Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/312

284 Mill, 27 June, 1862, where he was slightly wounded, and was also in the actions at Aldie, Middletown, Upperville, and at Gettysburg, where he distinguished himself. He was afterward chief commissary of musters for the department of Virginia, and in the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac. On 13 March, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general U. S. A. for his services at Gettysburg. From February, 1865, till March, 1866, he was member of a military commission at Washington, and afterward commander at Fort Vancouver, Washington territory. On 15 Dec, 1870, he was retired.

BLAKE, George Smith, naval officer, b. in Worcester, Mass., in 1803; d. in Longwood, Mass., 24 June, 1871. His father, Francis Blake, was a prominent lawyer in Worcester. On 1 Jan., 1818, he was appointed to the navy as midshipman. On 5 Nov., 1821, the schooner " Alligator," on which he was serving, was attacked near the Cape Verde islands by a Portuguese ship, which was captured and sent to the United States, with Blake as her executive officer. Commissioned lieutenant, 31 March, 1827, he cruised in the "Grampus," on the West India station, for the suppression of piracy. He was employed on a survey of Narragansett bay in 1832, was attached to the navy-yard at Philadelphia in 1833, and from 1837 till 1848 was connected with the coast survey. The secretary of the treasury, in a letter to the navy department, speaks highly of Lieut. Blake's zeal and fidelity in this service. In 1846, while commanding the brig "Perry" in the gulf of Mexico, he was wrecked on the Florida coast in the great hurricane, but succeeded in getting his vessel off, and brought her to Philadelphia under jurymasts. The secretary of the navy, in a letter to Lieut. Blake, commended his conduct on this occasion. He was made commander 27 Feb., 1847, and attached to the bureau of construction. From 1849 till 1852 he was fleet captain in the Mediterranean. On 14 Sept., 1855, he was made captain, and assigned to special duty at Hoboken, N. J., in connection with the building of the Stevens battery there. In 1858 he became superintendent of the naval academy at Annapolis. At the beginning of the war his prompt measures saved the government property at the academy from capture, and he superintended the removal of the school to Newport, R. I. He was commissioned commodore on 16 July, 1862, left the naval academy in 1865, and from 1866 till 1809 he was light-house inspector of the second district, residing at Boston.

'''BLAKE. Homer Crane,''' naval officer, b. in Cleveland, Ohio, 1 Feb., 1822; d. 21 Jan., 1880. He was appointed to the navy as a midshipman, 2 March, 1840, and served on the frigate "Constellation," of the East India squadron, 1841-'3; the sloop "Preble," 1843-5; at the naval academy in 1846, when he was made passed midshipman; and again on the "Preble" until 1848. Until 1856 he served on receiving-ships at New York and Boston, with the exception of two years in the Pacific, and in 1855 was commissioned lieu- tenant. From 1857 till 1859 he served on the "St. Lawrence," of the Brazil squadron, and from 1861 till 1862 on the " Sabine," of the home squadron. He was then made lieutenant-commander and given the command of the "Hatteras," of the western gulf blockading squadron, formerly a merchant steamer. On 11 July, 1863, the "Hatteras," while at anchor off Galveston, Texas, was ordered to chase a suspicious vessel, which proved to be the confederate cruiser "Alabama," and after a short action Commander Blake was obliged to surrender, as the "Hatteras," no match for her adversary, was disabled and sinking. The crew was taken off, and the "Hatteras" went down in ten minutes. Blake was carried to Jamaica, where he was paroled, returned to the United States, and was soon exchanged. From 1863 till 1865 he commanded the steamer "Utah," of the North Atlantic blockading squadron, where he did good service, shelling three divisions of the confederate army on the James in 1864, and assisting to repel an attack on the Army of the James on 23 Jan., 1865. He was made commander, 3 March, 1866, commanded the "Swatara" and the "Alaska," and became captain, 25 May, 1871. From 1873 till 1878 he was in command of the naval rendezvous at New York, and in 1880 was promoted to commodore.

BLAKE, John Lauris, author, b. in Northwood, N. 11., 21 Dec, 1788 : d. in Orange, N. J., 6 July, 1857. When a boy he alternately worked on his father's farm and attended the district school. Showing a taste for mechanics, at thirteen years of age he was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker, and afterward labored as a journeyman in Salem, Mass. He was graduated at Brown in 1812, and licensed to preach by the Rhode Island association of Congregational ministers in 1813; but, becoming interested in the Episcopal church, was ordained deacon by Bishop Griswold in 1815. Soon afterward he organized the parish of St. Paul's, in Pawtucket, where he remained until 1820. In that year he returned to New Hampshire and took charge of the churches in Concord and Hopkinton. He also organized a young ladies' school in Concord, and in 1822 removed it to Boston, remaining at its head until 1830, and making for it a high reputation. From 1824 till 1832 he was rector of St. Matthew's church, Boston, and subsequently devoted himself entirely to literary work. He was editor of the "Literary Advertiser" and the "Gospel Advocate," and was an active member of the Boston school committee for several years. He wrote or compiled about fifty volumes, mostly text-books, embracing treatises on astronomy, chemistry, natural philosophy, botany, geography, and history. His first work was a "Text-Book of Geography and Chronology " (1814). His "Biographical Dictionary" was published in New York in 1835, and just before his death he published a revised edition under the title "Universal Biographical Dictionary" (Philadelphia, 1857), on which he had spent many years of hard work. He was also the author of the "Family Encyclopaedia of Agriculture and Domestic Economy" and the " Farmer's Every-Day Book" (New York, 1852); "Modern Farmer" (1853); "Letters on Confirmation"; and several small books for school libraries, such as the "Book of Nature Laid Open," "Wonders of the Earth," and "Wonders of Art" (Troy, N. Y., 1845).

BLAKE, Joseph, colonist, b. about 1620; d. about 1700. He was a brother of the famous English admiral, and from him inherited a considerable fortune. which he largely devoted to the cause of emigration. At that time (1683) the Carolinas were especially attractive to English colonists, and Blake conducted to Charleston from Somersetshire a company of exceptionally good character, as is attested by a contemporary historian. Blake was impatient even of such religious oppression as existed under Charles II., and, fearing a Romanist successor, did all in his power to favor Protestant emigration to America. As a result, large numbers of Protestant English and Scotch-Irish settled along this section of the coast.

BLAKE, Lillie Devereux, reformer, b. in Raleigh, N. C., 12 Aug., 1835. She was educated in New Haven at Miss Apthorp's school, and