Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/354

318 the " Constitution," of the Mediterranean squad- ron, from 1835 till 1888, and in the Brazil squad- ron from 1839 till 1842. After being commis- sioned lieutenant, 2 March, 1841, he served on the store-ship " Lexington " in 1843-'4, in the home squadron, the navy-yard, Philadelphia, and the Mediterranean squadron. He was executive officer of the sloop " Decatur,'" of the Pacific squadron, in 1854-'6, operating against a combination of hostile Indians in Washington and Oregon territories. On 16 April, 1856, he was made commander and assigned the sloop "Decatur," and he commanded steam sloops in the Pacific squadron from 1861 till 1865. He became captain on 24 April, 1863, was on special duty in New York in 1866, held charge of the navy-yard. Mare island, Cal., in 1867-'8, and commanded the steam sloop " Pensacola," of the Pacific squadron, in the latter year. He was made commodore on 26 Nov., 1868, and had charge of the navy-yard, Pensacola, Pla., from 1 June, 1870, till 8 March, 1873. He was retired on 11 Dec, 1873, and made rear-admiral, 15 Aug., 1876.

MIDDLETON, Sir Frederick Dobson, British soldier, b. in Belfast, Ireland, 4 Nov., 1825. His father, Gen. Charles Middleton, a Scottish High- lander, saw much service in India. The son was educated at the Royal military college at Sand- hurst, from which he obtained his commission with- out purchase, 30 Dec, 1842. He served as ensign in the 58th regiment in New South Wales, Norfolk island, and in New Zealand against the Maoris in 1845-6. He subsequently saw service in India and Burmah, and again in India during the mutiny of 1857-'8, where he was five times mentioned in de- spatches, and recommended for the Victoria cross for conspicuous bravery. He received the brevet of major, and served as brigade-major to the field force in Oude. He was with the 29th regiment in England from 1859 till 1861, subsequently at Gib- raltar and at Malta till November, 1862, when he returned to England and passed through the Hythe school of musketry and the Staff college, and obtained a first-class certificate at the former. He rejoined the 29th regiment in Canada in 1868, became lieutenant-colonel in March, 1869, and held various appointments in tlie service until the re- moval of the imperial troops from Canada. In July, 1870, he became superintending officer of garrison instruction to the forces, in 1875 was pro- moted to the rank of colonel, and in July, 1884, was appointed general in command of the militia of Canada. As such he commanded the field force that was engaged in suppressing the rebellion in the northwest provinces in 1885, and in recogni- tion of his services received a grant of $20,000 from the Dominion government and the honor of knighthood from the queen.

MIDDLETON, Peter, physician, b. in Scot- land ; d. in New York in 1781. He was graduated at the University of Edinburgh, and came to New York, where he was one of the most eminent medi- cal men in the middle of the 18th century. In 1750 he assisted Dr. John Bard in making the first dissection on record in this country. In 1767 he aided in establishing a new medical school in New York, in which he was professor of pathology and physiology from 1767 to 1776, and of chemistry and materia medica from 1770 till 1776. This was in- corporated with Kings (now Columbia) college, of which he was govei'nor from 1770 till 1780. He received the degree of M. D. from this school in 1768. He published a letter on the " Croup " in the " Medical Repository " (vol. ix.), and " Histori- cal Inquiries into the Ancient and Present Sys- tem of Medicine " (1769).

MIÈGE, John Baptist (mee-ayzh), R. C. bishop, b. in Chevron, Savoy, 18 Sept., 1815 ; d. in Wood- stock, Md., 20 July, 1884. He became a member of the Society of Jesus in 1836, and, after teaching for several years in the Jesuit novitiate in Milan, he finished his theological course in the college of the order in Rome. He was ordained priest in 1847, and in 1848 obtained leave to go on the Ameri- can mission. He arrived in the United States in the following year, and was appointed pastor of St. Charles's church, St. Louis, but several months afterward was made professor in the Jesuit novi- tiate at Florissant. He subsequently held the chair of moral theology in the University of St. Louis. In 1850 he was nominated vicar-apostolic of the Indian territory east of the Rocky mountains. He sent an earnest remonstrance to Rome against his appointment, but in the following year he received a formal command to submit, accompanied by a promise that he would not be required to separate himself from the Jesuit order. He was consecrat- ed bishop of Messena on 25 INIarch, 1851, in St. Xavier's church, St. Louis, by Archbishop Kenrick. The vicariate contained between 5,000 and 6.000 Roman Catholic Indians with a few hundred white settlers. He resided at the Pottawatomie mission, and shortly afterward built an industrial school for the Osages, which he placed under the care of the Sisters of Loretto, and provided priests and churches for some of the other tribes. In 1853 he went to Rome to lay the condition of his vicariate before the pope. He also took part in a general congregation of the Jesuits in that city, as procu- rator for the order in the United States. In 1855 he moved to Leavenworth, where a small Roman Catholic congregation had formed. In the follow- ing two years several new churches were built, and priests came from other parts to his aid. The Benedictine order was introduced, and founded a college in Atchison. In 1857 Nebraska was sepa- rated from the jurisdiction of Bishop Miege, and his authority then only extended over the territory of Kansas. The Sisters of Charity opened an academy, a hospital, and an asylum under his aus- pices in Leavenworth, and other religious orders established institutions in the vicariate. When he resigned his charge in 1874 the state contained 48 priests and 71 churches, with a Roman Catholic population of 35.000. He resided for some time in the University of St. Louis, but was afterward transferred to Woodstock, to which he returned after founding a college in Detroit in 1877.

MIERS, John, British botanist, b. in London, 25 Aug., 1789; d. there, 17 Oct., 1879. He spent many years in exploring South America, and pub- lished, among other works, " Travels in Chili and La Plata " (London. 1826) ; " Illustrations of South American Plants" (1846-'57); and "Contributions to Botany " (1851-71) ; also manv monographs. MIFFLIN, Thomas, soldier, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1744; d. in Lancaster, Pa., 20 Jan., 1800, He was graduated at Philadelphia college in 1760, entered a counting-house, travelled in Europe in 1765, and on his return engaged in commercial business in partnership with a brother. In 1772 and 1773 he was a representative in the legislature, and in 1774 was one of the delegates sent to the Continental congress, and served on important committees. When the news came of the fight at Lexington he eloquently advocated resolute action in the town-meetings, and when troops were en- listed he was active in organizing and drilling one of the first regiments, and was made its major, thereby severing his connection with the Quaker society, in which he was born and reared. Gen.