Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/349

Rh came a member of the privy council, 30 Nov., 1867, and held the portfolio of minister of finance from that date until his retirement from public life in 1869. He was a delegate to London, England, dur- ing the sitting of the colonial conference in 1867, representing the Protestant educational interests of Lower Can- ada, and again in 1868 as minister of finance on public business. He was requested by the governor -general, on behalf of the British government, to make a confidential examina- tion into the alleged grievances of the prov- ince of Nova Scotia relative to the financial terms that were grant- ed it on its entering the Dominion, and rec- ommended the extend- ing of large financial concessions to the province. In 1869 he was selected by the government of Canada to confer with the U. S. government on the subject of reciprocal trade, the fisheries, copyright, patent laws, the navigation of the St. Lawrence, and the extradition of criminals. In 1869 he removed to England, where he became a partner in the banking firm of Morton, Rose and Co., London, and was for several years afterward recognized as the unofficial representative of Can- ada in the British isles. Sir John Rose was re- quested in 1870 by the British government to go on a confidential mission to the United States, which led to the treaty of Washington. Since his resi- dence in London he had been a member of various royal commissions, and was chairman of the finance committee of the Colonial and Indian exhibition of 1886. He was appointed by the Prince of Wales a trustee of the Royal college of music, and became a member of the council of the duchy of Cornwall, and on 24 July. 1883, its receiver-general. In con- sideration of his public services he was created (in 1870) a knight commander of the order of St. Michael and St. George, advanced to the dignity of knight grand cross of the same order in 1878, cre- ated a baronet of the United Kingdom in 1872, and made a privy councillor in 1886. In 1843 he mar- ried Charlotte, daughter of Robert Emmet Temple, of Rutland, Vt., and after her death he married (2 Jan., 1887) Julia, Marchioness of Tweeddale.

ROSE, Thomas Ellwood, soldier, b. in Bucks county, Pa., 12 March, 1830. He was educated in the common schools, entered the National army as a private in the 12th Pennsylvania regiment in April, 1861, became captain in the 77th Pennsyl- vania in ( (ctoher of the same year, was engaged at Shiloh, the siege and battles of Corinth and Mur- freesboro', became colonel in January, 1863, and fought at Liberty Gap and Chickamauga, where he was taken prisoner. He escaped at Weldon, N. C., was retaken the next day, and sent to Libby prison, Richmond, Va., on 1 Oct., 1863. He almost immediately began preparations to escape. With the aid of Maj. Archibald G. Hamilton, of the 12th Kentucky cavalry, he cut a hole in the solid ma- sonry of the kitchen fire-place large enough to ad- mit a man's body into the cellar below, their only implements being a broken jack-knife and an old chisel found in the prison, and their time of work- ing between the hours of 10 P. >t. and 4 A. it. This having been completed, a working-party of fifteen men was organized, under the command of Col. Rose, who undertook the most dangerous and arduous part of the task. They cut through the stone wall of the cellar, and dug a tunnel fifty feet long through an earthen embankment, emerging at a point where the sentry could not see them, whence they found easy access to the street. This work occupied nearly three months, and during much of the time Col. Rose and Maj. Hamilton worked alone. On the night of 9 Feb., 1864, the tunnel was completed, and 109 soldiers escaped, of whom 48 were retaken, including Col. Rose. lu>sr was suffering from a broken ankle, and was in sight of the National lines when he was recaptured. He was again confined in Libby prison, but left there on 30 April, 1864, and was'ordered to Columbus, Ohio, where he was formally exchanged on 20 May, 1864, rejoined his regiment, and served with it. from G June, 1864, until the close of the war, participat- ing in the engagements around Atlanta and in the battles of Columbia, Franklin, and Nashville. He was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers " for gallant and meritorious service during the civil war" on 22 July, 1865, and major and lieutenant- colonel in the regular army on 2 March, 1867, for Liberty Gap and Chickamauga. He became cap- tain in the llth infantry in 1866, and in 1870 was transferred to the 16th infantry.

ROSEBRUGH, Abner Mulliolland (rose-brew), Canadian physician, b. near Gait, Out., 8 Nov., 1835. He was educated at Victoria college, Toronto, and studied medicine in New York and London. He practised successfully in Toronto, and in 1863 revived the Free dispensary of that city, which had been closed for want of funds, establishing it upon a firm basis, and in 1867 he organized the Toronto ear and eye infirmary. He has devoted his attention to medical electricity and ophthal- mology, and delivered lectures on the latter sub- ject at Victoria college in 1870-'!. In 1864 he in- vented a new demonstrating ophthalmoscope, and in that year he photographed the living fundus oculi. In 1865 he photographed the inverted reti- nal image of an object placed in front of the eye. In 1878 he. in association with a friend, Mr. G. Black, anticipated Van Rysselberghe in rendering practical the simultaneous transmission of tele- phonic and telegraphic messages on the same wire. He has published "An Introduction to the Study of the Optical Defects of the Eye " (1866) ; " Chlo- roform and a New Way of Administering It" (New York, 1869); "A Hand-Book of Medical Electricity " (1885) ; and a pamphlet on " Recent Advances in Electro-Therapeutics " (1887).

ROSECRANS, William Starke, soldier, b. in Kingston, Ohio, 6 Sept., 1819; d. in Los Angeles, 11 March, 1898. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1842, and entered the corps of engineers as brevet 2d lieutenant. He served for a year as assistant engineer in the construction of fortification at Hampton Roads, Va., and then returned to the military academy, where he remained until 1847 as assistant professor, first of natural and experimental philosophy, and then of engineering. Subsequently he served as superintending engineer in the repairs of Fort Adams, R. I., on surveys of Tatmton river and New Bedford harbor, improvements of Providence and Newport harbors, and at the Washington navy-yard until 1 April, 1854. when he resigned, after attaining the rank of 1st lieutenant. He then established himself in Cincinnati as an architect and civil engineer. In 1855 he took charge of the Cannel coal company, Coal river, W. Va., becoming also in 1856 presi-