Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/325

 MATTHEWS

MATTOCKS

joined the forces of General Buell in Kentucky and advanced with Iiim into East Tennessee. Prior to the battle of Shiloh, April 7, 1862, his regiment was detached to act under the instruc- tion of Governor Andrew Johnson as provost guard at Nashville to enforce the authority of the governor. In Bragg's invasion of Kentucky, he commanded the 28d brigade, 5th division, 2d army corps. Army of the Ohio, and took part in the battle of Perryville, Oct. 8, 1862. On Dec. 9, 1862, he successfully withstood the attack of Gen. Joseph Wheeler on the road leading to ^lurfreesboro. He resigned his commission early in 1863; returned to Cincinnati; was judge of the superior court, 1863-64, and resumed his private practice in Cincinnati in 1864. He was a presidential elector on the Lincoln and Johnson ticket in 1864, and on the Grant and Colfax ticket in 1868. He was a delegate from the pres- bytery of Cincinnati, synod of Ohio, to the old school branch, general assembly of the Presby- terian church, held at Newark, N.J., in 1864. He was defeated for representative in the 45th congress by Henry B. Banning, Democrat, in 1876; was counsel before the electoral commis- sion in 1877, making the opening argument for the Republican claimants in the Florida case and the principal argument in the Oregon case. He was elected U.S. senator to succeed John Sher- man, who resigned in March, 1877, and served till March 3, 1879. In 1881 he was nominated as associate justice of the U.S. supreme court by President Hayes, and the Democratic senators, who were in the majority, refused to confirm the nomination, as he had for years been an attorney for railroads and other corporations. President Garfield on succeeding to the Presidency sent Mr. Matthews's name to the senate for the same position on March 15, 1881, and he was confirmed after a spirited partisan contest in the senate which lasted till May 12, 1881. He died in Wash- ington, D.C., March 22, 1889.

MATTHEWS, Vincent, representative, was born in Orange county, N.Y., June 20, 1766. He attended Noah Webster's school at Goshen, N.Y., studied law in New York city, was admitted to the bar in 1790, and established a good practice at Elmira, N.Y. He was appointed a judge of the supreme court of New York, 1798; was a member of the state assembly in 1793; state senator, 1796-97 and 1809: commissioner to settle and adjust the bounty land claims in 1798 and was a Federal representative in the 11th con- gress, 1809-11. He was district attorney for several counties in western New York, 1812-15; removed to Bath and thence to Rochester, N.Y., and was again a member of the state assembly in 1826: district attorney of Monroe county, 1831-33, and became chancellor of the state of

New York. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Geneva college (Hobart) in 1842. He died in Rochester, N.Y., Aug. 23, 1846.

MATTHEWS, Washington, author, was born at Killiney, Ireland, July 17, 1843; son of Nicholas Blaney and Anna (Burke) Matthews. He immigrated with his parents to America and lived in Wisconsin, and later in Iowa. He was graduated from the medical department of the University of Iowa in 1864 and was acting iissist- ant surgeon in the Federal army, 1864-65. He re-entered the service in 1865 as post surgeon at Fort Union, Mont., and was appointed assistant surgeon in the regular army, with the rank of 1st lieutenant, Nov. 16, 1868. He was promoted captain in 1871, major, July 10, 1889. and was retired from active service, on account of disa- bility contracted in line of duty, Sept. 25, 1895. He made an extensive study of the language and ethnology of the American Indians. A manu- script on the myths, customs and language of the Hidatsa Indians was nearly ready for the press, but on Jan. 28, 1871. it was destroyed by fire. He resided in New York, 1872-75, and in California, 1875-80, where he studied the Indian tribes of that region. In 1880 he went to New Mexico and began a series of ethnological inves- tigations among the Navaho Indians. He was ordered on duty at Washington, D.C., in 1884. Here he was engaged in somatological studies in the Army Medical museum and in etlinographio and archaeologic investigations for the bureau of ethnology and for the Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological expedition. He returned to New Mexico in 1890. and remained until 1894. The honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by the State University of Iowa in 1888. He was president of the American Folk-Lore society in 1896; and was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of many other scientific societies. He is the author of: Grammar and Dictionary of the Language of the Hidatsa (1873); English- Hidatsn Vocabulary (1873); Ethnography and Philology of the Hidatsa Indians (1877); Human Bones of the Hementoay Collection (1891); Navaho Legends (1897); besides many other books and articles for scientific magazines and governnient reports.

MATTOCKS, Charles Porter, soldier, was born in Danville, Vt.. Oct. 11, 1840; son of Henry and Martha (Porter) Mattocks. He was graduated at Andover academy in 1858 and from Bowdoin college, A.B.. 1862. A.M., 1865. He enlisted in the 17th Maine regiment as 1st lieutenant. Aug. 2, 1862; was promoted captain, Dec. 4. 1862; major, Dec. 22. 1863, and colonel. May 15, 1865. He commanded the 1st U.S. sharpshooters during the winter and spring of