Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/60

40 had been made by others. He participated in many engagements, and received in 1782 the bre- vet of major. At the close of the war he removed to Belpre, Ohio.

CUSHING, Thomas, statesman, b. in Boston, Mass., in 1725; d. there in 1788. He was the son of a wealthy mercliant, in whose counting-house Samuel Adams was for a short time employed. He fell under the influence of Adams, and presently became prominent among the popular leaders who were preparing the way for the Revolution. In May, 17G6, he was elected to the Massachusetts assembly, and immediately afterward, when James Otis, who had been chosen speaker, was refused by Gov. Bernard, Mr. Gushing was chosen speaker in his stead. He was speaker of the house until 1774, and as such occupied, in the eyes of the British, a prominence greater than his abilities entitled him to. Dr. Johnson, in one of his silly pamphlets about American affairs, asserted that one of the objects of the Revolution was to place a diadem on the head of Thomas Gushing. He was not fitted for leadership, and on several occasions showed himself weak-kneed. In 1772, along with Hancock, he opposed the formation of committees of corre- spondence, and afterward refused to serve on one to which he had been appointed. At the same time he is described by John Adams as possessing a rare faculty for procuring secret intelligence, which made him useful to the patriot leaders. He was elected in June, 1774, to the first Gontinenfal congress, and in February, 1775, to the second. He was one of those whom the king instructed Gage, in April, 1775, to seize and send over to Eng- land, to be tried for treason. In July, 1775, when Massachusetts formed a new government, Mr. Gushing was chosen a member of the council. In the Continental congress he opposed a declaration of independence, and consequently, in the third annual election of delegates, 19 Jan., 1776, he did not receive a single vote, but Elbridge Gerry was elected instead. In 1783 and several following years he was lieutenant-governor of Massachu- setts, He was a member of the convention, held in January and February, 1788, that ratified the Federal constitution.

CUSHING, Thomas Humphrey, soldier, b. in 1755; d. in New London, Conn., 19 Oct., 1822. He served during the Revolutionary war, beginning as a sergeant, was in Arnold's naval battle on Lake Champlain, and for his bravery was successively advanced until in July, 1812, he had reached a brigadier-generalship. In January, 1816, he was appointed collector of customs in New London. Some time after this he became involved in a quarrel with William J. Lewis, member of congress from Virginia, and the ball from Mr. Lewis's weapon struck Gen. Cushing's watch. The differences between the two gentlemen were amicably adjusted, and Lewis, stepping up to the general, said: &ldquo;I congratulate you, general, on having a watch that will keep time from eternity.&rdquo;

CUSHING, Thomas Parkman, merchant, b. in Ashburnham, Mass., in 1787; d. in Boston, 23 Nov., 1854. He carried on business in Boston, and bequeathed the bulk of his fortune, supposed to amount to $150,000, for the maintenance of two schools in his native town.

CUSHING, William, jurist, b. in Scituate. Mass., 1 March, 1732; d. there, 13 Sept., 1810. He was graduated at Harvard in 1751, studied law with Jeremy Gridley, became attorney-general of Massachusetts, was appointed judge of probate of Lincoln county. Me., in 1768, became judge of the Massachusetts superior court in 1772, chief justice in 1777, and in 1780 was chosen the first chief justice of Massachusetts under the state constitution. At the beginning of the Revolution he stood almost alone among the superior officials in supporting the cause of independence. His grand-father and his father (both named John) were judges of the superior court, and his father, whom he succeeded as chief justice, presided over the trial of British soldiers for the Boston massacre of 5 March, 1770. On 27 Sept., 1789, Judge Gushing was appointed an associate justice of the U. S. supreme court. President Washington nominated him chief justice in 1796. but he declined. He was one of the founders of the American academy of arts and sciences in 1780. In 1788 he was vice-president of the Massachusetts convention that ratified the federal constitution.

CUSHING, William Barker, naval officer, b. in Delafield, Wis., 4 Nov., 1842; d. in Washington, D. C., 17 Dec., 1874. He was appointed to the naval academy from New York in 1857, but resigned 23 March, 1861. In May, 1861, he volunteered, was appointed master's mate, and on the day of his arrival at Hampton Roads captured and brought into port a tobacco-schooner, the first prize of the war. He was attached to the north Atlantic blockading squadron during the war, and repeatedly distinguished himself by acts of bravery. He was commissioned lieutenant on 16 July, 1862. In November, 1862, he was ordered in the steamer &ldquo;Ellis&rdquo; to capture Jacksonville, Fla., intercept the Wilmington mail, and destroy the salt-works at New Juliet. He captured a large mail, took two prizes, and shelled a Confederate camp, but was unable to cross the bar that night, and in the morning ran aground. The crew transferred everything except the pivot-gun to one of the captured schooners, and sailed to a place of safety, a mile and a half away; but Cushing remained with six volunteers on board the steamer until she was disabled by a cross-fire from the shore, when he set her on fire and made his escape to the schooner in a row-boat. He distinguished himself the same year on the Blackwater and in the sounds of North Carolina. In 1863 he added to his reputation for bravery and judgment by an expedition up the Cape Fear and Little rivers and operations on the Nansemond. His most brilliant exploit was the destruction of the Confederate iron-clad ram &ldquo;Albemarle&rdquo; on the night of 27 Oct., 1864. This powerful vessel had successfully encountered a strong fleet of U. S. gunboats, and fought them for several hours without sustaining material damage. There was nothing able to cope with her in the sounds. Cushing volunteered to destroy her, and with a steam launch and a volunteer crew he ascended Roanoke river, towing an armed cutter. The river was lined with pickets to guard against just such an attack as this; but Cushing's luck did not desert him, and he was within a few