Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/812

766 PIAR, Manuel Carlos (pe'-ar), Venezuelan sol- dier, b. in Curagoa, W. I., in 1782 ; d. in Angos- tura, 16 Oct., 1817. He was the son of poor artisans, received only a limited education, and engaged in trade with the neighboring coast of Venezuela. There he made the acquaintance of Francisco Miranda {q. v.) and other revolutionists, and in 1810 he entered the patriot army as sub- lieutenant. He took part in Mariiio's expedition from Chacachacare in January, 1813, defended Matui'in in May of that year, and took part in the campaign of i813-'14. He participated in the mutiny of Ribas against Bolivar and Marino, 4 Sept., 1814, and in December was forced by Span- ish successes to emigrate. In May, 1816, he took part in the expedition of Bolivar from Hayti, and was promoted major-general. In June he in- vaded Maturin, and joining Gregor McGregor, he won the battle of Juncal on 27 Sept. While Piar was investing Angostura, Gov. Latorre suddenly marched to the interior to wrest the rich stores of th-e missions from the Independents. But Piar, who had anticipated this movement and prepared horses for remount in the pass of Cai'oni, threw his army by forced marches between Upata and La- torre, and totally defeated the latter's army on 11 April, 1817, at San Felix. Latorre reached his flotilla at Las TabJas with only seventeen men. Piar was promoted general-in-chief, and on 2 May met and recognized the authority of Bolivar, but only apparently, as he desired supreme command. He afterward recognized the authority of the con- gress of Cariaco, which opposed Bolivar, and, after obtaining leave of absence, made efforts to arouse a general revolt. He was arrested in Aragua on 27 Sept., and condemned to death by a court-mar- tial. Bolivar reluctantly confirmed the sentence.

PIATT, Jacob Wykoff, lawyer, b. in Kentucky, 29 March, 1801 ; d. in Cincinnati, Ohio, 29 May, 1857. He attained note at the bar in Cincinnati, and was the originator of the paid fire depart- ment, now in general use. He became so unpopu- lar to the bulk of the community in his vigorous and solitary opposition for years to the volunteer system that it was found necessary for the police to guard him to and from the council chamber, where he continually spoke against it. He was at one time mobbed, and burned in effigy before his own door by the volunteer firemen and their sup- porters. When the Latta steam fire-engine was invented in Cincinnati, a committee was appointed by the city council, with Mr. Piatt as chairman, to devise means for its use. He insisted on placing Miles Greenwood {q. v.), a prominent mechanic and founder, who had long been at the head of the vol- unteer fire department, in charge of the new ma- chine, for the sake, no doubt, of producing: har- mony in the then divided state of public opinion. Mr. Greenwood accepted the office, and, through his personal popularity and practical knowledge of mechanics, made the machine a success, thus acquiring the reputation of originating the paid department. But to Mr. Piatt is due the credit of having generated the system by years of advocacy, in the face of violent opposition, as a member of the city council. — His brother, Donn, journalist, b. in Cincinnati, 29 June. 1819 : d. in Cleveland, Ohio, 12 Nov., 1891. He was educated at the Athenjeum (now St. Xavier college), but left suddenly in con- sequence of a personal encounter. He then studied law, and in 1851 was appointed judge of the court of common pleas of Hamilton county. At the end of his term he was made secretary of legation at Paris, under John Y. Mason, during Pierce's ad- ministration. When the minister was attacked with apoplexy, Piatt served as charge d'affaires for nearly a year. On his return home he engaged actively in the presidential canvass in behalf of John C. Fremont. During part of the civil war he was on the staff of Gen. Robert C. Schenck. Having been sent to observe the situation at Win- chester previous to Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania, he, on his own motion, ordered Gen. Robert H. Milroy to evacuate the town and fall back on Harper's Ferry. The order was countermanded by Gen. Halleck, and three days afterward Milroy, surrounded by the Confederate advance, was forced to cut his way out, with a loss of 2,300 prisoners. When Geii. William Birney was sent to Maryland to recruit colored regiments, he was chief of staff, with the rank of colonel. After the war he became Wash- ington correspondent of the Cincinnati '• Commer- cial." He subsequently founded and edited the Washington '* Capital " for two years, making it so odious to many Republican officials that, during the presidential controversy of 1876, he was in- dicted for conspiring to disturb the peace of the country. After that time he devoted himself to farming and literature at his residence, Mac-o- chee, Ohio. In all his writings he was apt to take a peculiar and generally unpopular view of his subjects. He published a sharply critical work, " Memoirs of the Men who saved the Union " (Chicago, 1887). — His wife, Louise Kirby, author, b. in Cincinnati, Ohio, 25 Nov., 1826 ; d. 2 Oct., 1864, possessed rare intelligence and culture, and became widely known for her graceful, spirited, pointed newspaper correspondence. She accompanied her husband to Europe when he was appointed secretary of legation, and contributed letters to the "Home Journal," which were afterward published in book-form as " Bell Smith Abroad " (New York, 1855). — Donn's brother, Abram Sanders, farmer, b. in Cincinnati, Ohio, 2 May, 1821, was educated at the Athenffium and at the Kinmont academy in his native city, after which he engaged in agricultural pursuits in the Macacheek valley, which occupation he has followed with but few in- terruptions. In 1846 he devoted some time to the study of law, and edited the " Macacheek Press," a journal that he established. At the beginning of the civil war he was active in raising volunteers for the National service, and was commissioned colonel of the 13th Ohio regiment. At the expira- tion of his three months' service he raised at his own expense the first zouave regiment of Ohio, of which he became colonel. After the first regiment had been raised, applications to join continued to be received, and he began the organization of the second, with the intention of forming a brigade, but before it was completed he was ordered to the front and made brigadier-general of volunteers on 28 Feb.. 1862. In April, 1863, he resigned his com- mission, and subsequently returned to his farm. Gen. Piatt has given attention to politics. On the close of the war he became affiliated with the Na- tional greenback labor party, and he has been its candidate for the offices of lieutenant-governor and governor. He is a member of the Patrons of Hus- bandry, and served that organization for two years as its state lecturer. Gen. Piatt is also known by his poetry, which has appeared in his own jour- nal and in the Cincinnati "Commercial."

PIATT, John Hooper, merchant, b. in Boone county, Ky., 15 Aug., 1781; d. in Washington, D. C., 11 Feb., 1822. He went to Cincinnati when young, and accumulated a large fortune the-e, being the first banker west of the Alleghany mountains. When the war of 1812 occurred he contracted with the government to furnish the northwestern army