Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/604

570 " Text-Book of Intellectual Philosophy " (Boston, 1860); "First Principles of Ethics" (1861); a "Text-Book of Political Economy" (New York, 1868) ; " Scripture Reading Lessons," with notes (Hartford, Conn., 1876); and "Constitution of the United States, with Brief Comments'*' (Boston, 1880). He was a contributor to the " Christian Review" from 1850.

CHAMPLIN, John Denison, author, b. in Stonington, Conn., 29 Jan., 1834. He was educated at the Hopkins grammar-school, New Haven, and at Yale, where he was graduated in 1856. In the following year he began the study of law in the office of Gideon H. Hollister, Litchfield, Conn., was admitted to the bar in 1859, and subsequently became a member of the firm of Hollister, Cross &amp; Champlin, in New York city. In the autumn of 1860, what seemed an advantageous business offer took him to New Orleans, where he was a witness during the following spring of the opening scenes of secession in that city. Satisfied that New Orleans was no place for the practice of his profession, he returned to the north in the autumn of 1861, and after some desultory literary work became, in 1864, associate editor of the Bridgeport, Conn., &ldquo;Standard,&rdquo; with special charge of the literary department. In 1865 he established, in Litchfield, a weekly newspaper in the interest of the Democratic party, entitled &ldquo;The Sentinel,&rdquo; which he edited until 1869, when he sold it and removed to New York to enter upon other literary pursuits. He wrote for several periodicals until 1873, when he edited, from the papers of Joseph F. Loubat, secretary to Gustavus V. Fox in his mission to present the congratulations of congress to the Emperor Alexander II. on his escape from assassination, the work entitled &ldquo;Fox's Mission to Russia&rdquo; (New York, 1873). In the same year he became a reviser and in 1875 associate editor of the &ldquo;American Cyclopædia,&rdquo; having special charge of the maps and engravings till the revision was completed. Mr. Champlin is the author of &ldquo;Young Folks' Cyclopædia of Common Things&rdquo; (New York, 1879); &ldquo;Young Folks' Catechism of Common Things&rdquo; (1880); &ldquo;Young Folks' Cyclopædia of Persons and Places&rdquo; (1880); &ldquo;Young Folks' Astronomy&rdquo; (1881); and &ldquo;Young Folks' History of the War for the Union&rdquo; (1881). In 1884 he visited Europe, and accompanied Andrew Carnegie in a coaching trip through southern England, which he has described in his &ldquo;Chronicle of the Coach&rdquo; (New York, 1886). He is now editor of Scribner's art cyclopædias, of which two volumes of the first part, &ldquo;Cyclopædia of Painters and Paintings,&rdquo; were published in 1886.

CHAMPLIN, Stephen, naval officer, b. in South Kingston, R. I., 17 Nov., 1789 ; d. in Buffalo, N. Y., 20 Feb., 1870. He was a cousin of Com. Perry. When he was five years old his parents re- moved to Lebanon, Conn., where he was employed on his father's farm, and received a common-school education. At the age of sixteen he ran away from home to become a sailor, and at twenty-two was captain of a fine brig in the West India trade. Pie was appointed a sailing-master in the U. S. navy, 22 May, 1812. placed in command of a gun-boat under Com. Perry at Newport, and soon after or- dered to Sackett's Harbor, N. Y., where he soon attracted the attention of his superior officers by his remarkable promptness. On 18 July, 1813, he was ordered to take charge of seventy-four officers and men and report to Com. Perry at Erie, Pa., going by way of Lakes Ontario and Erie, and marching across the country from Niagara to Buf- falo. He made the entire distance, using only set- ting-poles and oars for propulsion, in five days. He was ordered, on 25 July, to take command "of the " Scorpion," and engaged with that vessel in the battle of Lake Erie, 10 Sept., 1813, being at that time under twenty-four years of age. The " Scorpion " fired the first shot on the American side, and was fought with great bravery, keeping its place near the Lawrence throughout the en- gagement. At ten o'clock in the evening of 13 Sept. Champlin captured the " Little Belt," and in so doing fired the last shot in the battle. He- was afterward placed in command of two of the cap- tured prize-ships, the " Queen Charlotte " and the " Detroit." In the spring of 1814 he commanded the " Tigress," and blockaded, with Capt. Turner in the " Scorpion," the port of Mackinac. They cruised for some months in the service, cutting off the supplies of the British garrison ; but both ves- sels were surprised and captured at nine o'clock on the evening of 8 Sept. by a superior force of In- dians and British, sent from Mackinac in five boats to raise the blockade. Every American officer was severely wounded, and Champlin was crippled for life by a canister-shot, which passed through the fleshy part of the right thigh and embedded itself in the left thigh, shattering the bone and remain- ing lodged in the limb for eigliteen days. He was taken prisoner and carried to Mackinac, where he lay suffering for thirty-eight days, and was then paroled and sent to Erie, and then, by easy stages, to Connecticut, arriving there in March, 1815. He was prevented by his wounds from seeing much active service after this. He had been made lieu- tenant on 9 Dec, 1814, and in 1815 was attached to Perry's flag-ship, the " Java." He commanded the schooner " Porcupine" from 1816 till 1818, and was employed during 1816 in surveying the Canada boundary-line. He then retired to Connecticut, still suffering from his wound, and undergoing several operations without relief. He lived here, with the exception of a short service on the receiv- ing-ship " Fulton," from 1828 till 1834, when he removed to Buffalo, and remained there till his death. He was promoted to commander, 22 June, 1838, put in charge of the rendezvous at Buffalo in 1842, and commanded the " Michigan " from 1845 till 1848. He was made captain, 4 Aug^ 1850, and placed on the retired list in 1855. He became com- modore in 1862, and, except Hugh Nelson Page, was the last survivor of the battle of Lake Erie.

CHAMPLIN, Stephen Gardner, soldier, b. in Kingston, N. Y., 1 July, 1827 ; d. in Grand Rapids, Mich., 24 Jan., 1864. He was educated in the com- mon schools, and at Rhinebeck academy, N. Y., studied law, and admitted to the bar in Albany in 1850. He removed to Grand Rapids, Mich., in 1853, where he became judge of the recorder's court and prosecuting attorney of Kent co. He entered the army in 1861, as major in the 3d Michigan infantry, and became its colonel on 22 Oct. Among the battles in which he took part were Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Groveton, and Antietam. He received at Fair Oaks a severe wound, which prevented him from seeing active service after his promotion to the rank of briga- dier-general, 29 Nov., 1862, and he was placed on detached duty in command of the recruiting-sta- tion at Grand Rapids, dying in the service, from the effects of his wound.

CHAMPNEY, Benjamin, painter, b. in New Ipswich, N. H., 20 Nov., 1817. He was graduated at Appleton academy, in his native town, in 1834. He went to Boston in that year, worked in Pendleton's lithographic establishment in 1837-'40, studied and painted at the Louvre, Paris, in 1841-'6, then