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* WHEATLEY. 464 WHEATSTONE. She was made much of by the Countess of Hunt- ingdon's set, and in America drew forth a com- plimentary letter from '.Vashington. Of real poetic ability she was totally destitute. In 1775 the family to which she belonged was broken up. and three years later she made an unfortunate marriage with a colored man named John Peters. There were at least four posthumous editions of her poems, and her letters were printed in 18G4. WHEAT'ON, Fr.^^xk (18.33-1903). An Ameri- can soldier, born in Providence. R. I. He re- ceived a public school education, and was a civil engineer in California until 1855, when he was commissioned lieutenant in the First United States Cavalry. In ilarch, 1861, he was pro- moted to the rank of captain. Four months later he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Second Rhode Island Volunteers, and before the end of the year he was commissioned colonel. He participated in the first battle of Bull Run and in the Peninsular and Maryland campaigns. In November, 1802, he was promoted to be briga- dier-general of volunteers, and was brevetted major-general in both the volmnteer and the regular service. At the battles of the Wilderness and Spottsj'lvania his troops were engaged in ■some of the most desperate fighting. In 1.SI34 he •commanded a division in the Shenandoah Valley and at the battle of Cedar Creek he was one of the first to rally his forces. During the last year of the war he served under Grant and took part in the campaign which ended at Appomat- to.x. In 1866 he Tas commissioned lieutenant- colonel of the Thirty-ninth Infantry and rose to the rank of major-general in the Regular Army before his retirement in 1895. WHEATON, Hexrt (1785-1848). An Ameri- can lawyer, di])lomat, and publicist, born in Providence. R. I. He graduated at Brown Uni- versity in 1802, was admitted to the bar in 1805, and studied for several years in Paris and Lon- don. He then practiced for some time in Provi- dence, and in 1812 settled in New York City, where for three years he edited The National Advocate. In 1814 he became a judge advocate of the army, and in 1815-19 was a justice of the Marine Court of New York City. From 181 to 1827 he was reporter of the United States Su- preme Court, and the Reports published by liim in twelve volumes are of exceptional value. In 1821 he was a member of the New York Consti- tutional Convention, in 1823 of the State As- sembly, and in 1825 of the commission appointed to revise the statute law of New York. In 1827 he was sent as charge d'affaires to Denmark, in which country the t'nited States had never be- forc been regularly represented. In 1835 he was appointed Minister Resident to the Court of Prussia and from 1837 to 1846 was Minister Pleni- potentiary there. A treaty successfully negoti- ated by him in 1844 was rejected by the United States Senate, but formed the 1)asis upon which future German treaties were drawn up. His be.st work is his Elements of htleriinflniwl Laic (1836), w-hich remains one of the greatest) authorities on the subject in any language. It has been republished in many editions in Amer- ica, of which that of Lawrence (1855), with a biographical memoir, and that of Dana (1806) arc the 7nost valuable. It has also been repub- lislu^d in London, and translated into French, Chinese, and Japanese. Among his other pub- lications are: A Digest of the Decisions of the iiupreme Court of the United fitates from Its Establishment in 1~S9 to 1820 (1820-29); Life of William Pinkney (1820), abridged for Sparks's "American Biograjjhies ;" History of the yorthmen (1831; French trans. 1844); Histoire dii progres des geiis en Europe depuis la paix de Westphalie jusqu'au congrcs de 'ienne, avec un precis historique dii droit des gens europcens avant la paix de Westphalie (1841: Eng. trans. 1846) : and An Enquiry into the Validity of the British Claim to a Right of ]'isitaiion and Search of American Vessels suspected to be engaged in the Slave Trade (1842). WHEATON, Lloyd (1838 — ). An American soldier, born in Fairfield, Calhoun County, Mich. He entered the Federal Army as a first sergeant in the Eighth Illinois Infantry on the outbreak of the Civil War, and became successively a cap- tain in March, 1862, a major in August, 1863, and a lieutenant-colonel in November, 1864. in the volunteer service. He also received the brevets of colonel of volunteers, major in the Regular Army, and lieutenant-colonel in the Regular Army. In July, 1806. he entered the Regular Army as a captain, and in October, 1871. was in- strumental in suppressing a Fenian raid from L'nited States territory upon the Province of ^Manitoba. He was then engaged for some years in frontier duty; took part, in July and August, 1874. in Custer's expedition to the Black Hills; and became a major in 1891, and a lieutenant- colonel in 1895. In May, 1898, during the Spanish- American War. he was made a brigadier-general of volunteers, and for a short time commanded the First Division of the Seventh Army Corps in Cuba. He was sent to the Philip|)ines early in 1899, there served with great ability against the insurrectionary forces, commanded tempo- rarily the pacified provinces in Southern Luzon, and in April. 1900, became commander of North- ern Luzon. He was made major-general of volun- teers in June, 1900. brigadier-general in the Regular Army in February. 1901, and major- general in the Regular Army in March, I90I, and in July, 1902, was retired from the service. WHEAT'STONE. Sir Charles (1802-75). An Englisli physici.st and inventor. He was born at Gloucester, and when twenty-one years of age entered into business in London as a maker of musical instruments. The scientific princi- ples involved in their construction largely occu- pied his attention, and in 1833 he communicated liis first paper. On Acoustic Figures, to the Royal Society, which was a discussion of the figures produced in Cliladni's well-known experiment. This was followed in 1834 by Ex-perimcnis to Measure the Velocity of Electricity, in which, with a mirror revolving 800 times in a second, he demonstrated its velocity. (See CiiRoxo- scoPE. ) In the same year he was appointed professor of experimental physics in King's Col- lege, London. In the course of experiments at the college on the velocity of electricity he de- vised an electric telegraph for the transmission of messages. In May, 1837, a patent was taken out in the joint names of Cooke and Wheat- stone, "for improvements in giving signals and soimding alarms in distant places by means of electric currents transmitted through metallic