Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/223

Rh "Monongahela," and, while engaging the bntln-i. ^ almvc Donaldson ville. received a fatal wound. Daniel's son, Theodore, soldier, b. in Athens, Ohio, 11 April, 1836: d. near Farmville, Va., 5 April, 1865, was graduated at the Indiana state university in 1854, studied law, was appointed district attorney, afterward held a clerkship in the interior department at Washington, and in 1860 began practising law at Paris, 111. At the begin- ning of the civil war he enlisted, and served his term of three months in the ranks. He was then given a staff appointment with the rank of cap- tain, 24 Oct., 1861, received a wound at Chancel- lorsville, at Gettysburg, and for the third time at Cold Harbor. He was promoted major on 25 July, 1864, and was chief of staff to Gen. Edward 0. C. Ord from the time when the latter took command of a corps in the Army of the James. He served in various battles in Gen. Grant's campaign, and on 29 Sept., 1864, was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers for services in the field. He lost his life in the last encounter between the armies of Gens. Grant and Lee. Gen. Ord had directed Gen. Read to burn the bridge at Farmville, in the line of Lee's retreat. The small party was overtaken by the advance of the entire Confederate army, and surrendered after every officer had been killed, hav- ing, however, accomplished its purpose of checking Lee's movement. (See DEARING, JAMES.)

READ, George Campbell, naval officer, b. in Ireland about 1787; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 22 Aug., 1862. He came to the United States at an early age, was appointed a midshipman in the navy on 2 April, 1804, and advanced to the rank of lieu- tenant on 25 April, 1810. He was 3d lieutenant on the " Constitution " when the British frigate " Guerriere " was captured, and Capt. Isaac Hull as- signed to him the honor of receiving the surrender of Capt. James R. Dacres, the British commander. He took an active part in other engagements of the war of 1812, and near its close commanded the brig "Chippewa," of the flying squadron com- manded by Com. Oliver H. Perry that was sent out to destroy the enemy's commerce. He was promoted commander on 27 April, 1816, and cap- tain on 3 March, 1825, took charge of the East India squadron in 1840, and of the squadron on the coast of Africa in 1846, and, after commanding the Mediterranean squadron for some time, was placed on the reserve list on 13 Sept., 1855. In 1861 he was appointed governor of the Naval asylum in Philadelphia, and on 31 July, 1862, by virtue of an act of congress that had been recently passed, was made a rear-admiral on the retired list.

READ, Hollis, missionary, b. in Newfane, Vt., 26 Aug., 1802; d. in Somerville. N. J., 7 April, 1887. He was graduated at Williams in 1826, studied theology at Princeton seminary, was or- dained as an evangelist at Newburyport, Mass., 24 Sept.. 1829, and in the following year sailed for India. He labored for five years as a missionary in Bombay, then returned to the United States, and was for two years an agent for the American board of commissioners for foreign missions. He was pastor in 1837-'8 of the Presbyterian church at Babylon. L. I., and in 1838-' 43 of the Congrega- tional church at Derby, Conn. He was agent for the American tract society in 1843-'4, pastor of the Congregational church at New Preston, Conn., in 1845-'51, a teacher at Orange and agent for the Society for the conversion of the Jews in 1851-'5. and afterward preached at Cranford. N. J., till 1864. He published Journal in India " (New York, 1835) "Babajee, the Christian Brahmin" (New York, 1837)- " The Hand of God in History "(Hartford, 1848-'52) which was republished in England and had great lopularity : " Memoirs and Sermons of W. J. Arm- strong, D. D." (New York, 1851) : " Palace of the 3reat King " (New York, 1855) ; " Commerce and Christianity," a prize essay (Philadelphia, 1856); India and its People, Ancient and Modern " (C'o- umbus, 1858); " The Coming Crisis of the World " Columbus, 1858) ; " The Negro Problem Solved, or Africa as She Was, as She Is, and as She Shall Be" (New York, 1864); and "The Footprints of Satan" (1866). Rev. William Ramsey published an account of a missionary tour in India made with Mr. Read.

READ, Jacob, senator, b. in South Carolina in 1752 ; d. in Charleston, S. C., 17 July, 1816. He received a liberal education, studied law in Eng- and from 1773 till 1776, and practised in Charles- ton. During the Revolution he served as a major of South Carolina volunteers, and was taken pris- oner, and confined for four years at St. Augustine, Fla. He was elected a member of the legislature, and in 1783 was sent as a delegate of South Caro- lina to the Continental congress, of which body In- was a member till 1786. He was elected as a Federalist to the U. S. senate, taking his seat on 7 Dec., 1795, and when he had served through his term, which ended on 3 March, 1801, President John Adams appointed him judge of the U. S. court for the district of South Carolina, which office he held until his death.

READ, John, lawyer, b. in Connecticut. 14 Feb., 1680; d. in Boston, Mass., 14 Feb., 1749. He was graduated at Harvard in 1697, studied theology, and was for some time a popular preacher. Sub- sequently he studied law, and attained eminence at the bar. He was an active member of the pro- vincial house of representatives, and of the coun- cil during Gov. William Shirley's administration. He contributed greatly to the reform of legal phraseology, being the first to reduce the anti- quated forms and redundant phrases of deeds of conveyance to simpler and clearer language.

READ, John, planter, b. in Dublin, Ireland, in 1688; d. at his seat in Delaware, 17 June, 1756. He was the son of an English gentleman of large fortune belonging to the family of Read of Berkshire, Hertfordshire, and Oxfordshire. Having received a severe shock by the death of a young lady to whom he was attached, he came to the American colonies and, with a view of diverting his mind, entered into extensive enterprises in Maryland and Delaware. He purchased, soon after his arrival, a large landed estate in Cecil county, Md., and founded, with six associates, the city of Charlestown, on the head-waters of Chesapeake bay, twelve years after Baltimore was begun, with the intention of creating a rival mart for the northern trade, and thus developing northern Maryland and building up the neighboring iron-works of the Principio company, in which the older generations of the Washington family and, at a later period, the general himself, were also largely interested. As an original proprietor of the town, he was appointed by the colonial legislature of Maryland one of the commissioners to lay it out and govern it. He held various military offices during his life, and in his later years resided on his plantation in Newcastle county, Del.— His eldest son, George, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. at the family-seat, Cecil county, Md., 17 Sept., 1733; d. in Newcastle, Del., 21 Sept., 1798, was one of the two statesmen, and the only southern one, that signed the three great state papers that underlie the foundations of our government: the original petition to the king of the 1st Continental congress, the Declaration of