of the Tribe,” also known as “The Indian Girl” (1872). Of his ideal busts the best known are “Ginevra” (1840; 1865); “Proserpine” (1845); “Psyche” (1849); “Diana” (1852); “Christ” (1866); “Faith” (1867); “Clytie” (1868); “Hope” (1869); “Charity” (1871). The greater part of his work consists of busts of distinguished men, including John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, John Marshall, and Martin Van Buren (1835); Edward Everett and John Preston (1845); and Henry W. Longfellow and Philip H. Sheridan (1865). He executed also statues of Washington for Louisiana, of Daniel Webster for Massachusetts, of John C. Calhoun for South Carolina (1850), and of Benjamin Franklin (1862) and Thomas Jefferson (1863). Powers had much mechanical skill, and was the author of several useful inventions, among which is a process of modelling in plaster which greatly expedites the labors of the sculptor by doing away with the necessity of making a clay model.—His son, Preston, b. in Florence, Italy, 3 April, 1843, studied modelling under his father in 1867-'73. His first important work was the statue of Jacob Collamer (1875), which was originally ordered of his father. It was placed in the old hall of representatives in Washington. He executed also, in 1881, a statue of Reuben Springer for Music Hall, Cincinnati. Like his father, he works principally in portraiture, and has made numerous busts, including those of Louis Agassiz, in the museum at Cambridge; John G. Whittier, in the Public library, Haverhill, and a replica in the Boston public library; Emanuel Swedenborg, four times repeated; Charles Sumner, owned by Bowdoin college; Ulysses S. Grant, in the war department, Washington; and Langdon Cheves. Of his ideal works the figure “Maud Muller” and the busts “Evangeline” and “Peasant-Girl” are best known. His professional life has been spent in Florence and in the United States.
POWERS, Horatio Nelson, author, b. in Amenia, N. Y., 30 April, 1826; d. in Piermont, N. Y., 6 Sept., 1890. He was graduated at Union college in 1850, at the General theological seminary of the Protestant Episcopal church, New York city, and was ordained a deacon in Trinity church, New York. He was assistant at Lancaster, Pa., till April, 1857; rector of St. Luke's church, Davenport, Iowa, in 1857-'62; of St. John's church, Chicago, in 1868-'74; of Christ church, Bridgeport, Conn., in 1875-'84; and became rector of Christ church, Piermont, N. Y., in 1886. He was president of Griswold college in 1864-'7, and president of the Foundlings' home, Chicago, in 1872-'4. He received the degree of D. D. from Union college in 1867. Dr. Powers published “Through the Year” (Boston, 1875); “Poems, Early and Late” (Chicago, 1876); and “Ten Years of Song” (Boston, 1887); and was one of the authors of “Homes and Haunts of our Elder Poets” (New York, 1881).—His brother, Edward, civil engineer, b. in Amenia, Dutchess co., N. Y., 1 Sept., 1830, was educated in the public schools. He served as a civilian clerk in the quartermaster's department during the civil war, afterward taught for a time, and then became a civil engineer. In 1872 and 1874 he unsuccessfully petitioned congress that an experiment might be performed with the powder and cannon of the United States to determine the influence of explosions on rainfall, with a view to the prevention of droughts. He has published “War and the Weather, or the Artificial Production of Rain” (Chicago, 1871).
POWHATAN, Indian sachem, b. about 1550; d. in Virginia in April, 1618. His true name was Wahunsonacook. The name Powhatan is derived from his early home at the falls of James river, near the site of Richmond. By his prowess and ability he rose from an ordinary chief to the command of thirty tribes, that numbered 8,000 persons, and occupied the lands between James and York rivers.
The site of his principal village is now occupied by the town of Shelby, on the north side of York river, about fifteen miles from Jamestown, in the county of Gloucester. He had a guard of forty warriors, and was always attended by a sentinel at night. In 1609, when Capt. Newport and Capt. John Smith, with thirty of the colonists, visited him, to treat for a supply of food, he received them with hospitality. He was then stalwart, gray-haired, and seemingly about sixty years old, with several wives, and a family of twenty sons and ten daughters. In the intercourse between the whites and Indians, both parties endeavored to overreach each other. One of Smith's trades was the exchange of two pounds of blue glass beads for 300 bushels of Indian corn. When Capt. Newport returned to Virginia from England, he brought with him a gilded crown for the great sachem, and at the ceremony of coronation Powhatan was declared “Emperor of the Indies.” As an acknowledgment of the honor conferred, Newport was decked with a worn mantle, and received a pair of cast-off moccasins. About a year later Capt. Smith made an attempt to capture the wary emperor, in order to obtain a fresh supply of Indian corn. In retaliation, Powhatan prepared to destroy the English settlement; but his purpose was frustrated by the timely warning that was given the colonists by his daughter Pocahontas. He never trusted the white settlers, never visited Jamestown, and on the occasion of the marriage of his daughter sent his consent by an Indian representative.—His daughter, Pocahontas, Indian princess, b. about 1595; d. in Gravesend, England, 21 March, 1617, was partial to the white people, and, it is believed, in 1607, when she was twelve years of age, saved the life of Capt. John Smith. He had been taken prisoner by some of the tribe under Opechaneanough, who sent him to his brother, Powhatan. On the trial of Smith, Powhatan was seated in an arbor of boughs, with a daughter on each side of him. There were present about 200 warriors and many women. When he was about to be executed, Pocahontas threw herself over Smith's prostrate body, to shield him from destruction, and her subsequent intercession with Powhatan saved his life. This event is said to have taken place at Shelby, in Gloucester county. Smith's account, given in his “General History of Virginia,” is discredited Charles Deane, LL. D., in his edition of Smith's “True Relation,” and by the Rev. Edward D. Neill, in his “History of the Virginia Company of London,” on the ground that the incident is not mentioned in Smith's earlier
