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24 pose of it to the Tredegar iron-works for a large amount, and asked the general in a casual way if " there were any contracts out for shot and shells," to which the general answered in the negative. This was before Col. Huger's report had reached the ordnance department. The question was re- peated at a second interview, still before the recep- tion of the report, and was answered in the same manner. As soon as Gen. Talcott received the report he called upon the secretary, and to the question again he answered : " No, sir, none recog- nized by the department." Before this last inter- view the general had written to Col. Huger, disap- proving of what he had done, that he, Huger, had misunderstood his instructions. He repudiated the transaction and disallowed the contract. Gen. Talcott's honesty was not impeached, his faithful disbursement of many millions of government funds during his long official life of thirty-eight years, and his eminent services during the war with Mexico, could not be denied, but had no weight in the finding of the court. The question probably arose from a misunderstanding which might have been amicably settled without loss of honor to either party. — George's brother, Andrew, engineer, b. in Glastonbury, Conn., 20 April, 1797 ; d. in Rich- mond, Va., 22 April, 1883, was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1818, became 2d lieutenant in the engineer corps, and after serving a year on con- struction duty accompanied Gen. Henry Atkinson as engineer on an expedition to establish military g>sts on upper Missouri and Yellowstone rivers, e was appointed 1st lieutenant on 1 Oct., 1820, and in 1821-'4 engaged in constructing the de- fences of Hampton Roads, Va. Pie was also su- perintending engineer of operations preliminary to fortifying Brenton's Point (now Fort Adams, R. I.) and New Utrecht (now Fort Hamilton, N. Y.), and engaged in the construction of Fort Dela- ware in 1825-'6. In 1826-'8 he was engineer of canals through the Dismal Swamp, Va., and from 1828 till 1835 he was superintending engineer on the forts at Hampton Roads, Va., also acting as astronomer in determining the boundary-line be- tween Ohio and Michigan. He became captain on 22 Dec, 1830, and in 1834-'6 was in charge of the improvement of Hudson river. On 21 Sept., 1836, he resigned his com- mission to become a civil engineer, and surveyed and constructed vari- ous railroads, ex- aminednavy-yards, and marked, the northern boundary of Iowa. In 1857 he became engineer for a railroad across Mexico, which was organized under caudon, and surveyed the line from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico ; but, owing to political events, the opera- tions of this company were suspended, and Col. Talcott returned to the United States. In 1861 he was appointed chief engineer of Virginia, but in 1862 he returned to Mexico and resumed his office as chief engineer of the railroad from Mexico to the Gulf. A new company was formed with the aid of British capital and under the im- perial government of Mexico, and the work of the railroad was prosecuted in 1865-'6, but on the change of government in 1867 his direction of the work ceased. Needing some supplies for the work, he came with the president to New York, where he was seized by the government officials and confined in Fort Lafayette as a spy, and accused of planning and constructing the fortifications around Richmond. He was transferred to Fort Adams, in Boston harbor, and kept there by the order of Gen. John E. Wool until Gen. John A. Dix was put in command of the Eastern military department. Gen. Dix, who knew him well and believed in his loyalty to the U. S. government, had him brought to New York, listened to his statement, and released him. After a visit to Eu- rope he spent the remainder of his life in retire- ment in Baltimore and Richmond. He was a fine mathematician, and in 1833 devised "Talcott's method " for determining territorial latitudes by the observation of stars near the zenith, contriv- ing a suitable modification of the zenith instru- ment for the purpose. — George's son, George Henry, soldier, b. in New York city, 16 July, 1811; d. in Indian Springs, near Augusta, Ga., 8 June, 1854, was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1831, assigned to the 3d artillery, and was brevetted 1st lieutenant, 1 Dec, 1835, for gallant conduct in the war against the Florida Indians. He was then transferred to the ord- nance corps, in which he was made 1st lieutenant on 9 July, 1838. He was appointed captain of in- fantry and major of voltigeurs on 9 April, 1847, and served at Vera Cruz and Molino del Rev. re- ceiving the brevet of lieutenant-colonel for gallant and meritorious conduct in the latter battle, where he received severe wounds, which hastened his death. — Another son of George, Sebastian Vis- scher, engineer, b. in New York citv, 24 Nov., 1812, entered Yale in 1829, but left college in his sophomore year, and, becoming a civil engineer, was employed by the U. S. government on the sur- vey of the boundary between the United States and Canada, and on the improvement of Hudson river at Albany. He was also engaged in the primary surveys of the Erie railroad near its western ter- minus at Dunkirk, and also on the survey of the northeastern boundary, the improvement of the mouth of the Mississippi river, and the coast sur- vey. On the election of Horatio Seymour as gov- ernor of New York in 1862, Talcott was appointed by him quartermaster-general of the state, with the rank of brigadier-general, and served through the administration. He compiled and published " The Talcott Pedigree" (Albany, 1876); and "Genea- logical Notes of New York and New England Families" (1883).

TALCOTT, Mancel, merchant, b. in Rome, N. Y., 12 Oct., 1817 ; d. in Chicago, 111., 4 June, 1878. He attended the common schools till he was seventeen years old, when he set out for the west, travelling on foot from Detroit to Chicago and thence to Park Ridge, Ill., where he worked at farming till 1850. The discovery of gold took him to California, where he remained till he had accumulated enough to establish himself in business, when he returned and formed a life-long partner- ship with Horace M. Singer, of Chicago, in the stone business. Mr. Talcott contributed freely toward public charities and the relief of humanity. — His wife, Mary H. (Otis), b. in Watertown, N. Y., about 1820; d. in Chicago, Ill., 17 April. 1888, married Mr. Talcott. 25 Oct., 1841. She was in full sympathy with her husband, and after his decease carried on his charitable work. Neither