Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 7).djvu/147

Rh on the staff of Gen. John G. Foster until Gen. James Longstrcet retreated, when he resumed com- mand of his brigade. Col. Gilbert's health hav- ing been impaired by exposure, he resigned on 20 April. 1864. He was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers, 13 March, 1805.

GILBERT, William Lewis, manufacturer, b. in Northfield, Conn.. 30 Dec. 1806. He was edu- cated in the public sch<X)!s of his native town, and has been a manufacturer of clocks since 1828. He was a member of the Connecticut legislature in 1848 and 1868, treasurer of the Connecticut west- em railroad for ten years, and has been its presi- dent since 1883. He holds the same office in five manufacturing companies in Winsted, Conn. Mr. Gill)ert gave, in 1887, !J4(X).000 to provide a home for friendless chihiren in Winsted and vicinity, and a like sum for a free high-school in that place.

GILCHRIST, Robert, lawyer. b. in Jersey City. N. J., 21 Aug., 1825: d. there. 6 July, 1888. He was educate<l in private schools, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1847. Subsequently he became a counsellor of the U..S. supreme court. He was a member of the New Jersey legislature in 1859. At the first call for troops in 1861 he went to the front as a captain in the 2d New Jersey regi- ment. Until the close of the civil war he was a Republican, but he left that party on the question of reconstruction, and in 1866 he was a Democratic candidate for congress. In 186U he was appointed attorney-general of New Jerst^y.tofill the unexpired tenn of George M. Robeson (appointed secretary of the navy in President Grant's cabinet), and in 1873 was reap|H>inted for a full term. In 1875 he was a candidate for U. S. senator. He had been apimint- ed one of the coniniis.sioners to revise the constitu- tion of the state in 18~1 but resigned before the work was completed, and he also declined the office of chief justice of New Jersey. Mr. Gilchrist was es|)ecially versed in constitutional law, and he was employed in many notable cases. His interpreta- tion of the 15th amendment to the national con- stitution secureil the right of suffrage to colored men in New Jersey. He was the author of the riparian-rights act, and was counsel for the state in the suit that tested its constitutionality. Kroiii this source the fund for maintenance of public schools in New Jersey is now chiefly derived. He also secured to the United .States a half million dollars left by Joseph L. Lewis to be applied in payment of the national debt. His large law library, en- riched with thousands of marginal notes, was sold at unction in New Vork six months after his death. — His wife. Frederirka, b. in Oswego. N. V., in 1846, is a daughter of Samuel liaymond Heardsley <o. v.). She has published " The True Story of Hamlet and Ophelia," a study and new interpreta- tion of Shakespeare's play (Boston, 1889).

GILLAM, Bernhard, cartoonist, b. at Ban- burv. Kngland. 10 Oct.. 1858; d. at Cnnajoharie, N. v., 19 Jan., 1896. When young he came to the United States with his parents and settled in W'il- liamslmrg, N. V., where he attended the public schools. Here he amused himself drawing pic- tures of his teachers, classmates, and persons whom he met on the streets. He entered a law- office, but, discovering his true calling, he connected himself with "Frank I.«slie'8 Weekly" during the (iarfield campaign, and his position as a car- toonist was at once established. Later he went to "Harper's Weekly." and subseqently to '• I'uck." where his "Tattooed Man" in the Blaine cam- paign of 1884 gave him a national reputation. He finally joined in establishing "Judge," under the firm name of Arkell & Gillam, making, chiefly through his political cartoons, a success of the Eaper. He was a great student of Shakespeare, and ad memorized many of his plays.

GILPIN, William, governor of Colorado, b. in Newcastle county, Del., 4 Oct., 1812. He was grad- uated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1833. studied at the U. S. military academy, and served in the Seminole war. but resigned his commission and removed to Independence, Mo., in 1841, where he practised law, which he had studied under his brother. He was secretary of the general assembly in 1841-'3. On 4 March. 'l844. with a party of 125 pioneers, he founded Portland, Ore.,about four miles above its present site, and drew up the articles of agreement for a territorial govcrinnent. He after- ward re-entered the army, serving through the Mexican war as major of the 1st Missouri cavalry, and in 1848 he made a successful expedition against the hostile Indians of Colorado, which resulted in a peace for eighteen years. In 1851 he returned to Independence, and in 1861 he was appointed first governor of Colorado. Gov. Gilpin has published "The Central Gold Region " (Philadelphia, 1859) and "The Mission of the North Ameiicun People " (1873). In the latter he showed by charts the practicability of establishing a railroad around the world on the 40th parallel of latitude, on which are nearlv all the great cities of both continents.

GINTER, Lewis, manufacturer, b. in New York city, 25 April. 1824; d. in Kichniond, Va., 2 Oct., 1897. His ancestors came from Holland, their original name being Gunther, which the grand- father of Maj. Ginter changed. He was left an orphan, and when eighteen years old settled in Richmond, Va.. opening a small store in which he sold toys, walknig-canes, etc. He prospered in business, and enlarged and diversified his stock, and was the pioneer in Richmond of the direct importation of European goods. At the beginning of the civil war he had accumulated a fortune of l|i200,000, but sold out and invested all his means in tobacco, sugar, and cotton, which he stored, and joined the Confederate army. His tol)acco and sugar were destroyed by the Confederates in May, 18(1.5. He was more fortunate in his holding of cotton, which gave him a capital of ^20.0(X) or l|30.000 with which to begin business, lie invested largely in stocks, and lost some |30<l.0OO, all of which he subsequently paid with interest. He was now fifty years old, but, not dismayed by his losses, he received consignments of smoking tobacco from John F. Allen, of Hichmond, who subsequently liecame his partner, and from this time forward in the cigarette and smoking tobacco business he was eminentiv successful, achieving a fortune of about 12.000,000. He served in the Confederate army as commissary to Gen. Joseph R. Anderson, of Richmond, on whose retirement from the army he served in the same capacity under Gen. Edward L. Thomas, of Georgia. He provided a physician and medicines for all his employees without cost, and when one of his buildings was destroyed by fire paid all the employees their regular wages while rebuilding. At Christmas he distributed useful Presents to all persons in hisemiiloy.nnd furnished ooks for the children of tho.se who attended the schools. His benevolence during his lifetime was far-reaching, and in his will he left *2.000,000 to deserving persons and institutions in Kichniond, including almost every charitidile institution in the city. The many improvements which he projected in Richmond are provided for in his will, so that they will be completed as he designed.

GLEN, James, lecturer, b. in Scotland in 1749; d. in Demerara, British Guiana, 9 Sept., 1814. In