Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/765

Rh “Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States,” with additional chapters on the “New Amendments” (1873); “The Law of Taxation” (1876); “The Law of Torts” (1879); “General Principles of Constitutional Law in the United States” (1880); and “Michigan: A History of Governments” (Boston, 1885).

COOLIDGE, Carlos, governor of Vermont, b. in Windsor, Vt., in 1792 ; d. there, 15 Aug., 1866. He was graduated at Middlebury in 1811, and practised law in his native place for fifty-two years. He was attorney for the county from 1831 till 1836, and a representative in the legislature from 1834 till 1837, and from 1839 till 1842. He was speaker in 1836, and during his latter term was governor of Vermont, 1848-'50, and senator from 1855 till 1857. He received the degree of LL. D. from Mid- dlebury in 1849.

COOLIDGE, Richard H., military surgeon, b. in the state of New York in 1816 ; d. in Kaleigh, N. C, 23 Jan., 1866. He was appointed assistant surgeon in tlie U. S. army from New York state in August, 1841, and served at various posts. In June, 1860, he was promoted surgeon, and was medical purveyor and director, Department of the Pacific, from January, 1861, till April, 1862. He was lieutenant-colonel and medical inspector from June, 1862, till October, 1865, was in the provost- marshal's department, Washington, D. C, till April, 1864, and on duty at Louisville, Ky., from May till November, 1864. He was made medical inspector of the Northern Department and of the Department of Pennsylvania in 1865, and subsequently pro- moted to a brevet lieutenant-colonelcy for faithful and meritorious services during the war. He was medical director of the Department of North Caro- lina at the time of his death.

COOLIDGE, Sidney, scientist, b. in Boston, Mass., in 1830 ; d. near Chickamauga, Ga., 19 Sept., 1863. He studied abroad from 1839 till 1850, first in Geneva and Vevay, and afterward in the Royal military college in Dresden. After his return to this country he assisted in the construction of the Richmond and Danville railroad, and in running the boundary-line of Minnesota. After working in the nautical-almanac office and in the Cambridge observatory, he was appointed in 1853 assistant as- tronomer to Com. Perry's Ja[)an exploring expedi- tion. In 1854 he assisted Prof. George P. Bond in his observations of the planet Saturn, and con- tributed drawings and notes to the published an- nals of the observatory. He took charge in 1855 of the chronometrie expedition for determining the difference of longitude between Cambridge and Greenwich, and in 1856-'7 studied the dialects and astronomical superstitions of the Indians near Saguenay river and Lake Mistassinnie. Being in Mexico in 1858, he took part in the civil war of that year, was taken prisoner and sentenced to be shot, but was finally released and sent to the city of Mexico on parole. He took part in an Arizona land-survey in 1860, and in May, 1861, became major in the 16th U. S. infantry. He was super- intendent of the regimental recruiting service in 1862, commanded regiments at different posts and camps, and was engaged at the battles of Hoover's Gap and Chickamauga, where he was killed. For his services in the latter fight he received the brevet of lieutenant-colonel.

COOLIDGE, Susan. See Woolsey, Sarah C.

COOMBE, Thomas, clergyman, b. in Philadel- phia, 21 Oct., 1758 ; d. in London, 15 Aug., 1822. He was graduated at the College of Philadelphia in 1766, and in 1768 went to England, where he was ordained priest and appointed chaplain to the Marquis of Rockingham. He returned to Phila- delphia in 1772, and was chosen an assistant min- ister of Christ church and St. Peter's. On 20 July, 1775, the day appointed for a general fast by the Continental congress, he delivered a sermon, which was published (Philadelphia, 1775; 3d ed., New- port, 1776). Mr. Coombe supported the cause of the colonies until the passage of the Declaration of Independence, but felt that his ordination-oath did not permit him to follow the same course after that event. This decision caused him to be looked upon with suspicion, and just previous to the occu- pation of the city he was ordered to be arrested ; but the order was not executed, and, after the Brit- ish left the city in 1778, h'e obtained permission to go to New York, whence he sailed for England. He was subsequently chaplain to the Earl of Car- lisle, and in 1794 was appointed chaplain in ordi- nary to the king. The degree of D. D. was con- ferred upon him in 1781 by the University of Dub- lin. He was an eloquent and impi'essive preacher. Josiah Quincy, Jr., speaks of one of his extempore prayers " which, in point of sentiment, propriety of expression, and true sublimity, excelled any- thing of the kind " he had ever heard. Dr. Coombe was the friend of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Johnson, and Goldsmith. He issued under two titles : " Ed- win, or the Emigrant" (Philadelphia, 1775), and "The Peasant of Auburn" (London, 1783).

COOMBS, Leslie, soldier, b. near Boonesboro, Clark CO., Ky., 28 Nov., 1793; d. in Lexington, Ky., 21 Aug., 1881. His father, who served at the siege of Yorktown, removed from Virginia in 1782, and settled in the wilderness of Kentucky. Leslie, the twelfth child of this pioneer farmer, entered the army at the age of nineteen. In the campaign that ended in the disaster at the river Raisin, he was sent by Gen. Winchester with important des- patches to Gen. Harrison. To deliver these he was obliged to traverse a wilderness, occupied by sav- ages and covered with snow, for over a hundred miles, and suffered great privations. On 2 June, 1813, he was commissioned captain of spies in Dud- ley's regiment of Kentucky volunteers. He volun- teered, with an Indian guide, to carry the intelli- gence of the approach of Gen. Clay's forces to Gen. Harrison, when the latter was besieged in Fort Meigs, but was overpowered in sight of the fort, and escaped to Fort Defiance. He bore a conspicu- ous part in tl:e defeat of Col. Dudley, on 5 May, and was wounded at Fort Miami. After the war he studied law, was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-three, attaining high rank in the profes- sion. In 1836 he raised, at his own expense, a regi- ment to aid Texas in her struggle for independ- ence, and was commissioned colonel in August of that year. He was for several terms state auditor, and was many times elected to the legislature. When his old commander, Gen. Harrison, was a candidate for president. Coombs took a prominent part in the canvass. As a stump orator he was unsurpassed. At the beginning of the Mexican war he aided largely in raising volunteers in Ken- tucky. He was a strong whig, and earnestly de- voted to the Union from the time when the question of secession was first advanced. In 1849 Henry Clay, who placed great trust in Gen. Coombs, wrote to him suggesting that Union meetings should be held throughout" Kentucky, enclosing resolutions to be adopted. During the canvass of 1844 he made many speeches in the north and east in sup- port of his friend Clay as a candidate for president. It was in defeating Gfen. Coombs for congress that John C. Breckinridge won his earliest success in public life. Gen. Coombs's last public office was