RAMSAY
RAMSAY
the University of Pennsylvania in 1773. He be-
gan practice in Cecil county, Md., but removed
to Charleston, S.C., in 1773, and in 1776 joined
the American army as surgeon and took part in
the defence of Savannah. He was a member of
the house of commons of Soutli Carolina, 1776-83;
a member of the council of safety, where his
aggressive .stand against Britisli oppression and
their tory allies in the colonies so incensed the
enemy that when Charleston was captured, May
12. 1780, he was imprisoned at St. Augustine with
forty other hostages until exchanged in March,
1871. He was a delegate from South Carolina to
the Continental congress, 1783-84 and 1785-86, and
served as president pro tempore of that body dur-
ing his last term. He was also a member of the
South Carolina senate, and its president seven
years. He was married to Frances, daughter of
John Witherspoon. and after her deatli, secondly,
Jan. 23, 1787. to Martha, daughter of Henry and
Eleanor (Ball) Laurens of Charleston, S.C. He
received his M.D. degree from the University of
Pennsylvania in 1780. and the lionorary degree of
M.D. from Yale in 1789. His publislied works
include: Touch not. Taste not. Handle not (a ser-
mon on tea, 1775); An Oration on American In-
dependence (1778); History of the Revolution of
South Carolina from a British Province to an In-
dependent State (1785); History of the American
Revolution (1789); On the Means of Preserving
Health in Charleston and its Vicinity (1790);
Review of the Imiirovements, Progress and State
of Medicine in the Eighteenth Century (1802);
Life of George Washington (1807); History of
South Carolina from its Settlement in 1670 to the
Year ISOS (1809); Memoirs of Martha Laurens
Ramsay, with Extracts from her Diary (1811);
Eulogium on Dr. Benjamin Rush (1813); History
of the United States, 1607-180S, continued to the
treaty of Ghent by Samuel S. Smith and others
and published posthumously (1816-17). This work
formed the first tliree volumes of " Universal
History Americanized" (12 vols., 1819). He met
death from a pistol shot at the hands of a maniac
to whose insanity he had testified as an expert in
court. He died in Charleson. S.C, May 8, 1815.
RAMSAY, Francis Munroe, naval officer, was
born in tlni District of Colutnl)ia, April 5. 1835;
son of Gen. George Douglas and Frances Whet-
croft (Munroe) Rain-iay. He entered the navy
as a midsliipman, Oct. 5, 18-50, served on board
the Preble, 1851, and the .SY. Lawrence, Pacific
station, 1851-.55; was graduated from the U.S.
Naval academy, June 20, 1856; served on the
Falmouth, Brazil squadron, 1857, and the Mer-
rimac. Pacific squadron, 1857-60. He was pro-
moted acting master, June 24, 18.57; master, Jan.
22, 1858; lieutenant. Jan. 23, 1858; lieutenant-
commander, July 16, 1862. He served on the
Saratoga, 1860-62; commanded the ironclad
Choctaw of the Mississippi squadron, 1863-64;
and took part in the engagements on the Yazoo
river in 1863. including Haines's Bluff, April 30-
May 1; Liverpool's
Landing in May, and
Milliken's Bend. June
7. He was in charge of a battery at Vicks- burg, June 19-July 4, 1863; commanded the 3d division of the Mississippi fleet, 1863-64; served at Trinity and Harri- sonburg, La., March, 1864; took part in exi)editions up the Black, Ouaciiita, Red and Atchafalaya rivers in the spring of 1864; was engaged at Simnisport, La., June
8, 1864; commanded the gunboat Unudilla of the North Atlantic squadron, 1864-65; was pres- ent at the storming of Fort Fislier, and of several Cape Fear river forts, including Fort Anderson, and was in the James river flotilla in the capture of Richmond, Va., in 1865. He had charge of the department of gunnery at the Naval academy. 1865-66; was promoted com- mander, July 25, 1866, and served on navigation duty at the navy yard, Washington, D.C., 1866- 67; as fleet-captain and chief of staff of the South Atlantic squadron on the flag-ship Guerriere,
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THE DOnBARDAAE/HT OF FORT F15HER
1867-69. and as cojnmander of the Guerriere, June and July, 1869. He was married, June 9, 1869, to Anna, daugliter of Patrick and Mary (Powers) ]\IcMahon of Ireland. He served on ordnance duty at the navy yard, Washington, D.C.. 1869-72; in the bureau of ordnance in 1872, and as naval attaclie in Europe. 1872-73. He com- manded the Ossipee on the Nortli Atlantic station, 1873-74; was at the Philadelpiiia naval asylum, 1875-76. inspector of ordnance in New York, 1876- 78: promoted captain, Dec. 1, 1877; commanded the torpedo station, Newport, R.I., 1878-81; the Trenton, European station, 1881; was superinten- dent, Naval academy, 1881-86; a member of the
