received
the congressional " medal of honor " for which
he had neither applied nor authorized any one to
do so in his name. It was bestowed upon him for
