Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/364

 DU PONT

DU PONT

DU PONT, Henry, luamifac-tuier. uasbornat Eleutliertum Mills, near Wilmington, Del., Aug. 8. 1812; second sou of Eleiitliere IrCnte Du Pont de Nenioui-s and Sophie Madeleuie (Dalmas) Du Pout. He grailuated at the U.S. military academy in 1S33; commissioned brevet second lieutenant 4th U.S. artillery, July 1, of that year, and was stationed at Fort Monroe, Va., and later at Fort Mitciiell, Ala., in the Creek Indian country. On the 15th July, 1834, he resigned from the army end came home to help his father in the manu- facture of gunpowiler at Eleuthereau Mills. On the retirement of his elder brother in 1850 he became tiie head of the lirm of E. I. Du Pont de Isemours & Co., and under his management the biisine.ss made astonisiiing strides. From 1846 to 1801 he was adjutant -general of his state and in May of the latter year was made major-general Bud commander of the entire military force raised and to be raised in Delaware, when his first order was that every man in tlie military service of the Btate should take an oath of allegiance to the United States or surrender his arms. The gov- ernor suspended this order and Du Pont then called upon General Dix, at that time in com- mand in Baltimore, who sent troops to Delaware to maintain the Federal supremacy. Originally an old line Whig, Du Pont became one of the lead- ers of the Republican party in his state and was five times its candidate for presidential elector. He was for over forty years inspector of elections or challenger at the polls. He inherited his father's and his grandfather's marked love for agriculture and was a very extensive landholder. He was married in 1837 to Louisa Gerhard. He died at Eleutlierean Mills, Del., Aug. 8, 1889.

DU PONT, Henry Algernon, soldier, was born nearWibnington, Del., July 30, 1838; .son of Henry and Louisa (Gishard) Du Pont. He was gradu- ated at the United States military academy, West Point. May 6, 1h61, at the head of his class and was promoted 2d lieutenant of engineers. He was appointed 1st lieutenant oth artillery. May 14, 1861, regimental adjutant, July 6, 1861, and was acting assistant adjutant-general of troops in New York harbor in 1862-63. He was promoted captain .jth artillery March 24, 1864, and com- manded a battery at the battle of New Market, We.st Virginia, and as chief of artillery of that department tf»k j»art in the battles of Piedmont and Lynchburg, and later in those of Opequan, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek as commander of the artillery in the corps of General Crook. He wdsbrevetted major for gallantry at Opequan and Fisher's Hill, and brevetted lieutenant-colonel, Oct. 19, 1864, for distinguished .sei-vices at Cedar Creek. He resigned from the army in March, 1875, and in 1S79 l>ecame president and general manager of the Wilmington & Northern railroad

company. In 189.5, after a long deadlock in the Delaware legislature in an effort to elect a United States senator as successor to Anthony Higgius, Colonel Du Pout's friends presented his name, and on tiie 9th day of May, 1895, he received fifteen of the thirty votes cast. The election was contested on the question of the right of William T. Watson, ex-speaker of the state sen.ate, then serving as gov- ernor, to a vote in the General assembly ; with his vote there was a tie and without it Du Pont had a majority of one. On Jan. 3l, 1896, the senate com- mittee on privileges and elections reported in favor of Colonel Du Pout. On May 15 1896, the senate, by one majority on a strict party vote, declined to seat him.

DU PONT DE NEMOURS, Pierre Samuel, statesman and author, was born in Paris, France, Dec. 14, 1739; son of Samuel and Anne Alexan- drine (de Montchaniu) Du Pont. He was of a Huguenot family and his great-uncle, Abraham Du Pont, emigrated to America in 1694 and was a planter on the Santee river in South Caro- lina. He entered pub- lic life in France in 1762 under the min- istry of the Duke of Choiseul, and his writings soon at- tracted the notice of the political econo- mist, Quesnay. Under the latter's teaching he soon became one of the most influen- tial "economists," as Quesnay's follow- ers were called, and a leader in the war which they waged against the obstructions to commerce and agriculture. His intimate friend- ship with the afterward famous Turgot, then intendent of Limoges, dated from the publica- tion of Du Pout's work, " De I'lmportation et de I'Exportation des Grains," 1764, which won him great fame as an author. In 1765 he was appointed editor of the Journal de V Afjrknlture, du Commerce et des Finances, a semi-official jmbli- cation, to which he gave such an economistic leaning that he was compelled to resign the edi- torship in 1766. In 1767 appeared his " Physiocra- tie," an abridgment of Quesnay 's Political Economy. Becoming in 1768 editor of the " Ephe- mCrides du Citoyen," the organ of the econo- mists, he advocated the aVjolition of the onerous road taxes, the freedom of the press, the emanci- pation of slaves and the abolition of the exclu.sive privileges of the French East India company. When Terray became minister he was promptly