Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/407

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MONTGOMERY
MONTGOMERY

ancient tradition that shortly before the destruction of the Mexican empire the first chief of the dynasty, Quetzalcoatl, would return from the Orient. Notwithstanding, he ordered the coast to be watched, and when Cortes arrived in 1519 he was met by an embassy from Montezuma with presents. Making use of their superstition, Cortes asserted that he was an envoy from Quetzalcoatl. When Cortes, against the wishes of the Mexican monarch, advanced toward the capital, Montezuma sallied forth to receive him, and lodged him in one of his palaces on 8 Nov., 1519. Soon he was practically a prisoner of the Spaniards, and during that time showed a great want of character, becoming a mere tool in their hands. When in June, 1520, the population of Mexico attacked the Spaniards, Montezuma appeared on the roof of the palace to order his subjects to desist; but they had already so far lost their respect for him that they attacked him also. Dangerously wounded by a stone, the monarch died three days afterward, and the people denied him even the solemn obsequies that had been given to all his predecessors. He left two legitimate children, a son, Axayacatl, who was killed by Cuauhtemotzin, and a daughter, Tecuichpotzin, who married the emperors Cuitlahuatzin and Cuauhtemotzin, and after the latter's death was baptized under the name of Isabella. She then married first Pedro Gallego and afterward Juan Cano, Spanish officers, by whom she had two daughters and four sons. The latter were afterward created by the Spanish court Counts of Montezuma, and were the progenitors of the present family of that name. One of the Counts of Montezuma was viceroy of Mexico in 1697-1701.


MONTGOMERY, George Washington, author, b. in Valencia, Spain, in 1804 ; d. in Washington, D. C, 5 June, 1841. He was the son of an American merchant of Alicante, Spain, and received a good education. On his return to the United States he obtained an appointment in the department of state, and served as U. S. consul at Tampico and Porto Rico. He contributed to the "Southern Literary Messenger" and other periodicals, and published in Spanish Washington Irving's "Chronicle of the Conquest of Grenada," "Tareas de un Solitario," a collection of tales in imitation of "The Sketch-Book," "El Bastarde de Castilla," founded on the story of Bernardo del Carpio, which was translated into English and published in the United States, and "Narrative of a Journey to Guatemala in Central America in 1838" (New York, 1839).


MONTGOMERY, George Washington, clergyman, b. in Portland, Me., April, 1810. He received a common-school education, became a Universalist clergyman, and held various pastorates. At present (1888) he lives in retirement in Rochester, N. Y. Besides being a large contributor to current Universalist literature, he has published "Illustrations of the Law of Kindness" (Utica, 1840), of which upward of 60.000 copies were sold in the United States, and which was republished in England and on the continent of Europe, and a volume of " Sermons " (Rochester, 1850).


MONTGOMERY, Henry Eglinton, clergyman, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 9 Dec, 1820 ; d. in New York city, 15 Oct., 1874. He was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1839, and then studied law for two years, but abandoned it and prepared for the ministry at Nashotah theological seminary and the General theological seminary, New York city. After receiving ordination at the hands of Bishop Alonzo Potter in 1846, he was called to the charge of All Saints' church in Philadelphia, where he remained nine years. In 1855 he was called to the Church of the Incarnation in New York city. In 1864 a new church building was erected for this parish on the corner of Madison avenue and Thirty-fifth street, which at that time was one of the finest church edifices in the city. In 1863 he received the degree of D. D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Montgomery was always a hard worker ; he had no assistant in his ministry, and, besides the constant demands upon his strength made by a growing church, he had for years been a prominent member of nearly all the missionary and home societies for the advancement of the gospel. His younger brother, James Eglinton, is the author of "The Cruise of the 'Franklin,'" a narrative of Admiral Farragut's visit to Europe (New York, 1869).


MONTGOMERY, James, pioneer, b. in Ashtabula county, Ohio, 22 Dec, 1814 ; d. in Linn county, Kan., 6 Dec, 1871. He came with his family early in life to Kentucky, and taught, ultimately Jaecoming a Campbellite preacher. Later he devoted himself to farming, but in 1854 went to southern Kansas, where he was one of the earliest settlers. His residence in Linn county was burned by the Missourians in 1856, and this resulted in his taking an active part in the disturbances that followed. The retaliatory visits into Missouri were frequently led by him, and his discretion, courage, and acknowledged ability gained for him the confidence and support of the southern counties. His enrolled company included nearly 500 men, all of whom were old residents of the territory, and consequently familiar with the peculiar mode of fighting that was followed on the border. Capt. Montgomery was one of the acknowledged leaders of the free-state cause during 1857-'61. Next to John Brown he was more feared than any other, and a contemporary sketch of the " Kansas Hero," as he was then called, says: "Notwithstanding every incentive to retaliate actuates them to demand blood for blood, yet Montgomery is able to control and direct them. He truly tempers justice with mercy, and he has always protected women and children from harm, and has never shed blood except in conflict or in self-defence." In 1857 he represented his county in the Kansas senate, and at other times he was a member of the legislature. At the beginning of the civil war he was an officer of the 10th Kansas volunteers, but soon afterward was given command of the 1st North Carolina colored volunteers. These troops he led on a raid from Hilton Plead into Georgia in July, 1863, and at the battle of Olustee, Fla., on 20 Feb., 1864, was one of the few officers that escaped with his life. Horace Greeley says of his regiment and the 54th Massachusetts : " It was admitted that these two regiments had saved our little array from being routed." At the close of the war he returned to Kansas and passed the last years of his life at his home in Linn county.


MONTGOMERY, John, member of the Continental congress, b. in the north of Ireland, July, 1722; d. in Carlisle. Pa., 3 Sept., 1808. He received a good education, and, having inherited a small fortune, he emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1745 and settled in Carlisle, where he entered mercantile pursuits. Subsequently, he served as captain in the expedition against the Indians under Gen. John Forbes, his commission bearing the date 7 May, 1758. He was in other ways prominent in local affairs, and was county treasurer in 1767-'76. In 1774 he was chairman of the committee of observation for Cumberland county, and in July, 1776, he was appointed by congress one of the