Retainers through Robinson’s Mills, Mississippi

RETAINERS. All sutlers and retainers to the camp, and all persons whatsoever, serving with the armies of the United States in the field, though not enlisted soldiers, are to be subject to orders according to the rules and discipline of war; (ART. 60.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 503).


RETREAT. Retrograde movement before an enemy; by retreat is also understood the drum-beat at sunset. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p.503 ).


RETRENCHMENT is an inner defensible line, either constructed in the original design, or executed on the spur of the occasion, to cut off a breach, or other weak point; so that the capture of the latter shall not involve that of the retrenched post. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp. 503-504).


RETURNS. Every officer who shall knowingly make a false return to the Department of War, or to any of his superior officers, authorized to call for such returns, of the state of the regiment, troop, company, or garrison, under his command; or of the arms, ammunition, clothing, or other stores, thereunto belonging, shall on conviction thereof before a court-martial be cashiered; (ART. 18.) The commanding officer of every regiment, troop, independent company, or garrison of the United States, shall, in the beginning of every month, remit, through the proper channels, to the Department of War, an exact return of the regiment, troop, independent company, or garrison under his command, specifying the names of the officers then absent from their posts, with the reasons for, and the time of, their absence. And any officer who shall be convicted of having, through neglect or design, omitted sending such returns, shall be punished according to the nature of his crime, by the judgment of a general court-martial; (ART. 19.) Disbursing agents shall make monthly returns, in such forms as may be*prescribed by the treasury department, of the moneys received and expended during the preceding month, and of the unexpended balance in their hands; (Act March 3, 1800. See ACCOUNTABILITY; ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 504).


REVEILLE. Drum-beat and roll-call at daybreak. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 504).


REVERE, Joseph Warren, soldier, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 17 May, 1812; died in Hoboken, New Jersey, 20 April, 1880. He was made a midshipman in the U. S. Navy, 1 April, 1828, became a passed midshipman on 4 June, 1834, and lieutenant on 25 February, 1841. Revere took part in the Mexican War, and resigned from the navy on 20 September, 1850. He then entered the Mexican service. For saving the lives of several Spaniards he was knighted by Queen Isabella of Spain. He was made colonel of the 7th Regiment of New Jersey Volunteers on 31 August, 1861, and promoted brigadier-general of U. S. volunteers on 2 October. 1862. He led a brigade at Fredericksburg, was then transferred to the command of the Excelsior Brigade in the 2d Division, fought with it at Chancellorsville, and after the engagement fell under the censure of his superior officer. In May, 1863, he was tried by court-martial, and dismissed from the military service of the United States. He defended his conduct with great earnestness, and on 10 September, 1864. his dismissal from the army was revoked by President Lincoln, and his resignation was accepted. His "Keel and Saddle" (Boston, 1872) relates many of his personal adventures. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 225.


REVERE, Edward Hutchinson Robbins, physician, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 23 July, 1827; died near Sharpsburg, Maryland, 17 September, 1862, entered Harvard, but left in 1846, pursued the course in the medical school, and received his diploma in 1849. He practised in Boston, and on 14 September, 1861, was appointed assistant surgeon of the 20th Massachusetts Volunteers. At Ball's Bluff, he was captured by the enemy's cavalry, and was kept as a prisoner at Leesburg, and afterward at Richmond, Virginia, until 22 February, 1862, when he was released on parole. He was exchanged in April, 1862, and served with his regiment through the Peninsular Campaign and General John Pope's Campaign on the Rappahannock, was present at Chantilly, and was killed at the battle of Antietam. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 225.


REVERE, Paul Joseph, soldier, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 10 September, 1832; died in Westminster, Maryland, 4 July, 1863, was graduated at Harvard in 1852, and at the beginning of the Civil War entered the National Army as major of the 20th Massachusetts Volunteers. At Ball's Bluff he was wounded in the leg and taken prisoner, and he was confined in Libby Prison until he and six other officers were selected as hostages to answer with their lives for the safety of Confederate privateersmen who had been convicted of piracy in the U. S. Court. They were transferred to the Henrico County prison, and confined for three months in a felon's cell. Major Revere was paroled on 22 February, 1862, and in the beginning of the following May was exchanged. He was engaged in the Peninsular Campaign until he was taken sick in July. On 4 September, 1862, he was made a lieutenant-colonel, and served as assistant inspector-general on the staff of General Edwin V. Sumner. At Antietam, where he displayed great gallantry, he received a wound that compelled him to retire to his home. On his recovery he was appointed colonel of his old regiment, 14 April, 1863, and returned to the field in May. He was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers for bravery at Gettysburg, where he received a fatal wound in the second day's battle. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 225.


REVERSE. The reverse flank in a column is the flank at the other extremity of the pivot of a division. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 504).


REVETMENTS. The interior slopes of the parapets of permanent and field-works, as well as in some cases the sides of the ditches of the latter, require revetments to enable them to stand at that slope which is necessary, arid to endure the action of the weather. The materials made use of in the construction of field-revetments are: fascines, gabions, hurdles, sod, sand-bags, and timber. In siege operations, and in fact in all operations in active warfare, vast quantities of these materials are required, and are daily consumed, in the construction of breast-works, parapets, batteries, magazines, and a variety of miscellaneous purposes. Large quantities, then, must be prepared or manufactured by the ordinary troops of the line, superintended by their own officers, who should be acquainted with all the details necessary for their production.

Fascines are strong, close, regular fagots, carefully and compactly made, generally of green brushwood. They should be straight, cylindrical, and pliant; bound round with good thick, unbroken gads or withes, of pliant wood, at equal distances, the knots well tied, and all in one line; no variation in girth exceeding 1 inch to be allowed.

Fascines are of several kinds and various dimensions, according to the purposes for which they are intended. The most common are the long fascines or saucissons, 18 feet long, 9 inches in diameter, about 140 lbs. in weight; such a fascine can be made by five men in one hour, including the cutting of the wood when at hand. Water fascines, 18 inches in diameter, 6 to 9 feet long. Trench fascines, 4 or 5 feet long, 6 inches in diameter. Sap fagots, 3 feet long, 9 inches in diameter, having a sharp-pointed stake, passed longitudinally through the centre, and projecting a foot or so beyond the extremity of the fascine. To make good fascines requires considerable practice and much care and attention, (Fig. 178.) The process is this: Stakes are driven into the FIG. 178. ground, obliquely, in pairs, so that the stakes in each pair cross at the same height above the ground about 3 feet, where they are firmly bound together, forming a row of trestles each in shape like the letter X. These trestles should be placed about 4 feet apart when the brushwood is good; closer together when it is bad. Thus 5 trestles at least will be requisite to prepare 18-feet fascines.

A choker must now be prepared. This is made by fastening, by an iron ring, each extremity of a chain about 4 feet long, to an ash stake. Each stake is 4 feet long, and the point where the chain is fastened is about 18 inches from the thicker end. Two small rings are attached to the chain 28 inches apart, (equal to the circumference of the fascine,) and equidistant from its middle point. In choking the fascine, the middle of the chain is placed under it, and the ends brought over and crossed as in Fig. 179. Two men, one on each side, then bearing on the longer arms of the levers tighten the chain, and compress the fascine to the proper dimensions, that is, until the rings on the chain meet. A third man now binds the fascine as close as possible to the choker, with a strong gad, or with stout spun yarn, when the choker may be removed and the operation repeated at the proper intervals, generally 18 inches. For withes or gads to bind fascines, very straight rods must be selected; they should be 5 feet long, not thicker at the thickest part than the thumb, nor thinner at the thinnest than the little finger. To prepare them for use, place the thick end under the foot, and twist the rod from the top downwards, by which the rod will become flexible and capable of being securely knotted without fracture. The knot to FIG. 179. be formed in fastening the gad round the fascine is shown in Fig. 180. To make the fascine, the brushwood is laid in the trestles, the longest arid straightest rods being kept round the outside, the inferior material in the middle. The proper quantity of brushwood having been thus carefully arranged, the choker is applied near the extremity of the fascine, and subsequently at intervals of 18 inches as already mentioned. The ends and exterior are now neatly trimmed, by the hand saw and billhook, and the fascine is complete. When good gads or withes cannot be procured, stout, well-tarred spun-yarn may be substituted for them. With fascines are prepared bundles of stakes, called fascine pickets, in the proportion of six to each fascine; they should be 4 feet long, inch in diameter, and be cut to triangular points.

Slopes, to be revetted with fascines, have usually a base equal to one-fourth their height. The fascines are placed horizontally one over another, as the work is built, until the whole slope is covered by one layer of fascines. Pickets are driven through each fascine to secure it to the work, and these are sometimes fastened to other pickets, buried vertically in the mass of parapet, as shown in Fig. FIG. 180. FIG. 181. To find the number of fascines required to revet any slope, divide the length of the slope by the length of the fascine, and the height of the slope by the diameter of the fascine: these two quotients multiplied together will be the requisite number.

Gabions are stout, rough, cylindrical baskets, open at top and bottom; they are made of various dimensions according to their intended use. Those for revetting the interior slopes of parapets are usually 3 feet high and 2 feet in diameter; strongly and somewhat coarsely made. Those used in sapping (called sap gabions) have about the same dimensions, but are carefully finished. To construct a gabion, a circle of 22 inches diameter must be traced on a clean, hard, level piece of ground, each quarter of this circle is then divided into four or five equal parts, and small holes made at the points of division, to receive straight uprights of 3 feet in length, around which the withes are interwoven. Gabions may be made with one, two, or three rods woven together about the uprights; when two rods are woven together, the work is called pairing; when three, waling. The last gives the strongest gabions. The method of working will be best understood by reference to Fig. FIG. 182. FIG. 183. 182. Each rod passes outside two, and inside one, upright, and the three are twisted together like a rope.

In revetting with gabions, a base is first made for them at right angles to the slope, so that when standing upon this, their surfaces will be coincident with the slope, (Fig. 183). When one row of gabions has been thus placed, and the parapet has risen as high as their upper surfaces, a row of fascines is laid horizontally upon the tops of the row of gabions. Above these again another row of gabions is placed at the same inclination with the former, and finally another row of fascines completes the whole. Two rows of gabions and two of fascines are required for the revetment of an interior slope, of the usual height, without a banquette, and one row of gabions and two of fascines with a banquette; therefore, in the former case, the number of gabions required, will be equal to the number of feet of crest to be revetted, and in the latter case to half that number. The number of fascines, in either case, will be equal to twice the length of the slope divided by the length of a fascine.

Hurdles (Fig. 184) are the common coarse wicker hurdles made for farming, and other purposes, usually 3 or 4 feet high and 6 to 9 feet long. They are useful in temporary works, to retain earth at a steep slope, for a short time. When thus used, they should be secured by anchoring pickets. Hurdles are moreover useful, to form a dry footing in trenches, during wet weather; in the passage of wet ditches, and for many similar purposes. Sods or turfs are used for the formation of the interior slopes of parapets, and the cheeks of embrasures. Sods should be cut from fine close turf, with thickly matted roots, previously mown, and if possible, watered, to make the earth adhere more closely to the roots of the grass. The sods are laid, with the grass downwards, alternately headers and stretchers, like bricks in a wall. Their under or upper surfaces should be perpendicular to the slope of the parapet, and not horizontal, except in a vertical revetment, and each sod should be fastened to those beneath, by two or three wooden pegs. Sod work can be made with great perfection, and is very durable. The arrangement of the sods is shown in plan and in rear elevation in Fig. 185, and in side elevation in Fig. 186. In meadows, the dimensions of sods may be from 12 to 18 inches long, 12 inches wide, and 4 to 6 inches thick. FIG. 185. FIG. 186. FIG. 184

 In heath, having large roots, they may be 2 feet long, 12 or 18 inches wide, and 8 to 10 inches thick. To find the number of sods required to revet any given length of slope, the revetment being one sod thick: FIG. 1ST. Divide the height of slope by thickness of sods, for the number of rows. Divide twice the length of the slope by the sum of the length and breadth of a sod for the number in one row. Multiply these two quotients together, for the whole.

Sand-bags are coarse canvas bags, of a capacity sufficient to hold about a bushel of earth; when empty they occupy only a small space, and are frequently of great use. A good field-revetment can be built with filled sand-bags, laid as sods; such a revetment, however, is only fit for temporary purposes, as the sand-bags soon rot; they are unfit for lining the cheeks of embrasures, as the flash of the guns speedily destroys them. In rocky positions, it is sometimes necessary to construct entire batteries and parallels with filled sand-bags. In Figs. 187 and 188, are shown a section of a parapet revetted with sand-bags, and an enlarged plan of the same. Many of the British trenches and batteries before Sebastopol, owing to the rocky nature of the ground, were formed of sand-bags, baskets, casks, &c., filled with earth brought from a distance. Sand-bags are used in great numbers, laid on the superior slopes of parapets, to form loop-holes for riflemen.

Timber is used for revetments, in particular cases only, as where it may be considered advisable, in important field-works, to retain the escarp of the ditch at a steep slope. In this case, a revetment is necessary, which may be constructed of beams or the trunks of small trees, planted 3 or 4 feet deep, vertically in the ground and touching each other, or by lining the surface of the slope with planks secured by stout posts, 3 or 4 feet apart, planted several feet in the ground, find there fastened to heavy horizontal beams. The strength of the revetment may be still further increased, by connecting the upper extremities of the posts to others buried under the mass of the rampart; (HYDE'S Fortification.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 504-509).


REVIEW. Prescribed form of passing troops before a general officer, an inspector, or other reviewing personage. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 509).


REVISION. Where an officer, who orders a court-martial, does not approve their proceedings, he may, by the custom of war, return them to the court for revision, and no additional evidence can be taken on such revision; (Houston.) FIG. 188. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 509).


REWARD. Thirty dollars are paid for the apprehension of deserters. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 510).


REYNOLDS, Alexander W., soldier, born in Clarke County, Virginia, in August, 1817; died in Alexandria, Egypt. 20 May, 1870. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1838. Reynolds served in the Florida War, became 1st lieutenant in 1839, became captain in 1848, and was dismissed in 1855. He was reappointed, with his former rank, in 1857, but joined the Confederate Army in 1861, and was made captain of infantry. He became colonel of the 50th Regiment of Virginia Infantry in July of the same year, and brigadier-general, 14 September, 1863, his brigade being composed of North Carolina and Virginia troops. He went to Egypt after the Civil War, received the appointment of brigadier-general in the Khedives Army in 1866, and served in the Abyssinian War, but subsequently resigned, and resided in Cairo, Egypt. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 226.


REYNOLDS, Daniel H., soldier, born near Centreburg, Knox County, Ohio, 24 December, 1862. He was educated at Ohio Wesleyan University, settled in Someryille, Fayette County, Tennessee, in 1857, studied law, and was admitted to practice in 1858. He moved to Arkansas in May, 1858, settling at Lake Village, Chicot County. On 25 May, 1861, he was elected captain of a company for service in the Confederate Army, and he served in the campaigns in Arkansas and Missouri until April, 1862, when his regiment was ordered to the eastern side of Mississippi River, and fell back to Tupelo, Mississippi. He was promoted brigadier-general, 5 March. 1864. General Reynolds participated in many of the battles of the western Confederate Armies from Oak Hills, Missouri, to Nashville, Tennessee. He was several times wounded, and lost a leg. He was state senator in Arkansas in 1866-'7. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 226.


REYNOLDS, Elmer Robert, ethnologist, born in Dansville, Livingston County, New York, 30 July, 1846. He emigrated with his parents to Wisconsin in 1848, and was educated in the public schools and at the medical school of Columbian University, Washington, D. C. He served in the 10th Wisconsin Battery in 1861-'5, participated in the battles of Corinth, Stone River, Knoxville, Resaca, Jonesboro, Atlanta, Bentonville, and numerous minor engagements, and at the end of the Civil War entered the U. S. Navy as school-teacher, serving in the Mediterranean Fleet in 1867, and in the West Indies and Yucatan in 1868. Since 1877 he has been in the U. S. civil service. His last twenty years have been devoted to the exploration of aboriginal remains in the valleys of the Potomac, Piscataway, Wicomico, Patuxent, Choptank, and Shenandoah Rivers, his researches embracing their mortuary mounds, shell banks, copper and soapstone mines, cemeteries, burial-caves, and ancient camps and earthworks. He was a founder of the Anthropological Society of Washington, D. C, and its secretary in 1879-81, received a silver medal from Don Carlos, crown prince of Portugal, in 1886, in recognition of his scientific researches, was knighted by King Humbert of Italy, in 1887, " for distinguished scientific attainments," and is a member of numerous scientific societies. His publications include "Aboriginal Soapstone Quarries in the District of Columbia" (Cambridge, 1878); "The Cemeteries of the Piscataway Indians at Kittamaquindi, Maryland" (Washington, D. C, 1880); "A Scientific Visit to the Caverns of Luray, and the Endless Caverns in the Massanutton Mountains" (1881); "Memoir on the Pre-Columbian Shell-Mounds at Newburg, Maryland,. and the Aboriginal Shell-Fields of the Potomac and Wicomico Rivers" (Copenhagen, General Denmark, 1884); "The Shell-Mounds, Antiquities, and Domestic Arts of the Choptank Indians of Maryland" (1880); and " Memoir on the Pre-Columbian Ossuaries at Cambridge and Hambrook Bay, Maryland" (Lisbon, Portugal, 1887). He has also a large amount of similar material in manuscript. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 226.


REYNOLDS, Joseph Jones, soldier, born in Flemingsburg, Kentucky, 4 January, 1822. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1843, served in the military occupation of Texas in 1845-'6, became 1st lieutenant in 1847, and was principal assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy in the U. S. Military Academy from 1849 until his resignation from the army in 1856. He was then professor of mechanics and engineering in Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, till 1860, returned to the army as colonel of the 10th Indiana Volunteers in April, 1861, became brigadier-general of volunteers the next month, and was engaged in various skirmishes and in the action at Green Brier River, 3 October, 1861. He resigned in January, 1862, served without a commission in organizing Indiana Volunteers, became colonel of the 75th Indiana Regiment, 27 August. 1862, and brigadier-general, 17 September of that year. He was in the campaign of the Army of the Cumberland in 1862-'3, became major-general of volunteers in November, 1862, and was engaged at Hoover's Gap, 24 June, 1863, and Chickamauga, 19-20 September, 1863. He was chief of staff of the Army of the Cumberland from 10 October to 5 December of that year, and participated in the battle of Chattanooga. He commanded the defences of New Orleans, Louisiana, from January till June, 1864, commanded the 19th Army Corps, and organized forces for the capture of Mobile. Fort Gaines, and Fort Morgan in June and August. He was in charge of the Department of Arkansas from November, 1864, till April, 1866, mustered out of volunteer service, 1 September, 1866, and reappointed in the U. S. Army as colonel of the 26th U.S. Infantry, 28 July, 1866. He received the brevet of brigadier-general, U. S. Army, 2 March, 1867, for gallant and meritorious service at the battle of Chickamauga, and that of major-general, U. S. Army, at the same date for Mission Ridge. During the reconstruction period, in 1867-'72, he was in command of the 5th Military District, comprising Louisiana and Texas, was elected U. S. Senator from the latter state in 1871, but declined, commanded the Department of the Platte in 1872-6, and in June, 1877, he was retired. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 227.


REYNOLDS, Joseph Smith, soldier, born in New Lenox, Illinois, 3 December 1839. He went to Chicago in 1856, was graduated at its high-school in July, 1861. and in August of that year enlisted in the 64th Illinois Regiment. He was commissioned 2d lieutenant on 31 December, and was in active service three years and ten months. He took part in seventeen battles, was wounded three times, and for "gallant and meritorious service " was promoted to a captaincy, subsequently to colonel. On 11 July, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers. He then began the study of law, was graduated at the law department of Chicago University in 1865, admitted to the bar, and has since practised his profession in Chicago. General Reynolds has been elected as representative and senator to the Illinois Legislature, was a commissioner from Illinois to the Universal Exposition at Vienna in 1873, and has held other offices. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 227.


REYNOLDS. William, naval officer, born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 18 December, 1815; died in Washington, D. C, 5 November, 1879. He was appointed midshipman in the U. S. Navy in 1831, served on Captain Charles Wilkes's Exploring Expedition in 1838-'42, was commissioned lieutenant in 1841, and was placed on the retired list in consequence of failing health in 1851. He was then assigned to duty in the Sandwich Islands, where he was instrumental in effecting the Hawaiian Treaty of Reciprocity. He returned to active service in 1861, was made commander in 1862, with the charge of the naval forces at Port Royal, became captain in 1866, senior officer of the ordnance board in 1869-'70, and commodore in the latter year. He served as Chief of Bureau and acting Secretary of the Navy in 1873 and again in 1874, became rear-admiral in December, 1873, and in December, 1877, was retired on account of continued illness. His last service was in command of the U. S. naval forces on the Asiatic Station. Of Admiral Reynolds's services the Secretary of the Navy, Richard W. Thompson, in the order that announced his death, said: "In the administration of the duties committed to him, he did much to improve the personnel and efficiency of the enlisted men of the navy, and in the discharge of all the duties devolving on him, during a long career in the service, he exhibited zeal, intelligence, and ability, for all of which he was conspicuous." See " Reynolds Memorial Address," by Joseph G. Rosengarten (Philadelphia. 1880). brother, Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 227-228.


REYNOLDS, John Fulton, soldier, born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 20 September, 1820; died near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 1 July, 1863, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1841, became 1st lieutenant in 1846, received the brevet of captain in June of that year for his service at Monterey, and was given that of major for Buena Vista in January, 1847. He became captain in 1855, was mentioned in general orders for his services in the expedition against the Rogue River Indians in Oregon, took part in the Utah Expedition under General Albert Sidney Johnston in 1858, and in 1859 became Commandant of Cadets at the U. S. Military Academy. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 14th Infantry in May, 1861, and on 20 August brigadier-general of U. S. volunteers, and was assigned to the command of the 1st Brigade of Pennsylvania Reserves. He was appointed military governor of Fredericksburg, Virginia, in May, 1862, and was engaged at the battles of Mechanicsville, Gaines's Mills, and Glendale, where he was taken prisoner. So great was his popularity in Fredericksburg that the municipal authorities went to Richmond and solicited his exchange. During his captivity he prepared a careful report of the operations of his command under General George B. McClellan. He rejoined the army on his exchange, 8 August, 1862,  second battle of Bull Run. At a critical time in that battle, when his brigade, unable to hold the enemy in check, fell back in confusion, observing that the flag-staff of the 2d Regiment had been broken by a bullet, he seized the flag from the color-bearer and, dashing to the right, rode twice up and down the line, waving it and cheering his men. The troops rallied, and General George H. Gordon, in his " Army of Virginia," says: "Reynolds's division, like a rock, withstood the advance of the victorious enemy, and saved the Union Army from rout." He was assigned to the command of the state militia in defence of Pennsylvania during the Maryland Campaign, and on 29 September. 1862, received the thanks of the legislature for his services. He was commissioned major-general of volunteers, 29 November, 1862, succeeded General Joseph Hooker in command of the 1st Corps of the Army of the Potomac, was engaged on the left at the battle of Fredericksburg, and was promoted colonel of the 5th U. S. Infantry, 1 June, 1863. On the opening day of the battle of Gettysburg, 1 July, 1863. where he was in command of the left wing— the 1st, the 3d, and the 11th Corps, and Buford's cavalry division—he encountered the van of Lee's Army, and, after making disposition of his men in person, and urging them on to a successful charge, he was struck by a rifle-ball that caused instant death. A sword of honor was awarded him by the enlisted men of the Pennsylvania reserves at the close of the Peninsula Campaign. The men of the 1st Corps erected a bronze heroic statue of him, by John Q. A. Ward, on the field of Gettysburg, and subsequently placed his portrait, by Alexander Laurie, in the library of the U. S. Military Academy, and the state of Pennsylvania placed a granite shaft on the spot where he fell at Gettysburg. On 18 September, 1884, the Reynolds memorial Association unveiled in Philadelphia a bronze equestrian statue of General Reynolds, by John Rogers, the gift of Joseph E. Temple. See "Reynolds Memorial Address," by Joseph Q. Rosengarten (Philadelphia, 1880), and "The Unveiling of the Statue of General John F. Reynolds, by the Reynolds Memorial Association" (1884). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 228.


REYNOLDSBURG, TENNESSEE, March 21, 1864. Detachment of Major Hardy's Battalion. Major Hardy and 50 men of his battalion, stationed at Reynoldsburg, were attacked by a party of from 100 to 150 Confederates and were probably all captured. There is no official designation for these troops. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 732.

REYNOLDS' PLANTATION, GEORGIA, November 28, 1864. Kilpatrick's Cavalry Division . After the defeat of the Confederates at Buck creek, Wheeler crossed that stream at another place and followed Kilpatrick. The latter had halted at Reynolds' place to feed, when information reached him that Wheeler was advancing with his entire force. Kilpatrick determined to give the enemy a decisive repulse and stop the annoyance to which he had been subjected for several days. He accordingly took up a strong position behind a long barricade of rails, with his flanks thrown well to the rear, placed his artillery and deployed a portion of his command as skirmishers about 400 yards in advance of his position. These arrangements were barely completed when the enemy came in sight and immediately charged. The first assault was repulsed by the skirmish line, which slowly retired to the barricade. Wheeler then charged directly on the center, but was met by the murderous fire of 6 pieces of artillery, double shotted with canister and a steady fire from the carbines of the dismounted cavalry. Failing to break the center, Wheeler next charged against Atkins' brigade on the right of the road. Here he was met by the 9th Michigan, dismounted, and the 10th Ohio, and again his line was hurled back. He now turned his attention to the left flank, where Murray's veterans met the onset with such a galling fire that the Confederates broke in confusion, many of them seeking shelter in the woods close by. This ended the fight and Kilpatrick moved on to Louisville without further molestation. No detailed statement of the Union loss was made, but it was slight. Wheeler confessed a loss of "about 70," though it was probably much greater. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 732.


RHEA'S MILLS, ARKANSAS, November 7, 1862. 3d Arkansas Home Guard. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 732.

RHEATOWN, TENNESSEE, October 11, 1863. (See Henderson's Mill.)


RHEATOWN, TENNESSEE, September 28, 1864. (See Carter's Station. September' 30.)


RHETT, Robert Barnwell, politician, born in Beaufort, South Carolina, 24 December, 1800; died in St. James Parish, Louisiana, 14 September, 1876. He was the son of James and Marianna Smith, but in 1837 adopted the name of Rhett, which was that of a colonial ancestor. He studied law, was elected to the legislature in 1826, and in 1832 became attorney-general of South Carolina. During the nullification controversy he was an ardent advocate of extreme state rights views. He served six successive terms in Congress, from 1837 till 1849, having been elected as a Democrat, and on the death of John C. Calhoun he was chosen to fill the latter's seat in the U. S. Senate, which he took on 6 January, 1851. In Congress he continued to uphold extreme southern views, and in 1851–2, during the secession agitation in South Carolina, he advocated the immediate withdrawal of his state from the Union, whether it should be accompanied by others or not. On the defeat of his party in the latter year, he resigned from the senate, and after the death of his wife in the same year he retired to his plantation, taking no part in politics for many years. He was an active member of the South Carolina secession Convention of December, 1860, and prepared the address that announced its reasons for passing the ordinance. Subsequently he was a delegate to the provisional Confederate Congress at Montgomery, Alabama, in 1861, and presided over the committee that reported the Confederate Constitution. He was afterward a member of the regular Confederate Congress. Mr. Rhett was for some time owner of the Charleston “Mercury,” the organ of the so called “fire-eaters,” in which he advocated his extreme views. During the war it was conducted by his son, Robert Barnwell Rhett, Jr. After the Civil War Mr. Rhett moved to Louisiana, and was seen no more in public life, except as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1868. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 229-230.


RHETT, Thomas Grimké, soldier, born in South Carolina about 1825; died in Baltimore, Maryland, 28 July, 1878. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1845, assigned to the Ordnance Corps, and served at Washington Arsenal till 1846, when he was transferred to the mounted rifles and ordered to Mexico. He was brevetted captain, 12 October, 1847, for gallantry in the defence of Puebla, and after the war was on frontier duty, becoming captain in 1853, and paymaster, with the rank of major, 7 April, 1858. He resigned on 1 April, 1861, and reported to the provisional Confederate government at but, not receiving the recognition to which he thought himself entitled, returned to his native state, and was commissioned major-general by Governor Francis W. Pickens. He was chief of staff to General Joseph E. Johnston till June, 1862, when he was ordered to the Trans-Mississippi Department. After the war General Rhett was colonel of ordnance in the Egyptian Army from 1870 till 1873, when he had a paralytic stroke, and resigned. He remained abroad till 1876, but found no relief from his malady. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 230.


RHIND, Alexander Colden, naval officer, born in New York City, 31 October, 1821. He entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman, from Alabama, 3 September, 1838, became passed midshipman, 2 July 1845; master, 21 February, 1853; and lieutenant, 17 March, 1854. He served in the “John Adams,” of the Pacific Squadron, in 1855–6, and in the “Constellation,” on the coast of Africa, in 1859–61. At the beginning of the Civil War he commanded the steamer “Crusader,” on the South Atlantic Blockade, and participated in a series of operations in Edisto Sound, South Carolina, for which he received the thanks of the Navy Department in 1861–2. He was commissioned lieutenant-commander on 16 July, 1862, and had charge of the “Seneca" in 1862, and the monitor “Keokuk” in 1862-63. On 7 April, 1863, he took the “Keokuk" within 550 yards of Fort Sumpter, becoming the special target of all the forts. His vessel was hit ninety times and nineteen shot penetrated at or below the water-line. She withdrew from action sinking, but Rhind kept the ship afloat till next morning, when she sank, but the crew were saved. He was commissioned commander, 2 January, 1863, continued on duty off Charleston, commanding the steamer “Paul Jones” and the flag-ship “Wabash,” and participated in engagements with Fort Wagner and other forts in 1863–74. In the attack, 18 July, 1863, he commanded the division of gunboats. He was given the gun-boat “Agawam," of the North Atlantic Squadron, in 1864–’5, was in James River from May till October, 1864, co-operating with Grant's army, and bombarded forts and batteries, especially Howlett's, for which he received the thanks of the Navy Department. In the attack on Fort Fisher he was selected to command the “Louisiana” with a volunteer crew from his vessel. She was loaded with 215 tons of gunpowder and bombs, fitted with fuses set to explode by clockwork, and towed to within 200 yards of the beach and 400 yards from the fort. The perilous undertaking, suggested by General Benjamin F. Butler, was successful, but did not injure the fort. Commander Rhind was recommended for promotion, was commissioned captain, 2 March, 1870, commanded the “Congress,” on the European station, in 1872, was light-house inspector in 1876–’8, and was commissioned commodore, 30 September, 1876. He was on special duty and president of the Board of Inspection from 1880 till 1882, became a rear-admiral on 30 October, 1883, and on the following day was placed on the retired list. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 230.


RICE, Alexander Hamilton, 1818-1895.  Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Boston, Massachusetts.  Four term Congressman, December 1859-March 1867.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.  (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 232-233; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 534; Congressional Globe)

RICE, Alexander Hamilton, governor of Massachusetts, born in Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts, 30 August, 1818. He received a business training in his father's paper-mill at Newton and in a mercantile house in Boston, and, after his graduation at Union College in 1844, established himself in the paper business at Boston. He became a member of the school committee, entered the common council, was chosen president of that body, and in 1855 and 1857 was elected mayor of Boston on a citizens' ticket. During his administration the Back Bay improvements were undertaken, the establishment of the Boston City Hospital was authorized, and on his recommendation the management of the public institutions was committed to a board composed in part of members of the common council and in part chosen from the general body of citizens. He served several years as president of the Boston board of trade, and has been an officer or trustee of numerous financial and educational institutions. He was elected to Congress by the Republican Party for four successive terms, serving from 5 December, 1859, till 3 March, 1867. He served on the Committee on Naval Affairs, and, as chairman of that committee in the 38th Congress introduced important measures. He was a delegate to the Loyalists' Convention at Philadelphia in 1866, and to the Republican National Convention in 1868. He was governor of Massachusetts in 1876, 1877, and 1878. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 232-233. 


RICE, John H., Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Congressional Globe)


RICE, Americus Vespucius, soldier, born in Perrysville, Ohio, 18 November, 1835. He was graduated at Union College in 1860, and began the study of law. On 12 April, 1861, he enlisted in the National Army, soon afterward was appointed a lieutenant, and then a captain in the 22d Ohio Volunteers, and served in West Virginia. When his term of enlistment expired in August, 1861, he assisted in recruiting the 57th Ohio Infantry, returned to the field as captain of a company, and became lieutenant-colonel, and afterward colonel, of the regiment. He fought in General William T. Sherman's campaigns, in General William B. Hazen's division, was wounded several times, and during the march to the sea lost his right leg. The people of his district gave him a majority of votes as the Democratic candidate for Congress in 1864, but he was defeated by the soldiers vote. He was promoted brigadier-general on 31 May, 1865, and mustered out on 15 January, 1866. In 1868 he became manager of a private banking business in Ottawa, Ohio. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Baltimore in 1872, and was elected in 1874 to Congress, and re-elected in 1876. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 233.


RICE, Benjamin Franklin, U.S. Senator, born in East Otto, Cattaraugus County, New York, 26 May, 1828. After obtaining his education in an academy, he taught for several winters, studied law, and was admitted to the bar at Irvine, Kentucky. He was a presidential elector in 1856, and was elected to the Kentucky Legislature in 1865. Mr. Rice moved to Minnesota in 1860, enlisted in the National Army in 1861, was appointed a captain in the 3d Minnesota Infantry, and served in that grade till 1864, when he resigned and established himself in the practice of law at Little Rock, Arkansas. He was the organizer of the Republican Party in Arkansas in 1867, was chairman of its central committee, managed the electoral canvass during the predominance of his party, and was elected to the U. S. Senate, serving from 3 June, 1868, till 3 March, 1873. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 233.


RICE, Henry Mower, U.S. Senator, born in Waitsfield, Vermont, 20 November, 1816. He emigrated to the territory of Michigan in 1835, and was employed in making surveys of Kalamazoo and Grand Rivers, and on the survey of the Sault Sainte Marie Canal in 1837. He moved to Fort Snelling, Iowa territory, in 1839, and was post-sutler at Fort Atkinson in 1840-'2, and subsequently an agent of a fur-trading company, and established trading posts from Lake Superior to the Red River of the North. On 2 August, 1847, he served as U. S. commissioner at Fond du Lac in making a treaty with the Ojibway Indians for the cession of the country south of Crow Wing and Long Prairie Rivers. On 21 August he obtained from the Pillager Band of Ojibways the cession of a large tract between those rivers, known as the Leaf River Country. He assisted in making many other treaties. He settled in St. Paul in 1849, was elected a delegate from Minnesota Territory to Congress in 1853, was re-elected in 1855, was the author of the law extending the right of pre-emption over unsurveyed lands in the territory, and procured the passage of an act authorizing the framing of a state constitution preparatory to the admission of Minnesota into the Union. He was then elected to the U. S. Senate, serving from 11 May, 1858, till 3 March, 1863. Mr. Rice was a member of the committees on Finance and Military Affairs, and the special committee on the Condition of the Country in 1860-'l, and a delegate to the Philadelphia National Union Convention in 1866. He was the founder of Bayfield, Wisconsin, and Munising, Michigan, and has given Rice Park to the city of St. Paul. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p.


RICE, James Clay, soldier, born in Worthington, Massachusetts, 27 December, 1829; died near Spottsylvania Court House, Virginia, 11 May, 1864. He obtained an education by his own efforts, and, after graduation at Yale in 1854, engaged in teaching at Natchez, Mississippi, and conducted the literary department of a newspaper. He also began the study of law, and continued it in New York City, where he was admitted to the bar in 1856 and entered into practice. When the Civil War began he enlisted as a private, became adjutant and captain, and, on the organization of the 44th New York Regiment, was appointed its lieutenant-colonel. He became colonel of the regiment soon afterward, and led it in the battles of Yorktown, Hanover Court-House, Gaines's Mills, Malvern Hill, Manassas, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville, and at Gettysburg commanded a brigade, and (luring the second day's fight performed an important service by holding the extreme left of the line against repeated attacks and securing Round Top mountain against a flank movement. For this he was commissioned as brigadier-general of volunteers, 17 August, 1863. He participated in the advance on Mine Run and in the operations in the Wilderness, and was killed in the battle near Spottsylvania. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 235


RICE, Samuel Allen, soldier, born in Penn Yan, New York, 27 January, 1828; died in Oskaloosa, Iowa, 6 July, 1864. He was educated at Ohio University and at Union College, where he was graduated in 1849. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1852, and began practice at Oskaloosa, Iowa, where he was elected county attorney in 1853. In 1856 he was chosen attorney-general of Iowa, and in 1858 he was continued in that office for a second term. He entered the National Army as colonel of the 33d Iowa volunteers, his commission dating from 10 August, 1862, promoted brigadier-general of volunteers. For bravery at Helena, Arkansas, he August, 1863, and served with credit through the campaigns of 1863–4 in Arkansas until he was mortally wounded at Jenkin's Ferry, 30 April, 1864. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 236.


RICE, Elliott Warren, soldier, born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 16 November, 1835; died in Sioux City, Iowa, 22 June, 1887, was educated at Ohio University and Union law-school, admitted to the bar, and practised in Oskaloosa, Iowa. At the beginning of the Civil War he entered the National Army as a private, and first met the enemy at Belmont, Missouri, 7 November, 1861. He rose to the rank of brigadier-general, his commission dating from 20 June, 1864, fought with distinction in the important battles of the southwest, and in General William T. Sherman's campaign in Georgia and the Carolinas a brigade in General John M. Corse's division. He was brevetted major-general on 13 March, 1865, and mustered out on 24 August.[Brother of General Samuel Allen Rice]. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 236.


RICHARDS, William M., Deerfield, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1838-40


RICHARDS' FORD, VIRGINIA, September 26, 1863. Detachment of 1st Vermont Cavalry. The picket post at Richards' ford was attacked by Confederates at 4 a. m. of the 26th. One of the Federals was killed, and the lieutenant commanding and 13 men were captured, only 2 of the post escaping. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 732.


RICHARDSON, Albert Deane, journalist, born in Franklin, Massachusetts, 6 October, 1833; died in New York City, 2 December, 1869. He was educated at the district school of his native village and at Holliston Academy. At eighteen years of age he went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he formed a newspaper connection, wrote a farce for Barney Williams, and appeared a few times on the stage. In 1857 he went to Kansas, taking an active part in the political struggle of the territory, attending anti-slavery meetings, making speeches, and corresponding about the issues of the hour with the Boston “Journal.” He was also secretary of the territorial legislature. Two years later he went to Pike's Peak, the gold fever being then at its height, in company with Horace Greeley, between whom and Richardson a lasting friendship was formed. In the autumn of 1859 he made a journey through the southwestern territories, and sent accounts of his wanderings to eastern journals. During the winter that preceded the Civil War he volunteered to go through the south as secret correspondent of the “Tribune,” and returned, after many narrow escapes, just before the firing on Sumter. He next entered the field as war correspondent, and for two years alternated between Virginia and the southwest, being present at many battles. took, in company with Junius Henri Browne, a fellow-correspondent of the “Tribune,” and Richard T. Colburn, of the New York “World,” to run the batteries of Vicksburg on two barges, which were lashed to a steam-tug. After they had been On the night of 3 May, 1863, he under fire for more than half an hour, a large shell struck the tug, and, bursting in the furnace, threw the coals on the barges and set them on fire. Out of 34 men, 18 were killed or wounded and 16 were captured, the correspondents among them. The Confederate government would neither release nor exchange the “Tribune” men, who, after spending eighteen months in seven southern prisons, escaped from Salisbury, North Carolina, in the dead of winter, and, walking 400 miles, arrived within the National lines at Strawberry Plains, Tennessee, several months before the close of the war. They had had charge of the hospitals at Salisbury, where a dreadful mortality prevailed, and brought with them a complete list, so far as procurable, of the deaths there, which they printed in the “Tribune,” furnishing the only information that kindred and friends in the north had of their fate. Richardson's death was the result of a pistol-shot fired by Daniel McFarland in the “Tribune” office on 26 November, 1869. McFarland had lived unhappily with his wife, who had obtained a divorce and was engaged to marry Mr. Richardson. A few days before his death they were married, the ceremony being performed by the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher. Richardson's first wife had died while he was in prison. The last four years of his life were passed in lecturing, travel, and writing. He published “The Field, the Dungeon, and the Escape” (Hartford, 1865); “Beyond the Mississippi.” (1866); and “A Personal History of Ulysses S. Grant” (1868), all of which sold largely. A collection of his miscellaneous writings, with a memoir by his widow, Abby Sage Richardson, was printed under the title “Garnered Sheaves” (1871). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 240-241.


RICHARDSON, Edmund, merchant, born in Caswell County, North Carolina, 28 June, 1818; died in Jackson, Mississippi, 11 June, 1886. He attended a common school for several terms, became a clerk in a store in Danville, Virginia, and at sixteen years of age settled in Jackson, Mississippi where he gradually engaged in cotton-planting, shipping, and manufacturing to a large extent. At the close of the Civil War he was bankrupt, but he successfully engaged in business again, and became the largest cotton-planter in the world. His fortune was estimated at from $10,000,000 to $12,000,000, and he was the owner of forty cotton-plantations in Louisiana. He was chairman of the board of management of the New Orleans Centennial Exposition in 1884-'5, and gave $25,000 toward paying its expenses. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 241.


RICHARDSON, Henry Hobson, architect, born in Priestley's Point, St. James Parish, Louisiana, 29 September, 1838; died in Brookline, Massachusetts, 28 April, 1886. His father, Henry D. Richardson, was a planter of American birth, but his earlier ancestors were Scotchmen, who had moved to England before the family came to this country. His mother was Catherine Caroline Priestley, a granddaughter of Dr. Joseph Priestley. He was at first intended for West Point and the army, but the death of his father changed his plans, and he was graduated at Harvard in 1859. His college career was not remarkable for proficiency or promise, but after his graduation he went to Paris, where he began the study of architecture, and at once developed remarkable powers and capacity for work. The loss of his property during the Civil War obliged him to serve in an architect's office for his support while he was pursuing his studies. In 1865 he returned to this country and became a partner of Charles D. Gambrill in the firm of Gambrill and Richardson. His earliest buildings were in Springfield, Massachusetts, where the railroad offices and the Agawam Bank at once gave evidence of his power. The Church of the Unity in the same city is a Gothic building, and quite unlike the ecclesiastical structures of his later years. His strongest work began with the erection of Brattle Street Church in Boston in 1871. The next year he presented his plans for Trinity Church, Boston (shown in the accompanying illustration), for which he was chosen to be the architect, and which occupied much of his thought and time till it was finished in 1877. It is after the manner of the churches of Auvergne in France, and gets its character from its great central tower, which, both within and without, is the feature of its architecture. Before he had done with Trinity, Mr. Richardson was already at work upon the Cheney Buildings at Hartford, Connecticut, and not much later on the Memorial library at North Easton, the public library at Woburn, and the state capitol at Albany, on which last building he was employed for many years, in connection with Leopold Eidlitz and Frederick Law Olmsted, to carry forward the work which had been begun by others. These buildings and others, which belong to the same period, show the full ripeness of his powers. They have the qualities that belong to all his future work— breadth and simplicity, the disposition to produce effect rather by the power of great mass and form than by elaboration of detail, the free use of conventional types and models, and a freshness and variety that spring from sympathetic feeling of the meaning and necessities of each new structure. A freely treated Romanesque preponderates in all his style, and was well suited to his own exuberant but solid and substantial nature. His influence began to be felt very soon and very widely. Without any effort or desire to create a school, he drew about him a large number of young men, on whom the impress that he made was very strong. After he came from New York to Brookline, in the neighborhood of Boston, about 1875, his house and working-rooms were thronged with students and alive with work. There he prepared his plans for Sever Hall and Austin Hall at Harvard; for libraries at Quincy, Malden, and Burlington; for railroad-stations along the Boston and Albany and other roads; for the cathedral at Albany, which, however, was not given to him to build; for the Albany City-Hall; for dwellings in Washington and Boston; for the two great buildings that he left unfinished at his death, the Board of Trade in Cincinnati and the court-house in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; for great warehouses in Boston and Chicago; and for other structures of many sorts throughout the land. The result of them all has been a strengthening, widening, and ennobling of the architecture of the country which must always mark an epoch in its history. Mr. Richardson was a man of fascinating intelligence and social power. He died in the midst of his work, although his last ten years were a long, brave, cheerful fight with feeble health and constant suffering. His life has been written, in an illustrated quarto, by Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer (Boston, 1888). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 241-242.


RICHARDSON, Israel Bush, soldier, born in Fairfax, Vermont, 26 December, 1815; died in Sharpsburg, Maryland, 3 November, 1862. He was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1841, entered the 3d U.S. Infantry, and served through the Florida War. He became 1st lieutenant in 1846, participated in the principal battles of the Mexican War, and received the brevets of captain and major for gallantry at Contreras, Churubusco, and Chapultepec. His coolness in action won him the name of “fighting Dick” in the army. He became captain in 1851, resigned in 1855, and settled on a farm near Pontiac, Michigan. At the beginning of the Civil War he was appointed colonel of the 2d Michigan Regiment, and when he reported with his regiment in Washington, D.C., to have my “Fighting Dick’ with me again.” A few days afterward he was placed at the head of a brigade with which he covered the retreat of the army at Bull Run, his commission of brigadier-general of volunteers dating from 17 May, 1861. He commanded a division of General Edward V. Sumner's corps at the battle of the Chickahominy, where he acted with great gallantry, became major-general of volunteers, 4 July, 1862, was engaged at the second battle of Bull Run, at South Mountain, and Antietam, receiving fatal wounds in the latter fight. He was a lineal descendant of Israel Putnam. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 242.


RICHARDSON, James, clergyman, born in Dedham, Massachusetts, in 1817; died in Washington, D.C., 10 November, 1863. He was graduated at Harvard in 1837, and during his course aided in collecting Thomas Carlyle’s “Miscellanies,” which were published under Ralph Waldo Emerson's supervision (Boston, 1836). He afterward became a clerk of a county court, taught in New Hampshire, and was principal of a school near Providence, Rhode Island. He was graduated at the Harvard Divinity-School in 1845, ordained in Southington, Connecticut, and in 1847 became pastor of the Unitarian Society in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He took charge of the church in Rochester, New York, in 1856, but was compelled by the failure of his health to resign in 1859, and returned to his former home in Dedham. He continued to preach and lecture for many years, and constantly contributed to the press. During the Civil War his services were given to the hospitals in Washington, D.C. He published several discourses, which include two farewell sermons at Southington, Connecticut. (Boston, 1847). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 242.


RICHARDSON, John Smythe, Congressman, born in Sumter District, South Carolina, 29 February, 1828, was graduated at the College of South Carolina in 1850, admitted to the Sumter bar in 1852, and, while practising his profession, also engaged in planting. He served in the Confederate Army throughout the Civil War, attained the rank of colonel, and was a member of the South Carolina legislature in 1865-'7, of the Democratic National Convention in 1876, and of Congress in 1879-'83. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 243.


RICHARDSON, John Peter, statesman, born at Hickory Hill, Sumter District, South Carolina, 14 April, 1801; died in Fulton, South Carolina, 24 January, 1864, was the son of James, who was governor of South Carolina in 1802-'4. John was graduated at the College of South Carolina in 1819, admitted to the bar at Fulton in 1821, and extensively engaged in planting. He served in the legislature in 1824-'36, steadily opposed nullification, and was an active member of the Union Party. He was chosen to Congress as a Democrat in 1836 to succeed Richard Manning, served till March. 1839, and was governor of South Carolina in 1840-'2. He then returned to the practice of his profession, in which he continued until his death. He was a delegate to the southern convention in 1850, president of the Southern rights Association in 1851, and a member of the South Carolina Convention in 1860, in which he opposed secession. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 243.


RICHARDSON, William Alexander, senator, born in Payette County, Kentucky, 11 October, 1811; died in Quincy, Illinois, 27 December, 1875. He was educated at Transylvania University, came to the bar at nineteen years of age, and settled in Illinois. He became state attorney in 1835, was in the legislature several terms, serving as its speaker, and was a presidential elector on the Polk and Dallas ticket in 1844. He entered the U. S. Army as captain of an Illinois company in 1846, and was promoted major for gallantry at Buena Vista. He was elected to Congress as a Democrat in 1846, served in 1847-'56, when he resigned, and in 1863 was chosen U. S. Senator to fill the unexpired term of Stephen A. Douglas. He was a delegate to the New York Democratic Convention in 1868, but after that date retired from public life. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 244.


RICHARDSON, Asa, New York, American Abolition Society (Radical Abolitionist, Vol. 1, No. 1, New York, August 1855)


RICHARDSON, Charles L., Massachusetts, abolitionist, American Anti-Slavery Society, Executive Committee, 1843-48.


RICHARDSON, Jonas, New York, American Abolition Society (Radical Abolitionist, Vol. 1, No. 1, New York, August 1855)


RICHE, George Inman, educator, born in Philadelphia, 21 January, 1833. He was graduated at the Philadelphia High-School in 1851. studied law, and was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia in 1854. During the Civil War he was paymaster of U. S. volunteers, and in 1864-'7 he was a member of the common council. He was for several years president of the Republican Invincibles, a political organization in Philadelphia. Mr. Riche is best known for his educational work. In 1867-'86 he was the principal of the Philadelphia High-School. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 244.


RICHFIELD, MISSOURI, May 19, 1863. Detachment of Missouri Militia. Five men of the Missouri militia were decoyed into ambush by guerrillas near Richfield, in Clay county, and one killed and another wounded at the first fire. Another surrendered and was murdered after his arms had been taken from him. The other 2 escaped. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 732.


RICHLAND CREEK, ARKANSAS, April 13-14, 1864. Detachment of 6th Missouri State Militia Cavalry. Captain Samuel E. Turner, with a portion of the regiment, attacked the camp of 63 Confederates on the 13th and routed them completely, killing 5, wounding several and capturing 1. The next day a joint party of Love's and Cordelle's guerrillas was attacked and again Turner was victorious, killing 1 and wounding 2. No casualties were reported on the Union side. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 732.


RICHLAND CREEK, ARKANSAS, May 3-5, 1864. Detachments of 2nd Arkansas Cavalry. While escorting a wagon train 100 men of the 2nd Arkansas were suddenly assailed by mounted guerrillas near the mouth of Richland creek. The advance guard of the escort was cut off and surrounded and then the main body of the escort was cut off from the rear-guard and the train. The result was the killing of 37 Union men, the wounding of 11 and the capture and destruction of the train. The following day Colonel John E. Phelps started in pursuit of the guerrillas and on the 5th came upon their camp. It was immediately charged and the enemy routed after he had twice attempted to make a stand. Phelps had 7 men wounded in the affair. The Confederate casualties, if any, were not reported. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 732-733.


RICHLAND CREEK, ARKANSAS, August 16, 1864. 6th Missouri and 1st Arkansas Cavalry. A detachment of these regiments, under Captain Hughes, attacked a party of 125 guerrillas, commanded by a Lieutenant Smith, on Richland creek, completely routed them, killing 4 and wounding 9, with a loss of 1 man slightly wounded. Fifty horses and equipments were captured. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 733.


RICHLAND CREEK, TENNESSEE, September 26, 1864. (See Pulaski, same date.)


RICHLAND CREEK, TENNESSEE, December 24-25, 1864. Cavalry, Army of the Cumberland. In the pursuit of the Confederates under Hood, Croxton's brigade of McCook's division, came up with the rear-guard late on the afternoon of the 24th and drove the enemy across the creek, capturing a few prisoners and a battle flag. Coon's brigade of Hatch's division was sent to the left to get in the rear, but struck the creek where it could not be forded. Dismounting his men he engaged the enemy across the stream, keeping up the fight for about half an hour. In this action Confederate General Buford was wounded. The next day Harrison's brigade of Johnson's division struck the enemy near Pulaski. A charge was made by the 5th la., saving the bridge across Richland creek, which the enemy was trying to destroy. Harrison placed 2 guns in position and deployed a force along the creek, compelling the Confederates to withdraw. He then pursued for about 7 miles when the enemy made a stand on a hill behind a barricade. The 7th Ohio, 16th Illinois, and 5th la. were deployed, dismounted, and moved upon the enemy's position, when he opened fire from a masked battery, at the same time charging over the works in force. The three regiments were compelled to fall back about half a mile, when Harrison's supports coming up, the Confederates were driven from their position. In the charge made by the enemy he captured 1 gun of the 4th U. S. artillery, which had to be abandoned in the retreat. Harrison reported a loss of 6 killed, 21 wounded and 5 missing, and captured about 200 prisoners during the day. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 733.

RICHLAND PLANTATION, LOUISIANA, January 30, 1865. Detachment of 80th U. S. Colored Infantry. Major William A. Hatch, with a portion of the 80th colored infantry, while on a scout from Bayou Goula came upon a party of 20 or more guerrillas at the Richland plantation and drove them into the dense swamp surrounding, where pursuit was futile. Hatch encamped at the plantation and during the night the guerrillas attempted to break through the picket lines, but were unsuccessful. No casualties were reported. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 733.


RICHLAND STATION, TENNESSEE, March 19, 1863. Detachment of 129th Illinois Infantry. A band of 60 or 75 guerrillas derailed a passenger train on the Louisville & Nashville railroad and then proceeded to rifle the mail and express cars and rob the passengers. Just as they were about to parole a number of officers that were on the train a detachment of troops from the 29th Illinois appeared on the scene and after a brief skirmish completely routed the outlaws, 1 of whom was killed, 18 wounded and 4 captured, besides a number of horses and guns. Most of the stolen property was recovered. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 733.


RICHMOND, Dean, capitalist, born in Barnard, Vermont, 31 March, 1804; died in New York City, 27 August, 1866. His ancestors were farmers, living in and about Taunton, Massachusetts, but his father, Hathaway, moved to Vermont. In 1812 the family moved again to Salina, New York. Business reverses overtook the elder Richmond, and he went to the south and soon afterward died in Mobile. At the age of fifteen years Dean entered upon the business of manufacturing and selling salt at Salina with success. Before he had attained his majority he was chosen a director in a Syracuse bank. In 1842 he established himself in business in Buffalo, New York, as a dealer and shipper of western produce, with his residence at Attica, and subsequently at Batavia. He won a reputation for upright dealing and responsibility that was not surpassed by any resident in the lake region. He became interested in railways, was a leader in the movement to consolidate the seven separate corporations that subsequently constituted the New York Central Railroad, and chiefly by his personal efforts procured the passage of the act of consolidation by the legislature. Upon the organization of the company in 1853 Mr. Richmond was made vice-president, and in 1864 he was chosen president, which post he held till his death. Mr. Richmond did not have the advantages of an early education, but his extensive and careful reading in later years, and his observation of men and things, made him most intelligent. Early in life he espoused the cause of the Democratic Party, and while yet a boy he enjoyed the confidence of the leaders that constituted the “Albany Regency.” He became the leader of his party in the state of New York, and for several years he was chairman of the Democratic State Committee, but he never sought nor held public office. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 246.


RICHMOND, KENTUCKY, August 29-30, 1862. 1st and 2nd Brigades, Army of Kentucky. The battle of Richmond was one of the incidents of Bragg's invasion of Kentucky. When it was known that Bragg was moving northward a force of men had been hurriedly collected at Louisville and organized into the Army of Kentucky, under the command of Major-General William Nelson. The Union forces at Richmond consisted of the 1st and 2nd brigades of this army, respectively commanded by Brigadier-General M. D. Manson and Brigadier-General Charles Cruft. Manson's brigade was composed of the 16th, 55th, 69th and 71st Indiana infantry, and Lanphere's battery. Cruft's was made up of the 12th and 66th Indiana, 18th Kentucky and 95th Ohio infantry and Andrews' battery. Many of the men were new recruits, unused to army discipline and unskilled in the arts of war. In the absence of General Nelson the command of the two brigades devolved on Manson, who had established his headquarters about 2 miles from the town of Richmond. Here he received word at 11 a. m. on the 29th that Munday's cavalry had encountered the enemy, some 5,000 strong, in the vicinity of Kingston. Manson sent word to Munday to hold the Confederates in check as long as possible, and ordered his whole brigade under arms. Reinforcements were sent out to the pickets, but about 2 p. m. the entire picket line was compelled to fall back toward the main body. South of Manson's camp were some high hills that completely commanded his position, and he determined to move out and occupy these, to prevent their falling into possession of the enemy. When he had advanced about three-fourths of a mile a heavy column of Confederate cavalry was discovered some distance east of the road. Lieutenant Lanphere was directed to open fire with the artillery, and a few well directed shots scattered the enemy in all directions. The brigade then moved forward and took up a position where the artillery commanded the road as far south as Rogersville, and awaited the appearance of the enemy. Again the battery opened fire and after a skirmish of about an hour the Confederates were forced to retire from the field, with a loss of a number of captured, together with several horses and a piece of artillery. Manson then moved his command to Rogersville, where the men bivouacked for the night, with orders to sleep on their arms. Colonel Metcalfe, with his cavalry, was sent out to pursue the retreating enemy. After following them for some 6 miles he encountered a cavalry picket, who after a slight skirmish retired. Metcalfe lost 2 men killed and 2 wounded. That evening General Kirby Smith, commanding the Confederates, was reinforced by the arrival of Churchill's division, and decided to move to Richmond the next day, "even at the cost of a battle with the whole force of the enemy." Manson had sent word to maintain a strong picket on the Lancaster road, and to hold his command in readiness to move at a moment's notice. At 6 o'clock a. m. on the 30th he found that the Confederates were advancing. He at once sent an order to Cruft to bring up his command as soon as possible, and placing himself at the head of the 55th Indiana, moved out with his brigade to meet the Confederate column. About half a mile beyond Rogersville, near Mt. Zion church, the enemy's advance was encountered and after a sharp skirmish was driven back. Manson then took possession of some woods and high ground on the left of the road and formed a line of battle. Skirmishers were thrown to the front and the enemy was held in check over an hour, when it was discovered that a movement was under way to turn the left of the skirmish line. This was McCray's brigade of Churchill's division, which had almost gained a position on the flank before its presence there was discovered. At this juncture Cruft's brigade came on the field and Manson ordered him to send the 95th Ohio to the support of the skirmishers, while the 69th Ohio was sent against a battery that the enemy was trying to plant on a hill a short distance to the front and right. In attempting to take the hill the regiment was subjected to an enfilading fire that threw it into some confusion, and the enemy, prompt to take advantage of this circumstance, pressed forward with a heavy force, driving the right of the line from the field. At the same time the left was turned and for a short time it looked as if the Union troops were hopelessly defeated. But Manson, who was a veteran of the Mexican war, inspired confidence in his men by his heroic example, and after falling back for about a mile a new line of battle was formed on, White's farm, with Cruft's brigade on a ridge to the right of the road, the 1st brigade being formed some distance to the rear on the left of the road, with its battery in front. The first attack on this position was made against Cruft's left, but it was repulsed by the 95th Ohio and 66th Indiana, which formed that part of the line. The enemy now moved up through the woods and attacked the right of the brigade. Here the 18th Kentucky and 12th Indiana, who had not been engaged in the first fight, stood their ground for some time, but finally yielded to overpowering numbers and fell back in disorder. The 1st brigade had already been driven from the field, and in a short time the whole army was flying toward Richmond. Manson and Cruft both rode to the front and tried to rally the men, but in vain. At Richmond General Nelson was met and he assumed command. Most of the men had fled through the town, but about 2,500 were rallied and a third line formed, the left resting on the state road near the tollgate, occupying the cemetery and thence running back into the woods on the right. The line was scarcely formed when the Confederates, elated by their first victory, again advanced to the attack. For a time the enemy was held in check by the skirmishers, but in a little while the attack became general and the Union lines broke and fled in confusion. It was now a case of "every fellow for himself." Before the attack was made at the cemetery the Confederate cavalry had gained a position in the Federal rear and as the fugitives rushed back into this enemy they were either killed or captured in large numbers. General Cruft in his report says: "The account of the whole battle may be summed up in a few words. It was an attack by at least 15,000 well disciplined troops, under experienced officers, upon 6,250 citizens, ignorant of war, without officers of experience. The wonder is that the latter fought so well for a whole day, could be twice rallied after being panic-stricken, and that any escaped slaughter or capture." The Union loss at Richmond was 206 killed, 844 wounded and 4,303 captured or missing. General Manson himself was among the captured, and all the artillery fell into the hands of the enemy. Kirby Smith reported his losses as being 98 killed, 492 wounded and 12 missing. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, pp. 733-735.


RICHMOND, KENTUCKY, July 28, 1863. Detachments of 10th Kentucky Cavalry and 112th Illinois and 2nd and 7th Ohio Mounted Infantry. After skirmishing heavily on the 27th with the Federals at Rogersville, 5 miles from Richmond, Colonel John S. Scott in his raid in eastern Kentucky approached Richmond on the 28th. At daylight Colonel W. P. Sanders, commanding the garrison at Richmond, moved out to meet the enemy and after skirmishing for 3 hours he found that he was about to be surrounded by a superior force. Accordingly an orderly retreat was started and continued through the town of Richmond. Just as the rear-guard was leaving the place it was thrown into confusion by an attack of the enemy and rushed back upon the main column, creating confusion there. The retreat then became a rout, the efforts of Sanders and his officers to rally the men proving unavailing. It was not until the command arrived at Clay ferry that it was momentarily rallied, and then only long enough to be crossed in order. Sanders says he had 4 or 5 men killed, several wounded and 75 taken prisoners and paroled. Scott had 3 killed and 10 wounded in the Rogersville and Richmond encounters. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 735.


RICHMOND, LOUISIANA, March 31, 1863. 69th Indiana Infantry and detachment of 2nd Illinois Cavalry. Colonel Thomas W. Bennett with his own regiment and a detachment of the 2nd Illinois was sent out to examine the practicability of a road between New Carthage and Richmond. At 2 p. m. his column arrived at Roundaway bayou opposite Richmond and discovered the enemy's pickets in town. While the infantry maintained a steady fire on them the cavalry crossed the bayou in skiffs and boldly attacked the Confederates, compelling them to beat a hasty retreat. The casualties were 9 of the enemy wounded; the Federals sustained no losses.


RICHMOND, LOUISIANA, June 6, 1863. Louisiana African Brigade. Colonel Herman Lieb with the African brigade advanced to the railroad within 3 miles of Richmond on the 6th and easily drove in the outer pickets. Fearing a return of the enemy in force he did not press his advantage but retired to Milliken's bend. No casualties are mentioned. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 736.


RICHMOND, LOUISIANA, June 15, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 3d Division, 15th Army Corps and Marine Brigade. The brigade of Brigadier-General Joseph A. Mower met the marine brigade under Brigadier-General Alfred W. Ellet and together they proceeded toward Richmond. At the junction of the Duckport and Milliken's Bend roads the Confederate pickets were encountered, but were driven back with little trouble. Two miles from Richmond the enemy was found in position. The advance regiment, the 5th Minnesota, was deployed as skirmishers, the artillery was brought into action, and in a short time the Confederates were driven from their first and second positions and Mower advanced his line to the willow hedge and ditch, where it remained for an hour during a desultory artillery duel . He then made a flank movement and reached a position three-quarters of a mile west of Richmond, only to find that the enemy had burned the bridge and evacuated the town. The cavalry forded the bayou and pursued 6 miles, capturing 25 men. Mower's casualties were 1 killed and 8 wounded; the enemy's loss was not ascertained. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 736.


RICHMOND, MISSOURI, July 8, 1864. Detachment of Enrolled Missouri Militia. Lieutenant John D. Page with a portion of a company fell in with a party of guerrillas near Richmond and immediately ordered a charge, but a volley from the enemy, which killed Page, checked the Federal advance for the moment. The men were rallied by Sergt. Good and finally succeeded in dispersing the guerrillas. Three Union men were wounded. The Confederate casualties were not reported. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 736.


RICHMOND, VIRGINIA (KILPATRICK'S EXPEDITION), February 28-March 4, 1864. Detachments of the Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac. Ascertaining that Richmond was very poorly garrisoned and that it might be taken by a bold movement, Major-General George G. Meade, commanding the Army of the Potomac, ordered Brigadier-General Judson Kilpatrick, commanding the 3d cavalry division, to increase his force to 4,000 effective men by additions from the other divisions, move on Richmond and liberate the Union prisoners there. The president, also, was anxious that his amnesty proclamation be distributed within the Confederate lines and thought this a good way to have it done. Accordingly at 7 p. m. of Sunday, February 28, Kilpatrick moved out southwest from Stevensburg with 3,582 cavalry and Ransom's 6-gun battery. At 11 p. m. his advance under Colonel Ulric Dahlgren crossed the Rappahannock river at Ely's ford, surprised and captured the Confederate picket of an officer and 14 men. From this point Dahlgren, with 500 men, comprising detachments of the 1st Maine, 1st Vermont, 5th Midi., and 5th and 2nd New York cavalry, pushed on rapidly to Spottsylvania Court House, thence to Frederick's Hall Station and from there to a point above Goochland on the James river. His orders were to cross that stream and be ready to seize at 10 a. m. on Tuesday, March 1, main bridge on the road that led to Richmond. Kilpatrick at the same time despatched Captain Boice of the 5th New York with a portion of that regiment to strike the Fredericksburg railroad below Guiney's station and destroy it. The main column passed through Spottsylvania Court House at daylight on the 29th on the way to Beaver Dam Station, arriving at the latter place after dark. A small force of Confederates appeared as the advance was coming up, but their resistance was not strong enough to effectually hinder the Federal movement. The encampment of Kilpatrick on Monday night was 9 miles from Ground Squirrel bridge over the South Anna river and at 1 a. m. Tuesday the column was on the move. Through ignorance the guide led the expedition in the direction of Ashland and Kilpatrick, learning that a force of 2,000 infantry with 6 pieces of artillery garrisoned the town, directed Major William P. Hall with 450 men of the 1st division to make a demonstration toward the town, drive in the enemy's pickets and attack. The idea was to cover the movement of the main body, which struck across the country and at daylight crossed the South Anna river 3 miles above Ashland. Hall's attack was entirely successful, the Confederates sending all their available forces in the vicinity to protect the bridge across the South Anna river at Ashland. At 10 a. m. Kilpatrick reached the Brook pike 5 miles from Richmond, where he surprised and captured the picket and a small detachment of infantry in some rifle-pits. Reinforcements came out from the city to oppose Kilpatrick's advance, but they were driven back to within a mile of their starting place, where a considerable force of artillery and infantry effectually checked the Federals at 1 p. m. (See Brook Turnpike.) Reinforcements were again brought to the Confederates, and Kilpatrick, feeling almost confident that Dahlgren had failed to cross the river, withdrew at dark across the Chickahominy and went into camp near Mechanicsville. At 10 p. m. he decided to make another attempt to enter the Confederate capital by way of the Mechanicsville road, having learned from spies and scouts that the better part of the garrison was still concentrated on the Brook pike. Majors Preston of the 1st Vermont and Taylor of the 1st Maine with 500 men each were ordered to lead two separate detachments. Just as they were about to move Kilpatrick heard that his rear was being attacked and it became necessary to use all the troops to repel the assault. The 7th Michigan was forced back in confusion and it was some time before the men could be rallied sufficiently to move out on the Hanover Court House road, where, after considerable hard fighting in the dark, they succeeded in driving off the enemy. At 8 a. m. of the 2nd the column moved east to Old Church, where it awaited Dahlgren until 1 p. m., when the rear-guard was attacked, but the Confederates were repulsed and pursued by the 1st Maine, who captured a large number of prisoners. At Tunstall's station the command went into camp on Wednesday night and there Captain J. F. B. Mitchell with the remnant of Dahlgren's command joined the main column. He reported that either through the ignorance or maliciousness of their guide they had been unable to cross the James river, but had pushed on down the canal, destroying Confederate property as they went along. They reached the vicinity of Richmond at 4 p. m., when they attacked, the fighting continuing until dark, when the enemy received reinforcements and Dahlgren retired. In the retrograde movement Dahlgren himself and 100 of his men became separated from the rest of the detachment and Mitchell, being the senior officer, assumed command and hastened to join Kilpatrick, skirmishing practically all the way, the strongest opposition he received being at Atlee's station. Dahlgren also started to join Kilpatrick, crossing the Pamunkey at Hanovertown and the Mattapony at Aylett's, skirmishing at the latter place. When within 3 miles of King and Queen Court House the party was fired upon from ambush, Dahlgren being killed by the first volley and the rest of his men (except 22 who escaped on foot to Gloucester Point) being captured. At New Court House Kilpatrick met reinforcements sent out from Fort Magruder by Major General B. F. Butler, and moved to King and Queen county to punish the slayers of Dahlgren, after which the expedition returned to Stevensburg by transport. Kilpatrick's loss in killed, wounded and missing was 430. The killed and wounded numbered about 150. The Confederate casualties, although not reported for the expedition, were probably fully as heavy. At the time of the start of the expedition General George A. Custer was sent out to make a demonstration in Albermarle county and cover the movement of the raiding party. (See Albermarle County, Custer's Raid.) The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, pp. 736-138.


RICH MOUNTAIN, VIRGINIA, July 11, 1861, U. S. Volunteers commanded by Brigadier-General W. S. Rosecrans. General Rosecrans, with the 8th, 9th and 13th Indiana and 19th Ohio infantry, and Burdsal's cavalry, moved against the Confederate position on Rich mountain, the skirmishes of the 10th Indiana being the first to encounter the enemy's pickets. Owing to the dense thickets it was sometime before Rosecrans could properly deploy his troops. While he was forming his men in an open space the enemy opened a vigorous fire of both artillery and musketry, but as soon as the line was formed the Federals advanced steadily, causing the Confederates to show signs of wavering, when a charge put them to flight, leaving several of the dead and wounded on the field. The Union loss was 11 killed and 35 wounded. The enemy's casualties were not learned. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 738.


RICHWOODS, MISSOURI, October 4, 1864. Detachment of 6th Missouri Cavalry. A scouting party from this regiment, under Captain Russell, came upon 3 Confederates in a house near Richwoods and killed 2 and captured 1. Later another band of 80 was encountered, and a charge made, which resulted in the rout of the enemy with a loss of 10 killed, several more wounded, 3 captured, and the remainder pursued 3 miles beyond Richwoods. No casualties were reported on the Union side. Riddell's Shop, Virginia, June 13, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 3d Cavalry Division, Army of the Potomac. The cavalry division was first engaged on this date at White Oak swamp, and after it was relieved there by Crawford's division of the 5th corps the 2nd brigade, Colonel George H. Chapman commanding, moved out on the main road to Richmond. When he had proceeded about a mile Chapman came upon the enemy strongly posted in a belt of timber in front of Riddell's shop. A brigade of Confederate cavalry, dismounted and armed with rifled muskets, held the position and showed a disposition to contest it with great obstinacy. Chapman dismounted the 3d Indiana and 8th New York, formed them in line of battle and gave the order to charge on the works at the double-quick. The enemy did not wait to receive the charge, but decamped, leaving a number of dead and wounded on the field. Riddell's shop was an important point as it was at the junction of the Quaker, Charles City and Long Bridge roads. By holding his position here Chapman could cover the Quaker road, over which the army was moving to the James river. He therefore formed the 1st Vermont, 3d Indiana and 8th New York in line of battle, supported by the 1st New Hampshire, 22nd New York and Fitzhugh's battery. About 6 p. m. the enemy advanced in strong line of battle and heavy column down the bridge road, and in a short time Chapman's whole line was engaged. In the fighting earlier in the day Chapman's men had nearly exhausted their supply of ammunit10n and the first line was slowly drawn back to the position occupied by the second, where the brigade was reinforced by three regiments of infantry, which were brought up and disposed without Chapman's directions. About dark the Confederates made an attack on the right of the line and one of the infantry regiments gave way with but slight resistance, throwing that part of the line in confusion. The left held firm, however, and the battery was brought off in a walk. Some confusion occurred in getting through a line of battle in the rear, consisting of Crawford's division of the 5th corps, which had come up and formed there during the engagement. The cavalry finally succeeded in passing to the rear of Crawford's line, and the enemy retired toward Richmond. No detailed report of losses was made by either side. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, pp. 738-739.


RICKETTS, James Brewerton, soldier, born in New York City, 21 June, 1817; died in Washington, D.C., 22 September, 1887. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1839, assigned to the 1st U.S. Artillery, and served during the Canada border disturbances on garrison duty, and in the war with Mexico, taking part in the battle of Monterey, and holding the Rinconada Pass during the battle of Buena Vista. He had been made 1st lieutenant, 21 April, 1846, became captain on 3 August, 1853, and served in Florida against the Seminole Indians, and subsequently on frontier duty in Texas. At the beginning of the Civil War he served in the defence of Washington, D.C., commanded a battery in the capture of Alexandria, Virginia, in 1861, was wounded and captured at Bull Run on 21 July, and on that day was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, and made brigadier-general of U.S. volunteers. He was confined as a prisoner of war, and afterward was on sick leave of absence until June, 1862, when he engaged in operations in the Shenandoah Valley, and participated with the Army of the Potomac in the Northern Virginia, the Maryland, and the Richmond Campaigns, fighting in all the chief battles. On 1 June, 1863, he became major of the 1st U.S. Artillery, and he received the brevet of colonel, U.S. Army, for gallant and meritorious services at Cold Harbor, Virginia, 3 June, 1864. He served in the siege of Petersburg, Virginia, in that year in the defence of Maryland against General Jubal Early's raid, and in the Shenandoah Campaign, receiving the brevet of major-general of volunteers on 1 August, 1864, for gallant conduct during the war, particularly in the battles of the campaign under General Ulysses S. Grant and General Philip H. Sheridan. He was severely wounded at Cedar Creek, Virginia, 19 October, 1864, and was on sick-leave from that date until 7 April, 1865. On 13 March, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general, U.S. Army, for gallant services at Cedar Creek, and major-general, U.S. Army, for gallant and meritorious service in the field. On 28 July, 1865, he was assigned to the command of a District in the Department of Virginia, which post he held until 30 April, 1866, when he was mustered out of the volunteer service. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel, 21st U.S. Infantry, on 28 July, 1866, but declined this post. He was retired from active service on 3 January, 1867, for disability from wounds received in battle, and served on courts-martial from that date until 22 January, 1869. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 247.


RICOCHET. Guns fired with a small charge and a low elevation, project ricochet shot, which merely clear a parapet, and thence bound along a rampart, destroying gun-carriages, &c. (See FIRING.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 510).


RIDDLE, Albert Gallatin, lawyer, born in Monson, Massachusetts, 28 May, 1816. His father moved to Geauga County, Ohio, in 1817, where the son received a common-school education, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1840, practised law, and was prosecuting attorney from 1840 till 1846. He served in the legislature in 1848–9, and called the first Free-Soil Convention in Ohio in 1848. In 1850 he moved to Cleveland, was elected prosecuting attorney in 1856, defended the Oberlin slave-rescuers in 1859, and was elected to Congress as a Republican, serving from 4 July, 1861, till 3 March, 1863. He made speeches then in favor of arming slaves, the first on this subject that were deliver in Congress, and others on emancipation in the District of Columbia and in vindication of President Lincoln. In October, 1863, he was appointed U.S. consul at Matanzas. Since 1864 he has practised law in Washington, D.C., and, under a retainer of the State Department, aided in the prosecution of John H. Surratt for the murder of President Lincoln. In 1877 he was appointed law-officer to the District of Columbia, which office he now (1888) holds. For several years, from its organization, he had charge of the law department in Howard University. Mr. Riddle is the author of “Students and Lawyers,” lectures (Washington, 1873); “Bart Ridgely, a Story of Northern Ohio.” (Boston, 1873); “The Portrait, a Romance of Cuyahoga Valley” (1874); “Alice Brand, a Tale of the Capitol" (New York, 1875); “Life, Character, and Public Services of James A. Garfield” (Cleveland, 1880); “The House of Ross” (Boston, 1881); “Castle Gregory.” (Cleveland, 1882); “Hart and his Bear” (Washington, 1883); “The Sugar-Makers of the West Woods” (Cleveland, 1885); “The Hunter of the Chagrin" (1882); “Mark Loan, a Tale of the Western Reserve” (1883); “Old Newberry and the Pioneers” (1884); “Speeches and Arguments” (Washington, 1886); and “Life of Benjamin F. Wade’’ (Cleveland, 1886). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 248.


RIDDLE, George Reade, senator, born in Newcastle, Delaware, in 1817; died in Washington, D.C., 29 March, 1867. He was educated at Delaware College, studied engineering, and engaged in locating and constructing railroads and canals in different states. He then studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1848, and was deputy attorney-general of Newcastle County till 1850. In 1849 he was appointed a commissioner to retrace Mason and Dixon's line. (See MASON, CHARLES.) He was elected to Congress as a Democrat, serving from 1 December, 1851, till 3 March, 1855, and was afterward chosen U.S. Senator in place of James A. Bayard, serving from 2 February, 1864, till 29 March, 1867. Mr. Riddle was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions of 1844, 1848, and 1856. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 248.


RIDDLEBERGER, Harrison Holt, senator, born in Edinburg, Shenandoah County, Virginia, 4 October, 1844. After receiving a common-school education he studied at home for two years under a tutor. During the Civil War he served for three years in the Confederate Army as lieutenant of infantry and captain of cavalry. At the close of the war he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began to practise at Woodstock, Virginia, where he still (1888) resides. His first civil office was that of commonwealth's attorney for his county, which he held for two terms. He was then elected and re-elected to the state house of delegates, serving for four years, and subsequently sat in the Senate of Virginia for the same period. Since 1870 he has edited three local newspapers, "The Tenth Legion," "The Shenandoah Democrat," and " The Virginian." He was a member of the state committee of the Conservative Party until 1875, a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1870, and on the "Readjuster " ticket in 1880. He was commonwealth's attorney and state senator when, in 1881, he was elected to the U. S. Senate as a Readjuster in the place of John W. Johnston, Conservative. His term of service will expire on 3 March. 1889. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 248-249.


RIDDLE'S POINT, MISSOURI, March 17, 1862. (See New Madrid.)


RIDGELY, Daniel Boone, naval officer, born near Lexington, Kentucky, 1 August, 1813; died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 5 May, 1868. He entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman, 1 April, 1828, and was commissioned lieutenant, 10 September, 1840. During the Mexican War he was attached to the sloop “Albany,” and participated in the bombardment and capture of Vera Cruz, Tuspan, Alvarado, and Tampico in 1846–'9. He was attached to the Naval Observatory at Washington in 1850–2, cruised in the sloop “Germantown" in 1854 in the West Indies, and, was commissioned commander, 14 September, 1855. In 1857–’8 he commanded the steamer “Atalanta " in the Paraguayan Expedition. He was on leave when the Civil War began, but volunteered for active service promptly, commanded the steamer “Santiago de Cuba" in the West Indies during the early part of the contest, from 1861 till 1863, and was successful in capturing blockade-runners. He was commissioned captain, 16 July, 1862. In 1864–5 he commanded the steamer “Shenandoah " on the north Atlantic Blockade, and assisted on  both attacks on Fort Fisher. In the year 1865… Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 250.


RIDGELY, MISSOURI, June 11, 1864. Detachment of Missouri State Militia. A band of guerrillas attacked a detachment of militia at Ridgely and a rather severe skirmish ensued, but the Confederates were repulsed with the loss of their leader killed, the second in command wounded and taken prisoner and subsequently shot. The Federals had 1 man killed and 4 wounded. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 739.


RIDGELY, MISSOURI, October 16, 1864. The only official mention of this affair, a despatch from Lieutenant A. J. Harding, an aide-de-camp on the staff of General Rosecrans, contains the following. "Ridgely, Platte county, Missouri, was captured and plundered by guerrillas on the night of the 16th." The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 739.


RIENZI, MISSISSIPPI, June 2, 1862. Detachment of 42nd Illinois Infantry. Thirty men of the 42nd Illinois were sent out from the Federal camp for the purpose of reconnoitering and encamped within one mile of Rienzi. At 10 p. m. they were attacked by Confederate infantry, who, after firing 2 volleys, charged and captured most of the party, the remainder scattering in all directions. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 739.


RIENZI, MISSISSIPPI, August 26, 1862. 2nd Cavalry Brigade, Army of the Mississippi. At 2 p. m. a Confederate cavalry command drove in the Federal pickets on the Ripley road. Colonel Edward Hatch with the 2nd la., supported by Colonel A. L. Lee with the 7th Kansas attacked and drove the enemy for several miles, the latter part of the pursuit being a rout. Six Federals were wounded and 5 were missing. Aside from the 11 captured the Confederate loss was not ascertained. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 739.


RIFLED ORDNANCE. Rifle-muskets are wholly indebted to the elongated projectile for their efficiency and celebrity. Elongated shot possess, when their axes are coincident with the path they describe, the properties of being less resisted by the air, having longer ranges and greater penetrating power than spherical projectiles of the same diameter. To obviate the difficulty and loss of time in loading ordinary rifles, by forcing the ball into the barrel by repeated blows of the ramrod or a mallet, on account of which that arm had been little used, M. Delvigne proposed that the bullet should have sufficient windage to enter freely into the barrel, in order that, when stopped by the contraction of the chamber with which this arm was furnished, it might be forced to expand and enter into the grooves, on receiving a few smart blows; thus the piece being fired, the bullet would come out a forced, or rifle ball, without having been forced in. But this ingenious contrivance was not found to answer. The edge of the chamber on which the ball lodged, not being opposite to the direction of the blow, did not form a sufficient support upon which to flatten the ball when struck by the ramrod, and thus cause the bullet to expand; whilst portions of the charge of powder previously poured in, having lodged on the contraction, cushioned and still further impeded the expansion of the shot; and as, obviously, no patch could be used, the grooves were liable to get foul, and to become leaded, to an extent which could not be effectually obviated. To remedy this defect, Colonel Thouvenin proposed in 1828 to suppress the chamber, and substitute a cylindrical tige or pillar of steel, screwed into the breech in the centre of the barrel, so that the bullet, when stopped by, and resting upon the flat end of the pillar, directly opposite to the side struck, might more easily be flattened and forced to enter the grooves. But here another defect appeared. The pillar occupying a large portion of the centre of the barrel, and the charge being placed in the annular space which surrounds it, the main force of the powder, instead of taking effect in the axis of the piece, and on the centre of the projectile, acted only on the spherical portion of the bullet which lies over this annular chamber, arid thus the ball, receiving obliquely the impulse of the charge, was propelled with diminished force. The next improvement, which was proposed by M. Delvigne, was to make the bottom of the projectile a flat surface; the body cylindrical, and to terminate it in front with a conical point, thus diminishing the resistance of the air comparatively with that experienced by a solid of the same diameter having a hemispherical end. The form of the projectile was, therefore, an approximation to that of Newton's solid of least resistance. (See PROJECTILE.) In 1841 a patent was obtained by Captain Tamisier for his method of giving steadiness to the flight of cylindro-conical shot, by cutting three sharp circular grooves each .28 inches deep, on the cylindrical part of the shot, by which the resistance of the air behind the centre of gravity of the projectile being increased, the axis of rotation was kept more steadily in the direction of the trajectory; the grooves being to this projectile what the feathers are to the arrow, and the stick to the rocket.

But the tige musket having been found inconvenient in cleaning, the pillar liable to be broken, and, after firing some rounds, the operation of ramming down so fatiguing to the men as to make them unsteady in taking aim, M. Minie, previously distinguished as a zealous and able advocate for restoring the rifle to the service in an improved form, proposed to suppress the tige, and substitute for it an iron cup, b (Fig. 189,) put into the wider end of a conical hollow, a, made in the shot: this cup being forced further in by the explosion of the charge, causes the hollow cylindrical portion of the shot to expand and fix itself in the grooves, so that the shot becomes forced at the moment of discharge. A slip of cartridge-paper is wound twice round the cylindrical part of the projectile, so that, as the latter does riot become forced or' rifled till the charge is fired, it fits so tightly to the barrel as to be free from any motion which would be caused by the carriage of the rifle on a march, or by its being handled before the shot is fired. But unless the cup b (Fig. 189) be driven, by the first action of the explosion of the charge, so far into the conical space in which it is placed, as to cause the lead to enter into the grooves of the rifle before the shot moves, there will be no rotation the paper wrapped round the shot not sufficing for this purpose. In the experiments of 1850 it was found that the hollow part of the Minie cylindro-conical shot was very frequently separated entirely from the conical part by the force with which the cup was driven into the hollow part of the shot, and sometimes remained so firmly fixed in the barrel that it could not be extracted; but in the more recent trials with shot made by compression and with better lead, no such failure occurred.

While efforts were being made in France to augment the power and accuracy of small-arms, loaded at the muzzle, as already described, M. Dreyse, of Sommerda, in Thuringia, was led to test whether the inconvenience of ramming down and flattening the shot might not be got rid of by loading the barrel at the breech an old project; and he suggested a plan for this purpose, which has been adopted to a great extent in the Prussian army. The Prussian rifled musket for firing cylindro-conical shot is loaded at the breech, and is designated “ zundnadelgewehr,” from the ignition of the charge being produced by passing a needle through the cartridge to strike the percussion-powder placed in the wooden bottom, or spiegel. The escape of gas at the junction of the chamber and barrel is considered by all as a great objection to the needle-prime musket: it is stated that the point of the igniting needle soon becomes furred, so that it is difficult, and, after a time, impossible, to draw it back by the thumb. The Prussians, however, appear to be quite confident of the superiority of the latter over other rifle-muskets; their government is said to have caused 60,000 stand of these arms to be executed, and at least half as many more are ordered. Their fusiliers, who are armed with the needle-prime musket, have also a short sword, with a cross hilt: this they plant in the ground; and, lying down, they use the hilt as a rest for the purpose of taking a steady aim.

It is, no doubt, in some respects, an important advantage in the Prussian rifles, that they may be loaded more quickly than the ordinary musket or rifle; but rifle actions are generally decided, not by mere rapidity of fire, but by each soldier taking time to use his arm in the most efficient manner possible. Although the use of the rifle was suspended in the French armies throughout the whole of the general war (1704-1815,) yet the French infantry, armed with the common musket, were well trained to act en tirailleur, and showed great aptitude for that kind of service. Good patterns having been obtained of the Delvigne carabine a tige, the French and the Belgian Minie rifles, experiments were made at Woolwich in 1851 with these three arms and with Lancaster's pillar-breech rifle, in order to test their relative merits in firing at a target 6 feet square, at 400 yards' distance. The results of these experiments fully established the peculiar advantages of M. Minie's method of quick loading, and forcing the shot into the rifled state, and a large supply of what has been called the regulation Minie musket was ordered. The form of its projectile, which is simply conoidal, is given in Fig. 190 annexed.

Mr. Lancaster, who invented the ordnance with an elliptical bore, spirally formed, and the pillar-breech rifle, proposed also a description of musket having a bore of a similar kind. No grooves are cut in the interior surface of the barrel; but in 'a transverse section, the bore has the form of an ellipse of small eccentricity, being freed at the breech: the projectile is cylindro-conoidal, with a circular base, and, when heated by the fired gunpowder, it expands so far as to take a form corresponding to the elliptical section of the bore. The bore, being a continuous spiral, fulfills the object of grooves, and causes the shot, in passing along it, to acquire a rotatory motion on its axis. The spiral is not uniform in its whole length, but has what is called by Americans a gaining twist or an increasing spiral. The advantages of this rifle are supposed to be greater accuracy of practice, less recoil than other muskets have, and no tendency to cause the rifle to turn over sideways.

In December, 1853, a trial was made at Hythe of Mr. Lancaster's elliptically-bored muskets freed at the breech, in order to compare their shooting with that of a rifle-musket of .577 bore, having three grooves regularly spiral of one turn in 6 ft. 6 in., which was manufactured at Enfield in the same year; the report of this trial was in favor of the Enfield rifle, Lancaster's muskets evincing a strong tendency to strip, and at the longer ranges this defect was very marked.

In 1858, Mr. Whitworth of Manchester produced a musket having a hexagonal bore of a spiral figure, making one turn in 20 in., by which the projectiles either of hexagonal or cylindro-conoidal form in passing along the barrel acquire a swift and steady rotation on their axes. This species of rifle has been found considerably superior in accuracy of shooting to the Enfield rifle, which has been adopted in England.

In order to test the relative merits of these two kinds of weapons, a series of trials were made at Hythe, under the direction of Colonel Hay, the able superintendent of the school of musketry at that place, and the results are stated in the following table. The rifles were fired from rests, and ten or twenty rounds were fired from each at the several distances. The numbers in the fourth column express, in feet and decimals, the means and the distances of the ten or twenty points of impact on the target, from a nearly central point of the group in each trial. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp. 510-514).

TABLE SHOWING THE RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS WITH THE “ WHITWORTH '“ AND “ENFIELD” RIFLES.

Description of Rifle. Distance in yards. Angle of elevation. Mean radial deviation. Remarks. Enfield 600 1 32 Feet. 2.4 Whitworth 1 15 .37 Enfield 800 2 45 4 20 Whitworth 2 22 1 00 . Enfield 1 100 4 12 8 04 3 8 2.62 Enfield 1 400 ( Shooting so wild, no Whitworth 5 4 G2) diagram taken. Enfield I 880 Not tried Whitworth 6 40 11 02

The superiority of the Whitworth rifle in accuracy of fire is hence manifest; and it may be added that, from its form, the bore is less liable to be worn than that of any grooved rifle. As the projectile may be made harder, it will, consequently, have greater penetrating power; and, in fact, the Whitworth projectile went through 35 half-inch planks of elm wood, and remained in a bulk of solid oak beyond, while the Enfield projectile went through only 12 such planks.

Till within the last twenty years, no sight was considered necessary for a common musket the stud at the muzzle being sufficient for the purpose of taking aim. When percussion-arms were first introduced, a fixed block-sight for 120 yards was adopted; and subsequently a block-sight for 200 yards and a leaf for 300 yards were affixed to the two-grooved rifle. At present every English rifled musket is furnished with a complicated and delicate sight. The rifles used by the Russians at the battle of the Alma were of good construction; they have two grooves, and carry conoidal shot, each weighing 767 grains, equivalent in weight to a spherical bullet of 9 to the pound. They are flat at the base, and have projections at the sides corresponding with the grooves of the musket. The great weight of these projectiles is very objectionable; the soldiers who carry them must be very much distressed by the loads in their pouches, or these must contain a smaller number of shot than are usually carried. The Russian missile is more pointed than the English Minie shot, and no part being cylindrical, it must be liable to irregular improvements in the barrel, and, consequently, to unsteadiness in its flight. It has the designation of a Minie shot, a term now generally but improperly applied to all elongated shot for musketry, since they differ from one another both in form and weight.

The rifle used in the French service up to the commencement of the late Italian war consisted only of the carabine a tige, and these were given only to special corps of riflemen. However eminent the authority of Colonel Minie on the subject of rifles, his method of rifling was never introduced into the French service. Throughout the Crimean war, the French infantry of the line were armed with the smooth-bored regulation musket. Some time previous to the Italian campaign the whole of the French' infantry had their old muskets rifled, and conical shot introduced the rifling principle being a triangular hollow cut in the bottom of the shot, without any cup, as in the Minie system. The efficient range did not exceed 600 yards, and was very inaccurate beyond 400 yards. This imperfect measure, as admitted by the French authorities, hardly kept pace with the general improvement in small-arms; but they were restricted by considerations of economy, which did not admit of any general alteration of the muskets in store. Thus all the French infantry during the Italian campaign used these defective rifled muskets, with the exception of the chasseurs, who retained the carabine a tige, the range of which was far superior to other French musket rifles.

In 1846, iron rifled cannon, loaded at the breech, were invented by Major Cavalli and Baron Wahrendorf, for the purpose of firing cylindro-conical and cylindro-conoidal shot. In these guns the mechanical contrivances for securing the breech, are very superior to the rude processes of earlier times; yet it appears doubtful whether or not, even now, they are sufficiently strong to insure safety when high charges are used in long continued firing. The length of the Cavalli gun is 8 feet 10.3 inches; it weighs 66 cwt., and its calibre is 6 inches. Two grooves are cut spirally along the bore, each of them making about half a turn in the length, which is 6 feet 9 inches. The chamber, which is cylindrical, is 11.8 inches long and 7.008 inches diameter.

In the summers of 1853 and 1854, trials were made at a spot between Leiny and Cirie, in Piedmont, of a rifled Cavalli gun, loaded at the breech, and with various improvements in the apparatus for loading and pointing. The gun carried cylindro-ogivale shells, each weighing 30 kilo grammes, (66 lbs. 3 oz. English,) and provided with a metal fuze. The shells were fired with charges equal to one-tenth of the weight of the projectile, at elevations varying from 5 to 25 degrees. The firing was directed against a target about 10 feet square, and placed at the distance of 3,050 yards from the gun. In ten trials, at an elevation of 10 degrees, the mean of the ranges obtained was 3,058 yards; the means of the deviations were to the right 3.4 yards, and to the left 3.39 yards. After one rebound the shot went to the distance of 4,096 yards from the gun, with a deviation to the right equal to 126 yards. The mean time of flight was 11 seconds. In fifteen trials, at an elevation of 15 degrees, the mean of the ranges was 4,128 yards; the mean deviations were, to the right 11 yards, and to the left 1 foot 11 inches. The time of flight was 16 seconds. In fifteen trials, at an elevation of 20 degrees, the mean of the ranges was 4,917 yards; while the mean deviations were, to the right 6 yards 2 feet, and to the left 10 yards. The time of flight was 19 seconds. Lastly, in ten trials, at an elevation of 25 degrees, the mean of the ranges was 5,563 yards, while the deviations were, to the right 3 yards, and to the left 4 yards. These trials were considered highly satisfactory; and no less so were some experiments also made with metal fuzes, and with a charge equal to one-thirtieth of the weight of the projectile; the first shell so fired struck against one of the beams of the target, and tore away splinters of the wood varying in length from 1 ft. 9 in. to 1 ft. 11 in. The bursting-charge appeared to be fired a little “before the moment of the shell falling.

Baron Wahrendorf invented a 24-pounder gun, which is also to be loaded at the breech. It is mounted on a cast-iron traversing carriage; and, taking little room, it appears to be very fit for casemates. The upper part of the carriage has, on each side, the form of an inclined plane, which rises towards the breech, and terminates near either extremity in a curve whose concavity is upwards. Previously to the gun being fired the trunnions rest near the lower extremity; and on the discharge taking place, the gun recoils on the trunnions, along the ascending plane, when its motion is presently stopped. After the recoil, the gun descends on the plane to its former position, where it rests after a few short vibrations. The axis of the gun constantly retains a parallel position, so that the pointing does not require readjustment after each round. The gun was worked easily by eight men, apparently without any strain on the carriage, With a charge of 8 lbs., and with solid shot, the recoil was about 3 feet, and the trunnions did not reach the upper extremity of the inclined plane, though the surface was greased.

THE ARMSTRONG GUN. In the latter part of the year 1854, Mr. William George Armstrong (now Sir William George Armstrong) submitted to the Duke of Newcastle, then Minister at War, a proposal for a rifled field-piece on a new principle, and undertook, with his grace's authority, to construct a gun upon the plan he had suggested. This gun was completed early in the following year, (1855,) and became the subject of a long course of experiments, which ultimately led to the general introduction of the weapon into the British service. Fig. 191 shows the exterior of a 12-pounder Armstrong gun, such as is now used for field artillery, and also an end view of the same, showing the hole through the breech-screw for loading and sponging the gun. These guns can be fired with careful aim twice in a minute, and fully three times per minute without aim.

The following description of the Armstrong gun, as now manufactured, was given by Sir William in the discussion which recently took place at the Civil Engineers' Institute.

“The gun is composed wholly of wrought iron, and the prominent feature in its manufacture is the application of the material in the form of long bars, which are coiled into spiral tubes, and then welded by forging. For the convenience of manufacture, these tubes are made in lengths of from 2 to 3 feet, which are united together, when necessary, by welded joints. From the muzzle to the trunnions the gun is made in one thickness, and is therefore, so far as that portion is concerned, strictly analogous to the barrel of a fowling-piece. FIG. 192. Behind the trunnions two additional layers of material are applied. The external layer consists, like the inner tube, of spiral coils; but the intermediate layer is composed of iron slabs bent into a cylindrical form and welded at the edges. The reason for this distinction is, that the intermediate layer has chiefly to sustain the thrust on the breech, and it is therefore desirable that the fibre of the iron should be in the direction of the length, while elsewhere in the gun it is more advantageously applied in the transverse direction. The back end of the gun receives the breech-screw, which presses against a movable plug, or stopper for closing the bore. This screw is hollow, and when the stopper is removed, the passage through the screw may be regarded as a prolongation of the bore. The screw is turned by means of a handle, which is free to move through half a circle before it begins to turn the screw. It has thus a certain amount of run, which enables it to act as a hammer, both in tightening and slackening the screw. The bore is 3 inches in diameter, and is rifled with thirty-four small grooves, having the driving side rectangular and radial, and the opposite side rounded. The bore is widened at the breech end one-eighth of an inch, so that the shot may enter freely and choke at the commencement of the grooves.

 “The projectile (Fig. 192) consists of a very thin cast-iron shell, the interior of which is composed of forty-two segment-shaped pieces of cast iron, built up in layers around a cylindrical cavity in the centre, which contains the bursting-charge, and the concussion arrangement. The exterior of the shell is thinly coated with lead, which is applied by placing the shell in a mould, and pouring melted lead around it.

12-PDB. SEGMENT SHELL.

The lead is also allowed to percolate among A A. The cast-iron case or shell . The segment shot in layers, the segments, so as to fill up the interstices, the central cavity being kept open by the insertion of a steel core. In this state the C. The lead covering. D. The central cavity for bursting-tube, and concussion-fuze. E. Screw for time-fuze. projectile is so compact that it may be fired through six feet of hard timber without injury; while its resistance to a bursting force is so small, that less than one ounce of powder is sufficient to break it in pieces. When this projectile is to be used as a shot, it requires no preparation, but the expediency of using it in any case otherwise than as a shell, is much to be doubted. To make it available as a shell, the bursting-tube, the concussion arrangement, arid the time-fuze, are all to be inserted; the bursting-tube entering first and the time-fuze being screwed in at the apex. If then the time-fuze be correctly adjusted, the shell will burst when it reaches within a few yards of the object; or, failing that, it will burst by the concussion arrangement, when it strikes the object, or grazes the ground near it. Again, if it be required to act as “ canister,” upon an enemy close to the gun, the regulator of the time-fuze must be turned to zero on the scale, and the shell will then burst at the instant of quitting the gun. In every case the shell on bursting spreads into a cloud of pieces, each having a forward velocity equal to that of the shell at the instant of fracture. The explosion of one of these shells in a” closed chamber, where the pieces could be collected, resulted in the following fragments: 106 pieces of cast iron, 99 pieces of lead, and 12 pieces of fuze, &c.; making in all 217 pieces. The construction of the time-fuze and the concussion arrangement are described as follows: The body of the time-fuze (Fig. 193) is made of a mixture of lead and tin, cast to the required form, in a mould. The fuze-composition is stamped into a channel forming nearly an entire circle round the body of the fuze, and is afterwards papered and varnished on the external surfaces. As the shell fits accurately into the gun, there is no passage of flame by which the fuze could be ignited. That effect is therefore produced in the following manner: A small quantity of detonating composition is deposited at the bottom of the cylindrical cavity in the centre of the fuze, and above this is placed a small weight, or striker terminating in a sharp point presented downwards. This striker is secured in its place by a pin, which, when the gun is fired, is broken by reason of the vis inertice of the striker. The detonator is then instantly pierced by the point, and thus fired. The flame thus produced passes into an annular space, formed within the revolving cover, which rests on the upper surface of the fuze-composition, and from this annular space, it is directed outwards, through an opening, so as to impinge on and to ignite the fuze-composition, at any required part of the circle. The fuze, thus ignited, burns in both directions, but only takes effect at one extremity, where it communicates with a small magazine of powder in the centre. The fuze is surrounded by a scale-paper, graduated to accord with the elevation of the gun, so that when the range of a distant object is found by trial, it is only necessary to turn the igniting aperture of the cover to the point on the fuze-scale corresponding with the degrees and minutes of elevation on the tangent-scale. This fuze has the advantage of being capable of adjustment and readjustment any number of times, before entering the gun, and the officer in command has the opportunity of seeing that it is correctly set, at the moment of being used.

“The concussion-fuze (Fig. 194) is on nearly the same principle. A striker with a point, presented upwards, is secured in a tube by a wire fastening, which is broken on the firing of the gun; the striker, being then liberated, recedes through a small space, and rests at the bottom of the tube, but as soon as the shell meets with any check in its motion, the striker runs forward and pierces the detonator in front, by which means the bursting-charge is ignited. The process of loading is effected by placing the projectile, with the cartridge and a greased wad, in the hollow of the breech-screw, and thrusting them either separately or B  e holdin ? wire-collectively, by a rammer, into the bore opposite C. The detonator. J ' J D. The chamber for priming-site; (Fig. 195.) The stopper is then dropped E. Flame passages. into its place, and secured by half a turn of the screw. The gun is fired by the ordinary friction-tube, the vent being FIG. 194.

contained in the stopper. The whole operation is simple, and can be very rapidly performed.

“ In the early guns it was necessary that I the portion of the bore which was occupied by the shot should be perfectly clean, other wise the shot would not always enter its |f place. A wet sponge had therefore to be &T used; but in the new guns, now issued for service, a slight alteration in the bore has ! enabled a greased wad to be employed with g perfect effect, in substitution of the wet sponge. “ The gun can now be fired with great rapidity, and apparently for any length of time, with out being sponged at all. The reason for ? making the vent in the stopper is, that, since  the chief wear of the gun always takes place at the vent, it is better to make it in a part g which can be easily replaced, than in the body of the gun itself. The breech-screw being internal is never exposed to injury, nor can drifting sand, or dust, ever reach the  oiled surfaces, so as to impede the action of “ the screw by adhering to the lubrication. The screw is of small diameter, and the few inches of extra length in the gun, required for its g reception, cannot be of any importance, considering that any further reduction of weight is prohibited by recoil. The stopper is secured from falling by a chain, but in practice 3 it is preferred to leave it loose. The man who fires the gun lifts the stopper after each * round, and in so doing only occupies time that would otherwise be vacant. A duplicate stopper accompanies each gun. The form of carriage which was originally used, is represented in the following diagram, (Fig. 196.) It was fitted with a recoil slide, which was afterwards abandoned for field guns; but it g has been decided that the principle should be retained in ship guns, (Fig. 197.) It is a point of great importance, that a breech-loading gun should be self-acting, in recovering its position after recoil, so as to obviate the employment of so many men to run out the gun. A traversing movement was originally applied to the field-carriages, as shown in the diagram, and was found to afford great facility in laying the gun. A very neat modification of this traversing movement has recently been contrived in the Royal Carriage Department, and adopted for the field carriages.”

The greatest range which has yet been attained with the Armstrong gun is 9,175 yards, or nearly 5 miles. The conditions which are chiefly conducive to an extended range are, a small bore and a very lengthened projectile; but the more a projectile assumes the character of a bolt, the less suitable it becomes for a shell. Sir William Armstrong, therefore, deprecates any further increase of range at expense of efficiency in the shell; and, indeed, it may well be doubted whether an ex tension of range beyond a distance of five miles would prove of any practical utility. The following is an example of practice with the Armstrong 12-pounder field-gun of 8 cwt., at an angle of 5 and with a charge of 1 Ib. 8 oz.

The above practice was made with the ordinary shell adapted for this gun, and the minimum charge. By increasing the charge, and using a longer projectile, the same range is attained with less elevation, but the recoil becomes too severe upon the carriage for long continued firing. The projectiles, as now used for these guns, are in all cases made of cast iron, thinly coated with lead, and, being of somewhat larger diameter than the bore, the lead is crushed into the grooves; by means of which the necessary rotation is given, while all shake and windage are prevented. The projectile for field-service admits of being used indifferently as solid shot, shrapnell shells, or canister shot. It is composed of separate pieces, so compactly bound together that it has been fired through a mass of oak timber 9 feet in thickness without sustaining fracture. When used as a shell it divides into the number of pieces of iron, lead, and fuze, stated in p. 519. It combines the principle of the shrapnell and of the percussion shell: that is, it may be made to explode either as it approaches the object or as it strikes it. The shock which the projectile receives in the gun puts the percussion arrangement as it were from half-cock to full-cock, and it then becomes so delicate that it will burst by striking even a bundle of shavings. It may also be made to explode at the instant of leaving the gun, in which case the pieces produce the usual effect of grape or canister, For breaching purposes or for bursting in the side of a ship, a different construction of shell is adopted. The object in that case being to introduce the largest possible charge of powder, the projectile used is simply a hollow shot, and from its length and form is capable of containing a much larger bursting charge than is compatible with a spherical form of the same diameter. The largest gun which has yet been completed upon Sir William Armstrong's principle is one of 65 cwt., which, although only designed to throw a projectile of 80 lbs., has been frequently tried with a shot weighing upwards of 100 lbs.

Early in the course of his experiments, Sir William Armstrong's attention was directed to the improvement of the sights, as the means of aiming guns previously employed were obviously not sufficiently delicate for a gun having 57 times their accuracy. The sights which he has introduced present many peculiarities. The eye-piece of the tangent-scale is in the form of a cross slit, and has a traversing movement for correcting the effect of side wind. The vertical and lateral movements of the sight are each regulated by means of a vernier which enables the scale to be read off to one minute of a degree both for elevation and deflection. With regard to the strength of the Armstrong guns to resist explosion, the 12-pounders have been improved by filling the chamber with powder (about 2 lbs.), and using a shot of double the service-weight. In the case of the 40-pounders, it is intended to apply double charges and single shot. To provide for a large charge of powder, it is only necessary to reduce the lead on the shot, so as to allow it to enter further into the bore. Sir W. Armstrong believes the strength of his guns to be enormously in excess of these charges, the object of the proof being rather to detect defects in the surface of the bore than the resistance to bursting, which he considers to be almost uniform in all guns constructed on his principle.


THE WHITWORTH GUN. Mr. Whitworth, of Manchester, has succeeded in constructing several rifled breech-loading cannon of various calibres: his 3-pounder gun, 208 lbs. in weight, with a calibre of 1 inches, a charge of 8 oz. of powder, and an elevation of 35 P , projects its shot to a distance of more than 5 miles, and this with remarkable accuracy. He applies the same principles to his guns which have been so successful in his small-arms using a very long projectile, 3 diameters in length, that the resistance of the air may be as small as possible, (Fig. 198.) To overcome the tendency of so long a projectile to turn over in its flight, a rapid spin or rotation is impressed upon FIG. 193. it, by a more than usually rapid twist in the grooves of the rifle. The bore of the barrel is described by its hexagonal section moving parallel to itself from breech to muzzle, and at the same time rotating uniformly about its centre with such a velocity, that it completes one whole rotation while its centre is moving over a space of 20 inches in the small-arms and 3 feet 8 inches in the 3-pounder gun. So that the barrel may be considered as a rifle with six grooves, making one turn in 20 inches in the one case, and in 3 feet 8 inches in the other. The bullets are made of a hard metal, an alloy of 9 parts lead with 1 part tin, and they are shaped to fit accurately the interior of the bore. Experiments made to test the penetrating powers of Whitworth's hexagonal 80-pounder shot, have established its superiority to any other gun or projectile yet produced in penetrating power. The hexagonal bore is also the best for communicating a rapid rifle motion to the projectile, but experiments in the United States have not shown it to be safe for ordinary cast-iron cannon.

All serviceable cannon, whether of bronze or iron, may be rifled, for the use of General James's projectile. It is, therefore, an invention of the greatest practical utility, and the author is much indebted to Major W. A. Thornton, U. S. Ordnance Department, for the following description and experiments made by a board of officers of the U. S. Army:


GENERAL JAMES'S PROJECTILE is a cylindro-conoidal missile of cast-iron, having a compound envelop of canvas sheet tin, and lead, called packing, encircling nearly the entire length of the body of the cylinder. The canvas, being the external portion of the packing, is well saturated with a tallow lubric, which renders the loading easy, and cleans the gun at each discharge. The head of the projectile may be solid, or, if it has a prepared cavity, the missile then becomes a shell. The average w r eight of the projectile for a 42-pounder gun is, if a solid, 81j lbs., if a shell, G4 lbs., of which in either case 6-Ibs. is the weight of the packing. Its length is 13 inches, of which 6| inches is the measurement of the conical head, and 6f inches is the length of its cylindrical body. The diameter of the cylinder is 6f inches, or | of an inch less than the bore of a 42-pounder gun. It retains its full diameter for f of an inch of its length at each end: then for the intermediate space, the diameter is shortened half an inch, thereby forming a recess round the body of the cylinder, between the ends; (Fig. 199. ) v The shortening of the diameter, and consequent loss of iron to the circumference of the body of the cylinder, is replaced by the before-named  packing, when the projectile is prepared for use, (Fig. 200.) The solidity of the conical head is continued into, and forms the solid end of the cylinder. The base, or opposite end of the projectile, has a central orifice, of 3 1/4 inches in diameter, which extends 2 1/2 inches into the cylinder; and from which ten rectangular openings diverge, (like the mortises for spokes in the hub of a wheel,) through the body, to the periphery of the cylinder, in the recess of its circumference. The packing is formed by a plate of sheet tin, of the length of the greatest circle of the cylinder; and in width, equal to the length of the recess caused by the shortening of the diameter. This plate of tin is laid on a piece of strong canvas, which is two inches wider, but of the same length of the plate; and the canvas is folded over the side edges of the plate and firmly secured by cross sewing. The tin plate, when so prepared, or half covered, is folded round the body of the missile in the recess, and retained in position by an iron collar clamp; (Figs. 199 and 200.) The space between the inner surface of the envelop and the body of the cylinder is filled with melted lead, which, adhering to the tin and iron, forms a compact mass round the body of the projectile. When the charge is fired, the power or gas generated by the burning of the powder, in its effort to expel the projectile and to escape from the gun, is forced into the orifice in the base of the missile, and through the ten openings against the packing, which is thereby pressed into the grooves, in the gun's bore, and by its firm hold in them the rifle motion is imparted to the projectile. The packing has not been known to strip from the projectile while in the gun; and the certainty that it compels obedience on the part of the missile to the rifling, is demonstrated in direct hits, by the perfect circular orifice cut by the shot in entering targets; and when the projectiles are obtained after firing, their head and body are frequently found cut in furrows, conforming to the rifling of the gun, by stones, against which the missile impinged in entering the ground. All serviceable guns, either of bronze or iron, can be made available by rifling, for the use of the said projectiles. The rifling should be of the gain twist nature. It should be shallow; say, for field-guns 1/20th, and for siege-guns 1/13th, and 1/17th of an inch in depth. The lands and grooving should be of the same width, and about 18 of each, for the bore of a 42-pound er gun. The ordinary grained cannon powder does not appear to act too violently in projecting these heavy missiles from field-guns; but there can be no doubt that the coarse-grained T  inch powder is far the best for service, in firing James's projectiles from long-bored guns.

When the projectile is a shell, (Fig. 201) its fuze-orifice is in its head and axis. The length of the orifice for a 42-pounder shell is 2 1/2 inches. For two inches of its length, its diameter is 1 inch, and for the remainder of the length, the diameter is reduced to 3/4of an inch; so forming a shoulder in the fuze-orifice, to prevent the fuze-plug from being driven into the cavity of the shell, when, by firing, the missile is expelled from the gun. The threads of a female screw are cut in the head of the fuze-orifice for the reception of the body of the fuze-orifice cap. This cap is of brass. Its diameter is an inch, its length half an inch; its head is convexed, and has a slot cut in it for the reception of a screw-driver; the base end is deeply cupped, to admit the nipple of a musket cone, and to give more play to the fuze-plug.

The fuze-plug is of wrought iron, surmounted by a musket cone; and its action in the fuze-orifice is like the ordinary working of a piston. Its length is li inches, of which the quarter is the length of its shoulder. The diameter of its shoulder and body, is very nearly the same as the two diameters of the fuze-orifice. Its vent is in its axis, and in size to receive the male screw of the musket cone. The threads of a female screw are cut in the head end of the vent, of sufficient length to receive the screw end of the said cone.

When the shell is loaded, care should be taken not to overfill its cavity, and thereby prevent the working of the fuze-plug. The powder should be cleaned from the fuze-orifice; the plug should be oiled to ensure its free and sure action. Its cone should be capped, but before the application the percussion cap should be carefully examined to see that it is perfect, and of the best quality. The fuze-plug, when so prepared, is then inserted into the fuze-orifice, and it should enter freely but not by its own weight, until the shoulders of the fuze-plug and orifice are in contact. The cap for the fuze-orifice should be then firmly screwed in, which completes the charging of the shells. If after the shell is loaded the fuze-plug should be disturbed by handling; that is, if the plug has slid forward, it will be forced back to its proper position by the impulse given to the missile, by the firing of the gun charge; and it will so remain during the flight, until the shell impinges against any hard substance; as ground, wood, 06C,, which, by obstructing the progress of the missile, causes the fuze-plug to slide ' forward with violence, and by the collision of the cone's point against the bottom of the fuze-orifice cap-plug, the percussion cap on the cone will be exploded, and the bursting charge of the shell fired.

GENERAL C. T. JAMES'S PROJECTILE. SUMMARY OF TARGET-FIEING, WATCH HILL, R. I., 1860.

42-pdr. Service Gun, Rifled.

811 lbs. averaged weight of projectile, of which 6J lbs. packing, 2 “ of powder, the loading charge of shell, 8 “ averaged weight of charge of powder, 2  u elevation, 3i /; time of flight to target, 45 projectiles fired, 31 hits direct, 8 hits ricochet, 68.8 proportional direct hits per 100 shots 17.7 “ ricochet  target 20 by 40 feet. distance 1,000 yards. 5 2' elevation, 6 f” time of flight to target, 65 projectiles fired, 15 hits direct, 7 hits ricochet, 23 proportional direct hits per 100 shots 10.7 “ ricochet “ “ target 20 by 40 feet. distance 2,000 yards. FIG. 202.

Remarks. The averaged weight of the projectile at rest in the gun was 81^ lbs.; averaged weight of packing thrown off was 6 lbs.; weight of projectile when it impinged, 74J lbs. Penetration, through 45 inches of the best well-seasoned oak, at 2,000 yards; weight of oak target 17 tons, well bedded and firmly braced by back timbers; forced back 10 inches by impact of shot; range, at 15 elevation 4,346 yards, or nearly 2| miles; ricochet on water, in prolongation of line of fire, but the projectile does not bound as often as round balls. When the missile is a shell loaded, it bursts by percussion, in penetrating earth, or other denser material.

The Reed projectile is also an American invention. Its peculiarity, whether shot or shell, consists in its having a base or cup of wrought iron connected by casting in, or in any other mode of attachment, to the cast-iron projectile, (Fig. 202.) The object is to obtain a material pliable enough to be forced by the expansive action of the powder into the grooves of the gun, and strong enough to give the necessary rotative movement to the projectile resulting from the twist of these grooves. The action is in fact similar to that of the common elongated bullet for the rifle musket, or the application of the Minie ball to cannon. The projectile is 2.9 inches. R. P. Parrott, Esq., West Point Foundry, has produced a field-gun for firing this elongated bullet reinforced by wrought iron, the idea of which is not novel, but which he claims to have arranged in proper proportions, and otherwise to have brought into practical shape so as to make a safe, cheap, and good rifled cannon. The gun has, in reference to the projectile, three grooves and a twist of one turn in 10 feet. It has not yet been before a board, but has been successfully tried before officers of the army. (Consult Sir HOWARD DOUGLAS; HYDE; WILCOX. See AMMUNITION; ARMS; BULLET; CARBINE; FIRING; PERCUSSION; PROJECTILE.) (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 510-532).


RIFLE PITS are holes or short trenches, about four feet long and three feet deep, forming, with the earth thrown out in front of them, cover for two men. There is generally a loophole on the top of the breastwork, made, by placing two sand-bags across the parapet, and a third resting on these, in the direction of it, to cover the head and shoulders of the riflemen. A rifle pit of this construction is shown in plan, section, and elevation in Fig. 203. FIG. 203.  (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, p. 532)


RIGGING’S HILL, TENNESSEE, September 7, 1862. (See Clarkesville, same date.)


RIGGS, George Washington, banker, born in Georgetown, D. C, 4 July, 1813; died at Green Hill, Prince George's County, Maryland, near Washington, 24 August, 1881. He was educated at Yale, and in 1836, with William W. Corcoran, formed the banking house of Corcoran and Riggs. which acquired a national fame during the Mexican War by taking up the entire loan that was called for by the government in 1847 and 1848. This proved a profitable transaction from the large commission that was received and indirectly by bringing the firm into great publicity. When Mr. Corcoran retired from business Mr. Riggs formed the present firm of Riggs and Company. He also entered largely into the purchase of real estate in Washington and other parts of the District of Columbia. Mr. Riggs took a great interest in the management of the affairs of the District, and in 1873 he acted as chairman of the committee that presented a petition to congress asking for an investigation into the conduct of the board of public works. The result of the investigation was that the congressional committee reported in favor of abolishing the existing territorial government, and a new system was inaugurated, which vested all authority in Congress itself. Mr. Riggs possessed literary and artistic taste, and collected a  of valuable books and many works of art. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 253-254.


RIKER, John Lafayette, a colonel in the National Army, was killed at the battle of Fair Oaks, 31 May, 1862.


RILEY, Bennet, 1787-1853, soldier, territorial governor of California  (Rodriguez, 2007, p. 52; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 254; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 608; Annals of Congress; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 18, p. 512)

RILEY, Bennett, soldier, born in Alexandria, Virginia, 27 November, 1787; died in Buffalo, New York, 9 June, 1853. He entered the army from civil life at an early period, being appointed from Maryland an ensign of rifles, 19 January, 1813, and continued in the service until he died. He became lieutenant on 12 March, served in the war of 1812, and was promoted captain, 6 August, 1818, major, 26 September, 1837, and lieutenant-colonel, 1 December, 1839. He served with gallantry in 1823 in an action with the Arickaree Indians, and for his services at Chakotta, Florida, 2 June, 1840, he was brevetted colonel. In the Mexican War of 1846-'7 he was given important commands. He led the 2d U.S. Infantry under Scott, and the 2d Brigade of Twiggs's division in the valley of Mexico. He received the brevet of brigadier-general, 18 April, 1847, for gallantry at Cerro Gordo, and that of major-general, 20 August, 1847, for Contreras. After one of his successful engagements with the enemy General Winfield Scott assured him that his bravery had secured a victory for the American Army. At the conclusion of the war General Riley was placed in command of the Pacific Department, with headquarters at Monterey. He was appointed military governor of California, and served as the first chief magistrate of the territory and until the admission of the state into the Union. He became colonel of the 1st U.S. Infantry on 31 January, 1850. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 254.  


RIOT. (See EXECUTION OF LAWS.)


RITCHIE, John, 1817-1887, Indiana, anti-slavery activist, Union Army officer.  Moved to Kansas in 1855 to support the efforts to have Kansas enter the Union as a Free State.  Served as a delegate in two Kansas Constitutional Conventions.  He supported Free Stater leader James H. Lane.  Served as a Colonel in the Civil War.


RITTER, Thomas, New York, New York, abolitionist, American Abolition Society, Executive Committee, 1855-1856.


RILEY, Henry Hiram, lawyer, born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, 1 September, 1813; died in Constantine, Michigan, 8 February, 1888. He was left an orphan at the age of ten, received a common-school education in New Hartford, New York, learned the printer's trade in Hudson, New York, worked in New York City as a journeyman printer from 1834 till 1837, and from 1837 till 1842 edited the "Seneca Observer," a Democratic paper, at Watertown, New York, at the same time pursuing the study of law. He sold this and went to Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he was admitted to the bar, and entered into practice in Constantine, taking a high rank in his profession. He was prosecuting attorney for St. Joseph County for six years, a member of the state senate in 1850-'l, a delegate to the Democratic Convention of 1860 at Charleston, where he supported the candidacy of Stephen A. Douglas for the presidency, a state senator again in 1862, an active member of the commission that revised the state constitution in 1873, and afterward judge of the circuit court, he contributed to the " Knickerbocker Magazine," under the pen-name of "Simon Oakleaf," a series of articles called "Puddleford Papers, or Humors of the West," which were followed by "Puddleford and its People." The latter was issued in book-form (New York, 1854), and the earlier papers, which were partly humorous and partly descriptive of nature, were subsequently published in a volume in a revised form, and attained popularity (1857). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 255.


RINEHART, William Henry, sculptor, born near Union Bridge, Carroll County, Maryland, 13 September. 1825; died in Rome, Italy, 28 October, 1874. His youth was passed at the homestead, and he attended school until he was nearly eighteen years of age, when he began to work on his father's farm, but became the assistant of a stone-cutter in the neighborhood. By strict attention to duty he soon excelled his employer, and in 1844 secured an apprenticeship in a Baltimore marble-yard, where he also took up drawing and other studies in his leisure hours. His energy and talent attracted the attention of his employers, who not only advanced him, but built a studio for him on their own premises. Many of the works that he produced during this time still exist in Baltimore. But after several years he decided to devote himself wholly to the art to which he had become attached, and in 1855 went to Italy to continue his studies. While there he executed two bas-reliefs in marble, " Night" and " Morning." On his return, two years later, he opened a studio in Baltimore, where he executed, besides numerous busts, a fountain-figure for the post-office at Washington, and two figures, "Indian" and "Backwoodsman," to support the clock in the house of representatives. In 1858 he settled in Rome. During the succeeding eight years there came from his studio " Hero and Leander"; "Indian Girl" ; " St. Cecilia"; " Sleeping Babes " ; " Woman of Samaria "; "Christ "and the "Angel of Resurrection " (both now in Loudoun cemetery); and the bronze statue, "Love, reconciled with Death" in Greenmount Cemetery, Baltimore. He completed also the bronze doors of the capitol, which Thomas Crawford left unfinished at his death. He made visits to this country in 1866 and in 1872, bringing with him in the latter year his statue of Chief-Justice Roger B. Taney, which in the same year was unveiled in Annapolis, Maryland. In 1873 he set sail once more for Italy with a large number of orders. A desire to fill these all in time induced him to remain in Rome longer than usual during the summer, and he fell a victim to malaria. Besides those already mentioned, Rinehart's principal works include "Antigone"; "Nymph"; "Clytie," which he has called his masterpiece, and which is owned by the Peabody Institute; "Atalanta"; "Latona and her Children"; "Diana and Apollo"; "Endymion" (1874); and "Rebecca." in the Corcoran gallery at Washington. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 256.


RINGOLD, Samuel, soldier, born in Washington County, Maryland, in 1800; died in Point Isabel, Texas, 11 May, 1846. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1818, served for several years as aide-de-camp to General Winfield Scott, became 1st lieutenant in 1822, and was brevetted captain in 1832. He became captain in 1836, participated in the Florida War, and was brevetted major " for active and efficient conduct" during hostilities. He then organized a corps of flying artillery, and was mortally wounded at Palo Alto, the first battle of the Mexican War. He introduced flying artillery into this country, invented a saddle-tree, which was subsequently known as the McClelland saddle, and a rebounding hammer made of brass for exploding the fulminating primers for field-guns, that prevented the blowing away of the hammer. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 257.


RINGOLD, Cadwalader, naval officer, born in Washington County, Maryland, 20 August, 1802; died in New York City, 20 April, 1867. He entered the U.S. Navy as midshipman, 4 March, 1819, served in Commodore Porter's “mosquito fleet" in the West Indies in 1823-'4 for the suppression of piracy, and was commissioned lieutenant, 17 May, 1828. In 1838 he was appointed to command the brig "Porpoise" in Lieutenant Charles Wilkes's Exploring Expedition, and participated in making the discovery of the Antarctic Continent. In August, 1840, he took part in an attack on the natives of Suahib, Feejee Islands, where two of the officers of the exploring expedition had been killed by cannibals. He assisted in the survey of Columbia River, Puget sound, the harbor of San Francisco and Sacramento River, and among the South Sea Islands. He returned to New York in June, 1842, by way of the Cape of Good Hope, after circumnavigating the globe, and collected valuable scientific information concerning the Pacific and Antarctic Oceans. On 16 July, 1849, he was commissioned a commander. He was on special duty in California in 1849-'51, and in the Bureau of Construction at the Navy Department in 1852, and took command of the North Pacific Exploring Expedition, sailing in the "Vincennes," but feeble health compelled him to return home. In September, 1855, he was placed on the reserved list, and on 2 April, 1856, he was promoted to captain on the active list. He had special duty in Washington in 1859-60. When the Civil War began, he was placed in command of the frigate " Sabine." He was commissioned commodore, 16 July, 1862, and placed on the retired list, 20 August, 1864. He was promoted to rear-admiral on the retired list, 25 July, 1866. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 257.


RINGOLD, George Hay, soldier, born in Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1814; died in San Francisco, California, 4 April, 1864, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1833, and became 2d lieutenant, 6th U.S. Infantry, on 15 August, 1836. He resigned from the army in 1837 and engaged in farming. He was reappointed with the rank of additional paymaster in 1846, and became major on the staff, and paymaster in 1847. He served in the pay department during the Mexican War, became lieutenant-colonel and deputy paymaster-general in May, 1862. and was in charge of the paymasters of the Department of the Pacific from 1861 till his death, he was an accomplished scholar, draughtsman, and painter, and published "Fountain Rock, Amy Weir, and other Metrical Pastimes " (New York, 1860).  Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 257.


RINGGOLD, GEORGIA, September 11, 1863. 1st Brigade, 4th Division, 14th Army Corps, and 3d Division, 21st Corps. During the Chickamauga campaign the brigade of mounted infantry under Colonel John T. Wilder of the 17th Indiana started forward at daylight and when 2 miles from Ringgold Scott's brigade of Confederate cavalry was encountered. The 92nd Illinois being in the advance dismounted, formed line, and attacked, the 17th Indiana being sent to the right to flank the enemy, who soon gave way, leaving 13 dead on the field. Pursuit was immediately started, but before the -retreat through the gap could be cut off Van Cleve's division of the 21st corps coming up from Rossville drove the enemy in confusion through the gap. Wilder again took the lead and 3 miles beyond Ringgold the Confederates made another stand in a strong position. but a flanking movement again succeeded in dislodging them. At Tunnel hill the next stand was made, the Confederates having been reinforced meantime by Armstrong's brigade. After routing them at this point Wilder pursued to within 4 miles of Dalton and then went into camp at Tunnel hill. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 739.


RINGGOLD, GEORGIA, March 20, 1865. U. S. Forces under Achilles Chiniquy. A despatch to Brigadier-General H. M. Judah from Chiniquy at Ringgold contains the following: "My pickets have been attacked. Guerrillas have withdrawn; expect an attack before daylight in the morning." The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 739.


RINGGOLD GAP, GEORGIA, November 27, 1863. Detachments of 12th and 15th Army Corps. During the pursuit of the Confederates up the Chickamauga valley the troops under General Hooker drove the enemy from the bridge and ford over the east fork of the Chickamauga river and entered Ringgold. Back of the village is a gap in Taylor's ridge through which the river flowed and the railroad and the pike passed. It was through this gap that Bragg's army had to move to get out of the valley. A strong position was taken on the ridge and in the gap by the Confederates. Osterhaus' division, which had the Federal advance, threw out skirmishers who immediately became engaged with those of the enemy. Woods' brigade was deployed under cover of the railroad embankment and the 13th Illinois was advanced to a house from which they could pick off the Confederate artillerists. Apprehensive for their artillery the Confederates advanced on this house in greatly superior numbers and the Illinois men were compelled to fall back. Williamson sent four regiments of his brigade to turn the enemy's right, but on finding that the Confederate line extended beyond where Williamson was advancing. Hooker ordered Geary to throw Creighton's brigade still farther to the left. Both brigades proceeded up the slope under a most harassing and murderous fire, and two regiments of each brigade actually reached the crest of the ridge and the enemy's position, when the superior forces thrown against them compelled them to withdraw—Geary to the shelter of a depression in the side of the ridge and Williamson behind the railroad embankment. Woods' brigade was then made the objective point of an attack by the Confederates, but with the assistance of Ireland's brigade of Geary's division, which was hurried up as a reinforcement, the attack was repulsed. About noon the artillery, which had been delayed in the passage of Chickamauga creek, came up and was deployed in position to sweep the gap, the Confederate batteries playing on Hooker's left, and the force massed in front of Geary. It was not long before this cannonade had the desired effect and the Confederates withdrew, followed over the ridge by Williamson and through the gap by the skirmishers of the 60th and 102nd New York infantry. The Federal losses in this fight were 65 killed, 424 wounded and 20 captured or missing. The Confederate casualties were not reported. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, pp. 739-140.


RINGGOLD GAP, GEORGIA, May 2, 1864. Kilpatrick's Cavalry. During a reconnaissance from his camp at Ringgold General Kilpatrick came up with a detachment of the enemy near Stone Church and drove them from one stand to another in the direction of Tunnel Hill. One of these slight skirmishes occurred near Ringgold gap. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 740.


RIO BONITO, New Mexico, March 27, 1863. (See Bonito Rio.)


RIO HONDO, NEW MEXICO, July 18, 1863. One company of the 1st New Mexico Cavalry; Indian fight. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 740.


RIPLEY, James Wolfe, soldier, born in Windham, Connecticut, 10 December, 1794; died in Hartford, Connecticut, 16 March, 1870. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1814, entered the artillery, served in the second war with Great Britain, and participated in the defence of Sackett’s Harbor. He became battalion quartermaster of artillery in 1816, 1st lieutenant in 1818, was engaged during the Seminole War in the seizure of Pensacola and the capture of San Carlos de Barrancas, and was commissioner for running the boundary-line of the Florida Indian reservations in 1823-'4. He became captain in 1825, was in command at Charleston Harbor during the threatened South Carolina nullification disturbances in 1832-'3, and became major in 1838. He was superintendent of the Springfield Armory in 1841-'54, and in May, 1848. was brevetted lieutenant-colonel "for the performance of his duty in the prosecution of the Mexican War." He became full lieutenant-colonel in 1854, was chief of ordnance in the Department of the Pacific in 1855-'7, and became colonel and Chief of Ordnance, U. S. Army, which he held till his retirement in 1863. He received the brevet of brigadier-general, U. S. Army, in July, 1861, and in August was promoted to the full rank. From his retirement until his death he was inspector of the armament of fortifications on the New England Coast. In March, 1865, he received the brevet of major-general, U. S. Army, for "long and faithful service." Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 260.


RIPLEY, Roswell Sabine, soldier, born in Worthington, Franklin County, Ohio, 14 March, 1823; died in New York City, 26 March, 1887, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1843, served in the Mexican War, where he was engaged at Monterey, Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, Molino del Rey, Chapultepec, and the capture of the city of Mexico, and was brevetted captain for Cerro Gordo and major for Chapultepec. He engaged in the Florida War in 1849, but resigned from the army in 1853 and engaged in business in Charleston, South Carolina. At the beginning of the Civil War he entered the Confederate service, directed the fire on Fort Sumter, 13 April, 1861, and in August of that year was appointed brigadier-general, with command of the Department of South Carolina and its coast defences. He was in charge of the 2d Military District of that state from December, 1861, till May, 1862, commanded a brigade that was composed of two Georgia and two North Carolina regiments in the defence of Richmond, Virginia, in June, 1862, and with it participated in the battles of Mechanicsville, Gaines's Mills. Malvern Hill, South Mountain, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. He then returned to South Carolina in charge of the 1st Military District of that state, constructed the defences of Charleston, and met the naval attack on 7 April. 1863. After the evacuation of that city he joined General Robert E. Lee in Richmond, and continued with him till the surrender. He went abroad after the war, resided in Paris for several years, and subsequently returned and engaged in business in Charleston, South Carolina. He published a "History of the Mexican War" (2 vols., New York, 1849). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 260.


RIPLEY, MISSISSIPPI, June 7, 1863. Cavalry Division, 16th Army Corps. As an incident of an expedition into Mississippi the cavalry under Brigadier-General Benjamin H. Grierson encountered a small party of Confederates at Ripley. They were easily driven back some 3 miles on the New Albany road to their reserve, which consisted of a brigade strongly posted. Portions of the two Federal brigades were deployed and for about 2 hours the skirmishing was brisk. The troops under Grierson succeeded in driving the enemy until night came on. when they fell back in a southerly direction. One Union man was killed and 3 were wounded, while the Confederates suffered to the extent of 6 killed and 15 wounded. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 740.


RIPLEY, MISSISSIPPI, June 11, 1863. Infantry Division, Sturgis' Expedition As the command of Colonel W. L. McMillen was moving out of Ripley, the day after its disastrous defeat at Brice's cross-roads, the Confederates under Forrest made a furious attack upon the place, gaining possession of the road on which the Federals were moving and cutting the division in two. The troops cut off were finally overpowered by superior numbers and obliged to move out on a road leading north from Ripley, making their way thence to Memphis. The casualties in the affair were not reported. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 740-741.


RIPLEY, MISSISSIPPI, December 1, 1863. 1st Cavalry Brigade, 16th Army Corps. Colonel J. K. Mizner, commanding the brigade, reported that while his command was scouting on the New Albany road the 3rd Illinois struck the enemy's advance at 10 a. m. 5 miles south of Ripley, and was obliged to fall back to where Mizner had disposed the remainder of his forces on three roads. This position the Confederates struck with overwhelming force, advancing in three columns, one dismounted, rendering it almost impossible for the dismounted Union troops to regain their horses. Pursuit was soon given up by the enemy on all but the Pocahontas road, on which the 3rd Michigan was driven until a last desperate and successful stand was made at Ruckersville at sunset. The casualties were not reported. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 741.


RIPLEY, MISSISSIPPI, July 7, 1864. 2nd Iowa Cavalry. The advance regiment of Smith's expedition to Tupelo encountered the Confederates near Ripley, posted in a strong position on a hill covered with thick underbrush. The regiment was dismounted and after a few minutes of sharp firing a charge was ordered, which was made across an open field and up a steep hill, carrying the enemy's position and driving him from the field. The Confederates left 10 dead on the ground, but carried off their wounded. The Iowa regiment had 4 men slightly wounded. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 741.


RIPLEY, MISSISSIPPI, October 7, 1864. 2nd Cavalry Brigade, Army of the Mississippi. During the pursuit of the Confederates after the battle of Corinth, the advance under Colonel Albert L. Lee encountered and fought the enemy's pickets at Ripley at 11 p. m. The enemy retired after a short resistance. The casualties, if any, were not reported. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 741.


RIPLEY, TENNESSEE, January 8, 1863. 2nd Illinois Cavalry. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 741.


RISING SUN, TENNESSEE, June 30, 1862. 57th Ohio Infantry. The wagon train of General Sherman's division, consisting of 67 wagons and guarded by the 57th Ohio under Colonel William Munger, was attacked at Rising Sun between 5 and 6 p. m. The Confederates were driven off after a spirited skirmish, during which 6 wagons were lost by the mules becoming frightened and running away. The Union casualties amounted to 3 men wounded and 8 teamsters and a wagon master captured. The Confederate loss was not accurately ascertained Munger reported it as being 9 killed and 18 wounded, but a citizen reported that 21 dead were found on the field the next day. Munger killed or disabled 6 of the enemy's horses and captured 5 more. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 741.

RIVERS' BRIDGE, SOUTH CAROLINA, February 3-4, 1865. (See Salkehatchie River.)


RIVES, John Cook (reeves), journalist, born in Franklin County, Virginia, 24 May, 1795; died in Prince George County, Maryland, 10 April, 1864. He moved to Kentucky at eleven years of age, was brought up by his uncle, Samuel Casey, acquired a good education, and in 1824 moved from Edwardsville, Illinois, (in which city he had been connected with a bank), to Washington, D. C, where he became a clerk in the fourth auditor's office. During the early part of President Jackson's administration, with Francis Blair, senior, he founded the "Congressional Globe," of which he was sole proprietor till 1864. He possessed much humor, and was generous in the extreme in his public and private benefactions. Altogether he gave about $30,000 to the wives of soldiers who had enlisted in the National Army from the District of Columbia, besides innumerable smaller amounts to private individuals, and he subsequently gave $12,000 toward the equipment of two regiments in the District of Columbia. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 267.


RIVES, William Cabell, senator, born in Nelson County, Virginia, 4 May, 1793; died at his country-seat, called Castle Hill, near Charlottesville, Virginia, 25 April, 1868. He was educated at Hampden Sidney and William and Mary, and studied law and politics under Thomas Jefferson. He served in 1814-'15 with a body of militia that was called out for the defence of Virginia during the second war with Great Britain, and was a member of the state constitutional convention in 1816 and of the legislature in 1817-'19. He was elected to Congress in 1822 as a Democrat, served three successive terms, and in 1829 was appointed by President Jackson minister to France, where he negotiated the Indemnity Treaty of 4 July, 1831. On his return in 1832 he was chosen U. S. Senator, in place of Littleton Tazewell, as a Van Buren conservative, but he resigned in 1834 in consequence of his unwillingness to participate in the Senate's vote of censure on President Jackson's removal of the U. S. bank deposits, of which he approved, but which the Virginia Legislature reprobated. The political character of that body having changed, he was returned to the Senate in 1835 in place of John Tyler, who had resigned, and held office till 1845. In January, 1837, he voted for Thomas H. Benton's "expunging resolution." which erased from the journal of the senate the resolution of censure for the removal of the bank deposits. He was again minister to France in 1849-'53. In 1861 he was one of the five commissioners to the "peace" Congress in Washington. After the secession of Virginia, with which he was not in sympathy, He served in the first and second provisional Confederate Congresses. Mr. Rives possessed extensive culture, and a pleasing and popular address. He published numerous pamphlets and addresses, and "Life and Character of John Hampden" (Richmond, 1845); "Ethics of Christianity " (1855); and "History of the Life and Times of James Madison" (4 vols., Boston, 1859-'69). In the preparation of this work he had the advantage of a long and intimate acquaintance with its subject, and the use of all his manuscripts and papers. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 267.


RIVES, Alfred Landon, engineer, born in Paris, France, 25 March, 1830, studied at Virginia Military Institute and at the University of Virginia, and in 1854 was graduated at the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees, Paris. He was an assistant engineer in completing the U. S. Capitol building, Washington. D. C, and in building the aqueduct there, in charge of the U. S. survey in improving Potomac River, and designed and constructed the Cabin John Bridge, near Washington, which at the time of its completion was the largest single-arch stone bridge in the world. Since the Civil War he has been general manager of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, and a vice-president and general manager of the Richmond and Danville Railroad, and he is now (1888) superintendent of the Panama Railroad. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 267.


RIXEYVILLE FORD, VIRGINIA, August 5, 1863. Detachments of 1st Massachusetts, 1st Pennsylvania and 1st New Jersey Cavalry. Under an order to scout over the Aestham river in the direction of Culpeper, Colonel H. B. Sargent took 300 men and moved from camp near Amissville. About dark his advance reached the fork of Gourd Vine creek and the Hazel river, when it became engaged with the enemy's pickets, and later he encountered a small Confederate cavalry picket 3 miles south of Rixeyville ford. Rather than run the chance of engaging a large reserve Sargent withdrew. One Confederate was reported killed. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 741.

RIXEYVILLE FORD, VIRGINIA, September 2, 1863. Pickets of 2nd Cavalry Division, Army of the Potomac. Colonel J. Irwin Gregg in reporting cavalry operations in Virginia, stated that his pickets at or near Rixeyville ford were attacked by some 200 Confederates. The pickets were all captured, but the reserve, which was also attacked, succeeded in repulsing the enemy. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 742.


ROACH, John, ship-builder, born in Mitchellstown, County Cork, Ireland, in 1815; died in New York City, 10 January, 1887. At the age of fourteen he came penniless to New York, and obtained work from John Allaire, in the Howell Iron-Works, New Jersey. In 1840 he went to Illinois to buy land, but he returned to New York, and worked as a machinist for several years, and then established a foundry with three fellow-workmen. The explosion of a boiler nearly ruined him financially, but he rebuilt his works, which were known as the Aetna Iron-Works. Here he constructed the largest engines that had been built in the United States at that time, and also the first compound engines. In 1868 he bought the Morgan Iron-Works in New York City, and also the Neptune, Franklin Forge, and Allaire Works, and in 1871 the ship-yards in Chester, Pennsylvania, that were owned by Rainer and Sons. He established a ship-building plant that covered 120 acres, and was valued at $2,000,000 under the name of the Delaware River Iron Ship-Building and Engine Works, of which he was the sole owner, and where he built sixty-three vessels in twelve years, chiefly for the U. S. government and large corporations. Among these were six monitors that were ordered during General Grant's administration. The last, vessels that he built for the U. S. Navy were the three cruisers "Chicago," "Atlanta," and "Boston," and the despatch-boat "Dolphin." On the refusal of the government to accept the "Dolphin" in 1885, Mr. Roach made an assignment, and closed his works; but they were reopened when the vessel was accepted. He constructed altogether about 114 iron vessels, and also built the sectional dock at Pensacola, Florida, and the iron bridge over Harlem River at Third Avenue, New York City, in 1860. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 268-269.


ROADS. “When it is proposed to construct a line of road, extending between two places, the officer upon whom such duty devolves, first makes himself well acquainted with the surface of, the country lying between the two places; he is then to select what he thinks, all circumstances being taken into consideration, the best general route for the proposed road. But previously to laying it out with accuracy, it is necessary to make an instrumental survey of the country, along the route thus selected; taking the levels from point to point throughout the whole distance, and making borings in all places where excavations are required, to determine the strata through which such cuttings are to be carried, and the requisite inclinations of the slopes or slanting sides as well of the cuttings as of the embankments to be formed by the material thus obtained. It is also requisite, in the selection of the route for the proposed road, to have regard to the supply of materials, not only for first constructing it, but for maintaining it in repair. The results of such an investigation should be reduced to plan and section; the plan of the road being on a scale not less than 66 yards to an inch, and the section not less than 30 feet to an inch. The loss of tractive power and consequent danger produced by steep acclivities, render it necessary that a proper limitation should be imposed on the acclivities or inclinations on every line of road. As, however, this reduction of hills in a country w r here much inequality of surface exists, is attended with great labor and expense, greater rates of inclination must be allowed to hills or roads where the traffic is not sufficient to repay the expense of excavations. A dead level, even where it can be obtained, is not the best course for a road; a certain inclination of the surface facilitates the drainage, and keeps the road in a dry state. There is a certain inclination or acclivity, which causes, at a uniform speed, the traces to slacken, and the carriages press on the horses, unless a drag or break is used; the limiting inclination within which this effect does not take place is called the angle of repose. On all acclivities less steep than the angle of repose, a certain amount of tractive force is necessary in the descent, as well as in the ascent; and the means of the two drawing forces, ascending and descending, is equal to the force along a level road. The exact course of the road, and the degree of its acclivities being determined, the next thing to be considered is the formation of its surface. The qualities which ought to be imparted to it, are twofold: first, it should be smooth; secondly, it should be hard; and the goodness of the road will be exactly in proportion as these qualities can be imparted to it, and permanently maintained upon it. The means resorted to accomplish these objects are: 1. Gravel Roads. A coating of four inches of gravel should be spread over the road bed, and vehicles allowed to pass over it, till it becomes tolerably firm men being required to take in the ruts as fast as they appear; a second coating of 3 or 4 inches of gravel should be then added and treated like the first, and finally a third coating. 2. Broken Stone Roads, or McAdam roads. French engineers value uniformity in size of the broken stone less than McAdam. They use all sizes from 1 inches to dust. McAdam considers from 7 to 10 inches of depth of stone on the road sufficient for any purpose. He earnestly advocates the principle, that the whole science of road-making consists in making a solid dry path on the natural soil, and then keeping it dry by a durable waterproof coating. 3. Broken stone roads with a paved bottom or foundation, or Tilford Roads; a road thus constructed will, in most cases, cost less than one entirely of broken stone. 4. Roads of Wood. The abundance, and consequent cheapness of wood, renders its employment in road-making of great value. It has been used in the form of logs, of charcoal, of planks, and of blocks. When a road passes over soft swampy ground it is often made passable by felling straight young trees, and laying them side by side across the road at right angles to its length. This is the primitive corduroy road. A very good road has been lately made through a swampy forest, by felling and burning the timber, and covering the surface with charcoal thus prepared. Timber from 6 to 18 inches through is cut 24 feet long, and piled up lengthwise in the centre of the road about five feet high, and then covered with straw and earth in the manner of coal pits. The earth required leaves two good ditches, and the timber, though not split, is easily charred; and when charred the earth is removed to the side of the ditches, and the coal raked down to a width of 15 feet, leaving it two feet thick at the centre and one at the sides. 5. Plank Roads. Two parallel rows of small sticks of timber (called sleepers) are imbedded in the road three or four feet apart. Planks, 8 feet long and 3 or 4 inches thick, are laid on these sleepers across them. A side track of earth to turn out upon is carefully graded. Deep ditches are dug on each side to ensure perfect drainage; and thus we have the plank road. 6. Roads of Earth. These roads are deficient in the important requisites of smoothness and hardness, but they are the only roads usually made in the field to carry on military operations. Its shape, when well made, is properly formed with a slope of 1 in 20 each way from the centre. Its drainage should be made thorough by deep and capacious ditches, sloping not less than ] in 125. Trees should be removed from the borders of the road, so as not to intercept the sun and wind. The labor expended upon it, will, however, depend upon circumstances. Every hole or rut in the road should, however, be at once filled up with good materials, for the wheels fall into them like hammers, deepening them at each stroke and thus increasing the destructive effect of the next wheel. (Consult GILLESPIE, Roads and Road-making.) The cross-section of a road embraces: 1. The width of the road from 16 to 30 feet, according to its importance, and the amount of travel upon it. 2. The shape of the road-bed. The best shape of the transverse profile for a road on level ground is two inclined planes meeting in the centre of road, and having their angle slightly rounded. On a steep hill, the transverse profile should be a single slope inclining inwards to the face of the hill. 3. Footpaths, &c. 4. Ditches. The ditches should, if possible, lead to the natural water-courses of the country. 5. The side slopes of the cuttings and fillings. These vary with the nature of the soil. (Scott, Military Dictionary, Van Nostrand, 1862, pp. 533-535).


ROANE, John Selden, governor of Arkansas, born in Wilson County, Tennessee, 8 January, 1817; died in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, 7 April, 1867. He was graduated at Cumberland College, Princeton, Kentucky, and served in the legislature of Arkansas as speaker in 1844. Participating in the Mexican War as lieutenant-colonel of Colonel Archibald Yell's Arkansas Cavalry, he served with gallantry at Buena Vista, and commanded the regiment after Colonel Yell was killed, being made colonel on 38 February, 1847. From 1848 till 1852 he was governor of Arkansas. Governor Roane served in the Civil War, being appointed brigadier-general in the Provisional Confederate Army on 20 March, 1862, commanding the District of Little Rock, Arkansas. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 269.


ROANOKE, MISSOURI, September 6, 1862. Detachment of Enrolled Missouri Militia. Brigadier-General Lewis Merrill reported from Hudson, Missouri as follows: "Captain J. W. Baird, with a few of Merrill's horse and some Enrolled militia attacked guerrilla camp south of Roanoke yesterday, dispersing them, killing 4, wounding several, capturing 3 prisoners, some horses, arms, etc. Our loss is Captain Baird, Merrill's horse, mortally wounded, since dead. No other casualties." The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 742.


ROANOKE, MISSOURI, September 10, 1864. Detachment of 6th Missouri State Militia Cavalry. Major Austin A. King, Jr., commanding the detachment, came upon Holtzclaw's command east of Roanoke. The guerrillas, who numbered about 60, were soon put to flight and in the running fight of 5 miles which followed 6 of them were killed and a number of their horses captured. The militia detachment had 2 men wounded. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 742.


ROANOKE ISLAND, NORTH CAROLINA, February 8, 1862. Part of General Burnside's Army and Goldsborough's Fleet. Roanoke island is bounded by the four sounds, Albemarle on the north, Roanoke on the east, Pamlico on the south and Croatan on the west, the last named separating it from the mainland. In the early part of 1862 it was held by the Confederates, who had erected three forts on the western side of the island to guard Croatan sound. Near the north end, at Weir's point, was Fort Huger, mounting 12 guns; about 2 miles below on Pork point was Fort Bartow mounting 9 guns; some 1,200 yards south of Fort Huger was Fort Blanchard with 4 guns. All the guns were 32pounders, except one 68-pounder at Fort Bartow and 2 of the same caliber at Huger. At Ballast point, on the east side of the island was a 2-gun battery, known as Fort Ellis, to prevent the landing of troops in the vicinity of Shallowbag bay, and near the center of the island was a 3-gun battery, stationed across the road, facing southward and flanked by earthworks for a quarter of a mile on each side. At Redstone point, on the mainland opposite Fort Huger, was another fortification called Fort Forrest, which mounted seven 24-pounders. A post report, made ten days before the attack, stated that the defense of the island was forty 32-pounders, 7 rifled guns, and five days' ammunition. According to Confederate reports the effective force on the island numbered 1,434 men of the 8th, 17th and 31st North Carolina and 46th and 59th Virginia, under command of Colonel H. M. Shaw. Brigadier-General Ambrose E. Burnside, commanding the Department of North Carolina, selected for the expedition against the island his 1st, 2nd and 3d brigades, respectively commanded by Brigadier-Generals John G. Foster, Jesse L. Reno and John G. Parke. This force, with the 1st New York marine artillery and Company B, 99th New York, was embarked on transports at Hatteras inlet on the morning of the 5th and started for the island. The transports were accompanied by the gunboats Picket, Huzzar, Pioneer, Vidette, Ranger, Lancer and Chasseur, and were preceded by the fleet under Flag-Officer L. M. Goldsborough, consist1ng of the gunboats Stars and Stripes, Louisiana, Hetzel, Underwriter, Delaware, Commodore Perry, Valley City, Commodore Barney, Hunchback, Southfield, Morse, Whitehead, Lockwood, Brincker, Seymour, Ceres, Putman, Shawsheen and Granite. At the south end of Croatan sound is a group of small islands known as the Marshes. This point was reached on the forenoon of the 6th, but owing to a heavy fog the attempt to pass through the narrow channel was postponed until the next morning. At 9 a. m. on the 7th the fleet got under way and passed through the channel, closely followed by the transports and army gunboats. An hour and a half later the foremost of the vessels came within sight of 8 Confederate gunboats drawn up in line behind a double row of piles and sunken vessels stretching across the main channel of the sound on a line running from Fort Forrest toward Fort Bartow, and by 11 o'clock the leading gunboats, the Confederate fleet and the guns of Fort Bartow were engaged in a spirited bombardment. This continued until after 4 p. m., when 5 of the enemy's vessels, apparently seriously injured, withdrew behind Fort Huger, where the troops on board of them were landed. About 5 o'clock the Confederate batteries and boats again opened fire, but in a short time the gun boats were forced to retire, one of them, the Forrest, in a disabled condition, taking refuge under the guns at Redstone point. At the beginning of the action the transports anchored some 3 miles in the rear of the fleet and preparations were made for landing. Ashby's landing, the place which had been selected, was found to be in possession of a detachment of the enemy, and General Foster, who had charge of this part of the operations, directed his course toward the Hammond house. Here some of his men were put ashore and moved against the enemy at Ashby's. At the same time the Delaware drew up and sent a few 11inch shrapnel into the Confederates at that point, causing them to withdraw in some haste. By 10 p. m. the greater portion of the 12,000 land forces were on the island, bivouacked about a mile and a half from the 3-gun battery, which was to be the first point of attack. Early on the morning of the 8th the troops moved forward in three columns—Foster in the center, with the 23d, 25th and 27th Massachusetts and 10th Connecticut; Reno on the left, with the 51st New York, 9th New Jersey and 51st Pennsylvania, and Parke on the right with the 4th and 5th Rhode Island and 9th New York In front of the battery the road was a narrow causeway through an almost impassable swamp, the trees having been cut down for a distance of 700 yards to give a clear sweep to the guns. Foster's advance, the 25th Massachusetts, drove in the enemy's pickets and followed them on the run to the edge of the clearing. Foster then deployed his brigade in line of battle and brought up 6 light Dahlgren howitzers to reply to the guns of the battery. As soon as these dispositions were made the brigade advanced directly upon the enemy's works. Simultaneously Reno worked his way through the swamp and the mass of fallen trees on the left until he reached a point where he could take the enemy in flank, Parke executing a similar movement on the right of the road. Here the obstacles were so great as to cause serious delay, and seeing that the enemy was beginning to waver under Reno's attack, the order was given for the 9th New York to turn to the left and charge directly up the road. "Fix bayonets and charge!" rang out the voice of Colonel Rush C. Hawkins as soon as he received the order, and with a yell the regiment rushed up the road directly in the face of the enemy's fire. But the Confederates did not wait for the charge. Before the New Yorkers could reach the intrenchments they abandoned everything and fled in confusion toward the north end of the island. Just at this juncture the 24th Massachusetts arrived fresh on the field and took up the pursuit. The 4th Rhode Island and 10th Connecticut were sent to attack Fort Bartow on the rear, but it was found evacuated, the garrison having joined in the retreat. Fort Huger was also abandoned and the entire Confederate force was concentrated in two camps near the north end of the island, where, after a slight resistance, it surrendered. Burnside reported the number of prisoners as 159 officers and over 2,500 men. In addition to these Shaw reported a loss of 23 killed, 58 wounded and 62 missing. During the action reinforcements came to the enemy, arriving just in time to become prisoners of war. The Union loss in the land forces was 37 killed, 214 wounded and 12 missing; in the navy, 6 killed, 17 wounded and 2 missing. Winter quarters for 4,000 men, 42 pieces of artillery, a large amount of ammunition for the same, 3,000 stands of small arms, and a large quantity of lumber, utensils, etc., fell into Federal hands. But the greatest advantage gained by the capture of Roanoke island was its strategic importance as a coaling station and a base from which to operate against the rest of the coast. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, pp. 742-744.


ROANOKE STATION, VIRGINIA, June 25, 1864. (See Wilson's Raid, Petersburg, Virginia)


ROAN'S TAN-YARD, MISSOURI, January 8, 1862. Detachment of the 1st Iowa, 1st and 2nd Missouri and 4th Ohio Cavalry. The detachment, numbering about 500 men and commanded by Major Torrence of the 1st la., was engaged in scouting in the vicinity of Silver creek. Learning that a Confederate recruiting camp had been established at Roan's tan-yard by Colonel Poindexter, Torrence determined to break it up. The camp was in a strong position, protected by ravines and thick underbrush. When within 4 miles of the tan-yard the following dispositions were made: Major Hubbard, with his battalion of the 2nd Missouri and Captain Foster's company of the 4th Ohio, was to lead the attack and draw the enemy's fire, when the 1st la. and part of the 1st Missouri were to charge the camp, mounted if possible, and if not, on foot with the revolver and saber. At the same time Major Hunt, with three companies of the 2nd Missouri armed with carbines, was to attack from another direction. The plan worked successfully, the pickets were rapidly driven in and after a fight of 40 minutes the enemy was completely routed and driven from his camp, with a loss in killed and wounded estimated by Torrence at 80 to 100, and 28 captured. The Union loss was 4 killed. In the camp were captured 60 wagons. 160 horses, 105 tents, 200 stands of arms, 80 kegs of powder, and a large quantity of clothing, blankets, etc. The strength of Poindexter's force was estimated at from 900 to 1,000 men. Roberts' Ford, Louisiana, May 2, 1863. (See Grierson's Raid.) The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 744.


ROBBINS, James W., Lenox, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1838-40


ROBERTS, Anthony Ellmaker, 1803-1885, Pennsylvania, abolitionist.  U.S. Marshal.  Two-term Member of Congress from the Ninth District of Pennsylvania, 1855-1859.  Republican leader in Republican Party in Pennsylvania.  Opposed slavery.  Roberts was supported by Congressional leader Thaddeus Stevens.  (Herringshaw, 1902; Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-1949)


ROBERTS, Benjamin Franklin, 1814-1881, African American, abolitionist, printer, journalist, newspaper publisher, opposed colonization.  Published the Anti-Slavery Herald in Boston, Massachusetts. (Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 9, p. 481)


ROBB, James, banker, born in Brownville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, 2 April, 1814; died near Cincinnati, Ohio, 30 July, 1881. His father died in 1819, and, after receiving a common-school education, the son left his home at the age of thirteen to seek his fortune, walking in the snow to Morgantown, Virginia, where he was employed in a bank and became its cashier. In 1837 he went to the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, where he remained for twenty-one years, during which time he made six visits to Europe and fifteen to the island of Cuba. He built the first gas-works in the city of Havana in 1840 and was president of the Spanish Gaslight Company, sharing the capital with Maria Christina, the queen-mother of Spain. He was active in establishing eight banking-houses and commercial firms and agencies in New Orleans, Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco, and Liverpool, four of which were in existence in 1857. He was president of the Railroad Convention that met in New Orleans in 1851, and built the first railroad that connected New Orleans with the north. Mr. Robb was a member of the Louisiana Senate. In 1859 he moved to Chicago, where he was interested in railroad matters, declined the military governorship of Louisiana which was offered by President Lincoln, and the post of Secretary of the Treasury, to which Andrew Johnson wished to appoint him. Afterward he established in New Orleans the Louisiana National Bank, of which he was president in 1866-'9. His residence, standing in the centre of a block, was the finest in that city. In 1871 he retired from business, and from 1873 until his death he resided in ' Hampden Place," near Cincinnati, Ohio. He was a regent of the University of Louisiana, and was the author of several reports, essays, and pamphlets on politics and political economy. —His son, James Hampden, banker, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 27 October, 1846, was graduated at Harvard in 1866, and studied also in Switzerland, after which he engaged in banking and in the cotton business. He was a member of the legislature of New York in 1882 and state senator in 1884-'5, where he was active in securing the State reservation at Niagara, of which he was a commissioner from 1883 till 1887. He was also appointed commissioner of the parks of New York City, and is now (1888) president of the board. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 269.


ROBERT, Henry Martyn, soldier, born in Beaufort District, South Carolina, 2 May, 1837, was graduated at the U.S. Military Academy in 1857. He received his commission with the rank of lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers, and has ever since remained in that service. Soon after his graduation he was appointed assistant professor of natural philosophy at West Point, but he was subsequently transferred to the department of practical engineering. In 1858 he was stationed at Fort Vancouver, and during the northwest boundary difficulties between this country and Great Britain he had charge of the construction of defences on San Juan Island. At the beginning of the Civil War, though of southern birth and with all his relatives in the south, Colonel Robert unhesitatingly, espoused the Union cause. He served on the staff of General McClellan, and assisted in building the fortifications around Washington. He was subsequently employed in similar services at Philadelphia and New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was promoted captain in 1863, and at the close of the war he was placed again at the head of the department of practical engineering at West Point, where he remained till 1867. In that year he was made major, and in 1871, with headquarters at Portland, he had charge of the fortifications, lighthouses, and harbor and river improvements in Oregon and Washington Territory. He was transferred in 1873 to Milwaukee, and assigned to a like duty on Lake Michigan. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel in 1883, and is now (1888) superintendent of river and harbor improvements and defences in the District of Philadelphia. Colonel Robert is the author of “Robert's Rules of Order” (Chicago, 1876) and has supervised the preparation of “An Index to the Reports of the Chief Engineers of the U. S. A. on River and Harbor Improvements” (vol. i., to 1879, Washington, 1881; vol. ii., to 1887, in preparation). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 272.


ROBERTS, Benjamin Stone, soldier, born in Manchester, Vermont, in 1811; died in Washington, D.C., 29 January, 1875. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1835, and assigned to the 1st Dragoons, but after several years of frontier service he resigned on 28 January, 1839, and as principal engineer built the Champlain and Ogdensburg Railroad. He was assistant geologist of New York in 1841, and in 1842 aided Lieutenant George W. Whistler in constructing the Russian system of railways. He then returned to the United States, was admitted to the bar, and in 1843 began to practise in Iowa. He became lieutenant-colonel of state militia in 1844, and on 27 May, 1846, was reappointed in the U.S. Army as a 1st lieutenant of mounted rifles, becoming captain, 16 February, 1847. During the war with Mexico he served at Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, where he led an advance party of stormers and for which he was brevetted major, and the capture of the city of Mexico. He then took part in the actions at Matamoras and the Galajara Pass against guerillas, and was brevetted lieutenant-colonel. At the close of the war he received, 15 January, 1849, a sword of honor from the legislature of Iowa. From this time till the Civil War he served on the southwestern frontier and on bureau duty at Washington, with frequent leaves of absence on account of feeble health. At the beginning of the Civil War he was in New Mexico, and after his promotion to major, on 13 May, 1861, he was assigned to the command first of the northern and then of the southern district of that territory, being engaged in the defence of Fort Craig against the Texan forces under General Henry H. Sibley in 1862, the action at Valverde in the same year, where he was brevetted colonel for gallantry, and the combats at Albuquerque and Peralta. On 1 June, 1861, he was ordered to Washington, and on 16 July he was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, and assigned as chief of cavalry to General John Pope, with whose Army of Virginia he served during its campaign in 1862, acting also as inspector-general. In the latter part of the year he was acting inspector-general of the Northwestern Department, and led an expedition against the Chippewa Indians, and in 1863 he was in command first of the upper defences of Washington and then of an independent brigade in West Virginia and Iowa. In 1864, after leading a division of the 19th Corps in Louisiana, he was chief of cavalry of the Gulf Department, till he was ordered, early in 1865, to the charge of a cavalry division in western Tennessee. At the close of the war he was brevetted brigadier-general in the regular army for services at Cedar Mountain, and major-general of volunteers for that action and the second battle of Bull Run. He became lieutenant-colonel of the 3d U.S. Cavalry on 28 July, 1866, served on frontier and recruiting service till 1868, and then as professor of military science at Yale till his retirement from active service on 15 December, 1870. He was the inventor of the Roberts breech loading rifle, to the perfection and introduction of which he devoted many years of his life. In 1870 he formed a company for its manufacture, which finally failed, though General Roberts had secured a contract in Europe. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 272.


ROBERTS, Ellis Henry, journalist, born in Utica, New York, 30 September, 1827. He was prepared for college at Whitestown Seminary and was graduated at Yale in 1850, was principal of the Utica Academy, taught Latin in the female seminary, became editor and proprietor of the Utica " Morning Herald " in 1850, served in the legislature in 1867, and was a delegate to the National Republican Conventions of 1864, 1868, and 1876. He was elected to Congress as a Republican, serving on the Committee of Ways and Means from 4 March, 1871, till 3 March, 1875, after which he resumed the control of his paper in Utica, which he now (1888) continues, and to which he contributed in 1873 a series of letters entitled " To Greece and Beyond." He was a defeated candidate for Congress in 1876. Hamilton College gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1869. and Yale in 1884. He has been president of the Fort Schuyler Club, and is now (1888) president of the Oneida Historical Society. He delivered an address in Elmira, New York, on 29 August, 1879, at the Centennial celebration of the battle of Newtown, and a course of lectures on "Government Revenue" at Cornell and Hamilton in 1884, which i published (Boston, 1884). Mr. Roberts is also the author of "The Planting and Growth of the Empire State " in the "American Commonwealth Series" (Boston, 1887). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 273.


ROBERTS, George Washington, soldier, born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, 2 October, 1833; died near Murfreesborough, Tennessee, 31 December, 1862. After graduation at Yale in 1857, he studied law and practised in his native county, and in Chicago after 1860. He was commissioned major of the 42d Illinois Volunteers on 22 July, 1861, and participated in the march of General John C. Fremont to Springfield, Illinois. He became lieutenant colonel and colonel. He won honor in the campaign of 1862, commanding a brigade of the Army of the Mississippi, served at the siege of Corinth in April and May, 1862, and at Farmington, Tennessee, 7 October, 1862. At the battle of Stone River, Tennessee, 31 December, 1862, he had the advance of the 20th Army Corps, drove the enemy to their breastworks, and was killed while leading the 42d Illinois in a successful charge. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 273.


ROBERTS, Jonathan Manning, 1771-1854, Upper Merion County, Pennsylvania, U.S. Senator, U.S. Congressman, opponent of slavery.  Called for the prohibition of slavery from Missouri in the Senate.  (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. V, p. 274; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 9)

ROBERTS, Jonathan Manning, investigator, born in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 7 December, 1821; died in Burlington, New Jersey, 28 February, 1888, studied law, was admitted to the bar at Norristown, Pennsylvania, in 1850, and practised his profession for about a year, but abandoned it and engaged in commercial pursuits. These proving financially successful, he found time to gratify his desire for metaphysical investigations. He also took an interest in politics, being an enthusiastic Whig and strongly opposed to slavery. He was a delegate to the Free-soil Convention at Buffalo, New York, that nominated Martin Van Buren for president in 1848, and subsequently canvassed New Jersey for that candidate. When the so-called spiritual manifestations at Rochester, New York, first attracted public attention, Mr. Roberts earnestly protested against the possibility of their having a supernatural origin. After several years of patient inquiry he came to the conclusion that they were facts that could be explained on scientific principles and resulted from the operation of natural causes. This conviction led to his establishing an organ of the new faith at Philadelphia in 1878 under the title of “Mind and Matter.” His fearless advocacy of his peculiar views involved him in litigation and caused his imprisonment. Finding the publication of a journal too great a tax on his resources, he abandoned it, and devoted the rest of his life to study and authorship. Among his manuscript, of which he left a large amount, is “A Life of Apollonius of Tyana” and “A History of the Christian Religion,” which he completed just before his death.  Appletons’ Cyclopædia of American Biography, 1888. Vol. V, p. 274.


ROBERTS, Jonathan Manning, investigator, born in Montgomery County. Pennsylvania, 7 December, 1821; died in Burlington, New Jersey, 28 February, 1888. studied law, was admitted to the bar at Norristown, Pennsylvania, in 1850, and practised his profession for about a year, but abandoned it and engaged in commercial pursuits. These proving financially successful, he found lime to gratify his desire for metaphysical investigations, he also took an interest in politics, being an enthusiastic Whig and strongly opposed to slavery. He was a delegate to the Free-soil Convention at Buffalo, New York, that nominated Martin Van Buren for president in 1848, and subsequently canvassed New Jersey for that candidate. When the so-called spiritual manifestations at Rochester, New York, first attracted public attention, Mr. Roberts earnestly protested against the possibility of their having a supernatural origin. After several years of patient inquiry he came to the conclusion that they were facts that could be explained on scientific principles and resulted from the operation of natural causes. This conviction led to his establishing an organ of the new faith at Philadelphia in 1878 under the title of "Mind and Matter." His fearless advocacy of his peculiar views involved him in litigation and caused his imprisonment. Finding the publication of a journal too great a. tax on his resources, he abandoned it, and devoted the rest of his life to study and authorship. Among his manuscript, of which he left a large amount, is "A Life of Apollonius of Tyana" and " A History of the Christian Religion," which he completed just before his death. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 274.


ROBERTS, Joseph, soldier, born in Middletown, Delaware, 30 December, 1814. He was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1835, assigned to the 4th U.S. Artillery, and served in the Florida War of 1836-'7 as captain in a regiment of mounted Creek Volunteers. From 1837 till 1849 he was assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy at the U. S. Military Academy, and he was made 1st lieutenant on 7 July, 1848, and captain on 20 August, 1848. In 1850-'8 he was engaged in hostilities against the Seminoles in Florida and on frontier duty in Texas, Kansas, and Nebraska, and in 1859 he was assigned to the artillery-school for practice at Fort Monroe, Virginia, where he was a member of the board to arrange the programme of instruction in 1859-'61. He was appointed major on 3 September, 1861, became chief of artillery of the 7th Army Corps on 19 September, 1862, and commanded Fort Monroe in 1863-'5 and Fort McHenry, Maryland, in 1865-'6, receiving the appointments of colonel of the 3d Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery, 19 March, 1863, and lieutenant-colonel, 4th U.S. Artillery, 11 August, 1863. He was brevetted colonel and brigadier-general, U. S. Army, to date from 13 March, 1865. and brigadier-general of volunteers on 9 April, 1865, for meritorious and distinguished services during the war. On 9 November, 1865, he was mustered out of the volunteer service. From 1 May, 1867, till 1 April, 1868, he was acting inspector-general of the Department of Washington, when he was made superintendent of theoretical instruction in the artillery-school at Fort Monroe, Virginia, serving until 13 February, 1877. He was promoted colonel in the 4th Artillery on 10 January, 1877, and was placed on the retired list on 2 July, 1877. General Roberts is the author of a "Hand-Book of Artillery" (New York. 1860). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 274.


ROBERTS, Joseph Jenkins, president of Liberia, born in Norfolk. Virginia, 15 March. 1809; died in Monrovia, Liberia. 24 February, 1876. He was a Negro and the son of "Aunty Robos," as she was familiarly called in Petersburg, Virginia, whence she emigrated with her three sons to Liberia in 1829. When the colony of Liberia was founded by the American Colonization Society he was first lieutenant-governor and then governor of the colony, and. upon the formation of the republic in 1848, he was elected its first president, serving four years. When there was a revolt against President Edward J. Roye (q. v.) in 1871, he was again made president, serving until 1875. He encouraged agriculture, promoted education, favored emigration from the United States, and placed his people on friendly terms with European nations. From 1856 until his death he was president of Liberia College.—His brother, John Wright, M. E. bishop, born in Petersburg, Virginia, in 1815; died in Monrovia, Liberia, 30 January. 1875, was educated in Liberia, entered the Methodist ministry in 1838, served as pastor, presiding elder, and secretary, and was made bishop in 1866. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 274-275.


ROBERTS, Marshall Owen, merchant, born in New York City, 22 March, 1814; died in Saratoga Springs, New York, 11 September, 1880. His father, a physician, came from Wales and settled in New York in 1798. The son received a good education, and would have been sent to college, as his father wished him to adopt his own profession, but the boy preferred a mercantile life. After leaving school he became first a grocer's clerk, but soon afterward secured a place with a ship-chandler. By the time he was of age he had saved enough money to begin business for himself, and in two years he obtained a contract to supply the U. S. Navy Department with whale-oil, on which he realized a handsome profit. He was among the first to recognize the advantage of finely equipped steamers for Hudson River, and built the "Hendrik Hudson." He next turned his attention to railroads, was one of the early advocates of the Erie, and projected the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad. When the "California fever" began in 1849 he made a contract with the U. S. government to transport the mails to California by the Isthmus of Panama. He owned the " Star of the West," which was sent with provisions to Fort Sumter, and when Fort Monroe, was threatened in the spring of 1861 he raised 1,000 men at his own expense and sent them in his steamer " America " to re-enforce the garrison. He took a great interest in the Texas Pacific Railroad, and invested nearly $2,000,000 in the enterprise, and he was also largely interested in other railroads throughout the United States and Canada. He was also one of the earliest friends of the Atlantic telegraph cable. In 1852 he was nominated for Congress by the Whig Party, but was defeated. In 1856 he was a delegate to the first National Convention of the Republican Party which met in Philadelphia and nominated John C. Fremont for the presidency. In 1865 he was nominated for mayor of New York by the Union Party, but again was unsuccessful. The value of his gallery of pictures was estimated at $750,000. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 275.


ROBERTS, Oran Milo, governor of Texas, born in Laurens District, South Carolina, 9 July, 1815. He was graduated at the University of Alabama in 1836, studied law, began to practise, and served in the Alabama Legislature in 1839-'40. Moving to Texas in 1841, he was appointed district-attorney in 1844 and district judge in 1846, holding this office for five years. In 1857 he was elected to the supreme bench as associate justice, which post he held until the beginning of the Civil War in 1861. He was elected president of the Secession Convention, and was colonel of a regiment in the Confederate Army from 1862 till August, 1864, when he was called from the field to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In 1866 he was elected to the U. S. Senate, but was not allowed to take his seat. From 1868 till 1874 he taught law in private schools. In 1874 and 1870 he was again elected Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court. He was governor of Texas from 1879 till 1883, in which year he was made professor of law in the University of Texas, which post he now (1888) holds. He has published a description of Texas entitled " Governor Roberts's Texas" (St, Louis. 1881). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 275.


ROBERTS, Solomon White, civil engineer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 3 August, 1811; died in Atlantic City, New Jersey, 20 March, 1882. He was educated at the Friends' Academy in Philadelphia. When he was sixteen years old he became an assistant to his uncle, Josiah White, who was directing the works of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company in the construction of the Mauch Chunk Railway, the second of importance that was built in the country. He also assisted in the construction of the canal from Mauch Chunk to Easton. Entering the state service, he had charge of building a division of a canal on Conemaugh River, and then was principal assistant to Sylvester Welch in locating and constructing the Portage Railroad over the Alleghany mountains. Mr. Roberts's division was on the west side, including a tunnel 900 feet long, the first railroad tunnel in the United States, and the fine stone viaduct over Conemaugh River, near Johnstown, is his design and construction. While this road was in operation it was one of the wonders of the country. David Stephenson, the English engineer, says of it in his “Sketch of the Civil Engineering of North America” (London, 1838): “America now numbers among its many wonderful artificial lines of communication a mountain railway which, in boldness of design and of execution, I can compare to no modern work have ever seen, except perhaps, the passes of the Simplon and Mont Cenis in Sardinia.” Remaining in the state service several years, Mr. Roberts became in 1838 chief engineer of the Catawissa Railroad, in 1842 was president of the Philadelphia, Germantown, and Norristown Railroad, and from 1843 to 1846 president of the Schuylkill Navigation Company. During the latter year he was chosen to the legislature, and from 1 till 1856 he was engaged in locating, constructing, and operating the railroad from Pittsburg to Crestline, a distance of 188 miles. He located and named the towns of Crestline and Alliance. In 1856 he was chosen chief engineer and general superintendent of the North Pennsylvania Railroad, which post he resigned in 1879. He was a member of many learned societies, contributed numerous papers to the transactions of the American Philosophical Society and to scientific journals, and wrote “Reminiscences of the First Railroad over the Alleghany Mountains,” in the “Pennsylvania Magazine of History” (1878). He also published “The Destiny of Pittsburg and the Duty of her Young Men" (Pittsburg, 1850).—His wife, Anna Smith, poet, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 23 December, 1827; died there, 10 August, 1858, was the daughter of Randall H. Rickey, and married Mr. Roberts in 1851. She contributed poems to the “Columbian and Great West” in 1850–’1, which were collected in “Forest Flowers of the West” (Philadelphia, 1851). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 276.


ROBERTS, William Milnor, civil engineer, born in Philadelphia, 12 February, 1810; died in Brazil, South America, 14 July, 1881. His father was Thomas P. Roberts, treasurer of the Union Canal, the first work of that kind undertaken in Pennsylvania. In 1825 the son was employed as chainman on canal surveys under Canvass White. At the age of eighteen he was given charge of the most difficult division of the Lehigh Canal, and two years later he was appointed resident engineer in charge of the Union Railroad and Union Canal Feeder. In 1831–4 he was senior principal assistant engineer on the Allegheny Portage Railroad. In 1835 he planned and built the first combined railroad and highway bridge in this country. It crossed the Susquehanna at Harrisburg, and was nearly a mile long. The piers are still used to support the great iron bridge of the Cumberland Valley rail. In 1835 he was made chief engineer on the Harrisburg and Lancaster Railroad, and during the same year he was also appointed chief engineer of the Cumberland Valley Railroad, which work was completed by him. After 1836 he was chief engineer in charge of the Monongahela River Slackwater Navigation, the Pennsylvania State Canal, and the Erie Canal of Pennsylvania. In 1841–2 he was a contractor on the Welland Canal enlargement, in 1845–’7 chief engineer and agent for the trustees of the Sandy and Beaver Canal Company, Ohio, in 1847 chief engineer of the Pittsburg and Connellsville Railroad. In 1849 he declined the appointment of chief engineer of the first pro railroad in South America (in Chili), to  that of the Bellefontaine and Indiana Railroad, which he held until 1851. In 1852–4 he was chief engineer of the Allegheny Valley Railroad, consulting engineer of the Atlantic and Mississippi Railroad, a contractor for the whole Iron Mountain Railroad of Missouri, and chairman of a commission of three appointed by the Pennsylvania legislature to examine and report upon routes for avoiding the old Allegheny portage inclined planes. In 1855-'7 he was contractor for the entire Keokuk, Des Moines, and Minnesota Railroad, consulting engineer for the Pittsburg and Erie, and Terre Haute, Vandalia, and St. Louis Railroads, and chief engineer of the Keokuk, Mt. Pleasant, and Muscatine Railroad. In 1857 he went to Brazil to examine the route of the Dom Pedro II. Railroad, and, in company with Jacob Humbird, of Maryland, and other Americans, undertook the construction of that work. He returned to the United States in 1860, and at once took the field in the interests of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad for a proposed extension through northern Pennsylvania. In 1866 he was appointed U. S. civil engineer and given charge of the improvement of the Ohio River, which work he relinquished in 1868 to accept the appointment of associate chief engineer with James B. Eads on the great bridge across the Missouri at St. Louis. During Mr. Eads's absence in Europe of a year and more, Mr. Roberts had entire charge of the work at its most arduous and difficult stage. In 1870 he accepted the chief engineer ship of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and in 1874 was appointed on the commission of civil and military engineers to examine and report upon plans for the improvement of the mouth of the Mississippi, visiting the various rivers in Europe where jetties had been constructed. In 1879 he was appointed by the Emperor of Brazil chief of the commission of hydraulic engineers to examine and report upon the improvement of harbors and navigable rivers of that empire. He had nearly completed the period of his service when he died of fever on the head-waters of San Francisco River. Mr. Roberts was a contributor, generally anonymously, to newspapers and scientific magazines. In 1879 he was elected president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and at the same time he became a member of the English Institute of Engineers and a fellow of the American Geographical Society. In 1836 he married a daughter of Chief-Justice John Bannister Gibson, of Pennsylvania (q. v.). —His son, Thomas Paschall, civil engineer, born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 21 April, 1843, was educated at Pennsylvania agricultural College and at Dickinson College, and in 1863 joined his father in Brazil, where he was employed as an engineer on the Dom Pedro II. Railway. He returned to the United States late in 1865. In the autumn of 1866 he was appointed principal assistant engineer on the United States improvement of the Ohio River, which post he retained until October, 1870, when he became assistant engineer of the Montana Division of the Northern Pacific Railway. He made the first examination of the route that was finally adopted through the Rocky Mountains for that road, and also examined and reported upon the navigability of the upper Missouri River. His report, with maps, was printed by the War Department in 1874. He was appointed in 1875 by the U. S. government to the charge of the surveys of the upper Monongahela River in West Virginia, and in 1876-'8 was chief engineer of the Pittsburg Southern Railroad. Subsequently he was engaged as chief engineer in charge of the construction of several southern roads until 1884, when he was appointed chief engineer of the Monongahela Navigation Company, and he has since been engaged in the extension of new locks for double locking this important system of steamboat navigation. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 276-277.


ROBERTSON, Edward White, lawyer, born near Nashville, Tennessee, 13 June, 1823; died in Washington, D. C, 2 August, 1887. His parents moved to Iberville Parish, Louisiana, in 1825, and he was educated at Nashville University, but not graduated. He began to study law in 1845, but served in the war with Mexico in 1846 as orderly sergeant of the 2d Louisiana Volunteers, a six-months regiment. In 1847-'9 he was a member of the legislature, and after his graduation at the law department of the University of Louisiana in 1850 he practised in Iberville Parish, served in the legislature, and was state auditor of public accounts in 1857-'62. He entered the Confederate Service in March, 1862, as captain, and participated in the engagements around Vicksburg and the siege of that place, after which his regiment was not in active service. After the war he resumed practice in Baton Rouge, and was elected to Congress as a Conservative Democrat, serving from 15 October, 1877, till 4 March, 1883. In 1886 he was chosen again, serving until the day of his death. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 279.


ROBERTSON, Wyndham, governor of Virginia, born in Manchester, Chesterfield County, Virginia, 26 January, 1803: died in Washington County, Virginia, 11 February, 1888, was educated at William and Mary, studied law, was admitted to practice in 1824, and established himself in Richmond. He was chosen a councilor of state in 1830, and in 1833 was again elected to the council, which was reduced to three members. He became lieutenant-governor on 31 March, 1836, and on the same day succeeded to the governorship for one year through the resignation of Littleton T. Tazewell. In 1838 he was elected to the legislature, and represented the city of Richmond until he moved to the country in 1841. Returning to the capital in 1858, he was again elected to the legislature, and took an active part in its deliberations during the period of the Civil War. He resisted the proposal of South Carolina for a Southern Convention in 1859, and after the secession of that state and others he still urged the refusal of Virginia to join them. As chairman of a committee, he was the author of the anti-coercion resolution, in which Virginia, while rejecting secession, declared her intention to fight with the southern states if they were attacked. He opposed the regulation of the prices of food in 1863, and offered his resignation in 1864 when the public demanded such a measure, but resumed his seal on receiving a vote of approval from his constituents. He was the author of " Pocahontas, alias Matoaka, and her Descendants through her Marriage with John Rolfe " (Richmond, 1887). He left in manuscript a "Vindication of the Course of Virginia throughout the Slave Controversy." Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 280-281


ROBERTSON. Thomas James, senator, born in Fairfield County, South Carolina, 3 August, 1828. He was graduated at South Carolina College in 1843, and studied medicine, but became a planter. He was Governor Robert P. W. Allston's aide-de-camp in 1858-'9. During the Civil War he was a decided and open Unionist. He was a member of the State Constitutional Convention that was held after the passage of the Reconstruction Acts of Congress, and was elected as a Republican to one of the vacant seats in the U. S. Senate. He was re-elected for a full term, serving altogether from 22 July, 1868, till 3 March, 1877, and held the chairmanship of the Committee on Manufactures. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 281.


ROBERTSON, William H., jurist, born in Bedford. Westchester County, N. Y., 10 October, 1823. He received a classical education, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1847. He was elected superintendent of the common schools of Bedford, and in 1849 and 1850 was a member of the state assembly. In 1854 he was sent to the state senate, and he was elected county judge for three successive terms, holding the office twelve years. In 1860 he was a presidential elector on the Republican ticket. Judge Robertson was a delegate to the Baltimore Convention of 1864 and again an elector, and was then elected to Congress, and served from 4 March, 1867, till 3 March, 1869. In 1872 he returned to the state senate, and was one of the leaders of that body till 1881, when he was appointed collector of the port of New York. His nomination to the office by President Garfield without consultation with the senators from New York, Roscoe Conkling and Thomas C. Piatt, led to the defection of the so-called Stalwart Wing of the Republican Party. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 281.


ROBERTSON'S FORD, VIRGINIA, September 15, 1863. 1st Brigade, 3d Cavalry Division, Army of the Potomac. This affair was an incident of the Federal advance from the Rapidan to the Rappahannock. The pickets of Colonel H. E. Davies' brigade were driven back at Robertson's ford and the Confederates succeeded in making a crossing. Reinforcements were brought up and the enemy was compelled to retire across the stream. No casualties were reported. Robertson's Ford, Virginia, September 23. 1863. 1st and 5th Michigan Cavalry. While Buford's cavalry division was returning from a, reconnaissance to the south side of the Rapidan river, the 1st Michigan under Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Stagg acted as rear-guard, skirmishing with the enemy all the way from Culpeper Court House until the division halted at Robertson's ford, when Stagg, who was some distance behind the main body, was subjected to several sharp attacks in quick succession. Each direct attack was repulsed and the enemy then tried a flank movement, when Stagg was informed that the column had moved and started to follow. He had scarcely put his men in motion when the enemy charged out of the woods on his right. The 1st and 2nd squadrons formed in line on the right of the road and checked the assault, but the rear-guard, consisting of a lieutenant and 13 men, was cut off and captured. The two squadrons then fell back slowly, skirmishing with the enemy through the woods until within sight of the ford, when part of the 5th Michigan came to Stagg's support and the artillery began shelling the woods, which caused the Confederates to retire. The enemy's loss was not learned. Besides the 14 men captured Stagg had 3 men wounded. Robertson's River, Virginia, October 1, 1863. A Confederate report tells of an attack by 44 men under a lieutenant upon a camp of a Federal picket, in which 1 of the 10 Union soldiers was killed, 1 wounded and 1 captured, besides 8 horses, 9 saddles and bridles, 4 sabers and 4 pistols. Federal reports make no mention of the affair. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 744-745.


ROBERTSON'S TAVERN, VIRGINIA, November 27, 1863. (See Mine Run, Virginia, November 26-December 2, 1863.)


ROBERTSVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA, January 29, 1865. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 20th Army Corps. During the march through the Carolinas the 20th corps approached Robertsville on this date to find the place occupied by a considerable body of Confederate cavalry. Jackson's division was in advance, and General Hawley, commanding the 2nd brigade, was ordered to dislodge the enemy. Hawley deployed the 3d Wisconsin infantry as skirmishers and after a sharp skirmish succeeded in driving the Confederates back to and through the town. The Wisconsin reg1ment had 3 men wounded. The enemy's casualties were not learned. The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 745.


ROBESON, George Maxwell, Secretary of the Navy, born in Warren County, New Jersey, in 1827. He was graduated at Princeton in 1847, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1850, and began practice in Newark, New Jersey, moving afterward to Camden, where he was appointed prosecuting attorney for the county in 1859. He took an active part in organizing the state troops at the beginning of the Civil War, holding a commission as brigadier-general under the governor. In 1867 he became Attorney-General of New Jersey, but he resigned on receiving the appointment of Secretary of the Navy in the cabinet of President Grant on 25 June, 1869. He held this office till March, 1877, and was subsequently a member of Congress from 18 March, 1879, till 3 March, 1883. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 281.


ROBESON, Andrew, New Bedford, Massachusetts, abolitionist, American Anti-Slavery Society, Manager, 1840-, 1843-53, 1862-63.  Vice President, Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, 1840-1860.


ROBINSON, Charles, 1818-1894, territorial governor, Kansas, member Free Soil Anti-Slavery Party, 1855  (Rodriguez, 2007, p. 58; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 283; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 2, p. 34; Annals of Congress; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 18, p. 641)

ROBINSON, Charles, governor of Kansas, born in Hardwick, Massachusetts, 21 July, 1818. He was educated at Hadley and Amherst Academies and at Amherst College, but was compelled by illness to leave in his second year. He studied medicine at Woodstock. Vermont, and at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he received his degree in 1843, and practised at Belchertown, Springfield, and Fitchburg, Massachusetts, till 1849, when he went to California by the overland route. He edited a daily paper in Sacramento called the “Settler's and Miner's Tribune” in 1850, took an active part in the riots of 1850 as an upholder of squatter sovereignty, was seriously wounded, and, while under indictment for conspiracy and murder, was elected to the legislature. He was subsequently discharged by the court without trial. On his return to Massachusetts in 1852 he conducted in Fitchburg a weekly paper called the “News” till June, 1854, when he went to Kansas as confidential agent of the New England Emigrants' Aid Society, and settled in Lawrence. He became the leader of the Free-State Party, and was made chairman of its executive committee and commander-in-chief of the Kansas Volunteers. He was a member of the Topeka Convention that adopted a free-state constitution in 1855, and under it was elected governor in 1856. He was arrested for treason and usurpation of office, and on his trial on the latter charge was acquitted by the jury. He was elected again by the Free-State Party in 1858, and for the third time in 1859, under the Wyandotte Constitution, and entered on his term of two years on the admission of Kansas to the Union in January, 1861. He organized most of the Kansas regiments for the Civil War. He afterward served one term as representative and two terms as senator in the legislature, and in 1882 was again a candidate for governor. In 1887 he became superintendent of Haskell Institute in Lawrence.


ROBINSON, James Sidney, soldier, born near Mansfield, Ohio, 14 October, 1827. He learned the printer's trade in Mansfield, and in 1846 established the Kenton “Republican,” which he edited for eighteen years. In 1856 he was secretary of the first convention of the Republican Party that was held in Ohio. He was for two sessions clerk of the state house of representatives. At the beginning of the Civil War he enlisted in the 4th Ohio Regiment, and was soon made a captain. He took part in the operations at Rich Mountain, Virginia, was promoted major in October, 1861, served under General John C. Frémont in the Shenandoah Valley, and became lieutenant-colonel in April, and colonel in August, 1862. He was engaged at the Second Battle of Bull Run, and at Cedar Mountain and Chancellorsville, and was severely wounded at Gettysburg. He commanded a brigade under General Joseph Hooker and General Alpheus S. Williams in the Atlanta Campaign and the march to the sea, was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers on 12 January, 1865, received the brevet of major-general on 13 March, and was mustered out on 31 August. On his return to Ohio he became chairman of the state Republican committee. In 1879 he was appointed by the governor commissioner of railroads and telegraphs. He was elected to Congress for two successive terms, serving from 5 December, 1881, till 12 January, 1885, and subsequently held the office of Secretary of State of Ohio. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 286.


ROBINSON, John Cleveland, soldier, born in Binghamton, New York, 10 April, 1817. He was appointed a cadet at the U. S. Military Academy in 1835, left a year before graduation to study law, but returned to military service in October, 1839, when he was commissioned as 2d lieutenant in the 5th U. S. Infantry. He joined the army of occupation in Texas at Corpus Christi in September, 1845, as regimental and brigade quartermaster, being promoted 1st lieutenant in June, 1846, was at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, served with distinction at Monterey, and participated in the concluding operations of the Mexican War. He was made captain in August, 1850, was engaged against hostile Indians in Texas in 1853-'4, was ordered in 1856 to Florida, where he led expeditions against the Seminoles in the Everglades and Big Cyprus Swamp, and in 1857-8 took part in the Utah Expedition. At the beginning of the Civil War he was in command at Fort McHenry, Baltimore, and prevented its capture by the insurgents by means of a successful ruse. Subsequently he was engaged in mustering volunteers at Detroit, Michigan, and Columbus, Ohio, and in September, 1861, he was appointed colonel of the 1st Michigan Volunteers. He was promoted major in the U. S. Army in February, 1862, was commissioned as brigadier-general of volunteers on 28 April, 1862, and commanded a brigade at Newport News. He was soon transferred to the Army of the Potomac, and commanded the 1st Brigade of General Philip Kearny's division. He took part in the Seven Days' Battles before Richmond, and commanded a division at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, where he earned the brevet of lieutenant-colonel, U. S. Army, and in the operations at Mine Run and in the battles of the Wilderness, receiving the brevet of colonel for his services there. At Spottsylvania Court-House, while leading a gallant charge on the enemy's breastworks, he received a bullet in his left knee, necessitating amputation at the thigh. He received the brevet of major-general of volunteers on 24 June, 1864. He was unfit for further service in the field, and subsequently commanded districts in New York State, being brevetted brigadier and major-general, U. S. Army, in March, 1865, served as military commander and commissioner of the Bureau of Freedmen in North Carolina in 1866, was promoted colonel in the regular army in July, 1866, mustered out of the volunteer service on 1 September, 1866, commanded the Department of the South in 1867, and the Department of the Lakes in 1867-8, and on 6 May, 1869, was retired with the full rank of major-general. In 1872 he was elected by the Republicans lieutenant-governor of New York on the ticket with Governor John A. Dix. He was chosen commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic in 1877 and 1878, and president of the Society of the Army of the Potomac in 1887. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 287.


ROBINSON, Lucius, governor of New York, born in Windham, Greene County, New York, 4 November, 1810. He was educated at the academy in Delhi, New York, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1832. He became district attorney, and was appointed master of chancery in New York City in 1843 and reappointed in 1845. Leaving the Democratic Party on the formation of the Republican organization, he was elected a member of the assembly in 1859 and comptroller of the state in 1861 and 1863. In 1865 he was nominated for the same office by the Democrats, but failed of election. In 1871-'2 he was a member of the constitutional commission. In 1875 he was elected comptroller by the Democrats. He was chosen governor in 1875. In 1879 he was again nominated by the Democrats for the governorship, but was not elected. One of the entrances to the Niagara Palls Park is named in his honor. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 287.


ROBINSON, Marius R., 1806-1876, Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, clergyman, abolitionist.  Alumnus of Lane University.  Robinson was active in the anti-slavery debates there.  He was editor of The Ohio Anti-Slavery Bugle, 1849-1856.  The newspaper was the official organ of the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society.  In 1850, he was elected President of the Western Anti-Slavery Society for six years, and was member of the Executive Committee for twelve years.  Robinson was active in the Western Peace Society.  He worked with Augustus Wattles to set up schools for free Blacks.  He worked with abolitionist James G. Birney in editing Philanthropist.  Manager, American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), 1840-1843.  He was a travelling anti-slavery agent.  (Dumond, 1961, pp. 160, 164, 174, 185, 220, 264)


ROBINSON, Martin, born 1812, African American abolitionist.


ROBINSON, Rowland T., North Ferrisburg, Vermont, abolitionist.  American Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1835-40, 1840-43.


ROBINSON, Sarah Tappan Doolittle—His wife, Sarah Tappan Doolittle, author, born in Belchertown, Massachusetts, 12 July, 1827, was educated at the New Salem Academy, and married Dr. Robinson at Belchertown on 30 October, 1851. Her maiden name was Lawrence. She has published “Kansas, its Exterior and Interior Life” (Boston, 1856), in which she describes the scenes, actors, and events of the struggle between the friends and foes of slavery in Kansas, during which her house was ‘plundered and burned, and her husband was imprisoned for four months. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 283.


ROBINSON, Sophia, leader, Boston Anti-Slavery Society (BFASS)


ROBINSON, William Stevens, journalist, born in Concord, Massachusetts, 7 December, 1818; died in Malden, Massachusetts, 11 March, 1876. He was educated in the public schools of Concord, learned the printer's trade, at the age of twenty became the editor and publisher of the "Yeoman's Gazette " in Concord, and was afterward assistant editor of the Lowell "Courier." He was an opponent of slavery while he adhered to the Whig Party, and when the Free-Soil Party was organized he left the "Courier," and in July, 1848, took charge of the Boston "Daily Whig." His vigorous and sarcastic editorials increased the circulation of the paper, the name of which was changed to the " Republican "; yet, after the presidential canvass was ended, Henry Wilson, the proprietor, decided to assume the editorial management and moderate the tone of his journal. Robinson next edited the Lowell "American," a Free-Soil Democratic paper, till it died for lack of support in 1853. He was a member of the legislature in 1852 and 1853. In 1856 he began to write letters for the Springfield "Republican" over the signature " Warrington," in which questions of the day and public men were discussed with such boldness and wit. that the correspondence attracted wide popular attention. This connection was continued until his death. From 1862 till 1873 he was clerk of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. "Warrington," by his articles in the newspapers and magazines, was instrumental in defeating Benjamin F. Butler's effort to obtain the Republican nomination for governor in 1871, and in 1873 he was Butler's strongest opponent. Besides pamphlets and addresses, he published a "Manual of Parliamentary Law" (Boston, 1875). His widow published personal reminiscences from his writings entitled "Warrington Pen-Portraits," with a memoir (Boston, 1877).—His wife, Harriet Hanson, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 8 February, 1825, was one of the intellectual circle of factory-girls that composed the staff of the " Lowell Offering." She is a sister of John W. Hanson. She contributed poems to the Lowell "Courier" while Mr. Robinson was its editor, and from this introduction sprang a friendship that resulted in their marriage on 30 November, 1848. She was his assistant in his editorial work, and was as devoted as himself to the anti-slavery cause. She has also taken an active part in the woman's rights movement, and in 1888 was a member of the International council of women at Washington. 1). C. Her works include "Massachusetts in the Woman Suffrage Movement" (Boston, 1881); "Early Factory Labor in New England" (1883); and " Captain Mary Miller," a drama (1887). . Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 289-290.


ROBINSON'S MILLS, MISSISSIPPI, October 17, 1863. Part of the 15th and 17th Army Corps. After the Confederates had been driven from Bogue Chitto creek, in General McPherson's expedition from Messinger's ferry on the Big Black river toward Canton, Colonel E. F. Winslow pursued them on the Vernon road with his cavalry. At Robinson's mills the enemy was encountered in force, with 2 pieces of artillery in position. McPherson hurried Leggett's brigade to the assistance of Winslow, the enemy was driven back and the mills destroyed. (See Livingston Road.) The Union Army, 1908, Vol. 6, p. 745.