Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/341

Rh active in philanthropical labors. Although a Fed- eralist by education and a Democrat by conviction, he supported the Free-soil party in 1848, and con- tinued to act in defence of the anti-slavery move- ment. He was a presidential elector on the Re- publican ticket in 1856 and 1860. In 1861 he was a delegate to the Peace convention in Washington, and at the beginning of the civil war he was among the first to offer his services to the government. In April, 1861, he was commissioned a major-gen- eral by Gov. Edwin D. Morgan, but the appoint- ment was subsequently revoked. When communi- cation with the capital was cut off, he chartered two ships upon his own responsibility, loaded them with provisions, and went with them to Annapolis, where he superintended the delivery of the sup- Blies. He was volunteer aide to Gen. Irvin Mc- >owell at the first battle of Bull Run, where he was commended for bravery and humanity. After- ward he was made brigadier-general of volunteers, 9 Aug., 1861, assigned to a command in the ad- vance under Gen. George B. McClellan, and guard- ed the city of Washington. On 15 March, 1862, he became military governor of the District of Colum- bia. In the autumn of 1862 he was the Republi- can candidate for governor of New York, but was defeated by Horatio Seymour. In the following December he was assigned to the command of a division in the Army of the Potomac under Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, and participated in the bat- tle of Fredericksburg, 13 Dec, 1862. He displayed freat military skill in the command of the 1st ivision of the 1st army corps under Gen. John F. Reynolds. At Gettysburg his division was the first to engage the enemy on 1 July, 1863, and on that day lost 2,400 out of 4,000 men. During the second and third days' fighting he rendered good service in maintaining the heights on the right of the line. At the council of war held after the vic- tory he was one of the three that favored pursuit of the enemy. Early in 1864 he was sent on special service to the Mississippi valley, and made an exten- sive tour of inspection through the southern and western states. On the reorganization of the Army of the Potomac in 1864, he was assigned to the com- mand of the 4th division of the 5th corps, composed in part of his old command. While endeavoring to rally his troops during the battle of the Wilder- ness, 6 May, 1864, he was struck in the head by a bullet, and before he could be removed the enemy had gained possession of the ground where he lay. Although unconscious, he lingered for two days. It is said that his troops were inspired by his he- roic bearing continually to renew the contest, when but for him they would have yielded. He was brevetted major-general of volunteers on 6 May, 1864. Horace Greeley, in his " American Conflict " (Hartford, 1864-'6), says : " The country's salvation claimed no nobler sacrifice than that of James S. Wadsworth, of New York. . . . No one surren- dered more for his country's sake, or gave his life more joyfully for her deliverance." In 1888 a movement was in progress for the erection in Washington of a monument to his memory.

WADSWORTH, Jeremiah, congressman, b. in Hartford, Conn., in 1743 ; d. there, 30 April, 1804. He was the originator of numerous plans for the improvement of his native town, and held several local offices. During the war of the Revolution he was commissary-general of the Continental army. In 1786-'8 he was a delegate to the Continental congress, and he was elected a representative from Connecticut to the 1st congress as a Federalist, serving bv successive elections from 4 March, 1789. till 3 March, 1795.

WADSWORTH, Marshman Edward, geologist, b. in Livermore Falls, Me., 6 May, 1847. He was graduated at Bowdoin in 1869, and then taught in Minnesota and Wisconsin. In 1873 he was elected professor of chemistry in the Boston dental college, and in 1874 he became instructor in mathe- matics and mineralogy in Harvard. He held an assistantship in lithology at the Museum of comparative zoSlogy, Cambridge, Mass., in 1877-85, and was professor of mineralogy and geology in Colby university in 1885-7. Prof. Wadsworth was called in 1887 to the directorship of the Michi- gan mining-school, with the chair of mineralogy, petrography, and geology, and in 1888 he was ap- pointed state geologist of Michigan. The degree of Ph. D. was conferred on him by Harvard in 1879 for post-graduate studies, and he is a fellow of the American association for the advancement of science, and a member of the Boston society of natural history and other scientific bodies. His bibliography embraces nearly 100 titles of papers on geology, lithology, and similar subjects, includ- ing the following books, " Geology of the Iron and Copper Districts of Lake Superior " (Cambridge, 1880) ; " The Azoid System and its proposed Sub- divisions," with Josiah D. Whitney (1884) ; " Litho- logical Studies'" (1884) ; and " Preliminary Descrip- tion of the Peridotytes, Gabbros, Diabases, and Andesites of Minnesota " (St. Paul, 1887).

WADSWORTH, Peleg, soldier, b. in Duxbury, Mass., in 1748 ; d. in Hiram, Oxford co., Me., 18 Nov., 1829. He was graduated at Harvard in 1769, taught in Plymouth with Alexander Scammell, and then engaged in commercial pursuits. Early in the Revolutionary struggle he entered the army as a captain of minute-men in Roxbury and became aide to Gen. Artemas Ward. Afterward he was made adjutant-general for Massachusetts, and was present at the battle of Long Island, 1 Aug., 1776. He became brigadier-general of militia in 1777, and was second in command of the Penobscot expedi- tion in 1779, on which occasion he displayed great courage and was taken prisoner. He was again captured in his house by a party of British soldiers in February, 1781, and imprisoned in the fort at Castine, whence he escaped in June. In 1784 he established himself in business in Portland, Me., where he was much employed in surveying. In 1792 he was in the state senate, and was elected to congress, serving from 2 Dec, 1793, till 3 March, 1807. In the last-named year he removed to Ox- ford county, Me., to improve a large tract of land that had been granted to him by the government for his services. He developed the resources of that region, and was appointed major-general of Maine militia. — His son, Henry, naval officer, b. about 1783 ; d. in Tripoli harbor, 4 Sept., 1804. en- tered the navy as a midshipman, 28 Aug., 1799. He was attached to the frigate "Constitution," which sailed from Boston as Preble's flag-ship in August, 1803, to the Mediterranean for the Tripoli- tan war. He was appointed an acting lieutenant in that ship, and took part in the engagements with the Tripolitan fleet and forts. When the ketch •' Intrepid " was fitted out as a floating mine to explode in the harbor among the Tripolitan vessels, he volunteered to serve in that enterprise (see Somers, Richard), and perished with his companions. His sister became the mother of the poet Longfellow, who was named for him. — Another son, Alexander Scammell, naval officer, b. in Portland, Me., in 1790; d. in Washington. D. C, 5. April, 1851, entered the navy as a midshipman, 2 April, 1804, and was promoted to lieutenant, 21 April, 1810. He was 2d lieutenant of the frigate