Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/245

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
DRAKE
DRAKE
223

general of that province npon the confederation of the provinces of British North America, being placed in command of her Majesty's forces in North America. For his services in these capaci- ties he was knighted. In 1874 he was assigned to the command of the southern district of England ; in 1860 he became a major-general, and in 1870 a lieutenant-general. He is also colonel of the 87th regiment (Roval Irish fusileers).


DRAKE, Benjamin Michael, b. in North Caro- lina, 11 Sept., 1800; d. in Churchill, Miss., 8 May, 1800. He joined the Tennessee confei-ence in 1820, and the next year was transferred to the Mississippi conference, in connection with which he attained a commanding position. He was instrumental in building the 1st Methodist church in New Orleans, was president of Elizabeth female academy, the first Methodist school established in that state, and was also president of Centenary college.


DRAKE, Daniel, physician, b. in Plainfield, N. J., 20 Oct., 1785; d. in Cincinnati, Ohio. 5 Nov., 1852. At an early age he and his family emigrated to Mayslick, Ky., where they dwelt in a log cabin. In his" sixteenth year the boy left home, to study medicine in Cincinnati, and at the age of twenty found his way to Philadelphia, where he attended two courses of lectures at the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania. Returning to the west, he practised medicine for a year near his old home in Kentucky, and finally settled in Cincin- nati. In 1815 Dr." Drake attended a second course of lectures in the University of Pennsylvania, when he was graduated, and, returning to Cincinnati, he soon gained a large and profitable practice. Dur- ing the two years preceding he had entered on sev- eral business ventures and speculations in connec- tion with his father, all of which miscarried. In 1817 he was appointed professor of materia medica in Transylvania university, Ky., and thereafter oc- cupied a chair in other medical schools in succes- sion, until 1835, when he organized the medical department of the Cincinnati college. Here he re- mained four years, and tJien accepted the chair of clinical medicine and pathological anatomy in the University of Louisville, Ky. He returned to Cin- cinnati, and once more, for a single session, filled the chair of medicine in the medical college of Ohio. In 1850 he again went to Louisville, and finally re-entered the medical college of Ohio. In 1827 he projected the " Western Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences." continuing as one of the editors until 1848. Among his publications are " Topography, Climate, and Diseases of Cincin- nati " (a pamphlet, 1810) ; " Picture of Cincinnati and the Miami Count^ry " (Cincinnati, 1815) ; " Practical Treatise on the History, Prevention, and Treatment of Epidemic Cholera" (1832); " Practical Essays on Medical Education " (1832) ; and '• Systematic Treatise on the Principal Dis- eases of the Interior Valley of Nortli America" (1850 ; 2d vol., Philadelphia, 1854). The last pro- duction of his pen was a small volume of " Dis- courses " (1852). — His brother, Benjamin, biogra- pher, b. in Mason county, Ky., in 1794; d. in Cin- cinnati, Ohio, 1 April, 1841, studied and at first practised law in Cincinnati. In 1830 he estab- lished a weekly paper, " The Western Agricultu- rist," continuing for many years its editor and pro- prietor. Like his brother, he was much devoted to western interests. His publications include " Cin- cinnati in 1826 " (Cincinnati, 1827) ; " Life and Adventures of Black Hawk" (1838); "Tales and Sketches from the Queen City" (1838); "Life of William Henry Harrison" (1840); and "Life of Tecumseh" (1841). To the last-named work he gave much time and attention, and it is historically valuable. — Another son, Charles Daniel, lawyer, b. in Cincinnati, 11 April, 1811 ; d. in Washington, D. C, 31 March, 1892. He spent a short time at St. Joseph's college, Ky., and at a military academy in Middletown, Conn. From 1827 till 1830 he w"as a midshipman in tiie U. S. navy, in 1833 was ad- mitted to the bar m Cincinnati, and in 1834 re- moved to St. Louis, Mo. In 1847 Mr. Drake re- turned to Cincinnati, whence in 1850 he again went to St. Louis to practise his profession. In 1859 he was elected a member of the Missouri house of representatives and was conspicuous for his opposition to the secession movement, in 1863 a member of the state convention, and in 1864 was chosen a member of a convention to revise the state constitution. In 1867 he became U. S. senator from Missouri, but this office he resigned to accept the appointment of chief justice of the court of claims in Washington. He has published a " Treatise on the Law of Suits by Attachment in the United States" (Boston, 1854), and a "Life of Daniel Drake," his father (1871).


DRAKE, Sir Francis, navigator, b. near Tavis- tock, Devonshire, according to some authorities in 1539, and to others in 1545 or 1546 ; d. near Puer- to Bello, 27 Dec, 1595. His father was a poor clergyman, and Francis was the eldest of twelve sons, "nearly all of whom followed the sea. He re- ceived a scanty education through the liberality of a kinsman, and was apprenticed to the master of a bark, who bequeathed him his vessel as a reward for his faithful service. Being thus at the age of eighteen years not only a good sailor, but the pro- prietor of a ship, he made commercial voyages to the bay of Biscay and the coast of Guinea. He then sold his vessel and invested the j^roceeds, with all his savings, in an expedition of Capt. Hawkins to Mexico, made in 1567. There were five ships, Drake receiving command of the " Ju- dith," a vessel of fifty tons. The expedition, after capturing 400 or 500 negroes on the African coast, crossed to Dominica for trade, then attempted to reach Florida, but was driven by tempest into the harbor of San Juan de Ulua (now Vera Cruz) for repairs and supplies. The next day a fieet of twelve ships arrived from Spain. A naval bat- tle followed, in which only two of the English ships escaped. Drake returned to England, hav- ing lost his en- tire property, and fruitlessly petitioned the court of Spain for indemnity ; but getting no satisfaction, and enraged at the treatment he re- ceived, he began to sail with the avowed object of pillaging the Spaniards. In 1570 he obtained

a commission

from Queen Elizabeth, and in 1572 he armed two ships at Plymouth, with which, joined by a third at Port Pheasant on the coast of South America, he made a descent on New Granada, captured and plun-