Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/623

Rh April, 1599, at the Pinguin islands, and a few weeks later discovered Nassau island, where the admiral established his headquarters, while Woert made journeys into the interior and had friendly intercourse with the natives. They entered the South sea on 10 Sept., and the next day Woert's ship was carried by a storm back into the straits. Unable to unite the fleet, he returned to Nassau island, whence he led surveying expeditions along the strait, prepared a valuable chart, and discovered the Sebald islands on 28 Feb., 1600. He reached Amsterdam in the following June, and in 1604 commanded a new expedition to the Strait of Magellan. Some authors assert that he died during the journey, but others contend that he sailed to the south till he encountered ice-fields. The clerk of the expedition wrote a narrative of Woert's discovery, which was translated into French as &ldquo;Relation de l'expédition des amiraux Jacques Mahn, Simon de Cordes et Jean Sebald Woert, faite au détroit de Magellan&rdquo; (Leyden, 1603). There is a Latin version by Jan Laet, which is included in his &ldquo;Novus orbis, seu descriptionis occidentalis&rdquo; (Leyden, 1633).

WOLCOTT, Roger, colonial governor, b. in Windsor, Conn., 4 Jan., 1679 ; d. in East Windsor (then a part of Windsor), Conn., 17 May, 1767. The frontier settlement in which he grew up af- forded him no opportunities of early education. At the age of twelve he was apprenticed to a weaver, and on reaching his majority he established him- self in business, and acquired a competence. He was a representative in 1709, became a justice of the peace in the following year, and in 1711 acted as commissary of the Connecticut forces in the ex- pedition against Canada. He became a member of the council in 1714, judge of the county court in 1721, a judge of the supreme court in 1732, and deputy governor and chief judge of the supreme court in 1741. In 1745 he commanded the Con- necticut contingent of the forces that were sent by the colonies against Louisburg, with the rank of major-general, and in the siege of that place was second in command under Sir William Pepperell. He was elected governor in 1750, and held the office till 1754, when he retired from public life, and devoted his after-years to literary pursuits and religious meditation. He published " Poetical Med- itations," a small volume of verse (New London, 1725), containing, with six shorter pieces, a narra- tive poem called " A Brief Account of the Agency of the Hon. John Winthrop in the Court of King Charles the Second," which has been reprinted in the " Collections " of the Massachusetts historical society. Some of the other poems are given in Charles W. Everest's " Poets of Connecticut " (New York, 1843) ; and a letter to the Rev. Peter Hobart entitled "The New England Congrega- tional Churches are and always have been Conso- ciated Churches " (1761). — His son, Erastus, sol- dier, b. in East Windsor, Conn., 21 Sept., 1722 ; d. there, 14 Sept.. 1793. was repeatedly elected to the general assembly, and was chosen speaker of the low- er house, was a justice of the peace and a judge of probate, and became chief judge of the county court. He was sent to Boston in 1775 to observe the movements of the British troops. Early in 1776 he joined Gen. Washington's army before Boston with a regiment of Connecticut militia, and in the sum- mer of that year he garrisoned the forts at New London with his men. He was appointed a briga- dier-general of militia in 1777, and led the 1st brigade of Connecticut troops on the expedition to Peekskill, N. Y., and then to Danbury, Conn. He was chosen a delegate to the Continental congress, but did not serve. After the Revolution he was a judge of the supreme court of Connecticut. — — Another son, Oliver, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. in Windsor, Conn., 26 Nov., 1726; d. in Litchfield, Conn., 1 Dec, 1797, was graduated at Yale in 1747, and in the same year was commissioned as captain by the governor of New York, and, rais- ing a company of vol- unteers, served on the northern frontier till his regiment was dis- banded after the sig- nature of the treaty of Aix-la- Chapelle. He then studied med- icine with his brother, Dr. Alexander Wol- cott, but in 1751, be- fore he entered into practice, he was cho- sen sheriff of the new- ly organized county of Litchfield. He was a member of the council continuously from 1774 till 1786, and at the same time judge of the county court of common pleas, and also judge of probate for the Litchfield district many years. He was ac- tive in the militia organization, and rose through all the grades from a captaincy to the rank of major-general. Adhering to the American cause from the beginning of the Revolutionary troubles, he was appointed by the Continental congress in July, 1775, one of the commissioners of Indian affairs for the northern department, who were intrusted with the task of inducing the Iroquois Indians to remain neutral. The Wyoming controversy between Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and, still more, the dispute between the settlers of Vermont and the authorities of the state of New York, which endangered the harmonious action of the colonies, were compromised largely through his exertions. A gilded leaden statue of George III., that had been erected on Bowling Green in New York city in 1770, was thrown down by the citizens in 1776, and was taken to Gen. Wolcott's place in Litchfield, where his daughters and their friends converted the material into cartridges for the militia. He was elected to the second Continental congress, and took his seat in January, 1776, remaining during the debates on the Declaration of Independence and until after it was adopted. He then returned to Connecticut, and was appointed by the governor and council of safety to the command of the fourteen regiments of Connecticut militia that were sent for the defence of New York. He organized this force, and when it was divided into brigades returned to his home, and in November resumed his seat in congress, which, a month later, was driven from Philadelphia, and continued its sessions in Baltimore. During the summer of 1777 he was employed in organizing bodies of militia, in active operations, and in corresponding with other patriots on military matters. He brought re-enforcements of several thousand men to the assistance of Gen. Israel Putnam on Hudson river, and then joined the northern army under Gen. Horatio Gates with three or four hundred volunteers, and was assigned to the command of a brigade of militia which took part in the defeat of Gen. John Burgoyne. In February, 1778, he resumed his