572 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (LATIMER LEWIS.) 



at Goupil's, London, the former measuring 9 by 14 

 feet. Her other notable paintings are " The Young 

 Mother," a cow with her first calf ; " Alone," a 

 solitary tree on the edge of a pool ; " Just in Bloom," 

 a young heifer crossing a pool ; and " From Pas- 

 ture to Fool," which has been pronounced her best 

 work, because it shows a most intimate knowledge 

 of the habits of cattle and preserves a harmony be- 

 tween the subject and its landscape setting. 



Latimer, George Washington, fugitive slave, 

 born in Virginia, about 1821 ; died in Lynn, Mass., 

 May 29, 1896. He and his wife were given their 

 freedom by the will of their mistress, but the will 

 was not probated, and the heirs refused to recog- 

 nize this provision. George was sold to James B. 

 Gray, of Norfolk, Va., in September, 1841. Soon 

 afterward he escaped, and with his wife found a hid- 

 ing place on a cotton steamer bound for Baltimore. 

 From Baltimore they went to New York, and thence 

 to Boston, where they were sheltered by people of 

 their own color. One day George was recognized 

 by a man from the South while at the post office, 

 and two weeks afterward his master appeared and 

 caused his arrest. He was placed in jail, and his 

 master began proceedings to have him returned to 

 Virginia as a fugitive. William Lloyd Garrison, 

 Wendell Phillips, and other early abolitionists 

 fought the case at every point, but Chief-Justice 

 Shaw ruled that Gray had a right to take his chat- 

 tel if. he could prove property. Public indignation 

 meetings were held in different parts of the State, 

 and, pending a stay in the court proceedings, Gray 

 offered to free Latimer for $800. This was refused, 

 and when Gray heard that the citizens intended to 

 storm the jail and release the slave, he offered to 

 free him for $400, which was quickly raised by the 

 Rev. Dr. Samuel L. Caldwell. Gray then attempted 

 to secure Latimer's return to Virginia for trial on a 

 charge of larceny, but_extradition papers were re- 

 fused. 



Lawton, Alexander Robert, lawyer, born in 

 Beaufort, S. C., in 1818; died in Clifton Springs, 

 N. Y., July 2, 1896. He was graduated at the 

 United States Military Academy and commissioned 

 a 2d lieutenant in the 1st Artillery in 1839 ; served 

 on the northern frontier till his resignation in 

 1841 ; studied law at Harvard ; and was admitted 

 to the bar at Savannah, Ga., in 1842. In 1849- 

 '54 he was President of the Savannah and Au- 

 gusta Railroad ; and in 1854-'61 a State Senator. 

 At the beginning of the civil war, as colonel of the 

 1st Georgia Regiment, he seized Fort Pulaski, un- 

 der orders from Gov. Brown, and he held command 

 at Savannah till April, 1861, when he was commis- 

 sioned a brigadier general by the Confederate Pro- 

 visional Government, and placed in command of 

 the entire Georgia coast. In the following year he 

 was transferred to Virginia. He took part in the 

 battle of Chantilly, where his division was opposed 

 by a national force under Gen. Isaac I. Stevens, 

 who was his classmate at West Point. At Antie- 

 tam he was severely wounded, and after his recov- 

 ery he served till the close of the war as quarter- 

 master general. After the war he resumed his law 

 practice in Savannah. In 1875 he was elected to 

 the Legislature, and in 1885 was appointed by 

 President Cleveland United States minister to Rus- 

 sia. But attention was called to the fact that he 

 was ineligible because he never had applied for 

 pardon as a rebel, and the nomination was necessari- 

 ly withdrawn. His disabilities were then removed 

 by a pardon from the President, and he was made 

 minister to Austria in 1887. 



Leggett, Mortimer D.ormer, military officer, 

 born in Ithaca, N. Y., April 19, 18.31; died in 

 Cleveland, Ohio, Jan. 7, 1896. In youth he accom- 

 panied his parents to Willoughby, Ohio, where he 



was educated ; graduated in medicine, and organ- 

 ized the first system of union free schools in the 

 State. He was admitted to the bar at Willoughby, 

 Ohio ; in 1855-'58 was Professor of Pleadings find 

 practice in the Ohio Law College ; and from 1858 

 till the beginning of the civil war was superintend- 

 ent of public schools in Zanesville. He recruited 

 the 78th Ohio Infantry, became its colonel in Jan- 

 uary, 1862, and commanded it in the battles at 

 Fort Donelson, Shiloh (where he was wounded), 

 and Corinth. In June following, while command- 

 ing a brigade, he captured Jackson, Tenn., de- 

 fended Olivia, Tenn., against a superior force, and 

 received another wound. He was promoted briga- 

 dier-general of volunteers in November following; 

 was severely wounded at Champion Hills and at 

 Vicksburg ; and commanded the 3d division of the 

 7th Army Corps in Gen. Sherman's march to the 

 sea. On Aug. 21, 1865, he was promoted major 

 general of volunteers, and in the following month 

 resigned. In 1871 he was appointed United States 

 Commissioner of Pensions. Since 1881 he had been 

 engaged in law practice in Cleveland. 



Leoser. Charles McKnight, military officer, 

 born in Reading, Pa., in 1839; died in Larchmont, 

 X. Y., Feb. 23, 1896. He was graduated at t In- 

 United States Military Academy and commissioned 

 a 2d lieutenant in the 2d Cavalry in May, 1861, 

 and with the other graduates was ordered to Wash- 

 ington. D. C., to drill the volunteer troops. There 

 the drilling of the zouave regiment of New York 

 firemen raised by Col. Ellsworth fell to him. He 

 soon made himself popular with the men, who, on 

 the regular organization of the regiment, elected 

 him major. On Col. Ellsworth's death he became 

 lieutenant colonel, and when Col. Farnham was 

 killed at Bull Run he was unanimously elected 

 colonel. Being informed that the regiment was 

 not to be included in the Army of the Potomac, 

 Col. Leoser resigned its command and returned to 

 his own regiment in the regulars. He fought in all 

 the battles of the Peninsular campaign, and at 

 Brandy Station, June 9, 1863, was shot through the 

 body. He rejoined his regiment in the autumn. 

 In May, 1864, his regiment opened the battle of the 

 Wilderness. He took part in Sheridan's famous 

 raid. He was taken prisoner at Trevilian Station 

 and spent several months in prison. During the 

 war he took part in 40 battles, and in 1865 resigned 

 with the brevet of colonel in the regular army. 



Leslie, Edward, inventor, born near Toronto, 

 Canada, in 1841; died in Paterson, N. J.. March 

 26, 1896. He was the inventor of the rotary snow- 

 plow, now used on all railroads that are obliged 

 to fight snow drifts. He perfected his invention, 

 organized a manufacturing company, and began 

 building the plows in 1888. Subsequently im- 

 provements were made which led to tedious litiga- 

 tion and partnership quarrels, and Mr. Leslie lost 

 his foreign patents in some unexplained manner, 

 after completing arrangements in Russia to build 

 plows for the Government railways. His troubles 

 led to fatal despondency. 



Lewis, James, actor, born in Troy. N. Y., about 

 1840; died in West Hampton, Long Island, N. Y., 

 Sept. 10, 1896. He made his first appearance on 

 the stage at the Troy Museum in 1858 in the small 

 part of Farmer Gammon in "The Writing on the 

 Wall." Soon afterward he was engaged as general 

 utility man. From Troy he went to the Greene 

 Street Theater in Albany, where he played second 

 comedy parts. He then joined a company organ- 

 ized to play in the Georgia circuit, and was in 

 Montgomery, Ala., when the Confederate Provi- 

 sional Government was formed. He escaped to the 

 North, played in Rochester, N. Y., and Cleveland 

 and Cincinnati, Ohio, and made his first appearance 



