Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/110

90 enemy at Wahab's plantation, and when Cornwal- lis entered Charlotte, N. C, he withstood three charges by Tarleton's legion, in the presence of the whole British army, and then retired in good order. In 1781 Col. Davie, yielding his hopes of gaining additional honor in the field, accepted, at the nrgent request of Gen. Greene, the post of commissary- genei-al of the southern army, and. by his zeal, in- fluence, and local knowledge in this difficult po- sition, added much to the success of the military operations that followed. After the war he settled at Halifax, N. C, in the practice of his profession, and, by his sagacity and eloquence, soon rose to eminence. He served many terras in the legisla- ture, and was a member of the convention that framed the Federal constitution, favoring the equal representation of the states in the national senate, and the taking into account of the slaves in assign- ing i-epi'esentatives to the south. His name does not appear as a signer of the document, as he was called home by illness, but he was one of its most earnest defentlers in the North Carolina convention that followed. He drew up the act for establishing the University of North Carolina, which, after much opposition, was passed in 1789, and was active in providing for its support. The erection of its buildings, the choice of professors, and the arrange- ment of studies, received his personal attention. He was influential in securing the cession of the present state of Tennessee, was three times a com- missioner to settle boundary disputes between North and South Carolina, and in 1794 was made major-general of militia. He was elected governor of the state in 1799, but before the close of his term was sent by President Adams, with Oliver Ellsworth and William V. Murray, on a special embassy to tiie French government, the result of which was the convention signed 30 Sept., 1800. President Jefferson appointed him to treat with the Tuscarora Indians in 1802. In 1803 he was an un- successful candidate for congress, and after his de- feat he withdrew to his farm on the Catawba river, S. C, where he spent the rest of his days, declining a major-generars commission in the U. S. army in 1813 on account of failing health. He was a man of commanding appearance and dignified yet affa- ble manners. See his life, by Pordyce M. Hubbard, in Sparks's "American Biographies."

DAVIES, Charles, mathematician, b. in Wash- ington, Litchfield co., Conn., 22 Jan., 1798 : d. in Fishkill Landing, N. Y., 17 Sept., 187(3. When a boy lie removed with his father to a farm in St. Lawrence county, N. Y., then an unsettled part of the state. He entered the U. S. military academy in December, 1813, graduating in December, 1815, and was assigned to the light artillery. After brief service in New England garrisons, he was transferred to the engineer corps in 1816, and ordered to duty at West Point, but resigned on 1 Dec, 181(5, and became princii)al assistant pro- fessor of mathematics and natural and experi- mental philosophy. He was made full professor of mathematics on 1 May, 1823, and held the office till 31 May, 1837, when he was forced to re- sign by illness consequent upon overwork in pre- paring his mathematical text-books. A trip to Europe restored his health, and he accepted the chair of mathematics in Trinity college, Hartford, Conn., holding it from 1839 till 1841, when he was again forced to resign by threatened illness, and was appointed paymaster in the U. S. army, with the staff rank of major. He served as treasurer of the U. S. military academy from 1841 till 1846, and in 1848 became professor of matliematics and philosophy in the University of New York. In the following year he retired to Fishkill Landing, on the Hudson, that he might have leisure to complete his series of text-books. After teaching in the Normal school at Albany, he was made professor of higher matliematics in Columbia college, 18 May, 1857, and in June, 1865, emeritus professor. His works, which are distinguished by plainness and close logical arrangement, include an entire series of mathematical text-books (1837-'67), ex- tending from a primary arithmetic to the higher mathematics, and including editions of Legendre's "Geometry" (1840) and Bourdon's "Algebra" (1851). Among his more advanced works are " Descriptive Geometry " (New York, 1826) ; " Sur- veying and Navigation " (1830) : "Shades, Shad- ows, and Perspective " (1832) ; " Differential and Integral Calculus " (1836) : " Logic and Utility of Mathematics " (1850) ; and a " Mathematical Dic- tionary," written in conjunction with his son-in-law, Prof. William G. Peck, of Columbia (1855). His last work was a treatise on "The Metric System " (1870).— His brother, Henry Eugene, b. in Black Lake, near Ogdensburg, N. Y., 8 Feb., 1805 ; d. in New York city, 17 Dec, 1881, spent his early years upon his father's farm, and. after receiving a com- mon-school education, began in 1819 the study of law with Judge Alfred (I'onkling, living, as was then the custom, in the family of his preceptor. He was admitted to the bar at Utica, N. Y,, in 1826, and began to practise in Buffalo, where he soon became prominent in politics :is a whig. He removed to New York in 1830. and formed a part- nership with Judge Samuel A. Foot, which was dissolved in 1848, and Mr. Davies entered into a new one with Judge William Kent, son of Chan- cellor Kent. In 1850 he was chosen corporation counsel, and was elected justice of the state su- preme court in 1855, but was obliged to establish his right to the office by litigation, as no notice of a vacancy had been filed with the sheriff. In the summer of that year he accompanied ex-President Fillmore to Europe, having been his confidential adviser during his term of office as chief magis- trate. In the" autumn of 1859 Judge Davies was elected to the court of appeals, where he served from 1 Jan., 1860, till 1869, being the chief justice for several years. He then entered into partner- ship with Judge Noah Davis, with whom he prac- tised until the latter was elevated to the bench. After that time Judge Davies was conspicuous onlv in his practice as counsel and trustee of the Mutual life insurance company, receiver of the Erie railway, counsel for the American exchange bank, and member of the commission to determine the advisability of constructing an underground railroad in Broadway. The day before his last ill- ness he sat for many hours listening to testimony on that subject. For several years before his death he took no part in politics, but served often as referee or chamber-counsel in important legal cases. — Another brother, Thomas Alfred, soldier, b. in St. Lawrence county, N. Y., in December, 1809, was gi-aduated at the U. S. military academy in 1829, and assigned to the 1st infantry. After serving on frontier duty, he resigned on 31 Oct., 1831, and was employed on the Croton aqueduct as a civil engineer till 18:33, when he became a merchant in NewYork city, but was again employed on the aqueduct in 1840-'l. He re-entered the national service on 15 May, 1861, as colonel of the 16th New York regiment, was at the battle of Bull Run, and in the defences of Alexandria from Novem- ber, 1861, till 7 March, 1862, when he was made brigadier-general of volunteers. He was engaged in the siege of Corinth in April and May, 1862,