that office. Subsequently he was chief quarter- master of the 5th military district and the depart- ment of Texas, then chief quartermaster of the de- partment of tlie South, and in similar capacity in Jeffersonville, Ind.. and finally disbursing agent of the quartermaster's department in Louisville, Ky., being assistant quartei'inaster-general of the army from February, 1882. He received the brevet of brigadier-general in the volunteer army, and those of major to brigadier-general in the regular army, for his services during the war. In August, 1883, he was retired, and afterward resided in Louisville,
ELBERT, Samuel, soldier, b. in Prince Will-
iam parish, S. C, in 1743 ; d. in Savannah, Ga., 2
Nov., 1788. He became an orphan at an early age,
and went to Savannah, where he engaged in com-
mercial pursuits. In June, 1774, he was elected
captain of a grenadier company, and later was a
member of the Savannah committee of safety. He
entered the Continental army with the rank of
lieutenant-colonel under Col. Lachlin Mcintosh in
February, 1776, and was promoted to colonel in
September, 1776. In May of the following year
he was given command of an expedition against
the British in East Florida, and in April, 1778.
captured Fort Oglethorpe in Frederica. Fla. Later
in the same year he was actively engaged in the
vicinity of Savannah, and behaved gallantly when
the attack was made on that city in December,
1788, by Col. Archibald Campbell. He distin-
guished himself in the action at Brier creek, where
he commanded a brigade under Gen. John Ashe, 3
March, 1789, and was made prisoner. After his
exchange he joined the army under Gen. Washing-
ton, and was present at the surrender of Lord
Cornwallis. He received the brevet of brigadier-
general on 3 jSTov., 1783, and in 1785 was elected
governor of Georgia, succeeding John Houston.
Subsequently he held the rank of major-general of
the state militia. Elbert county, in Georgia, was
named in his honor.
ELCANO, Juan Sebastian (el-cah'-no). Spanish
navigator, b. in Guetaria, Spain, in 1476 ; d. at sea,
4 Aug., 1526. In his early life he was captain of a
vessel trading to the Levant and Africa. On 15
Aug., 1519, he sailed from San Lucar, in command
of the " Victoria,"' one of the five ships of Magellan's
fleet, which had been sent to discover a western
passage to the Spice or Molucca islands, and was
with that navigator, 21 Oct., 1520, at the discovery
of the strait afterward called by his name. After
the death of Magellan, and that of his successor,
Carabello, and the destruction of most of the fleet,
Elcano, with the only surviving ship, continued
his voyage toward the Moluccas, and, after having
established friendly relations with one of the native
sovereigns, sailed around the Cape of Good Hope,
and returned to San Lucar on 6 Sept., 1522. Elca-
no was the first seaman who ever made the com-
plete circuit of the globe. Elcano contributed to
the establishment of a Spanish factory in the island
of Lidor, and explored several other islands. When
he returned to Spain, Charles V received him with
distinction and gave him a pension, and a coat-of-
arms bearing the inscription " Primus circumde-
disti me." On 25 July, 1525, Elcano sailed again
from Spain, in a second expedition under command
of Garcia Loaiza, and, after making some explora-
tions on the eastern coast of South America, passed
again through Magellan's strait, 26 May, 1526.
Loaiza died on 30 July, and Elcano succeeded him,
but did not long survive him.
ELDER, Creorffe A. M., educator, b. in Hardin's
Creek, Ky., in 1794; d. in Bardstown, Ky., in 1838.
He was sent to Mount St. Mary's college, Emmettsburg, in 1810, and afterward to the seminary of
the Sulpitians, in Baltimore, where he finished his
ecclesiastical studies. He was ordained a priest of
the Roman Catholic church in 1819, and commis-
sioned by his superiors to found a college in Bards-
town, Ky. Between the years 1820 and 1823 he
erected the College of St. Joseph, which was at that
time one of the largest and best-appointed school
structures in the west. He acted as president of
this institution till his death. He was also one of
the editors of the " Catholic Advocate," published
in Bardstown, and author of a work entitled,
" Letters to Brother Jonathan."
ELDER, John, clergyman, b. in County Antrim,
Ireland, in 1706; d. near Harrisburg, Pa., in 1792.
He studied for the ministry with his uncle, a Pres-
byterian clergyman in Edinburgh, and about 1736
followed his father, who had emigrated in 1730,
and settled near Harrisburg. He was installed
over the churches of Paxton and Derry, 22 Nov.,
1738, and remained in that relation till his death.
He trained his parishioners for cavalry service
against the Indians, and afterward received a colo-
nel's commission from the proprietaries and had
charge of the block-houses from Easton to the Sus-
quehanna. His band of rangers in 1763 massacred
the Conestoga Indians against his advice.
ELDER, Joseph Freeman, clergyman, b. in
Portland, Me., 10 March, 1839. He was graduated
at Portland high school in 1856, and at Waterville
college (now Colby university) in 1860. After an
interval of teaching he entered the Rochester, N. Y.,
theological seminary, where he was graduated in
1867. In May of that year he was ordained pastor
of the North Orange Baptist church, Orange, N- J-,
and on 1 Jan., 1870. went to New York city and
assumed charge of the church now called the Bap-
tist church of the Epiphany (formerly Oliver street
Baptist church), of which he is still (1898) the pas-
tor. He served on the Baptist home mission board
in 1870-85, and in the lattei* year became presi-
dent of the New York Baptist city mission.
ELDER, Susan Blanchard, author, b. in Fort
Jessup, La., about 1835. Her childhood was passed
at an extensive frontier military post, where her
father. Gen. Albert G. Blanchard, then a captain in
the army, was stationed. She was educated in St.
Michael's convent of the sacred heart. New Or-
leans, and was married at an early age to Charles
D. Elder, of that city. After the capture of New
Orleans she went with her husband to Selma, Ala.,
where she turned her cottage into a hospital for
wounded soldiers. After the war she became pro-
fessor of natural science in the New Orleans high-
school, and editor of the " Morning Star " news-
paper, of that city. When sixteen years of age she
began to write for the press under the name of
" Hermine." Her writings comprise poems, histo-
ries, and several dramas Intended for repi'esenta-
tion in Roman Catholic colleges. She has pub-
lished " The Loss of the Papacy " ; " James the
Second " ; " Savonarola " ; and " Ellen Fitzgerald,"
a tale, dealing with southern scenes and incidents.
She has also contributed extensively to Roman
Catholic publications, and her devotional poems
are verv popular among her coreligionists.
ELDER, William, physician, b. in Somerset, Pa., 23 July, 1806; d. in Washington, D. C., 5 April, 1885. He practised his profession in Philadelphia, and was well known as an abolitionist and as an editorial writer and public speaker in the period preceding the civil war. He is the author of "Periscopics," a volume of miscellanies
(New York, 1854); "The Enchanted Beauty" (1855); "Life of Dr. E. K. Kane" (Philadelphia.
