OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



679 



Mississippi ; died August 22, 1881. His parents 

 removed to Yazoo City when he was an infant. 

 He had only entered upon his sixteenth year 

 when he became a soldier in the Southern 

 army, as a member of the Burt Rifles of the 

 Eighteenth Mississippi. Though of tender years 

 and delicate frame, Mr. Barksdale fulfilled with 

 great zeal and fidelity the arduous duties of a 

 private until the promotion of his uncle, Gen- 

 eral William Barksdale, when he served on 

 the staff of that commander. After the war 

 closed, Captain Barksdale studied law, but his 

 tastes inclined him to the profession of journal- 

 ism, and in February, 1868, he formed a con- 

 nection with the "Mississippi Clarion." His 

 labors on this paper were varied, and he was 

 equally capable in any department of its busi- 

 ness. At all times an original writer, he 

 seemed to reach his highest success amid the 

 turmoil of political strife. 



BEAUREGARD, AUGUSTINE TOUTANT, eldest 

 brother of General P. G. T. Beauregard ; died 

 at San Antonio, Texas, April 11, 1881, at the 

 age of sixty-six years. He was born in the par- 

 ish of St. Bernard, Louisiana, August 8, 1815, 

 and was educated in New York and Philadel- 

 phia to a high degree of scholarship. He mar- 

 ried Miss Reggio, his cousin, a native of Louisi- 

 ana, and a descendant of a member of the 

 famous banking firm, Modena & Reggio. Mr. 

 Beauregard was for many years a sugar-planter 

 in Louisiana, but in 1853 he settled on a large 

 stock-farm on the San Antonio River, Texas, 

 and his death bereaves his friends of a genial 

 companion and highly esteemed Christian gen- 

 tleman. 



BENTON, JAMES G., born in New Hampshire ; 

 died August 23, 1881, at Springfield, Massa- 

 chusetts. Colonel Benton graduated at West 

 Point Military Academy in July, 1842, and was 

 promoted to brevet second-lieutenant of ord- 

 nance. He served at Watervliet Arsenal until 

 1848, and was then transferred to the Ordnance 

 Bureau in Washington, where he assisted to 

 prepare the " System of Artillery for the Land 

 Service," and the "Ordnance Manual." He 

 served also at Harper's Ferry Armory, Vir- 

 ginia; San Antonio Ordnance Depot, Texas; 

 and commanded Charleston Armory. 



BIDWELL, WALTER H., born at Farmington, 

 Connecticut, June 21, 1798 ; died November, 

 1881. Mr. Bidwell was a graduate of Yale 

 College, and a theological student at Yale Sem- 

 inary. In 1833 he was made pastor of the 

 Congregational Church at Medfield, Massachu- 

 setts, but five years later was compelled to re- 

 sign this charge on account of the failure of 

 his voice. He removed to Philadelphia, and 

 in 1841 his long editorial career was com- 

 menced in the conduct of the "American Na- 

 tional Preacher," which he edited about nine- 

 teen years. The New York "Evangelist" came 

 into his hands in 1843, and was conducted by 

 him for twelve years. In 1846 he became the 

 proprietor of the "Eclectic Magazine," and 

 about the same time proprietor and conductor 



of the "American Biblical Repository." In 

 1860 he became the publisher and proprietor 

 of the " American Theological Review." Two 

 years afterward this work was incorporated 

 with the "Presbyterian Quarterly Review," 

 and passed into other hands. Between 1848 

 and 1854 he published"la series of seven valu- 

 able missionary maps, of which his brother, 

 Rev. O. B. Bidwell, was the author. In 1867 

 he was appointed by Secretary Seward as spe- 

 cial commissioner of the United States to visit 

 various points in Western Asia, and passed 

 eight months of continuous travel in Greece, 

 Egypt, and Palestine, Syria and Turkey, re- 

 turning from Constantinople by way of the 

 Black Sea and the Danube. Subsequently he 

 made several other brief visits to Europe. 



BROWN, Rev. WILLIAM FAULKNER, born in 

 New York city ; died in New Jersey, August 

 22, 1881. He was educated by Protestant par- 

 ents as a physician, and during the civil war 

 served as surgeon on the United States steamer 

 Mystic, at the time of the engagement between 

 the Monitor and the Merrimac. He afterward 

 became examining surgeon of Park Barracks, 

 New York, and subsequently went to Rome as 

 a newspaper correspondent, and reported the 

 proceedings of the Vatican Council for several 

 Catholic newspapers. He had been converted 

 to the Catholic Church in 1857, and when he 

 returned from Rome he entered Seton Hall Col- 

 lege, and subsequently took clerical orders in 

 Louisville, Kentucky. He was assigned to a 

 parish in Georgia, where be suffered so severe- 

 ly from the effects of yellow fever that he was 

 obliged to remove to the North, and in 1880 

 accepted the position of chaplain to St. Jo- 

 seph's Hospital at Paterson. Here he re- 

 mained until the time of his death. 



BUTLER, BENJAMIN ISRAEL, died September 

 1, 1881, at Bayview, Massachusetts. He was 

 the younger son of General Benjamin F. But- 

 ler, and a man of fair promise. Upon his 

 fraduation at West Point Military Academy, 

 une 14, 1877, he was promoted second-lieuten- 

 ant in the Eighth Cavalry, and became very 

 popular with his regiment, exhibiting all the 

 qualities requisite in a good soldier. He served 

 on frontier duty at Fort Stockton, Texas, and 

 at Grierson's Springs, in the same State, for 

 upward of a year, when he resigned his post in 

 the army, June 1, 1878. Later on he was ad- 

 mitted to the bar of Massachusetts, and prac- 

 ticed his profession with a fair amount of suc- 

 cess. 



CHAMBERS, WILLIAM H., died at Auburn, Al- 

 abama, July 4, 1881. Colonel Chambers by 

 profession was a lawyer, and at one time edit- 

 ed a paper in Columbus, Georgia. Before the 

 late war he practiced his profession in the city 

 of Eufaula, and was elected to the Alabama 

 Legislature from Barbour County, and made 

 one of its most useful members. After re- 

 turning to his old home in Russell County, a 

 few years since, he was again elected to the 

 Lower House of the Legislature for one term, 



