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drawn and General Sheridan started on a raid against the Confederate lines of communication with Richmond and on May 25 he rejoined the army, having destroyed considerable of the confederate stores and defeated their cavalry under General Stuart at Yellow Tavern. The outer line of defences around Richmond were taken, but the second line was too strong to be taken by assault, and accordingly Sheridan crossed the Chickahominy at Meadow Bridge, reaching James River May 14, and thence by White House and Hanover Court House back to the army. The cavalry occupied Cold Harbor May 31, which they held until the arrival of the infantry. On General Sheridan's next raid he routed Wade Hampton's cavalry, and August 7 was assigned to the command of the Middle Military division, and during the campaign of the Shenandoah Valley he performed the unheard of feat of "destroying an entire army." He was appointed brigadier-general of the regular army and for his victory at Cedar Creek he was promoted to the rank of major-general. General Sheridan started out February 27, 1865, with ten thousand cavalry and destroyed the Virginia Central Railroad and the James River Canal and joined the army again at Petersburg March 27. He commanded at the battle of Five Forks, the decisive victory which compelled Lee to evacuate Petersburg. On April 9, Lee tried to break through Sheridan's dismounted command but when the General drew aside his cavalry and disclosed the deep lines of infantry the attempt was abandoned. General Sheridan mounted his men and was about to charge when a white flag was flown at the head of Lee's column which betokened the surrender of the army. After the war General Sheridan had command of the army of the southwest, of the gulf and the department of Missouri until he was appointed lieutenant-general and assigned to the division of Missouri with headquarters at Chicago, and assumed supreme command of the army November I, 1883, which post he held until his death, August 5, 1888. 

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HINEAS T. BARNUM, the greatest showman the world has ever seen, was born at Danbury, Connecticut, July 5, 1810. At the age of eighteen years he began business on his own account. He opened a retail fruit and confectionery house, including a barrel of ale, in one part of an old carriage house. He spent fifty dollars in fitting up the store and the stock cost him seventy dollars. Three years later he put in a full stock, such as is generally carried in a country store, and the same year he started a Democratic newspaper, known as the "Herald of Freedom." He soon found himself in jail under a sixty days' sentence for libel. During the winter of 1834-5 he went to New York and began soliciting business for several Chatham street houses. In 1835 he embarked in the show business at Niblo's Garden, having purchased the celebrated "Joice Heth" for one thousand dollars. He afterward engaged the celebrated athlete, Sig. Vivalia, and Barnum made his "first appearance on any stage," acting as a "super" to Sig. Vivalia on his opening night. He became ticket seller, secretary and treasurer of Aaron Turner's circus in 1836 and traveled with it about the country. His next venture was the purchase of a steamboat on the Mississippi, and engaged a theatrical company to show in the principal towns along that river. In 1840 he opened Vaux Hall Garden, New York, with variety performances, and introduced the celebrated jig dancer, John Diamond, to the public. The next year he quit the show

business and settled down in New York as agent of Sear's Pictorial Illustration of the Bible, but a few months later again leased Vaux Hall. In September of the same year he again left the business, and became "puff" writer for the Bowery Amphitheater. In December he bought the Scudder Museum, and a year later introduced the celebrated Tom Thumb to the world, taking him to England in 1844, and remaining there three years. He then returned to New York, and in 1849, through James Hall Wilson, he engaged the ''Swedish Nightingale," Jenny Lind, to come to this country and make a tour under his management. He also had sent the Swiss Bell Ringers to America in 1844. He became owner of the Baltimore Museum and the Lyceum and Museum at Philadelphia. In 1850 he brought a dozen elephants from Ceylon to make a tour of this country, and in 1851 sent the "Batemnan Children" to London. During 1851 and 1852 he traveled as a temperance lecturer, and became president of a bank at Pequonnock, Connecticut. In 1852 he started a weekly pictorial paper known as the "Illustrated News." In 1865 his Museum was destroyed by fire, and he immediately leased the Winter Garden Theatre, where he played his company until he opened his own Museum. This was destroyed by fire in 1868, and he then purchased an interest in the George Wood Museum.

      After dipping into politics to some extent, he began his career as a really great showman in 1871. Three years later he erected an immense circular building in New York, in which he produced his panoramas. He has frequently appeared as a lecturer, some times on temperance, and some times on other topics, among which were ''Humbugs of the World," "Struggles and Triumphs," etc. He was owner of the immense menagerie and circus known as the "Greatest Show on Earth," and his fame extended throughout Europe and America. He died in 1891. 

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AMES MADISON, the fourth president of the United States, 1809-17, was born at Port Conway, Prince George county, Virginia, March 16, 175 1. He was the son of a wealthy planter, who lived on a fine estate called ''Montpelier," which was but twenty-five miles from Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. Mr. Madison was the eldest of a family of seven children, all of whom attained maturity. He received his early education at home under a private tutor, and consecrated himself with unusual vigor to study. At a very early age he was a proficient scholar in Latin, Greek, French and Spanish, and in 1769 he entered Princeton College, New Jersey. He graduated in 1771, but remained for several months after his graduation to pursue a course of study under the guidance of Dr. Witherspoon. He permanently injured his health at this time and returned to Virginia in 1772, and for two years he was immersed in the study of law, and at the same time made extended researches in theology, general literature, and philosophical studies. He then directed his full attention to the impending struggle of the colonies for independence, and also took a prominent part in the religious controversy at that time regarding so called persecution of other religious denominations by the Church of England. Mr. Madison was elected to the Virginia assembly in 1776 and in November, 1777, he was chosen a member of the council of state. He took his seat in the continental congress in March, 1780. He was made chairman of the committee on foreign relations, and drafted an able memoranda for the use of

the American ministers to the French and Spanish governments, that established the claims of the republic to the territories between the Alleghany Mountains and the Mississippi River. He acted as chairman of the ways and means committee in 1783 and as a member of the Virginia legislature in 1784-86 he rendered important services to the state. Mr. Madison represented Virginia in the national constitutional convention at Philadelphia in 1787, and was one of the chief framers of the constitution. He was a member of the first four congresses, 1789-97, and gradually became identified with the anti-federalist or republican party of which he eventually became the leader. He remained in private life during the administration of John Adams, and was secretary of state under President Jefferson. Mr. Madison administered the affairs of that post with such great ability that he was the natural successor of the chief magistrate and was chosen president by an electoral vote of 122 to 53. He was inaugurated March 4,1809, at that critical period in our history when the feelings of the people were embittered with those of England, and his first term was passed in diplomatic quarrels, which finally resulted in the declaration of war, June 18, 1812. In the autumn of that year President Madison was re-elected by a vote of 128 to 89, and conducted the war for three years with varying success and defeat in Canada, by glorious victories at sea, and by the battle of New Orleans that was fought after the treaty of peace had been signed at Ghent, December 24, 1814. During this war the national capitol at Washington was burned, and many valuable papers were destroyed, but the declaration of independence was saved to the country by the bravery and courage of Mr. Madison's illustrious wife. A commercial treaty was negotiated with Great Britain in 1815, and in April, 1816, a national bank was incorporated by congress. Mr. Madison was succeeded, March 4, 1817, by James Monroe, and retired into private life on his estate at Montpelier, where he died June 28, 1836. 

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REDERICK DOUGLASS, a noted American character, was a protege of the great abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison, by whom he was aided in gaining his education. Mr. Douglass was born in Tuckahoe county, Maryland, in February, 1817, his mother being a negro woman and his father a white man. He was born in slavery and belonged to a man by the name of Lloyd, under which name he went until he ran away from his master and changed it to Douglass. At the age of ten years he was sent to Baltimore where he learned to read and write, and later his owner allowed him to hire out his own time for three dollars a week in a shipyard. In September, 1838, he fled from Baltimore and made his way to New York, and from thence went to New Bedford, Massachusetts. Here he was married and supported himself and family by working at the wharves and in various workshops. In the summer of 1841 he attended an anti-slavery convention at Nantucket, and made a speech which was so well received that he was offered the agency of the Massachusetts Anti-slavery Society. In this capacity he traveled through the New England states, and about the same time he published his first book called ''Narrative of my Experience in Slavery." Mr. Douglass went to England in 1845 and lectured on slavery to large and enthusiastic audiences in all the large towns of the country, and his friends made up a purse of seven hundred and fifty dollars and purchased his freedom in due form of law.

      Mr. Douglass applied himself to the delivery of lyceum lectures after the abolition of slavery, and in 1870 he became the editor of the "New National Era" in Washington. In '871 he was appointed assistant secretary of the commission to San Domingo and on his return he was appointed one of the territorial council for the District of Colorado by President Grant. He was elected presidential elector-at-large for the state of New York and was appointed to carry the electoral vote to Washington. He was also United States marshal for the District of Columbia in 1876, and later was recorder of deeds for the same, from which position he was removed by President Cleveland in 1886. In the fall of that year he visited England to inform the friends that he had made while there, of the progress of the colored race in America, and on his return he was appointed minister to Hayti, by President Harrison in 1889. His career as a benefactor of his race was closed by his death in February, 1895, near Washington. 

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ILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.--The ear for rhythm and the talent for graceful expression are the gifts of nature, and they were plentifully endowed on the above named poet. The principal characteristic of his poetry is the thoughtfulness and intellectual process by which his ideas ripened in his mind, as all his poems are bright, clear and sweet. Mr. Bryant was born November 3, 1794, at Cummington, Hampshire county, Massachusetts, and was educated at Williams College, from which he graduated, having entered it in 1810.

      He took up the study of law, and in 1815 was admitted to the bar, but after practicing successfully for ten years at Plainfield and Great Barrington, he removed to New York in 1825. The following year he became the editor of the "Evening Post," which he edited until his death, and under his direction this paper maintained, through a long series of years, a high standing by the boldness of its protests against slavery before the war, by its vigorous support of the government during the war, and by the fidelity and ability of its advocacy of the Democratic freedom in trade. Mr. Bryant visited Europe in 1834, 1845, 1849 and 1857, and presented to the literary world the fruit of his travels in the series of ''Letters of a Traveler," and ''Letters from Spain and Other Countries." In the world of literature he is known chiefly as a poet, and here Mr. Bryant's name is illustrious, both at home and abroad, he contributed verses to the "Country Gazette" before he was ten years of age, and at the age of nineteen he wrote "Thanatopsis, " the most impressive and widely known of his poems. The later outgrowth of his genius was his translation of Homer's "Iliad" in 1870 and the ''Odyssey" in 1871. He also made several speeches and addresses which have been collected in a comprehensive volume called "Orations and Addresses." He was honored in many ways by his fellow citizens, who delighted to pay tributes of respect to his literary eminence, the breadth of his public spirit, the faithfulness of his service, and the worth of his private character. Mr. Bryant died in New York City June 12, 1878. 

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ILLIAM HENRY SEWARD, the secretary of state during one of the most critical times in the history of our country, and the right hand man of President Lincoln, ranks among the greatest statesmen America has produced. Mr. Seward was born May 16, 1801, at Florida, Orange county, New York, and with such

facilities as the place afforded he fitted himself for a college course. He attended Union College at Schenectady, New York, at the age of fifteen, and took his degree in the regular course, with signs of promise in 1820, after which he diligently addressed himself to the study of law under competent instructors, and started in the practice of his profession in 1823.

      Mr. Seward entered the political arena and in 1828 we find him presiding over a convention in New York, its purpose being the nomination of John Quincy Adams for a second term. He was married in 1824 and in 1830 was elected to the state senate. From 1838 to 1842 he was governor of the state of New York. Mr. Seward's next important position was that of United States senator from New York.

      W. H. Seward was chosen by President Lincoln to fill the important office of the secretary of state, and by his firmness and diplomacy in the face of difficulties, he aided in piloting the Union through that period of strife, and won an everlasting fame. This great statesman died at Auburn, New York, October 10, 1872, in the seventy-second year of his eventful life. 

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OSEPH JEFFERSON, a name as dear as it is familiar to the theater-going world in America, suggests first of all a fun-loving, drink-loving, mellow voiced, good-natured Dutchman, and the name of "Rip Van Winkle " suggests the pleasant features of Joe Jefferson, so intimately are play and player associated in the minds of those who have had the good fortune to shed tears of laughter and sympathy as a tribute to the greatness of his art. Joseph Jefferson was born in Philadelphia, February 20, 1829. His genius was an inheritance, if there be such, as his great-grandfather, Thomas Jefferson, was a manager and actor in England. His grandfather, Joseph Jefferson, was the most popular comedian of the New York stage in his time, and his father, Joseph Jefferson, the second, was a good actor also, but the third Joseph Jefferson outshone them all.

      At the age of three years Joseph Jefferson came on the stage as the child in "Pizarro," and his training was upon the stage from childhood. Later on he lived and acted in Chicago, Mobile, and Texas. After repeated misfortunes he returned to New Orleans from Texas, and his brother-in-law, Charles Burke, gave him money to reach Philadelphia, where he joined the Burton theater company. Here his genius soon asserted itself, and his future became promising and brilliant. His engagements throughout the United States and Australia were generally successful, and when he went to England in 1865 Mr. Boucicault consented to make some important changes in his dramatization of Irving's story of Rip Van Winkle, and Mr. Jefferson at once placed it in the front rank as a comedy. He made a fortune out of it, and played nothing else for many years. In later years, however, Mr. Jefferson acquitted himself of the charge of being a one-part actor, and the parts of "Bob Acres," "Caleb Plummer" and ''Golightly " all testify to the versatility of his genius. 

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EORGE BRINTON McCLELLAN, a noted American general, was born in Philadelphia, December 3, 1826. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1846 from West Point, and was breveted second lieutenant of engineers. He was with Scott, in the Mexican war, taking part in all the engagements from Vera Cruz to the final capture of the Mexi-

can capital, and was breveted first lieutenant and captain for gallantry displayed on various occasions. In 1857 he resigned his commission and accepted the position of chief engineer in the construction of the Illinois Central Railroad, and became president of the St. Louis & Cincinnati Railroad Company. He was commissioned major-general by the state of Ohio in 1861, placed in command of the department of the Ohio, and organized the first volunteers called for from that state. In May he was appointed major-general in the United States army, and ordered to disperse the confederates overrunning West Virginia. He accomplished this task promptly, and received the thanks of congress. After the first disaster at Bull Run he was placed in command of the department of Washington, and a few weeks later of the Army of the Potomac. Upon retirement of General Scott the command of the entire United States army devolved upon McClellan, but he was relieved of it within a few months. In March, 1862, after elaborate preparation, he moved upon Manassas, only to find it deserted by the Confederate army, which had been withdrawn to impregnable defenses prepared nearer Richmond. He then embarked his armies for Fortress Monroe and after a long delay at Yorktown, began the disastrous Peninsular campaign, which resulted in the Army of the Potomac being cooped up on the James River below Richmond. His forces were then called to the support of General Pope, near Washington, and he was left without an army. After Pope's defeat McClellan was placed in command of the troops for the defense of the capital, and after a thorough organization he followed Lee into Maryland and the battles of Antietam and South Mountain ensued. The delay which followed caused general dissatisfaction, and he was relieved of his command, and retired from active service.

      In 1864 McClellan was nominated for the presidency by the Democrats, and overwhelmingly defeated by Lincoln, three states only casting their electoral votes for McClellan. On election day he resigned his commission and a few months later went to Europe where he spent several years. He wrote a number of military text-books and reports. His death occurred October 29, 1885. 

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AMUEL J. TILDEN.--Among the great statesmen whose names adorn the pages of American history may be found that of the subject of this sketch. Known as a lawyer of highest ability, his greatest claim to immortality will ever be in his successful battle against the corrupt rings of his native state and the elevation of the standard of official life.

      Samuel J. Tilden was born in New Lebanon, New York, February 9, 1814. He pursued his academic studies at Yale College and the University of New York, taking the course of law at the latter. He was admitted to the bar in 1841. His rare ability as a thinker and writer upon public topics attracted the attention of President Van Buren, of whose policy and administration he became an active and efficient champion. He made for himself a high place in his profession and amassed quite a fortune as the result of his industry and judgment. During the days of his greatest professional labor he was ever one of the leaders and trusted counsellors of the Democratic party. He was a member of the conventions to revise the state constitution, both in 1846 and 1867, and served two terms in the lower branch of the state leg-

islature. He was one of the controlling spirits in the overthrow of the notorious "Tweed ring" and the reformation of the government of the city of New York. In 1874 he was elected governor of the state of New York. While in this position he assailed corruption in high places, successfully battling with the iniquitous "canal ring" and crushed its sway over all departments of the government. Recognizing his character and executive ability Mr. Tilden was nominated for president by the national Democratic convention in 1876. At the election he received a much larger popular vote than his opponent, and 184 uncontested electoral votes. There being some electoral votes contested, a commission appointed by congress decided in favor of the Republican electors and Mr. Hayes, the candidate of that party was declared elected.. In 1880, the Democratic party, feeling that Mr. Tilden had been lawfully elected to the presidency tendered the nomination for the same office to Mr. Tilden, but he declined, retiring from all public functions, owing to failing health. He died August 4, 1886. By will he bequeathed several millions of dollars toward the founding of public libraries in New York City, Yonkers, etc. 

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OAH WEBSTER.--As a scholar, lawyer, author and journalist, there is no one who stands on a higher plane, or whose reputation is better established than the honored gentleman whose name heads this sketch. He was a native of West Hartford, Connecticut, and was born October 17, 1758. He came of an old New England family, his mother being a descendant of Governor William Bradford, of the Plymouth colony. After acquiring a solid education in early life Dr. Webster entered Yale College, from which he graduated in 1778. For a while he taught school in Hartford, at the same time studying law, and was admitted to the bar in 1781. He taught a classical school at Goshen, Orange county, New York, in 1782-83, and while there prepared his spelling book, grammar and reader, which was issued under the title of ''A Grammatical Institute of the English Language," in three parts,--so successful a work that up to 1876 something like forty million of the spelling books had been sold. In 1786 he delivered a course of lectures on the English language in the seaboard cities and the following year taught an academy at Philadelphia. From December 17, 1787, until November, 1788, he edited the "American Magazine," a periodical that proved unsuccessful. In 1789-93 he practiced law in Hartford having in the former year married the daughter of William Greenleaf, of Boston. He returned to New York and November, 1793, founded a daily paper, the "Minerva," to which was soon added a semi-weekly edition under the name of the "Herald." The former is still in existence under the name of the "Commercial Advertiser." In this paper, over the signature of "Curtius," he published a lengthy and scholarly defense of "John Jay's treaty."

      In 1798, Dr. Webster moved to New Haven and in 1807 commenced the preparation of his great work, the "American Dictionary of the English Language," which was not completed and published until 1828. He made his home in Amherst, Massachusetts, for the ten years succeeding 1812, and was instrumental in the establishment of Amherst College, of which institution he was the first president of the board of trustees. During 1824-5 he resided in Europe, pursuing his philological studies in Paris. He completed his dictionary from the libraries of Cambridge University in 1825, and de-

voted his leisure for the remainder of his life to the revision of that and his school books.

      Dr. Webster was a member of the legislatures of both Connecticut and Massachusetts, was judge of one of the courts of the former state and was identified with nearly all the literary and scientific societies in the neighborhood of Amherst College. He died in New Haven, May 28, 1843.

      Among the more prominent works emanating from the fecund pen of Dr. Noah Webster besides those mentioned above are the following: "Sketches of American Policy," '' Winthrop's journal," '' A Brief History of Epidemics," "Rights of Neutral Nations in time of War," "A Philosophical and Practical Grammar of the English Language," "Dissertations on the English Language," "A Collection of Essays," "The Revolution in France," "Political Progress of Britain," ''Origin, History, and Connection of the Languages of Western Asia and of Europe," and many others. 

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ILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, the great anti-slavery pioneer and leader, was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, December 12, 1804. He was apprenticed to the printing business, and in 1828 was induced to take charge of the "journal of the Times" at Bennington, Vermont. While supporting John Quincy Adams for the presidency he took occasion in that paper to give expression of his views on slavery. These articles attracted notice, and a Quaker named Lundy, editor of the "Genius of Emancipation," published in Baltimore, induced him to enter a partnership with him for the conduct of his paper. It soon transpired that the views of the partners were not in harmony, Lundy favoring gradual emancipation, while Garrison favored immediate freedom. In 1850 Mr. Garrison was thrown into prison for libel, not being able to pay a fine of fifty dollars and costs. In his cell he wrote a number of poems which stirred the entire north, and a merchant, Mr. Tappan, of New York, paid his fine and liberated him, after seven weeks of confinement. He at once began a lecture tour of the northern cities, denouncing slavery as a sin before God, and demanding its immediate abolition in the name of religion and humanity. He opposed the colonization scheme of President Monroe and other leaders, and declared the right of every slave to immediate freedom.

     In 1831 he formed a partnership with Isaac Knapp, and began the publication of the "Liberator" at Boston. The "immediate abolition" idea began to gather power in the north, while the south became alarmed at the bold utterance of this journal. The mayor of Boston was besought by southern influence to interfere, and upon investigation, reported upon the insignificance, obscurity, and poverty of the editor and his staff, which report was widely published throughout the country. Rewards were offered by the southern states for his arrest and conviction. Later Garrison brought from England, where an emancipation measure had just been passed, some of the great advocates to work for the cause in this country. In 1835 a mob broke into his office, broke up a meeting of women, dragged Garrison through the street with a rope around his body, and his life was saved only by the interference of the police, who lodged him in jail. Garrison declined to sit in the World's Anti-Slavery convention at London in 1840, because that body had refused women representation. He opposed the formation of a political party with emancipation as its basis.

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