Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/802

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GRIFFIN
GRIFFIN

port with refraining from taking part in the action, while he " speat the day in making ill-natured strictures upon the connnanding general." Gen. Griffin was arrested for trial on this charge, but was soon released. Having been promoted to the command of a division, he took part in the battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg, and in Hooker's campaign. On 1 Aug., 1864, he was brevetted major-general of volunteers, and on 18 Aug. he received the brevet of colonel in the regular army. He was present at Gettysburg, and was conspicu- ous in all the engagements from the Wilderness to Five Forks. As commander of the 5th corps, di- rected by Gen. Grant, he received the arms and colors of the Army of northern Virginia, after the surrender at Appomattox Court-House. On 13 May, 1865, Gen. Griffin was brevetted brigadier- and major-general in the regular army, and on 10 Aug., 18G5, was assigned to the command of the district of Maine, with headi|ua.rters at Portland. On 28 July, 1866, he was mad.' (•()l,)nel of the 35th infantry, and in 1867 commanded the Department of Texas, with headquarters at Galveston. On 5 Sept., 1867, while the yellow fever was raging at Galveston, he was assigned to the temporary com- mand of the 5th military district on the removal of Gen. Sheridan, and ordered to make his head- quarters at New Orleans. He replied that " to leave Galveston at such a time was like deserting one's post in time of battle." He remained and fell a victim to the fever.


GRIFFIN, Cyrus, jurist, b. in Virginia in 1749 ; d. in Yorktown, Va., 14 Dec, 1810. He was edu- cated in England, and while there married a lady belonging to * noble family. He gave early adhe- sion to the patriot cause, was a member of the Vir- ginia legislature, a delegate to the old congress in 1778-'8l and in 1787-8, and was president in the latter year. He was president of the supreme court of admiralty from its creation until its abolition, was commissioner to the Creek nation in 1789, and was judge of the U. S. court for the district of Virginia from December, 1789. until his death.


GRIFFIN, Ebenezer, lawyer, b. in Cherry Val- ley, N. Y., 29 July, 1789 ; d. in Rochester, N. Y. When he was quite young his father removed to Clinton, Oneida co., where the boy received his preparatory education. He entered Union college, but, before completing his course, began the study of law, and was admitted to the bar at Utica in 1811. He engaged in practice in Clinton, where he remained for eight years, and afterward removed to Utica, but in 1825 went to New York city. Among the many important cases in which he was employed as counsel was that of Mather, who was charged with being a conspirator in the abduction of Morgan. Mr. Griffin was retained to conduct the defence, which he did so ably that Mather was acquitted, notwithstanding the state of public feel- ing. Mr. Griffin continued to practise in New York until 1842, and then removed to Rochester, where he remained until his death.


GRIFFIN, Edward Dorr, clergyman, b. in East Haddam. Conn., 6 Jan., 1770 ; d. in Newark, N. J., 8 Nov.. 1837. He was graduated at Yale in 1790, and studied theology under Jonathan Ed- wards, of New Haven, who was subsequently presi- dent of Union college. He was licensed as a preacher in October, 1792, and in January, 1793, began his ministerial work at New Salem, Conn. In June, 1795, Mr. Griffin was ordained pastor of the Congregational church at New Hartford, and afterward held pastorates at Newark, N. J., and Boston, Mass. Union college gave him the degree of D. D. in 1808, and he became professor of rhetoric in the recently established Andover theological seminary, 21 June, 1809, which chair he filled until 1811. In 1821 he was chosen president of Will- iams, and remained there till 1836. He was an eloquent and popular preacher, and published " Lectures delivered in Park Street Church, Bos- ton " (Boston, 1813), and " Sixty Sermons on Prac- tical Subjects " (New York, 1844). A selection from his works, with a memoir of the author by Rev. William B. Sprague, D. D., was published after his death (2 vols., 1839). See also " Recollections of Rev. E. D. Griffin," by Parsons Cooke (1856).— His brother, Georg'e, lawyer, b. in East Haddam, Conn., 14 Jan., 1778 ; d. in New York city, 6 May, 1860, was graduated at Yale in 1797, studied in the Litchfield law-school, and was admitted to the bar in 1799. He practised in Wilkesbarre, Pa., for six years, and subsequently in New Y^ork city. He is the author of " Sufferings of Our Saviour," " Evidences of Christianity," and " The Gospel its Own Advocate " (New York, 1850).— George's son, Edmund Dorr, scholar, b. in Wyoming, Pa., 10 Sept., 1804: d. in New York, 1 Sept., 1830, was graduated at Columbia in 1823. He studied law in his father's office for a short time, then studied divin- ity, and was ordained a deacon in the Protestant Episcopal church in August, 1826. Soon afterward he became assistant minister of St. James's church, Hamilton Square, near New York city, and a little later acted in the same capacity in Christ church, New Y^ork city, but was soon forced by failing health to abandon his charge. He sailed for Eu- rope in October, 1828, and returned to New York in April, 1830. In the following May and June he delivered a course of lectures upon Roman, Italian, and English literature in Columbia. His brother Francis published his " Remains," with a memoir by Rev. John MacVicar (1831).


GRIFFIN, Gilderoy Wells, author, b. in Louis- ville, Ky., 6 March, 1840 ; d. there. 21 Oct.. 1891. He was educated at the University of Louisville, and admitted to the bar in 1861. After practising, he engaged in journalism. He was appointed U. S. con- sul at Copenhagen in 1871, at the Samoan islands in 1876, at Auckland, New Zealand, in 1879, and at Sydney, Australia, in 1884. He has published a biographical sketch of George D. Prentice (1869); edited the subsequent edition of " Prenticeana " (Philadelphia, 1871) ; wrote for it a "Life of Pren- tice," which he afterward re-wrote and enlarged ; " Studies in Literature " (1871) ; " Life of Charles S. Todd " (1873) : " Danish Days " (1874) ; " A Visit to Stratford " (1875) ; and " New Zealand, her Com- merce and Resources" (Wellington, N. Z., 1884).


GRIFFIN, Nathaniel Herrick, educator, b. in Southampton, L. I., 28 Dec, 1814 ; d. in Will- iamstown, Mass., 16 Oct., 1876. He was graduated at Williams in 1834, and afterward studied in Princeton theological seminary for two years. He was tutor for one year in Williams, and in June, 1839, was installed pastor of the church at Delhi, N. Y., where he remained till 1841. After teaching in Brooklyn, N. Y., for two years, he became, in 1846, professor of the Greek and Latin languages in Williams, and in 1853 he was made professor of Greek. He resigned in 1857, opened a school, and from 1868 till liis death was librarian of the college. — His son, Solomon Bulkley, b. in Will- iamstown, 13 Aug., 1852, was graduated at Will- iams in 1872. and is now (1888) m;inaging editor of the Springfield " Republican." He has published " Mexico of To-day " (New York, 1886).


GRIFFIN, Simon Goodell, soldier, b. in Nelson, Cheshire co., N. H., 9 Aug., 1824. He was a teacher for several years, and represented his native