Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/643

Rh April, 1709, he reached Davis island, 25 June, and fifteen days later landed on the site of the present Danish establishment of Holsteinborg, where he remained nearly a month occupied in astronomical observations. Resuming his journey northward on 3 Aug., he coasted Greenland to Baffin bay and tried to double Cape Warrender, but was pre- vented by ice. Finding a convenient fjord in the Strait of Lancaster, he resolved to winter there, and named it Van Ostaade Winterhaven. Land- ing on 2 Oct., he built a large snow-house and two barns for the storage of provisions and ammuni- tion. Sailing again on 11 June, 1710, he doubled Cape York, explored Adolphus island, and saw the peninsula of Boothia, but mistook it for a large island. He advanced as far as latitude 70° 20' N. when want of provisions compelled him to make sail for Amsterdam, where he arrived, 26 Oct., 1710. He published " Beschryving van de expedition naar den Noord Pool in de Yaaven 1709-1710, ouder command van Piet van Ostaade, loots in dienst van de Edele Heeren der General Staten van Holland " (Amsterdam, 1711).

OSTERHAUS, Peter Joseph, soldier, b. in Coblentz, Germany, about 1820. He became an officer in the Prussian army, and subsequently emigrated to the United States, settling in St. Louis, Mo. At the beginning of the civil war he entered the National service as major of the 2d Missouri volunteers. He took part in the actions at Dug Springs and Wilson's Creek, was made colonel of the 12th Missouri regiment, commanded a brigade under Gen. John C. Fremont, and took part in the expedition of Gen. Samuel R. Curtis into Arkansas in pursuit of Gen. Sterling Price, leading a division at Pea Ridge. He was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers on 9 June, 1862, and commanded a division at Helena, Ark., with which he participated in the capture of Arkansas Post, and subsequently in the siege of Vicksburg. He was engaged in the operations at Chattanooga and the battle of Mission Ridge as commander of the 1st division of the 15th corps, and in the Atlanta campaign, the march through Georgia, and the campaign of the Carolinas he commanded that corps, being promoted major-general on 23 July, 1864. At the surrender of Gen. E. Kirby Smith he acted as chief of staff to Gen. Edward R. S. Canby. He was mustered out on 15 Jan., 1866, and in the same year went to Lyons, France, as U. S. consul. He now (1888) resides at Mannheim, Germany, where he is director of a manufacturing association.

OSTRANDER, Henry, clergyman, b. in Marl- borough (now Plattekill), N. Y.,' 11 March, 1781 ; d. near Saugerties, N. Y., 22 Nov., 1872. He was graduated at Union in 1799, studied theology, was licensed in 1800, and in 1801 was settled as pastor of the Reformed church at Coxsaekie, N. Y. He took charge of the church at Catskill in 1810, and two years later of the one at Caatsban, Ulster CO., of which he was pastor until 1862, when he re- tired. He preached both in Dutch and in English, was a powerful orator, a vigorous writer, and a mas- ter of theological polemics. The degree of D. D. was given him by Rutgers in 1844. Dr. Ostrander was the author of several biographies in William B. Sprague's " Annals of the American Pulpit." Rev. William R. Gordon published his "Life," with extracts from an autobiography, selections from his letters, and fifteen of his sermons (1875). OSWALD, FeHx Leopold, writer, b. in Bel- gium in 1845. He was educated as a physician, but soon turned his attention to natural history. In the pursuit of his favorite studies he has trav- elled extensively over the globe. Besides large contributions to scientific and popular magazines, he has published " Summerland Sketches, or Ram- bles in Backwoods of Mexico and Central Ameri- ca " (Philadelphia, 1880) ; " Zoological Sketches " (1882) ; " Physical Education " (New York, 1882) ; and " Household Remedies" (1886).

OSWALD, Richard, British diplomatist, b. in Scotland in 1705; d. 6 Nov., 1784. He married Mary Ramsay, who is celebrated in one of the songs of Robert Burns, passed many years in this country, and at the time of the Revolution was a merchant of the city of London. In 1781 he gave bail in the sum of £50,000 for Henry Laurens, se- curing his release from the Tower prison. Lord Shelburne, in April, 1782, selected Oswald as his diplomatic agent to treat for peace with the Ameri- can commissioners in Paris, describing him in a letter to Benjamin Franklin as " a paeifical man, and conversant in those negotiations which are most interesting to mankind," for which reasons the Brit- ish minister preferred him to "any of our specula- tive friends, or to any person of higher rank." On learning in his conferences with Franklin that the United States was unwilling to treat independently of France, he returned to London and received a fresh commission to negotiate a general peace, con- ceding American independence. Subsequently the American commissioners acceded to a separate treaty. The greater part of the negotiations were carried on by Oswald, whose instructions were sev- eral times changed and his commission renewed. Henry Strachey was sent as his colleague because the rninisters complained of Oswald for yielding everything. With them was afterward joined Alleyne Fitzherbert, the British minister at Paris, and with these three plenipotentiaries Franklin, Jay. Adams, and Laurens finally arranged terms of peace, including fishery rights on the New- foundland banks and reciprocity of trade. On 30 Nov., 1782, preliminary articles of peace were signed by Oswald with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, lienry Laurens, and John Jay. The de- finitive treaty, which was signed on 3 Sept., 1783, was identical with the provisional articles. — His kinsman, Eleazer, soldier, was b. in England about 1755 ; d. in New York city, 30 Sept., 1795, When disputes arose between Great Britain and the American colonies his sympathies became enlisted in the American cause, and he came to this country about 1770. He served under Ben- edict Arnold at Ticonderoga, and became his secre- tary. At Quebec he commanded a forlorn hope after Arnold was wound- ed. He was made lieutenant - colonel of Col. John Lamb's regiment of artil- lery on 1 Jan., 1777, had a high reputation for skill as an artillerist, distinguished himself under Arnold at Compo, and was praised for his gallantry in the official reports of the battle of Monmouth. Leaving the service in July, 1778, he joined William Goddard in the publication of the "Maryland Journal." The publication of strictures by Gen. Charles Lee on the military capacity of Gen.