Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/166

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OSSOLI


OSTERHAUS


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fifteen was proficient in Latin. Greek, Frencli and Italian. She removed to Gioton, Mass., in 1833 and upon the deatli of Jier father in 1835, taught school in Boston, Mass., and Providence, R.I., in order to support the younger children of the family. She re- moved to Jamaica Plain, Mass.. in 1839 ; was a fre(iiient visitor at Brook Farm and there met the famous patrons of that cele- brated colony, being recognized as the in- spiration of Haw- thorne's "Zenobia" in his " Blithedale Ro- mance."' She formed a club of the brigiit- est and most distin- guished women in Boston and edited the Dila, a philosophical journal. In December, 1844, she re- moved to New York city and assumed the position of literary critic and philanthropic and artistic reporter on the Tribune, and became a member of the houseiiold of Horace Greely. In August, 1846, she sailed for Europe and after an extended tour in whicli she met the foremost leaders in philanthropic, literary and reform movements, settled in Rome, Italy, in 1847. While there she was married in December, 1847, to Giovanni Angelo, Marquis Ossoli. During the siege of Rome, at the request of Mazzini, she was in charge of the Hospital of the Trinity to the Pilgrims and contributed much to the care of the woundfd ; but upon the possession of the city by the French in June, 1849, she took refuge with her husband in Rieti, Italy, where her child had been placed for safety. After a few months the family retui-ned to Florence and set sail from Leghorn, on tiie merchant ship Elizabeth bound for America. While off Fire Island, N.Y., the vessel was wrecked during a severe storm and the tliree were drowned. The body of the child, the only one recovered, was taken to Boston and buried at Mt. Auburn cemetery by the New England relatives. A memorial to Margaret Fuller, con- sisting of a pavilion on the dunes overlooking the sea at Point o' Woods, opposite the site of the wreck, wjis unveiled on July 19, 1901, the 51st anniversary of the disaster. The idea of its erection originated with Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake and the necessfiry money was raised by subscription. The interior of the pavilion con- tains a bronze tablet giving the name of Margaret Fuller and tliose of her husband and child, togt-ther with the facts of the shipwreck, and bearing an inscription by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe.


Margaret Fuller is the author of : Summer on the Lakes (1843) ; Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1844) ; Papers 071 Literature and Art (184G), of which a new edition was prepared by her brother, the Rev. Arthur B. Fuller (q.v.) (1855). The MS. of her proposed History of the Roman Republic was lost in the shipwreck. Her life was written jointly by William Henry Clianning, R. W. Emerson and James Freeman Clarke in 1852 ; Julia Ward Howe wrote a memoir in Eminent Womeii series (1883), and Thomas Went- worth Higginson in American Men of Letters (1884). See also correspondence of Emerson and Carljde, and Life of Mazzini. She died at sea off Fire Island, Long Lslund, N,Y., July 19, 1850.

OSTERHAUS, Peter Joseph, soldier, was born in Cobleutz, Germany, Jan. 4, 1823. He emigra- ted to the United States and settled in Belleville, 111., in 1849. Upon the outbreak of the civil war he was commissioned major of a battalion of the 2d Missouri infantry and engaged in the battle of Wilson's Creek, Mo., Aug. 10, 18G1. He was pro- moted colonel of the 12th Missouri regiment. He commanded the 1st division of the corps under General Curtis at Pea Ridge, Ark., March 6-8, 1862, and one of the three divisions in the Army of the Southwest in May, 1862. He was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, June 9, 1802, and commanded the 9tli division, 13tli army corps. Army of the Tennessee, in the attack on Arkansas Post and in the Vicksburg campaign. May 1-July 4, 1863. On May 2, 1863, he was stationed on the left branch of the road to Port Gibson and was repulsed by the Confederate force opposed to him ; but later in the day he was joined by Gen. John E. Smith's brigade and made a successful attack. He commanded the 1st division, 15th army corps, of the army under Grant at Chatta- nooga, Nov. 23-25, 1863, and temporarily under General Hooker. At Lookout Creek he crossed the bridge, ascended the mountain, subsequently attacked the southern wing of the enemy on Missionary Ridge, making thousands of prisoners, and drove back the Confederate forces stationed at the summit. He commanded the 1st division, 15th army corps, in the Atlanta campaign, May 3 to Sept. 8, 1863, and during the absence of General Logan, the 15th army corps. Army of the Tennessee, Sept. 1, 1864, to January, 1865. He was chief of staff to Gen. E. R. S. Canby during the Mobile campaign and at the surrender of Gen. E. Kirby Smith's army, after wliich he com- manded the military district of Mississippi until Jan. 15,1866. He was appointed U. S. consul to France and resided at Lyons, 1866-77. He re- turned to New York city in 1877 and was engaged in manufacturing and exporting hardware for several years. He then removed to Mann- heim, Germany, where he continued the business.