CUTLER, Lysander, soldier, b. in Maine about 1806 ; d. in Milwaukee, Wis., 80 July, 1866. He offered his services to the government at the be- ginning of the civil war, and was given command of the 6th Wisconsin regiment, which he speedily brought into a state of discipline, and rendered one of the best in the service. Subsequently he was in command of the " Iron Brigade " (originally Mere- dith's), of the Army of the Potomac, to which his regiment was attached, and won the promotion of brigadier- and afterward major-general. He was twice wounded.
CUTLER, Manasseh, clergyman, b. in Killingly, Conn., 3 May, 1742 ; d. in Hamilton. Mass.,
28 July, 1823. He was graduated at Yale in 1765,
after which he engaged in the whaling business,
and opened a store in Edgartown, Martha's Vine-
yard. Meanwhile he continued his studies, princi-
pally legal, and was admitted to the Massachusetts
bar in 1767. He conducted a few cases in the court
of common pleas, but, finding the profession un-
congenial, he gave it up and removed to Dedham,
where he studied theology under the direction of
the Rev. Thomas Balch, whose daughter he had
married. In 1770 he was licensed and preached
for six months as a candidate at the Hamlet parish
(then a part of Ipswich, but since 1793 the town
of Hamilton). He was ordained pastor of the
Congregational society in this parish on 11 Sept.,
1771, and I'emained associated with this organiza-
tion until his death. Soon after the battle of
Lexington he addressed the minute-men, then
mustering in Ipswich, and accompanied them on
horseback to Cambridge, where he saw the British
as they retreated into Boston. He received a com-
mission as chaplain in September, 1776, and
served under Col. Ebenezer Francis in the llth
Massachusetts regiment. For his gallantry in the
action in Rhode Island, on 28 Aug., 1778, he was
presented with a fine horse by his commander.
Toward the close of the war, when the physician
of the Hamlet parish was employed in the army,
and the people were without proper medical ad-
vice, Mr. Cutler at once applied himself to the
study of medicine, and soon mastered the science
sufficiently to practise. For several years there-
after his attention was divided between the physi-
cal and spiritual wants of his congregation. About
this time his mind was directed to the study of
botany by casually meeting with an English work
on the subject, and he was the first to examine
the flora of New England. Over 350 species were
inspected by him, and classified according to the
Linna?an system. His papers published on this
subject are the first attempts at a scientific de-
scription of the plants of New England. In 1784,
with six others, he ascended the White mountains,
and his party is said to have been the first to reach
the summit. With the instruments that Dr. Cut-
ler carried, it was computed that Mount Washing-
ton was 10,000 feet above the level of the sea — an
«rror of about 3,400 feet. Two years later he be-
came associated with a number of Revolutionary
officers who, owing to the uncertain condition of
affairs, had determined to settle in the west, and
formed the Ohio company for the purpose of hav-
ing their bounty lands located together. He was
appointed, with Maj. Winthrop Sargent, agent of
the com.pany, and in this capacity visited Wash-
ington, where he contracted with the authorities
for 1,000,000 acres of land northwest of the Ohio
river, obtaining also an additional grant of 500,000
acres as an allowance for bad lands and incidental
charges. On his return home, an expedition was
fitted out for the intended settlement. He had a
large wagon built and covered with black canvas, on
which was painted in white letters the words " Ohio.,
for Marietta on the Muskingum." Forty-five men
were engaged to accompany it, and to assist in the
settlement and defence of the new country for
three years. In December, 1787, the expedition
left Cutler's house, their number was increased to
sixty, and after a long journey they reached their
destination, where, under Gen. Rufus Putnam, on
7 April, 1788, the settlement of Marietta was be-
gun. Cutler made the trip in a sulky, and travelled
in twenty-nine days a distance of 750 miles. Dur-
ing his stay in the west he examined the fortifica-
tions and mounds in the neighborhood, which he
regarded as the work of a people more civilized
than any existing tribes of Indians. After remain-
ing a short time in Marietta he determined to re-
turn home, and, bidding farewell to the colony he
did so much toward establishing, he departed for
New England. In 1791 the degree of LL. D. was
conferred on him by Yale. In 1795 he was ten-
dered a commission as judge of the supreme court
of the Ohio territory, but declined it. Later he was
elected to the Massachusetts legislature, and then
was sent to congress as a federalist, serving from
7 Dec, 1801, till 3 .March, 1805. During his pre-
vious stay in Washington he drafted for Nathan
Dane the* celebrated ordinance of 1787, which ex-
cluded slavery from the northwest territory. He
declined a re-election to congress in 1804, and con-
tinued until his death to be pastor of the church in
Hamilton. He was elected a member of the Amer-
ican academy in 1781, and contributed the follow-
ing papers to its " Proceedings " : " On the Tran-
sit of Mercury over the Sun, 12 Nov., 1782 " ; " On
the Eclipse of the Moon, 29 March, 1782, and of
the Sun in the followhig April " ; " Meteorologi-
cal Observations, 1781, '82, '83 " ; and " Remarks
on a Vegetable and Animal Insect." He was a
member of the American philosophical society, and
of other learned and scientific bodies. The chap-
ter on trees and plants in Belknap's " History of
New Hampshire " was prepared by him, assisted
by Dr. William D. Peck. He was also the author
of a "Century Discourse," delivered at Hamilton,
27 Oct., 1814. See his " Life, Journals, and Cor-
respondence," by W^illiam P. and Julia P. Cutler
(2 vols., Cincinnati, 1888).— His son, Jervis, pio-
neer, b. in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, Mass.,
19 Sept., 1768; d. in Evansville, Ind., 25 June,
1844. Pie was one of the pioneers from New Eng-
land, led by Gen. Rufus Putnam, who settled in
Marietta, Ohio, in 1788. He was an officer in
the militia, and also in the regular army. He ac-
quired the art of engraving, and for years de-
voted his time to this pursuit. In 1823 Mr. Cut-
ler removed to Nashville, Tenn.,and in 1841 settled
in Evansville. He published " Topographical De-
scription of the Western Country, with an Account
of the Indian Tribes " (1812).
CUTLER, Timothy, clergyman, b. in Charlestown, Mass., in 1683 ; d. in Boston, in August, 1765. He was graduated at Harvard in 1701. became pastor of a Congregational society in Stratford, Conn., in 1710, and soon acquired a high reputation as a preacher. Yale college having become established in New Haven, Mr. Cutler was appointed rector in 1719, and entered upon his duties with zeal and energy. It was not long, however, before the new rector, having read some standard church works in the college library (such as those of Barrow, Patrick, South, Sherlock, etc.), was persuaded that Presbyterian and Congregational ordination was invalid. A discussion was held on this subject in the college library in Octo-
