Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/623

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
OPDYKE
ORBIGNY

and Ohio, and, enlisting in July, 1861, in the 41st Ohio regiment, was mustered in as 1st lieutenant, and soon commissioned captain. At Shiloh he carried the colors, and led an important charge of his command. He was commissioned colonel of the 125th Ohio in January, 18(53. At Chickamauga a charge of his regiment, and later in the day its maintenance of an exposed position, at a loss of one third of its number in killed and wounded, were of vital importance. At Missionary Ridge his demi-brigade was among the first commands to reach the crest. He rendered special service at Rocky-face Ridge and Resaca, and commanded a brigade from August, 1864, to the end of the war, and on 26 July, 1865, was made brigadier-general of volunteers. At Franklin, when the National line had been disastrously broken by Hood's assault, he independently and without receiving orders changed his brigade from reserve into the gap, and was credited by Gen. Thomas, the commander of the army, with the success of the day. Pie rendered valuable service also at Nashville, commanded a division in Texas, resigned in January, 1866, and received commission as major-general of volunteers by brevet, to date from the battle of Franklin. He then engaged in business in New York city, and published many papers on the history of the war.


OPDYKE, George, mayor of New York, b. in Hunterdon county, N. J., in 1805 ; d. in New York city, 12 June, 1880. His ancestor, Gysbert, was an early settler of New York state. George went to the west at eighteen years of age and settled in Cleveland, Ohio, but afterward removed to New Orleans, La., and, returning to the north in 1832, engaged in business in New York city, where he subsequently established the banking-house of George Opdyke and Co. He was a member of the Buffalo Free-soil convention in 1848, served on its committee on resolutions, and was a candidate for congress on the Free-soil ticket in New Jersey, and while in the legislature in 1858 he was zealous in protecting the franchises of New York city from spoliation. He was a delegate to the National Re- publican convention in 1860, and was instrumental in the nomination of Abraham Lincoln. He was mayor of New York in 1862-'3, and was energetic in sustaining the National government, in raising and equipping troops, and did much to prevent commercial panics. He served in the New York constitutional convention in 1867-8, in the New York constitutional commission in 1872-'5, was a member of the New York chamber of commerce in 1858-'80, and its vice-president in 1867-'75. He published a " Treatise on Political Economy," in which he took advanced views against the economic evils of slavery, and in favor of inconvertible paper money and free trade (New York, 1851) ; " Report on the Currency " (1858) : and " Official Documents, Addresses, etc." (1866).


OPPERT, Charles Etienne d' (op -pert), French magistrate, b. in Toulouse in 174!J ; d. there in 1819. He was a judge in the parliament of Toulouse at the time of the French revolution, but emigrated to Spain in 1791, and throiigh the influ- ence of relatives in the service of Charles IV. ob- tained an appointment in the department of state at Lima. He remained in Peru till the restoration of Louis XVIIL, when he returned to his native city. While he was in Lima he V)ecame interested in Peruvian antiquities and drew a plan of the temple of the Virgins of the Sun in Cuzco. He made also a particular study of the songs of the Peruvian Sappho, which in a Spanish translation are yet sung by the Indians in the mountains of the interior of Peru and Bolivia, and he translated into French several melodies on the Colqui-C'ocha or silver lake. Having recovered a part of his es- tate during Napoleon's reign, he resigned his office, travelled for several years in the country, and formed a collection of Indian antiquities which is now in the museum of Toulouse. He published "Voyage au Cuzco" (Toulouse. 1816); " Les an- tiquites Peruviennes" (1817); " Histoire de la poe- sie Peruvienne sous la domination des Incas" (1819) ; " Yaravis, oucomplaintes Indiennes" (1819) ; and other works.


ORBEGOZO, Luis Jose (or-bay-go'-tho), Peru- vian soldier, b. in Chuquisongo, Huamachuco, 25 Aug., 1795 ; d. in Lima in 1847. Being destined by his parents for a literary career, he studied philosophy and physics in the College of San Car- los at Lima. After the death of his father he took charge of the property of his family and entered the militia as cadet of the regiment of cavalry of Trujillo, 27 Jan., 1815. When the army of Gen. San Martin arrived in Pisco in September, 1820, Trujillo, under the Marquis of Torre-Tagle, pro- nounced for independence on 29 Dec. of the same year, and Orbegozo was one of the most enthusias- tic promoters of the movement. As major of the regiment of Torre-Tagle he took part in the cam- paign of 1821 and 1822. He raised the " Invenci- bles de Trujillo " at his own expense and did good service during the campaign of the north, offering all his property to the patriotic junta, of which he was president, for the cause of liberty. Bolivar appointed him prefect of the Department of La Libertad, and in April, 1826, promoted him gen- eral of brigade. He served as commander of cav- alry in the campaign against Colombia, and was several times elected deputy to congress. The Na- tional convention chose him president of the re- public on 20 Dec, 1833, and when his predecessor, Gamarra [q. v.), tried to depose him in 1834 the at- tempt failed ; but, being of feeble character, Orbe- gozo accepted the intervention of Gen. Santa Cruz, president of Bolivia, and the Peru-Bolivian con- federation was formed in June, 1834. When the federation was dissolved by the forces of Chili at Yungay, 20 Jan., 1839, Orbegozo was exiled, but several years afterward he returned.


ORBEGNY, Alcide de (or-been'-ye), French naturalist, b. in Coueron, France, 9 Sept., 1802 ; d. in Pierrefitte, near St. Denis, France, 30 June, 1857. At the age of twenty-three he published a paper on foraminifera in the " Annates des sciences naturelles," which resulted in his being intrusted with a scientific mission to South America by the Museum of natural history. After travelling across Brazil and Uruguay in 1826, he devoted fourteen months to the exploration of the Parana and its affluents, and was then employed by the Argentine government in exploring the pampas and report- ing on the best means of utilizing them for agriculture. He then went to Patagonia, where he was obliged to fight in the ranks of a tribe that gave him hospitality. After exploring Bolivia and travelling through Peru, he returned to France in 1833 with a rich collection in zoology and botany. He received the grand prize of the Geographical society, and the academy named a commission to pass judgment on the results of his voyage. On their favorable report the government published the account of his journey. He wrote altogether fifty-five volumes, besides numerous papers that he presented to the Academy of sciences. His principal works, embracing the results of his explorations in America, are " Foraminiferes de I'Amerique meridionale " (Paris, 1839) ; " Foraminiferes de Tile de Cuba et des Antilles " (1839) ; " Ornithologie de