Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/146

122 the mountain passes were held by the confederates. He captured a bearer of despatches, learned the enemy's plans, and forced the position defended by Gen. W. S. Jackson ("Mudwall," as he was called, to distinguish him from his more famous namesake). A second line concentrated to cut off his retreat, but he led his command over a road supposed to be impassable, and reached the federal lines with 200 prisoners and 150 horses, having lost 11 men killed or drowned and 90 missing. "My command," he said in his report (21 Dec, 1863), "has marched, climbed, slid, and swum three hundred and forty miles since the 8th inst." After the exposure and hardships of this raid he was obliged to ask for sick-leave, extending to February. On his return to duty he was placed in command of the 2d cavalry division, and from that time until September, 1864, the fighting was almost continuous. He was wounded in a skirmish near Wytheville, but was in the saddle and under fire again two days afterward, destroying a section of the Tennessee railroad. In June he crossed the Alleghany mountains, in July he was fighting in the Shenandoah valley and at Winchester. In August he was in fights at Moorfield, Bunker Hill, Martinsburg, and elsewhere, and ended the campaign with the battles of Opequan (19 Sept.), Fisher's Hill (22 Sept.), and Mount Jackson (23 Sept). In the meantime he had been brevetted through the different grades of his regular army rank until he was brevet major-general. On 18 May, 1865, he resigned. He was consul-general of the United States in the British provinces of North America from 1866 till 1869, when he became president of a large manufacturing company. He discovered a process for the manufacture of cast-steel directly from the ore in one operation (1869-'70), invented the American asphalt pavement (Jan., 1879), and the Averell insulating conduits for wires and conductors (1884-'5), and also a machine for laying electric conductors underground (1885).

'''AYERILL. John Thomas,''' b. in Alna, Maine, 1 March, 1825; d. in St. Paul, Minn., 4 Oct., 1889. He was educated at Maine Wesleyan university, settled in St. Paul, Minn., aiul engaged in manufacturing. In August, 1862, he entered the army as lieutenant-colonel of the 6th Minnesota infantry. The brevet of brigadier-general was conferred on him when he was mustered out of service. He was elected to congress as a republican in 1871, by a close vote, and reelected by a large majority.

AVERT, Benjamin Park, journalist, b. in New York city in 1829; d. in Pekin, China, 8 Nov., 1875. After receiving a good English education and learning wood-engraving, he went to California with the "Argonauts of '49," and engaged for a time in gold-mining. In 1856 he established at North San Juan a weekly paper called the "Hydraulic Press." In 1860 he became assistant editor on the "Marysville Appeal," in 1861 was chosen state printer, afterward served on the staff of the "San Francisco Bulletin," and in 1872 undertook the editorship of the "Overland Monthly." He was appointed minister to China in 1874.

AVERY, Waightstill or Waitstill, lawyer, b. in Groton, Conn., 3 May, 1745 ; d. in Burke co., N. C, in 1821. He was graduated at Princeton in 1776, and went to Mecklenburg, N. C, where he became a lawyer. In 1775 he took part in the convention and signed the paper known as the "Mecklenburg Declaration," and in the same year he was sent to the Hillsborough congress. In 1776 he was a member of the state congress, and in 1777 the first attorney-general of the state. In 1779 he was a colonel of militia in active service.

AVEZAC, Auguste Genevieve Valentin d' lawyer, b. in Santo Domingo in 1777; d. 15 Feb., 1851. He belonged to a French family settled in Hayti, who were driven from the island and took refuge in the United States in consequence of the uprising of the blacks. He was educated at a military school in France, and afterward studied medicine in North Carolina and practised in Accomac CO., Va. Following the advice of his brother-in-law, Edward Livingston, he obtained admission to the Louisiana bar, after that state was received into the union, and became a successful advocate, especially in criminal cases. In the war of 1812 he served as judge-advocate when Gen. Jackson was in Louisiana, and acted as aide to that general at the battle of New Orleans. In 1829 he received from President Jackson the appointment of secretary of legation at the Hague, and in 1831 acted as charge d'affaires. On returning home he took up his residence in New York, and was elected to the legislature of that state in 1841 and in 1843. From 1845 to 1849 he was again charge d'affaires at the Hague. He wrote " Reminiscences of Edward Livingstone."—His uncle, Pierre Valentin Dominique Julian d'Avezac, son of Pierre Valentin, a French lawyer, who became an enterprising planter in Santo Domingo, was born in Santo Domingo in 1769. and remoA^ed to New Orleans, where he devoted himself to literary pursuits. He translated Scott's " Marmion " into French, and made the French translation of the penal code of Louisiana. He became president of a college established in New Orleans, and died in 1831.—Jean Pierre Valentin (b. in 1756, d. in Santo Domingo in 1803), another son of Pierre Valentin d'Avezac, was a deputy sent from the colony to France in 1790 to oppose the revolutionary movement.

AVEZZANA, Giuseppe, soldier, b. in Chieri, Piedmont, 19 Feb., 1797. His American career began soon after the restoration of Ferdinand VII. to the Spanish throne, September, 1823. Avezzana fought against the restoration, was captured and held for several weeks as a prisoner, and sailed for America on being set free. Prior to this time he served under Napoleon I. from 1813 until the fall of the empire, and then, joining the Sardinian army, found himself in 1815 arrayed against his old leader, who had made his escape from Elba. Wherever there was a chance to fight for liberty, Avezzana was at hand, and hardly was he fairly established on American soil when he found himself called upon to defend the state of Tamaulipas against his old enemies the Spaniards, who invaded the territory under Gen. Barradas in June, 1827. He was obliged to retire at first before superior numbers, but soon rallied a force sufficient to overthrow the invaders, and afterward resumed his peaceful vocations. In 1832 a revolution was organized by Santa Anna against the government of President Bustamente, and Avezzana was, as always, ready to lead the revolt. Left in command at Tampico by Gen. Montezuma, who went to stir up the revolutionists elsewhere, he manœuvred so successfully with a small force that they captured three times their number of government troops at Ciudad Victoria, with artillery and supplies. From this time he gave the enemy no rest, but retrieved the disasters that had befallen Santa Anna and Montezuma, and mainly through his able military leadership the liberal cause triumphed. Avezzana immediately resigned his command, and in 1834 went into business in New York city, where he married an Irish lady and led a quiet mercantile life until the revolution of 1848 fired his patriot blood again, and he promptly responded to the call of