Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/670

636 was the author of an act to improve the staple of tobacco and make tobacco-notes the medium of ordinary circulation. Although the welfare of Virginia was his constant aim, he was often im- perious and contemptuous. On one occasion he remarked to the house of burgesses that the people had made a mistake in choosing "a set of repre- sentatives whom heaven has not generally endowed with the ordinary qualifications requisite to legis- lators." and in placing at the head of standing committees men who could neither "spell English nor write common sense." The most bitter con- flict in which he was involved was that of church patronage. Like his predecessors, the governor claimed that the presentation to church livings was a privilege of his office, which admitted no interference of the vestries. With the aid of this controversy, his enemies prevailed against him, and he was removed from his post in 1722. He lived eighteen years longer in Virginia, and from 1730 till 1739 was deputy postmaster-general of the colonies. In this capacity he arranged the transfer of mails with much energy, bringing Philadelphia and Williamsburg within eight or ten days of each other, and through his influence Benjamin Frank- lin 'as appointed postmaster of Pennsylvania. On his domain of 40,000 acres he found beds of iron-ore, and, establishing a furnace, thus gave to Virginia a new industry. He was also interested in promoting vine-culture. At his houses on the Kapidan and at Yorktown he maintained the courtly state of the time and of his rank. In 1740 he was made a major-general to command an ex- pedition to the West Indies, and died while attend- ing to the embarkation at Annapolis. He be- queathed his books, maps, and mathematieal in- struments to William and Mary college, (iov. S|>ot -.win id's oilicial account of his conflict with the burgesses is printed in the " Virginia Historical Register," and he is best described in William Byrd's " Progress to the Mines." included in "The Westover Manuscripts, containing the History of the Dividing-Line betwixt Virginia anil North i laro- lina." written from 1728 to 1736 and published by Edmund and Julian C. Ruffin (Petersburg, 1841). The vignette is from a portrait now in the Virginia state library. His letters were used by George Bancroft, and then were lost sight of until 1873, having been taken to England by George W. Featherstonehaugh. They were bought from the latter's widow by the Virginia historical society in 1882, and published as " The Official Letters of Alexander Spotswood, Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia in 1710-1722," in the collections of the Virginia historical society, with an intrudnetion and notes by Robert A. Brock (2 vols., Richmond. 1882-'5). Bus speeches to the assembly in 1714-'18 are preserved in William Maxwell's " Virginia Historical Register" (vol. iv.). His son, Roberl. was killed by the Indians in 1757. His grandson, Alexander, soldier, b. in Virginia ; d. in Not- tingham, Va., 20 Dec.. 1818, served in the Revo- lutionary army, and was appointed major of the 2d Virginia regiment. He married Eliza, the daugh- ter of Gen. William Augustine Washington and the niece of Gen. George Washington. The sec- ond Alexander's brother, John, served also in the army, and was wounded severely at Germantown.

SPOTTS, James Hanna, naval officer, b. in Fort Johnson, Wilmington harbor, N.C., 11 March, 1822 ; d. at Port Stanley, Falkland islands, 9 March, 1882. His father was an officer in the U. S. arm. and commanded the artillery under Gen. Andrew Jackson at the battle of New Orleans. In ackin, 1- cdgment of his bravery, Gen. Jackson presented Maj. Spotts with a sword. The son entered the navy as a midshipman, 2 Aug., 1837, and made a cruise around the world in the sloop John Adams "in 1837-'40, in which he participated m two battles on the island of Sumatra with the na- tives, who had committed piratical acts against American merchant ships. He attended the naval school at Philadelphia in 1842-'3. During the Mexican war he served in the " Lexington " on the Pacific coast in 1846-'9. participated in the en- gagements that resulted in the conquest of Cali- fornia, on the blockade of the Mexican Pacific ports, and at the capture of Guaymas, San Bias, and La Paz. He was promoted to 'master, 8 April. 1851, and to lieutenant, 25 Nov., 1851. Though a native of the south, he promptly announced his devotion to the Union, taking command of the schooner "Wanderer" in June, 1861. and acted as captain of the port of Key West. In July. I*ii2. he took charge of the steamer " Magnolia " on the Eastern Gulf blockade. He was promoted to com- mander, 5 Aug., 1862, and had the steamer "South Carolina " on the South Atlantic blockade in 1863-'4. He was transferred to the steamer Paw- tucket," in which he participated in both attacks on Fort Fisher. In June. 1865, he was detached and ordered to the Mare island navy-yard, where he served until October, 1867. His duties had taken him to California so often that he made his home in San Fran- cisco, and was one of the first naval officers to identify him-elf with the interests and de- velopment of Cali- fornia. He was promoted to cap- tain, 6 Aug.. isiiii. commanded the steamers "Sara- nac " and " Pensa- cola" in the Pa- cific squadron in 1870-'2.and served as light-house in- spector on the Pa- cific coast in 1872- '4, being commis- sioned com mo- dore, 25 Sept., 1873. He served as president of the board of in- spection on the Pacific coast until 1SSO. He was promoted to rear-admiral. 2s May. issi, and took command of the U. S. naval force on the South Atlantic station in July. He was on a crui-e to visit the ports of that station when he was stricken with apoplexy while receiving the farewell i~it of the British colonial governor at Port Stanley. After his death the authorities gave a lot in the cemetery for his burial, and every honor was paid to the American admiral.

SPRAGUE, Alfred White, author in Honolulu, 17 June, 1821 ; d. in Vollaston, Mass., 7 Dec., 1891. His father, Daniel Chamberlain, was the first missionary to the Sandwich islands in !M!i. and built the first frame house there, and his mother was the first while woman to land on those islands. The son was graduated at Amherst, and in 1849 changed his name to Spragiie l,y an act of the legislature of Massachusetts. He was professor of natural philosophy and chemistry in Va*hing- ton university. St. Louis, and from 185EI till 1S(J3 he was experimental lecturer on these subjects in private schools in Boston. In 1863 he applied the