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his plantation. He served in the Creek war in 1836. He was the author of a "History of Ala- bama" (2 vols., Charleston, 1851), and at the time of his death was preparing a comprehensive his- tory i if the southwest. See "Brief Biographical Sketch of Col. Albert J. Pickett," by Crawford M. Jackson (Montgomery. 1859).

PICKETT, George Edward, soldier, b. in Rich- mond, Va., 25 Jan., 1825 ; d. in Norfolk, Va., 30 July, 1875. His father was a resilient of Henrico county, Va. The son was appointed to the U. S. military academy from Illinois, and graduated in 1840. He served in the war with Mexico, was made 2d lieutenant in the 2d infantry, 3 March, 1847, was at the siege of Vera Cruz and was engaged in all the battles that preceded the assault and capture of the city iif Mexico. He was transferred to the 7th infantry. 13 July, 1847, and to the 8th infantry, 18 July, 1847, and bre- vetted 1st lieutenant, 8

Sept., 1847, for gallant

and meritorious conduct at Contreras and Churubusco, and captain, 13 Sept., for Chapultepec. lie became captain in the 9th infantry. 3 March. 1855, after serving in garrisons in Texas from 1849. and in 1856 he was on frontier duty in the northwest territory at Puget sound. Capt. Pickett was ordered, with sixty men, to occupy San Juan island then, dur- ing the dispute with Great Britain over the north- west boundary, and the British governor, Sir James Douglas, sent three vessels of war to eject Pickett from his position. He forbade the land- ing of troops from the vessels, under the threat of firing upon them, and an actual collision was prevented only by the timely arrival of the Brit- ish admiral, by whose order the issue of force was postponed. For his conduct on this occasion Gen. Harney in his report commended Capt. Pickett " for the cool judgment, ability, and gallantry he had displayed," and the legislature of Washington territory passed resolutions thanking him for it. He resigned from the army. 25 June. 1861, and after great difficulty and delays reached Virginia, where he was at once commissioned colonel in the state forces and assigned to duty on Rappahannock river. In February, 1862, he was made brigadier-general in Gen. James Longstreet's division of the Confed- erate army under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, which was then called the Army of the Potomac, but af- terward became the Army of Northern Virginia. His brigade, in the retreat before McClellan up the peninsula and in the seven days' battles around Richmond, won such a reputation that it was known as " the game-cock brigade." At the battle of Gaines's Mills, 27 June, 1862, Pickett was severe- ly wounded in the shoulder, and he did not rejoin his command until after the first Maryland cam- paign. He was then made major-general, with a division that was composed entirely of Virginians. At the battle of Fredericksburg this division held the centre of Lee's line. For an account of Pick- ett's charge at Gettysburg, 3 July, 1863, see the articles LEE, ROBERT E., and MEADE, GEORGE G. Pickett was afterward placed in command in lower Virginia and eastern North Carolina. In May, 1864, he defended Petersburg and saved it from surprise and capture by Gen. Benjamin F. Butler. In the attack on Gen. Butler's forces along the line of the railroad between Richmond and Peteiv-lmri:. Pickett's division captured the works. Gen. Lee, in a letter of thanks and congratulation, dated 17 June, said : " We tried very hard to stop Pickett's men from capturing the breastworks of the ene- my, but could not do it." At Five Forks his di- vision received the brunt of the National attack, and was entirely disorganized. After the war Gen. Pickett returned to Richmond, where he spent the remainder of his life in the life-insuraiice business. His biography by Edward A. Pollard is in Pol- lardV " Life and Times of Robert E. Lee and his Companions in Arms" (New York, 1871). See also " Pickett's Men," by Walter Harrison (1870).

PICKETT, James C., commissioner of patents, b. in Fauquier county, Va., 6 Feb., 1793 ; d. in Washington. D. C., 10 July, 1872. He removed with his parents to Mason county, Ky., in 1796, and received a good education. He became 3d lieutenant of U. S. artillery in 1813, and was pro- moted 2d lieutenant in 1814. but left the service at the close of the war with England. He served again as deputy quartermaster-general from 1818 till 1821, when he resigned, returned to Mason county, and practised law. He edited the " Maysville Eagle" in 1815, was a member of the legislature in 1822, secretary of the state from 1825 till 1S2N, and secre- tary of legation in Colombia from 1829 till 1833, acting part of the time as charge d'affaires. He was commissioner of the U. S. patent-office in 1835, fourth auditor of the treasury in 1835-'8, minister to Ecuador in 1838. and charge d'affaires in Peru from 1838 till 1845. For a few years he edited " The Congressional Globe " in Washington, D. C.

PICKNELL, William Lamb, artist, b. in Hinesburg, Vt., 23 Oct.. 1854 ; d. in Marblehead, Mass., 8 Aug., 1897. He studied under Inness, in Rome, and with Gerome, in Paris. Then for four years he worked in Brittany, where he painted under Robert Wylie, but in 1882 he returned to the United States. He received honorable mention at the Paris salon in 18SO, and medals in Boston in 1881 and 1884. He was elected a member of the Society of American arti>t> in 1880, and of the So- ciety of British artists in 1884. Among his works are " Route de Concarneau " (1880) ; " On the Bor- ders of the Marsh." in the Academy of fine arts, Philadelphia (1880); "A Stormy Day" (1881); "Coast of Ipswich," in Boston art museum (1882); "Sunshine and Drifting Sand" (1883); "A Sultry Day" (1884): "Wintry March" (1885); "Bleak December" and "After the Storm" (1886); and " November Solitude " (1887).

PICQUET, Francois. French missionary, b. in Bourg en Bresse, 6 Dec., 1 708 ; d. in Verjon, 15 July, 1781. He was the son of poor laborers, but by his intelligence interested the vicar of his parish, who sent him to school. He was employed in missionary work among peasants when he was eighteen years old, united with the Congregation of St. Sulpice in 1729, and, after being ordained priest, was sent at his request to Canada. He arrived in Montreal in December, 1735, and fixed his residence in 1737 among the Indians near Lake Temiscaming. founding there a mission, which prospered from the outset. He induced the Algonquins and Nipissings to swear allegiance to the king of France, and, being much impressed with the strategical position of Lake Deux Montagnes, he induced these tribes to abandon their old quarters in 1740, and established them in the fertile regions around the lake, thus securing Montreal from possible invasion from the north. He re-