OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



613 



crat," and appeared as a speaker at anti-slavery 

 meetings. During the civil war she served as 

 nnrse in Campbell Hospital, Washington, D. 0., 

 and after the battle of the Wilderness had 

 charge of 182 badly wounded men at Freder- 

 icksburg for five days, with no surgeon or as- 

 sistant, and saved them all. She was a fre- 

 quent contributor to periodical literature, and 

 published in book form "Letters to Country 

 Girls " (1853) and " Half a Century " (1880). 

 During her last years she resided at Swissvale, 

 Allegheny county, Pa. 



Totten, George M., an American engineer, born 

 in New Haven, Conn., in 1809 ; died in New 

 York city, May 17, 1884. He was educated 

 at Partridge's Military Academy, Middletown, 

 Conn., and began the work of a civil engineer 

 on the Farmington Canal. Subsequently he 

 went to Pennsylvania, and was there employed 

 upon the Jimiata Canal. In 1831 he was one 

 of the engineers of the Delaware and Raritan 

 Canal, in New Jersey, and in 1835 was engaged 

 in building the railroad from Reading to Port 

 Clinton. For several years following he was 

 busily occupied in building railroads in Vir- 

 ginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. In 

 1843 he was appointed engineer-in-chief of the 

 canal of Digna, -which connects Magdalena riv- 

 er with the harbor of Carthagena, in Colombia. 

 Col. Totten next took the contract, in company 

 with John Trautwein, for constructing the Pan- 

 ama Railroad. He was appointed engineer-in- 

 chief of the work in 1850, and spent twenty- 

 five years amid toils, privations, and sufferings 

 of every kind, in this arduous task. In 1879 

 he joined M. de Lesseps on the commission that 

 went to the Isthmus to decide upon the canal 

 project. Afterward he went to Venezuela to 

 survey a railroad, and later he was appointed 

 consulting engineer of the Panama Canal. 



Webb, James Watson, an American journalist, 

 born in Olaverack, N. Y., Feb. 8, 1802 ; died in 

 New York city, June 7, 1884. He was ed- 

 ucated at Cooperstown, N. Y., and, having a 

 decided taste for military life, he obtained a 

 lieutenancy in the artillery and was ordered to 

 report at Governor's Island. In 1825 he was 

 appointed adjutant, and served for a time under 

 Gen. Scott. In April, 1827, he resigned from 

 the army, for the purpose of entering upon 

 journalism. That same year the " Morning 

 Courier " was founded, and Webb became its 

 editor. Two years later the " Enquirer," edit- 

 ed by Major Noah, came into Webb's hands, 

 and henceforth the paper was known as the 

 " Courier and Enquirer." It existed until 1861, 

 when the "World" took its place. Mr. Webb's 

 career as an editor was various and exciting. 

 He supported Andrew Jackson, and afterward 

 opposed his measures. He was concerned in 

 several serious disputes, two or three of which 

 resulted in duels. President Taylor nominated 

 him for minister to Austria, but, owing to high 

 political excitement against that empire, the 

 nomination was not confirmed. President Lin- 

 coln appointed him minister to Brazil, which 



terminated his connection with the newspa- 

 per press, and this post he held until Gen. 

 Grant's election. He returned from Brazil in 

 1869, and then spent some years in Europe. 



Williams, Samuel Wells, an American scholar, 

 born in Utica, N.Y., Sept. 22, 1812 ; died in New 

 Haven, Conn., Feb. 17, 1884. He was educated 

 at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy. 

 He went to Canton, China, in 1833, as printer 

 to the American Board of Foreign Missions, 

 did excellent service there, and edited the 

 "Chinese Repository." In 1835 he printed, 

 at Macao, Medhurst's "Hokkeen Dictionary." 

 He visited Japan in 1837, studied Japanese, and 

 later translated the books of Genesis and St. 

 Matthew into that language. In 1842 he pub- 

 lished his "Easy Lessons in Chinese," and in 

 1844 his "Chinese Commercial Guide," and 

 " English and Chinese Vocabulary." Mr. Will- 

 iams came to the United States in 1845, and re- 

 mained three years, engaged in lecturing. In 

 1848 he published "The Middle Kingdom," 

 which gave his countrymen clearer and juster 

 ideas of what the Chinese Empire really is. 

 In 1848 he returned to China with a new font 

 of type. He accompanied Commodore Perry, 

 in 1853-'54, to Japan, and served as interpreter 

 to the expedition. He was also appointed sec- 

 retary of legation. In 1856 he published an- 

 other Chinese Dictionary, and assisted Minis- 

 ter Reed in negotiating a treaty. He revisited 

 the United States in 1860-'61, and returned to 

 China the next year. In 1874 he brought out 

 the great work of his life, " The Syllabic Dic- 

 tionary of the Chinese Language." He came 

 back finally to the United States in 1876. He 

 received the degree of LL. D. from Union Col- 

 lege, and was appointed Lecturer on Chinese in 

 Yale College. 



Work, Henry Clay* an American song- writer, 

 born in Middletown, Conn., Oct. 1, 1832; died 

 in Hartford, Conn., June 8, 1884. While he 

 was still a child the family removed to Illinois, 

 where he received a common-school education. 

 At the age of eleven lie had become interested 

 in Greek and Latin, and attempted the inven- 

 tion of a new language. In one scheme he 

 used the English letters, and for another he 

 invented a new alphabet. The difficulty of 

 procuring writing-paper in his prairie home 

 curtailed his attempts in the way of producing 

 new literatures. A few years later he returned 

 with the family to Connecticut, and was ap- 

 prenticed to a printer. While working at the 

 case, he found time to study harmony and to 

 contribute to the poet's corner. For his first 

 song, written at this time, he received twenty- 

 five dollars. Afterward he became somewhat 

 known as one of the few who can both write 

 the words for a song and compose the music, 

 and the excitement and enthusiasm of the civil 

 war gave the best possible opportunity for the 

 exercise of such powers. Among his most 

 famous productions of that era are "Nicode- 

 mus the Slave " and " Marching through Geor- 

 gia." The most widely circulated of the later 



