Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/665

Rh American army. He rose to the rank of major, and served as aide-de-camp to Gen. Lafayette dur- ing the campaign against Lord Cornwallis in Vir- ginia. He married in 1783 Mary, a daughter of Archibald Gary, and in 1799 Lucy, a daughter of Thomas Nelson. — Carter's brother, Robert, b. in North End, Gloucester (now Matthews) co., Va., in 1764 ; d. in Janesville, Clarke co., Va., 1 Jan., 1840, also left William and Mary college to join the army, and was promoted to captain of infant- ry. He and his brother were among the veterans that were present at the reception of Gen. Lafayette in Leesburg, Va., 9 Aug., 1825. He was a member of congress from Virginia in 1799-1801. — Carter's nephew, Hiig'li Nelson, naval officer, b. in North End, Gloucester co., Va., in September, 1788; d. in Norfolk, Va., 3 June, 1871, entered the ser- vice as a midshipman on 1 Sept., 1811, and served under Capt. Oliver H. Perry at the battle of Lake Erie, where he was wounded. He bore Perry's despatch to Gen. William H. Harrison, an- nouncing the victory, and subsequently took part in the ineffective operations against Fort Macki- naw. He rose to the rank of captain, 29 May, 1850, was retired in 1855, and resigned his com- mission on the secession of Virginia. — The second John's grandson, Thomas Jefferson, b. at Shelly, Gloucester co., Va., 4 Jan., 1808, was appointed a midshipman on 1 Oct., 1827, passed for promotion on 10 June, 1833, and was commissioned as lieu- tenant on 20 Dec, 1839. He served on the coast survey for several years, circumnavigated the globe in the " Dolphin," and on his return home sug- gested to the secretary of the navy, William A. Graham, a plan for a survey of the China seas, and obtained an appropriation from congress for the construction of a steamer for the purpose. When John P. Kennedy took charge of the navy depart- ment, he greatly enlarged the scope of the expedi- tion, and placed Com. Matthew C. Perry in com- mand, offering the second place to Lieut. Page, who, however, declined. In 1853 he was placed in command of an expedition for the exploration of the tributaries of the liio de la Plata and adjacent countries. He was well received by President Car- los A. Lopez, of the republic of Paraguay, and car- ried out his mission without obstruction till Feb- ruary, 1855, when his steamer, the " Water-Witch," was fired upon from a Paraguayan fort on the Pa- rana river, and one man was killed. He returned the fire, but his vessel was not fitted for offensive operations. He returned to the United States in May, 1856, after an absence of three years and four months. A naval demonstration, in January. 1859, secured reparation from the Paraguayan govern- ment. Page, who had been promoted commander on 14 Sept., 1855, resumed his surveys, and com- pleted them in December, 1860. Turning over to the navy department the charts, notes, and jour- nals, which embrace several thousand miles of river navigation previously unexplored, and not yet described in print, he resigned his commission on the secession of his state. He was ofl'ered an admiral's commission by the Italian government, which desired his aid in the reorganization of its navy ; yet he elected to serve in the cause of the southern states. He commanded the heavy bat- teries at Gloucester Point on York river, and be- gan the building of gun-boats at West Point, but l)urned them and retreated after Yorktown was abandoned. In 1862 he was commissioned as com- modore, and went to England to take command of an iron-clad then building in the Mersey, and when the British government, under a threat of war from the U. S. minister, took possession of the ves- sel, he assumed command of a small ii-on-clad then lying at Copenhagen which put to sea under the name of "Stonewall," and which afterward, when she entered a Spanish harbor, was seized by the officers of Queen Isabella. His career in the Con- federate service being thus btought to a close, he went to the Argentine Republic, where the benefits rendered to the country by his explorations found a high recognition. For many years he was asso- ciated with his old friend, ex-President Uzquiza, in sheep and cattle farming. Then going to England in the commission of the government, he superin- tended the construction of two iron-clads and two gun-boats which formed the nucleus of the Argen- tine navy. Com. Page has since resided in Flor- ence, Italy. His son, a fleet-captain in the Argen- tine navy, has recently resumed the explorations of the tributaries of the River Plata at the point where ends the descriptive account of his father, who after his return from his first expedition to South America published a narrative entitled " La Plata: the Argentine Confederation and Para- guay," describing 3,600 miles of river navigation and explorations on land extending over 4,400 miles (New York, 1859). — Carter's grandson, Rich- ard Channing' Moore, b. at Turkey Hill, Va., 2 Jan., 1841 ; d. in New York, 19 June, 1898, entered the University of Virginia in 1860, but in July, 1861, enlisted in the Confederate artillery. He was com- missioned as captain in April, 1862, and commanded a battery in nearly all the battles of the Army of Northern Virginia. He was severely wounded at Gettysburg. In October, 1864, after being pro- moted major, he was assigned to duty on the staff of Gen. John C. Breckinridge as chief of artillery. He studied medicine at the close of the war in the medical department of the University of the city of New York, and after graduation in 1868 served as house physician in Bellevue hospital, and after- ward as house surgeon in the Woman's hospital. Dr. Page had been professor of general medicine and diseases of the chest in the New York poly- clinic since 1885. He had contributed to the New York '• Medical Record " and other periodicals. He is the author of a " Genealogy of the Page Family in Virginia " (New York. 1882) and of a " Sketch of Page's Battery, Jackson's Corps, Lee's Army "" (1885) ; also of a "Chart of Physical Diagnosis " (1885). — Gov. John's great-grandson, Thomas Nel- son, author, b. in Oakland, Hanover co., Va., 23 April, 1853, was brought up on the family planta- tion, which was a part of the original grant to his ancestor, Thomas Nelson. He was educated at Washington and Lee university, studied law, re- ceiving the degree of LL. B. from the University of Virginia in 1874, and has practised his profession in Richmond, Va. The degree of LL. D. was con- ferred on him by Washington and Lee in 1887. He began to write stories and poems in the negro dialect for his own amusement, and one of these, entitled " Marse Chan," a tale of the civil war, when published in 1884, several years after it was writ- ten, attracted much attention, and was followed by " Meh Lady " and others in the same vein. These have been published under the title of "In Ole Virginia" (New York, 1887): "Two Little Confed- erates " (1889) ; " Pastime Stories " (1894) ; " Among the Camps" (1891) ; and " Red Rock " (1898).

PAGE, John, senator, b. in Haverhill, N. H., 21 May, 1787 : d. in Concord, N. H., 8 Sept., 1865. He received but little early education, became a farmer, and in 1815 was appointed assessor of the state taxes for his district. He was elected a member of the legislature in 1818 and the two following years. From 1828 till 1834, excepting one year, he was