Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/166

146 regiment of New York militia, and, on the military reorganization of the state, he was assigned to the command of the 22d district, and in 1851 was promoted brigadier-general. In 1855 he was appointed adjutant-general, which office he soon resigned, but in April, 1866, was brevetted major-general. Gen. De Peyster assisted in the organization of the present police force of the city of New York, and is the author of a series of reports in favor of a paid fire department, with fire-escapes and steam-engines (1852-'3). He has been a voluminous contributor to periodical literature, besides writing numerous works on military topics. Among the latter are &ldquo;Life of Field-Marshal Torstenson&rdquo; (1855); &ldquo;The Dutch at the North Pole&rdquo; (1857); &ldquo;Caurausius, the Dutch Augustus&rdquo; (1858); &ldquo;Life of Baron Cohorn&rdquo; (1860); and &ldquo;Personal and Military History of Gen. Philip Kearny&rdquo; (1869). &mdash; John Watts, Jr., soldier, son of the preceding, b. in New York, 2 Dec., 1841; d. there 12 April, 1873. In March, 1862, he left the law-school of Columbia college and joined the staff of Gen. Philip Kearny as volunteer aide, participating in the battle of Williamsburg. He for a time commanded a company of New York cavalry, was afterward major of the 1st New York artillery, and still later served on the staff of Gen. Peck. He was then prostrated by fever, and, after a severe illness of several months, returned to the field in the winter of 1863. For his zeal, capacity, and energy, displayed in the Chancellorsville campaign and in the battle of Fredericksburg, he was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel and colonel. He remained with the army until midsummer of the same year, when his increasing weakness compelled him to resign.

DE PUY, Henry Walter, lawyer, b. in Pompey Hill, Onondaga co.,' N. Y., in 1820 ; d. 2 Feb., 1876. He studied law, and was admitted to the hav of New York. He was private secretary to Gov. Horatio Seymour during his term of 1853-'4, and subsequently served as U. S. consul at Carlsrlihe, and as secretary of legation at Berlin in 1854, which place he resigned to take part in the political struggle of 1860. From President Lincoln he re- ceived the appointment of secretary of the state of Nebraska, organized that territory, and served as the first speaker of its legislature. He was also Indian agent to the Pawnees, under President Lin- coln, and devoted much time and energy to reform the Indian service of the government. For several years he edited and published a newspaper in Indianapolis, Ind., in support of the liberal party, being a warm friend of Gov. Chase. He was "a constant contributor of political articles to the press, the author of several popular poems, and of the following works : " Kossuth and his Generals," with a brief history of Hungary (New York, 1851); "Louis Napoleon and his Times," with a memoir of the Bonaparte family (1853) ; " Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Heroes of '76," with the early history of Vermont (1853) ; and "Threescore Years and Bevond " (1873).

DEQUEN, or DE KEN, Jean, missionary, b. in France early in the 17th century; d. in Quebec in 1659. He came to Canada in 1635, and labored in Quebec. He was superior of the Jesuits of Canada from 1656 till his death, which was occasioned by his devotion to the sick during a season of pesti- lence. He was the author of the " Relation de la Nouvelle France " for 1656.

'''DERBIGNY. Pierre Auguste Charles Bourisgay,''' fifth governor of Loiusiana, b. in France ; d. in 'New Orleans, 6 Oct., 1829. Compelled to leave France during the Revolution, he first went to Santo Domingo, and thence to the United States, living for a while in Pittsburgh, Penn., where he married the sister of Chevalier de Lozier. He re- moved to Missouri and to Florida, and finally set- tled in Louisiana. In 1803 he acted as Mayor Borsee's secretary, and in the latter part of "the same year his linguistic acquirements led Gov. Claiborne to appoint him interpreter of languages for the territory. During Gov. Claiborne's ad- ministration in January. 1805, the petition of " the merchants, planters, and other inhabitants of Lou- isiana," signed by Destréleau, Sauvé, and Derbigny, their delegates, was read and referred in the U. S. senate. The delegates in this memorial energetic- ally insisted on the rights of the inhabitants of Louisiana to be promptly admitted into the con- federacy as citizens of a sovereign state. But, not- withstanding their zeal and the ability displayed by them. Derbigny and his coadjutors were "not successful in their efforts. In March, however, an act was approved " providing for the government of the territory of Orleans." The three agents set forth their views in a sensational pamphlet, hav- ing been convinced that the government was un- candid to the agents and unjust to the inhabitants of Louisiana. Mr. Derbigny afterward held other offices in the state, such as clerk of the court of common pleas, secretary of the legislative council, member of the lower house of the first state legis- lature, and judge of the supreme court. He de- livered the first fourth-of-July oration made in the territory, and was appointed in 1820, with Living- stone and Moreau, to revise the laws of Louisiana; in the same year receiving the first license to run a steam ferry across the Mississippi at New Or- leans. As a personal friend of Gen. Lafayette, he was his representative in legal and business affairs in Louisiana until his death, when Lafayette's power of attorney was transferred to the son, Charles Derbigny. In 1828, when Gov. Johnson's term of office expired, he was succeeded by Pierre Derbigny, the first year of whose administration was marked by the visit to New Orleans of Gen. Jackson, who had been invited by the legislature to participate in the celebration of the anniversary of his victory of 8 Jan., 1815. Gov. Derbigny was killed, soon after the expiration of his first year as state executive, by being thrown from his carriage.

DERBY, James Cephas, publisher, b. in Little Falls, N. Y., 20 July, 1818 ; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 22 Sept., 1892. He was educated in Herkimer, was apprenticed to the book-selling business in Auburn, N. Y., in 1833, and afterward was in business on his own account, both there and in New York city. Among the American authors whose works he pub- lished were the Cary sisters, B. P. Shillaber, S. G. Goodrich, Henry Wikoff, Henry Ward Beecher, Augusta J. Evans, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, and Marion Harland. He retained tor years the friend- ship of such men as William H. Seward, Alexan- der H. Stephens, and Horace Greeley. He was himself the author of " Fifty Years among Au- thors, Books, and Publishers " (New York, 1884).

DERBY, Richard, merchant, b. in Salem. Mass., 12 Sept., 1712; d. there 9 Nov., 1783. In 1736 he was master of the sloop "Ranger," sailing from Salem for Cadiz and Malaga, and in 1742 master and part owner of the "Volant," bound for Barbadoes and the French islands. In 1757 Capt. Derby appears to have retired from the sea, relinquished his vessels to his sons John and Richard, and become a merchant of Salem. His vessels were exposed not only to the dangers of the sea but also to the French and English cruisers. During the French war, 1756-63, he