Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/339

 PROMINENT PERSONS

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ccimmand of the Oneida. He was fleet cap- tain and chief of staff of Farragut's squad- ron on the Mississippi, commanding the Hartford at the passing of the Port Hudson and Grand Gulf batteries. At the capture of Fort Hudson he was in chief command of tlie naval forces, Admiral Farragut having been called to New Orleans. In the block- ade of Mobile in 1864, he commanded the Riclinifliid, and the second division of Farra- gut's fleet, and was left in command in Mobile Bay until February, 1865, when he was ordered to the James river, remaining there until the surrender. After the war he was sent to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers tc: investigate seamen's bounty claims, and as president of a board awarded a large sum to enlisted men and their families. From 1865 until 1869 he was chief of the board of navigation, then chief of the lighthouse board until 1871. He was promoted to rear- admiral July 13, 1870. Later he commanded the naval forces on the Asiatic station until his retirement, December 12, 1873. At the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876, he was in charge of the exhibit made by the United States Navy Department.

Halsey, Leroy Jones, born in Goochland county, Virginia, January 28, 1812. When he was six years old his parents removed to Huntsville, Alabama, and his education was obtained at Nashville University, from which he graduated in 1834, and for two years was tutor of ancient languages there. He pursued his theological studies at Prince- ten, was licensed to preach in 1840, and served as a preacher in Dallas county, Ala- bama. From 1843 until 1848 he was pastor of the Presbyterian church in Jackson, Mis- sissippi, then removed to Louisville. Ken-

tucky, where for a decade he served as pas- tor of the Chestnut Street Presbyterian Church. In 1859 he was elected to the chair of pastoral theology, homiletics and church government in the Theological Seminary of the Northwest, Chicago, Illinois, and filled the same until 1881, when he was made pro- fessor emeritus. His published works are: '"The Literary Attractions of the Bible" (New York, 1859) ; "The Life and Pictures of the Bible" (Philadelphia, i860) ; "The Beauty of Emanuel" (1861) ; "The Life and \\'orks of Philip Lindley (3 vols., 1866); "Memoir of the Rev. Lewis W. Green, D. I.'." (New York. 1871). and "Living Chris- tianity" (1881).

Wilmer, Joseph Pere Bell, born in Kent county, Maryland, February 11, 1812; was educated at Kenyon College, and the Protes- tant Episcopal Theological Seminary, Alex- andria, Virginia ; was ordained deacon in July. 1834, and priest in May, 1838. After serving for a few months as chaplain at the University of Virginia, he was appointed a chaplain in the United States army. He resigned in 1843. and was in charge suc- cessively of Hunger's parish, Northampton county, and St. Paul's parish, Goochland county, Virginia ; became rector of St. Mark's Church, Philadelphia, in 1848. con- tinuing there till the beginning of the civil v/ar. when he resigned, and settled on his plantation in Albemarle county, Virginia. He went to England in 1863 to purchase Bibles for the Confederate army, was cap- tured on his return voyage, and for a short time confined in the old Capitol prison, Washington, D. C. He became bishop of I,ouisiana in 1866. The diocese at that time was in a disorganized condition, but he de-