Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/221

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RAYNER
REA

of Raynal's chief work under the title," Recherches historiques et philosophiques sur les Etats-l'nis <le I'Ain- rii|iit> ilu Xord" (4 vols., Paris, 17* s i.


RAYNER, Kenneth, jurist, b. in Bertie county, X. ('., iu 1808; d. in Washington, I>. ('., 4 March, 1884. His father, a Baptist clergyman, was .-i soldier during the war of the Revolution. The son was educated at Tarboro academy, studied law, and was admitted to the bar, but did not practise. I If was a member of the convention of 1835 to revise the state constitution, and, having removed to Hertford county, represented it in the legislature almost continuously from 1835 till 1851. He was elected to congress from North Carolina for three successive terms, and served from 2 Dec., 18:!!*. till 3 March, 1845. He was a presidential elector on the Taylor and Fillmore ticket in 1849. Mr. Ray- ner afterward removed to Mississippi. In 1874 he was appointed by President Grant a judge of the court of commissioners of Alabama claims, and in 1877 he became solicitor of the treasury, which post he held till his death.


RAYNOLDS, William Franklin, soldier, b. in Canton, Ohio. 17 March, 1820; d. in Detroit, Mich., 18 Oct.. 18!4. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy, and made brevet 2d lieutenant in the 5th infantry. He served in the war with Mexico in 1847-'8, and was in charge of the ex- ploration of Yellowstone and Missouri rivers in 1859-'61. He was chief topographical engineer of the Department of Virginia in 1861, and was appointed colonel and additional aide-de-camp, 31 March, 1862. Besides serving as chief engineer of the middle department and the 8th army corps from January, 1863, till April, 1864. he was in charge of the defences of Harper's Ferry during the Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania in June, 1863, and was chief engineer of the defences of Baltimore, Md., 28 June, 1863. He was super- intending engineer of north and northwest lakes, and engineer of light-houses on northern lakes, and in charge of harbor improvements in the entire hike region from 14 April, 1864. till April, 1870. At the end of the civil war he was brevetted colonel and brigadier-general in the regular army. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel, 1867, colonel, 1881, and was retired in 1884.


RAYON, Igrnacip Lopez (ri-yong), Mexican patriot, b. in Tlalpujahua in 1773 ; d. in Mexico, 2 Feb., 1827. He was graduated at the College of San Ildefonso in Mexico, and practised law. In September, 1810, he espoused the cause of inde- pendence, joined Miguel Hidalgo in October in Ma- ravatio, and was appointed general secretary. In December he was appointed by Hidalgo secretary of state and foreign relations. He followed the fugitive chiefs to Saltillo, and, after they went to the United States, became the real chief of the revolution in Mexico. He gathered a force of 3,500 men and marched to the south, defeating several Spanish detachments, and on 13 April, , occupied Zacatecas, where he cast cannon, ami was busy organizing his army. On the ap- proach of Gen. Felix Calleja he abandoned the city, and in Zitacuaro convened the insurgent chiefs, who appointed in August a governing junta, over which Rayon presided. He published proclama- tions until Gen. Calleja surrounded the town. Al- though it was valiantly defended by Rayon with only 600 regular soldiers and a great number of In- dians, the town was stormed next day. Rayon fled, and, gathering his forces, attacked Toluca, 18 April, . During 1813 disagreements arose between the members of the governing junta, and Rayon separated from them, but he took part in the con- gress of Chilpancingo. After the defeat and cap- ture of Matamoros he retired to the mountain fortress of Coporo, occupied by his brother Ramon, and on 4 March, 1815, defeated the royalists under Llano and Iturbide. In September, 1816, In- left Coporo, and, after many encoun- ters, was captured by the royalists, 11 Dec., 1817, and con- demned to death, but was pardoned and kept prisoner till 15 Xov., 1820, when he was released under bail. After the oc- cupation of Mexico by Iturbide, Rayon was appointed in 1822 treasurer of the province of San Luis Potosi, and later he was deputy to con- gress for Michoacan.

Congress promoted

him in 1824 major-general, and in 1825 commander-in-chief of Jalisco, which place he occupied till February, 1827, when he was appointed president of the supreme tribu- nal of war and tie navy. In 1842 Santa-Anna ordered Rayon's name to be inscribed in gold let- ters in the chamber of congress. His brother, Ramon, b. in Tlalpujahua in 1775 ; d. in Mexico, 19 July, 1839, was established in business in Mexico when the revolution began in Dolores in 1810, and hearing that his brother had been appointed Hi- dalgo's secretary, he abandoned his store and joined the insurgents. He began to study fortification and the art of casting cannon, and soon established a foundry at Zitacuaro, the fortifications of which place he designed, and took an active part in its defence, losing an eye on the retreat. Afterward he established a factory of arms at Tlalpujahua, took part in the principal engagements during 1813-'14, and with his forces retired into the fortress of Co- poro, which he had erected, and where he held out for more than two years against the repeated attacks of the royalists, till he was forced by want of pro- visions and a military mutiny to sign an honorable capitulation, 7 Jan., 1817. He was so much es- teemed by his enemies that he obtained in 1818 from the viceroy Apodaca the pardon of his brother Ignacio. After the triumph of Iturbide he retired to private life, and opened several industrial estab- lishments. In 1834 Santa-Anna appointed him chief of operations against the insurgents of Mi- choacan, and in a short campaign he pacified the province, capturing Morelia on 14 June, 1834, and re-establishing confidence by his humane measures. At the time of his death he was governor of the state of Mexico.


REA, John, member of congress, b. in Penn- sylvania in 1755 : d. in Chambersburg, Pa.. 6 Feb., 1829. He served during the Revolutionary war, was several times a member of the state house of representatives, and was five times elected as a Democrat to congress, serving from 1803 till 1815, except in 1811-'13.


REA, John Patterson, soldier, b. in Lower Oxford. Chester co., Pa., 13 Oct., 1840. He was educated in the public schools, and, after working for some time in a factory, he removed in the autumn of 1860 to Miami county, Ohio. In the spring of 1861 he enlisted as a private in the llth