Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/211

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RATHBONE
RAUCH

had meanwhile been burned, indignation increased, and the common council of Boston passed a resolution inviting the governor to put a price on Rasle's head, which was done. In the winter of 1705 Capt. Hilton, with a party of 270 men, including forty-five New Englanders, surprised Norridgewock and burned the church, but Rasle escaped to the woods with his papers. When peace was restored in 1713 he set about building a new church at Norridgewock. and, aided by the French governor, erected one which, in his own words, " would excite admiration in Europe." It was supplied with all the apparatus of Roman Catholic worship, and the services were conducted with great pomp, forty Indian boys, trained by himself, acting as acolytes. Shute, of "Massachusetts, engaged afterward in a correspondence with Rasle ; but failing in the attempt to decoy him to Boston, sent parties to seize him. In January, 1723, a band of 300 men under Col. Thomas Westbrook succeeded in reaching the mission, burned the church, and pillaged Rasle's cabin. There they found an iron box which contained, besides his correspondence with the authorities of Quebec, a valuable dictionary of the Abenaki language in three volumes. This is now preserved in the library of Harvard college, and has been printed in the " Memoirs of the Academy of Arts and Sciences," with an introduction and notes by John Pickering (Cambridge, 1833). In 1724 a party of 208 men from Port Richmond surprised Norridgewock in the night, killed several Indians, and shot Rasle, who was in the act of escaping, at the foot of the mission cross, seven chiefs, who endeavored to protect him, sharing his fate. His body was afterward mutilated by the incensed soldiery and left without burial ; but when the Abenakis returned a few days later, they buried his remains. The French authorities vainly asked reparation for the outrage, but in 1833 the citizens of Norridgewock raised a subscription, bought an acre of land on the spot where Rasle fell, and erected there a monument to his memory, which Bishop Fenwick, of Boston, dedicated on 29 Aug. Vols. xxiii. to xxvii. of the "Lettres edifiantes et curieuses, ecritesdes missions etrangeres" (Paris, 1728) contain several interesting letters of Rasle describing his labors among the Indians. His life has been written by Rev. Convers Francis, D. D., in Sparks's "American Biography."


RATHBONE, John Finley, manufacturer, b. in Albany, N. Y., 18 Oct., 1821.' He was educated at Albany academy and the Collegiate institute at Brockport, N. Y. In 1845 he built a foundry in Albany that is now one of the largest establishments of the kind in the world. In 1861 he was appointed brigadier-general of the 9th brigade of the National guard of New York, and at the beginning of the civil war he was made commandant of the Albany depot of volunteers. From this depot he sent to the front thirty-five regiments. In 1867 he, resigned his office as commander of the 9th brigade. Under the administration of Gov. John A. Dix he was appointed adjutant-general of the state, with the rank of major-general. As a private citizen Gen. Rathbone has been conspicuous for his zeal in promoting works of philanthropy. He is one of the founders of the Albany orphan asylum, and for many years has been president of its board of trustees. He is a trustee of the University of Rochester, in connection with which he established, by his contribution of $40.000, the Rathbone library. His cousin, Henry Reed, soldier, b. in Albany, N. Y.. 1 July, 1837. was appoint- ed major of U. S. volunteers on 29 Nov., 1862, and resigned on 8 July, 1867. He received a wound from the assassin's dirk in the theatre-box with President Lincoln on the evening of his murder. Henry Reed's brother, Jared Lawrence, soldier, b. in Albany, N. Y., 29 Sept., 1844, was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1865, was assigned to the 12th infantry, in 1866-'70 was aide to Gen. John M. Schofield. and was transferred to the artillery in 1869. Resigning in 1872, he engaged in stock-raising and mining in California. He was appointed U. S. consul-general in Paris on 18 May, 1887.


RATTRAY. William Jordan, Canadian author, b. in London, England, in 1835; d. in Toronto, Canada. 26 Sept.. 1883. His father, a Scotchman, came to Canada in 1848, and settled with his family in Toronto. The son was graduated at the University of Toronto in 1858, and afterward was a journalist in that city. Among his writings was a series of articles on the conflict of agnosticism and revealed religion, which presented the orthodox side of the question with great force. He was for many years connected with the Toronto "Mail," wrote for the "Canadian Monthly" and other periodicals, and published "The Scot in British North America" (4 vols., Toronto, 1883).


RAU, Charles, archæologist, b. in Vervien, Belgium, in 1826; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 25 July, 1887. He was educated in Germany, came to the United States in 1848, and taught in the west and afterward in New York city. From 1875 until his death he was curator in the department of antiquities in the U. S. national museum in Washington, D. C. Devoting his attention to archaeology, he began to write on American antiquities for “Die Natur.” His contributions to the publications of the Smithsonian institution first appeared in 1863, and subsequently his articles were published in nearly every annual report of that institution, gaining for him a high reputation as an authority on American archæology. The University of Freiburg, Baden, gave him the degree of Ph.D. in 1882. He was a member of the principal archæological and anthropological societies of Europe and America, and published more than fifty papers, among which was a series on the “Stone Age in Europe,” originally contributed to “Harper's Magazine,” and afterward issued in book-form as “Early Man in Europe” (New York, 1876). His other publications were “The Archaeological Collection of the United States National Museum” (Washington, 1876); “The Palenque Tablet in the United States National Museum” (1879); “Articles on Anthropological Subjects,” 1853-'87 (1882); two partly published works on the types of North American implements; and one that was designed to be a comprehensive treatment of archæology in America. Dr. Rau bequeathed his library and collection to the U. S. national museum in Washington.


RAUCH, Friedrich August, educator, b. in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, 27 July, 1806; d. in Mercersburg, Pa., 2 March, 1841. He was graduated at the University of Marburg, afterward studied at Giessen and Heidelberg, and became extraordinary professor at the University of Giessen. He fled from the country on account of a public utterance on some political subject, and landed in the United States in 1831, learned English in Easton, Pa., where he gave lessons on the pianoforte, was professor of German in Lafayette college for a short time, was then chosen as principal of a classical school that had been established by the authorities of the German Reformed church at York, Pa., and a few months later was ordained to the ministry and appointed professor of biblical literature in the theological seminary at York, while retaining charge of the academy, which, in 1835, was removed to Mercersburg. Under his