Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/394

bell, soldier, b. in Baltimore, 14 Jan., 1842, was graduated at the University of Virginia in 1860, and volunteered in the U. S. army in August, 1861. He was engaged in the campaigns in Kentucky and Tennessee, ending with the advance on Corinth, was appointed second lieutenant in the 2d artillery in April, 1862, for gallantry at the battle of Mill Spring, promoted first lieutenant in August, 1863, and served in Florida, and then through the At- lanta campaign with his battery until July, 1864, when he was taken prisoner before Atlanta, 6a. In September following he was released, and was on mustering, staff, and recruiting duty during the remainder of the civil war. He was promoted captain. 17 June, 1874. On 19 Jan., 1881, he was transferred to the inspector-general's department with the rank of major, promoted lieutenant-colo- nel in that department, 5 Feb., 1885, and colonel 22 Sept. the same year.

BRECKINRIDGE, John Cabell, vice president of the United States, b. near Lexington, Ky., 21 Jan., 1821 ; d. in Lexington, Ky., 17 May, 1875. He was a grandson of John Breckenridge, U. S. senator and attorney-general, was educated at Centre college, Danville, studied law at the Tran- sylvania institute, and, after a short residence in Burlington, Iowa, settled at Lexington, where he practised his profession with success. At the beginning of the war with Mexico, in 1847, he was elect- ed major in a regiment of Kentucky vol- unteers, and while on duty in Mexico he was employed by Gen. Pillow as his counsel in his litigation with his associates and superiors. On his

return, he was

elected to the Kentucky house of representatives. In 1851 he was elected to congress, and was re- elected in 1853. He declined the Spanish mis- sion tendered him by President Pierce. In the presidential election of 1856 he was chosen vice- president of the United States, with Mr. Bu- chanan as president. In 1860 he was the candi- date for president as the representative of the slave-holding interest, nomii^xted by the southern delegates of the democratic convention who sep- arated from those that supported Stephen A. Douglas. In the electoral college he received 72 votes, to 180 cast for Lincoln, 39 for Bell, and 12 for Douglas, all the southern states voting for him excepting Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri. In the same year he was elected U. S. senator as the successor of John J. Crittenden, and took his seat in March, 1861. At the begin- ning of the civil war he defended the southern confederacy in the senate, soon afterward went south, entered the Confederate army, and was ex- pelled from the senate on 4 Dec, 1861. On 5 Aiig. of the following summer he was appointed a major-general. He commanded the Confederate reserve at Shiloh, 6 April, 1862 ; was repelled in the attack on Baton Rouge in August, 1862 ; com- toanded the right wing of Bragg's army at Murfreesboro, 31 Dec, 1862 ; was at Chickamauga, 19 and 20 Sept., 1863 ; and Chattanooga, 25 Nov., 1863 ; defeated Gen. Sigel near Newmarket, 13 May, 1864 ; then joined Gen. Lee's army, and was at the battle of Cold Harbor, 3 June, 1864; commanded a corps under Early, and was defeated by Gen. Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley in September, 1864; defeated Gen. Gillem in east Tennessee, 12 Nov., 1864 ; and was in the battle near Nashville, 15 Dec, 1864. He was secretary of war in Jefferson Davis's cabinet from January, 1865, till the surrender of Gen. Joseph E. John- ston in April. He left Richmond for Charlotte, N. C, with Mr. Davis and the other officers of the Confederate government, and, after it was decided to almndon the contest, left the party at Washing- ton, Ga., made his escape to the Florida Keys, and thence embarked for Cuba, and sailed from Havana for Europe. He returned in 1868 determined to take no further part in politics, and to devote hnn- self to his profession. As vice-president he was the youngest man that had ever held that office.

BREE, Herbert, clergyman, b. in Keswick, Cumberland, England, in January, 1828. He was educated at Bury school, and Cains college, Cam- bridge, from which he was graduated in 1853. After serving the curacies of Drinkstone and Wol- verstone, he was collated to the rectory of Hark- stead in 1858. He was curate of Long Melford from 1865 till 1870. when he was appointed to the rectory of Brampton, Huntingdonshire, which charge he retained until 1 May, 1882, when he was consecrated bishop of Barbadoes.

BREEN, Henry Hegart, author, b. in Kerry, Ireland, in 1805. He was educated in Paris, settled in the West Indies in 1829, and in 1833 was ap- pointed secretary of the courts of justice in St. Lucia, where French was the official language. In 1857-'61 he was administrator of the government of St. Lucia. He has published " St. Lucia, His- torical, Statistical, and Descriptive " (1844) ; " The Diamond Rock, and other Poems " (1849) ; " Mod- ern English Literature, its Blemishes and Defects " (1857) ; and " Warrawarra, the Carib Chief, a Tale of 1770" (1876).

BREEN, Patrick, pioneer, b. in Ireland ; d., at an advanced age, in California, in 1868. He is especially noted in connection with the Donner party, who, during the winter of 1846-7. were snowed in in the Sierras. Breen himself finally escaped with all his family, after great suffering. He kept a diary during the time of the imprison- ment of the party in the mountains, and this is the only contemporary record of their remarkable and tragic experiences. The manuscript of the diary is still extant, and more or less extensive extracts from it are to be found in all the published ac- counts of the Donner party.

BREESE, Kidder Randolph, naval officer, b. in Philadelphia, 14 April, 1831 ; d. 13 Sept., 1881. He was appointed a midshipman from Rhode Island in 1846, and served during the Mexican war in the " Saratoga," Commander Farragut, on the coast of Mexico. As passed midshipman he served in Com. Perry's Japan expedition and was on the " Macedonian," which visited the northern end of Formosa to search for coal and inquire into the captivity of Americans on that island. He also served in Preble's Paraguay expedition, from which he returned in September, 1859, with isthmus fever. He next served on the " San Jacinto," which captured 1,500 slaves on the coast of Africa, and took Mason and Slidell from on board the "Trent" in November, 1861. He was ordered to Porter's mortar flotilla in December, 1861, and