Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/298

272 from business in ISfiJ. Mr. Robert gave large sums to Hamilton college and Auburn theological seminary, but his chief benefactions were to the American college in Constantinople, which was named Robert college in his honor. He - it $290,000 in his lifetime, and left it $125,000 in his will, besides real estate valued at $40,000. His wife, Ann Maria, b. in New York city, 1 Aug., 1802; d. there, 9 April, 1888, was a daughter of William Shaw, a merchant of New York city. She married Mr. Robert in 1829. accompanied him on his Eastern travels, and aided in the organization ami support of numerous orphan asylums, homes for aged colored women, and other religious and jihilanthropical institutions.

ROBERT, Joseph Thomas, clergyman, b. in Beaufort district, S. C., 28 Nov., 1807; d. in At- lanta, Ga.. 5 March, 1884. He was graduated at llrown in Is-jx ami at Smith Carolina medical col- lege in 1832, after studying two years at Yale. In 1*^4 he was ordained pastor of the Baptist church in Robertsville. S. C., but he soon removed to Ken- tncky. After several brief pastorates he became in 1864 professor of languages in Iowa state uni- versity. and in 1869 he was made president of Burlington university in the same state. In 1871 he took charge of the Augusta institute for the training of colored ministers, and when this insti- tute was removed in 1879 to Atlanta, and incor- porated with the Atlanta Baptist seminary, he was made its president. In this service he continued until his death. The degree of LL. D. was given him by Denison university in 1869. His son. Henry Martyn. soldier, b. in Beaufort district, S. C., 2 May, 1837, was graduated at the U. S. mili- tary academy in 1857. He received his commis- sion with the rank of lieutenant in the corps of engineers, and has ever since remained in that service. Soon after his graduation he was ap- pointed assistant professor of natural philosophy at West Point, but he was subsequently trans- ferred to the department of practical engineer- ing. In 1858 he was stationed at Fort Vancouver, and during the northwest boundary difficulties be- tween this country ami Great Britain he had charge of the construction of defences on San Juan island. A* the beginning of the civil war, though of south- ern birth and with all his relatives in the south, Col. IJoluTt unhesitatingly espoused the Union cause. He served on the staff of Gen. McClellan, and as- M-ted in building the fortifications around Wash- ington. He was subsequently employed in similar services at Philadelphia and New Bedford, Mass. He was promoted captain in 1863, and at the close of the war he was placed again at the head of the department of practical engineering at W T est Point, where he remained till 1867. In that year he was made major, and in 1871, with head'quarters at Portland, he had charge of the fortifications, light- houses, and harbor and river improvements in Oregon and Washington territory. He was trans- ferred in 1873 to Milwaukee, and assigned to a like duty on Lake Michigan. He was promoted lieu- tenant-colonel in 1883, and he was later superin- tendent of river and harbor improvements and de- fences in the district of Philadelphia. Col. Robert is the author of " Robert's Rules of Order " (Chicago, 1876) and has supervised the preparation of " An Index to the Reports of the Chief Engineers <>l I he U. S. A. on River and Harbor Improve- ments" (vol. i., to 1879, Washington, 1881; vol. ii., to 1887, in preparation).

'''ROBERTS. Benjamin Stone,''' soldier, b. in Manchester, Vt., in 1811 ; d. in Washington, D. C., 29 Jan., 1875. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1835, and assigned to the 1st dragoons, but after several years of frontier service he resigned on 28 Jan., 1839, and as principal en- gineer built the Champlain and'Ogdensburg rail- road. He was assistant geologist of New York in 1841, and in 1842 aided Lieut. George W. Whistler in constructing the Russian system of railways, lie then returned to the United States, was ad- mitted to the bar, and in 1843 began to practise in lipva. Re became lieutenant-colonel of state mi- litia in 1844, and on 27 May. 1846, was reappointed in the U. S. army as a 1st lieutenant of mounted rifles, becoming captain. 16 Feb., 1847. During the war with Mexico he M-rved at Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, where he led an advance party of stormers and for which he was brevetted major, and the capture of the city of Mexico. He then took part in the actions at Mata- moras and the Galajara pass against guerillas, and was brevetted lieutenant-colonel. At the close of the war he received, 15. Jan.. 1849. a sword of honor from the legislature of Iowa. From this time till the civil war he served on the southwestern fron- tier and on bureau duty at Washington, with fre- quent leaves of absence on account of feeble health. At the beginning of the civil war he was in New Mexico, and after his promotion to major, on 13 May, 1861, he was assigned to the command first of the northern and then of the southern district of that territory, being engaged in the defence of Fort Craig against the Texan forces under Gen. Henry H. Sibley in 1862, the action at Valvercle in the same year, where he was brevetted colonel for gallantry, and the combats at Albuquerque and Peralta. On 1 June, 1861, he was ordered to Wash- ington, and 16 June, 1862, was commissioned brig- adier-general of volunteers, and assigned as chief of cavalry to Gen. John Pope, with whose Army of Virginia he served during its campaign in 1862, acting also as inspector -general. In the latter part of the year he was acting inspector-general of the northwestern department, and led an expedi- tion against the Chippewa Indians, and in 1803 he was in command first of the upper defences of Washington and then of an independent brigade in West Virginia and Iowa. In 1864, after leading a divi<mn of the 19th corps in Louisiana, he was chief of cavalry of the Gulf department, till he was ordered, early in 1865. to the charge of a cavalry division in western Tennessee. At the close of the war he was brevetted brigadier-general in the regular army for services at Cedar Mountain, and major-general of volunteers for that action and the second battle of Bull Run. He became lieu- tenant-colonel of the 3d cavalry on 28 July, 18(16, served on frontier and recruiting service till 1868, and then as professor of military science at Yale till his retirement from active service on 15 Dec., 1870. He was the inventor of the Roberts breech- loading rifle, to the perfection and introduction of which he devoted many years of his life. In 1STO he formed a company for its manufacture, which finally failed, though Gen. Roberts had secured a contract in Europe.

'''ROBERTS. Charles George Douglas''', Canadian poet, b. in Douglas, York CM.. New Brunswick. 10 Jan., 1860. He was graduated at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, in 1879, became principal of the Chatham grammar-school in 1879, and of the York street school in 1882. He assumed the editorship of the Toronto " Week " in December, 1883, and was appointed professor of English and French literature and political economy in the University of King's college. Windsor, Nova Scotia. in ( October, 1885. Those of his poeti-