386 HITCHCOCK:, ETHAN A. 



HUGEL, BAEON VON. 



regarded as a .sound and industrious lawyer, 

 who would conduct a case judiciously and 

 carefully, he had attained no special eminence 

 as an attorney when he was elected one of the 

 Superior Court judges in 1842. When he ac- 

 cepted that position, he forsook all other ambi- 

 tions and purposes in life, and determined to 

 become, if not a brilliant or learned, a sound, 

 safe, and honest judge. From his appointment 

 to his death he rose in the estimation of the 

 profession and the public. His opinions have 

 been regarded as models of clearness and com- 

 mon-sense. He had been since 1850 one of the 

 associate justices of the Supreme Court, and on 

 the death of Chief-Justice Storrs, in 1861, he 

 became Chief Justice. For this position he 

 was admirably fitted. With his remarkable 

 soundness of practical judgment, his superior 

 knowledge of legal principles, his long expe- 

 rience on the bench, and his sterling integrity, 

 he commanded the high respect and confi- 

 dence of the legal profession and of the public. 

 A rare equability of temper kept his mind free 

 from those perturbations that sometimes affect 

 the judgment. His judicial opinions, as record- 

 ed in the " Connecticut Eeports " (an,d which 

 extend through twenty volumes), though writ- 

 ten in an unpretending style, are remarkably 

 vigorous, sensible, and convincing. He was a 

 man of much kindness of heart, and was espe- 

 cially considerate of the embarrassments of 

 the younger practitioners before him. 



HITCHCOCK, ETHAN ALLEN, major-gen- 

 eral U. S. Volunteers, an American army offi- 

 cer and author, born in Vergennes, Vt., May 

 18, 1798; died in Hancock^ Ga., August 5, 

 1870. He was, on his mother's side, a grand- 

 son of Ethan Allen. His father was a circuit 

 judge during the Administration of President 

 Washington. In 1817 he graduated at West 

 Point, and, after the usual routine of recruiting 

 and garrison service, was assigned to duty in 

 the Military 'Academy at West Point, as as- 

 sistant instructor in infantry tactics, from 

 February, 1824, to April, 1827. After two 

 years more of recruiting service he was re- 

 called to West Point, and was commandant of 

 'cadets and instructor in infantry tactics from 

 1829 to 1833. From this time to 1843 he was 

 engaged on the frontier and in the Florida 

 War, and had been promoted to the rank of 

 major and lieutenant-colonel. He was next 

 ordered to the Texan frontier, and took part 

 in most of the battles of the Mexican War, be- 

 ing a part of the time inspector-general on 

 General Scott's staff. He received two bre- 

 vets, colonel and brigadier-general, for his 

 gallant conduct, and in 1851 was promoted to 

 be colonel of the Second Infantry, and put in 

 command of the Pacific Military Division, 

 where he served from 1851 to 1854. In Octo- 

 ber, 1855, he resigned his commission in con- 

 sequence of the refusal of Jefferson Davis, then 

 Secretary of War, to confirm the leave of ab- 

 sence given him by General Scott. From 

 1855 to 1862 he resided at St. Louis, and was 



engaged chiefly in literary pursuits. Soon 

 after the commencement of the war, General 

 Hitchcock was commissioned as major-gen- 

 ral of volunteers. He was most of the time 

 on duty at Washington, and was a warm per- 

 sonal friend, and, to some extent, a military 

 adviser of President Lincoln. He acted as 

 commissioner for the exchange of prisoners 

 during some years of the civil war. General 

 Hitchcock also shared the confidence of the 

 late Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton, and was 

 esteemed by his associates for his intellectual 

 ability and purity of character. General Hitch- 

 cock early became an admirer of Emanuel 

 Swedenborg, and seemed to have imbibed 

 something of his mystical spirit. In 1855 he 

 printed for private circulation a pamphlet in- 

 tended to demonstrate that alchemy had a 

 higher and more mystical purpose than the 

 making of gold. In 1837 he published " Ee- 

 marks upon Alchemy and the Alchemists ; " 

 in 1858, "Swedenborg a Hermetic Philoso- 

 pher; "in 1860, "Christ the Spirit, "in which he 

 attempted to show that the Gospels were sym- 

 bolical books, written by members of a secret 

 society of the Jews; in 1863, "Bed Book of 

 Appin, and other Fairy Tales; " in 1865, "Ee- 

 marks on the Sonnets of Shakespeare," etc. ; 

 "Spenser's Colin Clout Explained," etc.; in 

 1866, "Notes on the Vita Nuova of Dante," to 

 explain its spiritual character and purpose. 



IlUGEL, KAKL ALEXANDER ANSELM, Baron 

 von, an Austrian traveller and naturalist, born 

 at Eatisbon, April 25, 1796 ; died at Brussels, 

 October 2, 1870. He was the son of a high 

 officer of the Austrian Government, and in his 

 boyhood travelled with his father over a con- 

 siderable portion of Germany and Italy. In 

 1811 he went to the University of Heidelberg 

 to study law. At the time of the general arm- 

 ing of Germany against Napoleon L, he entered 

 the Austrian Army at eighteen years of age, 

 and won a captain's commission, and entered 

 Paris with the allied armies. He was attached 

 to the diplomatic mission sent to Norway, to 

 force the king of that country to abdicate. A 

 year or two later military service called him 

 into the interior of France, where be remained 

 till 1820 as commandant of Aries and Taras- 

 con. He next made, with General Frimont, 

 the campaign against Naples. In 1824 he re- 

 turned to Austria to devote himself wholly to 

 the study of the natural sciences, in which he 

 had already made considerable proficiency. 

 After ten years of study, Baron von Hiigel re- 

 solved to undertake an extensive tour of 

 scientific exploration. He engaged as com- 

 panions of his travel a physician, a. surgeon, a 

 painter, and a naturalist, and embarked with 

 them at Toulon, May 2, 1831. His tour occu- 

 pied more than six years. He visited a large 

 part of Africa, Asia, and Australia, and, after 

 surmounting extreme difficulties and perils, 

 returned by way of the Cape of Good Hope to 

 Europe in 1837, bringing with him magnificent 

 collections in natural science, which the Aus- 



