Colby through Conyngham

COLBY, Anthony, governor of New Hampshire, born in New London, N. H, 13 November, 1792; died there, 13 July, 1873. He was a member of the Baptist church, and did much toward consolidating the interests of the denomination in the state. He was major-general of militia, president of a railroad, and a large owner of factories. In 1846-'7 he was governor of the state. Dartmouth gave him the honorary degree of A. M. in 1850, and he was one of its trustees from 1850 till 1870. During the Civil War he was adjutant-general of the state. Governor Colby was a personal friend of Daniel Webster. His last work was the establishment of Colby Academy, a Baptist institution in New London. N. H, endowed by his family. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 681.


COLBY, Isaac, abolitionist.  Ohio Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1835-36, Manager, 1836-39.


COLD HARBOR, VIRGINIA, June 27, 1862. This was but another name for the battle of Gaines' mill, one of the Seven Days' battles between the Army of the Potomac and the Confederate forces under General Lee. (See Seven Days' Battles.) The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 297.


COLD HARBOR, VIRGINIA, June 1-3, 1864. Army of the Potomac. This was the last engagement of any consequence in the campaign from the Rapidan to the James, which began with the battle of the Wilderness on May 5-7. The severe losses in the Wilderness, at Spottsylvania Court House and along the North Anna river had made necessary several changes, and the Army of the Potomac on the last day of May was organized as follows: The 2nd corps, Major-General Winfield S. Hancock commanding, was composed of the three divisions commanded by Brigadier-General Francis C. Barlow, Brigadier-General John Gibbon and Brigadier-General David B. Birney, and the artillery brigade under Colonel John C. Tidball. The 5th corps, commanded by Major-General Gouverneur K. Warren, included four divisions, respectively commanded by Brigadier-Generals Charles Griffin, Henry H. Lockwood, Samuel W. Crawford and Lysander Cutler, and the artillery brigade of Colonel Charles S. Wainwright. (On June 2 Crawford's division was consolidated with Lockwood's.) The 6th corps, Major-General Horatio G. Wright commanding, consisted of three divisions commanded by Brigadier-Generals David A. Russell, Thomas H. Neill and James B. Ricketts, and the artillery brigade of Colonel Charles H. Tompkins. The 9th corps, under command of Major-General Ambrose E. Burnside, was made up of the four divisions commanded by Major-General Thomas L. Crittenden, Brigadier-General Robert B. Potter, Brigadier-General Orlando B. Willcox and Brigadier-General Edward Ferrero, and the reserve artillery under Captain John Edwards. (Ferrero's division was composed of colored troops.) The cavalry corps under Major-General P. H. Sheridan, consisted of three divisions commanded by Brigadier-Generals Alfred T. A. Torbert, David McM. Gregg and James H. Wilson, and a brigade of horse artillery under Captain James M. Robertson. The 18th corps, formerly with the Army of the James, commanded by Major-General William F. Smith, embraced three divisions, respectively commanded by Brigadier-Generals William H. T. Brooks, James H. Martindale and Charles Devens, and the artillery brigade under command of Captain Samuel S. Elder. This corps was added to the Army of the Potomac just in time to take part in the battle of Cold Harbor. The artillery reserve was under command of Brigadier-General Henry J. Hunt. On June 1 Grant's forces numbered "present for duty" 113,875 men of all arms. The Confederate army, under command of General Robert E. Lee, was organized practically as it was at the beginning of the campaign, (See Wilderness) with the exception of some slight changes in commanders and the accession of the divisions of Breckenridge, Pickett and Hoke. Various estimates have been made of the strength of the Confederate forces at Cold Harbor. Maj! Jed Hotchkiss, topographer for Lee's army, states it as being 58,000 men, which is probably not far from the truth. Cold Harbor is about 3 miles north of the Chickahominy river and 11 miles from Richmond. Grant considered it an important point as several roads centered there, notably among them those leading to Bethesda Church, White House landing on the Pamunkey, and the several crossings of the Chickahominy, offering facilities for the movement of troops in almost any direction. On the last day of May Sheridan sent Torbert's division to drive away from Cold Harbor the Confederate cavalry under Fitzhugh Lee, which was done with slight loss. Gregg's division reinforced Torbert, but the Confederates were also reinforced and Sheridan sent word to Grant that the enemy was moving a heavy force against the place and that he did not think it prudent to hold on. In response to this message Sheridan was instructed to hold on at all hazards, as a force of infantry was on the way to relieve him. This infantry force was the 6th corps, which arrived at Cold Harbor at 9 a. m. on the 1st, just as Sheridan had repulsed the second assault by Kershaw's division, the rapid fire of the retreating carbines and the heavy charges of canister proving too much for the enemy. Wright relieved the cavalry and about 2 p. m. Smith's corps came up from Newcastle and took position on the right of the 6th. Both were under instructions to assault as soon as they were ready, but the troops were not properly disposed until 6 o'clock that afternoon. When Lee discovered that Grant was moving some of his force to the left of the Federal line, he decided to meet the maneuver by transferring Anderson's corps from the Confederate left to the right in order to confront Wright. Anderson took position on the left of Hoke, whose division formed the extreme right of Lee's line. At 6 p. m. Wright and Smith moved forward to the attack. In their front was an open , space, varying in width from 300 to 1,200 yards, and the moment the first line debouched from the wood the enemy opened fire. The troops pressed forward, however, with an unwavering line until they reached the timber on the farther side of the clearing. Ricketts' division struck the main line of intrenchments at the point where Anderson's and Hoke's commands joined, with such force that the flank of each was rolled back and about 500 prisoners were captured. Smith drove the enemy from a line of rifle-pits in the edge of the wood and captured about 250 prisoners, but when he attempted to advance on the main line he was met by such a galling fire that he was compelled to retire to the woods, holding the first line captured. After trying in vain to dislodge Ricketts the enemy retired from that part of the works and formed a new line some distance in the rear. Wright and Smith then intrenched the positions they had gained and held them during the night, though repeated attacks were made by the enemy in an endeavor to regain the lost ground. Badeau says: "The ground won, on the 1st of June, was of the highest consequence to the national army; it cost 2,000 men in killed and wounded, but it secured the roads to the James, and almost outflanked Lee." In the meantime Lee had assumed the offensive on his left. Hancock and Burnside along Swift run and near Bethesda Church were attacked, probably with a view to force Grant to draw troops from Cold Harbor to reinforce his right. Three attacks were also made on Warren, whose corps was extended to cover over 4 miles of the line, but each attack was repulsed by artillery alone. Late in the afternoon Hancock was ordered to withdraw his corps early that night and move to the left of Wright at Cold Harbor, using every effort to reach there by daylight the next morning. Grant's object was to make a general assault as early as possible on the 2nd, Hancock, Wright and Smith to lead the attack, supported by Warren and Burnside, but the night march of the 2nd corps in the heat and dust had almost completely exhausted the men, so that the assault was first postponed until 5 p. m. and then to 4:30 on the morning of the 3d. The 2nd was therefore spent in forming the lines, in skirmishing and intrenching. In the afternoon it was discovered that a considerable Confederate force under Early was in front of the Federal right and at midnight the orders to Warren and Burnside were modified by directing them, in case Early was still in their front, to attack at 4:30 "in such manner and by such combinations of the two corps as may in both your judgments be deemed best. If the enemy should appear to be in strongest force on our left, and your attack should in consequence prove successful, you will follow it up, closing in upon them toward our left; if, on the contrary, the attack on the left should be successful, it will be followed up, moving toward our right." The battle of June 3 was fought on the same ground as the battle of Gaines' mill in the Peninsular campaign of 1862, except the positions were exactly reversed. Lee now held the trenches, extended and strengthened, that had been occupied by Porter, who, with a single corps, had held the entire Confederate army at bay and even repulsed its most determined attacks, inflicting severe loss upon its charging columns, while the Union troops were now to assault a position which Lee two years before had found to be impregnable. The Confederate right was extended along a ridge, the crest of which formed a natural parapet, while just in front was a sunken road that could be used as an intrenchment. Promptly at the designated hour the columns of the 2nd. 6th and 18th corps moved to the attack. Hancock sent forward the divisions of Barlow and Gibbon, supported by Birney. Barlow advanced in two lines under a heavy fire of infantry and artillery, until the first line encountered the enemy's line in the sunken road. This was quickly dislodged and as the Confederates retired over the crest Barlow's men followed, capturing several hundred prisoners and 3 pieces of artillery. These guns were turned on the enemy, who broke in confusion, leaving the national forces in possession of a considerable portion of the main line of works. The broken ranks were soon rallied and reinforced, a heavy enfilading artillery fire was brought to bear on the assailants, and as Barlow's second line had not come up in time to secure the advantage gained he gave the order to fall back to a slight crest about 50 yards in the rear, where rifle-pits were dug under a heavy fire, and this position was held the remainder of the day. Gibbon's division, on the right of Barlow, was also formed in two lines, Tyler's brigade on the right and Smyth's on the left in the first line, McKeen's and Owen's on the right and left respectively in the second. As the division advanced the line was cut in two by an impassable swamp, but the men pushed bravely on, in spite of this obstacle and the galling fire of cannon and musketry that was poured upon them, until close up to the enemy's works. A portion of Smyth's brigade gained the intrenchments, and Colonel McMahon, with part of his regiment, the 164th New York, of Tyler's brigade, gained the parapet, where McMahon was killed and those who were with him were either killed or captured, the regimental colors falling into the hands of the Confederates. Owen had been directed to push forward in column through Smyth's line, but instead of doing so he deployed on the left as soon as Smyth became engaged, thus losing the opportunity of supporting the lodgment made by that officer and McMahon. The result was the assault of Gibbon was repulsed, and the division fell back, taking advantage of the inequalities of the ground to avoid the murderous fire that followed them on their retreat. Some idea of the intensity of the fighting on this part of the line may be gained from the fact that Gibbon's command lost 65 officers and 1,032 men in killed and wounded during the assault. Wright's advance with the 6th corps was made with Russell's division on the left, Ricketts' in the center and Neill's on the right. Neill carried the advanced rifle-pits, after which the whole corps assaulted the main line with great vigor, but the attack was repulsed with heavy loss. The only advantage gained—and this a rather dubious one—by the corps was that of being able to occupy a position closer to the Confederate intrenchments than before the attack. A description of the attack by the 18th corps is perhaps best given by quoting Smith's report. He says: "In front of my right was an open plain, swept by the fire of the enemy, both direct and from our right; on my left the open space was narrower, but equally covered by the artillery of the enemy. Near the center was a ravine, in which the troops would be sheltered from the cross-fire, and through this ravine I determined the main assault should be made. General Devens' division had been placed on the right to protect our flank and hold as much as possible of the lines vacated by the troops moving forward. General Martindale with his division was ordered to move down the ravine, while General Brooks with his division was to advance on the left, taking care to keep up the connection between Martindale and the Sixth Corps, and if, in the advance, those two commanders should join, he (General Brooks) was ordered to throw his command behind General Martindale ready to operate on the right flank, if necessary. The troops moved promptly at the time ordered, and, driving in the skirmishers of the enemy, carried his first line of works or rifle-pits. Here the command was halted under a severe fire to readjust the lines. After a personal inspection of General Martindale's front, I found that I had to form a line of battle faced to the right to protect the right flank of the moving column, and also that no farther advance could be made until the Sixth Corps advanced to cover my left from a cross-fire. Martindale was ordered to keep his column covered as much as possible, and to move only when General Brooks moved. I then went to the front of General Brooks' line to reconnoiter there. General Brooks was forming his column when a heavy fire on the right began, which brought so severe a cross-fire on Brooks that I at once ordered him not to move his men farther, but to keep them sheltered until the cross-fire was over. Going back to the right, I found that Martindale had been suffering severely, and having mistaken the firing in front of the Sixth Corps for that of Brooks had determined to make the assault, and that Stannard's brigade had been repulsed in three gallant assaults." On the right the attacks of Burnside and Warren were attended by no decisive results. The former sent forward the divisions of Potter and Willcox, Crittenden's being held in reserve. Potter sent in Curtin's brigade, which forced back the enemy's skirmishers, carried some detached rifle-pits and buildings, and gained a position close up to the main line, from which the Federal artillery silenced the principal battery inside the Confederate works and blew up two of their caissons. Willcox recaptured a line of rifle-pits from which he had been driven the day before, Hartranft's brigade driving the enemy to his main intrenchments and establishing itself close in their front. In this attack Griffin's division of the 5th corps cooperated with Willcox. Owing to the necessity of placing artillery in position to silence the enemy's guns, active operations were suspended until 1 p. m. An order was therefore issued to the various division commanders in the two corps to attack at that hour, and Wilson was directed to move with part of his cavalry division across the Totopotomy, with a view of attacking the Confederate position on the flank and rear. The arrangements were all completed by the appointed time and the skirmish line was about to advance for the beginning of the assault, when an order was received from headquarters to cease all offensive movements, on account of the general repulse on the left. Meade reported his loss in the battle of Cold Harbor as 1,705 killed, 9,042 wounded and 2,042 missing. As in the other engagements of the campaign from the Rapidan to the James, no detailed report of the Confederate casualties was made, but Lee's loss at Cold Harbor was comparatively slight. Hotchkiss gives it as "about 1,700." Some of the Federal wounded were brought in at night by volunteers from the intrenching parties, but most of them lay on the field, under the hot sun of a Virginia summer, for three days before Grant would consent to ask permission under a flag of truce to bury the dead and care for the injured. By that time the wounded were nearly all beyond the need of medical aid, and the dead had to be interred almost where they fell. The assault on the 3d has been severely criticised by military men. General Martin T. McMahon, in "Battles and Leaders," begins his article on the battle of Cold Harbor with the following statement: "In the opinion of a majority of its survivors, the battle of Cold Harbor never should have been fought. There was no military reason to justify it. It was the dreary, dismal, bloody, ineffective close of the Lieutenant- General's first campaign with the Army of the Potomac, and corresponded in all its essential features with what had preceded it." Grant, in his "Personal Memoirs" (Vol. II, page 276), says: "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made. * * * No advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy loss we sustained. Indeed the advantages other than those of relative losses, were on the Confederate side." After the battle Grant-turned his attention to the plan of effecting a junction with Butler and approaching Richmond from the south side of the James, along the lines suggested by McClellan two years before. The "hammering" process had proved to be too costly and the army settled down to a regular siege of the Confederate capital. The campaign from the Rapidan to the James began with the battle of the Wilderness on May 5, and from that time until June 10, when the movement to the James was commenced from Cold Harbor, the Army of the Potomac lost 54,550 men.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 298-302.


COLD KNOB MOUNTAIN, WEST VIRGINIA, November 24-30, 1862. 11th Ohio Infantry and 2nd West Virginia Cavalry. An expedition left Summerville for the purpose of breaking up a Confederate camp at the foot of Cold Knob mountain. The infantry was under the command of Colonel P. P. Lane and the cavalry under Colonel John C. Paxton. On the morning of the 26th the infantry took the advance and after passing over the summit of the mountain came upon the enemy's pickets and fired upon them. The infantry ranks were then opened, the cavalry dashed through and pushed rapidly into the Confederate camp 5 miles distant at Lewis' mill on Sinking creek. The surprise was complete, Paxton's command killing 2, wounding 2, capturing 113 men and officers, 111 mules and horses, and destroying 200 rifles, 50 sabers, supplies, accouterments, etc. There were no casualties in the Federal command. The expedition returned to Summerville on the 30th.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 302.


COLD SPRING GAP, WEST VIRGINIA, August 5, 1863. Detachments of 4th Separate Brigade, 8th Army Corps. As an incident of the raid into West Virginia by Brigadier-General William W. Averell, Captain Paul Baron Von Koenig, leading the advance, captured a Confederate lieutenant and 10 men.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 302.

COLDWATER, MISSISSIPPI, July 24, 1862. Detachments of the 6th Missouri Cavalry and 8th Indiana Infantry. This was an expedition from Helena, Arkansas, to Coldwater. Lieutenant-Colonel S. N. Wood, of the 6th Missouri cavalry, with 100 of his own regiment, 90 of the 8th Indiana infantry and 2 mountain howitzers, embarked on the steamer Catahoula at Helena at 9 p. m. on the 23d, and at daylight the next morning the troops were landed at Austin, Mississippi. As soon as the men could be formed, Wood began his march toward Hudson's bridge over the Coldwater river, some 15 miles from Austin. At White Oak bayou the enemy fired from ambush on the Federal advance. The howitzers were brought into position and a few shells served to disperse the enemy. Wood hurriedly repaired the bridge and pushed on in pursuit, dispersing another small detachment at a bridge about 3 miles from the scene of the first encounter. At the Coldwater he came up with the Confederate rear-guard, but the flooring of the bridge had been torn up and Wood, learning that a large force was at Senatobia, only 2 miles away, ordered the men to return to the boat. The Union loss was 3 or 4 men slightly wounded. The enemy's loss in killed and wounded was not learned, but Wood brought in 6 prisoners.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, pp. 302-303.


COLDWATER, MISSISSIPPI, September 9, 1862. (See Cockrum's Cross-Roads.)


COLDWATER, MISSISSIPPI, November 8, 1862. (See Hudsonville.)


COLDWATER, MISSISSIPPI, December 20, 1862. 90th Illinois Infantry. This engagement was the repulse of an attack made upon the place by a superior number of the enemy. The only mention of the affair is in General Grant's congratulatory order.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 303.


COLDWATER, MISSISSIPPI, April 19, 1863. 12th and 33d Wisconsin and 43d Illinois Infantry, 15th Ohio Battery, and detachment of 5th Ohio Cavalry. The morning after the engagement at Hernando, in which an expedition under Colonel George E. Bryant, routed the enemy in an attack on the Union camp, the troops reached the Coldwater river at Perry's ferry at 8 a. m. From that time until 4 p. m. the skirmishing was hot and extended some 8 miles up the river. Bryant was unable to get his command across the ferry, which the enemy had cut loose. The casualties of this engagement are included in those of the expedition. Coldwater, Mississippi, May 11, I863. 2nd Iowa Cavalry, 6th Iowa Infantry, and 1st Illinois Artillery. As an incident of an expedition from La Grange, Tennessee, to Panola, Mississippi, the advance of the Union forces came upon Major A. H. Chalmers' Confederate battalion and routed it, capturing 3 prisoners. The engagement occurred at the crossing of the Coldwater river. Colonel Edward Hatch commanded the Federal troops. Coldwater, Mississippi, June 19, 1863. (See Hernando, same date.) Coldwater, Mississippi, July 28, 1863. Illinois Troops.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 303.


COLDWATER, MISSISSIPPI, December 29, 1863. Coldwater Bridge, Mississippi, June 18, 1863. Detachments of 2nd Iowa and 3d Michigan Cavalry. As an incident of a movement of the troops mentioned under Major J. G. Hudson to get to the rear of the enemy at Panola and cut off his supplies, a sharp skirmish was engaged in at Coldwater bridge. Hudson captured 2 prisoners and killed 1 of the enemy; his own loss was 1 slightly wounded. Coldwater Ferry, Mississippi, February 8, 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 16th Army Corps. On the Meridian expedition the advance of this brigade came up with a small picket force at the Coldwater ferry. The Confederates put up some resistance, but were driven back and the ferry captured, allowing the whole command to cross the river. The casualties were not reported.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 303.


COLD WATER GROVE, MISSOURI, October 24, 1864. Kansas Cavalry of the Army of the Border.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 303.


COLDWATER RAILROAD BRIDGE, MISSISSIPPI, September 12, 1862. Expedition under Brigadier-General Morgan L. Smith. After the cavalry of this expedition, under Colonel B. H. Grierson, had been despatched to Hernando to engage a force of the enemy's cavalry, the infantry swung around to the west to destroy the railroad bridge across the Coldwater river between Senatobia and Hernando. A considerable guard engaged the column upon its approach, but retired after 25 minutes of skirmishing when 2 or 3 shells were thrown among them. The bridge and a small section of track were destroyed. No casualties were reported.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, pp. 303-304.


COLDWATER RIVER, MISSISSIPPI, November 28, 1862. Cavalry Division, Expedition to Grenada. During the day Brigadier-General C. C. Washburn, commanding this division, captured several Confederate pickets and learned that a force of their cavalry was encamped on the Tallahatchie near the mouth of the Coldwater river. Delaying his command somewhat so as to arrive after nightfall, the column was moved forward. As it approached the ferry where the enemy was supposed to be encamped a detachment was dismounted and deployed as skirmishers while the artillery was drawn forward by hand and when within 300 yards of the Confederate camp opened with shell, the dismounted skirmishers pouring in a volley at the same time. The enemy broke and fled, leaving 3 killed and 5 wounded. Coldwater River, Mississippi, February 19, 1863. (See Yazoo Pass.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 304.


COLDWATER RIVER, MISSISSIPPI, August 21, 1863. 3d and 4th Iowa and 5th Illinois Cavalry. As an incident of the raid to Memphis of the cavalry forces under Colonel E. F. Winslow, the Confederates were met in some force at the crossing of the Coldwater river. Major Noble with 75 men of the 3d la. was directed to keep the enemy's attention in the front while Major Farnan of the 5th Illinois with three companies of his own regiment and two of the 3d la. dismounted his men and started to cross the river half a mile below, so as to get in the enemy's rear. The enemy became aware of the movement just as the flanking party came in sight and retreated. During the time of this movement there was continued skirmishing in the rear and on both flanks.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 304.


COLDWATER RIVER, MISSISSIPPI, October 6. 1863. (See Lockhart's Mill.)


COLDWATER RIVER, MISSISSIPPI, July 22, 1864. Coldwater Station, Mississippi, June 21, 1862. Detachments of 6th and 11th Illinois Cavalry. As an incident of a raid to Hernando by the cavalry under Colonel B. H. Grierson. the detachments reached Hernando at 5 a. m. and found that the Confederates had moved to Coldwater Station. Grierson pushed rapidly toward that place, but arrived too late to intercept the train upon which General Jeff Thompson was traveling. However, he attacked and routed a Confederate force assembled at the depot, killing 3, wounding 7, and capturing 9, together with their arms, horses and equipments. A force sent to attack the guard at the railroad bridge a mile and a half distant destroyed 15,000 pounds of bacon, and a quantity of lard and forage. The bridge was burned.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 304.


COLDEN, Cadwallader David, 1769-1834, New York, lawyer, soldier, opponent of slavery, 54th Mayor of New York City, U.S. Congressman.  President of the New York Manumission Society (established 1785).  Helped pass law in New York in 1817 freeing slaves in the state by July 4, 1827.  (Biographical Dictionary of the U.S. Congress; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 2, Pt. 2, p. 287; Sinha, 1026, pp. 174, 176, 182)


COLE, Cornelius, born 1822, lawyer.  Member of the National Republican Committee, 1856-1860.  Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California, 1863-1865.  U.S. Senator, 1867-1873.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. I, p. 685; Congressional Globe)

COLE, Cornelius, senator, born in Lodi, New York, 17 September, 1822. He was graduated at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, in 1847, and, after studying law in the office of William H. Seward, was admitted to the bar. In 1849 he crossed the plains to California, and, after working a year in the gold mines, began the practice of law. He was district attorney of Sacramento City and county from 1859 till 1862, was a member of the National Republican Committee from 1856 till 1860, and during the latter year edited a newspaper. He then moved to Santa Cruz, and was a representative from California in the 38th Congress as a Union Republican, serving from 7 December, 1863, till 3 March, 1865. He was elected U. S. Senator to succeed James A. McDougall, Democrat, serving from 4 March, 1867, till 3 March, 1873. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 685.


COLE COUNTY, MISSOURI, October 6. 1864. Coleman's, Mississippi, March 5, 1864. Mississippi Marine Brigade. Coleman's Plantation, near Port Gibson. Mississippi, July 4-5. 1864 52nd U. S. Colored Troops (2d Mississippi) and Mississippi Marine Brigade.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 304.


COLES, Edward, 1786-1868, statesman, abolitionist, Governor of Illinois (elected 1822), member American Colonization Society.  Private secretary to President James Madison, 1809-1815.  Manumitted his slaves in 1819.  Worked with fellow abolitionist James Lemen to keep Illinois a free state.  Opposed pro-slavery group in Illinois state legislature.

(Burin, 2005, p. 47; Dumond, 1961, pp. 90, 92, 100-101; Locke, 1901, pp. 24, 25, 33; Ress, 2006; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 37, 233-234; Ress, 2006; Washburne, 1882; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 687; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 2, Pt. 2, p. 296; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 5, p. 226; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, p. 143)

COLES, Edward, governor of Illinois, born in Albemarle county, Virginia, 15 December, 1786; died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 7 July, 1868. He was educated at Hampden-Sidney College, and at William and Mary, where he was graduated in 1807. He was private secretary to President Madison from 1810 till 1816, and in 1817 sent on a confidential diplomatic mission to Russia. He returned in 1818, and in 1819 moved to Edwardsville, Illinois., and freed all the slaves that had been left him by his father, giving to each head of a family 160 acres of land. He was appointed registrar of the U. S. land-office at Edwardsville, and in 1822 was nominated for governor on account of his well-known anti-slavery sentiments. He served from 1823 till 1826, and during his term of office prevented the pro-slavery party from obtaining control of the state after a bitter and desperate conflict. The history of this remarkable struggle has been written by Elihu B. Washburne (Chicago, 1882). Governor Coles moved to Philadelphia in 1833, and in 1856 read before the Pennsylvania Historical Society a “History of the Ordinance of 1787” (Philadelphia, 1856). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 687.


COLE'S ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA, May 20. 1862. (See Naval Volume.)


COLFAX, Schuyler, 1823-1885, Vice President of the United States, statesman, newspaper editor.  Member of Congress, 1854-1869.  Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana.  Secretary of State.  Opposed slavery as a Republican Member of Congress. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.  Strongly opposed the extension of slavery in the territories.  (Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 687-688; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 2, Pt. 2, p. 297; Congressional Globe; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 5, p. 297)

COLFAX, Schuyler, statesman, born in New York City, 23 March, 1823; died in Mankato, Minnesota, 13 January, 1885. His grandfather was General William Colfax, who commanded the life-guards of Washington throughout the Revolutionary war. His father died a short time before the son's birth, and in 1834 his mother married George W. Matthews. After attending the public schools till he was ten years of age, and serving three years as clerk in his step-father's store, Schuyler went with the family to Indiana in 1836, and settled in New Carlisle, St. Joseph County, where Mr. Matthews soon became postmaster. The boy continued to serve as his clerk, and began a journal to aid himself in composition, contributing at the same time to the county paper. His step-father retired from business in 1839, and Colfax then began to study law, but afterward gave it up. In 1841 Mr. Matthews was elected county auditor, and moved to South Bend, making his step-son his deputy, which office Colfax held for eight years. In 1842 he was active in organizing a temperance society in South Bend, and continued a total abstainer throughout his life. At this time he reported the proceedings of the state senate for the Indianapolis “Journal” for two years. In 1844 he made campaign speeches for Henry Clay. He had acted as editor of the South Bend ”Free Press” for about a year when, in company with A. W. West, he bought the paper in September, 1845, and changed its name to the “St. Joseph Valley Register.” Under his management, despite numerous mishaps and business losses, the “Register” quadrupled its subscription in a few years, and became the most influential journal, in support of Whig politics, in that part of Indiana: Mr. Colfax was secretary of the Chicago Harbor and River Convention of July, 1847, and also of the Baltimore Whig Convention of 1848, which nominated Taylor for president. The next year he was elected a member of the convention to revise the constitution of the state of Indiana, and in his place, both by voice and vote, opposed the clause that prohibited free colored men from settling in that state. He was also offered a nomination for the state senate, but declined it. In 1851 he was a candidate for Congress, and came near being elected in a district that was strongly democratic. He accepted his opponent's challenge to a joint canvass, travelled a thousand miles, and spoke seventy times. He was again a delegate to the Whig National Convention in 1852, and, having joined the newly formed Democratic Party, was its successful candidate for Congress in 1854, serving by successive re-elections till 1869. In 1856 he supported Fremont for president, and during the canvass made a speech in Congress on the extension of slavery and .the aggressions of the slave-power. This speech was used as a campaign document, and more than half a million copies were circulated. He was chairman of several important committees of Congress, especially that on post-offices and post-roads, and introduced many reforms, including a bill providing for a daily overland mail-route from St. Louis to San Francisco, reaching mining-camps where letters had previously been delivered by express at five dollars an ounce. Mr. Colfax favored Edward Bates as the Republican candidate for the presidency in 1860. His name was widely mentioned for the office of postmaster - general in Lincoln's cabinet, but the president selected C. B. Smith, of Indiana, on the ground, as he afterward wrote Colfax, that the latter was “a young man running a brilliant career, and sure of a bright future in any event.” In the latter part of 1861 he ably defended Fremont in the house against the attack of Frank P. Blair. In 1862 he introduced a bill, which became a law, to punish fraudulent contractors as felons, and continued his efforts for reform in the postal service. He was elected speaker of the house on 7 December, 1863, and on 8 April, 1864, descended from the chair to move the expulsion of Mr. Long, of Ohio, who had made a speech favoring the recognition of the southern confederacy. The resolution was afterward changed to one of censure, and Mr. Colfax's action was widely commented on, but generally sustained by Union men. On 7 May, 1864, he was presented by citizens of Indiana then in Washington with a service of silver, largely on account of his course in this matter. He was twice re-elected as speaker, each time by an increased majority, and gained the applause of both friends and opponents by his skill as a presiding officer, often shown under very trying circumstances. In May, 1868, the Republican National Convention at Chicago nominated him on the first ballot for vice-president, General Grant being the nominee for president, and, the Republican ticket having been successful, he took his seat as President of the Senate on 4 March, 1869. On 4 August, 1871, President Grant offered him the place of Secretary of State for the remainder of his term, but he declined. In 1872 he was prominently mentioned as a presidential candidate, especially by those who, later in the year, were leaders in the liberal Republican movement, and, although he refused to join them, this was sufficient to make administration men oppose his renomination for the vice-presidency, and he was defeated in the Philadelphia Convention of 1872. In December, 1872; he was offered the chief editorship of the New York “Tribune,” but declined it. In 1873 Mr. Colfax was implicated in the charger of corruption brought against members of Congress who had received shares of stock in the credit mobilier of America. The house judiciary committee reported that there was no ground for his impeachment, as the alleged offence, if committed at all, had been committed before he became vice-president. These charges cast a shadow over the latter part of Mr. Colfax's life. He denied their truth, and his friends have always regarded his character as irreproachable. His later years were spent mostly in retirement in his home at South Bend, Indiana, and in delivering public lectures, which he did frequently before large audiences. His first success in this field had been in 1865 with a lecture entitled “Across the Continent,” written after his return from an excursion to California. The most popular of his later lectures was that on “Lincoln and Garfield.” Mr. Colfax was twice married. After his death, which was the result of heart disease, public honors were paid to his memory both in Congress and in Indiana. See “Life of Colfax” by O. J. Hollister (New York, 1886). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 687-688.


COLHOUN, Edmund R., naval officer, born in Pennsylvania, 6 May, 1821. He entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman, 1 April, 1839; became a master,  January, 1853; resigned, 27 June, 1853; re-entered the navy as acting lieutenant, 24 September, 1801; was commissioned commander, 17 November, 1862; captain, 2 March, 1869; commodore, 26 April, 1876, and rear-admiral, 3 December, 1882. when he was retired from active service. He served in the Mexican War in the first attack on Alvarado under Commodore Connor, and in the assault on Tobasco under Commodore Perry. In 1861-2 he commanded the steamer "Hunchback," of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and took part in the battle of Roanoke Island, the capture of Newbern, and the engagements below Franklin on the Blackwater River in October, 1862. In 1863 he commanded the steamer "Ladona," and afterward the monitor " Weehawken," of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, in her various engagements with Forts Sumter, Wagner, and Beauregard, in the summer of 1863. In 1864-'5 he commanded the monitor "Saugus," attached to the North Atlantic Squadron, and engaged Hewlett's battery on James River, 21 June, and again 5 December, 1864, and took part in the bombardment of Fort Fisher, 25 December, 1864, and subsequent days. He was commandant at Mare Island U.S. Navy-yard, California, in 1879-80, and inspector of vessels in California at the time of his retirement. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 689.


COLHOUN, John, naval officer, born in Pennsylvania in 1802; died in New York City, 30 November, 1872. He entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman, 25 January, 1821, became a passed midshipman, 24 May, 1828, a lieutenant, 27 May, 1830; a commander, 4 November, 1852, was retired in October, 1864, and subsequently promoted to the rank of commodore, 4 April, 1867. He served on the store-ship "Supply, at Vera Cruz, during the Mexican War, commanded the sloop "Portsmouth" on the coast of Africa in 1859-61, brought the frigate "St. Lawrence" home from Key West in 1863, and after his retirement served as light-house inspector in 1866-7. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 689


COLLAMER, Jacob, 1791-1865, lawyer, jurist.  U.S. Senator from Vermont.  U.S. Senator, 1854-1865.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. I, p. 689; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 2, Pt. 2, p. 297; Congressional Globe)

COLLAMER, Jacob, senator, born in Troy, New York, 8 January, 1791; died in Woodstock, Vermont, 9 November, 1865. In childhood he moved with his father to Burlington, and, earning his own support, was graduated at the University of Vermont in 1810, studied law at St. Albans, made the frontier campaign as a lieutenant of artillery in the militia, and was admitted to the bar at St. Albans in 1813. Until 1833 he practised law in Washington, Orange, and Windsor counties, Vermont, and in 1821-'2 and 1827-'8 represented the town of Royalton in the Assembly. In 1833 he was elected an associate justice of the supreme court of Vermont, and continued on the bench until 1842, when he declined a re-election. In 1843 he was chosen as a Whig to represent the 2d District in Congress, was re-elected in 1844 and 1846, but in 1848 declined to be again a candidate. In March, 1849, he was appointed Postmaster-General by President Taylor, but on the death of the president resigned with the rest of the cabinet. He was soon afterward again elected judge of the supreme court of Vermont, holding that office until 1854, when he was chosen U. S. Senator, which office he held at the time of his death. He served as chairman of the committee on post-offices and post-roads, and was also chairman of that on the library. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 689. 


COLLEGE GROVE, Tennessee, March 19, 1863. The only report of this affair is from Confederate sources, the report of Brigadier-General John A. Wharton containing the following: "Today a body of 250 picked men from this command, supported by Roddey, drove the enemy away from the new bridge they had constructed over Harpeth, near Page 305 College Grove, and burned the bridge. The fight lasted several hours."  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, pp. 304-305.


COLLEGE GROVE, TENNESSEE, April 26, 1863. Scouts of the 3d Division, 14th Army Corps. Brigadier-General J. M. Schofield reporting from Triune under date of April 26, says: "A small scouting party, under Colonel J. P. Brownlow, had a skirmish with some rebel cavalry a mile south of College Grove this afternoon; 1 officer slightly wounded."  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 305.


COLLEGE HILL, MISSISSIPPI, August 21, 1864. Skirmishers of 3d Division, 16th Army Corps. At 8 p. m. of the 20th the division encamped on the south side of Hurricane creek and early the next morning moved forward. Two regiments were thrown out as skirmishers and the troops advanced in column of regiments. The skirmishers soon became engaged with the enemy's pickets, who, seeing the series of lines, retreated without offering much resistance, and the Union troops were enabled to occupy the hill. The only casualty was the slight wounding of 1 of the skirmishers. (Also called Oxford Hill.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 305.


COLLIERVILLE, TENNESSEE, January 28, 1863. 2nd Brigade, Cavalry Division. Colonel Albert L. Lee, commanding this brigade, reports from Germantown under date of January 29: "Had a skirmish with 200 guerrillas south of Collierville and killed about a dozen. Lost 1 man. All right on the road." Collierville, Tennessee, May 20, 1863. Pickets of 26th Illinois Infantry. This engagement was an attack by a band of Confederates on picket posts Nos. 4 and 5. The men stationed there were surrounded, 1 killed and 9 captured. The enemy's loss was not known, as he retreated as soon as he had accomplished his object.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 305.


COLLIERVILLE, TENNESSEE, October 11, 1863. Detachments of 66th Indiana 13th U. S. Infantry. As an incident of Chalmers' raid, a Confederate force of 3.000 cavalry and mounted infantry with 8 pieces of artillery, attacked the Union pickets at Collierville. The outposts succeeded in holding the enemy in check until the dispositions of the garrison were made. Chalmers, under a flag of truce, sent Colonel D. C. Anthony of the 66th Indiana, whose regiment formed the garrison, a summons to surrender which was promptly refused. Upon the return of the flag the enemy opened with artillery but did little damage. Just at this time Major-General W. T. Sherman arrived with his escort, a portion of the 13th U. S. infantry, which was brought into action. At noon a charge was made to drive the enemy from the proximity of the train. It succeeded, but resulted in the loss of several men. At 3:30 the enemy retired. The Federal loss was 14 killed, 40 wounded and 54 captured or missing. Chalmers' report states that he lost but 3 killed and 48 wounded, but Anthony says his command buried 25 of the Confederate dead.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 305.


COLLIERVILLE, TENNESSEE, October 25, 1863.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 305.


COLLIERVILLE, TENNESSEE. November 3, 1863. Detachment of 3d Cavalry Brigade, 16th Army Corps. On the morning of this date, Collierville was guarded by eight companies of the 7th Illinois cavalry. Brigadier-General Edward Hatch was at Germantown with eight companies of the 6th Illinois cavalry, 4 pieces of the 1st Illinois light artillery, 450 men of the 2nd la. cavalry and a section of mountain howitzers. Learning that a force of Confederates under Chalmers had crossed the Coldwater at Quinn & Jackson's mill, and was moving on Collierville, Hatch immediately started for that place. When within 4 miles of it artillery firing announced the approach of the enemy and the reinforcements moved forward on the double-quick. The 2nd la., dismounted, received and repulsed a charge of the enemy on the right of the troops in the town. Meanwhile a Confederate brigade charged the left and rear, but was repulsed handsomely by the 6th Illinois cavalry. The Union line was then formed to receive an expected attack on its front, but the Confederates failed to advance so the 4th Louisiana charged. The result was the rapid retreat of the enemy to the Coldwater, the Federals pursuing. Here the enemy was strongly intrenched and held his position until after dark, when he retired. The Confederates lost 6 killed and 63 wounded; their loss in missing, according to their own reports, was but 26. Hatch, however, says he captured 50. The Union loss in killed, wounded and missing did not exceed 60.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 305-306.


COLLIERVILLE, TENNESSEE, December 27, 1863. Detachment of Cavalry Division, 16th Army Corps. As an incident of the operations in northern Mississippi and west Tennessee, portions of the 2nd la. and the 9th Illinois cavalry met the enemy 2 miles from La Fayette and drove him back. Here reinforcements came to the aid of the Confederates and the Union force was steadily but slowly driven back until the enemy was brought under the range of the cannon in the stockade at Collierville. No casualties were reported.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 306.


COLLIERVILLE, TENNESSEE, January 13, 1864. Battalion 9th Illinois Cavalry. This detachment, under Major Ira R. Gifford, numbering about 60 men, moved out from Collierville in the morning. On crossing the Nonconnah river firing was heard about a mile to the left and the command was immediately deployed in that direction. After advancing through a thicket the enemy was encountered, but a single volley sent them back in confusion, leaving 1 killed and 7 wounded on the field. Four Union troopers were recaptured. The Federal force suffered no casualties. Collierville, Tennessee, June 23, 1864. Attack on train on the Charlestown & Mississippi railroad. Collierville, Tennessee, July 13, 1864. 1st Brigade, Infantry Division, Expedition into Mississippi. Collierville was reached at 9 a. m. of this date. The command rested until noon, while a party of 6, including 2 commissioned officers, went up the railroad to notify other Union forces of the column's approach. When about 3 miles out this party was attacked by a band of 15 Confederates and 2 of the members were captured. The brigade was then moved forward and near the place where the small party was attacked commenced skirmishing with the enemy. This was kept up until the arrival of the train with reinforcements. No casualties were reported.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 306.


COLLIERVILLE, TENNESSEE, July 24, 1864. Detachment of the 46th Iowa Infantry. This was a slight skirmish between 16 men of the 46th la. and a band of 30 guerrillas. The Federals lost 3 wounded and 4 captured. The loss of the guerrillas was 2 killed and 3 wounded.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 306.


COLLIERVILLE, TENNESSEE, November 15, 1864 . Detachment Cavalry Corps, Military District of West Tennessee. A patrol sent out from Memphis on the State Line road met a picket of 25 Confederates 5 miles beyond Germantown and drove them into Collierville. No casualties reported.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 306


COLLINS, George C, merchant, born in South Hadley, Massachusetts, in 1810; died in New York City, 10 February, 1875. He moved when a boy to Hartford, Connecticut, and at the age of twenty went to Mobile, Alabama, as confidential secretary to Burrett Ames, the largest cotton-dealer in the south. After three years he returned to the north and went into business on his own account as a grocer in Hartford, moved to New York City in 1841 as partner in the house of McCoon, Sherman & Company, and established in I860 the house of Collins & Rayner, which afterward became George C. Collins & Company. After the draft-riots of 1863 he was a member of a committee to prosecute the claims of the families of the murdered Negroes against the city, and was one of the largest contributors to the funds for the relief of the families. He was an active promoter of various charitable and religious objects. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 691.


COLLINS, John Anderson, 1810-1879, abolitionist, social reformer.  General Agent and Vice President, Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society.  Edited anti-slavery magazine, Monthly Garland.  (Filler, 1960, pp. 24, 110, 135; Mabee, 1970, pp. 76, 80, 81, 82, 88, 112, 114, 119, 120, 123, 124, 125, 212, 264, 394n30, 394n31, 398n13; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 2, Pt. 2, p. 307; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 5, p. 253)


COLLINS, Napoleon, naval officer, born in Pennsylvania, 4 May, 1814; died in Callao, Peru, 9 August, 1875. He entered the U.S. Navy in 1834 as midshipman, became a lieutenant in 1846, was attached to the sloop “Decatur” during the Mexican War, and was present at Tuspan and Tobasco. He commanded the steamer “Anacosta” in the Potomac Squadron in 1861, and took part in the engagement at Acquia Creek on 31 May in that year. He afterward received command of the gun-boat “Unadilla,” and for nearly a year was with the fleet stationed off the coast of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, and took part in the battle of Port Royal and in various expeditions along the coast. In July, 1862, he was made commander of the steamer “Octorara” in the West Indian Squadron. In 1863 he was transferred to the steam sloop “Wachusett” and sent in pursuit of Confederate privateers. On 7 October, 1864, he bore down on the Confederate steamer “Florida” in the Harbor of Bahia, Brazil, intending to sink her, but demanded her surrender, and, as the captain and half his crew were ashore, the lieutenant in command deemed it best to comply. In an instant the “Florida" was boarded, a hawser was made fast, and the captor put out to sea, making no reply to a challenge from the Brazilian fleet, and unharmed by three shots fired from the fort. After the “Wachusett" and her prize arrived in Hampton Roads in November, '' negotiations for the return of the “Florida” were in progress she was run into at her anchorage by a steam transport and sunk. Brazil having complained that her neutrality had been violated in this affair. Secretary of State Seward disavowed the act of Commander Collins and ordered him to be tried by court-martial. On 25 July, 1866, he was promoted captain and placed in command of the steam sloop "Sacramento.” He was made a commodore on 19 January, 1871, and on 9 August, 1874, was raised to the rank of rear-admiral and placed in command of the South Pacific Squadron. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 692


COLLYER, Robert, clergyman, born in Keighly, Yorkshire, England, 8 Dec, 1823. He educated himself, having left school at the age of eight years to earn his living in a factory. The only instruction he received after that was in a night-school that he attended two winters. When fourteen years old he was apprenticed to a blacksmith. In 1849 he became a local Methodist preacher, and the year following came to the United States, and, while still working as a hammer-maker in Shoemakertown, Pennsylvania, preached on Sundays. His views gradually changed in the direction of Unitarianism, and he was arraigned before the conference for heresy, and his license to preach revoked. The change in his views of the atonement was partly brought about by conversations with Lucretia Mott. The circumstance that the Methodist clergy at that time were restrained from freely denouncing slavery had much influence in converting him to Unitarianism. While still working at his craft, he became known as an eloquent public speaker. In 1859 he united with the Unitarian church, and, going to Chicago, Illinois.., became a missionary of the Unitarian church in that city, and in 1860 organized the Unity church, which began with only seven members, but rapidly increased in numbers under his spirited and earnest preaching. In 1861 he was a camp-inspector for the Sanitary commission. His reputation as a preacher and lecturer soon extended over the country. In September, 1879, he became pastor of the Church of the Messiah in New York city. He has re-visited England five times since 1865, and travelled in other parts of Europe. He is the author of "Nature and Life" (Boston, 1866); "A Man in Earnest: Life of A. H. Conant" (1868); "The Life that Now Is" (1871); “The Simple Truth, a Home Book" (1877); "A History of the Town and Parish of Ilkley" (Otley, England, 1886), written in collaboration with Horsefall Turner; "Lectures to Young Men and Women" (1886). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 693


COLMAN, Lucy Newhall, 1817-1906, Rochester, New York, abolitionist.  Lectured against slavery in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois.  Helped and supported by Frederick Douglass.  (Sernett, 2002, pp. 55-56; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 2, Pt. 2, p. 313; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 5, p. 260)


COLONEL. Rank in the army between brigadier-general and lieutenant-colonel. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 164).


COLORS. Each regiment of artillery and infantry has two silken colors, but only one is borne or displayed at the same time, and on actual service that is usually the regimental one. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 164).


COLT, Samuel, inventor, born in Hartford, Connecticut., 19 July, 1814; died there, 10 January, 1862. His father, descended from an early settler of Hartford, was  merchant and afterward a manufacturer. At the age of ten he entered his father’s factory, and remained there and at school till his fourteenth year, when he was sent to a boarding school in Amherst, Massachusetts, but ran away, and in July, 1827, shipped as a boy before the mast on an East India voyage. After his return he was placed in his father's factory at Ware, Massachusetts, in the dyeing and bleaching department under the tuition of William T. Smith, a scientific and practical chemist, and as soon as he again he had become dexterous he left  home to seek his fortune, and though but seventeen or eighteen years of age, with a meager education, yet, under the assumed name of Dr. Coult, he traversed the Union and British America, lecturing on chemistry, and, owing to his success as an experimenter, he drew full houses. The profit from these lectures, which was very considerable, luring the two years that followed, was devoted to the prosecution of the great invention connected with his name. The first model of his pistol was made in wood in 1829, with the imperfect tools at his command, while he was a sailor-boy on board ship. The money acquired by his chemical lectin enabled him to manufacture other models, and a 1H85, when only twenty-one years of age, he took out his first patent for revolving fire-arms. Patents having been issued in England, France, and the United States for the revolver, he induced New York capitalists to take an interest in it, and a company was formed at Paterson, New Jersey, with a capital of $300,000. under the name of m Patent Arms Company. For a long time the officers of the government and of the army and navy objected to the percussion-cap, to the supposed liability of the arm to get out of order, to the tendency of several of the charges to explode at the same time, and to the greater difficulty of repairing it than the arms in common use. These objections Mr. Colt met by careful explanations, by repeated experiments, and by modifications in the construction of the weapon. In 1837, during the Florida War, the officers of the army were baffled in their attempts to drive the Indians from the Everglades, until a few of the troops, under the direction of Lieutenant-Colonel Harney, were armed with Colt's revolvers, and their success was such that more were at once ordered, and the Indians were easily disheartened and defeated when they found that their enemies could fire six or eight times without reloading. In 1842 the Patent Arms Company were forced to suspend, the speedy conclusion of the Seminole War having put an end to their sales, and from that time till 1847 none of the repeating fire-arms were manufactured. Meantime the market was drained of them by the demand from Texas and the Indian frontier. In 1847, the Mexican War having begun. General Taylor sent to Colonel Colt for a supply. There were none to be had, but he contracted to make 1,000 for $28,000. He had parted with the last one to a Texan ranger, and, after advertising in vain for one to serve as a model, he was compelled to make a new model, and in so doing added improvements. This first thousand were made at an armory temporarily hired at Whitneyville, near New Haven, Connecticut Other orders following immediately on the completion of the first, Colonel Colt procured more commodious workshops at Hartford and filled the orders with promptness. The emigration to California, and afterward to Australia, increased the demand for the revolvers and assured the permanence of the business. Soon after the Mexican War, the suggestions derived from the use of these arms by the military forces led to improvements in their construction and to their adoption by the government of the United States as a regular weapon for the army. Subsequently the Crimean and Indian Campaigns suggested still further improvements and simplifications. Finding in 1852 that more room and greater facilities for manufacturing were required, Colonel Colt purchased a tract of meadowland lying within the city limits of Hartford, about 250 acres in extent, protected it from the annual freshets of the Connecticut River by means of a dike, and there built an armory, consisting of two Parallel buildings three stories high and 500 feet long, connected by a central building 250 feet in length, with other buildings for offices and warerooms. In 1861 a second building of the same size as the first was erected. All the balls, cartridges, bullet molds, powder-flasks, and lubricators are manufactured at the armory, and most of them, as well as the greater part of the machinery for manufacturing the arms, were the invention of Colonel Colt or the development of his suggestions by skilful workmen. A part of the establishment is devoted to the manufacture of machinery for making the fire-arms elsewhere, which has already supplied a large portion of the machinery for the armory of the British government at Enfield, England, and the whole of that for the Russian government armory at Tula. On the land enclosed by the dike he also erected dwellings for his employes, the entire expenditure upon the grounds and buildings amounting to more than $2,500,000. The dwellings erected for the employes are unusually comfortable and convenient. Colonel Colt also provided the workmen with a public hall, a library, courses of lectures, concerts, a set of instruments for a band of musicians, and a uniform for a military company organized among them. He invented also a submarine battery for the defence of harbors against naval attacks, and was the first to conceive and practically test the project of a submarine telegraph-cable, having laid and operated with perfect success in 1843 such a cable from Coney Island and Fire Island to the city of New York, and from the Merchants' Exchange to the mouth of the harbor. This cable was insulated by being covered with a combination of cotton yarn with asphaltum and beeswax, and the whole enclosed in a lead pipe, gutta percha being then unknown. A beautiful Episcopal Church was erected to his memory by his widow, who with their only son still continues the manufacture of arms. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 694.


COLUMBIA, ARKANSAS, June 2, 1864. Attack on U. S. S. Adams. The steamer Adams and the ram Monarch convoyed the transport Missouri from Greenville, Mississippi, up to Gaines' landing. At Columbia, Arkansas, they passed a Confederate battery of 6 guns, belonging to Marmaduke's brigade, Colonel Greene commander. They returned with the transport Henry Ames, downward bound, passing the same battery. The Ames being lashed broadside outside the Adams, received no injury: but the Adams was struck twenty-eight times and lost 4 men: 3 killed and 1 mortally wounded. Greene reported that the ironclad fired but two shots in passing and had to close her ports as a protection against a heavy fire by sharpshooters; but that she fell back a mile and shelled the batteries, with 64-pounder rifles, doing no damage. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 3063


COLUMBIA, KENTUCKY, June 29, 1863. Brigadier-General Samuel P. Carter, reporting from Somerset, Kentucky, June 30, says: "I have dispatches from Colonel Wolford to 3 p. m. yesterday. The force sent after rebels in direction of Columbia encountered about 60 of them near that place, and dispersed them, capturing 2. The party sent to Creelsboro met some 50 rebels; killed 1 and captured 2 of Duke's regiment." No mention is made of what Union troops were engaged.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 307.


COLUMBIA, KENTUCKY, July 3, 1863. Detachment of 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 23d Army Corps. One hundred men under Captain Carter, 1st Kentucky cavalry, met a regiment of Morgan's Confederate cavalry near Columbia and were repulsed and driven back to Columbia, where reinforcements reached them. The superior numbers of the enemy compelled the Union forces to fall back to Jamestown with a loss of 2 killed, Captain Carter mortally and 6 others slightly wounded. Six of the Confederate force were killed and 15 wounded.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 307.


COLUMBIA, LOUISIANA, February 4, 1864. Columbia, Missouri, October 2, 1862. Detachment 9th Cavalry, Missouri State Militia. Brigadier-General Odon Guitar, reporting under date of October 3, says: "Parts of Companies B and C of the 9th cavalry, Missouri state militia, numbering 80 men, under Captains Garth and McFarland, attacked a band of rebels, 15 miles northwest of this place, yesterday at 11 a. m., completely routing and dispersing them, killing 1, wounding a number, and taking 1 prisoner. * * * The rebel force consisted of Captain Cameron's company, with fragments of other companies, numbering in all 75 men." Columbia, Missouri, January 21, 1863. Scout from the 61st Enrolled Missouri Militia. Late in the evening a body of men from this regiment came upon a camp of 8 Confederate captains, who immediately scattered into the heavy underbrush. The Federal troops pursued and captured 4. Two of the scouts were wounded.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 307.


COLUMBIA, MISSOURI, June 17, 1864. Detachments of Missouri Enrolled Militia. Major Frank D. Evans with 5 men started from Centralia early in the morning for Columbia with 50 shotguns in a wagon. When within 2 miles of Columbia he was fired upon by a gang of guerrillas and 2 of his men were severely wounded. A running fight was then kept up for some distance, when Evans and the 2 remaining men were overpowered, and the wagon, team and arms captured. Columbia, Missouri, August 16, 1864. Missouri State Militia. A detachment of militia met the Confederate leader Holtzclaw 10 miles north of Columbia and a severe skirmish took place, resulting in the killing of 4 and the wounding of many more of the enemy. The Union troops fell back 5 miles, when Holtzclaw, having received reinforcements, attacked them again but was easily repulsed.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 307.


COLUMBIA, MISSOURI, September 16, 1864. Detachments of 1st Iowa Cavalry and 3d Missouri State Militia. During a scouting expedition this command encountered the pickets of the enemy 8 miles north of Columbia. One was killed and the others pursued 3 miles. There were no casualties in the Union command.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 307.


COLUMBIA, MISSOURI, February 12, 1865. 9th Missouri State Militia Cavalry. At 1:30 a. m. a detachment of 18 men under Captain H. N. Cook surprised a camp of 10 Confederates of Carter's command. 7 miles north of Columbia. Three of the enemy were killed and all the rest wounded. The casualties in Cook's command were 1 killed and 1 wounded.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 307.


COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA, February 16-17, 1865. 15th Army Corps. The capture and occupation of Columbia was one of the principal incidents of the Carolina campaign. When the 15th corps, Maj .-General John A. Logan commanding, reached the south bank of the Congaree river, opposite the city, early on the morning of the 16th, it was found that the Confederates had destroyed the bridge and the engineers soon reported that the pontoons would not reach across. No signs of surrender were manifested, but soldiers and citizens could be seen industriously removing stores from the warehouses. To check this work and save the supplies for the Union troops a section of De Gress' battery was ordered to open fire on the parties thus engaged. A few shots were sufficient, and by this means a considerable quantity of bread stuffs was saved for the use of Sherman's army. A short distance northwest of Columbia the Broad and Saluda rivers unite to form the Congaree. When it was discovered that the pontoons were insufficient to bridge the Congaree, General Sherman ordered General Howard, commanding the right wing of the army, to cross the Saluda some distance above the junction, then push a force across to the Broad river and enter the city from the north. Pursuant to this order Logan moved Hazen's division to Saluda Factory, where two regiments of Colonel Theodore Jones' brigade were ferried over in pontoon boats under fire of a small force of the enemy, which was driven rapidly across to the Broad river. Tones' object was to save the bridge over the Broad, but in this he failed, as the bridge had been previously prepared with resin and light wood and was fired in such haste that part of the Confederate cavalry was cut off and escaped up the river. Woods' division was now pushed to the front, under instructions to cross the river by daylight the next morning, but owing to the swiftness of the current some delay was experienced in effecting a crossing. A rope ferry was finally established about 3 a. m. on the 17th, and Stone's brigade was sent over in boats. Woods planting his artillery on a high bluff and pushing a strong skirmish line up to the bank of the river to cover the movement. As soon as Stone's entire command was over the river he formed his line and moved rapidly forward against the enemy in his front, driving him some distance, when an effort was made to turn the Federal left. Upon this Stone halted his command and threw up a barricade to protect his position until support could be sent across the river. Soon W. B. Woods' brigade was ferried over and Stone again advanced, quickly dispersing the Confederate cavalry that disputed his progress. About a mile from the city he was met by the mayor and city aldermen under a flag of truce, and a formal surrender of the city was made by the civil authorities. Stone then moved into the city, meeting with but slight resistance, and in a short time the national colors were floating from the capitol of South Carolina. About dark a fire broke out near Main street. A high wind was blowing and despite the efforts of officers and men to stay the progress of the flames the fire spread so rapidly that by daylight on the 18th the greater part of the city was a mass of blackened ruins. The origin of the fire has always been a mooted question. In his official report of the campaign Sherman says: "In anticipation of the occupation of the city I had made written orders to General Howard touching the conduct of the troops. These were to destroy absolutely all arsenals and public property not needed for our own use, as well as all railroads, depots, and machinery useful in war to an enemy, but to spare all dwellings, colleges, schools, asylums, and harmless private property. * * * General Wade Hampton, who commanded the Confederate rear-guard of cavalry, had, in anticipation of our capture of Columbia, ordered that all cotton, public and private, should be moved into the streets and fired, to prevent our making use of it. Bales were piled everywhere, the rope and bagging cut, and tufts of cotton were blown about in the wind, lodging in the trees and against houses, so as to resemble a snow-storm. Sdme of these piles were burning, especially one in the heart of the city near the court-house, but the fire was partially subdued by the labor of our soldiers. * * * Before one single public building had been fired by order, the smouldering fires, set by Hampton's order, were rekindled by the wind, and communicated to the buildings around. About dark they began to spread, and got beyond the control of the brigade on duty within the city. * * * And without hesitation I charge General Wade Hampton with having burned his own city of Columbia, not with malicious intent, or as the manifestation of a silly 'Roman stoicism,' but from folly and want of sense, in rilling it with lint, cotton and tinder." Hampton strenuously denied that any fire started by his order was responsible for the destruction of Columbia, but he never denied that he ordered fires kindled within the city limits for the destruction of cotton. Colonel Stone, whose brigade was the first to enter the place, advances the theory in his report that the tires were started by escaped prisoners and citizens. He says: "A number of buildings were fired during the early part of the evening, but the fire was promptly put out before it had gained much headway. * * * About 8 o'clock the city was fired in a number of places by some of our escaped prisoners and citizens (I am satisfied I can prove this), and as some of the tire originated in basements stored full of cotton it was impossible to extinguish it." This hypothesis is borne out by the report of Howard, which contains this statement: "During the night I met Generals Logan, Woods, and other general officers, and they were taking every possible measure to stop the fire and prevent disorder. Nevertheless some escaped prisoners, convicts from the penitentiary just broken open, army followers, and drunken soldiers ran through house after house, and were doubtless guilty of all manner of villainies, and it is these men that I presume set new fires farther and farther to the windward in the northern part of the city." In view of these statements it is hardly probable that the city of Columbia was burned by Sherman's order, or with his consent. The destruction of property that might be used to advantage by the enemy was a legitimate war measure, and Sherman's order expressly stated that educational, religious and charitable institutions, and harmless private property was not to be molested. It is more than likely that some of the fires kindled by Hampton's order were responsible for at least a portion of the conflagration, but it is still more likely that liquor was indirectly the cause of the havoc wrought about the city. Stone says in his report: "I was absent from the brigade for about an hour in placing the flag on the state-house, and when I rejoined my command found a great number of the men drunk. It was discovered that this was caused by hundreds of negroes who swarmed the streets on the approach of the troops and gave them all kinds of liquor from buckets, bottles, demijohns, &c.'" Stone, therefore, ordered all the liquor destroyed, and personally saw that the order was executed so far as fifteen barrels were concerned. Howard says: "I learned, moreover, that quantities of liquor had been given to the soldiers by certain people who hoped in this manner to conciliate them and get their protection, and it is certainly true that many of our men and some of our officers were too much under the influence of drink to allow them to properly discharge their duty." General Slocum, in his description of the march from Savannah to Bentonville, published in "Battles and Leaders," says: "I believe the immediate cause of the disaster was the free use of whisky (which was supplied to the soldiers by citizens with great liberality). A drunken soldier with a musket in one hand and a match in the other is not a pleasant visitor to have about the house on a dark, windy night, particularly when for a series of years you have urged him to come, so that you might have an opportunity of performing a surgical operation on him." The losses in killed and wounded in the operations about Columbia were comparatively light, and after a rest of two days the army again took up its march toward Charlotte and Winnsboro.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 307-310.


COLUMBIA, TENNESSEE, July 17, 1862. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 310.


COLUMBIA, TENNESSEE, September 9, 1862. 42nd Illinois Volunteers.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 310.


COLUMBIA, TENNESSEE, October 2, 1864. Detachment 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry. On the 1st General N. B. Forrest with his Confederate cavalry crossed the Duck river 8 miles above Columbia and attacked the railroad at Carter's Creek Station. Next day he moved toward Columbia and attacked the pickets near the town, but after several hours of skirmishing he retired. No casualties reported.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 310.


COLUMBIA, TENNESSEE, November 24-28, 1864. U. S. Troops under General Schofield. To check Hood's advance on Nashville General Thomas sent Major-General John M. Schofield to the south of Duck river. Schofield's army consisted of the 4th army corps, commanded by Major-General D. S. Stanley; the 3d division of the 23d corps, under Major-General J. D. Cox; Hatch's cavalry division and the cavalry brigades of General Croxton and Colonel Capron. the entire force amounting to 18,000 infantry and four brigades of cavalry. One brigade and two regiments of Ruger's division of the 23d corps joined Schofield at Columbia. Opposed to this force was Hood's army of about 40,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry. The Confederates drove the Union cavalry from Lawrenceburg on the 22nd and from that point advanced on Columbia. Schofield sent Cox forward to that point and he arrived on the morning of the 24th, just in time to repulse a large force of the enemy that was driving back Capron's brigade on the Mount Pleasant road. By the evening of the 25th Hood had his entire army in front of Schofield, who then decided to cross to the north side of the river, as his line was already too extended to be effective in case of an assault on his position, and besides there was danger of the enemy crossing above Columbia and getting in the rear of the Federals, thus cutting off communications with Thomas at Nashville. To guard against this flank movement Schofield sent Cox, with two brigades, to the north bank of the river, and ordered Ruger to the railroad bridge, where he was to construct a bridge-head and occupy it. At daylight on the_ morning of the 26th a pontoon bridge was laid near the railroad bridge, a short distance below the town and everything made ready for a crossing, though some troops were still kept on the south side of the river in the hope that reinforcements would arrive in time to keep Hood from crossing. Not until the evening of the 27th was the south bank entirely abandoned by the Federals, though all that day the line had been closely pressed at all points by the enemy. Once on the north side of the river, Ruger was left to hold the crossing at the railroad bridge, Cox occupied a position in front of Columbia, and Stanley was moved to the rear on the Franklin pike, where he could act as a reserve and at the same time guard against a flank movement in case the enemy should effect a crossing anywhere near the town. Wilson's cavalry was guarding the fords above, and about 2 a. m. on the 29th General Wilson sent word that the Confederates were crossing in force near Huey's mill, the cavalry having crossed near the Lewisburg pike to clear the way for the main body. Stanley was then sent to Spring Hill to cover the trains and the army began to fall back to Franklin. Numerous skirmishes occurred about Columbia during these operations, but no casualties were reported.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 310.


COLUMBIA, TENNESSEE, December 20, 1864. Detachment of 5th Division. Schofield's Army. The advance of the division, under General Hazen, in the pursuit of Hood, approached Columbia early in the morning. The stream was bridged and some skirmishing done with the rear-guard. The 2nd la. was sent in pursuit and captured 2 guns, 6 ambulances, a few wagons and cattle, and scattered the rear-guard composed of Texas cavalry. The casualties were not reported. Columbia, Tennessee, December 23, 1864. (See Warfield's.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, pp. 310-311.


COLUMBIA BRIDGE, VIRGINIA, May 5, 1862.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 311.


COLUMBIA FORD, TENNESSEE, November 29, 1864. The skirmishing about Columbia ford on this date was a part of the operations along Duck river as Schofield was retiring toward Franklin before Hood's advance.  Columbia ford was not far from Huey's mill. (Sec Columbia.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 311.


COLUMBIA FURNACE, VIRGINIA, April 7, 1862.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 311.


COLUMBIA FURNACE, VIRGINIA, April 16. 1862. 1st Squadron, Pennsylvania Cavalry; Detachments of 14th Indiana, 5th Connecticut, 28th New York, and 46th Pennsylvania Infantry. Major-General N. P. Banks, reporting under date of April 16, 1862, says: "An entire company, more than 60 men and horses, Ashby's cavalry, were captured this morning at Columbia Furnace, about 17 miles from Mount Jackson, by our cavalry and infantry. The capture includes all the officers but the captain."  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 311.


COLUMBIA FURNACE, VIRGINIA, October 7, 1864. 3d Cavalry Division, Army of the Shenandoah. In the retrograde movement of Sheridan's army from Harrisonburg, this division, commanded by Brigadier-General George A. Custer, moved by the back road toward Columbia Furnace. A slight demonstration was made by the enemy at 5 a. m. and several times during the forenoon the 1st Vermont, which was acting as rear-guard, was called on to repel attacks made by the Confederate cavalry. About 2 p. m., when near Columbia Furnace, two attacks were made in quick succession and Colonel J. W. Bennett, commanding the regiment, called for reinforcements. Part of the 8th New York and 50 men of the 1st New Hampshire were sent to him and were stationed in reserve. At 3 o'clock another attack was made, this time on the left, and Bennett fell back on his reserves to find them in full retreat. The 1st Vermont was then forced back about 2 miles to the lines of Pennington's brigade, when the enemy's advance was checked and the division proceeded on its march without further molestation.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 311.


COLUMBIA PIKE, TENNESSEE, April 1, 1863.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 311.


COLUMBIAD. An American cannon invented by Colonel Bomford, of very large calibre, used for throwing solid shot or shells, which, when mounted in barbette, has a vertical field of fire from 5 depression to 39 elevation, and a horizontal field of fire of 860. Those of the old pattern were chambered, but they are now cast without, and otherwise greatly improved. The 10-inch weighs 15,400 lbs., and is 126 inches long. The 8-inch columbiad is 124 inches long and weighs 9,240 lbs. Rodman's 15-inch columbiad, represented in Fig. 104, was cast at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by Knapp, Rudd & Co., under the directions of Captain T. J. Rodman, of the Ordnance Corps, who conceived the design, which he has happily executed, of casting guns of large size hollow, and by means of a current of water introduced into the core, which forms the mould of the bore, cooling it from the interior, and thus making the metal about the bore the hardest and densest, and giving the whole thickness of metal subjected to internal strain its maximum strength. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp. 164-165).

The gun has the following dimensions:

Total length 190 inches.

Length of calibre of bore, . . . . 156 "

Length of ellipsoidal chamber, 9 " Total length of bore, . . . . 165 "

Maximum exterior diameter, . . . 48 " '


 Distance between rimbases, ... 48 " Diameter at muzzle, . . . . 25 Thickness of metal behind the chamber, . 25 "

Thickness at junction of bore with chamber, . 1G "

Thickness at muzzle, .... 5 "

Diameter of shell, 14.9 " Weight of gun, 49,100 lbs.

Weight of shell, 320 "

Bursting charge, 17 "

The gun is mounted upon the new iron centre pintle carriage, (Fig. 104,) which with requisite lightness has great strength and stiffness; and to facilitate the pointing from 5 depression to 39 elevation, a slot is cut in the knob of the cascable, and a ratchet is formed on the base of the breech to receive a " pawl " attached to the elevating screw. If the distance be greater than the length of a single notch of the ratchet, the piece is rapidly moved by a lever which passes through an opening in the pawl. If the distance is less, then the elevating screw is used. The piece was fired and manoeuvred during the trials at Fort Monroe, with great facility, being manned by 1 sergeant and 6 negroes; the times of loading were 1' 15" and 1' 3". Time in traversing 90 2' 20", and in turning back 45 1'. Time of loading, including depression and elevation, 4' and 3' 18".

The mean ranges at 6 elevation, of ten shots, was 1,936 yards, and the mean lateral deviation 2.2 yards; 35 lbs. of .6-inch grain powder being the charge and 7" the time of flight. At 10 elevation and 40 lbs. of powder, large grain, the range was 2,700 yards, and time of flight 11 ".48. At 28 35' elevation the range was 5,730 yards; time of flight 27", and the lateral deviation, as observed with a telescope attached to one of the trunnions, very slight. (See ARTILLERY; GUNPOWDER; ORDNANCE AND ORDNANCE STORES; RANGES.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp. 164-165).


COLUMBINE, U. S. S., CAPTURE OF, May 23, 1864. (See Horse Landing, Florida)


COLUMBUS, GEORGIA, April 16, 1865. Upton's Division, Cavalry Corps, Military Division of the Mississippi. As an incident of Wilson's raid, this division arrived in the afternoon on the east bank of the Chattahoochee river opposite the Confederate defenses in front of Columbus. Upton made several reconnaissances, and at 8:30 p. m. with 300 dismounted men of the 3d la. cavalry attacked and carried the enemy's works on the Salem road. With a part of the 10th Missouri he pushed the Confederates so closely that he was able to save the bridges across the river. In the city he captured 1,200 prisoners and 52 field guns. Next day the remainder of the corps came up and destroyed the ironclad ram Jackson, about ready to be launched, burned the navy yard, paper mills, cotton factories, etc. Columbus, Kentucky, September 4, 1861. (See Hickman, same date.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 311.


COLUMBUS, KENTUCKY, March 6, 1864. Pickets of 2nd Tennessee Heavy Artillery. A party of 30 guerrillas attempted to get between the pickets of this brigade and the post, but were attacked and driven off by the pickets. No casualties were suffered by the Federal command, and the loss of the Confederates was not ascertained.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 311.


COLUMBUS, KENTUCKY, March 27, 1864. Skirmishers of Brigadier-General Mason Brayman's Forces. This skirmish was an incident of Forrest's raid into West Tennessee and Kentucky. Forrest threatened Columbus and Brayman immediately moved all his available force there to resist an attack. Aside from the slight skirmishing no engagement ensued. There was no loss on the Union side and the Confederate reports make no mention of any casualties.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, pp. 311-312.


COLUMBUS, KENTUCKY, April 11, 1864. 34th New Jersey Infantry and 3d U. S. Colored Troops. About 1 p. m. the pickets, consisting of details of the regiments mentioned, were attacked and driven in by about 50 Confederate cavalry. Two of the Federal force were wounded. The mounted infantry was immediately sent out and pursued the enemy 7 miles, wounding 1 man.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 312.


COLUMBUS, KENTUCKY, April 13, 1864. Columbus, Missouri, January 9, 1862. Detachment of the 1st Kansas Cavalry. While returning from Columbus to Morristown, Captain Clark S. Merriman, with 50 men, was fired upon from ambush and 5 of the men were killed. Finding himself outnumbered, Merriman was forced to retreat, but was soon joined by Captain Levi H. Utt, with 50 men of Company A, when the Union troops assumed the offensive, scouring the country for miles around, but without being able to inflict any punishment on the enemy. Merriman then returned to Columbus and burned the town, which was a rendezvous for Elliott's guerrillas.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 312.


COLUMBUS, MISSOURI, July 23, 1862. (See Blackwater Creek, same date.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 312.


COLUMBUS, MISSOURI, July 12, 1864. Detachment of 7th Missouri State Militia. Major Thomas W. Houts, with 150 men, was sent on a scouting expedition northwest of Warrensburg. At Columbus he encountered 6 or 7 guerrillas who fled at the first volley and being well mounted managed to escape. No casualties were reported.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 312.


COLUMBUS ROAD, ALABAMA, April 12, 1865. 7th Kentucky Cavalry. This regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel W. W. Bradley, moved out on the Columbus road from Montgomery on the 12th on a reconnaissance. Three miles out the Confederate pickets were encountered and charged, the enemy being pushed back some 3 miles to where a larger force stood ready to give battle. After a sharp skirmish at this point the Confederates again gave way and were followed for 5 miles. The Federals lost 2 men wounded and captured 3 stands of colors. The Confederate casualties were undoubtedly heavier than those of their opponents. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 312.


COLUMBUS ROAD, ALABAMA, April 14, 1865. 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Military Division of the Mississippi. Colonel Oscar H. La Grange, commanding the brigade, reported that on the 14th it moved on the Columbus road near Tuskegee and made a running fight of 38 miles with Clanton's brigade, killing 12 and capturing 100, with a loss of 1 killed and 11 wounded. Colwell's Ford, Tennessee, November 19, 1863.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 312.


COLUMN of attack; in route; close column; column of divisions; column at half distance; open column. (See MANOEUVRES IN BATTLE; TACTICS.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 165).


COLVER, Nathaniel, 1794-1870, Boston, Massachusetts, abolitionist, clergyman, anti-slavery agent of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS).  Baptist minister.  Lectured against slavery in New York State for two years.  Counsellor, Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, 1839-1840.  Member of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (AFASS).  Co-founded the abolitionist Wesleyan Methodist Connection of America and the Baptist Anti-Slavery Convention.  (Dumond, 1961, pp. 188, 393n22; Goodell, 1852, pp. 505-506; Sinha, 2016, pp. 256, 286, 289, 291, 472, 493, 502, 505, 506, 509; “The Friend of Man,” March 27, 1837; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 699; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 2, Pt. 2, p. 324)

COLVER, Nathaniel, clergyman, born in Orwe11, Vermont, 10 May, 1794; died in Chicago, 25 December, 1870. His father, a Baptist minister, moved, while Nathaniel was a child, to Champlain, in northern New York, and thence to West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where the son was converted and decided to enter the Baptist ministry. Though he had but slender opportunities of early education, he made himself a respectable scholar. After brief pastorates in various places he was called in 1839 to Boston, where he co-operated in organizing the church since famous as Tremont Temple. His ministry here was remarkable for its bold, uncompromising, and effective warfare upon slavery and intemperance, as well as for its directly spiritual results. On leaving Boston in 1852, Mr. Colver was pastor at South Abingdon, Massachusetts, at Detroit, at Cincinnati, and finally, in 1861, at Chicago. While in Cincinnati he received from Denison University the degree of D. D. In Chicago he was invited to take the professorship of doctrinal theology in the theological seminary in process of organization in that city. In 1867-'70 he was president of the Freedman's Institute in Richmond, Virginia Dr. Colver bore a conspicuous part in the anti-masonic, anti-slavery, and temperance movements of his day. He wrote much for the press, and published, besides occasional addresses, three lectures on Odd-fellowship (1844). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 699.   


COLWELL, Stephen, 1800-1872, Pennsylvania, philanthropist, author.  Director of the American Colonization Society, 1839-1841.  (Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 700; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 2, Pt. 2, p. 327; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961)

COLWELL, Stephen, author, born in Brooke county, Virginia, 25 March, 1800; died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 15 January, 1872. He was graduated in 1819 at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, studied law, and was admitted to the bar of Virginia in 1821. Moving to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, he practised law for ten years, when he became an iron merchant in Philadelphia. He devoted much of his time to the study of political economy, and soon began to write for the press. He acquired large wealth, which he devoted to charitable purposes, to the endowment of professorships, to the encouragement of scientific investigation, and to the collection of a large and valuable library, including a very complete selection of works on his favorite topics of political and social science. During the Civil War Mr. Colwell was among the foremost supporters of the National government in its struggle against secession. He lent his name and his money to the cause, and strengthened the hands of the administration by every means in his power. He was one of the founders of the Union league of Philadelphia, and an associate member of the U. S. Sanitary Commission. After the war he was appointed a commissioner to examine the whole internal revenue system of the United States, with a view to suggesting such modifications as would distribute and lighten the necessary burdens of taxation—a problem of peculiar importance at that crisis of the nation 's history. To this work he devoted much time and study, and his advice had due weight in determining the financial policy of the government. He bequeathed his library to the University of Pennsylvania with an endowment for a professorship of social science. His first published work, under the signature of “Mr. Penn,” was entitled “Letter to Members of the Legislature of Pennsylvania on the Removal of Deposits from the Bank of the United States by Order of the President” (1834). Still concealing his identity under the name of “Jonathan B. Wise,” he published “The Relative Position in our Industry of Foreign Commerce, Domestic Production, and Internal Trade” (Philadelphia, 1850). He was the author of “New Themes for the Protestant Clergy” (1851); “Polities for American Christians” (1852); “Hints to Laymen,” and “Charity and the Clergy” (1853); “Position of Christianity in the United States, in its Relation with our Political System and Religious Instruction in the Public Schools” (1855); “The South; a Letter from a Friend in the North with Reference to the Effects of Disunion upon Slavery” (1856). The same year he edited, with notes, “List's Treatise on National Economy.” His last and most important work is “The Ways and Means of Commercial Payment” (1858). Besides these publications in book-form, he was the author of a noteworthy article in the “Merchant's Magazine,” entitled “Money of Account” (1852), and another essay on the same subject in the “Banker’s Magazine” (1855). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 700.  


COLTON, Walter, author, born in Rutland, Vermont. 9 May, 1797; died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 22 January, 1851, was graduated at Yale in 1822, and, after teaching and studying theology at Andover, became in 1825 professor of moral philosophy and belles-let-tres at Middletown Academy, Connecticut. In 1828-"30  he edited the "American Spectator," a Whig paper in Washington, but, becoming a favorite with President Jackson, was appointed chaplain in the navy. In 1831 he sailed to the West Indies in the "Vincennes"; in 1832- 5 he was attached to the "Constellation" on the Mediterranean, in 1837 assigned to the naval station at Charlestown, Massachusetts, and edited the "Colonization Herald," and in 1838 to the chaplaincy of the station at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where, in 1841-'2, he was principal editor of the "North American," and published a pamphlet entitled "The Bible in the Public Schools." In 1845 he was ordered to California, and on 28 July, 1846, was made by Com. Stockton alcalde of Monterey, Cal. After exercising the duties of this office for two months un- der a military commission, he was confirmed as alcalde by the vote of citizens. He established there the first new paper in California, which was called the "Californian," and after its removal to San Francisco the "Alta California." He also built the first school-house, and, in a letter to the "North American," made the first public announcement of the discovery of gold. He returned to Philadelphia in 1849. He wrote many lively and interesting books of travel and sea life, the chief of which are "Ship and Shore in Madeira, Lisbon, and the Mediterranean" (New York, 1835); "A Visit to Athens and Constantinople " (183C); "Three Years in California" (1850); "Deck and Port: Incidents of a Cruise to California" (1850). In 1851 the Reverend Henry T. Cheever republished the sketches of Athens and Constantinople under the title "Land and Lee in the Bosphorus and Aegean" and edited "The Sea and Sailor, Notes of France and Italy, and other Literary Remains," with a memoir of the author. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 696.


COLVOCORESSES, George Musalas, naval officer, born in the island of Scio, Grecian archipelago, 22 October, 1810; died in Bridgeport, Connecticut, 3 June, 1872. He was ransomed from the Turks after the massacre of the Greek population of the island in 1822, and sent by his father to the United States, where he was received into the family of Captain Alden Partridge and educated at the Military Academy founded by that officer in Norwich Vermont. In 1832 he was appointed a midshipman, and in 1836-7 attached to the frigate " United States ' on the Mediterranean Squadron. In 1838 he was commissioned passed midshipman, and accompanied Captain Wilkes's Exploring Expedition to the Southern Seas, serving at various times on the "Porpoise." "Peacock," "Vincennes, and Oregon " and taking part in the Overland Expedition in 1841 from Vancouver's Island to San Francisco. He was commissioned lieutenant in 1843 served on the Pacific Squadron in 1844-6. the Mediterranean Squadron m 1847-'9, on the coast of Africa in 1851-2 at New York in 1853-'5 on the East India Squadron in 1855-'8, during which he participated as executive officer of the " Levant in the capture of the Barrier Forte in Canton River and at Portsmouth U. S. Navy -yard in 1858- 60. He was made commander in 1861, and assigned to the store-ship "Supply" on the Atlantic Coast 1861-3 during which he captured the blockade-runner'" Stephen Hart," laden with arms and military stores; to the sloop-of-war "Saratoga of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, in 1864 and the sloop-of-war " St. Mary's," of the Pacific Squadron, in 1865-'6. In 1867 he received his commission as captain, and was retired. He was mysteriously murdered in Bridgeport. Captain Colvocoresses was the author of a work on Wilkes's Expedition, entitled “Four Years in a Government Exploring Expedition” (New York, 1855).—His son, George Partridge, naval officer, born in Norwich, Vermont, 3 April, 1847, was graduated at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1868, and risen to the rank of lieutenant in 1875. He has served on most of the foreign naval stations, and in the hydrographic office at Washington, and in 1886 was assistant instructor in drawing at the U.S. Naval Academy. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 699-700.


COLWELL, Stephen, author, born in Brooke county, Virginia, 25 March, 1800; died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 15 January, 1872. He was graduated in 1819 at Jefferson College, Pa., studied law, and was admitted to the bar of Virginia in 1821. Removing to Pitts- burg, Pennsylvania, he practised law for ten years, when he became an iron merchant in Philadelphia. He devoted much of his time to the study of political economy, and soon began to write for the press. He acquired large wealth, which he devoted to charitable purposes, to the endowment of professor- ships, to the encouragement of scientific investigation, and to the collection of a large and valuable library, including a very complete selection of works on his favorite topics of political and social science. During the Civil War Mr. Colwell was among the foremost supporters of the National Government in its struggle against secession. He lent his name and his money to the cause, and strengthened the hands of the administration by every means in his power. He was one of the founders of the Union League of Philadelphia, and an associate member of the U.S. Sanitary Commission. After the war he was appointed a commissioner to examine the whole internal revenue system of the United States, with a view to suggesting such modifications as would distribute and lighten the necessary burdens of taxation—a problem of  importance at that crisis of the nation's history. To this work he devoted much time and study, and his advice had due weight in determining the financial policy of the government, He bequeathed his library to the University of Pennsylvania with an endowment for a professorship of social science. His first published work, under the signature of “Mr. Penn,” was entitled “Letter to Members of the Legislature of Pennsylvania on the Removal of Deposits from the Bank of the United States by Order of the President” (1834). Still concealing his identity under the name of “Jonathan B. Wise,” he published “The Relative Position in our Industry of Foreign Commerce, Domestic Production, and Internal Trade" (Philadelphia, 1850). He was the author of “New Themes for the Protestant Clergy” (1851); “Politics for American Christians” (1852); “Hints to Laymen,” and “Charity and the Clergy” (1853); "Position of Christianity in the United States, in its Relation with our Political System and Religious Instruction in the Public Schools” (1855); “The South; a Letter from a Friend in the North with Reference to the Effects of Disunion upon Slavery” (1856). The same year he edited, with notes, “List's Treatise on National Economy.” His last and most important work is “The Ways and Means of Commercial Payment" (1858). Besides these publications in book-form, he was the author of a noteworthy article in the “Merchant's Magazine,” entitled “Money of Account” (1852), and another essay on the same subject in the “Banker's Magazine” (1855). . Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 700.


COLYAR, Arthur St. Clair, lawyer, born in Washington county, Tennessee, 23 June, 1818. He was self-educated, and achieved success as a lawyer. He opposed secession in 1861, but became a member of the Confederate Congress, and served till 1865. After the war he reorganized the Tennessee Coal and Railroad Company, becoming its president, and also engaged in manufacturing. He has done much to develop the resources of his state. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 700.


COMMAGER, Henry S., soldier, born about 1825; died in Galveston, Texas, 5 September, 1867. He was a prominent Democratic politician in Toledo, Ohio, and in 1864 was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress. He was colonel of the 67th Ohio Regiment during the Civil War, and on 27 February, 1865, was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers. For a short time before his death he was in the employ of the internal revenue service. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 701.


COMANCHE PASS, NEW MEXICO, March 3, 1862. Combahee Ferry, South Carolina, February 6, 1865. Lieut-General W. J. Hardee, reporting from Charleston under date of February 6, 1865, says: "Wheeler telegraphs from near Springtown, at 2:15 p. m. today, that he is skirmishing with the enemy on Little Salkehatchie. Wright, that he is skirmishing with him at Combahee." Union reports make no mention of the affair, so there is no way of knowing what Union forces were engaged.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 312.


COMBAHEE RIVER, SOUTH CAROLINA, January 28, 1865. 103d and 40th Illinois Infantry. As an incident of the campaign of the Carolinas these two regiments made a reconnaissance of the Confederate position on the Combahee river. They discovered the bridge burned and the enemy posted on the north bank of the stream. The outposts were attacked and driven back to the main force, a few prisoners being captured. The casualties were not reported.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 312.


COMBAHEE RIVER, SOUTH CAROLINA, January 29, 1865. 12th Wisconsin Battery, a brigade of the 1st Division, 17th Army Corps. During the campaign Page 313 of the Carolinas a section of this battery, supported by a brigade of infantry, moved from Garden's corners to the Combahee river, where the Confederate position on the opposite shore was shelled. The casualties were not reported. 312-313.

COMITE RIVER, LOUISIANA, March 9-10, 1863. Detachment of 41st Massachusetts, and Cavalry. This detachment under Colonel T. E. Chickering, reached Pierce's cross-roads at 6 p. m. of the 9th. The cavalry was immediately sent out to destroy Bogler's (Montesano) and the Strickland bridges over the Comite river. The destruction of the first was accomplished without much difficulty, but a strong force of Confederates opposed the passage to the Strickland bridge and the Union cavalry was obliged to fall back. On the morning of the 10th another expedition was made against the Strickland bridge, but the roads were so heavy that it was impossible to get to it. About 11:30 the whole command moved on the Roberts or Comite bridge and after some opposition succeeded in destroying it. Confederate reports say 1 man was wounded in the Bogler's bridge attack. No mention is made of other casualties. Comite River, Louisiana, May 2, 1863. (See Grierson's Raid.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 313.


COMITE RIVER, LOUISIANA, August 25, 1864. Expedition to Clinton, Louisiana. As an incident of this expedition the cavalry under General Albert L. Lee met a Confederate force at Redwood, 17 miles from Baton Rouge, and drove them to the Comite river, where they used artillery freely. After a fight of several hours Lee dislodged the enemy and drove him close to Clinton. The casualties were not reported. Commerce, Mississippi, June 17, 1863. U. S. Transports. Brigadier-General J. R. Chalmers, of the Confederate army, reported on the 26th that his artillery fired on the transports Alice Dean, Commercial and Rocket a short distance above Commerce; that altogether 47 shots were fired, 9 of which struck the Alice Dean and about 30 the other two vessels, and according to information brought in by citizens one of the vessels afterward sank and another was set on fire and abandoned. Federal reports do not mention the affair.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 313.


COMMAND. An officer may be said to command at a separate post, when he is out of the reach of the orders of the commander-in-chief, or of a superior officer, in command in the neighborhood. He must then issue the necessary orders to the troops under his command, it being impossible to receive them from a superior officer; (PETER'S Digest of Decisions of Federal Courts, vol. 1. p. 179.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp.166-167 ).

Officers having brevets or commissions of a prior date to those of the regiment in which they serve, may take place in courts-martial and on detachments, when composed of different corps, according to the ranks given them in their brevets, or dates of their former commissions; but in the regiment, troop, or company, to which such officers belong, they shall do duty and take rank, both in courts-martial and on detachments, which shall be composed only of their own corps, according to the commissions by which they are mustered in said corps; (ART. 61.) If, upon marches, guards, or in quarters, different corps of the army shall happen to join and do duty together, the officer highest in rank of the line of the army, marine corps, or militia, by commission there, on duty or in quarters, shall command the whole, and give orders for what is needful to the service, unless otherwise specially directed by the President of the United States, according to the nature of the case; (ART. 62.) The great principle that rank, when an officer is on duty, and military command, are ideas only to be separated by positive law, has always been recognized in legislation. The 61st Article of War, for instance, forbids the exercise of brevet rank within the regiment, troop, or company, to which such officers belong. The 63d forbids engineers to assume, and declares they are not subject to be ordered on any duty beyond the line of their immediate profession, except by the special order of the President of the United States. The acts of Congress giving rank to officers of the medical and pay departments of the army, provide that they shall not, in virtue of such rank, be entitled to command in the line or other staff departments of the army; and so, if any other legal restrictions on rank exist, they must be found in some positive statute. This necessity is made plain by the consideration that military rank means a range of military subordination. Higher rank therefore, created by law, cannot be made subordinate to lower rank, except by positive law; or, in other words, a junior cannot command a senior, unless the law shall otherwise decree. The 61st Article of War declares that officers holding commissions of a prior date to the regiment in which they serve, shall nevertheless take rank “ both in courts-martial and on detachments composed only of their own corps, according to the commissions by which they are mustered in said corps.” The 98th Article declares that militia officers, when serving in conjunction with the regular forces, shall take rank next after all officers of the like grade in said regular forces, notwithstanding the commissions of such militia officers may be older than the commissions of the officers of the regular forces of the United States. The 27th Article declares that all officers have power to part and quell all quarrels, &c., and to order officers into arrest, and whosoever shall refuse to obey such officer (though of inferior rank) shall be punished, &c. Here are cases in which Congress has decreed that seniors in commission may be commanded by juniors; and if any other cases exist, they likewise must be found in some positive statute. The 62d Article of War is ambiguous, from the use of the words “ line of the army; “ our legislation having applied those words to contradistinguish regular troops from militia, and also, in many cases, the same words are correlative and contradistinctive of staff of the army. “ But,” says President Fillmore, after a careful examination on his part, to determine this question, “ I find but one act of Congress in which the words ' line of the army ' have been employed to designate the regular army in contradistinction to the militia, and none in which they have manifestly been used as contradistinctive of brevet.” Whatever ambiguity, therefore, may exist under the 62d Article, in respect to the right of command on the part of officers of staff corps and departments, the article does not decree any restriction on brevet rank; and hence the great principle that rank on duty confers military command has its full force in respect to commissions by brevet, and all other commissions not restricted by law. The President, as commander-in-chief under the 62d Article of War, may relieve any officer from duty with a particular command, or he may assign some officer of superior rank to duty with a command; but the laws have not authorized him to place a junior in command of a senior, and that power which creates rank, viz., Congress, is alone authorized to place restrictions on its meaning. (See ASSIGNMENT; BREVET; LINE; RANK.)

The word command, when applied to ground, is synonymous with overlook; and any place thus commanded by heights within range of cannon is difficult to defend, if the enemy have been able to seize the heights. (See BREVET; OATH; OBEDIENCE; RANK.)


COMMAND OF FIRE. When a work has a sufficient elevation over the work before it, to enable the defensive weapons to act in both works at the same time upon an advancing enemy, even to the foot of the glacis, then the inner work is said to have a command of fire over the other. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 167).


COMMAND OF OBSERVATION. When the interior work has only sufficient elevation to look into or even over the work before it, but not sufficient to fire clear of it, then it is said to have only a command of observation. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 168).


COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. The President shall be commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several States, when called into the actual service of the United States; (See CONSTITUTIONAL RELATION OF CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT TO THE LAND FORCES.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 168).


COMMANDER OF THE ARMY. That whenever the President shall deem it expedient, he is hereby empowered to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a commander of the army which may be raised by virtue of this act, and who, being commissioned as lieutenant-general, may be authorized to command the armies of the United States; (Sec. 5, Act May 28, 1798.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 168).


COMMERCE, MISSOURI, December 29, 1861. This engagement was the surprise of the town by the Confederate Brigadier-General Jeff Thompson and 27 men, who dashed into Commerce at 10 p. m. The men were all assembled and guarded while the stores of 2 Union men were ransacked. The City of Alton, a Union steamer, was fired at several times and compelled to drop back down the river.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 313.


COMMERCIAL, U. S. STEAMER, September 4, 1864. (See Gregory's Landing, Arkansas)


COMMISSARY OF SUBSISTENCE. An officer of the subsistence department. (See SUBSISTENCE.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 168).


COMMISSION. The President shall commission all officers of the United States; (Sec. 3 Constitution.) Officers of the United States army may hold their commissions through rules of appointment prescribed by Congress under its authority to raise armies and make rules for their government and regulation, but their commissions must be signed by the President. The words introduced into every officer's parchment: “ this commission to continue in force during the pleasure of the President of the United States for the time being “ have been inserted without authority of law. There has been no legislation on the subject of the form of an officer's commission. The form adopted was borrowed originally from British commissions, and was “ probably the pen work of some clerk, or at the most, the hasty direction of the Secretary of War, without reflecting that the chief magistrate in a republic is not the fountain of all honor and power,” and that Congress alone has the power to raise armies, and to make rules for their government and regulation. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 168).


COMO, MISSISSIPPI, October 7, 1863. Troops not given. Como, Tennessee, September 19, 1863. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p.  313.

COMO LANDING, LOUISIANA, June 15-16, 1864. U. S. Gunboat Bragg. Colonel John S. Scott, commanding the Confederate district of Southwest Mississippi and East Louisiana, reported that on the 15th he opened fire on the Bragg, which was lying at Como landing within range of his sharpshooters, but that he was compelled to retire by the arrival of a monitor from Tunica landing, 3 miles above. At 1 a. m. on the 16th he again opened on the Bragg with his artillery, firing 42 shots, 32 of which took effect. In the second report the next day he states that the Bragg was entirely disabled and nearly all of her crew killed or wounded. (See also naval volume.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 313.


COMPANY. Companies are commanded by captains having under their orders lieutenants, sergeants, corporals, musicians, and privates. (See ARMY ORGANIZATION.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 168).


COMPTON'S FERRY, MISSOURI, August 11, 1862. (See Grand River.)  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 313.


COMPTROLLER. (See ACCOUNTABILITY.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 168).


COMSTOCK, Cyrus Ballou, soldier, b, in West Wrentham, Massachusetts, 3 February, 1831. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1855, standing first in his class, and became second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. From that time until 1859 he was engaged in the construction of Fort Taylor, Florida, and Fort Carroll, Maryland, after which he was assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy at West Point. During the Civil War he served in the defences of Washington, D.C., becoming in August, 1861, assistant to the chief of engineers in the Army of the Potomac. He continued with this army through the Peninsular Campaign of 1862, and the Maryland Campaign, and was made chief engineer in November, 1862. After Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville he was transferred to the Army of the Tennessee, and was its chief engineer, being present at the siege of Vicksburg. Later he became assistant inspector of the military Division of the Mississippi, and from March, 1864, till the close of the war was senior aide-de-camp to General U. S. Grant, serving in the Richmond Campaign of 1864), at Port Fisher, and in General Canby's Mobile Campaign. From 1866 till 1870 he served as aide to the general-in-chief at Washington, and since that time has been occupied as superintendent of Geodetic Survey of the northern and northwestern lakes, and on other important surveys, including the improvements of the mouth of the Mississippi. In 1881 he became lieutenant- colonel in the Engineer Corps, and he holds the brevet ranks of brigadier-general in the regular army and major-general of volunteers. He was appointed in 1882 a member of the Board of Engineers for Fortifications and River and Harbor Improvements. General Comstock was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1884. He has published “Notes on European Surveys.” (Washington, 1876); “Survey of the Northwestern Lakes” (1877); and “Primary Triangulation, U.S. Lake Survey” (1882). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 702.


CONCHA'S SPRINGS, NEW MEXICO, July 22, 1863. One company of New Mexico cavalry. Concord Church, Miss, December 1, 1864. Detachment of 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry. Some 250 men of this regiment under Major N. H. Dale went out on the Vicksburg road from Yazoo City for the purpose of reconnoitering. At some negro quarters the enemy was discovered in considerable force and two companies were dismounted to dislodge him. Finding these two companies about to be flanked, Dale dismounted two more companies and sent them to the assistance of the first force. Just beyond the quarters was a dense undergrowth of scrub oak, and when the Confederates were driven back to this their reinforcements appeared in great numbers, charged suddenly, driving the Wisconsin troops back and capturing about 20 men of Company E. The command was then withdrawn without confusion. The casualties in Dale's command were 5 killed, 9 wounded and 25 captured or missing. The Confederates lost 2 killed and 4 wounded.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, pp. 313-314.


CONCORDIA, LOUISIANA, July 22. 1864.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 314.


CONCORDIA BAYOU, LOUISIANA, August 5. 1864.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 314.


CONDUCT UNBECOMING AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN punished with dismission by sentence of general court-martial. What constitutes the offence is not denned, but it is left Jo the moral sense of the court-martial to determine. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 168).


CONEE CREEK. LOUISIANA, August 25, 1864. Portion of the Cavalry of the Department of the Gulf.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 314.


CONFINEMENT. Non-commissioned officers and soldiers charged with crimes shall be confined until tried by a court-martial, or released by proper authority; (ART. 78.) No officer, or soldier who shall be put in arrest, shall continue in confinement more than eight days, or until such time as a court-martial can be assembled; (ART. 79.) (See ARREST.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp. 168-169).


CONGER, Omar Dwight, senator, born in Cooperstown, New York, in 1818. He moved with his father, Reverend K. Conger, to Huron County, Ohio, in 1824, and was graduated at Western Reserve in 1842. He was engaged in the geological survey of the Lake Superior iron and copper region from 1845 till 1847, and in 1848 became a lawyer in Port Huron, Michigan He was elected judge of the St. Clair County Court in 1850, and was a state senator from 1855 till 1861, being president pro tempore of the senate in 1859. He was a presidential elector on the Republican ticket in 1864, a member of the state constitutional convention in 1866, and a member of Congress from 1869 till 1881, when he was chosen to the U. S. Senate. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 706.


CONGRESS. (See CONSTITUTIONAL RELATION OF CONGRESS.)


CONKLING, Frederick Augustus born in Canaioharie, New York, 22 August, 1816, received a classical education, and became a merchant. He was for three years a member of the New York legislature. In June, 1861, he organized, at his own expense, the 84th New York Regiment, serving as its colonel. During July, 1863, the regiment did duty as provost-guard at Baltimore, fid, and in 1864 it saw several months' service in Virginia. Colonel Conkling served one term in Congress, from 1861 till 1863, and in 1868 was the Republican candidate for mayor of New York. He changed his politics, however, and spoke in various parts of the Union in favor of Mr. Tilden's election to the presidency in 1876, and of General Hancock's in 1880. He is a trustee of the College of physicians and surgeons, a member of the geographical and historical societies, and the author of various reports to the New York legislature, and numerous pamphlets on political, commercial, and scientific subjects. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 706.


CONKLING, Roscoe, U.S. Senator, born in Albany, New York, 30 October, 1829, received an academic education, and studied law three years under his father's tuition. In 1846 he entered the law-office of Francis Kernan, afterward his colleague in the Senate, and in 1850 became district attorney for Oneida County. He was admitted to the bar in that year, and soon became prominent both in law and in politics. He was elected mayor of Utica in 1858, and at the expiration of his first term a tie vote between the two Candidates for the office caused him to hold over for In November, 1858, he was chosen as a Republican to Congress, and took his seat in that body at the beginning of its first session, in December, 1859— a session noted for its long and bitter contest over the speakership. He was re-elected in 1860, but in 1862 was defeated by Francis Kernan, over whom, however, he was elected in 1864. His first committee was that on the District of Columbia, of which he was afterward chairman. He was also a member of the committee of ways and means and of the special reconstruction committee of fifteen. Mr. Conkling's first important speech was in support of the fourteenth amendment to the constitution. He vigorously attacked the generalship of McClellan, opposed Spaulding's legal-tender act, and firmly upheld the government in the prosecution of the war. Mr. Conkling was re-elected in the autumn of 1866, but in January, 1867, before he took his seat, was chosen U. S. Senator to succeed Ira Harris, and re-elected in 1873 and 1879. In the Senate he was from the first a member of the judiciary committee, and connected with nearly all the leading committees, holding the chairs of those on commerce and revision of the laws. Senator Conkling was a zealous supporter of President Grant's administration and largely directed its general policy toward the south," advocating it in public and by his personal influence. He was also instrumental in the passage of the civil-rights bill, and favored the resumption of specie payments. He took a prominent part in framing the electoral-commission bill in 1877, and supported it by an able speech, arguing that the question of the commission's jurisdiction should be left to that body itself. Mr. Conkling received 93 votes for the Republican nomination for president in the Cincinnati Convention of 1876. In the Chicago Convention of 1880 he advocated the nomination of General Grant for a third term. In 1881 he became hostile to President Garfield's administration on a question of patronage, claiming, with his colleague, Thomas C. Piatt, the right to control federal appointments in his state. The president having appointed a political opponent of Mr. Conkling's to the collectorship of the port of New York, the latter opposed his confirmation, claiming that he should have been consulted in the matter, and that the nomination was a violation of the pledges given to him by the president. Mr. Garfield, as soon as Mr. Conkling Had declared his opposition, withdrew all other nominations to New York offices, leaving the objectionable one to be acted on by itself. Finding that he could not prevent the confirmation, Mr. Conkling, on 16 May, resigned his senatorship, as did also his colleague, and returned home to seek a vindication in the form of a re-election. In this, however, after an exciting canvass, they failed; two other Republicans were chosen to fill the vacant places, and Mr. Conkling returned to his law practice in New York City. In 1885-'6 he was counsel of the State Senate investigating committee, appointed for the purpose of disclosing the fraud and bribery in the grant of the Broadway Horse-Railroad franchise by the board of aldermen in 1884. After the taking of testimony, lasting about three months, Mr. Conkling, together with Clarence A. Seward, made an argument which resulted in the repeal of the Broadway Railroad charter. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 706-707.


CONNER, James, soldier, born in Charleston, South Carolina, 1 September, 1829; died 26 June, 1883. He was graduated at South Carolina College in 1849, admitted to the bar in 1852, and in 1856 appointed U. S. District attorney for South Carolina, which office he resigned in December, 1860. He entered the Confederate Army as captain in 1861, served in many campaigns, rose to the rank of brigadier-general, and in the latter part of the war commanded a division. He was chairman of the South Carolina Democratic state committee in 1876, and elected in that year attorney-general on the same ticket with Governor Wade Hampton, but resigned the office in 1877. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 708.


CONNESS, John, born 1821.  Union Republican U.S. Senator from California.  U.S. Senator 1863-1869.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. I, p. 708; Congressional Globe)

CONNESS, John, senator, born in Ireland, 20 September, 1821. He emigrated to the United States at the age of thirteen, learned the trade of a piano-forte maker, and worked in New York City until the discovery of gold in California. He went to that state in 1849, engaged in mining, and afterward became a merchant. He was a member of the California Legislature in 1853-'4 and in 1860-'1, a candidate for lieutenant-governor in 1859, and the union Democratic candidate for governor in 1861, receiving 30,944 votes, to 32,751 cast for the Breckinridge Democratic candidate, and 56,036 for Leland Stanford, the successful Republican candidate. He was elected as a Union Republican to succeed Milton S. Latham, a Democrat, to the U. S. Senate, and sat from 4 March, 1863, till 4 March, 1869, serving on the committees on finance and the Pacific Railroad, and as chairman of the Committee on Mines and Mining. He resided in Massachusetts after the conclusion of his term. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 708.


CONNIVING AT HIRING OF DUTY. If a non-commissioned officer, shall be reduced. If a commissioned officer, punished by the judgment of a general court-martial; (ART. 48.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 169).


CONNOR, Patrick Edward, soldier, born in the south of Ireland, 17 March, 1820. He came to the United States when a boy, was educated in New York City, entered the regular army during the Florida War, at the age of nineteen, engaged in mercantile business in New York City after his discharge in 1844, and in 1846 settled in Texas. Upon the breaking out of the Mexican War in that year he was mustered in as captain of Texas volunteers, in the regiment of Albert Sidney Johnston, fought at Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, and was severely wounded at Buena Vista. Shortly after the close of the war he emigrated to California, and there engaged in business. In 1861 he raised a regiment of volunteers in California, and was ordered to Utah, to prevent a revolt of the Mormons and rid the overland routes of plundering Indians. On 29 January, 1863, his force, numbering 200, after a rapid march of 140 miles, made in four nights through deep snow, in weather so cold that the feet of seventy-six soldiers were frozen, encountered 300 warriors in their fortified camp on Bear River, Washington Territory. The troops enfiladed the position, and after a fight of four hours destroyed the entire band. Colonel Connor was commissioned brigadier-general, 30 March, 1863, and was long in command of the Utah District, where he effectively established the authority of the government. He received the brevet of major-general at the close of the Civil War, and having been appointed, on the petition of the legislatures of Colorado and Nebraska, to the District of the Plains, organized an expedition of 2,000 cavalry to chastise the Sioux and Arapahoes for depredations on the Overland mail route, and in August, 1866, defeated the latter at Tongue River. He was mustered out of the service on 30 April, 1866. General Connor was the leader in building up a Gentile community in Utah. His volunteer force numbered 16,000. Soon after he established Camp Douglas, near Salt Lake City, he founded there the " Union Vedette," which was the first daily newspaper printed in the territory. He located the first silver mine in Utah, wrote the first mining law, introduced navigation on the Great Salt Lake, built the first silver-lead smelting-works, and founded the town of Stockton. After the war he declined a colonelcy in the regular army in order to attend to his large mining and commercial interests in Utah. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 708-709.


CONNOR, Selden, soldier, born in Fairfield, Maine, 25 January, 1839. He was graduated at Tufts College, Massachusetts, in 1859, and studied law in Woodstock, Vermont. When the war began he enlisted for three months in the 1st Regiment of Vermont Volunteers, and after being mustered out was chosen major, and afterward lieutenant-colonel of the 7th Maine Regiment. He commanded the regiment for some time, took part in the Peninsular Campaign, was in temporary command of the 77th New York Regiment after the battle of Antietam, participated in the battle of Fredericksburg, receiving a slight wound, and was present at the battle of Gettysburg. In January, 1864, he was commissioned colonel of the 19th Maine Volunteers, and, as ranking officer, commanded the brigade. In the battle of the Wilderness his thigh-bone was shattered by a bullet, 6 May, 1864. He was commissioned brigadier-general in June, 1864, but was incapacitated for active service after receiving his wound. In April, 1866, his leg was again fractured by a fall, confining him to his house for two years. He was a member of Governor Chamberlain's staff, and in 1868 was appointed assessor of internal revenue. In 1874 he was appointed collector for the Augusta District, and held that office till he was nominated by the Republicans for the governorship of Maine, in 1875. He was elected by 3,872 majority over Charles W. Roberts, the Democratic candidate, and re-elected for the two following terms, serving from January, 1876, till January, 1879. From 1882 till 1886 he was U. S. Pension-Agent. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 709.


CONOVER, Simon Barclay, senator, born in Cranbury, Middlesex County, New Jersey, 23 September, 1840. He was graduated M. D. in the University of Nashville, Tennessee, in 1864, appointed an assistant surgeon in the Army of the Cumberland, and stationed at Nashville, Tennessee, resigned, but was afterward reappointed, and ordered to Lake City, Florida, in 1866. He was a member of the state constitutional convention in 1868, and was appointed state treasurer by Governor Reed, resigning his commission in the army to accept the office. He was a member of the Republican National Convention at Chicago in 1868, and became a member of the Republican National Committee. After the expiration of his tenure of office as treasurer, in 1873, he was elected a member of the state House of Representatives, and chosen speaker. He was elected U. S. Senator in 1872, and served from 4 March, 1873, till 3 March, 1879. He was the Republican candidate for governor in 1880. After the expiration of his term in the Senate he resumed the practice of medicine. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 709.


CONOVER, Thomas A., naval officer, born in New Jersey in 1794; died in South Amboy, New Jersey, 25 September, 1864. He entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman, 1 January, 1812, his first cruise being on the "Essex," commanded by Captain David Porter, during the war with England. His next service was under Commodore McDonough on Lake Champlain. He was promoted to a lieutenancy, 5 March, 1817, and served on board the "Guerriere" in the Mediterranean and other vessels in various portions of the world until his promotion to commander, 29 February 1838, in which capacity he commanded the sloop-of-war "John Adams" some years. He was promoted to the rank of captain, 2 October, 1848, and in 1857-8 commanded the squadron on the coast of Africa the "Constitution" being his flag-ship On 16 July 1862, on the creation of the grade of commodore in the navy, he was promoted to that rank and placed on the retired list, having been m the service fifty-three years.  Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 709.


CONRAD, Charles M., statesman born m Winchester, Virginia, about 1804; died in New Orleans, Louisiana, 11 Feb 1878. He went with his father to Mississippi, and thence to Louisiana while an infant received a liberal education, studied law was admitted to the bar in 1828, and practised in New Orleans. He served several years in the state legislature, was elected to the U. S. Senate as a Whig in the place of Alexander Mouton, who had resigned, and served from 14 April, 1842, till 3 March, 1843. In 1844 he was a member of the state constitutional convention. He was elected to Congress in 1848, and served till August, 1850, when he was appointed Secretary of War by President Fillmore, serving from 13 August, 1850, till 7 March, 1853. He was one of the leaders of the secession movement in Louisiana in December, 1860, a deputy from Louisiana in the Montgomery provisional Congress of 1861, a member of the 1st and 2d Confederate Congresses in 1862–'4, and also served as a brigadier- general in the Confederate Army. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 709-710.


CONRAD, Joseph, soldier, born in Wied-Selters, Germany, 17 May, 1830. He was graduated at the Military Academy of Hesse Darmstadt in 1848, and came to this country, settling in Missouri. At the beginning of the Civil War he enlisted in the National service, and was made captain of the 3d Missouri Infantry. He became major in September, and was engaged in the action of Carthage, the battle of Pea Ridge, and the siege of Corinth. After being mustered out, he re-entered the army as lieutenant-colonel of the 15th Missouri Infantry, in May, 1862, became colonel in November, and was engaged in the battles of Perryville, Chickamauga, and Missionary Ridge. During the Atlanta Campaign he commanded a brigade in the Army of the Cumberland, and was brevetted brigadier-general for his services. He commanded the sub-District of Victoria in Texas until February, 1866, when he was mustered out of the volunteer service. In July, 1866, he entered the regular army, and was commissioned captain in the 29th U.S. Infantry, transferred to the 11th U.S. Infantry in April, 1869, and served with his regiment until October, 1882, when he was retired with the rank of colonel. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 710.


CONRAD, Joseph Speed, soldier, born in Ithaca, New York, 23 August, 1833. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1857, and assigned to the 2d U.S. Infantry, stationed at Fort Columbus. He was sent to the western frontier in 1858, and during the three years succeeding served in Minnesota and Nebraska. When the Civil War began he was a first lieutenant, and was detailed as commissary of subsistence to General Lyon in the Missouri Campaign in the summer of 1861. He was wounded at the battle of Wilson's Creek, 10 August, and was on sick-leave until October. He was promoted captain, 1 November, 1861, and placed at the head of the discharge department in Washington from that time until 21 January, 1864. Early in the summer of that year he joined the regular brigade of the Army of the Potomac, and was engaged in the campaigns that followed, including the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Petersburg, and Reams's Station. During this period he served at different times as judge-advocate, provost-marshal, and commissary of musters. He received three brevets, as major, lieutenant-colonel, and colonel of volunteers. From 1865 till 1871 he was occupied with garrison duty, after which he served as instructor of infantry tactics at the U.S. Military Academy, and then on special duty in Washington in connection with the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia. In 1877 he was assigned to duty on the frontier. He was promoted to major of the 17th U.S. Infantry on 27 April, 1879, and to lieutenant-colonel of the 22d U.S. Infantry on 27 June, 1884. In 1886 he was in command of Fort Lyon, Colorado. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 710. 

CONRAD'S FERRY, VIRGINIA, June 17, 1861. 1st New Hampshire Infantry. About 10 a. m. the Confederates opened fire with artillery on the guard, consisting of five companies of the 1st New Hampshire, at Conrad's ferry. About 20 shots were fired, but no damage was done the Federal troops.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 314.


CONRAD'S FERRY, VIRGINIA, October 21, 1861. (See Ball's Bluff.) Cook's Canon, New Mexico, July 10-24, 1863.  The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 5, p. 314.


CONSCRIPTION. The only means of raising a NATIONAL Army. The system of voluntary enlistments will always divide an army into two castes officers and soldiers, and the latter will hardly ever be found qualified for promotion. The system of conscription is, too, the only means of raising large armies. This was made plain during the last war with England. Even with the largest bounties in land and money, soldiers could not be procured, and the President and Secretary of War (Messrs. Madison and Monroe) recommended in strong terms a system of conscription. The legislature of New York passed an act at the same time, for raising 12,000 troops by conscription. (See DEFENCE, NATIONAL; RAISE.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 169).


CONSTITUTION. The following provisions of the constitution relate to the land and naval forces: Preamble We, the people of the United States, in order to * * provide for the common defence * * do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.

ART. I. SEC. 1. All legislative powers herein granted, shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

ART. I. SEC. 8. The Congress shall have power:

Clause 1. * * To pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States; * *

Clause 9. * * To define and punish offences against* the law of nations; * *

Clause 10. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;

Clause 11. To raise and support armies; but no appropriation of money to that use, shall be for a longer term than two years;

Clause 12. To provide and maintain a navy;

Clause 13. To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;

Clause 14. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions;

Clause 15. To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the States, respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.

Clause 16. To exercise exclusive legislation * * over all places purchased, by consent of the legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings and

Clause 17. To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.

SEC. 9. Clause 2. * * The privilege of the writ of habeas shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it. * *

SEC. 10. Clause 2. * * No State shall, without the consent of Congress * * keep troops or ships of war in time of peace * * or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.

ART. II. SEC. 1. Clause 1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. * *

SEC. 2. Clause 1. The President shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several States, when called into the actual service of the United States. * *


SEC. 3. Clause 1. * * He shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed; and shall commission all officers of the United States.

ART. III. SEC. 3. Clause 1. Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason,' unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.

Clause 2. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason; but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted.

ART. IV. SEC. 4. Clause 1. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government; and shall protect each of them against invasion, and on the application of the legislature, or of the executive, (when the legislature cannot be convened,) against domestic violence.

Amendments to the Constitution: 1. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; abridging the freedom of speech, of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assembly, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances.

ART. II. A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

ART. III. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner; nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

ART. V. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment by a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service, in time of war, or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled, in and criminal case, to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 169-171).

CONSTITUTIONAL RELATION OF CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT TO THE LAND AND NAVAL FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES. The power of making rules for the government and regulation of armies, as well as the power of raising armies, having in express terms been conferred on Congress, it is manifest that the President as commander-in-chief is limited by the constitution to the simple command of such armies as Congress may raise, under such rules for their government and regulation as Congress may appoint: “ The authorities, (says Alexander Hamilton, Federalist, No. 23,) essential to the care of the common defence are these: To raise armies; to build and equip fleets; to prescribe rules for the government of both; to direct their operations; to provide for their support. These powers ought to exist without limitation; because it is impossible to foresee or to define the extent and variety of national exigencies, and the correspondent extent and variety of the means which may be necessary to satisfy them.”  “ Defective as the present (old) Confederation has been proved to be, this principle appears to have been fully recognized by the framers of it; although they have not made proper or adequate provision for its exercise. Congress have an unlimited discretion to make requisitions of men and money; to govern the army and navy; to direct their operations.” “ The government of the military is that branch of the code, (says BARDIN, Dictionnaire de L’Armee de Terre,) which em braces the military Hierarchy, or the gradual distribution of inferior authority.” From this principle proceeds the localization of troops, their discipline, remuneration for important services, the repression of all infractions of the laws, and every thing in fine which the legislature may judge necessary either by rules of appointment or promotion, penalties or rewards, to maintain an efficient and well-disciplined army. But, as if to avoid all misconstruction on this point, the constitution not only declares that Congress shall make rules for the government, but also for the regulation of the army; and regulation signifies precise determination of functions; method, forms 'and restrictions, not to be departed from. It is evident, therefore, that the design of the framers of the constitution, was not to invest the President with powers over the army in any degree parallel with powers possessed by the king of Great Britain over the British army, whose prerogative embraces the command and government of all forces raised and maintained by him with the consent of parliament, (BLACKSTONE;) but their purpose, on the contrary, was to guard in all possible ways against executive usurpation by leaving with Congress the control ot the Federal forces which it possessed under the articles of the Confederation, and at the same time to strengthen the powers of Congress by giving that body an unrestricted right to raise armies, provided appropriations for their support should not extend beyond two years. The command ot the army and navy and militia called into service, subject to such rules for their government and regulation as Congress may make, was given by the constitution to the President; but the power of making rules of government and regulation is in reality that of SUPREME COMMAND, and hence the President, to use the language of the Federalist, in his relation to the army and navy, is nothing more than the “first General and Admiral of the Confederacy; “ or the first officer of the military hierarchy with functions assigned by Congress. A curious example of this contemporaneous construction of the constitution is found in a letter from Sedgwick to Hamilton (vol. 6, Hamilton's Works, p. 394.) Congress, in raising a provisional army in 1798, created the office of commander of the army with the title of Lieutenant-general. A year subsequently a provision was made by law for changing this title to that of General. This last provision gave great offence to Mr. Adams, then President, who considered it as an evidence of the desire of Congress to make “ a general over the President” So strangely was he possessed with this idea that he never commissioned Washington as General, but the latter died in his office of Lieutenant-general; the President evidently thinking that the title of General conveyed a significancy which belonged to the President alone, although the commander of the army might in his opinion very properly take the title of Lieutenant- general, and thus have his subordination to the Commander-in-chief of the army and navy and militia clearly indicated. It is plain therefore no less from the appointment by the constitution of the President as commander-in-chief, than from all contemporaneous construction, that his functions in respect to the army are those of First General of the U. S., and in no degree derived from his powers as first civil magistrate of the Union. The advocates of executive discretion over the army must therefore seek for the President's authority in his military capacity, restrained as that is by the powers granted to Congress, which embrace the raising, support, government, and regulation of armies; or, to use the language of the Federalist, No. 23, “ there can be no limitation of that authority, which is to provide for the defence and protection of the community, in any matter essential to its efficacy; that is, in any matter essential to the formation, direction, or support of the NATIONAL FORCES.” After the foregoing investigation of the unrestricted power of Congress in respect to the army, save only in the appointment of the head of all the national forces, naval and military, it will be plain that the 2d Section of the constitution, in giving to the President the nomination and appointment, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, of all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, excludes officers of the army and navy. The power of raising armies and making rules for their government and regulation, necessarily involves the power of making rules of appointment, promotion, reward, and punishment, and is therefore a provision in the constitution otherwise providing for the appointment of officers of the land and naval forces. So true is this that the principle has been acted on from the foundation of the Government. Laws have been passed giving to general and other officers the appointment of certain inferior officers. In other cases the President has been confined by Congress, in his selection for certain offices in the army, to particular classes. Again, rules have been made by Congress for the promotion of officers, another form of appointment; and in 1846, an army of volunteers was raised by Congress, the officers of which the acts of Congress directed should be appointed according to the laws of the States in which the troops were raised, excepting the general officers for those troops, who were to be appointed by the President and Senate (Act June 26, 1846) a clear recognition that the troops thus raised by Congress were United States troops, and not militia. It is certainly true that the military-legislation of the country has for long years vested a large discretion in the President in respect to appointments and other matters concerning the army; but it may well be asked whether fixed rules of appointments and promotion which would prevent the exercise of favoritism by the executive might not, with the greatest advantage to the army and the country, be adopted by Congress. “ Military prejudices (says Gen. Hamilton) are not only in separable from, but they are essential to the military profession. The government which desires to have a satisfied and useful army must consult them. They cannot be moulded at its pleasure; it is vain to aim at it.” These are maxims which should lead Congress to the adoption of rules of appointment and promotion in the army which would prevent all outrages to the just pride of officers of the army. The organization of every new regiment, where the appointment of the officers has been left to executive discretion, shows that, if the desire has been felt in that quarter to cherish or cultivate pride of profession among the officers of the army, the feeling has been repressed by other considerations. All pride of rank has been so far crushed by this system of executive discretion that it is apparent, if Congress cannot provide a better rule for the government and regulation of the army, a generous rivalry in distinguished services must be superseded by political activity. Rules of appointment and promotion limiting the discretion of the President, and at the same time giving effect to opinions in the army, might easily be devised; or borrowed from existing rules in the French army, which, without ignoring the important principle of seniority, would at the same time afford scope and verge for rewards for distinguished services. (See PROMOTION.) No army can be kept in war in the highest vigor and efficiency without rewards for distinguished activity, and the appointment of Totleben at the siege of Sevastopol shows how far almost superhuman efforts may be prompted by investing a commander in the field with the power of selecting his immediate assistants. Colonels of regiments with us now exercise this authority in selecting regimental adjutants and quartermasters. Why should not the same trust be reposed in commanding generals of departments, brigades, divisions, and armies? And why should not all necessary restrictions (such as those in operation in the French armies) be put upon the President in making promotions for distinguished services, and also in original appointments, in order to secure justice to the army, and thereby promote the best interests of the country 1 (Consult Federalist; HAMILTON'S Works; MADISON'S Works; Acts of Congress; Report of Committee of the Senate, April 25, 1822. See PRESIDENT; RAISE; VICE-PRESIDENT; PROMOTION.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp. 171-174).


CONTEMPT. Any officer or soldier who shall use contemptuous or disrespectful words against the President of the United States, the Vice-President, against the Congress of the United States, or against the chief magistrate or legislature of any of the United States in which he may be quartered, shall be punished as a court-martial shall direct. Any officer or soldier who shall behave himself with contempt or disrespect towards his commanding officer, shall be punished by the judgment of a court-martial; (ARTS. 5 and 6.)

No person whatsoever shall use any menacing words, signs, or gestures, in presence of a court-martial, or shall cause any riot or disorder, or disturb their proceedings, on the penalty of being punished at the discretion of the said court-martial; (ART. 76.) Contempts thus rendered summarily punishable by courts-martial are of public and self-evident kind, not depending on any interpretation of law admitting explanation, or requiring further investigation. Courts-martial sometimes act on this power. At other times individuals so offending are placed in arrest, and charges are preferred for trial. A regimental court-martial may punish summarily, but are not competent to award punishment to commissioned officers. A regimental court-martial in such cases would impose arrest. Citizens, not soldiers, would be removed from court; (HOUGH'S Military Law Authorities.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 175).

CONTRACTS. Supplies for the army, unless in particular and urgent cases the Secretary of War should otherwise direct, shall be purchased by contract, to be made by the commissary-general on public notice, to be delivered on inspection in bulk, and at such places as shall be stipulated; which contract shall be made under such regulations as the Secretary of War may direct; (Act April 14, 1818, Sec. 7.) No contract shall hereafter be made by the Secretary of State, or of the Treasury, or of the Department of War, or of the Navy, except under a law authorizing the same, or under an appropriation adequate to its fulfilment; and excepting also contracts for the subsistence and clothing of the army and navy, and contracts by the quartermaster's department which may be made by the secretaries of those departments; (Act May 1, 1820.) Members of Congress cannot be interested in any contract, and a special provision must be inserted in every contract that no member of Congress is interested in it. Penalty forfeiture of three thousand dollars for making contracts with members of Congress; (Act April 21, 1808.)

Liability of Contracts. By analogy to the rule which protects an officer from the treatment of a trespasser or malefactor, in regard to acts done by him in the execution of the orders of his own government, a similar immunity is extended to him with respect to contracts which he enters into for public purposes within the sphere of his authority. No private means or resources would otherwise be adequate to the responsibilities which, under any other rule, would effectually deter the best citizens of a state from rendering their services to the government. On high grounds, therefore, of public policy, it has long been established, that no action will lie against any government officer upon contracts made by him in his official character for public purposes, and within the legitimate scope of his duties.

“Great inconveniences (says Mr. Justice Ashurst) would result from considering a governor or commander as personally responsible in such cases. For no man would accept of any office of trust under government upon such conditions. And indeed it has been frequently determined that no individual is answerable for any engagements which he enters into on their behalf.” “In any case (says Mr. Justice Duller) where a man acts as agent for the public, and treats in that capacity, there is no pretence to say that he is personally liable.” This doctrine applies in full force to military officers in the exercise of their professional duties. One of the earliest cases of this nature was Macheath v. Haldimand, in which it appeared that General Haldimand, being commander-in-chief and governor of Quebec, had, in those capacities, appointed Captain Sinclair to the command of a fort upon Lake Huron, with instructions to employ one Macheath in furnishing supplies for the service of the Crown. In pursuance of these orders, Macheath had furnished various articles for the use of the fort; and Captain Sinclair, according to his instructions from General Haldimand, drew bills upon him for the amount. Macheath also remitted his accounts to General Haldimand at Quebec, with the following words prefixed: “Government debtor to George Macheath for sundries paid by order of Lieutenant-governor Sinclair.” General Haldimand objected to several of the charges, and refused payment of the amount; but ultimately made a partial payment on account, without prejudice to Macheath's right to the remainder, to recover which he brought the present action. At the trial it appeared so clearly that Macheath had dealt with General Haldimand solely in the character of commander-in-chief, and as an agent of government, that Mr. Justice Buller told the jury they were bound to find for the defendant in point of law. The jury gave their verdict accordingly; and upon the express ground of General Haldimand's freedom from personal liability in such a case, the Court of King's Bench were unanimous in refusing a new trial.

In a case which was tried before Lord Mansfield, one Savage brought an action against Lord North, as First Lord of the Treasury, for the expenses which he (Savage) had incurred in raising a regiment for the service of government; and Lord Mansfield held that the action did not lie. So in another case of Lutterlop v. Halsey, an action was brought against a commissary for the price of forage, supplied to the army by the plaintiff, at the request of the defendant, in his official character; and the commissary was held not to be liable. On another occasion, a suit was instituted in chancery against General Burgoyne, for a specific performance of a contract for the supply of artillery carriages in America. But Lord Chancellor Thurlow said there was no color for the demand as against General Burgoyne, who acted only as an agent for government; and his lordship dismissed the suit with costs. In 1818 an action was brought against Hall, the late purser of H. M. S. La Belle Poule, by the purser's steward of the same ship, to recover the amount of pay due to the latter for his services on board. It appeared that the purser's steward could not be appointed without the consent of the commander, and that lie was entitled to the pay of an able seaman, but usually received pay under a private contract with the purser. The chief justice, Lord Ellenborough, at first felt some difficulty in the case; but considering how very extensive the operation of the principle might be, if such an action could be supported, and if a person, receiving a specific salary from the Crown in respect of his situation, could recover remuneration for his services from the officer under whose immediate authority he acted, and that the purser had no fund allowed him out of which such services were to be paid, his lordship was of opinion that the plaintiff had no right of action against the purser.

It is quite immaterial also, whether the officer gives the orders in person, or through a subordinate agent appointed by himself. The creditor cannot, in the latter case, charge 'the officer with a personal liability. In Myrtle v. Beaver, the plaintiff, a butcher at Brighton, brought an action against Major Beaver, the captain of a troop in the Hampshire Fencible Cavalry, for the price of meat supplied to the troop when quartered at Brighton, in January and February, 1800. One Bedford, a sergeant in the troop, had been employed by Major Beaver, according to his duty as captain, to provide for the subsistence of the men; and so long as Major Beaver remained with the troop, he regularly settled the butcher's bill monthly, up to the 24th January, 1800. At that date Major Beaver was detached with a small party to command at Arundel, the greater part of the regiment remaining at Brighton under the command of the colonel and the command of Major Beaver's troop, with the duties of providing lor its subsistence, devolved on Lieutenant Hunt, who continued to employ Sergeant Bedford in providing supplies for the men, and gave him money for that purpose. The plaintiff furnished meat as before, under Sergeant Bedford's orders, but it did not appear that he had been apprised of the change of the authority, under which the sergeant gave those orders. On the 20th February, and before the usual monthly period of settling the butcher's bill, Lieutenant Hunt, who w r as also paymaster of the regiment, absconded with the regimental moneys, and left the plaintiff's demand and the regimental accounts unsettled. As Sergeant Bedford had, in the first instance, been accredited by Major Beaver, as his agent for ordering the supplies, the plaintiff Myrtle contended that until he had been informed of the discontinuance of that authority, he had a right to presume its continuance, and to look to Major Beaver for payment as before. But the Court of King's Bench held, that although the sergeant acted by Major Beaver's orders, he was not to be considered as the agent of a private individual, as it was plain that he acted as agent for whatever officer happened to have the command of the troop. There was, therefore, no ground for fixing Major Beaver with any personal liability in the matter.

An agent of government may, however, render himself personally liable upon contracts made by himself in the execution of his office. On this principle an action was brought against General Burgoyne, to recover a sum of money due to the plaintiff as provost-marshal of the British army in America; the general having promised that the plaintiff should be paid at the same rate as the provost-marshal under General Howe had been. At the trial, an objection was taken to the legality of the action; but Lord Mansfield refused to stop the case, and the plaintiff thereupon went into his evidence. It appeared, however, in the course of the inquiry, that the plaintiff's demand had been satisfied; and, therefore, the verdict was in favor of General Burgoyne. But it is evident from Lord Mansfield's suffering the trial to go on, that his lordship thought a commanding officer might so act as to make him- self personally liable in such a case; and the question, whether he had so acted or not, was for the determination of a jury. In the next case it was accordingly sought to fix a naval officer with a personal liability for supplies furnished to his crew, on the ground of the language used by him on the occasion of ordering the supplies. Lieutenant Temple was first lieutenant of H. M. S. Boyne, and on her arrival at Ports- mouth from the West Indies, he inquired for a slop-seller to supply the crew with new clothes, saying, “ He will run no risk; I will see him  paid.” One Keate being accordingly recommended for this purpose, Lieutenant Temple called upon him and used these words, “ I will see you paid at the pay-table; are you satisfied? “ Keate answered, “ Perfectly so.” The clothes were delivered on the quarter-deck of the Boyne, though the case states that slops are usually sold on the main-deck. Lieutenant Temple produced samples to ascertain whether his directions were followed. Some of the men said that they were not in want of any clothes, but were told by the lieutenant that if they did not take them he would punish them; and others, who stated that they were only in want of part of a suit, were obliged to take a whole one, with anchor buttons to the jacket, such as were then worn by petty officers only. The former clothing of the crew was very light, and adapted to the climate of the West Indies, where the Boyne had been last stationed. Soon after the delivery of the slops, the Boyne was destroyed by fire, and the crew dispersed into different ships. On that occasion Keate, the slop-seller, expressed some apprehension for himself, but was thus answered by Lieutenant Temple:” Captain Grey (Obtain of the Boyne) and I will see you paid; you need not make yourself uneasy.” After this the commissioner came on board the Commerce de Marseilles to pay the crew of the Boyne, at which time Lieutenant Temple stood at the pay-table, and took some money out of the hat of the first man who was paid, and gave it to the slop-seller. The next man, however, refused to part with his pay, and was immediately put in irons. Lieutenant Temple then asked the commissioner to stop the pay of the crew, but he answered that it could not be done. It was in evidence that though the crew were pretty well clothed, yet from the lightness of their clothing they were not properly equipped for the service in which they were engaged; and the compulsory purchases were not improperly ordered by the officer. Under these circumstances, Keate, the slopseller, being unable to obtain the payment to which he was entitled, brought his action against Lieutenant Temple for the price of the clothing; and Mr. Justice Lawrence told the jury that if they were satisfied that the goods were advanced on the credit of the lieutenant as immediately responsible, Keate was entitled to recover the amount; but if they believed that Keate, on supplying the goods, relied merely on the lieutenant's assistance to get the money from the crew, the verdict ought to be in favor of the lieutenant. The jury found a verdict against Lieutenant Temple, but the Court of Common Pleas set it aside. Eyre, C. J.: “ The sum recovered is 576. 7s. 8d., and this against a lieutenant in the navy, a sum so large that it goes a great way towards satisfying my mind that it never could have been in contemplation of the defendant to make himself liable, or of the slop-seller to furnish the goods on his credit. I can hardly think that had the Boyne not been burnt, and the plaintiff been asked whether he would have the lieutenant or the crew for his paymaster, but that he would have given preference to the latter. . .  From the nature of the case it is apparent, that the men were to pay in the first instance; the defendant's words were, ' I will see you paid at the pay-table; are you satisfied? ' and the answer was, Perfectly so; ' the meaning of which was, that however unwilling the men might be to pay of themselves, the officer would take care that they should pay. ... I think this a proper case to be sent to a new trial.” The verdict found against Lieutenant Temple was accordingly set aside. But where an officer, acting in his private capacity and for his own private purposes, enters into any contract with another officer or a private individual, the ordinary rules and principles of law apply to such cases in the same manner as between civilians. (Consult PRENDERGAST.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp. 175-180).

CONVOYS have for their object the transportation of munitions of war, money, subsistence, clothing, arms, sick, &c. If convoys to an army do not come from the rear, through a country which has been mastered, and consequently far from the principal forces of the enemy, they will be undoubtedly attacked and broken up, if not carried off. There is no more difficult operation than to defend a large convoy against a serious attack. Ordinarily, convoys are only exposed to the attacks of partisan corps or light troops which, in consequence of their insignificant size, have thrown themselves in rear of the army. It is to guard against such attacks, that escorts are usually given to convoys. These escorts are principally infantry, because infantry fights in all varieties of ground, and in case of need may be placed in the intervals between the wagons, or even inside the wagons, when too warmly pressed. Cavalry is, however, also necessary to spy out an enemy at great distances, and give prompt information of his movements, as well as to participate in the defence of the convoy against cavalry. An enemy's cavalry being able rapidly to pass from the front to the rear of the train, would easily find some part of it without defence, if the escort were composed only of infantry. To give an idea of the facility of such attacks, it may be stated that a wagon drawn by four horses occupies ten yards. Two hundred wagons marching in single file and closed as much as possible form a train more than 2,000 yards in extent. In a long line of wagons, therefore, it would be impossible for infantry to meet the feints of cavalry and repulse real attacks. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 180-183).

The escort should then be composed of an advance guard entirely of cavalry preceding the train, some two or three miles, searching the route on the right and on the left; but as it may happen that the enemy, eluding the vigilance of the advance guard, have made ambuscades between the advance and the head of the column, it is necessary to place another body immediately in front of the train, with a small party in advance and flankers on the right and left. The longer the train the greater the danger of surprise, and consequently the greater the precautions to be used. A convoy is almost as much exposed to attack in rear as in front; it is therefore necessary to have, with a rear guard, some horsemen, who may be despatched to give information of what passes in rear. When the troops constituting the body of the escort are principally composed of infantry, they are divided into three bodies of Workmen will march with the advanced party, and the wagons loaded with tools of all kinds, rope, small beams, thick plank and every thing necessary for the repair of bridges and roads, will lead the convoy. The second detachment will be placed in the middle of the column of wagons, and the third in rear. Care is taken not to disseminate the troops along the whole extent of the train. A few men only are detached from the three bodies mentioned, to march abreast of the wagons, and to force the drivers to keep in their prescribed order, without opening the distance between the wagons. If a wagon breaks down on the route its load is promptly distributed among other wagons. A signal is made if it is necessary for the column to halt, but for slight repairs the train is not halted. The wagon leaves the column, is repaired on one side of the road, and afterwards takes its place in rear. Soldiers should never be permitted to place their knapsacks in the wagons, for a soldier should never be separated from knapsack or haversack, and the wagons would also become too much loaded. Whenever the breadth of the road permits, the wagons should be doubled and march in two files. The column is thus shortened one half, and if circumstances require it, the defensive park is more promptly formed. This is done by wheeling the wagons round to the right and left so as to bring the opposite horses' heads together and facing each other turning towards the exterior the hind wagon wheels. This movement requires ground and time. It ought not to be ordered then except when absolutely necessary. It is much better to hold the enemy in check, by manoeuvres of the escort when that can be done, and let the convoy move on. When the park has been formed, however, it constitutes an excellent means of defence, under shelter of which infantry can fight with advantage even when they have been compelled to take such refuge. A convoy usually halts for the night near a village, but it should always pass beyond it, because on commencing its march in the morning it is better to have the defile behind than before it, in order to avoid ambuscades of the enemy. Places for parking the wagons are sought where there are hedges or walls, as those obstructions offer greater security than any others. The troops, with the exception of the park guard, bivouac at a short distance from the park, in some position which offers the best military advantages. An advance guard and a sufficient number of sentinels for the safety and police of the park and bivouac are then posted. The park is ordinarily a hollow square, but locality will dictate its form. It should furnish an enclosed space for the horses and drivers, and at the same time be an intrenchment in case of attack. The wagons are ranged either lengthwise or side by side the rule being that the poles are turned in the same direction and towards the place of destination. The wagons laid lengthwise may be doubled, so that the intervals of ranks may be closed by pushing forward the wagon of another rank. When the space for the park is small and the number of wagons great, the wagons are placed upon many lines, and streets sufficiently broad to receive the horses, &c., are made parallel to each other. The important principle in defending convoys on the march is, that the escort should not consider itself tied to wagons, but should repulse the enemy by marching to meet him. It is only after the escort has been repulsed, that it should fall back on the wagons and use them as an intrenchment. Even then a very long resistance may be ill judged if the enemy be greatly superior. It is better to abandon a part of the convoy to save the rest, or else try to destroy it, by cutting the traces, breaking the wheels, overthrowing the wagons, and even setting fire to the most inflammable parts. An attack upon a flank is most dangerous because the convoy then presents a larger mark. The three detachments in this case should be united on the side attacked and pushed*forward sufficiently to compel the enemy to describe a great circle, in order to put himself out of reach when he wishes to attack the front or rear of the convoy. The best position to take is that of three echelons, the centre in advance. The convoy, which has doubled its wagons, continues to move forward, regulating its march by the position of the troops which cover it. If the attack be in front, as soon as the enemy has been announced by the first advance guard, which falls back at a gallop for the purpose, the wagons are closed or formed in two files if the road permits; the centre detachment joins the first, either in echelon or according to locality, to prevent a movement upon the 'flank of the convoy. The third detachment should be held in reserve immediately at the head of the wagons. If however this position be too near that taken by the first and second detachments united, the reserve must then take some position on the flank of the convoy. The defence against an attack upon the rear will be conducted on the same principles. It may be concluded that the attack of a convoy is an operation in which little is to be lost and much gained; for if the enemy be deficient in numbers or skill, a part of his convoy is easily destroyed or brought off. If the attack fail, nothing is to be feared upon retiring. The corps which attacks should be half cavalry and infantry. It is clear, that if the attacking party has been concealed behind a wood, a height, a corn field, &c., and has been able to surprise the front or rear of the convoy, and enveloped it before aid arrives, full success will be obtained. But this negligence will not often occur on the part of the commander of the escort. If his troops then be in good order and united at the moment of the attack, it is necessary to divide his attention by directing against him many little columns and. skirmishers, who seek to open a way to the wagons by killing the horses, and thus encumbering the road. The cavalry making a circuit throw themselves rapidly upon parts badly protected. If they reach some of the wagons they content themselves with driving off the conductors and cutting the traces of the wagons because all the wagons in rear are thus stopped. If we are at liberty to choose the time and place of attack, it is clear that the best time is when the convoy is passing a defile and we can envelop the front or the rear. Success is then certain; the inevitable encumbrance of the defile preventing one part of the troops from coming to the aid of another part. When the whole or part of a convoy has been seized, the prize must 'be brought to a safe place, before the enemy is in sufficient force to make us abandon it. But sooner than do this, the most precious articles should be placed on horses, the wagons should be destroyed, and the horses put to their speed. The attacking force should avoid further combat, for its object has been accomplished. (Consult DUFOUR BARDIN; Ordonnance sur le Service des Armees en Campagne). (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp. 180-183).


CONWAY, Ellen Davis Dana, abolitionist, feminist wife of Daniel M. Conway.


CONWAY, Martin Franklin, 1827-1882, Hartford County, Maryland.  U.S. Congressman, diplomat, abolitionist.  Supported Kansas Free-State Movement.  (Biographical Dictionary of the U.S. Congress; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 2, Pt. 2, p. 363)


CONWAY, Moncure Daniel, 1832-1907, abolitionist, clergyman, author, women’s rights advocate. Unitarian minister. (Drake, 1950, p. 175; Mabee, 1970, pp. 322, 329, 336, 343, 363-365, 366, 369, 372; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 711-712; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 2, Pt. 2, p. 364)

CONWAY, Moncure Daniel, author, born in Stafford county, Virginia, 17 March, 1832. His father was a magistrate and a member of the Virginia legislature; his mother a daughter of Surgeon-General Daniel. He received his early education at Fredericksburg Academy, and was graduated at Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, in 1849, where he united with the Methodist Church. He began the study of law at Warrenton, Virginia, and while there wrote for the Richmond “Examiner,” of which his cousin, John M. Daniel, was editor, in support of extreme southern opinions. He abandoned the law to enter the Methodist ministry, joined the Baltimore conference in 1850, was appointed to the Rockville circuit, and in 1852 to Frederick circuit. He was a contributor to the “Southern Literary Messenger” and published a pamphlet entitled “Free Schools in Virginia,” in which he advocated the adoption of the New England common-school system. Having undergone a change of political and religious convictions, partly through the influence of a settlement of Quakers among whom he lived, he left the Methodist ministry and entered the divinity-school at Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was graduated in 1854. He then returned to Virginia, in the hope of preaching his humanitarian ideas and transcendental and rationalistic doctrines; but upon reaching Falmouth, where his parents resided, was obliged by a band of neighbors to leave the state under threats because he had befriended Anthony Burns, a fugitive slave from the same district. The same year he became pastor of the Unitarian Church in Washington, D. C., where he preached until he was dismissed on account of some anti-slavery discourses, especially one delivered after the assault on Senator Sumner. In 1857 he was settled over the Unitarian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. There he published, among other pamphlets, “A Defence of the Theatre” and “The Natural History of the Devil.” The publication of books on slavery and its relation to the Civil War led to an invitation to lecture on this subject in New England, as he had already lectured gratuitously throughout Ohio. During the war his father's slaves escaped from Virginia and were settled by him in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He was for a time editor of the Boston “Commonwealth.” In 1863 he went to England to enlighten the British public in regard to the causes of the war, and there wrote and lectured as a representative of the anti-slavery opinions of the north. He also contributed to “Fraser's Magazine” and the “Fortnightly Review.” Toward the close of 1863 he became the minister of South Place Religious Society in London, remaining there until he returned to the United States in 1884. He was long the London correspondent of the Cincinnati “Commercial.” “The Rejected Stone, or Insurrection versus Resurrection in America,” first appeared under the pen-name “A Native of Virginia,” and attracted much attention before the authorship became known. “The Golden Hour” was a similar work. Mr. Conway was a frequent contributor to the daily liberal press in England, and has written extensively for magazines in that country and in the United States. A series of articles entitled “South Coast Saunterings in England” appeared in “Harper's Magazine” in 1868-'9. He has published in book form “Tracts for To-day” (Cincinnati, 1858); “The Rejected Stone” (Boston, 1861); “The Golden Hour” (1862); “Testimonies concerning Slavery” (London, 1865); “The Earthward Pilgrimage,” a moral and doctrinal allegory (London and New York, 1870); “Republican Superstitions,” a theoretical treatise on politics, in which he objects to the extensive powers conferred on the president of the United States by the Federal constitution, and advocates, with Louis Blanc, a single legislative chamber (London, 1872); “The Sacred Anthology,” a selection from the sages and sacred books of all ages (London and New York, 1873); “Idols and Ideals” (London and New York, 1877); “Demonology and Devil-Lore” (1879); “A Necklace of Stories” (London, 1880); “The Wandering Jew and the Pound of Flesh” (London and New York, 1881); “Thomas Carlyle” (1881). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 711-712.


CONWAY, William, sailor, born in Camden. Maine, in 1802; died in Brooklyn, New York, 30 November, 1865. He was a sailor in the U.S. Navy for forty years, and was stationed at the Warrington or Pensacola U.S. Navy-yard when it was surrendered to the southerners on 12 January, 1861, serving at the time as quartermaster. When ordered by Lieutenant Frederick Kinshaw to lower the U.S. flag, he replied: “I have served under that flag for forty years, and I won't do it.” Shortly afterward Mr. Conway was sent to the north, where he remained until his death. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 712.  


CONY, Samuel, jurist, born in Augusta, Maine, 27 February, 1811; died there, 5 October, 1870. He was graduated at Brown in 1829, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1832, and engaged in practice at Oldtown, Maine. He was elected to the legislature in 1835, in 1839 was chosen a member of Governor Fairfield's executive council, and from 1840 till 1847 was judge of probate for Penobscot County. In 1847 he was appointed land-agent, and in 1850 elected state treasurer, an office which he retained for five years. In 1850 he moved to Augusta. Up to 1861 he acted with the Democratic Party, but, being rejected by the section of his party that was opposed to the war, he was in 1862 elected to the legislature as a War Democrat, and in 1863 chosen governor. His administration was so admirable and efficient that he was twice re-elected by large majorities. He was offered a renomination in 1867, but the impaired state of his health forced him to decline. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 713.


CONYNGHAM, John Butler, soldier, born in 1827; died in Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, 27 May, 1871. He was graduated at Yale in 1846, subsequently studied law, and practised in Wilkesbarre and St. Louis. At the first call for troops in 1861 he volunteered in the three-months' service, and on his return joined the 52d Pennsylvania Volunteers, of which he was appointed major on 5 November, 1861. He participated in the Peninsular Campaign of 1862, and in the winter of 1863 was sent with his regiment to Port Royal, South Carolina, was present at the naval attack on Fort Sumter in April, 1863, and participated in the subsequent assault and siege operations against Fort Wagner. Upon the reduction of that fort, Major Conyngham was placed in command of the defences of Morris Island. He was detailed by General Terry to make a night reconnaissance of Sumter, and subsequently engaged in the night assault on Fort Johnson, across Charleston Harbor. In this assault he was captured and detained as prisoner for several months. While a prisoner at Charleston he was one of the number selected as hostages to be shot in case of a bombardment of the city by our forces. In November, 1863, he was promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy, and in March, 1865, to the colonelcy of his regiment. In March, 1867, Colonel Conyngliam was appointed captain in the 38th Infantry, U. S. Army, and transferred to the 24th U.S. Infantry, November, 1869. In 1871 he was brevetted major and lieutenant-colonel for gallant service in the field. During his term of service in the regular army he was mostly employed on the Indian frontier. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 713.