606 



OBITUARIES, UNITED STATES. 



Illinois volunteers, of which he was chosen 

 colonel. At the battle of Shiloh he acted as 

 brigadier-general, and was also engaged in this 

 capacity at the siege of Corinth. At the battle 

 of Stone river he commanded one of the bri- 

 gades in Johnson's -division of McCook's corps, 

 and was mortally wounded while bravely with- 

 standing the enemy during that fierce en- 

 counter. 



Jan. 10. BEECHER, Rev. LYMAN. (See BEECH- 

 KB.) 



Jan. 11. MCDONALD, Brig.-Gen. EMMETT, an 

 officer in the Confederate army, was killed at 

 the battle of Hartsville, Mo. He swore that he 

 would neither cut his hair nor shave until the 

 Southern Confederacy was recognized. 



Jan. 12. RENWICK, JAMES, LL.D., died in 

 New York, in his 71st year. He was born in 

 the city of New York, in 1792, and graduated 

 at Columbia College, in 1809. From 1820 to 

 1834, he filled the Chair of Chemistry and Phys- 

 ics in that institution. In 1838, he was ap- 

 pointed one of the Commissioners for Explor- 

 ing the Northeastern Boundary between the 

 United States and New Brunswick, and the re- 

 ports of that commission led to the Ashburton 

 treaty in 1842. Prof. Renwick was passionately 

 fond of mechanics, and of all the applications 

 of science to mechanical improvements. He was 

 also a chaste and vigorous writer, and contrib- 

 uted largely to the literature of the country, not 

 only in his own chosen walk of scientific pur- 

 suit, but in political and belles-lettres essays. 

 He was a frequent and valued contributor to 

 the first " New York Review," where he was the 

 associate of Bryant, and other eminent names 

 in literature, and after the establishment of the 

 " Whig Review," its pages were often enriched 

 by his graceful articles. His published works 

 were biographies of Robert Fulton, David Rit- 

 tenhouse, and Benjamin Thompson (Count Rum- 

 ford), in " Sparks's Series of American Biogra- 

 phies;" "Outlines of Natural Philosophy," 

 published in 1832, the earliest extended trea- 

 tise on this subject published in the United 

 States; " A Memoir of De Witt Clinton," pub- 

 lished in 1834; "Treatise on the Steam En- 

 gine," and another on " The Practical Applica- 

 tions of the Principles of Mechanics," both pub- 

 lished in 1840; "Outlines of Geology," and 

 other text books. Prof. Renwick was of Scotch 

 origin, his mother having been a friend and pet 

 of the poet Burns, who addressed to her some 

 of his sweetest poems. 



.f in. 14. BITHANAN, Lieut.-Com. THOMAS 

 M< KKAX, of the U. 8. navy, was killed at Bayou 

 T' < lio, La. He was a native and citizen of Pcnn- 

 syh'Ania, from which State he was appointed to 

 the Naval Academy as a cadet in October, 1851. 

 He graduated in 1855, and was attached to the 

 sloop Constellation, then stationed in the Medi- 

 terranean in the squadron commanded by Com- 

 modore Breese. In 1858 he was promoted to 

 be master, and ordered to the sloop St. Mary's in 

 the Pacific squadron. In 1860 he was made a 

 lieutenant, and attached to the steam sloop Mis- 



sissippi, and, under the new act of Congress, 

 became lieutenant-commander in 1861. He was 

 next in command of the New London, the 

 " black devil," of the Mississippi Sound, and sub- 

 sequently of the gunboat Calhoun, on which he 

 lost his life. 



Jan. 14. DILL, Rev. JAMES HORTON, a Con- 

 gregational clergyman, died on board of a vessel 

 on his way from Louisville to Nashville, whither 

 he was going to join his regiment, of which he 

 was chaplain. He was born in Plymouth, Mass., 

 Jan. 1st, 1821, studied theology in New Haven, 

 Conn., and was ordained pastor of the First 

 Congregational church in Winchester, Conn., 

 Aug. 26th, 1846. In Feb. 1852, he was installed 

 pastor of the First Congregational church in 

 Spencerport, New York. In 1859 he removed to 

 Chicago, and became the pastor of the South 

 Congregational church. His devotion to his 

 country led him to accept the chaplaincy of 

 the 38th regiment of Illinois volunteers in the 

 autumn of 1862. His death was hastened by 

 his unsparing activity and devotion to the cause 

 he had espoused. 



Jan. 19. WELLES, MARTIN, died at Martin, 

 Ottawa county, Ohio, aged 76 years. He was 

 born in Wethersfield, Conn., graduated at Yale 

 College in the class of 1806, studied law in 

 Farmington, but subsequently was admitted to 

 the bar in the State of New York, and prac- 

 tised in Newburg, and afterward in New York 

 city. His health failing, he returned to his 

 native place, and refrained for a time from 

 professional activity. During this period he 

 interested himself in planning and superintend- 

 ing the Connecticut State Prison, in the estab- 

 lishing of which at Wethersfield he was the 

 chief instrument. He was a member of the 

 House of Representatives from 1824 to 1827 in- 

 clusive, and also in 1831 and 1832, the last two 

 years being speaker of that body. In 1837 he 

 was elected a member of the State Senate, and 

 was reflected the two following years. While 

 a senator he was a member of the corporation 

 of Yale College. He was also an associate 

 judge on the bench of the Hartford County 

 Court, and during the last fifteen years of his 

 life was successfully engaged in the practice of 

 his profession in Hartford. 



Jan. 21. THORBURN, GRANT, died in the city 

 of New Haven, in the 90th year of his age. He 

 wasbornin Dalkeith, near Edinburgh, Scotland, 

 of humble, but worthy parentage. In his early 

 childhood he was delicate and sickly, but later 

 he recovered his vigor, and became an expert 

 in his father's business of nail making, and was 

 said to have manufactured with his own hands, 

 in one day, three thousand two hundred and 

 twenty-two nails between the hours of six 

 o'clock in the morning and nine o'clock in the 

 evening. Though his early advantages were ex- 

 ceedingly limited, his mind was strong and vig- 

 orous, and in 1792 he became involved in some 

 political movements concerning parliamentary 

 reform, which caused him, in company with 

 a number of his associates, to be summoned, 



