overthrow of the ring that had plundered the city treasury. He has delivered addresses on social, charitable, and other occasions. — His brother, William Gardiner, b. in Massachusetts about 1830, was graduated at Harvard in 1852, and at the Dane law-school in 1854. For some time he was U. S. judge of the southern district of New York, an office which he resigned to resume the practice of his profession in New York city.
CHOISI, Claude Gabriel de, French soldier,
d. about 1795. He entered the army as a common
soldier, 16 June, 1741, and became an officer by
merit. He followed Baron Viomenil to Poland,
where he greatly distinguished himself by his
defence of the castle of Cracow, early in 1772. He
accompanied Rochambeau and Viomenil to this
country in 1780, where at the siege of Yorktown,
in October, 1781, he commanded a brigade with
which he invested Gloucester, Va., and on 3 Oct.,
with Lauzun's cavalry, attacked and defeated
Tarleton's legion. For his attachment to the king, he
was imprisoned during the reign of terror, and
probably died soon afterward. See “Lettres
particulieres du Baron de Viomenil” (Paris, 1808).
CHOULES, John Overton, clergyman, b. in
Bristol, England, 5 Feb., 1801 ; d. in New York
city, 5 Jan., 1850. His parents were Wesleyans,
but he became a member of the Baptist church in
1819. After graduation at the Baptist divinity
school in Bristol, he came to the United States in
1824. He supplied various churches in the vicin-
ity of New York city, and became in the spring of
1825 principal of an academy at Red Hook, on the
Hudson. He was ordained pastor of the 2d
Baptist church, Newport, R. I., in September, 1827,
took charge of the 1st church in New Bedford,
Mass., in 1833, and of the Washington street
church, Buffalo, N. Y., in 1837. He was settled
over the Sixth street church. New York city, in
1841, at Jamaica Plain, near Boston, in 1843, and
in 1847 became pastor for the second time of his
old church in Newport. Dr. Choules was a per-
sonal friend of Daniel Webstei', and delivered a
sermon in his memory at Newport, 21 Nov., 1852.
He had mingled with various English celebrities
in his youth, and was intimate with the most culti-
vated public men of his day. He was very success-
ful as a teacher, and had a few pupils under his
charge at his home during most of his life. One
of his specialties was old Puritan literature, of
which he had a fine collection in his library. He
published " Young Americans Abroad," a descrip-
tion of a vacation tour with his pupils, and " The
Cruise of the Steam Yacht North Star," a narra-
tive of a pleasure excursion to Europe with Corne-
lius Vanderbilt (Boston, 1853). He also completed
Smith's " History of Missions " (2 vols., New York,
1832), continued Hinton's " History of the United
States " to 1850, and edited various works.
CHOUTEAU, Auguste, pioneer, b. in New
Orleans, La., in 1739; d. in St. Louis, Mo., 24
Feb., 1829. He and his younger bi'other Pierre
were the founders of the city of St. Louis, and
their lives were closely connected. — His brother,
Pierre, b. in New Orleans in 1749 : d. in St. Louis,
9 July, 1849. The brothei'S joined the expedition
of Pierre Ligueste Laclede, who had been commis-
sioned by the director-general of Louisiana to es-
tablish the fur trade in the region west of the Mis-
sissippi. Auguste, the elder, was given command
of the boat by Laclede. They left New Orleans in
August, 17G3. and three months later reached the
settlement of St. Genevieve. In the winter they
ascended the river sixty-one miles farcher, and se-
lected a spot on the western bank for their princi-
pal trading-station, naming it St. Louis. A party
under the chai'ge of Auguste Chouteau began op-
erations here, 15 Feb., 1764. Speaking of the
brothers in his " Sketch of the Early History of St.
Louis," Nicollet observes : " These two young men,
who never afterward quitted the country of their
adoption, became in time the heads of numerous
families, enjoying the highest respectability, the
comforts of an honorably acquired affluence, the
fruit of their own industry, and possessed of a
name which to this day (1842), after a lapse of sev-
enty years, is still a passport that commands safety
and hospitality among all the Indian nations of
the United States, north and west." — Pierre Chou-
teau's son, Pierre, merchant, b. in St. Louis, 19
Jan., 1789; d. there, 8 Sept., 1865, became clerk
for his father and uncle when fifteen years of age,
and also began business on his own account early
in life. Following the Indians from point to point
as they receded, he at different times occupied the
places where now are St. Joseph, Kansas City,
Belleview, Council Bluffs, Fort Pierre, Fort Ber-
thold. Fort Union, at the mouth of the Yellowstone,
and Fort Benton, at the head of navigation of the
Missouri, He also established trading-posts along
the Osage river, and on the Mississi[ipi, from
Keokuk "to St. Paitl. About 1806 he visited Du-
buque in canoes, to trade with the Sac and Fox
Indians, who then inhabited that country. He
was associated with several other heavy dealers in
furs, among whoni was John Jacob Astor. In 1834
he and his associates purchased Mr. Astor's in-
terest in the American fur company, and in 1839
formed the company that, under the firm-name of
P. Chouteau, Jr., & Co., extended its trade as far
south as the Cross Timbers of Texas, as far north-
west as the Blackfeet country, and, at one time, as
far north as the falls of St. Anthony. The trade
with Santa Fe was also in its hands. As a neces-
sity, Mr. Chouteau was drawn into extended opera-
tions, not only with eastern cities, but in England
and on the continent, and he lived for many years
in New York city. He represented his county in
the convention that adopted the first constitution
of Missouri ; with this exception, he invariably re-
fused to take any part in politics. — Aug'uste, an-
other son, also an Indian trader, acquired great in-
fluence among the tribes of the northwest, and was
distinguished for probity and integrity. He nego-
tiated numerous Indian treaties. His wife was a
daughter of Lieut.-Gov. Menard, of Kaskaskia.
CHRISTIAN, Joseph, jurist, b. in Middlesex
county, Va., 10 July, 1828. He was graduated at Co-
lumbian college, Washington, D. C, in 1847. Before
and during the war he was a member of the senate of
Virginia, and at its close he was made a district
judge, and soon advanced to the supreme court of
appeals. His name has been prominent as a candi-
date for the U. S, senate, and also for the supreme
court of the United States. In 1872 Columbian
conferred on him the degree of LL. D.
CHRISTIAN, William, soldier, b. in Berkeley county, Va., in 1732 ; d. in June, 1782. He removed with his parents to Pennsylvania, served against Pontiac, was a captain in Forbes's expedition against Fort Duquesne in 1758, served with Dun-
more against the Sciotos, and settled at Braddock's Ford, on the Youghiogheny river, in 1768. He was intimate with Washington, and raised and commanded a regiment during the Revolutionary war. After the ravages committed in 1776 on the western border districts by the Cherokees, Creeks, Chickamaguas, Choctaws, Delawares, Mingoes, and Shawnees, incited by Capt. Stuart, the British Indian agent, he was ordered by Patrick Henry, gov-
