the Florida Indians in 1841; first lieutenant, 1844; brevet captain for conduct at Monterey, 1846; brevet major, for conduct at Buena Vista, 1847; instructor of artillery and cavalry at the military academy, 1850-55, with rank of captain after 1853; major Second Cavalry, 1855; brigadier-general of volunteers, August, 1861; assigned to Department of Kentucky; fought battle of Mill Spring; and was engaged on the 6th and 7th of April, 1862, in the battle of Shiloh.

Brigadier-General Ormsby McKnight Mitchell was born in Union County, Ky., July, 1810; graduated at West Point in 1829, and appointed brevet second lieutenant of artillery; made assistant professor of mathematics 1829-31; engaged in railroad surveys June to September, 1831; detailed to St. Augustine, Fla.; resigned, 1832; went to Cincinnati, practised law for two years, then opened a scientific school; in 1836 became professor of mathematics, philosophy, and astronomy in Cincinnati College; projected, and, in spite of great difficulties, achieved the establishment of the Cincinnati Observatory; has lectured extensively on astronomy; edited "Sidereal Journal," 1846-55; invented a magnetic clock in 1848; in 1859 was appointed superintendent of Dudley Observatory at Albany; has published several works on astronomy; soon after the commencement of the war, he resigned, and offered his services to the Government; was appointed brigadiergeneral, and assigned to the Department of Ohio. (Has distinguished himself in April, 1862, by the capture of Huntsville, Alabama, and taking possession of nearly 200 miles of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad; inade major-general by Congress soon after.)

Brigadier-General Thomas W. Sweeney was born in Ireland in 1818; came to this country in childhood; was second lieutenant of New York Volunteers in the Mexican war; lost an arm at Churubusco; served on the western frontier subsequently, and was promoted to a captaincy; was appointed colonel of volunteers at the commencement of the present war, and made brigadier-general in the session of 1861-22. He distinguished himself at Wilson's Creek.

Brigadier-General Harvey Brown is a native of New Jersey, born about 1798; graduated at West Point in 1818; became first lieutenant of artillery in 1821; was aid to Major-General Brown in 1824-'5; lieutenant-colonel of mounted Creek Volunteers in the Florida war, in 1836-'7; brevetted major for his gallant conduct in that war; distinguished himself at Monterey, Contreras, Churubusco, and Belen, and received two brevets for his meritorious conduct there; promoted to rank of major in 1851, and colonel in 1858; took command of Fort Pickens, Fla., in June, 1861, and twice engaged the Confederate batteries and forts on the main land; was made brigadier-general of the regular army by Congress in its session of 1861-2, and placed in command of the forts in New York harbor.,

Brigadier-General George Archibald McCall, born in Pennsylvania, about 1802, graduated at West Point, 1822; made first lieutenant of infantry, 1829; aide-de-camp to Gen. Gaines from 1831 to 1836; promoted captain, 1836; brevet major and lieutenant-colonel in 1846, for gallant conduct at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, 1846; assistant adjutant-general, 1846; major, 1847; inspector-general, 1850; brigadier-general of volunteers, 1861.

Brigadier-General William S. Rosecrans is a native of Ohio, born in 1825. He graduated with high rank at West Point in 1842; appointed brevet second lieutenant of engineers same year, and made assistant professor of engineering, and afterwards of natural philosophy at the military academy. Resigned his commission in April, 1854, and established himself as an architect and civil engineer in Cincinnati, and subsequently as a manufacturer of kerosene oil; entered the army as colonel at the breaking out of the war; distinguished himself in several battles in Western Virginia; was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general in the regular army May 16, 1861.

Brigadier General Isaac I. Stevens was born at Andover, Mass., about the year 1818; graduated as the first scholar in his class at West Point, July, 1839; was appointed first lieutenant of engineers, July, 1840. He served upon General Scott's staff throughout the Mexican war, and for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battles of Contreras, Churubusco, and Chapultepec was brevetted captain and major in 1848. Since 1849 Major Stevens has assisted in the United States Coast Survey. 1853 he was appointed Governor of Washington Territory, and in 1857 was a delegate to Congress. At the commencement of the war he volunteered, and was subsequently given the command of the Seventy-ninth Highlanders. He was made brigadier-general, September, 1860, and commanded a brigade under General Sherman at Port Royal.

In

Brigadier-General Benjamin M. Prentiss was born in Belleville, Wood County, Virginia, November 23, 1819. In 1840 he removed to Illinois and in 1846, being captain of the Quincy Blues, volunteered for the Mexican war with his company, and was in the battle of Buena Vista. At the commencement of the present struggle he reorganized the Quincy Blues, was elected colonel of the Seventh Regiment of Illinois, and upon the organization of a brigade at Cairo was appointed brigadier-general.

Brigadier-General Robert C. Schenck is a native of Warren County, Ohio; was born in 1810. He graduated at the Miami University, and afterwards was a professor in that institution. He studied law, and settled in Dayton; served as State representative several years, and was twice elected to Congress; was appointed Minister to Brazil during the administration of President Fillmore. He received his commission of brigadier-general May 17, 1861.

Brigadier-General Frederick W. Lander was a native of Massachusetts, born about 1820. He was for some years connected with the overland route to California; acted as second of Hon. E. F. Potter in the threatened Pryor and Potter duel; was appointed colonel of a regiment in Western Virginia early in the war, and distinguished himself by his brilliant dashes at the enemy; captured Philippi in June, 1861; was made brigadier-general for services at Rich Mountain; was wounded at the battle of Ball's Bluff, October 21, 1861; drove the Confederates from Romney in February; died from congestion of the brain, and the results of his wound, March 2, 1862.

Flag-officer Andrew H. Foote is a native of Connecticut, born in 1807, a son of the late Governor Samuel A. Foote; entered the navy in 1822 as midshipman, and has advanced through all the grades to the highest; serving in the East Indies, where he routed the pirates; on the coast of Africa, where he made the slave trade unsafe; and on the coast of China, where he maintained the rights of American citizens and the honor of their flag. At the commencement of the war, he succeeded Commodore Breese in command of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and in the fall of 1861 was assigned to the command of the Mississippi River squadron, captured Fort Henry, and aided in the capture of Fort Donelson, where he was severely wounded. In conjunction with Gen. Pope, he took Island Number Ten after twenty-three days' siege, and subsequently besieged Fort Wright on the Mississippi.

Flag-officer Samuel F. Dupont is a native of New Jersey, born about 1802. He entered the navy in 1815; served with great distinction under Commodore Shubrick in California; with one hundred men defeated and routed five hundred Mexicans; and commanded the Minnesota on the China station in 1858-'9 with great success. He was appointed commander of the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1859, and flag-officer of the Port Royal expedition in 1861.

Brigadier-General Egbert L. Viele was born in Saratoga County, New York, in 1825. He graduated at West Point, 1846; served in the Mexican war; for several years has pursued his profession of civil engineer in New York, and was

VERMONT, one of the New England States, the first admitted under the Federal Constitution. It is situated between lat. 42° 44′ and 45° N., and long. 71° 33′ and 73° 25′ W., and is bounded north by Lower Canada, east by New Hampshire, from which the Connecticut River separates it, south by Massachusetts, and west by New York and Lake Champlain, of which about two-thirds lies within the State. Its area is 9,056 square miles, or 5,795,960 acres. It is divided into 14 counties. The population,

chief engineer upon the Central Park. In 1843 he was appointed chief engineer of the State of New Jersey; and was made brigadier-general of volunteers, August, 1861.

Brigadier-General Thomas Francis Meagher is a native of Ireland, born about 1818. He was distinguished as a lawyer for his eloquence; took part in the Irish rebellion in 1848; was banished by the English Government to Aus tralia in 1849; but made his escape to Califor nia in 1853, and attained distinction there as an advocate and orator. He joined the Sixtyninth (Irish) Regiment of Colonel Corcoran as captain, and was promoted to be major; was in the battle of Bull Run; aided in organizing the Irish brigade from New York; was appointed colonel, and subsequently brigadier-general; and is now in service with his brigade in the army of the Potomac.

Brigadier-General James A. Mulligan was born in the city of Utica, New York, in 1829, of Irish parents. He was educated at the Catholic college of North Chicago; studied law in 1852-54; edited the Western Tablet in Chicago; admitted to the bar in 1856; clerk in Department of the Interior, Washington, 1857; captain of Shields' Guards, Chicago, 1859-61; colonel of the "Irish Brigade," Chicago, in June, 1861; defended Lexington, Missouri, for three days against a force five times his own, and finally surrendered with the honors of war.

Major-General Franz Siegel was born in the Grand Duchy of Baden, in 1824. He was educated in the military school of Carlsruhe, became chief adjutant in the Baden army in 1847, and was considered the best artillerist in Germany. In the revolution of 1848 he became commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary army, but was overpowered by the immense army of the Austrians and Prussians, and emigrated to this country. He was colonel of a German regiment in New York, professor of military science in St. Louis, colonel and acting brigadier-general under Lyon, made a successful retreat after the battle of Wilson's Creek, was present in a three days' fight at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, February, 1862; received a vote of thanks from Congress, and was made a major-general for his bravery and skill in that battle.

according to the census of 1860, was $15,116. It is eminently an agricultural State. In 1860, 4,995,624 acres of land were taxed, and the average price at which the land was assessed was over $14 per acre. A large proportion of the land is better adapted to grazing than to tillage, and the horses, cattle, sheep, and swine of the State are of excellent quality. On the 1st of January, 1862, there were 576 miles of railroad completed or in progress in the State, of which 555 miles, costing for construction

and equipment $22,586,705, were open for traffic. According to the census of 1860, the value of the products of industry for the year ending June 1, 1860 were, in round numbers, $16,000,000. The following were some of the items: sawed and planed lumber, $1,060,000; flour, $1,660,000; steam engines and machinery, $490,000; agricultural implements, $160,000; tanned leather, $1,000,000; iron ore, $18,000; bar iron, $63,000; pig iron, $93,000. The commerce of Vermont is conducted entirely on Lake Champlain. The enrolled and licensed tonnage of the State in 1860 was 7,744 tons; the arrivals 29,232 tons, and the clearances 23,460. The exports of the State the same year were $783,702, of which $257,083 were domestic products, and $526,619 foreign. The imports were $2,731,857, of which a large proportion were British goods admitted through Canada under the reciprocity treaty. The number of banks in the State in 1861 was 44, whose condition was as follows:

The number of savings banks was 14, of which 2 were in the hands of receivers in chancery, 2 were winding up their affairs, and 10 were receiving deposits. The deposits in 12 of these banks were $1,145,263. The State valuation of the real and personal estate of its inhabitants in 1860 was $86,871,851.65. The government valuation under the census of 1860 was $122,477,170. Up to January, 1861, the State had no permanent debt; a temporary loan, to be reimbursed by State tax, of $175,000, had been contracted for the completion of a new State house. The government of the State had been conducted with great economy, the entire expenditure for executive, legislative, and judicial purposes seldom or never reaching the sum of $200,000.

No State in the Union responded more heartily or willingly to the President's proclamation of the 15th of April, 1861, than Ver

mont.

On the 21st of April, despatches received from all the principal towns of the State reported the prevalence of intense enthusiasm and interest, and the rapid enlistment of volunteers. Gov. Hall called an extra session of the Legislature, which convened at Montpelier on the 22d of April, and in the course of a brief session passed an appropriation of one million dollars for military purposes, one-half absolutely, and one-half at the Governor's discretion.

The organization of one regiment for immediate service, in response to the call of the Gov

ernment, was authorized, and also the organization and placing upon a war footing, without delay, of two more regiments, with provisions for drilling the same in barracks or encampment.

The Governor was empowered to call out four more regiments, if needed, (making seven in all,) with provision for filling the ranks of all the regiments by draft from the enrolled militia, when volunteers are wanting.

An act exempting militia men, in service, from arrest on civil process; granting to each private seven dollars a month, in addition to the regular pay of the United States army; providing for their families at the cost of the State, in case of destitution; and paying for the uniforms of those enlisting after March 12, 1861, was passed.

An act authorizing banks to loan over ten per cent. of their capital to the State, and an act for a State tax of ten cents on the dollar, were also adopted.

They also repealed sections ten and eleven of the Personal Liberty bill, which had been complained of as inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States, and substituted for it the following law:

It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont, as follows:

SECTION 1. If any person shall kidnap or unlawfully carry off or attempt to kidnap or unlawfully carry off any other person, or shall decoy, or attempt to decoy, any other person from, or shall without due process of law remove, or aid, or assist in removing any other person from this State, or shall without due process of law deprive any other person of his liberty, with intent to remove, or aid, or assist in removing such other person from this State, he shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred and not exceeding three thousand dollars, or be imprisoned in the State prison for a term not exceeding three years, or both said punishments, in the discretion of

the court.

SEC. 2. Sections ten and eleven of chapter one hundred and one of the compiled statutes, and sections two, three, four, six, seven and eight of an act entitled "An act to secure freedom to all persons within this State," approved Nov. 25, A. D. 1858, are hereby repealed.

SEC. 3. This act shall take effect from its passage.

The raising of the sum of one million dollars, by loan or otherwise, was an unprecedented measure in the little State of Vermont. So large a sum had hardly ever been mentioned before in its Legislature, and the levying of a tax of ten cents on the dollar on the grand list, was an act equally without parallel in its history; yet there was no hesitation, and no dissenting voices.

On the 10th of May, her first regiment arrived in New York, admirably equipped, under the command of Colonel (now General) J. Wolcott Phelps, a graduate of West Point. This regiment was in many respects the most remarkable of the many which entered the service as three-months men. It was composed to an extraordinary extent of men of superior education and social position. Nearly one-tenth of its numbers, including many privates, were

graduates of New England colleges. Many were professional men of high standing, and almost all were men of strictly temperate habits. The remarkable stature of a considerable number of the men attracted attention. Ten men from one of the companies lay down upon the ground for measurement, and formed a line sixty-seven feet and ten inches in length. A visitor admired the unusually firm and substantial character of their blankets, so different from the shoddy blankets of some of the regiments from other States; "Our wives and sisters made them," said the Vermonter, proudly. A second regiment from Vermont reached New York on the 25th June, and a third on the 24th July. Two more followed in September, and a sixth in October, making in all over 6,000 men sent from this State. A cavalry regiment, in addition, was subsequently organized, and a large number of the citizens of the State enlisted in regiments from adjacent States.

The apportionment of the United States tax of August 6, 1861, due from Vermont, and amounting to $211,068, was assumed by the State.

The State election in September resulted in an overwhelming majority for the Republican and Union candidates. Frederick Holbrook, the Republican and Union candidate for Governor, received 40,000 votes, against 5,000 cast for the other two candidates, one of whom was nominated as "Union; " the Legislature was almost unanimously Union. The vote of the State at the presidential election in 1860 was as follows: Lincoln, 33,808; Douglas, 6,849; Breckinridge, 218; Bell, 1,969.

VICAT, LOUIS JOSEPH, a French engineer, born at Grenoble, France, March 31, 1786, died at the same city, April 10, 1861. In 1804, he entered the Polytechnic School, and graduated in the corps of roads and bridges, in which he speedily attained the rank of an engineer of the first class. The study of mortars and cements, then in its infancy, attracted his attention, and in 1818 he published the first results of his persevering researches under the title Recherches experimentales sur les chaux de construction les bétons et les mortiers, Paris, 1818, 4to. Encouraged by his success, he made a chemical analysis of those mortars which had proved most durable, and found that they were made with hydraulic cement, and that their good properties were dependent upon the clay disseminated through them. He published his discoveries in this direction in his Résumé des connaissances actuelles sur les mortiers et les céments calcaires, Paris, 1828. The result of this publication was an entire revolution in the method of constructing the foundations of bridges. M. Vicat was the first to apply his own principles at Souillac in 1822, on a bridge whose construction gave him a high reputation. He was next charged by government with the investigation of the localities in France which produced the best natural hydraulic lime, and with experiments for ascer

taining the proper materials and propertáms for reproducing it artificially. In this inves tigation he visited and explored 80 of the de partments of France, and his report was no judged worthy of the statistical prize of te Academy of Sciences in 1837. He had been elected a corresponding member of the And emy in 1833. The report which received me prize was published in 1839. The me council of Paris, in token of their appreciaïaa of his labors, voted him a silver vase of the value of $480, with the inscription, The Cr of Paris to M. Vicat, in commemoration of the services rendered by his discoveries." D cat gave freely to the public the results of la investigations, seeking no profit from their es clusive use; and, in token of their appreci of his disinterestedness, the French Charter of Deputies, in 1843, on motion of M. åren decreed him a pension of $1,200 per sta with reversion to his children. He also ceived the decoration of the orders of Ra Prussia, and Piedmont, and the rank of Com mander in the Legion of Honor, in February, 1846. After serving as engineer in chief of the corps of roads and bridges for more than 2) years, he retired in 1851 to his rative et His discoveries in the subject of caste Late been of immense value to France. liɛ va tiso the author of two or three works on susperma bridges.

VIENNA is a small village on the rand which extends from Alexandria to Leesburg in Virginia. It is fifteen miles from Alexandra and twenty-three miles from Leesburg. It w the scene of surprise and disaster to the Fre Ohio Regiment, Col. McCook, on the 17th of June. On the day previous, a train of cars passing over this portion of the road haileen fired upon, and one man killed. In ees quence, the Government resolved to piace packets along the road, and this regiment, panied by Brig.-Gen. Schenck, set out in a train of cars, and the men were distributed in de tachments along the line. As the cars a proached Vienna, Col. Gregg, with 600 Serà Carolinians, and a company of artillery and two companies of cavalry, on a reconnoitring ere dition, heard the whistle of the locomotive, immediately wheeled his column and mared back to Vienna, which he had just left force had scarcely time to place two cantor i position, when the train, consisting of surfa and a baggage car, pushed by the locomrtve, came slowly around the curve. As the tra was about to stop, the artillery opened a directed fire, which raked the cars from fret ta rear. At the same time the coupling of the motive became detached or destroyed, art engineer retired, leaving the cars in their exposed position. The Ohio Volunteers immeä ately took to the woods on each side, and were pursued a short distance by the Confederate z fantry and cavalry. The Federal loss was r killed, six wounded, and seven missing. cars were burned, and a considerable quantity of

carpenters' tools, blankets, and other baggage was taken by the Confederates, who sustained no loss.

VIRGINIA, one of the largest States of the Union, is bounded on the North by Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland; east by Maryland and the Atlantic Ocean; south by North Carolina and Tennessee; and west by Kentucky and Ohio. The population in 1860 was 1,047,613 white, 57,579 free colored, and 490,887 slaves. The area of the State is about 61,352 square miles. The assessed value of real property in 1860 was $417,952,228; of personal property, $239,069,108. (See NEW AMERICAN CYCLOPEDIA.) The popular vote for President in 1860 was as follows: Lincoln, 1,929; Douglas, 16,290; Breckinridge, 74,323; Bell, 74,681. That at the election in 1856 was: Fremont, 291; Buchanan, 89,706; Fillmore, 60,310.

No State watched the proceedings in South Carolina and Alabama relative to secession, with greater interest than Virginia. In favor of the Union by a large majority, she still possessed the warmest sympathy with the slaveholding States. Public affairs, however, maintained their ordinary course until the 7th of January, when an extra session of the Legislature convened at Richmond. Governor Letcher, in his Message, alluding to the condition of the country, said that all see, know, and feel that the danger is imminent, and all true patriots are exerting themselves to save the country from impending perils. He renewed the proposition in his previous Message for a convention of all the States, and said it is "monstrous to see a Government like ours destroyed merely because men cannot agree about a domestic institution. It becomes Virginia to be mindful of her own interests. A disruption is inevitable, and if new confederations are to be formed, we must have the best guarantees before we can attach Virginia to either." He charged upon the non-slaveholding States the responsibility for the state of affairs, and, if the Union was disrupted, upon them would rest the blame. He alluded at length to their aggressions, and said they have the power to end the strife and restore confidence. "Will they do it?" He awaited their response without apprehension.

The Governor further declared he would regard any attempt of the Federal troops to pass through Virginia for the purpose of coercing any Southern State as an act of invasion, which would be repelled. He was not without a hope that the present difficulties would find a satisfactory solution. "Let New England and Western New York be sloughed off and ally themselves with Canada." He opposed a State convention, and suggested such measures as to him seemed most suitable for the crisis. In the House, a resolution was unanimously adopted to appoint a committee with instructions to report a bill for assembling a State convention; and anti-coercion resolutions were passed, saying that "any attempt to coerce a State would

be resisted by Virginia." The bill in favor of calling a State convention was finally adopted, and February 4th fixed as the day for the election of the delegates, and the 13th as the day for them to assemble.

Numerous Union meetings, at this time, were held in Western Virginia. Resolutions were passed by the Legislature, declaring that the Union, being formed by the assent of the States, ought not to be maintained by force, that the Federal Government had no power to make war on a State, and that they would resist all attempts at coercion into reunion or submission.

On the 10th of January another resolution, having for its object to preserve peace, was adopted in the House. It requested the President, and also the Governors of the seceded States to give assurances that the statu quo in all matters tending to a collision should be maintained for the present. In the Senate the resolution was amended to ask of the President an assurance of absolute preservation of the peace for sixty days, and the whole matter was then referred to a committee. It was also resolved in the House to submit to the people on the election for delegates to the State convention, the question whether, if any action should be taken in convention relative to the Federal Union, it should be submitted to the people for ratification or rejection. The vote was ayes 77, nays 61. This was considered by the friends of the South as so "emasculating" the convention bill as to throw into imminent peril "all that the people of Virgina held most sacred and dear, both as to the Federal Constitution and the rights and honor of the State."

On the 14th propositions were introduced in the Legislature looking to a national convention, to be held at Washington on February 4th. (See page 178.) Meantime Union meetings were held in Winchester, Portsmouth, and other towns, particularly in the western part of the State.

On the 17th the Governor communicated to the Legislature the resolutions which had been adopted by the New York Legislature, with a Message expressing the utmost disdain; saying, at the close, that the threat conveyed can inspire no terror with freemen. The Legislature ordered these resolutions to be returned to Gov. Morgan, in New York, as an expression of the indignation with which they were received, because understood to countenance the doctrine and contemplate the policy of coercion. (See NEW YORK.) On the same day the House adopted the resolutions contemplating a national convention at Washington, providing that the commissioners should at all times be subject to the control of the Legislature or the State convention, if in session. This was regarded as embracing an approval of the Crittenden propositions.

The passage of the propositions for a peace conference at Washington were a matter of considerable interest, not only to the State,