DAVIS, EMERSON. 



Council Bluffs, Iowa, December 20, 1860. II,. 

 gradiiaf.'.l tVm the- U. 8. Military Academy at 



Point, July 1, 1881, as brevet second 

 lieutenant, in tlio" Seventh U. 8. Infantry, and 



.(1 IIH position .liino 80, 1882, engaging 

 in til- on <>t' civil engineering in his 



native State from that time to 1887. In this 

 latter year IK- was made chief engineer of the 

 Mnslvingnm liivrr improvement, and held this 

 position until May, I*:)'.". Ho also became a 

 counsel!or-at-la\v in Ohio in 1842. He con- 



1 himself with the Ohio militia, being first 

 captain and then colonel of a regiment, and 

 finally Adjutant-General of the State. lie 

 served during the Mexican war as colonel of 



iinl regiment of Ohio Volunteers. After 

 the discharge of his regiment he served on the 

 staff of Major (then Brigadier) General John E. 

 Wool, and was made the civil and military gov- 

 ernor of Camargo, Monterey, and Saltillo. Upon 

 his return from Mexico he resumed the practice 

 of the law in Missouri and Iowa, until called to 

 the performance of important labors as engineer 

 in improvements of harbors and the construc- 

 tion of railroads. He was elected from Iowa to 

 the House of Representatives of the Thirty-fifth 

 Congress, and reflected to the Thirty-sixth, 

 Thirty-seventh, and Thirty-eighth Congresses. 

 During the Thirty-sixth Congress he served on 

 the Committee on Military Affairs, and in 1861 

 was a delegate to the Peace Convention. He 

 was also an earnest and able advocate of all 

 schemes for internal improvement, and was 

 chosen president of one of the first national 

 conventions held to consider the expediency 

 of a Pacific Railroad. 

 When the war broke out he at once ten- 



DE LA RUE, THOMAS. 263 



dered his services, and was appointed brigadier- 

 l_'i -ni-ral of volunteers in the first lint sent to the 

 S-nate. Assigned to duty at St. Louis, he first 

 look charge of the largo camp of rendezvous 

 and instruction near that city. Succeeding to 

 the command of the Department of Missouri, 

 he became distinguished in 1862 by winning a 

 decisive victory at Pea Ridge over the invading 

 forces of the rebels. Ho was also engaged in 

 several minor operations which be conducted 

 with great ability. General Curtis was subse- 

 quently appointed commander of the Depart- 

 ment of " Kansas and the Territories," and of the 

 Department of the Northwest, the latter of 

 which he held until he received his appoint- 

 ment as railroad commissioner for inspecting 

 the Union Pacific Railroad, when he was mus- 

 tered out of his rank as major-general of vol- 

 unteers. General Curtis was a brave and gal- 

 lant soldier, and faithfully discharged the duties 

 of the various posts to which he was called. 



CUTLER, Major-General LYSAXDER, U. S. 

 Vols., born in Maine, about 1806, died in Mil- 

 waukee, Wis., July 30, 1866. Having had some 

 military training, he offered his services to the 

 Government when the war broke out, and was 

 given the command of the Sixth Wisconsin 

 regiment, which he speedily brought into a 

 state of discipline, and rendered one of the best 

 in the service. Subsequently ho was in com- 

 mand of the Iron Brigade of the Army of the 

 Potomac, to which his regiment was attached, 

 and by his faithfulness and gallantry won tho 

 promotion of brigadier, and afterward major- 

 general, proving himself an excellent com- 

 mander both of brigade and division. He was 

 twice wounded on the field. 



D 



DAVIS, EMERSOX, D. D., a Congregational 

 clergyman and author, born at Ware, Mass., 

 July 15, 1798 ; died in Westfield, Mass., June 

 8, 1866. He graduated at Williams College in 

 the class of 1821, with tho highest honors, and 

 was engaged as preceptor of the academy at 

 WettflttQ for one year; the following year was 

 tutor in the college, and at tho expiration of 

 that time engaged as a permanent preceptor of 

 the academy, which position he retained until 

 June 1, 1836, when he was settled as pastor of 

 the First Congregational Church in Westfield, 

 continuing in that service until his death. 

 During the thirty years of his ministry there 

 were but two Sabbaths when he was unable to 

 preach. Through his whole life he manifested 

 a deep interest in common-school education, 

 and was an active member of the school com- 

 mittee of hi.s town. Upon the organization of 

 the State Board of Education he was appointed 

 one of its members. He was also vice-president 

 of the corporation of Williams College. Though 

 a critical and accurate scholar, Dr. Davis made 

 low ventures in authorship. In 1852 he pub- 



lished a work of great labor and research, 

 entitled " The Half Century," giving in a con- 

 densed form very interesting facts relative to 

 the intellectual, moral, physical, and mechanical 

 progress and discoveries of tho first half of the 

 nineteenth century. This work had a large cir- 

 culation and was reprinted in Great Britain. 

 Aside from this, ho published a number of occa- 

 sional sermons, addresses, educational essays, 

 etc. 



DE LA RUE, THOMAS, an eminent English 

 printer, stationer, and promoter of tho useful 

 arts, born in Guernsey in 1793, died in Hyde 

 Park, Eng., June 7, 1866. He began his career 

 as a printer, and subsequently made use of his 

 special knowledge of this art in the application 

 of improvements in the manufacture of playing- 

 cards. About 1826 he published tho New Tes- 

 tament printed in gold, and on the occasion of 

 Queen "Victoria's coronation in 1838, he aided 

 in printing the Sun newspaper in gold. Among 

 the various patents he took out, was one for 

 fixing tho iridescent colors of thin films. He 

 was well known as a collector of articles of 



