POE, Orlando Mctculfe, soldier, b. in Navarre, Ohio, 7 March, 1832; d. in Detroit, 2 Oct., 1895. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy and assigned to the topographical engineers. He became 1st lieutenant, and was on lake survey duty till the beginning of the civil war, when he engaged in the organization of Ohio volunteers. He was chief topographical engineer of the Department of the Ohio from 13 May till 15 June, 1861, being engaged in reconnoissances in northern Kentucky and western Virginia, participated in the battle of Rich Mountain, on the staff of Gen. George B. McClellan. He became colonel of the 2d Michigan volunteers in September, 1861, was in command of his regiment in the defences of Washington, and took part in the principal battles of the Virginia peninsular campaign. He was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, 29 Nov., 1862, was engaged at Predericksburg, commanded a division of the 9th army corps from February to March, 1863. and became captain of U. S. engineers in that month, and subsequently chief engineer of the 23d corps of the Army of the Ohio. He occupied a similar post in the army of Gen. William T. Sherman in the invasion of Georgia, the march to the sea, and through the Carolinas, until the surrender of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. He received the brevet of major for gallant service at the siege of Knoxville on 6 July, 1864, that of lieutenant-colonel for the capture of Atlanta on 1 Sept., 1864, and that of colonel for Savannah on 21 Dec., 1864. In March, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general for "gallant and meritorious service in the campaign terminating in the surrender of the insurgent army under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston." He was engineer secretary of the U. S. light-house board in 1865-'70, commissioned major in the latter year, constructed the light-house on Spectacle reef. Lake Huron, in 1870-'3, and became a member of the light-house board in 1874. He was aide-de-camp to Gen. William T. Sherman in 1873-'84, and at the same time was in charge of the river and harbor works from Lake Erie to Lake Superior. In 1882 he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of engineers, and colonel in 1888.
POEPPIG, Eduard (pup-pig). German
naturalist, b. in Plauen, Saxony, 16 July, 1797; d. in
Leipsic. 4 Sept., 1868. He received his education
in Leipsic, and, after obtaining a medical degree,
was given by the rector of the university a botanical
mission to North and South America. He
returned to Germany toward the close of 1832 with
valuable collections in zoölogy and botany, and
was appointed in the following year professor of
zoölogy in the University of Leipsic, which post
he held till his death. He also contributed to the
establishment of a scientific museum in the latter
city, and bequeathed to it his collections. He
published “Reise nach Chili, Peru, und auf dem
Amazonen-Flusse” (2 vols., Leipsic, 1835); “Nova
genera ac Species plantarum quas in regno,
Chiliensi, Peruviano, ac Terra Amazonica, anni 1827-1832
lectarum” (3 vols., 1835-'45); “Reise nach den
Vereinigten Staaten” (1837); and “Landschaftliche
Ansichten und erlauternde Darstellungen”
(1839). Poeppig also wrote most of the American
articles for the “Allgemeine Encyclopaedie,” edited
by Ersch and Grüber.
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POEY, Felipe (po'-ay), Cuban naturalist, b. in Havana, 26 May, 1799; d. there, 28 Jan., 1891. He was of French and Spanish parentage. He made his studies in his native city, concluding them in the University of Madrid, where he was graduated in law. Having a taste for natural history, he abandoned his practice as a lawyer, and began the study of mollusks, insects, and fishes. In 1825 he sailed for Cuba, and thence, with a collection of specimens, for Paris. There he aided in founding, in 1827, the “Société entomologique,” and contributed notes and drawings to the “Histoire naturelle des poissons.” In 1833 he returned to Havana and devoted himself to the study of natural history, making drawings of specimens with his associate, Juan Gundlach (q. v.), and discovering many new species which are included in Pfeiffer's “Monographia Heliceorum Viventium.” In 1842 Poey was appointed professor of comparative anatomy and zoölogy in the University of Havana, and from 1851 till 1860 he published at intervals his “Historia Natural de la Isla de Cuba” (2 vols., 1860). In 1863 he was appointed to the chair of botany, mineralogy, and geology, and from 1868 till 1875 he published in the “Repertorio Fisico-Natural de la Isla de Cuba,” and reprinted in the “Anales de la Sociedad de Historia Natural de Madrid,” his great work under the title “Synopsis Piscicum Cubensium,” or “Catálogo razonado de los Peces Cubanos,” an atlas of 10 volumes with more than 1,000 illustrations drawn by himself, and the description of about 800 tropical American fishes. This work was purchased by the Spanish government, placed in the “Biblioteca de Ciencias Naturales” at Madrid, and exhibited by the government in the exposition of Amsterdam in 1883, receiving a gold medal and honorable mention. In 1873 Poey was appointed professor of philosophy and belles-lettres, and he held all his chairs in the university during many years thereafter, notwithstanding his advanced age. He was a member of almost every scientific society in Europe and America, and many of his new specimens in life-size drawings are to be found in the U. S. national museum, the U. S. museum of comparative zoölogy, and the Spanish museum at Madrid. His other works, besides the two mentioned above, are “Centurie des Lépidoptères de l'île de Cuba” (Paris, 1832); “Geografía Universal” (Havana, 1836); “Corona Poeyana” (1844); “Geografía de Cuba” (19 editions); “Cartilla de Geografía” (1855); and “Cartilla de Mineralogía” (1878). He had contributed for more than sixty years many papers on natural history to the French, Spanish, and Cuban scientific press, and some of his papers occur in the proceedings of the Academy of natural science of Philadelphia, the annals of the New York lyceum, and other American scientific publications. He also wrote poems, of which “El Arroyo” and “A Silvia” are best known. — His son, Andrés, meteorologist, b. in Havana in 1826, was educated in his native city and in Paris. In 1848 he began to contribute to scientific publications, especially on meteorology and natural philosophy. To his efforts was due the creation of a meteorological observatory at Havana, and during the reign of Maximilian he was director of an establishment of the same kind in Mexico. He has written much in Spanish, French, and English on scientific subjects. Among his writings are “Tratado de Meteorología,” “Memoria sobre los huracanes de las Antillas,” and “Memoria sobre las
