of base, leading the vear-guard in the movement from Turkey creek to Harrison's landing. He was promoted major-general of volunteers, 4 July, 1862, and till September was in Yorktown, where he put the works in conditidn for defence. On 22 Sept., 1862, he was assigned to the command of all the National troops in Virginia south of James river, where he rendered important service by his brilliant defence of Suffolk against a superior force under Longstreet, whose position on Hill's point he stormed and captured on 4 May, 1863, thus virtually ending the siege. After an absence of several months, which was necessitated by injuries that he had received at Suffolk, he held command in North Carolina till April. 1864, and, after an- other leave of absence, on the Canada frontier till the close of the war. He was mustered out of service, 24 Aug., 1865, and in 1866 organized at Syracuse the New York state life insurance com- pany, of which he was president till his death.
PECK, John Mason, clergvman, b. in Litchfield, Conn.. 31 Oct., 1789 ; d. in Rock Spring, St.
Clair CO., 111., 15 March, 1858. He was the son of
a farmer in humble circumstances, and, after being
educated at the common schools, removed in 1811
to Greene county, N. Y.. where he united with the
Baptist church. The same year he was licensed to
preach, and began his pastoral work at Catskill,
while prosecuting his studies and supporting him-
self by teaching. He was ordained in Catskill, 9
June, 1813, and the following year became pastor
of the church at Amenia, N. Y. He was then sent
to the west by the Baptist general convention as a
missionary, and reached St. Louis at the end of
1817. During the next nine years he was engaged
as an itinerant preacher and a teacher, travelling
in the former capacity through Missouri and Illi-
nois, and finally fixing his residence at Rock Spring,
in the latter state. In 1836 he raised money and
aided in organizing the Rock Spring seminary for
educating common-school teachers and ministers.
In April, 1829, he began the publication of " The
Pioneer," the first organ of the Baptist church in
the western states. In 1831 he spent three months
in planning with Rev. Jonathan Going the Ameri-
can Baptist home missionary society, and the same
year he issued "A Guide for Emigrants" (Bos-
ton), a small but useful publication. He soon
afterward began a monthly periodical entitled " The
Illinois Sunday-School Banner." In 1834 appeared
his "Gazetteer of Illinois" (Jacksonville, 1834;
Philadelphia. 1837). In 1835 Shurtleff college was
founded at Upper Alton, 111., to take the place of
his Rock Spring seminary. To endow this institu-
tion Dr. Peck travelled nearly 6,000 miles, and col-
lected $20,000. In watching over and helping the
new enterprise, and in aiding in the establishment
of a theological institution at Covington, Ky., he
was occupied until 1843. which year, with the two
following, he spent in Philadelphia as correspond-
ing secretary and financial agent of the American
Baptist publication society. Returning to the west,
he was pastor of several important churches in
Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky. In 1852 he re-
ceived the degree of D. D. from Harvard. Dr.
Peck was a master spirit among the pioneers.
" Perhaps no man of the class." says an intimate
friend, " did more than he to guide the thoughts,
mould the manners, and form the institutions of
the west. He was an embodiment of western char-
acter, plain, frank, self-reliant, fearless, indomi-
table." He was an important contributor to nearly
all the historical societies of the northwestern
states and territories, and piiblished, besides the
works already mentioned, '• New Guide for Emi-
grants to the West " (Boston. 1836) and •' Father
Clark, or the Pioneer Preacher " (New York, 1855).
He is also the author of a Life of Daniel Boone "
in Sparks's " American Biography," and edited the
2d edition of " Annals of the West " (Cincinnati).
His large and valuable collection of newspapers
and pamphlets was destroyed by fire a few years
before his death, but he left his large collection of
manuscripts to the Rev. Rufus Babcock. who pub-
lished " Forty Years of Pioneer Life : Memoir of
John Mason Peck, edited from his Journals and
Correspondence " (Philadelphia, 1864).
PECK, William Dandridare, naturalist, b. in
Boston, Mass., 8 May, 1763 ; d. in Cambridge, Mass.,
3 Oct., 1822. His father, John, attained reputa-
tion as a ship-builder during the Revolution. The
son, after graduation at Harvard in 1782, spent
some time in a counting-house in Boston, and for
twenty years devoted himself to the study of natu-
ral history. He was an ingenious mechanic, and
made a microscope and many other delicate instru-
ments. After living a life of seclusion and study,
he was made professor of his specialty in Harvard,
which chair he held from 1805 till 1822. He was
sent to visit the scientific institutions of Europe,
being absent three years, and during this time he
collected many books and specimens. He pub-
lished a catalogue of " American and Foreign
Plants " (1818) and several articles in the collections
of the Massachusetts historical society, which in-
clude " The Description of the Atherine," " History
of the Slug- Worm." and " Method of taking Im-
pressions of Vegetable Leaves by Means of Smoke."
He also published an account of a sea-serpent in
the " Memoirs of the American Academy."
PECK, William Guy, mathematician, b. in
Litchfield, Conn., 16 Oct.. 1820 ; d. in Greenwich,
Conn., 7 Feb., 1892. He was graduated at the U. S.
military academy, was assigned to the topographi-
cal engineers, served in the third expedition of
John C. Fremont in 1845, and was with the Army
of the West under Gen. Stephen W. Kearny during
the Mexican war. He was assistant professor of
natural philosophy at West Point in 1846, and of
mathematics from 1847 till 1855, when he resigned
from the army. After declining a chair in Kenyon
college, Ohio, he was professor of physics and
civil engineering in the University of Michigan
till 1857. In that year he became adjunct profes-
sor of mathematics in Columbia, and after 1861
he held the chair of mathematics, mechanics, and
astronomy there, also teaching in the School of
mines. He received the degree of Ph. D. from Co-
lumbia in 1877 and that of LL. D. from Trinity in
1863. In 1868 he was a member of the board of
visitors to the U. S. military academy. He assisted
his father-in-law. Prof. Charles Davies, in compil-
ing his " Dictionary and Cyclopedia of Mathemati-
cal Science " (New York, 1855), and is the author
of a full set of school and college text-books on
mathematics, including a " Calculus " and an " An-
alytical Geometry " ; an edition of Ganot's " Natural
Philosophy" (New York, 1860; last revised ed.,
1881) ; " Elementary Mechanics " (1859) ; and " Pop-
ular Astronomy " (i883).
PECK, William Henry, author, b. in Augusta, Ga., 30 Dec, 1830. His ancestor, Paul, emigrated to this country from Essex, England, in 1635, and settled in Hartford, Conn. After studying in Western military institute, Georgetown. Ky., he was graduated at Harvard in 1853. Froip 1854 till 1856 he was principal of a public school in
New Orleans, and from 1856 till 1858 professor of belles-lettres, history, and elocution in the University of Louisiana. He then went to New York, but
