Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/729

Rh dent, Stockton was offered a peat in the cabinet as secretary of the navy, which he declined. The I". S. steamer " Princeton " (-ec KKICSSON, JOHN) was built under his supervision, and launched at Phila- delphia early in 1844. He was appointed to com- mand the ship, and brought her to Washington for the inspection of officials and members of con- gress. On a trial-trip down the Potomac river, when the president, cabinet, and a distinguished company were on board, one of the large guns burst and killed the secretary of state, secretary of the navy. Gardiner of Gardiner's island, and several of t he crew, while a great many were seriously injured. A naval court of inquiry entirely exonerated Capt. Stockton. Shortly after this event he sailed in the " Princeton " as bearer of the annexation resolu- tions to the government of Texas. In October, 1845, he went in the frigate " Congress " from Nor- folk to serve as Commander-in-chief of the Pacific squadron, on the eve of the Mexican war. He sailed around Cape Horn to the Sandwich islands, and thence to Monterey, where he found the squad- ron in possession under Com. John D. Sloat, whom Stockton relieved. News of the war had been re- ceived by the squadron before his arrival, and Monterey and San Francisco were captured. Stock- ton assumed command of all American forces on the coast by proclamation, 23 July, 1846. He or- ganized a battalion of Americans in California and naval brigades from the crews of the ships. Col. John C. Fremont also co-operated with him. He sent Fremont in the " Cyane " to San Diego, while he landed at San- ta Barbara and marched thirty miles with the naval brigade to the Mexican cap- ital of Califor- nia, the city of Los Angeles, of which he took possession on 13 Aug. He then organized a civil government for the state, and appointed Col. Fremont govern- or. Rumors of a rising of the Indians compelled him to return to the north in September. The force that he left at Los Angeles was besieged by the Mexicans in his absence, and Stockton was obliged to sail to San Diego after finding all quiet in the northern part of California. The Mexicans had also recaptured San Diego. He landed at that place, drove out the ene- my, and sent a force to the rescue of Gen. Stephen W. Kearny, who had been defeated by the Mexi- cans on the way to San Diego. Gen. Kearny, with sixty dragoons, then served under Stockton's orders, and the force proceeded to Los Angeles, 150 miles distant. An engagement took place at San Gabriel on 8 Jan., 1847, followed by the battle of La Mesa the next day, in which the Mexicans were routed. Col. Fremont had raised an additional force of Califor- nians, by which the force under Stockton amounted to more than 1.000 men. Negotiations were opened with the Mexican governor, and the entire province of California was ceded to the United States and evacuated by the Mexican authorities. The treaty with Mexico was subsequently confirmed. Gen. Kearny raised a dispute with Stockton for li is as- sumption of command over military forces, but Stockton's course was sustained by virtue of his conquest. On 17 Jan., 1847, he returned to San Diego, and then sailed to Monterey, where he was relieved by Com. William B. Shubrick. Stockton returned home overland during the summer. He was the recipient of honors by all parties. and the legislature of New Jersey gave'him a vote of thanks and a reception. The people of California, in rec- ognition of his services, named for him the city of Stockton, and also one of the principal streets of San Francisco. On 28 May, 1850. he resigned from the navy in order to settle his father-in-law's estate in South Carolina and attend to his private inter- ests. He continued to take part in politics, was elected to the U. S. senate, and took his seat, 1 Dec., 1851, but resigned, 10 Jan., 1853, and retired to private life. During his brief service in the senate he introduced and advocated the bill by which flogging was abolished in the navy. He also urged measures for coast defence. After he resigned from the senate he devoted himself to the development of the Delaware and Itaritan canal, of which he was president until his death. He continued to take an interest in politics, became an ardent supporter of the " American " party, and was a delegate to the Peace congress that met in Wash- ington, 13 Feb.. 1861. See his " Life and Speeches" (New York, 1856). Robert Field's son, John Pot- ter, senator, b. in Princeton, 2 Aug., 1826; d. in New York city, 23 Jan., 1900, was graduated at Princeton, was licensed to practise as an attorney, and came to the bar in 1850. He was appointed by the legislature a commissioner to revise and siin- plify the proceedings and practice in the courts of law of the state, and was for several years afterward reporter to the court of chancery. In 1857 he was appointed U. S. minister to Rome, but in 1861 he was recalled at his own request. In 1865 lie was chosen U. S. senator from New Jersey by a plu- rality vote of the legislature, a resolution changing the number necessary to elect from a majority to a plurality having been passed by the joint convention that elected him. On this ground, after he had taken his seat in the senate, several members of the legislature sent to the senate a pmieM against his retaining it. The committee on the judiciary unanimously reported in favor of the validity of his election, and their report was accepted by a vote of twenty-two to twenty-one. Mr. Stockton voting in the affirmative. His vote was objected to by Charles Sumner, and on the following day, 27 March, 1,866, lie withdrew it, and was unseated by a vote of twenty-three to twenty-one. He then devoted himself to the practice of his profession, but in 1869 was re-elected to the senate, and served one term till 1875. While in that body he advocated the establishment of life-saving stations on the coast, and procured on the appropriation bills the first provision for their maintenance. He served on the committees on foreign affairs, the navy, appropriations, patents, and public buildings and grounds; and took part in the debate on reconstruction, and in the discussion of questions of international law. In 1877 he was appointed attorney-general of New Jersey, and he was chosen again in 1882 and 1887. In this office he has sustained by exhaustive arguments I he system of railroad taxation, reversing in the court of errors the decisions ut the supreme court against the state. Mr. Stockton has been a delegate-at-large to all the Democratic National conventions since that of 1864, where, as chairman of