Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/166

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142
TOTTEN
TOUCHIMBERT

the Smithsonian institution from its establishment in 1846 until his death. Gen. Totten was inter- ested in natural science and was an authority on the conchology of the northern coast of the United States, publishing occasional papers, in which he described hitherto unknown species. The Gemma Tottenii and the Succinea Tottenii were so named in his honor. He also published papers on miner- alogy. The degree of A. M. was conferred on him by Brown in 1829, and, in addition to membership in other scientific societies, he was named by act of congress in 1863 one of the corporate members of the National academy of sciences. He published papers on scientific subjects, which appeared in transactions of societies of which he was a member, and various reports on national defences ; and translated from the French " Essays on Hydraulic and Other Cements " (New York, 1842). See a sketch by Gen. John G. Barnard in " Biographical Me- moirs of the National Academy of Sciences" (Washington, 1877).


TOTTEN, Silas, clergyman, b. in Schoharie county, N. Y., 26 March, 1804 ; d. in Lexington, Ky., 7 Oct., 1873. He was graduated at Union college in 1830, and ordained to the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal church in Connecticut by Bishop Brown- ell in 1833. In the same year he was elected pro- fessor of mathematics and natural philosophy in Washington (now Trinity) college, from which chair after four years he was elevated to the presi- dency. During the eleven years for which he held this office (1837-'48) a new building — Brownell hall — was erected for the accommodation of the stu- dents. The name of the institution was changed, at the request of the alumni, to Trinity college, the graduates were organized into a house of convoca- tion as a constituent part of the academic body, additions were made to the scholarship funds, and a library fund was established. A chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa society was also established in the college, of which Dr. Totten was the first president. On retiring from the presidency of Trinity college, Dr. Totten accepted the professorship of belles- lettres in William and Mary college, Va., which he resigned in 1859, to become chancellor of the University of Iowa. In 1864 he accepted the rec- torship of a parish in Decatur, 111., from which place he removed in 1866 to Lexington, Ky., where he occupied himself in teaching for the remainder of his life. Dr. Totten received his honorary de- gree in divinity from Union college in 1838, and that in laws from William and Mary college in 1860. He was the author of "New Introduction to Algebra " (New York, 1836) ; " The Analogy of Truth" (1848); and a "Letter about Jubilee Col- lege " (1848).


TOUCEY, Isaac, statesman, b. in Newtown, Fairfield co., Conn., 5 Nov., 1796 ; d. in Hartford, Conn., 30 July, 1869. He was descended from Thomas, first Congregational minister of Newtown. He received a private classical education, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1818 at Hart- ford, where he afterward practised. He was state's attorney for Hartford county in 1822-'5, a repre- sentative in congress from the first Connecticut district in 1835-'9, and was again state's attorney for Hartford county in 1842-'4. He was unsuc- cessful as the Democratic candidate for governor of Connecticut in 1845, and in 1846, there being no choice by the people, was elected by the legis- lature, but he was again defeated in 1847. He was appointed attorney-general of the United States, serving from 21 June, 1848, till 3 March, 1849, and was also for part of this time acting secretary of state. He was a member of the state senate in 1850, and of the state house of repre- sentatives in 1852, and was elected a U. S. senator from Connecticut as a Democrat, serving from 14 May, 1852, till 3 March, 1857. Mr. Toucey was appointed by President Buchanan secretary of the navy, served from 6 March, 1857, till 3 March, 1861, and afterward returned to Hartford and re- sumed the practice of his profession. He was charged with favoring the cause of the seceding states while secretary of the navy by deliberately sending some of the best vessels of the navy to distant seas to prevent their being used against the Confederates. This was denied, but he was generally thought to sympathize with the south and to be opposed to prosecution of the war.


TOUCHARD, Louis Charles (too-shar), naval officer, b. in New Orleans in 1741 ; d. at sea, 12 April, 1782. He received his education in Mar- tinique, entered the marines in 1755, and took part in several campaigns in the Gulf of Mexico. As lieutenant he commanded in 1769 a scientific ex- pedition to the South sea and determined the geo- graphical position of points along the Patagonian coast, the Strait of Lemaire, and Tierra del Fuego. While attached to the station of Cayenne in 1772- he conducted hostilities against corsairs, who were then numerous in the Atlantic ocean between South America and Africa, and, being promoted commander in 1777, participated in the victory of Count d'Orvilliers off Ouessant, 27 July, 1778. He- was sent afterward with two frigates to the West Indies, joined D'Estaing's naval force, and assisted in the attack on St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the capture of Granada. As captain he served un- der De Guichen, and in 1781 under De Vaudreuil. When De Grasse and Vaudreuil left for York- town he remained with the Marquis de Bouille, assisted in the capture of St. Eustatius, and rav- aged the English colonies of Bahama. When chased by a superior force he gave battle off Havana and escaped capture. Joining De Grasse again in 1782, he took command of the " Pluton," the sister ship of the " Ville de Paris," the admi- ral's flag-ship, and made strenuous efforts to re- lieve the admiral, when he was surrounded by superior forces. When he himself was attacked by two English men-of-war, he captured one, but was- killed in the moment of victory. His vessel re- joined Vaudreuil's division, and he was buried with honors in Martinique.


TOUCHIMBERT, Eloi AngeLimie Prevost Sansac, Marquis de (too-sham-bair), West Indian magistrate, b. in Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, 29 Sept., 1786; d. at sea, 5 May, 1839. He emigrated with his parents to New Orleans, but after the coup d'etat of 1799 returned to Guadeloupe, and during the English invasion raised a regiment among his slaves, led them to the field, and was severely wounded in the attack on Morne Bel-Air, 3 Feb., 1810, and publicly praised by Capt.-Gen. Ernouf. After the surrender of the colony he was appointed by Lord Cochrane judge of the supreme court of Guadeloupe, and later confirmed by Louis XVIII. He was also made a gentleman of the king's private chamber, and president of the grand electoral college of the colony. Marquis de Touchimbert — who belonged to one of the most illustrious French families, being the lineal descendant of that famous Count de Sansac of whom King Francis I. said, " There are only three real gentlemen in France, Sansac, Sainf-Andre, and I ' — was nevertheless a Liberal, and always advocated the enfranchisement of the slaves. As a member of the colonial assembly of Guadeloupe, he alone supported the motion of the crown for freeing the