Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/335

Rh at the opening of the civil war, and was made lieutenant-colonel of the 74th Ohio regiment. He was soon afterward made assistant inspector-gen- eral on the staff of Gen. George H. Thomas, and served with credit at Chickamauga, Stone river, Chattanooga, the Atlanta campaign, and Nashville. On 13 March, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier- general of volunteers. In 1867 he was commis- sioned major of the 23d regular infantry and as- signed to duty as acting assistant inspector-general of the district of Louisiana.

VOORHEES, Daniel Wolsey, senator, b. in Butler county, Ohio, 26 Sept., 1827. He was taken to Indiana in infancy by his parents, was graduated at Indiana Asbury (now De Pauw) university in, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1851, and began to prac- tise in Covington, Ind., in the same year. He was an unsuccessful Democratic can- didate for con- gress in 1856, and in 1858 was ap- pointed U. S. dis- trict attorney for Indiana, which of- fice he held until 1861. In 1859 he went to Virginia, at the request of Gov. Ashbel P. Willard, of Indiana, to defend John E. Cook, the governor's broth- er-in-law, who had been put on trial for participa- tion in John Brown's raid. He was then chosen to congress and served from 1861 till 23 Feb., 1866, when his seat was contested successfully by Henry D. Washburn, but he sat in that body again in 1869-'73. During his service in the house he was a member of the committees on elections, appro- priations, the judiciary, the revision of laws, and the Pacific railroad. On the death of Oliver P. Morton, Mr. Voorhees was appointed to fill his seat in the U. S. senate, serving from 12 Nov., 1877, and he was elected for a full term in 1879, and re-elected in 1885. In early life Mr. Voorhees ob- tained the name of " The Tall Sycamore of the Wabash," by which he is still frequently called. He has made a reputation as an orator.

VOORHEES, Philip Falkerson, naval officer, b. in New Brunswick, N. J., in 1792 ; d. in An- napolis, Md., 26 Feb., 1862. He entered the navy as a midshipman, 15 Nov., 1809, and was engaged in the second war with Great Britain, taking part in the capture of the " Macedonian " by the " United States," and of the " Epervier " by the " Peacock," for which he received a medal from congress. He was promoted to commander, 24 April, 1828, and to captain, 28 Feb., 1838, and in 1842-5 was as- signed the frigate " Congress " on her first cruise, during which he assisted in rescuing the stranded British steamer " Gorgon " in La Plata river. In 1844 Capt. Voorhees captured an armed Argentine squadron and an allied cruiser which had fired into his convoy, a Boston bark, where some fish- ermen, chased by the cruiser, had taken refuge. Capt. Voorhees released this squadron after an apology had been made, but detained the cruiser, which had aggravated the assault by firing under a false flag. Com. Daniel Turner afterward re- leased the cruiser, but justified Capt. Voorhees's action in a letter to the Argentine commander, and Voorhees was also highly praised by U. S. diplomatic and consular representatives and for- eign naval officers in South America. Yet this capture was made the occasion for a series of charges on which he was tried by courts-martial in 1845. The sentences of these courts were not ap- proved, and after a few months' suspension Presi- dent Pal k, in 1847, restored Capt. Voorhees to his full rank in the navy, and gave him command of the East India squadron— the post of an admiral at the present day, that grade not having been es- tablished at that time, " in manifestation of his complete rehabilitation in honor as well as in rank in the judgment of the government " as declared in the official opinion of Attorney-General Caleb Gushing, which also declared the proceedings of the courts-martial " null and void." He returned in 1851 in his flag-ship, the " Plymouth," and in 1855 was placed on the reserved list. He regarded this as an injustice, and appealed to congress for reinstatement, but a court of inquiry reaffirmed the decision of the board. On a second appeal President Buchanan referred the whole matter to Attorney-General Jeremiah S. Black, who, in an opinion dated 15 Oct., 1858, said : " The history, even of the American navy, hardly contains an- other instance where one man has been the victim of so many blunders." President Buchanan, with the consent of the senate, therefore restored him to the leave pay-list, and at the opening of the civil war Capt. Voorhees urged his assignment to active duty, but he died a few months afterward.

VOORHIES, John Stevens, publisher, b. in New York city, 9 May, 1809; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 19 Nov., 1865. He was a clerk for Oliver Halsted, who had established a law-book store in New York city in 1820, became his partner, and finally suc- ceeded him in 1842, becoming well known as a publisher of legal works. He was specially kind to young lawyers in furnishing books on liberal terms, and great reliance was placed on his judg- ment and knowledge in the selection of law libra- ries. After his death his business was continued by the firm of Baker, Voorhies, and Co. He pro- jected and published " Sedgwick on Damages " (New York, 1848); "Voorhies's Code of Civil Procedure" (New York, 1851); "Burrill's Voluntary Assign- ments " (1853) ; " Greenleaf's Overruled Cases " (1856) ; " Burrill's Circumstantial Evidence " (1856); "Abbott's Digest" (5 vols., 1860); "Cleveland's Banking Laws " (1860) ; and many other works.

VOSE, George Leonard, civil engineer, b. in Augusta, Me., 19 April, 1831. He was educated in Augusta and in Salem, Mass. During 1849-'50 he studied at the Lawrence scientific school of Harvard, then began his career as assistant engineer on the Kennebec and Portland railroad, and until 1859 was engaged on various railroads. From 1859 till 1863 he was associate editor of &ldquo;The American Railway Times&rdquo; in Boston, and then for three years he resided in Salem, Mass. In 1866 he removed to Paris, Me., and was occupied with projects in Maine and New Hampshire. He was professor of civil engineering in Bowdoin college from 1872 till 1881, and held a similar chair in the Massachusetts institute of technology from 1881 till 1886. His larger works include &ldquo;Handbook of Railroad Construction&rdquo; (Boston, 1857); &ldquo;Orographic Geology, or the Origin and Structure of Mountains&rdquo; (1866); &ldquo;Manual for Railroad Engineers and Engineering Students&rdquo; (1873); &ldquo;A Graphic Method for solving Algebraic Problems&rdquo; (New York, 1875); &ldquo;Elementary Course of Geometric Drawing&rdquo; (Boston, 1878); &ldquo;Memoir of George