Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/210

176 of a rude tower sufficiently tall to overlook the stockade. This was accomplished by night, and on the following morning the garrison was awak- ened by a shower of balls from a company of marksmen on the tower, in consequence of which it soon surrendered. Later he participated in the engagement of Quimby Bridge Creek, and became lieiitenant-colonel of an independent corps of cav- alry, performing many daring exploits in the low country of the Carolinas. Illness compelled his retirement at the close of the campaign of 1781, and while at home he was made a prisoner and paroled, in consequence of which he was unable to enter the army again during the war. A monu- ment was erected to his memory in 1845 in the cemetery near his home.

MAHAN, Asa, clergyman, b. in Vernon, N. Y., 9 Nov., 1800; d. in Eastbourne. Eng., 4 April, 1889. He was graduated at Andover theological semi- nary in 1827. On 10 Nov., 1829, he was ordained pastor of the Congregational church in Pittsford, N. Y., and in 1831 he was called to the ptistorate of a Presbyterian church in Cincinnati, Ohio. He accepted the presidency of Oberlin in 1835, with the chair of intellectual and moral philosophy, and the assistant professorship of theology, but after fifteen yeai's was chosen president of Cleveland uni- versity, Cleveland, Ohio, and professor of mental and moral philosophy there. In 1855 he resumed pastoral work, and had charge of Congregational parishes at Jackson in 1855-'7 and at Adrian in 1857-'60. He was president of Adrian college, Mich., in 1860-'71, and afterward he resided in England. President Mahan received the degree of b. D. from Hillsdale in 1858, and that of LL. D. from Adrian in 1877. He was an active advo- cate of the religious views that are known as Per- fectionist, and published " Scripture Doctrine of Christian Perfection " (Boston. 1839). His other works include " Svstem of Intellectual Philosophv " (New York, 184o) : " The Doctrine of the Will " (Oberlin, 1846) ; "The True Believer : his Charac- ter, Duties, and Privileges" (New York, 1847); "The Science of Moral Philosophy" (Oberlin, 1848) ; "Election and the Influence of the Holy Spirit" (New York, 1851) ; " Modern Mj'steries Explained and Exposed " (Boston, 1855) ; " The Science of Logic " (New York, 1857) ; " Science of Natural Theology " (Boston, 1867) ; " Theism and Anti- Theism in their Relations to Science " (Cleveland, 1872) ; " The Phenomena of Spiritualism scientifi- cally Explained and Exposed " (New York, 1876) ; "Critical History of the late American War" (1877); "A System of Mental Philosophy" (Chi- cago, 1882) ; and " Critical History of Philosophv " (New York, 1883).

MAHAN, Dennis Hart, engineer, b. in New York city, 2 April, 1802 ; d. near Stony Point, N. Y., 16 Sept., 1871. He spent his boyhood in Norfolk, Va., and was appointed from that state to the U. S. military academy, where he was gradu- ated in 1824, at the head of his class. During his third year he was appointed acting assistant pro- fessor of mathematics at the academy, and he continued as such after his promotion as 2d lieu- tenant into the corps of engineers until 1825, when he became principal assistant professor of engi- neering. In 1826 he was sent abroad, by order of the war department, to study public engineering works and military institutions, and he spent some time, by special favor of the French government, at the Military school of ajiplication for engineers and artillerists in Metz. While in Paris he was frequently the guest of Lafayette. He returned to West Point in 1830. and re'sumed his duties as acting professor of engineering, which chair he accepted permanently in 1832, vacating his com- mission in the corps of engineers. This office he continued to hold, with that of dean, after 1838, until his death, which was by suicide during a fit of insanity that resulted from his distress on learning that the Board of visitors had recommend- ed that he be put on the retired list, although as- sured by the president that he should be retained. Prof. Mahan was appointed in 1850 by the gover- nor of Virginia a member of the board of engi- neers to decide the controversy between the city of Wheeling and the Baltimore and Ohio railroad company as to the proper route of the railroad to Wheeling. He received the degree of LL. D. from William and Mary in 1852, from Brown in 1852, and from Dartmouth in 1867, and, besides being a member of many scientific societies in the United States, was one of the corporate members of the National academy of sciences in 1863. As an engineer he acquired a world-wide reputation by his text-books, which were used in the military academy and in many universities. They include " Treatise on Field Fortifications " (New York, 1836) ; "Elementary Course of Civil Engineering " (1837 ; rewritten in 1868) ; " Elementary Treatise on Advanced Guard, Outposts, and Detachment Ser- vice of Troops" (1847; improved ed., 1862); "Ele- mentary Treatise on Industrial Drawing " (1853) : " Descriptive Geometry, as applied to the Drawing of Fortifications and Stereometry " (1864) ; and " Military Engineering," including " Field Forti- fications. Military Mining, and Siege Operations " (1865) ; and " Permanent Fortifications " (1867). He also edited, with additions, an American re- print of Mosely's " Mechanical Principles of Engi- neering and Architecture " (1856). See the sketch by Gen. Henry L. Abbot in vol. ii. of the " Bio- graphical Memoirs " of National academy of sci- ences (Washington, 1886). His portrait, painted by Robert W. Weir, is included in the collection of professors to be seen in the library of the U. S. military academy. — His son, Frederick Augustus, engineer, b. in West Point. N. Y., 28 March, 1847, was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1867. and promoted into the corps of engineers as 2d lieutenant, becoming 1st lieutenant in 1869 and captain in 1881. He has served principally on en- gineering work and on duty as instructor at the military academy. Capt. Mahan was associated in the editorship of the latest edition of his father's " Civil Engineering " (1880), and has translated from the French Krantz's " Studv on Reservoir- Walls" (New York, 1882).— Dennis Hart's brother, Milo, clergyman, b. in Suffolk, Va., 24 May, 1819 ; d. in Baltimore. Md.. 3 Sept., 1870, was educated at St. Paul's college. Flushing, L. I., and took orders in the Protestant Episcopal church in 1845. He became rector of Grace church, Jersey City, N. J., in 1848. and two years later assistant in St. Mark's church, Philadelphia. He was professor of ecclesiastical history in the General theological seminary. New York city, from 1857 till 1864, and was then called to the rectorship of St. Paul's church, Baltimore, Md., where he remained until his death. He received the degree of D. D. from William and Mary in 1852. Dr. Mahan published "The Exercise of Faith" (Philadelphia, 1851); " History of the Church during the First Three Centuries " (New York. 1800 ; new ed., enlarged to include seven centuries, 1872) ; " Reply to Colenso " (1863) ; " Palmoni, a Free Inquiry " (1864); and " Comedy of Canonization " (1868). His works have been collected, with a memoir, by the Rev. John H. Hopkins. Jr. (3 vols., New York, 1872-'5).