Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/128

 DALLAS

DALLAS

to a shot from the Little Belt without waiting for special orders from his superior officer. He was subjected to a court of inquiry as the United States was at peace witii Great Britjiin at the time — May 23. 1811, — and was acquitted of all blame, having acted luiiler gen- eral orders. This incident precipitated the war of 1812. He was commissioned lieutenant, March 4, 1811, to take rank from June 13, 1810. He was further lionored by Captain Rodgers, June 23, 1812, by being allowed to fire the first gun in the encounter between the President and the Bdcidere, which was the first gun of the war of 1812. In 1813 he served with Commodore Isaixc Cliauncey on Lake Ontario and with Capt. O. H. Perrj' on Lake Erie. He was made lieu- tenant-commander of the Spitfire, ]\Iay 11, 1815, and sailed to Algiers with Commodore Stephen Decatur's fleet to demand indemnity from the Algerians for depredations upon American mer- chantmen. His commission as master-comman- dant was given March 5, 1817, and that of liost-captain. then the liighest rank in the navy, April 24, 1828. He planned and built the U.S. navy yard at Pensacola and on July IG, 1835, was ordered to the command of the West Indian squadron. His presence on the coast of Florida aided Gen. Winfield Scott in suppressing the Seminole Indians, and that general, in recognition of these services, named a government work on the eastern coast of Florida Fort Dallas. He then directed his attention to the protection of American commerce against Mexican war vessels and in 1837 seized the brig General Urea, holding it until satisfactory terms of treaty were ac- corded by the Mexican government. He was returned to the command of the Pen.sacola navy yard in 1839; was transferred to the command of the Pacific squadron in 1843, and while in this .service died while his fleet was stationed in the harbor of Callao, Peru. He was married, Jan. 8, 1821, to Henrietta C, daughter of Richard "VVor-sam Meade, a merchant of Philadelphia, Pa., and sister of Gen. George G. Meade, U.S.A., and after her death he was married, July 16, 1836, to Mary Byrd, daughter of Col. Byrd Willis of Fred- ericksburg, Va., and great-granddaughter of Col. Fielding Lewis and liis wife, Betty Wash- ington, only sister of George Washington. Mrs. Dallas was still a resident of Washington, D.C., in 1898. Commodore Dallas died on shipboard in Callao Bay, Pern. S.A., June 3, 1844.

DALLAS, Alexander James, soldier, was born in Georgetown, D.C. March 2, 1830; son of Commodore Alexander James and Henrietta C. (Meade) Dallas; and grandson of the Hon. Alex- ander James and Arabella M. (Smith) Dallas. He served in the navy as aid to Commodore Perry in the Mexican war, and held the commission of

2d lieutenant in the marine corps. He entered the army in 1861; was commissioned captain, major and lieutenant-colonel in the regular army, and was retired as lieutenant-colonel. He was brevetted major for gallant conduct at Petersburg, Va. He also served as hydrographic aid on U.S. coast survey, and as assistant archi- tect-in chief of Central Park, New York city. He died in Washington, D.C, July 19, 1895.

DALLAS, George Mifflin, statesman, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., July 10, 1792; the second son of the Hon. Alexander James and Arabella Maria (Smith) Dallas. His preparatory education was aciiuired under Mr. Dorfenille at Germantown and Provost Andrews in I'hiladel- phia, Pa. He was graduated at the College of New Jersey in 1810 and was studying in his father's law office when the war with Great Britain interrupted his course and he volunteered in a company then forming to enter the army. He was appointed in 1813 i)rivate secretary to the Hon. Albert Gallatin on his mission to Russia to secure througli the Czar negotiations of peace with England, and he was thereupon discharged from his military obligations, passed his exami- nations and was admitted to the bar before he had reached his majority. In April, 1813, he departed with the commissioners and upon reaching Russia it was found that England had declined the offer of the Czar to mediate. Mr. Dallas was thereupon sent by Minister Adams and Mr. Gallatin with despatches to Count Lieven, the Russian ambassador to the court of St. James-, to ascertain the wishes of the British government as to further negotiations, and this visit resulted in the designation of Ghent as the place of meeting of the commissioners. Pie repaired to Ghent, where he was entrusted by the U.S. commissioners with important des- patches to the home government, and arrived in New York late in October, 1814. Proceeding to Washington he delivered his i:»apers to Presi- dent ]Madison, who soon after appointed \\m\ remitter of the treasury, which office he resigned in the spring of 1816 to become solicitor of the United States bank, then just established by act of congress. In 1817 he was apix)inted representative of the United States attorney- general in Philadelphia. In 1824 he was con- spicuous in promoting the election of General Jackson and in securing the consent of Calhoun to take the .second place on the ticket.!Mr. Dallas shared with the friends of the hero of New Orleans in the disappointment resulting from the action of the house of representatives in selecting Mr. Adams, and in 1828 he was largely instrumental in securing for Jackson 178 electoral votes and a triumphant election. The snnie year Mr. Dallas was elected mayor of Phila-