Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/660

624 of Petersburg should not arrive in time to save the capital, but as Early's advance arrived in the sub- urbs of Washington on the north, Wright's troops were landing at the wharves on the south. With some regiments of the 19th corps just arrived from the Gulf and a few other hastdy gathered troops, Gen. Wright was ready to meet any assault. Early was soon forced to withdraw in the face of a strong reconnoissance which Gen. Wright pushed out. "I have sent from here," wrote Gen. Grant to President Lincoln from the Petersburg lines, "a whole corps, commanded by an excellent officer." And to a prominent official of the war department he said : " Boldness is all that is needed to drive the enemy out of Maryland, and Wright is the man to assume that." Gen. Wright rallied the troops under his command, re-formed the line, and did much to retrieve the fortunes of the early sur- prise at Cedar Creek, 19 Oct., 1864. His 6th corps first broke the strong lines at Petersburg on Sun- day morning, 2 April, 1865. In his official report of that battle Gen. Grant said : " Gen. Wright penetrated the line with his whole corps, sweeping everything before him, and to his left toward Hatcher's Run, capturing many guns and several thousand prisoners." He was brevetted brigadier- general, u. S. army, 13 March, 1865, for gallantry in the battle of Cold Harbor, and major-general for the capture of Petersburg, Va. On 14 June, 1865 he received the thanks of the Connecticut legislature. He was made lieutenant-colonel, 23 Nov., 1865, and then served on various engineer- ing boards, becoming colonel, 4 March, 1879, and chief-of-engineers with the rank of brigadier-gen- eral, 30 June, 1879. On 22 March, 1884, he was retired from active service. Gen. Wright is co- author of a " Report on the Fabrication of Iron for Defences " (Washington, 1871).

WRIGHT, Sir James, bart, governor of Geor- gia, b. in Charleston, S. C, about 1714 ; d. in Lon- don, England, 20 Nov., 1785. His father, Robert, removed from Durham, England, to Charleston, and was chief justice of South Carolina for many years. The son was probably educated in England, studied law, and practised in Charleston. He was appointed agent of the province in Great Britain, and beeame chief justice and lieutenant-governor of South Carolina on 13 May, 1760. He was ap- pointed royal governor of Georgia in 1764, and was the last to administer its affairs in the name of the king. He arrived in Savannah in October, 1764, and his management of affairs was successful until the passage of the stamp-act. He labored to convince the people that they should submit to the king's authority, but the governor's proclamations only served to exasperate them. On 5 Dec, 1766, his majesty's ship "Speedwell" arrived in the Sa- vannah river with the stamped paper, which was placed under the care of the commissary ; but, on receiving news that the "Liberty boys" had de- termined to break open the fort and destroy the papers, the governor ordered a guard to prevent their seizure, and afterward had them removed to Fort George, on Cockspur island. In 1768 the governor charged the assembly with revolution- ary conduct and dismissed it. On 17 June, 1775, several men-of-war arrived in Tybee, and, to pre- vent the governor from holding communication with them, Joseph Habersham entered his dwell- ing and took him prisoner ; but the governor made his escape, and went to Bonaventure, whence he was conveyed to the armed ship "Scarborough," where he addressed a letter to nis council. The assembly adjourned without giving Gov. Wright an answer, and he then planned an attack upon the town, which proved unsuccessful, and he afterward sailed for England. In 1779 he was despatched to resume the government of Georgia. Savannah was at this time in possession of the British, and the Americans were endeavoring to recover it. The friends of Gen. Wright say that, owing to his determination and spirit, the defence of his capital "was one of the most brilliant events of the war in the south," and would not have been made but for his deciding vote in the council of war. At the close of hostilities he retired to England, and his extensive property was confis- cated. He was created a baronet on 8 Dec. 1772. Wrightsborough, Columbia co., Ga., was named in his honor. — His brother, Jermyn, was in command of a fort on St. Mary's river, which became a rendezvous for the Tories of that part of the coun- try, and was unsuccessfully assailed by the patriots. A severe writer calls it a " nest of villains." An- other account is that Wright's force consisted of negroes. In 1778 he was attainted, and lost his estate. His name appears in the confiscation act of South Carolina in 1782. — James's son, James, succeeded his father in 1785. The Georgia Royal- ists were raised for him in 1779, but his name is found in connection with ' that corps only at the siege of Savannah, when his post was in a redoubt built of green wood strengthened by fillings of sand, and mounted with heavy cannon. He died in 1816 without issue, and his title reverted to his grand-nephew, Sir James Alexander. — Another son, Alexander, b. in 1751, married Elizabeth, the only daughter and heiress of John Izard, of South Carolina. At the close of the Revolution he settled in Jamaica, W. I. He was of " known and just influence."

WRIGHT, Joel Tombleson, Canadian clergy- man, b. in Upwell, Isle of Ely. England, 16 March, 1834. He removed to Canada in 1855, and was ordained as a priest of the Church of England in Canada in 1862 by Bishop Benjamin Cronyn. He was incumbent of Wardsville and adjacent places in Middlesex county for eight years, and has since been rector of St. James's church, St. Mary's, Ont. He was plaintiff in the celebrated chancery suit, Wright vs. the Synod of Huron, instituted in 1881 on behalf of himself and other clergy of the dio- cese. The case finally reached the supreme court of Canada, which decided against Mr. Wright, who thereupon, in 1884, appealed to the privy council of Great Britain, where it is now pending. He is known as a lecturer on Freemasonry, and has pub- lished a work on " Constitutional Government and Synod Legislation " (1879).

WRIGHT, John C., jurist, b. in Wethersfield, Conn., in 1783; d. in Washington, D.C., 13 Feb., 1861. He received an academic education, learned the trade of a printer, and went to Troy, N.Y., where he edited “The Gazette” for several years. After studying law he was admitted to the bar and began practice in Steubenville, Ohio. For many years he was judge of the state supreme court, and he was elected to congress as an Adams Democrat, serving from 1 Dec., 1823, till 3 March, 1829, and being afterward defeated for re-election as a Democrat. He and Tristam Burgess, of Rhode Island, were the only two members of the house that ventured to reply to

in the style of sarcasm that characterized Randolph's speeches. He was a delegate to the peace congress in Washington in February, 1861, but died before its adjournment. For several years he was the editor and proprietor of the Cincinnati “Gazette.” His speeches in congress on the “resolution calling on the secretary of state for information