Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/42

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TALBOT
TALBOT

University of Cambridge, England, in 1867. In 1859 he was elected by the house of bishops mis- sionary bishop of the northwest, a newly organized jurisdiction, covering nearly 900,000 square miles. He was consecrated to that office in Christ church, Indianapolis, 15 Feb., 1860. In 1865 he was elected assistant bishop of Indiana, and was translated to that diocese in October of that year. Upon the death of Bishop Upfold in 1872 he became bishop of Indiana. His writings include sermons, addresses to the convention, pastoral letters, and a few articles in periodicals.


TALBOT, Silas, naval officer, b. in Dighton, Bristol co., Mass., in 1751 : d. in New York city, 30 June, 1813. As a boy he served in coasting vessels, and during the excitement before the Revo- lutionary war he raised a small company. When the news of the battle of Lexington reached Rhode Island he was commissioned by that state as a captain, and joined the patriot ar- my in the siege of Bos- ton. After the British army had evacuated the town, he accom- panied the expedition to Rhode Island, after which he joined the army under General Washington in 1776. He then planned an attack by fire-ship on the British fleet in New York harbor. For this purpose he went

up Hudson river above

Fort Washington, where he waited three days for a favorable opportunity to drift down with the fire- ship, which was filled with combustibles and be- smeared with turpentine. Talbot and his crew suc- ceeded in setting fire to the British ship " Asia," and all escaped to the Jersey shore, though he was severely burned. The " Asia " was saved from de- struction by the assistance of the other vessels. On 10 Oct.. 1777, the Continental congress gave him a vote of thanks, and he was promoted to the rank of major. He was wounded in the hip dur- ing an engagement with the British vessels in Delaware river below Philadelphia, and in the fol- lowing year participated in the operations against the British at Newport. On 27 Oct., 1778, he fitted out a small sloop and captured the British block- ading schooner " Pigot," with eight guns and forty- five men. off Newport, R. I., for which he received the thanks of congress and was promoted to lieu- tenant-colonel. Subsequently he planned similar operations against British vessels on the coast, and was associated with Gen. Lafayette in one of these hazardous attacks. Congress passed a resolution promoting him to the grade of captain in the navy, 17 Sept., 1779, and issued specific orders for him to arm a naval force to protect the coast of Long Island sound, and to keep open the communica- tions for supplies for Gen. Horatio Gates's army. He fitted out his former prize, the " Pigot," and the sloop " Argo," and sailed in command, under orders from Gen. Gates, in May, 1779, from Provi- dence, R. I. Soon after clearing the coast he captured the British schooner " Lively " and two British privateers, which he took to Boston. On 5 Aug. he captured a schooner of four guns, and on 7 Aug. he had a desperate fight with the brig "King George," twelve guns, which he won by boarding. On 24 Aug. he captured the sloop " Adventure," and the next day the brig " El- liot." He subsequently captured the British ship " Dragon " after a severe fight, in which his speak- ing-trumpet was pierced by bullets and the skirts of his coat were shot off. Congress again recognized his brilliant services, and urged that he be placed in command of a naval vessel : but none such was available, and, as the owners of the " Argo " claimed their ship, he took command of the private armed ship '• George Washington," in which he was cap- tured by a British fleet when he was becalmed. He was confined in the prison-ship at New York, and also in the " Old Sugar-house " prison in New York city. In November, 1780, he was put on board the " Yarmouth," where he was kept in the hold, unable to stand upright. In this vessel, sub- jected to great cruelties, he made a winter voyage of seven weeks to England. Here he made three attempts to escape, and after each attempt was confined for forty days in a dungeon on half ra- tions. Benjamin Franklin and John Jay effected his exchange for a British officer in France, and he landed at Cherbourg in December, 1781. He sailed from France in a French brig which was captured by the British privateer " Jupiter " when fifteen days out; but the British captain trans- ferred him to an English brig on her way from Lisbon to New York. Owing to litigation con- nected with one. of his prizes, he removed to Philadelphia, and soon afterward he went to New York, where he bought an estate northwest of Al- bany and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He served as a representative of this district in con- gress in 1793-'4. He was commissioned captain in the navy, 11 May, 1798, and took command of one of the squadrons in the West Indies during the war with France. He commanded the "Constitution " as his flag-ship, and from her planned the expedi- tion of the "Sally," manned by men from the " Constitution," under Lieut. Isaac Hull, to cut out the French privateer " Sandwich," at Port Platte, Santo Domingo. After the war with France he had a dispute with Com. Truxtun in regard to sen- iority, which he settled by resigning his commis- sion, 21 Sept., 1801. It is said that he was wounded thirteen times, and carried five bullets in his body. He was buried in Trinity churchyard, New York city. See a "Historical Sketch" of his life (New York, 1803), and " Life of Silas Talbot," by Henry T. Tuckerman (1850).


TALBOT, Thomas, governor of Massachusetts, b. in Cambridge, Washington eo., N. Y., 7 Sept., 1818 ; d. in Lowell, Mass., 6 Oct., 1886. He was a lineal descendant of John Talbot, first Earl of Shrewsbury. His grandfather came to this country from Ireland in 1807. He was left an orphan at the age of six, and in 1825 went to Northampton, Mass., with his mother, where after 1830 he worked in a woollen-factory. In 1835 he entered the broad-cloth-factory of his brother Charles, in Williamsburg, and in 1838 became an overseer. In that year and 1839 he attended school during the winter terms. In 1840 he entered into partnership with his brother, in Billerica, Mass., where he afterward resided. The business rapidly increased, and the brothers accumulated a fortune. Mr. Talbot was for many years in the Massachusetts legislature, sat in the governor's council in 1864-'9, and in 1872 was chosen lieutenant-governor, as a Republican. On the election of Gov. William B. Washburne to the U. S. senate in 1873 he became governor. He vetoed the bill to repeal the prohibitory law, and approved that to enact the ten-hour law, thus arousing prejudices that deprived him of