Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/67

Rh CUTLER, Lysander, soldier, b. in Maine about 1806 ; d. in Milwaukee, Wis., 80 July, 1866. He offered his services to the government at the be- ginning of the civil war, and was given command of the 6th Wisconsin regiment, which he speedily brought into a state of discipline, and rendered one of the best in the service. Subsequently he was in command of the " Iron Brigade " (originally Mere- dith's), of the Army of the Potomac, to which his regiment was attached, and won the promotion of brigadier- and afterward major-general. He was twice wounded.

CUTLER, Manasseh, clergyman, b. in Killingly, Conn., 3 May, 1742 ; d. in Hamilton. Mass., 28 July, 1823. He was graduated at Yale in 1765, after which he engaged in the whaling business, and opened a store in Edgartown, Martha's Vine- yard. Meanwhile he continued his studies, princi- pally legal, and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1767. He conducted a few cases in the court of common pleas, but, finding the profession un- congenial, he gave it up and removed to Dedham, where he studied theology under the direction of the Rev. Thomas Balch, whose daughter he had married. In 1770 he was licensed and preached for six months as a candidate at the Hamlet parish (then a part of Ipswich, but since 1793 the town of Hamilton). He was ordained pastor of the Congregational society in this parish on 11 Sept., 1771, and I'emained associated with this organiza- tion until his death. Soon after the battle of Lexington he addressed the minute-men, then mustering in Ipswich, and accompanied them on horseback to Cambridge, where he saw the British as they retreated into Boston. He received a com- mission as chaplain in September, 1776, and served under Col. Ebenezer Francis in the llth Massachusetts regiment. For his gallantry in the action in Rhode Island, on 28 Aug., 1778, he was presented with a fine horse by his commander. Toward the close of the war, when the physician of the Hamlet parish was employed in the army, and the people were without proper medical ad- vice, Mr. Cutler at once applied himself to the study of medicine, and soon mastered the science sufficiently to practise. For several years there- after his attention was divided between the physi- cal and spiritual wants of his congregation. About this time his mind was directed to the study of botany by casually meeting with an English work on the subject, and he was the first to examine the flora of New England. Over 350 species were inspected by him, and classified according to the Linna?an system. His papers published on this subject are the first attempts at a scientific de- scription of the plants of New England. In 1784, with six others, he ascended the White mountains, and his party is said to have been the first to reach the summit. With the instruments that Dr. Cut- ler carried, it was computed that Mount Washing- ton was 10,000 feet above the level of the sea — an «rror of about 3,400 feet. Two years later he be- came associated with a number of Revolutionary officers who, owing to the uncertain condition of affairs, had determined to settle in the west, and formed the Ohio company for the purpose of hav- ing their bounty lands located together. He was appointed, with Maj. Winthrop Sargent, agent of the com.pany, and in this capacity visited Wash- ington, where he contracted with the authorities for 1,000,000 acres of land northwest of the Ohio river, obtaining also an additional grant of 500,000 acres as an allowance for bad lands and incidental charges. On his return home, an expedition was fitted out for the intended settlement. He had a large wagon built and covered with black canvas, on which was painted in white letters the words " Ohio., for Marietta on the Muskingum." Forty-five men were engaged to accompany it, and to assist in the settlement and defence of the new country for three years. In December, 1787, the expedition left Cutler's house, their number was increased to sixty, and after a long journey they reached their destination, where, under Gen. Rufus Putnam, on 7 April, 1788, the settlement of Marietta was be- gun. Cutler made the trip in a sulky, and travelled in twenty-nine days a distance of 750 miles. Dur- ing his stay in the west he examined the fortifica- tions and mounds in the neighborhood, which he regarded as the work of a people more civilized than any existing tribes of Indians. After remain- ing a short time in Marietta he determined to re- turn home, and, bidding farewell to the colony he did so much toward establishing, he departed for New England. In 1791 the degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by Yale. In 1795 he was ten- dered a commission as judge of the supreme court of the Ohio territory, but declined it. Later he was elected to the Massachusetts legislature, and then was sent to congress as a federalist, serving from 7 Dec, 1801, till 3 .March, 1805. During his pre- vious stay in Washington he drafted for Nathan Dane the* celebrated ordinance of 1787, which ex- cluded slavery from the northwest territory. He declined a re-election to congress in 1804, and con- tinued until his death to be pastor of the church in Hamilton. He was elected a member of the Amer- ican academy in 1781, and contributed the follow- ing papers to its " Proceedings " : " On the Tran- sit of Mercury over the Sun, 12 Nov., 1782 " ; " On the Eclipse of the Moon, 29 March, 1782, and of the Sun in the followhig April " ; " Meteorologi- cal Observations, 1781, '82, '83 " ; and " Remarks on a Vegetable and Animal Insect." He was a member of the American philosophical society, and of other learned and scientific bodies. The chap- ter on trees and plants in Belknap's " History of New Hampshire " was prepared by him, assisted by Dr. William D. Peck. He was also the author of a "Century Discourse," delivered at Hamilton, 27 Oct., 1814. See his " Life, Journals, and Cor- respondence," by W^illiam P. and Julia P. Cutler (2 vols., Cincinnati, 1888).— His son, Jervis, pio- neer, b. in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, Mass., 19 Sept., 1768; d. in Evansville, Ind., 25 June, 1844. Pie was one of the pioneers from New Eng- land, led by Gen. Rufus Putnam, who settled in Marietta, Ohio, in 1788. He was an officer in the militia, and also in the regular army. He ac- quired the art of engraving, and for years de- voted his time to this pursuit. In 1823 Mr. Cut- ler removed to Nashville, Tenn.,and in 1841 settled in Evansville. He published " Topographical De- scription of the Western Country, with an Account of the Indian Tribes " (1812).

CUTLER, Timothy, clergyman, b. in Charlestown, Mass., in 1683 ; d. in Boston, in August, 1765. He was graduated at Harvard in 1701. became pastor of a Congregational society in Stratford, Conn., in 1710, and soon acquired a high reputation as a preacher. Yale college having become established in New Haven, Mr. Cutler was appointed rector in 1719, and entered upon his duties with zeal and energy. It was not long, however, before the new rector, having read some standard church works in the college library (such as those of Barrow, Patrick, South, Sherlock, etc.), was persuaded that Presbyterian and Congregational ordination was invalid. A discussion was held on this subject in the college library in Octo-