Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/31

Rh mitted to the bar, and became commonwealth's at- torney in Kentucky in 1842. He served in the Mexican war as lieutenant-colonel of Kentucky infantry, and was volunteer aide to Gen. Taylor at the battle of Buena Vista. In 1849 he was ap- pointed by President Taylor consul to Liverpool, and served till 1853, then returned to the United States, resided for some time at Frankfort, and afterward engaged in mercantile business at Louis- ville, Ky. At the beginning of the civil war he es- poused the national cause, and on 27 Oct., 1861, was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers. He commanded a division at the battle of Shiloh, and was promoted major-general, 17 July, 18(52, for gal- lant services on that occasion, and assigned to the command of a division in the Army of the Tennes- see. He commanded the 2d corps, forming the left wing of the Army of the Ohio under Gen. Buell, and afterward served under Gen. Rosecrans in the battle of Stone River, and at Chickamauga commanded one of the two corps that were routed. In the Virginia campaign of 1864 he commanded a division of the 9th corps. He resigned, 13 Dec, 1864, but entered the regular army as colonel of the 32d infantry on 28 July, 1866, was brevetted brigadier-general for gallantry at Stone River, 2 March, 1807, transferred to the 17th infantry in 1869, and served with his regiment on the frontier until he was retired on 19 May, 1881. — Thomas T., a nephew of John Jordan, b. in Alabama about 1828, served in the Mexican war as lieutenant of Missouri mounted volunteers, afterward settled in Indiana, and entered the volunteer army in 1861 as colonel of a regiment of three months' men, with a detachment of which he took part in the battle of Philippi. The regiment was reorganized under his command at the expiration of its term of service, and served for three years. He was promoted brigadier-general on 28 April, 1862, and taken prisoner at Murfreesboro on 12 July, and not released till October. He resigned 5 May, 1863.

CROASDALE, Samuel, soldier, b. in Penn- sylvania; d. at Antietam, Md., 17 Sept., 1802. He was a lawyer in Doylestown, Pa. Immediately after the president's proclamation of 15 April, 1861, he volunteered for three months, and, after the governor's call for nine months' men in the summer of 1862, raised a company in Doylestown, and, vipon the organization of the 128th Pennsylvania regiment, was appointed its colonel. After a few weeks' service in camps of instruction near Wash- ington, the emergencies of the invasion of Mary- land required the services of the regiment in the field. At Aiitietam it was assigned an important position, and Col. Croasdale, having formed his men in line, was leading an assault under a heavy fire, when a ball killed him instantly.

CROCKER, Alvah, capitalist, b. in Leominster, Mass., 14 Oct., 1801; d. in Fitchburg, 26 Dec., 1874. He obtained an academic education, entered a paper-mill at Franklin, N. H., in 1820, removed to Fitchburg, Mass., in 1823, and began to manufacture paper on his own account on borrowed capital. He struggled for many years with debts, but gradually extended his business, and in 1834 laid the foundation for a fortune by purchasing all the land in the Nashua valley, in order to build a new road. He was elected to the Massachusetts legislature in 1835, where he advocated steam communication with Boston, returned to the legislature in 1842, and obtained a charter for a new railroad between northern Massachusetts and the seaboard, which was completed through his exertions in 1845. He afterward engaged in building the Vermont and Massachusetts, the Troy and

Boston, and the Hoosac tunnel railroads, and in 1847-'8 lectured in behalf of the tunnel project. Near his paper-mills, which became the largest in the United States, he built machine-shops and foundries. He was the first to use cotton-waste in the manufacture of white paper, and palm-leaf fibre for coarse wall-paper. He was a member of the state senate for two terms during the civil war, on 2 Jan., 1872, was elected to congress as a republican to serve out the unexpired term of William B. Washburn, who had been made governor, and was re-elected for the following term, serving from 14 Feb., 1872, until his death.

CROCKER, Charles, railroad builder, b. in Troy, N. Y., 16 Sept., 1822 ; d. in Monterey, Cal., 14 Aug., 1888. He had a fair education, and was turned adrift by his father. In 1849 he went to California, engaged in mining, and opened a store in Sacramento. He was elected to the common council in 1855, and to the legislature in 1860. With Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Coll is P. Huntington, he furnished means for the survey of a railroad route across the Sierra Nevada ; and on the passage of the Union Pacific railroad bill by congress he was associated with them in con- structing the Central Pacific division, the four supplying the capital beyond the government subsidy. He personally built a large portion of the most difficult sections, under contract. In 1871 he was elected president of the Southern Pacific railroad company, of California, and second vice-president of the Central Pacific, superintend- ing, in the former capacity, the construction of the divisions in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. In 1884 he effected a consolidation of the laroperties of the two companies, having a joint control of 8,903 miles of railroad and steamship lines, and soon afterward removed to New York city.

CROCKER, Hannah Mather, author, b. in Boston. 31ass., in 1705; d. in Roxbury, Mass., 10 July, 1847. She was a granddaughter of Cot- ton Mather, a daughter of the Rev. Samuel Mather, of Boston, and married Joseph Crocker, of Taunton, who left her a widow. In 1810 she sent to a newspaper a series of " Letters on Free- masonry," which were republished on the advice of the Rev. Dr. Thaddeus M. Harris, who wrote a preface to the volume. She published afterward " The School of Reform," and in 1818 " Observa- tions on the Rights of Woman," and wrote an account of the life of Madam Knight, the school- mistress of Benjamin Franklin, which is preserved in the library of the Antiquarian society of Worcester, Mass.

CROCKER, Marcellus M., soldier, b. in Franklin, Johnson co., Ind., 6 Feb., 1830 ; d. in Washington. D. C, 26 Aug., 1865. He entered the U. S. military academy in 1847, but left at the end of his second year, studied law, and practised in Des Moines, Iowa. Pie entered the national service as major of the 2d Iowa infantry in May, 1861, was promoted colonel on 30 Dec, fought with distinction in the battle of Shiloh, April 6 and 7, 1862, was promoted brigadier-general on. 29 Nov., 1862, and engaged at the siege of Vicksburg, conducting a raid in Mississippi. After the re-enlistment of his brigade as veteran volunteers he fought through the Georgia campaign of Gen. Sherman, commanding a division a part of the time. He was suffering from consumption during the whole of his military career, and was assigned to duty in New Mexico on account of sickness. The brigade that he had commanded and brought to a high state of discipline was nicknamed "Crocker's greyhounds." It lost heavily in the assault of Bald Hill before