Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/349

Rh Russian government h\ which the allied fleet be- fore Sebastopol might be destroyed. At the be- ginning of the civil war in 1861 he became inter- ested in military matters, and devoted much attention to the use of rams in naval warfare. He sent a plan for cutting off the Confedei'ate army at Manassas to Gen. McClellan, who rejected it, and Ellet then wrote two pamphlets censuring McClellan's mode of conducting the campaign. He urged upon the government the construction of steam rams, for use on the large rivers of the west, and after his plans had been rejected by the navy department he presented them to the secretary of war, by whom they were approved. He was then commissioned colonel of engineers, and converted several powerful light-draught steamers on the Mississippi river into rams. With these he en- gaged in the naval battle off Memphis on 6 June, 1862, and sank and disabled several of the Con- federate vessels, but during the battle he was struck above the knee by a musket-ball, and died from the effects of his wound. Among his most noteworthy labors was his investigation of the hydraulics of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, the result of which he published in a paper entitled the " Physical Geography of the Mississippi Valley, with Suggestions as to the Improvement of the Navigation of the Ohio and other Rivers," printed in the " Smithsonian Transactions" (Washington, 1851). His other publications are " An Essay on the Laws of Trade " (1839) ; " The Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, containing Plans for the Protection of the Delta from Inundation " (Philadelphia, 1858) ; a pamphlet on " Coast and Harbor Defences, or tiie Substitution of Steam Battering-Rams for Ships of War" (Philadelphia, 1855). and many other scientific papers. — Plis brother, Alfred W., held a commission under him as lieutenant-colonel in the same fleet, and was appointed brigadier- general of volunteers, 1 Nov., 1862. He ordered the burning of Austin, Miss., on 34 May, 1863, in retaliation for information furnished by citizens to Confederates of Gen. Chalmers's command, which enabled them to fire upon a Federal trans- port. He died in Kansas in 1895. — Charles's son, Charles Rivers, soldier, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1841 ; d. in Bunker Hill, 111., 29 Oct., 1863, was engaged at the beginning of the war in studying medicine, and became assistant surgeon in one of the military hospitals. In 1862 he commanded one of his father's rams in the action at Memphis. After his father's death, on the organization of the Mississippi brigade by his uncle, Alfred W. Ellet, he was appointed colonel, and when his uncle was commissioned brigadier-general he was placed in command of the marine brigade. Choosing the ram " Queen of the West " for his headquarters, he made many daring expeditions on the Mississippi, and succeeded in running the Confederate bat- teries at Vieksburg as he was cruising between that stronghold and Port Hudson. On 10 Feb., 1863, he made an expedition up the Red river and captured the Confederate steamer " Era " and some other vessels. After ascending the river with success the pilot ran his vessel aground, placing her in such a difficult position that she was disabled by the fire from the Confederate fort, and fell into the hands of the enemy. Col. Ellet made his escape on a bale of cotton, and was rescued by the " De Soto." During the siege of Vieksburg, and afterward, he rendered valuable assistance to Gen. Grant in keep- ing open his communications, but in the coui'se of this duty his health failed, owing to the influence of the climate, and he died suddenly in Illinois, where he had retired for rest.

ELLET, William Henry, chemist, b. in New York city, 1 Nov., 1806; d. there, 26 Jan., 1859. He was graduated at Columbia in 1824, and subse- quently, while studying medicine, gained a gold medal for a dissertation on the compounds of cyan- ogen. In 1830 he became lecturer on elementary chemistry in Columbia college, and two years later was promoted to the chair of that name, tjut in 1835 was made professor of chemistry, mineralogy, and geology in South Carolina college. For his dis- covery of a new and cheap method of preparing gun-cotton the legislature of South Carolina pre- sented him with a service of silver-plate. In 1848 he returned to New York, and in 1854 became consulting chemist of the Manhattan gas com- pany, which office he held until his death. — His wife, Elizabeth Fries, author, b. in Sodus Point, N. Y., in 1818 ; d. 3 June, 1877, was the daughter of Dr. William Nixion Lummis. She was edu- cated at the Aurora, N. Y., female seminary, and after her marriage with Dr. Ellet, about 1835, be- gan to write for periodicals. She has contributed largely to magazines and reviews, and has pub- lished a translation of Silvio Pellicoe's " Euphemia of Messina " (1834) ; " Teresa Contarini," a tragedy, which was represented in New York (1835) : " Po- ems, Original and Selected " (Philadelphia, 1835) ; '• Scenes in the Life of Joanna of Sicily " (Boston, 1840); "Characters of Schiller " (1842) ; "Family Pictures from the Bible " (New York, 1849) ; " Even- ings at Woodlawn " (1850) ; " Domestic History of the American Revolution " (1850) ; " Watching Spirits " (1851) ; " Women of the American Revolu- tion " (1851) ; " Pioneer Women of the West " (1852): "Novelettes of the Musicians" (1852); "Summer Rambles in the West" (1853); "The Practical Housekeeper, a Cyclopaedia of Domestic Economy " (1857) ; " Women Artists in all Ages and Countries " (1861) ; " Queens of American Societv" (1867); and "Court Circles of the Re- publieV' with Mrs. R. E. Mack (Hartford, 1869).

ELLICOTT, Andrew, civil engineer, b. in Bucks county, Pa., 24 Jan., 1754; d. in West Point, N. Y.,"29 Aug., 1820. His father and uncle, who were Quakers, purchased a large tract of wild land on the Patapsco river in 1770, and in 1774 founded the town of EUieott's Mills, now Ellicott City, where Andrew passed his youth in the study of science and practical mechanics. His scientific attainments soon attracted attention, and he enjoyed the friendship and confidence of Washington, Franklin, and Rittenhouse. He was appointed commissioner at various times for marking the boundaries of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York, and about 1785 removed to Baltimore, where he was elected to the legislature. He was selected by Washington in 1789 to survey the land lying between Pennsylvania and Lake Erie, and during that year he made the first accurate measurement of the Niagara river from lake to lake, with the height of the falls and the descent of the rapids. In 1790 he was employed by the government to survey and lay out the city of Washington, and in 1792 Vas made surveyor-general of the United States. He superintended the construction of Port Erie, at Presque Isle, now Erie. Pa., in 1795, and was employed in laying out the towns of Erie, Warren, and Franklin. He was appointed by Washington in 1796 as U. S. commissioner under the treaty of San Lorenzo el Real, to determine the boundary separating the United States from the Spanish possessions on the south. The results of this service, which embraced a period of nearly five years, appear in his " Journal " (Philadelphia, 1803). Upon its completion he was appointed by