NEW WESTMINSTER 19
of Crampton Gap and in the battle of Antietam, and was for his gallant services brevetted lieutenant- colonel of regulars. He led a division at Fredericks- burg in the storming of Marye Heights, and was rewarded on 20 March, 1863, with the rank of major- general of volunteers. He commanded divisions at Chancellorsville and Salem Heights, and, at the death of Reynolds on 2 July, 1S63, was given command of the First Army Corps, whii-li ho led on the last two daysof thebattlciircic'ttyslnirg. OnSJuly, lS63,for gailant service at ticttyshurg, he was brevetted colonel of regulars. He engaged in the pursuit of the Confederate forces to Warrenton, Virginia, and towards the end of 1S63 was active in the Rapidan Campaign. In May, 1864, he was transferred to the Army of the Cumberland, and commanded under General Thomas the Second Division, Fourth Corps. He fought in all the actions during the invasion of Georgia up to the capture of Atlanta. For his gallan- try in this campaign, especially in the battle of Peach Tree Creek, he was brevetted on 13 March, 1865, major-general of volunteers and brigadier-general and major-general of regulars. He then took command of various districts in Florida until, in January, 1866, he was mustered out of the volunteer service.
Commissioned lieutenant-colonel of engineers in the regular service on 28 December, 186.5, Newton was ordered in April, 1866, to New York City, where he thenceforth resided, engaged on the engineering la- bours that made his name famous. He was superin- tendent engineer of the construction of the defences on the Long Island side of the Narrows, of the improve- ments of the Hudson River, and of the fortifications at Sandy Hook. He was also one of the board of engi- neers deputed to carry out the modifications of the de- fences around New York City. The proposed en- largement of the Harlem River, and the improvements of the Hudson from Troy to New York, of the channel between New Jersey and Staten Island, and of the harbours on Lake Champlain were put under his charge. On 30 June, 1879, he was named colonel, and on 6 March, 1884, chief of engineers in the regular ser- vice with the rank of brigadier-general. Among New- ton's achievements, the most notable was the removal of the dangerous rocks in Hell Gate, the principal water-way between Long Island Sound and the East River. To accomplish this task successfully, required the solution of difficult engineering problems never before attempted, and the invention of new apparatus, notably a steam drilling machine, which has since been in general use. Newton carefully studied the problem, and the accuracy of his conclusions was shown by the exact correspondence of the results with the objects sought. Hallett's Reef and Flood Rock, having been carefully mined under his directions, were destroyed by two great explosions (24 September, 1876; 10 October, 1885). This engineering feat ex- cited the universal admiration of engineers , and many honours were conferred upon him. On Newton's vol- untary retirement from the service in 1886, Mayor Grace of New York, recognizing his superior skill, ap- pointed him commissioner of pubhc works on 28 Aug. This post he voluntarily resigned on 24 Nov., 1888. On 2 April, 1888, he accepted the presidency of the Panama Railroad Company, which position he filled until his death. In 1848 General Newton married Anna M. Starr of New London, Connecticut. In his early manhood he became, and until his death re- mained, an earnest and devout member of the Catho- lic Church.
Powell, List of Offit.ers of the V. S. Army. 1778-1900; Cui^ LUM, Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U. S. Military Academy; Appleton's Encycl, Amer. Biog., s. v.; Smith, In Memoriam of General John Newton (New York, 1895).
John G. Ewing.
New Westminster. See Vancouver, Archdio- cese OF.
NEW YEAR'S DAY
New Year's Day. — The word year is etymologi- cally the same as hour (Skeat), and signifies a going, movement etc. In Semitic, T\T^, year, signifies "repe- tition, sc. of the course of the sun" (Gesenius). Since there was no necessary starting-point in the circle of the year, we find among different nations, and among the same at different epochs of their history, a great variety of dates with which the new year began. The opening of spring was a natural beginning, and in the Bible itself there is a close relationship between the beginning of the year and the seasons. The ancient Roman year began in March, but Julius Caesar, in correcting the calendar (46 B. c), made January the first month. Though this custom has been univer- sally adopted among Christian nations, the names, September, October, November, and December(i.e. the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth), remind us of the past, when March began the year. Christian writers and councils condemned the heathen orgies and ex- cesses connected with the festival of the SaturnaUa, which were celebrated at the begi nning of the year : Ter- tuUian blames Christians who regarded the customary presents — called sirena: (Fr. etrennes) from the goddess Strenia, who presided over New Year's Day (cf . Ovid, "Fasti", 185-90) — as mere tokens of friendly inter- course (De Idol, xiv), and towards the end of the sixth century the Council of Au.xerre (can. I) forbade Chris- tians "strenas diabolicas observare". The II Coun- cil of Tours held in 567 (can. 17) prescribes prayers and a Mass of expiation for New Year's Day, adding that this is a practice long in use (patres noslri sta- tuerunt). Dances were forbidden, and pagan crimes were to be expiated by Christian fasts (St. Augustine, Serm., cxcvii-viii in P. L., XXXVIII, 1024; Isidore of Seville, "De Div. Off. Eccl.", I, xli; Trullan Council, 692, can. Ixii). When Christmas was fixed on 25 Dec, New Year's Day was sanctified by commem- orating on it the Circumcision, for which feast the Gelasian Sacramentary gives a Mass (In Octabas Do- mini) . Christians did not wish to make the celebra- tion of this feast very solemn, lest they might seem to countenance in any way the pagan extravagance of the opening year.
Among the Jews the first day of the seventh month, Tishri (end of September), began the civil or economic year "with the sound of trumpets" (Lev., xxiii, 24; Num., xxix, 1). In the Bible the day is not mentioned as New Year's Day, but the Jews so regarded it, so named it, and so consider it now (Mishnah, Rosh Hash., I, 1). The sacred year began with Nisan (early in April), a later name for the Biblical abhibh, i. e. "month of new corn", and was memorable "be- cause in this month the Lord thy God brought thee out of Egypt by night" (Deut., xvi, 1). Barley ripens in Palestine during the early part of April; and thus the sacred year began with the harvest, the civil year with the sowing of the crops. From Biblical data Josephus and many modern scholars hold that the twofold beginning of the year was pre-exilic, or even Mosaic (cf. "Antiq.", I, iii, 3). Since Jewish months were regulated by the moon, while the ripen- ing barley of Nisan depended upon the sun, the Jews resorted to intercalation to bring sun and moon dates into harmony, and to keep the months in the seasons to which they belonged (for method of adjustment, see Edersheim, "The Temple, Its Ministry and Services at the Time of Jesus Christ", x).
Christian nations did not agree in the date of New Year's Day. They were not opposed to 1 January as the beginning of the year, but rather to the pagan ex- travagances which accompanied it. Evidently the natural opening of the year, the sijringtime, together with the Jewish opening of the sacred year, Nisan, sug- gested the propriety of putting the beginning in that beautiful season. Also, the Dionysian method (so named from the Abbot Dionysius, sixth century) of dating events from the coming of Christ became an
