Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/525

Rh he engaiied the fort and contributed greatly to the demoralization of its garrison, but several of the boats having been disabled, the fleet was compelled to withdraw, and Foote himself was wounded. He then aided Pope on the Mississippi, and, after a series of ineffectual attempts. Island No. 10 was surrendered to him on 7 April. His wound be- came so serious that he was obliged to give up his western command. On 16 June, 1862, he received a vote of thanks from congress, and was made a rear-admiral, and on 22 June he was appointed chief of the bureau of equipment and recruiting. On 4 June, 1863, he was chosen to succeed Kear-Admiral Dupont in command of the fleet off Charleston, and while on his way to assume this command he died in New Yoi'k. He was a man of a high type of Christian character, with most genial and lovable traits, but uncompromisingly firm in his principles, especially in regard to temperance reform in the navy, where he was the means of abolishing the spirit-ration. Admiral Smith said of him : " Rear-Admiral Poote's character is well known in the navy. One of the strongest traits was great persistence in anything he undertook. He was a man who could neither be shaken off nor choked off from what he attempted to carry out. He was truly a pious man, severely an honest man, and a philanthropist of the first order. He was one of our foremost navy officers — none before him."' The work he did for his country was mainly in being the first to break the Confederate line of defence, and in an hour of great depression, by a well-timed and brilliant — even if minor — action, to raise the hope and prestige of success. In a word, he was a courageous and successful officer, thoroughly devoted to his profession, and uniting the best characteristics of the old and new schools of the U. S. navy. During a period of four years after 1852, when he remained at home, he wrote " Africa and the American Flag " (1854). His biography has been written by Prof. James M. Hoppin (New York, 1874).

FOOTE, Thomas Moses, journalist, b. in Clinton, N. Y., in 1809 ; d. in Buffalo, N. Y., 20 Feb., 1858. His father, Moses Foote. a captain in the Revolutionary army, was one of the founders of Clinton in 1787. Thomas was graduated at Hamilton college in 1825, and received his medical diploma, from the College of physicians and surgeons, Fairfield, N. Y., but devoted himself to journalism, becoming an editor of the Buffalo "Commercial" in 1836, and soon afterward a proprietor, retaining his connection with it until his death. Pie was charge d'affaires at New Granada in 1849-'50, and in 1852 held the same office in Vienna, editing in the interval tiie Albany " State Register." Mr. Foote's editorial writings were distinguished for wit and grace of diction. He was a man of extensive reading and an entertaining talker.

FOOTE, William Henry, clergyman, b. in Colchester, Conn.. 20 Dec, 17*94; d. at Romney, W. Va., 18 Nov., 1869. He was graduated at Yale in 1816, taught school for a short time in Winchester, Va., in 1818, and in the same year entered the theological seminary at Princeton, but was compelled to leave by impaired health. He was then licensed to preach, and engaged in missionary labor among the backwoodsmen of the northern neck of Virginia. In 1824 he was ordained pastor of the Presbyterian church at Romney, W. Va., and established at the same time a school for both sexes, which became a large and prosperous institution. In 1838 he was appointed agent of the central board of foreign missions of the Presbyterian church, and during this work, which led him to visit many counties in the state, he collected the materials for his sketches of Virginia. In 1845 he returned to Romney as pastor and superintendent of the academy, and there continued till 1861, when he became agent lor Hampden-Sidney college. Although he was a Union man throughout the civil war, he shared the fate of his adopted state, and during the siege of Petersburg was chaplain to a Confederate regiment. At the close of the war he returned to Romney. where he remained till his death. Hampden-Sidney gave him the degree of D. D. in 1847. His published works are "Sketches, Historical and Biographical, of the Presbyterian Church in Virginia" (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1850-'5), and "Sketches in North Carolina" (New York, 1846).

FORAKER, Joseph Benson, governor of Ohio, b. near Rainsborough, Highland co., Ohio, 5 July, 1846. He worked on a farm in his boyhood, and when sixteen years of age enlisted in the 89th Ohio regiment, and served in the army of the Cumberland until the close of the war. He was made a sergeant on 26 Aug., 1862, 1st lieutenant, 14 March, 1864, and on 19 March, 1865, was brevetted captain “for efficient services during the campaigns in North Carolina and Georgia.” When his regiment was mustered out he was aide-de-camp on Gen. Henry W. Slocum's staff. After the war he spent two years at Wesleyan university, Delaware, Ohio, and then entered Cornell, where he was graduated with the first class in 1869. He was admitted to the bar in the same year, and in 1879-'82 was judge of the Cincinnati superior court, resigning the office on account of his health. He was Republican candidate for the governership of Ohio in 1885, and re-elected in 1887. He was elected to the U.S. senate in 1896 for six years.

FORAN, Joseph K., Canadian lawyer, b. in Greenpark Aylmer, province of Quebec, in 1857. He was sent in 1867 to St. Joseph's college, Ottawa, where he studied ten years. After graduation, he went in 1877 to Laval university, Quebec, and stud- ied law. In 1881 he was called to the Lower Cana- dian bar. While in Laval he wrote numerous poems, which were published in British and Canadian periodicals. Among his principal poems afterward were a " Lament for Longfellow " and " Indian Translations." Between 1879 and 1883 he pub- lished a series of essays on monuments, coins, art, and many other subjects. From 1883 till 1885 he lived among the Canadian Indians, perfecting himself in a knowledge of their dialects and cus- toms. Since his return he has delivered many lectures. He has published " An Essay upon Ob- ligations" (Toronto, 1886) ; " Irish-Canadian Repre- sentatives, their Past Acts, Present Stand, and Fu- ture Prospects " : and " The Spirit of the Age " ; and has ready for publication (1887) two novels based on his experiences among the Indians, en- titled " Tom Ellis, a Story of the North- W^est Re- bellion," and " Simon, the Abenakis."

FORBES, Charles Edwin, philanthropist, b. in West Bridgewater, Mass., 25 Aug., 1795 ; d. in Northampton, Mass., 13 Feb., 1881. He was gradu-