FORSYTH, Benjamin, soldier, b. in Stokes county, N. C, d. near Oldtown, N. Y., 28 June, 1814. He was a member of the legislature of North Caro- lina, 1807-'8, and was appointed a lieutenant of in- fantry from North Carolina in April, 1808, and be- came a captain of riflemen in July of that year. He commanded in the successful assault on Gana- noque, Upper Canada, in September, 1813, and also at the capture of the British guard at Elizabeth- town, Canada, in February, 1813. For the latter service he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel. He also distinguished himself at the capture of Fort George, 27 May, 1818, and at the attack on York on 27 April of the same year. He was killed in a battle with a superior force of British and Indians. — His only son, James N., after his father's death, was adopted as a child of the state by the legisla- ture of North Carolina, and provision was made for his education at the public expense. He en- tered the university in 1824, subsequently was ap- pointed a midshipman in the navy, and was on board the sloop " Hornet," which was lost at sea.
FORSYTH, James W., soldier, b. in Ohio about
1835. He was graduated at the U. S. military
academy in 1856, and assigned to the infantry.
He was promoted to 1st lieutenant on 15 March,
1861, was for two months assistant instructor to
a brigade of Ohio volunteers, and on 24 Oct. was
made captain. He was on Gen. McClellan's staff
during the peninsular and Maryland campaigns,
was brevetted major on 20 Sept., 1863, for gal-
lantry at Chickamauga, and in 1864-'5 was as-
sistant adjutant-general of volunteers and chief-
of-staff to Gen. Sheridan. He took part in the
Richmond and Shenandoah campaigns, and was
lantry at Opequan, Fisher's Hill, and Middletown,
brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers for gal-
19 Oct., 1864 ; colonel in the regular army, 1 April,
1865, for services at Five Forks, and brigadier-gen-
eral on 9 April, for services during the war. He
was given the full commission of brigadier-general
of volunteers on 19 May, and in 1866-'7 was assist-
ant inspector-general of the Department of the
Gulf. He was aide to Gen. Sheridan in 1869-'73,
military secretary of the division of the Missouri
in 1873-'8, and was then assigned to frontier duty,
taking part in the Bannock campaign of 1878.
In 1886 he became colonel of the 7th cavalry. He
has published "Report of an Expedition up the
Yellowstone River in 1875 " (Washington, 1875).
FORSYTH, John, statesman, b. in Frederick
county, Va., 22 Oct., 1780; d. in Washington, D. C,
21 Oct., 1841. His father was an Englishman,
but fought in the American army in the Revolu-
tion. John removed to Georgia with his family
when he was four years old. He was graduated
at Princeton in 1799, studied law, and was ad-
mitted to the bar at Augusta. Ga., in 1802. He
was elected attorney-general in 1808, and was after-
ward chosen to congress as a Democrat, serving
from 1813 till 1818, when he became U. S. senator.
He resigned in 1819, having been appointed minis-
ter to Spain, and conducted the negotiations which
resulted in the cession of Florida to the United
States. He served in congress again from 1823
till 1827, when he was elected governor of Georgia,
and in 1829 was again chosen U. S. senator in place
of J. M. Berrien, who had resigned. He opposed
nullification, voted for Henry Clay's compromise
act of 1833, and supported Jackson in the debate
regarding the removal of deposits from the U. S.
bank. He was a delegate to the anti-tariff con-
vention at Milledgeville, Ga., in 1832, but with-
drew on the ground that it did not fairly represent
the people of Georgia. He resigned his senator-
ship on 27 June, 1834, to become secretary of state
under President Jackson, and continued to serve
under Van Buren till 3 March, 1841. — His son,
Jolin, editor, b. in Georgia in 1813 ; d. in Mobile,
Ala., 2 May, 1879, was lor many years one of the
foremost Democratic editors of the south. In 1856
he was appointed minister to Mexico, but in 1858
demanded his passports, and withdrew from the
legation. In 1861, with Marshall J. Crawford, of
Georgia, he represented the Confederate states as
commissioner to the National government, but his
request for an unofficial interview with Sec. Seward
was declined. He removed to Mobile after the
civil war and engaged in journalistic work until
feeble health compelled him to retire.
FORSYTH, John, clergyman, b. in Newburg,
N. Y., in 1811 ; d. there, 17 Oct., 1886. He was
graduated at Rutgers in 1829, studied theology
at the University of Edinburgh, under the Rev.
Thomas Chalmers, and in Glasgow, under Dr.
Thomas Dick, and was licensed to pi"each in April,
1833, by the presbytery of Aberdeen, Scotland. He
then returned to the United States and was or-
dained in 1834 by the presbytery of New York. He
held pastorates in Philadelphia in 1834-'6, and in
Newburg. N. Y., in 1836-47, occupying at the same
time the chair of biblical literature in the theo-
logical seminary of the Reformed church at that
place. He was professor of Latin at Princeton
from 1847 till 1853, again professor at Newburg
in 1853-'5, and in 1860-'3 held the chair of the
English language and literature in Rutgers. He
was appointed chaplain and professor of moral
philosophy at West Point in 1871, and served
there till 1881, when he was retired with the pay
of colonel. He was for many years president of
the Board of education of Newburg, and is the au-
thor of numerous pamphlets and sermons, an
American edition of Dick's " Theology," with a
life of the author (2 vols., New York, 1836) ; " His-
tory of the Public Schools of Newburg " (New-
burg, 1863) ; " Lives of the Early Governors of
New York," published in the Newburg " Daily
Union " in 1863 ; and a translation and enlarge-
ment of Moll's " Exposition of the Psalms " (in
Lang's " Commentary," 1871). He also contrib-
uted largely to current literature.
FORT, George Franklin, governor of New
Jersev, b. in Pemberton, N. J., in Mav, 1809 ; d. in
New Egypt, Ocean co., N. J., 22 April, 1872. He
was educated in his native county, and was gradu-
ated in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
in 1830. He became a successful practitioner, and,
while actively engaged, was elected to the assem-
bly from Monm^outh county. In 1844 he was a
member of the State constitutional convention,
and was subsequently elected to the state senate.
In 1850 he was elected governor of New Jersey,
serving two terms, till 1854, and was afterward a
judge of the court of errors and appeals. He held
other public offices, and was an active member of
the prison reform committee. Princeton gave him
the honorary degree of A. M. in 1847. He was the
author of " Early History and Antiquities of Free-
masonry " (Philadelphia, 1875).
FORT, Greenberry Lafayette, soldier and politician, b. in French Grant, Scioto co., Ohio, 11 Oct., 1825; d. in Lacon, 111., 13 Jan., 1883. In May, 1834, his parents left Ohio and settled in Marshall county, 111., where he was brought up on a farm and attended school. He then studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began practice in Lacon, where he was elected sheriff' in 1850, was clerk of the circuit court in 1852, and county judge in 1857-61. In his first case Abraham Lincoln was
