assigned to the 1st infantry, promoted 1st lieuten- ant in May, 1855, and was in service at the acade- my as adjutant from 2 Sept., 1859, till 13 May, 1861. He served during the civil war in the Northern Virginia campaign in August and Sep- tember, 1862, with the Army of the Potomac in the Maryland campaign, and was chief quarter- master of the Department .of the Gulf from 16 Dec, 1862, till July, 1865. He was present at the siege of Port Hudson in 1863, and on 13 March, 1865, was brevetted major, lieutenant-colonel, colonel, and brigadier-general, for meritorious services dur- ing the war. He was depot quartermaster at New Orleans from 1 Oct. till 16 Dec, 1865, and was chief quartermaster of the Department of Louisi- ana from 1 Oct., 1865, till 7 March, 1866. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel and deputy quarter- master-general 29 July, 1866 ; colonel and quarter- master-general, 22 Jan., 1881, and brigadier-gen- eral and quartermaster-general, 1 July, 1883. Gen. Holabird has translated Gen. Jomini's "Treatise on Grand Military Operations " (1865).
HOLBROOK, Alfred, educator, b. in Derby,
Conn., in 1816. He is the son of Josiah Hol-
brook, a philanthropic educator and inventor.
The son received part of his education at the
academy in Groton, Mass. He possessed great in-
ventive talents and a taste for civil engineering,
but devoted himself to teaching. He founded a
large institution at Lebanon, Ohio, principally for
the training of teachers, which proved success-
ful. He published a volume of " Lectures " on
the subject of education.
HOLBROOK, Amos, physician, b. in Belling-
ham, Mass., 23 Jan., 1754; d. in Milton, Mass.. 17
June, 1842. Early in life he began the study of
medicine, and in 1775 entered the army as a sur-
geon's mate in Col. John Greaton's regiment. In
March, 1776, he was appointed a surgeon in this
corps, and soon afterward accompanied it to New
York and then to Albany, with the troops that
were intended to re-enforce the expedition against
Quebec. In March, 1777, failing health obliged
him to apply for a discharge, and he soon after-
ward began practice in Milton, Mass. In the
summer of that year he procured the place of sur-
feon in a privateer under the command of Capt.
Truxton, visited France, and returned to Milton
in about a year. About this time he established
temporary hospitals for the admission of patients
who had been inoculated for the small-pox, and
was active in introducing and promoting public
vaccination in Milton, which was the first town in
the country that in a corporate capacity gave its in-
habitants the benefits of this protective agent.
In 1811 he was elected a foreign member of the
Medical society of London. In 1813 the degree of
M. D. was conferred upon him by Harvard.
HOLBROOK, James, journalist, b. in 1812 ; d.
in Brooklyn, Conn., 28 April, 1864. He was to a
great extent self-educated, and was a printer by
trade. He was for several years editor of the
"Norwich Aurora," and in i839 established the
"Patriot and Eagle " at Hartford, Conn. In 1845
Mr. Holbrook was appointed special agent of the
post-office department, which office he held till
his death. He was remarkably skilful as a detect-
ive, and brought many mail robbers to justice.
In 1859 he established " The United States Mail,"
a journal devoted to postal matters, which he
edited till his death. He is the author of " Ten
Years among the Mail-Bags," in which he narrates
his experience as a detective (1855).
HOLBROOK, John Edwards, naturalist, b. in
Beaufort, S. C, 30 Dec, 1794; d. in Norfolk, Mass.,
8 Sept., 1871. He spent his early life in Wren-
tham, Mass., which for many years had been the
home of his father's family, and was graduated at
Brown in 1815. He took his medical degree at
the University of Pennsylvania in 1818, and then
continued his professional studies for two years in
London and Edinburgh, after which he spent two
more years on the continent, devoting much time
to natural history, especially in Paris. In 1822 he
returned to the United States, and established
himself as a physician in Charleston, S. C. He
was chosen professor of anatomy at the Medical
college of South Carolina in 1824, and continued
to occupy that chair for more than thirty years.
Dr. Holbrook attained a high reputation by his
lectures, owing to his wonderful knowledge of com-
parative anatomy, but seldom performed a surgical
operation or attended an obstetric case. During the
civil war he was head of the examining board of
surgeons of South Carolina. Dr. Holbrook's work
as a naturalist made his name widely known. His
first contribution to science was " American Her-
petology, or a Description of Reptiles inhabiting
the United States" (5 vols., 4to, Philadelphia,
1842). The simplicity and precision of its descrip-
tions, and the beauty and correctness of its illus-
trations, attracted attention not only in the United
States, but also in Europe. Through it he became
acquainted with Louis Agassiz, with whom he
afterward maintained the friendliest of relations,
visiting him annually during his summer trips to
New England. He then began a " Southern Ich-
thyology," to include descriptions of the fishes of
Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida, but, after the
publication of two numbers, he found the field too
extensive, and therefore confined his studies to the
"Ichthyology of South Carolina " (Charleston,
1854 et seq.), of which ten numbers made their
appearance. In consequence of the civil war this
publication was discontinued. He was a member
of the American philosophical society and an early
member of the National academy of sciences. —
His brother, Silas Pinckney, author, b. in Beaufort. S. C, 1 June, 1796; d*. in Pineville, S. C.,
26 May, 1835, was graduated at Brown in 1815,
studied law in Boston, and practised at Medfield, Mass. He was one of the most popular contributors to the " New England Galaxy " and the
" Boston Courier," to which he furnished sketches
entitled " Letters from a Mariner and Travels of
a Tin Peddler," under the name of "Jonathan
Farbrick," and amusing " Letters from a Boston
Merchant," and " Recollections of Japan and
China." These, with others, were published as
" Sketches by a Traveller " (1834). He also wrote
the European part of Peter Parley's " Pictorial
Geography," and conducted the "Boston Trib-
une, and a comic paper called the " Spectacles."
HOLCOMBE, Amasa, manufacturer, b. in that part of Granby, Conn., that now belongs to Southwick, Mass., 18 June, 1787; d. there, 27 Feb., 1875. He was a farmer's son, and received a district-school education. In 1806 he made surveyors' compasses for his own use, and two years afterward began the compilation of almanacs, which he published for several years. Subsequently he taught surveying, civil engineering, and astronomy, and in 1826 adopted the profession of civil engineering. In 1828 he began to make telescopes, and until 1842 had no competitor in the United States. For his skill he received in 1835 the " Scott Legacy " from the city of Philadelphia, a silver medal from the Franklin institute in 1838, a gold medal from the American institute, New York, in 1839, and a diploma in 1840 from the same institute. He repre-
