Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/416

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386
WATERBURY
WATERMAN

fleet was building for Lake Champlain. He re- mained here during the summer of 1776, actively engaged in pushing the flotilla to completion. At the battle of Valcour Bay, 11 Oct., 1776, between the Americans and the British, he was second in command to Benedict Arnold, and was captured with his vessel, the " Washington." The state- ment of Gen. James Wilkinson, who was not pres- ent during the action, that Waterbury struck his colors without firing a shot, is contradicted by Ar- nold, who, in his report of the engagement to Gen. Horatio Gates, says that Waterbury fought with distinguished gallantry, his vessel being hulled several times. Gen. Carleton was greatly elated over the capture of Waterbury and made haste to report it to Lord Germaine. He was soon ex- changed, and in the summer of 1781 commanded a brigade under Washington, rendering more or less active service during the remainder of the war. After the Revolution he spent the rest of his life in cultivating a farm in his native town and in rep- resenting his fellow-townsmen in the general as- sembly during the years 1783, 1794, and 1795. His uncompromising patriotism rendered him at times harsh and severe toward those who did not support the cause of the colonies. The historian of Stam- ford writes that "he seems to have shown them no mercy; one of the reasons given by citizens going over to the enemy being the excessive rigor of Col. Waterbury." See Elijah B. Huntington's " History of Stamford " and the " Journal " of Lieut. James M. Hadden (Albany, 1884).


WATERBURY, Jared Bell, clergyman, b. in New York city, 11 Aug., 1799 ; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 31 Dec, 1876. He was graduated at Yale in 1822, studied two years in Princeton theological seminary, and was licensed to preach in 1825. In that year he was an agent for the American Bible society, and in 1826-'9 he was pastor of the Con- gregational church in Hatfield, Mass. He was pas- tor of Presbyterian churches in Portsmouth, N. H., from 1829 till 1832, and in Hudson, N. Y., in 1833, of the Bowdoin street Congregational church in Boston, Mass., from 1846 till 1857, and of the Cen- tral church in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1859. Subse- quently he served as city missionary there until his death. Union gave him the degree of S. T. D. in 1841. He was the author of " Advice to a Young Christian " (New York, 1827) ; " The Brighter Age," a poem (Boston, 1830J; " Child of the Covenant " (1853); "Voyage of Life" (1853); "The Soldier from Home" (New York, 1862): "The Soldier on Guard" (1863); "Sketches of Eloquent Preach- ers" (1864); "Southern Planters and Preedmen " (1865) ; and a life of Rev. John Scudder (1870).


WATERHOUSE, Benjamin, physician, b. in Newport, R. I., 4 March, 1754; d. in Cambridge, Mass., 2 Oct., 1846. At the age of sixteen he began the study of medicine with Dr. John Halliburton in Newport, and he subsequently continued it under Dr. John Fothergill in London, in Edinburgh, and at Leyden, where he was graduated in 1780. He began to practise in Newport, and in 1783 aided in establishing the medical school at Harvard, where he was professor of medicine from 1783 till 1812. He was also professor of natural history at Brown from 1784 till 1791, and delivered in the state- house of Providence the first course of lectures on that science in this country. He obtained from Dr. John C. Lettsom, of Leyden, a valuable col- lection of minerals, introduced their study into Harvard, and procured the establishment of a bo- tanic garden there. In 1812 he retired from his pro- fession and became medical supervisor of military posts in New England, holding this office until 1825. In 1799 he subjected his family to the ex- periment of vaccination, which he vindicated against the ridicule of the profession and the pub- lic. Dr. Waterhouse supported the measures of Thomas Jefferson in his political writings. His works include " Lectures on the Theory and Prac- tice of Medicine" (Cambridge, 1780); "On the Principles of Vitality" (Boston, 1790); "Rise, Progress, and Present State of Medicine " (1792) ; " Prospect of exterminating the Small - Pox " (1800) ; " Heads of a Course of Lectures on Natu- ral History " (1810) ; " The Botanist " (1811) ; " The Journal of a Young Man of Massachusetts," a novel (1816); and an essay on the "Junius" let- ters, in which he supports the claim of Lord Chat- ham to their authorship (Boston, 1831).


WATERMAN, Elijah, clergyman, b. in Boz- rah, New London co., Conn., 28 Nov.. 1769 ; d. in Springfield, Mass., 11 Oct., 1825. His father was a magistrate and an active patriot during the Revo- lutionary war. The son was graduated at Yale in 1791, taught in Hartford in 1791-2, studied theol- ogy under Timothy Dwight in Greenfield Hill, and under Jonathan Edwards, was licensed to preach in 1793, and in 1794 was installed pastor of a Con- gregational church in Windham, Conn., where he remained until 1804. After supplying the pulpit in New Milford, Conn., he became pastor of the church in Bridgeport, of which he held charge until his death. He contributed prose and verse to peri- odicals, and his other publications include "An Oration before the Society of the Cincinnati" (Hartford, 1794) ; " A Century Sermon at Wind- ham " (Windham, 1800) ; and " Life and Writings of John Calvin " (Hartford. 1813).


WATERMAN, Marcus, artist, b. in Provi- dence, R. I., 1 Sept., 1834. He was graduated" at Brown in 1855, and during 1857-70 worked in New York, where he was elected an associate of the National academy in 1861. In 1874 he opened a studio in Boston, where an exhibition of his works was held in 1878, previous to his departure for Europe. He visited Algeria in 1879 and 1883, and Spain in 1882, and went abroad again in 1884. His landscapes include "Gulliver in Lilliput." which was at the Centennial exhibition, Phila- delphia, in 1876 ; " The Roc's Egg " (1886) ; " The Journey to the City of Brass " (1888) ; and numer- ous American forest scenes and Arabian subjects.


WATERMAN, Robert Whitney, governor of California, b. in Fairfield, Herkimer co., N. Y., 15 Dec, 1826. His father was a merchant, and died while the son was quite young. Two years afterward Robert removed to Svcamore, 111., where three elder brothers had preceded him. Until his twentieth year he was a clerk in a country store, and in 1846 he engaged in business for himself in Belvidere, 111. In 1849 he was postmaster at Genoa, 111. In 1850 he went to California and engaged in mining on Feather river, but two years later he returned to Wilmington, 111., where in 1853 he published the Wilmington " Independent," at the same time carrying on other business enterprises. In 1854 he was a delegate to the convention at Bloomington. 111., that gave a name to the Republican party, and he was an associate of Abraham Lincoln, Lyman Trumbull, Richard Yates, David Davis, and Owen Lovejoy. In 1856 he took an active part in the Fremont campaign, and in 1858 he was engaged in the senatorial contest between Lincoln and Douglas. In 1873 he returned to California, and he established his home at San Bernardino in that state the following year. He was successful in discovering and developing silver-mines in what has since