Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/495

Rh was appointed a commissioner of the board of ad- miralty, which post he declined. He was state su- perintendent of finances in 1782-'4, appointed judge of the supreme court, 20 June, 1782, and justice of the peace and quorum throughout the state in De- cember, 1784, and acted in this capacity till his death.

WHIPPLE, William Denison, soldier, b. in Nelson, Madison co., N. Y., 2 Aug., 1826. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1851, and became 2d lieutenant in the 3d infantry on 9 Sept. of that year. After six years of un- eventful service in New Mexico, he participated in the Gila expedition against the Apaches in 1857, the Navajo expedition of 1858. and the defence of Port Defiance, N. M., in 1860. He became 1st lieutenant in December, 1856, and on the opening of the civil war was on quartermaster's duty at Indianola, Tex. After the capture of the U. S. property he escaped through the enemy's lines, was commissioned captain and assistant adjutant-gen- eral, and in that capacity was present at the battle of Bull Run and at the headquarters of the De- partments of Pennsylvania and Virginia, respect- ively, to June, 1862, when, becoming lieutenant-col- onel and additional aide-de-camp, he was on duty in the Middle Department and 8th army corps, and as chief of staff to Gen. Cadwallader. He was ap- pointed brigadier-general of volunteers on 17 July, 1863, and assigned as chief of staff to Gen. George H. Thomas, being present during the operations near Chattanooga, the siege of Atlanta, the battles of Missionary Ridge, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, and Nashville and at the headquarters of the De- partment of the Cumberland in 1853-'o. He re- ceived the brevets of brigadier- and major-general in the regular army on 13 March, 1865, for gallant service in the Atlanta campaign and battles before Nashville. Since the war Gen. Whipple has been on duty as assistant adjutant-general at the head- quarters of the principal military divisions, and in 1873-81 as aide-de-camp to the general of the army. He was promoted colonel in the adjutant- general's department, 28 Feb., 1887.

WHISTLER, John, soldier, b. in Ulster, Ireland, about 1756; d. in St. Louis, Mo., 3 Sept., 1829. He ran away from home when a boy, enlisted in the British army, and served under Gen. Burgoyne during the war of the Revolution. Upon his re- ' turn to England he was honorably discharged, and soon afterward, forming an attachment for a daughter of Sir Edward Bishop, a friend of his father, he eloped with her, and, coming to this country, settled at Hagerstown, Md. He shortly afterward entered the U. S. army, served in the ranks, and was severely wounded in the disastrous campaign against the Indians in 1791. He was promoted captain, 1 July, 1797, and in the sum- mer of 1803 was sent with his company of the 1st infantry from Detroit to the head-waters of Lake Michigan, where, before the close of the year, he completed Fort Dearborn on the site of the city of Chicago. Having attained the brevet rank of ma- jor, he was appointed in 1815 military store-keeper at Newport, Ky., and afterward at Jefferson bar- racks, near St. Louis, where he remained till his death. — His son, William, soldier, b. in Mary- land in 1780 ; d. in Cincinnati, Ohio, 4 Dec., 1863, was appointed a lieutenant of infantry, 8 June, 1801, and took part in the battle of Maguaga, Mich., 9 Aug., 1812. He was promoted captain in December, 1812, major of the 2d infantry, 28 April, 1826, lieutenant-colonel of the 7th infantry, 21 July, 1834, and colonel of the 4th infantry, 15 July, 1845. He retired from the service on 9 Oct., 1861. At his death he was the oldest army officer in the United States, with the exception of Gen. Winfield Scott.— William's son, Joseph Nelson Garland, soldier, b. in Green Bay, 19 Oct., 1822, was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1846, and entered the army as 2d lieutenant of the 8th infantry, but six months later was transferred to the 3d infantry. He served in the war with Mexico, being engaged in the siege of Vera Cruz, the principal battles of the campaign that followed, and the capture of the city of Mexico. He was pro- moted 1st lieutenant in "June, 1852, in 1861 was captured in Texas by the Confederates and paroled as a prisoner of war, and promoted captain in May, 1861. He was then on duty at the U. S. military academy as assistant instructor of infantry tactics till March, 1863. His services in the volunteer army date from May, 1863, when he was made colo- nel of the 2d New York artillery. He served in the Richmond campaign, participating in the battles of Spottsylvania, North Anna, Tolopotomy, Cold Harbor, and the assaults on Petersburg, where he was wounded during the siege. From July, 1864, till September, 1865, he commauded a brigade in the defences of Washington. In December, 1865, he was mustered out as brevet brigadier-general of volunteers. In September, 1866, he was trans- ferred to the 31st infantry, and in March, 1869, to the 22d infantry. In February, 1874, he was pro- moted lieutenant-colonel of the 5th infantry, and in May, 1883. he became colonel of the 15th in- fantry. At the time of his retirement, 19 Oct., 1886, he was in command at Fort Buford, Dak. — William's brother, George Washington, engineer, b. in Fort Wayne, Ind., 19 May, 1800; d. in St. Petersburg, Rus- sia, 7 April, 1849, was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1819, appointed a 2d lieutenant in the corps of artillery, and was after-. ward, till 1821, employed on top- ographical duty and part of the time at Fort Co- lumbus. From 2 Nov., 1821, till 30 April, 1822, he was assistant pro- fessor at the U. S. military academy, and he was employed in 1822-6 in connection with the commis- sion that was engaged in tracing the international boundary between Lake Superior and the Lake of the Woods. He was made 1st lieutenant in Au- gust, 1829, and was on topographical duty almost continually till 31 Dec, 1833, when he resigned from the army. With Jonathan Knight, William Gibbs McNeill, and Ross Winans, he examined the railroads of England on behalf of the direc- tors of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, and after- ward engaged in the construction of that road, the Boston and Albany, and other railroads. In 1834 Lieut. Whistler became engineer to the pro- prietors of locks and canals at Lowell, and from 1834 till 1837 he gave much of his time to the re- production, for the Boston and Albany railroad, of a locomotive that was imported from the works of George and Robert Stephenson, at Newcastle, Eng- &&£&*..