Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/295

 WADSWORTH

WADSWORTH

and under his order the 2d Wisconsin regiment made a gallant struggle in regaining Henry Hill. He vras promoted brigadier-general, U.S.V., Aug. 9, 1861, McClellan's command, and was en- gaged in the defence of "Washington, D.C., be- coming military governor of the District of Col- umbia, March 15, 1862. He was the unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor of New York in 1863 ; commanded the 1st division, Gen. John F. Reynolds's corps, at Chancellorsville, May 3-4, 1863, and also at Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863, where, on the first day, with Meredith's and Cutler's brigades, he attacked the enemy, the l-lTth New York of the latter brigade losing half its numbers by not receiving Wadsworth's order to fall back to Seminar_t Ridge. On the second and third days, with Howard and Warren, he held an important position on Gulp's Hill, and at the close of the battle advocated the pursuit of the Confederates. He was on inspection duty in the south and west in the winter of 1864 until the reconstruction of theArmy of the Potomac, when he was given command of the 4th division, War- ren's 5th corps, and at the battle of the Wilder- ness, May 6, 1864, while leading the charge of the 20th Massachusetts regiment of Webb's brigade, against the enemy's line, was mortally wounded. He was brevetted major-general of volunteers on the same day. See " Tlirough the Wilderness " by Ma j. -Gen. Alexander S. Webb in " Battles and Leaders of the Civil War " (Vol. IV) ; also " Am- erican Conflict" by Horace Greeley (1864-66). He died in the Wilderness. Va.. May 8, 1864.

WADSWORTH, James Wolcott, representa- tive, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 12, 1846 ; son of Gen. James Samuel (q.v.) and Mary (Wharton) Wadsworth. He attended Hopkins grammar school, New Haven, Conn., but left in 1864 to enter the Fedei-al army, serving as aide- de-camp on the staff of Major-Gen. G. K. War- ren, commanding the 5th corps. Army of the Potomac. He was brevetted major, U.S.A., for the battle of Five Forks, April 1, 1865, and after the war returned to Geneseo, N.Y., whei'e he managed the family estate. He was married, Sept. 14, 1876, to Louise, daughter of William R. and Louisa (Johnson) Travers of New York. He was supervisor of the town of Geneseo, 1875-77 ; a member of the New York assembly, 1878-79 ; comptroller of the state, 1880-81, and in the latter year was elected a Republican representative from the twenty-seventh district to the 47th congress to fill the unexpired term of Eldridge G. Lapham, resigned, and was re-elected to tlie 47th and 48th congresses, serving from Oct. 11, 1881, to March 3, 1885. He was re-elected from the thir- tieth New York district to the 52d-58th con- gresses, 1891-1905, serving as chairman of the committee on agriculture.

WADSWORTH, Jeremiah, representative, was born in Hartford, Conn., July 12, 1743 ; son of the Rev. Daniel and Abigail (Talcott) AVadsworth ; grandson of John and Elizabeth (Stanley) Wads- worth, and of Gov. Joseph and Eunice (Howell) Talcott. Daniel Wadsworth (1704-1757), Yale, A.B., 1726, A.M., 1729, and a fellow of the college, 1743-47, was pastor of the First Congregational church in Hartford, 1732-47. After his death, Jeremiah Wadsworth became the ward of his uncle, Matthew Talcott, a shipping-merchant of Middletown, Conn., on one of whose vessels he went to sea in 1761 for the benefit of his health, becoming first mate and subsequently master. He was married Nov. 19, 1784, to Mehitabel, daughter of the Rev. William (Yale, A. B., 1709, A.M., 1712; tutor, 1713-14, and fellow, 1745-61) and Mary (Pierpont) Russell of Middletown, Conn., making his home in Hartford, Conn., after his mother's death in 1773. He served as deputy commissary to Col. Joseph Trumbull, 1775- 1777, and upon Colonel Trumbull's resignation in the latter year, became commissary-gen- eral. He served as commissary of the French troops until the close of the Revolutionary war, visiting France in July, 1783, to settle his ac- counts with the French government, and subse- quently traveled in England and Ireland, pur- chasing foreign materials, which he sold upon his return to the United States in 1784. He was a delegate to the Continental congress, 1887-88 ; a member of the state convention that ratified the national constitution, 1888 ; was a Federalist rep- resentative from Connecticut in the 1st, 2d and 3d congresses, 1789-95 ; a member of the state legislature, 1795, and of the council, 1795-1801. He was greatly interested in agriculture, and in- troduced many original improvements for its de- velopment. The honorary degree of A.M. was conferred upon him by Dartmouth in 1792. and by Yale in 1796. He died in Hartford, April 30, 1804. WADSWORTH, Marshman Edward, educator and geologist, was born in Livermore Falls, Maine, May 6, 1847 ; son of Joseph and Nancy F. (Eaton) Wadsworth ; grandson of Jesse and Phoebe (Locker) Wadsworth and of Lowell and Sabina (Warren) Eaton, and a descendant of Christopher Wadsworth, who immigrated to Duxbury, Mass., 1632 ; of Capt. Samuel Wads- worth of the Sudbury massacre, and of Gen. Sam- uel Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill. He was graduated from Bowdoin, A.B., 1869, A.M.. 1872; was principal and superintendent of schools in Maine, New Hampshire, Minnesota and Wiscon- sin, 1863-73, in which latter year he was professor of chemistry in the Boston Dental college, and was an instructor in mathematics and mineral- ogy in Harvard college, 1874-77, receiving, upon examination, the post-graduate degree of A.M.