Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/197

Rh DIENTE, Juan (dee-ayn'-tay), Spanish soldier, b. in Penaranda, Spain, about 1497 ; d. in Guamanga, Peru, 30 JVov., 1542. He served in the wars of Italy and Flanders, and distinguished himself by his daring exploits in the enemy's camp. Owing to his extraordinary swiftness as a runner, in which he outstripped a horse, he was called "the shadow." While still an ensign, Diente went to Darien, Co- lombia, with Pedrarias, and, commanding a com- pany, took part in the conquest of Nueva Granada. Soon afterward he joined Diego de Almagro, and arrived in Peru in February, 1533, commanding a company. In October of that year, near Bilcas, he had engagements with the Indians, killing a chief in one of them. The agility that he displayed, and his peculiar way of fighting the Indians, gave rise among them to the belief that Diente was a supernatural being. Diente won his greatest dis- tinction at the memorable siege of Cuzco, in Feb- ruary, 1534. During the terrible night of the 20th of that month, in which the Indians surprised and set fire to the city, Diente was seen jumping from roof to roof, in pursuit of the incendiaries, across the streets. In this same night, assaulting one of the Indian forts, he was the first to enter it. In this assault Juan Pizarro died. In April, 1535, Diente joined Diego de Almagro in the conquest of Chili, and served during the whole campaign, com- manding the infantry. In 1536 he distinguished himself in the battle of Yucay, and from that date he served under Almagro, taking part in sev- eral engagements with the Indians, and also in the civil war of 1537 between Almagro and Pizarro. On 26 April, 1538, he participated in the battle of Salinas. Some time afterward he went to Lima and, finding himself in reduced circumstances, took part in the conspiracy against Pizarro, receiving from Kada, who conducted the assassins in the as- sault on the palace, 26 June, 1541, the command of the reserve. Pizarro having been killed, Juan Diente was chosen by Diego de Almagro to carry commu- nications of this event to Guamanga y Cuzco. Diente travelled 900 miles over a mountainous coun- try, arrived at Cuzco, and with eighty of Almagro's followers proclaimed Almagro's son as the legiti- mate governor, exacted from the city corporation the acknowledgment of the new government, and compelled the dependent towns to accept it. He served during the whole campaign against the royal troops, commanded by C. Vaca de Castro, and filled important commissions from Almagro's son. On 16 Nov., 1542, at the battle of Chupas, lost by Almagro's party, Diente was at the head of a col- umn, and, falling a prisoner, was summarily tried by Judge Gama, and hanged at Guamanga as an ac- complice in the murder of Pizarro.

DIEREVILLE, Jean, French traveller, b. in Pont-Leveque, Normandy, about 1670. He had become noted as a poet through his contributions to the " Mercure galant," when he embarked as supercargo on a vessel bound for Canada in 1699. He reached Acadia after a voyage of fifty-four days, and exchanged the greater part of the mer- chandise he had brought for the products of the colony. Although he gained great popularity among the fishermen, who suj)plied him with more fish in six months than the privileged companies were able to obtain in twenty years, he was badly treated by the association for which he acted, and returned to -France in 1700. He published " Re- lation du voyage du Port Royal de I'Acadie, on Nouvelle-Prance, dans laquelle on voit un detail des divers mouvements de la mer dans une traver- see de long cours ; la description du pays, les oc- cupations des Francjais qui y sont etablis, les manieres des differentes nations sauvages, leurs superstitions et leurs chasses avec une dissertation exacte sur le castor" (Paris and Rouen, 1708; re- vised ed., Amsterdam, 1720). Diereville intended to write his narrative in verse ; but, when told that if he did so it would be looked on as a fable, he compromised by writing his account partly in verse and partly in prose. His fondness for poor rhymes did not prevent him from giving a vivid idea of Acadia. He does justice to the inhabitants and to their attachment to their mother country, and attributes the poverty of the country to the obstacles placed in the way of commerce. While he describes very fully the animals of Acadia and the manners of the savages, he says but little of its botany, although he was charged with the duty of collecting plants for the garden of the king. He brought to France a new shrub, which Tourne- fort called the Derevilla, and which is noted for its beautiful yellow flowers. Linnteus, while pre- serving the specific name given by his predecessor, has assigned it to the genus Lonicera. Jussieu re- stored the genus Dierevilla. Tournefort says that Diereville was a surgeon, Haller that he was a mer- chant. The probability is that he was both.

DIESKAU, Jean Erdman, Baron, German soldier, b. in Saxony in 1701; d. in Surenne, near Paris, 8 Sept., 1767. He was aide-de-camp of Marshal Maurice de Saxe, and visited St. Petersburg in that officer's interest in 1741. He also served in the Netherlands, and in 1748 became major-general of infantry and commander of Brest. He was sent to Canada on 20 Feb., 1755, at the head of French troops, to conduct the campaign against the English. With 600 savages, as many Canadians, and 200 regulars, he ascended Lake Champlain to its head, designing to attack Fort Edward; but the guides took the road to Lake George by mistake. On 8 Sept. he was informed by scouts that a detachment of 1,000 men under Col. Ephraim Williams, of Massachusetts, had been sent against him, and, disposing his men in ambush in the form of a horseshoe, he surprised the enemy and put them to flight. After pursuing their opponents to the British camp, the Indians halted, the Canadians became alarmed, and Dieskau, with his 200 regulars, was forced to sustain the fight. For five hours the New England militia &ldquo;kept up the most violent fire that had yet been known in America.&rdquo; Almost all the French regulars perished, and Dieskau himself was thrice wounded; but he refused to retire, and seated himself on a stump, exposed to the bullets. Finally, seeing a soldier approaching as if to capture him, Dieskau put his hand into his pocket for his watch, which he intended to give to his captor; but the man, supposing that he was drawing a pistol, shot him, inflicting a wound that ultimately caused his death. Dieskau was kept a prisoner till 1763, when he was exchanged and returned to France, where he was given a pension.

DIGGES, Sir Dudley, English politician, b. in 1583; d. in 1639. He was the son of Sir Thomas Digges, the celebrated geometer, was ambassador to Russia in 1618, and in 1621 was elected to parliament, where he was active in the impeachment of the Duke of Buckingham. He was at one time imprisoned in the Fleet by Charles I., whom he had ofJended, but was released on apologizing to the king, and in 1630 was appointed master of the rolls. He was a friend of Henry Hudson, and in 1610 was one of those who fitted out that explorer for his last voyage. In 1631 he was one of the commission appointed by the privy council "to consider how the plantation of .Virginia now stand-