Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/283

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RINGGOLD
RIO DE LA LOZA

served till 1821. After his marriage with his first wifi-, Maria, daughter of Gen. John Cadwalader, he settled on his estate in Washington county, where he built one of the handsomest residences in the state. His second wife. Elizabeth, was the daughter of Col. Edward Lloyd, of Talbot county, Md. His son. Samuel, soldier, b. in Washington county, Md., in 1800; d. in Point Isabel, Tex.. 11 .May, 1846. He was graduated at the U. S. mili- tary academy in 1818, served for several years as aide-de-camp to Gen. Winfield Scott, became 1st lieutenant in 1822. and was brevetted captain in 1882. He became captain in 1836, participated in the Florida war, and was brevetted major for ac- tive and efficient conduct" during hostilities. He then organized a corps of flying artillery, and was mortally wounded at Palo Alto, the first battle of the Mexican war. He introduced flying artillery into this country, invented a saddle-tree, which was subsequently known as the McClellan saddle, and a rebounding hammer made of brass for ex- ploding the fulminating primers for field-guns, that prevented the blowing away of the hammer. An- other son, Cadwalader, naval officer, b. in Wash- ington county, Md.. 20 Aug., 1802 ; d. in New York city, 29 April, 1867. He entered the navy as midshipman, 4 March, 1819, served in Com. Porter's "mosquito fleet " in the West Indies in 1823-'4 for the suppression of piracy, and was commissioned lieutenant, 17 May, 1828. In 1838 he was appointed to command the brig " Porpoise " in Lieut. Charles Wilkes's exploring expedition, and participated in making the discovery of the Antarctic continent. In August, 1840, "he took part in an attack on the natives of Suahib, Feejee islands, where two of the officers of the exploring expedition had been killed by cannibals. He as- sisted in the survey of Columbia river. Puget sound, the harbor of San Francisco and Sacramento river, and among the South sea islands. He re- turned to New York in June, 1842, by way of the Cape of Good Hope, after circumnavigating the globe, and collected valuable scientific information concerning the Pacific and Antarctic oceans. On 1(> July, 1849, he was commissioned a commander, lie was on special duty in California in 1849-'51, and in the bureau of construction at the navy de- pa rtment in 1852, and took command of the North Pacific exploring expedition, sailing in the " Vin- cennes," but feeble health compelled him to re- turn home. In September, 1855. he was placed on the reserved list, and on 2 April, 185(i. he was pro- moled to captain on the active list. He had spe- cial duty in Washington in 1859-'GO. When the civil war began he was placed in command of the frigate " Saoine." He was commissioned commo- dore. 16 July, 1862, and placed on the retired list, 20 Aug., 1864. He was promoted to rear-admiral on the retired list, 25 July, 1866. Their half- brother, George Hay, soldier, b. in Hagerstown, Md., in 1814 ; d. in San Francisco, Cal., 4 April, 1864, was graduated at the U. S. military academy iu is:j:j, and became 2d lieutenant, 6th infantry, on 15 Aug., 1836. He resigned from the army in 1837 and engaged in farming. He was reappointed with the rank of additional paymaster HI 1846, and be- came major on the staff, and paymaster in 1847. lie ~erved in the pay department during the Mexi- can war, became lieutenant-colonel and deputy pay- master-general in May, 18l!2. and was in charge of the paymasters of the Department of the Pacific from 1861 till his death. He was an accomplished scholar, draughtsman, and painter, and published "Fountain Rock, Amy Weir, and other Metrical Pastimes " (New York; 1860).


RIO, Antonio del (ree'-o). Spanish soldier, b. in La Mancha in 1745; d. in Guatemala about 1 ;s!i. He 1 came in 1775 to this country as a captain, and was serving in Central America when, in 178(i. the king of Spain appointed him commander of an expedition to make an examination of whatever ruins might be found in the territory of Guatemala, in order to settle the question, which was then greatly discussed, of whence America derived its inhabitants. Rio undertook his task in the same year with great zeal, and found the ruins of an an- cient city near Palenque, in the present state of Chiapas, Mexico, the splendor of which suggested to him the idea that it was built by the first Phce- nician adventurers that are thought by some to have sailed across the Atlantic ocean. Rio died shortly after his return to Guatemala, but left a manuscript about his explorations, which some years afterward fell into the hands of Dr. Pablo Felix Cabrera, who translated it into English and published it under the title of " Description of the Ruins of an Ancient City discovered near Palenque, in the Kingdom of Guatemala" (London, 17U4). The volume also contains an investigation into the history of the American races, by Cabrera.


RIO, Diego del (ree'-o), Spanish missionary, b. in Burgos about 1580 ; d. in Tlajiaco, Mexico, in 1644. He went to Mexico in 1595 with the family of the viceroy, the Count of Monterey, studied in the Jesuit college, and entered the Dominican order in Puebla de los Angeles in 1603, when his protector was promoted to the viceroyalty of Peru. Soon afterward he was sent to the missions of Oajaca, and began to study the Mistec language, until he was able to preach fluently to the Indians in that tongue. He was guardian of several convents, including the chief one of his order at Oajaca, and is buried in the church of the convent of Tlajiaco. He wrote " Diccionario copioso y erudito de la Lengua Misteca " and " Tratados espirituales y Sermones en Misteco," the manu- scripts of which, according to Burgoa, were in the library of the convent of Tlajiaco, but were re- moved on the secularization of the monastic orders.


RIO DE LA LOZA, Leopolds (ree -o-day-lah-lo'-thah), Mexican chemist, b. in the citv of Mexico in November, 1807; d. there, 2 May, '1873. His father was an apothecary, and from early youth the boy assisted him in the laboratory, thus acquiring a taste for chemistry. After finishing his primary education, he entered the College of San Iklefonso, and was graduated in surgery in 1827, but he continued his scientific studies, and was graduated in ISIJO in pharmacy, and in 1833 in medicine. In that year, when the cholera ravaged the country, Rio de la Loza received a public testimonial from President Gomez Farias for his services. In 1835 he began to give private lessons in chemistry and natural history, and in 1843 he was appointed professor of chemistry in the Medical school and the College of mines. He became successively professor of inorganic chemistry and chemistry applied to trades and agriculture in five different colleges, and in 1868 professor of analytical chemistry in the National school of medicine. During the American invasion of 1847, Rio de la Loza, as lieutenant of the academical company, took part in the battles of Penon, Churubusco, and San Antonio. During the French intervention and the empire he was prevented by sickness from leaving the capital, but refused to accept any public employment. He was a member of many scientific societies in Europe, the United Stales, and the Spanish-American republics, and in 1856 received from the Society for