Rack-Stick through Resolute

RACK-STICK AND LASHING consist of a piece of two-inch rope, about 6 feet long, fastened to a picket about 15 inches long, having a hole in its head to receive the rope. Rack-lashings are used for securing the planks of a gun or mortar platform, between the ribbons and the sleepers. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 482).


RACCOON FORD, ALABAMA, October 30, 1864. (See Muscle Shoals, same date.) Raccoon Ford, Virginia, August 20, 1862. Cavalry Brigade, 3d Army Corps. This affair was a rather severe skirmish between the cavalry under Brigadier-General George H. Bayard and the Confederate cavalry under General Robertson. Union reconnoitering parties encountered the enemy first , and fell back upon the main column. As the enemy came up Bayard was executing a maneuver, and the Confederates, seizing their advantage, charged the Federals on the flank and routed them. The Union loss for this single engagement is not given, but for this affair and the battle of Cedar mountain on the 9th of the same month Bayard lost 10 killed, 45 wounded and 6 captured or missing. The Confederates suffered to the extent of 3 killed and 13 wounded at Raccoon ford. Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 722.


RACCOON FORD, VIRGINIA, April 30, 1863. Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac. At the start of Stoneman's raid in 1863 it was thought probable by the general commanding that Raccoon ford would be guarded, and accordingly he sent a portion of General Buford's brigade across 6 miles below. This party, under Captain Peter Penn Gaskell, made a dash for the ford, and cleared it of the Confederates guarding it, capturing 7 men. No other casualties were reported. Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 722.


RACCOON FORD, VIRGINIA, September 15, 1863. Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac. In the advance of the army from the Rappahannock to the Rapidan the cavalry division of General Buford was stationed at Raccoon ford. During the day the Confederates increased their force on the opposite bank and shelled Buford's position, compelling him to withdraw to the woods for shelter. No casualties were reported. Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 722.


RACCOON FORD, VIRGINIA, September 19, 1863. 1st Cavalry Division, Army of the Potomac. While the division was engaged in making a reconnaissance it encountered the enemy at Raccoon ford and some slight skirmishing ensued, but no detailed report of the action was made. Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 722.

RACCOON FORD, VIRGINIA, October 10, 1863. 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Army of the Potomac. As the Army of the Potomac was falling back toward the Rappahannock river in the Bristoe campaign, a considerable body of the enemy's cavalry crossed the Rapidan at Raccoon ford, intending to strike the Union cavalry on the flank. Brigadier-General Pleasonton, commanding the cavalry corps, sent Colonel Chapman with his brigade to meet this force. Chapman found the enemy formed and ready to charge. He speedily disposed his men and, although vastly outnumbered, gave the Confederates such a warm reception that they were hurled back in confusion, severely punished. The infantry supports came up just at this time, however, the cavalry was rallied, and Chapman, deeming the odds too great to contend against, withdrew slowly in the direction of Stevensburg. No casualties reported. Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, pp. 722-723.


RACCOON FORD, VIRGINIA, November 26-27, 1863. (See Mine Run, Virginia, November 26-December 2, 1863.)


RACCOURCI, LOUISIANA, November 25, 1864. A Lieutenant Thatcher of the U. S. navy and 2 of his men were murdered while ashore at Raccourci, near Williamsport, Louisiana, by a band of guerrillas. Raceland, Louisiana, June 22, 1862. 8th Vermont Volunteers. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 723.


RADFORD, William, naval officer, born in Fincastle, Botetourt County, Virginia, 1 March, 1808. He was appointed midshipman on 1 March, 1825, and became lieutenant on 9 February, 1837. During the war with Mexico he served on the western coast of that country, and commanded the party that cut out the “Malek Adel,” a Mexican vessel-of-war, at Mazatlan in 1847. He was made commander on 14 September, 1855, assigned to the “Cumberland” in 1861, and became captain on 16 July, 1862, and commodore on 24 April, 1863. He served on court-martial duty at Fort Monroe, and commanded the “New Ironsides” and the iron-clad division of Admiral Porter's Squadron at the two attacks on Fort Fisher in December, 1864, and January, 1865. Admiral Porter wrote: “Commodore Radford has shown ability of a very high order, not only in fighting and manoeuvring his vessel, but in taking care of his division. His vessel did more execution than any other in the fleet, and I had so much confidence in the accuracy of his fire that even when our troops were on the parapet he was directed to clear the traverses of the enemy in advance of them. This he did most effectually, and but for this the victory might not have been ours.” He was appointed rear-admiral on 25 July, 1866, commanded the European Squadron in 1869–70, and was retired on 1 March, 1870. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 158.


RAFT. (See BRIDGE.)


RAFTERS. (See CARPENTRY.)


RAGLAND MILLS, KENTUCKY, January 13, 1864. Detachment of 45th Kentucky Infantry. Twelve enlisted men of the 45th Kentucky, under Lieut . Robert H. Wilson, surprised a party of 35 guerrillas encamped at Ragland mills, Bath county, and captured 13 of the number. The Federals lost a horse killed, which was the only casualty on their side. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 723.


RAIFORD'S PLANTATION, MISSISSIPPI, February 11, 1864. 3d Cavalry Brigade, Meridian Expedition. This affair was a fight between the pickets of McCrillis' brigade encamped at Raiford's plantation, 4 miles east of Byhalia, and the pickets of the enemy. The Federals lost 2 killed and 2 wounded and captured 4 prisoners. Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 723.


RAINEY, Joseph H., Congressman, born in Georgetown, South Carolina 21 June, 1832; died there. 1 August, 1887. He was born a slave, but acquired a good education, principally by observation and travel. His father was a barber, and the son followed that occupation until 1862, when, after being forced to work on Confederate fortifications, he escaped to the West Indies, remaining there until the close of the war. He then returned to South Carolina, was elected a delegate to the state constitutional convention of 1868, and was a member of the state senate in 1870. He was elected a representative from South Carolina to Congress, as a Republican, to fill the vacancy caused by the non-reception of Benjamin P. Whittemore, serving from 4 March, 1869, till 15 August, 1876. He took part in the debate on the civil-rights bill, and was a member of the Committee on Freedmen's and Indian affairs. He was a conservative, and his political life was remarkably pure. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 161-162.


RAINS, Gabriel James, soldier, born in Craven County, North Carolina, in June, 1803; died in Aiken, South Carolina 6 September, 1881. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1827, assigned to the infantry, and served in garrison and against hostile Indians till the Mexican War, being promoted captain on 25 December, 1837, and brevetted major, 28 April, 1840, for gallantry in the action with the Seminoles near Fort King, Florida, where he routed a superior force, and was twice severely wounded. One of his injuries was considered mortal, and several obituary notices of him were published. He was one of the first to be engaged in the Mexican War, being one of the defenders of Fort Brown in Mav, 1846. When the demand for the surrender of this post was made by General Ampudia, Captain Rains gave the deciding vote against compliance with it in a council of officers. After the battle of Resaca de la Palma he was ordered to the United States on recruiting duty, and organized a large part of the recruits for General Scott's campaign. He became major on 9 March. 1851, and from 1853 till the Civil War was on the Pacific Coast, where he made a reputation as a successful Indian fighter, and in 1855 was a brigadier-general of Washington Territory Volunteers. He was made lieutenant-colonel on 5 June, 1860, but resigned on 31 July, 1861, and joined the Confederate Army, in which he was commissioned brigadier-general. He led a division at Wilson's Creek, did good service at Shiloh and Perrysville, and after the battle of Seven Pines, where he was wounded, was highly commended by General Daniel H. Hill for a rapid and successful flank movement that turned the tide of battle in favor of the Confederates. He was then placed in charge of the conscript and torpedo bureaus at Richmond, organized the system of torpedoes that protected the harbors of Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, and other places, and invented a sub-terra shell, which was successfully used. At the close of the war General Rains resided for some time at Augusta, Georgia, but he afterward moved to Aiken, South Carolina. His death resulted from the wounds that he had received in Florida in 1840. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 161.


RAINES, George Washington, soldier, born in Craven County, North Carolina, in 1817, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1842, and assigned to the Corps of Engineers, but was transferred to the 4th U.S. Artillery in 1843, and in 1844-6 was assistant professor of chemistry, mineralogy, and geology at West Point. He served with credit during the war with Mexico on the staffs of General Winfield Scott, and General Pillow, and was brevetted captain and major for gallantry at Contreras, Churubusco, and Chapultepec. Afterward he served on garrison and recruiting duty and against the Seminole Indians in 1849-'50, and was promoted captain, 14 February, 1856. On 31 October of that year he resigned and became part proprietor and president of the Washington Iron-works and the Highland iron-works at Newburg, New York. He entered the Confederate Army in 1861, was commissioned colonel, and was at once given the task of building and equipping a powder-mill. This he did under great difficulties, and created at Augusta, Georgia, the Confederate Powder-Works, which were, at the close of the war, among the best in the world. He was promoted brigadier-general before 1865. Since 1867 he has been professor of chemistry and pharmacy in the medical department of the University of Georgia, and he was dean of the faculty till 1884. General Rains has obtained three patents for improvements in steam portable engines. He has published a treatise on "Steam Portable Engines" (Newburg, New York, 1860); "Rudimentary Course of Analytical and Applied Chemistry" (Augusta, Georgia,* 1872); "Chemical Qualitative Analysis" (New York, 1879); a pamphlet " History of the Confederate Powder-Works," which he read before the Confederate survivors' Association (Augusta, 1882), and numerous essays.— Gabriel James's son, Sevier McClelan, soldier, born in 1851, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1876, and killed in the action of Craig's Mountain, Idaho, with hostile Indians, 3 July, 1877. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 161.


RAINS, James Edward, soldier, born in Nashville, Tennessee, 10 April, 1833; died near Murfreesboro', Tennessee, 31 December, 1862. After graduation at Yale in 1854 he studied law, was city attorney of Nashville in 1858, and attorney-general for his judicial district in 1860. He was a Whig, and in 1857 edited the "Daily Republican Banner." In April, 1861, he entered the Confederate Army as a private, was appointed lieutenant-colonel, and made commandant of a garrison of two regiments at Cumberland Gap. In 1862 he was commissioned brigadier-general. While ordering a charge at the battle of Stone River, 31 December, 1862, he received a bullet through his heart. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 161.


RAISE. To raise a siege is to abandon a siege. Armies are raised in two ways: either by voluntary engagements, or by lot or conscription. The Greek and Roman levies were the result of a rigid system of conscription. The Visigoths practised a general conscription; poverty, old age, and sickness were the only reasons admitted for exemption. “ Subsequently, (says Hallam,) the feudal military tenures had superseded that earlier system of public defence, which called upon every man, and especially upon every landholder, to protect his country. The relations of a vassal came in place of those of a subject and a citizen. This was the revolution of the 9th century. In the 12th and 13th another innovation rather more gradually prevailed, and marks the third period in the military history of Europe. Mercenary troops were substituted for the feudal militia. These military adventurers played a more remarkable part in Italy than in France, though not a little troublesome to the latter country.” A necessary effect of the formation of mercenaries was the centralization of authority. Money became the sinews of war. The invention of fire-arms caused it to be acknowledged that skill was no less essential for warlike operations than strength and valor. Towards the end of the middle ages, the power of princes was calculated by the number and quality of paid troops they could support. France first set the example of keeping troops in time of peace. Charles VII., foreseeing the danger of invasion, authorized the assemblage of armed mercenaries called compagnies d'ordonnance. Louis XI. dismissed these troops, but enrolled new troops composed of French, Swiss, and Scotch. Under Charles VIII., Germans were admitted in the French army, and the highest and most illustrious nobles of France regarded it as an honor to serve in the gens d'armes.

Moral qualifications not being exacted for admission to the ranks, the restraints of a barbarous discipline became necessary, and this discipline divided widely the soldier from the people. The French revolution overturned this system. “ Now (says Decker) mercenary troops have completely disappeared from continental Europe. England only now raises armies by the system of recruiters. The last wars of Europe have been wars of the people, and have been fought by nationalities. After peace armies remain national, for their elements are taken from the people, and are returned to the people by legal liberations. The institution of conscription is evidently the most important of modern times. Among other advantages, it has bridged the otherwise impassable gulf between the citizen and soldier, who, children of the same family, are now united in defence of their country. Permanent armies have ceased to be the personal guard of kings, but their sympathies are always with the people, and their just title is that of skilful warriors maintained as a nucleus for the instruction of their countrymen in the highest school of art. (See CONSCRIPTION; DEPOT; DEFENCE, National; ENLISTMENT; MILITIA; RECRUITING; RE-ENLISTING; VOLUNTEERS.)  (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp. 482-483).


RALEIGH, TENNESSEE, April 3-9, 1864. Detachment of 1st Cavalry Brigade, 16th Army Corps. Pursuant to orders the 1st brigade under Colonel George E. Waring, Jr., proceeded from Raleigh to reconnoiter on the Somerville road. At Leake's, a few miles out, a Confederate picket was encountered and driven to where a force of 700 or 800 was stationed. This latter command withdrew rather rapidly and when the Federals ascertained that the Confederates were ret1ring on their main body they retired to Raleigh. The Federals lost 1 killed, 3 wounded and 1 missing; the Confederates, by their own account, 2 wounded. On the 9th Captain John C. Febles with 75 men of the 7th Indiana cavalry moved on a reconnaissance toward Raleigh and when 4 miles from the town his command was fired into by some 15 or 20 men, who were at once charged and scattered. Two miles out a picket of 4 men was scattered and Febles charged into the town to find it deserted save for a rearguard of 10 men, 2 of whom were captured. Both these affairs were incidents of Forrest's expedition into West Tennessee and Kentucky. Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 723.


RALLY. To re-form disordered or dispersed troops. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 483).


RALLY HILL, TENNESSEE, November 29, 1864. Detachment of 12th Tennessee Cavalry. Three companies doing picket duty near Rally Hill were attacked by the Confederate General Buford's cavalry division and compelled to fall back. The affair was an incident of the campaign in north Alabama and middle Tennessee. No casualties were reported. Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 723.


RALSTON, William C., banker, born in Wellsville, Ohio, 12 January, 1826; died in San Francisco, California, 27 August, 1875. His father was a carpenter and builder, and for several years he assisted in his father's workshop, but in 1849 he went to the Pacific Coast. He became president of the Bank of California, and also took a deep interest in the building of railroads and the establishment of woollen-mills, sugar-refineries, silk-factories, and steamship-lines to Australia and China. He also largely invested in the construction of the Palace and Grand Hotels, which enterprises ultimately ruined him. In August, 1875, James G. Flood made a sudden demand on the Bank of California for nearly $6,000,000, and, although the institution had assets to cover all its indebtedness, it was not able to meet this unexpected call. Its doors were closed, and the immediate resignation of the president was asked. The latter surrendered all his available personal property to meet the deficiencies of the bank, but, stung by the affront that had been put upon him, he drowned himself. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 164.


RAMER'S CROSSING, MISSISSIPPI, October 2, 1862. Detachment of 17th Wisconsin Infantry. About 6 p. m. a regiment of Confederate cavalry appeared at the switch of the Mobile & Ohio railroad near Ramer's crossing and commenced tearing up the track. Company A, 17th Wisconsin, stationed at Ramer's crossing, approached stealthily and attacked before the Confederates were aware of their presence. The result of the half-hour’s fight which followed was the complete rout of the enemy with probably 11 killed and 13 wounded (the report of a disinterested c1tizen), while the Federals lost none. Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 723.


RAMP. A ramp is a road cut obliquely into or added to the interior slope of the rampart, as a communication from the town to the terre-plein. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 483).


RAMPART. A broad embankment or mass of earth which surrounds rounds a fortified place, and forms the enceinte or body of the place. On its exterior edge the parapet is placed, while towards the place it is terminated by the interior slope of the rampart, on which ramps are made for the easy ascent of the troops and material. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp. 483-484).


RAMSAY, George Douglas, soldier, born in Dumfries, Virginia, 21 February, 1802; died in Washington, D. C, 23 Mav, 1882. His father, a merchant of Alexandria, Virginia, moved to Washington early in the 19th century. The son was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1820, assigned to the artillery, and served on garrison and topographical duty till 25 February, 1835, when he was made captain of ordnance. He then had charge of various arsenals till the Mexican War, when he was engaged at Monterey and brevetted major for gallantry there. He was chief of ordnance of General Taylor's army in 1847-'8, and again commanded arsenals till 1863, when he was a member of the ordnance board. He was made lieutenant-colonel, 3 August, 1861, and was in charge of Washington Arsenal from that time till 1863. On 15 September of that year he was made Chief of Ordnance of the U. S. Army with the rank of brigadier-general, and he was at the head of the Ordnance Bureau in Washington till 12 September, 1864, when he was retired from active service, being over sixty-two years of age. He continued to serve as inspector of arsenals till 1866, then in command of the arsenal at Washington till 1870, and afterward as member of an examining board. He was brevetted major-general. U. S. Army. 13 March, 1865, "for long and faithful services." General Ramsay was an active member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and for many years served as senior warden of St. John's Church, Washington. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 167.


RAMSAY, Francis Munroe, naval officer, born in the District of Columbia, 5 April, 1835, entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman in 1850. He became lieutenant in 1858, lieutenant-commander in 1862, participated in the engagements at Haines's Bluff, Yazoo River, 30 April and 1 May, 1863, in the expedition up the Yazoo River, destroying the Confederate navy-yard and vessels, and in the fight at Liverpool’s' Landing. He commanded a battery of three heavy guns in front of Vicksburg from 19 June till 4 July, 1863, and the 3d Division of the Mississippi Squadron from the latter date till September, 1864. He was in charge of the expedition up Black and Ouachita Rivers in March, 1864, and of that into Atchafalaya River in June of that year, and engaged the enemy at Simmsport. Louisiana. He commanded the gunboat " Unadilla," of the North Atlantic Squadron, in 1864-'5, participated in the attacks on Fort Fisher, for which he was commended in the official report for " skill, conduct, judgment, and bravery," and in the several engagements with Fort Anderson and other forts on Cape Fear River. He became commander in 1866, fleet-captain and chief of staff of the South Atlantic Squadron in 1867-'9, captain in 1877, and was in command of the torpedo station in 1878-'80. He was superintendent of the U. S. Naval Academy from 1881 till 1886. and since 1887 has been in command of the " Boston." He was a member of the Naval examining board in 1886-'7. [Son of George Douglas Ramsay] Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 167.


RAMSEUR, Stephen Dodson, soldier, born in Lincolnton, N. C., 31 May, 1837; died in Winchester, Virginia, 20 October, 1864. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1860, assigned to the 4th U.S. Artillery, and placed on garrison duty at Fortress Monroe. In 1861 he was transferred to Washington, but he resigned on 6 April and entered the Confederate service as captain of the light artillery. Late in 1861 he proceeded to Virginia and was stationed on the south side of the James, and in the spring of 1862 he was ordered to report with his battery to General John B. Magruder. During General McClellan's advance up the Peninsula he had command of the artillery of the right wing with the rank of major. Soon afterward he was promoted colonel, assigned to the 49th North Carolina Infantry, and with this regiment participated in the latter part of the Peninsular Campaign. He received the appointment of brigadier-general on 1 November, 1862, succeeded to the brigade, composed of North Carolina regiments, that was formerly commanded by General George B. Anderson, and was attached to General Thomas J. Jackson's corps, serving with credit at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. Subsequently he served in the Wilderness, and on 1 June, 1864, was given the temporary rank of major-general and assigned a division that had been commanded by General Jubal A. Early. General Ramseur followed the latter commander in the brief campaign in the Shenandoah valley, participated in the battle of Winchester, and was mortally wounded at Cedar Creek while rallying his troops. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 167-168.


RAMSEY, Alexander, 1815-1903.  Republican U.S. Senator from Minnesota.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.  U.S. Congressman (Whig Party) elected 1842, serving until 1847, from Pennsylvania.  First Territorial Governor of Minnesota, 1849-1853.  Governor of state 1860-1863.  Elected U.S. Senator 1863, serving until 1875.  Appointed Secretary of War in 1879.  (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. V., p. 168; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 341; Congressional Globe)

RAMSEY, Alexander, Secretary of War, born near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 8 September, 1815. He was educated at Lafayette College, and in 1828 became clerk in the register's office of his native county. He was secretary of the Electoral College of Pennsylvania in 1840, the next year was clerk of the state house of representatives, was elected to Congress as a Whig in 1842, and served till 1847. He was chairman of the state central committee of Pennsylvania in 1848, and was appointed first territorial governor of Minnesota in 1849, holding office till 1853. During this service he negotiated a treaty at Mendota for the extinction of the title of the Sioux half breeds to the lands on Lake Pepin, and two with the Sioux nation by which the U. S. government acquired all the lands in Minnesota west of Mississippi River, thus opening that state to colonization. He also made treaties with the Chippewa Indians on Red River in 1851 and 1853. He became mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1855, was governor of the state in 1860-'3, and in the latter year was elected to the U. S. Senate as a Republican, holding his seat in 1863-'75, and serving as chairman of the committees on Revolutionary claims and pensions, on post-roads and on territories. He became Secretary of War in 1879, succeeding George W. McCrary, and held office till the close of Hayes's administration. He was appointed by President Arthur, in 1882, a member of the Utah commission, under the act of Congress known as the Edmunds bill (see EDMUNDS, GEORGE F.), continuing in that service till 1886. In 1887 he was a delegate to the centennial celebration of the adoption of the constitution of the United States. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 168. 


RAMSEY, James Gattys McGregor, author, born in Knox County, Tennessee, in 1796; died in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1884. His father, Francis A. Ramsey, (1760–1819), emigrated to the west early in life, and became secretary of the state of “Franklin.” which was subsequently admitted to the Union under the name of Tennessee. The son was liberally educated, and studied medicine, receiving the degree of M. D., but never practised his profession. In early manhood he engaged in banking, and in later days he was elected president of the Bank of Tennessee, at Knoxville. While yet a young man he began the collection of material for a history of Tennessee. The papers of Governor Sevier and Governor Shelby were placed in his hands, and from them and other valuable documents he published the “Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century” (Charleston, South Carolina, 1853). He also founded the first historical Society in the state, and at his death was president of the one at Nashville, which he left in a flourishing condition. When Tennessee seceded from the Union he was appointed financial agent for the southern wing of the Confederacy. He joined the Confederate Army on its retreat from Knoxville, and remained with it till its final dissolution. During the occupation of that city by National troops the house in which his father had lived and he had been born was burned, and all the valuable historical papers it contained were destroyed. In consequence of the war he lost most of his property. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 168.


RANCHO LAS RINAS, TEXAS, June 25, 1864. U. S. Pickets on the Rio Grande. The Federal pickets, belonging to Major-General F. J. Herron's command, were attacked and driven in at Rancho Las Rinas, 30 miles above Brownsville, by Confederates under Colonel John S. Ford. The total Union loss was 2 killed, 5 wounded and 23 captured. Ford reported his casualties at 3 killed and 4 wounded. Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, pp. 723-724.


RAND, Asa, 1783-1871, Lowell, Massachusetts, abolitionist, clergyman, editor.  Vice president, 1833-1835, and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), December 1833.  (Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 168)

RAND, Asa, clergyman, born in Rindge, New Hampshire, 6 August, 1783; died in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, 24 August, 1871. He was graduated at Dartmouth in 1806, and ordained as a minister of the Congregational Church in January, 1809. After a pastorate of thirteen years' duration at Gorham, Maine, he edited the “Christian Mirror” at Portland, Maine, in 1822-'5, afterward conducted the “Recorder” and the “Youth's Companion” at Boston, and in 1833 established a book-store and printing-office at Lowell. He published the “Observer” at this place, lectured against slavery, and was then pastor of churches at Pompey and Peterborough, New York. He published “Teacher's Manual for Teaching in English Grammar” (Boston, 1832), and “The Slave-Catcher caught in the Meshes of the Eternal Law” (Cleveland 1852). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 168.


RANDALL, Alexander, 1819-1872, Ames, New York, jurist, lawyer, abolitionist.  Sixth Governor of Wisconsin, 1858-1861.  Advocate for Black voting rights.  Raised troops for Union Army.  Postmaster General, 1866-1869.  (Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 344)


RANDALL, Daniel B., Hallowell, Maine, abolitionist, American Anti-Slavery Society, Manager, 1839-1840.


RANDALL, Alexander Williams, statesman, born in Ames, Montgomery County, New York, 31 October, 1819; died in Elmira, New York, 25 July, 1872. His father, Phineas, a native of Massachusetts, resided in Montgomery County, New York, from 1818 till 1851, was judge of the court of common pleas there in 1837-41, and removing to Waukesha, Wisconsin, died there in 1853. Alexander received a thorough academic education, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began to practise in Waukesha in 1840. He became soon afterward postmaster of that place, and in 1847 was chosen a member of the convention that framed the state constitution. He then devoted himself to his profession till 1855, when he was elected to the state assembly. The same year he was an unsuccessful candidate for the attorney-generalship, and was appointed judge of the Milwaukee Circuit Court to fill an unexpired term. In 1857, and again in 1859, he was elected governor of Wisconsin, and at the beginning of the Civil War, and pending the convening of the legislature, in extra session, he called the 2d Regiment into existence, and used the public funds in advance of lawful appropriation; but he was fully sustained by the legislature when it assembled. At the close of his gubernatorial term, 1 January, 1861, he was dissuaded from his purpose of entering the army by President Lincoln, and appointed U. S. minister to Italy. On his resignation and return in 1862, he was made first assistant postmaster-general, and in July, 1866, postmaster-general, and served in that capacity till March, 1869. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 170.


RANDALL, James Ryder, song-writer, born in Baltimore, Maryland, 1 January, 1839. He was educated at Georgetown College, D. C., but was not graduated, and afterward travelled in South America. When he was a young man he went to Louisiana and edited a newspaper at Point Coupee, and afterward was engaged on the New Orleans " Sunday Delta." His delicate constitution prevented him from entering the Confederate Army, but he wrote much in support of the southern cause. His "Maryland, My Maryland," which was published in Baltimore in April. 1861, was set to music, and became widely popular. It has been called "the Marseillaise of the Confederate cause." Other poems from his pen were " The Sole Sentry," " Arlington," "The Cameo Bracelet," "There's Life in the Old Land Yet," and "The Battle-Cry of the South." After the war he went to Augusta, Georgia, where he became associate editor of " The Constitutionalist," and in 1866 its editor-in-chief. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 170.


RANDALL, Samuel Jackson, statesman, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 10 October, 1828. He is the son of a well-known lawyer and Democratic politician of Philadelphia, was educated as a merchant, and, after being four times elected to the city council and once to the state senate, was sent to Congress, taking his seat on 7 December, 1863. He has since represented without intermission the only Democratic district in Philadelphia. He served on the committees on banking, rules, and elections, distinguishing himself by his speeches against the force ill in 1875, was a candidate for speaker in the next year, and was appointed chairman of the committee on appropriations. He gained credit by his success in curtailing expenditures by enforcing a system of proportional reduction in the appropriations, and, on the death of Michael C. Kerr, was elected speaker, 4 December, 1876. He was re-elected speaker in the two following Congresses, serving in that capacity till 3 March, 1881. Mr. Randall has borne a conspicuous part in the debates on the tariff as the leader of the protectionist wing of the Democratic Party. His wife is a daughter of Aaron Ward, of New York. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 171.


RANDALL, Samuel S., author, born in Norwich, New York, 27 May, 1809; died in New York City, 3 June, 1881. He was educated at Oxford Academy and at Hamilton College, and in 1830–6 practised law in Chenango County. In 1836–’7 he was deputy clerk of the state assembly, in May, 1837, he was appointed clerk in the department of common schools, and in 1838 he became general deputy superintendent of common schools, which office he held till 1854. After serving for a short time as superintendent of Brooklyn Public Schools, he was appointed to a similar post in New York City, and served till June, 1870, when he resigned. From 1845 till 1852 he edited the “District School Journal,” and he was the associate editor of the “American Journal of Education and College Review,” and of the “Northern Light.” '' at Albany. Among other works he published “Digest of the Common-School System of the State of New York” (Troy, 1844); “Incentives to the Cultivation of Geology” (New York, 1846); “Mental and Moral Culture and Popular Education ” (1850); “First Principles of Popular Education” (1868); and “History of the State of New York” (1870).—His cousin, Henry Stephens, author, born in Madison County, New York, in 1811; died in Cortland, New York, 14 August, 1876, was graduated at Union College in 1830, studied law, and was admitted to the bar, but never practised. He became Secretary of State and superintendent of public instruction of New York state in 1851, and was the author of the bill that created the separate department of public instruction and the office of superintendent. In 1871 Mr. Randall was elected to the assembly, and appointed chairman of the committee on public education. He was one of the editors of “Moore's Rural New Yorker,” contributed to agricultural, scientific, and literary periodicals, and published “Sheep Husbandry” (Philadelphia, 1849); “The Life of Thomas Jefferson” (New York, 1858); “Fine Wool ' Husbandry” (1863); “Practical Shepherd” (Rochester, 1864); and “First Principles of Popular Education and Public Instruction” (1868). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 171.


RANDOLPH, Alfred Magill, P. E. bishop, born in Winchester, Virginia, 31 August, 1836. He is the fourth child of Robert Lee Randolph, who, after studying law, devoted himself to farming on his inherited estate, Eastern View, Fauquier County, Virginia. After graduation at William and Mary in 1855, the son studied at Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, where he was graduated in 1858. In the autumn of the same year he was appointed rector of St. George's Church, Fredericksburg, Virginia. After the bombardment of the town, in December, 1862, by which the church edifice was much in the congregation dispersed, Dr. Randolph left, and from 1863 until the close of the Civil War served as a chaplain in the Confederate Army, in hospitals, and in the field. He was appointed rector of Christ Church, (Alexandria erected in 1772), in 1865, and in 1867 became  pastor of Emmanuel  Church, Baltimore, where  he remained until he was elected, in 1883, assistant bishop of Virginia. He received the degree of D.D. from William and Mary College in 1875, and that of LL. D. from Washington and Lee University in 1884. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp, 171-172.


RANDOLPH, Theodore Frelinghuysen, senator, born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, 24 June, 1816; died in Morristown, New Jersey, 7 November, 1883, was educated at Rutgers grammar-school, and entered mercantile life at sixteen years of age. He settled in Vicksburg, Mississippi, about 1840, where he married a granddaughter of Chief-Justice Marshall, and on his return to New Jersey in 1850 resided first in Hudson County and subsequently in Morristown, New Jersey. He was a member of the legislature in 1859-'60, declined the speakership of that body, was chairman of the special committee on the Peace Congress in 1861, and was the author of the measure for relief of the families of soldiers that should engage in the Civil War. He became state senator the same year, served by re-election till 1865, and was appointed commissioner of draft for Hudson County in 1862. He was president of the Morris and Essex Railroad in 1867, doubled its gross tonnage in eighteen months, and negotiated the existing lease of that road to the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad by which the bondholders were guaranteed seven per cent, in perpetuity. He became governor of New Jersey in 1868, during his tenure of office caused a repeal of the Camden and Amboy monopoly tax, established a general railway law, made the state-prison system self-supporting, and suggested the plan of the present State Lunatic Asylum at Morris Plains, which is the largest in the world. On 11 July, 1871, the day preceding the Orange riot in New York City, he issued a proclamation insuring the right of parade to the Orangemen of New Jersey. To secure the speedy transmission of this proclamation throughout the state and in New York City, where it was alleged rioters were arranging to invade New Jersey, he went in person to the telegraph-offices and took "constructive" possession of several of them. He also ordered out the militia, and by these measures prevented disturbance. He was elected U. S. Senator in 1874, served one term, was chairman of the committee on military affairs, and a member of the special committee to investigate election frauds in South Carolina. He procured patents for several inventions, including a "ditcher," and an application of steam to type-writing machines. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 173.


RANDOLPH, George Wythe, born at Monticello, 10 March, 1818; died at Edge Hill, near Charlottesville, Virginia, 10 April, 1878, at the death of his grandfather. laced under the rare of Thomas Jefferson, was his brother-in-law, Joseph Coolidge, of Boston, by whom he was sent to school at Cambridge, Massachusetts. At the age of thirteen he received from President Jackson a midshipman's warrant, and he was at sea almost continuously until his nineteenth year, when he entered the University of Virginia. After two years of study he resigned his naval commission, studied law, and gained high rank at the Richmond bar. At the time of the John Brown raid at Harper's Ferry he raised a company of artillery, which continued its organization, and was the main Confederate force against General Butler at the battle of Bethel. He was then given a large command, with the commission of brigadier-general, which he held until he was appointed Secretary of War of the Confederate states. He afterward resigned and reported for service in the field. He was one of the commissioners sent by Virginia to consult President Lincoln, after his election, concerning his intended policy, with the hope of maintaining peace. A pulmonary affection having developed during the war, he ran the blockade to seek health in a warmer region, and remained abroad for several years after the fall of the Confederacy. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 174.


RANDOLPH, Peter, c. 1825-1897, African American, former slave, clergyman, author, anti-slavery activist. (Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 9, p. 331)


RANGES. The extreme ranges of smooth-bored guns firing solid shot may be considered to vary, according to their size, from 2,000 to 4,000 yards. These great ranges are only attained by firing at great elevations, and the practice at such distances is consequently uncertain. Ranges of 1,000 to 1,200 yards for field-guns and of 1,500 to 2,000 yards for heavy guns are as great as can be secured with any thing like accuracy. It seems, however, more than probable, that smooth-bored guns will, before long, be altogether superseded by rifled ordnance, and reasoning from what has been already accomplished, we may at least expect to double the present ranges, and greatly to increase the accuracy of fire. The ranges of grape-shot are equal only to the ranges of the individual balls of which the grape-shot is composed; they are, therefore, subject to considerable variation, according to the dimensions of the gun from which the grape is discharged. The most effective ranges for grape-shot may be considered to lie between 800 and 600 yards. The range of canister-shot is very limited. From the small size of the bullets they rapidly lose their initial velocity. At ranges below 300 yards canister-shot against bodies of troops is very destructive. Spherical-case shot is effective at much greater ranges than canister or grape shot. It may be employed with good effect at any distance between 600 and 1,500 or even 1,800 yards. The ranges of shells vary according to their size from 1,000 to 4,000 yards. They are fired either from mortars or guns. With the method of firing them from mortars at an elevation of 45, with a charge of powder proportioned to the range desired, any great accuracy of practice is not to be expected. (See ARTILLERY; COLUMBIAD; FIRING; RIFLED ORDNANCE; SPHERICAL CASE.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 484).


RANK. A range of subordination; a degree of dignity. Rank also means a line of soldiers, side by side. Ranks in the plural, the order of common soldiers. Questions as to the positive or relative rank of officers may often be of the greatest importance at law, in consequence of the rule, that every person who justifies his own acts on the ground of obedience to superior authority must establish, by clear evidence, the sufficiency of the authority on which he so relies. There may also be many occasions on which the propriety of an officer's assumption of command, or his exercise of particular functions, or his right to share with a particular class of officers in prize-money, bounties, grants, and other allowances, may depend on the correctness of the view taken by himself or others of his right to a specific rank or command; and an error in this respect may expose him to personal loss and damage in suits before the civil tribunals. The regulation of military rank is vested absolutely in Congress, which confers or varies it at pleasure. The will of Congress in this respect is signified by the creation of different grades of rank; by making rules of appointment and promotion; by other rules of government and regulation; or is by fair deduction to be inferred from the nature of the functions assigned to each officer; for every man who is intrusted with an employment, is presumed to be invested with all the powers necessary for the effective discharge of the duties annexed to his office.

Rank and Grade are synonymous, and in their military acceptation indicate rights, powers, and duties determined by laws creating the different degrees of rank, and specifying fixed forms for passing from grade to grade; and when rank in one body shall give command in another body; and also when rank in the army at large shall not be exercised. Rank is a right of which an officer cannot be deprived, except through forms prescribed by law. When an officer is on DUTY, his rank itself indicates his relative position to other officers of the body in which it is created. It is not, however, a perpetual right to exercise command, because the President may, under the 62d Article of War, at any time relieve an officer from duty; or an officer may be so relieved by arrest duly made according to law; or by inability to perform duty from sickness, or by being placed by competent authority on some other duty. But whenever an officer is on duty his rank indicates his command.

During the Mexican war, an attempt was made to procure the passage of a law creating the rank of lieutenant-general, in order that Mr. Senator Benton might be placed in command of the army with that rank. Congress, however, refused to create the rank. The President then sought to obtain the passage of a law authorizing him to put a junior major-general in command of a senior. Congress likewise refused him that power. On the 9th of March, Mr. President Polk, in a letter to Mr. Senator Benton, thus writes:

“Immediately after your nomination as major-general had been unanimously confirmed by the Senate, I carefully examined the question, whether I possessed the power to designate you, a junior major-general, to the chief command of the army in the field. The result of the examination is, I am constrained to say, a settled conviction in my mind, that such power has not been conferred on me by existing laws.”

Struggle as commentators may, who desire to subject rank to executive caprice, rather than have its powers and duties defined by law, as the constitution requires in giving to CONGRESS the power to make rules for the government and regulation of the army, the rights of rank cannot, without usurpation, be varied at the will of the President. The law has created rank. Rank means a range of subordination in the particular body in which it is created. It is, therefore, effective in that body, without further legislation, and its effect, when the officer is present for duty, is extended beyond that particular portion of the army in which the officer holds rank, or its exercise is restricted within a corps only by legislation. Executive authority cannot make rank vary at will, but whatever authority the executive has over rank must be determined by law. A reference to the 62d Article of War will show that the President is given the authority to limit the discretion of commanding officers, in special cases, in respect to what is needful for the service, and also to relieve the senior officer from any command, so that the command may fall upon the next officer in the line of the army, marine corps, or militia, “ by commission there on duty or in quarters,” or assign some senior to duty with troops, in order that such officer may become entitled to command under the 62d Article of War. Any power of assignment claimed for the President beyond this is not and ought not to be sanctioned by law. The 62d Article extends the validity of commissions in any part of the line of the army, marine corps, or militia, and thus enables the senior officer of the line of the army present for duty to command the whole when different corps come together while the 61st Article provides that in the regiment, troop, or company, to which officers belong, although they may also hold higher commissions in the army' at large, they shall nevertheless do duty and take rank both in courts-martial and on detachments, which shall be composed only of their own corps, according to the commissions by which they are mustered in said corps.

The legislation on the subject of rank is thus complete. Officers, when serving only with their own regiment, serve according to their regimental rank; but when with other corps, the senior by commission in the line, whether by brevet or otherwise, is entitled to command. (See ASSIGNMENT.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp. 484-486).


RANKIN, David Nevin, physician, born in Shippensburg, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, 27 October, 1834. After graduation at Jefferson Medical College in 1854, he practised with his father in his native town until beginning of the Civil War, in which he served as acting assistant surgeon, and aided in opening many of the largest U.S. Army Hospitals during the war, among which were the Mansion House Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia, and the Douglas Hospital in Washington, D.C. Afterward he was appointed one of the thirty surgeons in the volunteer aid corps of surgeons of Pennsylvania, which rendered efficient service. In 1864–6 he was medical examiner of the U. S. Pension Bureau, and since 1865 he has been chief physician of the Penitentiary of Western Pennsylvania. Dr. Rankin was a member of the British Medical Association in 1884, a delegate to the 8th and 9th International Medical Congresses, and is a member of various medical societies. He has contributed numerous articles to medical journals. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 180.


RANKIN, John, 1793-1886, New York, clergyman, author, abolitionist leader.  Executive Committee, vice president, 1833-1835, and Treasurer, 1836-1840, of the American Anti-Slavery Society.  Anti-slavery agent.  Kentucky Abolition Society.  Wrote Letters on American Slavery in 1833.  Son-in-law of abolitionist Samuel Doak (1749-1830).  Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Ripley, Ohio. Had and protected fugitive slaves in his home.  Rankin wrote:  “I consider involuntary slavery a never-failing fountain of the grossest immorality, and one of the deepest sources of human misery; it hangs like the mantle of night over our republic, and shrouds its rising glories.  I sincerely pity the man who tinges his hand in the unhallowed thing that is fraught with the tears, and sweat, and groans, and blood of hapless millions of innocent, unoffending people…  It is considered a crime for him [the slave] to aspire above the rank of the groveling beast.  He must content himself with being bought and sold, and driven in chains from State to State, as a capricious avarice may dictate.” 

(Dumond, 1961, pp. 90, 91, 95, 134-136, 178, 186, 348; Filler, 1960, pp. 17-18, 74, 261; Pease, 1965, pp. 73n, 102; Hegedorn, 2002; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 42; Sorin, 1971, pp. 87-88, 118-123; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 180; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 320; Hinks, Peter P., & John R. McKivigan, Eds., Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition.  Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood, 2007, Vol. 2, pp. 563-564)

RANKIN, John, clergyman, born near Dandridge, Jefferson County, Tennessee, 4 February, 1793; died in Ironton, Ohio, 18 March, 1886. From 1817 till 1821 he was pastor of two Presbyterian Churches in Carlisle, Kentucky, and about 1818 founded an anti-slavery society. Removing to Ripley, Ohio, he was pastor of the 1st and 2d Presbyterian Churches for forty-four years. He joined the Garrison anti-slavery movement, and was mobbed for his views more than twenty times. About 1824 he addressed letters to his brother in Middlebrook, Virginia, dissuading him from slave-holding, which were published in Ripley, in the “Liberator,” in 1832, and afterward in book-form in Boston and Newburyport, and ran through many editions. He assisted Eliza and her child, the originals of those characters in “Uncle Tom's Cabin,” to escape. He founded the American Reform Book and Tract Society of Cincinnati, and was the author of several books, including “The Covenant of Grace” (Pittsburg, 1869). See his life entitled “The Soldier, the Battle, and the Victory,” by Reverend Andrew Ritchie (Cincinnati, 1876). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 180.


RANKIN'S FERRY, TENNESSEE, June 21, 1862. Rapidan Station, Virginia, May 1, 1863. 2nd Cavalry Division, Army of the Potomac. Brigadier-General William W. Averell, commanding the 2nd division, received orders at 6:30 p. m., April 30, to push the enemy in the direction of Rapidan Station. The division approached the station between 7:30 and 8 p. m. and was opened upon by artillery. Early the next morning Averell reconnoitered the Confederate position and then attacked, almost turning their left. As it was the enemy lost his position of the night, several killed and wounded, and a number captured. Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 724.


RANSIER, Alonzo Jacob, politician, born in Charleston, South Carolina 3 January, 1836; died there, 17 August, 1882. He was the son of free colored people, and, having obtained by himself some education, was employed, when sixteen years of age, as a shipping-clerk by a merchant of Charleston. In October, 1865, he took part in a convention of the friends of equal rights in Charleston, and was deputed to present to Congress the memorial that was adopted. He was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1868, was an elector on the Grant and Colfax presidential ticket, and was sent to the legislature in the following year. He was also chosen chairman of the Republican State Central Committee, filling that office till 1872, and in 1870 was elected lieutenant-governor of South Carolina by a large majority. He was president of the convention from the southern states that was held at Columbia. South Carolina in 1871, and was a vice-president of the Republican National Convention at Philadelphia in 1872. In that year he was elected a representative in Congress, and served from 1 December, 1873, till 3 March, 1875. When the Democratic Party reached power in South Carolina in 1877, he lost his official posts, and afterward suffered great poverty, being employed from that time till his death as a street-laborer. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 181.


RANSOM, George Marcellus, naval officer, born in Springfield, Otsego County, New York, 18 January, 1820. He was educated in the common schools of New York and Ohio, entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman on 25 July, 1839. studied at the naval school in Philadelphia, became a passed midshipman on 2 July, 1845, a master on 28 June, 1853, and a lieutenant on 21 February, 1854. He served on the coast of Africa in 1856-'7, was commissioned lieutenant commander on 16 July, 1862, and, in command of the steam gun-boat "Kineo" of the Western Gulf Blockading Squadron, had several engagements with the enemy in March and April, 1862. He passed the Forts Jackson and St. Philip in Farragut's fleet, engaged the ram " Manassas." and in May, 1862, a field-battery at Grand Gulf. He performed effective service in shelling General John C. Breckinridge's army at Baton Rouge, 5 August, 1862, and engaged a battery and a force of guerillas on 4 October He was promoted commander on 2 January, 1863, and served with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron in command of the steamer "Grand Gulf" in 1864, and captured three steamers off Wilmington. He was commissioned captain on 2 March, 1870, and commodore on 28 March, 1877, and was retired, 18 June, 1882. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 181.


RANSOM, Matt Whitaker, senator, born in Warren County, North Carolina, 8 October, 1826. He was graduated at the University of North Carolina in 1847, and admitted to the bar the same year, and was presidential elector on the Whig ticket in 1852. For the subsequent three years he was state attorney-general, and then, joining the Democratic Party, was a member of the legislature in 1858, and in 1861 one of the three North Carolina commissioners to the Confederate Congress in Montgomery, Alabama. He did his utmost to avert the war, but, on the secession of his state, volunteered as a private in the Confederate service, and was at once appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 1st North Carolina Infantry, with which he marched to the seat of war in Virginia. He was chosen colonel of the 35th North Carolina Infantry in 1862, participated with his regiment in all the important battles of the Army of Northern Virginia, was severely wounded in the seven days' fight around Richmond, and was promoted brigadier general in 1863 and major-general in 1865, out the fall of the Confederacy prevented the receipt of the latter commission. He resumed his profession in 1866, exerted a pacific influence in the politics of his state, was elected to the U. S. Senate as a Democrat in 1872, and has served since by re-election. His present term will end in 1889. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 181.


RANSOM, Robert, soldier, born in North Carolina about 1830. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy, and assigned to the 1st dragoons. He was promoted 1st lieutenant in the 1st U.S. Cavalry, 3 March, 1855, and captain, 31 January, 1861, but resigned, 24 May, 1861, and was appointed captain of cavalry in the Confederate Army in June. He was made colonel of the 9th North Carolina Cavalry soon afterward, became brigadier-general, 6 March, 1862, and major-general, 26 May, 1863. He commanded a brigade and the defences near Kinston, North Carolina, in 1862, and the Department of Richmond from 25 April till 13 June, 1864. He also commanded the sub-District, No. 2. of the department that included South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida in November, 1864. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 181.


RANSOM, Thomas Edward Greenfield, soldier, born in Norwich, Vermont, 29 November, 1834; died near Rome, 29 October, 1864, was educated at Norwich University, learned civil engineering, and in 1851 moved to Illinois, where he engaged in business. He was elected major and then lieutenant-colonel of the 11th Illinois, and was wounded while leading a charge at Charlestown, Missouri, 20 August, 1861. He participated in the capture of Fort Henry, and led his regiment in the assault upon Fort Donelson, where he was again severely wounded, yet would not leave the field till the battle was ended. He was promoted colonel for his bravery and skill. At Shiloh he was in the hottest part of the battle, and, though wounded in the head early in the action, remained with his command through the day. He served as chief of staff to General John A. McClernand and inspector-general of the Army of the Tennessee, and subsequently on the staff of General Grant, and in January, 1863, was made a brigadier-general, his commission dating from 29 November, 1862. He distinguished himself at Vicksburg, and was at the head of a division in the Red River Campaign, taking command of the corps when General McClernand became ill. In the battle of Sabine Cross-Roads he received a wound in the knee, from which he never recovered. He commanded a division, and later the 17th Corps, in the operations about Atlanta, and, though attacked with sickness, directed the movements of his troops in the pursuit of General John B. Hood's army until he sank under the disease. General Ransom was buried in Rose Hill cemetery, Chicago. He was brevetted major-general on 1 September, 1864. Both Grant and Sherman pronounced Ransom to be among the ablest volunteer generals in their commands. A Grand Army of the Republic Post in St. Louis was named in his honor, and a tribute to his memory was delivered at Chicago on Decoration-day, 1886, by General William T. Sherman. See “Sketches of Illinois Officers,” by James Grant Wilson (Chicago, 1862). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 181-182.


RANTOUL, Robert, Jr., 1805-1852, statesman, reformer, lawyer, writer, publisher, industrialist, U.S. Congressman.  Democratic and Free Soil Member of the U.S. House of Representatives.  Served one term, December 1851-1852.  Strong opponent of slavery and the Fugitive Slave laws.  Opposed extension of slavery into the new territories.  Served as defense counsel for escaped slave Thomas Simms in Massachusetts State Court.  (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 182-183; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 381)


Rantoul, Robert, statesman, born in Beverly, Massachusetts, 13 August, 1805; died in Washington, D. C., 7 August, 1852, was graduated at Harvard in 1826, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1829, and began practice in Salem, but transferred his practice in 1830 to South Reading, Massachusetts. In 1832 he moved to Gloucester. He was elected to the legislature in 1834, serving four years, and assuming at once a position as a leader of the Jacksonian Democracy, in which interest he established at Gloucester a weekly journal. In the legislature he formed a friendship with John G. Whittier, who wrote a poem in his memory. He sat upon the first commission to revise the laws of Massachusetts, and was an active member of the judiciary committee. He interested himself in the establishment of lyceums. In 1836-'8 he represented the state in the first board of directors of the Western Railroad, and in 1837 became a member of the Massachusetts board of education. In 1839 he established himself in Boston, and in 1840 he appeared in defence of the Journeymen bootmakers' organization, indicted for a conspiracy to raise wages, and procured their discharge on the ground that a combination of individuals to effect, by means not unlawful, that which each might legally do, was not a criminal conspiracy. He defended in Rhode Island two persons indicted for complicity in the Dorr Rebellion of 1842, Daniel Webster being the opposing counsel. He was appointed U. S. District attorney for Massachusetts in 1845, and held that office till 1849, when he resigned. He delivered in April, 1850, at Concord the address in commemoration of the outbreak of the Revolution. In 1850 he was the organizer and a corporator of the Illinois Central Railroad. Daniel Webster having withdrawn from the senate in 1850, on being appointed Secretary of State, and having been succeeded by Robert C. Winthrop, Mr. Rantoul was elected, serving nine days. He was chosen as an opponent of the extension of slavery by a coalition of Democrats and Free-Soilers to the National House of Representatives, and served from 1 December, 1851, till his death. In 1852 he was refused a seat in the National Democratic Convention on the ground that he and his constituents were disfranchised by their attitude toward slavery. He was an advocate of various reforms, and delivered lectures and speeches on the subject of educational advancement, several of which were published, and while a member of the Massachusetts legislature prepared a report in favor of the abolition of the death-penalty that was long quoted by the opponents of capital punishment. He took a prominent part in the agitation against the Fugitive-Slave Law. As counsel in 1851 for Thomas Simms, the first escaped slave delivered up by Massachusetts, he took the ground that slavery was a state institution, and that the general government had no power to return fugitives from justice, or runaway apprentices or slaves, but that such extradition was a matter for arrangement between the states. He lent his voice and pen to the movement against the use of stimulants, but protested against prohibitory legislation as an invasion of private rights. After leaving the legislature, where the variety of his learning, the power of his eloquence, and his ardent convictions against the protection of native industry and other enlargements of the sphere of government, and in favor of educational and moral reforms had attracted attention, he became a favorite lecturer and political speaker throughout New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. He edited a “Workingmen's Library,” that was issued by the lyceums and two series of a “Common School Library” that was published under the sanction of the Massachusetts board of education. See his “Memoirs, Speeches, and Writings,” edited by Luther Hamilton (Boston, 1854). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 182-183.  


RAPIDAN STATION, VIRGINIA, September 15, 1863. Detachments of 6th Ohio, 1st Rhode Island and 1st Massachusetts Cavalry. During the Union advance from the Rappahannock to the Rapidan Colonel Horace B. Sargent was directed to make a reconnaissance in force in the direction of Rapidan Station. With about 600 men he proceeded toward the river, and when the open country was reached a heavy line of skirmishers was established and supported, leaving only the detachment of the 1st Massachusetts in reserve. Dismounted men were pressed forward and some sharp skirmishing ensued, in which the Confederates brought into action 7 pieces of artillery. An hour before sunset the enemy charged twice in rapid succession, but both times was repulsed. At nightfall the 1st Maryland cavalry relieved the 6th Ohio and a strong picket line was established. The Federal casualties were 3 killed, 22 wounded and 4 missing. Three Confederates were captured, but aside from that their loss is not known. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 724.


RAPP, Wilhelm, 1828-1907, Germany, newspaper editor, anti-slavery activist.  (Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 383)


RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER, VIRGINIA, June 24, 1861. Confederate sources report that a party landed from a Federal steamer, Star of New York, in search of forage and provisions, was driven back to their boats by a company of Lancaster troops. The Star of New York fired about 30 shells into the pursuing Confederate ranks, but without effect, while 4 of the Union party were killed. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 724.


RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER, VIRGINIA, April 2, 1862. 8th Illinois Cavalry. While this regiment was on a reconnaissance its advance came upon 10 mounted Confederate pickets concealed in the brush. Immediately after firing the enemy fled and were pursued for some distance. At least 1 of them was wounded. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 724.


RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER, VIRGINIA, April 16, 1862. Detachment of 1st Rhode Island Cavalry. This affair was an incident of a reconnaissance from Warrenton Junction, a portion of the Union detachment having a rather severe skirmish with the enemy's pickets. No casualties were reported. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 724.


RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER, VIRGINIA, April 18, 1862. Detachments of 12th Massachusetts, 9th New York, 12th Indiana Infantry, and details of cavalry and artillery. As an incident of a reconnaissance to the Rappahannock river from Warrenton Junction, under Lieutenant-Colonel Timothy M. Bryan, Jr., the Federals got into position during the night and at daylight opened upon the Confederate camp. The enemy immediately replied and after he had fully developed his force the Federals withdrew, having suffered no loss. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 724.


RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER, VIRGINIA, May 13, 1862. 1st New Jersey and 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry. A sloop under guard of several members of the 1st New Jersey was proceeding up the river to Falmouth, when it was fired upon from the shore and 2 of the men on board were wounded. When an effort was made to remove the wounded men the vessel was fired upon again, but the enemy was repulsed with some loss by a detail of the 1st Pennsylvania which had been hurried to the scene. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 724.


RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER, VIRGINIA, April 1, 1864. Patrol of the 1st Connecticut Cavalry. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 725.


RAPPAHANNOCK STATION, VIRGINIA, March 29, 1862. (See Bealeton Station, same date.)


RAPPAHANNOCK STATION, VIRGINIA, August 23, 1862. 2nd Division, 2nd Corps, Army of Virginia. On the 20th Pope's pickets at Rappahannock Station had been driven in and during the next two days Lee made several attempts to cross the river. Pope, in expectations of reinforcements, made his arrangements to cross on the morning of the 23d and fling his whole force upon Lee's rear. Early on the morning of the 23d the Confederates, possibly in anticipation of such a movement on the part of Pope, occupied a hill overlooking Beverly ford and station with six 3-inch rifles and 4 Napoleons of the First company of the Washington artillery under Captain C. W. Squires, supported by Evans' brigade. A heavy fire was opened on the Union batteries across the river, which was vigorously returned, and after a day of cannonading, in which the loss on both sides was slight, the positions of both armies were changed. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 725.


RAPPAHANNOCK STATION, VIRGINIA, November 7-8, 1862. Battery C, 3d U. S. Artillery. In the operations preliminary to the battle of Fredericksburg Battery C arrived with the 1st Pennsylvania cavalry at Rappahannock Station on night of November 7, and immediately opened upon the Confederate camp at the opposite end of the bridge. The enemy, leaving everything, withdrew in haste. Next morning 3 or 4 Confederate guns opened on the Union artillery, which replied, and firing was kept up for 2 hours without doing any material damage on either side. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 725.


RAPPAHANNOCK STATION, VIRGINIA, August 1, 1863. (See Brandy Station, same date.)


RAPPAHANNOCK STATION, VIRGINIA, November 7, 1863. Right Column of the Army of the Potomac. While the Army of the Potomac was attempting to force a passage of the Rappahannock river the position assigned to the right of the column, then under command of Major-General John Sedgwick, was at Rappahannock Station. Sedgwick was ordered to push the Confederates across the river before dark if possible, while another portion of the army was attempting a passage at Kelly's ford. The 5th corps (Sykes) and Sedgwick's own (the 6th), then commanded by Brigadier General Wright, took positions on the right and left of the railroad and by 3 p. m. had pushed forward their skirmishers and driven the Confederates to their rifle-pits. The enemy's works were two redoubts, both on the left of the railroad, connected by a double line of rifle-pits, extending 1,000 yards along the river. All afternoon the Federal artillery kept up a vigorous fire upon the works, but apparently without effect, as the Confederates replied just as vigorously. Just at dusk Sedgwick ordered an assault. Brigadier-General David A. Russell with two brigades of his division executed the movement under a galling fire, the works were captured and the whole garrison cut off and taken prisoners. The assault was acknowledged to be one of the most gallant in history. The Federal loss in the affair was 83 killed, 330 wounded and 6 missing; the Confederates lost 6 killed, 39 wounded and 1,629 captured, besides 8 colors, a battery, 2,000 stands of small arms and a pontoon train. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 725.


RASANTE is a French term, applied to a style of fortification, in which the command of the works over each other, and over the country, is kept very low, in order that the shot may more effectually sweep or graze the ground before them.


RATCHET-WHEEL. A wheel with pointed and angular teeth, against which a ratchet abuts, used either for converting a reciprocating into a rotatory motion on the shaft to which it is fixed, or for admitting of its motion in one direction only. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 487).


RATHBONE, John Finley, manufacturer, born in Albany, New York, 18 October, 1821. He was educated at Albany Academy and the Collegiate Institute at Brockport, New York. In 1845 he built a foundry in Albany that is now one of the largest establishments of the kind in the world. In 1861 he was appointed brigadier-general of the 9th Brigade of the National Guard of New York, and at the beginning of the Civil War he was made commandant of the Albany depot of volunteers. From this depot he sent to the front thirty-five regiments. In 1867 he resigned his office as commander of the 9th Brigade. Under the administration of Governor John A. Dix he was appointed adjutant-general of the state, with the rank of major-general. As a private citizen General Rathbone has been conspicuous for his zeal in promoting works of philanthropy. He is one of the founders of the Albany Orphan Asylum, and for many years has been president of its board of trustees. He is a trustee of the University of Rochester, in connection with which he established, by his contribution of $40,000, the Rathbone library.—His cousin, Henry Reed, soldier, born in Albany, New York, 1 July, 1837, was appointed major of U. S. volunteers on 29 November, 1862, and resigned on 8 July, 1867. He received a wound from the assassin's dirk in the theatre-box with President Lincoln on the evening of his murder.— Henry Reed's brother, Jared Lawrence, soldier, born in Albany, New York, 29 September, 1844, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1865, was assigned to the 12th Infantry, in 1866-'70 was aide to General John M. Schofield, and was transferred to the artillery in 1869. Resigning in 1872, he engaged in stock raising and mining in California. He was appointed U. S. consul-general in Paris on 18 Mav, 1887. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 185.


RATION. The President may make such alterations in the component parts of the ration as a due regard to the health and comfort of the army and economy may require; (Act April 24, 1818.) The allowance of sugar and coffee to the non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates, in lieu of the spirit or whiskey component part of the ration, shall be fixed at six pounds of coffee and twelve pounds of sugar to every one hundred rations, to be issued weekly, when it can be done with convenience to the public service, and when not so issued, to be paid for in money; (Act July 5, 1838.)

Women not exceeding four to a company, and such matrons and nurses as may be necessarily employed in the hospital, one ration each; (Act March 16, 1802.) The President may authorize rations to be issued to Indians visiting military posts; (Act May 13, 1800.) (See PAY; WAGON.)  (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 487).


RATLIFF'S LANDING, LOUISIANA, June 15, 1864. U. S. Gunboat No. 53. Colonel John S. Scott of the 1st Louisiana Confederate cavalry reports that during the night of the 14th he moved two 12-pounder howitzers and a 3-inch gun to Ratliff's landing and at daylight opened on gunboat No. 53, a tinclad, which was so badly injured as to necessitate her being run ashore to prevent sinking. No casualties were reported. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 725.


RAUCH, John Henry, physician, born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, 4 September, 1828. He was graduated in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1849. In the following year he settled in Burlington, Iowa. In 1850, on the organization of the State Medical Society, he was appointed to report on the “Medical and Economic Botany of Iowa,” and this report was afterward published (1851). He was an active member of the Iowa Historical and Geological Institute, and made a collection of material – especially ichthyologic—from the upper Mississippi and Missouri Rivers for Professor Agassiz, a description of which was published in “Silliman's Journal” (1855). In 1857 he was appointed professor of materia medica and medical botany in Rush Medical College, Chicago, which chair he filled for the next three years. In 1859 he was one of the organizers of the Chicago College of Pharmacy and filled its chair of materia medica and medical botany.  During the Civil War he served as assistant medical director of the Army of Virginia, and then in Louisiana till 1864. At the close of the war he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel. On his return to Chicago, Dr. Rauch published a paper on “Intramural Interments and their Influence on Health and Epidemics” (Chicago, 1866). He aided in reorganizing the health service of the city, and in 1867 was appointed member of the newly created board of health and sanitary superintendent, which office he filled until 1873. During his incumbency the great fire of 1871 occurred, and the task of organizing and enforcing the sanitary measures for the welfare of 112,000 houseless men, women, and children was suddenly thrown upon his department. In 1876 he was elected president of the American Public Health Association, and delivered the annual address on the “Sanitary Problems of Chicago” at the 1877 meeting of the association. In 1877, when the Illinois State Board of Health was created, Dr. Rauch was appointed one of its members, and elected its first president. He was elected secretary, to which office he has been re-elected annually ever since. In 1878–9 the yellow-fever epidemics in the southwest engaged his attention, resulting in the formation of the Sanitary Council of the Mississippi Valley and the establishment of the river-inspection service of the National Board of Health, inaugurated by Dr. Rauch in 1879. His investigations on the relation of small-pox to foreign immigration are embodied in an address before the National Conference of State Boards of Health at St. Louis, 13 October, 1884, entitled “Practical Recommendations for the Exclusion and Prevention of Asiatic Cholera in North America” (Springfield, 1884). In 1887 he published the preliminary results of his investigations into the character of the water-supplies of Illinois. Dr. Rauch is a member of many scientific bodies and the author of monographs, chiefly in the domain of sanitary science and preventive medicine. His chief work as a writer is embodied in the reports of the Illinois State Board of Health in eight volumes. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 186.


RAUM, Green Berry, commissioner of internal revenue, born in Golconda, Pope County, Illinois, 3 December, 1829. He received a common-school education, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1853. In 1856 he moved with his family to Kansas, and at once affiliated with the Free-state Party. Becoming obnoxious to the pro-slavery faction, he returned the following year to Illinois and settled at Harris£ At the opening of the Civil War he made his first speech as a “war.” Democrat while he was attending court at Metropolis, Illinois. Subsequently he entered the army as major of the 56 Illinois Regiment, and was promoted lieutenant-colonel, colonel, and brevet brigadier-general. He was made brigadier-general of volunteers on 15 February, 1865, which commission he resigned on 6 May. He served under General William S. Rosecrans in the Mississippi Campaign of 1862. At the battle of Corinth he ordered and led the charge that broke the Confederate left and captured a battery. He was with General Grant at Vicksburg, and was wounded at the battle of Missionary Ridge in November, 1863. During the Atlanta Campaign he held the line of communication from Dalton to Acworth and from Kingston to Rome, Georgia. In October, 1864, he re-enforced Resaca, Georgia, and held it against General John B. Hood. In 1866 he obtained a charter for the Cairo and Vincennes Railroad Company, aided in securing its construction, and became its first president. He was then elected to Congress, and served from 4 March, 1867, till 3 March, 1869. In 1876 he was president of the Illinois Republican Convention, and in the same year he was a delegate to the National Convention of that party in Cincinnati. He was appointed commissioner of internal revenue, 2 August, 1876, and retained the office till 31 May, 1883. During this period he collected $850,000,000 and disburse $30,000,000 without loss. He wrote “Reports” of his bureau for seven successive years. He is also the author of “The Existing Conflict between Republican Government and Southern Oligarchy.” (Washington, 1884). He is at present (1888) practising law in Washington, D.C. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 186.


RAVELIN is the work constructed beyond the main ditch, opposite the curtain, composed of two faces, forming a salient angle, and two demi-gorges, formed by the counterscarp. It is separated from the covered way by a ditch which runs into the main ditch. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp. 487-488).


RAVELIN, (REDOUBT OF THE) is a work constructed within the ravelin, but separated from it by a ditch. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 488).


RAVENEL, St. Julien, chemist, born in Charleston, South Carolina, 15 December, 1819; died there, 16 March, 1882. He was educated in Charleston and graduated at the Medical College of the state of South Carolina in 1840. Subsequently he completed his studies in Philadelphia and in Paris, and on his return settled in practice in Charleston, and became demonstrator of anatomy. Dr. Ravenel spent the years 1849-'50 in studying natural history and physiology under Louis Agassiz, also acquiring considerable skill as a microscopist. In 1852 he retired from practice and devoted his attention chiefly to chemistry as applied to agriculture. He visited the marl-bluffs on Cooper River in 1856, and ascertained that this rock could be converted into lime. In consequence, he established with Clement H. Stevens the lime-works at Stoney Landing, which furnished most of the lime that was used in the Confederate states. At the beginning of the Civil War he enlisted as surgeon in the Confederate Army. While in Charleston he designed the torpedo cigar-boat, the "Little David," which was built on Cooper River and did effective service during the investment of Charleston in 1863 by Admiral Du Pont. He was surgeon-in-chief of the Confederate Hospital in Columbia, and was director of the Confederate Laboratory in that city for the preparation of medical supplies. At the close of the war he returned to Charleston, and in 1866 he discovered the value of the phosphate deposits in the vicinity of that city for agricultural purposes. Dr. Ravenel then founded the Wando Phosphate Company for the manufacture of fertilizers, and established lime-works in Woodstock. The last work of his life was the study of means of utilizing the rich lands that are employed for rice-culture along the sea-coast, which would be thrown out of cultivation and rendered useless when the import duty on that article should be removed. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 187.


RAWHIDE, TENNESSEE, December 1, 1863. Detachment of 9th Illinois Cavalry. Lieutenant John W. Barnes, acting assistant adjutant-general to Brigadier-General Grenville M. Dodge, reporting from Pulaski, says: "Lieut . Roberts has returned from Eastport. Had a fight with some guerrillas at Rawhide. Brought in 20 prisoners." This is the only official mention of the affair. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 725-726.


RAWLE, William Henry, lawyer, born in Philadelphia, 31 August, 1823, was graduated in 1841 at the University of Pennsylvania, from which he received in 1882 the degree of LL. D. He studied law with his father, was admitted to practice in 1844, and has won reputation in his profession. In 1862, upon the "emergency " call, Mr. Rawle enlisted as a private of artillery, and in 1863, under a similar call, he served as quartermaster. He was a vice-provost of the Law Academy from 1865 to 1873, has been vice-chancellor of the Law Association since 1880, and for several years has been the secretary, and afterward a director, of the Library Company. He has published a treatise on the "Law of Covenants for Title" (Philadelphia, 1852): the 3d American edition of John W. Smith's " Law of Contracts," with notes (1853; with additional notes by George Sharswood, 1856); the 2d American edition of Joshua Williams's " Law of Real Property " (1857); "Equity in Pennsylvania," a lecture, to which was appended "The Registrar's Book of Governor William Keith's Court in Chancery" (1868): "Some Contrasts in the Growth of Pennsylvania in English Law" (1881); "Oration at Unveiling of the Monument erected by the Bar of the U. S. to Chief-Justice Marshall " (Washington, 1884); and "The Case of the Educated Unemployed," an address (1885).  Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p.189.


RAWLE, William Brooke-Rawle, lawyer, born in Philadelphia, 29 August, 1843, is the son of Charles Wallace Brooke by his wife, Elizabeth Tilghman, daughter of the second William Rawle. and has taken for his surname Brooke-Rawle. He was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1863, and immediately afterward entered the army as lieutenant in the 3d Pennsylvania Cavalry. He was promoted captain and brevetted major and lieutenant-colonel, at the close of the war, studied law, and in 1867 was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar. He is secretary of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, treasurer of the Law Association of Philadelphia, and agent for the Penn Estates in Pennsylvania. Colonel Brooke-Rawle has published "The Right Flank at Gettysburg" (Philadelphia, 1878); "With Gregg in the "Gettysburg Campaign" (1884); and "Gregg's Cavalry Fight at Gettysburg," an address delivered at the unveiling of the monument on the site of the cavalry engagement (1884). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 189-190.


RAWLINS, John Aaron, soldier, born in East Galena, Illinois, 13 February, 1831; died in Washington, D. C. 9 September, 1869. He was of Scotch-Irish extraction. His father, James D. Rawlins, moved from Kentucky to Missouri and then to Illinois. John passed his early years on the family farm, and attended the district school in winter. He also assisted at burning charcoal and hauling it to market; but this work became disagreeable to him as he approached manhood, and after reading all the books within his reach, he attended the Mount Morris seminary in Ogle County, Illinois, in 1852-'3. His money having given out, he resumed his occupation of charcoal-burner that he might earn more: but, instead of returning to the seminary, as he had intended, he studied law with Isaac P. Stevens at Galena, and in October, 1854, was admitted to the bar and taken into partnership by his preceptor. In 1855 Mr. Stevens retired, leaving the business to be conducted by Rawlins. In 1857 he was elected attorney for the city of Galena, and in 1860 he was nominated for the electoral college on the Douglas ticket. During the contest that followed he held a series of joint discussions with Allen C. Fuller, the Republican candidate, and added greatly to his reputation as a public speaker. He held closely to the doctrines of Judge Douglas, but was, of course, defeated with his party. His own opinions were strongly opposed to human slavery, and yet he looked upon it as an evil protected within certain limits by the constitution of the United States. His love for the Union was, however, the master sentiment of his soul, and while he had followed his party in all peaceful advocacy of its claims, when the South Carolinians fired upon Fort Sumter, April 12. 1861, he did not hesitate for a moment to declare for coercion by force of arms. He was outspoken for the Union and for the war to maintain it, and at a mass-meeting at Galena on 16 April, 1861, Rawlins was called on to speak; but, instead of deprecating the war, as had been expected, he made a speech of an hour, in which he upheld it with signal ability and eloquence. Among those of the audience that had acted with the Democrats was Captain Ulysses S. Grant. He was deeply impressed by the speech, and thereupon offered his services to the country, and from that time forth was the warm friend of Rawlins. The first act of Grant after he had been assigned to the command of a brigade. 7 August, 1861, was to offer Rawlins the post of aide-de-camp on his staff, and almost immediately afterward, when Grant was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, he offered Rawlins the position of captain and assistant adjutant-general, to date from 30 August. 1861. He joined Grant at Cairo, Illinois, 15 September, 1861. and from that time was constantly with the latter till the end of the war. except from 1 August to 1 October, 1864, when he was absent on sick-leave, he was promoted major, 14 April, 1862, lieutenant-colonel, 1 November, 1862, brigadier-general of volunteers, 11 August, 1863, brevet major-general of volunteers, 24 February, 1865, chief-of-staff to Lieut-General Grant, with the rank of brigadier-general, U. S. Army, 3 March, 1865, and brevet major-general, U. S. Army, 13 March, 1865. Finally he was appointed Secretary of War, 9 March, 1869, which office he held till his death. Before entering the army Rawlins had never seen a company of uniformed soldiers nor read a book on tactics or military organization, but he soon developed rare executive abilities. During Grant's earlier career he was assistant adjutant-general, but as Grant was promoted and his staff became larger, Rawlins became chief of staff. Early after joining Grant, Rawlins acquired great influence with him. He was bold, resolute, and outspoken in counsel, and never hesitated to give his opinion upon matters of importance, whether it was asked or not. His relations with Grant were closer than those of any other man, and so highly did the latter value his sterling qualities and his great abilities that, in a letter to Henry Wilson, chairman of the senate military committee, urging his confirmation as brigadier general, he declared that Rawlins was more nearly indispensable to him than any officer in the army. He was a man of austere habits, severe morals, aggressive temper, and of inflexible will, resolution, and courage. He verified, re-arranged, and re-wrote, when necessary, all the statements of Grant's official reports, adhering as closely as possible to Grant's original drafts, but making them conform to the facts as they were understood at headquarters. While he did not originate the idea of running the batteries at Vicksburg with the gun-boats and transports and marching the army by land below, he was its first and most persistent advocate. His views upon such questions were sound and vigorous, and were always an important factor in General Grant's decisions concerning them. At Chattanooga he became an ardent advocate of the plan of operations devised by General William P. Smith, and adopted by Generals Thomas and Grant, and for the relief of the army at Chattanooga, and for the battle of Missionary Ridge, where his persistence finally secured positive orders from Grant to Thomas directing the advance of the Army of the Cumberland that resulted in carrying the heights. He accompanied Grant to the Army of the Potomac, and, after careful study, threw his influence in favor of the overland Campaign, but throughout the operations that followed he deprecated the repeated and costly assaults on the enemy's intrenched positions, and favored the flanking movements by which Lee was finally driven to the south side of the Potomac. It has been said that he opposed the march to the sea, and appealed to the government, over the head of his chief, to prevent it; but there is no evidence in his papers, nor in those of Lincoln or Stanton, to support this statement. It is doubtless true that he thought the time chosen for the march somewhat premature, and it is well known that he opposed the transfer of Sherman's army by steamer from Savannah to the James River for fear that it would leave the country open for the march of all the southern forces to a junction with Lee in Virginia before Sherman could reach that field of action, and it is suggested that the recollection of these facts has been confused with such as would justify the statement above referred to, but which was not made till several years after his death. He was a devoted and loyal friend to General Grant, and by far too good a disciplinarian to appeal secretly over his head to his superiors. His whole life is a refutation of this story, and when it is remembered that General Grant does not tell it as of his own knowledge, it may well be dismissed from history. Rawlins, as Secretary of War, was the youngest member of the cabinet, as he was the youngest member of Grant's staff when he joined it at Cairo in 1861. He found the administration of the army as fixed by the law somewhat interfered with by an order issued by his predecessor, and this order he at once induced the president to countermand. Prom that time till his death he was a great sufferer from pulmonary consumption, which he had contracted by exposure during the war; but he performed all the duties of his office and exerted a commanding influence in the counsels of the president to the last. A bronze statue has been erected to his memory at Washington. He was married twice. After his death provision was made by a public subscription of $50,000 for his family. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 190-191.


RAWLE'S MILL, N. C., November 2, 1862. (See Little Creek, same date.)


RAWLINGSON, ALABAMA, September 5, 1863. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, Cavalry Corps, Army of the Cumberland. This incident was the destruction of the salt works. The Confederate guard, finding itself too small to cope with the brigade, retired as the Union troops came up, and the works were destroyed without opposition. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 726.


RAY, Charles Bennett, 1807-1886, New York, New York, African American, journalist, educator, clergyman, abolitionist leader.  American Missionary Association (AMA).  Newspaper owner and editor, The Colored American.  African American.  Member of the anti-slavery Liberty Party.  Executive Committee, American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (AFAAS), 1847-1851, 1853-1855, Recording Secretary, 1849-1855.  One of the first African Americans to participate in abolitionist party on a national level.  Member and activist with the Underground Railroad.  Co-founder and director, New York Vigilance Committee, which aided and protected fugitive slaves.  Member of the American Anti-Slavery Society.

(Blue, 2005, p. 98; Dumond, 1961, pp. 268, 330, 333; Mabee, 1970, pp. 58, 59, 62, 95-97, 111, 134, 146, 181, 338, 339, 415n14; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 48, 166; Sernett, 2002, pp. 64, 116, 132, 199, 201; Sorin, 1971, pp. 93-94; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 403; Annals of Congress; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 18, p. 201; Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 9, p. 353)


RAY, John, lawyer, born in Washington County, Missouri, 14 October, 1810: died in New Orleans, Louisiana, 4 March, 1888. His grandfather, John Ray, emigrated to Missouri, and was associated with Daniel Boone. He was a member of the 1st Constitutional Convention there, and Ray County was named for him. The grandson was educated at Augusta College and Transylvania University, where he was graduated in 1835. He moved to Monroe, Louisiana, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1839, and took high rank in his profession. He was elected in 1844 to the state house of representatives, and in 1850 to the state senate. In 1854 and again in 1859 he was nominated by the Whigs for lieutenant-governor, but was defeated. In 1860 he was an elector on the Bell-and-Everett presidential ticket, and canvassed northern Louisiana for those candidates, against the growing feeling in favor of secession. Throughout the Civil War Mr. Ray was a consistent Unionist, and at its close he favored the plan of reconstruction that was advocated by the Republican Party. In 1865 he was elected to Congress, but, with all other representatives from the seceded states, he was refused a seat in that body. In 1868-'72 he was again state senator. During the former year he was appointed to revise the civil code, the code of procedure, and the statutes of the state of Louisiana, and his revisions were adopted by the legislature of 1870. In 1872 he moved to New Orleans, where he resided until his death, and where he served as registrar of the state land-office from 1873 till 1877. In 1873 he was elected to the U. S. Senate by the " Kellogg" legislature; but his election was contested by William L. McMillen, who had been chosen by the " McEnery " legislature. Neither contestant was given the seat. In 1878 Mr. Ray was appointed by John Sherman, then Secretary of the Treasury, special attorney for the United States to prosecute the "whiskey cases." He was also one of the attorneys of Mrs. Myra Gaines (q. v.), and at the time of his death was engaged in the prosecution of an important suit by which Louisiana is endeavoring to establish her title to certain swamp lands given to her by the general government. His services had also been secured by the great majority of the French citizens of New Orleans to prosecute their claims under the International Commission of 1880 to adjust the claims of French subjects against this government growing out of the operations of the National forces in Louisiana during the Civil War. He published "Ray's Digest of the Laws of Louisiana (2 vols., New Orleans, 1870). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 192


RAYMOND, Asa, New York, abolitionist leader (Sorin, 1971)


RAYMOND, Henry Jarvis, journalist, born in Lima, Livingston County, New York, 24 January, 1820: died in New York City, 18 June, 1869. His father owned and cultivated a small farm on which the son was employed in his youth. He was graduated at the University of Vermont in 1840, studied law in New York, and maintained himself by teaching in a young ladies' seminary and writing for the " New Yorker," a literary weekly edited by Horace Greeley. On the establishment of the "Tribune " in April, 1841, Mr. Raymond became assistant editor and was well known as a reporter. He made a specialty of lectures, sermons, and speeches, and, among other remarkable feats, reported Dr. Dionysius Lardner's lectures so perfectly that the lecturer consented to their publication in two large volumes, by Greeley and McElrath, with his certificate of their accuracy. In 1843 he left the "Tribune" for the "Courier and Enquirer," and he remained connected with this journal till 1851, when he resigned and went to Europe to benefit his health. While on the staff of the "Courier and Enquirer" he formed a connection with the publishing-house of Harper Brothers, which lasted ten years. During this period a spirited discussion of Fourier's principles of socialism was carried on between Mr. Raymond and Mr. Greeley, and the articles of the former on this subject were afterward published in pamphlet-form. In 1849 he was elected to the state assembly by the Whigs. He was re-elected in 1850, and chosen speaker, and manifested special interest in the school system and canal policy of the state. The New York " Times " was established by him, and the first number was issued on 18 September, 1851. In 1852 he went to Baltimore to report the proceedings of the Whig National Convention, but was given a seat as a delegate, and made an eloquent speech in exposition of northern sentiment. In 1854 he was elected lieutenant-governor of the state. He was active in organizing the Republican Party, composed the " Address to the People" that was promulgated at the National Convention at Pittsburg in February, 1856, and spoke frequently for Fremont in the following presidential campaign. In 1857 he refused to be a candidate for governor of New York, and in 1858 he favored Stephen A. Douglas, but he finally resumed his relations with the Republican Party. In 1860 he was in favor of the nomination of William H. Seward for the presidency, and it was through his influence that Mr. Seward was placed in the cabinet. He was a warm supporter and personal friend of Mr. Lincoln in all his active measures, though at times deploring what he considered a hesitating policy. After the disaster at Bull Run he proposed the establishment of a provisional government. In 1861 he was again elected to the state assembly, where he was chosen speaker, and in 1863 he was defeated by Governor Edwin D. Morgan for the nomination for U. S. Senator. In 1864 he was elected to Congress, and in a speech on 22 December, 1865, maintained that the southern states had never been out of the Union. He sustained the reconstruction policy of President Johnson. On the expiration of his term he declined renomination, and he refused the mission to Austria in 1867. He assisted in the organization of the " National Union Convention" which met at Philadelphia in August,1866, and was the author of the" Philadelphia Address " to the people of the United States. In the summer of 1868 he visited Europe with his family, and after his return resumed the active labors of his profession, with which he was occupied till his death. As an orator Mr. Raymond possessed great power. As a journalist he did good service in elevating the tone of newspaper discussion, showing by his own example that it was possible to be earnest and brilliant without transgressing the laws of decorum. He wrote " Political Lessons of the Revolution" (New York, 1854); "Letters to Mr. Yancey" (1860); "History of the Administration of President Lincoln "(1864); and "Life and Services of Abraham Lincoln; with his State Papers, Speeches, Letters, etc." (1865). See Augustus Maverick's 'H. J. Raymond and the New York Press for Thirty Years " (Hartford, 1870). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 192-193.


RAYMOND, MISSISSIPPI, May 12-13, 1863. 17th Army Corps. While Grant was maneuver1ng for position around Vicksburg he sent Major-General James B. McPherson with the 17th corps in the direction of Raymond. About 3 miles west of the town the advance of Logan's division encountered the enemy at 11 a. m. on the 12th. Brigadier-General John E. Smith's division was deployed as skirmishers and held the Confederates in check until the rest of the corps could be formed for action. After 3 hours of sharp and determined fighting, during which the Confederates made several desperate assaults, McPherson ordered Stevenson's brigade to charge. This movement was executed with vigor, the brigade picking up the skirmishers as it advanced and driving the enemy into and through Raymond. The nature of the country prevented anything like an orderly pursuit, so that the Confederates were enabled to get away easily. McPherson lost 66 killed, 339 wounded and 37 missing, and the enemy 73 killed, 251 wounded and 190 captured or missing. On the following morning Boomer's brigade of Crocker's division was ordered to clear the road north of Raymond. The 5th and 10th la. were deployed as skirmishers, and the 93d Illinois and 26th Missouri were placed in reserve. The Confederate force was found to be nothing more than a heavy line of skirmishers, which was easily driven back. No casualties were reported in this latter affair, which was part of the operations just preceding the battle of Champion's Hill. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 726.


RAYMOND, MISSISSIPPI, May 24, 1863. Convalescents of Grant's Army. Brigadier-General P. J. Osterhaus, commanding the 9th division, 13th army corps, during the Vicksburg campaign, reports that the town of Raymond, where a number of Federal sick and wounded were being cared for, was captured by two Confederate regiments. The sick, wounded and nurses were paroled. This is the only official mention of the affair. Raytown, Missouri, June 23, 1862. Detachment of 7th Missouri Cavalry. Thirty men under Captain James Breckenridge, in search of guerrillas, fired upon a man near the edge of a strip of timber on Lowe's farm. The fire was returned with vigor from the timber, and the Federals retired after losing 1 man. Breckenridge thought he killed 2 of the Confederates. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 726.


RAYNER, Mrs., Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society (BFASS), Boston, Massachusetts (Yellin, 1994, p. 61)


RAYNOLDS, William Franklin, soldier, born in Canton, Ohio, 17 March, 1820. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1843, and entered the army in July, as brevet 2d lieutenant in the 5th Infantry. He served in the war with Mexico in 1847–8, and was in charge of the exploration of Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers in 1859–61. He was chief topographical engineer of the Department of Virginia in 1861, and was appointed colonel and additional aide-de-camp, 31 arch, 1862. Besides serving as chief engineer of the middle department and the 8th, Army Corps from January, 1863, till April, 1864, he was in charge of the defences of Harper's Ferry during the Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania in June, 1863, and was chief engineer of the defences of Baltimore, Maryland, 28 June, 1863. He was superintending engineer of north and northwest lakes, and engineer of light-houses on northern lakes, and in charge of harbor improvements in the entire lake region from 14 April, 1864, till April, 1870. At the end of the Civil War he was brevetted colonel and brigadier-general in the regular army. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel, 7 March, 1867, and colonel, 2 January, 1881. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 195.


REA, John Patterson, soldier, born in Lower Oxford, Chester County, Pennsylvania, 13 October, 1840. He was educated in the public schools, and, after working for some time in a factory, he moved in the autumn of 1860 to Miami County, Ohio. In the spring of 1861 he enlisted as a private in the 11th Ohio Infantry, and in August he joined the 1st Ohio Cavalry. He was commissioned 2d lieutenant soon afterward, promoted 1st lieutenant, 12 March, 1862, captain, 1 April, 1863, and brevet major, 23 November, 1863. He participated in all the campaigns and battles of his regiment, which formed part of Loring's cavalry brigade, Army of the Cumberland, and during his service was never absent from duty except while he was a prisoner for eight days. After leaving the army he entered the Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, where he was graduated in 1867. He afterward returned to Pennsylvania, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1868. In 1869-'73 he was assessor of internal revenue. Moving to Minnesota, he then became editor of the Minneapolis " Tribune," but in May, 1877, he resumed the practice of law, and in November was elected a judge of probate for Hennepin County. He was next elected judge of the 4th Minnesota District, and in November, 1886, was re-elected for the term of six years. He was quartermaster-general of Minnesota from 1883 till 1886. holding the rank of brigadier-general, and in 1887 was chosen commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic at the National Encampment at St. Louis. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 195-196.


READ, Abner, naval officer, born in Urbana, Ohio, 5 April, 1821; died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 12 July, 1863, was educated at the Ohio University, but left in his senior year, having received an appointment as midshipman in the U. S. Navy. After a voyage to South America, he studied for a year at the Naval School in Philadelphia, and was appointed acting sailing-master, in which capacity he gained a reputation as a navigator. He took part in the later naval operations of the Mexican War, and in 1855 was placed on the retired list with the rank of lieutenant, but was afterward reinstated by the examining board. In the early part of the Civil War he performed important services as commander of the " Wyandotte” in saving Fort Pickens from falling into the hands of the Confederates. He was assigned to the command of the "New London" in 1862, and cruised in Mississippi Sound, taking more than thirty prizes, and breaking up the trade between New Orleans and Mobile. He captured a battery at Biloxi, and had several engagements with Confederate steamers. He was commissioned lieutenant-commander on 16 July, and commander on 13 September, 1862. In June, 1863, he was placed in charge of the steam sloop "Monongahela," and, while engaging the batteries above Donaldsonville, received a fatal wound. —Daniel's son, Theodore, soldier, born in Athens, Ohio, 11 April, 1836; died near Farmville, Virginia, 5 April, 1865, was graduated at the Indiana State University in 1854, studied law, was appointed district attorney, afterward held a clerkship in the interior department at Washington, and in 1860 began practising law at Paris, Illinois. At the beginning of the Civil War he enlisted, and served his term of three months in the ranks. He was then given a staff appointment with the rank of captain, 24 October, 1861, received a wound at Chancellorsville, at Gettysburg, and for the third time at Cold Harbor. He was promoted major on 25 July, 1864, and was chief of staff to General Edward O. C. Ord from the time when the latter took command of a corps in the Army of the James. He served in various battles in General Grant's campaign, and on 29 September, 1864, was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers for services in the field. He lost his life in the last encounter between the armies of Generals Grant and Lee. General Ord had directed General Read to burn the bridge at Farmville, in the line of Lee's retreat. The small party was overtaken by the advance of the entire Confederate Army, and surrendered after every officer had been killed, having, however, accomplished its purpose of checking Lee's movement. (See Dearing, James.) Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 196-197.


READ, George Campbell, naval officer, born in Ireland about 1787; died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 22 August, 1862. He came to the United States at an early age, was appointed a midshipman in the U.S. Navy on 22 April, 1804, and advanced to the rank of lieutenant on 25 April, 1810. He was 3d lieutenant on the "Constitution" when the British frigate "Guerriere " was captured, and Captain Isaac Hull assigned to him the honor of receiving the surrender of Captain James R. Dacres, the British commander. He took an active part in other engagements of the war of 1812, and near its close commanded the brig "Chippewa," of the flying squadron commanded by Commodore Oliver H. Perry that was sent out to destroy the enemy's commerce. He was promoted commander on 27 April, 1816, and captain on 3 March, 1825, took charge of the East India Squadron in 1840, and of the squadron on the coast of Africa in 1846, and, after commanding the Mediterranean Squadron for some time, was placed on the reserve list on 13 September, 1855. In 1861 he was appointed governor of the Naval Asylum in Philadelphia, and on 31 July, 1862, by virtue of an act of Congress that had been recently passed, was made a rear-admiral on the retired list. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 197.


READ, John Meredith, jurist, born in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania, 21 July, 1797; died in Philadelphia, 29 November, 1874. was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1812, and admitted to the bar in 1818. He was a member of the Pennsylvania legislature in 1822-3, city solicitor and member of the select, council, in which capacity he drew up the first clear exposition of the finances of Philadelphia, U. S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1837-'44, solicitor-general of the United States, attorney general of Pennsylvania, and chief justice of that state from 1860 until his death. He early became a Democrat, and was one of the founders of the Free-soil wing of that party. This induced opposition to his confirmation by the U. S. Senate when he was nominated in 1845 as judge of the U. S. Supreme Court, and caused him to withdraw his name. He was one of the earliest and staunchest advocates of the annexation of Texas and the building of railroads to the Pacific, and was also a powerful supporter of President Jackson in his war against the U. S. bank. He was leading counsel with Thaddeus Stevens and Judge Joseph J. Lewis in the defence of Castner Hanway for constructive treason, his speech on this occasion giving him a wide reputation. He entered the Republican Party on its formation, and at the beginning of the presidential canvass of 1856 delivered a speech on the " Power of Congress over Slavery in the Territories." which was used throughout that canvass (Philadelphia, 1856). The Republican Party gained its first victory in Pennsylvania in 1858, electing him judge of the supreme court by 30,000 majority. This brought him forward as a candidate for the presidency of the United States in 1860: and Abraham Lincoln's friends were prepared to nominate him for that office, with the former for the vice-presidency, which arrangement was defeated by Simon Cameron in the Pennsylvania Republican Convention in February of that year. He nevertheless received several votes in the Chicago Convention, notwithstanding that all his personal influence was used in favor of Mr. Lincoln. The opinions of Judge Read run through forty-one volumes of reports. His " Views on the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus" (Philadelphia, 1863) were adopted as the basis of the act of 3 March, 1863. which authorized the president of the United States to suspend the habeas corpus act. He refused an injunction to prevent the running of horse-cars on Sunday, since he could not consent to stop "poor men's carriages." Many thousand copies of this opinion (Philadelphia, 1867) were printed. His amendments form an essential part of the constitutions of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and his ideas were formulated in many of the statutes of the United States. Brown gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1860. Judge Read was the author of a great number of published addresses and legal opinions. Among them are " Plan for the Administration of the Girard Trust "(Philadelphia, 1833); 'The Law of Evidence" (1864); and "Jefferson Davis and his Complicity in the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln" (1866).—John Meredith's son, John Meredith, diplomatist, born in Philadelphia, 21 February, 1837, received his education at a military school and at Brown, where he received the degree of A. M. in 1866, was graduated at Albany law school in 1859, studied international law in Europe, was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia, and afterward moved to Albany, New York. He was adjutant-general of New York in 1860-'6, was one of the originators of the "Wide-Awake" political clubs in 1860. He was chairman in April of the same year of the committee of three to draft a bill in behalf of New York state, appropriating $300,000 for the purchase of arms and equipments, and he subsequently received the thanks of the War Department for his ability and zeal in organizing, equipping, and forwarding troops. He was first. U. S. consul-general for France and Algeria in 1869-'73 and 1870-'2, acting consul-general for Germany during the Franco-German war. After the war he was appointed by General de Cissey, minister of war, to form and preside over a commission to examine into the desirability of teaching the English language to the French troops. In November, 1873. he was appointed U. S. minister resident in Greece. One of his first acts was to secure the release of the American ship " Armenia " and to obtain from the Greek government a revocation of the order that prohibited the sale of the Bible in Greece. During the Russo-Turkish war he discovered that only one port in Russia was still open, and he pointed out to Secretary Evarts the advantages that would accrue to the commerce of the United States were a grain-fleet despatched from New York to that port. The event justified his judgment, since the exports of cereals from the United States showed an increase within a year of $73,000,000. While minister to Greece he received the thanks of his government for his effectual protection of American persons and interests in the dangerous crisis of 1878. Soon afterward Congress, from motives of economy, refused the appropriation for the legation at Athens, and General Read, believing that the time was too critical to withdraw the mission, carried it on at his individual expense until his resignation, 23 September, 1879. In 1881, when, owing in part to his efforts, after his resignation, the territory that had been adjudged to Greece had been finally transferred, King George created him a Knight grand cross of the order of the Redeemer, the highest dignity in the gift of the Greek government. General Read was president of the Social Science Congress at Albany, New York, in 1868, and vice-president of the one at Plymouth, England, in 1872. He is the author of an " Historical Enquiry concerning Henry Hudson," which first threw light upon his origin, and the sources of the ideas that guided that navigator (Albany, 1866). and contributions to current literature. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 199.


READ, Thomas Buchanan, poet, born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, 12 March, 1822; died in New York City, 11 May, 1872. His mother, a widow, apprenticed him to a tailor, but he ran away, learned in Philadelphia the trade of cigar-making, and in 1837 made his way to Cincinnati, where he found a home with the sculptor, Shobal V. Clevenger. He learned the trade of a sign-painter, and attended school at intervals. Not succeeding in Cincinnati, he went to Dayton, and obtained an engagement in the theatre. Returning to Cincinnati in about a year, he was enabled by the liberality of Nicholas Longworth to open a studio as a portrait-painter. He did not remain long in Cincinnati, but wandered from town to town, painting signs when he could find no sitters, sometimes giving public entertainments, and reverting to cigar-making when other resources failed. In 1841 he moved to New York City, and within a year to Boston. While there he made his first essays as a poet, publishing in the "Courier" several lyric poems in 1843-'4. He settled in Philadelphia in 1840, and visited Europe in 1850. In 1853 he went again to Europe, and devoted himself to the study and practice of art in Florence and Rome till 1858. He afterward spent much time in Philadelphia and Cincinnati, but in the last years of his life made Rome his principal residence. While in the United States during the Civil War he gave public readings for the benefit of the soldiers, and recited his war-songs in the camps of the National Army. He died while making a visit to the United States. His paintings, most of which deal with allegorical and mythological subjects, arc full of poetic and graceful fancies, but the technical treatment is careless and unskilful, betraying his lack of early training. The best known are "The Spirit of the Waterfall," " The Lost Pleiad," "The Star of Bethlehem," "Undine," "Longfellow's Children," " Cleopatra and her Barge," and "Sheridan's Ride." He painted portraits of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the ex-queen of Naples, George M. Dallas, Henry W. Longfellow, and others. His group of Longfellow's daughters was popular in photographs. He turned his hand occasionally to sculpture, producing one work, a bust of Sheridan, that attracted much attention. He possessed a much more thorough mastery of the means of expression in the art of poetry than in painting. His poems are marked by a fervent spirit of patriotism and by artistic power and fidelity in the description of American scenery and rural life. His first volume of "Poems" (Philadelphia, 1847) was followed by " Lays and Ballads" (1848). He next made a collection of extracts and specimens from the. " Female Poets of America" (1848), containing also biographical notices and portraits drawn by himself. An edition of his lyrics, with illustrations by Kenny Meadows, appeared in London in 1852, and in 1853 a new and enlarged edition was published in Philadelphia. A prose romance entitled "The Pilgrims of the Great St. Bernard" was published as a serial. "The New Pastoral," his most ambitious poem, describes in blank verse the pioneer life of a family of emigrants (Philadelphia, 1854). The more dramatic and imaginative poem that followed, entitled "The House by the Sea" (1856), gained for it more readers than had been attracted by its own superior merits. Next appeared "Sylvia, or the Lost Shepherd, and other Poems" (1857), and " A Voyage to Iceland" (1857), and the same year a collection of his "Rural Poems" was issued in London. His "Complete Poetical Works " (Boston, 1860) contained the longer and shorter poems that had been already published. His next narrative poem was " The Wagoner of the Alleghanies," a tale of Revolutionary times (Philadelphia, 1862). During the Civil War he wrote many patriotic lyrics, including the stirring poem of " Sheridan's Ride," which was printed in a volume with " A Summer Story" and other pieces, chiefly of the war (Philadelphia, 1865). His last long poem was "The Good Samaritans" (Cincinnati, 1867). The fullest editions of his " Poetical Works " were printed in Philadelphia (3 vols. 1865 and 1867). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 200-201.


READSVILLE, MISSOURI, May 8, 1865. Missouri Militia. A band of bushwhackers, dressed in Federal uniform and passing themselves off as Union militia, fell in with 5 Union soldiers under Corp. Gentry and after proceeding with them some distance turned and fired upon them, killing 2, and wounding all the others but one, who was captured and obliged to act as guide for some distance, but finally managed to make his escape. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 726.


READYVILLE, TENNESSEE, June 7, 1862. 7th Pennsylvania and 4th Kentucky Cavalry. Colonel J. W. Starnes of the 3d Tennessee cavalry reported overtaking some Federal cavalry at Readyville, killing 8, wounding a number and capturing 68. He stated that the force was composed of portions of 7th Pennsylvania and 4th Kentucky regiments. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 726.


READYVILLE, TENNESSEE, October 5, 1863. 2nd Cavalry Division, Army of the Cumberland. Brigadier-General George Crook, while in pursuit of Wheeler and Roddey in their raid, crossed over to the Liberty pike at Readyville and by that move drove the Confederates in the direction of Shelbyville. He makes no mention of casualties. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 726-727.


READYVILLE, TENNESSEE, September 6, 1864. Detachment of both Pennsylvania Cavalry. Colonel Thomas J. Jordan, with 550 men, started from Murfreesboro to ascertain the whereabouts of a Confederate detachment under Dibrell. About daylight the enemy was discovered encamped at Readyville, and as soon as it was sufficiently light a charge was made. In 10 minutes Dibrell's whole force was flying in confusion. Jordan lost 1 killed, 6 wounded and 5 missing. The Confederate casualties amounted to 2 killed, 2 seriously wounded and 130 captured or missing. Some 200 horses and as many saddles were captured by Jordan's men. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 727.


REAGAN, John Henninger, senator, born in Sevier County, Tennessee, 8 October, 1818. From an early age he was engaged in various occupations, which included ploughing, chopping wood, keeping books, running a flat-boat on Tennessee River and managing a mill, and through his diligent labor earned sufficient money to procure a good education. Before he was twenty years old he went to Natchez, and in 1839 moved to Texas. He soon enlisted in the force to expel the Cherokees from Texas, and was selected General Albert Sidney Johnston as one of a picked escort for dangerous service, but declined the offer of a lieutenancy, and became a surveyor. He penetrated into the Indian country about the Throe Forks of Trinity, and was engaged in surveying that region about three years. His was the first party that escaped massacre by the Indians. In 1844 he began the study of law, and in 1848 he received his license to practise. In 1846 he was elected colonel of militia and probate judge of Henderson County, and in 1847 he was chosen to the legislature, where he was chairman of the committee on public lands. In 1849 he was a defeated candidate for the state senate, but in 1852 he was elected district judge. In the enforcement of the laws he was brought into personal collision with the gamblers and  that then held the frontier towns in awe, but his physical courage and moral force won him a triumph for law and order. Judge Reagan was first elected to Congress in 1856 as a Democrat, after a severe contest. He remained in Congress until 1861, when he returned home, and was elected to the state convention, in which he voted for secession. He was chosen by the convention to the provisional Confederate Congress. On 6 March, 1861, he was appointed postmaster-general under the provisional government, and the next year he was reappointed to the same office under the permanent government. He was also acting Secretary of the Treasury for a short time near the close of the war. He was the only one of the cabinet that was captured with Jefferson Davis, and was confined for many months in Fort Warren. He had conferences with President Johnson, William H. Seward, Henry Wilson, James Speed, and others on reconstruction, and wrote an open letter to the people of Texas, advocating laws for the protection of Negroes, which should grant them civil rights and limited political rights with an educational qualification. His letter subjected him to misconstruction, and he was retired from politics for nine years. But he was elected to Congress by 4,000 majority in 1874, in 1876 by 8,000, and after 1878 with little or no opposition. For nearly ten years he held continuously the post of chairman of the committee on commerce, with the exception of one term, and has been noted for his decided views and efforts to regulate inter-state commerce. He was one of the authors of the Cullom-Reagan interstate commerce bill, which became a law in 1887. In 1887 he took his seat in the U.S. Senate, having been chosen for the term that ends in 1893. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 201-202.


REALF, Richard, 1834-1878, abolitionist.  (Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 434).


REALF, Richard (relf), poet, born in Framfield, Sussex, England, 14 June, 1834; died in Oakland,  California, 28 October, 1878. At the age of fifteen he began to write verses, and two years later he became amanuensis to a lady in Brighton. A travelling lecturer on phrenology recited some of the boy's poems, as illustrations of ideality, and thereupon several literary people in Brighton sought him out and £ him. Under their patronage a collection of his poems was published, entitled “Guesses at the Beautiful” (London, 1852). Realf spent a year in Leicestershire, studying scientific agriculture, and in 1854 came to the United States. He explored the slums of New York, became a Five-Points missionary, and assisted in establishing there a course of cheap lectures and a self-improvement association. In 1856 he accompanied a party of free-state emigrants to Kansas, where he became a journalist and correspondent of several eastern newspapers. He made the acquaintance of John Brown, accompanied him to Canada, and was to be Secretary of State in the provisional government that Brown projected. The movement being deferred for two years, Realf made a visit to England and a tour in the southern states. When Brown made his attempt at Harper's Ferry in October, 1859, he was in Texas, where he was arrested and sent to Washington, being in imminent danger of lynching on the way. Early in 1862 he enlisted in the 88th Illinois Regiment, with which he served through the war. Some of his best lyrics were written in the field, and were widely circulated. After the war he was commissioned in a colored regiment, and in 1866 was mustered out with the rank of captain and brevet lieutenant-colonel. In 1868 he established a school for freedmen in South Carolina, and a year later was made assessor of internal revenue for Edgefield District. He resigned this office in 1870, returned to the north, and became a journalist and lecturer, residing in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. In 1873 he delivered a £ before the Society of the Army of the Cumberland, and in 1874 wrote one for the Society of the Army of the Potomac. He was a brilliant talker and a fine orator. Among his lectures were “Battle-Flashes” and “The Unwritten Story of the Martyr of Harper's Ferry.” His most admired poems are “My Slain,” “An Old Man's Idyl,” “Indirection,” and the verses that he wrote just before he took the poison that ended his life. He committed suicide in consequence of an unfortunate marriage and an imperfect divorce. He appointed as his literary executor Colonel Richard J. Hinton, who now (1888) has his complete poems ready for publication, together with a biographical sketch. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 202.


REAMS' STATION, VIRGINIA, June 22-29, 1864. (See Wilson's Raid, Petersburg, Virginia)


REAMS' STATION, VIRGINIA, August 22-25, 1864. 2nd Army Corps, Gregg's and Kautz's Cavalry. The battle of Reams' station was a part of the operations about Petersburg during the siege. After General Warren's expedition against the Weldon railroad on August 18-21, the Federal intrenchments were extended from the Jerusalem plank road to connect with Warren's new position on the railroad. This railroad was the chief line of supply for the Confederate army, and although Warren held it at Globe tavern, it was still open on his left, so that supplies could be transported by wagon in a day's time to Petersburg. General Grant therefore determined to destroy the track as far as Rowanty creek, about 20 miles south of Petersburg, which would force the enemy to haul his supplies from Stony Creek station by way of Dinwiddie Court House, a much greater distance. Major-General W. S. Hancock, with the 1st and 2nd divisions of the 2nd corps, Gregg's cavalry division and Spear's brigade of Kautz's cavalry, was charged with the work and received his orders to that effect on the morning of the 21st, just after his command had returned from Deep Bottom. He at once took up the march toward Reams' station, Spear's cavalry having the advance and engaging in a slight skirmish with the enemy on the Vaughan road. The cavalry covered the roads leading to the railroad and by the evening of the 24th the railroad was destroyed to Malone's crossing, 3 miles south of Reams' station. About 11 o'clock that night Hancock received a despatch from headquarters notifying him that a Confederate force, estimated at from 8,000 to 10,000 men, was moving from the intrenchments by the Vaughan and Halifax roads. This was General A. P. Hill's corps, part of Longstreet's command and Hampton's cavalry, all under the command of Hill. Slight intrenchments had been thrown up at Reams' station during Wilson's raid in June. These were now occupied by Hancock, Gibbon's division on the left and Miles' (Barlow's) on the right, the cavalry being sent out on a reconnaissance to locate the enemy and develop his strength. About noon on the 25th Miles' pickets on the Dinwiddie road were driven in and at 2 p. m. two spirited attacks were made in quick succession on his front, but both were repulsed, some of the Confederates falling within a few yards of the works. In the meantime General Meade had ordered General Mott to send all of his available force down the plank road to the assistance of Hancock, and about 2:30 directed Willcox's division of the 9th corps to follow Mott. These reinforcements did not reach Hancock in time to be of any material service. At 5 p. m. Hill opened a heavy fire of artillery, taking part of the Union line in reverse. After about 15 minutes of this cannonade an assault was made on Miles' front. The attack was bravely met and the enemy thrown into some confusion, when the 7th, 39th and 52nd New York, composed chiefly of new recruits, broke in disorder. A small brigade, under Lieutenant-Colonel Rugg, which had been stationed in reserve, was ordered up to fill the gap in the line, but Hancock
says in his report: "the brigade could neither be made to go forward nor fire." McKnight's battery was then ordered to direct its fire 1nto the opening, but the enemy, by advancing along the rifle-pits, gained possession of the battery and turned one of the guns on the Union troops. Gibbon was ordered forward with his division to recapture the guns, but the men seemed to be panic-stricken, "falling back to their breastworks on receiving a slight fire from the enemy." Gibbon was now exposed to an attack in reverse and on the flank, forcing his men to occupy the outside of their works, and for a moment it looked as though the gallant 2nd corps, that had proved its valor on so many battlefields, was doomed to utter annihilation. In this critical moment Miles rallied a small force, formed a line at right angles to the intrenchments, swept off the enemy and recaptured the battery. Had Gibbon's officers been able to rally the men at this juncture, the story of Reams' station might have been differently told. But while the effort was being made to bring up the division an attack was made upon it by the enemy's dismounted cavalry and the whole command was driven from the breastworks. Elated by this success the Confederates advanced with the "rebel yell" against Miles, when they were met by a severe fire from the dismounted cavalry on the extreme left and their advance summarily checked. Gibbon had finally succeeded in forming a new line a short distance in the rear of the rifle-pits, and to this line Gregg and Spear now retired, Woerner's battery covering the movement and dealing havoc in the enemy's ranks by its well-directed fire. This battery and the troops under Miles held the road leading to the plank road until dark, when the order was issued to withdraw. Willcox's division was then within a mile and a half of the field, where it was formed in line of battle, and after Hancock's men had passed became the rear-guard. In his report Hancock says: "Had my troops behaved as well as heretofore, I would have been able to defeat the enemy on this occasion. * * * I attribute the bad conduct of some of my troops to their great fatigue, owing to the heavy labor exacted of them and to their enormous losses during the campaign, especially in officers." This was doubtless true. There is a limit to human endurance and the men of Gibbon's division had reached the limit. Marching all night of the 20th and all day on the 22nd, tearing up railroad track through the day and standing picket at night from that time until they were engaged on the 25th, the men were so completely worn out that they had lost both ambition and patriotism. The Union loss was 140 killed, 529 wounded and 2,073 missing. Hill reported his total loss at 720, and claimed to have captured 2,150 prisoners, 9 cannon, 12 colors and over 3,000 stands of small arms. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 727-728.


REAR, REAR RANK. The hinder rank. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 488).


REAR GUARD. A detachment of troops in the rear of an army. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. ). (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 488).


REASON, Patrick Henry, 1816-1898, New York City, African American, printmaker, abolitionist.  Member, American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. (Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 9, p. 367)


RECEIPT. A voucher or acknowledgment, which should always be given when official papers are received. When flags of truce are the bearers of a parcel or a letter, the officer commanding at an outpost should give a receipt for it, and require the party to depart forthwith. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 488).


RECOIL. The motion which a cannon takes backward when fired. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 488).


RECOMMENDATIONS. All members of a court who concur in recommendations to mercy sign. The recommendation is introduced after the finding and sentence are closed and authenticated. The recommendation should distinctly set forth the reasons which prompt it; (HOUGH.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 488).


RECOMPENSE. (See ALLOWANCE; GRATIFICATION; INDEMNITY; PAY.)


RECONNOISSANCE, RECONNOITRE, RECONNOITRING, may be distinguished into reconnoissance of the enemy, and topographical reconnoissances.

Reconnoissances are warlike operations for the purpose of procuring information of the positions and strength of corps of the enemy. Without such knowledge, no well-concerted measures of attack or defence can be made. First of all, notes of information are gained from spies, deserters, and travellers, and the position of the different corps of the enemy is marked out upon a good map. But when the opposing armies are more nearly approximated, it becomes necessary to ascertain, every day, what changes and movements have taken place, whether for purposes of concentration or withdrawal to other points. Reconnoissances by force result from this necessity, arid lead sometimes to bloody actions.

The custom is almost universal to cover an army by outposts, and to detach clouds of light troops to mask the camp and prevent an enemy from seeing what dispositions are made for attack or defence. To gain information, it is therefore necessary to push a reconnoissance through the curtains of light troops, by which the enemy has enveloped himself, and drive back or cut off outposts, so as to enable the officer charged with the reconnoissance clearly to see the army of the enemy, note the advantages and disadvantages of his positions, count his battalions, and judge of his means of resistance: whether he is intrenched, what artillery he has; whether the ground is or is not favorable for cavalry; where the cavalry is encamped, &c. These different objects ought to be seen rapidly and by a practised eye, for the reconnoissance will have called to arms a greatly superior force, and It is necessary as soon as possible to fall back. But the aim will have been attained, for the enemy having been compelled to unmask arid deploy his forces, the reconnoitring officer will know all that he desires, and consequently hastens his return to camp, in order that his party may not be exposed to have its retreat cut off.

Similar reconnoissances ordinarily precede battles. By their means a general is assured of the true state of the enemy, before giving his last orders. On a march, the advance guard reconnoitres the enemy. Sometimes a reconnoissance has for its object to discover if a point is solidly occupied; if a bridge over which an army is to pass has been broken; whether a defile is fortified; whether the enemy has guns in any particular position; whether he is in a certain city, or whether he has followed such and such routes after losing a battle, &c., &c. Such reconnoissances are often made by small parties of cavalry alone to ensure rapidity; but if resistance is anticipated or foreseen, the party must consist of all arms, or be constituted according to circumstances, and the command be given to an experienced officer.

The commander of a reconnoissance ordinarily receives written instructions. He should well understand the object before him, and demand such explanations as he may require. He is furnished with a good map, a telescope, writing materials, and means of making field-sketches of the positions of the enemy. He secures two or three inhabitants of the country to serve as guides, and to answer his inquiries relative to the names and populations of villages, the nature of the roads, the extent of woods, the condition of water-courses, ground, &c. He ought to be accompanied by an officer who knows the language of the country, and he should, before commencing his march, inspect the troops intrusted to him to satisfy himself of the good condition of their arms, ammunition, and provisions.

The detachment charged with pushing a reconnoissance marches with its advance guard arid flankers; stops all persons who would precede it, and might give information of its march; questions inhabitants of villages, and, if necessary, takes hostages to secure true information. The attention of the commander is particularly directed to the ground over which he passes, to determine, in advance, points where a stout resistance may be made in the event of his being obliged to fight when making his retreat. He frequently consults his map to ascertain its fidelity to the country over which he passes, and notes its variations. The detachment pushes forward, using all necessary precautions, without fear of compromising itself, attacking boldly such antagonists as present themselves, until the information has been gained for which it was despatched.

There are other reconnoissances made by small detachments, which employ stratagem rather than force, and which consequently ought to shun any engagement that can be avoided. In strong reconnoissances or reconnoissances by force, on the contrary, the aim is to penetrate to the positions of the enemy, and the design must not be permitted to fail by an accidental meeting with troops; but, profiting by such good fortune, the opposing troops must be overthrown, prisoners made who will give useful information, and the fugitives rapidly followed to the outposts, which will probably be in confusion at the repulse of the detachment. The line of the enemy is then soon pierced, and his corps will be soon seen deployed to repulse the attack. The commandant of the reconnoissance ought now to seek some elevated point from which he can gain a good knowledge of the force and positions of the enemy, and make, or have made by officers who accompany him, a rapid sketch of the ground and the positions of' the enemy. When once this object has been gained, a retreat must be sounded even in the middle of the combat. And it is under such circumstances that skill and prudence guide courage; and sang-froid is absolutely indispensable. The object of the reconnoissance is to gain information. Boldness must be employed to attain that end; but, if in the hope of surprising a post, carrying off a convoy, or destroying troops, the commander forsakes his route and loses time, it is a violation of duty; ho is blamable, even if success attends his enterprise.

Secret reconnoissances are conducted on different principles. They are ordinarily composed of a single kind of troops; of cavalry in flat, open districts, and of infantry in mountainous or intersected countries. The detachment marches with caution. If the eclaireurs announce the approach of an enemy, it endeavors to avoid observation by the shelter furnished by woods or any accident of ground at hand; or else escaping by a prompt retreat if necessary; or, if near its own outposts, and the enemy is in strength, sending back information, and retarding the column of the enemy as much as possible, by simulating strength.

When the commandant of such a reconnoitering party has reached his destination without hindrance, he holds his men concealed behind some curtain, such as a clump of trees, an old wall or ditch, and followed only by a few men in echelons, he takes some elevated position with his guide and two or three soldiers, whence he can observe the enemy. He notes what he sees, with the explanations of his guide. If the positions of the enemy are well seen, he makes sketches, which are always valuable even when very rough. He must not be imposed on by first appearances, but examining with sang-froid, he endeavors to seize exact ideas, and exposes himself when necessary to attain his aim. Inexact knowledge or lies are worse than total ignorance. Montluc well says that discretion must be exercised in selections for such expeditions, for an inexperienced man may soon take 'alarm, and even imagine “ bushes to be battalions of the. enemy.” Send always some fearless and skilful officer, and if you would do better go yourself.

When the reconnoissance is finished, the commanding officer makes a written report to the general, when his verbal account is not sufficient. This report ought to be clear, simple, and as brief as possible. The officer will state only facts of which he is perfectly sure. His conjectures will be presented with great reserve, and always as conjectures. He will guard against flights of imagination, but confine himself to realities, and will avoid speaking much of himself; but, knowing the satisfactory result of his mission must do him honor, he will bestow just praise upon his troops. (See SURVEY, Military.)

There are many signs which, if reported to a general and his staff, enable them to judge of what they wish to know, as clearly as if a detailed picture of the enemy were spread before them. It is necessary, therefore, that every officer and soldier should know how to mark and collect these signs. They consist, when a camp, bivouac, or cantonment is observed, in the color of coats and pantaloons; other distinctive marks, the numbers of videttes, sentinels, fires, and tents of the enemy; the frequency and direction of rounds, patrols, and reconnoissances; the nature and time of signals by trumpet or drum; the placing of signal posts; measures of straw; boughs broken off; the arrival of reinforcements; new uniforms; collections of fascines, beams, joists, ladders, boats. When a corps is watched on the march, the signs to observe are the depth and front of columns; the number of subdivisions; the sort of troops, infantry, cavalry, artillery, trains; the quickness and direction of the march; the height of the dust; the reflection of arms; the number of the flankers and the eclaireurs. When an army ready for battle is observed, we should particularly note the number of its lines, their extent, the composition of the troops in column or in line of battle; the calibre of pieces; their position relative to cavalry and infantry; the number of skirmishers; their manoeuvres; the concentration of forces or artillery on such a point; flank marches of one or many corps. If troops are followed on their march, we note the tracks of men and horses, those made by wheels, cattle, and beasts of burden; the relative positions of these tracks: whether they are regular and preserve an invariable order; whether the places where they stop have little or much space between them; whether the route passed-over is covered with remains of animals; whether the skeletons of the horses are lean and sore; whether the ground is bloody; if graves have been freshly made, whether some indications may not show them to be for superior officers; whether the country has been devastated; whether the entrails of beef, mutton, or horses are seen; whether the fires are recent; whether they are numerous, and show much or little ashes; whether bridges are broken, and in what parts; whether the inhabitants of the country are anxious, sad, humble, animated, or satisfied.

Topographical reconnoissances are not less important than reconnoissances of the enemy. It is necessary to know the distances of places to combine the march of different columns, and without a knowledge of the difficulties of a route, necessary measures to overcome them cannot be prescribed. It is by special reconnoissances that such knowledge is gained, for maps are never sufficient. They do not give the nature of -the soil, the quality of the roads, the condition of rivers or bridges, the thickness of forests, or the slope of mountains, &c., &c., but it is necessary to know all these things before undertaking any important enterprise. If this detailed information has not been collected in time of peace through special corps, officers of the staff, in presence of the enemy, and protected by troops, commonly make sketches, representing more or less exactly the most essential localities. Those officers, also, on the march of an army, make out itineraries, survey positions, fields of battle, and not unfrequently great extents of country.

Officers of all arms, however, are liable to be placed in situations which require them to explore localities and give correct descriptions. The following means may be employed for that purpose without becoming an expert in the art of drawing. The system of showing upon plans the levels of the ground by means of contour lines is one of some utility, but it is the most difficult representation in a topographical map. The art is only acquired by study and practice, and even with skill there is not always time for its display in the field. Instead of attempting lines to represent slopes, the contour of hills may be marked by two curves, one for the top and one for the foot of the slope, and these contour lines naturally present themselves to the eye, and are at once put upon paper, to indicate the general form of the hill. The space between these two lines is sufficient to write a few words indicating the slope, &c. Whether, for instance, the slope is gentle or steep, accessible or not to cavalry, its approximative height. In order that the lines of circumscription representing heights may not be confounded with other conventional signs, they must be long dots. Ciphers in parenthesis give the heights of points of the superior curve above corresponding points of the inferior curve.

Other objects, as water-courses, ponds, marshes, woods, vines, towns, villages, large farms, and other isolated constructions which may play an important part in battle, embankments, ferries, fords, stone and wooden bridges, all may be represented as in Fig. 174.

Water-courses. Two lines, one heavier than the other, are sufficient to represent them. It is usual to add other lines between the two first.  Sometimes a blue shade advantageously takes the place of the intermediate threads. An arrow indicates the direction of the current. A mill is seen in the lower part of the river. Smaller streams empty into the river.

 Means of crossing. A ferry boat. A stone bridge, distinguished from a wooden bridge by being wider and having wings on the opposite banks. A ford, marked by dotted lines across the river.

Ponds or lakes are designated by lines of contour, and by threads or a blue tint.

Marshes. By a line of contour, and horizontal lines in the interior, with some points representing grass in the interior. Practicable or impracticable, &c., is written.


Woods and vines. These objects are designated by tracing the contour. If colors are used India ink will designate woods, and violet vines. Write, in the interior, the nature and characteristic circumstances of the wood; whether it is undergrowth or forest, thickset or open, &c.

Rocks. Endeavor to imitate them, but if they present themselves in prolonged walls, the crest and foot may be designated as in the sketch. Or a few written words may give a better idea.

Habitations. A village is represented by a circle filled with parallel lines. A town in the same manner, except that a square is substituted for the circle. A red tint may replace the parallel lines in habitations. Isolated houses are designated merely by their form, without regard to the scale.

Communications. A great route is represented by two parallel lines. A wagon road in the same manner, except that the lines are nearer together. Roads practicable only for light carriages by the same means, except that one of the lines is dotted. Distances being essential in a plan of this kind, they must be written along the routes between the objects.

Levees and Embankments are represented by two parallel lines, with cross lines in the interior. See embankment near stone bridge.

The sketch is completed by a meridian line.

However rapidly such a sketch as Fig. 174 may be made, there are circumstances in which it is not possible to give that time, and a reconnoissance must be made at a gallop. In the latter case, the reconnoitring officer confines himself to taking rapid notes, and afterwards making his sketch from recollection. This is a most useful talent, and officers should be exercised in noting the prominent features of localities, and tracing their recollections upon paper. Reconnoissances are FIG. 175. &c. Distance from A to D 4h. 50m. The route is good between these points, except next the river; there are deep ruts which must be filled.  TAVERN. TOWN. . Many scattered houses in the neighborhood. Surrounded by old walls: accommodates 3,000 men. 3 River is fordable. The bridge admits 10 abreast. HIGHEST POINT. It is necessary to double the wagons.  a VILLAGE  Marshy stream. Good position for defence. The front is covered by a marshy river. The flanks rest on woods, leaving an interval of 4,000 steps.  CROSS   Road to T in 4 hours. Practicable for wagons. o K Not capable of defence. Can lodge 10,000 men. CITV. JPJ A General Observations. Conventional Signs. Particular Observations. ITINERARY FROM A TO X.

much simplified when confined to noting circumstances along a route, and are then called Itineraries. All particularities of the route are noted, whatever is remarkable on the right or left, the breadth of defiles, military positions, the steepness of slopes, w r hat is necessary to improve a road, the distances between points in time; covers, that is, houses of all kinds are given according to their capacity of containing soldiers, &c. In itineraries, conventional signs as well as written notes are used. Itineraries are made of leaves of paper five or six inches in breadth. Leaves are subsequently united, and represent entire routes. Notes begin at the foot of the leaf, and are continued above, as in Fig. 175. (See also article JOURNAL.)

Details concerning the resources of a country must be embodied in statistical tables. The itinerary would be too much complicated by embracing them. Such information is most important, however, in supplying an army; but statistical tables, prepared with that view, should be confined to necessary objects. They should embrace details of the population of towns, inhabited houses, workmen, mills, ovens, grain, wagons, boats, horses, mules, beef cattle, with general observations which would aid the departments of supply in the performance of their duties. (Consult DUFOUR; BUGEAUD; Aide Memoire Etat Major. See SURVEYS, Military or Expeditious.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 488-496).


RECRUITING. The system of recruiting armies practised in England and the United States by voluntary enlistments, is vicious. In continental Europe, the obligation is acknowledged that every subject or citizen of a certain age owes military service to his country, either personally or by substitute. The government consequently annually calls for as many men as are needed for the military service. In answer to this call, lots are drawn by the w r hole class liable to service, and those upon whom the lot falls become soldiers for a fixed period, varying in different countries from three to eight years. The military have but little to do with such a system of recruiting. There is in France simply a council for recruiting, in each department, instituted to pronounce upon the fitness for service of those men designated by lot. It is composed of a prefect, a commanding general, a field-officer designated by the minister of war, a councillor of the prefect, and an officer of the gendarmerie. Those upon whom the lot has fallen, who think that they have good reasons for being exempted, present their cases before this committee, who examine such applications, and pronounce what exemptions shall be made, and in what cases substitutes shall be admitted. With such a system of recruiting, the ranks of an army are composed of all classes of the community. Promotion from the ranks is of ordinary occurrence. The soldier has a career before him. He is proud of his profession. The army is a national army, or an army of the people. Its sympathies are all with the people, and it is ever, as in France, a true representative of the popular sentiment.


In England, where it is the policy of the government to keep the army under the control of the aristocracy, they are logical in rejecting a system of conscription, and adhering to a system of recruiting which divides an army into two castes: the officer and the soldier. What possible reason can be given for adopting that system in the United States, is unknown. (See DEPOT; RAISE.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp. 496-497).


RECTORTOWN, VIRGINIA, January 1, 1864. Major John S. Mosby (Confederate) states in a report that a portion of his command under Captain William R. Smith attacked and routed 78 Federals, killing, wounding or capturing 57 of the number. As this is the only official mention of the affair, there is no way of ascertaining what Federal troops were thus defeated. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 728.


RED BANK CREEK, SOUTH CAROLINA, February 15, 1865. 3d Division, 20th Army Corps. The corps was moving toward Columbia on the Lexington road, with the 3d division, commanded by Major-General John W. Geary, in advance. Upon reaching Red Bank creek the enemy was found engaged in the destruction of the bridge. Pardee's brigade was moved forward and opened such a vigorous fire on the Confederates that they were compelled to abandon the bridge before the work of destruction was complete. The bridge was quickly repaired and the whole corps continued its march on Columbia. No casualties reported. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 728.


RED BONE, MISSISSIPPI, April 21, 1864. 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 728.

RED CLAY, GEORGIA, May 3, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Army of the Cumberland. Colonel H. P. Lamson, commanding the brigade, reported that as the command was about to go into camp at Red Clay, while on its march from Cleveland, a scout of the 1st Wisconsin cavalry was killed by a shot from a small party in ambush, being at the time a short distance in advance with a few of his comrades. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, pp. 728-729.


RED HILL, ALABAMA, January 14, 1865. 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 729.


RED MOUND, ARKANSAS, April 17, 1864. (See Camden, Arkansas, Expedition to.)


RED MOUND, TENNESSEE, December 31, 1862. (See Forrest's Expedition into West Tennessee.)


RED MOUNTAIN, CALIFORNIA, March 17 to 28, 1864. Detachment 2nd California Infantry. Captain Hull, with a scouting party, routed a band of Indians at Red mountain, a few miles southwest of Blue Rock Station, on the 17th, pursued them to Eel river, where they were overtaken on the evening of the 19th. In the skirmish which ensued 2 braves were killed and 2 squaws captured. On the 22nd at Bald Spring Canon, they killed 2 more braves. Continuing the pursuit until the morning of the 27th, Sergt. Maguire with a corporal and 3 privates reached and attacked a large encampment of Indians, killing 5 braves and capturing 3 women and 2 children. On the 28th, Hull with the main body of his detachment, came upon a considerable party of Indians on Eel river, killed 16 men and captured 2 women. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 729.


RED OAK, GEORGIA, August 19, 1864. (See Lovejoy's Station, Kilpatrick's Raid.)


RED RIVER, LOUISIANA, October 14, 1863. Detachment of 46th Illinois Infantry. Twenty men under Captain Ramsey crossed the Red river during an expedition from Natchez and Fort Adams, Mississippi, and captured 15 Confederate soldiers and 2 transports. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 729.


RED RIVER, LOUISIANA, April 26, 1864. (See De Loach's Bluff, same date.)


RED RIVER, NEW MEXICO, December 1, 1864. 1st New Mexico Cavalry. This affair was a slight skirmish between a band of Indians and a body of soldiers under Major E. W. Eaton. The Indians managed to get away into the timber before the troops got very close, but in the pursuit 1 was killed. No soldiers were injured. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 729.


REDAN. Small work with two faces terminating in a salient angle, used to cover a camp, the front of a battle-field, advanced posts, avenues of a village, bridge, &c. Fig. 176 exhibits a bridge-head, composed FIG. 176. of a redan with flanks, flanked by two redoubts on the opposite bank of the river. These works are supposed to be in the neighborhood of hills, from which it is necessary that they should be defiladed. This is effected by traverses to cover the bridge, and by a traverse across the centre of each redoubt. (See FIELD-WORKS.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 497).


REDOUBTS are works inclosed on all sides of a square, polygonal, or circular figure. The latter form is rarely used, being unsuitable to ground in general, and from the impossibility of giving any flanking defence to the ditch. Redoubts on level ground are generally square or pentagonal. On a hill or rising ground their outline will, in most cases, follow the contour of the summit of the hill. Their dimensions should be proportioned to the number of men they are to contain. One file, that is, two men, are required for the defence of every lineal yard of parapet; the number of yards in the crest line of any redoubt should not, therefore, exceed half the number of men to be contained in it. Again, as every man in an inclosed work requires 10 square feet of the interior space, that space clear of the banquette must not contain less than ten times as many square feet as the number of men to be contained in it. From these considerations it follows: 1st. To find the least number of men sufficient to man the parapet of an inclosed work, multiply the number of yards in the crest line by two. 2d. To find the greatest number of men that an inclosed work can contain, find the area, clear of the banquette, in square feet, and divide this number by 10.

When the redoubt contains guns, 324 square feet must be allowed for each gun, and this quantity, multiplied by the number of guns, Fig. 177. Side of the Square along the Crest, 40 yards. Scale of yards for Fig. 177.

must be subtracted from the whole interior space. The remaining number of square feet, divided by 10, will give the number of men which the redoubt can hold. The side of a square redoubt should, under no circumstances, be less than 50 feet.

The great objections to small inclosed works are: 1st, the liability of their faces to be enfiladed from without; 2d, the difficulty of providing an effective flanking defence for their ditches; 3d, the weakness of their salient angles, the ground in front of them being undefended by a direct fire. In the preceding diagram (Fig. 177) is shown a square redoubt, having a side of 40 yards, and capable of holding four pieces of artillery, and one hundred and twenty men.

In tracing redoubts and all inclosed field works, care must be taken to direct as much as possible their faces upon inaccessible ground, so as to reduce to a minimum the effects of an enemy's enfilade, while approach on the salients must be rendered difficult by abatis, trous-de-loup, and obstacles of all available descriptions. It will henceforward be very difficult to guard the interior of inclosed works from the effects of distant musketry. Well-trained troops from a distance of 900 yards could throw with certainty every shot into the interior of even a small redoubt; while the angle at which they fall, some 15 to 20, would enable them to sweep the whole interior and make every part of the redoubt too hot. It seems to be a question whether such a work can be protected by traverses from such a plunging fire; (HYDE'S Fortification.) (See ATTACK AND DEFENCE of field-works.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp. 497-499).


REDPATH, James, 1833-1891, author, journalist, editor, abolitionist leader.  At the age of 19, he became an editor of the New York Tribune.  Redpath interviewed enslaved individuals in the South and reported on conditions of slavery in the region.  During his travels, he met with both the slaves and the slaveholders.  He carefully observed slave life.  He even slept in slave cabins.  Redpath published his interviews and observations in his book, The Roving Editor: or, Talks with Slaves.  Redpath was hired to be a correspondent of the St. Louis Democrat, writing about the events in the Kansas controversy.  Redpath became a friend of militant abolitionist John Brown.  He later wrote, The Public Life of John Brown (1859).  Redpath visited Haiti in 1859 with the purpose of exploring the possibilities of African American emigration to that country.  As a result, numerous African Americans emigrated to Haiti.  During this time, Redpath was appointed a Haitian Consul to the United States in Philadelphia. 

(Horner, 1926; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 358; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 206; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 443; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 681-682; Annals of Congress; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 18, p. 257; Hinks, Peter P., & John R. McKivigan, Eds., Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition.  Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood, 2007, Vol. 2, pp. 567-568)

REDPATH, James, author, born in Berwick-on-Tweed, Scotland, 24 August, 1833. He emigrated with his parents to Michigan. At the age of eighteen years he came to New York, and since then he has mainly devoted himself to journalism. At the age of nineteen he became an editor of the New York “Tribune,” and soon afterward he formed a resolution to visit the southern states in order to witness for himself the conditions and effects of slavery. He not only visited the plantations of slave-owners as a guest, but went on foot through the southern seaboard states. In the course of his long journey he slept frequently in slave-cabins, and visited the religious gatherings and merry-makings where the Negroes consorted. Although at that period it was social outlawry to speak the truth about slavery, he did not hesitate to do so, and he consequently became noted as a fiery Abolitionist. In 1855 he became the Kansas correspondent of the St. Louis “Democrat.” He took an active part in the events of that time, and in 1859 made two visits to Hayti. During the second one he was appointed by President Garfield commissioner of emigration in the United States. Immediately upon his return home, Mr. Redpath founded the Haytian bureau of emigration in Boston and New York, and several thousand Negroes availed themselves of it. In connection with the Haytian bureau Mr. Redpath established a weekly newspaper called “Pine and Palm,” in which were advocated the emigration movement and the general interests of the African race in this country. He was also appointed Haytian consul in Philadelphia and then joint commissioner to the United States, and was largely instrumental in procuring recognition of Haytian independence. He was with the armies of General William T. Sherman and General George H. Thomas during the Civil War, and subsequently with General Quincy A. Gillmore in Charleston. At the latter place he was appointed superintendent of education, organized the school system of South Carolina, and founded the Colored Orphan Asylum at Charleston. In 1868 he established the Boston Lyceum Bureau, and subsequently Redpath's Lecture Bureau. In 1881 he went to Ireland, partly to recruit his health and partly to describe the famine district for the New York “Tribune.” On his return in the following year he made a tour of the United States and Canada, lecturing on Irish subjects, and in the same year founded a newspaper called “Redpath's Weekly,” devoted to the Irish cause. In 1886 he became an editor of the “North American Review.” Besides contributions to the newspapers, magazines, and reviews, he has published “Hand-Book to Kansas” (New York, 1859); “The Roving Editor” (1859); “Echoes of Harper's Ferry” (Boston, 1860); “Southern Notes” (1860); “Guide to Hayti” (1860); “The John Brown Invasion” (1860); “Life of John Brown” (1860); “John Brown, the Hero” (London, 1862); and “Talks about Ireland” (New York, 1881). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 206.


REDRESSING WRONGS. If any officer shall think himself wronged by his colonel or the commanding officer of the regiment, and shall, upon due application being made to him, be refused redress, he ,may complain to the general, commanding in the State or territory, where such regiment shall be stationed, in order to obtain justice; who is hereby required to examine into the said complaint, and take proper measures for redressing the wrong complained of, and transmit, as soon as possible, to the Department of War, a true state of such complaint, with the proceedings had thereon; (ART. 34.) If any inferior officer or soldier shall think himself wronged by his captain or other officer, he is to complain thereof to the commanding officer of the regiment, who is hereby required to summon a regimental court-martial for the doing of justice to the complainant; from which regimental court-martial, either party may, if he thinks himself still aggrieved, appeal to a general court-martial. But if, upon a second hearing, the appeal shall appear vexatious and groundless, the person, so appealing, shall be punished at the discretion of the said court-martial; (ART. 35.) (See INJURIES, for liability for private injuries, personal injuries, and criminal liabilities; REMEDY.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp. 499-500).


REDROCK, ARIZONA, March 24, 1865. 1st New Mexico Cavalry. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 730.


REDUCE. To reduce a place, is to oblige the garrison to surrender. To reduce to the ranks, is when a sergeant or a corporal, for any misconduct, has his rank taken from him, and is obliged to return to the duty of a private soldier. Non-commissioned officers cannot be reduced to the ranks except by the sentence of a court-martial, or by the order of the colonel of the regiment. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 500).


REDWOOD CREEK, CALIFORNIA, July 9, 1863. California Mountaineers. This affair was an attack by a band of Indians upon the escort of a supply train. The result was the repulse of the Indians, after 10 of the 18 men constituting the escort had been wounded. The fight lasted 8 hours. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 729.


REDWOOD CREEK, CALIFORNIA, February 29, 1864. Detachment of 1st Battalion, California Mountaineers. At 5:30 a. m. a detail of troops under Lieutenant Knyphausen Geer attacked the Indians in their camp at Redwood creek. Three Indians were killed, several badly wounded and 5 women and children were taken prisoners. One of the attacking party was wounded. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 729.


REED, Samuel, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1861-64


REED, William, Taunton, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Abolition Society, Vice-President, 1839-40


REED, Horatio Blake, soldier, born in Rockaway, Long Island, 22 January. 1837; died in Togus, Kennebec County. Maine, 7 March, 1888. He was educated at Troy Polytechnic Institute, and on 14 May, 1861, was commissioned 2d lieutenant in the 5th U. S. Artillery. He took part in the battles of Bull Run (for which he was brevetted 1st lieutenant), Hanover Court-House, Mechanicsville, Gaines's Mills, Malvern Hill, and Manassas. He was also present at Antietam, where he was severely wounded. He was brevetted captain, 1 July, 1862, for the Peninsular Campaign, and commissioned lieutenant, 19 September, 1863. The following October he was brevetted major for the skilful handling of his guns at Bristol Station, Virginia. The latter appointment was made at the special request of General Gouverneur K. Warren, who declared in his report that Captain Reed had saved the day. From November, 1863, till April, 1864, he was acting assistant adjutant-general of the 1st Brigade of Horse Artillery. In October, 1864, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the 22d New York Cavalry, having already commanded the regiment at the crossing of the Opequan, and in the action at Lacey's Springs. He was promoted colonel in January, 1860, and commanded a cavalry brigade in the valley of Virginia from May till August of that year under General George A. Custer. On 13 March, 1865, he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel in the regular army for meritorious services during the war. On 8 May, 1870, he resigned from the army to become a civil engineer in the employ of a railroad through the Adirondacks, New York, and he subsequently served in the Egyptian Army. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 207.


REED'S BRIDGE, ARKANSAS, August 27, 1863. (See Bayou Meto, same date.)


REED'S FERRY, VIRGINIA, May 3. 1863. (See Suffolk, Siege of.)


REED'S MOUNTAIN, ARKANSAS, December 6, 1862. 2nd Kansas Cavalry and 11th Kansas Infantry. As an incident of the operations about Cane Hill, Arkansas, the picket guard of the cavalry was attacked by some Confederate cavalry. The remainder of the Federals drew up in line at the foot of the bluff and when the pickets had retired to that point a charge was ordered and the lost ground regained. The enemy then assaulted three times, but each time unsuccessfully. Later, when the Confederates had executed a flank movement, the Federals were compelled to change their position. The Union reports, the only mention of the affair, state that the Confederate loss was 25 killed, and that the Union troops only suffered to the extent of 4 wounded. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 730.


REEDER, Andrew Horatio, 1807-1864, territorial governor of Kansas Territory, anti-slavery political leader, moved from office by President Franklin Pierce for not enforcing pro-slavery laws; elected territorial representative October 9, 1855 

(Dumond, 1961, p. 331; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 32, 45, 436-437; Wilson, pp. 467, 469, 470, 476, 493; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 211-212; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 462; Annals of Congress; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 18, p. 284)

REEDER, Andrew Horatio, governor of Kansas, born in Easton, Pennsylvania, 6 August, 1807; died there, 5 July, 1864. He spent the greater part of his life in Easton, Pennsylvania, where he practised law, and was a Democratic politician, but declined office till 1854, when he was appointed the first governor of Kansas. Governor Reeder had come to the territory a firm Democrat, but the conduct of the “border ruffians” shook his partisanship. He prescribed distinct and rigid rules for the conduct of the next legislature, which, it was then believed, would determine whether Kansas would become a free or a slave state. But all his precautions came to naught. On 30 March, 1855, 5,000 Missourians took possession of nearly every election-district in the territory. Of the total number of votes cast 1,410 were found to be legal and 4,908 illegal, 5,427 were given to the pro-slavery and 791 to the free-state candidates. But on 6 April, 1855, Governor Reeder issued certificates of election to all but one third of the claimants, and the returns in these cases he rejected on account of palpable defects in the papers. As a lawyer he recognized that he had the power to question the legality of the election of the several claimants only in those cases where there were protests lodged, or where there were palpable defects in the returns. Notices were sent throughout the territory that protests would be received and considered, and the time for filing protests was extended so that facilities might be given for a full hearing of both sides. In nearly two thirds of the returns there were no protests or official notice of frauds, and the papers were on their face regular. In the opinion of Governor Reeder, this precluded him from withholding certificates, and he accordingly issued them, notwithstanding his personal belief that the claimants had nearly all been fraudulently elected. His contention always was that any other course would have been revolutionary. This action endowed the notoriously illegal legislature with technical authority, and a few weeks later, when Governor Reeder went to Washington, D. C., to invoke the help of the administration, the Attorney-General refused to prosecute, as Reeder's own certificate pronounced the elections true. One of the first official acts of this legislature was to draw up a memorial to the president requesting Governor Reeder’s removal, but before its bearer reached Washington the governor was dismissed by President Pierce. He then became a resident of Lawrence, Kansas, where the free-state movement began. Its citizens held a convention at Big Springs, a few miles west of that town, on 5 September, 1855. Governor Reeder wrote the resolutions, addressed the convention, and received their nomination, by acclamation, for the post of territorial delegate to Congress. These resolutions declared that “we will endure no longer the tyrannical enactments of the bogus legislature, will resist them to a bloody issue,” and recommended the “formation of volunteer companies and the procurement of arms.” On 9 October, at a separate election, Mr. Reeder was again chosen delegate to Congress. Under the newly framed territorial constitution, which was known as the Topeka constitution, a legislature formed of the free-state party, 15 July, 1856, elected him, with James H. Lane, to the U. S. Senate, which choice Congress refused to recognize, and neither senator took his seat. At the beginning of the Civil War he and General Nathaniel Lyon were the first brigadier-generals that were appointed by President Lincoln. But Mr. Reeder declined, on the plea that he was too far advanced in life to accept high office in a new profession. He returned to Easton, Pennsylvania, where he resided until his death. See “Life of Abraham Lincoln,” by John G. Nicolay and John Hay. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 211-212.


REEDER, Charles, manufacturer, born in Baltimore, Maryland, 31 October, 1817. [Died December 1, 1900]. He was educated in public schools in Baltimore, and has since devoted his attention to the construction of marine steam-engines, which have held a high rank for efficiency and durability. Mr. Reeder in this way became interested in steamships, and in 1855 was an owner of the “Tennessee,” the first that cleared from Baltimore to a European port. He has been called to directorships in banking and other establishments, and has published “Caloric: A Review of the Dynamic Theory of Heat” (Baltimore, 1887). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 212.


REEDY CREEK, WEST VIRGINIA, May 13, 1862. Troops under Brigadier-General B. F. Kelley. Major-General J. C. Fremont, reporting to the secretary of war, says: "General Kelley, commanding the Railroad District, reports * * * that he was attacked in a narrow pass at Reedy creek day before yesterday by guerrillas, who fired upon him from the mountain-top. His men dismounted and charged up the mountain, but were unable to kill any of the rebels. Kelley suffered no loss." The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 730.


REEVES' MILL, ARKANSAS, November 19, 1864. Missouri Militia. This affair was one of a number in an expedition from Cape Girardeau to Patterson. At Reeves' mill a notorious guerrilla named Ely Garbert was killed. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 730.


RE-ENLISTING. Every able-bodied non-commissioned officer, musician, or private soldier, who may re-enlist into his company or regiment, within two months before or one month after the expiration of his term of service, shall receive three months' extra pay; (Act July 5, 1838.) (See ENLISTMENT.) RE-ENTERING ANGLE is an angle pointing inwards, or towards the work. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 500).


RE-ENTERING ANGLE OF THE COUNTERSCARP is that formed by the intersection of the two lines of the counterscarp, opposite the curtain. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 500).


REESE, Chauncey B., soldier, born in Canastota, New York, 28 December, 1837; died in Mobile, Alabama, 22 September, 1870. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1859, and at the beginning of the Civil War sent to Fort Pickens, Florida, as assistant engineer in defence of that work. He was then transferred to similar duty at Washington, D.C., and became 1st lieutenant of engineers, 6 August, 1861. He rendered valuable service in the Virginia Peninsular Campaign from March till August, 1862, in constructing bridges, roads, and field-works, particularly the bridge, 2,000 feet in length, over the Chickahominy. He became captain of engineers in March, 1863, and was engaged in the Rappahannock Campaign in similar service, constructing a bridge before Fredericksburg, defensive works and bridges at Chancellorsville, and at Franklin's crossing of the Rappahannock, in the face of the enemy. He participated in the battle of Gettysburg, in the siege of Fort Wagner, South Carolina, and was retained in that organization. chief engineer of the Army of the Tennessee during the Atlanta Campaign, the subsequent march to the sea, and that through the Carolinas. In December, 1864, he was brevetted major, lieutenant-colonel, and colonel, “for gallant and distinguished services during the campaign through Georgia and ending in the capture of Savannah.” and in March, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general in the U.S. Army for faithful and meritorious service during the same campaign. He became lieutenant-colonel in June, 1865, was superintending engineer of the construction of Fort Montgomery, New York, and recorder of the Board of Engineers to conduct experiments on the use of iron in permanent defences in 1865-'7. In March of the latter year he became major in the Corps of Engineers. He was then secretary of the Board of Engineers for fortifications and harbor and river obstructions for the defence of the United States. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 212.


REESE, David Meredith, physician, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1800; died in New York City, 12 August, 1861. He was graduated at the medical department of the University of Maryland in 1820, and subsequently settled in New York City, where he established an extensive practice. For several years he was physician-in-chief to Bellevue Hospital, and he subsequently was city and county superintendent of public schools. He published “Observations on the Epidemic of Yellow Fever” (Baltimore, 1819); “Strictures on Health ” (1828): “The Epidemic Cholera” (New York, 1833); “ Humbugs of New York” (Boston, 1833); “Review of the First Annual Report of the American Anti-Slavery Society,” of which 25,000 copies were sold at once (1834); " Quakerism vs. Calvinism ” (New York, 1834); “Phrenology known by its Fruits” (1838); and “Medical Lexicon of Modern Terminology” (1855); and contributed constantly to medical literature. He also edited the scientific section of “Chamber’s Educational Course” (Edinburgh, 1844), and American editions of Sir Astley P. Cooper's “Surgical Diet,” Dr. John M. Good's “Book of Nature,” J. Moore Neligan's work on “Medicines,” with notes (1856), and the “American Medical Gazette” (New York, 1850–5). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 212.


REESE, John James, physician, born in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, 16 June, 1818. He was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1837, and at the medical department in 1839, and began practice in his native city. He entered the U.S. Army as surgeon of volunteers in 1861, and was in charge of a hospital in Philadelphia. Dr. Reese has continued to reside in that city, is professor of jurisprudence and toxicology in the University of Pennsylvania, and is a member of foreign and domestic professional societies. He was president of the Philadelphia Medical Jurisprudence Society in 1886–77, and is physician to several city hospitals. He has contributed largely to professional literature, edited the 7th American Edition of Taylor’s “Medical Jurisprudence." and published “American Medical Formulary” (Philadelphia, 1850): “Analysis of Physiology” (1853); “Manual of Toxicology” (1874); and a “Text-Book of Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology” (1884). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 212.


REEVE, Isaac Van Duzen, soldier, born in Butternuts, Otsego County, New York, 29 July, 1813. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1835, became 1st lieutenant in 1838, was engaged in the Florida War in 1836-'7 and in 1840-'2, and served throughout the war with Mexico. He became captain in 1846, and received the brevet of major and lieutenant-colonel for gallant and meritorious service at Contreras, Churubusco, and Molino del Rey. He commanded the expedition against the Pinal Apache Indians in 1858-'9, became major in May, 1861, was made prisoner of war by General David E. Twiggs on 9 May of that year, and was not exchanged till 20 August, 1862. He was chief mustering and disbursing officer in 1862-'3, became lieutenant-colonel in September, 1862. and was in command of the draft rendezvous at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1864-'5. He became colonel of the 13th Infantry in October, 1864, and was brevetted brigadier-general in the U. S. Army, 13 March, 1865, for faithful and meritorious service during the Civil War." In January, 1871, he was retired at his own request. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 213


REFUSAL TO RECEIVE PRISONERS. No officer commanding a guard, or provost-marshal, shall refuse to receive or keep any prisoner committed to his charge by an officer belonging to the force of the United States; provided the officer committing shall, at the same time, deliver an account in writing, signed by himself, of the crime with which the prisoner is charged; (ART. 80.) No officer commanding a guard, or provost-marshal, shall release any prisoner committed to his charge without proper authority for so doing, nor shall he suffer any person to escape on penalty of being punished at the discretion of a court-martial; (ART. 81.) Every officer or provost-marshal to whose charge prisoners are committed, shall, within twenty-four hours after such commitment or as soon as he shall be relieved from guard, report in writing to the commanding officer their names, crimes, and the names of the officers who committed them, on penalty of being punished for disobedience or neglect, at the discretion of a court-martial; (ART. 82.) (See CONFINEMENT PROVOST-MARSHAL.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 500).


REGIMENT. (Lat. rego, I rule.) A body of troops organized by law, subject to the same administration, discipline, and duties, having a legal head and members, and composed according to arm of companies, battalions, squadrons, or batteries. (See ARMY for the organization of the several regiments of infantry, cavalry, and artillery.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 500).


REGIMENTAL COURT-MARTIAL. (See COURT-MARTIAL.)


REGIMENTAL NECESSARIES. (See NECESSARIES.)


REGIMENTALS. The uniform clothing of regiments, such as coats, trousers, caps, &c. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 501).


REGULATIONS. Under the Constitution of the United States, rules for the government and regulation of the army must be made by Congress. Regulation implies regularity. It signifies fixed forms; a certain order; method; precise determination of functions, rights, and duties. (See ARMY REGULATIONS.) Rules of Regulation also embrace, besides rules for the administrative service, systems of tactics, and the regulation of service in campaign, garrison, and quarters. In the case of the staff departments, legislative authority has been delegated jointly to the President and Secretary of War. But in relation to the powers, rights, and duties of officers and soldiers in campaign, garrison, and quarters, Congress has not delegated its authority to the President, nor have such matters been precisely determined by military laws. Even rights of rank, command, and pay, concerning which Congress has legislated, are subjects of dispute, and variable expositions of laws regulating those essentials of good government have been given by different executives, with an increasing tendency to invalidate rank created by Congress. There can be no remedy for these encroachments, unless Congress should pass a law to enable cases to be brought before the Federal civil courts, in order that the true exposition of military statutes and authorities in dispute may be determined. With such a remedy, laws, however defective they may be, would at least be known, and rights powers, and duties established by law would be well determined.

But it may be said in relation to such rules of regulation, how can a body like Congress determine upon systems of tactics, &c. ? Their constitutional duty might easily be performed as follows: 1. By clearly declaring, in a manner not to be misunderstood, that the general-in-chief is charged with the discipline and military control of the army under the rules made by Congress and the orders of the President. 2. The Secretary of War is charged with the administrative service of the army under the rules made by Congress and the orders of the President. 3. By directing the general-in-chief, with the advice of properly constituted military boards, to report to the President rules for the government and regulation of the army in campaign, garrison, or quarters, including systems of tactics for the different arms of the service. 4. By directing the Secretary of War, with the advice of properly constituted boards, to report to the President rules for raising and supporting armies; including regulations for the administrative service. 5. By directing the President to submit the rules made in accordance with provisions 3 and 4, to another board organized by the President, with directions to harmonize the details of the several reports; which last report shall be submitted to Congress for confirmation or orders in the case. 6. By directing that each year, previous to the meeting of Congress, the following boards be assembled under the orders of the general-in-chief, viz.: a board of general staff officers; a board of artillery officers; a board of cavalry officers; and a board of infantry officers. The Secretary of War to assemble the following boards, viz.: a board of engineer officers; a board of ordnance officers; a board of medical officers; and a board of quartermasters, commissaries, and paymasters. Each of the boards so assembled to report to the general-in-chief or Secretary of War, such suggestions of improvements in their respective services as it may be desirable to adopt. 7. The repeal of all laws delegating legislative authority to the President and Secretary of War. (See ADMINISTRATION, and references; ARTICLES OP WAR; COMMAND; CONGRESS; GOVERNMENT, and its references; LAWS, (Military ;) OBEDIENCE; ORDERS; ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT; SECRETARY OF WAR; SERVICE, and references; STAFF, and references.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 501).


REID, David Settle, governor of North Carolina, born in Rockingham County, North Carolina 19 April, 1813. He studied law. was admitted to the bar, and began to practise in 1834. In 1835 he was elected to the legislature, serving continuously until 1842, when he was elected a representative to Congress as a Democrat, serving from 4 December, 1843. till 3 March, 1847. In 1848 he was the defeated Democratic candidate for governor of North Carolina, but he was afterward successful, and held the office in 1851-'5. He was then elected to the U. S. Senate as a Democrat, in place of Willie P. Mangum, serving from 4 December, 1854, till 3 March, 1859. He was chairman of the committees on Patents, on the Patent-Office, and on Commerce. He was a delegate to the Peace Convention that met in Washington in February, 1861. Governor Reid served in the Confederate Congress, and after the Civil War resided on his farm in Rockingham County. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 214-215.


REID, Hugh Thompson, soldier, born in Union County, Indiana, 18 October, 1811; died in Keokuk, Iowa, 21 August, 1874. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, and, after graduation at Bloomington College, Indiana, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and moved in 1839 to Fort Madison, Iowa, practising there until 1849, when he moved to Keokuk and practised occasionally. In 1840-'2 he was prosecuting attorney for Lee, Des Moines, Henry, Jefferson, and Van Buren Counties, holding high rank as a land lawyer. He was president for four years of the Des Moines Valley Railroad. He entered the volunteer service as colonel of the 15th Iowa Infantry in 1861, and commanded it at Shiloh, where he was shot through the neck and fell from his horse, but remounted and rode down the lines, encouraging his men. He was in other actions, was appointed brigadier-general on 13 March, 1863, and commanded the posts of Lake Providence, Louisiana, and Cairo, Illinois, until he resigned on 4 April, 1864. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 215.


REID, Sam Chester, lawyer, born in New York City, 21 October, 1818, shipped before the mast at the age of sixteen, in 1838 was attached to the U. S. Survey of Ohio River, and in 1830 settled in Natchez, Mississippi, where he studied law under General John A. Quitman, and was appointed U. S. Deputy Marshal. He was admitted to the bar of Mississippi in 1841, to that of Louisiana in 1844, to the U. S. Supreme Court in 1846. Reid served in the Mexican War in Captain Ben McCulloch's Company of Texas Rangers, being mentioned for " meritorious services and distinguished gallantry," at Monterey. In 1849 he was attached to the "New Orleans Picayune," and in 1851 he was a delegate to the National Railroad Convention in Memphis, Tennessee, to decide upon a line to the Pacific. In 1857 he declined the appointment of U. S. minister to Rome. He reported the proceedings of the Louisiana Secession Convention in 1861, and during the Civil War was the Confederate war correspondent for a large number of southern newspapers. In 1865 he resumed his law-practice, and in 1867 he delivered an " Address on the Restoration of Southern Trade and Commerce " in the principal cities of the south, he established and incorporated in 1874 the Mississippi Valley and Brazil Steamship Company in St. Louis, Missouri he presented the battle-sword of his father to the United States in 1887. Mr. Reid is the author of " The U. S. Bankrupt Law of 1841, with a Synopsis and Notes, and the Leading American and English Decisions " (Natchez, 1842); "The Scouting Expeditions of McCulloch's Texas Rangers " (Philadelphia, 1847); "The Battle of Chickamauga, a Concise History of Events from the Evacuation of Chattanooga" (Mobile, 1863); and “The Daring Raid of General John H. Morgan, in Ohio, his Capture and Wonderful Escape with Captain T. Henry Hines" (Atlanta, 1864): and reported and edited " The Case of the Private-armed Brig-of-War "General Armstrong,' with the Brief of Pacts and Authorities on International Law, and the Arguments of Charles O'Conor, Sam C. Reid, and P. Phillips, before the U. S. Court of Claims at Washington, D. C. with the Decision of the Court" (New York, 1857). He also prepared "The Life and Times of Colonel Aaron Burr in vindication of Burr's character, but the manuscript was destroyed by fire in 1850. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 216-217.


REID, Whitelaw, journalist, born near Xenia, Ohio, 27 October, 1837. He was graduated at Miami University in 1856, took an active interest in journalism and polities before attaining his majority, made speeches in the Fremont Campaign on the Republican side, and soon became editor of the Xenia "News." At the opening of the Civil War he was sent into the field as correspondent of the Cincinnati "Gazette," making his headquarters at Washington, whence his letters on current politics (under the signature of "Agate") attracted much attention by their thorough information and pungent style. From that point he made excursions to the army wherever there was a prospect of active operations. He served as aide-de-camp to General William S. Rosecrans in the western Virginia Campaign of 1861, and was present at the battle of Shiloh and the battle of Gettysburg. He was elected librarian of the House of Representatives in 1863, serving in that capacity three years. He engaged in cotton-planting in Louisiana after the close of the war, and embodied the results of his observations in the south in a book entitled "After the War" (Cincinnati, 1866); then returning to Ohio, he gave two years to writing " Ohio in the War" (2 vols., Cincinnati. 1868). This work is by far the most important of all the state histories of the Civil War. It contains elaborate biographies of most of the chief generals of the army, and a complete history of the state from 1861 till 1865. On the conclusion of this labor he came to New York at the invitation of Horace Greeley, and became an editorial writer upon the " Tribune." On the death of Mr. Greeley in 1872, Mr. Reid succeeded him as editor and principal owner of the paper. In 1878 he was chosen by the legislature of New York to be a regent for life of the university. With this exception, he has declined all public employment. He was offered by President Hayes the post of minister to Germany, and a similar appointment, by President Garfield. He is a director of numerous financial and charitable corporations, and has been for many years president of the Lotos Club. Mr. Reid has travelled extensively in this country and in Europe. Besides the works mentioned above and his contributions to periodical literature, he has published " Schools of Journalism " (New York, 1871); "The Scholar in Politics" (1873): "Some Newspaper Tendencies" (1879); and " Town-Hall Suggestions" (1881). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 217.


REID, William W., Rochester, New York, abolitionist, American Anti-Slavery Society, Manager, 1834-1837.


REILLY, James W., soldier, born about 1842. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1863, appointed 1st lieutenant of ordnance, and served as assistant ordnance officer at Watertown Arsenal, Massachusetts. from 24 July, 1863, till 24 February, 1864, as inspector of ordnance at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, from March till July, 1864, and as assistant ordnance officer of the Department of the Tennessee from 11 July till 11 November, 1864, being engaged in the battles of Atlanta, 22 and 29 July, 1864. He was chief of ordnance of the Department of the Ohio from 11 November, 1864, till April, 1865, participating in the battles of Franklin, 30 November, 1864, and Nashville, 15-16 December, 1864, after which he was on sick leave of absence. He was made brigadier-general of volunteers on 30 July. 1864, resigning on 20 April, 1865. In May, 1866, he was assistant ordnance officer in the arsenal in Washington, D. C., and he was afterward assistant officer at Watervliet Arsenal, New York. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 218.


REJOINDER. The weight of authority is against permitting a rejoinder on the part of the prisoner, unless evidence has been adduced in the reply of the prosecutor. But such evidence should not be permitted in reply, and there should be no rejoinder; (HOUGH'S Military Law Authorities.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 501).


RELEASE OF PRISONERS. (See REFUSE.)


RELIANCE, U. S. GUNBOAT, August 22-September 2, 1863. The gunboat Reliance was captured by the Confederates on the night of August 22, and was destroyed by the Union forces under General Kilpatrick on September 2. (See Port Conway, Virginia) The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 730.


RELIEF. A guard is usually divided into three reliefs. Relief is also the height to which works are raised. If the works are high and commanding, they are said to have a bold relief; but if the reverse, they are said to have a low relief. The relief should provide the requisite elevations for the musketry and artillery, to insure a good defence. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 501).


RELIEVING THE ENEMY. Whosoever shall relieve the enemy with money, victuals, or ammunition, or shall knowingly harbor or protect an enemy, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a court-martial; (ART. 56.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 501).


REMBLAI is the quantity of earth contained in the mass of rampart, parapet, and banquette. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 501).


REMEDY. The rules and articles for the government of the army are defective in not providing sufficient remedies for wrongs. The army of the United States is governed by law. The law should therefore provide a sufficient remedy for cases in which the rights of officers are wrested from them by illegal regulations, purporting to interpret the true meaning of acts of Congress. In cases arising in the land and naval forces of the United States, where the true construction of any act of Congress is in dispute, legislation is wanted to enable an officer, who thinks himself wronged by an illegal executive decision, to bring the matter before the federal civil courts to determine the true exposition of the statute or authority in dispute. (See REDRESSING WRONGS; SUIT.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 502-503).


REMINGTON, Philo, inventor, born in Litchfield, New York, 31 October, 1816. His father, Eliphalet Remington (1793-1861), as a boy obtained from a country blacksmith the privilege of using his forge on rainy days and winter evenings, and with such tools and appliances as his own ingenuity suggested produced a gun. It proved so satisfactory that he was encouraged to continue, and soon established his own forge, with trip-hammer and lathe, from which has developed the great factory now known as the Remington Armory. Philo was educated at common schools and at Cazenovia Seminary, after which he entered the factory. Inheriting his father's mechanical genius, he was most carefully trained in the use of every tool that is employed in the manufacture of fire-arms, and in time became mechanical superintendent of the factory. With his brothers, Samuel and Eliphalet, the firm of E. Remington and Sons was established, and for upward of twenty-five years he continued in charge of the mechanical department. In the course of this experience his firm probably manufactured a greater variety of fire-arms than any other like establishment, and their arms have a high reputation. The breech loading rifle that bears the name of Remington, of which millions have been made and sold, is the best known of the guns that are made under their supervision. One of the early inventors of the type-writer placed his crude model in the hands of this firm, and under their care the machine became the most successful instrument in use. In 1886 the Remingtons disposed of their type-writing-machine manufacturing business, and soon afterward the firm of E. Remington and Sons went into liquidation. Since then Mr. Remington has lived in retirement. Philo Remington was for nearly twenty years resident of the village of Ilion, and with his brother has given Syracuse University sums aggregating $250,000. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 219-220.


REMOND, Charles Lenox, 1810-1873, free African American, Boston, Massachusetts, orator, abolitionist leader.  Member, 1849-1860, Vice President, and delegate of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS).  Member of the Executive Committee, 1843-1848, and a Manager, 1848-1853, AASS.  He attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840.  Agent for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society.  First Black abolitionist employed as spokesman in anti-slavery cause (in 1838).  Recruited African American soldiers for the Union Army. 

(Dumond, 1961, p. 331; Leeman, pp. 302-310; Mabee, 1970, pp. 61, 64, 103, 104, 106, 122, 124, 131, 157, 161, 173, 177, 180, 252, 254, 258, 261, 264, 294, 320, 322-324, 335, 373; Pease, 1965, pp. 314, 335-342; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 32, 45, 436-437; Wheaton, 1996; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 499; Annals of Congress; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 18, p. 335; Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 9, p. 404)


REMOND, Sarah Parker, 1826-1894, African American, abolitionist, orator, women’s rights activist, physician,  friend of abolitionist Abby Kelley.  Sister to Charles Lenox Remond. 

(Wheaton, 1996; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 499; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 686-687; Annals of Congress; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 18, p. 337; Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 9, p. 406)


REMOUNT CAMP, ARKANSAS, August S, 1864. Detachment of 3d Michigan Cavalry. Captain Frederick C. Adamson, a corporal and a private of a herd guard of 80 men, having become separated from the remainder of the guard, were attacked by 5 guerrillas. The captain and the corporal were both wounded and the private was taken prisoner. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 730.


RENICK, MISSOURI, November 1, 1861. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 730.


RENO, Jesse Lee (re-no ), soldier, born in Wheeling, W. Virginia, 20 June, 1823; died on South Mountain, Maryland, 14 September, 1862. He was appointed a cadet in the U.S. Military Academy from Pennsylvania, where he was graduated in 1846, and at once promoted brevet 2d lieutenant of ordnance. He served in the war with Mexico, taking part in the battles of Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, and Chapultepec, and in the siege of Vera Cruz. He was commissioned 2d lieutenant. 3 March. 1847, brevetted 1st lieutenant, 18 April, for gallant conduct in the first-named engagement, and captain, 13 September. for bravery at Chapultepec, where he commanded a howitzer battery, and was severely wounded. He was assistant professor of mathematics at the Military Academy ' January till July, 1849, secretary of a board to prepare a “system of instruction for heavy Artillery” in 1849–50, assistant to the ordnance board at Washington, Arsenal, D.C, in 1851–3, and on topographical duty in Minnesota in 1853–4. He was chief of ordnance in the Utah Expedition in 1857–'9, and in command of Mount Vernon Arsenal, Alabama, from 1859 until its seizure by the Confederates in January, 1861. On 1 July, 1860, he was promoted captain for fourteen years' continuous service. From 2 February till 6 December, 1861, he was in charge of the arsenal at Leavenworth, Kansas. After being made brigadier-general of volunteers, 12 November, 1861, he was in command of the 2d Brigade during General Ambrose E. Burnside's expedition into North Carolina, being engaged in the capture of Roanoke Island, where he led an attack against Fort Bartow, and the battles of New Berne and Camden. From April till August, 1862, he was in command of a division in the Department of North Carolina, and on 18 July he was commissioned major-general of volunteers. In the campaign in northern Virginia, in the following month, he was at the head of the 9th Army Corps, and took part under General John Pope in the battles of Manassas and Chantilly. Still at the head of the 9th Corps, General Reno was in the advance at the battle of South Mountain, where he was conspicuous for his gallantry and activity during the entire day. Early in the evening he was killed while leading an assault. REN0, Marcus A., soldier, born in Illinois about 1835. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1857, and assigned to the dragoons. After serving on the western frontier and being made 2d and 1st lieutenant, he was commissioned captain in the 1st U.S. Cavalry, 12 November 1861. Subsequently he took part, among other engagements, in the battles of Williamsburg, Gaines's Mills, Malvern Hill, Antietam, and the action at Kelly's Ford, Virginia, 17 March, 1863, where he was wounded, and was brevetted major for gallant and meritorious conduct. He was also present at Cold Harbor and Trevillian Station, and at Cedar Creek on 19 October 1864, when he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel. From January till July, 1865, as colonel of the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry, he was in command of a brigade and encountered Mosby's guerillas at Harmony, Virginia. On 13 March, 1865, he was brevetted colonel in the regular army and brigadier-general of volunteers for meritorious services during the Civil War. After serving as assistant instructor of infantry tactics in the U.S. Military Academy, and in the Freedmen's Bureau at New Orleans, he was assigned to duty in the west. On 26 December, 1868, he was promoted major of the 7th U.S. Cavalry, and in 1876 he was engaged with the lieutenant-colonel of the regiment, General George A. Custer (q.v.), in the expedition against the hostile Sioux Indians. Owing to official censure of his conduct in that campaign, he was dismissed the service, 1 April, 1880. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 221-222


RENSHAW, William Bainbridge, naval officer, born in Brooklyn, New York, 11 October, 1816; died near Galveston, Texas, 1 January, 1863. He was appointed a midshipman on 22 December, 1831, passed the examination for advancement in 1837, and was promoted lieutenant on 8 September, 1841, and commander on 26 April, 1861. He was assigned the steamer “Westfield,” of Admiral David G. Farragut's squadron, and was by him placed in command of the gunboats blockading Galveston, which place he captured on 10 October, 1862. The city and island were held as a landing-place for future operations by the gun-boats alone, until in the latter part of December, 1862, a detachment of troops arrived. Before others could follow, the Confederate General John B. Magruder attacked and captured the town. As the action began, the “Westfield,” in taking position, ran aground on a sand-bank. After the defeat, Commander Renshaw determined to transfer his crew to another of the gun-boats and blow up his own vessel, on which there was a large supply of powder. After his men had been placed in boats, he remained behind to light the fuse, but a drunken man is supposed to have ignited the match prematurely, and in the explosion the commander was killed together with the boat's crew that was waiting for him alongside. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 222.


RENTOUL, William S., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Church Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1861-64.


RENWICK, James, physicist, born in Liverpool. England, 30 May, 1790; died in New York City, 12 January, 1863. He was born during his parents return from a visit to Scotland, where his mother, formerly a Miss Jeffrey, the daughter of a Scottish clergyman, had been a famous beauty. Burns celebrated her in three of his songs. James was graduated at Columbia in 1807, standing first in his class, and in 1813 became instructor in natural and experimental philosophy and chemistry in that college. In 1820 he was called to the chair of these sciences, which he then held until 1853, when he was made professor emeritus. He entered the U.S. service in 1814 as topographical engineer with the rank of major, and spent his summers in this work. In 1838 he was appointed by the U.S. government one of the commissioners for the exploration of the northeast boundary-line between the United States and New Brunswick. From 1817 till 1820 he was a trustee of Columbia, and in 1829 he received the degree of LL.D. from that college. Professor  Renwick was a vigorous writer and a frequent contributor to the first “New York Review,” and on the establishment of the “Whig Review” he became one of its most valued writers, also contributing to the “American Quarterly Review.” He translated from the French Lallemand's “Treatise on Artillery” (2 vols., New York, 1820), and edited, with notes, American editions of Parkes's “Rudiments of Chemistry” (1824); Lardner's “Popular Lectures on the Steam-Engine” (1828): Daniell's “Chemical Philosophy” (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1832); and Moseley’s “Illustrations of Practical Mechanics” (New York, 1839). His own works include, besides official reports, lives of “David Rittenhouse” (1839); “Robert Fulton” (1845); and “Count Rumford” (1848), in Sparks's “Library of American Biography”; also “Outlines of Natural Philosophy,” the earliest extended treatise on this subject published in the United States (2 vols., New York, 1822–3): “Treatise on the Steam-Engine" (1830), which was translated into several languages; “Elements of Mechanics” (Philadelphia, 1832); “Applications of the Science of Mechanics to Practical Purposes” (New York, 1840); “Life of DeWitt Clinton, with Selections of his Letters” (1840); “Life of John Jay [with Henry B. Renwick] and Alexander Hamilton ” (1841); “First Principles of Chemistry” (1841); and “First Principles of Natural Philosophy.” (1842). Professor Renwick printed £ for the use of his classes “First Principles in Chemistry” (1838), and “Outlines of Geology” (1838), and a synopsis of his lectures on “Chemistry Applied to the Arts,” taken down by one of his class, was printed.—His son, Henry Brevoort, engineer, born in New York City, 4 September, 1817, was graduated at Columbia in 1836, and became assistant engineer in the U.S. service. He served as first assistant astronomer of the U.S. Boundary Commission in 1840–2, and in 1848 was appointed examiner in the U.S. Patent-Office. In 1853 he became U. S. inspector of steamboat engines for the District of New York, and since his retirement from that office he has devoted himself to consultation practice in the specialty of mechanical engineering, in which branch he is accepted as one of the best authorities in the United States. Mr. Renwick was associated with his father in the preparation of “Life of John Jay” (New York, 1841). —Another son, James, architect, born in Bloomingdale (now part of New York City), 3 November, 1818, was graduated at Columbia in 1836. He inherited a fondness for architecture from his father. At first he served as an engineer in the Erie Railway, and then he became an assistant engineer on the Croton Aqueduct, in which capacity he superintended the construction of the distributing reservoir on Fifth Avenue between Fortieth and Forty-Second Streets. Soon afterward he volunteered to furnish a plan for a fountain in Union Square, which was accepted by the property-owners, who had decided to erect one at their expense. When the vestry of Grace Church purchased the property on Broadway at 11th Street Mr. Renwick submitted designs for the new edifice, which were accepted. The building, which is purely Gothic, was completed in 1845. All of the designs and working drawings were made by him. Subsequently he was chosen architect of Calvary Church on Fourth Avenue, and also of the Church of the Puritans, formerly on Union Square, was selected by the regents of the Smithsonian Institution to prepare plans for their building, and also built the Corcoran Gallery in Washington. In 1853 he was requested to make designs for a Roman Catholic cathedral to be built on Fifth Avenue between Fiftieth and Fifty-first Streets. His plans were accepted, and on 15 August, 1858, the cornerstone of St. Patrick's Cathedral, seen in the accompanying illustration, was laid. Its architecture is of the decorated or geometric style that prevailed in Europe in the 13th century, of which the cathedrals of Rheims, Cologne, and Amiens are typical, and it is built of white marble with a base course of granite. On 25 May, 1879, the cathedral was dedicated by Cardinal McCloskey, and in 1887 the completion of the two towers was undertaken. Meanwhile residences for the archbishop and the vicar-general have been built. It is estimated that upward of $2,500,000 will be expended before the group of buildings, as originally designed, will be completed. Later he planned the building for Vassar College, St. Bartholomew's Church, and the Church of the Covenant, New York, the last two in the Byzantine style. Besides churches in various cities, including St. Ann's in Brooklyn, he planned the building of the Young men's Christian Association in 1869, and Booth's theatre in the same year, and other public edifices in New York City. –Another son, Edward Sabine, expert, born in New York City, 3 January, 1823, was graduated at Columbia in 1839, and then, turning his attention to civil and mechanical engineering, became the superintendent of large iron-works in Wilkesbarre, Pa., but since 1849, has been engaged mainly as an expert in the trials of patent cases in the U. S. Courts. In 1862, in connection with his brother, Henry B. Renwick, he devised methods for the repair of the steamer “Great Eastern" while afloat, and successfully accomplished it, replating a fracture in the bilge 82 feet long and about 10 feet broad at the widest place, a feat which had been pronounced impossible by other experts. He has invented a wrought-iron railway-chair for connecting the ends of rails (1850), a steam cut-off for beam engines (1856), a system of side propulsion for steamers (1862), and numerous improvements in incubators and brooders (1877-'86), and was one of the original inventors of the self-binding reaping-machine (1851). He has published a work on artificial incubation entitled “The Thermostatic Incubator” (New York, 1883). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 222-223


REPAIRS OF ARMS. (See DAMAGE.) REPLY. It is the duty of a court to prevent new matter from being introduced into the prosecution or defence, but a prisoner may urge in his defence mitigating circumstances, or examine witnesses as to character or services, and produce testimonials of such facts, without its being considered new matter. If any point of law be raised, or any matter requiring explanation, the judge-advocate may explain., No other reply to be admitted; (HOUGH.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 503).


REPORTING PRISONERS. (See REFUSE.) REPRIEVE. The President of the United States has power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment; ( Constitution.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 503).


REPRIMAND. It is earnestly recommended to all officers and soldiers diligently to attend divine service; and all officers, who shall behave indecently or irreverently at any place of divine worship, shall, if commissioned officers, be brought before a general court-martial, there to be publicly reprimanded by the President; (ART. 2.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 503).


REPRISALS. Acts of war to obtain satisfaction for losses or acts of retaliation. (See WAR.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 503).


REPROACHFUL or provoking speeches or gestures, used by one officer to another, are punished by the arrest of the officer; in the case of a soldier, he is to be confined and ask pardon of the party offended, in the presence of the commanding officer; (ART. 24.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 503).


REQUISITIONS. Forms prescribed for the demand of certain allowances, as forage, rations, &c. (See ADMINISTRATION.) RESERVE. A select body of troops kept back to give support when needed, or to rally upon. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 503).


RESACA, GEORGIA, May 8-15, 1864. Armies of the Cumberland, Tennessee and Ohio. Resaca is located at the point where the Western & Atlantic railroad crosses the Oostanaula river and is about 15 miles south of Dalton. It is on the west side of a peninsula formed by a bend in the Oostanaula and the Connesauga river, and across this peninsula the Confederates had constructed a line of rifle-pits with strong earthworks near the town. The movement against this place was commenced on the 8th by McPherson's demonstration via Snake Creek gap. (See Rocky Face Ridge.) On the 11th and 12th Sherman moved the main body of his army west of Rocky Face ridge through Snake Creek gap and on Friday, the 13th, a general advance was ordered. McPherson occupied the right, his line extending from the Oostanaula to the Sugar Valley road; Hooker's corps moved forward on that road preceded by Kilpatrick's cavalry; Palmer's corps took a position on Hooker's left with orders to proceed in a course parallel to the road as far as the railroad, and Schofield, with the Army of the Ohio, formed the left. Howard's corps and McCook's cavalry had been left to keep up the demonstration against Dalton and Rocky Face ridge. At Smith's cross-roads, about 2 miles from Resaca, Kilpatrick encountered a considerable force of the enemy's cavalry and a sharp skirmish ensued, in which Kilpatrick was severely wounded, the command of the division devolving on Colonel E. H. Murray. On reaching the neighborhood of the railroad Palmer's skirmishers encountered those of the enemy and kept up a sharp skirmish until dark. Johnston learned on the 12th of Sherman's movement and that night withdrew all his troops from the vicinity of Dalton toward Resaca. Although Sherman had a whole day's start Johnston's shorter line of march enabled him to reach Resaca with his entire force before the Federal lines could be drawn around the town. As the Confederates retreated from Dalton they were pursued along the railroad by Howard, who succeeded in capturing a number of prisoners. During the night of the 13th the enemy strengthened his works and the morning of the 14th found him in position with Hardee on the right, Hood in the center and Polk on the left. About noon Schofield and Palmer advanced against the hills bordering on the railroad, but met with a stubborn resistance. Cox's division on the left carried and held the intrenchments in its front. Judah's division was compelled to advance over uneven ground and being subjected to an enfilading fire from the right was compelled to fall back with considerable loss. Palmer endeavored to drive the enemy from an elevated position in his front. In order to do this, he had to descend a hill within point-blank range of several Confederate batteries, ford Camp creek, the banks of which were thickly bordered with bushes and vines, and then ascend the uneven surface of the opposite hill in the face of a murderous fire of both artillery and infantry. The troops charged down the hill and crossed the creek, where they became entangled in the dense mass of shrubbery, lost their formation and were in the end repulsed with heavy loss. The enemy now attempted to turn Schofield's left, but Thomas sent Newton's division, which had just arrived from Dalton, to Cox's support. The other divisions of Howard's corps took position on the left of Schofield as fast as they came upon the field and the Confederates in front of this portion of the line were finally forced to retire within their works. That night the Union lines were so readjusted that at daylight on the 15th Palmer's corps joined McPherson's left, then came Schofield, Howard and Hooker in the order named, with McCook's cavalry on the extreme left. Sweeny's division of the 16th corps was ordered to cross the Oostanaula at Lay's ferry on a pontoon bridge and threaten Calhoun. Garrard was instructed to move with his cavalry division from Villanow toward Rome, cross the Oostanaula at some convenient point and break the railroad between Calhoun and Kingston. About 1 1 a. m. on the 15th Hooker attacked and carried some hills occupied by the enemy on the eastern road from Resaca to Tilton, drove the Confederates back about a mile and a half, captured a 4-gun battery and about 200 prisoners. McPherson crossed Camp creek near its mouth and secured a position where his artillery commanded the railroad bridge. About 3 p. m. Hood made a determined effort to recover the guns taken by Hooker, but was repulsed. Hood was again ordered to advance, but the order was countermanded when Johnston learned that the Federals had crossed the Oostanaula in his rear, and that night the whole Confederate army retreated toward Calhoun. Resaca, Georgia, October 12, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 3d Division, 15th Army Corps. In the course of his northward march Hood appeared with his army before Resaca and after throwing out a strong skirmish line sent in a demand for a surrender. Colonel Clark R. Wever, commanding the garrison of 700 men, refused to accede and the fighting began. About 5 p. m. 500 cavalry arrived to reinforce the garrison. The Confederates made no attempt to assault, but after dark, leaving the skirmish line to keep up the fire on the garrison, the main body moved off toward Tilton, where at daylight next morning the garrison was overpowered and the railroad cut. The casualties were not reported. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 730-731.


RESIGN; RESIGNATION. The voluntary act of giving up rank or an appointment. (See DISCHARGE.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 503).


RESOLUTE, U. S. S., October 11, 1864. (See Clarendon, Arkansas, same date.)


RESOLUTE, C. S. S., Capture of, December 11, 1864. (See Savannah, Siege of.)