Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/420

 MITCHEL

MITCHELL

an philosophy at Cin- ^ '^' cinnati college, 1834- 44. He was a mem-

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Military academy in 1841; lectured on astronomy in the principal cities of the United States. 1842-48, and founded and was director of the Mitchel observatory at Cinciimati, 184.5-59. He raised nearly all the money for the erection of the observatory and in 1842 he went to Europe to purchase the astronomical apparatus. The corner stone of the pier for the great tele- scope was laid in 1843 by John Quincy Adams. He was a«ljutant-general of the state of Ohio, 1841-48! chief engineer of the Ohio and Missis- sippi railroad, 1848-49 and 1852-53, and a director of the Dudley observatory, Albany, N.Y., 1859- 61. He was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, Aug. 9, 1861, and commanded the Department of the Ohio, Sept. 19 to Nov. 13, 1861. He was engaged in the Tennessee and North Alabama camimign with the Army of Ohio under General Buell, 1861-62; took part in the occupa- tion of Bowling Green, Ky., and Nashville, Tenn., the march to Huntsville, Ala., Feb.-April, 1862, and in the action near Bridgeport, Ala., April 80, 1862. He was promoted major-general of volunteers, April 11, 1862, and took possession of the railroad from Decatur to Stephenson by means of the famous locomotive chase by which the control of Northern Alabama was secured to the Federal authorities. On account of a dispute with his superior officer. General Buell, he tendered his resignation to the secretary of war, and was transferred to the command of the De- partment of the South, and of the 10th army corps, operating in South Carolina, on Sept. 17, 1862. The honorary degree of A.M. was conferred on him by Han-ard in 1851, and that of LL.D. by Wash- ington college, Pa., in 1858, and by Hamilt<)n, N.Y., in IH56. He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; a member of the

American Philosophical society, and an associate member of the Royal Astronomical society of London. He edited and published the Sidereal Messenger, 1846-48; invented in 1848 a chrono- graph for automatically measuring and recording right ascensions by an electro-magnetic mechan- ism, and in 1849 he invented an apparatus for the correct measurement of great differences of declination. He edited a revised edition of Elijah H. Burritt's " Geography of the Heavens," and is the author of: The Planetary and Stellar Worlds (1848); The Orbs of Heaven (1851); A Con- cise Elementary Treatise of the Sun, Planets, Satellites and Comets (1860); and The Astronomy of the Bible (1863). He died of yellow fever at Hilton Head, S.C., Oct. 30, 1862.

niTCHELL, Alexander, representative, was born in Aberdeensliire, Scotland. Oct. 18, 1817; son of John IMitchell, a farmer of Aberdeenshire. He received a commercial education, studied law, and entered a banking house in Peterhead. In 1839 he came to America as secretary of the newly organized Wisconsin Marine and Fire In- surance company, Milwaukee. The company did a large banking business and in 1858 was reorgan- ized into a state bank. During the financial panic of 1861 Mr. Mitchell saved many of t Western banks from ruin. He was elected tho first commissioner of the Milwaukee debt com- mission. Upon the consolidation of the several railroad lines centering around Milwaukee into the Milwaukee and St. Paul railway company, he was made president, and he was also president of the Chicago and Northwestern railway com- pany, 1869-70, and of the W^estern Union railroad company. He was a Democratic representative in the 42d and 43d congresses, 1871-75. His be- quests to hospitals and charitable organizations, both Protestant and Catholic, aggregated $50,000. He died in New York city. April 19, 1887.

MITCHELL, Charles Le Moyne, representa- tive, was born in New Haven, Conn., Aug. 6,

1844; son of Edward A. and (Fitch)

Mitchell. He was graduated at Cheshire acad- emy in 1863. He traveled in Europe, Asia, and Africa, 186.3-66, and in 1866 entered the manu- facturing firm of the Winchester Repeating Arms company at New Haven as a director, and also became a director of the Meriden Britannia com- pany at Meriden, Conn., and of the Tradesmen's National Bank, New York city. He represented East Haven in the state legislature in 1878; was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for U.S. senator in 1879; and a Democratic representative from the second Connecticut district in the 48th and 49th congresses, 1883-87. He removed to New York in 1887, and became president of the Mitchell. Vance & Co. corporation. He died in New York city, March 1, 1890.