Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/707

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GOLDSBOROUGH
GOMEZ
673

Sept., 1843, was the first clerk of the bureau of pro- visions and clothing of the U. S. navy, and chief clerk of the naval department from 1798 to 1812, under Sees. Benjamin Stoddart, Robert Smith, and Paul Hamilton. From 1841 until separate naval bureaus were established he was secretary of the naval board. He is the author of " The U. S. Naval Chronicle " (Washington, 1834), and an un- published " History of the American Navy,"' now in manuscript and in the possession of the senior editor of this work. — Charles Washington's son, Louis Malesherbes, naval officer, b. in Washing- ton, D. C, 18 Feb., 1805: d. there, 20 Feb., 1877, entered the navy as midshipman at seven years of age. He was promoted lieutenant in January, 1825, and, after serving a short time in the Mediterranean squadron, went to Paris and passed two years in study. Jn 1827 he joined the " North Caro- lina " in the Med- iterranean, and while cruising in the schooner " Por- poise," in the Gre- cian archipelago, he commanded a

night expedition of

four boats and thirty-five men for the recovery of the English brig " Comet," which had been captured by Greek pi- rates. After a fierce fight, in which ninety of the pirates were killed, the " Comet " was res- cued, and on the arrival of the expedition at Malta he received the thanks of the English gov- ernment. In 1883 he married the daughter of William Wirt, and went to Florida, taking with him a colony of Germans to cultivate lands be- longing to his father-in-law. During the Semi- nole war he commanded a company of volunteer cavalry, and also an armed steamer. In Septem- ber, 1841, he was promoted commander. During the Mexican war he was executive offeer of the frigate " Ohio," which bombarded Vera Cruz in March, 1847. He was senior member of the joint army and naval commission to explore Oregon and California, and to report on various military mat- ters in 1849. From 1853 till 1857 he was superin- tendent of the U. S. naval academy, and command- ed the sloop " Levant " in the Mediterranean, and the frigate " Congress " in the Brazil squadron in 1858-'G0. He was commissioned captain in 1855. At the beginning of the civil war in 1861 he was appointed flag-officer, and placed in command of the " Minnesota," of the North Atlantic blockading squadron. In September, 1801, he planned and executed a joint army and navy expedition to the sounds of North Carolina, and captured Roanoke island, 5 Feb., 1862. (See Burnside, Ambrose.) He received the thanks of congress for this service. He was made rear-admiral in July, 1862, and as- signed in 1863 to the duty of preparing a code of regulations for the naval service, and of revis- ing the book of naval allowances. In 1865 he commanded the European squadron, and after 1867 he was on special duty. In 1873 he was placed on the retired list, and made his home in Washington. At the time of his death he had been in the service longer than any other naval officer then living, and had seen more active duty. — Another son, John Rodgers, naval officer, b. in Washington, D. C, 2 July, 1808 ; d. there, 22 June, 1877, became midshipman in 1824, lieutenant in 1837, commander in 1855, captain in 1862, and commodore in 1867. While midshipman on the sloop " Warren," of the Mediterranean squadron, in 1824-'30, he was engaged against the Greek pirates, and in a launch with nineteen men captured the schooner "Helene," of four guns, and manned by fifty-eight pirates. In 1844-'50 he was attached to the coast survey, and in 1851-'4 to the sloop " Saratoga." During the civil war he commanded the steamer " Union " in 1861, employed in block- ading Charleston, Savannah, and Cape Hatteras. He captured and sunk the Confederate schooner " York," and bombarded the fort oif Point Mathias on the Potomac. He commanded the " Florida," of the South Atlantic blockading squadron, in 1862, and the " Colorado," of the West Gulf block- ading squadron, in 1863. In 1866-'8 he served in the East India squadron, on the sloop " Shenan- doah." In 1870 he was retired.


GOLDSBOROUGH, Robert, patriot, b. in Cambridge, Md., in 1733 ; d. there, 31 Dec, 1788. He was graduated at Philadelphia college (now the University of Pennsylvania) in 1760, took an active part in the ante-Revolutionary movements, was attorney-general of Maryland in 1768, and a delegate to the Continental congress of 1774-'5, and that of Mav, 1776.


GOLDSBOROUGH, Robert Henry', senator, b. in New Easton, Md., in 1780 ; d. there, 5 Oct., 1836. He was elected U. S. senator as an anti-Jackson Democrat, and served from 24 May, 1813, till 3 March, 1819. He was again elected as a Whig, without opposition, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Ezekiel F. Chambers, and served from 23\lan., 1835, till his death.


GOLDTHWAITE, George, senator, b. in Boston, 10 Dec, 1809; d. in Montgomery, Ala., 18 March, 1879. He received a primary education at a grammar-school in Boston, and at thirteen years of age entered the U. S. military academy, where he remained two years. In 1826 he removed to Montgomery, Ala., studying law with his brother Henry, and being admitted to the bar in his eighteenth year. He practised his profession until his election as circuit judge in 1843, was appointed justice of the supreme court in January, 1852, and in 1856 became chief justice, but held the office only thirteen days, when he resigned from the bench and resumed the practice of his profession. At the beginning of the civil war he was appointed adjutant-general of the state of Alabama. He was elected judge of the circuit court in 1868, but lost the office through an act of congress which disqualified him. In 1870 he was elected U. S. senator, served on the committees of claims and Revolutionary claims, and in 1877 retired to private life.—His elder brother, Henry, jurist, b. in Boston, Mass., in 1798 ; d. in Mobile, Ala., in 1847, was liberally educated in Boston, studied law, and removed to Montgomery, Ala., where he became the partner of Gov. Benjamin Fitzgerald. He edited a newspaper, served in the state legislature several terms, and afterward removed to Mobile, where he was a successful lawyer. From 1839 until his death he was a judge of the supreme court of Alabama.


GOMEZ, Antonio, Mexican musician, b. in the city of Mexico in 1805 ; d. in Tulancingo in 1876. At the age of eight he studied with Izquierdo and Ginesta, and when scarcely ten years old published several small compositions of his own, which were favorably received; He became leader of the orchestra of Garcia's Italian opera company in