Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/716

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680
FIELD
FULLER

self as a colonel of engineers in the French army. He served under Washington in the Trenton- Princeton campaign. On 1 Jan., 1777, he was or- dered to take his brigade to hold an advanced post at Mile-Run, beyond Maiden-Head (now Lawrence- ville). That same night he returned to Trenton, leaving his command in a somewhat questionable way. The following year (1777) he was placed in command of Fort Independence, opposite Fort Ti- conderoga, by orders of congress, and against the protest of Washington. On the retreat of Gen. Ar- thur St. Clair from Ticonderoga, Fermoy, against the orders of the commanding general, set fire to his quarters on Mount Independence at two o'clock on the morning of 6 July, 1777, thus revealing to Burgoyne St. Clair's evacuation of Ticonderoga. Had it not been for this, St. Clair would have made good his retreat in safety. In December, 1777, he applied for promotion to a major-generalship, but congress, on 31 Jan., 1778, refused his request, and on 16 Feb., 1778, he was allowed to resign, receiving $800 to enable him to return to the West Indies.


FIELD, William Hildreth, lawyer, b. in New York city, 16 April, 1843. He was graduated at Union college in 1863, and at Columbia college law- school in 1865. He was taken into partnership by Judge John W. Edmonds, and remained with him until his death in 1874. He was elected president of the Catholic club of New York in June, 1887, and re- elected in 1888. Under his management this body has become the most influential Roman Catholic organization in the state. He has tried many cases before the court of appeals, some of great public importance, involving the interpretation of stat- utes, in which the law has been settled in accord- ance with the construction that he advocated. He edited, with Judge Edmonds, " Statutes at Large of the State of New York " (9 vols., Albany, 1863-'75).


FLETCHER, Alice Cunningham, ethnolo- gist, b. in Boston, Mass., about 1845. She was care- fully educated, and, after study among the archaeo- logical remains of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, went in 1881 to reside among the Omaha Indians, investigating their customs and traditions under the auspices of the Peabody museum of American archaeology and ethnology of Harvard. In 1883 she was appointed by the secretary of the interior to allot the Omahas their lands in severalty, and brought to the Indian schools at Carlisle, Pa., and Hampton, Va., a large party of their children and two married couples. Under the care of the Wom- an's national Indian association, Miss Fletcher established a system by which small sums of money were lent to such Indians as wished to buy tracts of land and build houses. At the request of the Indian bureau, she prepared an exhibit for the New Orleans exposition in 1884-'5 showing the progress of Indian civilization for the last twenty-five years. In 1886 she was sent by the commissioner of edu- cation to visit Alaskan and Aleutian Indians, and in 1888 completed her report on " Indian Educa- tion and Civilization," in which is a synopsis of all Indian treaties, their laws and regulations, and sta- tistics concerning population, schools, etc. (Wash- ington, 1888). In 1887 she was appointed special agent, and assigned to the Winnebago tribe. She has published numerous papers and monographs.


FLICKINGER, Daniel Kumler, bishop of the United Brethren, b. in Sevenmile, Ohio, 25 May, 1824. He received an academic education, became corresponding secretary of the United-Brethren church missionary society in 1857, and held office by re-election till 1885, when he was chosen foreign missionary bishop. He has made eight missionary tours to Africa, and done work on the frontiers of the United States and among Chinese emigrants. Otterbein university, Ohio, gave him the degree of D. D. in 1875. Dr. Flickinger has published " Off- Hand Sketches in Africa " (Dayton, Ohio, 1857) ; "Sermons," with Rev. William J. Shuey (1859); " Ethiopia, or Twenty-six Years of Missionarv Life in Western Africa" (1877); and "The Church's Marching Orders " (1879).


FLOOD, James Clair, capitalist, b. in Ireland in 1825. He emigrated to New York when a young man in the same ship with William O'Brien, with whom he formed an intimate friendship during the voyage. After working in ship-yards the two went to California in 1851, and opened a saloon in San Francisco. They made money by speculating in mining stock, and several years later formed a partnership with James G. Fair and John W. Mackay, who were then young miners. Flood and O'Brien agreed to furnish money for tools and out- fit, while Fair and Mackay prospected in the Sierras. The result was the discovery of the Com- stock lode, which made them four of the wealthiest men in the world. They subsequently established the Nevada bank in San Francisco, and the part- nership continued till 1881, when Mr. Fair was elected to the U. S. senate. Soon afterward Mr. Flood withdrew from active business.


FOLEY, John Samuel, R. C. bishop, b. in Baltimore. Md., 5 Nov., 1833. He was graduated at St. Mary's college, Baltimore, in 1850, studied theology there and in Rome, and was ordained a priest, 20 Dec, 1856. After filling several appoint- ments in Maryland, he was commissioned by Arch- bishop Spalding to establish a new congregation in the western part of Baltimore, and built for it the Church of St. Martin, one of the finest in the city, also taking an active interest in educational matters. Dr. Foley was employed on important private missions by Archbishop Spalding and Cardinal Gibbons, and had much influence in the Baltimore council of 1884. He was appointed to the see of Detroit 5 Aug. 1888. He is a brother of Thomas Foley, bishop of Chicago (q. v.).


FOULON, Clement, known as Father Claude D'Abbeville, French missionary, b. in Abbeville, Somme, about 1557 ; d. in Paris in 1632. In 1612 he accompanied Commander Isaac de Razilly to South America, and, after exploring the northern shore of Brazil, began a small settlement on the island of Maranhao, near the coast. Returning to France a few months later, he vainly solicited aid from the church, and in 1614 recalled the three missionaries that he had left on Marafion island. He was a preacher of much repute, and for many years the superior of the convent of Capucins at Abbeville which he had founded. He published " Histoire de la mission des P. P. Capucins a File de Maragnon et terres circonvoisines " (Paris, 1614).


FULLER, Melville Weston, jurist, b. in Augusta, Me., 11 Feb., 1833. He was graduated at Bowdoin in 1853, studied law in Bangor with his uncle, George M. Weston, and then at Harvard, and began to practise in 1855 in his native city. There he was an associate editor of the "Age," served as president of the common council, and became city attorney in 1856 ; but he resigned in June of that year, and removed to Chicago, 111., where he was in active practice for thirty-two years. He rose to the highest rank in his profession, and was concerned in many important cases, among which were the National bank tax cases, one of which was the first that was argued before Chief-Justice Waite, the Cheney ecclesiastical case, the South park commissioners cases, and the Lake front case. He was a member of the State consti-