Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/563

Rh SILVA, Jose Laurencio, Venezuelan soldier, 1). in Tinaeo, 7 Sept., 1792; d. in Chirgua, 27 Feb., 1ST:!. When the revolutionary junta of Caracas was installed, 19 April, 1810, Silva offered his ser- vir.'s ami "as appointed sergeant in the forces M'ni against tin' royalists uf <'.,ro. He served un- der the orders of the Marquis del Toro. and on his return was promoted lieutenant, taking part in the campaign of 1811-'12 under Gen. Miranda. After the capitulation of the latter. Silva escaped to the plains of Guarico, where he gathered a guerilla force and continued to oppose the Spaniards till he joined Bolivar on the latter's invasion of Venezuela in 1813. Silva participated in the bat- tles of Taguanes. Araure, Barbula. and Mosqui- IITII. and in the famous defence of La Victoria, 13 Frli.. 1S14. where his troop of 180 men was reduced to 20. After his recovery from his wounds he wa- aligned to another regiment, with which he participated in the defence of San Mateo and the first kittle of Caraliubo. After the defeat of La Puerta and the capitulation of Valencia, Silva re- tired to Guarico. He was captured by the Spanish under Lopez Quintana and condemned to death, but escaped and joined Paez in Apure, under whom he served till 1819. On Bolivar's return from Co- lombia, Silva joined him and participated as lieu- tenant - colonel in the battle of Carabobo, 24 June. 1821. In 1822 he marched with Bolivar to si nit hern Colombia, participated in the battle of Bombona, 7 April, 1822, and went with the divis- inn that was sent in 1823 to aid the Peruvian patriots. In the battle of Junin he was at the head of the Hussars de Colombia, and was pro- moted colonel, and after the battle of Ayacucho he was made a brigadier of Peru and Colombia. i hi this occasion lie was officially styled the hero of Junin. He continued to serve in Peru, accom- panying Sucre in his entry into La Paz. after which he returned to Colombia, and in 1828 was sent to quell an insurrection in Guayana. On his return he was promoted major-general, and after the dis- integration of Colombia he demanded a passport to Venezuela with the regiments of grenadiers and hussars of Apure, which refused to continue ser- vice in New Granada. As a defender of Bolivar, "whose niece he had married in 1827, he was exiled in 1831. and in 1835 returned to take part in the revolution of 1835, but soon submitted to the gov- ernment. In 1849 he commanded the government troops against Gen. Paez. with whom he signed a convention at Macapo, and, when the same was violated by President Monagas, he resigned and retired to his farm. In 1855 he was promoted lieu- tenant-general by congress, and was secretary of war ; in the next year he was appointed to the government council, but soon resigned and retired to his country-seat.

SILVER, Thomas, inventor, b. in Greenwich, Cumberland co., X. .1.. IT June, 1813; d. in Xew York city, 12 April, 1888. His parents were Qua- kers. As a boy he displayed unusual mechani- cal skill, and when he was only nine years old his toy boat, with hidden propeller-wheel and other ingenious devices, was the wonder of the village in which he lived. He was educated in Green- wich and Woodstown, X. J., and in Philadelphia, and became a civil engineer, but continued to de- vote much time to the perfection of numerous contrivances for lightening human toil and in- creasing the safety of travellers. Among the pat- ents, upward of fifty in number, granted him, were those for a grain-dryer, a fuel-saving heat-cham- ber, a gas-consumer, a tension-regulator, a machine for paying out submarine cables, a machinery- lubricator, a rotary ascending-railway, and clock- work for mechanical lamps. Models of some of these are at the patent-office, Washington, I). ('.. the South Kensington museum, London, and the Paris conservatoire des arts. The loss of the steam- er "San Francisco." bound to California with troops in 1854, suggested his best-known invention. That vessel was wrecked through her engines be- i nng disabled in a severe storm, and, to meet such emergencies, Mr. Silver devised his " marine governor," which was adopted by the French navy in 1855. It is also applied to many stationary en- gines, notably to those in the press-rooms of the great dailies in large cities. It was adopted by the British admiralty in 1864, and the example has been followed by the navies of all the chief powers, except the United States. Mr. Silver per- fected a plan of channel transit for the carrying of coal by car direct from Wales to France, in which Napoleon III. was interested, but it was lost to that country by the surrender at Sedan. Mr. Silver was made a member of the Franklin insti- tute of Philadelphia in 1855. He received the James Watt medal from the Royal polytechnic society of London, and one from Napoleon III. for his "regulateur marine." He published " A Trip to the North Pole, or the Theory of the Origin of Icebergs " (New York, 1887).

SIMCOE, John Graves, British soldier, b. in Cotterstock. England. 25 Feb.. 1752: d. in Exeter, 26 Oct., 1806. His father, a captain in the navy, was killed at Quebec during its siege by Volfe. The son entered the army as ensign in 1771, and at the beginning of the American war purchased a cap- taincy in the 40th foot, which regiment he com- manded at the battle of Brandywine, where he was wounded, as also at Monmouth. He raised a battalion called the Queen's rangers, which was drilled and disciplined in a superior manner for light and active service, and with which he did important service to the royal cause in the south. On 23 June, 1779, Sir Henry Clinton gave him the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In October, 1770, while on an expedition to destroy some boats, he was taken prisoner and narrowly escaped death. Col. Simcoe's corps was constantly in advance of the army, and performed a series of skilful and snrce-i- ful enterprises. He was with C'ornwallis at York- town, and was included in the capitulation. After the war Simcoe's corps was disbanded, and the officers were placed on half-pay. He was governor of Up- per Canada in 1791-'4, and has been accused of pro- moting Indian hostilities against the United States in the northwestern territories. He was promoted colonel, 18 Nov.. 1790. major-general, 3 Oct., 1794, lieutenant-general, 3 Oct., 1798, and was governor and commander-in-ehief of Santo Domingo from December, 1796. till July. 1797, exerting himself successfully against the French, and to establish the financial and other interests of the colony. A lake of considerable size in Ontario and a county and town bear his name. He wrote and printed for private distribution a " History of the Opera- tion of a Partisan Corps called the Queen's Ban- gers" iKvter, 1787: reprinted, with a memoir of the author. New York, 1844).

'''SIMITIERE. Pierre Eugène de''', artist, b. in Geneva. Switzerland; d. in Philadelphia. Pa., 22 Oct., lTs-4. He went to the West Indies about 1750, and. after spending nearly fifteen years there, to New York, and in 1766 to Philadelphia. Here he became well known as a collector of curiosities, and in 1768 was elected a member of the American philosophical society. His collection was so celebrated that in 1783 he opened it to the public under