Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/336

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314
EGAN
EGGLESTON

EGAN, Thomas W., soldier, b. in New York city in 1836; d. there, 24 Feb., 1887. He entered the 40th New York regiment at the beginning of the civil war, and was made lieutenant-colonel, 14 June, 1801. In Jnne, 1802, he was promoted colo- nel, and participated in all the battles of the Army of the Potomac. During Gen. Grant's overland campaign of 1804 he commanded a brigade, re- ceiving his commission 3 Sept., 1804, and was wounded at Petersburg. At the battle of Boydton plank-road he commanded the division, and was brevetted major-general. He was seriously wound- ed in November, and on recovery was given a division in the Army of the Shenandoah. Gen. Egan was nnistered out of the service, 15 Jan., 1860, and subsequently lived in New York.


EGANA, Juan (a-gan'-ya). South American jurist, b. in Lima. Peru, in 1709; d. in Santiago, Chili, 13 April, 1830. He entered the seminary of Santo Toribio in 1770, distinguishing himself as a Latin scholar. At the age of sixteen he was super- numerary professor of philosophy, and in the five subsequent years occupied the chairs of law and theology, and meantime practised at the bar. In 1790 he started for Spain by way of Chili, but was persuaded to remain in the latter country by the regent of the supreme court, Francisco A. Moreno, who had been a judge in Lima, and held Egaiia in great estimation. When, in 1810, Chili threw off the Spanish yoke for the first time, Egana was called by the corporation of Santiago to aid in their work. He was elected a representative to the first congress, where he distinguished himself in debate, and afterward filled several commissions. After the victory of the royalists at Rancagua in October, 1814, Egaiia was imprisoned in Santiago, and after- ward in the penitentiary of the island of Juan Fernandez, remaining there until delivered by the victory of San Martin at Chacabueo, 12 Feb., 1817. He then reappeared in active life, with greater prestige for the sufferings he had undergone, and v/as appointed representative from Santiago to the assembly of plenipotentiaries that fixed on the form of government, and in 1823 presided over congress and the committee in charge of the formation of a constitution, distinguishing himself by his knowl- edge of history and politics. He was afterward I'e- elected to congress for several provinces. Egaiia was the promoter of a benevolent society in San- tiago. He was for years a senator, and devoted the latter part of his life to literary pursuits, writing numerous historical, geographical, and religious works. — His son, Mariano, Chilian jurist, b. in Santiago, Chili, 18 Sept., 1793; d. there, 24 June, 1840, studied in Spain, and at the age of eighteen was graduated at law. In 1813 he was appointed secretary of the sovereign junta of Chili. After the defeat of the insurgents at Rancagua, Egaiia was exiled with his father, and on his return to Chili, in 1817, was appointed secretary of the gen- eral inspection of police, and afterward prosecutor of the court of appeals. In December of the same year he was given the secretaryship of the Eco- nomic junta. Egaiia was elected a member of the municipality of Santiago in 1820, and in 1822 was appointed legal adviser of the city government. In January of the following year he was made chief clerk of the treasury and of the department of disputed claims. He was soon afterward ap- pointed secretary of the provisional government, and in April, 1824, was made secretary of the treasury and of foreign relations. At the end of this year he was sent as minister to several Euro- pean powers, and remained abroad till 1829. In 1830 he was secretary of the interior, and prosecutor for the supreme court of justice. In 1831 he was elected to congress, and was president of the National convention. In 1830 he was sent as minister to Peru, and, after efforts to arrange ex- isting difficulties amicably, declared war by order of his government. He was minister of justice, worship, and public instruction in 1839, and in the following year was again minister to Peru. After his return to Chili he was minister of justice up to 1841, and while in this oflice he revised the Chilian code of law.


EGEDE, Hans, Danish missionary, b. in Har- stadt, Norway, 31 Jan.. 1080; d. on the isle of Falster, 5 Nov., 17o8. He became pastor in Dron- theim in 1707, and while there determined on a mission to Greenland for the purpose of converting the natives. After application to the bishops, which proved unsuccessful, as far as pecuniary assistance was concerned, he gave up his benefice at Vaagen in 1717, and removed to Bergen, where he endeavored to found a company to trade with Greenland. This likewise proved imsuceessful, and Egede determined to appeal To Frederick IV., at Copenhagen, under whose auspices a company was subsequently organized. In May, 1721, Egede sailed for Greenland on the " Haabet," with forty- six persons, landing in July at Baalsreiver, where they were hospitably received by the natives. For some years the mission had a hard struggle for life, and the colony was sustained only by the pro- visions sent annually by the king. Finally, in 1635, Egede returned to Copenhagen, bearing with him the remains of his wife, who had died during 1734, and to whose persistent courage and energy much cretl.it is due for such success as the colony had. In 1740 a seminary for the Greenland mis- sion was established in Copenhagen, and Egede be- came its superintendent, with the title of bishop. Seven years later he retired to the island of Falster, where he spent the remainder of his days with his daughter, Christina. He published " Relation an- gaaende den Gronlandske Missions Begyndelse og forsattelse," a description of his missionary labors (Copenhagen, 1738), and " Den gamle Gron- lands nye Perlustration " (1741-'4), which was pub- lished in English as " A Description of Greenland " (1745). Bishop Egede is generally called the "apostle of Greenland." — His son, Panl, mission- ary, b. near Drontheim, Norway, in 1720; d. in Denmark, 3 June, 1789, accompanied his father to Greenland in 1721. In 1728 he returned to Copen- hagen, bringing with him several Eskimos, with the design of civilizing them, but they soon died of the small-pox. He continued his theological studies till 1734, when he again went to Greenland, succeeding his father in 1735, and remaining in charge of the colony till 1740, when he withdrew, leaving it in a highly prosperous condition. On his arrival in Copenhagen he was made chaplain of the Hospital of the Holy Ghost, a member of the College of missions, and a director of the Hospital of orphans. In 1776 he was made bishop of Green- land, and later held the chair of theology in the University of Copenhagen. He published a " Green- land-Danish Latin Dictionary" (1750); "Green- land Catechism " (1750); and " Greenland Gram- mar " (1760). In 1700 he completed the transla- tion of the New Testament into the Greenland tongue, begun by his father, and in 1787 translated "The Imitation of Christ." He published in 1789 a journal of his life in Greenland, giving a history of the mission from 1720 till 1788.


EGGLESTON, Edward, author, b. in Vevay, Ind., 10 Dec, 1837. His father, a lawyer of Virginian birth, died when his son was nine years of