Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/259

 SAXTON

SAXTON

Barrister ; TJie Proud Miss McBride ; Jerry the Miller : Fm Growing Old ; The Old Church Bell, and Treasures in Heaven. Among his published works are: Progress, A Satirical Poem (1846) ; Humorous and Satirical Poems (1850) ; Tlie Money King and other Poems (1859); Complete Poems (1861); The Flying Dutchman (1862); Clever Stories of Many Nations, Rendered in Rhyme (1865); The Times, TJie Telegraph, and other Poems (1S65); The Masquerade and other Poems (1866); F'ablcs and Legends of Many Countries (1872), and Lei.ture-Day Rhymes (1875). He died at the liorneof liisson, Charles G. Saxe, in Albany, N.Y.. March 31. 1887.

SAXTON, Joseph, inrentor, was born in Hunt- ingdon, Pa., March 23. 1799; son of James and Hannah (Aslibaugh) Saxton. He worked in his father's nail factory, learned the trade of watch- making, made a printing press on which he printed a small newspaper, removed to Phil- adelphia in 1817, where he carried on the busi- ness of watch-making, and invented a machine for facilitating the making of the wheels for the works. With Isaiah Lukens he con- structed an ingenious clock which gave the movements of the planets, and he also made the town clock i)laced in the belfry of Independence Hall, Philadelphia. About 1828 he went to Lon- don, wiiere he became associated with the Ade- laide Gallery of Practical Science, for which he constructed several mechanical toys. He there met Telford, Brunei, Whitwell, Hawkins and Faraday, through whose influence he was ad- mitted to the meetings of the Royal in.stitution. In June, 1833. he demonstrated before the British Association for the Advancement of Science, the workings of his magneto-electric machine, cap- able of decomposing water and of producing brilliant electrical sparks and steady light by bringing charcoal points near together. He also invented a pulley for measuring the velocity of vessels ; an air-gun with metallic cartridge ; an apparatus for obtaining an electrical spark from the magnetism of the earth ; another for measur- ing the velocity of electricity, and several useful articles. He also perfected the medal-ruling macliine, invented by Gobercht of the U.S. mint, an 1 was awarded the Scott legacy medal of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, in 1834, for his reflecting pyrometer. He declined the office of director of the printing machinery of the Bank of England, and on his return to the United States in 1837, he became curator of the standai'd weighing apparatus of the U.S. mint in Philadelphia, and superintended the construction of standard balances, weights and measures for the branch mints and assaj' offices of the government. He also invented an automatic machine for measuring the height of the tides ;

one for determining the temperature of the deep sea ; an immersed hj-drometer ; and applied his reflecting pyrometer to the construction of measuring rods. He was awarded a gold medal at the Crystal Palace fair, London, in 1851, for a nearly precise balance. He was a mem- ber of the Franklin Institute, and of the Ameri- can Philosophical society, 1837-73, and a charter member of the National Academy of Sciences, 1863, which society preserved his memoirs, written by Joseph Henry, 1877. He was married in 1850 to Mary H. Abercrombie of Philadelphia, Pa. He died in Washington, D.C., Oct. 26, 1873. SAXTON, Rufus, soldier, was born at Green- field, Mass., Oct. 19, 1824; son of Jonathan Ashley and Miranda (Wright) Saxton ; grandson of Rufus and Tirzah (Ashley) Saxton and of Ashel and Mercy (White) Wright, and a great- grandson of David and Rebecca (Barnard) Sax- ton and of the Rev. Jonathan Ashley and Capt. Salmon White of the Continental army of the Revolution, He entered the U.S. Military acade- my in 1845 and in 1849 was brevetted 2d lieuten- ant, 3d artillery. He served in the Seminole war and on Sept. 12, 1850, was commissioned 2d lieutenant, 4th artillery. He did frontier duty until 1853, when he was detailed to explore and survey a route for the Northern Pacific railroad, through the unknown Northwest, from the Mis- sissippi river to the Pacific ocean. He was pro- moted 1st lieutenant, March 2, 1855. served on the coast survey, 1855-59, and was assistant instruc- tor of artillery tactics, U.S. Military academy, 1859-60. In February, 1861, he went to the St. Louis arsenal, took part in its defense, was pro- moted captain, May 13, 1861, appointed quarter- master on General Lyon's staff, and under him commanded the regulars at the capture of Camp Jackson. Before the battle of Wilson's Creek, he was transferred to McClellan's staff in Virginia, and after McClellan took the Army of the Potomac, Captain Saxton was made chief-quartermaster of Thomas W. Sherman's expeditionary corps, which captured Port Roj-al, S.C., Captain Saxton re- mained at Port Royal as chief quartermaster of the department of the South, and on April 15, 1862, was commissioned brigadier-general of vol- unteers and given command of Harper's Ferry, being there at the time Jackson made his attack upon it, to gain time to remove his captured piop- erty from Wincliester to Staunton. General Saxton received a medal of honor for his distin- guished gallantry and good conduct in the de- fense of Harper's Ferry. May 26-30, 1862. When General Sigel took command of the forces at Harper's Ferry, General Saxton was transferred to Washington and in July. 1862, was api)ointed military governor of the department of the South. He enlisted several regiments of colored troopn.