Encyclopedia of Civil War Military Biography – Boa-Byr
BOARMAN, Charles, naval officer, born in Maryland; died in Martinsburg, W. Virginia, 13 September, 1879. He was appointed a midshipman from the District of Columbia, and, after attending the naval school at the U.S. Navy-yard in Washington, he was ordered to the sloop “Erie,” and then attached, during the war of 1812, to the brig “Jefferson” on Lake Ontario. He was commissioned as lieutenant, 15 March, 1817; as commander, 9 February, 1837; as captain, 29 March, 1844, commanding the flag-ship “Brandywine” in the Brazil Squadron from 1844 till 1850, and the U.S. Navy-yard at Brooklyn from commodore on 4 April, 1867, and made a rear-admiral on the retired list, 15 August, 1876. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 299.
BOGGS, Charles Stuart, naval officer, born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, 28 January, 1810. He is a nephew of Captain James Lawrence, and entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman on 1 March, 1826. He was promoted a lieutenant 6 September, 1837, was in the “Princeton,” of Commodore Conner's squadron, during the Mexican War, was present at the siege of Vera Cruz, and commanded the boat expedition that destroyed the “Truxtun" after her surrender to the Mexicans. He was promoted commander, 14 September, 1855, and assigned to the U.S. mail steamer “Illinois,” which he commanded three years. He then became light-house inspector for California, Oregon, and Washington territory. In 1861 he was ordered to the gun-boat “Varuna,” of Farragut's gulf squadron. In the attack on Forts St. Philip and Jackson, in April, 1862, he destroyed six of the Confederate gun-boats, but finally lost his own vessel, which steamed ahead of the fleet and engaged the Confederate Squadron above the forts. She was attacked by two rams and run into the banks of the river and there sank, causing, however, the destruction of her antagonists, which were both burned. He returned to Washington as bearer of despatches, and was ordered to the command of the new sloop-of-war “Juniata.” He was promoted to the rank of captain on 16 July, 1862, and was made a commodore, 25 July, 1866. He commanded the steamer “De Soto,” of the North Atlantic Squadron, in 1867-'8. In 1869-'70 he was assigned to special duty, and prepared a report on the condition of steam-engines afloat. On 1 July, 1870, he received promotion to the rank of rear-admiral, and was appointed light-house inspector of the 3d District. He was placed on the retired list in 1873. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 302.
BOHLEN, Henry, soldier, born in Bremen, Germany, 22 October, 1810; killed near Rappahannock Station, Virginia, 22 August, 1862. He came to the United States when young, and settled as a liquor merchant in Philadelphia, acquiring wealth in that trade. In 1861 he became colonel of the 75th Pennsylvania (German) Volunteers, and was attached to General Blenker's command, was made brigadier-general of volunteers, 28 April, 1862, and served under Frémont in western Virginia, distinguished himself at the battle of Cross Keys, 8 June, when General Frémont attacked “Stonewall Jackson" and drove him from a strong position beyond Harrisonburg. He was also specially commended for his services in the Shenandoah valley under General Sigel. He covered the retreat of the Army of Virginia across the Rappahannock, and fell while directing the movements of his brigade in a skirmish near that river. He led his brigade across the river to attack a detachment of Longstreet's division, but was assailed by superior numbers, and re-crossed under cover of the batteries. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 302.
BOLLES, John A., lawyer, born in Eastford, Connecticut, 16 April, 1809; died in Washington, D.C., 25 May, 1878. He was graduated at Brown in 1829, admitted to the bar in Boston in 1833, and in 1843 chosen Secretary of State under Governor Marcus Morton. He was a member of the harbor and back bay commission in 1852. From 1862 till 1865 he served as judge-advocate on the staff of General John A. Dix, who was his brother-in-law. He was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers in 1865, and appointed naval solicitor the same year. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 308.
BOMFORD, George, military officer, born in New York in 1780; died in Boston, Massachusetts, 25 March, 1848. He entered West Point from New York, was graduated in 1805, and became lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. He served as assistant engineer on the fortifications of New York Harbor in 1805–’8, being promoted first lieutenant, 30 October, 1806, then on the defences of Chesapeake Bay from 1808 till 1810, and as superintending engineer of the works on Governor's Island from 1810 till 1812. During the war of 1812–5 with Great Britain he served in the Ordnance Department, with the rank of major on the staff, was appointed assistant commissary-general of ordnance, 18 June, 1812, and attached to the Corps of Engineers, 6 July, 1812. He introduced bomb cannons, made on a pattern of his own invention, which were called columbiads, a form of heavy combining the qualities of gun, howitzer, and mortar. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel, 9 February, 1815, and was continued on ordnance duty, though attached to the artillery after the reorganization of the army in 1821. On the organization of the Ordnance Corps he was promoted colonel, and appointed chief of ordnance, 30 May, 1832. He was in command of the Ordnance Corps and bureau at Washington until 1 February, 1842, when he became inspector of arsenals, ordnance, arms, and munitions of war, in which duty he continued until his death. The cannons invented by him were further developed by Dahlgrén, but were superseded by the Rodman type about the beginning of the Civil War. In July, 1841, he conducted experiments to ascertain the expansive force of powder in a gun by firing bullets through tubes inserted in the sides. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 308.
BOMFORD, James V., soldier, born on Governor's Island, New York Harbor, 5 October, 1811, was graduated at West Point in 1832, and served as first lieutenant in the military occupation of Texas, and as captain in the war with Mexico. He was engaged in the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, and Monterey, the siege of Vera Cruz, the battle of Cerro Gordo, the capture of San Antonio, and the battle of Churubusco, receiving the brevet of major, 20 August, 1847, for gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco. He was brevetted lieutenant-colonel for gallant and meritorious conduct at the battle of Molino del Rey, distinguished himself at the storming of Chapultepec, and was resent at the capture of Mexico. Serving on frontier duty in Texas at the beginning of the Civil War, he was promoted major, 17 October, 1860, and was prisoner of war from 9 May, 1861, till 9 April, 1862. On 10 January, 1862, he was made a lieutenant-colonel, and, after his return to his regiment, was engaged in the movements of General Buell's army in Alabama and Kentucky. At the battle of Perryville he served as chief of staff to General McCook, and received the brevet of colonel for meritorious services in that action. He was retired from active service 8 June, 1872. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 309.
BONHAM, Millege L., soldier, born in South Carolina, 6 May, 1815. He was graduated at the University of South Carolina in 1834, admitted to the bar at Columbia in 1837, and settled and began practice in Edgefield. In the Mexican War he commanded a battalion of South Carolina Volunteers. From 1848 till 1850 he was state solicitor for the southern circuit, in 1856 elected to Congress as a state-rights Democrat, and in 1858 reelected. On 21 December, 1860, he left Congress with the other members of the South Carolina delegation. He was a commissioner from South Carolina to Mississippi, and detailed as major-general to command the South Carolina troops. He entered the Confederate Army with the rank of brigadier-general, and commanded a brigade at the battles of Blackburn's Ford and Bull Run. He was then elected a representative from South Carolina in the Confederate Congress, and served until he was elected governor of that state for the term 1862-'4. In 1864 he returned to the Confederate Army, and served until the close of the war. He was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention held in New York in 1868. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 313.
BONNEVILLE, Benjamin L. E., explorer, born in France about 1795; died at Fort Smith, Arkansas, 12 June, 1878. He was appointed to West Point from New York, was graduated in 1815, became lieutenant of artillery, and in 1820 was engaged in the construction of a military road through Mississippi. He became a captain of infantry in 1825, and in 1831-6 engaged in explorations in the Rocky Mountains and in California. His journal was edited and amplified by Washington Irving, and published under the title of “Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U.S.A., in the Rocky Mountains and the Far West” (Philadelphia, 1837). He was promoted major, 15 July, 1845, and fought through the Mexican War, taking part in the march through Chihuahua, in the siege of Vera Cruz, the battle of Cerro Gordo, the capture of San Antonio, the battle of Churubusco, where he was wounded, the battle of Molino del Rey, the storming of Chapultepec, and the assault and capture of the city of Mexico. For gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco he was brevet lieutenant-colonel. He was promoted to the full rank of lieutenant-colonel on 7 May, 1849, and to the grade of colonel on 3 February, 1855. He was commandant at Santa Fé in 1856–7, commanded the Gila Expedition in 1857, resumed command of the Department of New Mexico in 1858, and on 9 September, 1861, was retired from active service for disability. During the Civil War he served as superintendent of recruiting in Missouri, and from 1862 till 1865 as commandant of Benton barracks in St. Louis. On 13 March, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general for long and faithful services. At the time of his death he was the oldest officer on the retired list. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 314.
BOOMER, George Boardman, soldier, born in Sutton, Massachusetts, 26 July, 1832; killed at Vicksburg, Mississippi, 22 May, 1863. He moved to St. Louis at an early age and became a bridge-builder. The town of Osage Rock, on Osage River, was laid out and partly built by him. He was present, as colonel of the 22d Missouri Volunteers, at the surrender of Island No. 10, and distinguished himself at the battle of Iuka, where he was severely wounded. He commanded the second Brigade of General Quinby's division of MacPherson's Corps at the battle of Champion Hills with conspicuous gallantry, and was recommended for promotion. While leading his brigade in an assault upon the works on the east side of the city of Vicksburg he was killed by a sharp-shooter. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 315.
BORDEN, Enoch R., journalist, born in 1823; died in Trenton, New Jersey, 16 May, 1870. For twenty years before his death he was editor of the “Daily State Gazette,” except while serving as aide-de-camp to General Newell and as Secretary to the New Jersey State Senate in 1865–’6. Under the administration of President Fillmore he held an appointment in the public document '' and afterward in the pension agency at Washington. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 321.
BORLAND, Solon, senator, born in Virginia; died in Texas, 31 January, 1864. He was educated in North Carolina, studied medicine, and settled as a physician in Little Rock, Ark. He served in the Mexican War as major in Yell's cavalry, and was taken prisoner with Major Gaines in January, 1847. He was discharged when his troop was disbanded in June of that year, but continued in the service as volunteer aide-de-camp to General Worth during the remainder of the campaign from the battle of El Molino to the capture of the city of Mexico on 14 September, 1847. After his return to Arkansas, Mr. Borland was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Ambrose H. Sevier, and subsequently elected by the legislature to serve through Mr. Sevier's unexpired term. After serving in the Senate from 24 April, 1848, till 3 March, 1853, he was appointed minister to Nicaragua, being also accredited to Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and Salvador. He received his credentials, 18 April, 1853, and remained in Nicaragua till 17 April, 1854, when he returned home, and on 30 June resigned. At San Juan de Nicaragua, when he was returning to the United States, the authorities of the town attempted to arrest him in May, 1854, for interfering to prevent the arrest of a person charged with murder at Puntas Arenas. He took refuge in a hotel, and while he was engaged in protesting against arrest a man in the # threw a glass bottle and struck the envoy. This insult was the chief ground for the bombardment and destruction of Greytown, or San Juan de Nicaragua, by the sloop-of-war “Cyane,” under Commander Hollins, on 13 July, 1854, under instructions from the U. S. Government. President Pierce offered the post of governor of New Mexico to Mr. Borland after his return, but he declined the appointment and remained at Little Rock in the practice of his profession, taking no part in politics except occasionally to declare himself an adherent of the state-rights doctrines. In the spring of 1861, before the Ordinance of Secession, which was passed 6 May, he organized a body of troops, and, under the direction of Governor Rector, on 24 April at midnight, took possession of the buildings at Fort Smith an hour after the withdrawal of Captain Sturgis with the garrison. He raised the 3d Arkansas Confederate Cavalry and became colonel of that regiment, and was after-ward a brigadier-general in the same service. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 322.
BOWEN, James, soldier, born in New York City in 1808; died in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, 29 September, 1886. His father, a successful merchant, left him an ample fortune. He was the first president of the Erie Railway, and held that office for several years. He was a member of the legislature in 1848 and 1849, and president of the first board of police commissioners under the law of 1855, establishing the present metropolitan police force. At the beginning of the Civil War he raised six or seven regiments, which were formed into a brigade, and took command of them, receiving his commission as brigadier-general of volunteers, 11 October, 1862. After General Butler had left New Orleans, General Bowen went there, and served as provost-marshal general of the Department of the Gulf. He resigned on 27 July, 1864, and on 13 March, 1865, was brevetted major-general of volunteers. His last public office was that of commissioner of charities, to which he was appointed by Mayor Havemeyer, and continued to most acceptably for many years. General Bowen was a member of the Union club, and of the Kent club, where he was an associate of Moses H. Grinnell, Richard M. Blatchford, James Watson Webb, and Thurlow Weed, and was valued for his sound views on literature. These gentlemen were all intimate friends of Daniel Webster. It is related that while Mr. Webster was Secretary of State, General Bowen, at one of his dinners, said: “I want you to do me a favor, Mr. Webster,” to which Webster replied, “To the half of my kingdom.” General Bowen was also an intimate friend of William H. Seward, and a pall-bearer at his funeral. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 336.
BOWEN, John S., soldier, born in Georgia in 1829; died in Raymond, Mississippi, 13 July, 1863. He was graduated at West Point in 1853, and became lieutenant of mounted rifles, serving at the Carlisle, Pennsylvania, cavalry school, and on the frontier. On 1 May, 1856, he resigned and became an architect in Savannah, Georgia, where he was also lieutenant colonel of state militia. He moved his office to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1857, where he was captain in the Missouri militia from 1859 till 1861. He was adjutant to General Frost during the expedition to the border in search of Montgomery, and, when the Civil War began, commanded the second regiment of Frost's brigade. He was acting chief of staff to General Frost when Camp Jackson was captured by General Lyon, and afterward, disregarding his parole, raised at Memphis the 1st Missouri Infantry. He was severely wounded at the battle of Shiloh, where he commanded a brigade in Breckinridge's corps, and stubbornly resisted Grant's advance near Port Gibson in May, 1863. He was in all the battles around Vicksburg, and took a prominent part in the negotiations for its surrender, and his death is said to have been hastened by mortification at that event. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 336.
BOWEN, Thomas M., senator, born in Iowa, near the present site of Burlington, 26 October, 1835. He was admitted to the bar at the age of eighteen, and began practice in Wayne County, where he was elected to the legislature in 1856. In 1858 he moved to Kansas. In June, 1861, he joined the volunteer army as captain, and subsequently he raised the 13th Kansas Infantry and commanded it until the end of the war, receiving the brevet of brigadier general, and having command of a brigade during the last two years of hostilities on the frontier, an afterward with the 7th Army Corps. He was a delegate from Kansas to the National Republican Convention of 1864. After the war he settled in Arkansas and was president of the constitutional convention of that state, and for four years a justice of the state supreme court. In 1871 he accepted the appointment of governor of Idaho territory, but resigned, returned to Arkansas, and was a candidate for U.S. Senator in opposition to S. W. Dorsey, of the same party, who defeated him in an open contest before the legislature. In January, 1870, he moved to Colorado, and resumed the practice of the law. When the state government was organized in 1876, he was elected a district judge, and was four years on the bench. He afterward engaged largely in mining operations. In 1882 he was elected to the state legislature, and served as chairman of the Committee of ways and means, until he was elected to the U. S. Senate, where he took his seat on 3 December, 1883. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 337.
BOWERS, Theodore S., soldier, born in Pennsylvania, 10 October, 1832; killed at Garrison's Station, New York, 6 March, 1866. When very young he moved to Mount Carmel, Illinois, and there learned the printer's trade. When the Civil War began he was editor of the “Register,” a local democratic journal. After the defeat of the national forces in the first battle of Bull Run, he raised a company of volunteers for the 48th Illinois Infantry, declined its captaincy because of the taunts of his former political associates, and went to the front as a private. He was soon sent home on recruiting service, and on his return to his regiment was detailed as a clerical assistant at Brig.-General Grant's headquarters (25 January, 1862). In this capacity he went through the campaigns of Forts Henry and Donelson. He was again offered the captaincy of his old company, but declined on the ground that the first lieutenant deserved the place. He was, however, commissioned first lieutenant, 24 March, 1862, and on 26 April following was detached as aide-de-camp to General Grant, acted as Major Rawlins's assistant in the adjutant's office. On 1 November, 1862, he received the regular staff appointment of captain and aide-de-camp, and was left in charge of department headquarters while the army was absent on the Tallahatchie Expedition. The Confederates under Van Dorn seized the opportunity to make a raid to the rear of the federal advance, and captured the department headquarters at Holly Springs at early dawn of 20 December, 1862. Captain Bowers had but a few moments warning; but, acting with great presence of mind, he made a bonfire of all the department records, and when the raiders burst into his quarters everything of value to them was destroyed. Bowers refused to give his parole, and succeeded in making his escape the same evening. The officer commanding the rear-guard was severely censured by General Grant, while Captain Bowers was highly com£ and was presented with a sword in acknowledgment of his services. He was appointed judge advocate for the Department of Tennessee, with rank of major, 19 February, 1863. After the fall of Vicksburg he was assistant adjutant-general in place of Colonel Rawlins, promoted. His services had become so valuable that General Grant procured his appointment as ' and quartermaster on the regular staff (29 July, 1864), and assistant adjutant general, with the rank of major, U.S. Army, 6 January, 1865. His final promotions as brevet lieutenant colonel and colonel, U.S. Army, are dated 13 March, 1865. He was with General Grant in the field until the surrender of the Confederate forces, and was retained on his personal staff after the close of the war. He was instantly killed while attempting to board a moving train on the Hudson River Railroad. His military career is remarkable since he rose by sheer force of character, having no family influence or special training, from a private of volunteers to one of the highest staff appointments within the gift of the commanding general. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 337.
BOWMAN, Alexander Hamilton, soldier, born in Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, 15 May, 1803; died there, 11 November, 1865. He was a son of Captain Samuel Bowman, of the Massachusetts line, who served with distinction in the Revolutionary War. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1825, standing third in his class, was promoted to second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers, and became assistant professor of geography, history, and ethics. In 1826 he was appointed assistant engineer in the construction of the defences and in the improvement of harbors and rivers on the gulf of Mexico. He was ordered, in 1834, to superintend the construction of a military road from Memphis, Tennessee, into Arkansas, and further charged with improving the navigation of Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers until 1838. He was promoted first lieutenant, 21 January, 1835, and later was assigned to the charge of the fortifications for the defences of Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, where he remained until 1853. Meanwhile he had been made captain, 7 July, 1838. During 1851–2 he was at West Point as instructor of practical military engineering, and subsequently was chief engineer of the construction bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department, and was employed in locating and constructing custom-houses, post-offices, marine hospitals, and similar buildings. On 5 January, 1857, he was made major of engineers, and during the Civil War he was superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy, with the local rank of colonel, serving as such from 1 March, 1861, until 8 July, 1864. He then became a member of the naval and engineering commission for selecting sites for naval establishments on the western rivers, and from 20 June, 1865, until his death, was a member of the Board of Engineers to improve and preserve the New England sea-coast defences. His regular promotion as a lieutenant-colonel in the Corps of Engineers was received 3 March, 1863. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 339.
BOYD, Linn, statesman, born in Nashville, Tennessee, 28 November, 1800; died in Paducah, Kentucky, 16 December, 1859. While he was a boy his parents moved to Trig County, Kentucky, where he was brought up to work on the farm, and could only attend school in winter. At twenty-six years of age he had a farm of his own in Calloway County, and, notwithstanding his slender education, was elected to represent that county in the legislature for successive terms from 1827 till 1830. Returning to Trigg County, he was then sent to the legislature (1831–2). He was a Democrat in politics, and, after a defeat by a Whig candidate in 1833, was elected to Congress in 1835. He was defeated for the 25th Congress, but elected for the 26th, and from 1839 till 1855 regularly re-elected to the national House of Representatives. His native abilities soon made him prominent in the house, and he became chairman of the Committee on Territories, and on 31 December, 1851, was chosen Speaker, which office he held until 1855. He was lieutenant-governor of Kentucky for a year before with-drawing from political life, and when he finally retired it was with a high reputation for faithfulness in every public trust. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, pp. 340-341.
BOYD, Sempronius Hamilton, born 1828, lawyer, soldier. Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. Colonel, 24th Missouri Volunteers. (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. I, p. 341; Congressional Globe)
BOYD, Sempronius Hamilton, lawyer, born in Williamson County, Tennessee, 28 May, 1828. He received an academic education at Springfield, Missouri, after which he studied law. In 1855 he was admitted to the bar and practised in Springfield, where he became clerk, attorney, and twice mayor. During the Civil War he was colonel of the 24th Missouri Volunteers, a regiment which he raised, and which was known as the “Lyon Legion.” In 1863 he was elected as representative in Congress from Missouri. Afterward, resuming his profession, he was appointed judge of the 14th judicial circuit of Missouri. He was a delegate to the Baltimore Convention in 1864, and in 1868 elected to Congress, serving until 3 March, 1871. Since then he has spent a quiet life in Missouri, devoting his time partly to the practice of his profession and partly to stock-raising. The Springfield wagon factory and the first national bank of Springfield were founded by him. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 341.
BOYLE, Jeremiah Tilford, 1818-1871, lawyer, anti-slavery advocate, Union Army Brigadier General. Called for gradual emancipation of slaves as a delegate to the Kentucky State Constitutional Convention in 1849. (Warner, Ezra, Generals in Blue, 1964; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 342; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 1, Pt. 2, p. 532)
BOYLE, Jeremiah Tilford, soldier, born 22 May, 1818; died in Louisville, Kentucky, 28 July, 1871. He was graduated at Princeton in 1838, and, after qualifying himself for the law, he was admitted to the bar and began practice in Kentucky. When the slave-states seceded from the union, and Kentucky was in doubt which side to join, he declared in favor of the union, and was appointed a brigadier-general of U. S. volunteers, 9 November, 1861. After distinguished and patriotic services in organizing for defence against the Confederate invasion that was threatened from the south, he was appointed military governor of Kentucky, and retained that office from 1862 till 1864, when he resigned his commission. From 1864 till 1866 he was president of the Louisville City Railway Company, and from 1866 till his death was president of the Evansville, Henderson, and Nashville Railroad Company. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888. p. 342
BOYLE, John Alexander, soldier, born in Baltimore, Maryland, 13 May, 1816; died near Chattanooga, Tennessee, 29 October, 1863. He became a Methodist preacher in 1839, his station being in Philadelphia and vicinity, where he had received his education. After repeated and prolonged trials he was obliged to give up the ministry because of failing health. Removing to Elk County, Pennsylvania, he became a lawyer and afterward an editor. He volunteered in a Pennsylvania regiment at the beginning of the Civil War and soon rose to the rank of major, serving with zeal and honor in Virginia and Tennessee, and was killed in the battle of Wauhatchie. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 342.
BOYLE, Junius J., naval officer, born in Maryland about 1802; died in Norfolk, Virginia, 11 August, 1870. He was appointed midshipman in the U.S. Navy from the District of Columbia in 1823, cruised in the sloop-of-war “Peacock” in the Pacific in 1827, and midshipman in 1829. He was commissioned lieutenant, 21 June, 1832. After nine years of sea duty on board the frigates “Delaware” and “Congress,” most of the time in the Mediterranean, he served from 1843 till 1855 on different store-ships and in the schooner “Bonito” of the Home Squadron. He was commissioned commodore, 16 July, 1862, and was in command of the naval asylum at Philadelphia in 1863–’5. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 342.
BOYNTON, Edward Carlisle, soldier, born in Vermont about 1825. He was graduated at West Point in 1846, assigned to the 2d U.S. Artillery as brevet second lieutenant, and ordered at once to join the army in Mexico. He was with General Taylor at the front of the invading force, and participated in the siege of Vera Cruz and the battles of Contreras and Churubusco, in which last engagement he was severely wounded. He was promoted second lieutenant 16 February, and first lieutenant 20 August, 1847, and was brevetted captain at the same time. He was an instructor at West Point in 1848–'55. In 1855–6, he accompanied the expedition against the remnant of the Seminole Indians in Florida. He resigned 16 February, 1856, and accepted the professorship of chemistry in the University of Mississippi, which he held until dismissed in 1861 for “evincing a want of attachment to the government of the Confederate States.” He declined the colonelcy of a volunteer regiment, and was reappointed to the U.S. Army as captain in the 11th Infantry, 23 September, 1861. He was at once assigned to duty at the Military Academy, first as adjutant and afterward as quartermaster, remaining at that post throughout the war, and receiving at its close the brevet of major for faithful services. He was transferred to the 29th U.S. Infantry, 21 September, 1866. Major Boynton is the author of “History of West Point and its Military Importance during the Revolution, and the £ and Progress of the U.S. Military Academy” (New York, 1863); a “Guide to West Point and the U. S. Military Academy.” (1863); “Register of Cadets admitted to the Military Academy, from its Origin to June 30, 1870.” 1870); “Several Orders of George Washington, Commander-in-Chief, etc., issued at Newburg’” (Newburg, 1883); and of the '' and naval vocabulary in Webster's “Army and Navy Dictionary” (Springfield, 1886). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 343.
BOYNTON, Henry Van Ness, soldier, born in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 22 July, 1835, moved to Ohio when a young man, and was graduated at the Woodward High School, Cincinnati, in June, 1855. Thence he went to the Kentucky Military Institute, where he passed through a semi-military course of training that prepared him for subsequent service in the field, ''became a civil engineer. At the beginning of the Civil War he was commissioned major of the 35th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (27 July, 1861). He was promoted lieutenant-colonel, 19 July, 1863, commanded the regiment during the Tennessee Campaigns, and was brevetted brigadier for good conduct at the battles of Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge. He is the author of the most notable of the criticisms called out by General William T. Sherman’s “Memoirs,” namely, “Sherman's Historical Raid; the Memoirs in the Light of the Record; a Review based upon Compilations from the Files of the War Office” (Cincinnati, 1875). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 343.
BRACKETT, Albert Gallatin, soldier, born in Cherry Valley, Otsego County, New York, 14 February, 1829. He moved to Indiana in 1846, and, during the war with Mexico, was first lieutenant in the 4th Indiana Volunteers, attached to Lane's brigade, being present at Huamantla, Puebla, and Atlixco. On 16 July, 1848, he was honorably discharged on 3 March, 1855, he became captain in the 2d U.S. Cavalry, and, after raising a company in Indiana and Illinois, served on the Texas frontier, distinguishing himself in actions against the Comanche Indians. He was the first U.S. officer that crossed into Mexico in pursuit of hostile Indians. When General Twiggs surrendered to the Confederates in 1861, Captain Brackett escaped. He commanded the cavalry at Blackburn's Ford and the first battle of Bull Run, and in August, 1861, became colonel of the 9th Illinois Cavalry, serving with credit through the Arkansas Campaign, an being severely wounded at Stewart's Plantation, where he saved a valuable train from falling into the hands of the Confederates. On 28 June, 1862, he was brevetted major in the regular army for services in the Arkansas Campaign, and on 17 July received his full commission as major in the 1st Cavalry. In 1863 he was chief of cavalry in the Department of the Missouri, and in 1864 assistant inspector-general of cavalry, in the Department of the Cumberland. He was engaged in the battles around Atlanta, was brevetted lieutenant-colonel on 1 September, 1864, for his services there, and at the close of the war was brevetted colonel. After that time he served principally against hostile Indians in Nevada, Wyoming, and Arizona. He received his full commission as lieutenant-colonel, 2d U.S. Cavalry, on 9 June, 1868, and on 20 March, 1879, when commanding the District of the Yellowstone, was made colonel of the 3d U.S. Cavalry. He was afterward assigned to the command of Fort Davis, Texas, and in March, 1886, was recommended by the Congressional delegation of Indiana and Texas for promotion to the rank of brigadier-general. He as published “General Lane's Brigade in Central Mexico” (Cincinnati, 1854); “History of the United States Cavalry” (New York, 1865); and has written many magazine and newspaper articles, especially in regard to military affairs and the development of the country. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 345-346.
BRADFORD, Joseph, journalist, born near Nashville, Tennessee, 24 October, 1843; died in Boston, Massachusetts, 13 April, 1886. His real name was William Randolph Hunter. He was appointed to the U. S. Naval Academy in 1859, but did not take a full course. In 1862 he entered the U.S. Navy, and served with distinction until 1864, when he resigned on account of illness. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 348.
BRADFORD, Joseph M., naval officer, born in Sumner County, Tennessee, 4 November, 1824; died in Norfolk, Virginia, 14 April, 1872. He entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman, 10 January, 1840; became a lieutenant, 16 September, 1855; a commander, 25 July, 1866; retired 5 February, 1872, and was made a captain on the retired list, 16 March, 1872. He was fleet-captain of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron from November, 1863, till June, 1865, during which period he saw severe service and performed his difficult duties to the satisfaction of his superior officers. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 348.
BRADLEY, Luther Prentice, soldier, born in New Haven, Connecticut, 8 December, 1822. He was educated in the common schools of his native city. Entering the army as lieutenant-colonel of the 51st Illinois Volunteers, on 15 October, 1861, he was on recruiting duty until February, 1862, and was afterward engaged at the capture of Island No. 10, New Madrid, Farmington, and Nashville, Tennessee He became colonel of his regiment 15 October, 1862, commanded a brigade, and was in the battles of Stone River, Chickamauga, where he was wounded, Resaca, New Hope Church, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, and Jonesboro, Georgia. He was made brigadier-general of volunteers, 30 July, 1864, and was in the campaign against General Hood, being wounded at the battle of Franklin, Tennessee. He resigned on 30 June, 1865, and was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 27th U.S. Infantry, 28 July, 1866. He was brevetted colonel in the regular army on 2 March, 1867, for services at Chickamauga, and brigadier-general for services at Resaca. He became colonel of the 3d U.S. Infantry, 20 March, 1879, and on 14 June was transferred to the 13th. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 353.
BRAGG, Braxton, soldier, born in Warren County, North Carolina, 22 March, 1817; died in Galveston, Texas, 27 September, 1876. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1837, standing 5th in a class of fifty. Among his classmates were Generals Benham, Townsend, Sedgwick, and Hooker on the national side, and Early and Pemberton on the Confederate side. He was appointed lieutenant of artillery, and served mainly in Florida until 1843, during the war with the Seminoles; from 1843 till 1845 he was stationed at Fort Moultrie, in Charleston Harbor, and just before the war with Mexico was ordered to Texas. In May, 1846, he was made captain by brevet for gallant conduct in the defence of Fort Brown, Texas, and in June was promoted captain of artillery. He was present at the battle of Monterey, 21–23 September, and was brevetted major for gallant conduct there. In 1847 he was brevetted lieutenant colonel for gallantry at the battle of Buena Vista. From 1848 till 1855 he was engaged in frontier service at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, Fort Gibson, and Washita. In March, 1855, he was appointed major of cavalry, but declined and received leave of absence. In January, 1856, he resigned his commission and retired to his plantation at Thibodeaux, Louisiana In 1859–’61 he was commissioner of the board of public works of the state of Louisiana. When the Civil War began he was appointed brigadier-general in the Confederate Army in 1861, and was in command at Pensacola, Florida. In February, 1862, he was promoted major-general and ordered to join the Army of the Mississippi. He took part in the battle of Shiloh, 6–7 April, and was promoted general in place of Albert S. Johnston, who was killed. After the evacuation of Corinth he succeeded General Beauregard in command of the department. In August he led a formidable force, 45,000 strong, into Kentucky, but, after the battle of Perryville, 8 October, he retreated, carrying with him a vast quantity of supplies. He was moved from his command and placed under arrest, but was soon restored, and resumed command of the force opposed to the National Army under Rosecrans. He was worsted by Rosecrans in the protracted contest of Stone River or Murfreesboro, 31 December, 1862, and 2 January, 1863; again encountered and defeated him at Chickamauga, 19 and 20 September, 1863; but was decisively defeated by General Grant at Chattanooga, 23–25 November About 2 December he was relieved from command and called to Richmond, where for a time he acted as military adviser to Mr. Davis, with whom he was a favorite. In the autumn of 1864 he led a small force from North Carolina to Georgia to operate against Sherman, but without success. After the war he became chief engineer for the state of Alabama, and superintended the improvements in Mobile Bay, but with these exceptions his life was in comparative retirement.
BRAGG, Edward Stuyvesant, soldier, born in Unadilla, New York, 20 February 1827. He studied three years at Geneva, now Hobart, College, left at the end of the junior year, and studied law in the office of Judge Noble, in Unadilla. He was admitted to the bar in 1848, and soon after moved to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. In 1854 he was elected district attorney for Fond du Lac County, and served two years. He was a Douglas Democrat, and a delegate to the Charleston Convention in 1860. At the beginning of the Civil War he entered the military service of the United States as captain, 5 May, 1861, and held all the intermediate grades to and including that of brigadier-general, with which rank he was mustered out, 8 October, 1865. He participated in all the campaigns of the Army of the Potomac except the Peninsular, Gettysburg, and Five Forks. In 1866 he was a delegate to the Philadelphia union Convention. In 1867 he was elected to the state senate, and served one term. In 1868 he was a delegate to the Soldiers' and Sailors' Convention in New York, which nominated Horatio Seymour for president. In 1872 he was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention in Baltimore, which nominated Horace Greeley for president. He was elected to Congress for three successive terms, beginning with the 45th Congress. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1884, and, as chairman of his delegation, seconded the nomination of Grover Cleveland for the presidency. The same year he was elected to the 49th Congress. During his Congressional career he was regarded as one of the most dangerous antagonists in debate in the whole house. Small of stature and belligerent in bearing, he was perpetually in the thick of the fight, and had few equals in his power of acrimonious retort and invective. Although he was intensely a Democrat in a partisan sense, he never could be counted upon to vote steadily with his party. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 356.
BRAINE, Daniel Lawrence, naval officer, born in New York City, 18 May, 1829. He was appointed to the U.S. Navy from Texas as a midshipman, 30 May, 1846, and during the Mexican War was in the actions at Alvarado, Tabasco, Laguna, Tuspan, Tampico, and Vera Cruz. He was made midshipman, 8 June, 1852, master in 1855, and lieutenant, 15 September, 1858. At the beginning of the Civil War he was selected by the union defence Committee to command the steamer “Monticello,” fitted out in forty-eight hours to provision Fortress Monroe. The “Monticello” was afterward attached to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and on 19 May, 1861, participated in the first naval engagement of the war, with a battery of five guns, at Sewall's Point, Virginia In October, 1861, he attacked the Confederate gun-boats above Cape Hatteras and dispersed two regiments of Infantry, sinking two ": filled with soldiers, and rescuing the 20th Indiana Regiment, who were cut off from Hatteras inlet by the enemy. On 15 July, 1862, he received his commission as lieutenant commander, and from that time till 1864 was in numerous engagements, commanding the “Pequot” in the attacks on Fort Fisher, Fort Anderson, and the forts on Cape Fear River. For “cool performance of his duty” in these fights he was recommended for promotion by Rear-Admiral Porter in his despatch of 28 January, 1865, and on 25 July, 1866, was commissioned as commander. He had charge of the equipment department of the Brooklyn U.S. Navy-yard from 1869 till 1872, and commanded the “Juniata,” of the Polaris Search Expedition, in 1873. In the latter part of that year he demanded and received the “Virginius” prisoners at Santiago de Cuba, and brought them to New York. He became captain on 11 December, 1874, commodore, 2 March, 1885, and president of the naval board of inspection at New York on 1 July, 1885. He was appointed acting rear admiral on 12 August, 1886, and ordered to the command of the South Atlantic Squadron. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 357.
BRAMLETTE, Thomas E., governor of Kentucky, born in Cumberland County, Kentucky, 3 January, 1817; died in Louisville, Kentucky, 12 January, 1875. He was educated in the schools of his native county, was admitted to the bar in 1837, became attorney for the state in 1848, and in 1850 resigned, to devote himself to his private practice. In 1856 he was chosen judge of the Sixth Judicial District, and in 1861 resigned and entered the National Army. He raised the 3d Kentucky Infantry, and became its colonel. He was elected governor of his state, as a union man, in 1863, and, by re-election, remained in office until 1867, and afterward was a successful lawyer in Louisville. He was also U.S. District Attorney for some time. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 358.
BRANCH, O'BRIAN, Lawrence soldier, born in Halifax County, North Carolina, 7 July, 1820; killed at Antietam, 17 September, 1862. Was graduated at Princeton in 1838, studied law, and began practice at Raleigh. He was chosen to Congress for three successive terms, serving from 3 December, 1855, till 3 March, 1861. After the secession of his state in May, 1861, he entered the Confederate Army, and became a brigadier-general in November of that year. He commanded at Newbern, North Carolina, when it was captured by Burnside, and afterward, took part in several battles in that state and on the Peninsula. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 358.
BRANNAN, John Milton, soldier, born in the District of Columbia in 1819. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1841, and served at Plattsburg, New York, during the border disturbances of 1841—'2, and in the Mexican War as first lieutenant of the 1st U.S. Artillery. He was at Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, La Hoya, Contreras, and Churubusco, and for his conduct in the two actions last named was brevetted on 20 August, 1847. On 13 September he was severely wounded at the Belen Gate in the assault on the city of Mexico. After this he served on garrison duty in various forts, and against the Seminoles in 1856-'8. On 28 September, 1861, he was made brigadier-general of volunteers, commanded the Department of Key West, Florida, in 1862, and served in the Department of the South from June, 1862, till 24 January, 1863. During this time he commanded the St. John's River Expedition of 25 September, 1862, receiving the brevet of lieutenant-colonel for his services at the battle of Jacksonville, was engaged at Pocotaligo, South Carolina, 24 October, 1862, and twice temporarily commanded the department. In the Tennessee Campaign of 1863 he was at Hoover's Gap, Tullahoma, Elk River, and Chickamauga, winning two brevets. From 10 October, 1863, till 25 June, 1865, he was chief of artillery of the Department of the Cumberland, and was engaged at Chattanooga until May, 1864, in arranging the armament of its defences. He was in the battle of Missionary Ridge, 23–25 November, 1863, and from 4 May till 1 October, 1864, took part in the Georgia Campaign, being engaged at Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, and the siege and surrender of Atlanta. On 23 January, 1865, he was brevetted major-general of volunteers, and on 13 March, 1865, received the brevet of brigadier-general in the regular army for his services at Atlanta, and that of major-general for his services during the war. In 1870 he commanded the troops at Ogdensburg at the time of the threatened Fenian raids into Canada, and in 1877 at Philadelphia during the railroad riots. He was made colonel of the 4th U.S. Artillery, 15 March, 1881, and was retired from active service on 19 April, 1882. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 359.
BRAYMAN, Mason, soldier, born in Buffalo, New York, 23 May, 1813. He was brought up as a farmer, but became a printer, edited the Buffalo “Bulletin” in 1834—'5, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1836. In 1837 he moved to the west, was city attorney in Monroe, Michigan, in 1838, and became editor of the Louisville “Advertiser,” in 1841. In 1842 he opened a law-office in Springfield, Illinois. The year following he was appointed a special commissioner to adjust Mormon troubles, and in 1845–6 acted as special attorney to prosecute offences growing out of the Mormon difficulties, and to negotiate a peace between the followers of Joseph Smith and their enemies in Nauvoo. In published the statutes of Illinois under the appointment of the governor and the authority of the legislature. He afterward became interested in railroad enterprises. He was attorney of the Illinois Central Railroad in 1851–5, and then president and organizer of railroads in Missouri and Arkansas till the beginning of the war. In 1861 he joined the volunteer army as major of the 29th Illinois Regiment, of which he became colonel in May, 1862, having been promoted brigadier-general of volunteers for bravery in action, and at the close of the war received the brevet of major-general. He commanded the U.S. forces at Bolivar, Tennessee, from November, 1862, to June, 1863, and repelled Van Dorn’s attack on that place. He afterward reorganized about sixty Ohio regiments at Camp Dennison, Ohio, was president of a court of inquiry to investigate General Sturgis’s conduct, commanded at Natchez, Mississippi, from July, 1864, to the spring of 1865, and then presided over a commission in New Orleans to examine and report upon southern claims against the government. After the war he was engaged for several years in reviving railroad enterprises in the south, edited the “Illinois State Journal” in 1872-‘3, moved to Wisconsin in the latter year, was appointed governor of the territory of Idaho in 1876, served a term of four years, and then returned to Wisconsin and practised law in Ripon. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, pp. 362-363.
BRECK, Samuel, soldier, born in Middleborough, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, 25 February, 1834. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1855, and served in the Florida War of 1855–6, was assistant professor of geography, history, and ethics in the Military Academy in 1860–1, and served in the Civil War as assistant adjutant-general of General McDowell's division in the beginning of 1862, and afterward of the 1st Army Corps, and of the Department of the Rappahannock, being engaged in the occupation of Fredericksburg and the Shenandoah Valley Expedition, and from 2 July, 1862, till 5 June, 1870, was assistant in the adjutant-general's department at Washington, in cha of rolls, returns, and the preparation of the “Volunteer Army Register.” He was brevetted brigadier-general, for faithful services, on 13 March, 1865. From 1870 until 1877 he was stationed in San Francisco, California, and from 24 December, 1877, served as assistant in the adjutant-general's office at Washington, and at departmental headquarters in California, New York, Minnesota, and Nebraska. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 364.
BRECKENRIDGE, William Campbell Preston, born in Baltimore, Maryland, 28 August, 1837, was graduated at Centre College, Danville, Kentucky, in 1855, entered the Confederate Army as a captain in 1861, became colonel of the 9th Kentucky Cavalry, commanded the Kentucky Cavalry Brigade when it surrendered, was an editor for two years, afterward professor of equity jurisprudence in Cumberland University, Tennessee, and in 1884 was elected as a Democrat, without opposition, to the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 365.
BRECKENDIDGE, Joseph Cabell, soldier, born in Baltimore, 14 January, 1842, was graduated at the University of Virginia in 1860, and volunteered in the U.S. Army in August, 1861. He was engaged in the campaigns in Kentucky and Tennessee, ending with the advance on Corinth, was appointed second lieutenant in the 2d U.S. Artillery in April, 1862, for gallantry at the battle of Mill Spring, promoted first lieutenant in August, 1863, and served in Florida, and then the Atlanta Campaign with his battery until July, 1864, when he was taken prisoner before Atlanta, Georgia. In September following he was released, and was on mustering, staff, and recruiting duty during the remainder of the Civil War. He was promoted captain, 17 June, 1874. On 19 January, 1881, he was transferred to the inspector-general's department with the rank of major, promoted lieutenant-colonel in that department, 5 February, 1885, and colonel 22 September the same year. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 365-366.
BRECKENRIDGE, John Cabell, Vice-President of the United States, born near Lexington, Kentucky, 21 January, 1821; died in Lexington, Kentucky, 17 May, 1875. He was a grandson of John Breckenridge, U. S. Senator and Attorney-General, was educated at Centre College, Danville, studied law at the Transylvania Institute, and, after a short residence in Burlington, Iowa, settled at Lexington, where he practised his profession with success. At the beginning of the war with Mexico, in 1847, he was elected major in a regiment of Kentucky volunteers, and while on duty in Mexico he was employed by General Pillow as his counsel in his litigation with his associates and superiors. On his return, he was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives. In 1851 he was elected to Congress, and was reelected in 1853. He declined the Spanish mission tendered him by President Pierce. In the presidential election of 1856 he was chosen Vice-President of the United States, with Mr. Buchanan as President. In 1860 he was the candidate for president as the representative of the slave-holding interest, nominated by the southern delegates of the Democratic Convention who separated from those that supported Stephen A. Douglas. In the Electoral College he received 72 votes, to 180 cast for Lincoln, 39 for Bell, and 12 for Douglas, all the southern states voting for him excepting Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri. In the same year he was elected U.S. Senator as the successor of John J. Crittenden, and took his seat in March, 1861. At the beginning of the Civil War he defended the southern Confederacy in the Senate, soon afterward went south, entered the Confederate Army, and was expelled from the Senate on 4 December, 1861. On 5 August of the following summer he was appointed a major-general. He commanded the Confederate reserve at Shiloh, 6 April, 1862; was repelled in the attack on Baton Rouge in August, 1862; commanded the right wing of Bragg's army at Murfreesboro, 31 December, 1862; was at Chickamauga, 19 and 20 September, 1863; and Chattanooga, 25 November 1863; defeated General Sigel near Newmarket, 13 May, 1864; then joined General Lee's army, and was at the battle of Cold Harbor, 3 June, 1864; commanded a corps under Early, and was defeated by General Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley in September, 1864; defeated General Gillem in east Tennessee, 12 November, 1864; and was in the battle near Nashville, 15 December, 1864. He was Secretary of War in Jefferson Davis's cabinet from January, 1865, till the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston in April. He left Richmond for Charlotte. North Carolina, with Mr. Davis and the other officers of the Confederate Government, and, after it was decided to abandon the contest, left the party at Washington, Georgia, made his escape to the Florida Keys, and thence embarked for Cuba, and sailed from Havana for Europe. He returned in 1868 determined to take no further part in politics, and to devote himself to his profession. As vice-president he was the youngest man that had ever held that office. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 366.
BREESE, Kidder Randolph, naval officer, born in Philadelphia, 14 April, 1831; died 13 September, 1881. He was appointed a midshipman from Rhode Island in 1846, and served during the Mexican War in the “Saratoga,” Commander Farragut, on the coast of Mexico. As passed midshipman he served in Commodore, Perry's Japan Expedition and was on the “Macedonian,” which visited the northern end of Formosa to search for coal and inquire into the captivity of Americans on that island. He also served in Preble's Paraguay Expedition, from which he returned in September, 1859, with isthmus fever. He next served on the “San Jacinto,” which captured 1,500 slaves on the coast of Africa, and took Mason and Slidell from on board the “Trent" in November, 1861. He was ordered to Porter's mortar flotilla in December, 1861, and took part in the attacks on New Orleans and Vicksburg in 1862. Promoted lieutenant-commander, on 16 July, 1862, at the time of the establishment of that grade, he joined Porter's Mississippi Squadron in October, 1862, took command of the flag-ship “Black Hawk,” and participated in the important operations in the Mississippi and the Red River. When Admiral Porter was placed in command of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron in September, 1864, he selected Breese as his fleet-captain, in which capacity he served until hostilities came to an end in May, 1865. He was engaged at the Fort Fisher fights and in the attack on Fort Anderson; and in the naval assault on Fort Fisher, on 15 January, 1865, he commanded the storming party, which gained the parapet, but was unable to maintain the position, owing to lack of support from the marines. He was recommended for promotion for services on that occasion, promoted commander 25 July, 1866, and captain, 9 August, 1874. After the war he was employed in the testing of breech-loading arms, and in other ordnance duties, and commanded the “Plymouth,” of the European Squadron, and afterward the “Pensacola.” Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 366-367.
BREESE, Samuel Livingston, naval officer, born in Utica, New York, in 1794; died at Mount Airy, Pennsylvania, 17 December, 1870. He was appointed a midshipman, 10 September, 1810, and was present at the battle of Lake Champlain, received his commission as lieutenant, 27 April, 1816, as captain, 8 September, 1841, and on the frigate “Cumberland,” of the Mediterranean Squadron, in 1845. He was in the Pacific during the Mexican War, and was present at the capture of Tuspan and Tobasco, and of Vera Cruz. In 1853-'5 he was commandant of the Norfolk Navy-yard, in 1856–’8 commanded the Mediterranean Squadron, and in 1859–’61 the Brooklyn Navy-yard. On 16 July, 1862, he was commissioned as commodore and placed on the retired list, and on 3 September, 1862, was made a rear-admiral on the retired list. He served in 1862 as light-house inspector, and in 1869 was port-admiral at Philadelphia. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 367.
BREWERTON, Henry, soldier, born in New York City; died in Washington, D.C., 17 April, 1879. He was at the head of the 2d class in the U. S. Military Academy when the 1st class was about to graduate in 1819. He obtained leave to essay the examination with the advanced class, and was graduated fifth from its head, thus completing the usual four years' course in three years. At the same time three of his classmates obtained similar permits and passed the ordeal successfully, though not with so high grade. But these irregularities of administration were found to be detrimental to the general good of the cadets, and were not mitted under the stricter discipline established soon after this time. Brewerton was at once commissioned second lieutenant of engineers, and, after a temporary detail to aid in determining the 45th parallel of latitude at Rouse's Point, New York, he was in September, 1819, assigned to duty as an instructor at the Military Academy. He was promoted first lieutenant of engineers, 1 January, 1825; captain, 21 September, 1826; major, 23 August, 1856; and lieutenant-colonel, 6 August, 1861. During these years he was continuously active on important engineering works, such as Fort Adams, Newport, Fort Jackson, Louisiana, the defences of Charleston Harbor, on the light-house board, and as a member of various boards and commissions appointed to improve the defences of the United. In 1847 he received the degree of LL.D. from Dickinson College. During the early years of the Civil War, from 1861 till 5 November, 1864, he was superintending engineer of the fortifications and improvements Baltimore Harbor, Maryland. On 22 April, 1864, he was promoted colonel of engineers. The winter of 1864–5 he passed in the neighborhood of Hampton Roads, superintending the construction of defensive works, and thence he was transferred to the defences of New York. He was brevetted brigadier-general, “for long, faithful, and meritorious services,” 13 March, 1865, and retired 7 March, 1867, in compliance with the law, “having been borne on the army register more than forty-five years.”—His son, George Douglas, soldier, born about 1820. He joined Stephenson's Regiment of “California Volunteers,” in 1846, as second lieutenant, became second lieutenant, 1st U. S. Infantry, 22 May, 1847, and first lieutenant in June, 1850. He is the author of “The War in Kansas: A Rough Trip to the Border among New Homes and a Strange People” (New York, 1856): “Fitzpoodle at Newport” ; and “Ida Lewis, the Heroine of Lime Rock” (Newport, 1869). He has published also, through a New York firm, “The Automaton Regiment” (1862), “The Automaton Company," and “The Automaton Battery." (1863). ' devices for the instruction of military recruits were brought out when hundreds of thousands of untrained soldiers were eagerly studying the rudiments of the art of war, and were extensively used in connection with the regular books of tactics. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 370-371.
BREWSTER, William R., soldier, died in Brooklyn, New York, 13 December, 1869. He was a colonel in the Excelsior Brigade, organized by Daniel E. Sickles in 1861, and after the promotion of that officer was made a brigadier-general of volunteers. At the time of his death he held a place in the U. S. Internal Revenue Department. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 372
BRICE, Benjamin W., soldier, born in Virginia in 1809. He was appointed to the U. S. Military Academy from Ohio, was graduated in 1829, served as a lieutenant of infantry in an expedition against the Sac Indians in 1831, and on 13 February, 1831, resigned from the army. He was brigade major in the Ohio militia in 1835–'9, became a lawyer, and was a judge of common pleas in 1845, and adjutant-general of the state in 1846. At the beginning of the Mexican War he re-entered the army with the rank of major on the staff, on 3 March, 1847, and served as paymaster at Cincinnati and in the field. He was discharged on 4 March, 1849, but was reappointed on 9 February, 1852, and served in the pay District of Kansas and the Territories in 1861-1862. He had charge of the pay district of and of that of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware in 1862-'4, and on 29 November, 1864, was appointed paymaster-general with the rank of colonel. On 13 March, 1865, he was brevetted major-general in the U.S. Army for faithful, meritorious, and distinguished services. He was continued in charge of the pay department at Washington, was promoted brigadier-general on 28 July, 1866, and on 1 January, 1872, was retired from active service. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 372.
BRIDGE, Horatio, naval officer, born in Augusta, Maine, 8 April, 1806. He was graduated at Bowdoin in 1825. Among his classmates were Nathaniel Hawthorne, George B. Cheever, John S. C. Abbott, and Henry W. Longfellow. After the usual three years' course of study he was admitted to the bar in 1828, and practised for ten years, at first in Showhegan, and afterward in Augusta. In 1838 he was appointed a paymaster in the U.S. Navy. He was assigned to the “Cyane,” and cruised in her until 1841, when, after an interval of shore duty, he was ordered to the “Saratoga,” and in her visited the African Coast. After his return he published “The Journal of an African Cruiser” (New York, 1845), the authorship of which is usually accredited to his classmate, Nathaniel Hawthorne. The book was, in fact, edited by Hawthorne from Bridge's notes. In 1846–’8 he cruised in the Mediterranean and off the African Coast in the frigate “United States.” From 1849 till 1851 he was stationed at Portsmouth Navy-yard. Near the close of 1851 he sailed for the Pacific in the “Portsmouth,” and while on this cruise was ordered home and assigned to duty as chief of the bureau of provisions and clothing, the duties of which he faithfully performed for nearly fifteen years, covering the whole period of the Civil War, and involving transactions and disbursements to the amount of many millions of dollars. In July, 1869, he resigned this place, and was assigned to duty as chief inspector of provisions and clothing until he reached the legal limit of age for active duty, when he was retired with the rank of commodore. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 373-374.
BRIDGES, George Washington, lawyer, born in Athens, McMinn County, Tennessee, 9 October, 1821; died there, 16 March, 1873. After working several years at the tailor's trade, he made enough money to educate himself, and, having graduated at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, studied law, and was admitted to the bar. He became attorney-general of the state in 1848, and held the office until 1859, when he resigned it. He held also the places of bank attorney and railroad director, and was a presidential elector on the Douglas ticket of 1860. In August, 1861, he was elected to Congress as a unionist, but was arrested by the Confederate authorities while on his way to Washington, and taken back to Tennessee, where he was kept a prisoner for over a year. Finally escaping, he took his seat in the house, 25 February, 1863, and served until 3 March. He was commissioned as lieutenant-colonel of the 10th Tennessee Cavalry in 1864, and in 1865 was elected judge of the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Tennessee. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 373.
BRIGGS, Henry Shaw, soldier, born 1 August, 1824, was graduated at Williams in 1844, and became a lawyer. At the beginning of the Civil War he joined the army as colonel of the 10th Massachusetts Volunteers, and distinguished himself at the battle of Fair Oaks, where he was wounded. On 17 July, 1862, he was made a brigadier-general. At the close of the war he was a member of the general court-martial in Washington, D.C. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 375.
BRIGHT, Marshal H., journalist, born in Hudson, New York, 18 August, 1834. He received an academic education, and took a course at the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard in 1852–3. In 1854 he became assistant editor of the Alban “Argus,” and was a reporter in the New York State Senate. He was appointed on the staff of General Robert Anderson in October, 1861, and afterward served on the staffs of Generals William T. Sherman, Don Carlos Buell, William S. Rosecrans, and George H. Thomas. He was brevetted major for his services during the war, and, after resigning his commission at its close, engaged in silver-mining in Nevada. In 1873 he became managing editor of the “Christian at Work,” New York and in 1880 its editor-in-chief. He has contributed to periodicals on theological, scientific, and philosophical subjects, and delivered public addresses. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 376.
BRINTON, Daniel Garrison, ethnologist, born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, 13 May, 1837. He was graduated at Yale in 1858 and at the Jefferson Medical College in 1861. After which he spent a year in Europe in study and in travel. On his return he entered the army, in August, 1862, as acting assistant surgeon. In February of the following year he was commissioned surgeon, and served as surgeon-in-chief of the second Division, 11th Corps. Brinton was present at the battles of Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and other engagements, and was appointed medical director of his corps in October, 1863. In consequence of a sunstroke received soon after the battle of Gettysburg, he was disqualified for active service, and in the autumn of that year he became superintendent of hospitals at Quincy and Springfield, Illinois, until August, 1865, when, the Civil War having closed, he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel and discharged. He then settled in Philadelphia, where he became editor of “The Medical and Surgical Reporter,” and also of the Quarterly “Compendium of Medical Science.” Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 377-378.
BRISBANE, Abbott Hall, military engineer, born in South Carolina; died in Summerville, South Carolina, 28 September, 1861. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1825, and appointed second lieutenant of the 3d U.S. Artillery, serving on topographical duty in the city of Washington, a' afterward with the engineer, Bernard, on the South Atlantic Coast until the close of the year 1827, when he resigned. He served in the Florida War against the Seminole Indians in 1835–6 as colonel of South Carolina volunteers, and was engaged in the skirmish of Tomoka, 10 March, 1836. After the war he turned his attention, as engineer, to a projected railroad from Charleston, South Carolina, to Cincinnati, Ohio, having especially intrusted to him the examination of the mountain-passes through which it was to run. He received the appointment of constructing engineer of the projected road, which place he held from 1836 till 1840. He was also chief engineer of the Ocmulgee and Flint Railroad, Georgia, in 1840–4. In 1847-8 he was superintending engineer of an artesian well for the supply of water to the city of Charleston, and he then accepted the chair of belles-lettres and ethics in the South Carolina Military Academy, occupying the place from 1848 till 1853, after which he retired to his plantation near Charleston. He was the author of a critical romance, “Ralphton, or the Young Carolinian of 1776.” Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 378.
BRISBIN, James S., soldier, born in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, about 1838. He received a liberal education, taught school, became known as an anti-slavery orator, and at the beginning of the Civil War enlisted as a private in a Pennsylvania regiment, and in April, 1861, he was appointed second lieutenant of the 1st U.S. Dragoons. At the battle of Bull Run, 21 July, 1861, he was twice wounded. He was promoted captain in the 6th U.S. Cavalry, 5 August, served with his regiment in the Penninsular Campaign of the Army of the Potomac (1862), and, under General Alfred Pleasanton, accompanied the expedition to the Blue Ridge mountains in 1863. He was appointed colonel of the 5th U.S. Colored Cavalry, 1 March, 1864, and was engaged in the Red River Expedition in the Department of the Gulf in April and May, 1864. Later in the same year he was on recruiting service in Kentucky, and chief of staff to General Burbridge. He was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers, 13 March, 1865, for gallant conduct at the battle of Marion, Virginia, 16–19 December, 1864, and was promoted to the full rank of brigadier-general of volunteers, 1 May, 1865. He received the brevet of major-general of volunteers, 15 December, 1865. In the meantime he had received brevets of major and lieutenant-colonel in the regular service for gallantry at Beverly Ford, 9 June, 1863, and at Marion, Virginia He was brevetted colonel in the regular army, 13 March, 1865, for “meritorious services during the war.” He was transferred to the 9th U.S. Colored Cavalry in July, 1866, and was promoted major, 2d U.S. Cavalry, 1 January, 1868, and lieutenant-colonel, 9th U.S. Cavalry, 6 June, 1885. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 378.
BRISTOW, Benjamin Helm, statesman, born in Elkton, Todd County, Kentucky, 20 June, 1832. He was graduated at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1851, studied law, and was admitted to the bar of Kentucky in 1853. He began practice at Elkton. whence he moved to Hopkinsville in 1858. At the beginning of the Civil War, at a time when the state was wavering between loyalty and secession, he entered the union Army as lieutenant-colonel of the 25th Kentucky Infantry, and was engaged at the capture of Fort Donelson and at the battle of Shiloh, where he was wounded. He afterward became colonel of the 8th Kentucky Cavalry, and served throughout the war with distinction. While still in the field he was elected to the state senate for four years, but resigned at the end of two years, serving only from 1863 until 1865. He was U. S. District attorney for the Louisville District from 1865 until 1870. The ability with which he filled these offices led to his appointment as solicitor-general of the United States on the organization of the Department of Justice in October, 1870. In 1872 he resigned to become attorney of the Texas Pacific Railroad, but soon returned to the practice of law at Louisville. He was nominated attorney-general of the United States in December, 1873, but not confirmed. President Grant appointed him secretary of the treasury on 3 June, 1874, and this office he filled acceptably until the end of June, 1876, when he resigned, owing to the demands of his private business. At the Republican National Convention of that year, held in Cincinnati, Ohio, he was a leading candidate for the presidential nomination, receiving 113 votes on the first ballot. Since 1876 he has practised his profession in New York City. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 380.
BROADHEAD, Thornton F., soldier, born in New Hampshire in 1822; died in Alexandria, Virginia, 31 August, 1862. He studied law at Harvard, and practised in Detroit, Michigan He served through the Mexican War as an officer in the 15th U.S. Infantry, and was twice brevetted for bravery. Resuming the practice of his profession after the war, he was elected to the state senate, and in 1852 appointed postmaster of Detroit. At the beginning of the Civil War he raised the 1st Michigan Cavalry Regiment, at the head of which he served under Generals Banks, Frémont, and Pope. He died of wounds received at the second battle of Bull Run. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 383.
BROOKE, John R., soldier, born in Pennsylvania. He enlisted in the 4th Pennsylvania Infantry in April, 1861, became captain at the organization of the regiment, and on 7 November was made colonel of the 53d Pennsylvania Infantry. He was promoted brigadier-general of volunteers 12 May, 1864, and brevetted major-general of volunteers 1 August, 1864. In the regular service he takes rank from 28 July, 1866, when he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 37th U.S. Infantry, one of the new regiments, created by Congress at that time. He was transferred to the 3d U.S. Infantry 15 March, 1869 —the 37th U.S. Infantry being consolidated with that corps and discontinued by Act of Congress. He was promoted colonel, 13th U.S. Infantry, 20 March, 1879, and re-transferred to the 3d U.S. Infantry 14 June, 1879. In the regular army he received brevets as colonel and brigadier-general for gallantry in several battles—Cold Harbor (27 June, 1862); Gettysburg (1–3 July, 1863); Spottsylvania Court-House; and Tolopotomy (May, 1864). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 385.
BROOKS, Joseph, 1821-1877, abolitionist, clergyman, newspaper editor, Union Army chaplain, political leader. In 1856, moved to St. Louis and was editor of the Central Christian Advocate, a Methodist anti-slavery newspaper. He was an ardent abolitionist and supporter of women’s suffrage. In 1863, Brooks recruited and organized African American regiments. He was appointed Chaplain of Fifty-Sixth U. S. Colored Infantry. (Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 387).
BROOKS, Joseph, clergyman, born in Butler County, Ohio, 1 November, 1821; died in Little Rock, Arkansas, 30 April, 1877. He was graduated at Indiana Asbury University, and in 1840 entered the Methodist ministry. He moved to Iowa in 1846, and in 1856 became editor of the St. Louis “Central Christian Advocate,” the only anti-slavery paper published on slave soil west of the Mississippi. When the Civil War began, he became chaplain of the 1st Missouri Artillery, Colonel Frank P. Blair's regiment. He afterward aided in raising the 11th and 33d Missouri Regiments, and was transferred to the latter as chaplain. Early in the war Mr. Brooks urged the enlistment of colored troops, and, when it was decided to employ them, he was offered a major-general's commission if he would raise a division, but he declined. He afterward became chaplain of the 3d Arkansas colored Infantry. After the war Mr. Brooks became a planter in Arkansas, and was a leader in the state constitutional Convention of 1868. During the presidential canvass of that year an attempt was made to assassinate Mr. Brooks and Congressman C. C. Hines, which resulted in the death of the latter and the wounding of Mr. Brooks. He moved to Little Rock in the autumn of 1868, and was elected state senator in 1870. In 1872 he was a candidate for governor, and, when his opponent was declared to be elected by the legislature, he claimed that the election was fraudulent, and, relying on the decision of a state court in his favor, took forcible possession of the state-house, 13 April, 1874, and held it till dispossessed by proclamation of President Grant, 23 May, 1874. (See BAXTER, ELISHA.) Mr. Brooks was appointed postmaster at Little Rock in March, 1875, and held the office till his death. He was a man of great will-power and a strong speaker. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888. Vol. I p. 387.
BROOKS, Horace, soldier, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 14 August, 1814, was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy, through the influence of Lafayette, whom his mother met abroad, and was graduated there in 1835. He served in the Seminole War of 1835–'6, receiving, 31 December, 1835, the brevet of first lieutenant for gallantry and good conduct. He was assistant professor of mathematics in the U.S. Military Academy from November, 1836, till August, 1839, and served on garrison and recruiting duty at various places till the Mexican War. On 18 June, 1846, he became captain in the 2d U.S. Artillery, and served through Scott's campaign. For his services during the war he received two brevets—that of major, 20 August, 1847, for Churubusco and Contreras, and that of lieutenant- colonel, 8 September, 1847, for Molino del Rey. From this time until the Civil War he was stationed in various forts, taking part in the Utah Expedition of 1855 and in quelling the Kansas disturbances of 1860–1. On 28 April, 1861, he became major in the Second Artillery, and on 1 August, lieutenant-colonel. He served in defence of Washington from February till March, 1861, at Fort Pickens, Florida, until October, and at Fort Jefferson, Florida, until March, 1862. From September, 1862, till September, 1863, at the time of the Morgan raid, he was chief mustering and pay officer for the state of Ohio, under Governor Todd, and during the year $1,000.000 passed through his hands without an error in his accounts. After this he served on various military boards at Washington and else-where, becoming colonel on 1 August, 1863, and brevet brigadier-general at the close of the war. From 1866 till 1868, and from 1869 till 1872, he commanded a regiment at Fort McHenry, Maryland, being at the head of the Department of Washington in the interim. From 18 November, 1872, till 10 January, 1877, he commanded the Presidio at San Francisco, and on the latter date was retired from active service, being over sixty-two years of age. He is now a resident of Baltimore, Maryland Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 388.
BROOKS, Thomas Benton, engineer, born in Monroe, Orange County, New York, 15 June, 1836. He was graduated at the engineering department of Union in 1858. During the Civil War he was captain in the 1st New York Volunteer Engineers, afterward becoming major and aide on the general staff of the army. As such he served under General Gillmore in the reduction of Fort Pulaski and Fort Wagner and before Charleston. His reports are given in full in General Gillmore's “Siege and Reduction of Fort Pulaski” (New York, 1862), and in his “Operations against the Defences of Charleston Harbor” (1863). At the time of his resignation he held the brevet rank of colonel. From 1869 till 1879 he was assistant geologist in charge of the Surveys of the Lake Superior iron regions. In this connection he was associated with Raphael Pumpelly, and prepared “Geological Survey of Michigan” (vols. i. and ii., New York, 1873, also “Geology of Wisconsin.” (part of vol. iii., Madison, 1879). is health having failed, in 1879 he turned his attention to farming, and now resides at Newburg, New York Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 390.
BROOKS, William Thomas Harbaugh, soldier, born in New Lisbon, Ohio, 28 January, 1821; died in Huntsville, Alabama, 19 July, 1870. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1841 and served in Florida in 1841–’2. In 1843–’5. He was on frontier duty in Kansas, and in 1845–6 served in the military occupation of Texas, becoming first lieutenant in the 3d U.S. Infantry, 21 September, 1846. He was in nearly all the battles in the Mexican War, was brevetted captain, 23 September, 1846, for his conduct at Monterey, and major, 20 August, 1847, for services at Contreras and Churubusco. In 1848–51 he was aide-de-camp to General Twiggs, and on 10 November, 1851, became captain in the 3d U.S. Infantry. From this time until the Civil War he served in various forts. In 1854 and again in 1858 he was on scouting duty, and from 1858 till 1860 was given sick leave. On 28 September, 1861, he was made brigadier-general of volunteers, and served in the Peninsular Campaign of 1862, being engaged at Yorktown, Lee's Mills, Golden's Farm, Glendale, and Savage Station, where he was wounded. In September, 1862, during the Maryland Campaign, he was in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam, being wounded in at the latter place. In October and November 1862, on the march to Falmouth, Virginia, he commanded a division, and again in the Rappahannock Campaign, December, 1862, to May, 1863. From 11 June, 1863, until 6 April, 1864, he commanded the Department of the Monongahela, and in the operations before Richmond in 1864 was at the head of the 10th Army Corps, being at Swift's Creek, Drury's Bluff, Bermuda Hundred, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg. His health failing on account of wounds and exposure, he resigned on 14 July, 1864, and in 1866 went to a farm in Huntsville, Alabama, where he remained until his death. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 390.
BROOME, John L., soldier, born in New York City, 8 March, 1824. He was appointed second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps, 12 January, 1848; promoted first lieutenant, 28 September, 1857; captain, 26 July, 1861; major, 8 December, 1864; and lieutenant-colonel, 16 March, 1879. During the war with Mexico he served with his corps. In 1862 he commanded the marine guard of the “Hartford,” Farragut's flag-ship, and was present at the passage of Forts Jackson and St. Philip (24 April), and in the various engagements at Vicksburg, and Port Hudson, which resulted in wresting the Mississippi River from the Confederate forces. He was twice wounded during the war, and at its close received the brevets of major and lieutenant-colonel for gallant and meritorious services. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 390.
BROWN, Benjamin Gratz, 1826-1885, lawyer, soldier. Anti-slavery activist in Missouri legislature from 1852-1859. Opposed pro-slavery party. Commanded a regiment and later a brigade of Missouri State Militia. U.S. Senator 1863-1867, voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Appletons’, 1888; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. II, Pt. 1, p. 105; Congressional Globe)
BROWN, Egbert Benson, soldier, born in Brownsville, Jefferson County, New York, 24 October, 1816. He obtained the rudiments of education in a log school- house in Tecumseh, Missouri; but when he was thirteen years old he began work with such diligence and success that in twenty years (1849) he was chosen mayor of Toledo, Ohio. In the meanwhile he had half round the world on a whaling voyage spending nearly four years in the Pacific Ocean. £. From 1852 until 1861 he was a railway manager, but resigned his place when Civil War was imminent, and organized a regiment of infantry at St. Louis in May, 1861. He was instrumental in saving that city from falling into the hands of the secessionists, and was appointed brigadier of Missouri volunteers in May, 1862. After the battle of Springfield, 8 January, 1863, where he was severely wounded, he was appointed brigadier-general of U. S. volunteers. He served through the Civil War, mainly in Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas, and left the army with one shoulder almost wholly disabled and a bullet in his hip. The legislature of Missouri officially complimented the troops of his command for their conduct at the battle of Springfield. From 1866 till 1868 he was U. S. pension-agent at St. Louis. He retired to a farm at Hastings, Calhoun County, Illinois, in 1869, and has since resided there, serving, however, on the state board of equalization from 1881 till 1884. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 398.
BROWN, George, naval officer, born in Indiana, 19 June, 1835. He was appointed midshipman from his native state, 5 February, 1849, was attached to the frigate “Cumberland,” and in 1851 to the “St. Lawrence,” cruising in both vessels. He was promoted to passed midshipman, and afterward to master, in 1856. On 2 June, 1856, he became lieutenant, and served in the Brazilian and African Squadrons until 1860, when he was ordered to special service on the steam sloop “Powhatan,” and in 1861 transferred to the “Octorora” gun-boat, which was attached, as flag-ship, to Commodore Porter's mortar-boat flotilla. He participated in the hazardous ascent of the Mississippi River under Farragut, and in the first attack on Vicksburg in June, 1862, and for his conduct on this occasion was commended in the official report. The fleet dropped down the river to avoid the season of low water, and the “Octorora” was ordered to blockading duty off Wilmington, North Carolina Lieutenant Brown was promoted lieutenant-commander 16 July, 1862, and shortly afterward placed in charge of the “Indianola" iron-clad, of the Mississippi Squadron. The batteries at Vicksburg and Warrenton were successfully passed 14 February, 1863. An engagement took place near upper Palmyra Island, on 24 February, 1863, between the “Indianola” and four Confederate gun-boats, manned by more than a thousand men. The fight lasted an hour and twenty-seven minutes, and Lieutenant-Commander Brown, severely wounded, surrendered, with his ship in a sinking condition. The officers and crew were a few months afterward, and Lieutenant Brown was assigned to the steam gun-boat “Itasca,” of the Western Gulf Blockading Squadron, which he commanded in the action of 5 August, 1864, in Mobile Bay, and in the naval operations against Spanish Fort and the defences of Mobile, in March and April, 1865. He was promoted commander, 25 July, 1866, and stationed at the Washington Navy-yard until 1867, when he was granted leave of absence to serve as agent for the Japanese government in command of an iron-clad man-of-war purchased from the United States. He was promoted captain 25 April, 1877, and placed in command of the U.S. Navy-yard at Norfolk, Virginia, in 1886. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 399.
BROWN, Harvey, soldier, born in Rahway, New Jersey, in 1795; died in Clifton, New York, 31 March, 1874. After graduation, at the U.S. Military Academy, in 1818, he joined the light artillery, and served on garrison and staff duty until, on the reorganization of the army in 1821, he was assigned to the 1st and shortly afterward to the 4th U.S. Artillery, when he was promoted first lieutenant. After ten years' service in this grade he was promoted captain. He was in the Black Hawk Expedition in 1832, but saw no actual fighting. After four years in garrison he was ordered to Florida, in 1836, and took part in the arduous campaigns against the Seminole Indians. He was again in Florida in 1838-’9, and later in 1839 was ordered to the northern frontier, to quell expected disturbances on the Canadian Border. He was major of the artillery battalion, in the Army of Occupation in Mexico, and was present at many battles of the campaign. For gallantry on these occasions he received successive brevets, including that of colonel, 13 September, 1847, and was promoted to the full grade of major, 9 January, 1851. He was superintendent of recruiting in New York in 1851–2, and was in Florida fighting the Seminoles in 1852-’3, and still again in 1854–6. After an interval of garrison and recruiting duty, he was placed in command of the artillery school for practice at Fort Monroe, remaining there, with brief details on other duty, until the Civil War began, in 1861. He commanded the regulars in the defences of Washington until 4 April, 1861, when he was ordered to Fort Pickens, in Pensacola Harbor, Florida, and on 28 April was promoted lieutenant-colonel. He repelled the Confederate attack of 9 October, and in turn bombarded their works, with partial success, 22–23 November, and again 1 January, 1862. For these services he was brevetted brigadier in the regular service, and promoted colonel, 5th U.S. Artillery, 14 May, 1861; but he declined a command as brigadier in the volunteers. He was in command of the forces in New York City during the formidable draft riots of 12–16 July, 1863, and was brevetted major-general, U.S.A., for distinguished services at that time. He was retired from active service 1 August, 1863, having been borne on the army register more than forty-five years, and having passed the legal limit of age for active duty. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 399-400.
BROWN, Benjamin Gratz, lawyer, born in Lexington, Kentucky, 28 May, 1826; died in St. Louis, Missouri, 13 December, 1885, was graduated at Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky, in 1845, and at Yale in 1847, was admitted to the bar in Louisville, Kentucky, and soon afterward settled in St. Louis. He was a member of the Missouri legislature from 1852 till 1859, and in 1857 made there a remarkable anti-slavery speech, which is said to have been the beginning of the Free-Soil movement in that state. He edited the “Missouri Democrat,” a journal of radical Republican principles, which had for its most violent political opponent “The Missouri Republican,” a Democratic sheet of the most uncompromising character. For five years (1854–'9) he constantly opposed the pro-slavery party, and was often threatened with personal violence, on one occasion being wounded by a pistol-shot. In 1857 he was the Free-Soil candidate for governor, and came within 500 votes of election. At the beginning of the Civil War, in 1861, he gave all his influence to the support of the union, and was in close consultation with General Lyon when he planned the capture of Camp Jackson and broke up the first secession movement in St. Louis. Brown commanded a regiment of militia on that occasion, and afterward, during the invasion of the state by Confederate generals Price and Van Dorn, commanded a brigade. He was a member of the U.S. Senate from 1863 till 1867, and lent his powerful influence in 1864 to favor the passage of the ordinance of emancipation by the Missouri state Convention. In 1871 he was elected governor of Missouri, on the liberal Republican ticket, by a majority of 40,000. In 1872 he was the candidate for vice-president on the Democratic ticket with Horace Greeley, and after the election, which resulted in the defeat of the Democrats and the election of the Republican candidate, General Grant, he resumed his law practice. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 403
BROWN, John Calvin, soldier, born in Giles County, Tennessee, 6 January, 1827. He was graduated at Jackson College, Tennessee, in 1846. He entered the military service of the Confederate States at the beginning of the Civil War, and was successively promoted to colonel, brigadier-general, and major-general. Left nearly penniless by the war, he found employment as a railroad surveyor at a small salary, but proved so efficient a manager that he was made president of the Nashville Railroad. After constructing several small lines in Tennessee, he entered the service of the Texas Pacific Railroad and had charge of it during its extension westward to the Rio Grande and eastward to New Orleans. Later he was appointed receiver of the entire property. He was president of the constitutional convention of Tennessee, and was twice governor of the state—in 1870 and 1875. He has travelled extensively in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America.—His brother, Neil S., died in February, 1888, was governor of Tennessee in 1847 and 1849, and was U. S. minister to Russia under Taylor's administration. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 407-408.
BROWNE, Francis Fisher, editor, born in South Halifax, Vermont, 1 December, 1843. His father, William Goldsmith Browne, born in Vermont in 1812, is the author of the popular song "A Hundred Years to Come," and other poems, Francis was educated at the high school of Chicopee, Massachusetts, which he left to enlist in the 46th Massachusetts Volunteers in 1862, serving till its discharge. He studied law in Rochester, New York, and at the University of Michigan (1866-'7). He edited the "Lakeside Monthly," Chicago, from 1869 till 1874; afterward was literary of the "Alliance"; and in 1880 became editor of the Chicago "Dial." He has compiled and edited "Golden Poems, by British and American authors " (Chicago, 1881); "The Golden Treasury of Poetry and Prose" (St. Louis, 1883); and "Bugle Echoes," a collection of poems of the Civil War, both National and Confederate (New York, 1886). He has written "The Every-day Life of Abraham Lincoln" (St. Louis, 1886). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 413.
BROWNELL, Henry Howard, author, born in Providence, Rhode Island, 6 February 1820; died in East Hartford, Connecticut, 31 October, 1872. He was a nephew of Bishop Brownell, was graduated at Trinity College, Hartford, in 1841, studied law, and was admitted to the bar, but became a teacher, and settled in Hartford. Early in the Civil War he turned into £ verse the “General Orders” issued by Farragut for the guidance of his fleet in the attack on the defences of New Orleans. This piece of verse, floating through the newspapers, came to Farragut's notice, and so pleased him that he made inquiry for the author. In a correspondence that ensued, Brownell expressed a strong desire to witness a naval battle, and Farragut promised to gratify him, a promise that was fulfilled in Brownell's appointment as acting ensign on the flag-ship “Hartford,” and his participation in the battle of Mobile Bay. “The River Fight” and “The Bay Fight,” describing the naval actions at New Orleans and Mobile, are his longest and finest poems. Oliver Wendell Holmes said of them: “They are to all the drawing-room battle-poems as the torn flags of our victorious armadas to the stately ensigns that dressed their ships in the harbor.” After the war he accompanied Admiral Farragut on his cruise in European waters. He published “Poems.” (New York, 1847); “The People's Book of Ancient and Modern History” (Hartford, 1851); “The Discoverers, Pioneers, and Settlers of North and South America” (Boston, 1853); “Lyrics of a Day, or Newspaper Poetry, by a Volunteer in the U.S. Service” (New York, 1864); and a revised edition of his poems, containing all that he cared to preserve (Boston, 1866). See “Our Battle Laureate,” by Oliver Wendell Holmes, in the “Atlantic Monthly" for May, 1865. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 414.
BRUCE, Blanche K., senator, born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1 March, 1841. He is of African descent, was born a slave, and received the rudiments of education from the tutor of his master's son. When the Civil War began he left his young master, whose companion he had been, and who went from Missouri to join the Confederate Army. Mr. Bruce taught school for a time in Hannibal, Missouri, became a student at Oberlin, afterward pursued special studies at home, and after the war went to Mississippi. In 1869 he became a planter in Mississippi. He was sergeant-at-arms of the legislature, a member of the Mississippi Levee Board, sheriff of Bolivar County in 1871–4, county superintendent of education in 1872-’3, and was elected U. S. Senator on 3 February, 1875, as a Republican, taking his seat on 4 March, 1875, and serving till 3 March, 1881. He was a member of every Republican convention held after 1868. On 19 May, 1881, he entered upon the office of register of the treasury, to which he was appointed by President Garfield. In 1886 he delivered a lecture on the condition of his race, entitled “The Race Problem, and one on “Popular Tendencies.” Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p .418.
BRUCE, Henry, naval officer, born in Machias, Maine , 12 February, 1798. He was appointed to the navy as midshipman from Massachusetts on 9 November, 1813, and was captured while attached to the “Frolic,” 18 guns, when she surrendered to the British man-of-war “Orpheus,” 36 guns, remaining for six months as prisoner of war in Halifax, N. S. He became lieutenant on 13 January, 1825, was attached to the “Macedonian” and afterward to the “Franklin,” when she conveyed Minister Rush to England. He was appointed to the frigate “Brandywine,” of the Mediterranean squadron, in 1837, and was commissioned commander, 8 September, 1841. In 1845 he was appointed to the brig “Truxtun,” on the African Coast, capturing the slaver “Spitfire” during his cruise, and in 1848–50 commanded the naval rendezvous at Boston, Massachusetts He was put on the reserved list, 13 September, 1855, commissioned commodore, 16 July, 1862, and retired, 4 April, 1867. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 419.
BRUNOT, Felix R., philanthropist, born in Newport, Kentucky, 7 February, 1820. He was educated at Jefferson College, Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, followed the profession of civil engineer until 1842, became a miller at Rock Island, Illinois, and in 1847 returned to Pittsburg, where his early years had been spent, and purchased an interest in a steel furnace. He devoted his mind largely to benevolent schemes, and when the Civil War began he went to the seat of war in charge of a corps of volunteer physicians, with medicines and comforts for the sick and wounded. In 1865 President Grant appointed him one of the commissioners to investigate Indian grievances. He was chosen president of the board, and spent five summers in visiting the tribes. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 419.
BUCHANAN, Franklin, naval officer, born in Baltimore, Mil., 17 September. 1800; died in Talbot County. Mil., 11 May, 1874. He entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman. 28 January. 1815, served some years at sea. and before reaching the age of twenty-one served as acting-lieutenant on a cruise to India. He became lieutenant, 13 January. 1825, and in July, 1820, commanded the frigate “Baltimore," built for the emperor of Brazil, on her voyage to Rio Janeiro. On his return he sailed in the Pacific, part of the time being attached to the " Peacock." On 8 September, 1841, he was promoted to master-commandant, having charge of the "Mississippi," and afterward of the "Vincennes." In 1845 he was selected by the Secretary of the Navy to organize the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. The same year he opened the school as its first superintendent, but in 1847 left the place for the command of the " Germantown," in which he took part in the Mexican War, participating in the capture of Vera Cruz. In 1852 he commanded the "Susquehanna," flagship of Commodore Perry's Japan Expedition, which opened China and Japan to the commerce of the world, and on 14 September, 1855, was made captain. He was made commandant of the Washington Navy-yard in 1859, but on 22 April, 1861, after the attack on the Massachusetts troops in Baltimore, resigned his commission. Finding that his slate did not secede, he wrote to Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, withdrawing his resignation, and asking to be restored, but his request was refused. He entered the Confederate Navy in September, 1861, with the rank of captain, superintended the fitting out of the " Merrimac," and commanded her in the attack on the federal fleet in Hampton Roads, when the "Cumberland " was sunk and the "Congress" blown up. He was so severely wounded in this action that he could not take command of his vessel in her subsequent combat with the " Monitor." For his gallantry at this time he was thanked by the Confederate Congress, and promoted to full admiral and senior officer of the Confederate Navy. He was in command when General Wool occupied Norfolk, Virginia, and blew up his ship to save her from capture. Subsequently he was placed in command of the naval defences "of Mobile, and there superintended the construction of the iron-clad ram "Tennessee," which he commanded during the action with the union fleet in Mobile Bay, 5 August. 1864. He was again wounded and taken prisoner of war, but was exchanged in February following. After the war he was for a time president of the Maryland Agricultural College, and afterward was for a few months an agent for a St. Louis life insurance Company. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 428
BUCHANAN, Thomas McKean, lieutenant-commander. U. S. Navy, born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, 10 Sept, 1837; died in Bayou Teche, Louisiana, 15 January, 1862. He was graduated at the U. S. Naval Academy in 1855, become lieutenant in 1860 and lieutenant-commander in 1862. He co-operated with the National Army in many battles on the lower Mississippi, and was killed while encouraging his men in the sharp action at Bayou Teche. Farragut called him "one of our most gallant and persevering young officers." Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 436.
BUCHANAN, Robert Christie, soldier, born in Maryland about 1810; died in Washington, D. C, 29 November, 1878. He was appointed to the C. S. Military Academy from the District of Columbia, and after his graduation in 1830 served as lieutenant in the Black Hawk and Seminole Wars. He was made captain on 1 November, 1838, and in the war with Mexico took part in numerous battles. He was brevetted major, 9 May, 1846, commanded a battalion of Maryland volunteers from 25 November, 1846, till 30 May, 1847", and brevetted lieutenant-colonel, 8 Sept, 1847, for services at Molino del Rey. He was made major in the 4th U.S. Infantry, 3 February, 1855, served against hostile Indians and in various positions until the beginning of the Civil War, when he became lieutenant-colonel of his regiment and stationed in the defences of Washington from November, 1861, till March, 1862. He had command of his regiment in the Army of the Potomac during the Peninsular Campaign, and afterward of a brigade of infantry. He was engaged in the siege of Yorktown and in the battles of Gaines's Mills, Glendale, and Malvern Hill, and made brevet colonel 27 June. 1862. He took part in the second battle of Bull Run and in the Maryland and Rappahannock Campaign, in November, 1862, was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, and in March, 1863, was placed in command of Fort Delaware. In February. 1864. he was promoted to the rank of colonel of the 1st U.S. Infantry, which regiment he commanded at New Orleans from December, 1864, till August, 1865. In March, 1865, he was made brevet brigadier-general of the U. S. Army for gallant conduct at Malvern Hill, and brevet major-general for services at Manassas and Fredericksburg. He commanded the District of Louisiana from January, 1868 till January, 1869, and on 31 December, 1870, was retired, on his own application, after thirty years of consecutive service. When retired he was in command of Fort Porter, New York Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 436.
BUCKLAND, Ralph Pomeroy, soldier, born in Leyden, Massachusetts, 20 January, 1812. His father moved to Ohio when Ralph was but a few months old. He was educated at Kenyon College, but was never graduated, afterward studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1837. He was a delegate to the Whig National Convention of 1848, served as state senator from 1855 till 1859, and in 1861 was appointed colonel of the 72d Ohio Infantry. He commanded the 4th Brigade of Sherman's division at the battle of Shiloh, and was made a brigadier-general 29 November, 1862. He also commanded a brigade of the 15th Army Corps at Vicksburg and the District of Memphis during the year 1864. During an absence from the field, in 1864, he was elected to Congress, and served two terms. He resigned from the army, 9 January, 1865, and on 13 March was brevetted major-general of volunteers. He was a delegate to the Philadelphia loyalists’ Convention of 1866, to the Pittsburgh Soldiers' Convention, and to the Republican National Convention of 1876. General Buckland was president of the managers of the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors' Orphans' Home from 1867 till 1873, and government director of the Pacific Railroad from 1877 till 1880. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 439.
BUCKNER, Simon Bolivar, soldier, born in Kentucky in 1823. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1844. Entering the 2d U.S. Infantry, he was, from August, 1845, till May, 1846, assistant professor of ethics at West Point. He was brevetted first lieutenant for gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco, where he was wounded, and captain for gallantry at Molino del Rey. He was appointed assistant instructor of infantry tactics at West Point, August, 1848, and resigned 25 March, 1855. He was superintendent of construction of the Chicago Custom-House in 1855, and colonel of the volunteers raised in Illinois in that year for the Utah Expedition, but not mustered into service. He then practised law, and became the most prominent of the Knights of the Golden Circle in Kentucky. After the Civil War began he was made commander of the state guard of Kentucky and adjutant-general of the state. On 12 September, 1861, he issued from Russellville an address to the people of Kentucky, calling on them to take up arms against the usurpation of Abraham Lincoln, after which he occupied Bowling Green. After the capture of Fort Henry he evacuated that place and withdrew to Fort Donelson, where he commanded a brigade in the battles of 13, 14, and 15 February, 1862, and, after the escape of Pillow and Floyd, surrendered the fort, 16 February to General Grant, with 16,000 prisoners and vast stores. He was imprisoned at Fort Warren, Boston, until exchanged in August, 1862. He subsequently commanded the 1st Division of General Hardee's corps in Bragg's army in Tennessee. Later he was made a major-general, and assigned to the 3d Grand Division, was in the battles of Murfreesboro and Chickamauga, and surrendered with Kirby Smith's army to Osterhaus, at Baton Rouge, 26 May, 1865. General Buckner's first wife was a daughter of Major Kingsbury. He was one of the pall-bearers at General Grant's funeral. He resides in his native state. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 440.
BUELL, Don Carlos, soldier, born on the present site of Lowell, Ohio, 23 March, 1818. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1841, entered the 3d U.S. Infantry, became first lieutenant on 18 June, 1846, and won the brevet of captain at Monterey, and of major at Contreras and Churubusco, where he was severely wounded. He served as assistant adjutant-general at Washington in 1848–9, and at the headquarters of various departments till 1861, was made a lieutenant-colonel on the staff, 11 May, 1861, and appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, 17 May, 1861. After assisting in organizing the army at was assigned in August to a division of the Army of the Potomac, which became distinguished for its discipline. In November he superseded General William. T. Sherman in the Department of the Cumberland, which was re-organized as that of the Ohio. The campaign in Kentucky was begun by an attack upon his pickets at Rowlett station, near Munfordsville, on 17 December. On 14 February, 1862, General Buell occupied Bowling Green. On the 23d, with a small force, he took possession of Gallatin, Tennessee, and on the 25th his troops entered Nashville, supported by gunboats. He was promoted major-general of volunteers on 21 March, 1862, and on the same day his district was incorporated with that of the Mississippi, commanded by General Halleck. He arrived with a part of a division on the battlefield of Shiloh, near the close of the first day's action, 6 April. Three of his divisions came up the next day, and the Confederates were driven to their intrenchments at Corinth. On 12 June he took command of the District of Ohio. In July and August Bragg's army advanced into Kentucky, capturing several of Buell's posts, compelling the abandonment of Lexington and Frankfort, and the removal of the state archives to Louisville, which city was threatened as well as Cincinnati. General Bragg advanced from Chattanooga on 5 September, and, entering Kentucky by the eastern route, passed to the rear of Buell's army in middle Tennessee. The maneuver compelled General Buell, whose communications with Nashville and Louisville were endangered, to evacuate central Tennessee and retreat rapidly to Louisville along the line of the railroad from Nashville to Louisville. The advance of General E. Kirby Smith to Frankfort had already caused consternation in Cincinnati, which place, as well as Louisville, was exposed to attack. At midnight of 24 September, Buell's retreating army entered Louisville amid great excitement, as it was feared that Bragg would reach there first on 30 September, by order from Washington, Buell turned over his command to General Thomas, but was restored the same day, and on 1 October began to pursue the Confederates. "On 7 October the two divisions of the Confederate Army formed a junction at Frankfort. Bragg had already drained the country of supplies and sent them southward, which was the object of his raid, before General Buell was able to meet him with equal numbers. As the Confederates retreated the union troops pressed upon their heels, and at Perryville General Bragg halted and determined to give battle. The two armies formed in order of battle on opposite sides of the town. The action was begun, after the opening artillery fire, by a charge of the Confederates early in the afternoon of the 8 October, 1862, and soon became general, and was hotly contested until dark, with heavy losses on both sides. The next morning General Bragg withdrew to Harrodsburg. The Confederates retreated slowly to Cumberland Gap, and, though General Buell pursued them, he was blamed for not moving swiftly enough to bring them into action again. On the 24th he was ordered to transfer his command to General Rosecrans. A military commission, appointed to investigate his operations, made a report, which has never been published. He was mustered out of the volunteer service on 23 May, 1864, and on 1 June resigned his commission in the regular army, having been before the military commission from 24 November, 1862, till 10 May, 1863, and since that time waiting orders at Indianapolis. He became president of the Green River Iron-Works of Kentucky in 1865, and subsequently held the office of pension agent at Louisville, Kentucky Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 441-442.
BUELL, Richard Booker, engineer, born in Cumberland, Maryland, 9 November, 1842. He was graduated at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, in 1862, was an engineer officer in the U. S. Navy in 1862-'7, and in 1870 assistant civil engineer in the Tehuantepec Survey. He has published "The Cadet Engineer" (Philadelphia, 1875); "Safety-Valves" (New York, 1878); additions to Weisbach's "Mechanics of Engineering" on heat, steam, and steam-engines (1878); and "The Compound Steam-Engine and its Steam-Generating Plant" (1884). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 442.
BUFFINGTON, Adelbert R., soldier, born in Wheeling, Virginia, 22 November, 1837. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in May, 1861, and made brevet second lieutenant of ordnance. During the Civil War he served, first, in drilling volunteers at Washington, D. C, from 7 May, till 5 June, 1861, was assistant ordnance officer at St. Louis Arsenal from 8 June till 15 October, 1862, and was promoted first lieutenant of ordnance, 22 July. From 25 October, 1862, till 12 September, 1863, he was engaged in mustering Missouri and Illinois volunteers; aided with artillery and men in the defence of Pilot Knob, Missouri; acted as assistant adjutant-general of the 5th Division, Army of the West; drilled and organized the employees of the arsenal into a regiment of Missouri militia (of which he was commissioned colonel by Governor Gamble): and also commanded the Wheeling, West Virginia, Ordnance Depot. He was inspector of rifling sea-coast cannon from 19 September, 1863, till 13 July, 1864, and brevet major, 13 March, 1865. He was in command of the New York Arsenal from 13 July, 1864, till September, 1865, and of Baton Rouge Arsenal. Louisiana, from 14 September, 1865, till 15 August, 1866. Buffington was chief of ordnance, Department of the Gulf, from 15 August, 1866, till 26 March, 1867; of the 5th Military District, Texas and Louisiana, in 1867-8; was in command of the Watertown Arsenal from May. 1868, till 20 October of the same year, and assigned to the command of Detroit Arsenal, 15 December, 1870, from which he retired, in February, 1872, to superintend the southern forts, first, as assistant, from February, 1872, till April, and then as chief from that time till May, 1873. From 14 May till October, 1873, was assistant at Watervliet Arsenal; was in command of Indianapolis Arsenal, 15 October, 1873, till 19 April, 1875; was promoted major of ordnance, 23 June, 1874; and was in command of the Alleghany Arsenal from 19 April, 1875, till December, 1880, and of Watervliet Arsenal from December, 1880, till 3 October, 1881. He was on leave of absence, inspecting arms for the Egyptian government, from 6 December, 1865, till 22 April, 1876. On 1 June, 1881, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel of ordnance, made a member of the board on heavy ordnance and projectiles, 13 July, 1881, till May, 1882, and on 3 October of that year placed in command of the national armory. He has perfected the following inventions: A magazine fire-arm; carriages for light and heavy guns: parts of models of 1884 Springfield rifles, and several mechanical devices. He also introduced the gas-forging furnaces and improved methods, simplifying and reducing the cost of manufacture, at the national armory, of Springfield rifles, and was the originator of the nitre and manganese method of bluing iron and steel surfaces, which is used at the national armory for small arms. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 442.
BUFORD, Abraham, soldier, born in Kentucky about 1820: died 9 June, 1864. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1841, and assigned to the 1st U.S. Dragoons, was promoted first lieutenant in 1840, and brevetted captain for gallantry at Buena Vista. In 1848-'51 he served in New Mexico, and in 1852-'4 in the cavalry school at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and as secretary of the military asylum of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, with the rank of captain, and on 22 October, 1854, he resigned from the army and became a farmer in Woodford County, Kentucky In 1861 he entered the service of the Confederate States, was commissioned a brigadier-general, and performed distinguished services. He died by his own hand. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 443.
BUFORD, Napoleon Bonaparte, soldier, born in Woodford County, Kentucky, 13 January, 1807; died 2S March, 1883. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1827, and employed as a lieutenant of artillery in various surveys. In 1831 he obtained leave to enter Harvard law-school, and in 1834-'6 was assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy at West Point. On 31 December, 1835, he resigned his commission, and became resident engineer of the Licking River improvement, in the service of the state of Kentucky, and afterward an iron-founder and banker at Rock Wand, Illinois, and in 1857 president of the Rock Island and Peoria Railroad. On 10 Ang., 1861, he entered the National Army as colonel of the 27th Illinois Volunteers, took part in the battle of Belmont, Missouri, 7 November, 1861, was in command at Columbus, Kentucky, after its evacuation by the Confederates in March, 1862, and in the attack on Island No. 10. captured Union City by surprise after a forced march commanded the garrison at Island No. 10 after the capitulation of the fort, and was engaged in the expedition to Fort Pillow in April, 1862. He was promoted brigadier-general on 15 April, and, took part in the siege of Corinth, commanded a division at Jacinto from June till September, 1862, was engaged in the battle of Corinth on 3 - 4 0ctober, 1862, and in the siege of Vicksburg in , and was in command of Cairo, Illinois, from March till September, 1863, and at Helena, Arkansas, from 12 September, 1863, till 9 March, 1865. He was brevetted major-general of volunteers on 13 March, 1865, and mustered out of the service on 24 August, 1865. He was special U. S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs from 7 February till 1 September, 1868, and for inspecting the Union Pacific Railroad from 1 September, 1867, till 10 March, 1869, when the road was completed. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 443.
BUFORD, John, soldier, born in Kentucky in 1825; died in Washington, D. C, 16 December 1863, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1848; was appointed brevet second lieutenant in the 1st U.S. Dragoons and served on the plains, being engaged in the Sioux Expedition of 1855, at Blue Water, in the Kansas disturbances of 1856-'7, and in the Utah Expedition of 1857- 8 until the Civil War began; he was made a major in the inspector-general's corps on 12 November, 1861. His duties did not give him an opportunity to engage in the campaigns until 1862, when he was attached to the staff of General Pope in the Army of Virginia on 26 June, and on 27 July made a brigadier-general, assigned to the command of a brigade of cavalry under General Hooker in the Northern Virginia Campaign, and engaged at the skirmish at Madison Court-House, 9 August, the passage of the Rapidan in pursuit of Jackson's force, 12 August, Kelly's Ford, Thoroughfare Gap, 28 August, and Manassas, 29 and 30 August, where he was wounded. He served as chief of cavalry of the Army of the Potomac in the Maryland Campaign, being engaged at South Mountain, 14 September, 1862, at Antietam, 17 September, where he succeeded General Stoneman on General McClellan's staff, and in the march to Falmouth. When the cavalry organization of the Army of the Potomac was perfected, of which General Stoneman was at that time the chief, General Buford was assigned to command the reserve cavalry brigade. He was subsequently conspicuous in almost every cavalry engagement, being at Fredericksburg, 13 December, 1862, in Stoneman raid toward Richmond in the beginning of May, 1863, and at Beverly Ford, 9 June, 1863. He commanded the cavalry division of the Army of the Potomac in the Pennsylvania Campaign, was engaged at Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville, and at Gettysburg he began the attack on the enemy before the arrival of Reynolds on 1 July, and the next day rendered important services both at Wolf's Hill and Round Top. He participated in the pursuit of the enemy to Warrenton, and in the subsequent operations in Virginia, being engaged at Culpepper, and, after pursuing the enemy across the Rapidan, cut his way to rejoin the army north of the Rappahannock. A short time previous to his death he was assigned to the command of the cavalry in the Army of the Cumberland, and had left the Army of the Potomac for that purpose. His last sickness was the result of toil and exposure. His commission as major-general reached him on the day of his death. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 443.
BULLUS, Oscar, naval officer, born about 1800; died in New York City, 29 October 1871. In 1815 he was appointed from New York to the U.S. Military Academy, but resigned and entered the Navy as a midshipman in 1817. He was ordered to the sloop “Ontario,” and served under Captain Biddle in the Pacific Ocean until 1819. From 1819 till 1821 he was in service on the Mediterranean, where, in June, 1821, he fell from aloft and received injuries that led to his being placed on the reserved list. From 1822 till 1824 he was on duty on the “Washington,” and at the Navy-yard, New York. In 1830 he was assigned the command of the “Rush,” later of the receiving-ship “Franklin,” then was on the sloop “St. Louis,” and from 1835 till 1838 on the “Constitution.” From 1842 till 1844 he was in command of the “Boxer,” and, after short duty at New York, commander of the store-ship “Relief.” In 1848 he was commissioned commander, and assigned to the charge of the “Michigan” on the lakes. He was placed on the retired list in September, 1855, for disability received in the line of duty. He was commissioned captain in 1861, and in command of rendezvous, New York, rendered good service in connection with recruiting. In 1867 he was promoted commodore, and had charge of the depot at Malden, Massachusetts Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 447.
BURBANK, Sidney, soldier, born in Massachusetts, 26 September, 1807; died in Newport, Kentucky, 7 December 1882. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1829, and entered the 1st U.S. Infantry as second lieutenant. After some years of frontier duty, at various garrisons, he served in the "Black Hawk " war in 1832, and at the Military Academy from 1836 till 1839, as instructor of infantry tactics, he was made captain in 1839, and fought in the Florida War against the Seminole Indians, he was again on frontier duty from 1841 till 1859, when he became superintendent of the western recruiting service at Newport barracks, Kentucky. During the Civil War he was colonel of the 2d U.S. Infantry and in command of a brigade attached to the Army of the Potomac. He was present at the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and for his services received the brevet of brigadier-general. Subsequent to the war he joined his regiment, and was stationed at Newport barracks, Kentucky, and at Louisville. Later, from 1867 till 1869, he was in command of the District of Kentucky, and from 1869 till 1870 superintendent of general recruiting service. He was retired in 1870, after forty consecutive years of service. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 449.
BURBRIDGE, Stephen Gano, soldier, born in Scott County, Kentucky, 19 August, 1881. He was educated at Georgetown College, and at the Kentucky Military Institute in Frankfort, after which he studied law with Senator Garrett Davis in Paris, Kentucky From 1849 till 1853 he followed mercantile pursuits in Georgetown, D. C., and then turned his attention to agriculture. He conducted a large farm in Logan County until the beginning of the Civil War, when he raised the 26th Kentucky Infantry and was made its colonel. At the battle of Shiloh he distinguished himself, and was made a brigadier-general. During General Bragg's invasion of Kentucky in 1862, he was ordered to that state, and was variously engaged until the Confederate forces were driven out. He then joined the expedition against Vicksburg, and participated in several actions. He had command of the 1st Brigade in the 1st Division of the 13th Corps of the Army of the Mississippi, and led the charge at Arkansas Post that resulted in its capture, planting the American flag upon the fort, which had been placed in his hands, as a tribute to his gallantry, by General A. G. Smith, for that purpose. General Burbridge was also conspicuous at the capture of Port Gibson, and was among the first to enter the place. Later he was placed in command of the Military District of Kentucky, and defeated General John H. Morgan on his raid, driving him into Tennessee. For this service he received the thanks of President Lincoln, and on 4 July, 1864, the brevet of major-general. He resigned in 1865, and retired to Kentucky.Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 449.
BURCHARD, Charles, 1810-1879, New York, Wisconsin, political leader, opposed slavery. Member of the Whig and Liberty Parties. Major in the Civil War.
BURGER, Louis, soldier, born in Spire, Bavaria, 6 February, 1821; died in New York City, May, 1871. He was educated at the high school in Kaiserslautern, and then at the polytechnic school in Munich, where he devoted special attention to engineering and architecture during 1840–4. Afterward he followed his profession and filled various posts in Bavaria and Würtemberg. Subsequent to the revolution in 1849 he came to the United States and established himself in New York as an architect. In 1854 he organized the Engineer Corps of the 5th Regiment of the New York State National Guards, and was elected captain. During the Civil War he commanded his regiment in the short campaign in 1861, and again during the invasion of Pennsylvania in 1863, and for his services he received the brevet of brigadier-general. In 1865 he was elected brigadier-general of the 2d Brigade, 1st Division of the State national guard. He was twice president of the “Liederkranz,” a German Musical Society in New York, and was a director of the Bowery National Bank and German Savings Bank. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 450-451.
BURLEY, Bennett G. Confederate naval officer. On 19 September, 1864, assisted by Captain Bell and others, he captured the steamer "Philo Parsons," plying between Detroit and Sandusky, when about two miles from Kelly's Island, off the Ohio Coast. Subsequently another American steamer, the "Island Queen." was captured by Burley and his party, and after her passengers, including twenty-five U. S. soldiers, had been made prisoners and transferred to the "Philo Parsons, the "Island Queen " was sent adrift. The " Philo Parsons " was afterward taken to Sandwich, on the Canadian shore, and left there. Burley was arrested, and the evidence produced at the extradition trial at Toronto in his case rendered it manifest that he was acting under the authority of the southern Confederacy in the capture of the steamers; that the immediate object was the capture of the U. S. war vessel " Michigan," guarding Johnson's Island: and the ultimate object, the taking of Johnson's Island and the liberation of the 8,000 Confederate soldiers imprisoned there. That all this was not attempted by Burley and his comrades was probably owing to the fact of his discovery of the hazardous and seemingly impossible character of the undertaking, after he had captured the "Philo Parsons" and the " Island Queen." After some diplomatic correspondence between the British government and that of the United States, Burley was surrendered to the authorities of the latter, under the provisions of the extradition treaty, the plea of "belligerent rights" in his behalf by Jefferson Davis not being regarded by the court as sufficient to free him from the crime of robbery charged against him in the indictment. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 455-456.
BURNETT, Ward Benjamin, soldier, born in Pennsylvania in 1811; died in Washington, D.C., 24 June, 1884. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1832, served in the Black Hawk War of that year, in garrison at Fort Jackson, Louisiana, was an instructor at the Military Academy in 1833– '4, and on topographical and ordinance duty until 1836, when he resigned and became a civil engineer. At the beginning of the Mexican War he was made colonel of the 2d New York Volunteers, and was sent to join the army under General Scott. He Was with his regiment at the siege of Vera Cruz, and in the battles of Cerro Gordo, Contreras, and Churubusco, in the last of which he was severely wounded. The regiment was disbanded 1 August, 1848. Colonel Burnett received the thanks of the state legislature and a silver medal from the city of New York, and was brevetted brigadier-general. The surviving members of his regiment gave him a gold medal, 20 August, 1853, and further recognized is services, 18 August, 1859, by presenting to him the gold snuff-box in which the freedom of the city of New York had been officially given to Andrew Jackson forty years before. As a civil engineer he was engaged on dry-dock construction from 1849 till 1855 in the U.S. Navy-yards at Brooklyn and Philadelphia, and on the water-works of Brooklyn and Norfolk, Virginia, in 1855 and 1856. From 1858 till 1860 he was U. S. surveyor-general of Kansas and Nebraska. During the latter years of his life he was an invalid, and gave up all active work. He was buried at West Point. He married a daughter of General Aaron Ward, of Westchester County, and his son, a lieutenant in the navy, adopted his grandfather's name. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 459.
BURNHAM, Hiram, soldier, born in Maine; killed in battle at Chapin's Farm, 29 September, 1864. He entered the service as colonel of the 6th Maine Volunteers, leading them with skill and gallantry through the Peninsular Campaign, at Antietam, and in subsequent engagements. At the second battle of Fredericksburg he distinguished himself for bravery and courage, and again at Gettysburg. In April, 1864, he was made brigadier-general, and during the campaign from the Wilderness to Petersburg he bore a conspicuous part. A few weeks previous to his death he was assigned to a brigade in Stannard's division, 18th Corps. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 460.
BURNHAM, James C., soldier, born in New York about 1820; died there, 2 September, 1866. He was appointed major in the 2d New York Infantry, 3 December 1846, and served with the command in that capacity from Vera Cruz to Churubusco. After the fall of Colonel Baxter he commanded the regiment at the storming of Chapultepec, was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel, 27 September, 1847, and led the regiment through the several battles around the city of Mexico, distinguishing himself in the attack on the Belen Gate. After the war Colonel Burnham was city marshal of New York under Mayor Wood, and was a prominent politician for several years. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 460
BURNS, John, soldier, born in Burlington, New Jersey, 5 September, 1793; died in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 7 February, 1872. He was of Scottish ancestry, and through his father claimed relationship with the poet. He was among the first to volunteer for the war of 1812; was present in the actions at Plattsburg, Lundy's Lane, in which last-named engagement he was one of Colonel Miller's regiment that captured the British battery in the centre and turned the tide in favor of the Americans. He volunteered promptly for the war with Mexico, and again for the Civil War. For this last service he was rejected on account of his age by the United States mustering officer, but managed to go with the army as a teamster, and was always anxious to borrow a rifle and be in the ranks when the enemy was encountered. His age soon told against him, and, contrary to his will, he was sent home to Gettysburg, where his townsmen made him constable to keep him busy and contented. When the foremost Confederate scouts approached in June, he went out with a party of volunteers to fight them, but was turned back by the National Cavalry. When the Confederates under General Early occupied the town, June 26, Burns had to be locked up for asserting his civil authority as constable in opposition to that of the Confederate provost. As soon as the enemy advanced toward York, Burns resumed his official functions and began to arrest Confederate stragglers, including a chaplain named Gwin, who bore despatches. Two days later the National advance under General Buford arrived and relieved the veteran from his self-imposed duty of facing the Army of Northern Virginia single-handed. Shortly after the preliminary skirmishing of the battle of Gettysburg began, Burns met a wounded Union soldier, borrowed his rifle and ammunition, with which he went to the front and offered his services as a volunteer to Major Chamberlain, of the 155th Pennsylvania regiment. He was referred to the 7th Wisconsin Volunteers nearby, they being sharply engaged with the enemy. The old man proved himself such a skilful sharp-shooter that the colonel commanding the regiment sent him a favorite long-range rifle, which he used all day with deadly effect in the advanced line; but he was badly wounded in the afternoon, when the National troops were forced back. He told a plausible story to his Confederate captors, and got himself carried to his own house, where his wounds were dressed by the surgeons; and, after a narrow escape from execution as an ununiformed combatant, he was left when the Confederates were in turn driven back and finally defeated. The story of his patriotic zeal aroused the test interest in the northern states; he was lauded as the “hero of Gettysburg,” and after the war, as his home was on the battle-field, became an object of curiosity to visitors and accumulated a competence through their generosity. During the last two years of his life his mind failed, and his friends were unable to prevent his wandering about the country. He was found in New York City on a cold winter's night in December, 1871, in a state of destitution, and was cared for and sent home, but died of pneumonia. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 461.
BURNS, William Wallace, soldier, born in Coshocton. Ohio, 3 September, 1825. From 1843 till 1847 he was a cadet at the U. S. Military Academy. Joining the 3d Infantry after graduation, he served through the war with Mexico, and, after ten years of frontier, garrison, and recruiting service, received a staff appointment as captain and commissary of subsistence. His experience in the supply department led to his appointment for similar important duties during the Civil War. He served in the Army of the Potomac, and was wounded in the action at Savage's Station, 29 June, 1862. He was in the field with the Army of the Potomac to and including the battle of Fredericksburg, December, 1862, and was then appointed chief commissary of the Department of the Northwest. During the closing years of the Civil War he was in charge of the commissary departments successively of the Carolinas, of Georgia, and of Florida, and lastly of the whole Department of the South. Since the war he has been on duty at Washington, Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 462.
BURNSIDE, Ambrose Everett, soldier, born in Liberty, Indiana, 23 May, 1824; died in Bristol, Rhode Island, 3 September, 1881. The Burnside family is of Scottish origin. Having followed the fortunes of Charles Edward the pretender until his final defeat at Culloden in 1746, the founders of the American branch emigrated to South Carolina. The revolt of the American colonies against Britain divided them, some joining the patriots, others remaining loyal to the crown. Among the latter was James, grandfather of Ambrose, who was a captain in one of the regiments of South Carolinian royalists. When it became certain that the revolution would be successful, he, in company with others, whose estates were confiscated, escaped to Jamaica, out eventually obtained amnesty from the young republic and returned to South to Indiana, manumitting their slaves from conscientious motives. K^ «»*»l,Ii' h 1814 settled in the new town of ^rt^nf from married Pamelia Brown .another einigi? South Carolina. Ambrose, the fourth of nine en born in a rude log cabin at the edge The village for a frontier town, and at seventeen Be n * w a better education than most bop 0 his father could not afford to give «» J mersional training, and he was mdenUreu' ^ chant tailor. After ".g^Tp'artier under to Liberty and began business asa»> Tailor5.» the style of " Myers & Burnad* Merchan Conversation with veterans of U» with Great Britain &r boob affairs, he read all the histories anu ^ taring on the.subvert thatJ^oouW ^R and local tradition is to the e Smith, Congressman from the totnt ^ the shop to have his coat . young tailor with a copy of ^"kept open bT propped UP against a pair of shears, so that he followed, at' the same time. ^ "'S by the mand the Congressman was that tell.gence and appearance o the he sought his appointment as a cadet, and, although the first attempt was a failure, fortune at last favored him, and he entered the class of 1847, when there were at the academy more than a score of future generals, including McClellan, Hancock, and "Stonewall" Jackson. The war with Mexico was nearly over when Burnside was graduated; but he accompanied one however, the expeditionary force was largely increased, and, on 12 January, 1888, a Corps of 12,000 men, on a fleet of forty-six transports, sailed from Hampton Roads with sealed orders, directing them to rendezvous in Pamlico sound by way of Hatteras inlet. Within twenty-four hours a heavy gale arose, which lasted nearly two weeks, scattered the weens, oeatiereu me of the last detachments of recruits to the conquered fleet, and imperilled its safety. On 25 January, how- capital, and remained there as second lieutenant of the 3d U.S. Artillery during the military occupation of the place. Then followed years of life in garrison and on the frontier, including some Indian fighting. In 1852 he married Mary Richmond, daughter of Nathaniel Bishop, of Providence, Rhode Island, and in November of the same year resigned his commission, having invented a breech-loading rifle, the manufacture of which he wished to superintend. In August, 1857, a board of army officers reported favorably upon the Burnside breech-loader; but the inventor would not pay his way among the underlings of the war department, and was forced to go into bankruptcy. He devoted all his personal property to the liquidation of his debts, sought employment, found it at Chicago, under George B. McClellan, then vice-president of the Illinois central Railroad, and, by practicing strict economy, he eventually paid every obligation. In June, 1860, he became treasurer of the Illinois Central Railroad, his office being in New York City. In the autumn of that year he visited New Orleans on business, and gained an insight into the movement for secession that shook his lifelong faith in the Democratic Party. So confidently anticipate war that he set his business affairs in order, and was ready to start at once when, on 15 April, 1861, Governor Sprague, of Rhode Island, telegraphed for him to take command of the 1st Regiment of detached militia. On 20 April the regiment left Providence by sea, and inarched, with the other battalions that had been hurried forward, from Annapolis to Washington, reaching the capital on 26 April. The preliminary operations about Washington soon culminated, owing mainly to popular outcry and political pressure at the north, in the premature advance of the federal army, and the battle of Manassas or Bull Run (21 July). Colonel Burnside commanded a brigade on the extreme right of Hunter's division, which was detached from the main army early in the morning, and sent cross an upper ford to turn the Confederate left The movement was anticipated by the enemy, and a sharp engagement took place, at the beginning of which General Hunter was wounded, leaving Burnside in command. The Confederates were forced back, losing heavily, until nearly noon, when they were re-enforced by General Johnston's advance brigade under Jackson, who stemmed the tide of fugitives, and there won his name of " Stonewall." By this time Burnside's ammunition was exhausted, and his command had to fall back. It made no further aggressive movement, but retained its organization after the rout of the main army, and on the retreat toward Washington. A period of comparative inactivity followed, during which Colonel Burnside's regiment was mustered out on the expiration of its term of service. On 6 August, 1861, he was commissioned a brigadier-general of volunteers, and given a command composed of the three year regiments then On 23 October, General Burnside was directed to organize a “coast division” with headquarters at Annapolis. This force was largely composed of Regiments recruited on the New England Coasts, and intended for operations along the lower Potomac Chesapeake Bay. The plan was changed, ever, all the vessels had passed through Hatteras inlet and were safe in the sound. On 5 February the fleet, with an escort of gun-boats, moved toward Roanoke Island, a fortified post of the Confederates, and engaged the gun-boats and batteries. Within a few hours a landing was effected, and on 8 February the Confederate position near the middle of the island was carried and the garrison captured, numbering 2,500 men. The possession of Roanoke Island gave command of the extensive land-locked waters of Albemarle and Pamlico sounds, and was one of the earliest substantial successes of the national arms. Newbern, North Carolina, was occupied, after a sharp struggle, on 14 March. The surrender of Fort Macon and Beaufort soon followed, and, when General Burnside visited the north on a short leave of absence, he found himself welcomed as the most uniformly successful of the federal leaders. During the campaign in the Carolinas and the early summer following, the Army of the Potomac, under McClellan, had been defeated before Richmond, and had in turn repelled the Confederates at Malvern Hill. Burnside relinquished the command of the Department of North Carolina, and, with his old divisions reorganized as the 9th Corps, was transferred to the Army of the Potomac, which held the north shore of the Rappahannock opposite Fredericksburg. The chief command was offered to Burnside, but he resolutely declined it, frankly declaring that he did not consider himself competent. On 27 June the order was issued relieving McClellan and placing Pope in command. The fortunes of the Confederacy now seemed so distinctly in the ascendant that it was determined at Richmond to assume the offensive. The preparations for the movement were at once known in Washington, and the administration urged General Pope to create a diversion along the line of the Rappahannock. This he attempted, but was foiled almost at all points, and the Army of Virginia, as it was temporarily designated, fell back sullen and demoralized after a second defeat at Manassas, upon the defences of Washington, where Burnside was again asked to take command, but again declined. In its extremity, the administration again called upon McClellan, who in a remarkably short time brought order out of chaos and reinspired the army with a degree of confidence. By this time Lee’s advance had crossed the Potomac near Sharpsburg, and Burnside was sent to meet him with the 1st and 9th Corps. He left Washington September 3. On 12 September he met the enemy's pickets at Frederick City, and on the 14th encountered the Confederates in force at South Mountain, and very handsomely dislodged them from a strong position. The energy of this movement was probably not anticipated by General Lee. He retreated to Antietam Creek, threw up intrenchments, and awaited attack. To Burnside's 9th Corps, on the morning of the battle of Antietam (Sent. 17), was assigned the task of capturing and holding a stone bridge. This was done at a terrible sacrifice of life; but it was the key of the position, and, according to a high Confederate authority (Edward A. Pollard, the historian), if the bridge could have been re-captured, the result of the battle of Antietam would have been decisive. The army remained in the neighborhood of Sharpsburg until early in November, when McClellan was relieved, and on 10 November Burnside reluctantly assumed command. At this time the Confederate Army was divided, Longstreet and Jackson commanding, respectively, its right and left wings, being separated by at least two days' march. Rick' and Burnside were always warm personal friends, and the former gave his successor in command the benefit of his projected plans. A month d in reorganizing the army in three grand divisions, under Generals Sumner, Franklin, and Hooker, with the 11th Corps under Sigel as a reserve. The plan was to cross the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg and, if possible, crush the separated wings of the Confederate Army in detail. The movement began 15 November, and four days later the army occupied the heights opposite Fredericksburg, but with the river intervening and no pontoon-train ready. The responsibility for this failure has never been charged to General Burnside, nor has it ever been definitely fixed upon any one save a vague and impersonal “department”; but it necessitated a fatal delay, for Lee had moved nearly as rapidly as Burnside, and promptly occupied and fortified the heights south of the river. During the period of enforced inaction that followed, General Burnside went to Washington and expressed his doubts as to the policy of crossing the river, in view of the failure of the attempt to divide Lee's forces. But he was urged to push a winter campaign against Richmond, and, returning to the front, gave orders to place the bridges. is was gallantly effected in the face of a sharp resistance, Fredericksburg was cleared of the enemy, and on 13 December the whole National Army had crossed and was in position south of the Rappahannock. The situation in brief was this: South and in the rear of Fredericksburg is a range of hills irregularly parallel to the course of the river; the space between is a lateau well adapted for the movement of troops. his was occupied by the National Army in the three grand divisions specified, Sumner holding the right, Hooker the centre, and Franklin the left. The Confederates occupied the naturally strong position along the crest of the hills, and were well intrenched, with batteries in position. Longstreet commanded the right wing, and Jackson the left. The weak point of the Confederate line was at its right, owing to a depression of the hills, and here it was at first intended to make a determined assault; but, for some reason, orders were sent to Franklin, at the last moment, merely to make a demonstration, while Sumner attempted to carry Marye's hill, which, naturally a strong position, was rendered nearly impregnable by a sunken road, bordered by a stone wall, along its base. The best battalions in the army were sent against this position; but the fire of artillery and infantry was so severe that nothing was gained, £ the struggle was kept up till nightfall, General Hooker's division being the last to attack, only to be repelled as its predecessors had been. Burnside would have renewed the attack on the next day, but Sumner dissuaded him at the last moment, and that night the whole army recrossed the river, having lost, in killed, wounded, and missing, more than 12,000 men. Some of these, however, afterward returned to their regiments. The Confederate loss was 5,309. Insubordination was soon developed among the corps and division commanders, and Burnside issued an order, subject to the president's approval, summarily dismissing several of them from the service, and relieving others from duty. and Brooks, was not approved, and General Burnside was superseded by Major-General Hooker. Transferred to the Department of the Ohio, with headquarters at Cincinnati, Burnside found himself forced to take stringent measures in regard to the proceedings of southern sympathizers on both sides of the river. On 13 April, 1863, he issued his famous general order defining certain treasonable offences, and announcing that they would not be tolerated. Numerous arrests followed, including that of Clement L. Vallandigham, who was trird by military commission for making a treasonable speech, was found guilty, and sentenced to imprisonment during the remainder of the war. His sentence the president commuted to banishment, and Vallandigham was sent within the lines of the Confederacy. The Democrats of Ohio thereupon nominated him for governor, but he was defeated by a majority of more than 100,000. In August, 1863, Burnside crossed the Cumberland mountains at the head of 18,000 men, marching 250 miles in 14 days, '' Confederates, who had their headquarters at Knoxville, to make a hasty retreat. He pushed forward, and Cumberland Gap was captured, with its garrison and stores. Attacked by Longstreet, with a superior force, General Burnside retreated in good order, fighting all the way to Knoxville, where he was fortified and provisioned for a siege by the time Longstreet was ready to invest the place. This movement, according to General Burnside's biographer, was made, on his own responsibility, to draw Longstreet away from Grant's front, and thus facilitate the defeat of General Bragg, which soon followed. The siege of Knoxville was prosecuted with great vigor for a month, when the approach of General Sherman compelled Longstreet to raise the si Immediately afterward General Burnside was relieved, and devoted himself to recruiting and reorganizing the 9th Corps. In April, 1864, he resumed command at Annapolis, with the corps nearly 20,000 strong. Attached once more to the Army of the Potomac, this time under General Grant, he led his corps through the battles of the Wilderness and Cold Harbor, and the operations against Petersburg. In these latter engagements the corps suffered very heavily, and General Meade preferred charges of disobedience against Burnside, and ordered a court-martial for his trial. This course was disapproved by General Grant, and, at Burnside's request, a court of inquiry was ordered, which eventually found him “answerable for the want of success.” He always held that the failure was due to interference with his plan of assault, and before a Congressional committee of investigation much testimony was adduced to show that this was really the case. General Burnside resigned from the army on 15 April, 1865, with a military record that does him high honor as a patriotic, brave, and able officer, to whom that bane of army life, professional jealousy, was unknown. He always frankly admitted his own unfitness for the command of a large army, and accepted such commands only under stress of circumstances. Returning to civil life, he became at once identified with railroad construction and management. He was elected governor of Rhode Island in April, 1866, and re-elected in 1867 and 1868. Declining a fourth nomination, he devoted himself successfully to the great railroad interests with which he was identified. He went to Europe on business during the height of the Franco-Prussian war, and, as a soldier, naturally wished to witness some of the siege operations before Paris. The order, which Visiting the Prussian headquarters at Versailles sweepingly included Hooker, Franklin, Newton, simply in a private capacity, he found himself called upon to act as an envoy between the hostile forces, which he did, passing back and forth under a flag-of-truce, endeavoring to further negotiations for peace. In Paris, and among the German besiegers, he was looked upon with the greatest curiosity, and, although his efforts at peace-making were unsuccessful, he secured the lasting respect and confidence of both sides. In January, 1875, after his return to this country, he was elected U. S. Senator from Rhode Island," and in 1880 was re-elected. He took a leading position in the Senate, was Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and sustained his life-long character as a fair-minded and patriotic citizen. His death, which was very sudden, from neuralgia of the heart, occurred at his home in Bristol, B. L The funeral ceremonies assumed an almost national character, for his valuable services as a soldier and as a statesman had secured general recognition, and in his own state he was the most conspicuous man of his time. Burnside was a tall and handsome man of soldierly bearing, with charming manners, which won for him troops of friends and admirers. He outlived his wife, and died childless. See " Life and Public Services of Ambrose E. Burnside," by Benjamin Perley Poore (Providence, 1882). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 462-465.
BURTON, Henry S., soldier, born in New York in 1818; died in Fort Adams, Newport, Rhode Island, 4 April, 1869. He was appointed to '' U. S. Military Academy from Vermont, was graduated in 1839, and served as second lieutenant of the 3d Artillery in the Florida War from 1839 till 1842. He was made first lieutenant, 11 November, 1839, and was an assistant instructor at West Point from 16 June, 1843, till 5 August, 1846. He served in the Mexican War as lieutenant-colonel of New York volunteers, distinguished himself by his defence of La Paz, Lower California, and was also engaged at Todos Santos. He was made captain, 22 September, 1847, and remained in California on duty in various forts most of the time till 1862, when, having been promoted to major on 14 May, 1861, he had charge of the prisoners of war at Fort Delaware until September, 1863. He was made colonel of the 5th Artillery, 11 August, 1863, and commanded the artillery reserve of the Army of the Potomac from January till May, 1864. He was inspector of artillery in the Richmond Campaign, and held the same office in the Department of the East from 7 September till 2 December, 1864, when he became a member of the retiring board, and served there till 15 May, 1865. He was brevetted brigadier-general, U. S. Army, 13 March, 1865, for services at the capture of Petersburg, and commanded his regiment, stationed in various forts, for the remainder of his life. From October, 1868, till March, 1869, he was member of a court-martial in New York City. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 472.
BUSSEY, Cyrus, soldier, born in Hubbard, Trumbull County, Ohio, 5 October, 1833. His father was a Methodist minister. When fourteen years old he became a merchant's clerk in Dupont, Indiana, and at the age of sixteen began business on his own account, becoming a prosperous merchant. From this time until he was twenty-two he devoted several hours a day to study, and for two years studied medicine with his brother. Mr. Bussey was elected to the state senate as a Democrat in 1858, and was a delegate to the Baltimore Convention that nominated Stephen A. Douglas for president. At the outbreak of the war he came forward strongly to the support of the government and was a pointed by Governor Kirkwood to the command of the militia in the southeastern part of the state, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. On 10 August, 1861, he became colonel of the 3d Iowa Volunteer Cavalry, which he had raised, and joined the Army of the Southwest. He commanded a brigade in the battle of Pea Ridge, participated in the Arkansas Campaign of 1862, and on 10 July led the 3d Brigade of Steele's division. He commanded the District of Eastern Arkansas from 11 January, 1863, till the following April, when he took charge of the 2d Cavalry Division of the Army of the Tennessee. He was chief of cavalry at the siege of Vicksburg, doing good service in watching General Joseph Johnston's attempts to raise the siege, led the advance in Sherman's movement against Johnston, and defeated Jackson at Canton, 17 July, 1863. He was made brigadier-general, 5 January, 1864, for “special gallantry,” and shortly afterward was given command of western Arkansas and the Indian territory, with the 3d Division of the 7th Corps. This district had been in a disorganized state. Fort Smith, its headquarters, was the resort of dishonest contractors, who cheated the government and plundered the residents, and drunkenness and theft prevailed among the troops to an alarming extent. With a view to breaking up corruption and restoring discipline, General Bussey was given command there, and he succeeded in a short time in accomplishing this difficult task. He was brevetted major-general on 13 March, 1865, and after the war resumed business as a commission merchant, first in St. Louis, and then in New Orleans. He was a delegate to the Republican Convention of 1868, which nominated General Grant for president, was for six years president of the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, and chairman of a committee of that body that obtained from Congress the appropriation for Captain Eads's jetties at the mouth of the Mississippi. General Bussey engaged in business in New York City in 1881, and in 1884 took an active part in the canvass for Mr. Blaine. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 475
BUSTEED, Richard, lawyer, jurist, Union general, anti-slavery advocate. (Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 476).
BUSTEED, Richard, lawyer, born in Cavan, Ireland, 16 February, 1822. His father, George Washington Busteed, was a Dublin barrister, and at one time held a colonel's commission in the British Army. In 1829 the elder Busteed was appointed chief secretary of the island of St. Lucia, but his zeal in the cause of emancipation led to his removal from office, and, after returning to Ireland, he emigrated to London, Canada, where he established a paper called “The True Patriot.” Richard began work on this paper as a type-setter, mid afterward accompanied his father to Cincinnati, Ohio, to Hartford, Connecticut, and finally to New York, where he worked on the “Commercial Advertiser.” At this time he was licensed as a local preacher in the Methodist Church. After a visit to Ireland for his health in 1840, he began the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1846. His management of the defence in several celebrated extradition cases soon made his reputation, and he became a successful lawyer. In 1856 he was elected corporation counsel of New York City, holding the office till 1859, and in the presidential campaign of 1860 he was a supporter of Douglas, and a bitter opponent of Lincoln, but after the attack on Sumter he became a strong union man. On 7 August, 1862, he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers by President Lincoln, and assigned to duty, first in New York and then in Washington. In December, 1862, he took command of a brigade at Yorktown, Virginia General Busteed's course in support of the administration, and on the slavery question, had raised against him many enemies, who determined to prevent his confirmation. The five colonels of his brigade sent a joint letter to the Senate, testifying to the improvement in discipline made by their commands under him. His name, however, was not sent to that body for confirmation, as on 10 March, 1863, he sent his resignation to the president. On 17 September, 1863, General Busteed was appointed by President Lincoln to be U. S. District Judge for Alabama. He was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on 20 January, 1864, and in the autumn of 1865 he opened the court. He decided that the test-oath prescribed by Congress was unconstitutional, so far as it applied to attorneys practicing before U. S. courts, and this decision was followed by judges in other states, the supreme court afterward delivering a similar opinion. In November, 1865, Judge Busteed had a controversy with the U. S. military authorities in Alabama, which excited great interest, and involved important questions relating to the suspension of the habeas corpus act. In 1874 he resigned and resumed the practice of law in New York City. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 476.
BUTLER, Benjamin Franklin, 1818-1893, New York, attorney, political leader, opponent of slavery, Civil War Union General, Republican member of the U.S. Congress. Founding member and officer of the Albany auxiliary of the American Colonization Society. As Union General, he refused to return runaway slaves to Southerners at Fort Monroe. This led to a federal policy of calling enslaved individuals who fled to Union lines contraband of war. (Burin, 2005, p. 162; Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 477-478; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 2, Pt. 1, p. 357; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 81, 129, 178, 224).
BUTLER, Benjamin Franklin, lawyer, born in Deerfield, New Hampshire, 5 November, 1818. He is the son of Captain John Butler, who served under Jackson at New Orleans. He was graduated at Waterville College (now Colby University), Maine, in 1838, was admitted to the bar in 1840, began practice at Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1841, and has since had a high reputation as a lawyer, especially in criminal cases. He early took a prominent part in politics on the Democratic side, and was elected a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1853, and of the state senate in 1859. In 1860 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention that met at Charleston. When a portion of the delegates reassembled at Baltimore, Mr. Butler, after taking part in the opening debates mid votes, announced that a majority of the delegates from Massachusetts would not further participate in the deliberations of the convention, on the ground that there had been a withdrawal in part of the majority of the states; and further, he added, “upon the ground that I would not sit in a convention where the African slave-trade, which is piracy by the laws of my country, is approvingly advocated.” In the same year he was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for governor of Massachusetts. At the time of President Lincoln's call for troops in April, 1861, he held the commission of brigadier-general of militia. On the 17th of that month he marched to Annapolis with the 8th Massachusetts Regiment, and was placed in command of the District of Annapolis, in which the City of Baltimore was included. On 13 May, 1861, he entered Baltimore at the head of 900 men, occupied the city without opposition, and on 16 May was made a major-general, and assigned to the command of Fort Monroe and the Department of Eastern Virginia. While he was here, some slaves that had come within his lines were demanded by their masters; but he refused to deliver them up on the ground that they were contraband of war; hence arose the designation of “contrabands,” often applied to slaves during the war. In August he captured Forts Hatteras and Clark on the Coast of North Carolina. He then returned to Massachusetts to recruit an expedition for the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi. On 23 March, 1862, the expedition reached Ship Island, and on 17 April went up the Mississippi. The fleet under Farragut having passed the forts, 24 April, and virtually captured New Orleans, General Butler took possession of the city on 1 May. His administration of affairs was marked by great vigor. He instituted strict sanitary regulations, armed the free colored men, and compelled rich secessionists to contribute toward the support of the poor of the city. His course in hanging William Mumford for hauling down the U. S. flag from the mint, and in issuing “Order No. 28,” intended to prevent women from insulting soldiers, excited strong resentment, not only in the south, but in the north and abroad, and in December, 1862, Jefferson Davis issued a proclamation declaring him an outlaw. On 10 May, 1862, General Butler seized about $800,000 which had been deposited in the office of the Dutch consul, claiming that arms for the Confederates were to be bought with it. This action was protested against by all the foreign consuls, and the government at Washington, after an investigation, ordered the return of the money. On 16 December, 1862, General Butler was recalled, as he believes, at the instigation of Louis Napoleon, who supposed the general to be hostile to his Mexican schemes. Near the close of 1863 he was placed in command of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, and his force was afterward designated as the Army of the James. In October, 1864, there being apprehensions of trouble in New York during the election, General Butler was sent there with a force to insure quiet. In December he conducted an ineffectual expedition against Fort Fisher, near Wilmington, North Carolina, and soon afterward was removed from command by General Grant. He then returned to his residence in Massachusetts. In 1866 he was elected by the Republicans a member of Congress, where he remained till 1879, with the exception of the term for 1875-'7. He was the most active of the managers appointed in 1868 by the House of Representatives to conduct the impeachment of President Johnson. He was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for governor of Massachusetts in 1871; and in 1878 and 1879, having changed his politics, was the candidate of the independent greenback party and of one wing of the Democrats for the same office, but was again defeated. In 1882 the Democrats united upon him as their candidate, and he was elected, though the rest of the state ticket was defeated. During his administration, he made a charge of gross mismanagement against the authorities of the Tewksbury Almshouse; but, after a long investigation, a committee of the legislature decided that it was not sustained. In 1883 he was renominated, but was defeated. In 1884 he was the candidate of the greenback and anti-monopolist parties for the presidency, and received 133,825 votes. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888.
BUTLER, Francis Eugene, clergyman, born in Suffolk, Connecticut, 7 February, 1825; died in Suffolk, Virginia, 4 May, 1863. He was for several years a merchant in New York city, where he was secretary of the New York Bible Society, one of the founders of the Young Men's Christian association, and an active friend of other religious institutions. When twenty-nine years old, he entered Yale with the determination of fitting himself for the ministry. He was graduated in 1857, and spent three years in the study of theology at Princeton, and one year at Andover. He supplied for a time the pulpit of a church in Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania, and afterward that of the Second Presbyterian Church in Cleveland, Ohio. After his ordination on 16 April, 1862, he preached in the Congregational Church in Paterson, New Jersey When the 25th Regiment of New Jersey Volunteers was organized, he accepted the post of chaplain, and accompanied the regiment to Suffolk, Virginia In an engagement near that place on 3 May, learning that some men of a Connecticut regiment on the right were suffering for want of surgical assistance, he went to their relief, and was shot by a sharp-shooter and died the next day. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 479.
BUTLER, Matthew Calbraith, senator, son of William, born near Greenville, South Carolina, 8 March, 1836, was educated at South Carolina College, studied law at Edgefield Court House with his uncle, was admitted to the bar in 1857, at Edgefield Court-House, and was elected to the legislature in 1859. He entered the Confederate service as captain in June, 1861, became colonel of the 2d South Carolina Cavalry on 22 August, 1862, brigadier-general on 1 September, 1863, and afterward a major-general, commanding Wright's and Logan's brigades of cavalry in the Army of Northern Virginia. At the battle of Brandy Station, 9 June, 1863, he lost his right leg. He was elected to the legislature of South Carolina in 1866, was a candidate for lieutenant-governor in 1870, and received the Democratic vote for U.S. Senator the same year. In 1876, when there were two contending state governments in existence, he was elected U.S. Senator by the Democratic legislature, as the successor of Thomas J. Robertson, Republican. David T. Corbin, who was elected by the Republican legislature, contested the election but General Butler was admitted to the seat on 2 December, 1877. In 1882 he was re-elected for the term expiring 3 March, 1889. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 482.
BUTLER, Pierce Mason, born in Edgefield District, South Carolina, 11 April, 1798; killed in the battle of Churubusco, Mexico, 20 August, 1847, received a military education, and entered the army in 1819 as second lieutenant of infantry. He displayed from the first abilities that promised distinction. was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant in 1823, and attained the grade of captain in 1825. After four years of service, he resigned his commission, and in 1829 became a resident of Columbia, South Carolina, and was elected president of a bank established at that place. In 1836 he resigned the office and accepted the appointment of lieutenant-colonel in Goodwyn's regiment of South Carolina volunteers, raised to aid in suppressing the Seminole Indians of Florida. He served throughout the war, and won distinction in several hard-fought battles. On his return from Florida, he was in 1838 elected governor of South Carolina. At the end of his term, having given great satisfaction to the state by the dignity and ability that he displayed in the office, he was appointed by the president Indian agent, and filled that place to the satisfaction of the government until the beginning of the war with Mexico in 1846, when he resigned it to enter the army. He organized the Palmetto Regiment, was elected its colonel, and led it with the greatest gallantry in the fierce conflicts in which it took part, winning marked distinction in the battle of Cerro Gordo. At the battle of Churubusco, 22 August, 1847, Colonel Butler was wounded in the early part of the engagement, but would not retire from the field, and continued to lead his men in the impetuous charge upon the Mexican lines until he was shot through the head and killed instantly. Colonel Butler was over six feet in height, finely pro- portioned, his features classical, his face beaming with the ardor of his heroic spirit, and his bearing full of soldierly dignity. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 482.
BUTLER, William Orlando, soldier, born in Jessamine County, Kentucky, in 1791; died in Carrollton, Kentucky, 6 August, 1880. He was educated at Transylvania University in 1812, and was studying law under Robert Wickliffe at Lexington, when, at the breaking out of hostilities with England, he enlisted as a private, and hastened to the relief of Fort Wayne. Promoted ensign in the 17th Infantry, he was at the disastrous battles of 18 and '' 1813, at Raisin River. He distinguished himself in the second engagement by burning a barn from which the Indians poured a galling fire into the American ranks, was afterward wounded and taken prisoner, and, after enduring privations and inhuman treatment, was paroled at Fort Niagara, and made his way back to Kentucky amid many hard- ships. Commissioned a captain, he raised a company, and did good service at Pensacola. He was ordered to New Orleans, where, on the night of 23 December, 1814, while in command of four companies on the left wing, he attacked and repelled General Sir Edward Pankenham. This check gave time for the construction of defences at Chalmette, which on 8 January enabled the Americans to defeat a force double their own and win a decisive victory. For this service he was made brevet major. In the following year he succeeded his brother, Major Thomas Butler, as aide-de-camp to General Jackson. In 1817 he resigned from the army and resumed the practice of law, was elected in that year to the legislature, and served through three terms. In 1839 he was elected as a Democrat to Congress, and he was again returned in 1841, but declined a third nomination. He was induced to accept the nomination for governor in 1844, with no hope of the effect of reducing the majority of the Whig Party from 28,000 to fewer than 5,000. His success at the bar was marked, but at the beginning of the Mexican War he joined the army, and on 29 June, 1846, was appointed major-general of volunteers. He reported to General Taylor, and in the early military movements in Texas and northern Mexico bore a prominent part. At the siege of Monterey, 24 September, he charged a battery, was wounded in the leg, and was sent home, but rejoined the army of General Scott the following year, and was at the capture of the city of Mexico. For his bravery at Monterey he received a sword of honor from Congress, and one from his own state. In February, 1848, being senior major-general, he succeeded General Scott in the chief command, and held that place when peace was signed, 29 May, 1848. In May, 1848, the National Democratic Convention at Baltimore nominated General Butler for vice-president on the ticket on which Lewis Cass held the first place. This ticket was defeated by the schism in the party, and the nomination in New York of the Free-Soil candidates, Van Buren and Adams. General Butler remained in private life after this election, refusing the appointment of governor of the Territory of Nebraska in 1855. His last appearance on the public stage was as a member of the Peace Congress which met at Washington in 1861. He was the author of “The Boatman's Horn” and other short poems. His “Life and Public Services,” edited by Francis P. Blair, Jr., appeared in 1848. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 481.
BUTTERFIELD, Daniel soldier, born in Utica, New York, 31 October, 1831, was graduated at Union in 1849, and became a merchant in New York City. He was colonel of the 12th New York Militia when the Civil War began. Accompanying his regiment to Washington in July, 1861, he led the advance into Virginia over the Long Bridge, joined General Patterson on the upper Potomac, and commanded a brigade. On the enlargement of the regular army, he was commissioned a lieutenant-colonel, and assigned to the 12th U.S. Infantry, 14 May, 1861, appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, 7 September, 1861, and ordered to the corps of Fitz-John Porter, in which he made the Campaign of the Peninsula, taking a conspicuous part in the actions at Hanover Court-House, Mechanicsville, Gaines's Mills, where he was wounded, and in the battles fought during the retreat of McClellan's army to Harrison's Landing, where he commanded a detachment on the south side of the James River to cover the retreat. He took part in the great battles under Pope and McClellan in August and September, 1862, and near the close of October took command of Morell's division. He became major-general of volunteers on 29 November, 1862, was made colonel of the 5th Infantry in the regular army on 1 July, 1863, and commanded the 5th Corps at the battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, was chief of staff, Army of the Potomac, at Chancellorsville, and at Gettysburg, where he was wounded, was ordered to re-enforce Rosecrans's Army of the Cumberland, in October, 1863, acting as chief of staff to Hooker at Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge, Ringgold, and Pea Vine Creek, Georgia. He commanded a division of the 20th Corps at the battles of Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church, Kenesaw, and Lost Mountain, Georgia, and was brevetted brigadier and major-general, U.S.A., for gallant and meritorious conduct. He is the author of “Camp and Outpost Duty” (New York, 1862). He served after the war as superintendent of the general recruiting service of the U.S. Army, with headquarters in New York, and in command of forces in New York Harbor from 1865 till 1869, when he resigned from the army and was appointed head of the Sub-treasury of the United States in New York. Since leaving this position he has been connected with the American Express Company. On 21 September, 1886, he married, in London England, Mrs. Julia L. James, of New York City. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 483.
BYRD, Harvey Leonidas, physician and army surgeon, born in Salem, Sumter County, South Carolina, 8 August, 1820; died 29 November, 1884. He was descended from the earliest settlers of the Carolinas, and his family has always been prominent in the state. His grandfather was a member of Marion's brigade in the Revolutionary War. After acquiring a classical education in his native state, Dr. Byrd went to Philadelphia and entered the famous medical schools— Jefferson College, Pennsylvania College, and the University of Pennsylvania, took degrees from all of them, and in 1840 began practice in his native town, but soon moved to Georgetown, and afterward to Savannah, where he became a professor in the Medical College and in Oglethorpe Medical College. In 1844 he married Adelaide Dazier, daughter of John Dazier, of Williamsburg, South Carolina. At the beginning of the Civil War he entered the Confederate Army as a surgeon, and served until the surrender, when he settled in Baltimore and began a movement for the reopening of Washington University, which had been suspended during the war. He was cordially seconded by others of the profession, was nominated dean of the faculty, and the college entered almost at once on a career of success. After several years of service, he withdrew, and established the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Baltimore. He contributed largely to medical periodicals, edited the “Oglethorpe Medical and Surgical Journal” for three years, and was a member of the leading medical societies, of the Aryan order, and of various historical societies. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 486.
