Place through Powhatan, Virginia

PLACE. Town or city is but little used in military parlance. A strong place is a fortified city. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 463).


PLACES OF ARMS are enlargements in the covered-way, at the re-entering and salient angles of the counterscarp; hence the terms reentering places of arms, and salient places of arms; the latter space is formed simply by rounding the counterscarp; and the former by setting off demi-gorges of thirty yards, (more or less,) and making the faces form angles of 100 with the adjoining branches of the covered-way. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 464).


PLAINS STORE, LOUISIANA, May 21, 1863. Portion of the 1st Division, 19th Army Corps. At the start of the campaign against Port Hudson Major-General Christopher C. Augur's division proceeded from camp on Merritt's plantation on the 20th. The next day his advance encountered the enemy some three-quarters of a mile from Plains store, and drove him back to that place, where the Confederates were found in force and a severe engagement opened. It was not until after dark that the enemy was driven from the field with a loss in killed wounded and missing of 89. The Union casualties were 15 killed, 71 wounded and 14 captured or missing. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 695.


PLAINS STORE, LOUISIANA, April 7, 1864. (See Port Hudson, same date.)


PLAISTED, Harris Merrill, soldier, born in Jefferson, New Hampshire, 2 November, 1828. He worked on a farm and taught during his early manhood, and was graduated at Waterville College (now Colby University) in 1853, and at Albany Law-school in 1855. He was then admitted to the bar and began practice in Bangor, Maine, in 1856. He entered the national volunteer service in 1861 as lieutenant-colonel, was commissioned colonel in 1862, participated in McClellan's Peninsular Campaign, commanded a brigade before Charleston, and served with Grant before Richmond. He received the brevet of brigadier-general of volunteers in February, 1865, and that of major-general of volunteers in March of the same year. He resumed his profession after the peace, was a delegate to the National Republican Convention in 1868, and attorney-general of Maine in 1873–5. He went to Congress as a Republican in 1874 to fill a vacancy, served one term, declined re-election, and was governor of Maine in 1881–’3. Since 1884 he has edited and published “The New Age,” in Augusta, Maine. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 38.


PLAN. A plan of campaign (says Napoleon) should anticipate all that an enemy may do, and combine within itself the means necessary to baffle him. Plans of campaign are modified by circumstances, the genius of the chief, the nature of the troops, and topography. There are good and bad plans of campaign, but sometimes the good fail from misfortune or mismanagement, while the bad succeed by caprices of fortune. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 464).


PLAN OF A WORK. A plan shows the tracing; also the horizontal lengths and breadths of the works; the thickness of the ramparts and parapets; the width of the ditches, &c.: it exhibits the extent, division, and distribution of the works; but the depth of the ditches and the height of the works are not represented in a plan. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 464).


PLANE OF COMPARISON is a plan of a fortress, and of the surrounding country, on which are expressed the distances of the principal points from a horizontal plane, imagined to pass through the highest or lowest points of ground, in the survey This imaginary plane is called a plane of comparison. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 464).


PLANE OF DEFILADE is a plane supposed to pass through the summit or crest of a work, and parallel to the 'plane of site. PLANE OF SITE. The general level of the ground, or ground line, upon which the works are constructed, is called the plane of site, whether that plane be horizontal or oblique to the horizon. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 464).


PLAQUEMINE, LOUISIANA, June 18, 1863. Detachments of 28th Maine, 131st New York infantry and crews of steamers Lasykes and Anglo-American. About 6:30 a. m. the guard at Plaquemine was attacked by some 300 Confederates. Lieutenant Witharh and 22 men of the 28th Maine were captured, but Captain Albert Stearns and 13 of his men succeeded in making their escape. After gaining possession of the town the enemy immediately proceeded to Bayou Plaquemine, firing upon the crew of the steamer Lasykes, killing 1 man and then burning the -vessel, as well as the steamer Anglo-American. The Confederates had 1 man killed and 2 wounded in this affair. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 695.


PLAQUEMINE, LOUISIANA, August 6, 1864. Troops of District of Baton Rouge. About 100 Confederate mounted infantry drove in the Federal pickets at Plaquemine and part of them succeeded in penetrating to the streets of the town, when the Union pickets were reinforced and drove the Confederates out. Three Federals were killed or wounded, and 4 were captured. The Confederate loss was supposed to have been about the same. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 695.


PLATFORM. There are six sleepers, 18 deck planks, 72 dowels, and 12 iron eye-bolts, used for the platform of siege mortars. The weight of the platform made of yellow pine is 837 lbs. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 464).


PLATOON. The half of a company. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 464).


PLATT, Franklin, geologist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19 November, 1844. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, but left in 1862, before graduation, and in 1863 served in the 32d Pennsylvania Gray Reserve Regiment. In 1864 he was appointed to the U.S. Coast Survey, and assigned to surveying work with the North Atlantic Squadron during that year. He then was appointed on the staff of General Orlando M. Poe, Chief Engineer of the Military Division of the Mississippi, and was engaged in this duty until the surrender of General Joseph Johnston's army in April, 1865. Subsequently, in July, 1874, he was appointed assistant geologist of Pennsylvania, a post he held until May, 1881, after which he became president of the Rochester and Pittsburg Coal and Iron Company. Mr. Platt is a member of scientific societies, to whose transactions he has contributed frequent papers on geology and kindred subjects. He prepared nine volumes of the reports of the geological survey of Pennsylvania. Those that were his exclusive work are “On Clearfield and Jefferson Counties” (Harrisburg, 1875); “Coke Manufacture” (1876); “On Blair County (1880); and “The Causes, Kinds, and Amount of Waste in Mining Anthracite” (1881). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 38.


PLATT, Zephaniah, 1796-1871, Jackson County, Michigan, jurist, abolitionist, American Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1840-1850.  (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. V, p. 39.

PLATT, Zephaniah, jurist, born in Plattsburg, New York, in 1796; died in Aiken, South Carolina, 20 April, 1871, moved to Michigan in early life, studied and subsequently practised law, and was appointed by the U. S. government its attorney to settle its claims on the Pacific Coast. He was state attorney-general for several years, and took high rank at the bar. He moved to South Carolina at the close of the Civil War, and from 1868 until his death was judge of the 2d Circuit. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V. , p. 39.


PLATTE COUNTY, MISSOURI, July 3, 1864. Detachment of 9th Missouri Militia Cavalry. A report from Brigadier-General Clinton B. Fisk under date of July 4, 1864, from St. Joseph, Missouri, says: "Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel M. Draper, with a detachment of the 9th cavalry Missouri state militia, attacked a band of guerrillas in Platte county yesterday, killing 6 and wounding 3 of the villains. We captured 15 horses and many revolvers. Two of our men were wounded." The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 695.


PLATTE VALLEY, STEAMER, November 18, 1861. (See Price's Landing, Missouri)


PLATTSBURG, MISSOURI, October 27, 1861. Organization not recorded. Confederate loss, 8 killed and 12 captured. Plattsburg, Missouri, July 21, 1864. Detachment of the 89th Enrolled Missouri Militia. About 9 a. m. Captain Turney with 26 men went out from Plattsburg to reconnoiter. An hour later the Confederates appeared in force before the town and under a flag of truce demanded a surrender. Before a reply could be made Turney was cut off while on his way back, and Captain Benjamin F. Poe, commanding the garrison. ordered a retreat, but before the post could be evacuated Turney cut his way through the enemy's lines and the combined force repulsed the attack. The Confederate loss was not reported. The garrison lost 1 man, Turney, killed and I wounded. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 695.


PLEASANT GROVE, LOUISIANA, April 8, 1864. (See Sabine Cross-Roads.)


PLEASANT GROVE, UTAH TERRITORY, April 12, 1863. Detachment of 3d California Infantry. Five men under Lieutenant Francis Honeyman, the advance of an expedition against hostile Indians, reached Pleasant Grove on the 12th and about 6 p. m. a band of 100 Indians attacked, forcing Honeyman and his men to take refuge in an adobe house, which the Indians besieged, hoping to capture some horses. They finally retired without doing any damage further than taking with them all the stores, horses, etc., in the town. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 695.


PLEASANT HILL, GEORGIA, April 18, 1865. 4th Michigan Cavalry. During Wilson's raid this regiment under Lieutenant-Colonel B. D. Pritchard came upon a refugee train and several Confederate soldiers at Pleasant Hill. The enemy showed fight but after a sharp skirmish was defeated with a loss of 2 killed, 1 mortally wounded and 3 captured. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 696.


PLEASANT HILL, LOUISIANA, April 7, 1864. (See Bayou de Paul.)


PLEASANT HILL, LOUISIANA, April 9, 1864. Banks' Red River Expedition. During the night of the 8th and 9th of April, Banks' command after its decisive repulse at Sabine cross-roads on the 8th, retired to Pleasant Hill, 15 miles distant. As it was almost a certainty that the Confederates would follow up their advantage of the day before, the Federal troops were drawn up in line of battle to await the attack. The 1st brigade of the 19th corps formed the right, resting on a ravine, the 2nd brigade was in the center and the 3d brigade on the left. The Confederates moved toward the Federal right. Only light skirmishing occurred during the afternoon but at 5 o'clock the attack was increased, the Federal skirmishers being driven in. The left flank received the heaviest onset, the enemy advancing in two oblique lines extending well over to the right of the 3d brigade. This part of the line gave way and fell back on the reserves, thus exposing the front, right and rear of . the 1st and 2nd brigades. The Confederates pressed their advantage until they approached the reserves, when a countercharge, led by General Mower in person, checked the enemy. All of the reserves were then ordered up and the Confederates were driven from the field. The Federal casualties in this day's engagement were 93 killed, 655 wounded and 293 captured or missing; the Confederate losses as a whole are not known, but in Parsons' division of Missouri infantry alone were 33 killed and 288 wounded. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 696.


PLEASANT HILL, Missouri, July 11, 1862. Detachment, 1st Missouri Cavalry. Captain Kehoe, acting without orders, took 61 men and went in pursuit of some of Quantrill's guerrillas. About 10 a. m. he came up with them at Sears' farm, 3 miles west of Pleasant Hill. The enemy fired and the 6 men acting as Kehoe's advance guard were all killed in the first volley. In the skirmish that followed 9 others were wounded and the remainder of the detachment was compelled to retire. The enemy's loss was not learned. (See Big Creek Bluffs, same date.) The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 696.


PLEASANT HILL, MISSOURI, May 15, 1863. (See Big Creek, Missouri, same date.)


PLEASANT HILL, MISSOURI, September 5, 1863. Detachments of 5th and 9th Kansas Cavalry. This force, under Lieutenant-Colonel Charles S. Clark, encountered a gang of guerrillas while on a scout from Coldwater grove and killed 6 of them. Subsequently another party of bushwhackers was surprised on Big creek by a portion of the same detachment and routed, 4 being killed and as many wounded. Clark also captured 8 horses with saddles and bridles.


PLEASANT HILL, MISSOURI, August 26, 1864. Detachment of 2nd Colorado Cavalry. Colonel James H. Ford, reporting from Kansas City, under date of August 27, says: "Fourteen foot-scouts, under Corporal Shaw, had a fight with not less than 60 bushwhackers yesterday morning, 8 miles east of Pleasant Hill, killing 2 and also wounding 2, and disabling some horses. No one hurt on our side." The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 696.


PLEASANT HILL LANDING, LOUISIANA, April 12-13, 1864. (See Blair's Landing, same date.)

PLEASONTON, Augustus James, soldier, born in Washington, D.C., 18 August, 1808. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1826, and then served on garrison duty at the Artillery school for practice in Fortress Monroe, and on topographical duty until 30 June, 1830, when he resigned from the army. After studying law, he was admitted to the bar, and he has since practised in Philadelphia. He has served in the Pennsylvania Militia, holding the rank of brigade-major in 1833, and becoming colonel in 1835, and he was wounded during the conflict with armed rioters in Southwark, Pennsylvania, on 7 July, 1844. During the political disturbances in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1838-'9, he was assistant adjutant-general and paymaster-general of the state. On 10 May, 1861, he was appointed brigadier-general of Pennsylvania Militia, and charged with the organization and subsequent command during the Civil War of a home-guard of 10,000 men, including cavalry, artillery, and infantry, for the defence of Philadelphia. In 1839-'40 he was president of the Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mountjoy, and Lancaster Railroad Company. He has devoted his leisure to the cultivation of a farm near Philadelphia, where, as early as 1861, he began to experiment on the action of different colored rays upon vegetable and animal life. He claimed to have demonstrated that the blue rays of the sun were especially stimulating to vegetation. His experiments were subsequently applied to animals, and afterward to invalids, and wonderful cures were said to have been wrought. The public became interested in his experiments, and for a time a so-called " blue-glass craze" prevailed, culminating in 1877-'8. General Pleasonton published many papers in advocacy of his theories, and a book entitled " Influence of the Blue Ray of the Sunlight and of the Blue Color of the Sky in Developing Animal and Vegetable Life, in Arresting Disease" (Philadelphia, 1876).  Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 39-40.


PLEASONTON, Alfred, soldier, born in Washington. D. C, 7 June, 1824, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1844, served in the Mexican War, and was brevetted 1st lieutenant for "gallant and meritorious conduct in the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma." He subsequently was on frontier duty with his company, and was commissioned 1st lieutenant in 1840, and captain in 1855. He was acting assistant adjutant general to General William S. Harney during the Sioux Expedition, and his adjutant-general from 1856 till 1860 in the campaign against the Seminoles in Florida, and the operations in Kansas, Oregon, and Washington Territory. He commanded his regiment in its inarch from Utah to Washington in the autumn of 1861, was commissioned major of the 2d U.S. Cavalry in February, 1862, served through the Virginia Peninsular Campaign, became brigadier-general of volunteers in July of that year, and commanded the division of cavalry of the Army of the Potomac that followed Lee's invading army into Maryland. He was engaged at Boonesborough, South Mountain, Antietam, and the subsequent pursuit, engaged the enemy frequently at Fredericksburg, and stayed the further advance of the enemy at Chancellorsville. On 2 May, when Jackson's Confederate corps was coming down upon the right flank of Hooker's army, and had already routed Howard's corps, General Pleasonton, by his quick and skilful action, saved the army from a serious disaster. Ordering the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry to charge boldly into the woods in the face of the advancing host (see Keenan, Pete), he delayed Jackson's progress a few minutes—just long enough to throw into position all the artillery that was within reach. He ordered the guns loaded with grape and canister, and depressed enough to make the shot strike the ground half wav between their line and the edge of the woods. When the Confederate column emerged, it met such a storm of iron as no troops could pass through. About this time Jackson fell, and before any new Manoeuvres could be undertaken darkness put an end to the day's work. He received the brevet of lieutenant-colonel for Antietam in 1862, was promoted major-general of volunteers in June, 1863, participated in the numerous actions that preceded the battle of Gettysburg, was commander-in-chief of cavalry in that action, and was brevetted colonel. 2 July. 1863. He was transferred to Missouri in 1864, drove the forces under General Sterling Price from the state, and in March, 1865, was brevetted brigadier-general in the U. S. Army for gallant and meritorious conduct in that campaign, and major-general for services throughout the Civil War. He resigned in 1868, was U. S. Collector of Revenue for several years, and subsequently president of the Terre Haute and Cincinnati Railroad. In May, 1888, he was placed on the retired list, with the rank of colonel, U. S. A.  Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 40.

PLEASUREVILLE, KENTUCKY, June 9, 1864. Kentucky State Guards. During Morgan's Kentucky raid a train containing the state property was started from Frankfort under guard of citizens, militia, and clerks. When it arrived near Pleasureville the road was discovered to be on fire and the engine was immediately reversed. Confederates in the bushes at once opened a fire on the train, but notwithstanding that every 200 or 300 yards it had to be stopped to remove obstructions from the track, it reached Frankfort without a man of the guard being killed or wounded. Plum Butte, Kansas, June 12, 1865. A report from Bvt. Brigadier-General James H. Ford, commanding the district of upper Arkansas, states that on the same day that the Indians attacked a train at Cow creek station, they also attacked one at Plum Butte, but were driven off without loss. This is the only official mention of the affair.


PLUM CREEK, NEBRASKA, December 8, 1864. Troops of Eastern Sub-district of Nebraska. The itinerary of the sub-district states that on the 8th a small body of Cheyennes attacked a train and its escort of 18 men at Plum creek but were repulsed. In their attack the Indians lost 3 killed, and killed 1 of the escort. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 696-697.


PLONGEE. The dip or declension of the superior slope of the parapet, is called the plongee. The amount of it is regulated by the distance of the nearest spot, to which the fire of musketry is to be directed; that %, generally, the exterior edge of the ditch in front of it. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 464).


PLUM POINT, TENNESSEE, May 10, 1862. U. S. Gunboats. Brigadier-General W. K. Strong, reported from Cairo, Illinois, on the 11th, as follows: "The rebel gunboats and rams made an attack on our flotilla yesterday morning. Two of their gunboats were blown up and one sunk. The remainder returned with all possible haste to the protection of Fort Pillow." The attack was made at Plum Point, 4 miles above Fort Pillow, and according to Confederate reports none of their vessels was seriously injured, though they admit a loss of 3 killed and 10 or 12 wounded. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 697.


PLUMB, Joseph, New York, abolitionist leader (Sorin, 1971)


PLUMB, Theron, New York, abolitionist leader (Sorin, 1971)


PLUMLY, Benjamin R., Trenton, New Jersey, abolitionist, American Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1846-1849.


PLUMLY, Rebecca, abolitionist, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Yellin, 1994, p. 73)


PLUMB, Joseph, New York, abolitionist leader (Sorin, 1971)


PLUMB, Joseph, pioneer, born in Paris, Oneida County, New York, 27 June, 1791; died in Cattaraugus, New York, 25 May, 1870. He settled in Fredonia, New York, in 1816, and after moving to New York City, and  to Ithaca and Geneva, he finally established himself in Gowanda, Erie County, New York, on the border of the Cattaraugus Reservation of Seneca Indians. He was active in benevolent and educational enterprises in behalf of this tribe, and organized the first schools and church in that community. He was a founder of the Liberty Party in 1840, and its candidate for lieutenant-governor in 1844. He owned the land upon which the town of Cattaraugus was built, and disposed of it on condition that no intoxicating liquors should be sold thereon. In one case the matter was carried to the court of appeals, and, after years of litigation, was decided in 1869 in favor of Mr. Plumb, the court sustaining the temperance restriction. He was an early member of the anti-slavery party, and declined a nomination to Congress in 1852, and the office of circuit judge. See his "Memorial" (printed privately, 1870).—His son, Edward Lee, diplomatist, born in Gowanda, New York, 17 July, 1827, has been secretary of legation and charge d'affaires in Mexico, consul-general at Havana, and was the agent in procuring the charter of the International Railway of Mexico. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 41-42.


PLUMB, Preston B., senator, born in Delaware County, Ohio, 12 October, 1837. After receiving a common-school education he became a printer, and in 1856 moved to Kansas. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1861, was a member of the legislature in 1862, subsequently reporter of the Kansas Supreme Court, and in the latter part of that year entered the National Army as a lieutenant. He served throughout the Civil War, and attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was again in the legislature in 1867-'8, was its speaker the latter year, and in 1876 was elected U. S. Senator as a Republican. He was re-elected for the term that will end in 1885. Mr. Plumb has edited and adapted a work entitled " Practice before Justice Courts in Kansas " (New York, 1875). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 42.


PLUMB, Theron, New York, abolitionist leader (Sorin, 1971)


PLUMLY, Benjamin R., Trenton, New Jersey, abolitionist, American Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1846-1849.


PLUMLY, Rebecca, abolitionist, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Yellin, 1994, p. 73)


PLUMER, William, Congressman, born in Epping, N. H., 9 October, 1789; died there, 18 September, 1854, was graduated at Harvard in 1809, studied law under his father, and was admitted to the bar in 1812. He was U. S. commissioner of loans in 1816—'17, a member of the legislature in 1818, and was elected to Congress as a Democrat, serving by re-election from 1819 till 1825. He was an ardent Abolitionist, and delivered several speeches in Congress in opposition to the admission of Missouri into the  union as a slave state. He was in the New Hampshire senate in 1827-'8, and declined a re-election in 1830, and the appointment of district attorney. He subsequently devoted himself to literary pursuits, and his last public service was as a member of the state constitutional convention in 1850. Mr. Plumer was an accomplished speaker and writer. He gave much time to historical and biographical research, and was an active member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Two volumes of his poems were printed privately (Boston, 1841 and 1843), and he published "Lyrica Sacra" (1845) and "Pastoral on the Story of Ruth " (1847), and, in part, edited the life of his father, mentioned above. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 42.


PLUMLEY, Benjamin Rush, author, born in Newton, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 10 March, 1816; died in Galveston, Texas, 9 December, 1887. He was early associated with William Lloyd Garrison in abolition movements, subsequently engaged in literary pursuits, and contributed prose and poetical sketches to the magazines. During the Civil War he served on the staff of General John C. Fremont, and subsequently he was on that of General Nathaniel P. Banks. He afterward settled in Galveston, Texas. His works in manuscript, to be issued in book-form, include "Kathleen McKinley, the Kerry Girl," "Rachel Lockwood," "Lays of the Quakers," which appeared in the "Knickerbocker "; and "Oriental Ballads," in the " Atlantic Monthly." Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 43.


PLUMMER, Joseph B, soldier, born in Barre, Massachusetts, 10 August, 1820; died near Corinth, Mississippi, 9 August, 1862. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1841, served in Florida, on the western frontier, and in the Mexican War, became lieutenant in 1848, and captain in 1853. He rendered important service to General Nathaniel Lyon in the capture of Camp Jackson, Missouri, and was severely wounded at Wilson's Creek in August, 1861. He became colonel of the 11th Missouri Volunteers in September of that year, defeated the Confederates at Fredericktown, Missouri, on 12 October, and was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers the next day. He subsequently participated in the battles of New Madrid and Island No. 10. He became major of infantry in April, 1862, served in the Mississippi Campaign, at the siege and battle of Corinth, and in pursuit of the enemy to Boonville from 1 till 11 June. His death was the result of exposure in camp. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 43.


PLUMMET. A leaden or iron weight suspended by a string, used by artificers to sound the depth of water, or to regulate the perpendicular direction of any building. Pendulums, called also plummets, which vibrate the required times of march in a minute, are of great utility; they must be in the possession of, and be constantly referred to by, each instructor of a squad. (See PENDULUM.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp. 454-465).


PLUNDER. Every officer or soldier, who shall quit his post or colors to plunder and pillage, shall suffer death or such other punishment as may be ordered by a general court-martial; (ART. 52.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 465).


PLYMOUTH, NORTH CAROLINA, September 2, 1862. Company F, 9th New York, and 1st North Carolina Infantry. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 697.


PLYMOUTH, NORTH CAROLINA, December 10, 1862. 3d Massachusetts and 1st North Carolina Infantry. At 4:30 a. m. the Federal pickets of the post of Plymouth were driven in by a considerable force of the enemy. The garrison took refuge in the custom-house and after the Confederates had succeeded in burning a large part of the town they were driven away. The Union gunboat Southfield was disabled by the enemy's first fire, and was unable to render the garrison any assistance. The roll-call of the next morning showed 30 Federals missing, 1 of whom was undoubtedly killed. The Confederates had 7 men wounded. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 697.


PLYMOUTH, NORTH CAROLINA, April 17-20, 1864. U. S. Forces commanded by Brigadier-General Henry W. Wessells. Plymouth is situated on the right bank of the Roanoke river, about 8 miles from Albemarle sound. In April, 1864, it was held by General Wessells with a force composed of the 16th Connecticut, 85th New York, 101st and 103d Pennsylvania, and two companies of North Carolina volunteer infantry; two companies of the 12th New York cavalry; two companies of the 2nd Massachusetts heavy artillery, and the 24th New York independent battery of 6 guns. The line of defenses extended from 2 miles above the town to half a mile below, the three principal redoubts being known as Forts Gray, Wessells and Williams. Along the river in front of the line were the gunboats Miami, Southfield and Ceres and the picket-boats Bombshell and Whitehead, all under command of Captain Charles W. Flusser of the U. S. navy. The total strength of the garrison was about 3,000 men. About 4 p. m. on the 17th the enemy—Hoke's, Ransom's and Kemper's brigades—advanced on the Washington road and drove in the pickets, the skirmishing continuing until dark. At daylight on the 18th the Confederates opened a heavy artillery fire on Fort Gray, at the upper end of the line of intrenchments, but the garrison there held, out and effectively replied to the enemy's cannonade. During the day the Bombshell, while communicating with Fort Gray, received several shots below her water line, but managed to reach the town, when she sank at the wharf. The Ceres, which was above Fort Gray when the attack commenced, passed down under a heavy fire and joined the squadron in front of the town, losing 9 men in killed and wounded on the trip. Early on the morning of the 19th the Confederate ram Albemarle came down the river and engaged the Southfield and Miami, sinking the former and disabling the latter, and causing the other vessels to drop down the river to the sound for safety. The Confederate land forces then surrounded the town and with the assistance of the Albemarle succeeded in capturing Fort Wessells, but at all other points they were repulsed with heavy loss. At daylight on the 20th the attack was again renewed. Fort Gray was captured after a desperate fight, in which the enemy lost heavily, and Wessells withdrew all his men to Fort Williams, which was an enclosed work near the center of the line. This gave the enemy possession of the town and in a short time an artillery fire was opened upon the fort from four different directions. An infantry assault on the redoubt was repulsed, but the steady cannonade from the ram and the land batteries soon began to tell and at 10 a. m. Wessells displayed a flag of truce, asking for a conference with the Confederate commander. The surrender gave the Confederates possession of the government stores at Plymouth and all the Union troops became prisoners of war. The total loss in killed, wounded and captured was 2,834 men. On the 13th Wessells had asked for reinforcements, but General Butler declined to send additional troops. Major-General John J. Peck, commanding the District of North Carolina, directed General Palmer to send all his available infantry to Wessells' assistance, and these troops had reached the mouth of the Roanoke, when news of the surrender was received. Had Wessells received reinforcements when he asked for them there is no doubt that the Confederates would have met with an ignominious defeat. As it was he held out for more than three days against a force that outnumbered his own at least five to one. Plymouth, North Carolina, October 31, 1864. (See Naval Volume.) The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 697-698.


POCAHONTAS, ARKANSAS, April 21, 1862. Army of the Southwest. Confederate accounts (unofficial) mention a skirmish with General Curtis' advance at Pocahontas on this date, but do not state what Confederate troops were engaged nor give any results of the action. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 698.


POCAHONTAS, TENNESSEE, September 25, 1862. (See Davis' Bridge, same date.)


Pocahontas County, West Virginia, January 22, 1863. 2nd West Virginia Infantry and 1st West Virginia Cavalry. As an incident of a scout in this county the detachment under Major Henry C. Flesher, stopped for the night at Gibson's, where the Confederates, who had been pursuing from Cockleytown, attacked the rear, killing 2 men and capturing 15. Owing to the exhausted condition of the horses the Federals were unable to pursue when the enemy withdrew. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 698.


POCOTALIGO, SOUTH CAROLINA, May 29, 1862. 50th Pennsylvania, Detachments of 8th Michigan and 79th New York Infantry and 1st Massachusetts Cavalry. Colonel Benjamin C. Christ, commanding the detachment, left Beaufort on the night of the 28th to make a demonstration on the railroad. The command was on the main-land by daylight and the march was at once begun to Port Royal ferry. Two miles from the ferry the enemy's pickets were encountered and steadily driven back until the column reached the causeway leading into Pocotaligo. This was taken after some rather severe fighting, and one company advanced over the bridge, all of which had been removed except the string pieces. Although it took considerable time some 300 more men were sent over in this way and the Confederates retreated to the woods. The object of the expedition having been accomplished Christ withdrew to Garden's corners, the enemy's cavalry following for some distance. The casualties were 2 killed and 9 wounded on the Federal side and 2 killed, 6 wounded and 1 missing of the enemy. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, pp. 698-699.


POCOTALIGO, SOUTH CAROLINA, October 22, 1862. The operations about Pocotaligo on this date included the skirmishes at Caston's and Frampton's plantations, an account of which is given under the title of "Brannan's Expedition from Hilton Head." The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 699.


POCOTALIGO, SOUTH CAROLINA, January 14-16, 1865. 17th Army Corps. Pursuant to orders from Major-General Oliver O. Howard, commanding the right wing of Sherman's army in the campaign of the Carolinas, Major General Frank P. Blair moved from Beaufort with the 17th corps to establish a depot of supplies at the mouth of Pocotaligo creek, where easy water communication could be had with Hilton Head. Blair moved via Port Royal ferry, where a pontoon was laid, and about 5 miles from the ferry the enemy was encountered, strongly intrenched. One brigade of the 3d division turned the position, driving the Confederates back toward Pocotaligo. At Stony creek another detachment was found drawn up behind a barricade, but it was flanked out by General Leggett with a part of the 3d division, and this body also fell back toward Pocotaligo. On the 14th the main force of the enemy was found in a strong position at Pocotaligo, and as soon as Blair's advance appeared, fire was opened with both artillery and musketry. Skirmishers were thrown forward through a flooded rice field to within musket range, but before any decisive movement could be carried out darkness fell and put a stop to operations. Early the next morning it was discovered that the enemy had evacuated his works and Blair moved on to Pocotaligo. On the 16th an expedition was sent out to open communications with the 15th corps, but a strong force of Confederate cavalry was encountered and the expedition returned without having accomplished its purpose. During the engagements in this movement the losses were slight on both sides.


POCOTALIGO, SOUTH CAROLINA, January 26, 1865. The only official mention of an affair on this date is that of Confederate General Joseph Wheeler, who stated in a despatch to General McLaws that his pickets were driven in by a large force of the Federals. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 699.


POCOTALIGO BRIDGE, SOUTH CAROLINA, October 21-23, 1862. (See Brannan's Expedition from Hilton Head.) The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 699.


POCOTALIGO ROAD, SOUTH CAROLINA, December 20, 1864. Detachment of the 33d U. S. Colored Infantry. Lieutenant-Colonel Trowbridge left camp at 3:30 p. m. with 300 men, and when near Stewart's plantation, some 3 miles beyond the Union picket line, he encountered a strong cavalry picket line of the enemy, posted with their left on the Pocotaligo river and the right on a swamp on the west side of the road. Trowbridge sent two companies, under Major Whitney, to get between the Confederates and the swamp with a view to cutting off their retreat, but the movement was discovered, the enemy opening fire on Whitney's men and then falling back on the reserves, some 30o strong. Trowbridge then formed line of battle and charged, when the enemy broke and fled, leaving 1 man dead on the field. A number of abandoned haversacks, guns, blankets, etc., indicated a more severe loss. The Union casualties were 7 men wounded. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 699.


POE, Orlando Metcalfe, soldier, born in Navarre. Stark County, Ohio, 7 March, 1832. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1856, and assigned to the Topographical Engineers. He became 1st lieutenant in 1860, and was on lake survey duty till the beginning of the Civil War, when he engaged in the organization of Ohio volunteers. He was Chief Topographical Engineer of the Department of the Ohio from 13 May till 15 June, 1861, being engaged in rcconnoissances in northern Kentucky and western Virginia, participated in the battle of Rich Mountain, on the staff of General George B. McClellan. He became colonel of the 2d Michigan Volunteers in September, 1861, was in command of his regiment in the defences of Washington, and took part in the principal battles of the Virginia Peninsular Campaign. He was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, 29 November, 1862, was engaged at Fredericksburg, commanded a division of the 9th Army Corps from February to March, 1863, and became captain of U. S. Engineers in that month, and subsequently chief engineer of the 23d Corps of the Army of the Ohio. He occupied a similar post in the army of General William T. Sherman in the invasion of Georgia, the march to the sea, and through the Carolinas, until the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston. He received the brevet of major for gallant service at the siege of Knoxville on 6 July, 1864, that of lieutenant-colonel for the capture of Atlanta on 1 September, 1864, and that of colonel for Savannah on 21 December, 1864. In March, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general for " gallant and meritorious service in the campaign terminating in the surrender of the insurgent army under General Joseph E. Johnston." He was engineer secretary of the U. S. Light-House Board in 1865-70, commissioned major in the latter year, constructed the light-house on Spectacle Reef, Lake Huron, in 1870-'3, and became a member of the Light-House Board in 1874. He was aide-de-camp to General William T. Sherman in 1873-'84, and at the same time was in charge of the river and harbor works from Lake Erie to Lake Superior. In 1882 he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of engineers. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 47.


POHICK CHURCH, VIRGINIA, August 18, 1861. Detachment of 1st New York Cavalry. A company sent out from Alexandria under Captain William H. Boyd met a party of 20 Confederate cavalry at Pohick Church. Boyd charged, routing the enemy completely and wounding 2 of them. One Federal soldier was killed and 2 more were reported missing. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 699.


POHICK CHURCH, VIRGINIA, December 18, 1861. 115th Pennsylvania Infantry and 1st New Jersey Cavalry. This affair was a skirmish between some Confederate pickets, 6 or 8 in number, and a Federal reconnoitering party. The enemy fled at the first volley. No casualties were reported. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, pp. 699-700.


POHICK CHURCH, VIRGINIA, March 5, 1862. Detachment of 63d Pennsylvania Infantry. A detachment of this regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel A. S. M. Morgan, was fired into from ambush by Confederates and before reinforcements could arrive the enemy had escaped in the thick underbrush. Three of the Union party, 2 of them officers, were killed and 1 man wounded. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 700.


POINDEXTER'S FARM, VIRGINIA, July 1, 1862. The Poindexter farm lay adjacent to Malvern hill, where was fought the last of the Seven Days' battles in McClellan's Peninsular campaign of 1862. (See Seven Days' Battles.) The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 700.


POINT-BLANK. The point-blank is the second point at which the line of sight intersects the trajectory of the projectile. The natural point-blank is when the natural line of sight is horizontal. The pointblank made by the use of the hausse, is called an artificial point-blank.


In the British service, the point-blank distance is the distance at which the projectile strikes the level ground on which the carriage stands, the axis of the piece being horizontal. This definition conveys a better idea of the power of the piece than the French and American definition. For the same piece, the point-blank distance increases with the charge of powder; for the same initial velocity, a large projectile has a greater point-blank distance than a small one; a solid shot than a hollow one; and an oblong projectile than a round one. (See FIRING.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 465).


POINTING. To point a gun is to give it such direction, and elevation or depression, that the shot may strike the object. The general rule is, first give the direction, and then the elevation or depression. In pointing mortars, the elevation is first given and then the direction. The direction of a gun or howitzer is given by directing the line of metal upon the object. The elevation or depression depends upon the charge, the distance and the position of the object above or below the battery, and it is ascertained by reference to tables of fire, or by experiment; and the proper angle is given by means of instruments the gunner's quadrant or tangent-scales. In the absence of tangent-scales or quadrant, the gunner may point his gun by placing one or more fingers of the left hand upon the base-ring perpendicularly to the axis, and using them as a breech-sight.

In pointing a mortar, the elevation is given by applying the quadrant to the face of the piece, and adjusting the quoin until the required number of degrees is indicated. The direction is given by determining practically two fixed points which shall be in a line with the piece and object, and sufficiently near to be readily distinguished by the eye. These points being covered by the plummet, determine a vertical plane which, when including the line of metal, becomes the plane of fire. Various methods are given for the accomplishment of this object in Roberts's Handbook of Artillery. (Consult Instructions for Field and Heavy Artillery, published by the War Department.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 465).


POINT ISABEL, TEXAS, August 9, 1864. Fatigue party of 81st Corps d'Afrique Engineers. Seventy-five men were sent from Brazos Santiago to Point Isabel under Captain Jordan for the purpose of procuring lumber. About noon they were attacked by 150 Confederate cavalry and some sharp skirmishing ensued, during which the enemy lost 2 killed and several wounded. Fearing for the safety of the steamer in which they had been transported, Jordan withdrew and returned to Brazos Santiago. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 700.


POINT LOOKOUT, VIRGINIA, May 13, 1864. Detachment of the 36th U. S. Colored Infantry and Seamen from the Potomac Flotilla. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 700.


POINT MOUNTAIN TURNPIKE, WEST VIRGINIA, September 11, 1861. Detachment of 15th Indiana Infantry. Companies D and F, under Captain William J. Templeton, were sent to take position at the junction of the Point Mountain and the Huntersville pikes. On the morning of the 11th Templeton's pickets were driven in and Templeton, unable to effectually check the enemy's advance, sent for reinforcements. Another portion of the 15th Indiana was sent him, but learning soon afterward that a larger force was on its way to flank him he retired, having lost 2 killed. 3 wounded and 1 captured. The Confederate loss was not reported. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 700.


POINT OF ROCKS, KANSAS, January 20, 1865. Point of Rocks, Maryland, August 5, 1861. 28th New York Infantry. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 700.


POINT OF ROCKS, MARYLAND, September 24, 1861. 28th Pennsylvania Infantry. About 9:30 a. m. between 100 and 200 Confederates attacked the camp of the 28th Pennsylvania from the ruins of the bridge across the Potomac at Point of Rocks. The firing was from musketry but the Federals replied with artillery, which soon drove the enemy from his position. No casualties were reported. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 700.


POINT OF ROCKS, MARYLAND, December 19, 1861. 28th Pennsylvania Infantry. About 10 a. m. a Confederate 2-gun battery opened upon the camp of the 28th Pennsylvania The Federal infantry were deployed and placed in positions of safety, while the artillery replied with such vigor and accuracy that in half an hour the Confederates retired. There were no casualties in the Union camp and if the enemy suffered any the fact was not reported. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 700.


Point Of Rocks, Maryland, September 7, 1862. Russell's Company, 1st Maryland Cavalry. While the Confederate army was crossing the Potomac Captain Russell, notwithstanding the vastly superior numbers of the enemy, made a dashing attack, killed 3 men, captured 17 prisoners and made his escape without casualty. The affair was of slight importance, but it was one of the most gallant actions of the war. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 700.


POINT OF ROCKS, MARYLAND, June 17, 1863. Detachment, 2nd Maryland Potomac Home Brigade. Captains Summers and Vernon were sent with their companies to seize and hold Point of Rocks until further orders. When near their destination they were overpowered by White's battalion of cavalry, which greatly outnumbered their force. Summers states the Union casualties as 1 killed, 3 wounded and 4 missing. White's report of the same affair says he killed 4, wounded 20 and captured 53, without the loss of a man. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, pp. 700-701.


POINT OF ROCKS, MARYLAND, June 9, 1864. 2nd U. S. Colored Cavalry. Point of Rocks, Maryland, July 5, 18564. 8th Illinois Cavalry. Lieutenant Colonel David B. Clendenin with his regiment arrived at Point of Rocks from Washington at 2 p. m. to find Mosby, with 2 pieces of artillery and 200 men, posted on the south bank of the Potomac. A skirmish of half an hour ensued, during which Clendenin lost no men and the enemy 1 killed and 2 wounded. Later in the evening the same regiment frustrated an attempt on the part of Mosby to cross the river at Noland's ferry. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 701.


POINT PLEASANT, LOUISIANA, June 25, 1864. 64th U. S. Colored Infantry. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 701.


Point Pleasant, Missouri, March 6-18, 1862. (See New Madrid, same date.)


POINT PLEASANT, WEST VIRGINIA, March 30, 1863. One company under Captain John D. Carter. The reports of this affair are meager. Confederates attacked the garrison and forced it to take refuge in the court-house. After some hours of fighting (whether with or without the aid of reinforcements is not recorded) the enemy was repulsed, having lost 72 in killed, wounded and missing. The Federal loss was 2 killed, 3 wounded and 6 captured. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 701.


POINT WASHINGTON, FLORIDA, February 9, 1864. 7th Vermont Infantry. Some 32 refugees, under Captain James L. Galloway, and Lieutenant George Ross' company of the 7th Vermont, left camp at Point Washington to move on the camp of Floyd's company of Confederates. The camp was surrounded and 52 men captured without difficulty. At noon next day, while the Federals were eating, they were attacked by 100 Confederate cavalry and after a brief skirmish were overpowered and the 2 officers and 16 men captured. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 701.


POISON SPRING, ARKANSAS, April 18, 1864. (See Camden, Arkansas, Expedition to.)


POLAND, John Scroggs, soldier, born in Princeton, Indiana, 14 October, 1836. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1861, and appointed 1st lieutenant of the 2d Infantry on 6 July, 1861. Subsequently he served with the Army of the Potomac, engaging in the battle of Bull Run, and with that army in the following campaigns, until after the battle of Gettysburg, when he was on duty in the defences of Washington. Meanwhile he had been promoted captain, and had received the brevets of major and lieutenant-colonel. In 1865 he was assigned to the U. S. Military Academy, where he remained for four years as assistant professor of geography, history, ethics, and drawing. During the ten years that followed he served principally on frontier duty, becoming, on 15 December, 1880, major of the 18th Infantry, and in 1881-'6, he was chief of the department of law at the U. S. Infantry and cavalry school in Leavenworth. Kansas, where he was also in charge in 1881-'3 of the department of military drawing. On 1 March, 1886, he was promoted lieutenant-colonel of the 21st Infantry. Colonel Poland has published " Digest of the Military Laws of the United States from 1861 to 1868 " (Boston, 1868) and "The Conventions of Geneva of 1864 and 1868, and St. Petersburg International Commission " (Leavenworth, 1886). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 49-50.


POLAND, Luke Potter, jurist, born in Westford. Vermont, 1 November. 1815: died in Waterville, Vermont, 2 July, 1887. He attended the common schools, was employed in a country store and on a farm, taught at Morristown, Vermont, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1836. He was a member of the state constitutional convention in 1843, and prosecuting attorney for the county in 1844-'5. In 1848 he was the Free-soil candidate for lieutenant-governor, and in the same year he was elected a judge of the Vermont Supreme Court. He was re-elected each successive year, becoming chief justice in 1860, until he was appointed in November, 1865, on the death of Jacob Collamer, to serve out his unexpired term in the U. S. Senate. On its conclusion he entered the house of representatives, and served from 1867 till 1875. While in the senate he secured the passage of the bankrupt law, besides originating a bill for the revision and consolidation of the statutes of the United States. As chairman of the committee on Revision in the House, he superintended the execution of his scheme of codification. He was chairman of the committee to investigate the outrages of the Ku-Klux Klan, and of the investigation committee on the Credit Mobilier Transactions; also of one on the reconstruction of the Arkansas State Government. Several times, while serving on the committee on elections, he came into conflict with other Republicans on questions regarding the admission of Democratic members from the south. He was chairman of the Vermont delegation to the Republican National Convention of 1876, and presented the name of William A. Wheeler for the vice-presidency, for which office he himself had been brought forward as a candidate. Mr. Poland was a representative in the state legislature in 1878. He was elected to Congress again in 1882. and served from 1883 till 3 March, 1885. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 50.


POLIGNAC, Camille Armand Jules Marie (po-leen-vak). Count de, soldier, born in France, 6 February, 1832. He is a descendant of the Duchess of Polignac, a favorite of Marie Antoinette. At the beginning of the Civil War he came to this country, offered his services to the Confederate government, and was made brigadier-general on 10 January, 1862, and attached to the Army of Tennessee. Subsequently he was given command of a division and commissioned major-general on 13 June, 1864. During the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-'l he served with his countrymen, and he has since been engaged in journalism and in civil engineering. On several occasions he has been sent to Algiers in charge of surveying expeditions by the French government, and his work has received special recognition. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 50.


POLK, James Knox, eleventh president of the United States, born in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, 2 November, 1795; died in Nashville, Tennessee, 15 June, 1849. He was a son of Samuel Polk, whose father, Ezekiel, was a brother of Colonel Thomas (q. v.), grandson of Robert Polk, or Pollock, who was born in Ireland and emigrated to the United States. His mother was Jane, daughter of James Knox, a resident of Iredell County, North Carolina, and a captain in the war of the Revolution. His father. Samuel, a farmer, moved in the autumn of 1806 to the rich valley of Duck River, a tributary of the Tennessee, and made a new home in a section that was erected the following year into the county of Maury. Besides cultivating the tract of land he had purchased, Samuel at intervals followed the occupation of a surveyor, acquired a fortune equal to his wants, and lived until 1827. His son James was brought up on the farm, and not only assisted in its management, but frequently accompanied his father in his surveying expeditions, during which they were often absent for weeks. He was inclined to study, often busied himself with his father's mathematical calculations, and was fond of reading. He was sent to school, and had succeeded in mastering the English branches when ill health compelled his removal. He was then placed with a merchant, but having a strong dislike to commercial pursuits, he obtained permission to return home after a few weeks' trial, and in July, 1813, was given in charge of a private tutor. In 1815 he entered the sophomore class at the University of North Carolina, of which institution his cousin, William (q. v.), was a trustee. As a student young Polk was correct, punctual, and industrious. At his graduation in 1818 he was officially acknowledged to be the best scholar in both the classics and mathematics, and delivered the Latin salutatory. In 1847 the university conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. In 1819 he entered the law-office of Felix Grundy, who was then at the head of the Tennessee bar. While pursuing his legal studies he attracted the attention of Andrew Jackson, who soon afterward was appointed governor of the territory of Florida. An intimacy was thus begun between the two men that in after-years greatly influenced the course of at least one of them. In 1820 Mr. Polk was admitted to the bar, and established himself at Columbia, the county-seat of Maury County. Here he attained such immediate success as fails to the lot of few, his career at the bar only ending with his election to the governorship in 1839. At times he practised alone, while at others he was associated successively with several of the leading practitioners of the state. Among the latter may be mentioned Aaron V. Brown and Gideon J. Pillow. Brought np as a Jeffersonian, and early taking an interest in politics, Mr. Polk was frequently heard in public as an exponent of the views of his party. So popular was his style of oratory that his services soon came to be in great demand, and he was not long in earning the title of the " Napoleon of the Stump." He was, however, an argumentative rather than a rhetorical speaker, and convinced his hearers by plainness of statement and aptness of illustration, ignoring the ad-captandum effects usually resorted to in political harangues. His first public employment was that of chief clerk to the Tennessee house of representatives, and in 1823 he canvassed the district to secure his own election to that body. During his two years in the legislature he was regarded as one of its most promising members, his ability and shrewdness m debate, his business tact, combined with his firmness and industry, secured for him a high reputation. While a member of the general assembly he obtained the passage of a law to prevent the then common practice of duelling, and, although he resided in a community where that mode of settling disputes was generally approved, he was never concerned in an "affair of honor." either as principal or as second. In August, 1825, he was elected to Congress from the Duck River District, in which he resided, by a flattering majority, and re-elected at every succeeding election until 1839, when he withdrew from the contest to become a candidate for governor. On taking his seat as a member of the 19th Congress, he found himself, with one or two exceptions, the youngest member of that body. The same habits of laborious application that had previously characterized him were now displayed on the floor of the house and in the committee-room. He was prominently connected with every leading question, and upon all he struck what proved to be the keynote for the action of his party. During the whole period of President Jackson's administration he was one of its leading supporters, and at times, on certain issues of paramount importance, its chief reliance. His maiden speech was made in defence of the proposed amendment to the constitution, giving the choice of president and vice-president directly to the people. It was distinguished bv clearness and force, copiousness of research, wealth of illustration, and cogency of argument, and at once placed its author in the front rank of congressional debaters. During the same session Mr. Polk attracted attention by his vigorous opposition to the appropriation for the Panama mission. President Adams had appointed commissioners to attend a congress proposed to be held at Panama by delegates appointed by different Spanish-American states, which, although they had virtually achieved their independence, were still at war with the mother-country. Mr. Polk, and those who thought with him, contended that such action on the part of this government would tend to involve j us in a war with Spain, and establish an unfortunate precedent for the future. In December, 1827, he was placed on the committee on foreign affairs, and some time afterward was also appointed chairman of the select committee to which , was referred that portion of the message of President Adams calling the attention of congress to the probable accumulation of a surplus in the treasury after the anticipated extinguishment of the national debt. As the head of the latter committee, he made a report denying the constitutional power of Congress to collect from the people for distribution a surplus beyond the wants of the government, and maintaining that the revenue should be reduced to the requirements of the public service. Early in 1833, as a member of the ways and means committee, he made a minority report unfavorable to the Bank of the United States, which aroused a storm of opposition, a meeting of the friends of the bank being held at Nashville. During the entire contest between the bank and President Jackson, caused by the removal of the deposits in October, 1833, Mr. Polk, now chairman of the committee, supported the executive. His speech in opening the debate summarized the material facts and arguments on the Democratic side of the question. George McDuffie, leader of the opposition, bore testimony in his concluding remarks to the boldness and manliness with which Mr. Polk had assumed the only position that could be judiciously taken. Mr. Polk was elected speaker of the house of representatives in December, 1835, and held that office till 1839. He gave to the administration of Martin Van Buren the same unhesitating support he had accorded to that of President Jackson, and, though taking no part in the discussions, he approved of the leading measures recommended by the former, including the cession of the public lands to the states, the preemption law, and the proposal to establish an independent treasury, and exerted his influence to secure their adoption. He was the speaker during five sessions, and it was his fortune to preside over the house at a period when party feelings were excited to an unusual degree. Notwithstanding the fact that during the first session more appeals were taken from his decisions than were ever known before, he was uniformly sustained by the house, and frequently by leading members of the Whig Party. Although he was opposed to the doctrines of the anti-slavery reformers, we have the testimony of their leader in the house, John Quincy Adams, to the effect that Speaker Polk uniformly extended to him "every kindness and courtesy imaginable." On leaving Congress. Mr. Polk became the candidate of the Democrats of Tennessee for governor. They had become disheartened by a series of disasters and defeats caused primarily by the defection of John Bell and Judge Hugh L. White. Under these circumstances it was evident that no one but the strongest man in the party could enter the canvass with the slightest prospect of success, and it was doubtful whether even he could carry off the prize. On being asked, Mr. Polk at once cheerfully consented to allow his name to be used. He was nominated in the autumn of 1838, but, owing to his congressional duties, was unable fairly to enter upon the canvass until the spring of 1839. His opponent was Newton Cannon, also a Democrat, who then held the office. The contest was spirited, and Mr. Polk was elected by over 2,500 majority. On 14 October he took the oath of office. In his inaugural address he touched upon the relations of the state and Federal governments, declared that the latter had no constitutional power to incorporate a national bank, took strong ground against the creation of a surplus Federal revenue by taxation, asserted that "the agitation of the Abolitionists can by no possibility produce good to any portion of the Union, but must, if persisted in, lead to incalculable mischief," and discussed at length other topics, especially bearing upon the internal policy of Tennessee. In 1841 Mr. Polk j was again a candidate for the governorship, although his defeat was a foregone conclusion in view of the political whirlwind that had swept over the country in 1840 and resulted in the election of William Henry Harrison to the presidency. In Tennessee the Harrison electoral ticket had received more than 12,000 majority. Although to overcome this was impossible, Mr. Polk entered upon the canvass with his usual energy and earnestness. He could not secure the defeat of James C. Jones, the opposing Whig candidate, one of the most popular members of his party in the state, but he did succeed in cutting down the opposition majority to about 3,000. In 1843 Mr. Polk was once more a candidate; but this time Governor Jones's majority was nearly 4,000. In 1839 Mr. Polk had been nominated by the legislature of Tennessee as its candidate for vice-president on the ticket with Martin Van Buren, and other states had followed the example: but Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, seemed to be the choice of the great body of the Democratic Party, and he was accordingly nominated. From the date of Van Buren's defeat in 1840 until within a few weeks of the meeting of the National Democratic Convention at Baltimore in 1844, public opinion in the party undoubtedly pointed to his renomination, but when in April of the latter year President Tyler concluded a treaty between the government of the United States and the republic of Texas, providing for the annexation of the latter to the Union, a new issue was introduced into American politics that was destined to change not only the platforms of parties, but the future history and topography of the country itself. On the question whether Texas should be admitted, the greatest divergence of opinion among public men prevailed. The Whig Party at the north '' sed annexation, on the grounds that it would an act of bad faith to Mexico, that it would involve the necessity of assuming the debt of the young republic, amounting to ten or twelve million dollars, and that it would further increase the area of slave territory. At the south the Whigs were divided, one section advocating the new policy, while the other concurred with their party friends at the north on the first two grounds of objection. The Democrats generally favored annexation, but a portion of the party at the north, and a few of its members residing in the slave states, opposed it. Mr. Van Buren and Mr. Clay '' very nearly in their opinions, being in favor of annexation if the American people desired it, provided that the consent of Mexico could be obtained, or at least that efforts should be made to obtain it. In this crisis Mr. Polk declared his views in no uncertain tones. It being understood that he would be a candidate for vice-president, * letter was addressed to him by a committee of the citizens of Cincinnati, asking for an expression of his sentiments on the subject. In his reply, dated 22 April, 1844, he said: “I have no hesitation in declaring that I am in favor of the immediate reannexation of Texas to the government and territory of the United States. The proof is fair and satisfactory to my own mind that Texas once constituted a part of the territory of the United States, the title to which I regard to have been as indisputable as that to any portion of our territory.” He also added that “the country west of the Sabine, and now called Texas, was [in 1819] most unwisely ceded away”; that the people and government of the republic were most anxious for annexation, and that, if their prayer was rejected, there was danger that she might become “a dependency if not a colony of Great Britain.” This letter, strongly in contrast with the hesitating phrases contained in that of ex-President Van Buren of 20 April on the same subject, elevated its author to the presidency. When the Baltimore Convention met on 27 May, it was found that, while Mr. Van Buren could not secure the necessary two-third vote, his friends numbered more than one third of the delegates present, and were thus in a position to dictate the name of the successful candidate. As it was also found that they were inflexibly opposed to Messrs. Cass, Johnson, Buchanan, and the others whose names had been presented, Mr. Polk was introduced as the candidate of conciliation, and nominated with alacrity and unanimity. George M. Dallas was nominated for vice-president. In his letter of acceptance, Mr. Polk declared that, if elected, he should enter upon “the discharge of the high and solemn duties of the office with the settled purpose of not being a candidate for reelection.” '. an exciting canvass, Mr. Polk was elected over his distinguished opponent, Henry Clay, by about 40,000 majority, on the popular vote, exclusive of that of South Carolina, whose electors were chosen by the legislature of the state; while in the electoral college he received 175 votes to 105 that were cast for Mr. Clay. On 4 March, 1845, Mr. Polk was inaugurated. In his inaugural address, after recounting the blessings conferred upon the nation by the Federal Union, he said: “To perpetuate them, it is our sacred duty to preserve it. Who shall assign limits to the achievements of free minds and free hands under the protection of this glorious Union? No treason to mankind, since the organization of society, would be equal in atrocity to that of him who would lift his hand to destroy it. He would overthrow the noblest structure of human wisdom which protects himself and his fellow-man. He would stop the progress of free government and involve his country either in anarchy or in despotism.” In selecting his cabinet, the new president was singularly fortunate. It comprised several of the most distinguished members of the Democratic Party, and all sections of the Union were represented. James Buchanan, fresh from his long experience in the senate, was named Secretary of State; Robert J. Walker, also an ex-senator and one of the best authorities on the national finances, was Secretary of the Treasury; to William L. Marcy, ex-Governor of New York, was confided the war portfolio; literature was honored in the appointment of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy; Cave Johnson, an honored son of Tennessee, was made £: and John Y. Mason, who had been a member of President Tyler's cabinet, was first Attorney-General and afterward Secretary of the Navy. When Congress met in the following December there was a Democratic majority in £ branches. In his message the president condemned all anti-slavery agitation, recommended a sub-treasury and a tariff for revenue, and declared that the annexation of Texas was a matter that concerned only the latter and the United States, no foreign country having any right to interfere. Congress was also informed that the American Army under General Zachary Taylor had been ordered to occupy, and had occupied, the western bank of Nueces River, beyond which Texas had never hitherto exercised jurisdiction. On 29 December, Texas was admitted into the Union, and two days later an act was passed extending the United States revenue system over the doubtful territory beyond the Nueces. Even these measures did not elicit a declaration of war from the Mexican authorities, who still declared their willingness to negotiate concerning the disputed territory between the Nueces and the Rio Grande. These negotiations, however, came to nothing, and the president, in accordance with General Taylor's suggestion, ordered a forward movement, in obedience to which that officer advanced from his camp at Corpus Christi toward the Rio Grande, and occupied the district in debate. Thus brought face to face with Mexican troops, he was attacked early in May with 6,000 men by General Arista, who was badly beaten at Palo Alto with less than half that number. The next day Taylor attacked Arista at Resaca de la Palma, and drove him across the Rio Grande. On receipt of the news of these events in Washington, President Polk sent a message to Congress, in which he declared that Mexican troops had at last shed the blood of American citizens on American soil, and asked for a formal declaration of war. A bill was accordingly introduced and passed by both houses, recognizing the fact that hostilities had been begun, and appropriating $10,000,000 for its prosecution. Its preamble read as follows: "Whereas, by the act of the republic of Mexico, a state of war exists between that government and the United States." The Whigs protested against this statement as untrue, alleging that the president had provoked retaliatory action by ordering the army into Mexican territory, and Abraham Lincoln introduced in the house of representatives what became known as the " spot resolutions," calling upon the president to designate the spot of American territory whereon the outrage had been committed. Nevertheless, the Whigs voted for the bill and generally supported the war until its conclusion. On 8 August a second message was received from the president, asking for money with which to purchase territory from Mexico, that the dispute might be settled by negotiation. A bill appropriating $2,000,000 for this purpose at once brought up the question of slavery extension into new territory, and David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, in behalf of many northern Democrats, offered an amendment applying to any newly acquired territory the provision of the ordinance of 1781, to the effect that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said territory except for crime, whereof the party shall first be duly convicted." The Whigs and northern Democrats united secured its passage, but it was sent to the senate too late to be acted upon. During the same session war with England regarding the Oregon question seemed imminent. By the treaties of 1803 with France, and of 1819 with Spain, the United States had acquired the rights of those powers on the Pacific Coast north of California. The northern boundary of the ceded territory was unsettled. The United States claimed that the line of 54° 40' north latitude was such boundary, while Great Britain maintained that it followed the Columbia River. By the Convention of 1827 the disputed territory had been held jointly by both countries, the arrangement being terminable by either country on twelve months' notice. The Democratic Convention of 1844 had demanded the reoccupation of the whole of Oregon up to 54° 40', " with or without war with England," a demand popularly summarized in the campaign rallying-cry of "Fifty four forty or fight! The annexation of Texas having been accomplished, the Whigs now began to urge the Democrats to carry out their promise regarding Oregon, and, against the votes of the extreme southern Democrats, the president was directed to give the requisite twelve months' notice. Further negotiations ensued, which resulted in the offer by Great Britain to yield her claim to the unoccupied territory between the 49th parallel and Columbia River, and acknowledge that parallel as the northern boundary. As the president had subscribed to the platform of the Baltimore Convention, he threw upon the senate the responsibility of deciding whether the claim of the United States to the whole of Oregon should be insisted upon, or the compromise proposed by her majesty's government accepted. The senate, by a vote of 41 to 14, decided in favor of the latter alternative, and on 15 June, 1846, the treaty was signed. Two other important questions were acted upon at the first session of the 39th Congress, the tariff and internal improvements. The former had been a leading issue in the presidential contest of 1844. The act of 1842 had violated the principles of the compromise bill of 1833, and the opinions of the two candidates for the presidency, on this Issue, were supposed to be well defined previous to the termination of their congressional career. Mr. Polk was committed to the policy of a tariff for revenue, and Mr. Clay, when the compromise act was under discussion, had pledged the party favorable to protection to a reduction of the imports to a revenue standard. Previous to his nomination, Mr. Clay made a speech at Raleigh, North Carolina, in which he advocated discriminating duties for the protection of domestic industry. This was followed by his letter in September, 1844. in which he gave in his adhesion to the tariff of 1842. Probably alarmed at the prospect of losing votes at the south through his opposition to the annexation of Texas, and seeing defeat certain unless he could rally to his support the people of the north, Mr. Clay made one concession after another, until he had virtually abandoned the ground he occupied in 1833, and made himself amenable to his own rebuke uttered at that time: "Whatman," he had then asked, " who is entitled to deserve the character of an American statesman, would stand up in his place in either house of Congress and disturb the treaty of peace and amity" Mr. Polk, on the other hand, had courted criticism by his Kane letter, dated 19 June, 1844, which was so ambiguously worded as to give ground for the charge that his position was identical with that held by Henry Clay. In his first annual message, however, he explained his views with precision and ability. The principles that would govern his administration were proclaimed with great boldness, and the objectionable features of the tariff of 1842 were investigated and exposed, while Congress was urged to substitute ad valorem for specific and minimum duties. "The terms 'protection to American industry,'" he went on to say, "are of popular import, but they should apply under a just system to all the various branches of industry in our country. The farmer, or planter, who toils yearly in his fields, is engaged in ‘domestic industry,' and is as much entitled to have his labor 'protected' as the manufacturer, the man of commerce, the navigator, or the mechanic, who are engaged also in 'domestic industry' in their different pursuits. The joint labors of all these classes constitute the aggregate of the 'domestic industry' of the nation, and they are equally entitled to the nation's 'protection.' No one of them can justly claim to be the exclusive recipients of 'protection,' which can only be afforded by increasing burdens on the 'domestic industry ' of others." In accordance with the president's views, a bill providing for a purely revenue tariff, and based on a plan prepared by Secretary Walker, was introduced in the house of representatives on 15 June. After an unusually able discussion, a vote was reached on 3 July, when the measure was adopted by 114 ayes to 95 nays. But it was nearly defeated in the senate, where the vote was tied, and only the decision of Vice-President Dallas in its favor saved the bill. The occasion was memorable, party spirit ran high, and a crowded senate-chamber hung on the lips of that official as he announced the reasons for his course. In conclusion he said: "If by thus acting it be my misfortune to offend any portion of those who honored me with their suffrages, I have only to say to them, and to my whole country, that 1 prefer the deepest obscurity of private life, with an unwounded conscience, to the glare of official eminence spotted by a sense of moral delinquency!" Regarding the question of internal improvements, Mr. Polk's administration was signalized by the struggle between the advocates of that policy and the executive. A large majority in both houses of Congress, including members of both parties, were in favor of a lavish expenditure of the public money. On 24 July, 1846, the senate passed the bill known as the River-and-harbor improvement bill precisely as it had passed the house the previous March, but it was vetoed by the president in a message of unusual power. The authority of the general government to make internal improvements within the states was thoroughly examined, and reference was made to the corruptions of the system that expended money in particular sections, leaving other parts of the country without government assistance. Undaunted by the opposition of the executive, the house of representatives, on 20 February, 1847, passed, by a vote of 89 to 72, a second bill making appropriations amounting to $600,000 for the same purpose. It was carried through the senate on the last day of the second session. Although the president could have defeated the objectionable measure by a " pocket veto," in spite of the denunciations with which he was assailed by the politicians and the press, he again boldly met the question, and sent in a message that, for thoroughness of investigation, breadth of thought, clearness and cogency of argument, far excels any of the state papers to which he has put his name. The conflict between the friends and opponents of slavery was also a prominent feature of President Polk's administration, and was being constantly waged on the floor of Congress. During the second session of the 39th Congress the house attached the Wilmot Proviso to a bill appropriating $3,000,000 for the purchase of territory from Mexico, as it had been appended to one appropriating $2,000,000 for the same purpose at the previous session. The senate passed the bill without the amendment, and the house was compelled to concur. A bill to organize the territory of Oregon, with the proviso attached, passed by the hitter body was not acted upon by the senate. A motion made in the house of representatives by a southern member to extend the Missouri compromise-line of 30° 30' to the Pacific was lost by a sectional vote, north against south, 81 to 104. A treaty of peace having been signed with Mexico, 2 February, 1848, after a series of victories, a bill was passed by the senate during the first session of the 30th Congress, establishing territorial governments in Oregon. New Mexico, and California, with a provision that all questions concerning slavery in those territories should be referred to the U. S. Supreme Court for decision. It received the votes of the members from the slave-states, but was lost in the house. A bill was finally passed organizing the territory of Oregon without slavery. During the second session a bill to organize the territories of New Mexico and California with the Wilmot proviso was passed by the house, but the senate refused to consider it. Late in the session the latter body attached a bill permitting such organization with slavery to the general appropriation bill as a " rider." but, as the house objected, was compelled to strike it off. In his message to Congress approving the Oregon Territorial Bill Mr. Polk said: "I have an abiding confidence that the sober reflection and sound patriotism of all the states will bring them to the conclusion that the dictate of wisdom is to follow the example of those who have gone before us, and settle this dangerous question on the Missouri compromise or some other equitable compromise which would respect the rights of all, and prove satisfactory to the different portions of the union." President Polk was not a slavery propagandist, and consequently had no pro-slavery policy. On the contrary, in the settlement of the Oregon question, he did all in his power to secure the exclusion of slavery from that territory, and, although the final vote was not taken until within a few days after his retirement, the battle was fought and the decision virtually reached during his administration. Mr. Polk, in a letter dated 19 May. 1848, reiterated his decision not to become a candidate again for the presidency, and retired at the close of his term of office to his home in Nashville with the intention not to re-enter public life. His health, never robust, had been seriously impaired by the' unavoidable cares of office and his habit of devoting too much time and strength to the execution of details. Within a few weeks after his permanent return to Tennessee he fell a prey to a disease that would probably have only slightly affected a man in ordinary health, and a few hours sufficed to bring the attack to a fatal termination. Thus ended the life of one of whose public career it may still be too soon to judge with entire impartiality. Some of the questions on which he was called upon to act are still, nearly forty years after his death, party issues. Mr. Polk evidently believed with Mr. Clay that a Union all slave or all free was an impossible Utopia, and that there was no good reason why the north and the south should not continue to live for many years to come as they had lived since the adoption of the constitution. He deprecated agitation of the slavery question by the Abolitionists, and believed that the safety of the commonwealth lay in respecting the compromises that had hitherto furnished a modus vivendi between the slave and the free states. As to the annexation of Texas and the war with Mexico, his policy was undoubtedly the result of conviction, sincerity, and good faith. He believed, with John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, that Texas had been unwisely ceded to Spain in 1819, and that it was desirable, from a geographical point of view, that it should be re-annexed, seeing that it formed a most valuable part of the valley of the Mississippi. He was also of opinion that in a military point of view its acquisition was desirable for the protection of New Orleans, the great commercial mart of the southwestern section of the Union, which in time of war would be endangered by the close proximity of a hostile power having control of the upper waters of Red River. Holding these views and having been elevated to the presidency on a platform that expressly demanded that they £ embodied in action, and Texas again made a part of the national domain, he would have indeed been recreant to his trust had he attempted to carry out as president any policy antagonistic to that he had advocated when a candidate for that office. The war in which he became involved in carrying out these views was a detail that the nation was compelled to leave largely to his judgment. The president believed that the representations and promises of the Mexican authorities could not be trusted, and that the only argument to which they would pay attention was that of force. Regarding his famous order to General Taylor to march toward the Rio Grande, it was suggested by that officer himself, and for his gallant action in the war the latter was elected the successor of President Polk. The settlement of the Oregon boundary-line was made equally obligatory upon the new president on taking office. He offered Great Britain the line that was finally accepted; but when the British minister hastily rejected the offer, the entire country applauded his suggestion to that power of what the boundary might possibly be in case of war. But whatever the motives of the executive as to Texas and Oregon, the results of the administration of James K. Polk were brilliant in the extreme. He was loyally upheld by the votes of all parties in Congress, abundantly '' with the sinews of war, and seconded by gallant and competent officers in the field. For $15,000,000, in addition to the direct war expenses, the southwestern boundary of the country was carried to the Rio Grande, while the provinces of New Mexico and Upper California were added to the national domain. What that cession meant in increased wealth it is perhaps even yet too soon to compute. Among the less dazzling but still solid advantages conferred upon the £ Mr. Polk's term of office was the adoption by Congress, on his recommendation, of the public warehousing system that has since proved so valuable an aid to the commerce of the country; the negotiation of the 35th article of the treaty with Grenada, ratified 10 June, 1848, which secured for our citizens the right of way across the Isthmus of Panama; the postal treaty of 15 December, 1848, with Great Britain, and the negotiation of commercial treaties with the secondary states of the Germanic confederation by which reciprocal relations were established and growing markets reached upon favorable terms. Mr. Bancroft, the only surviving member of Polk's cabinet, who has revised this article, in a communication to the senior editor of the “Cyclopaedia,” dated Washington, 8 March, 1888, says: “One of the special qualities of Mr. Polk's mind was his clear perception of the character and doctrines of the two great parties that then divided the country. Of all our public men—I say, distinctly, of all—Polk was the most thoroughly consistent £ of his party. He had no equal. ime and again his enemies sought for grounds on which to convict him of inconsistency, but so consistent had been his public career that the charge was never even made. Never fanciful or extreme, he was ever solid, firm, and consistent. His administration, viewed from the standpoint of  results, was perhaps the greatest in our national history, certainly one of the greatest. He succeeded because he insisted on being its centre, and in overruling and guiding all his secretaries to act so as to produce unity and harmony. Those who study his administration will acknowledge how sincere and successful were his efforts, as did those who were contemporary with him.” Mr. Polk, who was a patient student and a clear thinker, steadfast to opinions once formed, and not easily moved by popular opinion, labored faithfully, from his entrance into public life until the day when he left the White House, to disseminate the political opinions in which he had been educated, and which commended themselves to his judgment. His private life was upright and blameless. Simple in his habits to abstemiousness, he found his greatest happiness in the pleasures of the home circle rather than in the gay round of public amusements. A frank and sincere friend, courteous and affable in his demeanor with strangers, generous and benevolent, the esteem in which he was held as a man and a citizen was quite as high as his official reputation. In the words of his friend and associate in office, Vice-President Dallas, he was “temperate but not unsocial, industrious but accessible, punctual but patient, moral without austerity, and devotional though not bigoted.” See “Eulogy on the Life and Character of the Late James K. Polk,” by George M. Dallas (Philadelphia, 1849); “ Eulogy on the Life and Character of £ Knox Polk,” by A. O. P. Nicholson (Nashville, 1849); “James Knox Polk,” by John S. Jenkins (Buffalo, 1850); and “History of the Administration of James K. Polk,” by Lucien B. Chase (New York, 1850).—His wife, Sarah Childress, born near Murfreesboro, Rutherford County, Tennessee, 4 September, 1803, is the daughter of Joel and Elizabeth £ Her father, a farmer in easy circumstances, sent her to the Moravian Institute at Salem, North Carolina, where she was educated. On returning home she married Mr. Polk, who was then a member of the legislature of Tennessee. The following year he was elected to Congress, and during his fourteen sessions in Washington Mrs. Polk's  judgment, and moments gave her a high place in society. On her return as the wife of the president, having no children, Mrs. Polk devoted herself entirely to her duties as mistress of the White House. She held weekly receptions, and abolished the custom of giving refreshments to the guests. She also forbade dancing, as out of keeping with the character of these entertainments. In spite of her reforms, Mrs. Polk was extremely popular. “Madam,” said a prominent South Carolinian, at one of her receptions, “there is a woe pronounced against you in the Bible.” On her inquiring his meaning, he added: “The Bible says, “Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you.’ ” An English lady visiting Washington thus described the president's wife: “Mrs. Polk is a very handsome woman. Her hair is very black, and her dark eyes and complexion remind one of the Spanish donnas. She is well read, has much talent for conversation, and is highly popular. Her excellent taste in dress preserves the subdued though elegant costume that characterizes the lady." Mrs. Polk became a communicant of the Presbyterian Church in 1834, and has maintained her connection with that denomination until the present time (1888). Since the death of her husband she has resided at Nashville, in the house seen in the illustration and known as " Polk Place." In the foreground is seen the tomb of her husband. —President Polk's brother, William Hawkins, lawyer, born in Maury County, Tennessee, 24 May, 1815; died in Nashville. Tennessee, l December, 1862, was graduated at the University of Tennessee, admitted to the bar in 1839. and began to practise at Columbia, Maury County, Tennessee. He was elected to the legislature in 1841 and again in 1843. In 1845 he was appointed minister to Naples, holding the office from 13 March of that year till 31 August, 1847, when he was commissioned major of the 3d Dragoons, and saw service in Mexico. He resigned. 20 July, 1848. He was a delegate to the Nashville Convention of 1850, and was chosen a member of the 32d Congress as a Democrat, serving from 1 December, 1851, till 3 March, 1853. Major Polk was a strong opponent of secession in 1861. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 50-56.


POLK, Leonidas, P. E. bishop, born in Raleigh, North Carolina, 10 April, 1806; died on Pine mountain, Georgia, 14 June, 1864, was educated at the University of North Carolina, and at the U. S. Military Academy, where he was graduated in 1827, and   brevetted 2d lieutenant of artillery. Having, in the meantime, been induced by Reverend (afterward Bishop) Charles P. McIlvaine, then chaplain at the academy, to study for the ministry, he resigned his commission the following December, was made deacon in the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1830, and ordained priest in 1831. He served in the Monumental Church, Richmond, Virginia, as assistant for a year, when, his health failing, he went to Europe to recuperate. Soon after his return he moved to Tennessee, and became rector of St. Peter's Church, Columbia, in 1833. In 1834 he was clerical deputy to the general convention of the Episcopal Church, and in 1835 a member of the standing committee of the diocese. In 1838 he received the degree of S. T. D. from Columbia, and the same time he was elected and consecrated missionary Bishop of Arkansas and the Indian Territory south of 36° 30', with provisional charge of the dioceses of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and the missions in the Republic of Texas. These charges he held until 1841, when he resigned all of them with the exception of the diocese of Louisiana, of which he remained bishop until his death, intending to resume his duties after he had been released from service in the field. In 1856 he initiated the movement to establish the University of the South, and until 1860 was engaged with Bishop Stephen Elliott, and other southern bishops, in perfecting plans that resulted in the opening of that institution at Sewanee, Tennessee. At the beginning of the Civil War he was a strong sympathizer with the doctrine of secession. His birth, education, and associations were alike southern, and his property, which was very considerable in land and slaves, aided to identify him with the project of establishing a southern confederacy. His familiarity with the valley of the Mississippi prompted him to urge upon Jefferson Davis and the Confederate authorities the importance of fortifying and holding its strategical points, and amid the excitement of the time the influence of his old military training became uppermost in his mind. Under these circumstances the offer of a major-generalship by Davis was regarded not unfavorably. He applied for advice to Bishop William Meade, of Virginia, who replied that, his being an exceptional case, he could not advise against its acceptance. His first command extended from the mouth of Red River, on both sides of the Mississippi, to Paducah on the Ohio, his headquarters being at Memphis. Under his general direction the extensive works at New Madrid and Fort Pillow, Columbus, Kentucky, Island No. 10, Memphis, and other points, were constructed. On 4 September, General Polk transferred his headquarters to Columbus, where the Confederates had massed a large force of infantry, six field-batteries, a siege battery, three battalions of cavalry, and three steamboats. Opposite this place, at Belmont, Missouri, on 7 November, 1861, the battle of Belmont was fought, General Polk being in command of the Confederate and General Grant of the National troops. The Confederates claimed a victory. General Polk remained at Columbus until March, 1862, when he was ordered to join Johnston's and Beauregard’s army at Corinth, Mississippi. As commander of the 1st Corps, he took part in the battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, and in the subsequent operations that ended with the evacuation of Corinth. In September and October he commanded the Army of Mississippi, and fought at the battle of Perryville, during the Confederate invasion of Kentucky. In the latter part of October and November he was in command of the armies of Kentucky and Mississippi and conducted the Confederate retreat from the former state. In October he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general, and commanded the right wing of the Army of Tennessee at the battle of Stone River. In the Chickamauga Campaign, he also led the right wing. According to the official report of General Braxton Bragg, it was only through Polk's disobedience of orders at Chickamauga that the National Army was saved from annihilation. He was accordingly relieved from his command, and ordered to Atlanta. Subsequently Jefferson Davis, with General Bragg's approval, offered to reinstate him, but he declined. He was then appointed to take charge of the camp of Confederate prisoners that had been paroled at Vicksburg and Port Hudson. In December, 1863, he was assigned to the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana, in place of General Joseph E. Johnston, who was assigned to the Army of Tennessee. By skilful dispositions of his troops he prevented the junction of the National cavalry column under General William Sooy Smith with General Sherman's army in southern Mississippi. General Polk's prestige being restored, he was ordered to unite his command (the Army of Mississippi) with the army of General Joseph E. Johnston, who opposed the march of Sherman to Atlanta. After taking part in the principal engagements that occurred previous to the middle of June he was killed by a cannon-shot while reconnoitering on Pine mountain, near Marietta, Georgia. His biography is in course of preparation (1888) by his son, Dr. William M. Polk, of New York. —Leonidas's son, William Mecklenburg, physician, born in Ashwood, Maury County, Tennessee, 15 August, 1844, was graduated at Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia, 4 July, 1864, and at the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1869. He entered the Confederate Army in April, 1861, as a cadet of the military institute, was commissioned 1st lieutenant in Scott's Battery of artillery in 1862, and in 1863 was promoted assistant chief of artillery in his father's corps, Army of the Tennessee. In March, 1865, he was made captain and adjutant in the inspector-general's department. After his graduation as a physician he practised in New York City, and from 1875 till 1879 he was professor of therapeutics and clinical medicine in Bellevue College. He then accepted the chair of obstetrics and the diseases of women in the medical department of the University of the City of New York, which he still (1888) holds. He is also surgeon in the department of obstetrics in Bellevue Hospital. Dr. Polk has contributed to medical literature “Original Observations upon the Anatomy of the Female Pelvic Organs,” “On the Gravid and Non-Gravid Uterus,” and “Original Observations upon the Causes and Pathology of the Pelvic Inflammations of Women.”—Leonidas's brother, Thomas Gilchrist, lawyer, born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, 22 February, 1790; died in Holly Springs, Mississippi, in 1869, was graduated at the University of North Carolina in 1810, and at the law-school at Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1813. He soon after began to practise his profession, and for several years was a member of the lower branch of the North Carolina Legislature. He was also at one time in command of the militia. In 1839 he moved to Tennessee, where he purchased a large plantation. Being a stanch Whig in politics, he took an active part in the presidential campaign of 1844 in support of Henry Clay, and against his relative, James K. Polk. Williams grandson, Lucius Eugene, soldier, born in Salisbury, North Carolina, 10 July, 1833, was the son of William J. Polk. He was graduated at the University of Virginia in 1852. At the beginning of the Civil War he entered the Confederate Army as a private under General Patrick R. Cleburne, but was soon commissioned 1st lieutenant, and as such fought at Shiloh, where he was wounded. He was rapidly promoted until he was made brigadier-general in December, 1862, and joined his brigade in time to take part in the battle of Murfreesboro, where his command made a charge, for which he was complimented by General Braxton Bragg in his report of the engagement. General Polk was also present at Ringgold Gap, Georgia, in 1863, and at many other actions. At Kenesaw mountain, Georgia, in the summer of 1864, he was severely wounded by a cannon-ball and disabled for further service. He then retired to a plantation in Maury County, Tennessee, where he has since resided. In 1884 he was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention at Chicago, and he is at present (1888) a member of the senate of the State of Tennessee, having been elected on 1 January, 1887. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 57-58.


POLK, Trusten, senator, born in Sussex County, Delaware, 29 May, 1811; died in St. Louis, Missouri, 16 April, 1876. He was graduated at Yale in 1831, and then began the study of law in the office of the attorney-general of Delaware, but completed his course at Yale Law-School. In 1835 he moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and, establishing himself there in the practice of his profession, soon rose to a high place at the bar. He was a member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1845, and in 1848 a presidential elector. He was elected governor of Missouri as a Democrat in 1856, and soon after his accession to office was chosen U. S. Senator, serving from 4 March, 1857, until his expulsion for disloyalty on 10 January, 1862. Meanwhile he had joined the Confederate government and filled various offices of responsibility within its jurisdiction. In 1864 he was taken prisoner, and after his exchange held the office of military judge of the Department of Mississippi. At the close of the war he returned to St. Louis, and there devoted himself to the practice of his profession until his death. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 58.


POLK COUNTY, MISSOURI, August 28, 1864. 6th Provisional Enrolled Missouri Militia. Captain Pace and 7 Confederate cavalrymen were attacked by Captain Samuel W. Headlee and 15 men of the Missouri regiment. Pace and 1 man were killed, 1 was wounded and 1 captured. The Federal squad did not suffer any loss. Polk's Plantation, Arkansas, May 25, 1863. 3d Iowa and 5th Kansas Cavalry. Detachments of the two regiments under Major Samuel Walker, while on a reconnaissance from Helena, were attacked at Polk's plantation by a superior force of Confederates and compelled to fall slowly back. On reaching a bridge a stand was made and a line of battle formed ready to meet a Confederate charge, but the enemy withdrew without assaulting. The loss of the 3d la. was 5 wounded, while the enemy was known to have had 2 killed. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 701.


POLLARD, Edward Albert, journalist, born in Nelson County, Virginia, 27 February, 1828; died in Lynchburg, Virginia, 12 ..., 1872. He was graduated at the University of Virginia in 1849, and studied law at William and Mary, but finished his course in Baltimore. Mr. Pollard then emigrated to California and took part in the wild life of that country as a journalist until 1855, after which he spent some time in northern Mexico and Nicaragua, and then returned to the eastern states. Subsequently he went to Europe, and also travelled in China and Japan. During President Buchanan's administration he became clerk of the judiciary committee in the house of representatives, and he was an open advocate of secession in 1860. At the beginning of the Civil War he was without political employment, and was studying for the Protestant Episcopal ministry, having been admitted a candidate for holy orders by Bishop William Meade. From 1861 till 1867 he was principal editor of the “Richmond Examiner,” and, while an earnest advocate of the Confederate cause during the war, he was nevertheless a merciless critic of Jefferson Davis. Toward the close of the war he went to England in order to further the sale of his works, and was then captured, but, after a confinement of eight months at Fort Warren and Fortress Monroe, was released on parole. In 1867 he began the publication in Richmond of “Southern Opinion,” which he continued for two years, and also in 1868 established “The Political Pamphlet,” which ran for a short time during the presidential canvass of that year. Mr. Pollard then made his residence in New York and Brooklyn for several years, often contributing to current literature. His books include “Black Diamonds Gathered in the Darkey Homes of the South” (New York, 1859); “Letters of the Southern Spy in Washington and Elsewhere” (Baltimore, 1861); “Southern History of the War” (3 vols., Richmond, 1862-'4: 4th vol., New York, 1866); “Observations in the North: Eight Months in Prison and on Parole” (Richmond, 1865): “The Lost Cause: A New Southern History of the War of the Confederates” (New York, 1866; written also in French for Louisiana, 1867); “Lee and his Lieutenants” (1867); “The Lost Cause Regained ” (1868); “Life of Jefferson Davis, with the Secret History of the Southern Confederacy” (1869); and “The Virginia Tourist” (Philadelphia, 1870).—His wife, Marie Antoinette Nathalie Granier-Dowell, born in Norfolk, Virginia, married James R. Dowell, from whom she separated during the Civil War on account of political differences. She then made her way, with great difficulty, through the lines of the armies, to her brother's residence in New Orleans, and later returned to Richmond, where she met Mr. Pollard, whom she married after the war. Subsequent to the death of Mr. Pollard, she became a public speaker, and in this capacity she canvassed California for the Democratic presidential ticket in 1876. She has also lectured on the Irish and Chinese questions, advocating greater liberty to these people, and has been active in the temperance movement, holding the office of deputy grand worthy patriarch of the states of New York and New Jersey. Besides contributions to the newspapers, she has published occasional poems.—His brother, Henry Rives, editor, born in Nelson County, Virginia, 29 August, 1833; died in Richmond, Virginia, 24 November, 1868, was educated at Virginia military Institute, and at the University of Virginia. Later he published a new paper in Leavenworth, Kansas, during the troubles in that territory, and thence went to Washington, where he was employed in the office department. At the beginning of the Civil War he was news editor of the “Baltimore Sun,” but moved to Richmond, where he became one of the editors of the “Richmond Examiner.” After the war he was associated in the founding of “The Richmond Times,” and for a time was one of its staff. In 1866 he revived the “Richmond Examiner,” and controlled its editorial columns until 1867, when he disposed of his interest. He then established, with his brother, “Southern Opinion,” of which he continued until his death one of the editors and proprietors. Mr. Pollard was shot at and killed from an upper window on the  side of the street by James Grant, who felt himself aggrieved by an article that was published in Pollard's paper. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 58-59.


POLLARD, ALABAMA, July 23, 1864. Detachment of 14th New York Cavalry. As an incident of an expedition from Barrancas, Florida, the advance of the expedition, Company M, 14th New York cavalry, met a small force of Confederate cavalry at the junction of the Pollard and Perdido Station roads. The Federals were successful in the brief encounter, capturing 3 members of the 7th Alabama cavalry. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 701.


POLLARD, ALABAMA, December 13-19, 1864. 82nd, 86th and 97th U. S. Colored Infantry. An expedition under Colonel George D. Robinson from Barrancas, Florida, reached Pollard on the 16th. After burning some Confederate stores a return march was begun and severe f1ghting occurred at all the streams which Robinson had to cross from the Little Escambia to Pine Barren creek, where the enemy was decisively repulsed. The Federal loss during the expedition was 17 killed and 64 wounded, Robinson among the latter. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, pp. 701-702.


POLLARD'S FARM, VIRGINIA, May 27, 1864. This is but another name for the engagement at Dabney's ferry in the campaign from the Rapidan to the James. (See Dabney's Ferry.)


POLLOCK, James, governor of Pennsylvania, born in Milton, Pennsylvania, 11 September, 1810. He was graduated at Princeton in 1831, and, after studying law, was admitted to the bar in 1833, and opened an office in Milton. In 1835 he was chosen district attorney for his county, after which he held various minor offices. He was elected to Congress as a Whig, and served from 23 April, 1844, to 3 March, 1849, during which time he was an active member of several committees. On 23 June, 1848, he introduced a resolution calling for the appointment of a special committee to inquire into the necessity and practicability of building a railroad to the Pacific Coast. As chairman of that committee he made a report in favor of the construction of such a road. This was the first favorable official act on this subject on the part of Congress. In 1850 he was appointed president-judge of the 8th Judicial District of Pennsylvania, and in 1854 he was elected governor of Pennsylvania as a Union Republican. During his administration the whole line of the public works between Philadelphia and Pittsburg was transferred to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. By this and other means he reduced the state debt by nearly $10,000,000, and this soon led to the removal of state taxation. He convened the legislature in extraordinary session during the financial crisis of 1857, and, acting on his wise suggestions, laws were enacted whereby public confidence was restored and the community was saved from bankruptcy. On the expiration of his term of office he resumed his law-practice in Milton. He was a delegate from his state to the Peace Convention in Washington in 1861, and after the inauguration of President Lincoln he was appointed director of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, which place he then held until October, 1866. By his efforts, with the approval of Salmon P. Chase, then Secretary of the Treasury, the motto “In God We trust” was placed on the National coins. In 1869 he was reinstated as director of the mint, which place he then filled for years. In 1880 he was appointed naval officer of Philadelphia, but resigned in 1884, and resumed the practice of his profession. Governor Pollock has been active in various movements tending to promote educational and religious reforms. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Princeton in 1855, and from Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1857. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 59

POLLOCK'S MILL CREEK, VIRGINIA, April 29-May 2, 1863. (See Fitzhugh's Crossing.)


POLLOCKSVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, May 16, 1862. 2nd Maryland Infantry. About noon the advanced pickets of the 2nd Maryland were attacked and driven in by a considerable force of Confederates. The outposts withstood the attack and in the sharp skirmish which followed the enemy lost 2 or 3 killed, a number wounded and 2 captured. The regiment was drawn up to receive an attack, but it was not made and before nightfall, pursuant to orders, Colonel J. Eugene Duryee, commanding, ordered the regiment to withdraw. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 702.


POLLOCKSVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, January 19, 1863. (See White Oak Creek.)


POLYGON OF FORTIFICATION. Every piece of ground to be fortified, is surrounded by a polygon, either square, pentagonal, hexagonal, &c., according to the number of its sides, which are called exterior sides; upon these the fronts of fortifications are constructed. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp. 465-466).


POMEROY, Samuel Clarke, 1816-1891, Republican U.S. Senator from Kansas.  Active in Kansas “Free State” Convention of 1859.  U.S. Senator 1861-1873.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. V, p. 60; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 54; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 17, p. 649; Congressional Globe)

POMEROY, Samuel Clarke, senator, born in Southampton, Massachusetts, 3 January, 1816. He was educated at Amherst, and then spent some time in New York. Subsequently he returned to Southampton, and, besides holding various local offices, was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature in 1852-'3. He was active in organizing the New England Emigrant Aid Company, of which he was financial agent. In 1854 he conducted a colony to Kansas, and located in Lawrence, making the first settlement for that territory. Afterward he moved to Atchison, where he was mayor in 1859. He was conspicuous in the organization of the territorial government, and participated in the Free-state Convention that met in Lawrence in 1859. During the famine in Kansas in 1860-'1 he was president of the relief committee. Mr. Pomeroy was a delegate to the National Republican Conventions of 1856 and 1860. He was elected as a Republican to the U. S. Senate in 1861, and re-elected in 1867. He was candidate for a third term in 1873, but charges of bribery were suddenly presented before the Kansas Legislature, and in consequence he failed of election. A committee chosen by the legislature reported the matter to the U. S. Senate, which investigated the case, and a majority report found the charges not sustained. The matter then came before the courts of Kansas, and after some months' delay the district attorney entered a nolle prosequi, stating to the court that he had no evidence upon which he could secure conviction. Mr. Pomeroy then made Washington his place of residence. He is the author of numerous speeches and political pamphlets. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 60.


POMEROY, Swan L., Bangor, Maine, abolitionist, American Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1834-1835, Manager, 1836-1839.


POMEROY, Theodore Medad, born 1824, lawyer.  Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York.  Re-elected Congressman from March 1861-March 1869.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. V, p. 61; Congressional Globe)

POMEROY, Theodore Medad, lawyer, born in Cayuga, New York, 31 December, 1824. He was graduated at Hamilton in 1842, and then studied law. Settling in Auburn, he practised his profession in that city, and was in 1850-'6 district attorney for Cayuga County. In 1857 he was elected a member of the lower branch of the New York Legislature. He was then sent to Congress as a Republican, and served, with re-elections, from 4 March, 1861, till a March, 1869. On the resignation of Schuyler Colfax from the speakership Mr. Pomeroy was elected on 3 March, 1869, to fill the vacancy. Subsequently he resumed the practice of his profession in Auburn, and engaged in banking business. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 61.


POMME DE TERRE, MISSOURI, October 13, 1861. A party of 7 Confederates, while foraging for wheat on the Pomme de Terre, were fired into by a squad of Federals in ambush and 2 of the enemy were wounded. A larger detachment of the enemy started in pursuit, but failed to come up with the Federals. The only official mention of the affair is a Confederate report, so there is no way of ascertaining what Union troops participated. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 702.


PONCHATOULA, LOUISIANA, September 15, 1862. Detachments of 12th Maine, 13th Connecticut and 26th Massachusetts Infantry. Owing to the heavy draft of the boats in which the expedition embarked it was impossible to surprise Ponchatoula as had been planned, but notwithstanding this the attack was made. Major George C. Strong, at the head of 112 men. made a march of 10 miles and when within a mile of the village the whistle of a locomotive gave the enemy notice of his approach. On entering the place his column was met by a discharge of canister from a Confederate light battery. Strong deployed his men and poured in such a destructive fire that the enemy was obliged to retreat. Strong lost 21 men killed, wounded and missing while the enemy's killed alone numbered 20. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 702.


PONCHATOULA, LOUISIANA, March 24-26, 1863. Detachment of Sherman's Division, Department of the Gulf. Brigadier-General T. W. Sherman, commanding the defenses of New Orleans, sent out an expedition to drive the Confederates out of Ponchatoula and destroy the bridges on the Jackson railroad. The expedition consisted of the 6th Michigan, 9th Connecticut, 14th and 24th Maine, 165th and 177th New York infantry, and was commanded by Colonel Thomas S. Clark, of the Michigan regiment. Upon arriving at North pass, Clark left Lieutenant-Colonel Smith with the 165th New York to move up the railroad to within 3 miles of Ponchatoula, while the main body proceeded by water up the Ponchatoula river to Wadesboro landing, the same distance from the town on the west. Smith was instructed to hold his position on the railroad until he heard the signal to advance given from the landing. Clark's men disembarked at noon on the 24th, the signal gun was fired and both detachments moved on the town, driving the enemy before them. Clark reached the town first, drove out the Confederates and took possession. Smith became engaged with the enemy in a sharp skirmish, in which he had 3 men wounded, and did not reach Ponchatoula until 3 p. m. The next day the detachment destroyed two bridges, after which the main body retired 3 miles south of town, leaving six companies of the 6th Michigan, under Major Clark as a picket and provost guard, with instructions to fall back on the main body in case of attack. On the evening of the 26th the pickets were attacked, and pursuant to orders fell back, but the Confederates declined to pursue. The Union loss during the movement was 9 men wounded. The enemy lost 3 killed and 11 wounded. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, pp. 702-703.


PONCHATOULA, LOUISIANA, May 9-18, 1863. (See Amite river, same date.)


POND, James, 1838-1903, Cuba, New York, Union Army officer.  Received the Medal of Honor in Civil War.  Active in Underground Railroad.  Helped fugitive slaves.  (Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 60)


POND, George Edward, journalist, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 11 March, 1837. He was graduated at Harvard in 1858, and served in the National Army in 1862-'3. From early in 1864 till 1868, and subsequently, he was associate editor of the New York "Army and Navy Journal." He was afterward an editorial writer on the New York "Times," and edited the Philadelphia "Record " from 1870 till 1877. Since the latter date he has been engaged in writing for the press. For nearly ten years he wrote the "Driftwood" essays, which were published in the " Galaxy " Magazine under the signature of "Philip Quilibet." They wore begun in May, 1868. He contributed the account of the engagement between the "Monitor " and the " Merrimac" to William Swinton's "Twelve Decisive Battles," and also wrote "The Shenandoah Valley in 1864" (New York, 1883) in the series of "Campaigns of the Civil War." Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 62.


POND, William Adams, music-publisher, born in Albany, New York, 6 October, 1824; died in New York City, 12 August, 1885. He was educated in private schools in New York City, and at an early age entered his father's music business. He became well known as a publisher, and at the time of his death was president of the United States Music Publishers' Association. Colonel Pond performed some military service as an officer during the Civil War, and was for many years colonel of the veteran corps of the 7th New York Regiment. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 63.


POND CREEK, KENTUCKY, July 6, 1863. 39th Kentucky Mounted Infantry and 65th Illinois Infantry. The detachment, under Colonel Daniel Cameron', in an expedition from Beaver creek, Kentucky, into southwestern Virginia was attacked at Pond creek by a superior force of the enemy. The Federals charged up a steep hill completely routing the Confederates, who left 5 dead and a number wounded on the field and some 20 were taken prisoners. Cameron sustained no loss. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 703.


POND CREEK, KENTUCKY, May 16, 1864. 39th Kentucky Mounted Infantry. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 703.


PONDER'S MILL, MISSOURI, September 20, 1864. Detachment of 3d Missouri State Militia Cavalry. During Price's Missouri raid a scouting party sent out by order of Brigadier-General Thomas Ewing, was surrounded at Ponder's mill on Little Black river, and all but 10 were either captured or killed. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 703.


POND SPRINGS, ALABAMA, May 27, 1864. Detachment of the 3d Brigade, 4th Division, 16th Army Corps, and Long's Cavalry. Colonel J. H. Howe, of the 32nd Wisconsin infantry, was ordered to march from Decatur to Courtland with his own regiment, the 25th Indiana, the 17th New York, and 2 pieces of Battery D, 2nd Illinois light artillery, the object being to develop the enemy and if possible bring him to an engagement. As the command emerged from the woods about a mile from Confederate General Roddey's camp at Pond Springs, and 5 miles from Courtland, they found the enemy drawn up in line of battle about 1,500 strong, with a battery of 4 guns in position commanding the road. Long dismounted one regiment of cavalry as skirmishers and Howe placed his artillery in position supported by his infantry. A few rounds served to silence the enemy's guns and the appearance of the two regiments of cavalry drove the Confederates in a panic toward Courtland closely pursued by Howe's whole force, the pursuit being kept up until 8 p. m. Howe's casualties were 5 men slightly wounded. The enemy's loss was not ascertained. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 703.


POND SPRINGS, ALABAMA, June 29, 1864. Detachments of 9th Ohio Cavalry and Infantry from post of Decatur. The report of Colonel Charles C. Doolittle, commandant of the post of Decatur, contains the following: "June 29, two companies of the 9th Ohio cavalry and about 800 infantry, under Colonel Grower, of the 17th New York veteran volunteers, attacked and partially surprised the camp of Colonel Patterson at Pond Springs, captured 1 lieutenant and 9 men, his wagons, ambulances, camp and garrison equipage, officers' baggage, and a lot of horses and mules; killed and wounded several of the enemy; no loss on our side." The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 703.


POND SPRINGS, ALABAMA, August 9, 1864. Detachment of 1st Brigade. 4th Cavalry D1vision, Army of the Cumberland. Lieutenant-Colonel W1lliam F. Prosser moved out on the Moulton road from Decatur to Pond Springs with 500 cavalry on the 8th. At daylight of the 9th he came upon the retreating Confederates and attacked, capturing 12 men, 250 head of cattle, 225 sheep, 75 horses and mules and a number of contrabands. The casualties, if any, were not reported. Pond Springs, Alabama, December 29, 1864. (See Hillsboro, same date.) The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 703.


POMROY, Rebecca Rossignol, nurse, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 16 July, 1817; died in Newton, Massachusetts, 24 January, 1884. She was the daughter of Samuel Holliday, and on 12 September, 1836, married Daniel F. Pomroy. Sickness in her own family for nearly twenty years made her an accomplished nurse, and when her only surviving son enlisted in the National Army she offered her services to Dorothea L. Dix (q.v.). She was at once called to Washington, and in September, 1861, assigned to duty in Georgetown Hospital, but was soon transferred to the hospital at Columbian University. Early in 1862 she was called to the White House at the time of the death of Willie Lincoln, and nursed “Tad,” the youngest son, then very ill, and Mrs. Lincoln, until both were restored to health. President Lincoln… Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 61


PONTONIERS. (See SAPPERS.)


PONTOON. Vulcanized India rubber pontoons, consisting of three cylinders connected together, have been made in the United States. The three cylinders weigh 260 lbs., and with their flooring of three chesses can be packed in a box 5 feet X 3 feet X 1 foot. The India rubber pontoons are made of India rubber cloth, and consist each of three tangent cylinders, peaked at Both extremities like the ends of a canoe; the ends are firmly united together by two strong India rubber ligaments which extend along their lines of contact and widen into a connecting web towards the ends in proportion as these diminish, the three thus forming a single boat 20 feet long by 3 feet broad, of great buoyancy and stability, and from its form and lightness presenting but trifling resistance to the water. Each cylinder, including its peaked extremities, is 20 inches in diameter, and is divided into three distinct air-tight compartments, each of which has its own inflating nozzle. The middle compartment occupies the whole width of the roadway of the bridge. The inflating nozzles are made of brass, with stopple and tube, the former screwing into the latter to open or close the nozzle. The frame lies on the top of the pontoon to which it is lashed, and serves as a means of attaching the baulks to the pontoon and preventing their chafing it: the baulks are of white pine or spruce 19 feet long; the chesses are also of white pine or spruce 13 feet 9 inches long. The equipment and management of these pontoons are nearly similar to the means employed for bridges of a different kind. The floating portion constitutes the essential difference, and this, being light and compact when folded up, may be easily transported. (Consult Papers published by United States Engineers in 1849.)

The chief engineer, with the approbation of the Secretary of War, regulates and determines the number, quality, forms, dimensions, &c., of the necessary vehicles, pontoons, tools, implements, and other supplies for the use of the company of sappers, miners, and pontoniers; (Act May 15, 1846.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 466).


PONTOTOC, MISSISSIPPI, April 19, 1863. (See Grierson's Raid.)


PONTOTOC, MISSISSIPPI, February 17, 1864. 3d Illinois Cavalry. During the Meridian expedition Captain Andrew B. Kirkbride with the 3d Illinois charged into Pontotoc and finding no Confederates there proceeded 2 miles on the Houston road, where some pickets were encountered and driven back. Then Gholson's command was met and by the charge of two companies was driven into a swamp immediately in the Federal front. Kirkbride found that if he advanced he would be flanked, so accordingly ordered one company to flank on the Red Land road, and another on the road leading to the right while two companies skirmished in the swamp. On orders from the brigade commander the regiment was withdrawn, the object of the reconnaissance having been accomplished. Seven of the enemy were killed. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 703-704.


PONTOTOC, MISSISSIPPI, July 11, 1864. Advance of Right Wing, 16th Army Corps. During the expedition to Tupelo, under Major-General Andrew J. Smith, it was learned on nearing Pontotoc that McCulloch's brigade of Confederate cavalry occupied the town. The 7th Kansas was deployed as skirmishers, driving back the enemy's advance line, and at the same time Grierson's cavalry attacked upon their right flank. The outcome was the retreat of the Confederates, leaving their dead and wounded (number not reported) in the hands of the Federals. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 704.


PONY MOUNTAIN, VIRGINIA, September 13, 1863. Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac. In the advance of the Union forces from the Rappahannock to the Rapidan. the movements of the army could be observed from the Confederate signal station on Pony mountain, about 3 miles southeast of Culpeper. Brigadier-General Alfred Pleasonton, commanding the cavalry corps, sent a brigade to the left, while with the main body he engaged the enemy in front. The Confederates were well posted behind trees and fences, but the 1st Michigan made a gallant charge up the slope of the mountain, drove them from their position and pursued to Raccoon ford, a distance of 2 miles. A signal station was then established on the mountain and communication opened with the headquarters of the 2nd corps. The 1st Michigan captured a few prisoners, which were the only casualties reported on either side. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 704.


POOK, Samuel Moore, naval constructor, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 15 August, 1804; died in Brooklyn, New York, 2 December, 1878. He was educated in the Boston public schools, and from 1841 till his retirement, 15 August, 1866, was naval constructor in the U.S. Navy. Among other vessels, he built the sloops-of-war “Preble” and “Saratoga,” the frigates “Congress” and “Franklin,” and the steamers “Merrimack.” and “Princeton.” He was also active in fitting out the fleet of Admiral Dupont and others during the Civil War. Mr. Pook was the inventor of numerous devices connected with his profession, and wrote “A Method of comparing the Lines, and Draughting Vessels propelled by Sail or Steam,' with diagrams (New York, 1866).—His son, Samuel Hartt, naval constructor, born in Brooklyn, New York, 17 January, 1827, was graduated at Portsmouth Academy, New Hampshire, in 1842, became a naval architect, and on 17 May, 1866, was appointed constructor in the U.S. He has built many merchant ships, including the well-known clipper “Red Jacket.” When which they received promissory notes drawn on the introduction of iron-clad vessels into the navy was proposed he was one of the party that called on Secretary Gideon Welles to advocate them, and he was made superintendent of the first that was built. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 64-65.


POOL, John, senator born in Pasquotank County, North Carolina, 16 June, 1826; died in Washington, D. C, 18 August, 1884. He was graduated at the University of North Carolina in 1847, and admitted to the bar in the same year. He was chosen to the state senate in 1856 arid 1858, and in 1860 was the Whig candidate for governor of the state. After being returned to the state senate in 1864 as a peace candidate, and again in 1865, he was a member of the state constitutional convention of the latter year, and was chosen to the U. S. Senate, but not admitted. In 1868 he was re-elected, and he then served till the expiration of his term in 1873. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 65.


POOLER'S STATION, GEORGIA, December 7-9, 1864. (See Jenks' Bridge.)


POOLESVILLE, MARYLAND, September 5, 1862. Major-General James E. B. Stuart, commanding the cavalry of Lee's army in the invasion of Maryland, reports that after crossing the Potomac river his advance brigade (Lee's) moved to Poolesville, where it encountered a body of Federal cavalry. An attack was made, in which the greater portion of the Union command was captured.


POOLESVILLE, MARYLAND, September 7-8, 1862. Detachments of 3d Indiana and 8th Illinois Cavalry. On the 7th two squadrons of each of the above regiments made a dash into Poolesville and captured the cavalry vedettes, the only Confederates in the town. The next day the regiments, with a section of artillery, were ordered to occupy the town. As they approached some Confederate cavalry were seen moving in retreat down the Barnesville road and a portion of the 3d Indiana pushed after them. They had not proceeded far before the Confederates opened upon them with 2 pieces of artillery. The Union artillery was then brought into action and soon silenced the enemy's guns. The Confederates were then charged and driven from the town and its vicinity. The losses were 1 killed and 12 wounded on the Union side and 10 killed, wounded and missing on the Confederate. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 704.


POOLESVILLE, MARYLAND, November 25, 1862. A Confederate report states that Captain George W. Chiswell, of the Confederate army, with 46 men of the 35th Virginia cavalry battalion, surprised and captured 16 Union soldiers and a telegraph operator at Poolesville. This is the only official mention of the affair, so it is not known who the Federal participants were. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 704.


POOLESVILLE, MARYLAND, December 14, 1862. The report of Major Elijah V. White, 35th Virginia cavalry battalion (Confederate), states that his command crossed the Potomac river at Conrad's ferry and arrived at Poolesville about 8 p. m. A demand was made upon the Federals quartered in the town hall to surrender, and upon its being refused the building was fired upon and the occupants, after losing 2 killed and 8 wounded, capitulated. Twenty-one prisoners were taken. White lost 1 man killed. As the only official mention of the affair is a Confederate report, there is no way of ascertaining what Union troops were engaged. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 705.


POOLEY, James Henry, physician, born in Chateris, Cambridgeshire, England, 17 November, 1839. He was brought to this country in early childhood, and graduated at the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1860. After service as an assistant surgeon in the regular army in 1861-'3 he practised in Yonkers, New York, till 1875, when he moved to Columbus, Ohio. He is a member of many professional societies, was a delegate to the International Medical Congress of 1876, and professor of surgery in Starling Medical College, Ohio, from 1875 till 1880. Since 1883 he has held the chair of surgery in Toledo Medical College. He has edited the "Ohio Medical and Surgical Journal" since 1876, and has been a voluminous contributor to surgical literature. Several of his articles have been reprinted in pamphlet-form, including "Three Cases of Imperforate Anus" (1870); "Remarks on the Surgery of Childhood " (1872); and "Gastrotomy and Gastrostomy " (1875). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 65.


POOR, Charles Henry, naval officer, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 11 June, 1808; died in Washington, D. C, 5 November, 1882. He entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman, 1 March, 1825, and was promoted lieutenant, 22 December, 1835, commander, 14 September, 1855, captain, 16 July, 1862, and commodore, 2 January, 1863. After serving with different squadrons, and in the Washington and Norfolk U.S. Navy-yards, he was given command of the "St. Louis”, of the home Squadron, in 1860-'l, and in the latter year had charge of an expedition that was sent to reinforce Fort Pickens. During 1861-'2 he was in command of the frigate " Roanoke," of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. He was ordered to use the steamer "Illinois" as a ram against the "Merrimac," but did not have an opportunity to test its strength. He subsequently passed the Confederate batteries under fire in the " Roanoke," while proceeding from Hampton Roads toward Newport News, to assist the " Congress" and "Cumberland." From 1863 till 1865 he was in command of the sloop-of-war " Saranac," of the Pacific Squadron, and compelled the authorities at Aspinwall to release a U. S. mail-steamer that had been detained there until she should pay certain illegal dues. He also obliged the authorities at Rio Hacha, New Granada, to hoist and salute the American flag after it had been insulted. In 1866-'8 he was in charge of the naval station at Mound City, Illinois, and he was made rear-admiral, 20 September, 1868. After serving as commandant of the Washington U.S. Navy-yard in 1869, and commanding the North Atlantic Squadron in 1869-'70, he was retired on 9 June, 1870. In 1871—'2 he was a member of the retiring board. Admiral Poor saw twenty-three years and six months of sea-service, and was employed fourteen years and five months in shore duty. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 65.


POORE, Benjamin Perley, journalist, born near Newburyport, Massachusetts, 2 November, 1820; died in Washington, D. C. 30 May, 1887. He was descended from John Poore, an English yeoman, who came to this country and, in 1650, purchased "Indian Hill Farm,'5 the homestead, which still remains in the family. When Perley was eleven years of age he was taken by his father to England, and there saw Sir Walter Scott, Lafayette, and other notable people. Leaving school after his return, he served an apprenticeship in a printing-office at Worcester, Massachusetts, and had edited the Athens, Georgia. " Southern Whig," which his father purchased for him, for two years before he was twenty. In 1841 he visited Europe again as attaché of the American legation at Brussels, remaining abroad until 1848. During this period he acted in 1844-'8 as the historical agent of Massachusetts in France, in which capacity he filled ten folio volumes with copies of important documents, bearing date 1492-1780, illustrating them by engraved maps and water-color sketches. He was also the foreign correspondent of the Boston " Atlas" during his entire stay abroad. After editing the Boston " Bee " and "Sunday Sentinel," Mr. Poore finally entered in 1854 upon his lifework, that of Washington correspondent. His letters to the Boston "Journal" over the signature of "Perley," and to other papers, gained him a national reputation by their trustworthy character. For several years he also served as clerk of the committee of the U. S. Senate on printing records. He was interested in military matters, had studied tactics, and during his editorial career in Boston held several staff appointments. About the same time he organized a battalion of riflemen at Newbury that formed the nucleus of a company in the 8th Massachusetts Volunteers, of which organization Mr. Poore served as major for a short time during the Civil War. He was also in 1874 commander of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston, and had made a collection of materials for its projected history. Major Poore's vacations were spent at Indian Hill, where the farm-house contained sixty rooms filled with historical material, of which its owner was an industrious collector. During thirty years of Washington life he made the acquaintance of many eminent men, and his fund of reminiscences was large and entertaining. He told good stories, spoke well after dinner, and was much admired in society. Among his publications were "Campaign Life of General Zachary Taylor," of which 800,000 copies were circulated, and "Rise and Fall of Louis Philippe " (Boston, 1848); "Early Life of Napoleon Bonaparte (1851); "Agricultural History of Essex County, Massachusetts"; "The Conspiracy Trial for the Murder of Abraham Lincoln " (l866); "Federal and State Charters" (2 vols., 1877); "The Political Register and Congressional Director'" 1878); "Life of Burnside" (1882); and "Perley's Reminiscences of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis" (Philadelphia, 1886). As secretary of the U. S. Agricultural Society, he became the editor of its "Journal" in 1857. He began to edit the Congressional directory in 1867, supervised the indices to the " Congressional Record," and brought out the annual abridgment of the public documents of the United States for many years. By order of Congress he compiled "A Descriptive Catalogue of the Government Publications of the United States, 1774-1881" (Washington, 1885), and also made a compilation of the various treaties negotiated by the United States government with different countries. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 66-67.


POPE, Albert Augustus, manufacturer, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 20 May, 1843. He was educated at public schools, but even as a boy was compelled to earn his own living. In 1862 he was commissioned 2d lieutenant in the 35th Massachusetts Regiment, with which he continued until the close of the war, when he was mustered out with the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel. Soon afterward he became head of a shoe-finding business. In 1877 he began to take an interest in bicycles, and during that year ordered eight from Manchester, England. Subsequently he became actively engaged in their manufacture, and it is chiefly due to his enterprise that most of the improvements of the bicycle in this country have been brought about. Colonel Pope was instrumental in founding " Outing," a journal that for several years was published by him. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 67.


POPE, John, naval officer, born in Sandwich. Massachusetts, 17 December 1798; died in Dorchester, Massachusetts, 14 January, 1876. He was appointed from Maine to the U.S. Navy as midshipman, 30 May, 1816, and was promoted lieutenant, 28 April. 1826, commander, 15 February, 1843, and captain, 14 September, 1855. As lieutenant he saw service in the frigate " Constitution," of the Mediterranean Squadron, and subsequently in the West India and Brazil Squadrons. He commanded the brig " Dolphin " on the coast of Africa in 1846-'7, and the " Vandalia" in the East Indies in 1853-'6. He had charge of the Boston U.S. Navy-yard in 1850, and of the Portsmouth U.S. Navy-yard in 1858-'60. In 1861 he commanded the steam-sloop "Richmond." of the Gulf Squadron. He was a prize-commissioner in Boston in 1864-'5, and light house inspector in 1866-9. On 21 December, 1861, he was placed on the retired list, and he was promoted commodore, 16 July, 1862. Commodore Pope passed twenty-one years at sea, and was for seventeen years and eleven months engaged in shore duty. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 68.


POPE, John, soldier, born in Louisville, Kentucky, 16 March, 1822, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1842, and made brevet 2d lieutenant of engineers. He served in Florida in 1842-'4, and assisted in the survey of the northeast boundary line between the United States and the British provinces. He was made 2d lieutenant, 9 May, 1846, and took part in the Mexican War, being brevetted 1st lieutenant for gallantry at Monterey, and captain for his services in the battle of Buena Vista. In 1849 he conducted the Minnesota exploring expedition, which demonstrated the practicability of the navigation of the Red River of the north by steamers, and in 1851-'3 he was engaged in Topographical Engineering service in New Mexico. The six years following he had charge of the survey of the route for the Pacific Railroad, near the 32d parallel, and in making experiments to procure water on the Llano Estacado, or " Staked Plain," stretching between Texas and New Mexico, by means of artesian wells. On 1 July, 1856, he was commissioned captain for fourteen years' continuous service. campaign of 1860 Captain Pope sympathized with the £ and in an £ on the subject of “Fortifications,” read before a literary society at Cincinnati, he criticised the policy of President Buchanan in unsparing terms. For this he was court-martialed, but, upon the recommendation of Postmaster-General Joseph Holt, further proceeding were dropped. He was still a captain of engineers when Sumter was fired upon, and he was one of the officers detailed by the War Department to escort Abraham Lincoln to Washington. He was made brigadier-general of volunteers, 17 May, 1861, and placed in command first of the In the political district of northern, and afterward of southwestern and central, Missouri. General Pope's operations in that state in protecting railway communication and driving out guerillas were highly successful. His most important engagement was that of the Blackwater, 18 December, 1861, where he captured 1,300 prisoners, 1,000 stand of arms, 1,000 horses, 65 wagons, two tons of gunpowder, and a large quantity of tents, baggage, and supplies. This victory forced General Sterling Price to retreat below the Osage River, which he never again crossed. He was next intrusted by General Henry W. Halleck with the command of the land forces that co-operated with Admiral Andrew H. Foote's flotilla in the expedition against New Madrid and Island No. 10. He succeeded in occupying the former place, 14 March, 1862, while the latter surrendered on the 8th of the following month, when 6,500 prisoners, 125 cannon, and 7,000 small arms, fell into his hands. He was rewarded for the capture of New Madrid by a commission as major-general of volunteers. As commander of the Army of the Mississippi, he advanced from Pittsburg Landing upon Corinth, the operations against that place occupying the period from 22 April till 30 May. After its evacuation he pursued the enemy to Baldwin, Lee County, Mississippi. At the end of June he was summoned to Washington, and assigned to the command of the Army of Virginia, comprised of Frémont's (afterward Sigel's), Banks's, and McDowell's corps. On 14 July he was commissioned brigadier-general in the regular army. On 9 August a division of his army, under General Nathaniel P. Banks, had a severe engagement with the Confederates, commanded by General Thomas J. Jackson, at Cedar mountain. For the next fifteen days General Pope, who had been reinforced by a portion of the Army of the Potomac, fought continuously a greatly superior force of the enemy under General Robert E. Lee, on the line of the Rappahannock, at Bristow station, at Groveton, at Manassas junction, at Gainesville, and at Germantown, near Chantilly. General Pope then withdrew his force behind Difficult creek, between Flint hill and the Warrenton turnpike, whence he fell back within the fortifications of Washington, and on 3 September, was at his own request, relieved of the command of the Army of Virginia, and was assigned to that of the Department of the Northwest, where in a short time he completely checked the outrages of the Minnesota Indians. He retained this command until 30 January, 1865, when he was given charge of the Military Division of the Missouri, which, in June following, was made the Department of the Missouri, including all the northwestern states and territories. From this he was relieved 6 January, 1866. He has since had command successively of the 3d Military District, comprising Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, under the first Reconstruction act, 1867-'8; the Department of the Lakes, 1868–'70; the Department of the Missouri, headquarters at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1870–84; and the Military Department of the Pacific from 1884 until he was retired, 16 March, 1886. In Washington, in December, 1862, he testified before a court-martial, called for the trial of General Fitz-John Porter (q.v.), who had been accused by him of misconduct before the enemy at the second battle of Manassas or Bull Run. General Pope was brevetted major-general, 13 March, 1865, “for gallant and meritorious services” in the capture of Island No. 10, and advanced to the full rank, 26 October, 1882. The fullest account of his northern Virginia Campaign is to be found in the report of the Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War (Supplement, part xi., 1865). General Pope is the author of “ Explorations from the Red River to the Rio Grande,” in “Pacific Railroad Reports,” vol. iii., and the “Campaign of Virginia, of July and August, 1862” (Washington, 1865). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 68-69.


POPLAR BLUFF, MISSOURI, February 27. 1864. Detachment of 3d Missouri State Militia Cavalry. Captain Abijah Johns, reporting from Patterson under date of February 28, says: "My scout in from below Poplar Bluff. Captured and burned rebel train, destroying a great many shotguns and rifles and corn. Killed 2 jayhawkers; had 1 man slightly wounded in finger." The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 705.


POPLAR SPRING CHURCH, VIRGINIA, September 30-October 2, 1864. Parts of the 5th, 9th and 2nd Army Corps and Gregg's Cavalry Division. Poplar Spring Church was about 5 miles southwest of Petersburg, 2 miles west of the Weldon railroad at Globe tavern, and near the right of the Confederate line. The capture of Fort Harrison, on the north side of the James, by the Union forces on the 29th forced General Lee to send reinforcements to that side of the river, and General Grant determined upon a reconnaissance toward the enemy's right with a view of attacking the works if it was found that the force there had been sufficiently weakened by the withdrawal of troops. In any event the demonstration was to be made sufficiently vigorous to prevent further detachments being sent to Fort Harrison. General Warren, commanding the 5th corps, moved on the morning of the 30th, with the divisions of Griffin and Ayres, from the left of the Union line toward the church. He was followed by General Parke, with the divisions of Willcox and Potter of the 9th corps, while Gregg's cavalry was sent farther to the left and rear. Griffin found the enemy in an intrenched position on the Peebles farm and immediately attacked T1is works, carrying a redoubt and a line of rifle-pits, taking 1 gun and about 100 prisoners. In the afternoon, as Parke was moving to Warren's left, Potter's division met the enemy near the Pegram house. Understanding that Griffin's division was to support his right, Potter disposed his forces for an attack. The skirmishers were gradually forced back to about a quarter of a mile beyond the Pegram house, where the enemy was encountered in force, with a battery in position to enfilade the road. Griffin had failed to make connection with Potter's right and it was soon discovered that the enemy's line overlapped that flank. Fearing that he would be cut off, Potter issued orders for a change in the disposition of his men. but before the change could be effected the Confederates made a determined attack on the exposed flank, forcing back the Union ranks in some confusion. The 7th Rhode Island, which had been held in reserve, was directed to form a new line near the Pegram house and stop all who were falling to the rear. Curtin's brigade was drawn back to the new line, the enemy was checked for the time being, and Griffin's division came up in time to aid in repelling the next assault. The Federals then took up a position along the line of the works captured from the enemy earlier in the day, the 9th corps connecting with the 5th on the right, the left refused to cover the Squirrel Level road, and during the night this line was intrenched. But little fighting was done on October 1. Gregg, who had moved on the Vaughan road to the Union left, was attacked, but the attack was repulsed. Warren was also attacked, but held his position and drove back the Confederates with slight loss on both sides. In the afternoon Mott's division of the 2nd corps reported to Parke and was massed in the rear of the 9th corps. On the 2nd Parke advanced, and after some sharp skirmishing established a line of intrenchments about a mile from that of the enemy. This line was connected with the works on the Weldon railroad and later was extended to the rear on the left, through the Pegram farm, to cover the Squirrel Level road. The Union casualties in the several engagements about Poplar Spring Church were 187 killed, 900 wounded and 1,802 missing. The Confederate loss was not ascertained. Po River, Virginia, May 10, 1864. The engagement along the Po. river on this date was part of the operations about Spottsylvania Court House in the campaign from the Rapidan to the James. (See Spottsylvania.) The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 705-706.


PORCHER, Francis Peyre, physician, born in St. John's, Berkeley, South Carolina, 14 December, 1825. He was graduated at South Carolina College in 1844 and at the Medical College of the state of South Carolina in 1847, where he now holds the chair of materia medica and therapeutics. On graduating he settled in Charleston, where he has since continued in the active practice of his profession, also holding the appointments of surgeon and physician to the marine and city hospitals. During the Civil War he was surgeon in charge of Confederate Hospitals at Norfolk and Petersburg, Virginia. Dr. Porcher was president of the South Carolina Medical Association in 1872, and, besides holding memberships in other societies, is an associate fellow of the Philadelphia College of physicians. He was one of the editors of the “Charleston Medical Journal and Review,” having charge of the publication of five volumes of the first series (1850–5), and more recently of four volumes of the second series (1873-'6). Dr. Porcher was an enthusiastic botanist and has devoted considerable attention to that subject. Besides numerous fugitive contributions to the medical journals, and articles in medical works, he has published “A Medico-Botanical Catalogue of the Plants and Ferns of St. John's, Berkeley, South Carolina” (Charleston, 1847); “A Sketch of the Medical Botany of South Carolina" (Philadelphia, 1849): “The Medicinal, Poisonous, and Dietetic Properties of the Cryptogamic Plants of the United States” (New York, 1854); “Illustrations of Disease with the Microscope, and Clinical Investigations aided by the Microscope and by Chemical Reagents” (Charleston, 1861); and “Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests, Medical, Economical, and Agricultural,” published by order of the surgeon-general of the Confederate states (Richmond, 1863; new and revised ed., Charleston. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 70.


PORT-FIRE. A composition of nitre, sulphur, and mealed powder driven into a case of strong paper used to fire guns previous to the introduction of the friction primer. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 466).


PORT CONWAY, VIRGINIA, September 1-3, 1863. 3d Cavalry Division, Army of the Potomac. The gunboats Satellite and Reliance were captured by the Confederates on the night of August 22, and were kept stationed at Port Conway, on the Rappahannock river, about 10 miles south of King George Court House. On September 1 Brigadier-General Judson Kilpatrick was ordered to proceed to Port Conway with his cavalry division and Battery E, 4th U. S. artillery, under command of Captain S. S. Elder, and either recapture or destroy the two vessels. That same day he drove in the Confederate pickets near King George Court House, and from that point advanced on three roads to Port Conway, driving the enemy across the river late in the evening. About 6 o'clock the next morning Elder planted his guns both above and below the gunboats, opened fire at a range of 700 yards and soon drove the enemy from the boats. By 8 o'clock the Satellite was so badly riddled that she commenced sinking and all the guns were turned upon the Reliance. The ironclads that were to cooperate failed to put in an appearance, and after keeping up the fire until 11 a. m., Kilpatrick withdrew to Lamb's Creek Church, where he had a slight skirmish with the enemy, after which he went into camp. The Confederates took advantage of the opportunity to remove the machinery and guns from the gunboats, but the hulks were so badly damaged by Elder's fire that they were abandoned as useless. Had the ironclads come up both vessels could have been easily recaptured. Kilpatrick's loss was 3 killed and 3 wounded. The enemy's loss was not reported. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 706.


PORT GIBSON, MISSISSIPPI, May 1, 1863. 13th Army Corps, and 3d Division of the 17th Corps. Port Gibson is a small village a few miles southeast of Grand Gulf. The engagement here was the beginning of Grant's active campaign against Vicksburg. The 13th corps. Major-General John A. McClernand commanding, left Bruinsburg about 4 p. m. on April 30, with Carr's division in advance, followed its order by Osterhaus, Hovey and A. J. Smith, and moved toward Port Gibson. That same afternoon Confederate General J. S. Bowen, commanding the garrison at Grand Gulf, learning that Grant had crossed the Mississippi at Bruinsburg, sent a portion of Green's brigade to guard the approaches to Port Gibson, and at the same time telegraphed to Pemberton that the Union army was on the east side of the river. Pemberton became alarmed and ordered Tracy's and Baldwin's brigades, of Stevenson's division, to reinforce Grand Gulf. About an hour after midnight Carr came in contact with Green's brigade, posted across the road about 3 miles west of Port Gibson. A slight skirmish ensued, which resulted in the withdrawal of the Confederates, and the Union troops rested on their arms until daylight. At this point the road from Bruinsburg to Port Gibson divides. When daylight came Green's brigade was drawn up across the southern and Tracy's across the northern road. McClernand ordered Osterhaus forward on the right hand road to attack Tracy, and Carr on the left hand road against Green. At 5:30 Osterhaus was engaged, and met with such a stubborn resistance that he was unable to make any further advance until late in the afternoon. Carr formed his line with Benton's brigade on the right of the road and Stone's on the left, and moved forward against Green, who was strongly posted on a ridge. In the advance the two brigades became separated, leaving a gap in the line, which was closed by Hovey's division about 7 o'clock, when a determined assault was made, the ridge was carried, 2 cannon, 3 caissons and about 400 prisoners being captured. Green fell back toward Port Gibson, closely pressed by Hovey and Carr. Near the village they encountered Baldwin's brigade coming up to Green's support, and a severe contest of an hour and a half followed. Bowen in the meantime had ordered Cockrell to send three regiments to Port Gibson. These arrived about noon and two regiments were sent to the assistance of Baldwin and one to Tracy. Green's brigade was withdrawn from the southern road and sent to Tracy also. Bowen himself arrived on the field about this time and led two of Cockrell's regiments in a desperate effort to turn the Union right, but Burbridge's brigade, of A. J. Smith's division, came up at this juncture and was thrown forward to meet the movement. At the same time Hovey brought four batteries into position to enfilade Bowen's line, forcing him to retire in some confusion. Not knowing the strength of the enemy opposed to him, McClernand sent back for reinforcements. McPherson sent Stevenson's brigade to the support of Carr and Hovey and J. E. Smith's to Osterhaus. About 5 p. m. the latter got into position to strike the enemy on the right flank, while Osterhaus renewed the attack in front. Tracy had been killed early in the engagement and Green, who was now in command, hurriedly retreated in the direction of Grand Gulf, burning the bridge over Bayou Pierre behind him, thus checking pursuit. Before Stevenson's brigade reached the scene of action Baldwin was driven from his position, falling back through Port Gibson and destroying the bridge over the south fork of Bayou Pierre. Sunset found the Federals in possession of the field, with a loss of 131 killed. 719 wounded and 25 missing. Bowen's entire force numbered about 8,500 men, but he was able to hold the whole 13th corps in check the greater part of the day, owing chiefly to his advantageous positions. He reported his loss as being 68 killed, 380 wounded and 384 missing. This action is also known as "Anderson's Hill," "Thompson's Hill' and "Magnolia Hills." The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 706-707.


PORT GIBSON, MISSISSIPPI, October 10, 1863. (See Ingraham's Plantation, same date.)


PORT GIBSON, MISSISSIPPI, December 26, 1863. Mississippi Marine Brigade, and Cavalry. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 707.


PORT GIBSON, MISSISSIPPI, July 14, 1864. 1st Division, 17th Army Corps. The itinerary of the 1st brigade, 1st division, 17th army corps of an expedition from Vicksburg to Grand Gulf says: "July 14.—Marched to Port Gibson; skirmished with the enemy during the forenoon." This is the only official mention of the affair. On the same day, the 2nd New Jersey cavalry, acting as rear-guard for the main column of another expedition, from Memphis, Tennessee, to Grand Gulf, Mississippi, was several times attacked, but each time succeeded in repulsing the Confederates, although a foraging party of 26 men of the regiment was cut off and captured near Port Gibson. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 707.


PORT GIBSON, MISSISSIPPI, September 30, 1864. Detachments of 2nd Wisconsin Infantry, 5th and 11th Illinois and 3d U. S. Colored Cavalry and 26th Ohio Battery. As an incident of an expedition from Vicksburg to Rodney and Fayette, Mississippi, the detachment, under Colonel Embury D. Osband, reached Port Gibson at 4 p. m. Thirty of Cobb's Black river scouts congregated in the town were charged and driven with a loss of 2 killed. Osband had 1 man killed. Port Gibson, Mississippi, May 3-4, 1865. 9th Indiana Cavalry. Colonel George W. Jackson with his regiment, while on an expedition from Rodney, charged into Port Gibson on the 3d. One of the enemy was killed and 2 were captured. Next morning 125 Federals met and drove a number of Owen scouts several miles on the Gallatin road, but without taking any prisoners. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 708.


PORT HUDSON, LOUISIANA, March 13-14, 1863. 19th Army Corps and Farragut's Fleet. This was a demonstration by General Banks in the rear of Port Hudson, to enable Farragut's gunboats to pass the Confederate batteries for the purpose of ascending the Mississippi river to assist in the reduction of Vicksburg. On the 13th General Grover's division of the 19th corps left Baton Rouge for Port Hudson. The divisions of Generals Emory and Augur followed at daybreak on the 14th, and by 2 p. m. communication was established with the fleet, which was then lying at Prophet's island, 5 miles below Port Hudson. The enemy's pickets on the roads to the rear of the Confederate works were driven in and the infantry lines were pushed up to within 600 yards of the enemy's intrenchments, though it was impossible for Banks to repair the bridges and bring up his artillery in time to cooperate with the fleet by a concentrated fire from his batteries. Farragut had to pass a line of batteries about 4 miles in length. In the afternoon the mortars and two of the gunboats opened on the batteries, continuing the bombardment until 9:30 p. m., when the signal to advance was given from the flag-ship Hartford. The flag-ship took the lead, with the gunboat Albatross lashed to her side. Then followed the Richmond and Monongahela, the Genesee lashed to the former and the Kineo to the latter, the Mississippi bringing up the rear. The Hartford and Albatross ran the gauntlet successfully; the Monongahela, when opposite the center of the batteries, received a shot that disabled her machinery and was compelled to drop back out of range of the fire; the Richmond was disabled by a shot through her steam drum and followed the Monongahela; the Mississippi ran aground when about half way past the batteries, where she sustained a heavy fire for half an hour, when she was fired and abandoned, the crew escaping to the shore opposite Port Hudson. The vessel drifted down a short distance and exploded. One cause for the failure of the undertaking was that the smoke from the guns of the Hartford and Albatross hung low over the water and obscured the surface of the river, making it difficult for the vessels in the rear to follow their correct course. So accurate was the aim of the Confederate gunners that at one time it looked as if the entire fleet was doomed to annihilation. The total Union loss was about 70, the greater portion of which occurred on the Mississippi. The Confederate reports state their loss as 1 killed and 19 wounded. (For a description of Confederate fortifications about Port Hudson see the following article.) Port Hudson, Louisiana, Siege of, May 25-July 9, 1863. 19th Army Corps, Department of the Gulf. The village of Port Hudson, located on a bend of the Mississippi river, 25 miles above Baton Rouge and about 150 miles from New Orleans, was fortified by the Confederates in the summer and fall of 1862. The works were of great strength, the parapets having an average thickness of 20 feet and rising to a height of 15 feet above the bottom of the ditch in front. The batteries were about 80 feet above the water and mounted 20 heavy siege guns, which commanded the river for some distance in either direction. Beginning at Ross' landing, about a mile below the village, a line of earthworks of strong profile ran eastward for about a mile, thence northward and finally turned to the west, coming to the bank of the river at the mouth of Thompson's creek, half a mile north of the town. Near Ross' landing was an enclosed bastioned work; at the southeast salient, where the line turned northward, was another strong redoubt known as "the Citadel;" a third work stood nearly east of the village, not far from the Baton Rouge road, and a fourth was at the upper end of the line facing Thompson's creek. Altogether the line was over 3 miles in length, and on April 1, 1863, was manned by something over 16,000 men, with 30 pieces of field artillery, under command of Major-General Frank Gardner, but by the middle of May this force had been reduced to about 7,000 men in order to reinforce General Pemberton at Vicksburg. The reduction of Port Hudson was necessary for the opening of the Mississippi river, and when General Grant began the siege of Vicksburg General Banks, commanding the Department of the Gulf, concentrated his army against Port Hudson. At that time the 19th corps consisted of four divisions. The 1st division, under Major-General C. C. Augur, was composed of the brigades of Chapin, Weitzel and Dudley; the 2nd division, Brigadier-General T. W. Sherman commanding, consisted of the brigades of Dow, Farr and Nickerson; the 3d division, commanded by Brigadier-General W. H. Emory, included the brigades of Ingraham, Paine and Gooding; the 4th division, commanded by Brigadier-General Cuvier Grover, was made up of the brigades of Dwight, Kimball and Birge. At the beginning of operations against Port Hudson, Banks brought with him from the Red river country the divisions of Grover and Emory and Weitzel's brigade. The remainder of Augur's division and that of Sherman, stationed at Baton Rouge, joined Banks a few miles east of Port Hudson on May 25, the Confederate outposts were driven in, and the next day the place was fairly invested. On the 19th General Joseph E. Johnston sent an order to Gardner to evacuate the post and join him at Jackson. This order did not reach Port Hudson until late on the 24th, and before it could be carried out Banks' army of nearly 40,000 men was in front of the intrenchments. Banks formed his line with Grover on the right; next Emory's division, temporarily commanded by General Dwight; Augur occupied the center, and Sherman was on the left. As soon as the troops were in position orders were issued for an assault and between 5 and 6 a. m. on the 26th the artillery opened a sharp fire on the Confederate works. This continued until 10 o'clock, when Grover moved forward to the attack. The ground in his front was broken and the troops moved with difficulty, though they gallantly pushed up close to the works and continued the fighting until 4 p. m. The attack in the center and on the left was delayed and did not commence until 2 p. m., when the whole line moved forward with determination, reaching the ditch, but the parapet proved too formidable and at dark the troops were withdrawn. During the next few days there was almost constant skirmishing, while the Federals advanced their position as much as possible and intrenched. Siege guns were brought up and placed in position, and on June 13 Banks made a demand for the surrender of the garrison. This was refused and another assault was ordered to be made at daylight on the 14th. Dwight moved forward under cover of a ravine and attacked the Citadel, while the main assault was made by Grover and Weitzel on the right. Neither column was successful, though the Federal lines were advanced and the ground thus gained was intrenched and held during the remainder of the siege. Dwight gained an eminence from which an approach was run to the Citadel; a mine was prepared and charged with 30 barrels of powder, but just as it was about ready to spring, the garrison capitulated. The Union loss in the two assaults was 49b killed, 2,945 wounded and 358 missing. Among the wounded was General Sherman, who lost a leg. The Confederate loss was comparatively small. On July 7 Banks received a letter from Grant, announcing the fall of Vicksburg. Salutes were fired and the vociferous cheering of the Union troops told the Confederates that something out of the ordinary had occurred. That afternoon a rumor of Pemberton's surrender became current among the besieged and Gardner asked Banks to give him some official assurance that the report was correct. In reply Banks sent the Confederate commander a copy of Grant's letter, upon the receipt of which Gardner proposed the appointment of commissioners to arrange the details of a surrender. This was assented to and the commissioners met at 9 a. m. on the 8th. By the terms agreed upon the entire garrison was surrendered as prisoners of war, and all arms, munitions, public funds and materials of war passed into the hands of the victorious army. The Confederate troops laid down their arms on the morning of the 9th and the Mississippi river was open for the passage of Union vessels for its entire navigable length. Of the prisoners 5,593 were paroled and some 500 sick and wounded were retained in the hospitals. The Confederates lost while the siege was in progress about 800 men. Over 5,000 stands of small arms, 51 pieces of artillery, large quantities of ammunition, etc., fell into Banks' hands. The commissary stores were small, practically everything having been consumed during the siege, in the last days of which it is said the Confederates had no meat except that of mules and rats. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, pp. 708-710.


PORT HUDSON, LOUISIANA, April 7, 1864. Detachment of 118th Illinois Mounted Infantry. Captain Joseph Shaw, with 100 cavalry and a gun of the 25th New York battery, was sent out to protect a telegraph line repairer. About 8 miles out, near Plains store, this escort was attacked by a superior force of the enemy and compelled to fall back, which they did in good order until within a mile and a half of the town, when another Confederate detachment came up on the Springfield landing road and attacked on the flank. In the fight which ensued the enemy captured the piece of artillery, together with 16 men and 8 horses. Five of Shaw's men were wounded. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 710.


PORT HUDSON, LOUISIANA, May 28, 1864. A small force of Confederates attacked and plundered the pest-house of the post of Port Hudson, situated on the opposite bank of the river. The medicines were destroyed and the hospital supplies taken. The surgeon in charge, John W. Mason, was taken prisoner. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 710.


PORTLAND, MISSOURI, October 16, 1862. 1st Battalion Missouri Cavalry Militia. A party of Porter's Confederate troops having occupied Portland, a Federal battalion, 120 strong, started in pursuit. At Jackson's mill the enemy's pickets were first discovered. They were driven in, one portion of them making for the town and the other toward the left. Both were pursued, but the latter was lost in the thickets. When the Federals arrived in the town the larger portion of the enemy had already been ferried across the river, but the 40 or 50 left were charged and dispersed up the river. The Confederates lost 7 killed in this encounter. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 710.


PORT REPUBLIC, VIRGINIA, June 8-9, 1862. 1st Division, Department of the Rappahannock. Port Republic is a town situated at the confluence of the North and South rivers where they form the south fork of the Shenandoah river. The South river is easily fordable and at the time of the operations in the Shenandoah valley in 1862 it was spanned by a wooden bridge. During the pursuit of Jackson in the valley Brigadier-General James Shields, commanding the 1st division of the Department of the Rappahannock, learned that the Confederates were awaiting a lowering of the waters of the river. Accordingly he ordered the 3d and 4th brigades and 14 pieces of artillery, all under Colonel Samuel S. Carroll, to proceed to Port Republic and guard the crossing, hoping thus to get Jackson between himself and Fremont. At 6 a. m. on Sunday, June 8, Carroll's advance approached the town, which was occupied by a small cavalry force, and in a brilliant dash across the south stream the Federal cavalry drove the enemy out and across the bridge spanning the north stream. Two pieces of artillery were immediately brought forward and placed so as to command the bridge and the infantry was brought into the town. Before the latter could be deployed the Confederates returned in force and the Federal cavalry fell back in disorder without offering any resistance. Seeing that it was impossible to hold his position, Carroll ordered a retreat toward Conrad's store, 15 miles down the river. The Union loss on the 8th was 9 killed, 20 wounded and 1 missing. On the same day the battle of Cross Keys was fought and during the night Ewell's division joined the Confederates at Port Republic . Early the next morning the enemy was seen massing his infantry and cavalry on Carroll's left, and before long was attacking in force on the right, held by the 7th Indiana under Colonel James Gavin. Carroll with reinforcements went to Gavin's aid and succeeded in repulsing the attack, but in the meantime the left gave way and the batteries were captured. The order to retreat was then given, the 5th Ohio infantry bringing up the rear. The Confederates turned the captured guns on the retiring Federals, which created some confusion, but after falling back for some 4 or 5 miles reinforcements came up under Shields and repulsed the pursuing enemy. The Federal losses on the 9th were 67 killed, 393 wounded and 558 captured or missing. The Confederate casualties were 92 killed, 693 wounded and 36 missing. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, pp. 710-711.


PORT REPUBLIC, VIRGINIA, September 26-28, 1864. Cavalry of the Army of the Shenandoah. On the 26th, while the main body of the Union army was near Harrisonburg, Sheridan sent General Torbert, with Wilson's division and Lowell's brigade of Merritt's, to destroy the Virginia Central railroad bridge at Waynesboro, and, as a diversion to cover this movement, directed Merritt to move with the rest of his division to Port Republic . When within 2 miles of Port Republic Devin's brigade, which was in advance, encountered some of McCausland's cavalry, drove them across the river to Weyer's cave, not far from Brown's gap, when a division of Confederate infantry attacked Devin on his right and rear, forcing him to fall back toward the river and take a position where he had an open field in his front. Here he was joined by the other brigade, Taylor's battery was thrown into position and opened a vigorous fire on the Confederates, forcing them to fall back to the woods. Merritt then sent word to General Powell at Piedmont to bring up his division, with a view to capturing Early's train. The 6th and 7th Michigan, commanded by Colonel Deane and Major Darling, had made one attempt to capture the train, but had been compelled to give up the undertaking by the superior strength of the guard. When Powell came up he quickly drove back a body of the enemy's cavalry, but in doing so developed a large force of infantry and artillery and was forced to retire across the South river, where he went into camp for the night. The next morning he again advanced, leaving the 2nd West Virginia and two squadrons to guard the camp and train. About the same time Fitzhugh Lee crossed the river 2 miles above and suddenly attacked Powell's camp, driving back the small force in charge. Powell changed front, recalled that portion of his division that had already crossed the river, and attacked Lee with such vigor that he was forced to retreat somewhat precipitately. Powell started to pursue, but a heavy column of infantry, cavalry and artillery was discovered moving out from Brown's gap, evidently intent in cutting off the division, but Powell prevented the success of the maneuver by slowly falling back to Cross Keys, where he joined Merritt's command and formed in line of battle. Instead of attacking the Federal cavalry at Cross Keys the Confederates moved off to Port Republic, which place they evacuated on the morning of the 28th, the rear-guard being attacked by Kidd's and Schoonmaker's brigades and driven in the direction of Waynesboro. No report of casualties during these engagements. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, pp. 711-712.


PORT ROYAL, SOUTH CAROLINA, November 7, 1861. Com. Dupont's Fleet, Port Royal harbor was defended by two forts, Walker and Beauregard, the former on Hilton Head island and the latter on Bay point opposite and about 3 miles distant. Fort Walker was garrisoned by a Confederate force under General Drayton and mounted 20 guns, only 13 of which could be directed against an attack by the fleet in front. The garrison at Fort Beauregard was commanded by Colonel Dunovant. This fort mounted 19 guns, but only 7 were in positions to be used against an attack by water. At 9 am. 19 Union battleships moved up into the harbor in close order, firing upon Fort Beauregard as they passed, then circling to the left poured a broadside into Fort Walker. This circuit was made three times, when some of the vessels took a flanking position, from which they could rake the parapet of Fort Walker, and in a short time most of the guns of that work were disabled. Meantime the bombardment was kept up against Fort Beauregard with like result. Early in the action a caisson was exploded by a shell from one of the gunboats, and the bursting of a rifled 24-pounder killed or wounded several men. The incessant and well aimed fire of the battleships finally compelled the evacuation of both forts and Port Royal fell into the hands of the national forces, thus affording a camping ground and base of operations for the army commanded by Brigadier-General T. W. Sherman. (See also naval volume.) The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 712.


PORT ROYAL, VIRGINIA, April 26, 1865. (See Garrett's farm, same date.)


PORT ROYAL FERRY, SOUTH CAROLINA, January 1, 1862. Part of Expeditionary Corps. The Confederates had established batteries at Port Royal ferry on the Coosaw river, to obstruct the navigation of that stream, and Brigadier-General Thomas W. Sherman, commanding the expeditionary corps on Beaufort island, determined to dislodge them. This work was intrusted to Brigadier-General Isaac I. Stevens, whose force consisted of the 8th Michigan, 47th, 48th and 79th New York, 50th and 100th Pennsylvania infantry, about 3,000 men, while five gunboats of Com. Dupont's fleet, under command of Captain C. R. P. Rodgers of the U. S. Navy, were directed to cooperate with the land forces. The plan was for Stevens to cross over from Brick-yard point on Port Royal island at daylight on the 1st, the crossing to be covered by the gunboats, two of which were to take position in the Coosaw for that purpose, while the other three were to enter Whale branch as soon as it was light enough to see and move up toward the ferry. Considerable delay occurred in crossing, so that it was noon before Stevens was ready to begin his attack. The 79th New York was in advance, with two companies thrown forward as skirmishers. Immediately following this regiment were 2 howitzers that had been sent up from one of the gunboats, supported by the 8th Michigan and 50th Pennsylvania, with the 47th and 48th New York in reserve and the 100th Pennsylvania guarding the flatboats and keeping open a line of retreat in case it became necessary. As the line advanced the enemy opened a vigorous fire from a masked battery on the right, and Colonel Fenton, commanding the 8th Michigan, was ordered to dislodge it. Fenton deployed his regiment as skirmishers and, protected by the thickets and ridges in the ground, advanced against the battery, but soon developed a large force of infantry in support. The reserves were then pushed out to the right, while Colonel Christ sent part of the 50th Pennsylvania to the left, under instructions to gain the rear of the enemy if possible. The movements were well executed and the Confederates were pressed back at all points. As soon as the line began to move forward the gunboats commenced throwing shells over the heads of the Union troops into the fort, which created considerable consternation in the enemy's ranks. In the meantime Colonel Leasure, commanding the 100th Pennsylvania, who was under orders to cross over and assist in the assault on the fort if circumstances favored such a movement, saw from his point of observation that the Confederates were about ready to evacuate their works, and threw over a detachment under Lieutenant-Colonel Armstrong, which reached the fort just as the enemy was leaving it and the skirmishers of the 79th New York were taking possession. Armstrong then made a reconnaissance to the northward and found that the enemy was in full retreat. The Union loss in this engagement was 2 killed, 12 wounded and 1 missing. The Confederates reported a loss of 8 killed and 24 wounded. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 712-713.

PORT WALTHALL JUNCTION, VIRGINIA, May 7, 1864. Detachments of 10th and 18th Army Corps. Early in the morning the brigades commanded by H. M. Plaisted, William B. Barton and J. C. Drake of the 10th corps and Hiram Burnham's brigade of the 18th corps, all under Brigadier-General W. H. T. Brooks, moved on the Bermuda Hundred road to cut the Petersburg & Richmond railroad from Chester Station to Port Walthall junction and farther south if practicable. Shortly after starting a small force of the enemy was discovered at the opposite end of a causeway leading through a marsh. The 8th Connecticut was thrown forward as skirmishers, supported by the rest of Burnham's brigade, and the cavalry was sent to the turnpike. Plaisted's brigade was thrown to the right, where it proceeded down a ravine under cover to the railroad and at once started to destroy it. Barton's brigade moved to the left of Plaisted's, but it was with some difficulty and rather heavy loss that the Confederates were driven back and the railroad gained. After some hours spent in tearing up tracks and destroying buildings, etc., Brooks withdrew, having suffered a loss of 20 killed, 229 wounded and 40 captured or missing. One of the 2 Confederate brigades engaged lost 22 killed, 142 wounded and 13 missing. The casualties in the other were not reported. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 713.


PORTER, Albert G, governor of Indiana, born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, 20 April, 1824. He was graduated at Asbury University, Indiana, in 1843, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1845, and began to practise in Indianapolis, where he was councilman and corporation attorney. In 1853 he was appointed reporter of the Supreme Court of Indiana. He was elected to Congress as a Republican, holding his seat from 5 December, 1850, till 3 March, 1863, and serving on the judiciary committee and on that on manufactures. He was a nominee for presidential elector on the Hayes ticket in 1876. On 5 March, 1878, he was appointed first comptroller of the U. S. Treasury, but he resigned to become governor of Indiana, which office he held from 1881 till 1884. He has published " Decisions of the Supreme Court of Indiana " (5 vols. Indianapolis, 1853-'6). and has now (1888) in preparation a history of Indiana. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 71.


PORTER, Alexander,  jurist, born near Armagh, County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1796; died in Attakapas, Louisiana, 13 January, 1844. His father, an Irish Presbyterian clergyman and chemist, while lecturing in Ireland during the insurrection of 1798, fell under suspicion of being an insurgent spy, and was seized and executed. His son came to this country in 1801 with his uncle, and settled in Nashville, Tennessee, where, after serving as clerk, he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1807. By the advice of General Andrew Jackson, he moved to St. Martinsville, Louisiana, and was elected to the State Constitutional Convention of 1811. In 1821-'33 he was judge of the state supreme court, and rendered service by establishing with others a new system of jurisprudence. He was elected a U. S. Senator as a Whig, in place of Joseph S. Johnston, deceased, serving from 6 January, 1834, till 5 January, 1837, and during his term voted to censure President Jackson for the removal of the deposits from the U. S. Bank, and favored John C. Calhoun's motion to reject petitions for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. In March, 1836, he made an elaborate reply to a speech of Thomas H. Benton upon the introduction of "his "expunging resolutions." He also opposed Benton's bill for compelling payments for public lands to be made in specie, and advocated the division of surplus revenue among the states, and the recognition of the independence of Texas. He was again elected to the senate in 1843, and served till his death. For many years before his death he resided on his estate, "Oak Lawn," of 5,000 acres, on Bayou Teche, and the large mansion, where Henry Clay was a frequent visitor, is still (1888) standing in the centre of an extensive park. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 71.


PORTER, Horace, soldier, born in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, 15 April, 1837, was educated in his native state, and afterward entered the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard, and while there was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy, and graduated in 1860. He was several months instructor of artillery at West Point, and was ordered to duty in the south at the beginning of the Civil War. He was chief of artillery, and had charge of the batteries at the capture of Fort Pulaski, and participated in the assault on Secessionville, where he received a slight wound in the first attempt to take Charleston. He was on the staff of General McClellan in July, 1862, and served with the Army of the Potomac until after the engagement at Antietam. In the beginning of the next year he was chief of ordnance on General Rosecrans's staff, and went through the Chickamauga Campaign with the Army of the Cumberland. When Grant had taken command in the east, Porter became aide-de-camp on his staff, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and later as colonel. He accompanied him through the Wilderness Campaign and the siege of Richmond and Petersburg, and was present at the surrender at Appomattox. Afterward, he made a series of tours of inspection, by Grant's direction, in the south and on the Pacific Coast. He was brevetted captain, major, and lieutenant-colonel for gallant and meritorious services at the siege of Fort Pulaski, the Wilderness, and Newmarket Heights respectively, and colonel and brigadier-general, U.S. Army, for gallant and meritorious services in the war. He was assistant Secretary of War while Grant was secretary ad interim, served as secretary to Grant during his first presidential term, and continued to be his intimate friend till the latter's death. He resigned from the army in 1873, and has since been interested in railroad affairs, acting as manager of the Pullman Palace-Car Company and as president and director of several corporations. He was largely interested in building the West Shore Railroad, of which he was the first president. General Porter is the inventor of a water-gauge for steam-boilers and of the ticket-cancelling boxes that are used on the elevated railways in New York City. He has delivered numerous lectures and addresses, made a wide reputation as an after-dinner speaker, has contributed frequently to magazines, and is the author of a book on “West Point Life” (New York, 1866).–George Bryan's son, Andrew, soldier, born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 10 July, 1820; died in Paris, France, 3 January, 1872, entered the U. S. Military Academy in 1836, but left in the following year. He was appointed 1st lieutenant of mounted rifles on 27 May, 1846, and served in the Mexican War, becoming captain on 15 May, 1847, and receiving the brevet of major for gallant and meritorious conduct at Contreras and Churubusco, and that of lieutenant-colonel for Chapultepec, 13 September, 1847. Afterward he served in Texas and in the southwest, and in 1860 was in command of Fort Craig, Virginia. At the opening of the Civil War he was ordered to Washington, and promoted to command the 16th Infantry. He had charge of a brigade at Bull Run, and, when Colonel David Hunter was wounded, succeeded him in the command of the 2d Division. On 17 May, 1861, he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers. Subsequently he was provost-marshal-general for the Army of the Potomac, but after General George B. McClellan's retreat from the Chickahominy to James River he was relieved from duty with this army. In the autumn of 1862 he was ordered to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to assist in organizing and forwarding troops, and in November of that year he was assigned to command in Pennsylvania, and charged with the duties of provost-marshal-general of Washington, where he was active in restoring order in the city and surrounding district. He was mustered out on 4 April, 1864, and, owing to impaired health, resigned his commission on 20 April, after which he travelled in Europe. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 72.


PORTER, William David, born in New Orleans, Louisiana, 10 March, 1809; died in New York City, 1 May, 1864, was educated in Philadelphia, and appointed to the  U.S. Navy from Massachusetts as midshipman on 1 January, 1823. He became lieutenant on 31 December, 1833, served on the “Franklin,” “Brandywine,” “Natchez,” “Experiment,” “United States,” and “Mississippi,” and in 1843 was assigned to the Home Squadron. He commanded the store-ship “Erie" in 1849, and, in 1851, the “Waterwitch.” On 13 September, 1855, he was placed on the reserved list, but he was restored to active duty as commander on 14 September, 1859. At the beginning of the Civil War he was serving on the U.S. sloop “St. Mary's,” in the Pacific. He was ordered to the Mississippi to assist in fitting out the gun-boat flotilla with which he accompanied Commodore Andrew H. Foote up Tennessee River, and commanded the “Essex,” which he had named for his father's ship, in the attack on Fort Henry, 6 February, 1862, during which engagement he was scalded and temporarily blinded by steam from a boiler that had been pierced by shot. He also commanded the “Essex" in the battle of Fort Donelson, 14 February, 1862, and fought in the same vessel past the batteries on the Mississippi to join the fleet at Vicksburg. He attacked the Confederate ram  “Arkansas” above Baton Rouge, 15 July, 1862, and disabled her, and her magazine shortly afterward exploded. He was made commodore on 16 July, 1862, and then bombarded Natchez, and attacked the Vicksburg batteries and Port Hudson. Subsequently he served but little, owing to impaired health. He had two sons in the Confederate service. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 74-75.


PORTER, David Dixon, naval officer, born in Chester, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, 8 June, 1813, studied in Columbian College, Washington, D.C., in 1824, accompanied his father in the “John Adams” to suppress piracy in the West Indies, was appointed midshipmen in the Mexican Navy and served under his cousin, Captain David H. Porter, in the “Guerrero,” which sailed from Vera Cruz in 1827, and had a rough experience with a Spanish frigate, “La Lealtad,” Captain Porter being killed in the action. David D. entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman on 2 February, 1829, cruised in the Mediterranean, and then served on the coast survey until he was promoted to lieutenant, 27 February, 1841. He was in the Mediterranean and Brazilian waters until 1845, when he was appointed to the naval observatory in Washington, and in 1846 he was sent by the government on a secret mission to Hayti, and reported on the condition of affairs there. He served during the entire Mexican War, had charge of the naval rendezvous in New Orleans, and was engaged in every action on the coast, first as lieutenant and afterward as commanding officer of the “Spitfire.” Subsequently he returned to the coast survey, and, on the discovery of gold in California, obtained a furlough and commanded the California mail steamers “Panama” and “Georgia” between New York and the Isthmus of Panama. At the beginning of the Civil War he was ordered to command the steam frigate “Powhatan,” which was despatched to join the Gulf Blockading Squadron at Pensacola, and to aid in re-enforcing Fort Pickens. On 22 April, 1861, he was appointed commander, and subsequently he was placed in command of the mortar fleet, consisting of 21 schooners, each carrying a 13-inch mortar, and, with 5 steamers as convoys, joined Farragut's fleet in March, 1862, and bombarded Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip, below New Orleans, from 18 till 24 April, 1862, during which engagement 20,000 bombs were exploded in the Confederate works. Farragut, having destroyed the enemy's fleet of fifteen vessels, left the reduction of these forts to Porter, and they surrendered on 28 April, 1862. He assisted Farragut in all the latter's operations between New Orleans and Vicksburg, where he effectively bombarded the forts and enabled the fleet to pass in safety. Informing the Secretary of the Navy of the surrender of Vicksburg, Admiral Porter writes: “The navy has necessarily performed a less conspicuous part in the capture of Vicksburg than the army; still it has been employed in a manner highly creditable to all concerned. The gun-boats have been constantly below Vicksburg in shelling the works, and with success co-operating with the left wing of the army. The mortar-boats have been at work for forty-two days without intermission, throwing shells into all parts of the city, even reaching the works in the rear of Vicksburg and in front of our troops, a distance of three miles. . . . I stationed the smaller class of gun-boats to keep the banks of the Mississippi clear of guerillas, who were assembling in force and with a large number of cannon to block up the river and cut off the transports bringing down supplies, re-enforcements, and ammunition for the army. Though the rebels on several occasions built batteries, and with a large force attempted to sink or capture the transports, boats with severe loss on all occasions. While the Confederates were making efforts to repair the “Indianola,” which they had captured, Commodore Porter fitted an old scow to look like one of his “turtle” gun-boats, with two canoes for quarter-boats, a smoke-stack of pork-barrels, and mud furnaces in which fire was kindled. This was called the “Turreted Monster” and set adrift with no one on board. A tremendous cannonade from the Confederate batteries failed to stop her, and the authorities at Vicksburg hastily destroyed the “Indianola,” while the supposed monitor drifted for an hour amid a rain of  before the enemy discovered the trick. In July, Commander Porter was ordered with his mortar flotilla to Fort Monroe, where he resigned charge of it, and was ordered to command the Mississippi Squadron, as acting rear-admiral, in September, 1862. He improvised a U.S. Navy-yard at Mound City, increased the number of his squadron, which consisted of 125 vessels, and, in co-operation with General Sherman's army, captured Arkansas Post in January, 1863. For his services at Vicksburg Porter received the thanks of Congress and the commission of rear-admiral, dated 4 July, 1863. Soon afterward he ran past the batteries of Vicksburg and captured the Confederate forts at Grand Gulf, which put him into communication with General Grant, who, on 18 May, ''means of the fleet, placed himself in the rear of Vicksburg, and from that time the energies of the army and navy were united to capture the stronghold, which was accomplished on 4 July, 1863. On 1 August, 1863, he arrived in New Orleans in his flag-ship “Black Hawk,” accompanied by the gun-boat “Tuscumbia,” and during the remainder of 1863 his squadron was employed to keep the Mississippi River open. In the Spring of 1864 he co-operated with General Nathaniel P. Banks in the unsuccessful Red River expedition, and through the skill of Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Bailey (q.v.) the fleet was saved. In October, 1864, he was transferred to the North Atlantic Squadron, which embraced within its limits the Cape Fear River and the port of Wilmington, North Carolina. He appeared at Fort Fisher on 24 December, 1864, with 35 regular cruisers, 5 iron-clads, and a reserve of 19 vessels, and began to bombard the forts at the mouth of Cape Fear River. “In one hour and fifteen minutes after the first shot was fired,” says Admiral Porter. “not a shot came from the fort. Two magazines had been blown up by our shells, and the fort set on fire in several places, and such a torrent of missiles was falling into and bursting over it that it was impossible for any human being to stand it. Finding that the batteries were silenced completely, I directed the ships to keep up a moderate fire, in hope of attracting the attention of the transports and bringing them in.” After a reconnaissance, General Benjamin F. Butler, who commanded the military force, decided that Fort Fisher was substantially uninjured and could not be taken by assault, and returned with his command to Hampton Roads, Virginia. Admiral Porter requested that the enterprise should not be abandoned and a second military force of about 8,500 men, commanded by General Alfred H. Terry (q.v.), arrived off Fort Fisher on 13 January, 1865. His fleet was increased during the bombardment by additional land and naval forces, and, after seven hours of desperate fighting, the works were captured on 15 January, 1865, by a combined body of soldiers, sailors, and marines. According to General Grant, “this was the most formidable armada ever collected for concentration upon one given point.” Rear-Admiral Porter received a vote of thanks from Congress which was the fourth that he received during the war, including the general one for the capture of New Orleans. He was promoted vice-admiral on 25 July, 1866, and served as superintendent of the U. S. naval Academy till 1869, when he was detailed for duty in the Navy Department in Washington. On 15 August, 1870, he was appointed admiral of the navy, which rank he now (1888) holds. He was promoted vice-admiral on 25 July, 1866, and served as superintendent of the U. S. Naval Academy till 1869, when he was detailed for duty in the Navy Department in Washington. On 15 August, 1870, he was appointed admiral of the navy, which rank he now (1888) holds. He is the author of a “Life of Commodore David Porter” (Albany, 1875); a romance entitled “Allan Dare and Robert le Diable” (New York, 1885), which has been dramatized, and was produced in New York in 1887; “Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War” (1885); “Harry Marline” (1886); and “History of the ": in the War of the Rebellion” (New York, 1887). – his son, Theodoric Henry, soldier, born in Washington, D.C., 10 August, 1817; died in Texas in March, 1846, was appointed a cadet at West Point, resigning after two ears. He was appointed by President Jackson 2d Lieutenant in the 4th U.S. Infantry, served under General Zachary Taylor at the beginning of the war with Mexico, and was the first American officer killed in the conflict, having been sent with twelve men on a scouting expedition near Fort Brown on the Rio Grande, where he was surrounded by a large force of Mexican Cavalry. The commanding officer called upon Lieutenant Porter to surrender, which he refused, and was cut to pieces, only one of his escort escaping. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 75-76


PORTER, Henry Ogden, naval officer, born 'W', D.C., in 1823; died in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1872, was appointed midshipman in 1840, resigning in 1847. He served in one of Walker's expeditions to Central America, where he fought bravely, and was wounded several times. Afterward he was appointed lieutenant in the U.S. Revenue Marine, and during the Civil War was made acting master in the U.S. Navy, 24 April, 1862, serving as executive officer on the “Hatteras” when that vessel was sunk by the Confederate steamer “Alabama.” He died from the effect of his wounds. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 76.


PORTER, David H., naval officer, born in New Castle, Delaware, in 1804; died near Havana, Cuba, in March, 1828, entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman on 4 August, 1814, became lieutenant on 13 January, 1825, and resigned on 26 July, 1826. He joined his uncle while commander-in-chief of the Mexican Navy, and in 1827 sailed in command of the brig “ Guerrero,” built by Henry Eckford, of New York, taking this vessel to Vera Cruz. He fell in with a fleet of 50 merchant vessels, fifteen miles below Havana, sailing under convoy of two Spanish war-vessels, carrying together 29 guns. Driving them into the port of Little Mariel, after a conflict of two hours he silenced the fire of the two brigs, cutting them severely, and sunk a number of the convoy. A twenty-four pound shot from a battery on shore cut the cable of the “Guerrero,” and the vessel drifted on shore, and went afterward to sea to repair damages. In the mean time she was attacked by the “Lealtad.” of 64 guns, and after a very severe engagement, lasting two hours and a quarter, in which Captain Porter was killed, eighty of his officers and men being either killed or wounded, the masts and sails of the “Guerrero” all shot away and the hull riddled, the “Guerrero” was surrendered and taken into Havana. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 76.


PORTER, Fitz-John, soldier, born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 13 June, 1822, is the son of Commander John Porter, of the U.S. Navy. He studied at Phillips Exeter Academy, was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1845, and assigned to the 4th U.S. Artillery, in which he became 2d lieutenant, 18 June, 1846. He served in the Mexican War, was commissioned 1st lieutenant on 29 May, and received the brevet of captain on 8 September, 1847, on at the breaking out of the responsibility of replying in the affirmative to telegrams from Missouri £ permission to muster troops for the protection of that state. His act was approved by the War Department. During this £ he also organized volunteers in Pennsylvania. On 14 May, 1861, he became colonel of the 15th Infantry, a new regiment, and on 17 May, 1861, he was made brigadier-general of volunteers, and assigned to duty in Washington. In 1862 he participated in the Virginia Peninsular Campaign, served during the siege of Yorktown from 5 April till 4 May, 1862, and upon its evacuation was governor of that place for a short time. He was given command of the 5th Corps, which formed the right wing of the army and fought the battles of Mechanicsville, 26 June, 1862, and Gaines's Mills, 27 June, 1862. At Malvern Hill, 1 July, 1862, he commanded the left flank, which mainly resisted the assaults of that day. He received the brevet of brigadier-general in the regular army for gallant and meritorious conduct at the battle of Chickahominy, Virginia, 27 June, 1862. He was made major-general of volunteers, 4 July, 1862, and temporarily attached to General John Pope's Army of Virginia. His corps, although ordered to advance, was unable to move forward at the second battle of Bull Run, 29 August, 1862, but in the afternoon of the 30th it was actively engaged, and to its obstinate resistance it is mainly due that the defeat was not a total rout. Charges were brought against him for his inaction on the first day, and he was deprived of his command, but was restored to duty at the request of General George B. McClellan, and took part in the Maryland campaign. On 27 November, 1862, General Porter was arraigned before a court-martial in Washington, charged with disobeying orders at the second battle of Bull Run, and on 21 January, 1863, he was cashiered, “and forever disqualified from holding any office of trust or profit under the government of the United States, for violation of the 9th and 52d articles of war." The justice of this verdict has been the subject of much controversy. General Porter made several appeals for a reversal of the decision of the court-martial, and numerous petitions to open the case were addressed to the president during the succeeding eighteen years, as well as memorials from various legislatures, and on. 28 December, 1882, a bill for his relief was presented in the senate, under the action of an advisory board appointed by President Hayes, consisting of General John M. Schofield, General Alfred H. Terry, and General George W. Getty. On 4 May, 1882, the president remitted so much of the sentence of the court-martial as forever disqualified General Porter from holding any office of trust or profit under the government; but the bill for his relief failed in its passage. A technical objection caused President Arthur to veto a similar bill that was passed by the 48th Congress, but another was passed subsequently which was signed by President Cleveland, and he was restored to the U. S. Army as colonel on 7 August, 1886. General Grant, after his term of service as president had ended, though he had refused many petitions to open the ease, studied it more thoroughly, and published his conclusions in December, 1882, in an article entitled "An Undeserved Stigma," in which he said that he was convinced of General Porter's innocence. After leaving the army, General Porter engaged in business in New York City, was subsequently superintendent of the New Jersey asylum for the insane, and in February, 1875, was made commissioner of public works. In 1884 he became police commissioner, which office he held until 1888. In 1869 the Khedive of Egypt offered him the post of commander of his army, with the rank of major-general, which he declined. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 76-77.


PORTER, James, 1808-1888, clergyman, abolitionist.  Member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society.  (Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 77)

PORTER, James, clergyman, born in Middleborough, Massachusetts, 21 March, 1808: died in Brooklyn, New York, 16 April, 1888. At the age of sixteen he entered a cotton-factory in his native town with the intention of learning the business of a manufacturer, but three years later he determined to study for the ministry. He attended the Kent's Hill Seminary at Readfield, Maine, and at the age of twenty-two was admitted a member of the New England Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. During the early period of his ministry Dr. Porter held many pastorates in and near Boston. For several years he was a presiding elder of the conference, and from 1844 till 1872 he was a delegate to the general conference. From 1852 till 1855 he was a member of the board of overseers of Harvard, being the first Methodist clergyman to hold that office. From 1855 till 1871 he was trustee of Wesleyan University, which conferred upon him the degree of A. M. In 1856 he was elected one of the book agents in New York City, having in charge the Methodist book concern, which office he held for twelve years. From 1868 till 1882 he was secretary of the National Temperance Society, and he was also one of the earlier members of the New England Anti-Slavery Society. He was closely connected with the abolition movement, and was at one time in danger from the mob while delivering a speech in Boston upon the subject. He was a preacher of the old school, colloquial in manner, but of commanding presence. In 1856 he received the degree of D. D. from McKendrick College, Illinois. Besides contributing frequently to various periodicals, Dr. Porter published “Camp Meetings Considered” (New York, 1849); “Chart of Life” (1855); “True Evangelist” (1860); “The Winning Worker; or the Possibilities, Duty, and Methods of Doing Good to Men” (1874); “Compendium of Methodism” (1875); “History of Methodism” (1876); “Revival of Religion” (1877); “Hints to Self-educated Ministers, etc.” (1879); “Christianity Demonstrated by Experience, etc.” (1882); “Self-Reliance Encouraged, etc.” (1887); and “Commonplace Book.” Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 77. 


PORTER, Maria G., abolitionist, Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society (Sernett, 2002, p. 190; Yellin, 1994, pp. 28, 30)


PORTER, Samuel D., Rochester, New York, abolitionist.  Manager of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (AFASS), 1843-1844.  Secretary of the Rochester Anti-Slavery Society.  Member of the Liberty Party. Active in Underground Railway.  (Sernett, 2002, pp. 181-182)


PORTER, Susan Farley, abolitionist, president of the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society (RLASS), Rochester, New York, founded 1835 (Sernett, 2002, pp. 58, 60; Yellin, 1994, pp. 26-30)


PORTER, James Davis, governor of Tennessee, born in Paris, Henry County, Tennessee, 7 December, 1828. He was graduated at the University of Nashville in 1846, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1851, and practised his profession. He was elected to the legislature in 1859, and served through the Civil War in the Confederate Army as adjutant on the staff of General Benjamin F. Cheatham, after which he resumed the practice of law, was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of Tennessee in 1870, and in that year was elected circuit judge for the 12th Judicial Circuit of the state, which post he resigned in 1874. From 1874 till 1879 he was governor of Tennessee. In 1880 he was chairman of the Tennessee delegation to the Democratic National Convention, and from that year till 1884 he was president of the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railroad Company. In 1885-'7 he was assistant Secretary of State. Governor Porter is vice-president of the Tennessee Historical Society for West Tennessee, a trustee of the Peabody Fund, and is president of the board of trustees of the University of Nashville, from which he received the degree of LL. D. in 1879. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 77.


PORTER, Peter Augustus, soldier, born in Black Rock, New York, in 1827; killed in the battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia, 3 June, 1864, was graduated at Harvard in 1845, and subsequently studied in the universities of Heidelberg and Berlin. He was a member of the New York legislature in 1862, and in that year he raised a regiment, afterward consolidated with the 8th New York Artillery, was laced in command, and served on garrison duty. When he was offered the nomination for Secretary of State of New York on the Republican ticket in 1863, he declined to leave the army. He was ordered to the field in May, 1864, participated in the battles of Spottsylvania and Totopotomoy, and fell while storming a breastwork at Cold Harbor. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 78.


PORTER, Rufus, inventor, born in West Boxford, Massachusetts, 1 May, 1792; died in New Haven, Connecticut, 13 August, 1884. He early showed mechanical genius. In 1807 his parents apprenticed him to a shoemaker, but he soon gave up this trade, and occupied himself by playing the fife for military companies, and the violin for dancing parties. Three years later he was apprenticed to a house-painter. During the war of 1812 he was occupied in painting gun-boats, and as lifer to the Portland light Infantry. In 1813 he painted sleighs at Denmark, Maine, beat the drum for the soldiers, taught others to do the same, and wrote a book on the art of drumming, and he then enlisted in the militia for several months. Subsequently he was a teacher, but was unable to remain in one place, and so led a wandering life. In 1820 he made a camera-obscura with a lens and a mirror so arranged that with its aid he could draw a satisfactory portrait in fifteen minutes. With this apparatus he travelled through the country until he invented a revolving almanac, when he at once stopped his painting in order to introduce his latest device. His next project was a twin boat to be propelled by horse-power, but it proved unsuccessful, and he turned to portrait-painting again. In 1824 he began landscape-painting, but relinquished it to build a horse flat-boat. He invented a successful cord-making machine in 1825, and thereafter produced a clock, a steam carriage, a portable horse-power, corn-sheller, churn, a washing-machine, signal telegraph, fire-alarm, and numerous other articles. In 1840 he became editor of the "New York Mechanic," which prospered, and in the following year he moved it to Boston, where he called it the "American Mechanic." The new art of electrotyping there attracted his attention, and he gave up editorial work in order to occupy himself with the new invention. He devised at this period a revolving rifle, which he sold to Colonel Samuel Colt for $100. In 1845 he returned to New York and engaged in electrotyping, and about this time he founded the “Scientific American,” the first issue of which bears the date 28 August, 1845. At the end of six months he was glad to dispose of his interest in the paper, and then occupied himself with his inventions. These included a flying-ship, trip-hammer, fog-whistle, engine-lathe, steam valve, rotary plough, reaction wind-wheel, portable house, thermo-engine, rotary engine, and scores of others. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 79-80.


POSEY, Carnot, soldier, born in Wilkinson County. Mississippi, 5 August, 1818; died in Charlottesville, Virginia, 13 November, 1863. He served in the Mexican War as a lieutenant of rifles under Jefferson Davis, and was wounded at Buena Vista. He became colonel of the 16th Mississippi Regiment on 4 June, 1861, and was appointed brigadier-general in the Confederate Army, 1 November, 1862. His brigade was composed of four Mississippi regiments of infantry, and formed part of Anderson's division of Ambrose P. Hill's corps in the Army of Northern Virginia. General Posey received wounds at Bristoe Station, Virginia, 14 October, 1863, from the effects of which he died. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 83.


POSEY, John Wesley, 1801-18   abolitionist, physician (surgeon in the Union Army).  Active in Underground Railroad in Indiana.  Helped found Anti-Slavery League in Indiana.


POSSE COMITATUS. A sheriff or marshal, for the purpose of keeping the peace and pursuing felons, may command all the people of his county above 15 years old to attend him, which is called the posse comitatus, or power of the county; (BLACKSTONE.) Can United States troops stationed in any county be employed as a posse comitatus? Their service does not give them residence where they are employed, and moreover the Acts of Congress of 1795, and March 3, 1807, restrict the employment of the United States military forces in civil commotions to clearly defined cases, and then authorize the President of the United States alone to use such force after he shall have by proclamation commanded the insurgents to disperse and retire peaceably to their homes within a reasonable time. (See CALLING FORTH MILITIA; OBSTRUCTION OF LAW.)

These enactments of Congress would seem to make inapplicable to United States troops the doctrine of English judges, that the soldier, being still a citizen, acts only in preservation of the public peace as another citizen is bound to do. See EXECUTION OF LAWS, for the learning on the subject of using troops in civil commotions where the common law is not changed by legislation. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 466-467).


POST. It is synonymous with position. Thus a post is said to be good or not tenable. Post is also the walk or position of a sentinel. Any officer or soldier, who shall shamefully abandon any fort, post, or guard which he may be commanded to defend, or speak words inducing others to do the like, shall suffer death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct; (ART. 52.) Any sentinel, who shall be found sleeping upon his post, or shall leave it before he shall be regularly relieved, shall suffer death or such other punishment as shall be inflicted by a court-martial; (ART. 66.) (See PAY.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 467).


POST, Albert L., Montrose, Pennsylvania, abolitionist, American Anti-Slavery Society, Manager, 1840-1841.  Executive Committee, American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1840-1844.


POST, Amy Kirby, 1802-1889, Rochester, New York, reformer, American Society of Friends, Radical Hicksite, Quaker, abolitionist leader.  Active participant in the Underground Railroad, with her husband, Isaac Post, aiding fugitive slaves.  Women’s rights activist.  Co-founder of the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society (WNYASS).  Helped form the Yearly Meeting of Congregational Friends (YMCF).  (Drake, 1950; Sernett, 2002, pp. xiv, 60, 61, 181, 340n50; Yellin, 1994, pp. 27-30, 149)


POST, Isaac, 1798-1872, Rochester, New York, philanthropist, abolitionist leader, reformer, American Society of Friends, Radical Hicksite, Quaker, women’s rights activist.  Co-founder of the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society (WNYASS).  Served on the Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), 1842-1843.  Helped form the Yearly Meeting of Congregational Friends (YMCF), which opposed slavery.  Helped establish African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass in Rochester, New York.  Active, with his wife, Amy Post Kirby, in the Underground Railroad, aiding fugitive slaves.  (Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 84; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 117; Sernett, 2002, pp. 60, 180-181, 266, 340n50)

POST, Isaac, philanthropist, born in Westbury, Queens County, New York, 26 February, 1798; died in Rochester, New York, 9 May, 1872. Being the son of Quaker parents, he was educated at the Westbury Friends’ School. He engaged in the drug business, and moved to Scipio, New York, in 1823, and to Rochester, New York, in 1836, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was a warm adherent of William Lloyd Garrison, and one of the earliest laborers in the anti-slavery cause. His door was ever open to those who had escaped from bondage, and his hostility to the Fugitive-Slave Law was bitter and uncompromising. He was a member of the Hicksite branch of the Quakers, but left that body because, in his opinion, it showed itself subservient to the slave power. Mr. Post resided in Rochester when public attention was first attracted to the manifestations by the Fox sisters, and became one of the earliest converts to Spiritualism. He was the author of “Voices from the Spirit World, being Communications from Many Spirits, by the Hand of Isaac Post, Medium” (Rochester, 1852). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 84.


POST, Joseph, 1803-1880, Westbury, New York, abolitionist, Society of Friends (Quaker).  Served on the Executive Committee, 1842-1843, and as a Manager, 1843-1844, of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (AFASS).  (Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 84)

POST, Joseph, born in Westbury, Long Island, 30 November, 1803; died there, 17 January, 1888, resembled Isaac in his profession of abolition principles. He was at one time proscribed and persecuted within his own sect, but lived long enough to witness a complete revolution of sentiment, and to be the recipient of many expressions of confidence and esteem from his coreligionists. When Isaac T. Hopper, Charles Marriot, and James S. Gibbons were disowned by the Society of Friends, on account of their outspoken opposition to slavery, they received encouragement and support from Joseph Post. Mr. Post passed his life in the same house in which he was born and died.    Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 84.


POST, Philip Sidney, soldier, born in Florida, Orange County, New York, 19 March, 1833. He was graduated at Union College in 1855, studied law, and was admitted to the bar. He then travelled through the northwest, his parents having meanwhile moved to Illinois, and took up his abode in Kansas, where he practised his profession, and also established and edited a newspaper. At the opening of the Civil War he was chosen 2d lieutenant in the 59th Illinois Infantry, and in 1862 he became its colonel. He was severely wounded at the battle of Pea Ridge, and made his way with much suffering, and under many difficulties, to St. Louis. Before fully recovering, he joined his regiment in front of Corinth, Mississippi, and was assigned to the command of a brigade. From May, 1862, till the close of the war he was constantly at the front. In the Army of the Cumberland, as first organized, he commanded the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, of the 20th Army Corps from its formation to its dissolution.  He began the battle of Stone River, drove back the enemy several miles, and captured Leetown. During the Atlanta Campaign he was transferred to Wood's division of the 4th Army Corps, and when that general was wounded at Lovejoy’s station, Post took charge of the division, and with it opposed the progress of the Confederates toward the north. On 16 November, 1864, in a charge on Overton Hill, a grape-shot crushed through his hip, making what was for some days thought to be a mortal wound. On 16 December, 1864, he was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers. After the surrender at Appomattox he was appointed to the command of the Western District of Texas, where there was then a concentration of troops on the Mexican border. He remained there until 1866, when the withdrawal of the French from Mexico moved all danger of military complications. He was then earnestly recommended by General George H. Thomas and others, under whom he had served, for the appointment of colonel in the regular army; but he did not wish to remain in the army. In 1866 he was appointed U.S. consul at Vienna, and in 1874 he became consul-general. His official reports have been quoted as authority. In 1878 he tendered his resignation, which, however, was not accepted till the year following. He then resided at Galesburg, Illinois, and in 1886 he was elected to Congress as a Republican. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 84.


POST OAK CREEK, Missouri, March 26, 1862. Missouri State Militia Cavalry. After driving a band of guerrillas from a position 3 miles south of Warrensburg, Major Emory S. Foster with 40 men came upon them again strongly posted behind logs and fence rails on the bank of the Post Oak creek. Foster dismounted his men and after maintaining a vigorous fire for some time a charge was ordered, which drove the Confederates from their position and into the brush. Foster lost 2 killed and 9 wounded, while the Confederate loss was reported at 5 killed and a number wounded. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 713.


POSTERN OR SALLY-PORT is a passage usually vaulted, and constructed under the rampart, to afford a communication from the interior into the ditch. The passages from the covered way into the country, are likewise called sally-ports; as they afford free egress and ingress to troops, engaged in making a sally or sortie. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 467).


POTTER, Alonzo, 1800-1865, Beekman, New York, clergyman, college president, temperance advocate, opponent of slavery.  (Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 124)


POTTER, Robert B., soldier, born in Schenectady, New York, 16 July, 1829; died in Newport, Rhode Island, 19 February, 1887, spent some time at Union College, but was not graduated. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and at the beginning of the Civil War was in successful practice in New York City. He was commissioned major of the 51st New York Volunteers, led the assault at Roanoke Island and wounded at Berne, commanded his regiment at Cedar Mountain, Manassas, and Chantilly, and carried the stone bridge at Antietam, where he was again wounded. He was also engaged in the battle of Fredericksburg in December, 1862, and was made brigadier-general of volunteers, 13 March, 1863. He had previously been commissioned lieutenant-colonel and colonel. He led a division at Vicksburg, and took part in the siege of Knoxville, Tennessee. He was brevetted major-general of volunteers in June, 1864. In the Wilderness Campaign, his division was constantly under fire, and in the final assault on Petersburg, 2 April, 1865, he was severely injured. After the war he was assigned to the command of the Connecticut and Rhode Island District of the Department of the East, and on his wedding-day his wife was presented by Secretary of War Stanton with his commission as full major-general of volunteers, dated 29 September, 1865. He was mustered out of the army in January, 1866, and acted for three years as receiver of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad. After spending some time in England for his health, he returned to Newport, Rhode Island, where he resided until his death. General Grant refers to General Potter in flattering terms in his “Memoirs,” and General Winfield S. Hancock said of him that he was one of the twelve best officers, including both the regular and volunteer services, in the army. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 86-87.


POTTER, Edward Eells, naval officer, born in Medina. New York, 9 May, 1833. He entered the U. S. Navy as a midshipman on 5 February, 1850, and after service in the Home and African Squadrons during 1850-'5, spent a year at the U.S. Naval Academy. On 9 July, 1858, he was commissioned lieutenant, in 1861 he was attached to the " Niagara," of the Western Gulf Squadron, and in 1861-'2 he was executive officer of the " Wissahickon," of that squadron, during the bombardment and passage of Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip and the capture of New Orleans. He also passed the Vicksburg batteries twice and participated in the engagement with the ram "Arkansas." On 10 July. 1862, he was promoted lieutenant-commander and attached to the " De Soto," of the Eastern Gulf Squadron, then passed to the "Wabash," of the North Atlantic Squadron, and in 1864-'5 he had command of the iron-clad "Mahopac." He was given the "Chippewa," of the North Atlantic Squadron, in 1865, and took part in the engagement at Fort Fisher and in the bombardment of Fort Anderson, after which he was executive officer of the " Rhode Island " in 1865-'7. He was executive officer of the "Franklin," Admiral Farragut's flagship, in 1867-'8, on the admiral's last cruise. Subsequently he was on shore duty until 1871, having in the meanwhile been promoted commander on 3 June, 1869. He then had command of the "Shawmut," of the North Atlantic Squadron, during 1871-2. and then until 1879 was on shore duty. In 1880 he commanded the "Constellation," on her voyage to Ireland, carrying supplies to the sufferers, and he was commissioned captain on 11 July, 1880. He then served at the Brooklyn U.S. Navy-yard in 1881-'3, and commanded the "Lancaster," of the European station, until September, 1886. Captain Potter was made commandant of the U.S. Navy-yard at League Island, Pennsylvania, in December, 1886. "and now (1888) fills that place. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 88.


POTTER, Edward Elmer, soldier, born in New York City, 20 June, 1823. He was graduated at Columbia in 1842, studied law, and after spending some time in California he returned to New York and turned his attention to farming. Early during the Civil War he was appointed captain and commissary of subsistence from New York, which commission he held from February to October, 1862. Subsequently he recruited a regiment of North Carolina troops, of which he was made colonel, and was engaged chiefly in the operations in North and South Carolina and east Tennessee, receiving the promotion of brigadier-general of volunteers on 9 November, 1862. He resigned on 24 July, 1865, and was brevetted major-general of volunteers on 13 March, 1865. Since the war General Potter has lived in Madison, New Jersey, and New York City. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 88-89.


POTTER, Hazard Arnold, surgeon, born in Potter township, Ontario (now Yates) County, New York, 21 December, 1810; died in Geneva, New York, 2 December, 1869. He was graduated at the medical department of Bowdoin in 1835, and began the practice of his profession in Rhode Island, but soon returned to his native town. he performed successfully many critical surgical operations, and in 1837 he called attention to the attention of arterial blood in the veins of parts that had been paralyzed in consequence of injury to the spinal cord. He trephined the spine for depressed fracture of the arches of the fifth and sixth vertebrae in 1844, and subsequently he performed the same operation four times, twice successfully. Later he performed ligature of the carotid artery five times, four times successfully, and removed the upper jaw six times and the lower five times. Dr. Potter was early convinced of the safety of operations within the abdominal cavity, and in 1843 performed gastrostomy for the relief of intussusception of the bowels with perfect success. He removed fibrous tumors of the uterus from within the abdominal cavity five times, in three cases successfully. He extirpated by ovariotomy twenty-two ovarian tumors, fourteen of them successfully, and in one of the successful cases both ovaries were removed at the same time. In another case, also successful, the operation was repeated upon the same patient twice with an interval of seventeen months. Dr. Potter served as regimental surgeon of the 50th New York Engineers in 1862. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 89.


POTTER, John Fox, lawyer, born in Augusta, Maine, 11 May, 1817. He was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, and, after studying law, was admitted to the bar in 1837. Settling in East Troy, Wisconsin, in 1838, he began the practice of his profession, and during 1842-'6 he was judge of Walworth County. In 1850 he was a member of the legislature of Wisconsin, and he was then elected as a Republican to Congress, serving from 7 December, 1857, till 4 March, 1863. In 1850, after Owen Lovejoy's speech in Congress, concerning the assassination of his brother, Elijah P. Lovejoy, Mr. Potter, at the close of an angry discussion with Roger A. Pryor, was challenged to a duel by the latter. Mr. Potter chose bowie-knives as the weapons, which were promptly objected to by the other side, and in consequence the matter was dropped. Considerable newspaper discussion followed. It is said that at the roll-call of Congress at the time of the proposed meeting, when Potter's name was reached, the response came: “He is keeping a Pryor engagement." When Pryor's name was called, the answer was: " He has gone to be made into Potter's clay." In 1861 Mr. Potter was a delegate to the Peace Congress, and on his defeat for re-election to Congress he was tendered the governorship of Dakota. This offer he declined, and he received in 1863 the appointment of consul-general to British North America at Montreal, which he held until 1856. He has since resided in Wisconsin. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 90.


POTTER, Joseph Haydn, soldier, born in Concord, New Hampshire, 12 October. 1822. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1843, standing next below General Grant in class rank. In 1843-'5 he was engaged in garrison duty, and he then participated in the military occupation of Texas and the war with Mexico. He was engaged in the defence of Fort Brown, and was wounded in the battle of Monterey. Subsequently he was employed on recruiting service, was promoted 1st lieutenant in the 7th Infantry on 30 October, 1847, and served on garrison duty until 1856, becoming captain on 9 January of that year. He accompanied the Utah Expedition in 1858-'60, and at the beginning of the Civil War was on duty in Texas, where he was captured by the Confederates at St. Augustine Springs on 27 July, 1861, but was exchanged on 2 August, 1862. The command of the 12th New Hampshire Volunteers was given him, and he took part in the Maryland and Rappahannock Campaigns with the Army of the Potomac, receiving his promotion of major in the regular army on 4 July, 1863. He took part in the battle of Fredericksburg, and at Chancellorsville was wounded and captured. His services in these two battles gained for him the brevets of lieutenant-colonel and colonel respectively, he was exchanged in October. 1863. and was assistant provost-marshal-general of Ohio until September, 1804, when he was assigned a brigade in the 18th Corps of the Army of the James, with command of the Bermuda Hundred front during the attack on Fort Harrison. He afterward was assigned to command of brigade in the 24th Corps and continued at the front as chief of staff of the 24th Corps from January, 1865, until the surrender of General Lee, receiving the brevet of brigadier-general in the U. S. Army on 13 March, 1865, and promotion to brigadier-general of volunteers on 1 May, 1865. He was mustered out of the volunteer service on 15 January, 1866, and appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 30th Infantry, 28 July same year. After holding various posts in the west he received his promotion as colonel on 11 December, 1873, and then continued with his regiment, with the exception of four years, from 1 July, 1877, to 1 July, 1881, when he was governor of the soldiers' home, Washington, D. C, until 1 April, 1886, when he was made brigadier-general in the regular army. He then had command of the Department of Missouri until his retirement on 12 October, 1886. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 90.


POTTS' HILL, ARKANSAS, February 16, 1862. (See Sugar Creek.) Pound Gap, Kentucky, March 16, 1862. 40th and 42nd Ohio and 22nd Kentucky Infantry, and 100 Cavalry. Brigadier-General James A. Garfield, with 600 infantry and 100 cavalry, left Piketon on the 14th and by the night of the 15th was within a few miles of Major John B. Thompson's Confederate camp of 500 men at Pound gap. The Federal cavalry under Major McLaughlin advanced directly up the main road the next morning while the infantry took a circuitous route and got to the rear of the enemy's camp. Attacks on both sides were to be simultaneous, but the infantry was delayed and the cavalry attack was repulsed. It had the effect, however, of allowing the infantry to get close to the camp without being noticed. After receiving a half dozen volleys at long range the Confederates broke and fled, leaving 1 dead and a number wounded. Garfield's force did not suffer any casualties. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 714.


POUND GAP, KENTUCKY, May 9, 1864. Colonel George W. Gallup, of the 14th Kentucky infantry, reporting from Louisa, Kentucky, says: "Major Wise, 11th Michigan, left this morning with three squadrons for the vicinity of Pound gap. Scouts just came in; had a skirmish with one of Morgan's scouts; captured 6 horses, his telegraph operator and instruments, and 1 private; killed 2." The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 714.


POUND GAP, KENTUCKY, June 1, 1864. Brigadier-General John H. Morgan (Confederate), in his report of his raid into Kentucky, states that he entered the state via Pound gap, driving in a Federal force of 500 at that point This is the only official mention of the affair. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 714.

POWDER. (See GUNPOWDER.)


POWDER SPRINGS, GEORGIA, June 20, 1864. Detachment 1st Division, Cavalry Corps, Army of the Cumberland. Scouting parties were sent out daily by General E. M. McCook, commanding the division, to discover the movements of the enemy and develop his position. On the 20th one of these parties fell in with a small body of Confederate cavalry and drove it back on the picket post at Powder Springs, afterward forcing the picket to retire along the road to Atlanta. These cavalry movements and the engagement at Cheney's farm on the 22nd aided materially in driving the enemy from Kennesaw mountain. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 714.


POWDER SPRINGS, GEORGIA, October 2-3, 1864. General John B. Hood, reporting his operations in an effort to draw Sherman away from the vicinity of Atlanta, says that his skirmishers had brushes with the Federal skirmishers on the 2nd and 3d at Noyes' and Sweet Water creeks near Powder Springs. No casualties were reported. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 714.


POWDER SPRINGS GAP, Tennessee, June 21, 1863. U. S. Troops under Colonel W. P. Sanders. As an incident of Sanders' raid in east Tennessee, with detachments of 1st East Tennessee, 44th Ohio, and 112th Illinois mounted infantry, 2nd and 7th Ohio and 1st Kentucky cavalry and the 1st Ohio artillery, he was opposed at Powder Springs gap by a large force directly in its front, while another detachment came up and began skirmishing with the rear, but by taking country roads the gap was occupied without trouble or serious loss. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 714.


POWELL, John Wesley, geologist, born in Mount Morris, New York, 24 March, 1834. He is the son of a Methodist clergyman, and passed his early life in various places in Ohio, Wisconsin, and Illinois. For a time he studied in Illinois College, and he subsequently entered Wheaton College, but in 1854 he followed a special course at Oberlin, also teaching at intervals in public schools. His first inclinations were toward the natural sciences, particularly natural history and geology, and he spent much of his time in making collections, which he placed in various institutions of learning in Illinois, The Illinois State Natural History Society elected him its secretary and extended to him facilities for prosecuting his researches. At the beginning of the Civil War he enlisted as a private in the 20th Illinois Volunteers, and he rose to be lieutenant-colonel of the 2d Illinois Artillery. He lost his right arm at the battle of Shiloh, but soon afterward he returned to his regiment and continued in active service until the close of the war. In I865 he became professor of geology and curator of the museum in Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, but he resigned to accept a similar post in Illinois Normal University. During the summer of 1867 he visited the mountains of Colorado with his class for the purpose of studying geology, and so began a practice that has been continued by eminent teachers elsewhere. On this expedition he formed the idea of exploring the canyon of the Colorado, and a year later he organized a party for that purpose. The journey lasted more than three months and they passed through numerous perilous experiences, living for part of the time on half rations. Major Powell's success in this undertaking resulted in the establishment by Congress in 1870 of a topographical and geological survey of the Colorado River of the West and its tributaries, which was placed under his direction. During the following years a systematic survey was conducted, until the physical features of the Colorado Valley, embracing an area of nearly 100,000 square miles, had been thoroughly explored. This expedition, at first conducted under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, was transferred to the Department of the Interior, and given the title of the Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region. In 1874 four separate surveys were in the field, and in 1879, after much agitation, the National Academy of Sciences recommended the establishment under the Department of the Interior of an independent organization to be known as the U. S. Geological Survey. Action to this effect was at once taken by Congress, and Clarence King (q. v.) was appointed director. From the beginning of the controversy Major Powell was the leading advocate of consolidation. Meanwhile he had devoted more attention to American ethnology in the prosecution of his work than the other surveys had done. He had collected material on this subject which he had deposited with the Smithsonian institution, and had already issued three volumes as "Contributions to North American Ethnology." In order to prevent the discontinuance of this work, a bureau of ethnology, which has become the recognized centre of ethnographic operations in the United States, was established under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution. Major Powell was given charge of the work, and has since continued at its head, issuing annual reports and bulletins. In 1881 Mr. King resigned the office of director of the U. S. Geological Survey, and Major Powell was appointed his successor. Since that time he has ably administered the work of this great enterprise, which includes, besides special investigations in geology, the general study of economic geology, paleontology, and geography. In connection with the survey there is also a chemical division, where the necessary analytical work is conducted. Major Powell received the degree of Ph. D., from the University of Heidelberg in 1886, and also during the same year that of LL. D. from Harvard, and he is a member of many scientific societies. In 1880 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and he was president of the Anthropological Society of Washington from its organization in 1879 till 1888. He became a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1875, vice-president in 1879, when he delivered his retiring address on "Mythologic Philosophy," and in 1887 was elected to the presidency. His publications include many scientific papers and addresses, and numerous government volumes that bear his name, including the reports of the various surveys, the bureau of ethnology, and the U. S. Geological Survey. The special volumes that bear his own name are "Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and its Tributaries explored in 1869-'72" (Washington, 1875); "Report on the Geology of the Eastern Portion of the Uinta Mountains and a Region of Country Adjacent Thereto" (1876); "Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United States" (1879); and "Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages, with Words, Phrases, and Sentences to be collected " (1880). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 94-95.


POWELL, Lazarus Whitehead, senator, born in Henderson County, Kentucky, 6 October, 1812; died there, 3 July, 1867. He was graduated at St. Joseph's College, Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1833. attended law lectures at Transylvania University, and was admitted to the bar in 1835. He then practised his profession, and at the same time engaged in planting. Mr. Powell served one term in the legislature in 1836, was a presidential elector in 1844, on the Polk and Dallas ticket, and was governor of Kentucky in 1851-'5. He was appointed by President Polk one of the peace commissioners to Utah in 1857, and issued the proclamation that offered pardon to all Mormons that would submit to the U. S. government. He was elected to the U. S. Senate as a Democrat in 1858, served till 1865, and was a presidential elector in 1864. Mr. Powell was a clear and forcible debater and an excellent working member of the Senate. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 95.


POWELL, Levin Myne, naval officer, born in Loudoun County, Virginia, in 1800; died in Washington, D. C, 15 January, 1885, was appointed midshipman in the U. S. Navy in 1817, became lieutenant in 1826, was in several engagements against the Seminole Indians in 1836-'7, was wounded on Jupiter River in January of the latter year, and received the thanks of Congress for his services during that campaign. He became commander in 1843, was on ordnance duty till 1849, and was executive officer of the Washington U.S. Navy-yard in 1851-'4. He became captain in 1855, was retired in 1861, commissioned commodore in 1862, and rear-admiral in 1869. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 95.


POWELL, Thomas, editor, born in London, England, 3 September, 1809; died in Newark, New Jersey, 13 January, 1887. He was a successful playwright, and engaged in various literary pursuits in London for many years, aiding Leigh Hunt, William Wordsworth, and Richard II. Home in their" Modernization of Chaucer," and Home in his new " Spirit of the Age" (London, 1844). He came to this country in 1849, and from that date till his death was connected with Frank Leslie's publications. He was the first editor of " Frank Leslie's Weekly." which he established in 1853, and of "Frank Leslie's Ladies' Magazine " in 1857. He was subsequently connected also with various short-lived journals in New York City, and wrote several plays that were successfully produced in New York and Loudon. His publications in this country include 'The Living Authors in Great Britain" (New York, 1849); "Living Authors in America" (1850); and "Pictures of the Living Authors of Great Britain " (1851). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 95-96.


POWELL, William Henry, artist, born in New York City, 14 February. 1823; died there, 6 October, 1879. He began the study of art at the age of nineteen under Henry Inman. in New York, and afterward studied' in Paris and Florence. He exhibited first at the Academy of design, New York, in 1838, and was elected an associate in 1839. His name was erased from the list in 1845 "for non-compliance with the terms of election," but he was re-elected in 1854. His historical paintings include " De Soto discovering the Mississippi." at the capitol, Washington (1848-'53); "Perry s Victory on Lake Erie," painted for the state of Ohio (1863; and again on an enlarged scale for the capitol, completed in 1873); "Siege of Vera Cruz"; "Battle of Buena Vista "; "Landing of the Pilgrims "; "Scott's Entry into the City of Mexico "; "Washington at Valley Forge": and "Christopher Columbus before the Court of Salamanca." He also executed numerous portraits, among them those of Albert Gallatin (1843) and Erastus C. Benedict (1855); Peter Cooper (1855); Washington Irving, Major Robert Anderson, and General George B. McClellan, in the City-hall, New York; Lamartine, Eugene Sue (1853); Ab'd el Kader, General Robert Schenck, Peter Stuyvesant, Edward Delafield. and Emma Abbott. Many of his paintings have been engraved. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 96.


POWELL, William Henry, soldier, born in Pontypool, South Wales, 10 May, 1825. He came to this country in 1830, received a common-school education in Nashville, Tenn., and from 1856 till 1861 was general manager of a manufacturing company at Ironton, Ohio. In August, 1861, he became captain in the 2d West Virginia Volunteer Cavalry, and he was promoted to major and lieutenant-colonel in 1862, and to colonel, 18 May, 1863. He was wounded in leading a charge at Wytheville, Virginia, on 18 July, and left on the field, whence he was taken to Libby Prison and confined for six months. After his exchange he led a cavalry division in the Army of the Shenandoah, being made brigadier-general of volunteers in October, 1864. After the war he settled in West Virginia, declined a nomination for Congress in 1865, and was a Republican presidential elector in 1868. General Powell is now (1888) president of a manufacturing company in Belleville, Illinois. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 96.


POWELL, William F., New York, New York, American Anti-Slavery Society, Executive Committee, 1841-44


POWELL, William Peter, 1807-c. 1879, African American, abolitionist leader, activist, born a slave, Garrisonian abolitionist.  Active member of the American Anti-Slavery Society and the New England Anti-Slavery Society since early 1830s.  Served on the Executive Committee of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (AFASS), 1841-1844.  Helped Committee of Thirteen in New York City to oppose Fugitive Slave Act. (Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 9, p. 207)


POWELL COUNTY, KENTUCKY, December 26, 1862. Detachment of 14th Kentucky Cavalry. Major Joseph W. Stivers, with 150 men, while on a scout in Powell count}', came upon the camp of a band of guerrillas on the morning of the 26th. dashed into the camp and utterly routed them, capturing 12 of the outlaws, beside a quantity of clothing, blankets, arms, etc. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 714.


POWELL'S BRIDGE, TENNESSEE, February 22, 1864. Detachment of 34th Kentucky Infantry. Simultaneously with the Confederate attack on Wyerman's mill another Confederate force attacked the 50 men of the 34th Kentucky comprising the outpost at Powell's bridge and the block-house was assaulted three times but without success. No casualties were reported. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, pp. 714-715.


POWELL'S RIVER, VIRGINIA, December 13, 1863. Colonel Wilson C. Lemert, commanding the Union forces at Cumberland gap, reported that his cavalry came upon the encampment of a Virginia Confederate regiment at Hickory flat, 7 miles beyond Jonesville; that the enemy fired one volley .and fled to Powell's river where he was reinforced by another Virginia regiment. The Federals then opened with artillery and the cavalry charged and drove the enemy in confusion to Stickleyville. The Confederates lost 5 killed and 26 captured. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 715.


POWELL VALLEY, TENNESSEE, June 22, 1863. This was an incident of Colonel W. P. Sanders' raid into east Tennessee, but in his report of the expedition he makes no specific mention of the action at Powell's valley. (See Rogers' gap and Powder Springs gap.) The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 715.


POWERS, Eliza Howard, philanthropist, born in 1802; died in Washington, D. C.,25 August, 1887. During the Civil War she was distinguished for deeds of charity, and for her unselfish devotion to the sick and wounded. From November, 1862, till August, 1864, she was associate manager of the U.S. Sanitary Commission of New Jersey, and acting president of the Florence Nightingale Relief Association of Paterson, New Jersey. She collected $8,000, and 20,000 articles for the soldiers’ hospitals, and contributed $2,500 of her own money to the same purpose, without receiving any compensation. The 48th Congress voted her a pension. The committee favoring her claims said in their report that from 28 April, 1861, till 14 August, 1864, she devoted her whole time, energy, and means to the service of the soldiers of the National Army and for the success of the Union cause. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 97.


POWERS, Hiram, sculptor, born in Woodstock, Windsor County, Vermont, 29 July, 1805; died in Florence, Italy, 27 June, 1873. He passed his youth on his father's farm, and in 1819 emigrated to Ohio with the family. On his father's death he settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was in turn a clerk, a commercial traveller, and a clockmaker's apprentice. Having acquired from a German sculptor a knowledge of the art of modelling in clay, he executed several busts and medallions of some merit. Later he took charge of the wax-work department in the Western museum at Cincinnati, which post he held for seven years. In 1835 he went to Washington, where, for some time, he was employed in modelling busts of well-known men. Owing partly to the assistance of General John Preston, he was enabled to go abroad in 1837, and he established himself in Florence, where he thereafter resided. For some time he devoted himself chiefly to modelling busts, but within a year produced his statue “Eve Tempted,” which was pronounced a masterpiece by Thorwaldsen. Another statue with the same title was executed in 1850. In 1843 he produced the “Greek Slave,” the most widely known of all his works. Of this statue six duplicates in marble have been made, besides innumerable casts and reduced copies in Parian. It was exhibited in England in 1845, and again at the Crystal palace in 1851, and also in this country. His other statues include “The Fisher Boy” (1846), which was three times repeated in marble; “America” (1854), '' for the top of the capitol at Washington, and destroyed by fire in 1866; “Il Penseroso” (1856); “California” (1858); and “The Last of the Tribe,” also known as “The Indian Girl” (1872). Of his ideal busts the best known are “Ginevra.” (1840; 1865); “Proserpine” (1845): “Psyche” (1849); “Diana” (1852); "Christ" (1866); “Faith” (1867); “Clytie” (1868); “Hope” (1869): and “Charity” (1871). The greater part of his work consists of busts of distinguished men, including John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, John Marshall, and Martin Van Buren (1835); Edward Everett and John Preston (1845); and Henry W. Longfellow and Philip H. Sheridan (1865). He executed also statues of Washington for Louisiana, of Daniel Webster for Massachusetts, of John C. Calhoun for South Carolina (1850), and of Benjamin Franklin (1862) and Thomas Jefferson (1863). Powers had much mechanical skill, and was the author of several useful inventions, among which is a process of modelling in plaster which greatly expedites the labors of the sculptor by doing away with the necessity of making a clay model.—His son, Preston, born in Florence, Italy, 3 April, 1843, studied modelling under his father in 1867-'73. His first important work was the statue of Jacob Collamer (1875), which was originally ordered of his father. It was placed in the old hall of representatives in Washington. He executed also, in 1881, a statue of Reuben Springer for Music Hall, Cincinnati. Like his father, he works principally in portraiture, and has made numerous busts, including those of Louis Agassiz, in the museum at Cambridge; John G. Whittier, in the Public library, Haverhill, and a replica in the Boston public library; Emanuel Swedenborg, four times repeated; Charles Sumner, owned by Bowdoin College; Ulysses S. Grant, in the War Department, Washington; and Langdon Cheves. Of his ideal works the figure “Maud Muller" and the busts “Evangeline" and “Peasant Girl” are best known. His professional life has been spent in Florence and in the United States. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 97-98.


POWERS' FERRY, GEORGIA, July 12, 1864. (See Chattahoochee River.)


POWHATAN, VIRGINIA, January 25, 1865. 1st U. S. Colored Cavalry. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 715.