570 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (SMITH SPICER.) 



federate troops to lay down their arms, at Baton 

 Rouge, to Gen. Canby. After the war he was eleeted 

 President of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Com- 

 pany ; was Chancellor of the University of Nashville 

 in 1870-'75; and since 1875 had been Professor of 

 Mathematics in the University of the South in Se- 

 wanee. Term. 



Smith, Elizabeth Oakes Prince, author, born in North 

 Yarmouth, Me., Aug. 12, 1806 ; died in Hollywood, 

 Carteret County, N. C., Nov. 15, 1893. She married, 

 early in life, Seba Smith, the journalist, who became 

 widely known by his writings under the pen name of 

 " Major Jack Downing," and for many years was as- 

 sociated with him in nis editorial work 'in Portland, 

 Me., and in New York city. She was the first woman 

 in the United States who ever appeared as a public 

 lecturer, and was also one of the nrst woman preach- 

 ers. Among her publications were : " Eiches with- 

 out Wings" (Boston, 1838); "The Sinless Child," 

 poems (New York, 1841); "Stories for Children" 

 (Boston, 1847); "Woman and her Needs" (1851); 

 " Hints on Dress and Beauty " (1852) ; " Bald Eagle " 

 (London, 1867) ; and the tragedies " The Roman Trib- 

 ute "_(1850) and " Old New York " (1853). 



Smith, Horace, manufacturer, born in Cheshire, 

 Mass.. in 1808; died in Springfield, Mass., Jan. 15, 

 1893. Early in life he entered the United States 

 armory in Springfield as a machinist, and while 

 there invented a hammer check machine for Govern- 

 ment use. In 1840 he removed to Norwich, Conn., 

 and in 1852 to Worcester, Mass., where he became 

 acquainted with D. B. Wesson, with whom he worked 

 on a revolving repeating gun. About this time he 

 invented metallic cartridges. In 1854 he and Wesson 

 invented and began manufacturing a repeating rifle ; 

 in 1857 they formed the firm of Smith. & Wesson, 

 which has since been engaged in manufacturing fire- 

 arms ; and in 1874 Mr. Smith retired from active 

 partnership. He left an estate estimated at $3,000,- 

 000, and bequeathed his entire property, excepting 

 $10,000 for his brother, to charitable and religious in- 

 stitutions. 



Smith, Melanoton, naval officer, born in New York 

 city, May 24, 1810; died in Green Bay, Wis., July 19, 

 1893. He was the third of his name, the grandson of 

 a member of the Continental Congress, and the son 

 of an officer in the regular armv in the War of 1812- 

 '15. He was appointed a midshipman in the United 

 States navy, March 1, 1826 ; 

 was promoted passed mid- 

 shipman, April 28, 1832; 

 lieutenant, March 8, 1837; 

 commander, Sept. 14, 1855; 

 captain, July 16, 1862 ; com- 

 modore, July 25, 1866 ; rear- 

 admiral, July 1, 1870 ; and 

 was retired, May 24, 1871. 

 During his naval career he 

 was on sea service nineteen 

 years and two months, on 

 shore or other duty seven- 

 teen years, and was unem- 

 ployed thirty years and 

 eight months. From 1826 

 till 1839 he was on duty in 

 the Pacific and West India 

 squadrons, at the naval school, and at the navy 

 yards in Brooklyn and Pensacola. In June, 1839, 

 he was ordered to the " Poinsett," to cooperate with 

 the land forces in the campaign against the Semi- 

 nole Indians in Florida, and at one time during 

 these operations he commanded a fort and a twenty- 

 oared barge. During the next fifteen years he was 

 on duty with the Mediterranean squadron twice, 

 and at the Brooklyn and Pensacola navy yards, 

 on store and receiving ships, and as a light-house 

 inspector. From May 1, 1861, till June 22, 1863, he 

 was attached to the Gulf blockading squadron, and 

 at different times commanded the steamers " Mas- 

 sachusetts," " Mississippi," and " Monongahela." 

 While on the " Massachusetts," he engaged a fort on 



Ship Island and three steamers and a revenue cutter 

 off the island, on July 9, 1861 ; fought the Confederate 

 steamer " Florida," in Mississippi bound, Oct. 26 ; and 

 captured a two-gun battery at Biloxi, La., Dec. 31. 

 With the " Mississippi " he passed Forts Jackson and 

 St. Philip with Farragut, and destroyed the Con- 

 federate ram " Manassas," April 24,1862; took part 

 in all the operations of the squadron till March 14, 

 1863; and then, when his vessel grounded in at- 

 tempting to pass the batteries at Port Hudson, and 

 was being mercilessly shelled by the Confederates, 

 he set her on tire in four places and escaped with his 

 officers and crew. Admiral Farragut highly praised 

 him for destroying the " Manassas," and approved 

 his course in burning and abandoning the " Mississip- 



Ei." His principal service in the war after this was 

 is engagement with the Confederate ram "Albe- 

 marle" in Albemarle Sound, and recapture of the 

 steamer ''Bombshell," May 5, 1864, and his partici- 

 pation, while commanding the frigate " Wabash," 

 in the attacks on Fort Fisher in December, 1864, 

 and January, 1865. He was commandant of the 

 Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1870-'72, and after retire- 

 ment was governor of the Naval Asylum in Phila- 

 delphia! 



Snell, George, architect, born in London, England, 

 in 1820 ; died in Boston, Mass., Feb. 23, 1893. He 

 was graduated at the Institute of Civil Engineers in 

 London, winning the Telford medal for excellence in 

 architecture; removed to Boston in 1849, and there 

 built Music Hall, the granite bank building on State 

 Street, and many buildings on Beacon Street in the 

 neighborhood of Dartmouth Street. He received the 

 medal of the Massachusetts Humane Society for res- 

 cuing a man from drowning in Jamaica Pond in 1858 ; 

 was a proficient etcher ; and was an active member of 

 the principal social clubs of Boston. 



Borin, Edward, clergyman, born in Ahuille, near 

 Laval, France, Feb. 6, 1814 ; died in Notre Dame, 

 Ind., Oct. 31, 1893. He was educated at Precique and 

 at the Seminary of Le Mans ; was ordained a priest 

 in 1838 ; entered the congregation of the Holy Cross 

 in 1839 ; and with six companions of the congrega- 

 tion removed to the United States in 1842. Bishop 

 Hailandiere offered them a wild tract of land on St. 

 Joseph river, which they accepted, and Father Sorin 

 there founded Notre Dame, with its university of that 

 name and its associated institutions, and also the order 

 of the Sisters of the Holy Cross. In 1868 Father 

 Sorin was elected superior-general of the congrega- 

 tion for life by the chapter-general of the order ; in 

 1879 the mother house of the order was transferred 

 from Paris, France, to Notre Dame ; and in 1888 the 

 golden jubilee of the founder was celebrated with 

 much ecclesiastical pomp. 



Spencer, George Eliphaz, lawyer, born in Jefferson 

 County, N. Y., Nov. 1, 1836 ; died in Washington, 

 D. C., Feb. 19, 1893. He was educated at Montreal 

 College, Canada, and removed to Iowa, where he was 

 chosen secretary of the State Senate in 1856, and was 

 admitted to the bar in 1857. In 1862 he entered the 

 Union army as a captain and assistant adjutant-gen- 

 eral of volunteers ; in 1863 recruited the 1st Alabama 

 Cavalry, U. S. V., and was commissioned its colonel; 

 in 1864 commanded a brigade of cavalry on Sher- 

 man's march to the sea ; and in July, 1865, resigned 

 from the army with the brevet of brigadier-general. 

 He was appointed United States register in bank- 

 ruptcy for the 4th Alabama District in May, 1867 ; 

 was elected to the United States Senate as a Repub- 

 lican in 1868 ; and was re-elected in 1872, serving till 

 March 3, 1879. In his last term he was chairman of 

 the Committee on Military Affairs, and a member of 

 the Committee on the District of Columbia. After 

 completing his term he became conspicuous in the 

 exposure of the Star-Route postal frauds, and in the 

 legislation resulting in the reduction of letter postage 

 to 2 cents. 



Spicer, Elihn, navigator, born in Noank, New Lon- 

 don County, Conn., in April, 1825 ; died in Brooklyn, 

 N. Y., Feb. 15, 1893. He went to sea as a cabin boy 



