546 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (CONVERSE CUTTER.) 



Del., Feb. 1, 1893. He was a son of Cornelius P. 

 Comegys, Governor of Delaware in 1837-'41; re- 

 ceived a classical education ; and was admitted to the 

 bar in 1835. In 1835 and 1843 he was elected to the 

 Legislature ; in 1852 was appointed one of a commis- 

 sion of three lawyers to revise the State statutes; in 

 1856-'57 served in the United States Senate, filling 

 the vacancy caused by the death of his law preceptor, 

 John M. Clayton; and on May 18, 1876, was ap- 

 pointed Chief Justice of Delaware. 



Converse, Emma M., writer, born in Salem, Mass., in 

 1820; died in Whitefield, N. II., Sept. 6, 1893. In 

 early life she was engaged in a wide range of educa- 

 tional work ; for more than forty years she was em- 

 ployed in literary pursuits; and for the last sixteen 

 years she had made a specialty of astronomical writ- 

 ings and calculations. She tiad contributed to the 

 " Atlantic Monthly," the " Scientific American," and 

 the " Youth's Companion," and translated several 

 foreign works. 



Corse, John Murray, military office^ born in Pitts- 

 burg, Pa., April 25, 1835; died in Winchester, Mass., 

 April 27, 1893. He entered the United States Mili- 

 tary Academy in 1853, but left before graduating, 

 studied law in Albany, N. Y., was admitted to the 

 bar in 1860, and began practicing in Burlington, 

 Iowa. Immediately after the attack on Fort Sumter 

 he entered the Union army as major of the 6th Iowa 

 Infantry, with which he served through the Fre"mont 

 campaign in southwest Missouri. After this he was 

 appointed judge advocate and inspector-general on 

 Gen. Pope's staff, and served through the New Mad- 

 rid and Island No. 10 campaigns. lie distinguished 

 himself at Shiloh, and was promoted lieutenant-colo- 

 nel. At the request of Gen. Sherman he then re- 

 joined his regiment, and with it took part in the Cor- 

 inth campaign and the Memphis and Vicksburg 

 sieges, receiving promotion to colonel, and, for gal- 

 lantry at Jackson, brigadier-general. As commander 

 of the 4th Division of the 15th Army Corps lie took 

 his command from Memphis to Missionary Kidge, 

 where, while leading the assault, he had a leg broken 

 by a shell. After three months' absence he returned 

 to the field and became inspector-general on Gen. 

 Sherman's staff. On July 22. 1864, after Gen. Mc- 

 Pherson had been killed in front of Atlanta, Gen. 

 Logan requested the appointment of Gen. Corse to 

 the command of a division, and he was assigned to 

 the 2d Division of the 16th Army Corps. After the 

 fall of Atlanta the Confederates under Gen. Hood 

 moved rapidly north, with the intention of seizing the 

 Federal supplies at Allatoona, in the Kenesaw moun- 

 tains. More than 1,000,000 rations, besides other 

 property, were stored there in charge of a small gar- 

 rison under Col. Tourtellotte. Gen. Sherman, an- 

 ticipating the movement, telegraphed to Gen. Corse 

 at Koine to hasten to Allatoona and protect the stores. 

 He reached the forts with 1,500 men on Oct. 5, and 

 found that the outposts had already been attacked. 

 Soon the Confederate force under Gen. French ap- 

 peared, and after a stubborn resistance, in which 

 Gen. Corse was shot in the face and lost an ear, the 

 Confederates carried the lower fort and made a rush 

 for the upper one. Gen. Sherman, hastening to Gen. 

 Corse's relief, telegraphed from a hilltop in sight of 

 Allatoona Pass, " Hold the fort, for I arn coming ! " and 

 Gen. Corse has been credited with replying, " 1 am 

 short of a cheek bone and an ear, but am able to whip 

 all hell yet." Altogether the battle for the supplies 

 lasted for five hours, and the Confederates were obliged 

 to withdraw, with a loss of about 2,000 men, nearly as 

 many as Corse's total force, while the defenders lost 707 

 men. The saving of these supplies made possible 

 Sherman's march to the sea, and for this defense Gen. 

 Corse was promoted major-general. Subsequently 

 he accompanied Gen. Sherman on his march to the 

 sea and through the Carolinas, and served in the 

 army till 1866. After the war he was collector of in- 

 ternal revenue in Chicago, became interested in rail- 

 road construction and management, and in 1886 was 

 appointed postmaster of Boston. 



Craven, John Joseph, physician, bom in Newark, 

 N. J., in September, 1822; died in Patchogue, Long 

 Island, N. Y., Feb. 14, 1893. In early life he was em- 

 ployed for many years in an extensive chemical 

 manufactory, and while there carried on experiments 

 in magnetism which had a large influence in the sub- 

 sequent development- of the electrical science. In 

 1846 he superintended the building of the first tele- 

 graph line between New York and Philadelphia, 

 using many devices of his own invention. He was 

 the first to insulate telegraph wires with gutta-percha, 

 the patent for which was denied him on a techni- 

 cality ; the first to perfect a submarine cable for tele- 

 graphic purposes ; and the first to use glass on tele- 

 graph poles to prevent the grounding of the wires. 

 lie spent two years in California during the g^old ex- 

 citement, and on his return studied medicine. In 

 1861 he was appointed surgeon of the 1st New Jersey 

 Volunteers. Soon afterward he was the fifth candi- 

 date in the field to qualify for appointment as brigade 

 surgeon, and was assignee! to the charge of the medi- 

 cal department of the expedition to South Carolina 

 under Gen. Horatio G. Wright. In 1862 he was ap- 

 pointed medical director of the Department of the 

 South, and had the care of all of Gen. Q. A. Gilmore's 

 force, then investing Fort Pulaski. In September of 

 the same year he was made medical purveyor of the 

 department. He directed the medical equipment of 

 the expedition against Fort Wagner and lort Sumter, 

 and remained at Hilton Head till May, 1864, when he 

 was appointed medical director of the 10th Army 

 Corps. In January, 1865, he was assigned to duty as 

 medical purveyor of the Department of Virginia and 

 North Carolina, with headquarters at Fortress Monroe. 

 Under this assignment and special orders he had full 

 charge of Jefterson Davis during his incarceration 

 in the fortress. He was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, 

 Dec. 16. 1865, for meritorious services during the war. 

 After the war he published " The Prison Life of 

 Jefferson Davis"; was postmaster at Newark; and 

 sanitary expert at the Jersey Citv stockyards. 



Orittenden, Thomas Leonidas, military officer, born in 

 Kussellville, Ky., May 15, 1819 ; died in Annandale, 

 Staten Island, N. Y., Oct. 23, 1893. He was a son of 

 United States Senator John J. Crittenden 2 and a 

 cousin of President Zachary Taylor; studied law, 

 and was elected commonwealth attorney of Kentucky 

 in 1842. On Oct. 4, 1847, he was appointed lieutenant- 

 colonel of the 3d Kentucky Infantry, took part in 

 several minor engagements in Mexico, was aid-de- 

 camp to Gen. Taylor during the battle of Buena 

 Vista, and was mustered out of the service July 21, 

 1848. In the following year President Taylor ap- 

 pointed him United States consul at Liverpool, where 

 he served till 1853. On Sept. 27, 1861, he was ap- 

 pointed a brigadier-general of United States Volun- 

 teers ; July 17, 1862, was promoted to major-general; 

 Dec. 13, 1864, was mustered out of the volunteer serv- 

 ice ; July 28, 1866, was commissioned colonel of the 

 32d United States Infantry ; March 15, 1869, was trans- 

 ferred to the 17th Infantry ; and May 19, 1881, was re- 

 tired. He distinguished himself at Shiloh ; com- 

 manded the 2d Corps of the Army of the Tennessee, 

 when forming the left wing of Gen. Buell's army ; 

 was brevetted brigadier-general, U. S. A., for gallantry 

 at Stone Eiver ; commanded the left wing of Gen. 

 Kosecrans's army at Chickamauga; and in the Vir- 

 ginia campaign of 1864 commanded a division in the 

 9th Army Corps. After the war he was stationed at 

 Forts Grant, Arizona, Abercrombie, Dakota, and 

 other frontier posts, and at Governor's Island, New 

 York harbor, till retired. 



Cutter. Eunice Powers, abolitionist, born in Warren, 

 Mass., Oct. 16, 1819 ; died there, May 10, 1893. She 

 received a good education; became preceptress of the 

 old Quaboag Seminary in Warren ; married Calvin 

 Cutter, M. D. ; and from 1848 till 1857 lectured before 

 the ladies of New England on the laws of health. In 

 1857 she removed to Kansas with her husband, and 

 there both became active in the anti-slavery move- 

 ment. She made cartridges for John Brown which 



