Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/138

 DANA

DANA

and on his return made an arrangement with Mr. Greeley by which he became managing edi- tor of the Tribune, remaining in practical control of the circuLatiou and advertising of that journal up to 18(52, and making the weekly edition to reach a circulation of 280,000 copies. As his ideas of the conduct of the civil war did not agree with those of ^Mr. Greeley, he resigned his connection with the Tribune, April 1, 1862, and accepted from Secretary Stanton a confidential position in the war department to adjust the accounts of the quartermaster at Cairo, 111., in- volving disputed claims amounting to between two and three millions of dollars. In 18(53 he was made assistant secretary of war, and during the remainder of the war he was constantly oc- cupied visiting army commanders and personally witnessing the operations in the field. His re- ports to Secretary Stanton and to President Lin- coln were impartial and comprehensive and were of great value in times when party favorit- ism or personal bias often di-sguised the condi- tions of affairs. Mr. Lincoln is said to have designated him " the ej'es of the government at the front." He witnessed and participated in the siege of Vicksburg, in the campaigns of north- ern Mississippi and Tennessee, in the Wilderness and at Siwtsylvania. ' After the close of the war he became editor of the Chicago liepuhlicnn, with which journal his connection was brief, owing to financial difficulties and to reasons indepen- dent of the editorial management. In 1867-68 he organized in New York city an association which on Jan. 27, 1868, purchased the property and franchi.ses of the Xno York Sun, and issued the first number under his editorship. He sup- ported the principles of the Democratic party, but made the Sun an important factor in political journalism independent of party limitations and superior to the dictation of accidental party leaders. Outside of politics the Sun was made a model newspaper and remained true to the motto it adopted, "If you see it in the Sun it's so! " His per.sonality was stamped on every issue of the paper and his course was sometimes erratic. He looked ujwn Beecher as guilty in the Beecher- Tilton trial; helped to elect General Grant President and then severely criticized his admin- istration; denounced the election of Hayes as a fraud on the American people; refu.sed the sup- port of his paper to Grover Cleveland, at the same time maintaining his allegiance to the party; supported Gen. B. F. Butler fr)r the presidency in 1884, and in 1896 supported William McKinley in preference to either wing of the Democratic part}'. His collection of oriental ceramics was, with the single exception of the Walters collec- tion of Baltimore, the largest and most interest- ing extant, -and its distribution by auction after

his death brought together the prominent art collectors of the world. He was given the degree of B.A. in the class of 1843 by Harvard in 1863, and the honorary degree of A.M. in 1861. Notrt^ Dame, Ind., gave him the honorary degree of LL.D. in 1889. His earliest contributions to periodical literature were sonnets published 1841-44 in The Dial, edited by ]\Iargaret Fuller, Ralph W. Emerson and George Ripley. His first

publication was a translation of stories from the German, entitled The Black Ant (1848). He planned, and in collaboration with George Ripley, edited The JVew American Cyclopa'dia (16 vols., 18r)o-63), which they revised and republished under the title The American Cyclopa'dia (1873- 76). His Life of Ulysses S. Grant in collaboration with J. H. Wilson, appeared in 1868; his House- hold Book of Poetry was published in 1857, repeat- edly revised, and a thorough revision made by him in 1884. With Rossiter Johnson he edited Fifty Perfect Poems (1883). He also wrote: The Art of Neicspaper Making (1895); Lincoln and His Cabinet (1896); Eastern Journeys (1898); and Rec- ollections of the Civil War (1899). On June 9, 1897, owing to failing strength he retired to his summer home on Dosoris Island, near Glen Cove, L.L, N.Y., where he died Oct. 17, 1897.

DANA, Edmund Lovell, soldier, was born in Wilkesbarre, Pa., Jan. 29, 1817; son of Asji Stevens and Nancy (Pruner), grandson of Ander- son and Sarah (Stevens), great-grandson of Ander.son and Susanna (Huntington) Dana, and second cousin of Alexander Hope Dana. He at- tended Wilkesbarre academy and was graduated from Yale in 1838. After spending one year as a civil engineer he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1841. At the outbreak of the Mexican war he was a captain of the Wyoming artillerists, which formed a part of the 1st Pennsylvania volunteers, and served throughout the war. He practised law in Wilkesbarre until 1861, and at the beginning of the civil war was made major- general of the 9th division, Pennsylvania militia. He was chosen colonel of the 143d Pennsylvania volunteers, Oct. 18, 1862, and served at Chancel- lorsville. Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Hatcher's Run, and the Weldon railroad, besides many minor engagements. At Gettysburg the com-