Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/543

Rh nomical instruments and observe with them. On 18 Aug., 1838, he sailed from Norfolk, Va., in com- mand of a squadron of five vessels and a store-ship, to explore the southern seas. He visited Madeira, the Cape Verd islands, Rio de Janeiro, Tierra del Fuego, Val- paraiso, Callao, the Paumotou group, Tahiti, the Samoan group (which he surveyed and explored), Wal- lis island, and Sydney in New South Wales. He left Sydney in December, 1839, and dis- covered what he thought to be an Antarctic continent, sail- ing along vast ice-fields for several weeks. In 1840 he thoroughly •explored the Feejee group, and visited the Hawai- ian islands, where he measured intensity of gravity by means of the pendulum on the summit of Mauna Loa. In 1841 he visited the northwestern coast of America and Columbia and Sacramento rivers, and on 1 Nov. set sail from San Francisco, visited Ma- nila, Sooloo, Borneo, Singapore, the Cape of Good Hope, and St. Helena, and cast anchor at New York on 10 June, 1842. Charges preferred against him by some of his officers were investigated by a court-martial, and he was acquitted of all except illegally punishing some of his crew, for which he was reprimanded. He served on the coast survey in 1842-'3, was promoted to commander, 13 July, 1843, and employed in connection with the report on the exploring expedition at Washington in 1844-'61. He was commissioned a captain, 14 Sept., 1855, and when the civil war opened was placed in command of the steamer " San Jacinto " in 1861 and sailed in pursuit of the Confederate privateer " Sumter." On 8 Nov., 1861, he inter- cepted at sea the English mail-steamer " Trent," bound from Havana to St. Thomas, W. I., and sent Lieut. Donald M. Fairfax on board to bring off the Confederate commissioners, John Slidell and James M. Mason, with their secretaries. The officials were removed to the " San Jacinto," in which they were taken to Fort Warren, in Boston harbor. The navy department gave Capt. Wilkes an emphatic commendation ; congress passed a resolution of thanks, and his act caused great rejoicing through- out the north, where he was the hero of the hour. But on the demand of the British government that Mason and Slidell should be given up, Sec. Seward complied, saying in his despatch that, although the commissioners and their papers were contraband of war, and therefore Wilkes was right in captur- ing them, he should have taken the " Trent " into port as a prize for adjudication. As he had failed to do so, and had constituted himself a judge in the matter, to approve his act would be to sanction the "right of search," which had always been denied by the U. S. government. The prisoners were therefore released. In 1862 Wilkes commanded the James river flotilla, and shelled City Point. He was promoted to commodore, 16 July, 1862, and took charge of a special squadron in the West Indies. He was placed on the retired list because of age, 25 June, 1864, and promoted to rear-admiral on the retired list, 25 July, 1866. For his services to science as an explorer he received a gold medal from the Geographical society of London. The reports of the Wilkes exploring expedition were to consist of twenty-eight quarto volumes, but nine of these were not completed. Of those that were published, Capt. Wilkes was the author of the " Narrative " of the expedition (6 vols., 4to, also 5 vols., 8vo, Philadelphia, 1845 ; abridged ed., New York, 1851), and the volumes on "Meteorology" and "Hydrography." Admiral Wilkes was also the author of " Western America, including Cali- fornia and Oregon " (Philadelphia, 1849), and " Theory of the Winds " (New York, 1856). WILKES, George, journalist, b. in New York city in 1820 ; d. there, 23 Sept., 1885. In 1850 he became co-editor, with William T. Porter, of the " Spirit of the Times " in New York, and subse- quently he was proprietor of that paper. He was well known as a politician, and travelled repeatedly in Europe. In April, 1870, he received from the emperor of Russia the grand cross of the Order of St. Stanislas for his services in suggesting to the Russian government an overland railway to China and India by way of Russia. In addition to con- tributions to periodicals, he published " History of California, Geographical and Political " (New York, 1845), and " Europe in a Hurry" (1852).

WILKES, Henry, Canadian educator, b. in Birmingham, England, 21 June, 1805 ; d. in Mon- treal', Canada, 17 Nov., 1886. He removed to Cana- da in 1820, was graduated at Glasgow university, Scotland, in 1833, studied in the Glasgow theologi- cal academy, and was pastor of the Albany street Congregational church in Edinburgh in 1833-'6. He was pastor of the Congregational church, Mon- treal, from 1836 till 1871, principal and professor of theology in the Congregational college of British North America in 1870-'83, and from 1883 till his death professor of theology and church history in this institution. He represented the Colonial mis- sionary society, London, England, in 1836-'83. The University of Vermont gave him the degree of D. D. in 1850, and McGill college, Montreal, that of LL. D. in 1870. Dr. Wilkes published numerous sermons and addresses, and " The Internal Administration of the Congregational Churches " (Montreal. 1858).

WILKESON, Samuel, manufacturer, b. in Carlisle, Pa., in 1781 ; d. in the mountains of Tennessee in July, 1848. His father, John, a native of Ireland of Scotch descent, came to this country in 1760, settled in Delaware, and served against the British in the war of the Revolution. The son received few educational advantages, and worked on a farm till about 1806, when he began his career as a builder and owner of vessels and a trader on Lake Erie and elsewhere. During the war of 1812 he supplied Gen. William Henry Harrison with transports for the use of the troops in invading Canada. In 1814 he settled in Buffalo and engaged in business as a merchant. In 1819 he was an active advocate of the construction of the Erie canal, and in 1822 he was chiefly instrumental in securing the selection of Buffalo as its terminus. He was appointed first judge of the Erie court of common pleas in February, 1821, though he was without a legal education, was elected to the state senate in 1842, and served in that body and in the court for the correction of errors for six years. In 1836 he was elected mayor of Buffalo. He erected and put in operation a furnace in Mahoning county, Ohio, the first in this country to " blow in " on raw bituminous coal and smelt iron with that fuel uncoked, built the first iron-foundry in Buffalo, and