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580 same time taking a conspicuous part as an anti- Federalist leader. He was in the legislature in 1791, in which year a commission consisting of Gov. Clinton, State Secretary Lewis L. Scott, At- torney-General Aaron Burr, State Treasurer Ge- rard Bancker, and Auditor Peter Y. Curtenius s. >ld 5,500,000 acres of land belonging to New York state, at the sum of eighteen cents per acre, to Alexander McComb, James Caldwell, John and Nicholas Roosevelt, and others. When the trans- action became public, resolutions of censure were moved in the legislature ; but Jabez D. Hammond, the historian of New York, says : " After a long and acrimonious discussion of the resolutions of censure, they were finally rejected, and Melancton Smith, as pure a man as ever lived, introduced a resolution approving of the conduct of the com- missioners, which was adopted in the assembly by a vote of thirty-five to twenty." He canvassed the state for the re-election of Gov. Clinton in 1792, and was subsequently circuit judge. He died of yellow fever, his being the first fatal case in the epidemic of 1798. His son, Melancton, soldier, b. in New York city in 1780; d. in Plattsburg. N. Y.. 28 Aug., 1818, received a military education, and, at the beginning of the second war with Great Britain, joined the U. S. army, became major of the 29th infantry, 20 Feb., 1813, and colonel of that regiment the" next month, which office he held until the end of the war, serving throughout the frontier campaign of that year, and commanding the principal fort at the battle of Plattsburg in September. 1814. The second Mclancton's son, Melancton, naval officer, b. in New York citv, 24 May, 1810; d. in Green Bay, Wis., 19 July, 1893, entered the navy, attended the naval school in New York, and became a passed midshipman, 28 April, 1832. He was commissioned lieutenant, 8 March, ^!?. served in the simmer " Poin- sett" until 1840, and in 1839, on 1 1 1 1 - cruise, he commanded a fort during engage- ments with the Seminoles in Flor- ida. He made a full cruise in the frigate " Constitu- tion" on the Med- iterranean station in 1848-'51, and, after beingon wait- ing orders for sev- eralyears.wascom- miss - ioned com . mander, 14 Sept., 1855, after which he was light-house inspector. On 9 July, 1861, while in command of the " Massachu- setts " off Ship island, he had an engagement with a Confederate fort and three Confederate steamers, and on 31 Dec., 1861, the fort at Biloxi, La., sur- rendered, cutting off all regular communication be- tween North Carolina and Mobile, and getting pos- session of the sound. When in command of the " Mississippi " he passed Forts Jackson and St. Philip with Farragut, and destroyed the Confeder- ate ram " Manassas," for which he was highly com- mended by the admiral. He participated in the at- tack on Port Hudson. In an attempt to run the batteries the " Mississippi " grounded, and he set his ship on fire to prevent her falling into the hands of the enemy. This course was approved by the navy department. He was promoted to captain, 16 July, 1862 (under orders to return north), but was assigned to the temporary command of the " Mon- ongahela," on which vessel the admiral hoisted his flag on his passage from New Orleans to Port Hud- son. In 1864 he had command of the monitor "Onondaga," and appointed divisional officer on James river, and subsequently he had charge of the squadron in Albemarle si >und. N. C., and recaptured the steamer " Bombshell." He participated in both attacks on Fort Fisher in the steam frigate " Wa- bash." He was commissioned commodore. 25 July, l s ni'i. and served as chief of the bureau of equip- ment and recruiting in the navy department until 1870. He was commissioned rear-admiral, 1 July, IN?O, had charge of the New York navy-yard in 1870-'2, and was retired, 24 May, 1871. After he was retired, he was appointed governor of the Naval asylum at Philadelphia.

SMITH, Meriwether, statesman, b. at the family seat, Bathurst, Essex co., Va., in 1730; d. 25 Jan., 1790. He was a signer of the articles of the Westmoreland (county) association in opposition to the stamp-act, 27 Feb., 1776, and also of the resolutions of the Williamsburg association, a mem- ber of the house of burgesses from Essex county in 1770, and of the Virginia conventions of 1775 and 1776. in which he. was active. He was a member of the Continental congress in 1778-'82, and of the Virginia convention of 1788, which ratified the constitution of the United States. The belief is held by his descendants that he was the author of the Virginia bill of rights. He was a member of the select committee to which the draft of George M. -i - in was submitted, and appears to have sub- mitted a draft for the state constitution. He was twice married ; first, about 1760, to Alice, daughter of Philip Lee, and secondly, 29 Sept., 1769, to Elizabeth, daughter of Col. William Daingerfield. Of his issue by the first marriage was GEORGE WILLIAM, lawyer and governor of Virginia, who perished, with fifty-nine others, in the burning of the Richmond theatre, 26 Dec., 1811.

'''SMITH. Morgan Lewis''', soldier, b. in Oswego county, N. Y., 8 March, 1822 ; d. in Jersey City, N. J./29 Dee., 1874. He settled in New Albany, Ind., about 1843, and enlisted as a private in the U. S. army in 1846, rising to the rank of orderly sergeant, but resigned, and at the beginning 'of the civil war was engaged in the_ steamboat business. He then re-entered the service, having raised the Sth Missouri infantry, a regiment whose members were bound by an oath never to surrender. He was chosen its colonel in July, 1861, took part in the advance of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's army to Fort Henry, commanded the 5th brigade of the 3d division of the Army of the Tennessee at Fort Donelson, and successfully stormed a strong position of the enemy. He led the 1st brigade of the siiiiir army at Shiloh, was engaged at Corinth and Russell House, accompanied Gen. William T. Sherman to Moscow, Tenn., and was subsequently in charge of an expedition to Holly Springs, Miss., and Memphis, Tenn. He was appointed brigadier- general of volunteers in July, 1862, and made expeditions and reconnoissances into Mississippi till November of that year, when he was placed in command of the 2d" division of Gen. William T. Sherman's army, and was severely wounded at Vicksburg, 28 Dec., 1862. He assumed his command on his recovery in October, 1863, and unengaged at Missionary Ridge in the movements for the relief of Knoxville and in the Atlanta campaign. He was then placed in charge of Vieksburg, and, by his strrn adherence to military law. brought that city into peace ami order, lie was sul^e-