N-O: Neill through Osterhaus

Source: Scribner’s Dictionary of American Biography

NEILL, THOMAS HEWSON (April 9, 1826- March 12, 1885), soldier, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a brother of John and Edward Duffield Neill [qq.v.] and the son of Dr. Henry and Martha R. (Duffield) Neill. After an elementary education in the public schools of his native city, he entered the University of Pennsylvania, but left that institution at the close of his sophomore year. On July 1, 1843, he was appointed a cadet at the United States Military Academy. Commissioned brevet second lieutenant of infantry, July 1, 1847, he was regularly promoted through the intermediate grades and made captain on April 1, 1857. During the Mexican War he served in garrison, and on the frontier until 1853 when he became assistant professor of drawing at the Military Academy, continuing in this capacity till 1857. He was with the Utah expedition in 1858 and remained in the West until 1861, when he was made mustering officer at Philadelphia.

Throughout the Civil War he rendered notable service, which received appropriate recognition. During Patterson's campaign on the upper Potomac in the summer of 1861 he was on General Cadwalader's staff. Commissioned colonel of volunteers on February 17, 1862, he assumed command of the 23rd Pennsylvania Infantry and served with his regiment in McClellan's Peninsular campaign (March to August 1862). For gallantry in the battle of Malvern Hill he was brevetted, July l, major, regular army. He took part in the Antietam campaign, but his regiment did not participate in the battle of Antietam. Made a brigadier-general of volunteers on November 29, 1862, he assumed command at Fredericksburg, after its previous commander had been wounded, of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, VI Army Corps. At Chancellorsville he took part in the operations of Sedgwick's VI Corps. With his brigade he participated in the assault on Marye's Heights, May 3, 1863, and on the following day defended the rear of Sedgwick's position at Salem Church, for which service he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel in the regular army. After a forced march of over thirty miles, his brigade reached Gettysburg on the afternoon of July 2, 1863, and supported elements of the I and XII corps on Cemetery Hill. The following day he held the extreme right of the Union line. During the pursuit of Lee, he commanded a division made up of his own brigade and McIntosh's cavalry brigade. On May 7, 1864, at the battle of the Wilderness, after General Getty was wounded, he took command of the 2nd Division, VI Corps. He was brevetted colonel, regular army, for gallantry at Spotsylvania and participated in the Cold Harbor and Petersburg campaigns. On June 21, 1864, he was transferred to the staff of the XVIII Army Corps, where he served until September 12; then joining Sheridan's army in the Shenandoah Valley, he commanded the base at Martinsburg and served as an inspector. Later he was on duty in Washington, D. C., and in command of Fort Independence. On March 13, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general, regular army, and major-general of volunteers for gallant and meritorious service during the Civil War. He reverted, August 24, 1865, to the rank of major,11th U.S. Infantry, to which he had been promoted August 26, 1863.

After the war he served in various capacities until February 22, 1869, when he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel. The following year, December 15, he was transferred to the 6th U.S. Cavalry and went to the frontier to take part in the Indian campaigns. From 1875 to 1879 he was commandant at West Point, and on April 2 of the latter year was made colonel of the 6th Cavalry. He retired from active service, April 2, 1883, for disability contracted in line of duty, and died in Philadelphia almost two years later. His wife, whom he married, November 20, 1873, was Eva D. Looney, and he was survived by one of their three children.

[War Department records; War of the Rebellion: Official Records (Army); F. B. Heitman, History Register and Dictionary  U. S. Army (1903); G. W. Cullum, Biographical Register Officers and Graduates U. S. Military Academy (3rd ed., 1891), volume II; Sixteenth Annual Rebellion Association Graduates U. S. Military Academy (1885); S. P. Bates, Martial Deeds of Pennsylvania (1875); G. J. Fiebeger, Campaigns of the American Civil War (1914); Press (Phila.), March 13, 14, 1885; E. D. Neill, History Notes on the Ancestry and Descendants of Henry Neill, M.D. (1886).]

H.O.S.



NELSON, WILLIAM (September 27, 1824-September 29, 1862), naval officer, Union. soldier, was born near Maysville, Kentucky, youngest son of Dr. Thomas W. Nelson and Frances (Doniphan) Nelson. His elder brothers were Ander son Doniphan Nelson, who became a n army officer, and Thomas Henry Nelson [q.v. ]. William was appointed midshipman in the United States Navy, January 28, 1840, and became passed midshipman July 11, 1846. He served with the fleet which supported Scott's invasion of Mexico and commanded a battery during the siege of Vera Cruz, March 9-29, 1847. Later he served with the Mediterranean Squadron and on board the Niagara when that ship was used to return to Afric a th e slaves taken from the slaver Echo. He was promoted master in September 1854 and lieutenant, April 18, 1855.

During the spring of 1861, Nelson, who was devoted to the Union, made several visits to his native state to study conditions there, reporting his observations to the President, who in April sent him into Kentucky to arm the loyalists and to organize regiments for the Union Army. Some five thousand stand of arms were distributed to the Kentucky Home Guard, the Unionist military organization of the state. Early in August, Nelson established Camp Dick Robinson in Garrard County and began to organize troops for an expedition into East Tennessee. He was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, September 16, 1861, and later in the fall was sent into Eastern Kentucky to supervise recruiting camps. During November he expelled a small Confederate column which had invaded the state. Later he joined Buell's Army of the Ohio before Louisville and was given command of the 4th Division. He marched with Buell's command to Pittsburg Landing. Nelson's division was the first element of the Army of the Ohio to arrive on the field of Shiloh. He reached the battlefield with his leading brigades about 5:00 P.M., April 6, 1862, and checked the victorious Confederate advance near the river bank. He bore an important part in the Union counterattack on April 7 and participated in the occupation of Corinth, Mississippi. After Corinth, he participated in the advance against Chattanooga. On July 17, 1862, he was commissioned major-general of volunteers.

In that month he was ordered, with his division,. to Nashville to protect Buell's communications against raid by Forrest's Confederate cavalry. When the Confederate armies of Bragg and E. Kirby-Smith [qq.v.] invaded Kentucky, Nelson was sent thither to organize troops. On August 30, he was wounded at Richmond, Kentucky, while attempting to rally two of his brigades which had been severely defeated. Later he was placed in command at Louisville to organize its defense. While thus engaged, he had occasion to reprimand Brigadier-General Jefferson C. Davis [q.v.] for alleged negligence. A few days later, September 29, 1862, Davis, in company with Governor O. P. Morton of Indiana, encountered Nelson in the lobby of the Galt House in Louisville. During the altercation which ensued, Davis shot Nelson, who died in about half an hour. Nelson was a strong and dominating character, of great energy, a strict disciplinarian, and intolerant of neglect of duty. His untimely death lost a valuable officer to the Union cause.

[War of the Rebellion: Official Records (Army); F. B. Heitman, History Register and Dictionary  U. S. Army (1903); Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (4 volumes, 1887-88); Thomas Speed, The Union Cause in Kentucky (1907); W. C. Goodloe, Kentucky Unionists of 186r (1884); C. A. Evans, Confederate Military History (1899), volume IX; E. M. Coulter, The Civil War and Readjustment in Kentucky (1926); G. J. Fiebeger, Campaigns of the American Civil War (1914); A. M. Ellis, "Major General William Nelson," Register Kentucky State History Society, Ma y 1906; J. B. Fry, Military Miscellanies (1889); Cincinnati Daily Commercial, September 30, October 1, 1862; date of birth from Ellis and Fry.]

H. O. S.



NEWTON, JOHN (August 24, 1823-May 1, 1895), soldier, engineer, was born in Norfolk, Virginia, the son of Thomas Newton, 1768-1847 [q.v.], and his second wife, Margaret (Jordan) Pool. His father was a representative in Congress for twenty-nine years. John Newton was graduated second in his class at the United States Military Academy, July 1, 1842, and was commissioned second lieutenant of engineers. Prior to the Civil War, he served as assistant to the Board of Engineers, as instructor at West Point, and on fortification, lighthouse, and river and harbor work. His name is identified with the construction of Fort Warren, Massachusetts, Fort Trumbull, Connecticut, Forts Porter, Niagara, and Ontario, New York, Fort Wayne, Michigan, and Forts Pulaski and Jackson, Georgia. He became first lieutenant, October 16, 1852, and captain, July 1, 1856. He was chief engineer of the Utah Expedition of 1858. In 1848 he was married to Anna M. Starr, daughter of Jonathan Starr, a leading banker of New London, Connecticut. They had five sons and one daughter.

The outbreak of the Civil War found him engaged in fortification work on Delaware Bay. He was successively chief engineer of the Departments of Pennsylvania and of the Shenandoah, was in action at Falling Waters, Virginia, June 30, 1861, and did much field reconnaissance. Promoted.to major August 6, 1861, and made brigadier-general of volunteers September 23, he was on duty as engineer in constructing the defenses of Washington from August 28 of that year to March 1862. He constructed Fort Lyon, one of the larger works of the Washington defenses. Subsequently he commanded a brigade at West Point, Virginia, May 7, 1862, and at Gaines's Mill, Glendale, South Mountain, and Antietam. He selected the Union position at West Point, and showed good judgment and skill in handling troops. At South Mountain he ordered his men to advance with the bayonet, without fighting until the enemy should begin to retreat. He accompanied them and carried the enemy's position with a rush. His corps commander recommended him for promotion to major-general for conspicuous gallantry and important services at Antietam. He commanded a division at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. In the Chancellorsville campaign, he was ordered to attack Marye's Heights, which had defied attack in the memorable battle of Fredericksburg. He carried the position with the bayonet in three minutes, with the loss of 1,000 out of 3,500. On the first day at Gettysburg, General Meade selected him to command the I Corps, upon the death of General John F. Reynolds.

When the I Corps was broken up in March 1864, he was ordered to report to General Sherman and was assigned to the 2nd Division, IV Corps, Sheridan's old division. At the beginning of the Atlanta campaign, he carried Rocky-face Ridge. He was in the operations around Dalton and Adairsville, and the battles of Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Jonesborough, and Lovejoy's Station. Never did his soldier-ship show to better advantage than at Peach Tree Creek. His division prevented the penetration of Sherman's forces. "The blow was sudden and somewhat unexpected, said Sherman in his report, "but General Newton had hastily covered his front by a line of rail piles, which enabled him to meet and repulse the attack on him" (Official Records, 1 series XXXVIII, part 1, p. 71). After the fall of Atlanta, he commanded the District of West Florida, where he showed great activity. He was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, colonel, brigadier-general, major-general of volunteers, and major-general, United States Army, and held the rank of major-general of volunteers from March 30, 1863, to April 18, 1864.

After the close of the war, he became lieutenant-colonel of engineers, December 28, 1865, was mustered out of the volunteer service, January 15, 1866, and returned to fortification and river and harbor work. His most notable achievements were the removal of obstructions in the East River, New York. He blasted away Pot Rock, a large, submerged stone that had caused many wrecks and had baffled previous efforts to remove it. He mined a reef, three acres in area, projecting at Ballet's Point into Hell Gate, and placed in it 50,000 pounds of high explosives. To allay public excitement, he let it be known that he and his family would be at the electric batteries, near the shaft, and that his daughter Mary, two years old, would touch the electric button. The mines were exploded September 24, 1876, with complete success. He blew up, with 200,000 pounds of dynamite, Flood Rock, or Middle Reef, nine acres in area, in Hell Gate, October 10, 1885. Earth tremors were recorded 183 miles away. He had been promoted to the rank of colonel, June 30, 1879, and on March 6, 1884, he became brigadier-general and chief of engineers, but he retained personal charge of the Hell Gate operations until December 31, 1885. He was retired at his own request, August 27, 1886, and on the following day accepted the office of commissioner of public works of New York City. He declined a reappointment two years later and accepted the presidency of the Panama Railroad Company, a position which he held until his death in New York City, May 1, 1895. He was buried in Post Cemetery, New York. Newton was a handsome man of commanding presence and pleasing personality. From early manhood he was a devout member of the Roman Catholic Church. He was awarded the degree of LL.D. by St. Francis Xavier College in 1886, and was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and an honorary member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

[G. W. Cullum, Biographical Register Officers and Graduates U. S. Military Academy (3rd ed., 1891), volume II; Professional Memoirs, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, March- April 1912; Twenty-sixth Annual Reunion Association Graduates U. S. Military Academy (1895); Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army, 1843-62, 1867-87; War of the Rebellion: Official Records (Army), 1, 2, 3 series (see Index volume); National Academy Science Biographical Memoirs, volume IV (1902); New York Times, May 2, 1895.]

S. C. V.



OGLESBY, RICHARD JAMES (July 25, 1824-April 24, 1899), governor of Illinois and senator, was born in Oldham County, Kentucky, the son of Jacob and Isabella (Watson) Oglesby. His father was a farmer, owned a few slaves, and was a member of the Kentucky legislature. In 1833 his parents, two brothers, and a sister died of the cholera and the family property was sold, including the slaves. He maintained that it was the sale of these slaves, especially of Uncle Tim, whom he later bought and freed, that made him an abolitionist. An uncle took the orphaned boy to Decatur, Illinois, where he attended the district school a few months before he began his struggle for a livelihood as farmer, rope-maker, and carpenter. He studied law in the office of Silas W. Robbins of Springfield, was admitted to the bar in 1845, and practised his profession at Sullivan, Illinois, until the outbreak of the Mexican War. During the war he served as first lieutenant in the 4th Illinois Volunteers, participating in the battles of Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo. After the war he resumed his law practice and attended a course of lectures at the law school in Louisville. In 1849 he went to California to dig for gold and returned to his profession at Decatur in 1851. Five years later he went abroad for twenty months' travel in Europe, Egypt, and the Holy Land.

On his return to Decatur he entered politics. He had been a Whig and had served as a Scott elector in 1852 but joined the Republican party upon its formation. In 1858 he ran for Congress on the Republican ticket and was defeated by only a small majority in a strong Democratic district. In 1860 he was elected to the state Senate, but he served only one term, resigning at the outbreak of the Civil War to become colonel of the 8th Illinois Volunteers. He served as brigade commander under Grant at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson and was severely wounded at the battle of Corinth. In April 1863 he returned to the army and was promoted to the rank of major-general. He resigned in May 1864. In November 1864 he was elected governor of Illinois on the Republican ticket. He was an ardent advocate of Lincoln's war policies; however, later he denounced Johnson bitterly and sent a formal demand to Washington for action against him. During his administration, Illinois ratified the Thirteenth and the Fourteenth Amendments and repealed her "Black Laws." Further enactments provided for a home for the children of deceased soldiers, a school for the feeble-minded, the location of the Illinois industrial college at Urbana, and the construction of a southern Illinois penitentiary. At the end of his term he returned to his law practice, but in 1872 he was again the Republican nominee for governor, the party realizing that he was the only Republican who could carry the state. There was an understanding, however, that the lieutenant-governor should succeed to the governorship immediately after inauguration and that Oglesby in turn should receive election to the United States Senate. A few days after his inauguration, therefore, he was elected to succeed Lyman Trumbull. As senator, he served as chairman of the committee on public lands and on the committees of Indian affairs, pensions, and civil service. As a member of the pensions committee, he was an earnest champion of the soldiers' interests. He retired at the end of his term in the Senate. In 1884 the Republican party nominated him governor by acclamation, and he was elected, the first man in Illinois to receive that honor three times. During this administration his general policies were carried out in laws providing for a soldiers' and sailors' home, a home for juvenile delinquents, and the creation of various pension funds. In 1889 he retired to his home at "Oglehurst," Elkhart, Illinois. In 1891 he was nominated for the Senate, but he failed of election.

The last years of his life were spent in comparative quiet. He was married twice: to Anna White in 1859 and, after her death in 1868, to Emma (Gillet) Keyes in 1873. He was a fine looking man with a bluff, friendly manner that appealed to the people. This, added to his wit and good humor, his sincerity and enthusiasm, and his ability to speak to the people in the vernacular, made him an excellent stump speaker, and as such he acquired considerable fame. He believed in the people and in their ability to govern themselves; in return, he was dearly beloved by them, to whom he was known as ''Uncle Dick."

[Correspondence in possession of Illinois State History Library, Urbana, and of his son, John G. Oglesby, Elkhart; J. M. Johns, Personal Recollections of Early Decatur (1912); The Bench and Bar of Illinois, ed. by J. M. Palmer (1899), volume II; The Biographical Encyclopedia of Illinois, ed. by Charles Robsen (1875); G. B. Raum, History of Illinois Republicanism (1900); John Moses, Illinois, History and Statistical, volume II (1892); A. C. Cole, The Era of the Civil War (1919); E. L. Bogart, The Industrial State (1920); Illinois State Register (Springfield), April 25, 1899.]

E. B. E.



OLIVER, PAUL AMBROSE (July 18, 1830-May 17, 1912), soldier, inventor, manufacturer, the youngest of five children of Captain Paul Ambrose Oliver and Mary Van Dusen, was born in the English Channel on board the Louisiana, a vessel built by his grandfather,. Matthew Van Dusen, shipbuilder of Kensington, Pennsylvania, and owned and commanded by his father. Shortly after the birth of his youngest child, Captain Oliver settled with his family at Altona, Germany, and remained there ten years. During this time Paul Ambrose imbibed a knowledge of German military science at the local gymnasium which he later made of practical use. In 1849 he came to the United States, settled in New Orleans, and engaged in the cotton export trade. Later he settled at Fort Hamilton, New York, where he was also engaged in the shipping business. In 1856 he organized and was made president of the Fort Hamilton Relief Society, in association instrumental in preventing an epidemic of yellow fever in New York City.

He joined the army and on October 29, 1861, was commissioned second lieutenant in the famous 12th New York Volunteers. His promotion was rapid, owing largely to the fact that he perfected in his own company a German bayonet drill which was widely approved by his superiors. He rose to the captaincy, was successively offered commissions as major, lieutenant-colonel, and colonel of the 5th New York Volunteers, all of which he declined, and served as aide on the staffs of Generals Butterfield, Meade, Hooker, and Warren. He was a principal witness at an investigation of. the conduct of General Carl Schurz, during which Schurz criticized Oliver for presuming to give as his own orders which really came from Hooker (War of the Rebellion: Official; Records, Army, I series XXXI, part 1 p. 187). By order of General Grant, Oliver was assigned to duty with General Patrick, Headquarters Armies of the United States, January 1865. As provost-marshal, he assisted in paroling the Confederate army at Appomattox, a service which General Sharpe called "invaluable and highly meritorious" (Ibid., XLVI, part 3, p. 853). Oliver left the service on May 6, 1865; two days later he was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers. He had taken part in twenty-five battles and was favorably mentioned in the official reports of Hooker, Butterfield, and others for the coolness; bravery, and intelligence he displayed in action (Official Records, 1 series XI, XII, XXXI and XLVI). At Resaca, Georgia, on May 15, 1864, Oliver "assisted in preventing a disaster caused by Union troops firing into each other" (General Butterfield to the Secretary of War, May 26, 1892). The brigade being fired into was led by Colonel Benjamin Harrison. Appropriately enough, when Harrison became president, Oliver was decorated with the Congressional Medal of Honor.

After the war Oliver engaged in the anthracite coal trade but soon gave that up to experiment in the manufacture of explosives. Between 1868 and 1889 he secured several patents for formulas for explosives and for machines for their manufacture. His machines were designed to mix the ingredients in small quantities with an excess of moisture so as to prevent violent explosions; his powders were especially adapted for blasting in coal mining. He is generally credited with the invention of dynamite and black powder; but his discoveries in this field were contemporaneous with, and probably independent of, the similar inventions of Nobel in France, Schultze in Germany, and Von Lenck in Austria (J. B. Bernadou, Smokeless Powder, 1901; J. P. Cundill, A Dictionary of Explosives).

Oliver settled in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in 1868, and set up a small powder mill. As he was in close touch with the coal operators in the anthracite region, his business "grew to a large importance" (Coal Trade Journal, May 22, 1912, p. 478). His mill experienced several disastrous fires and explosions, but by 1873 he was regularly employing 100 men and producing 900 kegs of powder per day. His mills were purchased in 1903 by E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, and are still in operation; the principles of manufacture evolved by him have continued in use with some modifications. The enormous expansion of the anthracite coal trade following the Civil war and the increasing industrial uses of explosives meant a corresponding expansion in his business, and Oliver was enabled to retire after amassing a considerable fortune. Among other things, he was interested in the forestry movement in his state, being stimulated, no doubt, by the denuding of thousands of acres of virgin timber in the adjacent mountains.

Oliver was a communicant of the Episcopal Church. He never married. Genial in manner, of distinguished presence, he made his home at Fern Lodge, overlooking the historic Wyoming Valley, typical of the resplendent hospitality and luxury of the new industrial order which he had done much to advance.  

[Sources include: H. E. Hayden, "Oliver Family," New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, July, October 1888, January 1889; H. C. Bradsby, History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania (1893); Circular No. 8, series 1913, Pennsylvania Commandery, Military Order of the Loyal Legion; Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Patents, 1878-1889; A. P. Van Gelder and Hugo Schlatter, History of the Explosives Industry in America (1927); War of the Rebellion: Official Records (Army), 1 series XI, XII, XXV. XXVII, XXXI, XXXII, XXXVIII, XLII, XL VI; Withes-Barre Record, May 18, 1912; and records of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Wilkes-Barre office. A volume of newspaper clippings in the possession of Miss Adelaide Bonnell, Elizabeth, New Jersey, includes a copy of the letter from General Butterfield of May 26, 1892, referred to above.]

J.P.B.



ORD, EDWARD OTHO CRESAP (October 18, 1818-July 22, 1883), soldier, was born in Cumberland, Maryland, the third son of James Ord, an officer in the United States Navy for a short time, and afterwards a lieutenant in the army during the War of 1812. His mother was a daughter of Colonel Daniel Cresap, who had been a lieutenant of Maryland Volunteers. His grandfather had commanded one of the regiments which Washington sent to Pennsylvania to quell the whiskey insurrection. In 1819, the Ords moved to Washington, D. C., where Edward received his early schooling mostly from his father, a thorough scholar. When but seven years old, he showed marked aptitude as a calculator. At sixteen he entered the United States Military Academy, and graduated in 1839, seventeenth in a class of thirty-one. On July 1, 1839, he was appointed second lieutenant and assigned to the 3rd U.S. Artillery. His first service was against the Seminole Indians in the Florida Everglades in 1840. He was promoted first lieutenant for gallant conduct on this expedition. In 1847 he was sent on the Lexington from New York, around Cape Horn, to California. Shortly after his arrival, he was dispatched with two men to capture three murderers. He caught up with them at Santa Barbara, shot one who attempted to escape, brought the other two to jury trial before an alcade court, secured their conviction, and promptly executed them. Ord had to take matters in his own hands, for the alcade would neither assume responsibility nor take any action without Ord's direction. Ord received his captaincy on September 7, 1850. At San Francisco, October 14, 1854, he married Mary Mercer Thompson; they had two sons and a daughter.

During 1856, in Oregon, he campaigned successfully against the Rogue River Indians and later against the Spokane Indians in Washington Territory. In 1859, he was in the Artillery School at Fort Monroe, Virginia, and served in the expedition that suppressed John Brown's raid at Harpers Ferry. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was stationed at the Presidio, San Francisco, where he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers on September 14, 1861. He was ordered East and from November 1861 to May 1862 commanded a brigade in the army defending Washington, D. C. During this period, at Dranesville, Virginia, December 20, 1861, he led the attack against the Confederate forces under General J. E. B. Stuart. The morale of his men was low; but through his brilliant leadership, success was attained and the drooping spirits of the men revived. For his conduct in this action he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel.

He was appointed major-general of volunteers, May 2, 1862. In the Army of the Tennessee he commanded the left wing from August to September 1862, and on September 19, was brevetted colonel for gallant and meritorious service during the advance upon Iuka, Mississippi. After the battle of Corinth, in October, he joined the Federal army in pursuit of the retreating Confederates at Hatchie, assumed command, and drove back the head of the Confederate column. After this engagement, in which he was severely wounded, he was brevetted brigadier-general. From June 18 to October 28, 1863, he commanded the XIII Army Corps in the Army of the Tennessee in the Vicksburg campaign. During the siege of Vicksburg, he served on Grant's staff and later, July 16, 1863, took part in the capture of Jackson, Mississippi. From August to October 1863, he served with the Army of Western Louisiana. In March 1864 he joined General Franz Sigel at Cumberland and, with General George Crook, directed the campaign against Staunton, Virginia. On July 9,1864, he was given command of the VIII and later, of the XVIII Army Corps, in the operations before Richmond. In the assault and capture of Fort Harrison, September 29, he was severely wounded. After his recovery he assumed command, January 8, 1865, of the Army of the James and the Department of North Carolina. He engaged in the various operations about Petersburg, Virginia, and in the pursuit of General Lee until the surrender at Appomattox Court House, April 9, 1865. On March 13, 1865, he had been brevetted major-general. His aide-de-camp, the Reverend S. S. Seward, said: "I never saw him under any circumstances lose his self-control or forfeit for an instant his character as a courteous gentleman .... Before battle ... he was exceedingly cautious ... but as soon as the first bullet whistled over his head he seemed to lose all sense of fear, all hesitation, all thought, except to go forward and win the victory" (New York Tribune, July 26, 1883).

Following the war he commanded several military departments in turn until he was retired, December 6, 1880. By Act of Congress, approved January 28, 1881, he was made a major-general on the retired list. Subsequently he became identified with various civilian enterprises and remained so engaged until stricken with yellow fever en route from New York to Vera Cruz. He was taken ashore at Havana, Cuba, where he died. His remains were interred in the National Cemetery at Arlington, Virginia.

[P. T. Tyson, Geology and Industrial Resources of California (1851); Association Graduates U.S. Military Academy, Annual Reunion, 1884; War of the Rebellion: Official Records (Army); F. B. Heitman, History Register and Dictionary  U. S. Army (1903); G. W. Cullum, Biographical Register Officers and Graduates U. S. Military Academy (3rd ed., 1891), volume II; records of the U. S. Pension Office.]

C. C. B.



OSBORN, THOMAS OGDEN (August u, 1832-March 27, 1904), lawyer, soldier, diplomat, was born in Jersey, Ohio, the son of Samuel and Hannah (Meeker) Osborn. He graduated in 1854 from Ohio University at Athens and after reading law for two years in the office of General Lew Wallace at Crawfordsville, Indiana, was admitted to the bar. In 1858 he began the practice of law in Chicago. With the opening of the Civil War, however, he threw all his energies into recruiting a regiment of volunteers, the 39th Illinois Infantry, christened the Yates Phalanx in honor of the governor of the state. He was elected lieutenant-colonel of the regiment, which was attached to the Army of the Potomac, and was shortly promoted to colonel. He was wounded in the attack on Fort Wagner and later more seriously in the battle of Drewry's Bluff, when a bullet shattered his right elbow. For gallantry in action he was brevetted brigadier- general. After more than four months he was discharged from Chesapeake Hospital, but, too weak to return to the field, was given a furlough. He spent his period of convalescence delivering a vigorous series of speeches in Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana in Lincoln's second presidential campaign. Returning to active service in December 1864, he remained with his command on the north side of Richmond all winter, and on April 2, 1865, in a dangerous and gallant charge captured Fort Gregg. This resulted in the fall of Petersburg and Richmond. Osborn was made full brigadier-general of volunteers, and the Yates Phalanx was presented with a brazen eagle by the Secretary of War.

After the war Osborn returned to his law practice in Chicago. He was treasurer of Cook County, Illinois, in the years 1867-69; served on the board of managers of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers; and on January 7, 1873, was appointed a member of the Commission to Inquire into the Depredations Committed on the Texas Frontier, and spent the winter investigating conditions in the Rio Grande Valley. On February 10, 1874, President Grant appointed him minister resident in the Argentine Republic. Never content to fill a passive role, he was not only careful to protect American interests, but tried to make himself a valued counselor and trusted friend of the Argentines. On July 6, 1880, his good offices were effective in terminating the civil war between the national government and the province of Buenos Aires. For many years the relations between Argentina and Chile had been disturbed by a misunderstanding over the Patagonian boundary between the two countries. Osborn and his colleague, Thomas Andrew Osborn [q.v.], American minister to Chile, took the initiative in bringing about a settlement. The snowy Andes blocked travel between the two capitals, but a treaty was successfully negotiated and ratified (October 22, 1881) by telegraph. Osborn commented that it might well be called "the Wire Treaty." Others suggested "the Osborn Treaty" as an appropriate name. Osborn was publicly thanked by the Argentine government and commended by his own. The Argentine Republic afterward presented him with a shield, "very handsome, artistic, and costly," bearing figures representing Chile and Argentina with hands joined, and the United States extending an olive branch. This shield, said to be the last finished work of Gustave Dore, was hung in the Art Institute of Chicago.

Osborn resigned in 1885 but remained in South America, engaging in railway projects. One link of the Pan-American Railway, from Asuncion, Paraguay, to Sucre, Bolivia, was known as the Osborn Concession. He returned to Chicago in 1890 and retired from active business. He died suddenly in Washington, D. C., in 1904, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He never married.

[Biographical Sketches of the Leading Men of Chicago (1868); Chicago Record-Herald, March 28, 1904; "History of the Thirty-ninth Infantry," in Report of the Adj. General of the State of Illinois (1867), volume I; "Report and Accompanying Documents ... on the Relations of the U. S. with Mexico," House Report 701, 45 Congress, 2 Session; Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the U.S., 1874-85; War of the Rebellion: Official Records (Army); Buenos Ayres Herald, November 14, 1880; Who's Who in America, 1903-05; the Washington Post, March 28, 1904.]

I. L.T.



OSTERHAUS, PETER JOSEPH (January 4, 1823-January 2, 1917), Union soldier, consul, son of Anton A. Osterhaus, was born in Coblenz, Germany. He received his early education in his native city, studied at a military school in Berlin, and served as a volunteer in the 29th Infantry Regiment. In 1846, at Kreuznach in Rhenish Prussia, he married Natilda Born. He became involved in the Revolution of 1848, and when the government triumphed he emigrated to the United States (1849), settling in Belleville, Illinois, where he was employed as a drygoods clerk. He later moved to Lebanon, Illinois, and operated a general merchandise business. Moving with his family to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1851, he became bookkeeper for a wholesale hardware firm.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, he volunteered as a private in the 12th Missouri Volunteers. He was soon commissioned captain, Company A, 2nd Missouri Volunteer Infantry, promoted to major, April 27, 1861, and fought in the battle of Wilson's Creek, August 10, 1861. On August 27 of that year, he was honorably discharged from this commission, and on December 19 following, commissioned colonel, 12th Missouri Volunteer Infantry. Vacating that commission in June 1862, he accepted appointment as brigadier- general, United States Volunteers. He commanded the 1st Division of General S. R. Curtis' corps and, in the Army of the Southwest, a division which took part in the engagement at Pea Ridge, Arkansas (March 6-8, 1862). He was in command of the 3rd Division, Army of the Southwest, to December 31, 1862, and of the 9th Division of the same army from December 31, 1862; to August 2, 1863. In this last command he participated in the Vicksburg campaign. In a sharp engagement at Big Black River, Mississippi, on May 17, 1863, he was wounded by a shell fragment. His next command was the 1st Division, XV Corps of Grant's army at Chattanooga. Under temporary command of General Joseph Hooker, Osterhaus led his troops over Lookout Creek, climbed to the summit of Missionary Ridge, took literally thousands of prisoners, and drove the Confederate southern wing from the crest of the ridge. On July 23, 1864, he was made a major-general of volunteers. He was chief of staff to the commanding general of the military division of West Mississippi to May 27, 1865; commanded the Department of the Mississippi to June 13, 1865; the District of the Mississippi to July 17, 1865; the Northern District of the Mississippi to September 16, 1865; the Department of the Mississippi to November 18, 1865, and the Western District of the Mississippi to January 17, 1866, when he was relieved, having been honorably mustered out January 15, 1866. General Osterhaus served as United States Consul to France, from June 18, 1866, until August 16, 1877, residing at Lyons. His term included the period of the Franco-Prussian War, and his reports show keen insight into the economic problems involved in French compliance with the conditions of peace imposed by Germany. When relieved by his successor, he returned to the United States and engaged in the manufacture and exporting of hardware. He was again called into public service, however, and acted as vice and deputy consul of the United States at Mannheim, Germany, from March 16, 1898, to November 8, 1900, when he resigned that he might retire and enjoy a rest within the circle of his family and his friends. On June 27, 1902, Congress authorized an additional pension for his services as a major-general of volunteers. This pension was stopped March 20, 1905, for on March 3, 1905, Congress by special act appointed him brigadier-general of the United States Army, and on March 17 he went on the retired list. He lived to the age of ninety-four, his death occurring at Duisburg, Germany, where he was buried. On November 15, 1863, his first wife died in St. Louis, and on July 28, 1864, he married her sister, Amalia Born. By his first marriage he had five children, and by his second, three.

[War of the Rebellion: Official Records (Army); Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (4 volumes 1887-88); F. B. Heitman, History Register and Dictionary  U. S. Army (1903); T. H. S. Hamersly, Complete Army and Navy Register of the U. S. (1882); pension records; consular files, State Department; personnel records, War Department; New York Times, January 6, 1917; family records in possession of Alexander Osterhaus, Hollywood, Cal.]

C.C.B.



Source: Dictionary of American Biography, Volume VII, Edited by Dumas Malone, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1930.