Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/30

 RAMSAY

RAMSAY

the University of Pennsylvania in 1773. He be- gan practice in Cecil county, Md., but removed to Charleston, S.C., in 1773, and in 1776 joined the American army as surgeon and took part in the defence of Savannah. He was a member of the house of commons of Soutli Carolina, 1776-83; a member of the council of safety, where his aggressive .stand against Britisli oppression and their tory allies in the colonies so incensed the enemy that when Charleston was captured, May 12. 1780, he was imprisoned at St. Augustine with forty other hostages until exchanged in March, 1871. He was a delegate from South Carolina to the Continental congress, 1783-84 and 1785-86, and served as president pro tempore of that body dur- ing his last term. He was also a member of the South Carolina senate, and its president seven years. He was married to Frances, daughter of John Witherspoon. and after her deatli, secondly, Jan. 23, 1787. to Martha, daughter of Henry and Eleanor (Ball) Laurens of Charleston, S.C. He received his M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1780. and the lionorary degree of M.D. from Yale in 1789. His publislied works include: Touch not. Taste not. Handle not (a ser- mon on tea, 1775); An Oration on American In- dependence (1778); History of the Revolution of South Carolina from a British Province to an In- dependent State (1785); History of the American Revolution (1789); On the Means of Preserving Health in Charleston and its Vicinity (1790); Review of the Imiirovements, Progress and State of Medicine in the Eighteenth Century (1802); Life of George Washington (1807); History of South Carolina from its Settlement in 1670 to the Year ISOS (1809); Memoirs of Martha Laurens Ramsay, with Extracts from her Diary (1811); Eulogium on Dr. Benjamin Rush (1813); History of the United States, 1607-180S, continued to the treaty of Ghent by Samuel S. Smith and others and published posthumously (1816-17). This work formed the first tliree volumes of " Universal History Americanized" (12 vols., 1819). He met death from a pistol shot at the hands of a maniac to whose insanity he had testified as an expert in court. He died in Charleson. S.C, May 8, 1815. RAMSAY, Francis Munroe, naval officer, was born in tlni District of Colutnl)ia, April 5. 1835; son of Gen. George Douglas and Frances Whet- croft (Munroe) Rain-iay. He entered the navy as a midsliipman, Oct. 5, 18-50, served on board the Preble, 1851, and the .SY. Lawrence, Pacific station, 1851-.55; was graduated from the U.S. Naval academy, June 20, 1856; served on the Falmouth, Brazil squadron, 1857, and the Mer- rimac. Pacific squadron, 1857-60. He was pro- moted acting master, June 24, 18.57; master, Jan. 22, 1858; lieutenant. Jan. 23, 1858; lieutenant- commander, July 16, 1862. He served on the

Saratoga, 1860-62; commanded the ironclad Choctaw of the Mississippi squadron, 1863-64; and took part in the engagements on the Yazoo river in 1863. including Haines's Bluff, April 30- May 1; Liverpool's Landing in May, and Milliken's Bend. June

7. He was in charge of a battery at Vicks- burg, June 19-July 4, 1863; commanded the 3d division of the Mississippi fleet, 1863-64; served at Trinity and Harri- sonburg, La., March, 1864; took part in exi)editions up the Black, Ouaciiita, Red and Atchafalaya rivers in the spring of 1864; was engaged at Simnisport, La., June

8, 1864; commanded the gunboat Unudilla of the North Atlantic squadron, 1864-65; was pres- ent at the storming of Fort Fislier, and of several Cape Fear river forts, including Fort Anderson, and was in the James river flotilla in the capture of Richmond, Va., in 1865. He had charge of the department of gunnery at the Naval academy. 1865-66; was promoted com- mander, July 25, 1866, and served on navigation duty at the navy yard, Washington, D.C., 1866- 67; as fleet-captain and chief of staff of the South Atlantic squadron on the flag-ship Guerriere,

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THE DOnBARDAAE/HT OF FORT F15HER

1867-69. and as cojnmander of the Guerriere, June and July, 1869. He was married, June 9, 1869, to Anna, daugliter of Patrick and Mary (Powers) ]\IcMahon of Ireland. He served on ordnance duty at the navy yard, Washington, D.C.. 1869-72; in the bureau of ordnance in 1872, and as naval attaclie in Europe. 1872-73. He com- manded the Ossipee on the Nortli Atlantic station, 1873-74; was at the Philadelpiiia naval asylum, 1875-76. inspector of ordnance in New York, 1876- 78: promoted captain, Dec. 1, 1877; commanded the torpedo station, Newport, R.I., 1878-81; the Trenton, European station, 1881; was superinten- dent, Naval academy, 1881-86; a member of the