Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 45.djvu/229

 sailing for the Chesapeake. The troops under his command were frequently engaged both with the enemy on shore and with the shipping.

Phillips was next ordered to Virginia with his troops to effect a junction with Arnold's force, which, after ravaging the country for some time almost unopposed, was now in a somewhat hazardous position. On effecting the junction, Phillips assumed command of the united force, consisting of about three thousand men. On 19 April Phillips ascended the James river to Barwell's Ferry, and on the following day landed at Williamsburg, the enemy retiring on his approach. On the 22nd he marched to Chickahominy, and on the 25th he moved to Petersburg. A small encounter with some militia took place within a mile of the town, in which the rebels were defeated with a loss of a hundred killed and wounded.

On 27 April Phillips marched to Chesterfield court-house and detached Arnold to a place called Osborne's, near which, in the James river, some armed vessels (Tempest 20 guns, Renown 26 guns, Jefferson 14 guns, and smaller craft) had been collected by the Americans for a special service. Phillips called upon the commodore to surrender, and, on his vowing to defend himself to the last extremity, Phillips directed that two six-pounder and two three-pounder guns should be taken to the bank of the river, and that fire should be opened upon the ships. Ultimately, the ships were set on fire and scuttled, the commodore and his crew escaping to the north bank of the river.

On 29 April 1781 Phillips marched with his main body in the direction of Manchester, which he reached on the following day, and where he destroyed a great quantity of stores. Arnold, with the remainder of the force, went up the river in boats. Although the Marquis de la Fayette, with a considerable force, was at Richmond, he made no attempt to stop the raid; and on the following day Phillips returned to Osborne's. Here he became seriously ill of fever; he was unable to perform any active duty. The force reached Petersburg, twenty-two miles south of Richmond, on 13 May. Phillips died the same day, and was buried in that town.

There is a portrait of him by F. Coles, R.A.; a good engraving has been made for the officers of the royal artillery, and is at Woolwich.

 PHILLIPS, WILLIAM (1775–1828), mineralogist and geologist, born on 10 May 1775, was the son of James Phillips, a printer and bookseller in George Yard, Lombard Street, London, and a member of the Society of Friends. [q. v.] was his grandmother. William engaged in his father's business as printer and bookseller, and at his father's death succeeded to the full control. About 1796 he and his younger brother, [q. v.], took a leading part in founding a society, called the Askesian (ἄσκησις), for the discussion of scientific and philosophical questions.

Though actively engaged in trade, he ‘devoted his leisure to the pursuit of natural knowledge,’ and attained a high position as a mineralogist, in which study he made great use of the goniometer, then recently invented by [q. v.], his success with it being mentioned by [q. v.] in his ‘History of the Inductive Sciences.’ Later in life he endeavoured to popularise science by giving lectures at Tottenham, then his place of residence. He contributed about twenty-seven papers to the ‘Transactions’ of the Geological Society and other scientific journals, most of them on mineralogy, and several on Cornish minerals; but he also discussed the geology of the Malvern Hills, and of the French coast, opposite to Dover. But his most important contribution to geology was a 12mo volume published in 1818, entitled ‘A Selection of Facts from the best Authorities, arranged so as to form an Outline of the Geology of England and Wales.’ This became the basis of a joint work by the Rev. [q. v.] and himself, entitled ‘Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales,’ 1822. He was also the author of ‘Outlines of Mineralogy and Geology,’ 1815, the fourth edition of which appeared in 1826 (his last literary labour); and of the well-known ‘Elementary Introduction to the Knowledge of Mineralogy,’ 1816. This reached a third edition in 1823. After Phillips's death a fourth (augmented) edition, by R. Allan, was published in 1837, and a fifth, when the book was practically rewritten, by H. J. Brooke and [q. v.], in 1852. William Phillips was elected a member of the Geological Society in 1807, and F.R.S. in 1827; he was also F.L.S. and an honorary member