Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/415

 POWELL

POWELL

of Tusayan (1875) ; Geology of the Eastern Por- tion of the Uinta Mountains and a Region of Country Adjacent Thereto (1876) ; TJie Lands of the Arid Region of the United States (1879) ; In- troduction to the Study of Indian Languages (1880); Studies in Sociology; The Canons of the Colorado (1895) and several pamphlets. He died at Haven, Maine, Sept. 23, 1902.

POWELL, Lazarus Whitehead, senator, was born in Henderson county, Ky., Oct. 6, 1812. He was graduated from St. Joseph's college, Bardstown, Ky., in 1833; studied law at Tran- sylvania university, 1833-35, and began to prac- tise in Henderson county in 1835. He was a Democratic representative in the state legislature in 1836 ; a candi- date for presidential elector on the Polk and Dallas ticket in 1844, and was defeated for governor of Kentucky by John J. Crittenden in 1848. He was governor of Kentucky, 1851-55 ; a peace commissioner to Utah in 1857, and U.S. senator from Kentucky, 1859- 65. His colleague. Garret Davis, introduced a resolution in the senate for his expulsion in 1862 on the ground of disloyalty, wliich was defeated, and thereupon Senator Davis retracted the charge. He was a delegate to the Union con- vention at Philadelphia in 1866. He died in Hen- derson county, Ky., July 8, 1867.

POWELL, Levin Minn, naval officer, was born at Winchester, Va., April 21, 1803; son of Alfred Harrison and Sidney (Thruston) Powell ; grandson of Col. Levin and Sarah (Harrison) Powell ; great-grandson of William and Eleanor (Peyton) Powell, and a descendant of Capt. Wil- liam Powell, who came from England to Virginia, 1611, and was a member of the first house of burgesses, 1619. His grandfather, Levin (1737- 1810), raised and equipped the 16th Virginia regiment ; served tlirough the Valley Forge campaign, and was a Federalist representative in the 6th U.S. congress, 1749-1801. Levin Minn Powell was appointed midshipman in the U.S. navy, March 1, 1817; assigned to the Frank- lin, and was engaged in suppressing piracy in the Mediterranean and China seas, the Gulf of Mexico and the West Indies. He was promoted lieutenant, April 28, 1826 ; commanded several expeditions against the Indians in the Seminole war ; was wounded in a fight with them on the Jupiter river in January, 1837 ; received the thanks of the navy department for his services in Florida, and commanded two survejnng expedi- tions on the eastern coasts and harbors of the Gulf of Mexico. He was promoted commander, June 24, 1843 ; was made assistant inspector of ordnance in October, 1843, and continued on ordnance

duty until 1849. He commanded the sloop John Adams on the coast of South America and Africa, 1849-50 ; served as executive officer of the U.S. navy yard at Washington, D.C., 1851- 54, and commanded the flag-ship Potomac on a cruise in the North Atlantic and West Indies, 1854-56. He was promoted captain, Sept. 14, 1855 ; served as inspector of contract steamers in 1858, and as captain of the frigate Potomac, in the Gulf squadron, 1861-62, having been retired Dec. 21, 1861, six months before he left his sliip. He was promoted commodore on the retired list, July 16, 1862 ; served as inspector of the third light-house district, 1863-66 ; on special service, 1867-72, and was promoted rear-admiral on the retired list. May 13, 1869. He died in Washing- ton, D.C., Jan. 15, 1885.

POWELL, AVilliam Henry, artist, was born in New York city, Feb. 14, 1823. He began to study art under Henry Inman in New York city, 1843, and continued his studies in Paris and Florence. He first exhibited at the National Academy of Design, New York, in 1838 ; was elect- ed an associate in 1839, and a second time in 1854. His " De Soto Discovering the Mississippi" was painted for the capitol at Washington, D.C. 1848-53, and " Perry's Victory on Lake Erie" for the state of Ohio in 1863, and on a larger can- vas for the state capitol in 1873. He also painted : Siege of Vera Cruz ; Battle ofBuena Vista ; Land- ing of the Pilgrims ; Scott's Entry into the City of Mexico ; Washington at Valley Forge ; and Christopher Columbus before the Court of Sala- manca. His portraits include the prominent public men of the day, notably : Albert Gallatin (1843); Peter Cooper (1855), and Washington Irving. He died in New York city, Oct. 6, 1879.

POWELL, William Henry, soldier, was born in Monmouthshire, South Wales, May 10, 1825' In 1830 he came to the United States with his parents, who settled in Nashville, Tenn., in 1833, removing to Wheeling, Va., in 1843. He was married first, Dec. 24, 1847, to Sarah Gilchrist of Wheeling, Va. ; and secondly, April 29, 1879, to E. P. (West) Weaver of Belleville, III. He con- ducted the erection of the Virginia Iron and Nail works at Benwood, Va., 1852-53; the Star Nail works at Ironton, Ohio, 1853-54, and was general manager of the Lawrence Iron works at Ironton, Ohio, 1857-61. He entered the Federal army in August, 1861 ; recruited a company for the 2d regiment of West Virginia cavalry in Southern Ohio ; was commissioned captain in October, 1861 ; major and lieutenant-colonel in 1862 ; colonel. May 18, 1863 ; w-as wounded while leading his regiment in a charge at Wytheville, Va., July 18. 1863, taken prisoner by the Con- federates, and confined in Libby prison until Jan. 29, 1864. He was exchanged for General