Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/726

692 STIRLING, Sir Thomas, bart., British soldier, d. 9 May. isos. He became captain in July. I ;.>7. in the l-'l. in- Royal Highland regiment, which funk part in the expeditions of 17~>8-'9 to Lake George and Lake Champlain. It was afterward M-nt in aist at the siege of Niagara, and in 1700 accompanied Sir Jeffrey Amherst from Oswego to Montreal. Capt. Stirling was stationed at Fort Chartres, 111., in 1705. and in June, 1766, he re- turned to Philadelphia, after a march of more t han 3,000 miles, with his entire detachment of 100 men in perfect health and without accident. He became major in 1770, and lieutenant-colonel in 1771, commanding his regiment throughout the Revolutionary war. He was in the engagement on Staten island, the battle on Brooklyn heights in 1776, the storming of Fort Washington, the cap- ture of Red Bank, the battle of the Brandywine. and that of Springfield, 7 June, 1780, where he was wounded. He was made colonel in 1770. and held the rank of brigadier-general under Sir Henry Clinton in the expedition against Charleston. S. ( '., in 1780. He became colonel of the 71st Highland- ers in February, 1782, major-general in November following, lieutenant-general and a baronet in 17'Jlj. and general, 1 Jan., 1801.

STITH, William, historian, b. in Virginia, in KiS'l; d. in Villiamsburg, Va., 27 Sept.. 175o. He was a nephew of Sir John Randolph, and brother-in-law of Peyton Randolph. After study- ing theology, he was ordained in England as a minister of the established church, and in 1731 became master of the grammar-school of William and Mary college. He was chaplain of the house of burgesses in 1738, and in 1752-'o rector of Hen- rico parish and president of William and Mary. He published a " History of Virginia from the First Settlement to the Dissolution of the London Company " (Williamsburg, 1747 : new ed.. with bibliographical notice by Joseph Sabin, limited to 250 copies. New York, 1866). Thomas Jefferson says of this work that it is " inelegant and often too minute to be tolerable," and De Tocqueville calls it " long and diffuse," but it is praised highly by others for its accuracy. St it h acknowledges in his preface his indebtedness to the writings of William Byrd, and he also made use of materials that Sir John Randolph had collected for a pur- pose similar to his own. All the documents that he used have been recently destroyed by fire. He also wrote " The Nature and Extent of Christ's Re- demption." a sermon (Williamsburg. 1753).

STOBO, Robert, soldier, b. in Glasgow, Scot- land, in 1727: d. after 1770. His father, William, was a wealthy merchant. The son was very deli- cate in his youth, but early gave evidence of taste for arms >pendini: his play-hours in drilling hi- com- panions. Both his parents had died before 1742, and, after studying for some time in the university of his native place, he went to Virginia about that year and became a merchant. Here he kept open house and wa- a great social favorite, but met with little success in business, and in 1754 was ap- pointed senior captain in a regiment that was raised by the province to oppose the French. Under his direction the intrenchments called Fort Necessity were thrown up, and when finally Maj. George Washington was obliged to surrender the work, Stolio was one of two hostages that were given to the French to secure proper performance of the articles of capitulation. He was sent to Fort Du Quesne, and occupied himself with draw- ing a plan of that stronghold, which, with a writ- ten scheme for its reduction, he sent to the com- manding officer at Wills Creek. He was gicaiK aided in obtaining his information by the ladies in the fort, whose good graces he soon succeeded in gaining. He considered that the want of good faith that the French had shown in various mat- ters absolved him " from all obligations of honor on this point." His letters fell into the hands of the French at Braddock's defeat, whereupon Stobo was closely imprisoned at Quebec. He escaped in 175ii, but was captured, confined in a dungeon, and on 28 Nov. was condemned to death as a spy, but the king failed to approve the sentence. Un ::ti April, 1757, he escaped again, but he was recap- tured three days later. On 30 April, 1758, he made another attempt, and succeeded in effecting his escape with several companions in a birch-bark canoe. After meeting with many adventures and travelling thirty-eight days they reached the Brit- ish army before Louisburg. where Stobo was of much service by his knowledge of localities. He had been promoted major during his captivity, and after returning to Virginia sailed in 1760 for Eng- land, where, on 5 June, 1761, he was commissioned captain in the 15th foot. He served in the West Indies in 1762, but returned to England in 1767, and resigned in 1770. On his visit to Virginia after his captivity the legislature thanked him by name for his services, and voted him the sum of 1,300. Stobo was a friend of Tobias Smollett, the novelist, who, it has been suggested, describes him as Captain Lismahago in "Humphrey Clinker." The original edition of Stobo's " Memoirs " (Lon- don, 1800) is now rare. A manuscript copy was obtained by James McHenry from the British museum, and published, with notes, addenda, and a fac-simile of Stobo's plan of Fort Du Quesne, by " N. B. C." as Memoirs of Major liobcrl Stobo of the Virginia Regiment" (Pittsburg, 1854). This unique work is largely written in an imitation of the classical epic style.

STOCKBRIDGE, Francis Brown, senator, b. in Bath. Me., 9 April, 1826; d. in Chicago, 30 April, 1SH4. He resided in Boston from 1842 till 1847, when he became a lumber merchant in Chicago. In 1854 he removed to Saugatuck, Mich., and after 1863 he resided in Kalamazoo. He had served as a colonel of Michigan militia, was successively ia both branches of the legislature in 1869-'71. and in January. lss7, was elected to the U. S. senate, and re-elected in 1893 for term ending in 1899.

STOCKBRIDGE, Levi, agriculturist, b. in North Hadley. Mass., 13 March, 1820. He was educated in New England common schools and academies, and then turned his attention to farming. His application of scientific principles to his occupation led to his appointment on the State board of agriculture, where he served for four terms of three years each, and after 1868 he had been chairman of the State board of cattle commissioners. In 1867 he was called to a professorship in the Massachusetts agricultural college. Amherst. where he was also acting president in 1876-'9, and president in 1880-'2. Prior to the establishment of experiment stations he began and prosecuted during several years a laborious and extended series of investigations on the movement of sap in growing plants especially trees, and the force that plants exert in their growth. About the same time he devised and prosecuted a series of experiments as to the effect of moisture, and with apparatus that he invented for the purpose made observations on percolation, evaporation, and dew. But his most valuable work to the agricultural was a series of investigations that he conducted during 1868-'70 on the chemical composition of farm crops, and the effect of supplying to the soil on which