Barbour, who appears as a grantee of lands in St. George's parish, Spottsylvania County, June 26, 1731, and again, in 1733, of lands in St. Mark's parish in the same county. He was one of the first vestrymen of this latter parish, at its organization at Germanna, in 1731, and served in that office until the division of the parish in 1740, which threw him into the new parish of St. Thomas, in Orange County, in which division he lived. Among his children was James Barbour, who represented the county of Culpeper in the House of Burgesses in 1764, was colonel and commander-in-chief of the militia of the county in 1775, and was the father of Mordecai, Thomas, Richard, and Gabriel Barbour, the last three of whom emigrated to Kentucky. Mordecai Barbour married a daughter of John Strode, of "Fleetwood," Culpeper County, and was the father of the late Hon. John Strode Barbour, statesman and lawyer, and grandfather of Hon. John Strode Barbour, a present representative of Virginia in the National House of Representatives, and whose material and political services to the State have gained him enduring regard. Thomas Barbour, another son of James Barbour, the settler in what is now Orange County, was a member of the House of Burgesses in 1769, when it issued the first protest against the Stamp Act. He was again a Burgess in 1775, and was a member of the "Committee of Public Safety," of Orange County, in the same year. He married Isabella Thomas, granddaughter of Philip Pendleton. Their third son was the Hon. Philip Pendleton Barbour, Speaker of Congress and of the Virginia Convention of 1829-30, and a Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He married Frances Todd, daughter of Benjamin Johnson, Burgess, of Orange County, and had issue: Philippa, married Judge Richard H. Field; Elizabeth, married John J. Ambler, of "Jacqueline Hall," Madison County; Thomas, M. D., married Catharine Strother; Edmund Pendleton, married Harriet, daughter of Colonel John Stuart, of King George County; Quintus, married Mary, daughter of James Somerville, of Culpeper County; Sextus, and Septimus. Justice Barbour died in 1841, and his wife, aged eighty-five, in April, 1872. James Barbour, the subject of this sketch, the fourth son of Thomas Barbour, was born in Orange County, June 10, 1775. His

* The name is rendered Barber in the State Land Records, and from a seal ring lately in the possession of the family, the arms displayed were those of the family of Staffordshire, England: Gules, three mullets argent, within a bordure ermine. Crest-A passion cross on three steps, gules. The motto, Nihilo nisi cruce, seems to indicate an origin in the days of the Crusaders.

†Philip Pendleton, grandson of Henry Pendleton, of Norwich, England, and whose descendants include the names of Clayton, Taylor ("John Taylor, of Carolina," a grandson), Gaines, Strother, Ragland, Browning, Beverley, Byrd, Dudley, Burk, Ellis, Slaughter, Hoge, Shackleford, Williams, Spotswood, and others equally worthy.

education was limited, and chiefly obtained while he was acting as a deputy sheriff, but his tutor for a time was the celebrated James Waddell, commemorated as the "Blind Preacher," by William Wirt, in his British Spy. James Barbour entered the service of the State at the age of twenty-four years, as a member of the memorable Assembly of 1799. His colleague from the county of Orange was James Madison (afterwards President of the United States), and he looked forward with eager expectancy to a conflict in debate of that able intellect with Patrick Henry, also a member elect of the Assembly. But he was disappointed in the death of the great orator of the Revolution, in June, 1799, before the body convened. James Barbour participated in every debate, ably vindicated the famous resolutions of Mr. Madison, and was the proposer of the anti-duelling law-one of the most stringent and effective legislative acts ever passed. While still a member of the Assembly, he was elected by it, January 3, 1811, Governor of Virginia, to succeed George William Smith, who was one of the victims of the awful burning of the Richmond Theater, on the 26th of December preceding. The administration of James Barbour, covering the important period of the second conflict with Great Britain, was signally able, vigilant, and patriotic. He was emphatically the "War Governor," and in pledging his personal means to sustain the credit of Virginia, takes honorable rank with Governor Thomas Nelson, of the Revolution.

Virginia nobly demeaned herself in the War of 1812. Many of her sons highly distinguished themselves in the combats by sea and land, and she suffered from the invasion of the enemy. In May, 1813, Admiral Cockburn with a British fleet entered Chesapeake Bay, and commenced a series of depredations on private property, which far eclipsed those which had made the name of Dunmore infamous in the War of Independence. An English fleet of four line-of-battle ships with twelve frigates was collected in the bay, near the capes and Lynhaven Bay. They carried a large land force under Sir Sydney Beckwith, the naval commander being Admiral Warren. They were closely watched from Norfolk and Hampton. The harbor of Norfolk was chiefly defended by the armament of Mr. Jefferson's famous "Gunboat System," but for the threatened emergency, large bodies of militia, from the upper counties of the State, had been ordered to the seaboard. Unused to the malaria of the summer season in lower Virginia, a large number of them were prostrated with sickness and many of them died. General Robert Barraud Taylor, of the State line, commanded the military district, and Commodore Cassin, of the United States Navy, directed the sea defences. On the 20th of June, the advance of the English frigate "Junon," upon Norfolk, was gallantly checked by our immature American Navy. Some movements on the following day among the British shipping, which had moved near Newports News, seemed to indicate an early

attack upon Craney Island, near the mouth of Elizabeth River, and which commands the approach from Hampton Roads to Norfolk. Its defence was therefore all-important. The forces on the island consisted of about 400 infantry of the line, 50 riflemen from Winchester, under Captain Roberts, 91 artillery in two companies, one from Portsmouth, Captain Arthur Emerson, and the other from one of the upper counties, commanded by Captain Richardson; the whole force being under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel H. Beatty, assisted by Major Wagner of the infantry, and Major Faulkner of the artillery service. Of this force 43 were on the sick-list. On the evening of the 21st, they were reinforced by order of General Taylor, by Captain Pollard of the United States Army, with 30 of his company from Fort Norfolk; Lieutenant Atkinson from Culpeper County, with 30 volunteers of the militia of Isle of Wight County, and by 150 seamen and marines, under Lieutenants Neale, Shubrick and Saunders, from the frigate "Constellation," Captain Tarbell. On the morning of the 22d, the enemy landed about 2,500 troops, under Sir Sydney Beckwith, with the view to approach from the west side of the island, across the water in that direction, which at low water was passable by infantry. Soon after they landed, there approached about 50 boats filled with men, which directed their course to the north side of the island. Here two twenty-four-pounders and four six-pounders had been advantageously posted by Major Faulkner. These were gallantly and effectively served by Captain Emerson and Lieutenants Parke G. Howle and Godwin, aided by Lieutenant Neale and his command. A galling fire was opened upon the approaching foe, and the guns were trained with such fatal precision that five of their barges were sunk, and one of them literally cut in twain. The other boats hauled off in discomfiture and the valorous Virginians had to speedily succor the drowning wretches thus left struggling in the Admiral Warren's own barge, the "Centipede," 52 feet long, and working 24 oars, stranded and was taken with 22 men, a brass pounder and numbers of small arms. In the meanwhile the landed detachments were attempting to cross the narrow inlet in front of the battery, but were grievously harassed at long shot, and when they came nearer the havoc was so fearful that they precipitately retreated. So eager were the Virginians for the fray, that the Winchester riflemen pursued the foe into the water, hoping to reach them with their bullets. The loss of the enemy was fully 200, besides the prisoners named, and 50 deserters, whilst on the American side not a man was lost. In transmitting the report of Colonel Beatty to the Secretary of War, General Taylor justly remarks of this brilliant feat: "The courage and constancy with which this inferior force, in the face of a formidable naval armament, not only sustained a position in which nothing was complete, but repelled the enemy with considerable loss, can not fail to command

the approbation of their government and the applause of their country," and adds: "It has infused into the residue of the army a general spirit of competition, the beneficial effects of which will, I trust, be displayed in our future conflicts." The heroic defence of Craney Island filled the enemy with rage and shame. They abandoned their designs upon Norfolk, and Hampton was the next point of attack, led by Cockburn in person, on the 25th of June. Invested with the small force of 400 artillery and infantry, under Major Stapleton Crutchfield, he was unable to withstand the furious assault of a foe, by sea and land, ten times his number. The enemy took possession of Hampton and committed the most revolting deeds. A wanton destruction of private property took place, and the degraded soldiery and the negro slaves, who had been enticed from their owners, were allowed to riot in every species of brutality. The militia of the country, however, collecting in formidable numbers for an attack, the British evacuated the town on the 27th of June, and soon after the invading fleet left the Chesapeake, and prepared for a descent upon North Carolina. It is noteworthy that the patriotic ladies of the city of Richmond, early in 1812, contributed, by the sale of their jewels, towards the building and equipping of a vessel of war called the "First Attempt," the command of which was given to Captain Isbon Benedict.

In 1815, Mr. Barbour was elected by the Virginia Assembly to the United States Senate, and served continuously for ten years, until 1825. In this body he took an important part in the discussion on the Missouri question, and his speeches on the abolition of imprisonment for debt elicited great applause and commendation throughout the Union. He was chairman of the committee on foreign affairs, the District of Columbia and other important committees, and frequently President pro tem. of the Senate. In 1825, upon the invitation of President John Quincy Adams, he became a member of his cabinet, as Secretary of War, and served in that capacity until May 26, 1828, when he was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain. His brief sojourn in England was a season of unalloyed pleasure to him. The bitterness of the (then) recent conflict between the two countries had measurably passed away, and Great Britain was beginning to cherish a sentiment of pride in the lusty Republic, which she had long regarded as a rebellious child of her own. James Barbour was everywhere received with the utmost cordiality. A commanding physique and noble mien (in which he was, in the estimation of many, the peer of the majestic statesman, Daniel Webster), added to wondrous colloquial powers, in which pathos, humor and eloquence were charmingly blended with a sunny geniality of manner, united in a personal magnetism which claimed the regard of all in every circle which he entered. His ready wit and patriotic impulse were happily exhibited in his reply to the good old Bishop of Bath and