Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/442

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414
BROWNE
BROWNELL

in 1778 by about 300 tories from the interior, he organized the king's rangers, uniformed and com- manded tliem, with the ranli of lieutenant-colonel. In 1779, at the head of 400 mounted men, he made a forced march to Augusta, and, after being wounded and twice defeated by Cols. Twiggs and Few, he reached that place, and established a mili- tary post. In September, 1780, Col. Clarke be- sieged him, but, although shot through botli thighs, he conducted the defence with skill until he was re-enforced by Col. Cruger. The wounded of the patriot force who fell into his hands were hanged or delivered over to the Indians to be burned alive. He was again besieged in April, 1781, by Pickens and Lee, and forced to surrender in June. Such was the hatred his cruelties had inspired that he was specially guarded until delivered at Savannah. The British officer in command at St. Augustine threatened to hang six rebel prisoners if Browne were not treated as a prisoner of war. After he was exchanged he served at Savannah. In the lat- ter part of the war he was colonel commandant of the queen's rangers of South Carolina, and super- intendent-general of Indian affairs in the southern districts of North America. In May, 1782, he marched out with a considerable force, but was completely routed by Wayne. His estates in Geor- gia and South Carolina having been confiscated, he retired to the Bahamas at the peace, whence, in 1786, he wrote an elaborate and able reply to Ram- saj'^s comments on his conduct during the war, ad- dressed to the historian himself. In 1800 he re- ceived a grant of ((,000 acres of crown lands in the island of St. Vincent.


BROWNE, William, loyalist, of Massachusetts, b. 27 Feb., 1787; d. in England, 13 B'eb., 1802. He was a grandson of Gov. Burnet, was graduated at Harvard in 1755, and was many years a repre- sentative of Salem and a colonel of the Essex co. militia. He was one of the seventeen rescinders of 1768, and was a judge of the superior court in 1773-'4. Prior to the revolution he enjoyed great popularity. In 1774 a committee of the Essex CO. convention waited on him to express the grief of the county at his exertions to carry out acts of parliament calculated to ruin and enslave his native land. He had retired to London as early as May, 1776. He was included in the ban- ishment act of 1778, and his extensive landed es- tates were confiscated. The English government made him governor of Bermuda in 1781, which office he retained until 1790.


BROWNE, William Hand, author, b. in Baltimore, Md., 31 Dec, 1828. He was educated at the university of Maryland and studied medicine. In conjunction with R. M. Johnston he has prepared a " Life of Alexander H. Stephens " and a " Histori- cal Sketch of English Literature," and, with J. T. Scharf, a " School History of Maryland." He has also assisted in the compilation of the " Clarendon Dictionary," and is the author of " Maryland " in the "Commonwealth Series" (Boston, 1884). He has translated Jakob von Falke's work on " Greece and Rome " (New York, 1882).

BROWNELL, Henry Howard, author, b. in Providence, R. I., 6 Feb., 1820 ; d. in East Hart- ford, Conn., 31 Oct., 1872. He was a nephew of Bishop Brownell, was graduated at Trinity college, Hartford, in 1841, studied law, and was admitted to the bar, but became a teacher, and settled in Hartford. Early in the civil war he turned into spirited verse the " General Orders " issued by Farragut for the guidance of his fleet in the attack on the defences of New Orleans. This piece of verse, floating through the newspapers, came to Farragut's notice, and so pleased him that he made inquiry for the author. In a correspondence that ensued, Brownell expressed a strong desire to witness a naval battle, and Farragut promised to gratify him, a promise that was fulfilled in Brown- ell's appointment as acting ensign on the flag-ship " Hartford," and his participation in the battle of Mobile bay. " The River Fight " and " The Bay Fight," describing the naval actions at New Or- leans and Mobile, are his longest and finest poems. Oliver Wendell Holmes said of them : " They are to all the drawing-room battle-poems as the torn flags of our victorious armadas to the stately ensigns that dressed their ships in the harbor." After the war he accompanied Admiral Farragut on his cruise in European waters. He published " Poems " (New York, 1847) ; " The People's Book of Ancient and Modern History " (Hartford, 1851) ; " The Dis- coverers, Pioneers, and Settlers of North and South America " (Boston, 1853) ; " Lyrics of a Day, or Newspaper Poetry, by a Volunteer in the U. S. Ser- vice " (New York, 1864) ; and a revised edition of his poems, containing all that he cared to preserve (Boston, 1866). See " Our Battle Laureate," by Oliver Wendell Holmes, in the " Atlantic Monthly " for May, 1865.


BROWNELL, Thomas Church, P. E. bishop, b. in Westport, Mass.. 19 Oct.. 1779; d. in Hart- ford, Conn., 13 Jan., 1865. His early education was in a common school, in which he himself served as teacher at the age of fifteen. Preparing for college at Bristol academy, Taunton, he entered Brown just be- fore attaining his majority. At the close of his sophomore year he fol- lowed Presi- dent Maxcy to Union, where he was gradu- ated with the honors of the valedictory in 1804. In the following year he was ap- pointed tutor in Greek and Latin, and in 1806 professor of logic and belles-lettres;

then, after three years, having spent a year in Great Britain and Ireland in the study of chemistry and kindred sciences and in pedestrian excursions, he entered upon new duties as lecturer on chemistry, and in 1814 was elected professor of rhetoric and chemistry. Having become convinced of the historical and scriptural grounds of Episcopacy, as opposed to the Calvinistic Congregationalism in which he had been educated and to the ministry of which he had meant to devote himself, he was baptized and confirmed in 1813, and, after pursuing the study of theology in connection with his academic duties, was ordained deacon by Bishop Hobart in New York, 11 April, 1816. In 1818 he was elected assistant minister of Trinity church. New York, and in the following June the convention of the diocese of Connecticut chose him to the episcopate, which had been vacant for six years. He was consecrated, 27 Oct., 1819, in Trinity church. New Haven, by Bishops White, Hobart, and Griswold. Bishop Brownell entered upon his duties in