BARLOW, JOEL, a poet and diplomatist, was born at Reading, in

Connecticut, about the year 1755. His father died while he was yet

a lad at school, and left him little more than sufficient to defray

the expenses of a liberal education. He was first placed at Dartmouth

college, New Hampshire, then in its infancy, and after a very short

residence there, removed to Yale college, New Haven. From this

institution he received a degree, in 1778, when he first came before

the public in his poetical character, by reciting an original poem,

which was soon after published. On leaving college, he was successively

a chaplain in the revolutionary army, an editor, a bookseller, a

lawyer, and a merchant. He next visited England, and published, in

London, the first part of Advice to the Privileged Orders; and, in

the succeeding year, a poem, called The Conspiracy of Kings. In the

latter part of 1792, he was appointed one of the deputies from the

London Constitutional Society, to present an address to the national

convention of France. Information of the notice which the British

government had taken of this mission, led him to think that it would

be unsafe to return to England, and he continued to reside in Paris

for about three years. It was about this time that he composed his most

popular poem, entitled Hasty Pudding. He was subsequently appointed

consul for the United States at Algiers, with powers to negotiate a

peace with the dey, and to redeem all American citizens held in slavery

on the coast of Barbary. After discharging these duties, he returned

to Paris, and again engaging in trade, amassed a considerable fortune.

In 1805, he returned to his native country, and fixed his residence

at Washington, where he displayed a liberal hospitality, and lived

on terms of intimacy with most of our distinguished statesmen. He now

devoted himself to the publication of the Columbiad, which was based

upon a poem written while he was in the army, and published soon after

the close of the war, under the title of The Vision of Columbus. This

was issued in a style of elegance which few works, either American

or European, have ever equalled. In 1811, he was appointed minister

to France, and in October of the following year, was invited to a

conference with the emperor Napoleon, at Wilna. He immediately set

off on this mission, travelling day and night; but, sinking under

the fatigue, and want of food and sleep, to which he was obliged to

submit, he fell into a state of debility and torpor, from which he

never recovered. He died in December, 1812, at Zarnowica, a village

in Poland, near Cracow.

BARNEY, JOSHUA, a distinguished naval commander, was born at Baltimore,

Maryland, in 1759. He went to sea at a very early age, and when the war

commenced between Great Britain and the colonies, Barney offered his

services to the latter, and obtained the situation of master’s mate

in the sloop of war Hornet. During the war, he was several times taken

prisoner by the enemy, and displayed, on numerous occasions, great

valor and enterprise. In 1795, he received the commission of captain

in the French service, but in 1800 resigned his command, and returned

to America. In 1812, when war was declared against Great Britain, he

offered his services to the general government, and was appointed to

the command of the flotilla for the defence of the Chesapeak. While in

this situation, during the summer of 1814, he kept up an active warfare

with the enemy; and in the latter part of July, he was severely wounded

in a land engagement near Bladensburg. In the following year, he was

sent on a mission to Europe. He died at Pittsburg, in 1818, in the

sixtieth year of his age.

BARRY, JOHN, a distinguished naval officer, was born in Ireland, in

1745. He arrived in America when only fourteen or fifteen years old,

and obtained employment from some of the most respectable merchants

of the day, until the commencement of hostilities between the colonies

and the mother country. Embracing the cause of the colonies, his

reputation for skill and experience procured for him one of the first

naval commissions from congress. During the war, he served with great

benefit to his country, and credit to himself, and after the cessation

of hostilities, he was appointed to superintend the building of the

frigate United States, in Philadelphia, which was designed for his

command. He was highly respected in private life, and died, much

lamented and honored, in 1803.

BARTRAM, JOHN, one of the most distinguished of our botanists, was

born in Pennsylvania, in 1701. He was a simple farmer, self taught in

the science of botany, and in the rudiments of the learned languages,

medicine, and surgery. So great was his progress in his favorite

pursuit, that Linnæus pronounced him the ‘greatest natural botanist in

the world.’ He contributed much to the gardens of Europe, and received

honors from several foreign societies and academics. At the time of his

death, which happened in 1777, he held the office of American botanist

to George III. of England.

BARTRAM, WILLIAM, a celebrated naturalist, son of the preceding, was

born in Pennsylvania, in 1739. In early life, he was occupied with

mercantile pursuits, but an attachment to natural science induced him

to relinquish them, and, in 1773, he embarked for Charleston, with the

intention to visit the Floridas and the western parts of Georgia and

Carolina, to examine their natural productions. In this employment he

was engaged nearly five years; and in 1790, he published an account of

his travels and discoveries, in one volume, octavo. After his return

from his travels, he devoted himself to science, and was elected a

member of several learned societies, both at home and in Europe. His

contributions to the natural history of our country have been highly

valuable. He died suddenly, in 1823.

BAYARD, JAMES A., an eminent lawyer and politician, was born in

Philadelphia, in 1767, and educated at Princeton college. In the year

1784, he engaged in the study of the law, and on admission to the

bar, settled in the state of Delaware, where he soon acquired practice

and consideration. He was elected to a seat in congress towards the

close of the administration of Mr. Adams, and first particularly

distinguished himself in conducting the impeachment of senator Blount.

In 1804, he was elected to the senate of the United States, by the

legislature of Delaware, and remained for several years a conspicuous

member of that assembly. In 1813, he was appointed by president Madison

one of the ministers to conclude a treaty of peace with Great Britain,

and assisted in the successful negotiations at Ghent, in the following

year. He then received the appointment of minister to the court of St.

Petersburgh, but an alarming illness induced him to return immediately

to the United States. He died soon after his arrival home, in July,

1815.

BELKNAP, JEREMY, an eminent historian and divine, was born at Boston,

Massachusetts, in 1744, and was graduated at Harvard college, in 1762.

He was first settled in the Christian ministry at Dover, New Hampshire,

and afterwards in his native town. He was one of the founders of the

Massachusetts Historical Society, and devoted much of his time to the

promotion of its objects and interests. His published works are, the

History of New Hampshire, American Biography, and a number of political,

literary and religious tracts. His writings are characterized by great

research, clear arrangement, and perspicuity of style. He died at

Boston, in 1798.

BENEZET, ANTHONY, a philanthropist, was born in 1713, at St.

Quentin, in Picardy, of Protestant parents, who first settled

in London, and afterwards at Philadelphia. He was intended for a

merchant, but apprenticed himself to a cooper, and subsequently became

a school-master, and a member of the society of Friends. His whole

life was spent in acts of benevolence, and he was one of the earliest

opponents of the atrocious slave trade. A few hours before his death,

he rose from his bed, to give, from his bureau, six dollars to a poor

widow. His funeral was attended by thousands; and at the grave, an

American officer exclaimed, ‘I would rather be Anthony Benezet, in that

coffin, than George Washington, with all his fame.’ Benezet died at

Philadelphia, in 1784. He is the author of a Caution to Great Britain

and her colonies; and an Historical Account of Guinea.

BIDDLE, NICHOLAS, an American naval officer, was born in Philadelphia,

in 1750. He entered the British fleet in 1770, having previously served

several years as a seaman on board merchant ships. On the commencement

of hostilities between the colonies and the mother country, he returned

to Philadelphia, and received from congress the captaincy of the Andrew

Doria, a brig of fourteen guns, employed in the expedition against

New Providence. Towards the close of 1776, he received command of the

Randolph, a new frigate of thirty-two guns, with which he soon captured

a Jamaica fleet, of four sail, richly laden. This prize he carried into

Charleston, and was soon after furnished by the government of that town

with four additional vessels, to attack several British cruisers, at

that time harassing the commerce of the vicinity. He fell in with the

royal line-of-battle ship Yarmouth, of sixty-four guns, on the seventh

of March, 1778 and, after an action of twenty minutes, perished, with

all his crew except four, by the blowing up of the ship.

BLAKELY, JOHNSTON, a captain in the United States navy during the

late war, was born in Ireland, in 1781. Two years after, his father

emigrated to the United States, and settled in North Carolina. Young

Blakely was placed, in 1796, at the university of North Carolina; but

circumstances having deprived him of the means of adequate support, he

left college, and in 1800 obtained a midshipman’s warrant. In 1813, he

was appointed to the command of the Wasp, and in this vessel took his

Britannic majesty’s ship Reindeer, after an action of nineteen minutes.

The Wasp afterwards put into L’Orient; from which port she sailed

August 27. On the evening of the first of September, 1814, she fell in

with four sail, at considerable distances from each other. One of these

was the brig of war Avon, which struck, after a severe action; but

captain Blakely was prevented from taking possession, by the approach

of another vessel. The enemy reported that they had sunk the Wasp by

the first broadside; but she was afterwards spoken by a vessel off the

Western isles. After this, we hear of her no more. Captain Blakely was

considered a man of uncommon courage and intellect.

BOONE, DANIEL, one of the earliest settlers in Kentucky, was born in

Virginia, and was from infancy addicted to hunting in the woods. He set

out on an expedition to explore the region of Kentucky, in May, 1769,

with five companions. After meeting with a variety of adventures, Boone

was left with his brother, the only white men in the wilderness. They

passed the winter in a cabin, and in the summer of 1770, traversed the

country to the Cumberland river. In September, 1773, Boone commenced

his removal to Kentucky, with his own and five other families. He was

joined by forty men, who put themselves under his direction; but being

attacked by the Indians, the whole party returned to the settlements

on Clinch river. Boone was afterwards employed by a company of North

Carolina, to buy, from the Indians, lands on the south side of the

Kentucky river. In April, 1775, he built a fort at Salt-spring, where

Boonesborough is now situated. Here he sustained several sieges from

the Indians, and was once taken prisoner by them, while hunting with a

number of his men. In 1782, the depredations of the savages increased

to an alarming extent, and Boone, with other militia officers,

collected one hundred and seventy-six men, and went in pursuit of a

large body, who had marched beyond the Blue Licks, forty miles from

Lexington. From that time till 1798, he resided alternately in Kentucky

and Virginia. In that year, having received a grant of two thousand

acres of land from the Spanish authorities, he removed to Upper

Louisiana, with his children and followers, who were presented with

eight hundred acres each. He settled with them at Charette, on the

Missouri river, where he followed his usual course of life,――hunting

and trapping bears,――till September, 1822, when he died, in the

eighty-fifth year of his age. He expired while on his knees, taking aim

at some object, and was found in that position, with his gun resting on

the trunk of a tree.

BOUDINOT, ELIAS, a descendant of one of the Huguenots, was born in

Philadelphia, in 1740. He received a liberal education, and entered

into the practice of the law in New Jersey, where he soon rose to

considerable eminence. In 1777, he was chosen a member of congress, and

in 1782, was elected president of that body. On the return of peace,

he resumed his profession, but, in 1789, was elected to a seat in the

house of representatives of the United States, which he continued to

occupy for six years. He was then appointed by Washington director of

the national mint, in which office he remained for about twelve years.

Resigning this office, he retired to private life, and resided from

that time in Burlington, New Jersey. Here he passed his time in

literary pursuits, liberal hospitality, and in discharging all the

duties of an expansive and ever active benevolence. Being possessed of

an ample fortune, he made munificent donations to various charitable

and theological institutions, and was one of the earliest and most

efficient friends of the American Bible Society. Of this institution

he was the first president, and it was particularly the object of his

princely bounty. He died in October, 1821.

BOWDOIN, JAMES, a governor of Massachusetts, was born at Boston, in

the year 1727, and was graduated at Harvard college in 1745. He took

an early stand against the encroachments of the British government

upon the provincial rights, and in 1774 was elected a delegate to

the first congress. The state of his health prevented his attendance,

and his place was afterwards filled by Mr. Hancock. In 1778, he was

chosen president of the convention which formed the constitution of

Massachusetts, and in 1785, was appointed governor of that state. He

was a member of the Massachusetts convention assembled to deliberate

on the adoption of the constitution of the United States, and exerted

himself in its favor. He was the first president of the Academy of Arts

and Sciences, established at Boston in 1780, and was admitted a member

of several foreign societies of distinction. He died at Boston, in 1790.

BOYLSTON, ZABDIEL, was born at Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1684.

He studied medicine at Boston, and entered into the practice of his

profession in that place. In 1721, when the small pox broke out in

Boston, and spread alarm through the whole country, the practice of

inoculation was introduced by Dr. Boylston, notwithstanding it was

discouraged by the rest of the faculty, and a public ordinance was

passed to prohibit it. He persevered in his practice, in spite of the

most violent opposition, and had the satisfaction of seeing inoculation

in general use in New England, for some time before it became common in

Great Britain. In 1725, he visited England, where he was received with

much attention, and was elected a fellow of the Royal society. Upon

his return, he continued at the head of his profession for many years,

and accumulated a large fortune. Besides communications to the Royal

society, he published two treatises on the small pox. He died in 1766.

BRADFORD, WILLIAM, an eminent lawyer, was born in Philadelphia, in

1755. After graduating at Princeton college, he pursued the study of

the law, and in 1779, was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of

Pennsylvania. In 1780, he was appointed attorney-general, and in 1791,

he was made a judge of the supreme court of his native state. In 1794,

he was appointed attorney-general of the United States, and held this

office till his death. In 1793, he published an Inquiry how far the

Punishment of Death is necessary in Pennsylvania. He died in 1795. He

was a man of integrity, industry, and talent.

BRAINARD, J. G. C., a poet and man of letters, was born in Connecticut,

and was graduated at Yale college, in 1815. He pursued the profession

of the law, and entered into practice at Middletown, Connecticut; but

not finding the degree of success that he expected, he returned in

a short time to his native town, whence he removed to Hartford, to

undertake the editorial charge of the Connecticut Mirror. His poems

were chiefly short pieces, composed for the columns of that paper, and

afterwards collected into a volume. They display much pathos, boldness,

and originality. Brainard died of consumption, in 1828.

BRAINERD, DAVID, the celebrated missionary, was born at Haddam,

Connecticut, in 1718. From an early period he was remarkable for a

religious turn of mind, and in 1739, became a member of Yale college,

where he was distinguished for application, and general correctness of

conduct. He was expelled from this institution in 1742, in consequence

of having said, in the warmth of his religious zeal, that one of the

tutors was as devoid of grace as a chair. In the spring of 1742, he

began the study of divinity, and at the end of July, was licensed to

preach. Having received from the Society for propagating Christian

Knowledge, an appointment as missionary to the Indians, he commenced

his labors at Kaunameek, a village of Massachusetts, situated between

Stockbridge and Albany. He remained there about twelve months, and on

the removal of the Kaunameeks to Stockbridge, he turned his attention

towards the Delaware Indians. In 1744, he was ordained at Newark,

New Jersey, and fixed his residence near the forks of the Delaware,

in Pennsylvania, where he remained about a year. From this place,

he removed to Crosweeksung, in New Jersey, where his efforts among

the Indians were crowned with great success. In 1747, he went to

Northampton, Massachusetts, where he passed the remainder of his life

in the family of the celebrated Jonathan Edwards. He died, after great

sufferings, in 1747. His publications are a narrative of his labors at

Kaunameek, and his journal of a remarkable work of grace among a number

of Indians in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, 1746.

BRANDT, a noted half-blooded Indian chief, of the Mohawk tribe,

was educated by Dr. Wheelock, of Dartmouth college, and made very

considerable attainments in knowledge. In the revolutionary war, he

attached himself to the British, and headed the party which destroyed

the beautiful village of Wyoming. He resided in Canada after the war,

and died there in 1807.

BROOKS, JOHN, the son of a respectable farmer, was born in Medford,

Massachusetts, in the year 1752. After receiving a common school

education, he was placed with Dr. Tufts, to study the profession of

medicine. On completing his studies, he commenced practice in the

neighboring town of Reading, a short time before the commencement of

the revolution. When this event occurred, he was appointed to command

a company of minute men, and was soon after raised to the rank of major

in the continental service. He was distinguished for his knowledge of

military tactics, and acquired the confidence of Washington. In 1777,

he was appointed lieutenant-colonel, and took a conspicuous part in

the capture of Burgoyne, at Saratoga. On the disbanding of the army,

colonel Brooks resumed the practice of medicine in Medford and the

vicinity, and was soon after elected a member of the Massachusetts

Medical society. He was, for many years, major-general of the militia

of his county, and his division rendered efficient service to the

government in the insurrection of 1786. General Brooks also represented

his town in the general court, and was a delegate to the state

convention for the adoption of the federal constitution. In the late

war with England, he was the adjutant-general of governor Strong, whom,

on his retirement from office, he was chosen to succeed. He discharged

the duties of chief magistrate with much ability, for seven successive

years, when he retired to private life. His remaining years were passed

in the town of Medford, where he died in 1825.

BROWN, CHARLES BROCKDEN, a distinguished novelist and man of letters,

was born at Philadelphia, in January, 1771. After a good school

education, he commenced the study of the law in the office of an

eminent member of the bar. During the preparatory term, his mind was

much engaged in literary pursuits, and when the time approached for

his admission into the courts, he resolved to abandon the profession

altogether. His passion for letters, and the weakness of his physical

constitution, disqualified him for the bustle of business. His first

publication was Alcuin, a Dialogue on the Rights of Women, written

in the autumn and winter of 1797. The first of his novels, issued in

1798, was Wieland, a powerful and original romance, which soon acquired

reputation. After this, followed Ormond, Arthur Mervyn, Edgar Huntley,

and Clara Howard, in rapid succession, the last being published in

1801. The last of his novels, Jane Talbot, was originally published

in London, in 1804, and is much inferior to its predecessors. In 1799,

Brown published the first number of the Monthly Magazine and American

Review; a work which he continued for about a year and a half, with

much industry and ability. In 1805, he commenced another journal, with

the title of the Literary Magazine and American Register; and in this

undertaking he persevered for five years. During the same interval,

he found time to write three large political pamphlets, on the Cession

of Louisiana, on the British Treaty, and on Commercial Restrictions.

In 1806, he commenced a semi-annual American Register, five volumes

of which he lived to complete and publish, and which must long be

consulted as a valuable body of annals. Besides these works, and

many miscellaneous pieces, published in different periodicals, he

left in manuscript an unfinished system of geography, which has been

represented to possess uncommon merit. He died of consumption, in 1810.

BROWN, JOHN, was born, in 1736, in Providence, Rhode Island, and was

a leader of the party which, in 1772, destroyed the British sloop of

war Gasper, in Narragansett bay. He became an enterprising and wealthy

merchant, and was the first in his native state who traded with the

East Indies and China. He was chosen a member of congress, and was a

generous patron of literature, and a great projector of works of public

utility. He died in 1803.

BUCKMINSTER, JOSEPH STEVENS, a celebrated pulpit orator, was born

in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1784. His male ancestors, on both

sides, for several generations, were clergymen, and some of them of

considerable eminence. He was graduated at Harvard college, in 1800

with much distinction, and spent the ensuing four years in the study

of theology and general literature. He was ordained minister over the

church in Brattle-street, Boston, in January, 1805. In the ensuing year,

he embarked for Europe, with the hopes of repairing his constitution,

which had suffered much from attacks of epilepsy. He returned in

the autumn of 1807, and resumed the exercise of his profession; his

sermons placing him in the first rank of popular preachers. In 1810,

he superintended an American edition of Griesbach’s Greek Testament,

and wrote much in vindication of this author’s erudition, fidelity,

and accuracy. In 1811, he was appointed the first lecturer on

Biblical criticism, at the university of Cambridge, on the foundation

established by Samuel Dexter. He immediately began a course of

laborious and extensive preparation for the duties of this office,

but was interrupted by a violent attack of his old disease, which

prostrated his intellect, and gave a shock to his frame which he

survived but a few days. He died in 1812, at the completion of his

twenty-eighth year. Two volumes of his sermons have been collected and

published since his decease; one in 1814, the other in 1829. The first

was prefaced with a well-written biographical sketch.

CABOT, GEORGE, was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in the year 1752, and

spent the early part of his life in the employment of a ship-master. He

possessed a vigorous and inquisitive mind, and took advantage of every

opportunity of improvement and acquisition, even amid the restlessness

and danger of a seafaring life. Before he was twenty-six years of age,

he was elected a member of the provincial congress of Massachusetts,

which met with the visionary project of establishing a maximum in the

prices of provision. There he displayed that sound sense, and that

acquaintance with the true principles of political economy, for which

he afterwards became so much distinguished. Mr. Cabot was a member

of the state convention, assembled to deliberate on the adoption

of the federal constitution, and in 1790, was elected to a seat in

the senate of the United States. Of this body he became one of the

most distinguished members, and enjoyed the unlimited confidence and

friendship of Hamilton and Washington. In 1808, he became a member of

the council of Massachusetts, and in 1814, was appointed a delegate

to the convention which met at Hartford, and was chosen to preside

over its deliberations. He died at Boston, in 1823, at the age of

seventy-two years. He possessed a mind of great energy and penetration,

and in private life was much loved and esteemed. As a public man, he

was pure and disinterested, of high sagacity and persuasive eloquence.

His favorite studies were political economy and the science of

government.

CADWALLADER, JOHN, was born in Philadelphia, and rose to the rank

of brigadier-general during the revolutionary war. He was a man of

inflexible courage, and possessed, in a high degree, the esteem and

confidence of Washington. In 1778, he was appointed by congress general

of cavalry, an appointment which he declined, on the score of being

more useful in the situation he then occupied. After the war, he

was a member of the assembly of Maryland, and died in 1786, in the

forty-fourth year of his age.

CARROLL, CHARLES, was born on the twentieth of September, 1737, at

Annapolis, in Maryland. At an early age, he was sent to St. Omers to be

educated, whence he removed to the college of Louis le Grand, at Rheims.

After prosecuting for some time the study of the civil law, at one of

the best institutions in France, he entered the temple. After becoming

well versed in the principles of the common law, and completing his

studies and travels, he returned to his native land, at the age of

twenty-seven. At this period, the difficulties between the colonies and

the mother country had commenced, and the struggle was soon carried on

with considerable warmth. Mr. Carroll wielded a vigorous pen, and was

soon known as one of the most powerful writers in Maryland. He foresaw

at an early hour that the appeal to arms must finally be made, and

boldly recommended due preparation.

Early in 1776, he was sent as one of the commissioners to Canada,

to induce the people of that province to join us in the opposition

to the mother country. This mission was ineffectual. Mr. Carroll

returned in June, 1776, and immediately took his seat as a delegate

in the convention of Maryland. Being afterwards elected a member of

the congress, he presented his credentials to this body at Philadelphia

on the eighteenth of July, and on the second of August following

subscribed his name to the declaration of independence.

At the time he was considered as one of the most fearless and daring

men of the age; as his property was immense, and its ultimate loss was

considered rationally certain. On his entrance into congress, he was

immediately appointed to the board of war, of which he was an efficient

member. During the war, he bore his part with unabated vigor, and

was often, at the same time, a member of the continental congress

and of the convention of his native state; discharging his duties in

both relations with fidelity, energy, and attention. In 1778, he left

congress, and devoted himself to the councils of his native state.

When the constitution of the United States went into operation, Mr.

Carroll was elected a senator from Maryland, and took his seat at the

organization of the government, on the 30th of April, 1789. To this

office he was elected for a second term.

In 1801, he quitted public life at the age of sixty-four, and for

upwards of thirty years enjoyed a life of tranquil honor, and unalloyed

prosperity. He survived all his companions of the immortal instrument

of our independence, and on the fourteenth of November, 1832, the

‘patriarch was gathered to his fathers.’

CARTER, NATHANIEL H., a man of letters, was born in Concord, New

Hampshire, and graduated at Dartmouth college in 1811. In 1816, he

was chosen professor of languages at the college where he was educated,

and was subsequently editor of the New York Statesman. He is the author

of a few occasional poems, and of Travels in Europe, in two vols. 8vo.

He died in Marseilles, where he had gone on account of his health, in

January, 1830.

CARVER, JONATHAN, a celebrated traveller, born in Connecticut, in

1732, was a grandson of the governor of that province. He was educated

for the medical profession, but embraced a military life, and served

with reputation till the peace of 1763. The years 1766, 1767, and

1768, he spent in exploring the interior of North America, and he added

considerably to our knowledge of the country. He visited England, in

1769, hoping for the patronage of government, but he was disappointed.

In 1778, while in the situation of clerk of a lottery, in Boston, he

published his travels, and, subsequently, a Treatise on the Cultivation

of Tobacco. After having long contended with poverty, he died, in

1780, of disease which is believed to have been produced by want. His

narrations have all the interest of fiction, and it has been suggested

that they may in some respects be considered the work of fancy.

CHASE, SAMUEL, judge of the supreme court of the United States, was

born in Somerset county, Maryland, in 1741. He was educated by his

father, a learned clergyman; and after studying for two years the

profession of law, he was admitted to the bar, at Annapolis, at the age

of twenty. In 1774, he was sent to the congress of Philadelphia as a

delegate from Maryland, and he continued an active, bold, eloquent, and

efficient member of this body throughout the war, when he returned to

the practice of his profession. In 1791, he accepted the appointment of

chief justice of the general court of Maryland; and in 1796, president

Washington made him an associate judge of the supreme court of the

United States. He remained upon the bench for fifteen years, and

appeared with ability and dignity. It was his ill fortune, however,

to have his latter days embittered by an impeachment by the house of

representatives at Washington. This impeachment originated in political

animosities, from the offence which his conduct in the circuit court

had given to the democratic party. The trial of the judge before the

senate is memorable on account of the excitement which it occasioned,

the ability of the defence, and the nature of the acquittal. Judge

Chase continued to exercise his judicial functions till 1811, when

his health failed him, and he expired on the nineteenth of June, in

that year. He was a sincere patriot, and a man of high intellect and

undaunted courage.

CHURCH, BENJAMIN, a physician of some eminence, and an able writer,

was graduated at Harvard college in 1754, and, after going through the

preparatory studies, established himself in the practice of medicine

in Boston. For several years before the revolution, he was a leading

character among the whigs and patriots; and on the commencement of

the war he was appointed physician general to the army. While in

the performance of the duties assigned him in this capacity, he

was suspected of a treacherous correspondence with the enemy, and

immediately arrested and imprisoned. After remaining some time in

prison, he obtained permission to depart for the West Indies. The

vessel in which he sailed was never heard from afterwards. He is

the author of a number of occasional poems, serious, pathetic, and

satirical, which possess considerable merit; and an oration, delivered

on the fifth of March, 1773.

CLINTON, JAMES, was born in 1736, at the residence of his father,

in Ulster county, New York. He displayed an early inclination for a

military life, and held successively several offices in the militia and

provincial troops. During the French war he exhibited many proofs of

courage, and received the appointment of captain-commandant of the four

regiments, levied for the protection of the western frontiers of the

counties of Ulster and Orange. In 1775, he was appointed colonel of the

third regiment of New York forces, and in the same year marched with

Montgomery to Quebec. During the war, he rendered eminent services to

his country, and on the conclusion of it retired to enjoy repose on his

ample estates. He was, however, frequently called from retirement by

the unsolicited voice of his fellow-citizens; and was a member of the

convention for the adoption of the present constitution of the United

States. He died in 1812.

CLINTON, GEORGE, vice-president of the United States, was born in the

county of Ulster, New York, in 1739, and was educated in the profession

of the law. In 1768, he was chosen to a seat in the colonial assembly,

and was elected a delegate to the continental congress in 1775. In 1776,

he was appointed brigadier-general of the militia of Ulster county,

and some time after a brigadier in the army of the United States, and

continued during the progress of the war to render important services

to the military department. In April, 1777, he was elected both

governor and lieutenant-governor of New York, and was continued in the

former office for eighteen years. He was unanimously chosen president

of the convention which assembled at Poughkeepsie, in 1788, to

deliberate on the new federal constitution. In 1801, he again accepted

the office of governor, and after continuing in that capacity for three

years, he was elevated to the vice-presidency of the United States;

a dignity which he retained till his death at Washington, in 1812. In

private he was kind and amiable, and as a public man he is entitled to

respectful remembrance.

CLINTON, DE WITT, was born in 1769, at Little Britain, in Orange

county, New York. He was educated at Columbia college, commenced the

study of the law, and was admitted to the bar, but was never much

engaged in professional practice. He early imbibed a predilection for

political life, and was appointed the private secretary of his uncle,

George Clinton, then governor of the state. In 1797, he was sent to the

legislature from the city of New York; and two years after was chosen

a member of the state senate. In 1801, he was appointed a senator of

the United States, and continued in that capacity for two sessions. He

retired from the senate in 1803, in consequence of his election to the

mayoralty of New York; an office to which he was annually re-elected,

with the intermission of but two years, till 1815, when he was obliged

to retire by the violence of party politics. In 1817, he was elected,

almost unanimously, governor of the state, was again chosen in 1820,

but in 1822 declined being a candidate for re-election. In 1810, Mr.

Clinton had been appointed, by the senate of his state, one of the

board of canal commissioners, but the displeasure of his political

opponents having been excited, he was removed from this office, in 1823,

by a vote of both branches of the legislature. This insult created a

strong reaction in popular feeling, and Mr. Clinton was immediately

nominated for governor, and elected by an unprecedented majority.

In 1826, he was again elected, but he died before the completion of

his term. He expired very suddenly, whilst sitting in his library

after dinner, Feb. 11, 1828. Mr. Clinton was not only eminent as a

statesman, but he occupied a conspicuous rank as a man of learning.

He was a member of a large part of the benevolent, literary and

scientific societies of the United States, and an honorary member of

several foreign societies. His productions are numerous, consisting

of his speeches and messages to the state legislature; his discourses

before various institutions; his speeches in the senate of the Union;

his addresses to the army during the late war; his communications

concerning the canal; his judicial opinions; and various fugitive

pieces. His national services were of the highest importance; and the

Erie canal, especially, though the honor of projecting it may belong

to another, will remain a perpetual monument of the patriotism and

perseverance of Clinton.

CLYMER, GEORGE, one of the signers of the declaration of independence,

was born in Philadelphia, in 1739. He was left an orphan at the age of

seven years, and after the completion of his studies, he entered the

counting house of his uncle. When the difficulties commenced between

Great Britain and the colonies, Mr. Clymer was among the first to raise

his voice in opposition to the arbitrary acts of the mother country,

and was chosen a member of the council of safety. In 1775, he was

appointed one of the first continental treasurers, but resigned this

office soon after his first election to congress, in the ensuing year.

In 1780, he was again elected to congress, and strongly advocated

there the establishment of a national bank. In 1796, he was appointed,

together with colonel Hawkins and colonel Pickens, to negotiate

a treaty with the Cherokee and Creek Indians, in Georgia. He was

subsequently president of the Philadelphia bank, and the Academy of

Fine Arts. He died in 1813.

COLDEN, CADWALLADER, was born in Dunse, Scotland, in 1688. After

studying at the university of Edinburgh, he turned his attention

to medicine and mathematical science, until the year 1708, when he

emigrated to Pennsylvania, and practised physic with much reputation,

till 1715. He then returned to England, and attracted some attention

by a paper on Animal Secretions, which was read by Dr. Halley before

the Royal society. Again repairing to America, he settled, in 1718,

in the city of New York, and relinquishing the practice of physic,

turned his attention to public affairs, and became successively

surveyor general of the province, master in chancery, member of the

council, and lieutenant-governor. His political character was rendered

very conspicuous by the firmness of his conduct during the violent

commotions which preceded the revolution. In 1775, he retired to a

seat on Long Island, where he died in September, of the following

year, a few hours before nearly one fourth part of the city of New-York

was reduced to ashes. His productions were numerous, consisting of

botanical and medical essays. Among them were treatises on the Cure of

Cancer, and on the Virtues of the Great Water Dock. His descriptions of

between three and four hundred American plants were printed in the Acta

Upsaliensia. He also published the History of the Five Indian Nations,

and a work on the Cause of Gravitation, afterwards republished by

Dodsley, under the title of The Principles of Action in Matter. He left

many valuable manuscripts on a variety of subjects.

COOPER, SAMUEL, a Congregational minister, was born in Boston,

Massachusetts, in 1725. He was graduated at Harvard college in 1743,

and, devoting himself to the church, acquired great reputation as a

preacher, at a very early age. After an useful and popular ministry

of thirty-seven years, he died in 1783. He was a sincere and liberal

christian, and in his profession perhaps the most distinguished man

of his day, in the United States. He was an ardent friend of the cause

of liberty, and did much to promote it. With the exception of political

essays in the journals of the day, his productions were exclusively

sermons.

COPLEY, JOHN SINGLETON, a distinguished painter, was born in Boston,

Massachusetts, in 1738. He began to paint without any instruction

at a very early age, and executed pieces unsurpassed by his later

productions. He visited Italy in 1774, and in 1776 went to England,

where he determined to remain, in consequence of the convulsed state of

his native country. He therefore devoted himself to portrait painting

in London, and was chosen a member of the royal academy. His celebrated

picture, styled The Death of Lord Chatham, at once established his

fame, and he was enabled to pursue his profession with success and

unabated ardor till his sudden death in 1815. Among his most celebrated

productions, are Major Pierson’s Death on the island of Jersey;

Charles I. in the house of commons, demanding of the speaker the five

impeached members; the Surrender of Admiral De Winter to Lord Duncan;

Samuel and Eli; and a number of portraits of several members of the

royal family.

CRAFTS, WILLIAM, a lawyer and miscellaneous writer, was born in

Charleston, South Carolina, in 1787. He received his education at

Harvard college, and studied law in his native city, where he acquired

some reputation for talent and eloquence. He was a member of the

South Carolina legislature, and for some time editor of the Charleston

Courier. He died at Lebanon springs, New York, in 1826. A collection

of his works, comprising poems, essays in prose, and orations, with a

biographical memoir, was published in Charleston, in 1828.

CRAIK, JAMES, was born in Scotland, where he received his education

for the medical service of the British army. He came to the colony of

Virginia in early life, and accompanied Washington in his expeditions

against the French and Indians, in 1754; and in the following year

attended Braddock in his march through the wilderness, and assisted in

dressing his wounds. At the commencement of the revolution, by the aid

of his early and fast friend, general Washington, he was transferred to

the medical department in the continental army, and rose to the first

rank and distinction. He continued in the army to the end of the war,

and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis, on the memorable 19th

of October, 1781. After the cessation of hostilities, he removed to the

neighborhood of Mount Vernon, and in 1798 was once more appointed by

Washington to his former station in the medical staff. He was present

with his illustrious friend in his last moments, and died in 1814, in

the 84th year of his age. He was a skilful and successful physician,

and Washington mentioned him as ‘my compatriot in arms, my old and

intimate friend.’

DALE, RICHARD, an American naval commander, was born in Virginia,

in 1756. At twelve years of age he was sent to sea, and in 1776, he

entered as a midshipman on board of the American brig of war Lexington.

In the following year he was taken prisoner by a British cruiser,

and after a twelve-month confinement he escaped from Mill prison,

and succeeded in reaching France. Here he joined, in the character of

master’s mate, the celebrated Paul Jones, then commanding the American

ship Bon Homme Richard. He was soon raised to the rank of first

lieutenant, and signalized himself in the sanguinary engagement between

the Bon Homme Richard and the English frigate Serapis. In 1794, the

United States made him a captain in the navy, and in 1801, he took

command of the American squadron, which sailed in that year from

Hampton roads to the Mediterranean. From the year 1802, he passed

his life in Philadelphia, in the enjoyment of a competent estate, and

much esteemed by his fellow-citizens. He died in 1826, leaving the

reputation of a brave and intelligent seaman.

DALLAS, ALEXANDER JAMES, was born in the island of Jamaica, in 1759;

and was educated at Edinburgh and Westminster. In 1783, he left Jamaica

for the United States, and settled in Philadelphia; taking the oath of

allegiance to the state of Pennsylvania. In 1785, he was admitted to

practise in the supreme court of the state, and in four or five years

in the courts of the Union. During this time he prepared his Reports,

and was engaged in various literary pursuits, writing much in the

periodical journals. He occupied successively the offices of secretary

of Pennsylvania, district attorney of the United States, secretary of

the treasury, and secretary of war. On the restoration of peace, in

1816, Mr. Dallas resigned his political situation, and resumed the

successful practice of his profession. His services as an advocate were

called for in almost every part of the union; but in the midst of very

flattering expectations he died at Trenton, in 1817.

DAVIE, WILLIAM RICHARDSON, governor of North Carolina, was born in

England, in 1756. He was brought to America at the age of six years,

and received his education at Princeton, New Jersey, where he was

graduated in 1776. After pursuing for a short time the study of the

law, he entered the army as a lieutenant in the legion of Pulaski, and

distinguished himself by his efficiency and courage as an officer. On

the termination of the war, he devoted himself with eminent success to

the practice of the law. In 1787, he was chosen a delegate from South

Carolina, to represent that state in the convention which framed the

constitution of the United States. Unavoidable absence prevented him

from affixing his name to that instrument. In 1790, he was elected

governor of North Carolina, and in 1799, was appointed one of the

commissioners for negotiating a treaty with France. He died at Camden,

in 1820. He was a man of a dignified and noble person, courage as a

soldier, and ability as a lawyer.

DEANE, SILAS, minister of the United States to the court of France,

was born in Connecticut, and educated at Yale college. He was elected

member of congress in 1774, and sent two years after as agent to France,

but was superseded, in 1777, and returned. Involved in suspicions

from which he could not extricate himself, he lost his reputation, and

returning to Europe, died in poverty in England, in 1789.

DECATUR, STEPHEN, a distinguished naval officer, was born in Maryland,

in 1779, and received his education in Philadelphia. He entered the

navy in 1798, and first distinguished himself when in the rank of

lieutenant, by the destruction of the American frigate Philadelphia,

which had run upon a rock in the harbor of Tripoli, and fallen into

the hands of the enemy. For this exploit, the American congress gave

him a vote of thanks and a sword, and the president immediately sent

him a captaincy. At the bombardment of Tripoli, the next year, he

distinguished himself by the capture of two of the enemy’s boats, which

were moored along the mouth of the harbor, and immediately under the

batteries. When peace was concluded with Tripoli, Decatur returned

home in the Congress, and afterward succeeded commodore Barron in the

command of the Chesapeake. In the late war between Great Britain and

the United States, his chief exploit was the capture of the British

frigate Macedonian, commanded by captain Carden. In January, 1815,

he attempted to sail from New York, which was then blockaded by four

British ships; but the frigate under his command was injured in passing

the bar, and was captured by the whole squadron, after a running

fight of two or three hours. He was restored to his country after the

conclusion of peace. In the summer of the same year, he was sent with

a squadron to the Mediterranean, in order to compel the Algerines to

desist from their depredations on American commerce. He arrived at

Algiers on the twenty-eighth of June, and in less than forty-eight

hours terrified the regency into an entire accession to all his terms.

Thence he went to Tripoli, where he met with like success. On returning

to the United States, he was appointed a member of the board of

commissioners for the navy, and held that office till March, 1820, when

he was shot in a duel with commodore Barron. He was a man of an active

and powerful frame, and possessed a high degree of energy, sagacity,

and courage.

DENNIE, JOSEPH, born in Boston, in 1768, displayed an early fondness

for polite literature, and entered Harvard college in 1787. In 1790,

he left this institution, and commenced the study of the law; but made

little progress in the practice of his profession, in consequence of

a strong attachment to literary pursuits. In the spring of 1795, he

established a weekly paper in Boston, under the title of The Tablet,

but it died from want of patronage. Soon after, he went to Walpole to

edit the Farmer’s Museum, a journal in which he published a series of

papers with the signature of the Lay Preacher. In 1799, he removed to

Philadelphia, where he had received an appointment in the office of

the secretary of state. He subsequently established the Port Folio,

a journal which acquired reputation and patronage. He died in 1812.

Mr. Dennie was a man of genius, and a beautiful writer, but wanted

the industry and judgment, which might have secured him a competent

subsistence and a permanent reputation.

DEXTER, SAMUEL, an eminent lawyer and statesman, was born in

Boston, in 1761. He received his education at Harvard college,

where he was graduated with honor, in 1781. Engaging in the study

of the law, he soon succeeded in obtaining an extensive practice.

He enjoyed successively a seat in the state legislature, and in the

house of representatives and senate of the United States; and in

each of these stations he secured a commanding influence. During the

administration of Mr. Adams, he was appointed secretary of war, and of

the treasury; but on the accession of Mr. Jefferson to the presidency,

he resigned his public employments, and returned to the practice of his

profession. For many years he was extensively employed in the courts of

Massachusetts, and in the supreme court of the United States, where he

was almost without a rival. He died suddenly, at Athens, New York, in

1816. Mr. Dexter was tall, muscular, and well formed. His eloquence was

clear, simple and cogent; and his powers were such as would have made

him eminent in any age or nation.

DICKINSON, JOHN, a celebrated political writer, was born in Maryland,

in 1732, and educated in Delaware. He pursued the study of law, and

practised with success in Philadelphia. He was soon elected to the

state legislature, and distinguished himself as an early and efficient

advocate of colonial rights. In 1765, he was appointed by Pennsylvania

a delegate to the first congress, held at New York, and prepared the

draft of the bold resolutions of that body. His celebrated Farmer’s

Letters to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies were issued in

Philadelphia, in 1767; they were reprinted in London, with a preface

by Dr. Franklin, and a French translation of them was published at

Paris. While in congress, he wrote a large number of the most able

and eloquent state papers of the time, and as an orator he had few

superiors in that assembly. He conscientiously opposed the declaration

of independence, and his opinions upon this subject rendered him for

a time unpopular; but they did not permanently affect his reputation

and influence. He was afterwards a member of congress, and president

of Pennsylvania and Delaware, successively. He died at Wilmington, in

1808. Mr. Dickinson was a man of a strong mind, great knowledge and

eloquence, and much elegance of mind and manners.

DORSEY, JOHN SYNG, professor of anatomy in the university of

Pennsylvania, was born in Philadelphia in 1783, and received an

excellent elementary education at a school of the society of Friends.

At the age of fifteen he commenced the study of medicine, and pursued

it with unusual ardor and success. In the spring of 1802, he was

graduated doctor in physic, having previously defended with ability

an inaugural dissertation on the Powers of the Gastric Liquor as a

Solvent of the Urinary Calculi. Soon after he received his degree, the

yellow fever reappeared in the city, and a hospital was open for the

exclusive accommodation of those sick with this disease, to which he

was appointed resident physician. At the close of the same season he

visited Europe. On his return, in 1804, he immediately entered on the

practice of his profession, and soon acquired, by his popular manners,

attention and talent, a large share of business. In 1807 he was elected

adjunct professor of surgery, and remained in this office till he was

raised to the chair of anatomy by the death of the lamented Wistar. He

opened the session by one of the finest exhibitions of eloquence ever

heard within the walls of the university; but on the evening of the

same day, he was attacked by a fever, which in one week closed his

existence. He died in 1818. His Elements of Surgery, in two volumes 8vo,

is considered the best work on the subject. It is used as a text book

in the university of Edinburgh, and was the first American work on

medicine reprinted in Europe.

DRAYTON, WILLIAM HENRY, a statesman of the revolution, was born in

South Carolina, in 1742. He received his education in England, and

on its completion returned to his native state. Taking an early and

active part in the defence of colonial rights, he wrote and published

a pamphlet under the signature of _Freeman_, in which he submitted

a ‘bill of American Rights’ to the continental congress. On the

commencement of the revolution he became an efficient leader; in

1775, was chosen president of the provincial congress; and in March

of the next year, was elected chief justice of the colony. In 1777,

Mr. Drayton was appointed president of South Carolina, and, in 1778,

was elected a delegate to the continental congress, where he took a

prominent part, and distinguished himself by his activity and eloquence.

He continued in congress until September, 1779, when he died suddenly,

at Philadelphia. He left a body of valuable materials for history,

which his only son, John Drayton, revised and published at Charleston,

in 1821, in two volumes 8vo, under the title of Memoirs of the American

Revolution.

DWIGHT, TIMOTHY, an eminent divine and writer, was born at Northampton,

Massachusetts, in 1752. At the age of thirteen he entered Yale college;

and after having graduated, took charge of a grammar-school at New

Haven, where he taught for two years. In 1771, he became a tutor

in Yale college, where he remained for six years. In 1783, he was

ordained minister of Greenfield, a parish in the town of Fairfield,

in Connecticut; where he soon opened an academy that acquired great

reputation. In 1795, Dr. Dwight was elected president of Yale college,

and his character and name soon brought a great accession of students.

During his presidency, he also filled, the office of the professor of

theology. He continued to discharge the duties of his station, both

as minister and president of the college, to the age of sixty-five;

when, after a long and painful illness, he died, in January, 1817. He

was endowed by nature with uncommon talents; and these, enriched by

industry and research, and united to amiability and consistency in

his private life, entitled Dr. Dwight to rank among the first men

of his age. As a preacher, he was distinguished by his originality,

simplicity, and dignity; he was well read in the most eminent fathers

and theologians, ancient and modern; he was a good biblical critic;

and his sermons should be possessed by every student of divinity. He

wrote Travels in New England and New York; Greenfield Hill, a poem; The

Conquest of Canaan, a poem; a collection of theological lectures; and a

pamphlet on The Dangers of the Infidel Philosophy.

EATON, WILLIAM, general in the service of the United States, was born

in Woodstock, Connecticut, in 1764, and was graduated at Dartmouth

college, in 1790. In 1792, he received a captain’s commission in the

army, and served for some time under general Wayne, on the Mississippi,

and in Georgia. In 1797, he was appointed consul to the kingdom of

Tunis, and continued there engaged in a variety of adventures and

negociations, till 1803, when he returned to the United States. In 1804,

he was appointed navy agent for the Barbary powers, for the purpose

of co-operating with Hamet bashaw in the war against Tripoli; but

was disappointed by the conclusion of a premature peace between the

American consul and the Tripolitan bashaw. On his return to the United

States, he failed in obtaining from the government any compensation for

his pecuniary losses, or any employment corresponding with his merit

and services. Under the influence of his disappointments, he fell into

habits of inebriety, and died in 1811. His life, published by one of

his friends in Massachusetts, is full of interesting adventure.

EDWARDS, JONATHAN, was born at Windsor, in the province of Connecticut,

in 1703. At the age of twelve years he was admitted into Yale college,

and at the age of seventeen received the degree of bachelor of

arts. He remained nearly two years longer at Yale, preparing for the

ministry; and in 1722, went to New York, and preached there with great

distinction. In September, 1723, he was elected a tutor in Yale college,

and remained there till 1726, when he resigned his office, in order to

become the minister of the people of Northampton, where he was ordained

in February, 1727. After more than twenty-three years of service in

this place, a rupture took place between him and his congregation,

and he was dismissed by an ecclesiastical council, in 1750. In the

following year he accepted a call to serve as missionary among the

Indians at Stockbridge, Massachusetts. In 1757, he was chosen president

of the college at Princeton, New Jersey, and accepted the invitation.

In January, 1758, he repaired to Princeton, where he died of the

small-pox, in the March following. His chief works are a Treatise

on Religious Affections; an Inquiry into the Notion of Freedom of

Will, which is considered the best vindication of the doctrine of

philosophical necessity; a Treatise on Original Sin; and numerous

tracts and sermons. Various narratives of his life, and editions of his

works, have been printed both in Great Britain and the United States.

The latest is in ten octavo volumes, published in New York, in 1830,

and edited by Sereno E. Dwight.

ELLIOTT, STEPHEN, a botanist and man of letters, was born at Beaufort,

South Carolina, in 1771, and received his education at Yale college. On

his return home, he applied himself to the improvement of his paternal

estate, devoting his leisure hours to history and poetry. At the age

of twenty-two he was chosen to the legislature of his native state,

where he obtained considerable influence, by his knowledge, attention,

and power of argument. He was chosen president of the state bank,

established in 1812, and continued to discharge the duties of this

office with ability to the time of his death. His two volumes of the

botany of South Carolina are held in high estimation, and his lectures

before several literary and learned societies obtained great applause.

His acquisitions in literature and science were extensive, and he

left a valuable collection in the several branches of natural history,

scientifically arranged. He was the chief editor of the Southern Review,

and the author of some of its best articles. He died in 1830. Most of

his productions remain in manuscript.

ELLSWORTH, OLIVER, an American judge and statesman, was born at Windsor,

Connecticut, in 1745, and was graduated at the college of Nassau Hall,

at Princeton, in 1766. Devoting himself to the practice of the law, he

soon rose to distinction, by the energy of his mind and his eloquence.

From the earliest period of discontent, he joined the cause of the

colonies, and in 1777 was elected a member of the continental congress.

In this body he remained for three years, and in 1784 he was appointed

a judge of the superior court of the state. He was a delegate to the

convention for framing the federal constitution, and was a senator

in the first congress. In 1796, he was appointed chief justice of

the supreme court of the United States, and in 1799 was sent envoy

extraordinary to France. The decline of his health induced him to

resign his seat on the bench, and he retired to his family residence,

at Windsor, where he died in 1807.

FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN, a philosopher and statesman, the son of a

soap-boiler and tallow-chandler, was born in 1706, at Boston, in

America. He was apprenticed as a printer, to his brother, at Boston. It

was while he was with his brother, that he began to try his powers of

literary composition. Street ballads, and articles in a newspaper, were

his first efforts. Dissatisfied with the manner in which he was treated

by his relative, he, at the age of seventeen, privately quitted him,

and went to Philadelphia, where he obtained employment. Deluded by a

promise of patronage from the governor, Sir William Keith, he visited

England to procure the necessary materials for establishing a printing

office in Philadelphia; but, on his arrival at London, he found that

he had been deceived, and he was obliged to work as a journeyman for

eighteen months. While he was in the British metropolis, he wrote a

Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain. In 1726, he

returned to Philadelphia; not long after which he entered into business,

as a printer and stationer, and, in 1728, established a newspaper. His

prudence soon placed him among the most prosperous of the citizens,

and the influence which prosperity naturally gave was enhanced by

his activity and talent. Chiefly by his exertions, a public library,

a fire-preventing company, an insurance company, and a voluntary

association for defence, were established at Philadelphia. In 1732,

he began Poor Richard’s Almanac. His first public employment was

that of clerk to the general assembly of Pennsylvania; his next, that

of postmaster; and he was subsequently chosen as a representative.

Philosophy, also, now attracted his attention, and he began those

inquiries into the nature of electricity, the results of which have

ranked him high among men of science. In 1753, he was appointed deputy

postmaster-general of British America; and from 1757 to 1762, he

resided in London, as agent for Pennsylvania, and other colonies. The

last of these offices was intrusted to him again, in 1761, and he held

it till the breaking out of the contest, in 1775. After his return to

America, he took an active part in the cause of liberty, and, in 1778,

he was dispatched by the congress as ambassador to France. The treaty

of alliance with the French government, and the treaties of peace, in

1782 and 1783, as well as treaties with Sweden and Prussia, were signed

by him. On his reaching Philadelphia, in September, 1785, his arrival

was hailed by applauding thousands of his countrymen, who conducted

him in triumph to his residence. He died April 17, 1790. His Memoirs,

written by himself, but left unfinished, and his Philosophical,

Political, and Miscellaneous Works, have been published by his grandson,

in six volumes, octavo.

FULTON, ROBERT, an American engineer and projector, was born in 1765,

at Little Britain, in Pennsylvania. Abandoning the trade of a jeweller,

he studied for some years under West, with the intention of being a

painter; but, having become acquainted with a fellow countryman, named

Rumsey, who was skilled in mechanics, he became fond of that science,

and ultimately adopted the profession of a civil engineer. Before he

left England, he published, in 1796, a treatise on Inland Navigation,

in which he proposed to supersede locks by inclined planes. In 1800, he

introduced, with much profit to himself, the panorama into the French

capital. For some years he was engaged in experiments to perfect a

machine called a torpedo, intended to destroy ships of war by explosion.

After his return to America, he gave to the world an account of several

inventions, among which are a machine for sawing and polishing marble,

another for rope making, and a boat to be navigated under water. He

obtained a patent for his inventions in navigation by steam, in 1809,

and another for some improvements, in 1811. In 1814, he contrived

an armed steam ship for the defence of the harbor of New York, and a

submarine vessel large enough to carry one hundred men; the plans of

which being approved by government, he was authorized to construct them

at the public expense. But before completing either of those works, he

died suddenly, in 1815. Though not the inventor of it, he was the first

who successfully employed the steam engine in navigation.

GATES, HORATIO, was born in England, in 1728, and entering the British

service in early life, rose by his merits to the rank of major. In 1755,

he was with Braddock when that unfortunate commander was defeated, and

received in that battle a severe wound, which for some time debarred

him from active service. On the conclusion of peace, he settled in

Virginia, where he resided till the commencement of the revolution,

in 1775. He was then appointed adjutant-general by congress, with the

rank of brigadier, and in 1776, received the command of the army in

Canada. General Schuyler succeeded him for a few months, in 1777, but

he resumed his situation in August, and soon revived the hopes of his

country, by the capture of the army under Burgoyne. In 1780, he was

appointed to the chief command of the southern districts, but he was

afterwards superseded by general Greene, and his conduct was subjected

to the investigation of a special court. He was restored to his command

in 1782. On the termination of war he resided on his farm in Virginia,

till 1790, when he removed to New York, where he lived much esteemed

and respected, till his decease in 1806.

GERRY, ELBRIDGE, one of the signers of the declaration of independence,

and vice-president of the United States, was born at Marblehead,

Massachusetts, in 1744, and received his education at Harvard college.

He was graduated at this institution in 1762, and afterwards engaging

in mercantile pursuits, amassed a considerable fortune. He took an

early part in the controversy between the colonies and Great Britain,

and in 1772, was elected a representative from his native town, to the

legislature of Massachusetts. In 1776, he was elected a delegate to the

continental congress, where for several years he exhibited the utmost

zeal and fidelity, in the discharge of numerous and severe official

labors. In 1784, Mr. Gerry was re-elected a member of congress, and

in 1787, was chosen a delegate to the convention, which assembled at

Philadelphia, to revise the articles of confederation. In 1789, he

was again elected to congress, and remained in that body for four

years, when he retired into private life, till the year 1797, when

he was appointed to accompany general Pinckney and Mr. Marshall on a

special mission to France. In October, 1798, Mr. Gerry returned home,

and having been elected governor of his native state, and in 1812

vice-president of the United States, he died suddenly at Washington,

in November, 1814.

GIRARD, STEPHEN, a celebrated banker, was born in France, about the

year 1746. At the age of twelve years, in the capacity of cabin boy, he

left France for the West Indies, where he resided some time, and whence

he made many voyages to the United States. About 1775, he arrived

in this country, and for a while kept a small shop in New Jersey. In

1780, he removed to Philadelphia, and by gradual but sure acquisition

accumulated a large fortune. He became distinguished for his active

philanthropic exertions during the ravages of the yellow fever in that

city in 1793. In 1811, when congress refused to recharter the old bank

of the United States, Mr. Girard purchased the banking house of that

institution, and became a banker. The capital which he first invested

in his bank, was one million eight hundred thousand dollars, and he

subsequently augmented it to five millions. During our late war with

Great Britain, the government found difficulty in raising the necessary

funds, and public credit had sunk so low, that seven per cent. stock

was offered at thirty per cent. discount. Of this stock Mr. Girard took

five millions. At the time of his death, in 1832, he was estimated to

be worth from twelve to fifteen millions of dollars, and he was the

most wealthy man in the new world. He was buried with public honors.

By his will, he distributed his immense riches in the most judicious

and liberal manner, among several charitable institutions, and for

the purposes of public improvements. One bequest was of two millions,

for the erection of a permanent college in Penn Township, for the

accommodation of at least three hundred poor white male orphans, above

the age of six years. In regulation of this bequest, it is enjoined,

that ‘no ecclesiastic, missionary, or minister, of any sect whatever,

shall ever hold or exercise any station or duty whatever, in said

college; nor shall any such person ever be admitted for any purpose, or

as a visiter, within the premises appropriated to the purposes of the

said college.’

GODMAN, JOHN D., an eminent naturalist and physician, was born at

Annapolis, in Maryland, and having lost his parents at an early age,

was bound apprentice to a printer. He afterwards entered the navy as a

sailor boy, and at the age of fifteen commenced the study of medicine.

On completing his studies, he settled in Philadelphia as a physician

and private teacher of anatomy, and for some time was an assistant

editor of the Medical Journal. It was at this period that he published

his Natural History of American Quadrupeds, in three volumes, 8vo.

Having been elected to the professorship of anatomy in Rutgers’ Medical

college, he removed to New York, where he soon acquired extensive

practice as a surgeon. Ill health, however, obliged him to relinquish

his pursuits, and he returned in 1829 to Philadelphia, where he died

in 1830, in the thirty-second year of his age. He possessed much

and varied information in his profession, in natural history, and

in general literature. Besides the work above referred to, he is the

author of Rambles of a Naturalist, and several articles on natural

history in the Encyclopædia Americana.

GODFREY, THOMAS, the real inventor of the quadrant commonly called

_Hadley’s_, was born in Philadelphia, and pursued the trade of a

glazier. He was a great student of mathematics, and acquired by

himself a tolerable knowledge of Latin, in order to be able to read

mathematical works in that language. In 1730, he communicated the

improvement he had made in Davis’s quadrant to Mr. Logan, secretary

of the commonwealth; and in the following year a full description of a

similar instrument was read before the Royal society of London, by Mr.

Hadley. It was decided that both claimants were entitled to the honor

of the invention, and the society presented Godfrey with household

furniture to the value of £200. He was intemperate in his habits, and

died in 1749.

GODFREY, THOMAS, son of the preceding, and a poet of some merit, was

born in Philadelphia, in the year 1736. He was at first apprenticed

to a watchmaker, but disliking the drudgery of this occupation,

he obtained a lieutenant’s commission in the Pennsylvania forces,

which were raised in 1758 for the expedition against fort Du Quesne.

Subsequently he established himself as a factor in North Carolina,

where he died in 1763. His chief works are The Court of Fancy, a poem;

and The Prince of Parthia, which was the first American tragedy.

GREENE, NATHANIEL, major-general in the army of the United States,

was born in Warwick, Rhode Island, in 1742. Though enjoying very few

advantages of education, he displayed an early fondness for knowledge,

and devoted his leisure time assiduously to study. In 1770, he was

elected a member of the state legislature, and in 1774, enrolled

himself as a private in a company called the Kentish Guards. From this

situation he was elevated to the head of three regiments, with the

title of major-general. In 1776, he accepted from congress a commission

of brigadier-general, and soon after, at the battles of Trenton and

Princeton, distinguished himself by his skill and bravery. In 1778,

he was appointed quarter-master general, and in that office rendered

efficient service to the country by his unwearied zeal and great

talents for business. He presided at the court-martial which tried

major Andre, in 1780, and was appointed to succeed Arnold in the

command at West Point; but he held this post only a few days. In

December of the same year, he assumed the command of the southern army,

and in this situation displayed a prudence, intrepidity and firmness

which raise him to an elevated rank among our revolutionary generals.

In September, 1781, he obtained the famous victory at Eutaw Springs,

for which he received from congress a British standard and a gold medal,

as a testimony of their value of his conduct and services. On the

termination of hostilities, he returned to Rhode Island, and, in 1785,

removed with his family to Georgia, where he died suddenly, in June of

the following year. He was a man of high energy, courage and ability,

and possessed the entire confidence of Washington.

HAMILTON, ALEXANDER, was born in the island of Nevis, in 1757. At the

age of sixteen, he accompanied his mother to New York, and was placed

at Columbia college, where he soon gave proof of extraordinary talent,

by the publication of some political essays, of such strength and

sagacity that they were generally attributed to Mr. Jay. At the age

of nineteen he entered the American army, and in 1777, was appointed

aid-de-camp of Washington, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In this

capacity he served during the remainder of the war, and at the siege

of Yorktown led in person the detachment that carried by assault one of

the enemy’s outworks. After the war he commenced the study of the law,

entered into its practice in New York, and soon rose to distinction. In

1782, he was chosen a member of congress from the state of New York; in

1787, a member of the convention which formed the constitution of the

United States, and in 1787 and 1788, wrote, in connection with Mr. Jay

and Mr. Madison, the essays published under the title of The Federalist.

In 1789, he was placed by Washington at the head of the treasury

department, and while in this situation rendered the most efficient

service to the country, by the establishment of an admirable system

of finance, which raised public credit from the lowest depression to

an unprecedented height. In 1795, he retired from office, in order

to secure by his professional labors a more ample provision for his

numerous family. In 1798, his public services were again required, to

take the second command in the army that was raised on account of the

apprehended invasion of the French. On the disbanding of the army, he

resumed the practice of the law in New York, and continued to acquire

new success and reputation. In 1804, he fell in a duel with colonel

Burr, vice-president of the United States, and died universally

lamented and beloved. Besides his share in the Federalist, general

Hamilton was the author of numerous congressional reports, the essays

of Pacificus, and the essays of Phocion. A collection of his works in

three vols. 8vo, was issued at New York some time after his death. He

was a man of transcendent abilities and unsullied integrity; and no

one labored more efficiently in the organization of the present federal

government.

HANCOCK, JOHN, a patriot and statesman, was born in Quincy,

Massachusetts, in 1737, and under the patronage of a wealthy uncle

received a liberal education, and was graduated at Harvard college, in

1754. On leaving college, he entered the counting-house of his uncle,

by whose sudden death, in 1764, he succeeded to great riches and the

management of an extensive business. In 1766, he was chosen a member

of the assembly and soon distinguished himself by his zeal in the cause

of the colonies. In 1774, he was elected president of the provincial

congress of Massachusetts, and in the following year, president of

the continental congress, in which capacity he was the first to affix

his signature to the declaration of independence. In this station he

continued till October, 1777, when ill health induced him to resign.

In 1780, he was elected governor of Massachusetts, and held that office

for four successive years, and again from 1787 till his death in 1793.

Governor Hancock was hospitable and munificent, a man of excellent

talents for business, and a true lover of his country.

HARPER, ROBERT GOODLOE, was a native of Virginia, but when very young

removed with his parents to North Carolina. His parents were poor, and

in early life he passed through a number of vicissitudes. At the age

of twenty he found himself in Charleston, S. C., with but a dollar or

two in his pocket, and with the intention of studying the profession

of the law. Having obtained introduction to a lawyer, he prepared

himself under his instruction for the bar, and, in about a twelvemonth,

undertook the management of causes on his own account. He then removed

from Charleston to an interior district, where he first distinguished

himself, politically, by the publication of a series of newspaper

essays on a proposed change in the constitution of the state. He was

immediately elected to the state legislature, and soon afterwards to

congress, where he was an efficient member of the federal party, a

powerful advocate of the policy of Washington, and the personal friend

of the most distinguished federal statesmen of the day. Many years

afterwards, he collected in an octavo volume a number of his circulars

and addresses to his constituents, and several of his speeches in

congress. In 1797, he published a pamphlet, entitled Observations on

the Dispute between the United States and France, which passed through

numerous editions, and acquired great celebrity both at home and in

Europe. The speeches which he delivered in managing the impeachment

of Blount, and the defence of judge Chase, are admirable specimens

of argument and eloquence. On the downfall of the federal party, Mr.

Harper resumed the practice of the law in Baltimore, where he married

the daughter of the distinguished Charles Carroll. He attended almost

every session of the supreme court, from the time of its removal to

Washington to that of his death, and was always heard with respect and

attention by the court and juries. The federal party having regained

the ascendant in Maryland, Mr. Harper was immediately elected a senator

in congress; but the demands of his profession soon obliged him to

resign his seat. In the years 1819–20, he visited Europe with a portion

of his family, and was absent about two years. He died suddenly in

Baltimore, in 1825. He was an active leader in the federal party,

an able and learned lawyer, well versed in general literature, and

political economy, and lived with elegant hospitality.

HEATH, WILLIAM, an officer in the army of the revolution, was born in

Roxbury, in 1737, and was bred a farmer. He was particularly attentive

to the study of military tactics, and in 1775 he was commissioned as a

brigadier-general by the provincial congress. In 1776, he was promoted

to the rank of major-general in the continental army, and in the

campaign of that year commanded a division near the enemy’s lines, at

Kingsbridge and Morrisania. During the year 1777, and till November,

1778, he was the commanding officer of the eastern department, and his

headquarters were at Boston. In 1779, he returned to the main army, and

was invested with the chief command of the troops on the east side of

the Hudson. After the close of the war, he served in several public

offices, till the time of his death, in 1814.

HENRY, PATRICK, was born in Virginia, in 1736, and after receiving

a common school education, and spending some time in trade and

agriculture, commenced the practice of the law, after only six weeks of

preparatory study. After several years of poverty, with the incumbrance

of a family, he first rose to distinction in managing the popular side

in the controversy between the legislature and the clergy, touching

the stipend which was claimed by the latter. In 1765, he was elected

a member of the house of burgesses, with express reference to an

opposition to the British stamp act. In this assembly he obtained the

honor of being the first to commence the opposition to the measures

of the British government, which terminated in the revolution. He was

one of the delegates sent by Virginia to the first general congress of

the colonies, in 1774, and in that body distinguished himself by his

boldness and eloquence. In 1776, he was appointed the first governor

of the commonwealth, and to this office was repeatedly re-elected.

In 1786, he was appointed by the legislature one of the deputies to

the convention held at Philadelphia, for the purpose of revising the

federal constitution. In 1788, he was a member of the convention, which

met in Virginia to consider the constitution of the United States, and

exerted himself strenuously against its adoption. In 1794, he retired

from the bar, and died in 1799. Without extensive information upon

legal or political topics, he was a natural orator of the highest order,

possessing great powers of imagination, sarcasm and humor, united with

great force and energy of manner, and a deep knowledge of human nature.

HOBART, JOHN HENRY, was born in Philadelphia, on the fourteenth of

September, 1775. He was educated at the college in Princeton, New

Jersey, and was noted in early life for his industry and proficiency

in his studies. On leaving this institution he was engaged a short

time in mercantile pursuits, was subsequently a tutor at Nassau Hall,

and after two years service in this capacity, he determined upon

the study of theology. In 1798, he was admitted into orders, and was

first settled in the two churches at Perkiomen, near Philadelphia,

but soon after accepted a call to Christ church, New Brunswick.

In about a year he removed from this place to become an assistant

minister of the largest spiritual cure in the country, comprising

three associated congregations in the city of New York. In 1811, he

was elected assistant bishop, and in 1816, became diocesan of New York,

and in performing the severe duties of the office, his labors were

indefatigable. From 1818 to 1823, he was employed in editing the

American edition of Mant and D’Ogly’s Bible, with notes. In September,

1823, the state of his health required a visit to Europe, where

he remained about two years. He died in 1830. He was incessantly

active in performing his religious offices, and made several valuable

compilations for the use of the church.

HOLLEY, HORACE, a celebrated pulpit orator, was born in Connecticut,

in 1781, and was graduated at Yale college, in 1799. On leaving this

institution he began the study of the law, which he soon relinquished

for divinity, and in 1805, was ordained to the pastoral charge of

Greenfield Hill, Conn. In 1809, he was installed over the society

in Hollis street, Boston, where he remained for ten years, when he

accepted an invitation to become president of Transylvania university,

in Kentucky. In this situation he continued till 1827, when he died on

his passage from New Orleans to New York. His sermons were generally

extemporaneous, and were distinguished for power and eloquence.

HOLYOKE, EDWARD AUGUSTUS, was born in 1728, in the county of Essex,

Massachusetts, and was graduated at Harvard college, in 1746. He

pursued the study of medicine, and in 1749 began to practice his

profession in Salem. He was the first president of the Medical society

of Massachusetts, and was always considered a learned physician and

skilful surgeon. He lived to be over one hundred years of age, and died

in 1829. He published various scientific disquisitions.

HOPKINSON, FRANCIS, an excellent writer, and signer of the declaration

of independence, was born in Philadelphia, in 1737. He was graduated

at the college in his native town, and pursued the profession of the

law. In 1766, he visited England, where he resided more than two years,

and on his return, married and settled in the state of New Jersey.

He entered with much zeal into the public measures of the patriotic

party, and in 1776, was elected a delegate to congress. In 1779, he

was appointed judge of the admiralty court of Pennsylvania, and for

ten years continued to discharge with fidelity the duties of this

office. In 1790, he passed to the bench of the district court, and

died suddenly in the midst of his usefulness, in 1791. Mr. Hopkinson

possessed talents of a quick and versatile character, excelling in

music and poetry, and having some knowledge of painting. In humorous

poetry and satire he was quite successful, and his well-known ballad of

the Battle of the Kegs obtained great popularity. A collection of his

miscellaneous works, in three volumes 8vo. was published in 1792.

HOPKINS, SAMUEL, a divine, and founder of the sect called Hopkinsians,

was born in Connecticut, in 1721, and educated at Yale college. In 1743,

he was settled at a place now called Great Barrington, in Massachusetts,

and continued there till 1769, when he removed to Newport, Rhode Island.

He died in 1803. He published numerous sermons, a Treatise on the

Millennium, and a sketch of his own life. His theological learning was

extensive, and he was a profound metaphysician.

HOPKINS, STEPHEN, a signer of the declaration of independence, was

born in Providence, in 1707, and after receiving a school education,

turned his attention to agriculture. In 1751, he was appointed chief

justice of the superior court of Rhode Island, and in 1756, was elected

governor of that state. In 1774, he was chosen a delegate to the

general congress at Philadelphia, and was re-elected to that body in

1775 and 1776. In 1776, he was a delegate to congress for the last

time, though for several subsequent years he was a member of the general

assembly of his native state. He died in 1785. Although his early

education was very limited, Mr. Hopkins acquired by his own efforts

extensive information. He wrote a pamphlet on the rights of the

colonies, was a member of the American Philosophical society, and for

many years chancellor of the college of Rhode Island.

HOWARD, JOHN EAGER, an officer of the army of the American revolution,

was born in Baltimore, in 1752. After serving in the rank of captain,

in 1779, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel, and distinguished himself

by his valor and activity during the war. At the battle of Cowpens,

colonel Howard, at one time, had in his hands the swords of seven

officers, who had surrendered to him personally. He was also present at

the battles of Germantown, White Plains, Monmouth, Camden, and Hobkicks

hill. On the disbanding of the army, he retired to his patrimonial

estates, near Baltimore, and was subsequently governor of Maryland,

and member of the senate of the United States. He died in 1827. General

Greene said of him, that as a patriot and soldier, he deserved a statue

of gold no less than Roman and Grecian heroes.

HUMPHREYS, DAVID, minister of the United States to the court of

Spain, was born in Connecticut, in 1753, and received his education

at Yale college. Soon after the commencement of the revolutionary war,

he entered the army, and was successively an aid to Parsons, Putnam,

Greene, and Washington. He left the army with the rank of colonel.

In 1784, he was appointed secretary of legation to Paris, and was

subsequently ambassador to the court of Lisbon, and in 1797, minister

plenipotentiary to the court of Madrid. While in the military service,

he published a poem addressed to the American armies, and after the war,

another on the happiness and glory of America. In 1789, he published a

life of general Putnam, and while in Europe, a number of miscellaneous

poems. He died in 1818.

HUTCHINSON, THOMAS, a governor of the colony of Massachusetts, was born

in Boston, in 1711, and was graduated at Harvard college. He was for a

while occupied with commercial pursuits, but soon engaged in the study

of law and politics, and was sent agent to Great Britain. On his return

he was elected a representative, and after a few years was chosen

speaker of the house, and in 1752, judge of probate. After being a

member of the council, lieutenant governor and chief justice, in 1771,

he received his commission as governor of Massachusetts. In 1774, he

was removed from his office, and was succeeded by general Gage. He then

repaired to England, fell into disgrace, and died in retirement, in

1780. He is the author of a valuable History of Massachusetts, some

occasional essays, and a pamphlet on colonial claims. It is said that

no man contributed more effectually to bring about the separation

between the colonies and Great Britain than Hutchinson.

JAY, JOHN, was born in the city of New York, in 1745. He was graduated

at Columbia college, in 1764, and in 1768, was admitted to the bar. He

soon rose to eminence as a lawyer, and began to take an active part in

politics. In 1774, he was elected a delegate to the first congress. In

May, 1776, he was recalled from congress by the provincial convention,

to aid in forming the government for the province, and to this it

is owing that his name does not appear among the signers of the

declaration of independence. Upon the organization of the state

government, in 1777, Mr. Jay was appointed chief justice, and held this

office till 1779. In November, 1778, he was again chosen a delegate

to the continental congress, and three days after taking his seat

was elected president of that venerable body. In September, 1779, he

was appointed minister plenipotentiary to the court of Spain, and he

arrived at Cadiz in January of the following year. Having resigned

his commission as minister in 1783, in 1784 he returned to the United

States, and was placed at the head of the department for foreign

affairs. In this post he remained till the adoption of the present

constitution, when he was appointed chief justice of the United States.

In 1794, he was sent as envoy extraordinary to Great Britain, and

before his return in 1795, he had been elected governor of his native

state. In 1798, he was re-elected to this office, and in 1801, went

into voluntary retirement. The remainder of his life was passed in the

faithful discharge of the charitable duties, and he was publicly known

only by the occasional appearance of his name, or the employment of his

pen, in the service of philanthropy and piety. He died in 1829. Beside

a variety of state papers and political essays, Mr. Jay was the author

of the 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, and 64th numbers of the Federalist.

JEFFERSON, THOMAS, was born in Albemarle county, Virginia, in 1743, and

was entered a student in the college of William and Mary. On leaving

this seminary, he applied himself to the study of the law, under the

tuition of the celebrated George Wythe, and was called to the bar in

1766. He soon occupied a high stand in his profession, and at the early

age of twenty-five entered the house of burgesses of his native state.

In 1774, he published a Summary View of the Rights of British America,

a bold but respectful pamphlet addressed to the king. In 1775, he was

elected a member of the continental congress, and in the following

year drew up the declaration of independence. Between 1777 and 1779,

he was employed, together with George Wythe and Edmund Pendleton, on a

commission for revising the laws of Virginia. In 1779, he was elected

governor of Virginia, and continued in office until June, 1781. In

the latter year he composed his celebrated Notes on Virginia, and

in 1787, published it under his own signature. In November, 1783, he

again took his seat in the continental congress, and in May following

was appointed minister plenipotentiary, to act abroad with Adams

and Franklin in the negotiation of commercial treaties. In 1785,

he was appointed to succeed Dr. Franklin as minister to the court

of Versailles, and performed the duties of this office till 1789,

when he returned to his native country, and was placed by president

Washington at the head of the department of state. In 1797, he became

vice-president, and in 1801, president of the United States. At the

expiration of eight years he again retired to private life, and took

up his residence at Monticello. He still continued anxious to promote

the interest of science and literature, and devoted the attention

of several years to the establishment of a university in Virginia.

He died on the fourth of July, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the

declaration of independence. In stature, Mr. Jefferson was six feet

two inches high. His person was erect and well formed, though spare.

In his manners he was simple and unaffected, simple in his habits,

and incessantly occupied with the pursuits of business or study. Four

volumes of his Correspondence have been published since his decease.

JONES, JOHN PAUL, a native of Scotland, was born, in 1747, at Selkirk,

and settled in America when young. He distinguished himself by his

bravery in the American service, during the contest with the mother

country, particularly in a desperate action with the Serapis frigate,

which he captured. He died in Paris, in 1792, and was buried at the

expense of the national convention. Jones was not only a man of signal

courage, but also of great talent, and keen sagacity, wrote poetry, and

in France aspired to be a man of fashion. His memorials and

correspondence are quite voluminous.

KING, RUFUS, an eminent statesman, was born in Scarborough, in the

state of Maine, in the year 1755. He was graduated at Harvard college

in 1777, immediately entered as a student at law in the office of the

celebrated Theophilus Parsons, at Newburyport, and was admitted to

the bar in 1780. In 1784, he was chosen to represent Newburyport in

the state legislature, and in the same year was elected a delegate

to the old congress. In 1787, he was appointed a delegate to the

general convention assembled at Philadelphia, and in 1788 removed

from Massachusetts to the city of New York. In 1796, he was appointed

minister plenipotentiary to the court of Great Britain, and remained

there for seven years with equal honor to his country and himself. In

1813, he was chosen by the legislature of New York a senator of the

United States, and being re-elected in 1820, he continued till the

expiration of the term in 1825. Upon his retirement from the senate,

he accepted from president Adams an invitation again to represent

the United States at the court of Great Britain. During the voyage to

England his health was seriously impaired, and his illness induced him

to return in about a twelvemonth to his native land. He died in April,

1827.

KNOX, HENRY, a revolutionary general, was born in Boston, in 1750,

and after receiving a common school education, commenced business as a

bookseller, in his native town. Before the commencement of hostilities,

he discovered an uncommon zeal in the cause of liberty. When the corps

of artillery, in 1776, was increased to three regiments, the command

was given to Knox, with the rank of brigadier-general. He distinguished

himself by his courage at the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Germantown,

and Monmouth, and contributed greatly to the capture of Cornwallis.

Immediately after this event he received from congress the commission

of major-general. In 1785, he succeeded general Lincoln in the office

of secretary of war, and having filled this department for eleven years,

he obtained a reluctant permission to retire into private life. In 1798,

when our relations with France were assuming a cloudy aspect, he was

called upon to take a command in the army, but the peaceful arrangement

of affairs soon permitted him to return into his retirement. He died

at Thomaston, Maine, in 1806. In private life he was amiable, in his

public character persevering, and of unsurpassed courage.

LAURENS, HENRY, a patriot and statesman, was born at Charleston, South

Carolina, in 1724. After receiving a good school education, he engaged

in commerce, and soon amassed an ample fortune. At the breaking out

of the revolution he was in London, but he immediately returned to

his native country, and in 1776, was elected a delegate to the general

congress. He was soon chosen president of this body, and remained so

till the close of the year 1778. In 1779, he received the appointment

of minister plenipotentiary to Holland, but on his way thither was

captured by the British, and committed to the Tower, where he was

in confinement fourteen months. He was one of the commissioners for

negotiating a peace with Great Britain, and in 1782, he signed with Jay

and Franklin the preliminaries of the treaty. His health, however, was

much impaired and he soon returned home, and passed the remainder of

his life in agricultural pursuits. He died in 1792.

LAURENS, JOHN, lieutenant-colonel, son of the preceding, was

liberally educated in England, and having returned to his native

country, joined the American army in 1777. He displayed prodigies of

valor at Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Savannah and Charleston, and

was killed at the very close of the war by carelessly exposing himself

in a trifling skirmish. In 1780, he was sent as a special minister to

France, to negotiate a loan; and after being subjected to a vexatious

delay, he determined to present a memorial to the king in person at the

levee. This purpose he carried into effect, the memorial was graciously

received, and the object of negotiation satisfactorily arranged.

LAWRENCE, JAMES, a distinguished naval officer, was born in New

Jersey, in 1781, and became a midshipman in 1798. In 1803, he was sent

to the Mediterranean, as first lieutenant to the schooner Enterprise,

and while there distinguished himself by his activity and valor. He

remained on this station for three years, and then returned to the

United States, having been transferred to the frigate John Adams. In

February, 1813, he was in command of the Hornet, and took the fine

British brig Peacock, after an action of fifteen minutes. On his return

to the United States he was transferred to the frigate Chesapeake,

and in June of the same year, while engaged in battle with the frigate

Shannon, he received a mortal wound. His last exclamation, as they were

carrying him below, was――‘Don’t give up the ship.’ He lingered in great

pain for four days, when he died. His remains are interred at New York.

LEDYARD, JOHN, an adventurous traveller, was born at Groton, in

Connecticut, and was educated at Dartmouth college, in New Hampshire.

After having lived for some time among the Indians, he came to England,

and sailed with Cook, on his second voyage, as a marine. On his return,

he resolved to penetrate on foot across Northern Asia, and proceed to

the opposite coast of America. He was, however, seized at Yakutz, and

sent out of the Russian dominions. He was next employed by the African

association to explore the interior of Africa; but he died at Cairo, in

1789.

LEE, ARTHUR, was born in Virginia, in 1740, and received his education

in England, taking his degree of M.D. at the university of Edinburgh.

He then returned to his native state, and for some years practised

physic at Williamsburg; but political affairs were then assuming so

interesting an aspect, that he again went to England and entered on the

study of law in the Temple. In 1770, he visited London, and became a

member of the famous society of the supporters of the bill of rights.

His political publications at this period, under the signature of

Junius Americanus, were numerous, and procured for him the acquaintance

of the leaders of the popular party. In 1776, he was appointed minister

to France, in conjunction with Dr. Franklin and Mr. Deane, and assisted

in negotiating the treaty with that nation. In 1779, in consequence of

the false accusations of Mr. Deane, complaints of his political conduct

were freely circulated at home, and in the following year, he resigned

his appointments and returned. In 1781, he was elected to the assembly

of Virginia, and by this body returned to congress, where he continued

to represent the state till 1785. In 1784, he was employed to arrange a

treaty with the six Indian nations. He was next called to the board of

treasury, where he continued till 1789, when he went into retirement.

He died in 1792.

LEE, CHARLES, a major-general in the army of the revolution, was

born in North Wales, and entered the army while very young. He served

at an early age in America, and afterwards distinguished himself under

general Burgoyne, in Portugal. He subsequently entered the Polish

service, wandered all over Europe, killed an Italian officer in a duel,

and in 1773, sailed for New York. Espousing the cause of the colonies,

he received a commission from congress in 1775, with the rank of

major-general. In 1776, he was invested with the command at New York,

and afterwards with the chief command in the southern department.

In December, 1776, he was made prisoner by the English, as he lay

carelessly guarded at a considerable distance from the main body of

the army in New Jersey. He was kept prisoner till the surrender of

Burgoyne, in 1777, and treated in a manner unworthy of a generous

enemy. In 1778, he was arraigned before a court martial, in consequence

of his misconduct at the battle of Monmouth, and was suspended from any

commission in the army of the United States for one year. He retired

to a hovel in Virginia, living in entire seclusion, surrounded by his

books and his dogs. In 1782, he went to reside at Philadelphia, where

he died in obscurity, in October of the same year. He was a man of

much energy and courage, with considerable literary attainments, but

morose and avaricious. He published essays on military, literary, and

political subjects, which, with his extensive correspondence, were

collected in a volume, in 1792. The authorship of the Letters of Junius

has been ascribed to him.

LEE, HENRY, a distinguished officer in the revolutionary army, was born

in Virginia, in 1756, and was graduated at the college in Princeton. In

1776, he was a captain of one of the six companies of cavalry, raised

by Virginia, and afterwards incorporated into one regiment, and in 1777,

added to the main body of the provincials. At the battle of Germantown,

Lee was selected with his company to attend Washington as his bodyguard.

In 1780, being raised to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, he was sent

with his legion to the army of the south, under general Greene, and

continued with it till the end of the war. He distinguished himself

at the battle of Eutaw springs, and in the ensuing October was sent on

a special commission to the commander-in-chief, then employed in the

siege of Yorktown. In 1786, he was appointed a delegate to congress,

from the state of Virginia, and remained in that body till the adoption

of the present constitution. He was a member of the state convention

which ratified that instrument, and in 1792, he was raised to the chair

of governor of Virginia. In 1799, he was again a member of congress,

and while there selected to pronounce a funeral oration on the death of

Washington. The latter years of his life were embarrassed by want, and

it was while confined for debt in the limits of Spottsylvania county,

that he prepared for publication his excellent Memoirs of the Southern

Campaign. He was severely wounded during the riot in Baltimore, in 1814,

and his health rapidly declined. He died on Cumberland island, Georgia,

in 1818.

LEE, FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT, a signer of the declaration of independence,

was born in Virginia, in 1734. He inherited a large fortune, and in

1765, became a member of the house of burgesses of his native state,

and continued in that body till 1775, when he was chosen a member of

the continental congress. He remained in this assembly till 1779, when

he entered the legislature of his native state. He died in 1797.

LEE, RICHARD HENRY, an eminent patriot, and signer of the declaration

of independence, was born in Virginia, in 1732, and received his

education in England. He returned to his native country when in

his nineteenth year, and devoted himself to the general study of

history, politics, law, and polite literature, without engaging in

any particular profession. In his twenty-fifth year, he was chosen

a delegate to the house of burgesses, where he soon distinguished

himself by his powers in debate. In 1764, he was appointed to draught

an address to the king, and a memorial to the house of lords, which

are among the best state papers of the period. His efforts in resisting

the various encroachments of the British government were indefatigable,

and in 1774, he attended the first general congress at Philadelphia,

as a delegate from Virginia. He was a member of most of the important

committees of this body, and labored with unceasing vigilance and

energy. The memorial of congress to the people of British America,

and the second address of congress to the people of Great Britain,

were both from his pen. In June, 1776, he introduced the measure that

declared the colonies free and independent states, and supported it by

a speech of the most brilliant eloquence. He continued to hold a seat

in congress till June, 1777, when he solicited leave of absence, on

account of the delicate state of his health. In August of the next year,

he was again elected to congress, and continued in that body till 1780,

when he declined a re-election till 1784. In that year he was chosen

president of congress, but retired at the close of it, and in 1786, was

again chosen a member of the Virginia assembly. He was a member of the

convention which adopted the present constitution of the United States,

and one of the first senators under it. In 1792, he again retired from

public life, and died in 1794.

LEWIS, MERIWETHER, a celebrated explorer, was born in Virginia, in 1774,

and, after receiving a good school education, engaged in agriculture.

When general Washington called out a body of militia in consequence

of the discontent produced by the excise taxes, young Lewis entered

as a volunteer, and from that situation was removed to the regular

service. In 1803, he was sent by president Jefferson on an exploring

expedition to the north-western part of our continent; and of this

expedition, which was completed in about three years, and in which

he was accompanied by Mr. Clarke, a highly interesting account was

afterwards published. Lewis was subsequently appointed governor of the

Louisiana territory. He put an end to his own life in 1809. He was a

man of energy, perseverance, and of a sound understanding.

LINCOLN, BENJAMIN, a major-general in the revolutionary army, was

born in Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1733, and until the age of forty

years was engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. At the commencement

of the revolution, he was elected a member of the provincial congress,

in 1776, received the commission of major-general, and employed himself

vigorously to improve the discipline of the militia. He was second

in command in the army which compelled the surrender of Burgoyne. On

the day after the battle of Stillwater, he received a dangerous wound

in his leg, and was confined for several months by its effects. In

the following year, he was appointed to the command of the southern

department, and while in this post he attempted the defence of

Charleston, but was compelled to capitulate in May, 1780. He was

exchanged in November, and in the spring following joined the army

on the North river. At the siege of Yorktown he commanded a central

division, and shared largely in the dangers and honors of the day. In

1781, he was appointed secretary of the war department, and afterwards

on several occasions commissioner to treat with the Indians. On the

establishment of peace, he returned to his native state, and in 1787,

was appointed to command the troops employed in the suppression of the

insurgents in Massachusetts. In 1788, he was chosen lieutenant governor,

and in the following year he was a member of the convention which

ratified the constitution of the United States. He died in 1810. He

was the author of several published letters and essays; a member of the

American Academy of the Arts and Sciences; and president of the society

of Cincinnati of Massachusetts.

LIVINGSTON, ROBERT R., a celebrated statesman and lawyer, was born

in New York, and was educated at King’s college. He engaged in the

profession of the law, and was elected to the first general congress

of the colonies, where he was one of the committee appointed to prepare

the declaration of independence. In 1780, he was appointed secretary of

foreign affairs, and at the adoption of the constitution at New York,

chancellor of that state. This last office he held till 1801, when he

was sent minister plenipotentiary to France. It was in Paris that he

formed a personal friendship with Robert Fulton, whom he materially

assisted. In 1805, he returned to the United States, and devoted the

remainder of his life to the promotion of agriculture and the arts. He

died in 1813.

LOWELL, JOHN, an eminent lawyer, was born at Newbury, in 1744, and was

educated at Harvard college. He studied law, and rising to reputation,

in 1761, he removed to Boston, and soon distinguished himself by his

political knowledge and eloquence. In 1781, he was elected a member

of congress, and on the establishment of the federal government, was

appointed a judge of the circuit court of the United States. In these

situations he was much respected for his legal knowledge and dignity.

He died in 1802.

LOWNDES, WILLIAM, a celebrated statesman, was a native of South

Carolina, and was for many years a distinguished member of congress.

His mind was vigorous, comprehensive, and logical; and his disposition

eminently kind, frank, and generous. He was in a high degree ardent and

patriotic. He entered congress in 1812, and retained his seat for about

ten years, when ill health compelled him to resign. In 1818, he was

chairman of the committee of ways and means. He died at sea, in October,

1822, at the age of forty-two. It was said of him in the house, by

Mr. Taylor of New York, that ‘the highest and best hopes of the country

looked to William Lowndes for their fulfilment. The most honorable

office in the civilized world, the chief magistracy of this free people,

would have been illustrated by his virtues and talents.’

M’KEAN, THOMAS, an eminent judge, and a signer of the declaration of

independence, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1734, and, after a course of

academic and professional studies, was admitted to the bar at the age

of twenty-one years. His political career commenced in 1762, when he

was returned a member of the assembly from the county of Newcastle.

He was a member of the congress which assembled in New York, in 1765,

to obtain relief of the British government for the grievances under

which the colonies were suffering. In this body he behaved with much

decision and energy. In 1774, he was appointed to the general congress,

a delegate from the lower counties in Delaware, and was the only man

who, without intermission, was a member during the whole period. Of

this body he was president in 1781. In 1777, he was appointed chief

justice of Pennsylvania, and discharged the duties of this office with

impartiality and dignity, for twenty-two years. In 1799, he was elected

governor of the state of Pennsylvania, and his administration continued

for nine years. In 1808, he retired from public life, and died, much

respected and honored, in 1817.

MARION, FRANCIS, a distinguished officer of the revolutionary army,

was born in South Carolina, in 1732, and first served in 1761, as a

lieutenant against the Cherokees. Soon after the commencement of the

revolution, he received a major’s commission, and in 1780, he obtained

that of brigadier-general. He continually surprised and captured

parties of the British and the royalists, by the secrecy and rapidity

of his movements. On the evacuation of Charleston, he retired to his

plantation, where he died in 1795. He was bold, generous, and severe

in his discipline.

MASON, GEORGE, a statesman, was a member of the general convention,

which, in 1787, framed the constitution of the United States, but

refused to sign his name as one of that body to the instrument which

they had produced. In the following year, he was a member of the

Virginia convention, to consider the proposed plan of federal

government. In union with Henry, he opposed its adoption with great

energy, and is the author of one of the articles inserted among the

amendments of that instrument. So averse was he to the section which

allowed the slave-trade for twenty years, that he declared his vote

should be cast against the admission of the southern states into the

Union, unless they would agree to discontinue the traffic. He died at

his seat in Virginia, in the autumn of 1792, at the age of sixty-seven.

MASON, JOHN MITCHELL, a divine and pulpit orator, was born in the

city of New York, in 1770, and after graduating at Columbia college,

prepared himself for the sacred ministry. His theological studies

were completed in Europe. In 1792, he returned to New York, and was

established in the ministry at that place till 1811, when he accepted

the appointment of provost in Columbia college. This situation his

ill health obliged him to resign, and he visited Europe to repair his

constitution. On his return, in 1817, he again resumed his labors in

preaching, and in 1821, undertook the charge of Dickinson college, in

Pennsylvania. In 1824, he returned to New York, and died in 1829. He

was the author of Letters on Frequent Communion; A Plea for Sacramental

Communion on Catholic Principles; and a number of essays, reviews,

orations, and sermons, published at different times.

MATHER, INCREASE, a learned divine, was born at Dorchester, in 1639,

was educated to the ministry, and was settled in the North church,

Boston, in 1664. He continued there for sixty-two years, discharging

the duties of his sacred office with zeal and ability. In 1685, he was

appointed to the presidency of Harvard college, which he resigned in

1701. He died in 1723. He was an indefatigable student, and published

a variety of works on religion, politics, history, and philosophy.

MATHER, COTTON, a celebrated divine, son of the preceding, was born

in February, 1663, and was educated for the profession of theology.

In 1684, he was ordained minister of the North church in Boston, as

colleague with his father. He died in 1728. His learning was marvellous,

but his taste was eccentric, and he was very pedantic and credulous.

His publications are 382 in number; the most celebrated of which is

Magnalia Christi Americani.

M’DONOUGH, THOMAS, a distinguished naval officer, was born in Newcastle

county, Delaware, and after his father’s death in 1796, he obtained a

midshipman’s warrant, and went out with our fleet to the Mediterranean.

In 1812, at the age of twenty-seven, he commanded the American forces

on lake Champlain. In the battle of September 11, 1814, after an

action of two hours and twenty minutes, he obtained a complete victory,

which he announced to the war department in the following terms:――‘The

Almighty has been pleased to grant us a signal victory on lake

Champlain, in the capture of one frigate, one brig, and two sloops of

war of the enemy.’ The state of New York gave him a thousand acres of

land on the bay in which the battle was fought. He died in November,

1825, at about the age of thirty-nine years.

MIDDLETON, ARTHUR, a signer of the declaration of independence, was

born in South Carolina, in 1743, and received his education in Europe.

Soon after his return home, he began to take an active part in the

revolutionary movements, and in 1776, was chosen one of the delegates

from his native state to the American congress. At the close of the

year 1777, he resigned his seat, leaving behind a character for the

purest patriotism and unwavering resolution. In the year 1779, many

of the southern plantations were ravaged, and that of Mr. Middleton

did not escape. On the surrender of Charleston, he was taken prisoner,

and kept in confinement for nearly a year. In 1781, he was appointed

a representative to congress, and again in 1782. In the latter year he

went into retirement, and died in 1787.

MONROE, JAMES, was born in Virginia, in 1759, and was educated in

William and Mary college. He entered the revolutionary war, in 1776, as

a cadet, was at the battles of Haerlem Heights and White Plains, and in

the attack on Trenton, and rose through the rank of lieutenant to that

of captain. He was present at the battles of Brandywine, Germantown,

and Monmouth, as aid to lord Sterling. Resuming the study of the law,

he entered the office of Mr. Jefferson, and after being a member of the

assembly of Virginia and the council, he was elected, in 1783, a member

of the old congress. In 1790, he was elected a member of the senate of

the United States, in 1794, went as minister plenipotentiary to France,

and in 1799, was appointed governor of Virginia. In 1803, he was

appointed minister extraordinary to France, in the same year minister

to London, and in the next minister to Spain. In 1806, he was again

appointed, in conjunction with Mr. William Pinkney, minister to London.

He was subsequently governor of Virginia; in 1811, was appointed

secretary of state, and continued to exercise the duties of this

department, and for some time those of the department of war till 1817.

In that year he was chosen president of the Union, and in 1821, was

re-elected by a vote unanimous, with the single exception of one vote

in New Hampshire. He died in New York, on the fourth of July, 1831.

MONTGOMERY, RICHARD, a major-general in the army of the revolution,

was born in Ireland, in 1737. He entered the British army, and fought

with Wolfe at the siege of Quebec, in 1759. He subsequently left the

army and settled in New York. Joining the cause of the colonies, he

was appointed a general in the northern army, and fell at the assault

on Quebec, in 1775. By a vote of congress, a monument of white marble,

with emblematical devices, was executed by Mr. Cassiers, at Paris, and

is erected to his memory in front of St. Paul’s church, New York. His

remains, in pursuance of a resolve of the New York legislature, were

disinterred by his nephew, colonel Livingston, in June, 1818, the place

of their burial having been pointed out by an old soldier, who attended

their burial forty-two years before. They were removed to New York,

and again interred in St. Paul’s church, with the highest civil and

military honors. His widow was then living.

MORGAN, DANIEL, a distinguished officer in the army of the American

revolution, was born in New Jersey, and removed to Virginia in 1755.

He enlisted in Braddock’s expedition as a private soldier, and on the

defeat of that general, returned to his occupation as a farmer. At

the commencement of the revolution he was appointed to the command

of a troop of horse, and joined the army under Washington, then in

the neighborhood of Boston. He distinguished himself very much in

the expedition against Quebec, where he fell into the hands of the

enemy. On the exchange of prisoners, he rejoined the American army,

was appointed to the command of a select rifle corps, and detached to

assist general Gates on the northern frontier, where he contributed

materially to the capture of general Burgoyne. After a short

retirement from service, on account of ill health, he was appointed

brigadier-general by brevet, and commanded the force by which colonel

Tarleton was routed at the battle of Cowpens. He soon after resigned

his commission. In 1794, he commanded the militia of Virginia called

out to suppress the insurrection in Pennsylvania, and continued in the

service till 1795. He afterwards was elected to a seat in congress. He

died in 1799.

MORRIS, GOUVERNEUR, an eminent statesman and orator, was born at

Morrisania, near the city of New York, in 1752, was graduated at King’s

college in 1768, and licensed to practice law in 1771. In 1775, he was

a member of the provincial congress of New York, and was one of the

committee which drafted a constitution for the state of New York. In

1777, he was chosen a delegate to the continental congress, and in

the following year wrote the celebrated Observations on the American

Revolution. In 1781, he accepted the post of assistant superintendent

of finance, as colleague of Robert Morris; and in 1787, was a member

of the convention which framed the constitution of the United States.

In 1792, he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to France, and held

this station till his recall by the request of the French government,

in 1794. In 1800, he was elected a senator in congress from the state

of New York, and in this body was very conspicuous for his political

information and his brilliant eloquence. Many of his speeches in

congress and orations have been published; and a selection from his

correspondence and other valuable papers, with a biographical sketch,

by Mr. Jared Sparks, was issued in 1832.

MORRIS, LEWIS, a signer of the declaration of independence, was born

at the manor of Morrisania, near the city of New York, in 1726. He

was educated at Yale college, and took an early part in the cause of

the colonies. In 1775, he was elected a delegate to the continental

congress, and while in this body served on several of the most

important committees. His rich estates were laid waste by the British

army in 1776. He left congress in 1777, and died in 1798. Three of his

sons served with distinction in the revolutionary army.

MORRIS, ROBERT, a celebrated financier, was a native of England,

removed with his father to America, at an early age, and subsequently

established himself as a merchant in Philadelphia. In 1775, he

was appointed a delegate to congress, and signed the declaration

of independence in the following year. In 1781, he was appointed

superintendent of finance, and rendered incalculable service by his

wealth and credit during the exhausted state of our public funds.

It has been said, and with much truth, that ‘the Americans owed, and

still owe, as much acknowledgment to the financial operations of Robert

Morris, as to the negotiations of Benjamin Franklin, or even to the

arms of George Washington.’ He was a member of the convention which

framed the constitution of the United States in 1787, and afterwards

a senator in congress. In his old age he lost his ample fortune, by

unfortunate land speculations, and passed the last years of his life

confined in prison for debt. He died in 1806.

MOULTRIE, WILLIAM, a major-general in the army of the revolution, was

born in England, but emigrated to South Carolina at an early age. He

served with distinction in the Cherokee war, in 1760, and in its last

campaign commanded a company. At the commencement of the revolution,

he was a member of the provincial congress, and a colonel of the

second regiment of South Carolina. For his brave defence of Sullivan’s

island, in 1776, he received the thanks of congress, and the fort

was afterwards called by his name. In 1779, he gained a victory over

the British at Beaufort. He afterwards received the commission of

major-general, and was second in command to general Lincoln at the

siege of Charleston. After the close of the war, he was repeatedly

elected governor of South Carolina. He published Memoirs of the

Revolution in the Carolinas and Georgia, consisting chiefly of official

letters. He died at Charleston, in 1805.

MURRAY, ALEXANDER, a distinguished naval officer, was born in Maryland,

in 1755. He went early to sea, and being appointed a lieutenant in

the navy, obtained a correspondent rank in the army, and distinguished

himself at the battles of White Plains, Flatbush, and New York. Being

promoted to a captaincy, he served with gallantry to the close of the

campaign of 1777. During the war he was engaged in thirteen battles

by sea and land, and was once taken prisoner. On the organization of

the new government, he was one of the first officers recalled into

service, and was engaged for a while to defend the American trade in

the Mediterranean. His last appointment was that of commander of the

navy-yard in Philadelphia, a post which he held till the time of his

death, in 1821. He was a brave officer and much respected.

MURRAY, WILLIAM VANS, an American statesman, was born in Maryland,

in 1761, and received his legal education in London. On returning to

his native state, he engaged in the practice of law, and in 1791 was

elected to a seat in congress, where he distinguished himself by his

ability and eloquence. He was appointed by Washington minister to the

republic of Batavia, and discharged the duties of the office with much

ability. He was subsequently envoy extraordinary to the French republic,

and assisted in making the convention which was signed at Paris in 1800,

between France and the United States. Returning to his station at the

Hague, he embarked in 1801 for his native country, where he died in

1803.

OTIS, JAMES, a distinguished statesman, was born at West Barnstable,

Massachusetts, in 1725, and was graduated at Harvard college in 1743.

He pursued the profession of the law, and establishing himself in

Boston, soon rose to eminence. His public career may be said to have

opened with his celebrated speech against writs of assistance. At the

next election he was chosen a representative to the legislature, and

soon became the leader of the popular party. In 1765, he was a member

of the congress which assembled at New York. In 1769, he was severely

wounded in an assault committed upon him by some British officers; from

one of whom he recovered large damages, which he remitted on receiving

a written apology. In 1772, he retired from public life, and in May of

the following year was killed by a stroke of lightning. He was a good

scholar, a learned and able lawyer, a bold and commanding orator, and

possessed infinite powers of humor and wit.

PAINE, ROBERT TREAT, an eminent lawyer, and a signer of the declaration

of American independence, was born at Boston, in 1731, and was

graduated at Harvard college in 1749. After a visit to Europe of some

years, he commenced the study of the law, and about 1759, settled in

its practice in Taunton. He took an early and active interest in public

affairs, and in 1774, was appointed a delegate from Massachusetts

to the general congress. He was a member of the committee of the

convention that drafted the constitution of his native state. Under

the government that was organized he was appointed attorney-general,

and held this office till 1790, when he was appointed a judge of the

supreme court. He remained on the bench till 1804. He died at Boston,

in 1814. His legal attainments and his general acquirements were

extensive, and he was a man of much brilliancy of wit.

PAINE, ROBERT TREAT, a poet, son of the preceding, was born at Taunton,

in 1773, and graduated at Harvard college in 1792. On leaving college

he was placed in a counting-house, but soon turned his attention to

literature and theatricals, and published several orations and poems.

His poems were very popular and profitable, and by the sale of the song

of Adams and Liberty, he received the sum of seven hundred and fifty

dollars. In 1800, he began the practice of law, but failed of success

from the want of industry, and passed the close of his life in poverty.

He died in 1811. His works have been collected and published in one

volume 8vo, prefaced by a biographical sketch.