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Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/585

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SLOAT
SLOCUM

till 18S6 he was treasurer of the American chemi- i-.-il society. Dr. Sloane is tlie translator of Alglave ami Boulard's "Electric Light" (New York. 1883), and is the author of "Home Experiments in Sci- ence " (Philadeli>hia. 1888).


SLOAT, John Drake, naval officer, b. in New York city in 1780; d. in New Brighton. Staten island. N.' Y., 28 Nov., 1867. He entered the navy as midshipman, 12 Feb., 1*00. and was honorably discharged by the peace-establishment act, 21 May, 1801. He re-entered the navy as a sailing-master, 10 Jan., 1813, and served in the frigate " United States " in 1812-'15. In this ship, on 25 Oct., 1812, he participated in the capture of the British frigate " Macedonian," and was subsequently blockaded in Thames river, Conn., by the British fleet until the end of the war. He received a vote of thanks and silver medal for the victory over the " Mace- donian," and was promoted to lieutenant, 24 July, 1813. After the war he was on leave until 1817. In 1823-'5 he cruised in the schooner " Grampus," sup- pressing piracy in the West Indies, and participated in the capture of the pirate brig " Palmyra " near Campeachy. He succeeded to the command of the Grampus " in 1824, and assisted at the cap- ture and destruction of the town of Foxhardo, the headquarters of the pirates on Porto Rico. In the spring of 1825 he captured a piratical brig near St. Thomas, W. I., with the pirate chief Colfrecinas, who was subsequently executed by the Spaniards. He was promoted to master-commandant. 21 March, 1820. and to captain, 9 Feb., 1837, and was com- mandant of the navy-yard at Portsmouth, N. H., in 1840-'4. In 1844-'6 he had command of the Pacific squadron, during which he occupied Mon- terey in anticipation of a similar attempt by the English admiral, and when the Mexican war began he secured possession of San Francisco and other points in California until he was relieved by Com. Robert F. Stockton, when he returned to Norfolk, 27 April. 1847. He had command of the Norfolk navy-yard in 1847-'51, after which he was superin- tendent of the construction of the Stevens battery until 1855. He was placed on the reserved list, 27 Sept., 1855, and retired, 21 Dec., 1861, but was pro- moted to commodore, 16 July, 1862, and to rear- admiral. 25 July, 1866.


SLOCUM, Frances, captive among the Indians, b. in Wyoming valley, Pa., in 1773; d. near Lo- gansport. Ind., in 185i. She was taken captive by Delaware Indians on 2 Nov., 1778, and no intelli- gence was received regarding her till the summer of 1837, when the surviving members of her family heard that she was residing near Logansport, Ind. Her brother, Joseph Slocum, and her sister pro- ceeded thither, and, obtaining an interview with their long-lost sister, had no difficulty in establish- ing her identity. She had entirely forgotten her native language and all knowledge of Christianity, and was an Indian in everything but the fairness of her skin and the color of her hair. She had a distinct recollection of her capture by the savages, who, after taking her to a rocky cave in the moun- tains, departed for the Indian country. She was treated kindly and adopted by an Indian family, who brought her up as their daughter. For years she led a roving life, and became an expert in all the employments of savage existence, and when grown to womanhood married a young chief of the nation, and removed with him to Ohio. She was so happy in her domestic relations that she dreaded being discovered and compelled to reside among the whites. After the death of her first husband she married one of the Miami tribe, and at the time of her discovery had been many years a widow, and had children and grandchildren around her. She was known aiming the Indians as Ma- conai|iia (young bear), was regarded by them as a queen, and was happy am] in comfortable circum- stances. When the Miamis were removed from Indiana. John Quiiicy Adams pleaded the cause of Maconaqua so eloquently in congress that she and her Indian relatives were exempted. Congress gave her a tract of land a mile square, to be held in perpetuity by her descendants.


SLOCUM, Henry Warner, soldier, b. in Del- phi. X. Y., 24 Sept., 1827; d. in Brooklyn, 14 April, 1894. He was graduated at the U. S. military acad- emy, appointed 2d lieutenant in the artillery, and ordered to Florida the same year. He was promoted 1st lieutenant in 1855, but resigned in Oc- tober, 1856, and, returning to New York, engaged in the practice of law at Syracuse, and was a member of the legislature in 1859. At the op- ening of the civil war he tendered his services, and on 21 May, 1861, was appointed col-

onel of the 27th

New York volunteers. He commanded this regiment at the battle of Bull Run on 21 July, where he was severely wounded, on 9 Aug. was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, and was assigned to the command of a brigade in Gen. William B. Franklin's division of the Army of the Potomac. In the Virginia peninsula campaign of 1862 he was engaged in the siege of Yorktown and the action at West Point, Va., and succeeded to the command of the division on 15 May, on Franklin's assignment to the 6th corps. At the battle of Gaines's Mills, 27 June, he was sent with his division to re-enforce Gen. Fitz-John Porter, who was then severely pressed by the enemy, and rendered important service, as he did also at the battles of Glendale and Malvern Hill, his division occupying the right of the main line at both engage merits. He was promoted to the rank of major-general of volunteers. 4 July, 1862, engaged in the second battle of Bull Run, at South Mountain, and at Antietam, and in October was assigned to the command of the 12th army corps. In the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg he took an active part. At Gettysburg he commanded the right wing of the army, and contributed largely to the National victory. Having been transferred with his corps to the west, he served in the Department of the Cumberland till April. 1864, when, his corps being consolidated with the llth, he was assigned to a division and the command of the district of Vicksburg. In August, 1864, he succeeded Gen. Joseph Hooker in the command of the 20th corps, which was the first body of troops to occupy Atlanta, Ga., on 2 Sept. In Sherman's march to the sea and invasion of the Carolinas, he held command of the left wing of the army, and participated in all its engagements from the departure from Atlanta till the surrender of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston at Durham station, N. C. In September, 1865, Gen. Slocum resigned from the army and resumed the practice of law in