of John Preston, Wade Hampton, and other emi- nent South Carolinians. He was invited in 1848 to furnish a design for an equestrian statue of An- drew Jackson, to be erected in Washington. He completed his model in eight months, and it was accepted. His treatment was entirely original. The statue was unveiled on the anniversary of the bat- tle of Xew Orleans, in 1853. It stands on Lafay- ette square, and was cast from cannon taken from the British during the war of 1812. Later he ob- tained a second commission for a colossal eques- trian statue of George Washington, and purchased ground in the vicinity of Washington, where he built a complete foundry. His statue of Washing- ton represents a scene in the battle of Princeton. It was dedicated in Washington on 22 Feb., 1860. Meanwhile Mr. Mills also executed a replica of his Jackson statue for the city of New Orleans. La. In 1860 he began his statue of "Freedom," after Thomas Crawford's designs, which was completed in 1863, and now stands above the dome of the capitol. The latter part of his life was spent in making busts, and he invented a method of put- ting plaster on the face of his subjects, thereby adding greatly to the truthfulness of his casts.
MILLS, Darius Offden, banker, b. in North
Salem, Westchester cor, N. Y., 5 Sept., 1825. His
father died when he was sixteen, and, later invest-
ments having proved unfortunate, the lad was left
without resources. He soon found a clerkship in
New York, and at twenty-two became cashier and
one-third owner of a small bank in Buffalo. Two
years later he was one of the earliest victims of the
gold fever, sailing for California in December, 1848.
He soon began business in Sacramento, and the
Gold bank of D. 0. Mills and Co., then established,
is still flourishing and still under his control — the
oldest bank of unbroken credit in the state. He
was immediately and conspicuously successful.
The "luck of D. 0. Mills" became a proverb, but
it was attended with a reputation for judgment,
rapid decision, boldness, and absolute integrity.
He became largely interested in mines on the great
€omstock lode, secured control of the Virginia and
Truckee railroad leading to it, and of the immense
forests about Lake Tahoe which supplied it, ac-
quired a large share in the chief quicksilver-mines,
and bought extensive ranches and other property,
but dealt in everything on his" principles as a
banker, boldly, but rarely in a speculative way. In
1864 he founded the Bank of California, in San
Francisco, heading the subscription tor the capital
and assuming the presidency. It became one of
the best- known banks of the country, with the
highest credit in the financial centres both of Eu-
rope and Asia. Desiring finally to retire from
business, Mr. Mills resigned the presidency in 1873,
leaving the bank with a capital of $5,000,000, large
surplus, profitable business, first-rate organization,
and unlimited credit. Two years later he was
called back to find it with liabilities of $13,500,000
above its capital and surplus, with only $100,000
in its vaults, and with many doubtful assets. His
old cashier, William C. Ralston, had been president
meantime. He had lent Ralston the capital on
which the latter began business in San Francisco,
and had trusted him. Mr. Mills had resigned his
directorship in the bank when retiring from its
management, and finally had sold his stock ; but
Ralston, against his wishes, had continued to have
him elected a director, buying enough of Mr.
Mills's stock to qualify for a directorship, and
keeping it in Mr. Mills's name, without his knowl-
edge. "Mr. Mills returned from Europe shortly be-
fore the crash, and was first appealed to by Will-
iam Sharon to save Ralston's personal credit. He
at once responded, loaning Mr. Ralston $400,000
that day, and $350,000 more within the week. It
subsequently appeared that this money was used
to take up fraudulent over-issues of the bank's
stock. A few days later the bank failed, creating
an excitement that convulsed the Pacific coast.
Mr. Ralston committed suicide, and Mr. Mills was
recalled to the presidencv. He headed the new
subscription with $1,000,000, raised nearly $7,000,-
000 more, and opened the doors of the bank one
month and five days after they had been closed.
He insisted on holding the presidency now without
pay, and resigned peremptorily within three years,
as soon as he felt that the bank was firmly re-
established. Afterward he uniformly refused the
care of any business but his own. He gradually
transferred heavy investments to the east, erected
the largest office-building in New York, and finally
returned to reside near his birthplace. He had
been regent of the University of California, and
when he resigned this place he gave an endowment
of $75,000 to found the IMills professorship of
moral and intellectual philosophy. About the
same time he presented to the state the marble
group " Columbus before Queen Isabella," by
Larkin G. Meade, which now stands in the centre
of the state-house rotunda at Sacramento. In New
York he presented to the city a building on the
Bellevue hospital grounds, costing $100,000, for the
training of male nurses. He has been an active
trustee of the Lick estate and Lick observatory in
California, of the Metropolitan museum, of the
Museum of natural history, and also of the Ameri-
can geographical society.
MILLS, Elijah Hunt, senator, b. in Chester-
field, Mass., 1 Dec, 1776 ; d. in Northampton, Mass.,
5 May, 1829. He was graduated at Williams in
1797, studied law, settled in Northampton, and was
for several years district attorney for the county of
Hampshire. He was elected to the state senate in
1811, was elected to congress as a Federalist, serving
from 4 Dec, 1815, till 3 March, 1819, and then was
elected to fill a vacancy in the U. S. senate, serving
with re-election from 1 Dec, 1820, till 3 March,
1827. In 1824 he received the degree of LL. D.
from Williams. He published an oration (1813).
MILLS, Robert, architect, b. in Charleston, S. C., 12 Aug., 1781; d. in Washington, D. C, 3 March, 1855. He studied architecture under Ben- jamin H. Latrobe, and designed several buildings in Pennsylvania, among which were the fire-proof wings of Independence hall, Philadelphia, the capitol in Harrisburg, and the single-arch bridge across the Schuylkill. Subsequently he erected several U. S. custom-houses and marine hospitals. In 1820 he returned to South Carolina, and there became state architect and engineer. He was recalled to Washington in 1830, appointed U. S. architect, and supervised the building of the U. S. post-office, patent-office, and treasury buildings. The original design of the Washington monument, the loftiest structure ever erected by man, was made by him. It included a granite shaft faced with white marble, "600 feet high, 55 feet square at the base, 30 feet square at the top, surrounded at its base by a circular colonnade or pantheon, in which to place statues of the nation's illustrious dead, with vaults beneath for the reception of their remains." The plan for the circular colonnade was never carried out, but, under the auspices of the Washington national monument society, the construction of the monument was begun in 1848 on the very spot selected by Washington himself for a memorial of the American Revolution. Funds amounting to
