Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/100

 SYME

SYPHER

August-September, 186"J, and commanded the 2d division, 5th army corps, Army of the Potomac, at Second Bull Run, Aug. 29, 1862. He com- manded his division at Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862; was promoted major-general, U.S.V., Nov. 29,

1862, and served at Fredericksburg and Chancel- lorsville. He succeeded General Hooker in the command of the 5th army corps. Army of the Po- tomac, in June. 1863. and commanded this corps at Gettysburg. July 1-3. 1803, and in the Rapidan campaign, October-December, 1863. He was pro- moted lieutenant-colonel, 5th infantrj-, Oct. 16,

1863, and brevetted brigadier-general, U.S.A., for gallant services at Gettysburg, Pa. He was given command of the district of South Kansas, Sept. 1. 1864; was brevetted major-general, U.S.A., March 13, 1865, for gallantry in the field; was must«red out of the volunteer service, Jan. 15, 1866; was on recruiting duty in New Mexico, 1866-67, and commanded various army posts until his death, which occurred at Brownsville. Texas, Feb. 9, 1880. A monument was erected by con- gress to his memory at West Point, N.Y".

SYME, John William, journalist, was born in Petersburg, Va.. Jan. 9, 1811; son of the Rev. Andrew and Jean Mathewson (Cameron) Syme. He was graduated at Norwich universit)', Ver- mont, in 1828. and at the College of William and Mary in 1832; studied law with his kinsman, Frederick Nash of Hillsboro, N.C.; was married, April 10. 1833, to Mary Cowan Madden, and prac- tised law in Petersburg, Va., for a few years. He purchased the Petersburg Intelligencer, which under his direction became the most influential Whig newspaper in Virginia. He was a repre- sentative in the state legislature for several years. In 1856 he purchased the Raleigh, N.C, Register, and conducted it with eminent success, making it the principal Whig organ of the state. He vigor- ously opposed the secession of North Carolina, but when it became evident that the tide could not be stopped, lie gave the support of his news- paper to the cause of the Confederacy, and con- tinued its publication without profit up to 1864, wlien he returned to Petersburg, hoping to re-es- tablish the Register with better financial success, but his hopes were destroyed b}' the presence of the Federal army before that city, and he did not long survive the downfall of the Confederacy,

dying sndd<'iilv at Pet<rsl)urj

Nov. 26, 1865.

SYMMES, John Cleves, delegate, was born on Long Island, N.Y., July 21, 1742. He re- moved to New Jersey, and was chairman of the committee of safety of Sus.sex county, 1774; a del- egate to the state Provincial congress, July 2, 1776, and one of tliecommitteeof ten to frame the first state constitution, which was ratified. July 18, 1776. He was a member of the legislative council; served in the Revolutionary army; was

promoted colonel, and distinguished himself at Monmouth, June 28, 1778, and in covering Wash- ington's retreat at Springfield, June 23, 1780. He was chief justice of tiie supreme court of New Jersey, 1777-87. and a delegate to the Continental congress, 1785-86. He removed to the Northwest Territory, where, with his associates, lie purchased in 1787 a tract of laud along the Ohio and Mia- mi rivers known as the "Miami Purchase" con- sisting originally of 1,000,000 acres, and founded the settlements of North Bend and Cincinnati. The tract was afterward reduced to 248,540 acres, because of the partial failure of the colonization plans, which liad also placed Symmes in pecu- niary difficulties from which lie never recovered. Tiie first pre-emption law for the furtherance of the colonization scheme was passed in 1801. In 1788 he was appointed by congress one of the three judges of the Northwest Territory, and held the position until Ohio became a state in 1803. He married a daughter of Gov. William Livingston, and their daughter Anna married William H. Harrison ((i-v.). John Cleves Symmes died in Cincinnati. Oliio, Feb. 26. 1814.

SYPHER, Jay Hale, representative, was born in Perry county. Pa., July 22, 1837. The Sypher family, of Teutonic stock, came to America in the early part of the seventeenth century, and settled near the present site of Chester, Pa. Five sons of his great-grandfather bore arms in the Continental army in Peimsylvania and New Jer- sey. He was brought up on his father's farm; was graduated from Alfred university, N.Y'., in 1859, and was subsequently admitted to the bar. He enlisted as a private in 1st Ohio liglit artillery in April, 1861, fought at Philippi, Va., June 3, 1861, and in the otlicr engagements in Western Virginia, including Carrick's Ford, being pro- moted through all grades to colonel of the 11th U.S. heavy artillery, Aug 11, 1864, and was bre- vetted brigadier-general of volunteers, March 13, 1865. He was mustered out with his com- mand, Oct. 2, 1865. He practised law in New Orleans, La., in 1866, where he was also interested in cotton and sugar planting; was a delegate to the Republican national convention of 1868; a Republican representative from New Orleans in the 40th congress, taking his seat July 18, 1808; was re elected to the 41st, 42d and 43d congresses, successfully contesting his seat in the 41st con- gress against Louis St. Martin, and holding it in the 43d congress against the unsuccessful con- test of E. Lawrence, and served, 1868-75. Gen- eral Sypher suggested, and actively supported in congress, the movement to improve the naviga- tion of the Mississippi river, and the protection of Anu-rican industries. He then removed to W^a-shiiigton, D.C., where, in 1903, he was still engaged in tiie practice of law.