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OBITUARIES, UNITED STATES. 



in the hope of regaining it ; but it was too late, 

 and he succumbed to his disease, on the return 

 voyage. He was regarded as one of the best, 

 if not the best Greek scholar in the United 

 States. 



Oct. 29. ELLET, Col. CHARLES RIVERS, com- 

 mander of the Mississippi marine brigade, died 

 at Bunker Hill, Illinois, aged about 22 years. 

 He was a son of the late Col. Charles Ellet, an 

 accomplished engineer and the originator of 

 the ram fleet, and was born in Philadelphia. 

 To a thorough education he had added the ad- 

 vantages of foreign travel and a brief residence 

 in Paris. He had made choice of the medical 

 profession, and at the outbreak of the war was 

 engaged in pursuing the requisite studies, in 

 which he had already made such progress as 

 to fill competently the place of assistant sur- 

 geon in one of the military hospitals. Prefer- 

 ring to follow the fortunes of his father he 

 accompanied him westward in the spring of 

 1862, and commanded one of the rams at the 

 action of Memphis, in which the elder Ellet 

 received the wound which soon after proved 

 fatal. After his father's death, on the organi- 

 zation of the Mississippi marine brigade by his 

 uncle, now Gen. Alfred W. Ellet, he was pro- 

 moted to a colonelcy, and when his uncle was 

 commissioned brigadier-general of land troops, 

 he was placed in command of the marine bri- 

 gade. Choosing the ram Queen of the West as 

 his headquarters, he made many daring expe- 

 ditions on the Mississippi. He succeeded in 

 running the Confederate batteries at Vicksburg, 

 and was for some time engaged in cruising 

 between that stronghold and Port Hudson. 

 On the 10th of February, 1863, he started upon 

 an expedition up the Red river, during which 

 he captured the Confederate steamer Era No. 

 6 and some other vessels, and after ascending 

 the river for some distance with success, his 

 vessel was run aground by the .pilot, in such a 

 position that she was disabled by the fire from 

 a Confederate fort, and fell into the hands of 

 the enemy; Col. Ellet, however, made his es- 

 cape upon a bale of cotton and was picked up 

 by the De Soto. During and after the siege of 

 Vicksburg, Col. Ellet and his command render- 

 ed much valuable assistance to Gen. Grant, in 

 keeping open his communications, and while 

 engaged in these operations his health became 

 BO seriously affected by the noxious vapors of 

 the river as to make it necessary to retire for 

 a season to Illinois to rest. His death, which 

 was the result of the disease he contracted, was 

 very sudden. 



Oct. 81. BLEXKER, Louis, brigadier-general 

 of U. 8. volunteers, died in New Jersey, aged 

 61 years. He was born in the city of Worms, 

 in the Grand Duchy of Hesse Darmstadt, and 

 in his youth was apprenticed to a jeweller, but 

 upon his majority enlisted in the Bavarian 

 legion which was raised to accompany the 

 newly-elected King Otho to Greece. From a 

 private he rose to a sergeant, and when the 

 legion was disbanded in 1837, received with his 



discharge the rank of lieutenant. With this 

 rank he returned to Worms, whence he went 

 to Munich to attend medical lectures with the 

 view of becoming professor of medicine. Sub- 

 sequently he changed his mind and entered 

 into commercial pursuits. In 1849 he became 

 a leading member of the revolutionary govern- 

 ment in his native city, and having been ap- 

 pointed commander of the national guards, took 

 an active part in the popular struggle of that 

 period. After the revolutionary movement 

 had been crushed he retired to Switzerland, 

 and, being ordered to leave the country, he 

 embarked at Havre for the United States, and 

 settled on a farm in Rockland county, N. Y. 

 Subsequently he removed to New York city, 

 where he engaged in commerce until 1861. 

 Upon the commencement of the war he raised 

 the 8th regiment of New York volunteers, 

 with which he marched to Washington, having 

 been commissioned its colonel May 13th, 1861. 

 After being encamped for some time on Merid- 

 ian Hill, the regiment was incorporated with 

 others into a brigade, of which Col. B. was 

 appointed commander. The brigade was then 

 attached to Gen. McDowell's army as a portion 

 of Col. Miles's 5th division. During the battle 

 of Bull Run this division acted as a reserve, and 

 for his services at that time he was commission- 

 ed a brigadier-general, August 9th, 1861. He 

 remained with the army of the Potomac, com- 

 manding a division, until the commencement 

 of the Yorktown campaign, when he was or- 

 dered to Western Virginia. Gen. Blenker par- 

 ticipated in the battle of Cross Keys, June 8th, 

 1862, but was shortly after relieved of the com- 

 mand and was succeeded by Gen. Sigel. He 

 was then ordered to Washington,, where he re- 

 mained for some time, and on March 31st, 1863, 

 was mustered out of service. 



Nov. 6. FITZ, HENRY, a telescope-maker, died 

 suddenly in New York city, aged 55 years. 

 He was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, 

 and commenced life as a printer, but having an 

 inventive genius, became a locksmith, at which 

 trade he worked for many years. In 1835 he 

 made his first reflecting telescope, and, in the 

 winter of 1844, in vented a method of perfecting 

 object-glasses for refracting telescopes, making 

 the first one of the bottom of an ordinary tum- 

 bler. In the autumn of 1845 he exhibited, at 

 the fair of the American Institute, an instru- 

 ment which brought him into the favorable 

 notice of eminent astronomers, and from that 

 time he devoted himself exclusively to the busi- 

 ness of telescope making with unparalleled suc- 

 cess. Continually progressing in size, he finally 

 succeeded in making instruments of 16 inches 

 aperture, one of which is now in the possession 

 of Mr. Van Duzer of Buffalo. He made two 

 of 18 inches, one for the Dudley Observatory 

 at Albany, and the other for an association of 

 gentlemen at AUegany City, Pa. There is also 

 one of his make, of 12 inches aperture, in the 

 observatory at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and he 

 had completed another for the Vassar Fe- 



