Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/178

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146
McLEOD
McLEOD

in the Protestant Episcopal church in 1845. After spending a few years in a country parish, he went in 1850 to Europe, where he travelled and studied until 1852. The result of his European visit was his conversion to the Roman Catholic faith. In 1857 he became editorially connected with the St. Louis " Leader." Subsequently he was ordained a priest, and appointed professor of rhetoric and belles-lettres at Mount St. Mary's college, Ohio. He met his death in a railroad accident. He pub- lished " Pynnshurst : His Wanderings and Ways of Thinking" (New York, 1852); "Life of Sir Walter Scott " (1852) ; " Life of Mary, Queen of Scots " (1857) ; " The Elder's House, or the Three Converts " ; " Chateau Lescure, or the Last Mar- quis " ; and a " Life of Fernando Wood, Mayor of New York " (1856). As a poet, McLeod is known by " The Saga of Viking Torquil."


McLEOD, Hugh, soldier, b. in New York city, 1 Aug., 1814 ; d. in Dumfries, Va., 2 Jan., 1862. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1835, and entered the army as 2d lieutenant, but resigned the same year and joined the Texan forces in their struggle with Mexico, also com- manding a company in the battle with the Chero- kees in 1839. He then studied and subsequently practised law. In 1841, with the rank of brigadier- general, he commanded an expedition to Santa Fe that was sent by President Mirabeau B. Lamar to open trade with New Mexico, and fell into the hands of the Mexicans, who treacherously disre- garded the flag of truce. After being held a prisoner for nearly a year, he was released through the intercession of the U. S. government. He was a member of the Texas congress in 1842-'3, and served throughout the Mexican war. and subse- quently in the state legislature after the annexation of Texas. He joined the Confederate army in 1861, directed the movement against the U. S. forts on the Rio Grande, and was commissioned successively major, lieutenant-colonel, and colonel of the 1st Texas regiment, with which he partici- pated in the first Virginia campaign.


McLEOD, James Farquharson, Canadian official, b. in Toronto in 1836 ; d. in Calgary, 5 Sept., 1894. He was educated at Upper Canada col- lege, and at Queen's university, Kingston, and graduated there in 1854. He subsequently studied law and became a barrister in 1860. He entered the militia in 1856, and became major and brevet lieutenant-colonel in 1867. He served during the first Riel rebellion in the Northwest in 1870, was mentioned in despatches by Sir Garnet (now Lord) Wolseley in command of the expeditionary force, and was created a companion of the order of St. Michael and St. George by the Queen for his ser- vices. He was appointed a captain in the North- west mounted police in 1873, assistant commissioner in 1874. and stipendiary magistrate for the North- west territory, commissioner in command of the force, and a member of the Northwest council, 7 Oct., 1876. In 1880 he was appointed stipendiary magistrate, with jurisdiction over all cases, crimi- narand civil, in the Northwest territory.


McLEOD, John, Canadian explorer and trader, b. in Stornoway. Scotland, in 1788 ; d. in Montreal, 24 July, 1849. He was a successful merchant in his native town, when, in 1811, he was engaged by the Hudson bay company to muster men in the Hebrides for service in their struggle with the Canadian fur companies. In efi'ecting this Mr. McLeod was opposed by the agents of Sir Alexan- der Mackenzie, representing the Northwest com- pany. On 25 Sept., 1811, Mr. McLeod was special- ly detailed by the Hudson bay company to assist the 1st brigade of Highlanders that was brought out by Earl Selkirk in their journey from York factory to the Red river settlement. During 1812-'16 he built and established all the first trad- ing-posts of the Hudson bay company in that re- gion and 500 miles westward. At the same time he successfully opposed the Northwest company under the most disadvantageous circumstances and was the means of saving the Red river colony from annihilation. From 1816 till 1821, when the Hud- son bay and Northwest companies were united, Mr. McLeod led the struggle against the rival company in the far north toward the arctic circle and westward to the Rocky mountains. He ef- fected with his associates an expansion of trade in furs and other natural resources of the Pacific slope from Yukon to San Francisco, and with the Sandwich islands and Alaska. At the coalition of the two companies, Mr. McLeod was the first mem- ber of the original Hudson bay company that crossed the Rocky mountains formally to accept the delivery of the country west of that range from the agents of the Northwest company. He was the first man that was known to have crossed the continent from Hudson bay to the Pacific coast. From 1826 till 1830 he had charge of Nor- way house, which he built, and which was the ren- dezvous of all important trade-brigades from the interior. Here the chief council for the govern- ment of the trade met annually until a few years ago, when the place of meeting was transferred to Winnipeg. In the autumn of 1830 he sailed from York factory, by way of Hudson bay, to London, visited Scotland, and on his return in 1831 was ap- pointed to the charge of the Chicoulimi district. Two years afterward he was appointed to the St, Maurice district, extending from Hudson bay to the St. Lawrence. In 1849, while taking his an- nual report to Montreal, he was attacked by chole- ra and died the same day. He did more than any other man to open up the northwest for settlement, and was loved and respected equally among the Indians and his white associates. Hubert H. Bancroft, in his history of British Columbia, refers to him as the " veteran " among the fur-traders and pioneers of the northwest. — His son, Malcolm, b. in Green Lake, Beaver River, Northwest territories, 21 Oct., 1821. was educated in Edinburgh, Scotland, studied law in Montreal, and was admitted to the bar in 1845. Ever since that time he has been in active practice, with the exception of the years 1873-'6, when he was district judge for the counties of Ottawa and Pontiae. In 1887 he was appointed Queen's counsel. In the parliament of Canada and in the press his name has been associated with the subjects of the annexation of the Northwest to Canada and the construction of a railway over British territory to the Pacific ocean. In the session of 1862 he presented a memorial describing the condition of the people of the Red river settlement, who had in vain petitioned the imperial authorities for government of some kind, owing to the inefficiency of the Hudson bay company. The memorial failed, as the government of that day was opposed to the western extension of Canada. Mr. McLeod then addressed himself to the colonial secretary, the Duke of Newcastle, on the subject. A few days after receiving the papers the duke delivered a speech in the house of lords, declaring against the Hudson bay company, and the announcement was then for the first time made that the charter would be withdrawn and the administration of the country resumed by the imperial government. A marked change followed on the part of the company, and had it not occurred just