Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/452

 PUGH

PULASKI

Heidelberg and Paris. 1853-57; received the de- gree Pli.D. at Gottingen in 1856; and took a course in agricultural chemistry in the laboratory of J. B. La«-es at Rothainstead, near London, Engl;ind. 1857-59, where lie demonstrated that plants do not assimilate free nitrogen. He was president of the Farmers High school near Bellefonte, Pa., 1859-64, which was chartered in 1854, and in 1862 obtained a congressional land grant at the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania, changing its name in 1874 to the Pennsylvania State college. During his presidency he planned and superintended tiie erection of college build- ings, secured endowments, and had special charge of the practical investigations of the students in chemistry, scientific agriculture, mineralogy and geology. He was married, Feb. 4, 1864, to Re- becca Valentine of Bellefonte, Pa. He was a member of various scientific societies in the United States, and was elected a fellow of the Chemical Society of England. He died in Belle- fonte, Pa.. April" 29. 1864.

PUQH, George Ellis, senator, was born in Cin- cinnati, Oiiio, Nov. 28, 1822. He was graduated at Miami university, A.B., 1840, A.M., 1843; practised law in Cincinnati, 1844-46; served in the Mexican war as captain in the 4th Ohio regi- ment and as aide to Gen. Joseph Lane; was a representative from Hamilton county in the Ohio legislature, 1848—49; city solicitor, 1850; attorney- general of the state, 1852-54; Democratic U.S. senator, 1855-61, defeating Salmon P. Chase, and while in the senate served on the committees on public lands and the judiciary. He was de- feated for re-election in 1801 by Mr. Chase; was a delegate to the Democratic national convention of 1860. serving as chairman of the Ohio delegation and supporting thecandidacyof Stephen A. Doug- las; and made an effective reply to William L. Yancey on the question of slavery in the territo- ries. He was counsel for Clement L. Vallan- digliam in 1863, and urged his release from im- prisonment by military authority on the ground that the civil courts of Ohio were operative. He was the unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant- governor on the Democratic ticket with C. L. Vallandigham for governor in 1803, and for rep- resentative from the first district of Ohio in the 29th congress in 1864, and was elected a delegate to the state constitutional convention of 1872 but refused to serve. He died in Cincinnati, Oliio, July 19. 1876.

PUQH, James Lawrence, senator, was born in Burke county, Ga.. Dec. 12, 1820; son of Rf.bert and Mary (Tillman) Pugh. He removed to Ala- bama with his parents in 1824; studied law in the office of John G. Siiorter of Eufaula. Ala.; was admitted to the bar in 1841, and settled in practice in Eufaula. He was a presidential elec-

tor on the Taylor and Fillmore ticket in 1848 and on the Buchanan and Breckinridge ticket in 1856, He was married, Dec. 1, 1846, to Sarah S., daughter of the Hon. John L. and Sarah (Boler) Hunter of Barbour county, Ala. He was a Dem- ocratic representative from the second Alabama district in the 36tli congress, serving from Dec. 5, 1859, to Jan. 21, 1861, when the state seceded and he retired, and was subsequently expelled. He joined the Eufaula Rifles and enlisted in the Ist Alabama regiment as a private, .serving a year at Pensacola, and was a representative from Ala- bama in the 1st and 2d Confederate congresses, serving from Feb. 22, 1862, to the close of the Confederate government. He resumed the prac- tice of law in 1865; was president of the Demo- cratic state convention in 1874; a member of the state constitutional convention of 1875, and a presidential elector on the Tilden and Hendricks ticket in 1876. He was elected to the U.S. senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of George S. Houston and took his seat Dec. 6, 1880, the term expiring March 3, 1885. He was re-elected for a second and third term, serving as U.S. senator, 1880-97, and as chairman of the judiciary committee of the senate in the 53d and 54th con- gresses.

PULASKI, Count Casimir, .soldier, was born in Podalla, Poland, Marcli 4, 1748; son of Joseph Pulaski, a nobleman, an able jurist, chief mag- istrate of Warech, and a founder of tiie celebra- ted Confederation of Bar, Feb. 29, 1768. Casimir Pulaski served in the guard of Duke Charles of Courland, and was in the Castle of Mittau when that city was besieged. He was one of the eight original asso- ciates of the Confed- eration of Bar; was taken prisoner with 300 other Poles in the monastery of Berdi- chef in 1759 and re- leased on condition that he bear propo- sals for a reconcilia- tion to the chiefs of the Confederation. He joined his father in Moldavia from whence he notified the Russian am bas.sador that he should not respect a parole extorted from him by fraud and vio- lence. He continued to operate against the Rus- sians with an independent command after the arrest and death of his father; was elected com- mander-in-chief of the Polish forces in 1770, but his success as a commander was followed by the in- tervention of Russia and Austria and the partition

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