ated at Brown in 1815, studied law in Enfield and Northampton, Mass., and was admitted to the bar in 1818. He was county attorney and also a member of the legislature in 1826, judge of the court of common pleas in 1847, and of the state supreme court in 1848. lie left an estate of $300,000, most of which he bequeathed to estab- lish a free piiblic library in Northampton. This library was incorporated by act of the Massachu- setts legislature on 3 May, 1881.
FORBES, Edwin, artist, b. in New York city
in 1839 ; d. there, 6 March, 1895. He early began
the study of art, and devoted himself to animal
painting. In 1859 he became a pupil of A. F. Tait.
At the beginning of the civil war he joined the
Army of the Potomac, and remained in the south
as special artist for Frank Leslie, the publisher, till
1864. His sketches of his experiences during this
period were preserved in a series of copper-plate
etchings, which were exhibited at the Centennial
exposition of 1876, and awarded a medal. Gen.
W. T. Sherman bought the first proofs for the
United States government, and they are now in
the War Department at Washington. " The Relia-
ble Contraband," " Coming through the Lines,"
and the " Sanctuary," are the most effective of
these sketches. Others are, "A Night March," " Re-
turning from Picket Duty," and " The Reveille."
His " Lull in the Fight," a scene in the battle of
the Wilderness, was exhibited at the National
academy. New York and at the Boston athenfeum
(1865). In 1877 he was elected an honorary mem-
ber of the London etching club. His studio was
in Brooklyn, and after 1878 he devoted himself
to landscape and cattle pictures. His later works
are : " Early Morning in an Orange County Past-
ure "(1870); "On the Skirmish Line"; "Stormy
March " ; " Roughing " ; " On the Meadows " (1880) ;
and " Evening in the Sheep Pasture " (1881).
FOEBES, Eli, clergyman, b. in Westborough,
Mass., in October, 1726 ; d. in Gloucester, Mass., 15
Dec, 1804. He served against the French and
Indians in 1745, and on his return from the Mar
entered Harvard, where he was graduated in 1751.
He then studied theology, and was ordained, 3
June, 1752, as the first minister of the second
parish in Brookfield, Mass. In 1758-9 he twice
acted as chaplain of a provincial regiment, and in
1762 conducted a successful mission to the Oneida
Indians, among whom he established a church and
two schools. In March, 1776, Mr. Forbes, having
been charged by some of his congregation with
being a Tory, asked and obtained an honorable
dismissal, and on 5 June of that year became
pastor at Gloucester, Mass., where he remained
until his death, also officiating frequently in va-
cant parishes near by. Harvard gave him the de-
gree of D. D. in 1804. Dr. Forbes published vari-
ous sermons, including one on the " Character of
Washington" (1800), a memoir of Joshua Eaton,
prefixed to seven of the Litter's sermons, and a
" Family Book," containing discourses, doctrinal,
evangelical, practical, and historical (1801).
FORBES, Gordon, British soldier, b. in 1738;
d. in llam, Middlesex, England, 17 Jan., 1828. He
became an ensign in the 33d foot in 1756, captain
in the 72d in 1762, and served at Havana and in
Louisiana. He was made major on 9 Nov., 1776.
was twice wounded in Burgoyne's expedition, and
became lieutenant-colonel in September, 1781. He
then served in the East Indies, was made colonel
in 1785, major-general in 1794, and commanded
the forces at Santo Domingo in 1798-1800. He
was promoted to lieutenant-general in 1801, and
recei ved a general's commission in 1812.
FORBES, James Fraser, Canadian physician,
b. in Gibpiltar in 1820. He was the son of an
officer in the 64th regiment, who, after retiring
from the service, was collector of customs at Yar-
mouth, Nova Scotia. Mr. Forbes has been coroner
and health officer for Liverpool and Queens county,
N. S., for over twenty-six years, and was elected
president of the bank of Liverpool in 1874. He
was first returned to the Dominion parliament in
1867, was re-elected in 1872, and again in 1874, and
was defeated in 1878, but was re-elected in 1882.
FORBES, John, British soldier, b. in Petin-
crief, Fifeshire, Scotland, in 1710 ; d. in Philadel-
phia, Pa., 11 March, 1759. He became a physician,
but abandoned his profession to enter the army,
and was made lieutenant-colonel of the Scots
greys in 1745. In the German war he was on the
staff of Lord Stair, Gen. Ligonier, and Gen. Camp-
bell, was made colonel of the 17th foot, 25 Feb.,
1757, and acted as quartermaster-general under
the Duke of Cumberland. He was appointed
brigadier-general in America, 28 Dec, 1757, and was
adjutant-general in the expedition against Louis-
burg. In the autumn of 1758 he was placed in
command of the expedition against Fort Duquesne,
numbering 1,200 Highlanders, 350 royal Ameri-
cans, and about 5,000 provincials, including about
2,000 Virginians under the command of Washing-
ton. When Forbes arrived at Raystown, Pa., with
his army, in September, 1758, he was carried in a
litter, as he was already prostrated by the illness
that shortly afterward caused his death, but his
head was clear and his will firm, and he retained
command of the expedition. After Bouquet's
disastrous reconnoissance (see Bouquet, Henry)
the army reached Loyalhanna on 5 Nov., and it
was decided to pass the winter there, when news
of the weakness of the fort induced Forbes to
push forward. Passing the field where the bones
of Braddock's men lay unburied, the expedition
finally reached Fort Duquesne on 25 Nov. The
work had been blown up and abandoned by the
French on the previous day, and Washington's
men marched in and took possession. Forbes re-
named the place Fort Pitt (now Pittsburg), in
honor of William Pitt, who had planned the cam-
paign, and, after concluding treaties with the
Indian tribes on the Ohio, returned to Philadel-
phia, where he died shortly afterward. He was
noted in the army for his obstinacy, and was nick-
named " Tlie Head of Iron."
FORBES, John, librarian, b. in Scotland in
1771; d. in New York, 4 Oct., 1824. He w.as
graduated at Columbia in 1794, and from that
year till his death was librarian of the New York
society library, being pi'ominent during that time
among literary men in New York city. — His son,
Pllilii) Jones, b. in New York city, 13 Jan., 1807;
d. in Brooklyn, L. I., in June, 1877, entered the
U. S. military academy in 1823, but was not gradu-
ated. From 1828 till 1855 he was librarian of the
New York society library. — Philip Jones's son,
John, b. in New York city, 24 April, 1846, was an
assistant librarian in the same institution.
FORBES, John Colin, Canadian artist, b. in Canada, 23 Jan., 1846. He was entirely self-taught in art, until the production of his first work, a portrait of his father, after which he spent two years in study at the Royal academy in London and elsewhere in Europe. After his return to Canada he painted " The Foundering of the Hibernia," which was exhibited at the Centennial exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876; " The Caiion in the Royal Gorge"; "The Mount of the Holy Cross " ; " Mount Stephen ; " The Glacier of the
