Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/235

Rh the fight was about to begin when Uncas ad- vanced and demanded a parley, with Miantonomo. " You have," said he, " a number of brave warriors with you, and so have I with me. It is a pity that our warriors should be killed in a private quarrel between their chiefs. Step forward like a brave man, as you profess to be, and let us fight the bat- tle ourselves. If I fall, the Mohegans shall serve the Narragansetts. But if Uncas kills Miantonomo the Narragansetts shall be mine." Miantonomo declined the single combat, a furious fight ensued in which the Mohegans were victorious, and Mian- tonomo was captured. Uncas took him to Hart- ford to consult with the colonial authorities as to what should be done with him. The commissioners decided that " there could be no safety for Uncas in the event of Miantonomo's liberation, but that by secret treachery or open force his life would be in continual danger." Six elders and six clergy- men of Massachusetts decided that the Narragan- sett chief should be put to death. Acting on their instructions, Miantonomo was taken to Norwich and brained with a tomahawk by Uncas's brother, in his presence and that of two Englishmen, in September, 1643. Rev. Richard Hyde in 1669 said in a letter that after Miantonomo's death Uncas cut a piece out of his shoulder and ate it, but this had no authority but rumor. The colonists sent a detachment of soldiers to defend the Mohe- gans against the tribes that on all sides combined against them. For two years Uncas fought against the Mohawks, Pocomotocks, and Narragansetts. defending himself with bravery and skill. In 1656 he was besieged in his stronghold on Connecticut river by the Narragansett chief Pessacus, and nearly forced by hunger to surrender, but almost at the last moment he was relieved by an Eng- lish ensign, Thomas Leffingwell, who managed to reach him at night in a canoe laden with provis- ions. In gratitude for this assistance, he gave Leffingwell a deed of all the lands upon which the town of Norwich, Conn., now stands. Leffingwell afterward sold it to a company. Although Uncas was too old to be of much service during King Philip's war, his son, Oneco, with 200 Mohegan warriors and a greater number of subjugated Pe- quots, marched with Maj. John Talcott to Brook- field and Hadley, and at the latter place aided in defeating 700 of King Philip's force. Uncas was never in favor with the clergy, by one of whom in 1674 he is described as " an old and wicked, wilful man, who had always been an opposer of praying to God." But on one occasion he so far yielded to the influence of a good missionary as to ask his prayers for rain during a continued drought. When it fell the next day, he professed himself al- most ready to adopt the Christian religion. Al- though he was cruel and tyrannical, Uncas had a conception of the obligation of a treaty that was possessed by no other Indian. He kept faith with the colonists in all their warfare with other tribes, and was a singularly generous and magnanimous foe. His admirers claim that great injustice has been done him by historians, who almost unani- mously praise Miantonomo at his expense. A granite obelisk was erected to his memory in Nor- wich in 1825, the foundation-stone being laid by Gen. Andrew Jackson. See " Uncas and Mian- tonomo," by William L. Stone (New York, 1842).

UNDERHILL, Edward Fitch, stenographer, b. in Woleott, N. Y., 20 April, 1830. He was self- educated, at nineteen years of age became a steno- graphic reporter on the St. Louis press, and in 1853-'62 was connected with the "Tribune" and " Times " of New York city, becoming war-corre- spondent of the latter, and subsequently its Wash- ington correspondent. He was one of the first court reporters in the United States, and in 1860 procured the passage of a law that made stenog- raphers officers of the courts in New York city, which practice has since been adopted by the county courts and by nearly every state in the Union. In 1865 he also procured the passage of a law to regulate the salaries of court stenographers. He has been official stenographer of the legisla- ture for five years, of the Constitutional conven- tion in 1867-8, of the state supreme court for eight years, and of the surrogate's court from 1872 till the present time. He has been admitted to the bar, and has written much in prose and verse, chiefly humorous.

UNDERHILL, John, colonist, b. in Warwick- shire, England ; d. in Oyster Bay, Long Island, N. Y., about 1672. He served in the Netherlands and at Cadiz, came to New England with John Winthrop in 1630, and was a representative in the assembly from Boston. He was appointed by Sir Henry Vane to command the colony's troops, and with Capt. John Mason destroyed the Indian forts at Mystic in 1637 and broke the power of the Pe- quots. Being banished from Boston on account of his religious opinions, he went to England and was made in 1641 governor of Exeter and Dover, but returned to this country, removed to Stam- ford, Conn., and afterward in 1646 to Flushing, Long Island. He was a delegate to the court in New Haven in 1643, was assistant justice there, and held an important command during the hos- tilities with the Dutch and Indians, 1643-'6. In 1665 he was a delegate from Oyster Bay to Hemp- stead, and he was at one time under-sheriff of the North Riding of Yorkshire. The Mantinenoc In- dians gave him 150 acres of land, which is still owned by his descendants. He published " Newes from America," an account of the Pequot war (London, 1638).

UNDERWOOD, Adin Ballon, soldier, b. in Milford, Mass., 19 May, 1828 ; d. in Boston, Mass., 14 Jan., 1888. His ancestors came to Hingham be- fore 1637 and afterward settled in Watertown. His father, Orison, was a brigadier-general of mili- tia. After graduation at Brown in 1849 the son studied law at Harvard, was admitted to the bar in 1853, and settled in Boston in 1855. At the be- ginning of the civil war he was active in raising recruits, and he was appointed captain in the 2d Massachusetts infantry in April, 1861. He became major in the 33d regiment in July, 1862, lieuten- ant-colonel and colonel in the same year, partici- pated in the battles of Fredericksburg. Chaneel- Jorsville, and Gettysburg, and served under Gen. Joseph Hooker at Lookout Mountain, but. being dangerously wounded, was disabled from further field duty. He was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers on 13 Jan., 1863, received the brevet of major-general of volunteers on 13 Aug., 1865, and was mustered out on 10 July, 1866. For near- ly twenty years he was surveyor of the port of Boston. Gen. Underwood published " Three Years' Service of the Twenty-third Massachusetts Infant- ry" (Boston, 1881).

UNDERWOOD, Francis Henry, author, b. in Enfield, Mass., 12 Jan., 1825. He was educated partly at Amherst, then taught in Kentucky, read law, and was admitted to the bar. He returned to Massachusetts in 1850, and thenceforward took an active part in the anti-slavery cause. He was clerk of the Massachusetts senate in 1852, and afterward literary adviser of the publishing-house of Phillips, Sampson, and Co. He conceived the idea