Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/573

Rh who was raising a German regiment in that state, commissioned him as its colonel. This was the 32d Indiana infantry, famous in the Army of the Cumberland for its drill and discipline, as well as for its gallantry in action. Willich devoted himself to this regiment, and with such good results that, on 26 Nov., 1861, three companies, deployed as skirmishers, repelled in confusion a regiment of Texan rangers. This affair gave it a prestige that it retained to the end of the war. On 17 July, 1862, he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers. At the battle of Stone River, 31 Dec., 1862, he was captured almost before the action began, and was held a prisoner for several months. He was exchanged in season to take part, at the head of his brigade, in the battle of Chickamauga, 19 and 20 Sept., 1863, and from that time on he shared in all the movements and battles of the army, including the Atlanta campaign and the march to the sea and through the Carolinas. He was made brevet major-general, 21 Oct., 1865, and was mustered out of service, 15 Jan., 1866. On his return to Cincinnati he was chosen county auditor, which post he held for three years. He was visiting his old home in Germany at the beginning of the Franco-Prussian war, and at once offered his services to the king, whom he had before attempted to dethrone. His offer was gratefully acknowledged, but, on account of his advanced age, it was not accepted. He found consolation, if not more congenial occupation, in attending lectures on philosophy at Berlin. Returning to the United States, he chose St. Mary's, Ohio, as his residence.

WILLING, Thomas, lawyer, b. in Philadelphia, 19 Dec, 1731 ; d. there, 19 Jan., 1821. He was carefully educated at Bath, England, and, after reading law in the Temple, London, in 1754, be- came the head of the mercantile house of Willing and Morris, one of the largest in the country, his partner being Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution. This partnership continued until 1793. During the Revolution this firm were the agents of congress for supplying naval and military stores. In 1755 he was elected a member of the common council of Philadelphia, and in 1759 was made alderman, but did not accept until 1761. On 2 Oct., 1759, he was made an associate justice of the city court, and on 28 Feb., 1761, became justice of the' peace of the court of common pleas, quarter sessions, and orphans' court, and was re- appointed in 1764. On 4 Oct., 1763, he was elected by the common council mayor of the city, and from 14 Sept., 1767, till 1774 was an associate justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, and justice of the oyer and terminer, and general jail delivery. He was a leader in the movement against the stamp-act, and one of the committee to enforce the non-importation agreement of 1765. He presided at a mass-meeting held in Philadelphia, 18 June, 1774, to take action for a general congress of all the colonies, and was appointed one of the com- mittee of correspondence. On 15 July he was chairman of a patriotic meeting in Carpenters' hall. He was afterward a member of the committee of safety, was elected a representative to the as- sembly on the "moderate men's" ticket in April, 1775, and was a delegate to the Continental con- gress in 1775-6, being elected in the place of Joseph Galloway. In congress he voted against Richard Henry Lee's preliminary resolutions and the Declaration of Independence, because he con- sidered the act premature and unnecessary, and the colonies not ready for independence. When the British took possession of Philadelphia in 1777, he remained during their occupation and held com- munication with Lord Howe. At a critical period of the war, in 1780, when there was great danger of the dissolution of the American army for want of provisions to keep it together. Willing and others in Philadelphia subscribed £260,000 toward the foundation of the Pennsylvania bank to pro- cure the necessary supplies and to promote the re- cruiting service. Of this amount he subscribed £5,000. Upon the formation of the Bank of North America in 1781, which was the first bank char- tered in this country, he was elected its presi- dent, and continued to serve until he resigned, 9 Jan., 1792. He was also first president of the Bank of the United States, which was organized in 1791. With his many public duties he united the business of an active and successful merchant.

WILLIS, Anson, lawyer, b. in Ulster county, N. Y., 28 Jan., 1802 ; d. in Portchester, N. Y., 14 Dec, 1874. He was self-taught, studied law, and was for forty years a resident of New York city, which he represented in the assembly in 1835-'6. Afterward he served two terms as judge of the 6th judicial district court in that city. During the civil war he was a zealous supporter of the U. S. government. Judge Willis published " Our Rulers and Our Rights, or Outlines of the United States Government " (Philadelphia, 1868), and left un- finished " Origin of all the Nations of the Earth."

WILLIS, Michael, Canadian educator, b. in Greenock, Scotland, in 1799 ; d. in Aberdour, Banffshire, Scotland, 19 Aug., 1879. He was the son of the Rev. William Willis, who for nearly fifty years was a minister first in Greenock and then in Stirling. The son was educated at the University of Glasgow and at the Divinity hall, ordained minister of the Renfield street church, Glasgow, and about the same time was appointed professor of divinity for the secession branch of the Presbyterian church, to which both he and his father belonged. At the disruption in 1843 Mr. Willis accompanied the Free church, and soon afterward removed to Canada as a deputy of that body, and also to render assistance to the recently established Knox college, Toronto. He became professor of theology in that institution in 1845, which chair he filled till 1870, when he resigned. During the latter years of his connection with the college he was its principal. He did much to pro- mote the cause of Presbyterianism in Canada, and was well known for his eloquence as a preacher. He published a volume of "Pulpit and College Discourses," and many pamphlets and sermons.

WILLIS, Nathaniel Parker, poet, b. in Portland, Me., 20 Jan., 1806 ; d. near Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, N. Y., 20 Jan., 1867. He came of a race of printers and publishers. His great-grandfather was a printer in Boston, his grandfather was the proprietor of the "Independent Chronicle," the "Potomac Guardian," and the " Sciota Gazette," which still exists in the town of that name, and his father, Nathaniel (1780-1870), established the "Eastern Argus" at Portland, Me., in 1803, afterward projected and conducted in Boston (in 1816-'26) the " Recorder," one of the earliest religious papers in the world, and also founded in 1827 the " Youth's Companion," which is said to be the first children's paper that was ever published, and which is still issued. The son was graduated at Yale in 1827. During his course at college he wrote under the pen-name of " Roy," for his father's paper, a series of religious narrative poems that found many readers, and he also gained the prize of fifty dollars offered for the best poem by the editor of " The Album." After leaving college, Willis edited for Samuel G. Goodrich, of Boston, two illustrated an-