754 



WHEELING. 



WILLIAMSPORT. 



160,000 rounds for foot soldiers, 1,124,900 

 rounds for mounted soldiers, 61,306 rounds for 

 field batteries, 16,942 rounds for garrison and 

 seacoast. Cannon. 382 guns and howitzers, 

 717 gun-carriages and caissons, 53 travelling 

 forges, 27 battery wagons. 



WHEELING, the capital of Ohio County, in 

 the western part of Virginia, is situated on the 

 east or left bank of the Ohio River, and on both 

 sides of Wheeling Creek. It is ninety -two miles 

 below Pittsburg, three hundred and sixty-five 

 miles above Cincinnati, and three hundred and 

 fifty miles northwest of Richmond. It is also 

 a port of entry for a district on the Ohio River. 

 On the secession of Virginia, orders were re- 

 ceived from Governor Letcher as early as the 

 20th of April, to seize the custom-house. But 

 the people, being strongly in favor of the 

 Union, maintained a guard over the building, 

 under the direction of the city authorities. It 

 subsequently became the seat of the State Gov- 

 ernment organized in Western Virginia. (See 

 VIRGINIA, WESTERN.) 



WHITTEMORE, THOMAS, D. D., born in Bos- 

 ton January 1, 1800, died in Cambridge, 

 Mass., March 21, 1861. At the age of four- 

 teen he was apprenticed to a morocco dresser 

 in Charlestown, and subsequently to a brass- 

 founder ; but neither occupation suiting his 

 taste, he entered into the employ of a bootmaker 

 in Boston. Becoming acquainted with the 

 Rev. Hosea Ballou, he was led to commence 

 studying for the ministry under his direction, 

 and preached his first sermon in Roxbury, 

 two weeks before attaining his majority. In 

 1820, he was settled in Milford, Mass., and from 

 thence removed to Cambridgeport, where he 

 remained pastor over the Universalist Society 

 nine years. In early life he was joint editor of 

 the " Universalist Magazine," and in 1828 orig- 

 inated the " Trumpet," continuing the editor- 

 ship for nearly thirty years. In 1830, he pub- 

 lished a " History of Universalism." In 1832, 

 " Notes and Illustrations of the Parables ; " in 

 1836, the " Songs of Zion; " in 1841, the " Gos- 

 pel Harmonist ;" in 1841, " Conference Hymns ;" 

 and in 1844, a " Sunday School Choir." One 

 of his most popular works appeared in 1839, 

 entitled "Plain Guide to Universalism." He 

 was president of the Cambridge Bank for many 

 years, and also president of the Vermont and 

 Massachusetts Railroad. Mr. Whittemore rep- 

 resented Cambridge several years in the Legis- 

 lature. 



WILLIAMS, THOMAS SOOTT, LL. D., an 

 American jurist, born at Wethersfield, Conn., 

 June 26, 1777, died at Hartford, Conn., Dec. 20, 

 1861. He was educated at Yale College, where 

 he graduated in 1794; studied law at Litch- 

 field, Conn., under Judge Reeve ; was admitted 

 to the bar in Windham County, in 1799, and 

 commenced practice in Mansfield, Conn., whence 

 he removed to Hartford in 1803. In 1809 he 

 was appointed attorney of the Board of Man- 

 agers of the School Fund, an office of consider- 

 able value and importance. Between 1813 and 



1829 he represented the town of Hartford in 

 the General Assembly seven times, and was a 

 representative of the Hartford district in Con- 

 gress from 1817 to 1819. In 1829 he was ap- 

 pointed an associate judge of the Supreme 

 Court of Errors, and in 1834 was appointed 

 chief-justice. He received the degree of LL. D. 

 from Yale College the same year. He presided 

 in the Supreme Court with eminent ability till 

 1847, when, having attained the age of seventy 

 years, his term expired by constitutional limita- 

 tion. He was mayor of the city of Hartford 

 from 1831 to 1835. After retiring from the 

 chief-justiceship, he returned to the practice of 

 his profession as a counselling attorney and 

 referee. He was deeply interested in all the 

 great benevolent enterprises of the day, and 

 was universally beloved and honored for his 

 integrity and purity of character. He was, at 

 the time of his death, and had been for some 

 years, president of the American Tract Socie- 

 ty, and a leading officer of the American Home 

 Missionary Society, American Temperance 

 Union, American Board of Commissioners for 

 Foreign Missions, &c., &c. His donations to 

 these and other objects of Christian benevo- 

 lence were very large, and at his death he be- 

 queathed $28,000 to them and to kindred insti- 

 tutions. 



WILLIAMSPORT is a village in Washington 

 County, Maryland, on the Potomac River, at 

 the mouth of Conecocheaque Creek. It is nine 

 miles southwest of Hagerstown. The Chesa- 

 peake and Ohio Canal passes through the village. 

 The movement of troops from Pennsylvania, 

 and also up the Potomac, resulted in the con- 

 centration of more than eighteen regiments at 

 this point on July 1. 



Within a radius of five miles lay encamped the 

 Second and Third Pennsylvania, under General 

 Wynkoop ; the Regular Cavalry, four companies 

 of the Second, Perkins' battery of artillery, the 

 Sixth, Twenty-first, and Twenty-third Penn- 

 sylvania regiments, under Colonel Thomas ; 

 the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Twenty-fourth 

 Pennsylvania, under General Negley ; the Elev- 

 enth Pennsylvania Regiment, First Wisconsin 

 Regiment, and McMullin's Independent Rangers, 

 under Col. Abercrombie. The whole column, 

 embracing eighteen full regiments, and several 

 detached corps, such as Major Doubleday's 

 two companies, the Second Cavalry, and the 

 First City Troop, and Perkins' Artillery, were 

 under marching orders to cross the river and 

 take up a position on the south side unless re- 

 pulsed by the enemy. 



The ford is naturally one of the best on the 

 river, and the proper ascent on the Virginia 

 shore very easy. At three o'clock the next 

 morning the movement commenced. It was a 

 bright and beautiful morning, and as the soldiers, 

 who were in excellent spirits, filed past, they 

 were reviewed by Major-General Patterson. 

 A Confederate force of three regiments of in- 

 fantry, and one of cavalry, and four pieces of 

 artillery, was on the Virginia side, under Gen- 



