630 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (PERKINS PIERCE.) 



howled and screamed with rage, and now the 

 rain came down in sheets. About one or two 

 o'clock in the afternoon (as I remember), I be- 

 ing again in the store, with but one door ajar. 

 came a roar of shoutings and imprecations and 

 crowding feet down Common Street. ' Hurrah 

 for Jeff "Da vis! Hurrah for Jeff Davis! Shoot 

 them! Kill them! Hang them! ' I locked the 

 door on the outside and ran to the front of the 

 mob. bawling with the rest, 'Hurrah for Jeff 

 Davis! ' About every third man there had a 

 weapon out. Two officers of the United States 

 navy were walking abreast, unguarded and alone, 

 looking not to right or left, never frowning, never 

 flinching, while the mob screamed in their ears, 

 shook cocked pistols in their faces, cursed and 

 crowded and gnashed upon them. So through 

 the gates of death those two men walked to the 

 city hall to demand the town's surrender. It was 

 one of the bravest deeds I ever sa\v done." He 

 engaged in several skirmishes up the Mississippi 

 after the taking of New Orleans. On Oct. 31, 1862, 

 he was detached from the Cayuga and ordered 

 as executive oflicer to the Pensacola. On Dec. 

 31. 18(52, he was appointed lieutenant commander, 

 and in June, 1863, received command of the gun- 

 boat Xew London, to convey powder and dis7 

 patches between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. 

 He ran the batteries at Port Hudson success- 

 fully five times, and had a severe skirmish with 

 the* enemy at Whitehall's Point, July 9, 1863. 

 On July 31, 1863, he was ordered to the com- 

 mand of the Scioto, for blockade duty off the 

 coast of Texas, and on April 7, 1864, he captured 

 the Mary Sorley, blockade runner, laden with 

 cotton. On April 20, 1864, he was relieved from 

 the command of the Scioto, with leave to proceed 

 north ; but he volunteered for the battle of Mobile 

 Bay, and took command of the ironclad Chicka- 

 saw, July 28, 1864. In the subsequent opera- 

 tions, resulting in the taking of Mobile, in the 

 reduction of Forts Powell, Gaines, and Mor- 

 gan, and in the capture of the ram Tennessee, his 

 ship was chiefly instrumental. On July 10, 1865, 

 he was detached from the Chickasaw, with leave 

 to proceed north, and on Nov. 12, 1865, was ap- 

 pointed superintendent of ironclads at New Or- 

 leans. On April 16, 1866, he was detached from 

 ironclad duty and ordered north, and on May 

 17 became executive officer of the Lackawanna, 

 for duty in the north Pacific. On Jan. 2, 1869, 

 he was detached from the Lackawanna, and on 

 March 19 was assigned to ordnance duty at Bos- 

 ton Navy Yard. On Jan. 19, 1871, he was ap- 

 pointed commander, and on March 3 received 

 command of the United States storeship Relief, 

 to convey contributions to the French. From 

 September, 1871, till Jan. 29, 1876, he was on 

 duty in Boston as ordnance officer, and after- 

 ward as lighthouse inspector. He commanded the 

 Ashuelot, of the Asiatic squadron, in 1879-'81, 

 was at the torpedo station, Newport, in .1882, 

 and on leave of absence in 1883-'85. He was 

 promoted to captain in March, 1882, and com- 

 manded the Hartford, on the Pacific station, in 

 385-i'86. He was on waiting orders in 1887-'88, 

 on leave of absence in 1889, and on waiting 

 orders again in 1890. He was retired Oct. 1 

 91, and on May 9, 1896, was promoted to com- 

 modore for his distinguished services during the 

 rebellion. In 1886 his letters were edited and 

 published under the title Letters of George 

 Hamilton Perkins, U. S. N., and they have been 

 used by Alfred T. Mahan in his Life of Farra<nit, 

 and by J. Russell Soley in his books on the civil 

 war. With his letters is included a sketch of his 

 life by Commodore George E. Belknap, which was 



originally published in the Massachusetts Maga- 

 zine. 



Perry, Amos, historian, born in South Natick, 

 Mass., Aug. 12, 1812; died in New London, Conn., 

 Aug. 10, 1899. He was graduated at Harvard 

 in 1837, and immediately began teaching. Later 

 he was one of the founders of the Rhode Island 

 Institute of Instruction. In 1862 he was ap- 

 pointed United States diplomatic and consular 

 agent at Tunis, and while there he devoted much 

 time to the history and antiquities of the region. 

 His last public service was the preparation of the 

 Rhode Island State census in 1885. Mr. Perry 

 was secretary and custodian of the Rhode Island 

 Historical Society more than twenty-five years. 

 His principal publications are Carthage and 

 Tunis: Past and Present, and An Official Tour 

 , along the Eastern Coast of Tunis. 



Pettit, Anna Stockton, biologist, born in 

 Canton, N. Y., in 1863; died in Potsdam, N. Y., 

 July 14, 1899. She was graduated at St. Law- 

 rence University, New York, in 1882, studied 

 drawing and painting and worked with the micro- 

 scope eight years in New York city, and after a 

 course at Barnard College received' the degree of 

 Ph.D. from Columbia in 1894. While prosecut- 

 ing her studies she married Prof. Herbert D. 

 Pettit, principal of the Lawrence (Long Island) 

 School, in 1888, and for several years she aided 

 him in his educational work. In the winter of 

 1895 she delivered at Lawrence a course of lec- 

 tures on biology, and in the following spring was 

 rendered blind and deaf by illness. So intense 

 was her desire to study and teach that in spite 

 of constant suffering she became proficient in 

 the use of the point type for the blind and of the 

 Morse alphabet. A collection of her original re- 

 searches was published in a pamphlet by Colum- 

 bia University. 



Picking, Henry F., naval officer, born in Som- 

 erset, Pa., in January, 1840; died in Charlestown 

 (Mass.) Navy Yard, Sept. 8, 1899. He entered 

 the United States Naval Academy, Sept. 28, 1857; 

 was commissioned an acting master on his grad- 

 uation, June 4, 1861; was promoted lieutenant, 

 July 16, 1862; lieutenant commander, July 25, 

 1866; commander, Jan. 25, 1875; captain, Aug.. 4, 

 1889; and commodore, Nov. 22, 1898; and be- 

 came a rear admiral under the act of Congress 

 of March 3, 1899. His first active service was 

 on the frigate St. Lawrence, of the North Atlan- 

 tic blockading squadron. In 1862 he took part 

 in the sinking of the Confederate privateer Pe- 

 trel and in the memorable Monitor-Merrimac en- 

 gagement. After a brief service at the Naval 

 Academy in 1864, he was assigned to the monitor 

 Nahant, of which he became commander in 1865, 

 and was in several skirmishes with the batteries 

 on Sullivan's island. In 1865-'68 he was with 

 the West India and European squadrons; in 1869- 

 '71 was at the Naval Academy; in 1873-74 was 

 on ordnance duty at the Washington Navy Yard 

 and attached to the torpedo station at New r port; 

 and in 1887-'89 commanded the naval, forces on 

 the Great Lakes. He was ordered to the Charles- 

 ton in 1892, and two years later attracted atten- 

 tion during the troubles at Rio de Janeiro by the 

 energetic manner in which he asserted the au- 

 thority of the United States Government over the 

 interests of Americans, for which he received a 

 letter of thanks from the Secretary of the Navy. 

 On March 25, 1899, he succeeded' Rear-Admiral 

 Howison as commandant of Chariestown Navy 

 Yard, where he died suddenly of heart disease. ' 



Pierce, Abbie (Mrs. Harry Colton), actress, 

 born in San Francisco, Cal., in 1862; died there, 

 Oct. 29, 1899. She made her first appearance in 



