DYER, Alexander Brydie, soldier, b. in Rich- mond, Va., 10 Jan., 1815 ; d. in Washington, D. C, 20 May, 1874. He was graduated at the U. S. mili- tary academy in 1837, served in garrison at For- tress Monroe, Va., in the Florida war of 1837-8, and on ordnance duty at various arsenals in 1838-46, was chief of ordnance of the army mvading New Mexico in 1846-'8, during a part of which time he was on the staff of Gen. Sterling Price, and was engaged at Canada, Taos, where he was wounded 4 Feb., 1847, and Santa Cruz de Resales, Mexico, receiving for his services the brevets of 1st. lieu- tenant and captain. He was afterward in com- mand of North Carolina arsenal. At the begin- ning of the civil war Capt. Dyer was active in promoting the efficiency of the ordnance depart- ment. He invented the Dyer projectile for cannon. He was in command of the Springfield armory in 1861-'4, and greatly extended the manufacture of small-arms for the army. In 1864, as chief of ord- nance, U. S. army, he was placed in charge of the ordnance bureau in Washington, D. C, with the rank of brigadier-general, and he retained this office till his death. In March, 1865, he was bre- vetted major-general, U. S. army, for faithful, meritorious, and distinguished services.
DYER, Charles Giffurd, artist, b. in Chicago in
1846. He was graduated at the U. S. naval acade-
my, then in Newport, R. I., and saw some service
in the civil war, but resigned his commission on
account of impaired health, went to Europe, and
studied art in Paris under Jacquesson de la Chev-
reuse. He entered the Royal academy at Munich
in 1871, and has spent most of his professional life
there and in Paris, with the exception of six winters
in Rome, four summers in Venice, and prolonged
working-tours in Egypt and Syria. Among his
more important works are " St. Mark's, Venice,
with Armenian Chapel," "On Linden when the
Sun was Low," " Venice at Birth of Day," " Morn-
ing on the Riva, Venice," '• Historical Still-Life of
the Seventeenth Century," and " Among the
Domes of St. Mark's."
DYER, Charles Voluey, Abolitionist, b. in
Clarendon, Vt., 12 June, 1808 ; d. at Lake View,
near Chicago, 24 April, 1878. He was graduated
at the medical department of Middlebury college
in 1830, and began practice in Newark, N. J., in
1831, but removed in 1835 to Chicago, and soon
became acting surgeon in Port Dearborn. He was
successful in his practice and business adventures,
retiring from the former in 1854, and becoming
agent for the " underground railroad " in Chicago.
One instance illustrates the courage of Dr. Dyer :
In 1846 a fugitive from Kentucky was caught in
Chicago by his master and an armed posse, bound
tightly with ropes, and guarded while a man went
for a blacksmith to rivet the manacles that were
to be put iipon him. Dr. Dyer, hearing of the
arrest, went hurriedly to the Mansion house and
to the room where the victim was confined, burst
open the door, cut the cords, and told the fugitive
to go, which he did before his captors recovered
from their surprise and bewilderment at such un-
expected and summary proceedings. A bully, with
brandishing Bowie-knife, rushed toward the doc-
tor, who stood his ground and knocked down his
assailant with his cane. Sympathizing friends
subsequently presented the doctor a gold-headed
hickory cane of gigantic pi-oportions, appropriately
inscribed, which is now in the library of the Chi-
cago historical society. At an anti-slavery conven-
tion in 1846 at Chicago, Dr. Dyer was chairman of
the committee for establishing the "National Era"
at Washington, an organ of the Abolition party,
established 7 Jan., 1847. Dr. Dyer had a genial
nature, which manifested itself in ready witticisms
and pleasant conversation, except when he chanced
to come in contact with shams, impostors, or hypo-
crites, for which he had a most profound contempt
and abundant words to express his detestation. In
recognition of Dr. Dyer's sterling integrity and the
great service he had rendered the cause of anti-
slavery. President Lincoln, who knew him well,
appointed him in 1863 judge of the mixed court
at Sierra Leone, for the suppression of the slave-
trade, after which appointment he passed two
years travelling in Europe.
DYER, David Patterson, lawyer, b, in Henry
county, Va., 12 Feb., 1838. He removed to Missouri
in 1841, and was educated at the common schools
and at St. Charles college, studied law at Bowling
Grreen, and was admitted to the bar in March, 1859.
He was elected district prosecuting attorney in
1860, and in 1862-5 was a member of the legisla-
ture. He recruited and commanded the 49th regi-
ment of Missouri volunteer infantry during a part
of the civil war, participated in "the campaigns
against Mobile in 1865, and in 1866 was chosen
secretary of the state senate. He was a delegate
to the Chicago national Republican convention in
1868, and in the same year was elected to congress
from Missouri, serving on the committees on ter-
ritories and agriculture, and was U. S. attorney
for the eastern district of Missouri in 1875-'6.
DYER, Eliphalet, jurist, b. in Windham,
Conn., 28 Sept., 1721 ; d. there, 13 May, 1807. He
was graduated at Yale in 1740, studied law, and
was admitted to practice in 1746. after which he
was town clerk and justice of the peace in Wind-
ham. He was many times member of the legis-
islature between 1747 and 1762, and was the origi-
nal promoter of the project to establish a Connecti-
cut colony in the valley of the Susquehanna. In
1753 he was a member of the committee to pur-
chase the title to the land selected for the proposed
colony at Wyoming, and in 1755 was agent to pe-
tition the general assembly in its behalf. The
French and Indian wars interrupted the plan, and
in August, 1755, Mr. Dyer was lieutenant-colonel of
a regiment sent to reduce Crown Point. He was
colonel of a regiment sent against Canada in 1758,
and in 1762-'84 was annually elected an assist-
ant. As an active member of the Susquehanna
land company, he was sent as their agent, in 1763,
to England, liut failed in his effort to obtain con-
firmation from the crown of the title to the Wyo-
ming region. On his return he became comptroller
of the port of New London, and in September,
1765, he was the first of the commissioners sent to
the stamp-act congress from Connecticut. After-
ward, with a majority of the Connecticut assist-
ants, he withdrew from the governor's house rather
than assist in his taking the oath to carry out the
provisions of the act. Col. Dyer was elected judge of the superior court in 1766, and held that office till 1793, serving during the last four years as chief justice. He was a delegate to the 1st Continental congress in 1744, and was re-elected to each succeeding congress, with the exception of those of 1776 and 1779. He became a member of the state committee of safety on its formation in May, 1775, and in December, 1776, declined an appointment as brigadier-general of militia. Yale gave him the degree of D. D. in 1787. John Adams said of him: "Dyer is long-winded and roundabout, obscure and cloudy, very talkative and very tedious, yet an honest, worthy man ; means and judges well." He published a pamphlet entitled "Remarks on Dr. Gale's Letter" (Philadelphia, 1769).
