Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/244

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MAGRUDER


MAGRUDER


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was graduated from the U.S. Military academy, July 1, 1830; was promoted 1st lieutenant in the 1st artillery, March 31, 1836, and was on ordnance duty, 1836-37. He participated in the Florida war, 1887-38; was in garrison in New York, 1838-

40, and was on re- cruiting service dur- ing the Canada border disturbances, 1840-42. He took part in the military occupation of Texas, 1845-46, and in the war with Mexico, being engaged in the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Pal- ma, the siege of Vera Cruz, the battle of Cerro Gordo, the skirmishes at La Hoya and Oka Laka, the battles of Contreras and Molino del Rey, the storming of Chapultepec, and the assault and capture of the city of Mexico. He was promoted captain in the 1st artillery, June 18, 1846, was brevetted major, April 18, 1847, for Cerro Gordo, and lieutenant-colonel, Sept. 13, 1847, for Cha- pultepec. He served in garrison, on recruiting service and on frontier duty in Maryland and California, 1848-53; was on leave of absence, 1853-55, and on 'his return served on various duties in Texas, Louisiana, Rhode Island, Kansas and Washington, D.C., 1855-61. He resigned from the U.S. army, April 20, 1861, and joined the Confederate States army. He was appointed colonel of a corps of infantry, commanded the Confederate forces of between 300 and 400 men, and gained the battle of Big Bethel, June 10, 1861. On June 17, 1861, he was promoted briga- dier-general and engaged in covering the ap- proaches to Richmond from the seaboard with an army of 12,000 men, with headquarters at York- town, and he successfully resisted the approach of General McClellan for several weeks, until compelled by illness to relinquish his command. He was promoted major-general, Oct. 7, 1862, and commanded a division in the seven days' fighting around Richmond, where he commanded the di- visions of Gens. D. R. Jones and Lafayette Mc- Laws, and his own, with the artillery under Col. S. D. Lee. During the change of base of McClel- lan's army, Magruder engaged his rear-guard at Allen's Farm (Peach Orchard), June 29, 1862. At the battle of Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862, Generals Magruder, Huger and McLaws distinguished themselves by their detailed attack, and although they were ordered to retire, before doing so they inflicted and sustained a great loss. General


Magruder's success on the peninsula led President Davis to give him the command of the new De- partment of the trans-Mississippi, but before he reached his post he was recalled to Richmond and was subsequently ordered to the Department of Texas, Oct. 16, 1862. On arriving he found Gal- veston in possession of the Federal forces, but by a joint land and naval attack he succeeded in capturing the city, Jan. 1, 1863, together with 600 prisoners, the steamer Hannei Ixnie, two barges, a schooner, and a quantity of valuable stores and arms. He commanded the Depart- ment of Texas until Aug. 11, 1864, when he was assigned to the district of New Mexico and Ari- zona, where he remained until the close of the war. He then entered Maximilian's army in Mexico, with the rank of major-general, and served until Maximilian's execution. He re- turned to the United States in 1869, and settled in Houston, Texas. He was married to Henrietta, daughter of Herman Von Kappf of Baltimore. He died in Houston, Texas., Feb. 19, 1871.

MAQRUDER, Julia, author, was born in Charlottesville, Va., Sept. 14, 1854: daughter of Allan Bowie and Sarah (Gilliam) Magruder and granddaughter of Thomas and Eliza (Bankhead) Magruder. She was educated by private tutors and at an early age began to contribute to the current magazines. She is the author of: Across the Chasm, anonymous (1885); At Anchor (1887); A Magnificent Plebeian (1887); Honored in the Breach (1889); The Child Amy (1893); A Realized Ideal (1894); The Princess Sonia (1895); The Violet (1896); Dead Selves (1897); Miss Ayr of Virginia (1897); A Heaven-Kissing Hill (1897); A Beautiful Alien (1898); A Labor of Love (1898); Stnian (1899); A Manifest Destiny (1900); A Sunny Southerner (1901). See also compiled Child Sketches from Oeorge Eliot (1895).

MAGRUDER, William Thomas, educator, was born in Baltimore, Md., April 22, 1861; son of William Thomas and Mary Clayton (Hamil- ton) Magruder, and grandson of William and Mary (Clayton) Hamilton. He attended Trinity school. New York city, 1869-72; St. John's school Sing Sing, N.Y., 1872-76, and the Peekskill, (N.Y.) Military academy, 1876-77. He was grad- uated from the Stevens Institute of Technology, M.E., 1881, and was a graduate student at the John Hopkins university, 1886-87. He was em- ployed as draftsman and designer by the Camp- bell Printing Press and Manufacturing company at Taunton, Mass., 1881-86; was chief chemist of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad in 1887; in- structor and adjunct professor of mechanical engineering at Vanderbilt university, Nashville, Tenn., 1887-96, and was elected professor of mechanical engineering at the Ohio State univer- sity in 1896. He was married, June 18, 1891 , to