Peerless, Dexter, and Maud S., which he purchased, with a record of 2.09¾. afterward reduced to 2.08¾, from William 11. Vanderbilt for $40,000.
BONNER, Sherwood. See McDowell, Kate.
BONNEVILLE, Benjamin L. E., explorer, b. in France about 1795; d. at Fort Smith, Ark., 12 June, 1878. He was appointed to West Point from New York, was graduated in 1815, became lieutenant of artillery, and in 1820 was engaged in the construction of a military road through Mississippi. He became a captain of infantry in 1825, and in 1831–'6 engaged in explorations in the Rocky mountains and in California. His journal was edited and amplified by Washington Irving, and published under the title of "Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U. S. A., in the Rocky Mountains and the Far West" (Philadelphia, 1837). He was promoted major, 15 July, 1845, and fought through the Mexican war, taking part in the march through Chihuahua, in the siege of Vera Cruz, the battle of Cerro Gordo, the capture of San Antonio, the battle of Churubusco, where he was wounded, the battle of Molino del Rey, the storming of Chapultepec, and the assault and capture of the city of Mexico. For gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel. He was promoted to the full rank of lieutenant-colonel on 7 May, 1849, and to the grade of colonel on 3 Feb., 1855. He was commandant at Santa Fe in 1856-7, commanded the Gila expedition in 1857, resumed command of the department of New Mexico in 1858, and on 9 Sept., 1861, was retired from active service for disability. During the civil war he served as superintendent of recruiting in Missouri, and from 1862 till 1865 as commandant of Benton barracks in St. Louis. On 18 March, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general for long and faithful services. At the time of his death he was the oldest officer on the retired list.
BONNEVILLE, C. de, French engineer, b. in
Lyons about 1710; d. about 1780. He served as captain of engineers in the beginning of the seven years' war in Prussia, and afterward in America, until the close of the war in 1763. During his stay in America he studied the productions of the country and the manners of the inhabitants, and, besides other works, published in 1771 "De l'Amérique et des Américains."
BONNYCASTLE, Sir Richard Henry, English soldier, b. in 1791; d. in 1848. He served in Canada during the war in 1812, became a captain of engineers in 1825, and took part in the capture of Fort Castine and the occupation of the Maine coast east of Penobscot. He commanded the engineers in Canada West during the rebellion of 1837–'9, was knighted for services in the defence of Kingston in 1838, was subsequently commander of engineers in Newfoundland, and in 1848 was made lieutenant-colonel. Most of his life was passed in British North America. He published "Spanish America" (London, 1818; Philadelphia, 1819); "The Canadas in 1842" (London, 1842); "Canada and the Canadians in 1846" (London, 1846); and "Canada as it Was, Is, and May be," edited by Sir J. E. Alexander (1846).—His brother,
Charles, mathematician, b. in Woolwich, England, in 1792; d. in Charlottesville, Va., in October, 1840. He was a son of John Bonnycastle, professor of mathematics at Woolwich military academy, and assisted his father in the preparation of mathematical text-books, besides contributing to cyclopædias and periodicals. At the organization of the University of Virginia, in 1825, he came over to take the professorship of natural philosophy, which he exchanged in 1827 for that of mathematics. He published treatises on "Inductive Geometry" (Philadelphia, 1832); "Algebra" (New York); "Mensuration" (Philadelphia); and various papers on scientific subjects.
BONPLAND, Aimé (the pen-name of Gougaud,
Amédée Jacques Alexandre), French traveller, b.
in La Rochelle, France, 22 Aug., 1773; d. in Santa
Anna, Uruguay, 11 May, 1858. He studied medicine
in La Rochelle, was surgeon on a war vessel,
afterward studied under Corvisart, and became
intimate with Alexander von Humboldt, whom he
accompanied in the explorations described by them
in “Voyages aux régions équinoctiales du nouveau
continent” (12 vols., Paris, 1815–'21). The collections made during his five years' travels in Mexico, Colombia, and the Orinoco and Amazon valleys
were presented by him to the French government,
which rewarded him with a pension, and appointed
him superintendent of the gardens at Malmaison.
He collected and classified about 6,000 plants, for
the most part previously unknown, which he afterward
described in “Plantes equinoxiales” (Paris,
1806–'10). After endeavoring to persuade
Napoleon to retire to Mexico, he departed for Buenos
Ayres in 1816, taking with him a number of European
plants. In Buenos Ayres he was appointed
professor of natural history, but this office he soon
resigned in order to explore the central parts of
South America. In Paraguay he was arrested as
a spy in 1821 by order of Dr. Francia, and was a
prisoner for ten years. On regaining his liberty
he settled at San Borje, in Corrientes, where the
government of the province presented him with an
estate. His works include “Plantes équinoctiales
recueillies au Mexique, à l'ile de Cuba, dans les
provinces de Caracas, de Cumana, aux Andes de
Quito, et sur les bords de l'Orénoque et des
Amazones” (2 vols., Paris, 1805–'10), and “Monographie
des mélastomées” (2 vols., Paris, 1806–'9).
BONVOULOIR, M. de, diplomatic agent, born and died in France during the 18th century. He was the secret envoy of Vergennes, the French minister of state, through whom the negotiations were opened in 1775 that resulted in French intervention for American independence. He is described as a man of remarkable prudence and judgment. He had been in Santo Domingo, and returned home about July, 1775, by way of the colonies, then in revolt against Great Britain. Visiting Philadelphia, New York, Providence, and Boston, he was well qualified to express an opinion regarding the state of affairs in America. At this time De Guines, French ambassador to the court of St. James, became aware of a faction in England that favored war with France, on the ground that the colonies would thereby be driven back to their old allegiance, through a fear that Canada would be regained by the French. Bonvouloir, who was well known to De Guines, offered a perfectly trustworthy medium, and was sent to America, at the suggestion of the French minister of state, with verbal instructions to learn what he could of public sentiment, and so far as possible eradicate the idea of jealousy regarding the reannexation of Canada. He reached America just as the leading spirits—Franklin, Harrison, Jay, and the rest—were in secret conclave on the very problem that he came to solve. Seeking an introduction to Franklin, he had several conferences with the committee, and conducted his part of the delicate negotiations with consummate tact and wisdom. His written reports to the French minister were prudent and truthful, and speedily brought about deliberations of the most momentous character, resulting in the material aid afforded by France to the struggling
