Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/143

Rh In September, 1780, he was chosen associate justice of the supreme court, which post he held by annual elec- tions until 1787, sitting in the famous paper-money case of Trevett vs. Weeden. His firmness and de- cision in this case, notwithstanding its unpopularity in the state at the time, ought, says a writer, " to cause his name to be inscribed in letters of gold." He was again a judge of the supreme court from 1791 until his resignation in December, 1797, in which year he was elected a member of congress, serving from 13 Nov., 1797, till 4 March, 1799, and in 1801-3. — Joseph Leonard, lawyer, fifth in descent from Pardon, b. in Taunton, Mass., in 1790 ; d. in Providence, R. I., 30 Dec, 1844, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1811. In 1819 he received the honorary degree of A. M. from Brown, of which he was elected a trustee in 1833. He filled many other public stations, was for many years a member of the general assembly, and was repeatedly elected speaker of the house, where he was the earnest advocate of public instruction and judicial reform. Elected to congress as a Whig, he served from 4 Sept., 1837, till 3 March, 1843. In congress he was one of the most useful mem- bers, few men equalling him in the extent of his political information. At the age of eighteen he published in the Providence "Gazette," over the signature " Dion," a series of political essays that attracted wide attention ; and he also contributed poetry to journals over the signature of " Carroll."

TILLMAN, Samuel Dyer, lawyer, b. in Utica, N. Y., 1 April, 1815 ; d. in New York city, 4 Sept., 1875. He was graduated at Union in 1834, and then studied law in Canandaigua, where he was admit- ted to the bar. Several years later he settled in Seneca Palls, N. Y.. where he continued in the prac- tice of his profession, and also was repeatedly elect- ed president of the town council. About 1850 he retired from legal practice and settled in New York city. He was soon elected a member of the Ameri- can institute, by which organization he was made professor of science and mechanics. Later he be- came its corresponding secretary and edited the " Transactions " of the institute, published by the state. Prof. Tillman's knowledge in every depart- ment of science was extensive. He invented a ro- tating planisphere to serve as a substitute for the artificial globe, for the use of schools, and also a revolving musical scale, called the tonometer, de- signed to illustrate the theory of temperament and exhibiting visibly the relations between the true and tempered notes in every key. The degree of Ph. D. was conferred on him by Union college in 1875, and he was a member of various scientific societies, including the American association for the advancement of science. His writings were chiefly essays on technical subjects, and included " A Treatise on Musical Sounds and an Explana- tion of the Tonometer " (New York, 1860).

TILLSON, Davis, soldier, b. in Rockland. Me., 14 April, 1830. He entered the U. S. military academy in 1849, but two years later, having in- jured his foot so that it required amputation, he resigned. In 1857 he was elected to the Maine legislature, and in 1858 became adjutant-general of the state. On the inauguration of President Lincoln he was appointed collector of customs of the Waldoboro district, which place he resigned in 1861 to become captain of the 2d Maine battery. He went to Washington in April, 1862 (having been detained in Maine during the winter, owing to the threatened difficulty with England on ac- count of the " Trent " affair), and was assigned to the Army of the Rappahannock under Gen. Irvin McDowell. On 22 May he was promoted major and made chief of artillery in Gen. Edward O. C. Ord's division. After the battle of Cedar Moun- tain, 9 Aug., 1862, he was assigned to Gen. McDow- ell's staff as chief of artillery, in which capacity he served during the three days' artillery fight at Rappahannock Station, and then at the second bat- tle of Bull Run. Subsequently, until April. 1863. he was inspector of artillery, and in January was made lieutenant-colonel, and on 29 March was or- dered to Cincinnati, having been commissioned brigadier-general to date from 29 Nov., 1862, and made chief of artillery for fortifications in the De- partment of the Ohio. He had charge of the de- fences of Cincinnati and the works on the Louis- ville and Nashville railroad, and raised and organ- ized two regiments of heavy artillery. In Decem- ber, 1863, he was ordered to Knoxville, Tenn., where he supervised various works and was given a brigade in the 23d army corps, which he com- manded in several engagements with Confederate cavalry and irregular troops during the winter of 1863-'4. He continued in charge of the works in this district, which were officially commended as the best in the military division of the Mississippi, and also organized the 1st U. S. heavy artillery of colored troops and the 3d North Carolina mounted infantry. Subsequently he had command of the District of East Tennessee until early in 1865, when he was transferred to the 4th division of the De- partment of the Cumberland, and held that com- mand until the close of the war. He then offered his resignation ; but his services were retained, and he remained on duty until 1 Dec, 1866, in charge of the freedmen's bureau at Memphis, and subse- quently in Georgia. For a year he remained in Georgia after his resignation, engaged in cotton- planting, but then disposed of his interests there and returned to Rockland, Me., where he has since been engaged in the granite business.

TILTON, James, physician, b. in Kent county, Del., 1 June, 1745; d. near Wilmington, Del., 14 May, 1822. He received a classical education at Nottingham academy, Md., under Rev. Samuel Finley, who was afterward president of Princeton. On leaving school, he entered the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was graduated in 1771, six years after its organization. He at once settled at Dover, Del., where he remained until the beginning of the Revolutionary war. His sympathies being warmly enlisted in the patriot cause, he abandoned a lucrative practice to enlist, and became 1st lieutenant in a company of light infantry. Subsequently he was appointed surgeon in a Delaware regiment, and served in the battles of Long Island and White Plains, accompanying the army in its retreat to the Delaware river. In 1777 he was in charge of the military hospital at Princeton, N. J., where there was much suffering among the troops in consequence of the system of placing all the sick in one hospital. Dr. Tilton himself narrowly escaped death from an attack of fever that he contracted there. In the winter of 1779-80 the sufferings of the sick in the tent hospitals was very great. To Dr. Tilton, then stationed at Trenton, ^. J., has been ascribed the suggestion of the erection of the new buildings that were ordered by the authorities with the happiest results. These were log huts, roughly built so as to admit of free ventilation through the crevices, with floors of hardened clay, each being intended to accommodate not more than six patients. In September, 1781, chiefly through the exertions of Dr. Tilton, an act was passed by congress providing for promotion by seniority in the medical corps. He was soon afterward elected a professor