Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/809

Rh PHILLIPS, Stephen Clarendon, philanthropist, b. in Salem, Mass., 1 Nov., 1801 ; d. on St. Lawrence river, 26 June, 1857. He was graduated at Harvard in 1819, and began the study of law, but soon discontinued it to engage in business in Salem. He was in the lower house of the legislature in 1824-'30, was elected to the state senate in the latter year, and in 1832-'3 was again a member of the legislature. He was then chosen to congress as a Whig to fill a vacancy, and served during three terras — from 1 Dec, 1834, until his resignation in 1838 — when he became mayor of Salem, which place he then held until JNIarch, 1842. On his re- tirement from this office he devoted the whole of his salary as mayor to the public schools of Salem. He was the Free-soil candidate for governor of Massachusetts in 1848-"9, and a presidential elector in 1840. Mr. Phillips discharged several state and private trusts, and was many years a member of the state board of education. Retiring from public life in 1849, he engaged extensively in the lumber business in Canada, and met his death by the burn- ing of the steamer " Montreal " while coming down the St. Lawrence river from Quebec. Mr. Phillips was president of the Boston Sunday-school society, and author of '* The Sunday-School Service Book," in several parts (Boston).

PHILLIPS, Willard, lawyer, b. in Bridge- water, Mass., 19 Dec. 1784; d. in Cambridge, Mass., 9 Sept., 1873. He was graduated at Har- vard in 1810, and remained connected with the university until 1815 as a tutor first in Latin, and then in arithmetic and natural philosophy. Mean- while he studied law with William Sullivan, and after admission to the bar in Boston, soon became eminent in his profession. In 1825-'6 he was a member of the legislature, and in 1839 he was made judge of probate for Suffolk county, which office he held until 1847. Besides the discharge of his duties as judge, he was employed in 1837-'41 under a legislative commission to himself and others in reducing the laws of crimes and punish- ments to a systematic code, and, although the re- port was never adopted in Massachusetts, the work has had a material influence on legislation and the administration of criminal law. In 1845 he retired from legal practice, and from 1843 until his death he was president of the New England mutual life insurance company. Mr. Phillips became a con- tributor to the " General Repository and Review " in 1812, and had oversight of the " North Ameri- can Review " during the second year of its exist- ence, continuing as one of its contributors until 1834. For several years he also had editorial con- trol of the " American Jurist." In 1812 he issued "An Appeal to the Public Spirit of the Federalists and the Good Sense of the Democrats," designed to promote the war spirit in New England, and with Edward Pickering he edited the first and second American editions of Collyer's " Law of Partner- ship " (Boston, 1834r-'9), and the first eight volumes of Pickering's '• Reports" (1824). His own works are " Treatise on the Law of Insurance " (1823) ; " Manual of Political Economy " (1828) ; " The Law of Patents for Inventions, including the Remedies and Legal Proceedings in Relation to Patent Rights" (1837); "The Inventor's Guide" (1837); and " Protection and Free-Trade " (1850).

PHILLIPS, William, British soldier, b. in 1731; d. in Petersburg, Va., 13 May, 1781. He entered the Royal military academy at Woolwich, 1 Aug., 1746, as a gentleman cadet, and became quartermaster of the 1st battalion of artillery, 1 April, 1750; 2d lieutenant, 1 March, 1755; 1st lieutenant, 1 April, 1756, and captain, 12 May of the same year. He commanded the three compa- nies of the royal artillery that woi'e present at the battle of Minden, 1 Aug., 1759. where he won great distinction. He also gained credit for gal- lantry at Warberg, 30 July, 1760. by the rapidity with which he brought the artillery into action and the efficiency with which he handled it. He was made lieutenant-colonel, 25 May 1772, lieuten- ant-governor of Windsor in 1768, colonel in the regular army, 25 May, 1772. and a major-general, in America only, 1 Jan., 1776. He was member of parliament for the years 1774-'80. Receiving an appointment under Gen. Burgoyne, he embarked with that general on the frigate " Blonde " for Quebec, where he arrived in May, 1776, and held the command at St. John's fromJuly till Decem- ber, 1776, when he was transferred to Montreal as second in command to Burgoyne in 1777. He bore an active part, and his skill and energy as an artil- lery officer, in placing, in spite of tremendous natural obstacles, a battery on the top of Sugar- Loaf hill, and thus commanding Ticonderoga, forced a bloodless evacuation of that post by Gen. St. Clair. In the two battles of Saratoga, two months later, he bore a conspicuous part, and upon Burgoyne's return to England in 1778, the com- mand of the " convention troops," then stationed in Virginia, devolved upon him. In November, 1779, he was allowed to go to New York, and re- sided there on parole until his exchange. He re- ceived his last promotion, that of lieutenant-colonel in the regular army, on July, 1780, and the same year was exchanged for Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, then recently captured at Charleston. On 20 March, 1781, he sailed from New York for Virginia with 2,000 men, and, effecting a junction at Ports- mouth with Gen. Benedict Arnold, at once assumed the command of the combined force that was des- tined for the invasion of that colony. The two generals had advanced from Portsmouth to Peters- burg, when Phillips was suddenly stricken with typhoid fever, and in three days expired. Various reports were circulated respecting his death, some attributing it to its right cause, and others to poi- son administered by Arnold, on whom, by this event, the command again devolved. Gen. Corn- wallis, arriving at this juncture, assumed the com- mand. The character of Gen. Phillips, from an American standpoint, was not flattering. He was accused by his enemies of great haughtiness and irritability. The British estimate of him is very high. Capt. Duncan, in his " History of the Royal Artillery," calls him "as brave and honorable a soldier as ever served in the regiment. He was be- loved by all who served with him, and was a model for artillerymen to imitate in gallantry, ability, and progress." He is buried in the old Brandford church-yard at Petersburg, Va. See Lieut. James M. Hadden's "Journal,'" edited by Gen. Horatio Rogers (Albany, 1884).

PHILLIPS, William, benefactor, b. in Boston. Mass., 10 April, 1750 ; d. there, 26 May, 1827. He engaged in business with his father, of the same name, who was a benefactor of Andover theological seminary, and acquired a fortune. During the Revolutionary war he was an ardent patriot, and subsequent to 1800 he was frequently a member of the legislature, also lieutenant-governor in 18l2-"23, At his death he bequeathed large sums of money to Phillips academy, to Andover theological seminary. and other institutions.

PHILLIPS, William Wirt, clergyman, b. in Florida, N. Y., 23 Sept., 1796; d. in New York city, 20 March, 1865. He was graduated at Union in 1813, and studied for the ministry in the Asso-