Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 7).djvu/187

Rh senior. UTien in 1890 the firm was consolidated, with other houses, in the American book company, Mr. Ivison became president of that important corporation. He resides in Rutherford, N. J., and is much interested in the affairs of the Pres- byterian church, of which he is a ruling elder.

IZARD, George, soldier, b. in London, Eng- land, 21 Oct.. 1776; d. in Little Rock, Ark.. 22 Oct., 1838. He was a son of Ralph Izard, (q. v.), and after residing with his family in Charleston, S. C, gratluated at the College of Philadelphia in, was sent to a military school near London, and then to one in Germany. Subse- quently, through the agency of James Slonroe, he spent two years in the French gov- ernment school for engineers of the army at .Metz. While there he was com missioned lieutenant in the U. S. corps of ar- tillerists ami en- gineers. Return- ing, he was or- dered to Charles- ton as engineer of Fort Pinckney, then served as aide-de-camp to Alexander Hamilton during the threatened French war, and was later allowed to accept the place of secretary of legation at Lisbon. In 1803 he resigned from the army, ami earlv in 1812 he was ap|«)iuted colonel of the 2d artillery, commanding the department of Penn- sylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. In February, 1813, he conimanded district No. 3, with New York as headquarters, and was promoted brigadier- general. In August of that year, the English fleet having left the vicinity of New York, he was or- dered to command one of the brigades under Gen. Wade Hampton, holding the line of C'hateaugay river near Lake Champlain. In Hampton's defeat of 26 Oct. he handled his brigade with ability, and conducted the retreat in an orderly manner. Ho was promoted major-general in March, 1814. and in May took command of the division of the right, with headquarters at Plattsburg. There he found only 2.000 badly equipped and half-disciplined men, which number was increased by August to 7.000, all raw recruits. Izard was unremitting in their instruction and active in fortifying the post. The arrivals on the British side in the meantime amounted to more than 30,000 men, all regulars, and mainly Wellington's veterans. Late in August he was ordered to Sackett's Harbor and Niagara with 4,000 men, leaving Plattsburg in condition successfully to resist Provost's attack. After an arduous march of 400 miles over bad roatls he marshalled his troops, with those of Gen. Jacob Brown, on the Canada side of Niagara river, and found the British general, Drummond, intrenched behind Chippewa river. His carefully considered opinion was that he outnumbered the enemy but by a few hundred men. He offered battle in the open, but it was declined, and being deficient in artillery, and winter weather being at hand, he de- cided not to attempt to turn Drummond's position. His entire evacuation of the peninsula, including the destruction of Fort Erie, which followed, was approved by the president and secretary of war. Gen. Izard was the only officer of the war of 1813 who ha<l been completely educated in the schools. His military judgment seems to have been correct, and, in reaifing the severe strictures against him by Armstrong and Ingersoll, not only the conditions surrounding him should be considered, but the competency of his judges as military critics. He resigned from the army in 1815, and was appointed governorof Arkansas 'lerri to ry in March, 1825.serv- ing as such for above three years before his death.