Black Bayou Expedition, Mississippi through Bonneville

BLACK BAYOU EXPEDITION, MISSISSIPPI, April 5-10, 1863. 1st Division, 15th Corps, commanded by Brigadier-General Frederick Steele. Steele left Greenville and pursued the Confederates under Colonel Ferguson over 40 miles down Deer creek. Ferguson's force numbered about 1,000 cavalry and infantry, with 8 pieces of artillery, 2 of which were 10-pounder Parrott guns. At Thomas' plantation they received reinforcements from Rolling Fork and made a stand, opening fire with their artillery. Steele replied and advanced upon them across an open field, when Ferguson fell back to Rolling Fork, where a larger body of the enemy was stationed. Steele occupied the Confederate camp that night and the next morning, learning of the reinforcements that Ferguson had met at Rolling Fork, fell back to Greenville after destroying about 500,000 bushels of corn, capturing 1,000 head of stock of different kinds, and a number of vehicles. The Union loss on the expedition was 1 killed and 1 wounded, the man killed being one of Steele's escort.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 131.


BLACK, JEREMIAH SULLIVAN, jurist, born in the Glades, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, 10 January, 1810; died at his home in York. Pennsylvania, 19 August, 1883. His ancestry was Scotch-Irish. James Black, his grandfather, came to America from the north of Ireland, and settled in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, where, in 1778, Henry Black, father of Jeremiah, a man of note in his day. was born. Jeremiah's early education was obtained at school near his father's farm. He studied law, and taken into the office of Chauncey Forward, a lawyer in Somerset county, and was admitted to the bar in 1831. In 1838 he married a daughter of Mr. Forward. After an active and successful practice of eleven years, he was raised to the bench. He was a Jeffersonian Democrat. and was nominated by a Democratic governor, in April, 1842. for president-judge of the district where he lived, which post he held for nine years. In 1851 Judge Black was elected one of the supreme court judges of Pennsylvania. After serving the short term of three years, he was re-elected, in 1854, for a full term of fifteen years. On the accession of James Buchanan to the presidency, in 1857, Judge Black became attorney-general. He was very industrious and successful, in connection with Edwin H. Stanton, in protecting the interests of the nation against false claimants to grants of land made by the Mexican government to settlers in California before that country came under the control of the United States. When the secession crisis arrived, in 1860-'l, Buchanan held that there was no authority for coercing a state, if it chose to secede and set up as an independent government: but Attorney-General Black was of the opinion that it was the duty of the government to put down insurrection, and that the constitution contained no provision for a dissolution of the union in any manner whatever. General Cass having resigned as Secretary of State in December. 1860. Judge Black was appointed to fill the vacancy, Edwin M. Stanton taking the post of attorney- general. Judge Black occupied this office during the remainder of Buchanan’s administration, and exerted himself to save the government from falling into the hands of the secessionists. In March, 1861, when Abraham Lincoln became president. Judge Black retired from public life. He was appointed U. S. Supreme Court reporter, but soon resigned that office, and entered again upon the practice of law at his home, near York, Pennsylvania. He was engaged in several prominent lawsuits during the last twenty years of his life, and retained his vigor and professional skill to the close of his career. The Vanderbilt will contest, the Milliken case, and the McGarrahan claim were among the more noted cases in which he was engaged. He was a contributor to periodical literature, furnished an account of the Erie Railway litigation, argued the third-term question in magazine articles, and had a newspaper discussion with Jefferson Davis. His son, Chauncey Forward, was elected lieutenant-governor of Pennsylvania in 1882, and in 1886 was the Democratic candidate for the governorship. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 272.


BLACKBURN'S FORD, VIRGINIA, July 18, 1861. Richardson's Brigade of Tyler's Division. The skirmish at Blackburn's ford was the preliminary engagement of the greater battle of Manassas on the 21st. After occupying Centerville, about 9 a. m. General Tyler determined on a reconnaissance in the direction of the ford. Upon arriving at Bull Run he could see the enemy upon the opposite slope, which was well wooded and afforded excellent opportunities for concealment. Although distinctly ordered by General McDowell to do nothing to precipitate an engagement, Tyler ordered up a battery and Richardson's brigade—"to demonstrate the enemy's line." Richardson's brigade was composed of the ist Massachusetts, 2nd and 3d Michigan and 12th New York infantry; Brackett's squadron of the 2nd U. S. cavalry and Company D, 5th U. S. artillery. After a few shots from the battery, the Confederate artillery responding with right good will, the 12th New York fell into confusion and Sherman's brigade, consisting of the 13th, 69th, and 79th New York and 2nd Wisconsin infantry, and Company E, 3d U. S. artillery, was ordered forward as a reserve, but did not become engaged. The Confederate forces at the ford consisted of five regiments under command of General Longstreet, and in developing the line Tyler brought on an engagement of no inconsiderable proportions. Agreeable to Beauregard's tactics, the infantry fell back gradually to the stronger position at Manassas Junction, while the artillery continued the duel for some time longer. In this action the Union loss was 19 killed, 38 wounded and 26 missing. The skirmish was not without its benefit to both sides. It confirmed Beauregard in the belief that the general attack upon his position would be made somewhere near the center of his line, and caused McDowell to change his tactics to an attack on the Confederate left by way of Sudley ford. (See Bull Run, July 21, 1861.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, pp. 131-132.


BLACKBURN'S FORD, VIRGINIA, October 15, 1863. Portion of the 2nd Corps, Army of the Potomac. The corps, under command of Major-General G. K. Warren, had been actively engaged in the skirmishing for several days preceding, in what is known as the Bristoe campaign. The arrival of night on the 13th was all that prevented Warren's men from an attack from a much larger force of Lee's army. During the night Warren withdrew across the ford, where he took a position better calculated for defense, and at daylight received reinforcements of three rifled batteries which greatly strengthened his forces. Skirmishing was continued all day in the vicinity but neither side gained any decided advantage. The loss of the 2nd corps for the entire Bristoe campaign was 50 killed, 335 wounded and 161 missing, but only a few fell at Blackburn's ford.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 132.


BLACK CREEK, ALABAMA, May 2, 1863. (See Streight's Raid.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 132.


BLACK CREEK, NORTH CAROLINA, March 22, 1865.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 132.


BLACK CREEK, VIRGINIA, June 21, 1864. 2nd Cavalry Division, Army of the Potomac. Early in the morning the Confederate cavalry under General Wade Hampton was driven from the White House landing on the Pamunkey river and was pursued toward Tunstall's station by the 2nd division, commanded by Brigadier-General David McM. Gregg. At Black creek Hampton made a stand and Gregg tried to drive him from his position but failed, and during the night retired toward the Chickahominy. No report of losses.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 132.


BLACKBURN, JOSEPH CLAY STYLES, senator, born in Woodford County, Kentucky, 1 October, 1838. He was graduated at Center College, Danville, Kentucky, in 1857. studied law with George B. Kincaid in Lexington, Kentucky, was admitted to the bar in 1858, and practised in Chicago till 1860, when he returned to his native county. He entered the Confederate Army in 1861, and served through the war. In 1865 he resumed the practice of law, in 1871 was elected to the Kentucky legislature, and was re-elected in 1873. In 1875 he entered Congress as a Democrat. He was re-elected in 1876, 1878, 1880, and 1882. He was elected senator from Kentucky on 4 February, 1884, and took his seat on 4 March, 1885. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 272.


BLACKING. (For SHOES.) Take three ounces of molasses, three ounces of ivory black, one ounce muriatic acid, one ounce sulphuric acid, and a spoonful of olive oil. Mix the ivory black and molasses, then add the muriatic acid, and subsequently the oil; when the paste is well formed, incorporate with it the sulphuric acid. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 87).


BLACKING, LIQUID. (For SHOES, &c.) Three parts of white wax, seven and a half parts essence of turpentine; one and a half parts of ivory black. The wax is cut into small pieces and put into a glazed vessel. Spread the turpentine over it, and leave it for 24 hours. Then mix it by degrees with ivory black. To use it, spread it with a rag in a thin layer on the leather, and afterwards rub with a soft brush. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 87).


BLACKING. (For HARNESS.) Yellow wax, four parts in weight, six parts essence of turpentine, one part of mutton suet, and one part 'of ivory black. Cut the wax into small pieces, and leave it to soak twenty-four hours in the essence of turpentine; grind in separately the ivory black and suet until there is a perfect mixture of the whole mass. When the leather has lost its color, it may be restored by the mud of ink, or by sulphate of iron in a thick solution, spread upon the edges. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 88).


BLACKMAN, GEORGE CURTIS, surgeon, born in Newtown, Connecticut, 20 April, 1819; died in Avondale, Ohio, 19 July, 1871. He was graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City, in 1840, and in 1854 became professor of surgery in the Medical College of Ohio, at Cincinnati. During the Civil War he served as an army surgeon. He was a bold and skilful operator, and an able writer and lecturer. He translated and edited Vidal's “Treatise on Venereal Disease” (New York, 1854), edited a new edition of Mott's translation of Velpeau's “Surgery,” with notes and additions of his own, and was a frequent contributor to medical journals. He was a member of the Society of Physicians and Surgeons in London.  Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 274


BLACKBURN, GIDEON, 1772-1838, Kentucky, Virginia, clergyman, abolitionist, strong supporter of the American Colonization Society.  Went to Illinois in 1833.  Assisted Elijah P. Lovejoy in organizing Illinois Anti-Slavery Society.  Founded Blackburn College at Carlinville, Illinois.  Established school for Cherokee Indians.  (Dumond, 1961, pp. 91, 92, 135, 198-199; Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 272; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 1, Pt. 2, p. 315; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, p. 139)

BLACKBURN, Gideon, clergyman, born in Augusta County, Virginia, 27 August, 1772; died in Carlinville, Illinois, 23 August, 1838. He was educated at Martin Academy, Washington County, Tennessee, licensed to preach by Abingdon presbytery in 1795, and settled many years at Marysville, Tennessee He was minister of Franklin, Tennessee, in 1811-'3, and of Louisville, Kentucky, in 1823-'7. He passed the last forty years of his life in the western states, in preaching, organizing churches, and, from 1803 to 1809, during a part of each year, in his mission to the Cherokees, establishing a school at Hywassee. He established a school in Tennessee in 1806, and from 1827 till 1830 was president of Center College, Kentucky. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 272.


BLACKBURN, WILLIAM JASPER, born 1820, newspaper editor, U.S. Congressman, printer, opponent of slavery.  Published Blackburn’s Homer’s Iliad, in Homer, Louisiana.  Published pro-Union paper in the South during the Civil War.  Published editorials against the assault in the Senate against Charles Sumner, who was opposed to slavery.  (Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 272-273)

BLACKBURN, William Jasper, editor, born in Randolph County, Arkansas, 24 July, 1820. He was early left an orphan, and received his education in public schools, also studying during the years 1838-'9 in Jackson College, Columbia, Tennessee; after which he became a printer, and worked in various offices in Arkansas and Louisiana. Later he settled in Homer, Louisiana, where he established “Blackburn's Homer Iliad,” in which he editorially condemned the assault on Charles Sumner by Preston S. Brooks, being the only southern editor that denounced that action. Although born in a slave state, he was always opposed to slavery, and his office was twice mobbed therefor. The “Iliad” was the only loyal paper published during the Civil War in the gulf states. He was a member of the constitutional convention of Louisiana convened in 1867, and was elected as a Republican to Congress, serving from 17 July, 1868, till 3 March, 1869. From 1872 till 1876 he was a member of the Louisiana State Senate. Subsequently he moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, and became owner and editor of the Little Rock “Republican.” He received the nomination of the Republicans for the state senate, but failed to secure his seat, though he claimed to have been elected by 2,000 majority. Mr. Blackburn is known as an occasional writer of verse. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 272-273.


BLACKSMITH AND FARRIER Allowed to cavalry regiments. (See FORGE; ARMY ORGANIZATION.)


BLACKFORD'S FORD, VIRGINIA, September 19-20, 1862. Part of 1st and 2nd Divisions, 5th Army Corps. The action was begun on the afternoon of the 19th by the 1st U. S. sharpshooters and Porter's heavy artillery. Weed's and Benjamin's batteries drove the enemy away from the ford and the sharpshooters crossed under the protection of the 4th Michigan infantry. The Michigan regiment then crossed in the face of a galling fire and captured 6 of the Confederate guns. As it was almost dark the troops were ordered to recross to the Maryland side, rather than risk remaining in the exposed position during the night. Early on the morning of the 20th Colonel Barnes and General Griffin, with the 1st and 2nd brigades of the 1st division, and General Sykes, division commander, with about 800 men, crossed and made a reconnaissance in the direction of Shepherdstown. About 2 miles from the river they were met by the Confederates under General A. P. Hill and driven back with a loss of 92 killed, 131 wounded and 103 missing. The enemy's loss was reported as 30 killed and 231 wounded. (Also called Boteler's and Shepherdstown ford.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 132.


BLACK FORK HILLS, MISSOURI, July 4, 1863. 9th Cavalry, Missouri Enrolled Militia. A detachment of this regiment under Lieutenant D. M. Draper came up with a party of Confederates, commanded by an officer named Pulliam, in the Black Fork hills, and a skirmish ensued in which the Confederates were routed, losing 21 of their number, who were taken prisoners. Draper pursued them for some distance but without accomplishing further results.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 133.

BLACK JACK CHURCH, NORTH CAROLINA, March 26, 1864. Cavalry of the 1st North Carolina Union Volunteers. Captain G. W. Graham was sent toward Greenville upon a reconnaissance, surprised the Confederate reserves and pickets near the church and routed them with a loss of 9 men killed, several wounded and a number captured, the Union casualties being confined to a few wounded horses.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 133.


BLACK JACK FOREST, Tennessee, March 16, 1862. Detachments of 4th Illinois and 5th Ohio Cavalry.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 133.


BLACKLAND, MISSISSIPPI, June 3, 1862. 1st Ohio Cavalry. Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, with seven companies of his regiment, while reconnoitering in the direction of Ripley, met a force of 100 Confederates at Blackland, engaged them and drove them back, wounding a number and taking one prisoner. He also captured their live stock and wagons, and gathered up a number of guns dropped by the enemy in his flight.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 133.


BLACKLAND, MISSISSIPPI, June 7, 1862. A small force of Union cavalry, guided by a negro, succeeded in cutting off an outpost from the main body of Lay's cavalry and then made a dash upon the post, killing 1 man. The others in their hurry to get away crowded upon a bridge, which broke down and 10 were taken prisoners. A number of horses were also captured and the Federals escaped without the loss of a man.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 133.


BLACKLAND, MISSISSIPPI, June 28, 1862. 7th Illinois and 3d Michigan Cavalry. A cavalry picket, under Major Gilbert Moyers, of the 3d Michigan, was attacked a little after sunrise by about 70 Confederate troopers, who wounded a corporal and captured a private. The horses belonging to Company K, 7th Illinois, being saddled, Moyers ordered the company to mount and go with him in pursuit. He followed the enemy about 20 miles, killing 1, capturing 2 and wounding several others. In their flight the Confederates threw away arms, blankets and articles of clothing.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 133.

BLACK RIVER, LOUISIANA, November 1, 1864. 6th U. S. Colored Heavy Artillery.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 133.


BLACK RIVER, MISSISSIPPI, July 1-4, 1863. (See Messinger's Ferry.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 133.


BLACK RIVER, MISSOURI, September 12, 1861. Three Companies of 1st Indiana Cavalry. Major Gavitt, who was sent out to reconnoiter Hardee's position at Greenville, attacked Talbot's camp on Black river, near Ironton, killed 2 men, took 3 prisoners and captured 60 muskets and 25 horses without suffering any casualties.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 133.


BLACK RIVER, MISSOURI, July 8, 1862. 5th Kansas Cavalry.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 133.


BLACK RIVER, NORTH CAROLINA, March 14, 1865. 3d Brigade, 3d Division, 20th Army Corps. In the advance on Goldsboro the brigade, commanded by Bvt. Brigadier-General William Coggswell, was ordered to make a reconnaissance on the Goldsboro road as far as Black river. The 55th and 73d Ohio were moved forward in advance and encountered the enemy in considerable force at the river. Seven companies of the 55th were deployed as skirmishers and engaged the Confederates for about 20 minutes, after which the two regiments were withdrawn, as the object of the reconnaissance had been accomplished. The Union loss was 1 man killed and 1 wounded. The Confederate casualties were not ascertained.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 133.


BLACK RIVER, SOUTH CAROLINA, August 14, 1862. Union gunboats landed in Winyaw bay in front of Georgetown about noon on the 13th. The next day they moved slowly up the river for about 20 miles, where they landed captured a battery. Major Emanuel, with a detachment of the 4th South Carolina cavalry, was hurried to the assistance of the battery, but arrived too late to be of service. He engaged the Union forces, however, and drove them back to the boats. One of the vessels got aground and two hours were spent in getting it off, the Confederates keeping up an incessant fire during the time. The enemy continued to harass the boats as they passed down the river, but without doing serious damage, as the casualties were slight on both sides.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, pp. 133-134.


BLACKSBURG, VIRGINIA, May 11, 1864. 3d Pennsylvania Reserves. Captain La Rue, with Companies I, C and H, was sent out on picket duty. Learning of the proximity of a body of guerrillas he deployed his men as skirmishers to drive them from their position. The enemy captured 1 man but La Rue afterward recaptured him. He also captured 9 of the horses belonging to the guerrillas.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 134.


BLACK'S MILL, ARKANSAS, February 17, 1864.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 134.


BLACKVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA, February 7, 1865. 3d Cavalry Division, Military Division of the Mississippi. The division charged Wheeler's pickets and occupied the town of Blackville. Dibrell's Tennessee brigade in turn charged the Union troops, driving them back into the town, after which the entire Confederate force in the vicinity withdrew across the Edisto at Holman's bridge. Black Walnut Creek (near Sedalia),  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 134.


MISSOURI, November 29, 1861. 1st Missouri Militia Cavalry.


BLACK WARRIOR RIVER, ALABAMA, May 1, 1863. (See Streight's Raid.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 134.


BLACKWATER, MISSOURI, October 12-13, 1863. (See Merrill's Crossing.)


BLACKWATER, MISSOURI, September 23, 1864. One Battalion of the 1st Missouri Cavalry.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 134.

BLACKWATER, VIRGINIA, September 28, 1862. 1st New York Mounted Rifles.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 134.


BLACKWATER, VIRGINIA, October 26, 1862. 1st New York Mounted Rifles, 39th Illinois, and 62nd Ohio Infantry. An expedition under General Terry was sent out from Suffolk to the Blackwater, where it arrived at daybreak on the 26th. Near Zuni the cavalry swam the river and the howitzers were sent over in canoes. The enemy retired from the river bank after a slight resistance, with a loss of several killed or wounded, and 5 captured. The only Union casualty was the death of Lieutenant William Wheelan, of the mounted rifles.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 134.


BLACKWATER, VIRGINIA, March 17, 1863. 11th Pennsylvania Cavalry.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 134.


BLACKWATER BRIDGE, VIRGINIA, November 14, 1862. Detachment of Troops, Department of Virginia, under Colonel C. C. Dodge. Major-General John J. Peck, commanding the post of Suffolk, reports that a portion of his force under Colonel Dodge, reconnoitering in the vicinity of Windsor, had a brisk skirmish at Blackwater bridge at daylight. The Confederate guard was driven away, and the camp equipage, etc., captured. Later the same day at Zuni a guard of Confederates offered some stiff resistance and were only driven away when howitzers were brought to bear. Five Federals were wounded in the two affairs.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 134.


BLACKWATER CREEK, MISSOURI, December 18, 1861. (See Milford, same date.)


BLACKWATER CREEK, MISSOURI, March 29, 1862. 1st Iowa Cavalry. Captain J. D. Thompson, with Companies A, F and G, and 2 pieces of the 1st Missouri artillery, was sent on a scouting expedition from Sedalia to Warrensburg. About 4 p. m. on the 29th, the party came upon some 60 or 70 of Parker's guerrillas. A charge was at once ordered and successfully executed, which finally became a running fight for 4 miles through the woods and thickets. The Confederates lost about 10 wounded, and left a similar number dead upon the field, and 15 were captured. The Union loss was 1 man killed and 2 wounded, 1 dangerously. The company of guerrillas was completely broken up. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 134.


BLACKWATER CREEK, MISSOURI, April 16, 1862. 1st Iowa Cavalry. A scouting party, under Major Thomas Curley, came upon a party of bushwhackers and fired upon them, wounding 2, 1 mortally. The guerrillas scattered in such a way as to render pursuit futile. Blackwater Creek, Missouri, July 23, 1862. A Detachment of the 7th Missouri Cavalry. The detachment, under Lieutenant Dewolf, encountered one of the numerous bands of guerrillas that infested the country, near Columbus, and engaged them in a skirmish. The bushwhackers lost 4 killed, 8 or 10 wounded, 13 horses, 10 guns, 6 pistols and a quantity of ammunition. The Union loss was 1 man slightly wounded, 1 horse killed and 3 wounded. Blackwater Creek, Missouri, July 27, 1864. (See Big Creek, Missouri, same date.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 135.


BLACKWATER CREEK, MISSOURI, May 20, 1865. Scouts from Pettis County Militia. The scouting party, under Captain H. C. Donohue, struck the trail of some bushwhackers and followed it to the Blackwater, where he came upon a small party dismounted in the brush. The men fled, leaving their horses and equipments to fall into Donohue's hands.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 135.


BLACKWATER RIVER, KENTUCKY, March 29, 1865. Blackwater River, Virginia, October 3, 1862. Expeditionary Forces. Pursuant to an order from General Dix, commanding the Department of Virginia, Major-General John J. Peck, commanding at Suffolk, sent 2,000 men, under command of Colonel S. P. Spear of the 11th Pennsylvania cavalry, to destroy the floating bridge over the Blackwater river at Franklin, expecting the cooperation of gunboats from Albemarle sound. The vessels failed to arrive and Spear held a large force of the enemy at bay for several hours while waiting for the boats to come up. In the action the Confederates lost over 200 in killed and wounded, Spear's loss being but 1 killed and 6 wounded and missing.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 135.


BLACKWATER RIVER, VIRGINIA, October 29, 1862.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 135.

BLACKWATER RIVER, VIRGINIA, December 2, 1862. (See Franklin.)  135.


BLACKWATER RIVER, VIRGINIA, May 6, 1864. The action on Blackwater river on this date was at Birch Island bridge, and was one of the incidents of Kautz's raid during the siege of Petersburg. (See Kautz's raid.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 135.


BLACKWATER RIVER, VIRGINIA, October 16, 1864. 20th New York Cavalry. Companies D, K and I, under the command of Captain Carroll, of the last named, was sent on an expedition from Bernard's mills to Murfree's station, to ascertain the movements of the enemy. Upon reaching the Blackwater part of the command were dismounted and thrown forward as skirmishers. At the bank of the river they were met with a sharp fire from a line of rifle-pits on the opposite side, where the ferryboat was also moored. Private Joseph Lonsway, of Company D, swam the river and brought the boat over, having performed a similar feat once before, and a detachment of 25 men, all the boat would carry safely, was sent over to charge the works. This movement was successfully executed, the enemy flying in all directions. Carroll destroyed 55 bales of cotton, 39 boxes of tobacco, 4 barrels of apple brandy, 6 bags of salt, 36 barrels of pork, a lot of cotton cloth, a quantity of bacon, 100 stands of small arms, burned the railroad station and culvert, and the post office, several bushels of Confederate mail being taken back to Bernard's mills for examination, and all this without losing a man.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 135.


BLACKWELL STATION, MISSOURI, October 15, 1861. (See Big River Bridge, same date.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 135.


BLACKWELL, ANTOINETTE LOUISA, 1825-1921, abolitionist, reformer (Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 274; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 1, Pt. 2, pp. 319-320; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 82-83)

BLACKWELL, Antoinette Louisa Brown, author and minister, born in Henrietta, Monroe County, New York, 20 May, 1825. When sixteen years old she taught school, and then, after attending Henrietta Academy, went to Oberlin, where she was graduated in 1847. She spent her vacations in teaching and in the study of Hebrew and Greek. In the winter of 1844 she taught in the Academy at Rochester, New York, where she delivered her first lecture. After graduation she entered upon a course of theological study at Oberlin, and completed it in 1850. When she asked for the license to preach, usually given to the theological students, it was refused; but she preached frequently on her own responsibility. The four years following her graduation were spent in study, preaching, and in lecturing on literary subjects, temperance, and the abolition of slavery. At the woman's rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1850, Miss Brown was one of the speakers, and she has since been prominent in the movement. In 1853 she was regularly ordained pastor of the Orthodox Congregational Church of South Butler and Savannah, Wayne County, New York, but gave up her charge in 1854 on account of ill health and doctrinal doubts. In 1855 she investigated the character and causes of vice in New York City, and published, in a New York journal, a series of sketches entitled “Shadows of our Social System.” In 1856 she married Samuel C. Blackwell, brother of Elizabeth Blackwell. They have six children, and now live in Elizabeth, New Jersey Mrs. Blackwell still preaches occasionally, and has become a Unitarian. She is the author of “Studies in General Science” (New York, 1869); “The Market Woman”: “The Island Neighbors” (1871); “The Sexes Throughout Nature” (1875); and “The Physical Basis of Immortality” (1876). She has in preparation (1886) “The Many and the One.” Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 274.


BLACKWELL, ELIZABETH, 1821-1910, Bristol, England, abolitionist, physician. (Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp.274-275; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 1, Pt. 2, p. 230)

BLACKWELL, Elizabeth, physician, born in Bristol, England, in 1821. Her father emigrated with his family in 1832, and settled in New York, but moved in 1838 to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he died a few months afterward, leaving a widow and nine children almost destitute. Elizabeth, then seventeen years old, opened a school in connection with two elder sisters, and conducted it successfully for several years. A friend now suggested that she should study medicine, and she resolved to become a physician. At first she pursued her studies in private, with some help from Dr. John Dixon, of Asheville, North Carolina, in whose family she was governess for a year. She then continued her studies in Charleston, South Carolina, supporting herself by teaching music, and after that in Philadelphia, under Dr. Allen and Dr. Warrington. She now made formal application to the medical schools of Philadelphia, New York, and Boston for admission as a student, but in each instance the request was denied, although several professors avowed interest in her undertaking. Rejecting advice to adopt an assumed name and male attire, she persevered in her attempt, and after several more refusals was finally admitted to the medical school at Geneva, New York, where she took her degree of M. D. in regular course in January, 1849. During her connection with the college, when not in attendance there upon lectures, she pursued a course of clinical study in Blockley Hospital, Philadelphia. After graduation she went to Paris, and remained there six months, devoting herself to the study and practice of midwifery. The next autumn she was admitted as a physician to walk the hospital of St. Bartholomew in London, and after nearly a year spent there she returned to New York, and began practice in 1851. In 1854, with her sister, Dr. Emily Blackwell, she organized the New York Infirmary For women and Children. In 1859 she revisited England, and delivered in London and other cities a course of lectures on the necessity of medical education for women. In 1861, having returned to New York, she held, with Dr. Emily Blackwell, a meeting in the parlors of the infirmary, at which the first steps were taken toward organizing the Women's Central Relief Association for sending nurses and medical supplies for the wounded soldiers during the Civil War. In 1867 the two sisters organized the women's Medical College of the New York Infirmary, in which Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell held the chair of hygiene and Dr. Emily Blackwell the chair of obstetrics and diseases of women. In 1869, leaving Dr. Emily in. charge of their joint work, Dr. Elizabeth returned to London and practised there for several years, taking an active part in organizing the women's Medical College, in which she was elected professor of the diseases of women. She also took part in forming in England the National Health Society, and the Society for Repealing the Contagious-Diseases acts. Besides several health tracts, she has published “Laws of Life, or the Physical Education of Girls” (Philadelphia, 1852), and “Counsel to Parents on the Moral Education of their Children” (1879), which has been translated into French. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, pp. 274-275.


BLACKWELL, SAMUEL CHARLES, 1823-1901, England, abolitionist, husband of abolitionist Antoinette Brown, brother of Elizabeth Blackwell.

BLAIN'S CROSS ROADS, TENNESSEE, DECEMBER 16, 1863. Army of the Ohio. Longstreet's advance attacked General Parke's cavalry and drove it back to Blain's cross-roads. No losses reported on either side. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 135.


BLAINE, JAMES GILLESPIE, 1830-1893, statesman.  Founding member of the Republican Party.  Member of Congress 1862-1880.  Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 275-280; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 1, Pt. 2, pp. 322-329; Congressional Globe)

BLAINE, James Gillespie, statesman, born in West Brownsville, Washington County, Pennsylvania, 31 January, 1830; died in the City of Washington, D. C., 27 January, 1893. He was a second son. On his father's side he inherited the hardy and energetic qualities of the Scotch-Irish blood. His great-grandfather, Ephraim Blaine, born 1741; died 1804, bore an honorable part in the revolutionary struggle, was an officer of the Pennsylvania line, a trusted friend of Washington, and during the last four years of the war served as the commissary-general of the northern department of his command. Possessed of ample means, he drew largely from his own private purse and enlisted the contributions of various friends for the maintenance of the army through the severe and memorable winter at Valley Forge. From the Cumberland Valley, where his ancestors had early settled and had been among the founders of Carlisle, Mr. Blaine's father moved to Washington County in 1818. He had inherited what was a fortune in those days, and had large landed possessions in western Pennsylvania; but their mineral wealth had not then been developed, and though relieved from poverty he was not endowed with affluence, and a large family made a heavy drain on his means. He was a man of liberal education, and had travelled in Europe and South America before settling down in western Pennsylvania, where he served as prothonotary. Mr. Blaine's mother, a woman of superior intelligence and force of character, was a devout Catholic; but her son adhered to the Presbyterian convictions and communion of his paternal Scotch-Irish ancestry. The early education of Mr. Blaine was sedulously cultivated. He had the advantage of excellent teachers at his own home, and for a part of the year 1841 he was at school in Lancaster, Ohio, where he lived in the family of his relative, Thomas Ewing, then secretary of the treasury. In association with Thomas Ewing, Jr., afterward a member of Congress, young Blaine began his preparation for college under the instruction of a thoroughly trained Englishman, William Lyons, brother of Lord Lyons, and at the age of thirteen he entered Washington College in his native county, where he was graduated in 1847. It is said that when nine years old he was able to recite Plutarch's lives. He had a marked taste for historical studies, and excelled in literature and mathematics. In the literary society he displayed the political aptitude and capacity that distinguished his subsequent career. Sometime after graduation he became a teacher in the western military Institute, at Blue Lick Springs, Kentucky Here he formed the acquaintance of Miss Harriet Stanwood, of Maine, who was connected with a seminary for young ladies at the neighboring town of Millersburg, and to whom within a few months he was married. He soon returned to Pennsylvania, where, after some study of the law, he became a teacher in the Pennsylvania institution for the blind at Philadelphia. The instruction was chiefly oral. The young teacher had charge of the higher classes in literature and science, and the principal has left a record that his “brilliant mental powers were exactly qualified to enlighten and instruct the interesting minds before him.” After an association of two years with this institution, he moved in 1854 to Augusta, Maine, where he has since made his home. Purchasing a half interest in the Kennebec “Journal,” he became its editor, his ready faculty and trenchant writing being peculiarly adapted to this field. He speedily made his impress, and within three years was a master spirit in the politics of the state.

He engaged in the movement for the formation of the Democratic Party with all his energy, and his earnest and incisive discussion of the rising conflict between freedom and slavery attracted wide attention. In 1856 he was a delegate to the first Republican National Convention, which nominated General Frémont for the presidency. His report at a public meeting on his return home, where he spoke at the outset with hesitation and embarrassment, and advanced to confident and fervid utterance, first illustrated his capacity on the platform and gave him standing as a public speaker. The next year he broadened his journalistic work by taking the editorship of the Portland “Advertiser”; but his editorial service ended when his parliamentary career began. In 1858 he was elected to the legislature, remaining a member through successive annual re-elections for four years, and serving the last two as speaker. At the beginning of the Civil War Mr. Blaine gained distinction not only for his parliamentary skill, but for his forensic power in the debates that grew out of that crisis. The same year that he was elected to the legislature he became chairman of the state committee, a position which he continued to hold uninterruptedly for twenty years, and in which he led in shaping and directing every political campaign of his party in Maine.

In 1862 Mr. Blaine was elected to Congress, where in one branch or the other he served for eighteen years. To the house he was chosen for seven successive terms. His growth in position and influence was rapid and unbroken. In his earlier years he made few elaborate addresses. During his first term his only extended speech was an argument in favor of the assumption of the state war debts by the general government, and in demonstration of the ability of the north to carry the war to a successful conclusion. But he gradually took an active part in the running discussions, and soon acquired high repute as a facile and effective debater. For this form of contention his ready resources and alert faculties were singularly fitted. He was bold in attack, quick in repartee, and apt in illustration. His close study of political history, his accurate knowledge of the record and relations of public men, and his unfailing memory, gave him great advantages. As a member of the committee on post-offices, he was largely instrumental in securing the introduction of the system of postal cars. He earnestly sustained all measures for the vigorous prosecution of the war, but sought to make them judicious and practical. In this spirit he supported the bill for a draft, but opposed absolute conscription. He contended that it should be relieved by provisions for commutation and substitution, and urged that an inexorable draft had never been resorted to but once, even under the absolutism of Napoleon. At the same time he enforced the duty of sustaining and strengthening the armies in the field by using all the resources of the nation, and strongly advocated the enrolment act. The measures for the reconstruction of the states that had been in rebellion largely engrossed the attention of Congress from 1865 till 1869, and Mr. Blaine bore a prominent part in their discussion and in the work of framing them. The basis of representation upon which the states should be readmitted was the first question to be determined. Thaddeus Stevens, chairman of the committee on reconstruction, had proposed that representation should be apportioned according to the number of legal voters. Mr. Blaine strenuously objected to this proposition, and urged that population, instead of voters, should be the basis. He submitted a constitutional amendment providing that “representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which shall be included within this union according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by taking the whole number of persons, except those whose political rights or privileges are denied or abridged by the constitution of any state on account of race or color.” He advocated this plan on the ground that, while the other basis of voters would accomplish the object of preventing the south from securing representation for the blacks unless the blacks were made voters, yet it would make a radical change in the apportionment for the northern states where the ratio of voters to population differed very widely in different sections, varying from a minimum of 19 per cent. to a maximum of 58 per cent. The result of the discussion was a general abandonment of the theory that apportionment should be based on voters, and the 14th amendment to the constitution, as finally adopted, embodied Mr. Blaine's proposition in substance.

On 6 February, 1867, Mr. Stevens reported the reconstruction bill. It divided the states lately in rebellion into five military districts, and practically established military government therein. The civil tribunals were made subject to military control. While the majority evinced a readiness to accept the bill, Mr. Blaine declared his unwillingness to support any measure that would place the south under military government, if it did not at the same time prescribe the methods by which the people of a state could by their own action reëstablish civil government. He accordingly proposed an amendment providing that when any one of the late so-called Confederate states should assent to the 14th amendment to the constitution and should establish equal and impartial suffrage without regard to race or color, and when Congress should approve its action, it should be entitled to representation, and the provisions for military government should become inoperative. This proposition came to be known as the Blaine amendment. In advocating it, Mr. Blaine expressed the belief that the true interpretation of the election of 1800 was that, in addition to the proposed constitutional amendment — the 14th — impartial suffrage should be the basis of reconstruction, and he urged the wisdom of declaring the terms at once. The application of the previous question ruled out the Blaine amendment, but it was renewed in the Senate and finally carried through both branches, and under it reconstruction was completed.

The theory that the public debt should be paid in greenbacks developed great strength in the summer of 1867 while Mr. Blaine was absent in Europe. On his return at the opening of the next session he made an extended speech against the doctrine, and was the first man in Congress to give utterance to this opposition. The long unsettled question of protecting naturalized American citizens while abroad attracted special attention at this time. Costello, Warren, Burke, and other Irish-Americans had been arrested in England, on the charge of complicity in Fenian plots. Costello had made a speech in 1865 in New York, which was regarded as treasonable by the British government, and he was treated as a British subject and tried under an old law on this accusation. His plea of American citizenship was overruled, and he was convicted and sentenced to sixteen years' penal servitude. Mr. Blaine, who, with other American statesmen, resisted the English doctrine of perpetual allegiance, and maintained that a naturalized American was entitled to the same protection abroad that would be given to a native American, took active part in pressing these questions upon public attention, and, as the result of the agitation, Costello was released. The discussion of these cases led to the treaty of 1870, in which Great Britain abandoned the doctrine of “once a subject always a subject,” and accepted the American principle of equal rights and protection for adopted and for native citizens. Mr. Blaine was chosen speaker of the House of Representatives in 1869, and served by successive reelections for six years. His administration of the speakership is commonly regarded as one of the most brilliant and successful in the annals of the house. He had rare aptitude and equipment for the duties of presiding officer; and his complete mastery of parliamentary law, his dexterity and physical endurance, his rapid despatch of business, and his firm and impartial spirit, were recognized on all sides. Though necessarily exercising a powerful influence upon the course of legislation, he seldom left the chair to mingle in the contests of the floor. On one of those rare occasions, in March, 1871, he had a sharp tilt with General Butler, who had criticised him for being the author of the resolution providing for an investigation into alleged outrages perpetrated upon loyal citizens of the south, and for being chiefly instrumental in securing its adoption by the Republican caucus. The political revulsion of 1874 placed the Democrats in control of the house, and Mr. Blaine became the leader of the minority. The session preceding the presidential contest of 1876 was a period of stormy and vehement contention. A general amnesty bill was brought forward, removing the political disabilities of participants in the rebellion which had been imposed by the 14th amendment to the constitution. Mr. Blaine moved to amend by making an exception of Jefferson Davis, and supported the proposition in an impassioned speech. After asserting the great magnanimity of the government, and pointing out how far amnesty had already been carried, he defined the ground of his proposed exception. The reason was, not that Davis was the chief of the confederacy, but that, as Mr. Blaine affirmed, he was the author, “knowingly, deliberately, guiltily, and wilfully, of the gigantic murders and crimes of Andersonville.” In fiery words Mr. Blaine proceeded to declare that no military atrocities in history had exceeded those for which Davis was thus responsible. His outburst naturally produced deep excitement in the house and throughout the country. If Mr. Blaine's object as a political leader was to arouse partisan feeling and activity preparatory to the presidential struggle, he succeeded. An acrid debate followed. Benjamin H. Hill, of Georgia, assumed the lead on the other side, and not only defended Davis against the accusations, which he pronounced unfounded, but preferred similar charges against the treatment of southern prisoners in the north. In reply, Mr. Blaine turned upon Mr. Hill with the citation of a resolution introduced by him in the Confederate Senate, providing that every soldier or officer of the United States captured on the soil of the Confederate states should be presumed to have come with intent to incite insurrection, and should suffer the penalty of death. This episode arrested universal attention, and gave Mr. Blaine a still stronger hold as a leader of his party.

He now became the subject of a violent personal assault. Charges were circulated that he had received $64,000 from the Union Pacific Railroad company for some undefined services. On 24 April, 1876, he rose to a personal explanation in the house and made his answer. He produced letters from the officers of the company and from the bankers who were said to have negotiated the draft, in which they declared that there had never been any such transaction, and that Mr. Blaine had never received a dollar from the company. Mr. Blaine proceeded to add that the charge had reappeared in the form of an assertion that he had received bonds of the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad as a gratuity, and that these bonds had been sold through the Union Pacific Company for his benefit. To this he responded that he never had any such bonds except at the market price, and that, instead of deriving any profit from them, he had incurred a large pecuniary loss. A few days later another charge was made to the effect that he had received as a gift certain bonds of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, and had been a party to a suit concerning them in the courts of Kansas. To this he answered by producing evidence that his name had been confounded with that of a brother, who was one of the early settlers of Kansas, and who had bought stock in the Kansas Pacific before Mr. Blaine had even been nominated for Congress.

On 2 May a resolution was adopted in the house to investigate an alleged purchase by the Union Pacific Railroad Company, at an excessive price, of certain bonds of the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad. It soon became evident that the investigation was aimed at Mr. Blaine. An extended business correspondence on his part with Warren Fisher, of Boston, running through years and relating to various transactions, had fallen into the hands of a clerk named Mulligan, and it was alleged that the production of this correspondence would confirm the imputations against Mr. Blaine. When Mulligan was summoned to Washington, Mr. Blaine possessed himself of the letters, together with a memorandum that contained a full index and abstract. On 5 June he rose to a personal explanation, and, after denying the power of the house to compel the production of his private papers, and his willingness to go to any extremity in defence of his rights, he declared his purpose to reserve nothing. Holding up the letters he exclaimed: “Thank God, I am not ashamed to show them. There is the very original package. And with some sense of humiliation, with a mortification I do not attempt to conceal, with a sense of outrage which I think any man in my position would feel, I invite the confidence of forty-four millions of my countrymen, while I read those letters from this desk.” The demonstration closed with a dramatic scene. Josiah Caldwell, one of the originators of the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad, who had full knowledge of the whole transaction, was travelling in Europe, and both sides were seeking to communicate with him. After finishing the reading of the letters, Mr. Blaine turned to the chairman of the committee and demanded to know whether he had received any despatch from Mr. Caldwell. Receiving an evasive answer, Mr. Blaine asserted, as within his own knowledge, that the chairman had received such a despatch, “completely and absolutely exonerating me from this charge, and you have suppressed it.” A profound sensation was created, and General Garfield said: “I have been a long time in Congress, and never saw such a scene in the house.”

The Republican National Convention was now at hand, and Mr. Blaine was the most prominent candidate for the presidential nomination. He had a larger body of enthusiastic friends than any other leader of his party, and the stirring events of the past few months had intensified their devotion. On 11 June, the Sunday preceding the convention, just as he was entering church at Washington, he was prostrated with the extreme heat, and his illness for a time created wide apprehension. The advocates of his nomination, however, remained unshaken in their support. On the first ballot he received 285 votes out of a total of 754, the remainder being divided among Senator Morton, Secretary Bristow, Senator Conkling, Governor Hayes, and several others. On the seventh ballot his vote rose to 351, lacking only 28 of a majority, but a union of the supporters of all the other candidates gave Governor Hayes 384 and secured his nomination. Immediately after the convention, on the resignation of Senator Morrill to accept the secretaryship of the treasury, Mr. Blaine was appointed senator to fill the unexpired term, and in the following winter he was chosen by the legislature for the full ensuing term. In the Senate he engaged in the discussion of current questions. He opposed the creation of the electoral commission for the settlement of the disputed presidential election of 1876, on the ground that Congress did not itself possess the power that it proposed to confer on the commission. He held that President Hayes's southern policy surrendered too much of what had been gained through reconstruction, and contended that the validity of his own title involved the maintenance of the state governments in South Carolina and Louisiana, which rested on the same popular vote. On the currency question he always assumed a pronounced position. While still a member of the house, in February, 1876, he had made an elaborate speech on the national finances and against any perpetuation of an irredeemable paper currency, and soon after entering the Senate, when the subject was brought forward, he took strong ground against the deterioration of the silver coinage. He strenuously opposed the Bland bill, and, when its passage was seen to be inevitable, sought to amend it by providing that the dollar should contain 425 grains of standard silver, instead of 412½ grains. He favored a bi-metallic currency, and equally resisted the adoption of the single gold standard and the depreciation of silver. Measures for the development and protection of American shipping early engaged his attention. In 1878 he advocated the establishment of a line of mail steamers to Brazil, and unhesitatingly urged the application of a subsidy to this object. On frequent occasions he recurred to the subject, contending that Great Britain and France had built up their commerce by liberal aid to steamship lines, and that a similar policy would produce similar results here. He argued that Congress had endowed the railroad system with $500,000,000 of money, which had produced $5,000,000,000 to the country, and that the policy ought not to stop when it reached the sea.

In March, 1879, Congress was deeply agitated by a conflict over the appropriation bills. The Democrats, being in control of both houses, had refused to pass the necessary measures for the support of the government unless accompanied by a proviso prohibiting the presence of troops at any place where an election was being held. The Republicans resisted this attempt, and, in consequence of the failure of the bills at the regular session, the president was compelled to call an extra session. Mr. Blaine was among the foremost in the Senate in defending the executive prerogative and in opposing what he denounced as legislative coercion, He pointed out how few troops there were in all the states of the south, and said: “I take no risk in stating, I make bold to declare, that this issue on the troops being a false one, being one without foundation, conceals the true issue, which is simply to get rid of the federal presence at federal elections, to get rid of the civil power of the United States in the election of representatives to the Congress of the United States.” He proceeded to characterize the proposition to withhold appropriations except upon the condition of executive compliance as revolutionary, saying: “I call it the audacity of revolution for any senator or representative, or any caucus of senators or representatives, to get together and say: ‘We will have this legislation, or we will stop the great departments of the government.’ ” The resistance was unsuccessful, and the army appropriation bill finally passed with the proviso. Mr. Blaine at all times defended the sanctity of the ballot, and in December, 1878, pending a resolution presented by himself for an inquiry into certain alleged frauds in the south, made a powerful plea as to the injustice wrought by a denial of the franchise to the blacks. When the attempt was made to override the plain result of the election of 1879 in Maine, and to set up a state government in defiance of the popular vote, Mr. Blaine took charge of the effort to establish the rightful government, and through his vigorous measures the scheme of usurpation was defeated and abandoned. On the Chinese question he early declared himself decidedly in favor of restricting their immigration. In a speech on 14 February, 1879, when the subject came before the Senate, he argued that there were only two courses: that the Chinese must be excluded or fully admitted into the family of citizens; that the latter was as impracticable as it was dangerous; that they could not be assimilated with our people or institutions; and that it was a duty to protect the free laborer of America against the servile laborer of China.

As the presidential convention of 1880 approached, it was apparent that Mr. Blaine retained the same support that had adhered to him so tenaciously four years before. The contest developed into an earnest and prolonged struggle between his friends and those who advocated a third term for General Grant. The convention, one of the most memorable in American history, lasted through six days, and there were thirty-six ballots. On the first the vote stood: Grant 304, Blaine 284, Sherman 93, Edmunds 34, Washburne 30, Windom 10, Garfield 1. On the final ballot the friends of Blaine and Sherman united on General Garfield, who received 399 votes to 306 for Grant, and was nominated. On his election, Mr. Blaine was tendered and accepted the office of Secretary of State. He remained at the head of the department less than ten months, and his effective administration was practically limited by the assassination of President Garfield to four. Within that period, however, he began several important undertakings. His foreign policy had two principal objects. The first was to secure and preserve peace throughout this continent. The second was to cultivate close commercial relations and increase our trade with the various countries of North and South America. The accomplishment of the first object was preliminary and essential to the attainment of the second, and, in order to promote it, he projected a peace Congress to be held at Washington, to which all the independent powers of North and South America were to be invited. His plan contemplated the cultivation of such a friendly understanding on the part of the powers as would permanently avert the horrors of war either through the influence of pacific counsels or the acceptance of impartial arbitration. Incidentally, it assumed that the assembling of their representatives at Washington would open the way to such relations as would inure to the commercial advantage of this country. The project, though already determined, was delayed by the fatal shot at Garfield, and the letter of invitation was finally issued on 29 November, 1881, fixing 24 November, 1882, as the date for the proposed Congress. On 19 December Mr. Blaine retired from the cabinet, and within three weeks his successor had reversed his policy and the plan was abandoned, after the invitation had been accepted by all the American powers except two.

When Mr. Blaine entered the Department of state, war was raging between Chili and Peru, and he sought to exercise the good offices of our government, first, for the restoration of peace, and, second, to mitigate the consequences of the crushing defeat sustained by Peru. Other efforts failing, he despatched William Henry Trescott on a special mission to offer the friendly services of the United States; but this attempt, like the one for the Peace Congress, was interrupted and frustrated by his retirement from the department. His brief service was also signalized by an important correspondence with the British government concerning the modification of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, making formal proposal for the abrogation of certain clauses which were not in harmony with the rights of the United States as secured by convention with the Colombian republic, he urged that the treaty, by prohibiting the use of land forces and of fortifications, without any protection against superior naval power, practically conceded to Great Britain the control of any interoceanic canal that might be constructed across the isthmus, and he proposed that every part of the treaty which forbids the United States fortifying the canal and holding the political control of it in conjunction with the country in which it is located should be cancelled. To the answer of the British government that the treaty was an engagement which should be maintained and respected, Mr. Blaine replied that it could not be regarded as a conclusive determination of the question; that since its adoption it had been the subject of repeated negotiations between the two countries; that the British government had itself proposed to refer its doubtful clauses to arbitration; and that it had long been recognized as a source of increasing embarrassment. Throughout the correspondence Mr. Blaine insisted in the firmest tone that “it is the fixed purpose of the United States to consider the isthmus canal question as an American question, to be dealt with and decided by the American governments.”

Upon the retirement of Mr. Blaine from the State Department in December, 1881, he was, for the first time in twenty-three years, out of public station. He soon entered upon the composition of an elaborate historical work entitled “Twenty Years of Congress,” of which the first 200 pages give a succinct review of the earlier political history of the country, followed by a more detailed narrative of the eventful period from Lincoln to Garfield. The first volume was published in April, 1884, and the second in January, 1886 (Norwich, Connecticut). The work had a very wide sale, and secured general approval for its impartial spirit and brilliant style. When the Republican National Convention of 1884 met at Chicago, it was clear that Mr. Blaine had lost none of the hold upon the enthusiasm of his party. On the first ballot he received 334½ votes, President Arthur 278, Senator Edmunds 93, Senator Logan 63½, and the rest were scattering. His vote kept gaining till the fourth ballot, when he received 541 out of a total of 813 and was nominated. The canvass that followed was one of peculiar bitterness. Mr. Blaine took the stump in Ohio, Indiana, New York, and other states, and in a series of remarkable speeches, chiefly devoted to upholding the policy of protection to American industry, deepened the popular impression of his intellectual power. The election turned upon the result in New York, which was lost to Mr. Blaine by 1,047 votes, whereupon he promptly resumed the work upon his history, which had been interrupted by the canvass. After the result had been determined, he made, at his home in Augusta, a speech in which he arraigned the Democratic Party for carrying the election by suppressing the Republican vote in the southern states, and cited the figures of the returns to show that, on an average, only one half or one third as many votes had been cast for each presidential elector or member of Congress elected in the south as for each elected in the north. This speech had a startling effect, and attracted universal attention, though Mr. Blaine had set forth the same thing in a speech that he made in Congress as long before that time as 11 December, 1878.

Mr. Blaine took an active part in the Maine canvass of 1886, opening it, 24 August, in a speech at Sebago Lake devoted chiefly to the questions of the fisheries, the tariff, and the third-party prohibition movement. The fishery controversy had acquired renewed interest and importance from recent seizures of American fishing-vessels on the Canadian Coast, and Mr. Blaine reviewed its history at length, and sharply criticised the attitude and action of the administration. He presented the issue of protection against free-trade as the foremost one between the two parties; and, with regard to prohibition, insisted that there was no warrant or reason for a third-party movement in Maine, because the Democratic Party had enacted and enforced a prohibitory law in that state. His succeeding speeches, continued throughout the canvass, followed the same line.

At the Republican National Convention at Chicago, in 1888, Mr. Blaine's name was prominently used in connection with the nomination, but he sent from Italy a telegraphic message positively declining to allow it to be so used. On the election of President Harrison, the nominee of the convention, Mr. Blaine was again called to the cabinet as Secretary of State. He was active in forwarding the Pan-American Congress, a conference of representatives of the independent governments of North and South America, held in Washington, and also gave his attention to the international conference for the adoption of regulations to govern vessels at sea. The McKinley tariff measure was supplemented, largely through his suggestions, by treaties of reciprocity with various nations, and he was also actively concerned in the diplomatic treatment of the seal-fishery dispute, the recognition of the newly organized Brazilian republic, the trouble with Italy over the lynching of alleged Italian subjects in New Orleans, the Civil War in Chili, and a dispute with Spain regarding the rights of American missionaries in the Caroline Islands.

On 4 June, 1892, Mr. Blaine suddenly resigned his portfolio, and three days later, at the Republican National convention in Minneapolis, his name was once more conspicuous among those of the presidential candidates. His resignation caused much speculation, and many persons coupled it with his subsequent candidacy for the presidential nomination; but he himself gave as his reason that he desired to rest. His health now failed rapidly, and he took no more active interest in public life, his death following soon afterward. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 275-280.


BLAIR, AUSTIN, governor of Michigan, born in Caroline, Tompkins County, New York, 8 February, 1818. He was educated at Hamilton and Union Colleges, being graduated at the latter in 1839, studied law, and moved to Michigan. He was county clerk of Eaton County, member of the legislature in 1846, and prosecuting attorney of Jackson County from 1852 till 1854. He was state senator from 1854 until 1856, and from 1861 till 1865 was governor of the state, in which office he was active in his support of the national government. In 1866 he was elected as a Republican to Congress, where he was a member of the committees on foreign affairs, rules, and militia, and was twice re-elected in succession, serving on the committee on land-claims. In 1873 he resumed law practice in Jackson, Michigan Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 280.


BLAIR, FRANCIS PRESTON, statesman, born in Abingdon, Virginia, 12 April, 1791; died in Silver Spring, Maryland, 18 October, 1876. He was educated at Transylvania University, Kentucky, and studied law, but never practised. He early took part in politics, and in 1824 supported Henry Clay for the presidency. He dissented, however, from Clay's views in relation to the United States Bank, and in 1828 became an ardent Jackson man. In 1829 an article in a Kentucky paper by Mr. Blair against the nullification movement attracted the president's attention, and he invited the writer to establish a journal at Washington to support the union. This led to the establishment of the “Globe,” which was the recognized organ of the Democratic Party until 1845, when President Polk, against General Jackson's published protest, moved Mr. Blair from the management. This action signified the triumph of Calhoun and his adherents over the Jackson or national democracy. President Polk offered Mr. Blair the Spanish mission, which was declined. He supported Mr. Van Buren in 1848, and promoted the reunion of the party, by which Pierce's election was secured in 1852. After the repeal of the Missouri compromise in 1854, Mr. Blair was active in the organization of the Democratic Party, presiding over the Pittsburg Convention of 1856 and drawing up the platform adopted there. After peremptorily refusing to allow his own name to be used, he favored the nomination of Colonel Frémont for the presidency. Mr. Blair was also one of the leaders in the Chicago Convention of 1860, which nominated Lincoln, and, after the election, of the latter, had much influence with his administration. In 1864 Mr. Blair conceived the idea that, through his personal acquaintance with man of the Confederate leaders, he might be able to effect a peace. Without telling the president of his intention, he asked for a pass to the south, and had several interviews with Jefferson Davis and others. His efforts finally led to the unsatisfactory “peace conference” of 3 February, 1865. After Lincoln's death, Mr. Blair's opposition to the reconstruction measures and to the general policy of the Republicans led to his co-operation with the Democratic Party, though, his counsels were disregarded by its leaders till 1876, when Mr. Tilden was nominated for the presidency. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 280.


BLAIR, FRANCIS PRESTON, soldier, born in Lexington, Kentucky, 19 February, 1821; died in St. Louis, Missouri, 8 July, 1875, was son of Francis P. Blair noticed above. After graduation at Princeton, in 1841, he studied law in Washington and was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1843, and began to practice in St. Louis. In 1845 he went for his health to the Rocky Mountains with a company of trappers, and when the war with Mexico began he enlisted in the army as a private. After the War he returned to the practice of his profession in St. Louis. In 1848 he joined the Free-Soil branch of the Democratic Party, was for a time editor of the “Missouri Democrat,” and from 1852 till 1856 was a member of the Missouri legislature. In 1856 he joined the newly organized Republican, Party, and was elected to Congress, where, in 1857, he spoke in favor of colonizing the Negroes of the United States in Central America. In 1858 the Democratic candidate for Congress was returned. Mr. Blair successfully contested the seat, but immediately resigned, and was defeated in the election that followed. He was, however, elected again in 1860 and in 1862. Soon after the South Carolina secession Convention was called, in November, 1861, Mr. Blair, at a meeting of the Republican leaders in St. Louis, showed the necessity of immediate effort to prevent the seizure by the state authorities of the St. Louis Arsenal, containing 65,000 stand of arms belonging to the government. He became the head of the military organization then formed, which guarded the arsenal from that time; and it was at his suggestion that the state troops under General Frost were captured on 10 May, 1861, without orders from Washington. It is claimed that he thus saved Missouri and Kentucky to the union. Entering the army as a colonel of volunteers, he was made brigadier-general 7 August, 1861, and major-general 29 November, 1862, resigning his seat in Congress in 1863. He commanded a division in the Vicksburg Campaign, led his men in the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, and was at the head of the 17th Corps during Sherman's Campaigns in 1864–5, including the march to the sea. In 1866 he was nominated by President Johnson as collector of internal revenue at St. Louis, and afterward as minister to Austria; but in each case, his opposition to the reconstruction measures led to his rejection by the Senate. He was afterward commissioner of the Pacific Railroad. His dissatisfaction with the Party of the Republicans led him to return to the Democratic Party, and in 1868 he was its candidate for the vice-presidency. In January, 1871, General Blair again entered the legislature of Missouri, and in the same month he was elected to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate, where he remained until 1873, when he was a candidate for re-election, but was defeated. At the time of his death he was state superintendent of insurance. He published “The Life and Public Services of General William O. Butler” (1848). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp.  281.


BLAIR, HENRY WILLIAM, senator, born in Campton, New Hampshire, 6 December, 1834. His parents died before he had completed his thirteenth year, and his boyhood was spent in the family of Richard Bartlett, of Campton, where he worked on the farm, and attended school at intervals until he was seventeen, when he began to teach, hoping to earn enough money to take him through college. Com £ ill health to give up this plan, he read law with William Leverett, of Plymouth, New Hampshire, was admitted to the bar in 1859, and in 1860 was elected prosecuting attorney for Grafton County When the Civil War and he enlisted in the 15th New Hampshire Volunteers, was chosen captain of his company, soon became major, and finally lieutenant-colonel. He was twice wounded severely at the siege of Port Hudson, and was prevented by his wounds, and disease contracted in service, from taking any active part in the remainder of the war. He was elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 1866, and in 1867 and 1868 to the state senate. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1875 till 1879, and, declining a renomination, was elected to the U.S. Senate in the latter year, and reëlected in 1885. Senator Blair has given much attention to social '' and is an ardent temperance reformer. He is the author of the “Blair Common School Bill,” which was introduced by him in the 47th Congress. As passed by the Senate in April, 1884, the bill appropriates $77,000,000 to be distributed among the states in proportion to their illiteracy. In the original bill the amount was $105,000,000. In the 49th Congress the Senate again passed the bill, making the appropriation $79,000,000. Senator Blair has also introduced prohibitory temperance and woman suffrage amendments to the national constitution, is the author of the Blair scientific temperance education bill and the Blair pension bill, and has made important speeches on financial subjects. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 281.


BLAIR, JACOB B., Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Congressional Globe)


BLAIR, MONTGOMERY, 1813-1883, statesman, attorney, jurist, abolitionist, Postmaster General of the United States. (Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 282; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 1, Pt. 2, p. 340)

BLAIR, Montgomery, statesman, born in Franklin County, Kentucky, 10 May, 1813; died in Silver Spring, Maryland, 27 July, 1883. He was a son of Francis P. Blair, Sr., was graduated at West Point in 1835, and, after serving in the Seminole War, resigned his commission on 20 May, 1836. He then studied law, and, after his admission to the bar in 1839, began practice in St. Louis. He was appointed U. S. District attorney for Missouri, and in 1842 was elected mayor of St. Louis. He was raised to the bench as judge of the court of common pleas in 1843, but resigned in 1849. He moved to Maryland in 1852, and in 1855 was appointed U. S. solicitor in the court of claims. He was moved from this office by President Buchanan in 1858, having left the Democratic Party on the repeal of the Missouri compromise. In 1857 he acted as counsel for the plaintiff in the celebrated Dred Scott case. He presided over the Maryland Republican Convention in 1860, and in 1861 was appointed postmaster-general by President Lincoln. It is said that he alone of Mr. Lincoln's cabinet opposed the surrender of Fort Sumter, and held his resignation upon the issue. As postmaster-general he prohibited the sending of disloyal papers through the mails, and introduced various reforms, such as money-orders, free delivery in cities, and postal railroad cars. In 1864 Mr. Blair, who was not altogether in accord with the policy of the administration, told the president that he would resign whenever the latter thought it necessary, and on 23 September Mr. Lincoln, in a friendly letter, accepted his offer. After this Mr. Blair acted with the Democratic Party, and in 1876-'7 vigorously attacked Mr. Hayes's title to the office of president. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 282.


Blair's Landing, Louisiana, April 12-13, 1864. Ironclads Osage and Lexington and Provisional Division, 17th Army Corps. After the defeat of the Federals at Sabine cross-roads, and the return march to Grand Ecore had begun, the division of Brigadier-General T. Kilby Smith, then on transports in the river, was ordered to return at once. On the 12th the transport fleet, under convoy of the Osage and Lexington, was fired upon by Confederate sharpshooters and later in the day, near Blair's landing, a considerable force with 4 pieces of artillery opened upon the fleet. The troops on board were well protected behind barricades of cotton and hay bales and suffered little loss. On the 13th, when the grounding of the leading transport delayed the passage of the rest of the boats, the Confederates again opened a heavy fire of artillery and musketry, but were driven off by the ironclads and the artillery on board the other vessels. (Also called Pleasant Hill landing.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 136.


BLAKE, GEORGE A. H., soldier, born in Pennsylvania in September, 1812; died in Washington, D.C., 27 October, 1884. He became lieutenant in the 2d U.S. Dragoons 11 June, 1836, was made captain in December, 1839, and was in the actions with the Seminoles at Fort Miller and Jupiter inlet, in 1841. During the Mexican War, in 1846–’7, he was in the battles at Cerro Gordo, Puebla, Contreras, Molino del Rey, Chapultepec, and the City of Mexico, and was brevetted major for gallant conduct at St. Augustine, Mexico. In July, 1850, he became major of the 1st U.S. Dragoons, and served against the Apache and Navajo Indians. In May, 1861, he was made lieutenant  colonel of the 1st U.S. Cavalry, and colonel on 15 February, 1862. He took part in the battle of Gaines's Mill, 27 June, 1862, where he was slightly wounded, and was also in the actions at Aldie, Middletown, Upperville, and at Gettysburg, where he distinguished himself. He was afterward chief commissary of musters for the Department of Virginia, and in the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac. On 13 March, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general U. S. A. for his services at Gettysburg. From February, 1865, till March, 1866, he was member of a military commission at Washington, and afterward commander at Fort Vancouver, Washington territory. On 15 December, 1870, he was retired. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 283.


BLAKE, GEORGE SMITH, naval officer, born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1808; died in Longwood, Massachusetts, 24 June, 1871. His father, Francis Blake, was a prominent lawyer in Worcester. On 1 January, 1818, he was appointed to the U.S. Navy as midshipman. On 5 November, 1821, the schooner "Alligator, on which he was serving, was attacked near the Cape Verde Islands by a Portuguese ship, which was captured and sent to the United States, with Blake as her executive officer. Commissioned lieutenant, 81 March, 1827, he cruised in the "Grampus," on the West India station, for the suppression of piracy. He was employed on a Survey of Narragansett bay in 1832, was attached to the U.S. Navy-yard at Philadelphia in 1833, and from 1837 till 1848 was connected with the coast survey. The secretary of the treasury, in a letter to the Navy Department, speaks highly of Lieutenant Blake's zeal and fidelity in this service. In 1846, while commanding the brig "Perry" in the Gulf of Mexico, he was wrecked on the Florida Coast in the great hurricane, but succeeded in getting his vessel on", and brought her to Philadelphia under jury-masts. The secretary of the Navy, in a letter to Lieutenant Blake, commended his conduct on this occasion. He was made commander 27 February, 1847, and attached to the bureau of construction. From 1849 till 1852 he was fleet captain in the Mediterranean. On 14 September, 1855, he was made captain, and assigned to special duty at Hoboken, New Jersey, in connection with the building of the Stevens battery there. In 1858 he became superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. At the beginning of the war his prompt measures saved the government property at the academy from capture, and he superintended the removal of the school to Newport, Rhode Island. He was commissioned commodore on 16 July, 1862, left the Naval Academy in 1865, and from 1860 till 1869 he was light-house inspector of the Second District, residing at Boston. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 284.


BLAKE, HOMER CRANE, naval officer, born in Cleveland, Ohio, 1 February, 1822; died 21 January, 1880. He was appointed to the U.S. Navy from Ohio as a midshipman, 2 March, 1840, and served on the frigate "Constellation," of the East India Squadron, 1841-3; the sloop "Preble," 1843-'5; at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1846, when he was made passed midshipman; and again on the " Preble " until 1848. Until 1856 he served on receiving-ships at New York and Boston, with the exception of two years in the Pacific, and in 1855 was commissioned lieutenant. From 1857 till 1859 he served on the "St. Lawrence," of the Brazil Squadron, and from 1861 till 1862 on the "Sabine," of the home squadron. He was then made lieutenant-commander and given the command of the " Uatteras," of the Western Gulf Blockading Squadron, formerly a merchant steamer. On 11 July, 1863, the " Hatteras," while at anchor off Galveston, Texas, was ordered to chase a suspicious vessel, which proved to be the Confederate cruiser " Alabama," and after a short action Commander Blake was obliged to surrender, as the "Hatteras," no match for her adversary. was disabled and sinking. The crew was taken off, and the " Hatteras " went down in ten minutes. Blake was carried to Jamaica, where he was paroled, returned to the United States, and was soon exchanged. From 1863 till 1865 he commanded the steamer "Utah," of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, where he did good service, shelling three divisions of the Confederate Army on the James in 1864, and assisting to repel an attack on the Army of the James on 23 January, 1865. He was made commander, 8 March, 1866, commanded the "Swatara" and the " Alaska," and became captain, 25 May, 1871. From 1873 till 1878 he was in command of the naval rendezvous at New York, and in 1880 was promoted to commodore. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp.  284.


BLAKELY, ALABAMA, APRIL 1, 1865. 2nd Cavalry Brigade, 13th Corps. Spurling's cavalry was sent ahead to ascertain the best route to Holyoke and to open up communications with General Canby, who was operating against Spanish Fort and Blakely. He left Stockton at 5 a. m. on the 1st, and when about 5 miles from Blakely encountered a considerable force of the enemy. Dismounting the 2nd Maine and deploying the men as skirmishers, he soon determined the strength and position of the Confederates. Then charging with the 2nd Illinois the Confederates were routed from their position and two companies followed to within a mile of their works at Blakely. Most of the Confederate force belonged to the 46th Mississippi. The battle flag of that regiment was captured, together with 74 men, 8 horses and mules, and 70 stands of arms. The Union loss was 1 man mortally and 1 slightly wounded, the latter having his foot injured by the explosion of a torpedo buried in the road. The prisoners were made to dig up the other torpedoes that had been placed there.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 136.


BLAKENY'S, SOUTH CAROLINA, March 3, 1865.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 136.


BLAKE'S FARM, WEST VIRGINIA, November 10-11, 1861. 11th Ohio and 1st and 2nd Kentucky Infantry. Blake's farm lay on the left bank of the New river, about a mile from where that stream enters the Great Kanawha. Acting under orders from General J. D. Cox, Colonel De Villiers, with 200 of the 11th Ohio, and Lieut-Colonel Enyart, with 200 of the 1st Kentucky, crossed the Kanawha at different points on the 10th, the object being to occupy and hold the crest of the hills to prevent the enemy from obtaining a position from which he could destroy the ferry. Skirting the hills along the New River De Villiers surprised some 50 or 60 Confederates at Blake's and drove them back into the woods on the hills with some loss. Shortly after dark that evening six companies of the 2nd Kentucky, under Major Coleman, were sent over as reinforcements, the enemy also receiving a reinforcement of 200 from the camp near Huddleston. At daybreak on the 11th the action was commenced by driving in the enemy's pickets, and forcing the main body, several hundred in number, up the New river in the direction of Cotton hill. When that point was reached the Confederate baggage train could be seen moving along the Fayette pike and in a little while the whole force was in a retreat. A party under Major Lieper followed them up the pike and took up a position at Laurel Hill, holding the position until reinforced by Benham's brigade the following day, when the pursuit was renewed. In the skirmishing around Blake's farm the Union loss was 2 killed, 1 wounded, and 6 missing, all belonging to the 11th Ohio. Of the Confederates from 25 to 30 were seen carried off the field either dead or wounded, and 1 found dead the next day was buried by the Union troops. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 136.


BLAKESLEY, J. M., anti-slavery agent.  Founded 15 anti-slavery societies in Chataqua and Erie Counties in New York.  (Dumond, 1961, pp. 186, 392n21; Friend of Man, February 1, 1837, May 10, 1837, March 21, 1838)


BLANCHARD, ALBERT G., soldier, born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1810. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1829, and served on frontier duty and recruiting service until 1 October, 1840, when he resigned, with the rank of first lieutenant. From 1840 till 1846 he was a merchant at New Orleans, Louisiana, and was director of public schools there from 1843 till 1845. During the Mexican War he served as captain of Louisiana volunteers, being at the battle of Monterey and the siege of Vera Cruz, and he re-entered the regular army on 27 May, 1847, as major of the 12th U.S. Infantry, serving till 25 July, 1848. After teaching in the New Orleans public schools he became a surveyor, and was afterward connected with several railroad companies. At the beginning of the Civil War, in 1861, he was made a brigadier-general in the Confederate Army, and on 29 February, 1862, issued from Norfolk, Virginia, an order that became quite celebrated, urging the inhabitants to fire at the National Army from behind trees, and obstruct its passage in every possible way. Since the war, General Blanchard has been a civil engineer and surveyor in New Orleans. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp.  287.


BLANCHARD, JONATHAN, 1811-1892, clergyman, educator, abolitionist, theologian, lecturer.  Worked for more than thirty years for the abolition of slavery.  Member of the American Anti-Slavery Society.  President of Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois, 1845-1858.  President, Illinois Institute.  Vice president, World Anti-Slavery Convention, London, England, 1843, Free Soil Party.  (Bailey, J.W., Knox College, 1860; Blanchard Papers, Wheaton College Library, Wheaton, Illinois; Blanchard Jonathan, and Rice, N.L. [1846], 1870; Dumond, 1961, p. 186; Kilby, 1959; Maas, 2003; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 196-197; Dictionary of American Biography, 1936, Vol. 1, pt. 2, pp. 350-351)


BLANCHARD, JUSTUS WARDWELL, soldier, born in Milford, New Hampshire, in 1811; died in Syracuse, New York, 14 September, 1877. Before the Civil War he was captain of the Burgess Corps of Albany, New York. He entered the national service as captain in the 3d New York Volunteers in 1861, became lieutenant-colonel in 1863, and brevet brigadier-general of volunteers on 13 March, 1865. He was at Big Bethel in 1861, took part in Banks's Red River Expedition, volunteered on a forlorn hope at Port Hudson, and was with Sheridan in his Shenandoah Campaign in 1864. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 288.


BLANCHARD, THOMAS, inventor, born in Sutton, Massachusetts, 24 June, 1788; died in Boston, 16 April, 1864. He had a fondness for mechanical employment, and was associated with his brother in the manufacture of tacks by hand. This process was exceedingly slow and tedious, and in 1806 he invented a machine, which he subsequently so improved that five hundred tacks could be made in a minute, with heads and points more perfect than those made by the old-fashioned plan. This patent he sold for $5,000 to a company that afterward went extensively into the manufacture. After this he turned his attention to the manufacture of a machine for turning and finishing gun-barrels by a single operation; and this he accomplished, finishing the octagon portion of the barrel by changing the action of the lathe to vibratory motion. This invention, afterward extended to the turning of all kinds of irregular forms, was one of the most remarkable improvements made in the century. During the progress of its development he was employed at the Springfield Armory, where he received nine cents allowance from the government for each musket made by his machines, and this was his only compensation during the first term of his patent, originally granted in 1820. In 1831 he received a patent for an improved form of steamboat, so constructed as to ascend rapids or rivers having strong currents, which was used on the Connecticut River and in the west. He introduced several improvements in the construction of railroads and locomotives, and was the inventor of a steam wagon before any railroad had ever been built. In 1851 he devised a process for bending heavy timber. He also constructed machines for cutting and folding envelopes at a single operation, and several mortising machines. Mr. Blanchard was awarded more than twenty-five patents for his inventions, for some of which he received ample compensation. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 288.


BLATCHFORD, RICHARD MILFORD, lawyer, born in Stratford, Connecticut, 23 April, 1798; died in Newport, Rhode Island, 3 September, 1875. He was graduated at Union in 1818, taught school in Jamaica, L.I., and studied law at the same time. After being admitted to the bar he settled in New York, and rose rapidly in his profession. In 1826 he was appointed financial agent and counsel for the bank of England, later he held the same ' from the bank of the United States, and in 1836, when the charter of that bank expired, he satisfactorily settled the affairs between it and the bank of England. In 1855 he was elected to the state legislature. At the beginning of the Civil War he was a prominent member of the union defence Committee, and President Lincoln appointed him on the committee charged with the disbursement of the large sums of money appropriated for obtaining soldiers for the union Army. The other members of the committee were Generals John A. Dix and George Opdyke. In 1862 he received the appointment of minister-resident to the States of the Church, and remained in Rome until October, 1863. He was a commissioner of Central Park from April, 1859, till April, 1870, when he was moved by the operation of the new charter. In 1872 he was appointed a Commissioner of Public Parks, but was afterward moved by the enactment of a new charter. He was a warm personal friend of Daniel Webster, and one of the executors to his will.—His son, Samuel, jurist, born in New 1820, was graduated at Columbia in 1837. Two years later he became private secretary to Governor William H. Seward, and he was military secretary on the governor's staff till 1843. In 1842 he was admitted to the bar, and in 1845 was made a counsellor of the Supreme court of New York state. During the latter part of the same year he, settled in Auburn, and became associated with W. H. Seward and Christopher Morgan in a law partnership. In 1854 he moved to New York City, and resumed the practice of his profession. He was appointed in May, 1867, District judge of the U. S. court for the Southern District of New York. and in March, 1882, became an associate justice of the Supreme court of the United States. Since 1867 he has been a trustee of Columbia College. For several years he published reports of cases in the circuit courts of the United States. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 290.


BLEDSOE, ALBERT TAYLOR, educator, born in Frankfort, Kentucky, 9 November, 1809; died in Alexandria, Virginia, 8 December, 1877. He was appointed from Kentucky to the U. S. Military Academy, and was graduated in 1830, after which he served in the army at Fort Gibson, Indian territory, until 31 August, 1832, when he resigned. From 1833 till 1834 he was adjunct professor of mathematics and teacher of the French language at Kenyon, and in 1835–6 professor of mathematics at Miami. After studying theology he was ordained a clergyman in the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1835, and was connected with various churches in Ohio until 1838. Having previously studied law, he began its practice in Springfield, Ohio in 1838, and continued it there and in Washington, D.C., till 1848. During the years 1848–54 he was professor of mathematics and astronomy at the University of Mississippi, and from 1854 till 1861 professor of mathematics at the University of Virginia. In 1861 he entered the Confederate service as colonel, but was soon made chief of the war bureau and acting assistant Secretary of War. In 1863 he went to England to collect material for his work on the constitution, which he published on his return in 1866. He then settled in Baltimore and began the publication of the “Southern Review,” hitherto mainly of a political character, which under his editorship assumed a theological tone and became the recognized organ of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. In 1868 he became principal of the Louisa school, Baltimore, and in 1871 was ordained a minister in the Methodist Church. In addition to numerous contributions to periodicals he published “An Examination of wards on the Will” (Philadelphia, 1845); “A Theodicy or Vindication of the Divine Glory” (New York, 1853); “Liberty and Slavery” (Philadelphia, 1857); “Is Davis a Traitor? or was Secession a Constitutional Right previous to the War of 1861?” (Baltimore, 1866); and “Philosophy of Mathematics” (Philadelphia, 1866). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 291.


BLENKER, LOUIS, soldier, born in Worms, Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, 31 Julv,1812; died in Rockland County, New York, 31 October, 1803. In his youth he was apprenticed to a jeweler, but on becoming of age he enlisted in the Bavarian legion that was raised to accompany Prince Otho, then recently elected king, to Greece. When the legion was disbanded in 1837, he received the rank of lieutenant. He then returned home and began the study of medicine in the University of Munich, but soon gave this up to engage in the wine business in Worms. In 1849 he was a leading member of the revolutionary government in that city, and also burgomaster and commander of the national guard. He fought in several successful engagements with the Prussians; but the revolutionists being soon completely crushed, he retired into Switzerland. In September, 1849, having been ordered to leave that country, he came to the United States and settled in Rockland County, New York where he undertook to cultivate a farm. Later he engaged in business in New York, and so continued until the beginning of the Civil War, when he organized the 8th Regiment of New York Volunteers, of which he was commissioned colonel, 31 May, 1861. After some time spent in Washington his regiment was incorporated with others into a brigade attached to Colonel Miles's 8th Division in General McDowell's Army. During the first battle of Bull Run this division acted as a reserve, and covered the retreat with grout steadiness. For his services at that time he was commissioned brigadier-general of the volunteers 9 August, 1861. He remained with the Army of the Potomac, commanding a division, until the beginning of the Peninsular Campaign, when he was ordered to western Virginia, he took an active part in the battle of Cedar Keys, 8 June, 1862: but after the arrival of General Fremont he was succeeded by General Sigel. General Blenker was then ordered to Washington, and on 31 March, 1863, was mustered out of service. He returned to his farm in Rockland County, where he remained until his death, which resulted from internal injuries received from a fall of his horse in entering the town of Warrenton, Virginia. while with his command. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 292.


BLICK'S STATION, VIRGINIA, August 19, 1864. The action at Blick's station on this date was a part of the operations of the 8th and 9th corps against the railroad. (See Weldon Railroad.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p.


BLINDAGE. A siege work contrived, when defilement is impossible, as a shelter against a cross or ricochet fire of artillery. It is also used to guard against the effects of shells. The powder magazines, the hospitals, the cisterns, certain doors and windows are thus blinded by means of carpentry work, or shelters loaded with earth, dung, &c. Blindage of the trenches is also necessary, particularly when the besiegers begin the crowning of the covered way by means of the sap. Blindage are thus used to guard against stones or hand grenades thrown by the besieged. This blindage is entirely exposed to sorties, and also to the danger of being burned by the besieged. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 88).


BLISS, PHILEMON, 1813-1889, lawyer, U.S. Congressman, 1854, Chief Justice, Dakota Territory in 1861, elected Supreme Court of Missouri, 1868.  Helped found anti-slavery  Free Soil Party.  Agent of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS).  (Blue, 2005, p. 76; Dumond, 1961, p. 165; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. I, Pt. 2, pp. 375-376)


BLISS, PHILIP PAUL, singing evangelist, born in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, 9 July, 1838; died near Ashtabula, Ohio, 29 December, 1876. His early years were assed in the wilds of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and is education was of the most rudimentary description; but he possessed an innate passion for music, which at first was only cultivated by listening to his father singing hymns. When about ten years old he, for the first time, heard a piano, and was unable to resist the temptation that lured him through the open door and into the room. He stood spell-bound until the music ceased, and the player, becoming aware of his presence, barefooted and in rags, harshly ordered him away. Until 1855 he worked on a farm and at wood-cutting. but so faithfully improved his occasional opportunities for study that by 1856 he had enough education to teach a school in Hartsville, Alleghany County, New York. The following winter he, for the first time, attended a singing-school in Towanda, Pennsylvania. The same winter he attended a musical convention in Rome, New York. In 1858 he taught school in Rome, his vocal powers developing son, John Murray, jurist, born, in Massachusetts in through constant exercise. In the summer of 1860   he was providentially enabled to attend the normal academy of music at Geneseo, New York, and in the following winter began to teach music and to compose songs, which soon attained local popularity. During 1865 he was drafted into the army, and for duty at Carlisle barracks; but, as the war was over, he was soon discharged. During the twelve years beginning with 1864 he wrote the songs that have made him famous. In 1865 he formed a business partnership with a Chicago firm, and held musical conventions and gave concerts throughout the northwestern states. His fame as a “singing evangelist” did not spread beyond the whither his engagements led him until a chance meeting with D. L. Moody, the famous revivalist leader, brought about a warm friendship between the two, and resulted in his self-consecration to missionary labors that carried his songs all over the world. But it was not until 1874 that he deliberately devoted himself to evangelistic work, though he had always been  inclined, and had united with the Baptist Church at Elk Run, Pennsylvania, when thirteen years old. A fine personal presence, a native gift of effective speech, and a wonderful voice, gave him an irresistible power over miscellaneous audiences. His singing, though not scientific, according to classical standards, appealed strongly to the hearts of the multitudes. According to an expert, the “chest range” of his voice was from D flat below to A flat above, and this without straining or confusing the vowel sounds. The motive of his most famous song was supplied by a message signaled by flag during the fight from Kenesaw mountain, Georgia, to Altoona Pass, twenty miles distant, over the heads of the enemy. It ran thus: “Hold the fort; I am Coming W. T. Sherman.” These words and the inspiring air that Mr. Bliss composed to accompany them are sung wherever English is spoken. Others of his compositions have commanded a popularity hardly second to that of “Hold the Fort.” Among them are “Down Life's Dark Vale we Wander,” “Hallelujah! 'tis done!” “Jesus Loves Me,” and “Pull for the Shore, Sailor!” Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 293-294.


BLOCK AND TACKLE. The power is equal to the weight divided by the number of ropes attached to the lower block, or by twice the number of raising pulleys. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. ).


BLOCK-HOUSE (Redoubt of wood.) A common defence against Indians at two diagonal angles of a picket work. FIG. 69 and 70, FIG. 69. FIG. 70. with dimensions in metres, show the construction used by the French in Algiers; or it may be built of logs 18 inches square on the ground floor, and 12 inches square in the upper story. Height of each story fen feet; loopholed; the upper story projecting all round, beyond the ground story, as machicoulis. Hatches should be made in the roof for the escape of smoke, and be grated. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp. 88-89).


BLOCKHOUSES, N. & C. R. R., TENNESSEE, December 2-4, 1864. (See Nashville & Chattanooga R. R.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 137.


BLODGETT, FOSTER, politician, born in Augusta, Georgia, 15 January, 1826; died in Atlanta, 12 November, 1877. He became mayor of Augusta in 1859, and was reelected in 1860, but was defeated in 1861. During the Civil War he was captain of the Blodgett Artillery, from Augusta. After the war he joined the Republican Party and was appointed postmaster of Augusta in 1865, but was removed from that office in 1868, and reinstated in 1869. In 1867 he was made president of the Union Republican Club of Augusta, and during the same year he was again chosen mayor. He was a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1867, and in 1870 claimed to have been chosen U. S. Senator from Georgia, but failed to secure his seat, as the Senate decided in favor of the claims of Thomas M. Norwood. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 295


BLOOD'S, TENNESSEE, January 3, 1863. (See Cox's Hill.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 137.


BLOODGOOD, DELAVAN, surgeon, born in Springville, Erie County, New York, 20 August 1831. He was graduated at Madison University, Hamilton, New York, in 1852, studied medicine in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City, Michigan University, and Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, where he received his degree of M. D., and entered the U. S. Navy as assistant surgeon 13 March, 1857. In his first cruise, in the steam frigate “Merrimac,” of the Pacific Squadron, he volunteered his services when a supposed epidemic broke out among the '' of the Pacific steam navigation company at Tobago. At the beginning of the Civil War he was on duty in the Gulf of Mexico, and afterward in Hampton Roads, receiving promotion as surgeon, 24 January, 1862. He was subsequently attached to the West India Flying Squadron when yellow fever broke out on board, and to the Carolina Blockading Squadron when a severe epidemic of small-pox occurred. He was ordered to the “Jamestown” at Panama in February, 1867, and was one of the few survivors of the virulent epidemic of yellow fever that raged among the men. He was promoted, 22 August, 1884, to medical director, and assigned to the Naval Laboratory in Brooklyn, New York. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 296.


BLOOMER, AMELIA JENKS, reformer, born in Homer, New York, 27 May, 1818. She married, in 1840, Dexter C. Bloomer, a lawyer, and resided in Seneca Falls, New York, where she wrote frequently on the enfranchisement of women, and on 1 January, 1849, issued the first number of “The Lily,” a semi-monthly publication, devoted to temperance and woman's rights, which attained a circulation of 4,000. In 1853 she moved with her husband to Mt. Vernon, Ohio, where she continued the publication of “The Lily,” and was also associate editor of the “Western Home Journal,” a literary weekly. In 1855, on account of her husband's business interests, they moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where it was impracticable for lack of manufacturing and postal facilities, to continue the publication of the paper, which she therefore sold to Mary B. Birdsall. She advocated women's rights on the lecture platform as well as in the columns of her paper, and took a prominent in the movement for woman suffrage. She lectured on temperance in the principal cities of the northwest, and adopted and publicly recommended a sanitary dress for women, known as the Bloomer costume, which was first introduced by Elizabeth Smith Miller, daughter of Gerrit Smith. It consisted of skirts reaching just below the knee and Turkish trousers. In the winter of 1855 Mrs. Bloomer addressed the territorial legislature of Nebraska on the subject of conferring the ballot on women. She took part in organizing the Iowa State suffrage Association, and was at one time its president, but in later years withdrew entirely from public life. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 296.


BLOOMERY GAP, WEST VIRGINIA, February 14, 1862. 5th Ohio Infantry and Virginia Militia. With the evacuation of Romney by the Confederates on February 7, the Union forces in the valley district assumed the aggressive and skirmishes were of daily occurrence, the purpose being to keep the enemy from interfering with the reopening of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. One of the most dashing of these affairs was the charge of the Federal troops under Brigadier-General F. W. Lander, on the Confederate post at Bloomery gap, where 13 Confederates were killed and 65 captured, 17 of the prisoners being commissioned officers. Lander's loss was 2 men and 6 horses. Bloomery Gap, West Virginia, March 28, 1864.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 137.


BLOOMFIELD, KENTUCKY, October 18, 1862.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 137.


BLOOMFIELD, KENTUCKY, November 5, 1864. 37th Kentucky Infantry. Captain Borrell's company, of the 37th Kentucky, surprised a squad of guerrillas at Bloomfield, where they were having their horses shod, after having pillaged the town. Borrell's men opened fire on them and 2 fell mortally wounded. The volley was followed by a charge and 3 more of the bushwhackers were captured. The next day while the prisoners were being escorted to Bardstown they tried to escape and were killed by the guards. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 137.


BLOOMFIELD, MISSOURI, May 11, 1862. 1st Wisconsin Cavalry. The Wisconsin troops, under Colonel Daniels, fell upon Colonel Phelan's camp about 10 miles from Bloomfield, killed 1, captured 11, and scattered the rest through the swamp. There fell into Daniel's hands a number of horses and oxen, a considerable quantity of camp equipage, arms, ammunition, etc., and Phelan's chest, containing his private papers.


BLOOMFIELD, MISSOURI, July 29, 1862.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 137.


BLOOMFIELD, MISSOURI, August 24, 1862. Detachment 13th Illinois Cavalry. Under an order of General John M. Schofield, to kill, capture or disperse a body of Confederates operating between Bloomfield and the Cape, Major Lippert, with 200 men, made an attack on the Confederate camp, killed 30, wounded several more, took 16 prisoners, and captured a number of wagons and horses, several stand of arms and a quantity of camp equipage. No casualties on the Federal side.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 137.


BLOOMFIELD, MISSOURI, August 29, 1862. Bloomfield, Missouri, Sept . 11, 1862. 2nd Missouri Light Artillery. Major Urban with a battery drove the enemy from Bloomfield in the direction of Holcomb's island, losing 4 men killed and a 24-pounder howitzer. The Confederate loss was not ascertained.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 137.


BLOOMFIELD, MISSOURI, January 27, 1863. 68th Enrolled Missouri State Militia. Colonel Lindsay, with 250 men of his regiment and 2 small cannon, provided at private expense, dashed into the town of Bloomfield, captured a number of the enemy, with all the horses, equipments, arms and stores, belonging to the band of guerrillas that had for some time been committing depredations in the neighborhood. For his gallant action Lindsay received the congratulations of General Carr, commanding the St. Louis district.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 137.


BLOOMFIELD, MISSOURI, March 1-2, 1863. 2nd Missouri State Militia Cavalry. Lieutenant F. R. Poole, with a detachment of the regiment, swam the Castor river during the night, surprised the town of Bloomfield at daylight, capturing the Confederate provost-marshal with all his official documents, 20 Confederate soldiers, a number of horses and guns and a quantity of ammunition. Later in the day he sent a party of 20 to surprise another camp about 15 miles down the Arkansas road. The movement was successfully executed, 2 pickets being killed and the main body flying at the noise of the first firing, leaving their arms, provisions, etc., to fall into Poole's hands.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, pp. 137-138.


BLOOMFIELD, MISSOURI, April 20, 1863.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 138.


BLOOMFIELD, MISSOURI, April 29-30, 1863. Marmaduke's Missouri Expedition. After the repulse of Marmaduke at Cape Girardeau on the 26th he was pursued by the Federal forces under Generals McNeil and Vandever. On the morning of the 29th a slight skirmish, attended by a few casualties, occurred at the Castor river, between the Federal advance and the Confederate rear. That afternoon, when within a few miles of Bloomfield, Colonel LaGrange, who led the advance with the 1st Wisconsin cavalry, again commenced skirmishing with the enemy's rear guard, which retreated rapidly toward the town. McNeil, hearing the firing, hurried the artillery to the front, posted his guns on Walker's hill, within 1,000 yards of the enemy, recalled the skirmishers and opened fire. In a short time the Confederate guns were silenced. That night the men lay in line of battle and at 4 a. m. on the 30th LaGrange advanced and attacked the enemy in his camp. An hour later the artillery was brought into play, driving the enemy from the town in a precipitate retreat on the Chalk Bluff road. The entire Union column occupied Bloomfield by 11 o'clock, where it was halted for further orders.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 138.


BLOOMFIELD, MISSOURI, May 12, 1863.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 138.

BLOOMFIELD, MISSOURI, November 29-30, 1863. 1st, 2nd, and 6th Missouri Cavalry. A force of about 500 Confederates, with 2 pieces of artillery, under the command of Lee Crandall, surrounded Bloomfield on the morning of the 29th and demanded the surrender of the town. Captain Preuitt, who was guarding the post with 250 of the 1st Missouri cavalry, declined and put the court-house square in a state of barricade. The Confederates, being more intent upon plunder than fight, delayed operations until reinforcements could be received from McRae, who was near Pocahontas. At daylight on the morning of the 30th Preuitt was reinforced by Major Robbins, with 400 men of the 2nd Missouri cavalry and 2 cannon, and by Major Montgomery, with a detachment of the 6th Missouri cavalry. The Union troops now took the offensive. The Confederates were driven from their position and pursued as far as the St. Francis river, several of their number being killed or wounded and 5 captured.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 138.


BLOOMFIELD, MISSOURI, April 1, 1864. 2nd Missouri State Militia Cavalry. A squad of men sent out under Captain Shibley came upon a small party of guerrillas in the act of robbing a Union man's house, killed 1 and captured the rest. They belonged to Kitchen's band.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 138.


BLOOMFIELD, MISSOURI, May 6, 1864. Scouts from 2nd Missouri State Militia Cavalry. The scouting party fell in with 6 guerrillas about 25 miles south of Bloomfield and immediately gave chase, killing 2 of the number. One of those killed had in his pocket a parole given him by the provost-marshal of the New Madrid district in December previous. Bloomfield, Missouri, July 14, 1864. 2nd Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, and Enrolled Militia. During a skirmish between the Missouri troops and a band of bushwhackers, 1 man of the enrolled militia was killed and 1 of the 2nd cavalry slightly wounded. Of the guerrillas 1 was mortally wounded, 2 others slightly wounded, and 2 fine horses with their equipments were captured.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 138.


BLOOMFIELD, MISSOURI, March 3-7, 1865. 50 men of the 7th Kansas and 2nd Missouri State Militia. Captain Campbell was sent with the detachment into Dunklin county. About 25 miles below Bloomfield they ran across a company of Confederates and killed 6, 1 of whom was Captain Howard, the leader of the band. Campbell had 2 men wounded. On the 7th they came upon Bolin's gang of guerrillas and a skirmish ensued in which 2 of Bolin's men were killed and several wounded without casualties on the Union side.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 139.


BLOOMING GAP, VIRGINIA, February 13, 1862. 1st West Virginia Cavalry, 8th Ohio and 7th West Virginia Infantry. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 139.


BLOOMINGTON, TENNESSEE, February 27, 1863. Detachment 2nd Illinois Cavalry. Captain Moore was sent with the detachment to surprise the camp of Colonel Richardson on the Hatchie river near Bloomington. He reached the camp at daybreak to find it deserted, except for 8 men left to guard the stores and collect conscripts, the main body having marched the day before in a southeasterly direction. The guard and stores were captured without resistance and several buildings destroyed. Blount County, Tennessee, July 20, 1864.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 139.


BLOSS, WILLIAM CLOUGH, 1795-1863, abolitionist leader, reformer, temperance advocate.  Early abolitionist leader in Rochester, New York, area.  Founded abolitionist newspaper, Rights of Man, in 1834.  Petitioned U.S. Congress to end slavery in Washington, DC.  Early supporter of women’s rights and African American civil rights.  Activist in aiding fugitive slaves in the Underground Railroad.  manager, American Anti-Slavery Society, 1843-1845.  (American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 3, p. 54)


BLOUNT'S CREEK, NORTH CAROLINA, April 9, 1863. 1st Brigade, 5th Division, 18th Corps. The brigade, under command of Brigadier-General F. B. Spinola, was engaged in the military operations growing out of the siege of Washington, D. C. In pursuance of General Palmer's orders Spinola marched from Fort Anderson by the Swift creek road. A bridge was constructed over Little Swift creek during the night of the 8th and at daylight the next morning the whole brigade was moved 15 miles to Ruff's mill, near the head of Blount's creek. For the last two miles of that march a running fire had been kept up with the enemy's pickets, who gradually fell back to Ruff's mill, where a force of some 2,000 Confederates were strongly intrenched. Behind the first line of fortifications, at a distance of half a mile, lay a reserve force of 3,000, the whole body being commanded by General Pettigrew. The bridge had been destroyed and on the north side of the creek, opposite the works of the enemy, was an almost impenetrable swamp. Lieutenant Burke, of the 3d New York cavalry, was ordered up with a mountain howitzer to open the engagement. The 17th and 43d Massachusetts infantry, two sections of Captain Belger's battery, one section of the 32-pounder howitzers, and the 3d New York cavalry were all that could be used to advantage, owing to the condition of the ground. After a short time Spinola succeeded in silencing the enemy's guns, but was unable to bring a sufficient force to bear to drive them from their position. Several vain attempts were made to cross the stream in order to secure a position where the Confederates could be subjected to an enfilading fire. At 5 p. m. Spinola ordered the troops engaged to withdraw from the field and soon after began the retreat toward New Berne. Notwithstanding the heavy fire to which the forces had been exposed the casualties were very slight, only 9 men being wounded and of those only 3 severely.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 139.


BLOUNT'S CREEK, NORTH CAROLINA, April 5, 1864. Detachment of the 58th Pennsylvania and 21st Connecticut Infantry. Captains Clay and Stanton, who led the Union troops, moved from the garrison at Hill's point and near Blount's creek surprised Whitford's battalion of the 67th North Carolina, capturing Lieutenant Taylor and 6 men. The two Union captains received the congratulations of General Peck for their successful conduct of the expedition.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 139.


BLOUNT'S PLANTATION, ALABAMA, May 2, 1863. (See Streight's Raid.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 139.


BLOUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA, May 1, 1863. (See Streight's Raid.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 139.


BLOUNTSVILLE, TENNESSEE, September 22, 1863. Part of the 23d Army Corps. After the fight at Zollicoffer on the 20th the main body of the Union forces, under General John W. Foster, withdrew to Blountsville, where they were engaged on the 22nd by about 3,600 of the enemy. The Confederates were defeated after a sharp fight, losing 50 prisoners and 1 piece of artillery. The Union loss was 6 killed and 14 wounded.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, pp. 139-140.

BLOUNTSVILLE, TENNESSEE, October 13, 1863. Part of the 3d Brigade, 4th Division, 23d Corps. About a mile from Blountsville a regiment of Confederate cavalry, with 2 pieces of artillery, were engaged by some of General Shackelford's command. The Confederates, under the command of General W. E. Jones, fell back slowly toward Zollicoffer, where they were reinforced by Wharton's brigade of infantry. No casualties reported on either side.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 140.


BLOW, HENRY TAYLOR, 1817-1875, statesman, diplomat.  Active in pre-Civil War anti-slavery movement.  Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1863-1867, voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. I, p. 297; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 1, Pt. 2, pp. 443-444; Congressional Globe)

BLOW, Henry Taylor, statesman, born in Southampton County, Virginia, 15 July, 1817; died in Saratoga, New York, 11 September, 1875. He went to Missouri in 1830, and was graduated at St. Louis University. He then engaged in the drug business and in lead-mining, in which he was successful. Before the Civil War he took a prominent part in the anti-slavery movement, and served four years in the state senate. In 1861 he was appointed minister to Venezuela, but resigned in less than a year. He was a Republican member of Congress from 1863 till 1867, and served on the committee of ways and means. He was minister to Brazil from 1869 till 1871, and was appointed one of the commissioners of the District of Columbia in 1874. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 297.


BLUEBIRD GAP, GEORGIA, September 11, 1863.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 140.


BLUE CREEK, WEST VIRGINIA, September 1, 1861.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 140.


BLUE EARTH RIVER, MINNESOTA, May 2, 1865. A party of hostile Sioux Indians massacred a family of 5 or 6 persons on the Blue Earth river, and were pursued for some distance toward the Dakota line by a body of General Sibley's troops, but succeeded in making their escape.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 140.

BLUE ISLAND (NEAR LEAVENWORTH), INDIANA, June 19, 1863. Home Guards, commanded by Major Glendenin. Blue Mills, Missouri, July 24, 1861. 5th Missouri Reserves.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 140.


BLUE MILLS LANDING, MISSOURI, September 17, 1861. 3d Iowa Infantry. The Iowa troops, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel John Scott, left Centerville at 2 a. m. for Liberty, 10 miles distant, where they hoped to intercept a body of Missourians marching to the assistance of General Price. Upon arriving at Liberty, about 7 o'clock, Scott learned that the enemy to the number of about 4,000, had passed through the town on the afternoon preceding and taken the road to Blue Mills landing. While the troops were resting at Liberty firing was heard in the direction of the landing, and about the same time a rumor came that a Union force there was disputing the passage over the river. The firing was really a slight skirmish in which a party of Federal scouts lost 4 killed and 2 wounded. Scott moved his forces toward the landing, marching rapidly until near the river, when he proceeded with more caution to ascertain the enemy's position. The Confederates, under Atchison and Patton, were concealed in the bed of a dry slough, on both sides of the road, from which position a heavy fire was opened, driving back the skirmishers, and at the same time attacking parties were sent against the Union front and right. Notwithstanding the overpowering force—the Confederates having 4,400 and Scott about 700 men—the Federals bravely stood their ground, until ordered to fall back and then the retreat was conducted in an orderly manner. The Union loss was 20 killed and 80 wounded, that of the enemy being about 160 in killed and wounded. Blue Pond, Alabama, October 20, 1864.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 140.


BLUE RIVER, MISSOURI, May 21, 1864. 2nd Colorado Cavalry. A party of 9 men of the 2nd Colonel was escorting a prisoner to Kansas City, and when within half a mile of Blue River was attacked by about 35 guerrillas, having 1 man killed, 1 wounded and 1 missing. The Confederate loss was not learned.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p.


BLUE ROCK STATION, CALIFORNIA, March 17, 1864. (See Red Mountain.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 140.


BLUE'S BRIDGE, SOUTH CAROLINA, March 8, 1865. (See Love's Bridge, same date.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 140.


BLUE'S GAP, VIRGINIA, January 7, 1862. Detachment of Kelley's Division, Army of Western Virginia. General B. F. Kelley, who was in command of the posts along the different lines of railroad in the Department of Western Virginia, being desirous of diverting Stonewall Jackson's attention from Hancock, planned an expedition against the force of Confederates stationed at Blue's gap, or Hanging Rock pass. On the 6th he ordered Colonel S. H. Dunning, of the 5th Ohio infantry, to make a detail of six companies from each of the following regiments: 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th Ohio, ist West Virginia, and 14th Indiana infantry. To this infantry force there were added the Ringgold, Washington, and three companies of the ist West Virginia, cavalry, Daum's battery and Baker's Parrott guns. The expedition left Romney at 11 o'clock on the night of the 6th and, notwithstanding the cold weather and recent fall of snow, marched the 15 intervening miles between that point and the gap before daylight. Selecting a hill overlooking the gap the Parrott guns were soon placed in position to command the pass. About the same time the Confederates could be seen making preparations to burn the bridge. Dunning ordered the 5th Ohio to advance at the double-quick to save it, and in a few minutes the regiment was on a bluff, where, with a well directed volley, they put a stop to further proceedings. Additional troops were now deployed to the right and left up the mountain, driving the enemy from covert to covert until a final stand was made in the rifle-pits near the summit. A charge was then ordered but before the men had time to fix their bayonets the Confederates left the pits and fled precipitately down the mountain, only to run into the remainder of the infantry force, who clinched the victory. The cavalry was ordered to charge but the fugitives scattered so that the charge was of no avail. The Confederates lost 7 men killed, a number wounded and 7 captured; besides 2 6-pounder cannon, a number of wagons, a quantity of ammunition, camp equipage, provisions, etc.. 10 horses and a number of tents. The Union loss was nothing. This expedition had the desired effect. Jackson, thinking an attack was about to be made on Winchester, withdrew from Hancock and hurried to the relief of Winchester.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, pp. 140-141.


BLUE'S HOUSE, WEST VIRGINIA, August 26, 1861.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 141.


BLUE SPRINGS, MISSOURI, March 22, 1863. 5th Missouri State Militia Cavalry. A detachment of 50 men of the 5th cavalry, with an artillery company, under the command of Captain H. B. Johnson, met with a much larger force of guerrillas at Blue springs, about 12 miles from Independence, and in a skirmish lost 9 killed, 3 wounded and 6 missing. The Confederate loss was not ascertained. According to their custom the guerrillas broke up into small parties and scattered in all directions, killing, plundering and destroying as they went, and at the same time rendering pursuit impossible.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 141.


BLUE SPRINGS, TENNESSEE, near, October 5, 1863. Portion of General Burnside's forces. A reconnaissance, under Colonel James P. T. Carter, drove back the enemy's skirmishers, but finding the main body too large for him to attack, Carter withdrew, after a loss of 4 wounded and 7 missing, reporting 15 of the Confederates left dead on the field, most of whom were armed as infantry but wore the spurs of cavalrymen.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 141.


BLUE SPRINGS, TENNESSEE, October 10, 1863. Shackelford's Cavalry Division, and Infantry of the 9th Corps, Army of the Ohio. The cavalry advanced to Blue Springs, near Independence, early in the day, where they found a strong force of Confederates, under Colonels Carter and Giltner. who put up a stubborn resistance. Skirmishing was kept up until the arrival of the infantry, about 5 p. m., when the tide of battle was turned in favor of the Union forces. From that time until dark the fight was waged with unceasing vigor, and during the night the enemy quietly abandoned the field and retreated in the direction of Henderson. The Union loss was 9 killed, 61 wounded and 1 missing. No authentic report of the Confederate loss could be obtained, but it was known to be much heavier in killed and wounded, besides 150 being captured. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 141.


BLUE SPRINGS, TENNESSEE, August 23, 1864. 10th Michigan and 9th Tennessee Cavalry. General Gillem broke camp, near Russellville, at 6:30 a. m. on the 23d, and marched toward Greenville. After dispersing a small force of the enemy at Bull's gap and routing the pickets at Blue springs he came upon a larger body 2 miles further on. They occupied a strong position on a ridge to the south of the road. The 10th Michigan cavalry were ordered to dismount and move forward, while * pieces of artillery were placed in position. An attempt was made by the Confederates to charge one of the guns, but they were met by the 10th Michigan and repulsed with considerable loss. Two companies of the 9th Tennessee were then ordered to turn the enemy's left flank and this movement was successful through the assistance of a small boy—William Brown—who showed Colonel Miller a by-road, and although but a mere child, kept with Miller through the fight. As soon as the flank movement was made the Confederates began to retreat. Lieutenant-Colonel Brownlow was then ordered to take five companies of the 9th Tennessee and charge the enemy in front. Then commenced a running fight which was continued to 2 miles beyond Greenville. The Confederate loss was 57 killed and the Union loss 28 wounded, 2 of whom afterward died.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 142.


BLUE STONE, WEST VIRGINIA, August 13-14, 1862.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 142.


BLUE STONE, WEST VIRGINIA, February 8, 1864. A Confederate report states that a Federal force drove in the pickets of the 45th Virginia Infantry on the 8th. Rather than take chances of being defeated in his camp at the mouth of the Blue Stone, Lieutenant-Colonel W. E. Peters of the Confederate force withdrew to a better position 5 miles away. There he awaited the Union attack, and when it was made it was signally repulsed. Federal reports do not mention the affair, in which there were no casualties in the Confederate command and none definitely known in the Union force.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 142.


BLUE SULPHUR ROAD, WEST VIRGINIA, December 14, 1863. (See Big Sewell Mountain.) Bluff Springs, Florida, March 25, 1865. (See Canoe Creek.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 142.


BLUFFTON, SOUTH CAROLINA, June 4, 1863. According to Confederate reports, Lieutenant-Colonel T. H. Johnson, with about 240 men of the 3d, 4th and nth South Carolina cavalry, made an expedition from Fort Pulaski to Bluffton. At the outskirts of the town he encountered a body of Federal troops, which had just been landed from two gunboats and were advancing to meet him. An attempt was made to cut off the Union soldiers from the boats, but it failed. As Johnson followed them the gunboats opened a vigorous fire and he was compelled to fall back. The Federals then fired the town and fell back down the river. Johnson was investigated by a court of inquiry for his inefficient management of the affair. No casualties reported.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 142.


BLUNT, JAMES G., soldier, born in Hancock County, Maine, in 1826; died in Washington, D. C., in 1881. From his fifteenth to his twentieth year he was a  (1817), and a sailor. He was graduated at the Starling Medical College, Columbus, Ohio, in 1849, and practised medicine in Darke County until 1856, when he settled in Anderson County, Kansas. He took a prominent part in the contest over the introduction of slavery into Kansas, and was a member of the convention that framed the constitution of the state. In July, 1861, he entered the army as lieutenant-colonel of the 3d Kansas Volunteers. He commanded the cavalry in General James Lane's brigade, and on 8 April, 1862, was promoted brigadier-general and assigned to the command of the military Department of Kansas. On 22 October, 1862, in the battle of Old Fort Wayne, his Kansas and Cherokee troops routed the Confederate force concentrated at Maysville, on the western border of Arkansas. On 28 November. he attacked and defeated Marmaduke's forces at Cane Hill, Arkansas On 7 December, 1862, he encountered and defeated, with the aid of General Herron, the Confederates under Hindman at Prairie Grove, and thereby checked the advance of the southern troops into Missouri. On 28 December. he captured Fort Van Buren on Arkansas River. He was promoted to be major-general, 29 November, 1862. In June, 1863, being relieved of the command of the Department of Kansas, he took the field with the army of the frontier. On 16 July, 1863, he defeated General Cooper at Honey Springs; and on 28 October, 1864, at Newtonia, Missouri, with the assistance of General Sanborn's cavalry, his troops gave the final blow to Price's invasion of Missouri. During the latter part of the war he was military commandant of the District of south Kansas. After he was mustered out he settled in Leavenworth, Kansas. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 297-298.


BLYDEN, EDWARD WILMOT, Negro author, born in St. Thomas, West Indies, 3 August, 1832. His parents were of pure Negro blood, of decided character and strong religious feeling. Young Blyden received the rudiments of an education in the secular schools of the island; but the stimulus for higher training came from the late Reverend J. P. Knox, of Newtown, Long Island, who was temporarily in charge of the Reformed Dutch Church at St. Thomas. At the instance of this gentleman, young Blyden came to New York in 1845, seeking entrance into some American College. But so hostile to Negroes was the feeling in the schools of the country that he gave up his purpose, and was about returning to his island home. At this juncture the New York Colonization Society offered him a free passage to Liberia, West Africa, which country he reached in January, 1850. He at once entered the Alexander high school, then under the charge of the Reverend David Wilson, and began acquiring a classical education with a view to the ministry of the Presbyterian Church. He was graduated at this school in 1858, and soon afterward became its principal. Very early in life Dr. Blyden developed a decided talent for languages, and he has since become distinguished in that branch of learning. At the age of ten, during a brief residence in Venezuela, he acquired the Spanish language. At the Alexander high school he became proficient in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and to these he added French and Italian at a later period. In 1876 he undertook Arabic, and went to the Orient to improve his knowledge of that language. His attainments have placed him in many responsible positions in the young republic of Liberia. As a preacher and teacher he has filled the positions re£ of Presbyterian pastor, principal of the Alexander high school, professor, and in 1880 president, of Liberia College, commissioner to the general assembly of the American Presbyterian Church in 1861, and again in 1880. At the age of nineteen he was editor of the “Liberia Herald,” and since then he has been government commissioner to the colored people of the United States. He has held the offices of Secretary of State and of the interior several times. Twice he has been appointed minister to the court of St. James. He has published “Liberia's Offering” and “From West Africa to Palestine” (1873). His contributions to periodicals include “The Negro in Ancient. History,” “Liberia, its Status and its Field,” “Mohammedanism and the Negro Race,” “Christianity and the Negro Race,” “Islam and Race Distinctions,” and “Africa and the Africans.” Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 298.


BLYTHE'S FERRY, TENNESSEE, November 13, 1863.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 142.


BOARDS. A board composed of ordnance officers, designated by the Secretary of War, as the Ordnance Board, decides, with the approval of the secretary, on the models and patterns of all ordnance and ordnance stores for the land service of the United States.

Boards of Examination are instituted to determine upon appointments in regiments, composed of army officers, and for appointments and promotion in the medical staff.

Boards of Survey are to examine injured stores, &c., and to take an inventory of the public property in charge of a deceased officer.

Boards of Inspectors determine upon the fitness of recruits for service. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 89).


BOARMAN, CHARLES, naval officer, born in Maryland; died in Martinsburg, W. Virginia, 13 September, 1879. He was appointed a midshipman from the District of Columbia, and, after attending the naval school at the U.S. Navy-yard in Washington, he was ordered to the sloop “Erie,” and then attached, during the war of 1812, to the brig “Jefferson” on Lake Ontario. He was commissioned as lieutenant, 15 March, 1817; as commander, 9 February, 1837; as captain, 29 March, 1844, commanding the flag-ship “Brandywine” in the Brazil Squadron from 1844 till 1850, and the U.S. Navy-yard at Brooklyn from commodore on 4 April, 1867, and made a rear-admiral on the retired list, 15 August, 1876. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 299.


BOAT. A boat has been invented by Colonel R. C. Buchanan, of the army, which has been used in several expeditions in Oregon and in Washington Territory, and has been highly commended by several experienced officers, who have had the opportunity of giving its merits a practical service test. It consists of an exceedingly light framework of thin and narrow boards, in lengths suitable for packing, connected by hinges, the different sections folding into so small a compass as to be conveniently carried upon mules. The frame is covered with a sheet of stout cotton canvas, or duck, secured to the gunwales with a cord running diagonally back and forth through eyelet-holes in the upper edge. When first placed in the water the boat leaks a little, but the canvas soon swells so as to make it sufficiently tight for all practical purposes. The great advantage to be derived from the use of this boat is, that it is so compact and portable as to be admirably adapted to the requirements of campaigning in a country where the streams are liable to rise above a fording stage, and where the allowance of transportation is small. It may be put together or taken apart and packed in a very few minutes, and one mule suffices to transport a boat with all its appurtenances, capable of sustaining ten men. Should the canvas become torn, it is easily repaired by putting on a patch, and it does not rot or crack like india-rubber or gutta-percha; moreover, it is not affected by changes of climate or temperature. MARCY'S Prairie Traveller. (See BRIDGE; PONTON.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 89).


BOBO'S CROSS-ROADS, TENNESSEE, July 1, 1863. 2nd Division, 14th Corps. In order to take advantage of the situation made by the evacuation of Tullahoma by the Confederates, General George H. Thomas ordered General Negley to march with his division to Heffner's mill. (Negley in his reports says Hale's Mill.) The order was received about 11 o'clock on the morning of the 1st and was promptly executed. When about 3 miles from Bobo's cross-roads General Beatty's brigade, which was in advance, encountered the enemy's pickets, consisting of a force of cavalry and 2 pieces of artillery, and a skirmish was at once commenced. Several times Negley tried to flank the Confederates and capture their artillery, but owing to the broken surface of the ground was unable to succeed. The enemy was gradually forced back to a position on Elk River, beyond the mill, where Negley, supported by Rosseau's division, went into camp. (See Bethpage Bridge.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, pp. 142-143.


BOB'S CREEK, MISSOURI, March 7, 1862. A detachment of the 1st Battalion, Missouri Cavalry Militia. Learning that a camp of guerrillas was located at the Chain of Rocks, near Flint hill, and that its occupants were making forays into the surrounding country, disarming the citizens and plundering their homes, Lieutenant-Colonel Arnold Krekel, commanding the battalion, sent 120 men under Officers Windmueller and Heyn to break it up. The camp was found on Bob's creek, in Lincoln county, about 5 miles from where it was reported to be, and the men reached it too late in the morning to surprise it as had been intended. The Union troops ran into an ambush while approaching the camp and lost 3 men wounded. A rush was then made and the bushwhackers driven out before they had time to gather any of their camp equipage, which was all captured, including a large tent, 3 horses and a lot of blankets. About a dozen of the guerrillas were killed.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 143.


BOCA CHICA PASS, TEXAS, October 14, 1864. 91st Illinois Infantry. A small body of Confederates appeared before the fortifications commanded by Colonel Henry M. Day, of the 91st Illinois, but a few shots from one of the 20-pounders quickly dispersed them. No casualties reported on either side.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 143.


BOCOCK, THOMAS S., politician, born in Buckingham County, Virginia, in 1815. He received a classical education at Hampden-Sidney, studied law, and began practice at Appomattox Court-House, Virginia, was state's attorney in 1845–6, sat for several terms in the house of delegates, was elected to Congress as a Democrat in 1846, and sat for seven successive terms, until the ordinance of secession was enacted. In 1861 he was elected to the Confederate Congress. He had been a candidate for speaker in the 36th Federal Congress, and was elected speaker of the Confederate House of Representatives on its permanent organization, 18 February, 1862. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 299.


BOGARDUS, ABRAHAM, born in Fishkill, New York,  29 November 1822. He received his early education at the Newburg Academy, and at the age of fourteen became a dry-goods clerk in New York. After several years' experience in this line he was induced to take lessons in making daguerreotypes from George W. Prosch, and, finding this occupation agreeable, he opened in 1846 a gallery in New York. At first progress was very slow, and frequently he found it impossible to make more than two pictures a week. Later, the photograph was invented, and he at once be the production of this kind of pictures. His business increased rapidly, and frequently orders amounting to one hundred dozen photographs were received during a single day. Numerous improvements in the preparations of solutions, processes, and apparatus have been devised by him, and he has published many articles on the technicalities of his business in the photographic journals. Mr. Bogardus was active in the establishment of the national photographic association in 1868, and was elected its president by acclamation at that time, and for the ensuing five years. His presidential addresses are valuable contributions to the literature of the art.  Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 300.


BOGARDUS, JAMES, inventor, born in Catskill, New York, 14 March, 1800; died in New York City, 13 April, 1874. He received the ordinary school education afforded by his native town, at the age of fourteen was apprenticed to a watchmaker, and soon became skilled as a die-sinker and engraver. His inventive ability was first manifested by an eight day three-wheeled chronometer clock, for which he received the highest premium at the first fair of the American Institute, after which he produced an eight-day clock with three wheels and a segment of a wheel, which struck the hours, and, without dial-wheels, marked the hours, minutes, and seconds. In 1828 he invented the “ring flier.” for cotton-spinning, which afterward came into general use, and in 1829 devised an eccentric mill, in which the grinding-stones or plates run in the same direction with nearly equal speed. In 1831 he made an engraving-machine with which gold watch-dials could be made, turning imitation filiee works, rays from the centre, and the figures in relief, all by one operation. The steel die from which the gold medal of the American Institute is struck, and other beautiful medallions, were made with this machine. He also invented the transfer- machine for producing bank-note plates from separate dies, which is now in general use. In 1832 he invented the first dry gas-metre, and in 1836, by giving a rotary motion to the machinery, he made it applicable to all current fluids. While in England, in 1836, he produced a medallic engraving- machine, with which portraits of the Queen, Sir Robert Peel, and numerous other distinguished persons were engraved, and he also agreed to construct in London a machine for engine-turning that would copy all kinds of known machine engraving but could not imitate its own work. The British Government in 1839 offered a reward for the best plan of manufacturing postage-stamps, and that submitted by him was selected from among 2,600 competing designs, and it is still in use. His later inventions include a machine for pressing glass, appliances for shirring India-rubber fabrics, and for cutting India-rubber into fine threads. Besides improvements in drilling-machines and in eccentric mills, he patented in 1848 a sun-and-planet horse-power, and a dynamometer for measuring the speed and power of machinery while in motion. 'y in New York city, built in 1847 entirely of cast-iron, five stories high, was the first building so constructed in the United States, and probably the first in the world. His success in this undertaking led to his engaging in the business of erecting iron-ware buildings throughout the country. He invented a pyrometer of great delicacy, and a deep-sea sounding-machine, which can be used without a line and is very accurate, and also made numerous improvements in the manufacture of tools and machinery. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1887, Vol. I, p. 301.


BOGGS, CHARLES STUART, naval officer, born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, 28 January, 1810. He is a nephew of Captain James Lawrence, and entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman on 1 March, 1826. He was promoted a lieutenant 6 September, 1837, was in the “Princeton,” of Commodore Conner's squadron, during the Mexican War, was present at the siege of Vera Cruz, and commanded the boat expedition that destroyed the “Truxtun" after her surrender to the Mexicans. He was promoted commander, 14 September, 1855, and assigned to the U.S. mail steamer “Illinois,” which he commanded three years. He then became light-house inspector for California, Oregon, and Washington territory. In 1861 he was ordered to the gun-boat “Varuna,” of Farragut's gulf squadron. In the attack on Forts St. Philip and Jackson, in April, 1862, he destroyed six of the Confederate gun-boats, but finally lost his own vessel, which steamed ahead of the fleet and engaged the Confederate Squadron above the forts. She was attacked by two rams and run into the banks of the river and there sank, causing, however, the destruction of her antagonists, which were both burned. He returned to Washington as bearer of despatches, and was ordered to the command of the new sloop-of-war “Juniata.” He was promoted to the rank of captain on 16 July, 1862, and was made a commodore, 25 July, 1866. He commanded the steamer “De Soto,” of the North Atlantic Squadron, in 1867-'8. In 1869-'70 he was assigned to special duty, and prepared a report on the condition of steam-engines afloat. On 1 July, 1870, he received promotion to the rank of rear-admiral, and was appointed light-house inspector of the 3d District. He was placed on the retired list in 1873. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 302.


BOGGS' MILLS, ARKANSAS, January 24, 1865. 11th U. S. Colored Infantry, and a Detachment of the 3d Arkansas. On the night of the 24th Colonel Newton's regiment (Confederate) took possession of Boggs' mills, 12 miles from Dardanelle, the purpose being to grind a lot of flour and get away before daylight. About midnight Lieutenant-Colonel Steele, in command of the Union troops, effected a complete surprise, capturing all the flour, Newton's papers, 18 horses and 20 stands of arms.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 143.


BOGGY DEPOT, INDIAN TERRITORY, April 24, 1865. Scouts from the 7th Army Corps. A party of 20 Confederates, going north from Boggy Depot, were attacked by General Bussey's scouts; 3 were killed and a small mail was captured, the letters giving information of a proposed raid in Missouri.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 143.


BOGLER'S CREEK, ALABAMA, April 1, 1865. (See Ebenezer Church.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 143.


BOGUE CHITTO CREEK, MISSISSIPPI, Oct 17, 1863. Portion of the 15th and 17th Army Corps. An expedition was sent from Messinger's ferry, on the Big Black river, to Canton, under the command of General McPherson, the object being to divert the enemy's attention from the movements going on in the vicinity of Vicksburg. Upon reaching Bogue Chitto creek on the afternoon of the 16th Colonel Winslow, being in advance with the 4th la. cavalry, found Whitfield's brigade, with 2 pieces of artillery, drawn up on the opposite side to oppose further advance. Force's brigade of infantry was sent across and deployed ready to attack, when night came on. Early the next morning Leggett's brigade was sent to the support of Force, while two batteries and three regiments of cavalry were sent across to turn the enemy's right flank, Mower's brigade being stationed at the bridge as a reserve. During the night Cosby's and Logan's brigades came up from Maltby to reinforce Whitfield, and when the morning of the 17th dawned there were two formidable forces opposed to each other at the bridge. The fight was opened by a battery of rifled guns, Force and Leggett at the same time advancing upon the works. The Confederates, seeing the force they had to meet, did not wait to receive the attack but left suddenly, part going toward Vernon and the rest, with the artillery, taking the road to Canton. Winslow's cavalry was started in pursuit on the Vernon road and Leggett was ordered to push on toward Canton. (See Robinson's Mills.) The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 143.


BOGUE SOUND BLOCKHOUSE, NORTH CAROLINA, February 2, 1864. (See New Berne, same date.) Boiling Fork, Tennessee, July 3, 1863. Part of the 2nd and 3d Divisions, 20th Corps. Sheridan advanced on Winchester at 4 a. m., driving the enemy's pickets before him. About 200 Confederate cavalry were drawn up in front of the town and Sheridan ordered a charge. The Confederates did not wait for the charge, but as soon as they saw it forming fled pell mell through the town, several of their number who were unable to keep up being captured. After crossing Boiling Fork, a small stream about a mile and a half from town, they made a stand, fired on the 39th Indiana, which was in close pursuit, and wounded 4 men. General Lytle's brigade was then sent forward to drive the enemy from the stream, which was easily done, the Confederates retiring in the direction of Cowan. The only Union loss sustained was the 4 men already mentioned, and 7 horses killed.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 144.


BOHLEN, HENRY, soldier, born in Bremen, Germany, 22 October, 1810; killed near Rappahannock Station, Virginia, 22 August, 1862. He came to the United States when young, and settled as a liquor merchant in Philadelphia, acquiring wealth in that trade. In 1861 he became colonel of the 75th Pennsylvania (German) Volunteers, and was attached to General Blenker's command, was made brigadier-general of volunteers, 28 April, 1862, and served under Frémont in western Virginia, distinguished himself at the battle of Cross Keys, 8 June, when General Frémont attacked “Stonewall Jackson" and drove him from a strong position beyond Harrisonburg. He was also specially commended for his services in the Shenandoah valley under General Sigel. He covered the retreat of the Army of Virginia across the Rappahannock, and fell while directing the movements of his brigade in a skirmish near that river. He led his brigade across the river to attack a detachment of Longstreet's division, but was assailed by superior numbers, and re-crossed under cover of the batteries. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 302.


BOILING SPRINGS, TENNESSEE, April 19, 1864. Scouts from the 2nd Indiana Cavalry. The scouting party came upon a small force of Confederates at Boiling springs, on the Charleston and Spring Place road, about 8 o'clock in the evening, and drove them back, killing 2 of their horses. Boiling Springs, Tennessee, April 22, 1864. Scouts from the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry. At Waterhouse's mill the party of scouts was divided into 2 parties, one, under Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart, was to proceed down the Spring Place road, and the other was to march by a different route, the object being to effect the capture or dispersion of a Confederate scouting party known to be in the vicinity of Boiling springs. Owing to a miscalculation in the distance the second party did not arrive in time to be of service to Stewart's men, who made the attack at daylight and succeeded in capturing 14 prisoners, 2 of whom were commissioned officers. Had the other party reached the enemy's rear according to the plan, not one would have escaped. The Union troops did not suffer any loss.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 144.


BOLES' FARM, MISSOURI, July 22, 1862. Detachment of the 3d Iowa Cavalry. The skirmish at Boles' farm was part of a running fight as the Iowans retreated from Florida to Paris before a force that outnumbered them at least five to one. (See Florida.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 144.


BOLIVAR, ALABAMA, April 28, 1862.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 144.


BOLIVAR, MISSISSIPPI, August 25, 1862. Bowen's Battalion of Missouri Cavalry; part of Hoffman's battery. When the expedition from Helena, Arkansas,' to the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers reached Bolivar, Colonel Woods ordered the men on shore. The infantry landed at the town but owing to the steep bank the boat proceeded on up the river for about half a mile to a place where the horses could be disembarked. A force of Confederates was soon discovered advancing from the front and left at the same time. Colonel Bowen ordered Lieutenant Crabtree to hold in check those in front and Captain Benteen those on the river road. The howitzers belonging to the battalion were placed in position and did good service until the ammunition was exhausted. A section of Hoffman's battery was then ordered up and opened a destructive fire on the Confederates, driving them back into the timber. The cavalry was then sent in pursuit and followed the enemy for about 2 miles, losing 1 man killed and 2 wounded by a fire from an ambush in a cornfield. The Confederate loss in killed and wounded was not learned, but a number of prisoners were taken, besides horses, arms, equipments, etc.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 144.


BOLIVAR, MISSISSIPPI, September 19, 1862. U. S. Ram, Queen of the West. As the ram was returning from Eunice Landing with the transports Iatan and Alhambra she was fired upon by some 700 infantry and 3 pieces of artillery in the bend above Bolivar, where the channel made it necessary to run close to the Mississippi shore. The boats were lashed together and proceeded on their way, Lieutenant Callahan working the guns of the ram with great skill and bravery, silencing one of the enemy's cannon, while the sharpshooters on board returned the musketry fire with great vigor. The Queen was badly riddled by shells and minie balls and the loss on board was 3 killed, 1 severely and several slightly wounded. The Confederate loss was much heavier, as several of Callahan's shells burst in their midst, killing and wounding a large number, while the sharpshooters did not waste much ammunition by bad marksmanship.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 145.

BOLIVAR, MISSISSIPPI, July 6, 1864. A detachment of the 1st Brigade Cavalry Division, 16th Army Corps. This skirmish occurred during an expedition from Memphis, Tennessee, to Grand Gulf, Mississippi. The troops on board the steamers J. D. Perry, J. C. Snow, Silver Wave, Madison, Sunny South, Rose Hambleton, Tycoon and Shenango, were passing Bolivar about 11 o'clock on the night of the 6th, when they were fired upon by a considerable body of Confederates from the Mississippi shore. The fire was promptly returned, though in the darkness it was impossible to determine the effect. The only casualty to the Union troops was the wounding of one man of the 19th Pennsylvania, and that but slightly.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 145.


BOLIVAR, MISSOURI, February 8, 1862.


BOLIVAR, TENNESSEE, August 30, 1862. 2nd and 11th Illinois Cavalry, 20th and 78th Ohio, 20th, 30th and 45th Illinois, and 7th Missouri Infantry, and 9th Indiana Battery. Colonel M. M. Crocker, commanding the post at Bolivar, learning that a large force of Confederates was advancing against him from the south, sent out the two Ohio regiments, four companies of the 2nd and two companies of the 11th Illinois cavalry, and a section of artillery, under Colonel Leggett on the Grand Junction road, to hold the enemy in check. The first appearance of the enemy was a small force of cavalry about 4 miles south of Bolivar. Major Fry, with two companies of the 20th Ohio, and 45 mounted infantry, followed rapidly by the whole of Leggett's force, made an attempt to drive the Confederates from their position. About noon it was discovered that the enemy was trying to flank the Federal forces. Leggett in person took two companies of the 11th Illinois and some of the mounted infantry and crossed over toward the Middleburg road to head off the movement. This movement disclosed the Confederates in large numbers advancing over the Middleburg road, and Leggett sent to Bolivar for reinforcements. The remainder of the Union forces was hurried to his assistance by Crocker, who at the same time notified Brigadier-General L. F. Ross, at Jackson, of the impending attack. Ross hastened to Bolivar to find that after a skirmish of seven hours the Union troops had been beaten back by the superior numbers to a position inside the Federal lines. During the night the Confederates withdrew and Ross, fearing an attack on Jackson, returned to that place. The Union loss at Bolivar was 5 killed, 18 wounded and 64 missing. Among the killed was Lieutenant-Colonel Hogg, of the 2nd III. cavalry, who was pierced by nine balls while leading a charge. The Confederate loss was reported to be over 200, which was probably correct, as 179 killed and wounded were left upon the field. Bolivar, Tennessee, December 24. 1862. Detachment of Grierson's Cavalry. Colonel B. H. Grierson, who was ordered by General Grant to follow and capture Jackson, or destroy the resources of West Tennessee so that it would be incapable of supporting an army, learned at Grand Junction that Van Dorn was in the vicinity of Bolivar. Pushing forward he reached Bolivar about 11 o'clock on the night of the 23d. About 6 miles southeast of Bolivar he saw the camp fires of the enemy and waited for daylight before making any demonstration. In the meantime the Confederates made a detour to the west and at daylight attacked the town from that quarter, captured some of the pickets belonging to the ist Tennessee cavalry and 5 men belonging to the 3d Michigan Lieutenant Ball was sent out with a small force and drove the enemy back for about 2 miles on the Brownsville road, killing 2 men. The Confederates then retreated in the direction of Middleburg and Ball returned to Bolivar. (See Middleburg.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, pp. 145-146.


BOLIVAR, TENNESSEE, February 13, 1863. Cavalry Detachment . Bolivar, Tennessee, March 9, 1863. Troops not specified. Bolivar, Tennessee, March 21, 1863. 43d and 160th Illinois Infantry and ist West Tennessee Cavalry. Guerrillas had planned an attack on the pay train on the Illinois Central railroad between Bolivar and Grand Junction. It happened that a wood train passed down the line directly in advance of the pay train. About 3 miles from Grand Junction a rail had been removed, so that the engine, tender and 5 of the wood cars were thrown from the track. The accident occurred in a cut and almost instantly the banks were lined with guerrillas. The engineer of the pay train reversed his engine and in the midst of a hot fire started for Bolivar. He succeeded in taking his train back to that point, though he was struck by several bullets. Brigadier-General Mason Brayman sent troops to the scene of the wreck and despatched the cavalry in pursuit of the guerrillas. At Whiteville one man was captured who said the attacking party belonged to Forrest's command. No further casualties on either side. Bolivar, Tennessee, July 10, 1863. 11th Illinois Cavalry. A detachment of cavalry was sent out under Major Funke and at Bolivar about 80 Confederate cavalry were encountered. A brisk skirmish ensued in which the enemy was driven across the Hatchie river with a loss of 1 killed, several wounded, and a captain and several privates captured. The Union forces sustained no losses whatever.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 146.


BOLIVAR, TENNESSEE, February 7, 1864. Detachment of the 7th Indiana Cavalry. Lieutenant Kennedy, with a foraging party, was sent out on the Pocahontas road. When about 2 miles from Bolivar he came up with a party of guerrillas, which at once attacked. After a sharp skirmish the bushwhackers were repulsed with a loss of 9 men captured, together with 8 horses, 1 mule, and 7 guns and carbines. The Union force did not lose a man. Bolivar, Tennessee, March 29. 1864. 6th Tennessee Cavalry. The Union forces, under the command of Colonel Hurst, were guarding a wagon train on the road from Somerville to Bolivar. En route they were attacked by Neely's brigade of Forrest's cavalry. The wagon train with all its supplies fell into the hands of the enemy, Captain Moore and a number of men were killed, the surgeon captured, and a number reported missing. According to the report of General Forrest, four days later, the number of prisoners taken was 35. The Confederate loss was not ascertained.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 146.


BOLIVAR, TENNESSEE, May 2, 1864. 2nd New Jersey Cavalry. Colonel Joseph Karge of the 2nd New Jersey, was sent forward from Somerville, with 700 picked men and 2 pieces of artillery from Waring's division, by General Sturgis, to reconnoiter Forrest's position at Bolivar. Seven miles west of Bolivar this force came upon the enemy's pickets and drove them back, capturing 2 men. Proceeding on to Bolivar Karge found a Confederate force of about 1,000 men. After 2 hours' sharp fighting the Confederates were driven from their position and retreated in the direction of Pocahontas, pausing long enough to burn the bridge over the Hatchie river. The Union loss was 2 killed and 10 wounded. The enemy lost 7 killed, 20 wounded, and 2 captured. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 146.


BOLIVAR HEIGHTS, WEST VIRGINIA, October 16, 1861. Detachments of the 3d Wisconsin, 13th Massachusetts and 28th Pennsylvania Infantry, and parts of the oth New York and Tompkins' Rhode Island Batteries. An expedition was sent out by General Banks on the 8th, under the command of Major J. P. Gould, of the 13th Massachusetts, for the purpose of removing a quantity of wheat the Confederates had stored at Harper's Ferry. On the 13th. Colonel John W. Geary was sent with reinforcements to assist Gould. The wheat was all removed on the 15th and the Union forces were preparing to recross the river the following morning. About daybreak the pickets on Bolivar heights were attacked and driven into the town of Bolivar by a considerable Confederate force, which approached from the west. The enemy's force was soon found to consist of infantry, cavalry and artillery. Part of his cannon were stationed on the heights from which the pickets had been driven, and another battery was in place on Loudoun heights so as to annoy any attempt to cross the river at the ferry. Geary assumed command, sent part of the 13th Massachusetts, under Captain Shriber, to prevent the Confederates from crossing the Shenandoah, while the rest of the troops were used in repelling the fierce charges of the Confederate cavalry, the infantry and artillery on the heights pouring an incessant fire into the town. After meeting three charges Geary assumed the aggressive, pushed forward his right and "turned the enemy's left flank near the Potomac, which enabled him to get possession of a portion of the heights. In the meantime Tompkins' had succeeded in silencing the guns on Loudoun heights, which gave him an opportunity to assist Lieutenant Martin of the 9th New York battery in his fire upon the cannon on Bolivar heights, against which the combined strength of the Union forces was now directed. Geary ordered a charge and in a few minutes the Federals were in possession of the heights, capturing one 32-pounder columbiad and one 13-pounder steel rifled gun. Immediately after the capture of the heights Major Tyndale arrived with five companies of the 28th Pennsylvania from the Point of Rocks. Two companies were sent to Gould at Sandy Hook and the others joined Geary. The captured cannon were now turned on the battery on Loudoun heights and did such effective service that every gun was soon silenced. The enemy then made a rapid retreat, having lost 150 men in killed and wounded, 4 prisoners, and, besides the 2 cannon already mentioned, a large quantity of ammunition. The Union loss was 4 killed, 7 wounded and 2 captured.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 147.


BOLIVAR HEIGHTS, WEST VIRGINIA, September 14-15, 1862. (See Harper's Ferry, same date.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 147.


BOLIVAR HEIGHTS, WEST VIRGINIA, July 14, 1863. 1st Connecticut Cavalry. Major Farnsworth, with 50 men of the 1st Conn, cavalry, was sent out by Brigadier-General Henry M. Naglee, to reconnoiter the enemy's position and picket the roads leading to Harper's Ferry. About 2 miles from the ferry this expedition came up with about 30 Confederate pickets, charged them and drove them back upon their reserve, a force of some 200 men. A sharp skirmish followed, which soon became a hand-to-hand fight, and as the Confederates outnumbered the Union forces four to one the latter were repulsed. Farnsworth and 24 of his men were captured. Captain Blakeslee assumed the command and conducted the retreat in good order, bringing with him 1 captain, 1 second lieutenant and 2 privates as prisoners. Colonel A. W. Harman, of the 12th Virginia (Confederate) cavalry, was severely wounded and was afterward found and brought in as a prisoner.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 147.


BOLIVAR AND MARYLAND HEIGHTS, WEST VIRGINIA, July 4-7, 1864. Reserve Division of the Army of West Virginia. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 147.


BOLLES, JOHN A., lawyer, born in Eastford, Connecticut, 16 April, 1809; died in Washington, D.C., 25 May, 1878. He was graduated at Brown in 1829, admitted to the bar in Boston in 1833, and in 1843 chosen Secretary of State under Governor Marcus Morton. He was a member of the harbor and back bay commission in 1852. From 1862 till 1865 he served as judge-advocate on the staff of General John A. Dix, who was his brother-in-law. He was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers in 1865, and appointed naval solicitor the same year. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 308.


BOLLINGER COUNTY, MISSOURI, January 14, 1864. Bollinger's Mill, Missouri, July 28, 1862. Two companies of the 12th Missouri Cavalry. Captain Whybark, with 50 men of Company F, left Greenville on the 26th on a scouting expedition. On the Castor river he was reinforced by Captain Hagan and Lieutenant Hummel with 80 men of the regiment. Early on the morning of the 28th the pickets were fired on by some strolling Confederates. A skirmish followed which lasted some 20 minutes, the pickets gradually falling back to the encampment of the main body near Bollinger's mill. Whybark, with his entire force, immediately started in pursuit. After traveling about 15 miles on the Fredericktown road he came upon a considerable force of the enemy and after a battle of half an hour drove it back with a loss of 15 in killed and wounded, capturing 2 prisoners and 4 horses, without the loss of a man.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 148.


BOLTON DEPOT, MISSISSIPPI, May 16, 1863. (See Champion's Hill.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 148.


BOLTON DEPOT, MISSISSIPPI, February 4, 1864. (See Champion's Hill.) Bone Yard, Tennessee, February 10, 1863. 18th Missouri Volunteers. Bonfouca, Louisiana, November 26, 1863. 31st Massachusetts Volunteers and 4th Massachusetts Battery.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 148.


BOMB. The shell thrown by a mortar is called a bomb-shell; and the shelters made for magazines, &c., should be bomb-proof. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 89).


BOMBARDMENT. A shower of shells and other incendiary projectiles. Properly employed against fortifications, but not against open commercial cities. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p.90 ).


BOMFORD, GEORGE, military officer, born in New York in 1780; died in Boston, Massachusetts, 25 March, 1848. He entered West Point from New York, was graduated in 1805, and became lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. He served as assistant engineer on the fortifications of New York Harbor in 1805–’8, being promoted first lieutenant, 30 October, 1806, then on the defences of Chesapeake Bay from 1808 till 1810, and as superintending engineer of the works on Governor's Island from 1810 till 1812. During the war of 1812–5 with Great Britain he served in the Ordnance Department, with the rank of major on the staff, was appointed assistant commissary-general of ordnance, 18 June, 1812, and attached to the Corps of Engineers, 6 July, 1812. He introduced bomb cannons, made on a pattern of his own invention, which were called columbiads, a form of heavy combining the qualities of gun, howitzer, and mortar. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel, 9 February, 1815, and was continued on ordnance duty, though attached to the artillery after the reorganization of the army in 1821. On the organization of the Ordnance Corps he was promoted colonel, and appointed chief of ordnance, 30 May, 1832. He was in command of the Ordnance Corps and bureau at Washington until 1 February, 1842, when he became inspector of arsenals, ordnance, arms, and munitions of war, in which duty he continued until his death. The cannons invented by him were further developed by Dahlgrén, but were superseded by the Rodman type about the beginning of the Civil War. In July, 1841, he conducted experiments to ascertain the expansive force of powder in a gun by firing bullets through tubes inserted in the sides. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 308.


BOMFORD, JAMES V., soldier, born on Governor's Island, New York Harbor, 5 October, 1811, was graduated at West Point in 1832, and served as first lieutenant in the military occupation of Texas, and as captain in the war with Mexico. He was engaged in the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, and Monterey, the siege of Vera Cruz, the battle of Cerro Gordo, the capture of San Antonio, and the battle of Churubusco, receiving the brevet of major, 20 August, 1847, for gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco. He was brevetted lieutenant-colonel for gallant and meritorious conduct at the battle of Molino del Rey, distinguished himself at the storming of Chapultepec, and was resent at the capture of Mexico. Serving on frontier duty in Texas at the beginning of the Civil War, he was promoted major, 17 October, 1860, and was prisoner of war from 9 May, 1861, till 9 April, 1862. On 10 January, 1862, he was made a lieutenant-colonel, and, after his return to his regiment, was engaged in the movements of General Buell's army in Alabama and Kentucky. At the battle of Perryville he served as chief of staff to General McCook, and received the brevet of colonel for meritorious services in that action. He was retired from active service 8 June, 1872. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 309.


BOND, HUGH L., jurist, born in Baltimore, Maryland, 16 December, 1828, was graduated at the University of the City of New York in 1848, returned to Baltimore, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1851, and practised in Baltimore. He took part in the Know-nothing movement. In March, 1860, he was appointed judge of the Baltimore criminal court, and on 5 November, 1861, was elected by the people to that office, which he held during the trying times of the war. After the massacre of national soldiers on 19 April, 1861, when the city authorities decided that no more northern troops should be allowed to pass through Baltimore, he charged the grand jury that those who took part in the riot were guilty of murder. The police commissioners made an order forbidding the display of any flag; but the seventy-five loyalists that were arrested under this order for raising the national standard were discharged on habeas corpus by Judge Bond. In later years, when several military commissioners undertook to sit in Baltimore and try citizens for offences against the United States, he charged the grand jury to indict the officers on these commissions. because they had no jurisdiction over persons not in the military service of the government, especially when the civil courts were open. Shortly before the close of his term, Governor Swann claimed the right to remove the police commissioners and appoint others, and when the de facto commissioners fortified the station-houses, and armed the police to defend their right to the office, authorized his appointees to raise followers sufficient to put the resisting commissioners out, and called upon President Johnson to send federal troops to interfere. Judge Bond told General Grant, who came to investigate the situation, that the de facto commissioners would obey a written order from the president brought by a single soldier bearing the U.S. flag; but that, if the federal authorities declined to interfere, he would arrest the Swann commissioners, and hold them to bail to keep the peace, which was accordingly done. After the emancipation of the slaves under the revised constitution of 1864, the slave-holders took advantage of an old apprentice law, and had the children of the free Negroes brought to the probate courts and apprenticed to themselves. Judge Bond decided that these apprentices were held in involuntary servitude, and released, on habeas corpus, all that were brought before him. He was a prominent member of an association for the education of colored people, to which his friend, Secretary Stanton, transferred all the federal barracks in Maryland for the purpose of building school-houses. With assistance from the freedmen's aid societies, schools were established in all the counties of the state, and Judge Bond visited every locality, and made speeches intended to overcome the prejudices of the people against the schools, 'd frequently broke out into violence. He lost his seat on the bench in 1868, when the Democrats obtained political ascendency in the state, and resumed the practice of law in Baltimore. On 13 July, 1870, President Grant nominated him judge of the 4th circuit of the U.S. court, which includes the states of Maryland, the two Virginias, and the two Carolinas. In 1871 he conducted, at Raleigh, North Carolina, and Columbia, South Carolina, many trials of ku-klux conspirators, more than 100 of whom he sentenced to the penitentiary. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 312-313.


BONDI, AUGUST, 1833-1907, Vienna, Austria, abolitionist.  Supported radical abolitionist John Brown in Bleeding Kansas war.


BONHAM, MILLEGE L., soldier, born in South Carolina, 6 May, 1815. He was graduated at the University of South Carolina in 1834, admitted to the bar at Columbia in 1837, and settled and began practice in Edgefield. In the Mexican War he commanded a battalion of South Carolina Volunteers. From 1848 till 1850 he was state solicitor for the southern circuit, in 1856 elected to Congress as a state-rights Democrat, and in 1858 reelected. On 21 December, 1860, he left Congress with the other members of the South Carolina delegation. He was a commissioner from South Carolina to Mississippi, and detailed as major-general to command the South Carolina troops. He entered the Confederate Army with the rank of brigadier-general, and commanded a brigade at the battles of Blackburn's Ford and Bull Run. He was then elected a representative from South Carolina in the Confederate Congress, and served until he was elected governor of that state for the term 1862-'4. In 1864 he returned to the Confederate Army, and served until the close of the war.  He was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention held in New York in 1868. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 313.


BONITO RIO, NEW MEXICO, March 27, 1863. Detachment of the 1st California Cavalry. The detachment, under Major William McCleave, in pursuit of some Apache Indians who had run off about 60 horses from Fort West, came up with them about daylight on the 27th. McCleave dismounted part of his men and surrounded the Indian camp. In the fight that ensued, and which lasted but 20 minutes, 25 of the Apaches were killed, all the horses taken from the fort and a number belonging to the Indians were taken, the camp was destroyed and the band completely dispersed. The only casualty in the troop was 1 man slightly wounded.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 148.


BONNET CARRE, LOUISIANA, October 19, 1862. Boone, North Carolina, March 28, 1865. Detachment of the 12th Kentucky Cavalry. This was one of the incidents of the raid of General George Stoneman into southwestern Virginia and western North Carolina. On approaching the town of Boone it was learned that a company of home guards was to meet there on the 28th. The detachment of cavalry, under Major Keogh, was sent forward to surprise the Confederates. The movement was entirely successful, 9 of the home guards being killed and 68 captured. Keogh's loss, nothing.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 148.


BONNEVILLE, BENJAMIN L. E., explorer, born in France about 1795; died at Fort Smith, Arkansas, 12 June, 1878. He was appointed to West Point from New York, was graduated in 1815, became lieutenant of artillery, and in 1820 was engaged in the construction of a military road through Mississippi. He became a captain of infantry in 1825, and in 1831-6 engaged in explorations in the Rocky Mountains and in California. His journal was edited and amplified by Washington Irving, and published under the title of “Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U.S.A., in the Rocky Mountains and the Far West” (Philadelphia, 1837). He was promoted major, 15 July, 1845, and fought through the Mexican War, taking part in the march through Chihuahua, in the siege of Vera Cruz, the battle of Cerro Gordo, the capture of San Antonio, the battle of Churubusco, where he was wounded, the battle of Molino del Rey, the storming of Chapultepec, and the assault and capture of the city of Mexico. For gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco he was brevet lieutenant-colonel. He was promoted to the full rank of lieutenant-colonel on 7 May, 1849, and to the grade of colonel on 3 February, 1855. He was commandant at Santa Fé in 1856–7, commanded the Gila Expedition in 1857, resumed command of the Department of New Mexico in 1858, and on 9 September, 1861, was retired from active service for disability. During the Civil War he served as superintendent of recruiting in Missouri, and from 1862 till 1865 as commandant of Benton barracks in St. Louis. On 13 March, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general for long and faithful services. At the time of his death he was the oldest officer on the retired list. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 314.