Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/34

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14
SWORDS
SYKES

proprietors of East New Jersey. In 1867 he be- came treasurer of the New Jersey historical society, to whose " Proceedings " he contributed a " Memoir of the Life and Character of John Rutherford " (1872) ; •' The Bones of Columbus " (1879) ; " The Cathedral Church of San Domingo " (1879) ; and other similar papers.


SWORDS, Thomas, soldier, b. in New York city, 1 Nov., 1806 ; d. there, 20 March, 1886. He was a grandson of Capt. Thomas Swords, a British offi- cer, who died in New York in 1780, and his father was the senior member of the publishing-house of T. and J. Swords, of New York city. The son was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1829, assigned to the 4th infantry, and served in various parts of the southern states for four years, when he was appointed 1st lieutenant in the 1st dragoons. He was promoted captain, 3 March, 1837, and dur- ing nearly the whole of the succeeding twelve years was engaged on frontier duty, serving with Gen. Henry Leavenworth against the Indians in the southwest, and with Gen. Stephen Kearny in the conquest of New Mexico and California, and raised the first American flag over Santa Fe. When Gen. Kearny's force reached San Diego on the Pacific coast in January,* 1847, Swords, who was the quar- termaster, went to the Sandwich islands and ob- tained clothing and supplies for the soldiers. He became captain and assistant quartermaster, 7 July, 1838, major, 21 April, 1846, and lieutenant-colonel and deputy quartermaster-general, 3 Aug., 1861. He was chief quartermaster of the Army of the West in 1846-'7, was engaged at San Pasqual, Cal., 6 Dec, 1846, and at Vera Cruz, and was bre vetted lieuten- ant-colonel, 30 May, 1848, for meritorious services in the enemy's country. He was chief quarter- master of the Departments of the Cumberland and the Ohio in 1861-5. was engaged in the battle of Chickamauga, and brevetted brigadier-general and major-general, U. S. army, 13 March, 1865. He was retired from active service, 22 Feb., 1869.


SYDENHAM, Charles Edward Poulett Thomson, Baron, governor-general of Canada, b. at Waverley Abbey, Surrey, England, 13 Sept., 1799 ; d. in Kingston, Canada, 19 Sept., 1841. He was the eldest son of a wealthy merchant, who was engaged in trading with Russia. In 1819 he be- came a clerk in his father's St. Petersburg house, where he was afterward a partner, and subsequent- ly he was a partner in the London firm, and sus- tained losses in 1825 by investing in Mexican mines. He represented Dover in parliament from 1826 till 1830, when, being elected for that constituency and Manchester, he decided to sit for the latter. In parliament he was an early and resolute advo- cate of the principles of free-trade. In 1830 he was appointed vice-president of the board of trade and treasurer of the navy, and he became a mem- ber of the privy council on 23 Nov. of that year. In July, 1834, he was made president of the board of trade, but he resigned in the following Novem- ber, with the rest of Lord Melbourne's ministry, and in April, 1835, when Viscount Melbourne formed a new cabinet, he resumed the same port- folio, with a seat in the cabinet, which he hela till his appointment as governor-general of Canada in August, 1839. He arrived in Canada on 19 Oct., and soon afterward visited Montreal and other parts of the country, and held sessions of the legis- latures of Upper and of Lower Canada. He took energetic measures to suppress the insurrections of Louis J. Papineau and vV illiam L. Mackenzie, but sought to remedy the causes of discontent. With diplomatic tact he obtained the acquiescence of both provinces in the legislative union, which was consummated when he took the oath of office on 10 Feb., 1841, as governor of Canada under the act of union that was passed by the British parliament in July, 1840. He also exerted himself to complete public works. He was raised to the peerage, 10 Aug., 1840, by the title of Baron Sydenham of To- ronto, as a mark of appreciation of the successful manner in which he had administered the govern- ment of Canada. While riding near Kingston, 5 Sept., 1841, he fell from his horse and sustained in- juries that, though not in themselves fatal, re- sulted in death. He was appointed knight grand cross of the Order of the Bath, 19 Aug., 1841. His " Memoirs " were published by his brother, George Poulett Scrope (London, 1843).


SYKES, George, soldier, b. in Dover, Del., 9 Oct., 1822; d. in Brownsville, Tex., 9 Feb., 1880. He was appointed from Maryland to the U. S. military academy, and on his graduation in 1842 was assigned to the 3d infantry, with which be served in the latter part of the Flori- da war, and then in the west and in Texas. He was promoted 1st lieu- tenant, 21 Sept., 1846, and during the Mexican war was engaged at Monterey, Vera Cruz, Cerro Gor- do (where he was brevetted captain for gallantry), Contreras, Churu- busco, and the capture of the city

of Mexico. He was

commissary of Gen. Twiggs's division in Mexico in 1847-'8, and was then on frontier and garrison duty till the civil war, taking part in skirmishes with the Apaches in 1854, and in the Navajo expedition of 1859, and reaching the rank of captain on 30 Sept., 1855. He became major of the 14th infantry, 14 May, 1861, was at the battle of Bull Run, and then commanded the regular infantry in Washing- ton till March, 1862, and was commissioned briga- dier-general of volunteers, 28 Sept., 1861. He took part in the peninsula campaign at the head of the division of regulars in Fitz-John Porter's corps, receiving the brevet of colonel for gallantry at Gaines's Mills, and in the succeeding operations of the Army of the Potomac, becoming major- general of volunteers on 29 Nov., 1862, and com- manding the 5th corps after the battle of Chancel- lorsville. He was at the head of this corps at Gettysburg, and so continued till 20 April, 1864, when he was ordered to Kansas. At the close of the war he received the brevet of brigadier-general, U. S. army, for services at Gettysburg, and major- general for " gallant and meritorious services in the field " during the war. He had reached the regular army rank of lieutenant-colonel on 16 Oct., 1863, and on 12 Jan., 1868, he became colonel of the 20th infantry. From this time till his death he commanded various posts, and after 1877 he was in charge of Fort Brown, Tex. On motion of Senator Burnside, congress appropriated $1,000 for the removal of his remains to the cemetery at West Point, where he now lies buried, and where a fine monument has been erected to his memory by his many friends.