twice mobbed therefor. The "Iliad" was the only loyal paper published during the civil war in the gulf states. He was a member of the constitutional convention of Louisiana convened in 1867, and was elected as a republican to congress, serving from 17 July, 1868, till 3 March, 1869. From 1873 till 1876 he was a member of the Louisiana state senate. Subsequently he removed to Little Rock, Ark., and became owner and editor of the Little Rock "Republican." He received the nomination of the republicans for the state senate, but failed to secure his seat, though he claimed to have been elected by 3,000 majority. Mr. Blackburn is known as an occasional writer of verse.
BLACKBURN, William Maxwell, clergyman, b. in Carlisle, Ind., 80 Dec, 1838. He was graduated at Hanover college, Ind., in 1850, and at Princeton theological seminary in 1854. He was pastor of the Presbyterian church in Erie, Pa., from 1856 till 1863," and at Trenton, N. J., from
1854 till 1868, in which year he was called to the chair of biblical and ecclesiastical history in the Presbyterian theological seminary of the northwest at Chicago, Ill., which he held until 1881, when he became pastor of the Central church in
Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1884 he was called to the
presidency of the territorial university of North
Dakota, and in 1886 became president of Pierre
university at East Pierre, Dak. He published special studies in religious history and biography and numerous story-books for the young, and has contributed to the "Princeton Review " and the "American Presbyterian Review." His principal
published works are "Exiles of Madeira" (Philadelphia, 1863) ; "Judas the Maccabee and the Asmonean Princes" (1864); "The Rebel Prince" (1864): "William Farel and his Times" (1866);
"The College Days of Calvin" (1866); "Young
Calvin in Paris" (1866); "Ulrich Zwingli, the Patriotic Reformer" (1868) ; "Geneva's Shield" (New York, 1868); "St. Patrick and the Early Irish Church" (Philadelphia, 1869); "Admiral Coligny and the Rise of the Huguenots" (1869); "The Theban Legion" (1871); and a comprehensive "History of the Christian Church from its Origin to the Present Time." He also wrote "Ancient Schoolmaster"; "A Curious Chapter and how its Prophecies were Fulfilled"; "The Benefit of Christ's Death," and the "Uncle Aleck" series of books for the young, including "Cherry Bounce," "Early Watermelons," "The Nevers," "Blind Annie Lorrimer," and "Blood on the Doorposts."
BLACKFORD, Eugene Gilbert, pisciculturist, b. in Morristown, N. J., 8 Aug., 1839. He was educated in the public schools and trained in mercantile
life in New York city from the age of fourteen, and
when about twenty-five years of age embarked in
business as a fish-dealer in Fulton market. Through
his efforts the red snapper, whitebait, pompano,
and other varieties of fish were first introduced
into the New York market, and the methods of
freezing, shipping, and storing fish have been improved. He was appointed one of the four commissioners of fish and fisheries of the state of New York in 1879, and was instrumental in establishing
a hatching-station for sea and fresh-water fish at
Cold Spring harbor, on the north shore of Long
Island. He conducted an investigation into the
decrease of oysters in the waters of New York, and
has published papers on whitebait and the question of legislative protection of ocean fisheries.
BLACKFORD, Isaac Newton, jurist, b. in Bound Brook, N. J., 6 Nov., 1786; d. in Washington, D. C, 31 Dec, 1859. He was graduated at Princeton in 1806. After completing his legal studies under Gabriel Ford, of Morristown, N. J., he removed to Indiana, and in 1813 settled in Vincennes. He was clerk of the territorial legislature in 1813; judge of the first judicial circuit, 1814-'5; speaker of the first state legislature, 1816; judge of the supreme court of Indiana, 1819-'35 ; and a judge of the U. S. court of claims from March,
1855, until his death. His reports fill eight volumes.
|
BLACK HAWK (Ma-ka-tae-mish-kia-kiak), a noted chief of the Sac and Fox tribes of Indians, though by birth a Pottawattamie, b. in Kaskaskia, Ill., in 1767; d. at his camp on the river Des Moines, 3 Oct., 1838. At fifteen he was ranked with the braves, and became a successful leader in expeditions against the Osage and Cherokee tribes. About 1788 he succeeded, as head chief of the Sacs, his father, who had been killed by a Cherokee. In 1804 the Sacs and Foxes signed at St. Louis a treaty with Gen. Harrison, by which for an annuity of $1,000 a year they transferred to the U. S. government their lands, extending about 700 miles along Mississippi river. This arrangement was repudiated by Black Hawk, who averred that the chiefs were drunk when they signed the treaty. Moved by the exhortations of the Shawnee prophet Elskwatawa, brother of Tecumseh, and by the presents of British agents, Black Hawk, with the title of general, joined the British with 500 warriors during the war of 1812; but a repulse in a battle near Detroit, and an unsuccessful attack on a fort, surprised and disgusted the red men, who soon tired of the service. The cession of their territory was ratified by another treaty made in 1815 after the conclusion of the war, and by a third treaty, which Black Hawk himself signed at St. Louis in 1816. In 1823 the main body of the Sacs and Foxes removed, under the lead of Chief Keokuk, to their reservation across the Mississippi; but Black Hawk and his followers remained. By the new treaty made at Prairie du Chien, 15 July, 1830, signed by chiefs of various tribes, among them Keokuk, their lands east of the Mississippi became the property of the whites. Their removal west was opposed by Black Hawk, who, when the crops of his people were ploughed up and the lands seized for the white settlers who had purchased the sites of their villages, threatened retaliation. The militia of Illinois were then called out, and on 25 June, 1831, a force under Gen. Gaines compelled the Indians to depart. Black Hawk returned in the spring across the Mississippi. After a band of fifty warriors was attacked and scattered by the militia, they separated into squads and began to massacre the whites. Gen. Scott marched a force of U. S. troops against them, but was hindered in his operations by an outbreak of cholera among the soldiers. The Indians were driven back to Wisconsin river, where they sustained a defeat, inflicted by Gen. Dodge, on 21 July, 1832. They were completely defeated at the river Bad Axe, 1 and 2 Aug., by Gen. Atkinson, and the surrender of
