Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/625

Rh dences of great ability that at the age of sixteen he served as adjutant of his regiment in the campaign of Dettingen. In the suppression of the Scottish re- bellion of 1745 he served as major and deputy quar- termaster - gener- al, while his father was a major-gen- eral, commanding a division. He was engaged in the Netherlands in 1747-8, on gar- rison duty in Scot- land and Ireland in 1748-'53, and in England in 1753-'7. In 1758 ^2 he had reached the grade of briga- dier-general, and commanded one of Gen. Jeffrey Amherst's divisions at the siege of Louisburg, where he was distinguished for his gal- lantry. The next year he was promoted major- general, and placed by William Pitt in command of the expedition against Quebec. In the latter part of June, 1759, he arrived before that city with a force of 8,000 men, supported by a powerful fleet, and, after erecting batteries at Point Levi and the isle of Orleans, he opened fire on the enemy's defences, which had been greatly strengthened by the French commander-in-chief. (See Montcalm.) The large ships of war being unable to co-operate by reason of their draught, he next took position near the mouth of Montmorency river and made a bold attack on the French works, which was re- pelled with loss. Various other plans were now pro- posed by Wolfe, but rejected by his officers. Sir •Jeffrey Amherst failed to co-operate as had been promised, and the approach of winter necessitated the speedy departure of the fleet. Wolfe sent many desponding messages to Pitt, and the ap- pointment of the young general to the command was severely criticised in England. As a final plan, Wolfe transferred his troops to a point several miles above the city. While reconnoitring the precipitous bluffs called the Heights of Abraham, on the north shore of the river, he detected the oove that is now called by his name, about two miles from Quebec, whence a narrow path wound up the cliff. Determining to surprise the French by this difficult route, he spent a day and a night in preparation, and at one o'clock on the morning of 13 Sept. embarked about 5,000 men in boats, which dropped noiselessly down the river to the landing-place. By sunrise the entire force had completed the ascent, and soon after ten o'clock they confronted the French force, which was su- perior in numbers but composed chiefly of undis- ciplined provincials. After an hour's cannonade Montcalm attacked impetuously, but his men were driven back in confusion, and Wolfe, pressing to the front, ordered the Louisburg grenadiers to charge the enemy. While cheering on his men, he received two wounds, the second of which ended his life, but not until he was assured of the defeat of the French. Five days later Quebec sur- rendered, and the English became masters of Can- ada. Wolfe's remains were carried to England, where a monument was erected to him in West- minster Abbey. The Massachusetts assembly also voted a marble statue of him. A small column marks the spot where he fell, and an obelisk sixty feet in height has been placed in the government gardens at Quebec in his honor and that of his enemy Montcalm, who fell in the same battle. See Robert Wright's " Life of James Wolfe " (Lon- don, 1864), and Francis Parkman's " Montcalm and Wolfe " (Boston, 1885).

WOLFE, John David, merchant, b. in New York city, 24 July, 1792; d. there, 17 May, 1872. He was the son of David Wolfe (1758-1836), who served during the Revolutionary war as captain in a militia company and later as assistant quarter- master under Col. Timothy Pickering with the army under Gen. Washington. The boy was edu- cated for a commercial life, and became a success- ful hardware-merchant and the head of the firm of Wolfe and Bishop. He gave largely to benevolent objects, especially for the relief of orphans, aged persons, and prisoners, and for the promotion of religion and education under the auspices of the Protestant Episcopal church. For some time he was a vestryman of Trinity, and at the time of his death was senior warden of Grace church. He founded a high-school for girls, known as " Wolfe hall," at Denver, Col., and a diocesan school for girls at Topeka, Kan., gave the building for the theological seminary connected with Kenyon col- lege, and a fund for the College of the Sisters of Bethany, at Topeka, Kan., built homes for crippled and destitute children and for impoverished Chris- tian men, in Suffolk county, N. Y., and, with Mrs. Peter Cooper, established the Sheltering Arms charity in New York city. Mr. Wolfe was asso- ciated in the organization of St. Johnland, was its first president, and a liberal contributor to its support. He was also president of the Working- womens' protective union, vice-president of the so- ciety of the New York hospital, also an active officer in other charitable organizations, and presi- dent of the American museum of natural history. Mr. Wolfe prepared a " Mission Service," consist- ing of suitable portions of the " Book of Common Prayer," which he had translated into German, Spanish, and French, and in all circulated more than 130,000 copies. See "A Memorial of John David Wolfe," by Evert A. Duyckinck (New York, 1872). His wife was Dorothea Ann, a daughter of Peter Lorillard. — Their daughter, Catharine Lorillard, philanthropist, b. in New York city, 28 March, 1828; d. there, 4 April, 1887, inherited from her father's and grandfather's estates a well-in- vested fortune of about $10,000,000, and expended at first $100,000, and, as her income in- creased, as much as $250,000, each year for benevolent pur- poses. She aided the charities that her father estab- lished, carried out his design in giv- ing a site for the. Home for incura- bles at Ford ham, N. Y., gave about $100,000 to Union college, $30,000 to St. Luke's hospital, New York city, and $65,000 to St. Johnland on Long Island ; largely aided in building the American chapel at Rome, and contributed a large sum to the one in Paris ;