Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/464

432 cal geography. He was engaged in literary work at the time of his death.

WELLS, William, soldier, b. in Kentucky about 1770 ; d. near Fort Dearborn (now Chicago), 111., 15 Aug., 1812. When he was twelve years of age he was taken captive by the Miami Indians and adopted by Little Turtle, their chief. He served with the Indians at the opening of hostili- ties in 1790, and was at the battle when Gen. Ar- thur St. Clair was defeated. Realizing that he was fighting against his own kindred, he informed Little Turtle that he was going to his own people, set out for Gen. Anthony Wayne's army, and was made a captain of a company of scouts. He re- mained in the army till the treaty of Greenville in 1795, after which he settled upon a farm near Port Wayne, where his wife, Little Turtle's daughter, joined him. He was Indian agent and justice of the peace, and rendered effective service to Gen. William Henry Harrison. When it was announced in 1812 that Fort Dearborn was to be evacuated, he set out at once with thirty friendly Miami Indians as a body-guard for the people on their route to Fort Wayne. He arrived at the fort (Chicago) on 13 Aug., but too late to prevent its evacuation, which he was certain would result in a massacre. On the morning of 15 Aug. the gates of the fort were opened and Capt. Wells, with blackened face, at the head of fifteen of his trusted Indians, the other fifteen bringing up the rear, set out on their jour- ney for Fort Wayne. They had not gone more than a mile and a half when about 500 Indians sprang from their ambush behind the sand-hills on the bank of Lake Michigan and began an in- discriminate slaughter of soldiers, women, and children. Capt. Wells was pierced by half a dozen bullets, his head was cut off, and his heart was taken out by the infuriated savages.

WELLS, William, soldier, b. in Waterbury, Vt., 14 Dec, 1837. He attended academies in Ver- mont and New Hampshire, and became a mer- chant, but in September, 1861, enlisted in the 1st Vermont cavalry, becoming 1 st lieutenan t on 14 Oct., captain on 18 Nov., 1861, and major, 30 Oct., 1862. He took part in Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks's Shen- andoah campaign, and Gen. John Pope's Virginia campaign in 1862, and then served in the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac till the close of the war, except from August, 1864, till March, 1865, when he was under Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley. He became colonel of his regiment, 4 June, 1864, was bre vetted brigadier-general of volunteers, 22 Feb., 1865, received his full commission on 19 May, and was brevetted major-general on 30 March. Gen. Wells commanded the 2d brigade of the 3d cavalry division in the Army of the Potomac, and for some time was temporarily at the head of that division. After June, 1865, till he was mustered out, 15 Jan., 1866, he commanded the 1st separate brigade of the 2d .army corps at Fairfax Court- House. His regiment took part in numerous bat- tles and skirmishes, and he was twice wounded. Gen. Wells was in the Vermont legislature in 1865-'6, adjutant-general and inspector-general of the state in 1866-72, collector of internal revenue in 1872-'85, and state senator in 1886-'7. WELLS, William Harvey, educator, b. in Tolland, Conn., 27 Feb., 1812 ; d. in Chicago, 111., 21 Jan., 1885. He lived on the home farm till 1829, and, after attending school for a short time, became a teacher. He taught in the Teachers' seminary at Andover, Mass., in 1836-'47, and was principal of Putnam free school, Newburyport, Mass., in 1848-'54, and of the State normal school at Westfield, Mass., in 1854-'6. He then removed to Chicago, where he was superintendent of pub- lic schools from 1856 till 1864. Mr. Wells was an organizer of the Massachusetts state teachers' as- sociation, one of the first editors of the " Massa- chusetts Teacher," and at different times a mem- ber or officer of numerous educational and learned societies. He was vice-president of the Chicago astronomical society, a director of the public libra- ry of that city, and an organizer and life -long friend of the Washingtonian home of Chicago. Dartmouth gave him the honorary degree of M. A. in 1845. He was the author of several school- books and "Historical Authorship of English Grammar" (Chicago, 1878), contributed to educa- tional journals, and assisted in the revision of " Webster's Unabridged Dictionary."

WELLS, William Hill, senator, b. in Pennsyl- vania about 1760; d. in Millsboro', Del., 11 March, 1829. He engaged in mercantile business in Dags- boro' and Millsboro', Del., and also practised law in Georgetown, but late in life he removed to Dover. He was chosen to the U. S. senate to fill the unex- pired term of Joshua Clayton, deceased, and served from 4 Feb., 1799, till 6 May, 1804, when he re- signed. On the resignation of James A. Bayard he was elected again, holding his seat from 10 June, 1813, till 3 March, 1817. Senator Wells became the owner, through his wife, of vast tracts of land in lower Sussex county, including what is known as the Cypress Swamp.

WELLS, William Vincent, author, b. in Bos- ton, Mass., 2 Jan., 1826. He was educated in the common schools of his native city, and became a sailor and then an officer in the merchant marine. Afterward he engaged in mining and commercial enterprises, and was an agent for American capital- ists in obtaining grants from foreign governments. In these capacities he has travelled since boyhood in various parts of the world, and has been four times shipwrecked. He went to California in 1849, where he built and commanded the first steamboat in that state, an/1 he was afterward consul-general of Honduras in the United States. Mr. Wells has owned and edited several newspapers in San Fran- cisco, has corresponded with various journals from different parts of the globe, and is the author of a narrative of " Walker's Expedition to Nicaragua, a History of the Central American War " (New York, 1856) ; " Explorations and Adventures in Hon- duras " (1857) ; and the " Life and Public Services " of his great-grandfather, Samuel Adams, with ex- tracts from his correspondence, state papers, and political essays (3 vols., Boston, 1865).

WELLSTOOD, John Geikie, engraver, b. in Edinburgh, Scotland, 18 Jan., 1813. He came to New York in 1830, and engaged with the firm of Rawdon, Wright and Co., with whom he remained until 1847, when he entered business for himself. His firm in 1858 was merged into what is now the American bank-note company, and he rematned with this company until 1871. In that year he founded in Washington, D. C., the Columbian bank - note company. While he was president of this company he modelled and partially engraved the backs of all the U. S. treasury-notes. When this printing passed into the hands of the government, he returned to the American bank - note company in 1879, and is still (1889) employed by them as a script-engraver. He is the oldest living bank-note engraver in this country, and has made many improvements in that class of work. — His brother, William, engraver, b. in Edinburgh, Scotland, 19 Dec, 1819, came to the United States with his parents in 1830, and when about sixteen years old began to work as a letter-en-