Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/508

480 jected line of railway to connect the maritime provinces with Canada, and this he accomplished ; but the work of construction was not prosecuted to any great extent until the completion of the road had been rendered imperative in 18G7 by the conditions imposed upon the Dominion govern- ment by the articles of union with the maritime provinces. Under Mr. Fleming's supervision, as^ chief engineer, the Litercolonial railway was suc- cessfully completed, and was formally opened on 1 July, 1876. While this railway was under con- struction, Mr. Fleming was ordered in 1871 to sur- vey a line that would connect old Canada with the Pacific ocean. This work he had most successfully prosecuted, when political exigencies arose, and he resigned in 1880. Though he was not afterward connected with the Canada Pacific railway, the ultimate success of that great enterprise was owing largely to his skill. In recognition of his ability as an engineer, he was made in 1877 a companion of the order of St. Michael and St. George ; in 1880 he was elected chancellor of Queen's university, Kingston, Ontario ; in 1881 he represented the Ca- nadian institute and the American meteorological society at the International geographical congress at Venice ; and in 1884 the Dominion at the Inter- national prime-meridian conference at Washing- ton, D. C. The same year he received the degree of LL. D. from St. Andrew's university. He has published " England and Canada," besides re^^orts on his engineering enterprises.

FLEMING-, Thomas, soldier, b. in Botetourt county, Va., in 1737 ; d. there in August, 1776. He commanded 200 men at the battle of Point Pleasant, with the Indians, in 1774. Point Pleasant is at the jiaiction of the Great Kanawha and Ohio rivers. The whites were commanded by Gen. Andrew Lewis, of Augusta county, Va., and the Indians by Cornstalk. The soldiers of Col. Flem- ing's division concealed themselves behind trees and held out their hats, which the Indians fired at. The hats dropped, the Indians ran out to scalp their victims, and were tomahawked by the settlers, who were all backwoodsmen. The first division was commanded by Col. Charles Lewis, kinsman and neighbor of Col. Fleming. The Indians num- bered about 1,000; the whites, 400. Col. Flem- ing's division was attacked on the bank of the river, a low bottom, hemmed in on both sides by mountains. After leading his soldiers with great bravery and discretion in two charges. Col. Flem- ing was severely wounded, two balls passing through his arm and one through his breast. After cheer- ing on the officers and soldiers, he retired from the field. In March, 1776, he was appointed colonel of the 9th Virginia regiment in the Eevolutionary army. He died of disease that had been contracted by fatigue and exposure in camp.

FLEMING, William, statesman, b. in 1734; d. 2 Feb., 1824. He was graduated at William and Mary college in 1763, was a member of the house of burgesses and of the Virginia conventions in 1775-'6, member of the committee on independ- ence in May, 1776, became judge of the general court and presiding judge of the court of appeals, and served as a delegate from Virginia to the Continental congress in 1779-'81.

FLEMING, William Maybnry, actor, b. in Dan- bury, Conn., 29 Sept., 1817 ; d. in New York, 7 May, 1866. He began his professional career at about twenty years of age, and became known cliiefiy for his personations of Romeo, Claude Melnotte, Edgar in " King Lear," the Bastard in " King John," Hamlet, Richelieu, Sir Giles Overreach, Sir Edward Mortimer, Mathias in " The Bells," Rolla, Jack Cade, and a few special roles of poetic character. In 1852 he assumed control of the National theatre, Boston, which he directed for several years. After visits to England and California, he became lessee and manager of the Savannah athenfeum and the Macon theatre simultaneously, acting occasionally as a star on his own stage. At the beginning of the civil war he relinquished his business interests in the south at pecuniary loss, and soon afterward entered the National service as a paymaster, rising to the rank of colonel. His death resulted from injuries received in Gen. Sherman's Georgia campaign in 1864-5.— His son, Maybury, is a dramatic critic, now (1887) on the editorial' staff of the New York " Mail and Express."

FLETCHER, Asaph, physician, b. in Westford, Mass., 28 June, 1746; d. in Cavendish, Vt., 5 Jan., 1839. He was elected in 1780 to the convention that formed the constitution of Massachusetts, and labored earnestly to introduce into that instrument the principle of absolute freedom of worship. In 1787 he removed to Cavendish, Vt., where he soon became prominent. He was a member of the Vermont convention that applied to congress for admission of that state into the Union, and also of a subsequent convention for revising the state constitution. Here, as in Massachusetts, he ably advocated the principles of religious liberty. He was one of the presidential electors that made James JMonroe president of the United States. — His son, Richard, lawyer, b. in Cavendish, Vt., 8 Jan., 1788; d. in Boston, Mass., 21 June, 1869, was graduated from Dartmouth college in 1806, and, having studied law with Daniel Webster, was ad- mitted to the bar in 1809. He practised in Salis- bury, N. H., till 1819, and then removed to Bos- ton, Mass., where he spent the remainder of his life. He was distinguished in commercial and maritime law, and particularly in the law of marine insurance. He was a member of the legislature, and in 1836 was elected to congress as a Whig, de- feating Charles Sumner, and serving one term. In 1848 he was appointed judge of the Massachusetts supreme court, which office he held until his resig- nation in 1853. He then resumed his practice, but retired in 1858. He was a trustee of Brown in 1848-'57, and for a short time was an overseer of Harvard. The degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by Brown in 1839, by Dartmouth in 1846, and by Harvard in 1849. Judge Fletcher was never married. He was active in all benevolent enter- prises, and bequeathed more than $100,000 to Dartmouth. He published a speech to his con- stituents, delivered in Faneuil Hall (Boston, 1837). — Another son, Horace, clergyman, b. in Caven- dish, Vt., 28 Oct., 1796; d. 27 Nov., 1871, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and continued in the practice of his profession for fifteen years. He then abandoned it, and was ordained pastor of the Baptist church in Townshend, Vt., where he re- mained until his death. He was one of the most useful and respected ministers in his native state. He was chosen state senator in 1855. In 1860, Madison university conferred upon him the degree of D. D. — Another son Ryland, governor of Vermont, b. in Cavendish, Vt., 18 Feb., 1799 ; d. in Proctorsville, Vt., 19 Dec, 1885, studied in the Norwich military academy, and became a farmer. He was active as an anti-slavery agitator, was chosen to the state senate, and lieutenant-governor of Vermont from 1854 till 1856, when he was elect- ed governor of the state by the Free-soil party, serving until 1858. From '1861 till 1864 he was a representative in the legislature. In 1864 he was a presidential elector on the Republican ticket.