Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/262

 SAYKE

SCALES

but in 1770, on the death of De Berdt. the firm failed. Sayre established liiinself as a banker in London, becoming one of the sheriirs of the city, 1773-74. William Lee. brother of Arthur Lee (q.v.), being the other. He was proposed as agent for Maissachusetts. but wlien Franklin agreed to serve, withdrew in his favor. In his official capacity he carried the pro-American pi'titions in bei>alf of tiie city to Parliament and the King. His career as sherifT was marked by greater ilecorum in the execution of criminals and humanitj' in the treatment of prisoners. He was a candidate ft)r Parliament from Seaford Sussex in 1774, but his election was successfully contested by his opp<inent. On Feb. 18, 1775, he married an heiress, Elizabeth, daughter of the Hon. William Noel. His social prominence and known political beliefs made him a marked man, and on Oct. 20, 1775, he was arrested, as an ex- ample to the opposition, on a charge of high treason made by Francis Richardson, colonel of the royal guards and a renegade American, but the case was dismissed for lack of prosecution, and he sued the secretary of state for false im- prisonment and won. Meanwliile his banking business had been ruined, and in November, 1776. a commission of bankruptcy was issued against him. In the spring of 1777 he left Eng- land for Paris, to offer his services to the Ameri- can commissioners there. In May, 1777, he ac- companied Arthur Lee to Berlin as his secretary, and was with Lee when Hugh Elliott, the Brit- ish minister, rifled his desk in search of secret documents. Wlien Lee left Berlin, disappointed from his want of success, he left Sayre in charge of the office, and in December, Sayre went to Copenliagen to advance American interests and thence to Stockholm, returning to Pai'is by way of Amsterdam. In October, 1779, Sayre ap- plied to Franklin for command of the Alliance after Landais's fiasco. In 1780 he went to St. Petersburg as agent from tiie United States to further the project of armed neutrality. Build- ing ships there, lie was hindered by Sir James Harris, the British minister, who catised the ships to be burned, and in so doing destroyed much Russian property at the docks, laying the blame indirectly on Sayre. In August, 1781, on the arrival of Dana in St. Petersburg as ac- credited representative of the United States, Sayre returned to Paris, and in 17b3, with his wife and son. Samuel Wilson Sayre. returned to America, purchasing " Point Breeze," a large estate at Bordentown, N.J., where his wife diet!. Nov. 29, 1789. He engaged in business in New York city, in.stituted claims against the government for compen.sation for his services in Europe, and in 1789 returned to France and en- gaged in the snufT business in Havre. He was

married in Paris, in 1790, to Mrs. Elizabeth Dorone. and transferred liis business to that city. In 1792 he was sent to England as secret agent for France to purchase arms. He was the jiro- poser of the French expedition of George Rogers Clarke against Louisiana inl 793. In 1794 he oj)- posed tbe policy of the administration. In 1807 he was granted a small portion of his claim for compensation. In 1810 he sold his Bordentown property to Joseph Bonaparte and removed to Branilon, Va. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from Harvard in 17(56, and is the author of: Hie Englishvian Deceived, a political pam- phlet (1768); Memorial, reciting his claims to compensation (1803). His son, Samuel Wilson Sayre, married Jane, daughter of Philip L. Grymes of Brandon on the Rappahannock, Va., and in their home his father resided, 1816-18, and died, Sept. 7, 1818.

SCALES, Alfred Moore, governor of North Carolina, was born in Reedsville, N.C., Nov. 26, 1827; son of Alfred Moore Scales. He was a student at Caldwell Institute, Greensboro, and the University of North Carolina, taught school; was admitted to the bar in 1851, practisei in Madison, and was solici- tor of Rockingham county. 1853. He was a member of the general assembly of North Carolina, 1852-53 and 1856; a Democratic represen- tative in the 35th congress, 1857-59; clerk and master of the Rockingham county court of equity, 1859-61; presidential elector on the Breckinridge and Lane ticket. 1860; and in April. 1861, enlisted as a private in the Confederate States army. He was promoted captain, and later colonel, and commanded the 13th North Carolina regiment in Pender's 6th brigade, A. P. Hill's light division, Jackson's corps, at Fredericksburg, December, 1862, succeeding to the command of the bri- gade when Pender was wounded. He was wounded at Chancellorsville, May, 1863; was promoted brigadier-general in 1863; and com- manded the 4th brigade. Pender's division, A. P. Hill's 3d army corps, at Gettysburg, July, 1863, where he was severely wounded. After his re- covery he rejoined the army and commanded the 2d brigade, Wilcox's division, A. P. Hill's corps, in the Wilderness campaign and in the de- fence of Petersburg and Richmond, 1864-65, sur- rendering at Appomattox. He returned to the practice of law in Greensboro. N.C.; again served in the general assembly of North Caro- lina. 1866-07: was a Democratic representative in the 44th-48th congresses. 1875-85. and governor of the state, 1885-89. He was engaged in bank- ing at Greensboro, where he died, Nov. 9, 1892.