Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/565

Rh later he came to this country in order to supply the place of Augustus Spangenberg as presiding bishop. He returned to Europe in 1751. Nitsch- mann was endowed with rare executive abilities, and noted by his simplicity, his great kindness, and his grace of bearing. As a public speaker he was very popular.

NIVELLES, Charles Etienne de, French sol- dier, b. in Dauphine about 1665 : d. near what is now Mobile. Ala., in 1711. He served for some years as captain in Canada, afterward accompanied Iberville {q. v.) to Louisiana, participated in the foundation of the colony of Biloxi in 1699, the first settlement of the French in Louisiana, and became commander of the fortress that was built in 1702 on Dauphine island, at the entrance of Mobile bay. As lieutenant of Iberville he undertook several ex- jjeditions against the Indians, and when in 1705 the colony was visited by the first known epidemic of yellow fever in Louisiana, he restrained the set- tlers, who prepared to abandon the country, and also took an active part in quelling the " petticoat insurrection," or rebellion of the women, who were dissatisfied with the settlers' diet of Indian corn. During the following years, as famine and hostile Indians desolated the colony, Nivelles's courage and power of endurance proved equal to the ordeal, and his expedients contributed much toward re- lieving the inhabitants. He perished in the great flood in 1711 that destroyed the settlements around Fort Saint Louis de la Mobile, and caused their re- moval to the place where Mobile now stands.

NIVERT, Desire Amable Christian, French missionary, b. in Calais about 1605 ; d. in Canada in 1661. He was a Recollet monk, and for years the associate of Father Charles Lallemand, superior of the Canada missions, residing in the Huron ter- ritory. He is known by two works, " Recits d'un long sejour fait au pays des Hurons, situe es confins de la Nouvelle France de TAmerique du Nord " (Paris, 1655) and " Vocabulaire de la langue Hu- ronne, en usage encore chez les sauvages de la province des Puants, de celle du Feu, chez les Petuneux, chez ceux de la Nation Neutre et chez les Yroquois" (1657). The latter is extremely rare and interesting, and is one of the best dictionaries of the Huron dialect.

NIXON, John, soldier, b. in Framingham, Mass., 4 March, 1725; d. in Middlebury, Vt., 24 March, 1815. When the expedition against Cape Breton was undertaken by Gov. William Shirley in 1745 he joined the troops under Sir William Pep- perell, and was at the capture of Louisburg. After serving in the army and navy for seven years he returned to his native place, but soon entered the army again as a captain and fought at Ticonderoga and in the battle of Lake George in 1755. After- ward falling into an ambuscade, he cut his way through the enemy and escaped, although he lost nearly all of his party. In the Revolution he led a company of minute-men at Lexington, and com- manded a regiment at Bunker Hill, where he re- ceived a wound from which he never entirely recovered. He was appointed brigadier-general. 9 Aug., 1776, and intrusted with the command of Governor's island, New York harbor. He served under Gen. Horatio Gates in 1777, and at the bat- tle of Stillwater, where he commanded the 1st Massachusetts regiment, a cannon-ball passed so near his head as to impair permanently the sight of one eye and the hearing of one ear. Owing to failing health, he resigned his commission on 12 Sept., 1780, and in 1803 removed to Middlebury, Vt. — His brother, Thomas, soldier, b. in Framing- ham, Mass., 7 May, 1736; d. at sea, 12 Aug., 1800, was ensign in the French war in 1756. He com- manded a company of minute-men in 1775, and was afterward colonel of the th Massachusetts regi- ment, serving throughout the Revolution. About 1784 he removed to Southborough. He died on the vovage from Boston to Portland, Me.

NIXON, John, soldier, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1733; d. there, 31 Dec, 1808. His grandparents emigrated to America at the close of the 17th century from Wexford, County Wexford, Ireland. His father, Rich- ard, was a shipping- merchant, in 1738 built Nixon's wharf on Delaware river, and was a member of the city council from 1724 till his death. On the or- ganization of the " Associators," for home defence dur- ing the French and Spanish war, he was chosen captain of the Dock-yard com- pany. The son suc- ceeded to the busi- ness of his father, and in 1756, during the excitement of the French war, was elected lieutenant of the company of which his father had been captain on its organization. In 1765 he signed the non-importation agreement against the stamp-act, and from that time onward was foremost in opposition to the usurpations of the crown. He was one of the wardens of the port of Philadelphia in 1766, a member of the committee that was appointed at town-meeting, 20 May, 1774, to reply to the letter from the citizens of Boston, carried by Paul Revere, and a month later was made a member of the first committee of correspondence. He was a deputy to the conventions of the province in 1774-'5. In April, 1775, the Associators were again called into being, and he was made lieutenant-colonel of the 3d battalion, known as " the silk stockings." He was a member of the committee of safety from its organization until its dissolution, and presided at its meetings in the absence of its chairman. In May, 1776, he had charge of the defences of the Delaware, at Fort island, and in July he w^as placed in command of the guard of the city. On 4 July congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, on the 5th it was ordered that it should be proclaimed in each of the United States and at the head of the army, on the 6th the committee of safety of Philadelphia ordered that it should be read and proclaimed at the state-house on Monday, 8 July, at noon. At that time and place, by popular appointment, John Nixon read and proclaimed to the people publicly for the first time the Declaration of Independence. In July he took his battalion of Associators to Amboy, where they had six weeks' service, and in December, having been made colonel to succeed John Cadwalader, who had been commissioned brigadier-general, he inarched with his battalion to Trenton, and remained with Washington's army until late in January, taking part in the battle of Princeton. He was a member of the navy board in 1776, and in the winter of 1778 was at Valley Forge with the troops. In 1780, on the formation of the bank to supply the army with provisions, he was made first director, and he was one of the organizers of the