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slavery. We must lift ourselves at once to the true Christian altitude where all distinctions of black and white are overlooked in the heartfelt recognition of the brotherhood of man.

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nant. Like Apollyon in Pilgrim's Progress, it "straddled over the whole breadth of the way." Church and State, press and pulpit, business interests, literature, and fashion were prostrate at its feet. I must not close this letter without con- Our convention, with few exceptions, was fessing that I cannot be sufficiently thank- composed of men without influence or ful to the Divine Providence which, in a position, poor and little known, strong great measure through thy instrumental- only in their convictions and faith in the ity, turned me away so early from what justice of their cause. To on-lookers our Roger Williams calls 'the world's great endeavor to undo the evil work of two centrinity-pleasure, profit, and honor," to turies and convert a nation to the "great take side with the poor and oppressed. renunciation" involved in emancipation I am not insensible to literary reputation. must have seemed absurd in the last I love, perhaps too well, the praise and degree. Our voices in such an atmosphere good-will of my fellow-men; but I set found no echo. We could look for no a higher value on my name as appended response but laughs of derision or the to the anti-slavery declaration of 1833 missiles of a mob. than on the title-page of any book. Looking over a life marked by many errors and shortcomings, I rejoice that I have been able to maintain the pledge of that signature, and that, in the long intervening years,

heard

"My voice, though not the loudest, has been Wherever Freedom raised her cry of pain."

Let me, through thee, extend a warm greeting to the friends, whether of our own or the new generation, who may assemble on the occasion of commemoration. There is work yet to be done which will task the best efforts of us all. For thyself, I need not say that the love and esteem of early boyhood have lost nothing by the test of time; and

I am, very cordially, thy friend,
JOHN G. WHITTIER.

Anti-slavery Anniversary.-Read at the semi-centennial celebration of the American Anti-slavery Society at Philadelphia on Dec. 3, 1883:

OAK KNOLL, DANVERS, MASS..
Nov. 30, 1883.

I need not say how gladly I would be with you at the semi-centennial of the American Anti-slavery Society. I am, I regret to say, quite unable to gratify this wish, and can only represent myself by a letter.

But we felt that we had the strength of truth on our side; we were right, and all the world about us was wrong. We had faith, hope, and enthusiasm, and did our work, nothing doubting, amidst a generation who first despised and then feared and hated us. For myself I have never ceased to be grateful to the Divine Providence for the privilege of taking a part

in that work.

And now for more than twenty years we have had a free country. No slave treads its soil. The anticipated dangerous consequences of complete emancipation have not been felt. The emancipated class, as a whole, have done wisely and well under circumstances of peculiar difficulty. The masters have learned that cotton can be raised better by free than by slave labor, and nobody now wishes a return to slave-holding. Sectional prejudices are subsiding, the bitterness of the Civil War is slowly passing away. are beginning to feel that we are one people, with no really clashing interests, and none more truly rejoice in the growing prosperity of the South than the old abolitionists, who hated slavery as a curse to the master as well as to the slave.

We

In view of this commemorative semicentennial occasion, many thoughts crowd upon me; memory recalls vanished faces and voices long hushed. Of those who Looking back over the long years of half acted with me in the convention fifty years a century, I can scarcely realize the con- ago nearly all have passed into another ditions under which the convention of state of being. We who remain must soon 1833 assembled. Slavery was predomi- follow; we have seen the fulfilment of our

States Senator from Jan. 4, 1860, till his formal expulsion, July 11, 1861.

desire; we have outlived scorn and per- Senator in 1857-58 and 1859-60; United secution; the lengthening shadows invite us to rest. If, in looking back, we feel that we sometimes erred through impatient zeal in our contest with a great wrong, we have the satisfaction of knowing that we were influenced by no merely selfish considerations. The low light of our setting sun shines over a free, united people, and our last prayer shall be for their peace, prosperity, and happi

ness.

Commenting on Mr. Lincoln's inaugural address, Senator Wigfall said: "It is easy to talk about enforcing the laws and holding, occupying, and possessing the forts. When you come to do this, bayonets, and not words, must settle the question. . . . Fort Pickens and the administration will soon be forced to construe the inaugural.

...

The Confederate States will not leave Whittlesey, CHARLES, geologist; born Fort Sumter in possession of the Federal in Southington, Conn., Oct. 4, 1808, and government. . . . Seven States have formwent to Tallmadge, O., in 1813; gradu- ed a confederation, and to tell them, as the ated at West Point in 1831; resigned the President has done, that the acts of senext year, and became a lawyer. After- cession are no more than blank paper is wards he engaged in journalism, and in an insult. . . . There is no Union left. . . . geological and mineralogical surveys of The seceded States will not live under Ohio at different periods from 1837 to this administration. Withdraw your 1860. He became assistant quartermaster- troops. Make no attempt to collect tribgeneral of Ohio in 1861; engaged in the campaign in western Virginia in the summer of that year; and became colonel of the 20th Ohio Volunteers. He was at the siege of Fort Donelson, and in the battle of Shiloh commanded a brigade in Gen. Lew. Wallace's division, rendering impor tant service. He resigned a few days after this event, and was afterwards engaged in geological exploration. He is the author of several biographical, historical, and scientific works; and was one of the founders and the president of the Western Reserve Historical Society, at Cleveland. He died in Cleveland, O., Oct. 18,

1886.

Wickes, LAMBERT, naval officer; born in New England, presumably in 1735; joined the navy Dec. 22, 1775; commanded the brig Reprisal in 1776, and in the summer of that year captured the English vessels Friendship, Shark, and Peter. He next took Benjamin Franklin to France while in command of the same vessel, and before leaving French waters captured fourteen ships in five days. The Reprisal, with Wickes and all the crew excepting the cook, was lost in a storm off Newfound land in 1778.

ute, and enter into a treaty with those States. Do this and you will have peace. Send your flag of thirty-four stars thither and it will be fired into, and war will ensue. Divide the public property; make a fair assessment of the public debt; or will you sit stupidly and idly till there shall be a conflict of arms because you cannot compromise with traitors? Let the remaining States reform their government, and, if it is acceptable, the Confederacy will enter into a treaty of commerce and amity with them. If you want peace, you shall have it; if you want war, you shall have it. . . . No compromise or amendment to the Constitution, no arrangement you may enter into, will satisfy the South, unless you recognize slaves as property and protect it as any other species of property."

Senator Wigfall, when he left the halls of legislation at Washington, hastened to Charleston and became a volunteer on the staff of General Beauregard. He was on Morris Island when the bombardment of Fort Sumter began, and on April 13 he went in a boat to Sumter, accompanied by one white man and two negroes. He carried a white handkerchief on the point of a sword as a flag of truce. Landing, he hastened to an embrasure and asked permission to enter. The soldiers would not let him. "I am General Wigfall." he said: "I wish to see Major Anderson." "Wait till I see the commander," said the soldier.

Wigfall, Louis TREZEVANT, legislator; born in Edgefield district, S. C., April 21, 1816; took a partial course at the College of South Carolina: left to enter the army for the Indian War in Florida: was admitted to the bar: Texan State

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"For God's sake, let me in!" cried Wig- they begged him to let it remain until fall; "I can't stand it out here in the they could see Beauregard. An arrangefiring." He ran to the sally-port, and ment for the evacuation was soon after was confronted by burning timbers. made. After the war Wigfall resided for several years in England, and in 1873 settled in Baltimore. He died in Galveston, Tex., Feb. 18, 1874.

He ran around the fort, waving his handkerchief to induce his fellow-Confederates to cease firing. But the missiles fell thick and fast, and he was permitted to crawl Wigger, WINAND MICHAEL, clergyinto an embrasure, after he had given man; born in New York, Dec. 8, 1841; up his sword to a private soldier. There graduated at St. Francis Xavier College he met some of the officers. Trembling in 1860; studied theology at Seton Hall with excitement, he said: "I am General Seminary, South Orange, N. J., in 1860Wigfall; I come from General Beauregard, 62; and Brignoli Sali Seminary, Geneva, who wants to stop this bloodshed.

You 1862-65; ordained in the Roman Catholic Church in 1865; and was assistant president of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Newark, N. J., in 1865-69; rector of St. Vincent's Roman Catholic Church, in Madison, N. J., in 1869-73; of St. John's, in Orange, N. J., in 1874-76; and again at St. Vincent's till 1881, when he was consecrated bishop of Newark. He died in South Orange, N. J., Jan. 5, 1901.

are on fire, and your flag is down; let us stop this firing." One of the officers said, "Our flag is not down." And the Senator saw it where Peter Hart had planted it. He tried to get the officers to display his handkerchief above the fort or out of the embrasure; but all refusing, he said, "May I hold it, then?" One of them coolly replied, "If you wish to." Wigfall sprang into the embrasure and waved the white flag several times. Frightened away by shots, he said to one of the officers, "If you will wave this from the ramparts they will cease firing." "It shall be done," was the reply, "if you request it for the purpose, and that alone, of holding a conference with Major Anderson."

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Wigginton, PETER DINWIDDIE, lawyer; born in Springfield, Ill., Sept. 6, 1839; educated at the University of Wisconsin, and was admitted to the bar in 1860. Shortly afterwards he removed to California, where he was elected district attorney of Merced county in 1864; and to Congress in 1875 and 1877. While in Congress he introduced a bill forbidding fraudulent land surveys in California. In 1884 he was the candidate of the American party for President of the United States.

They met. Wigfall said he came from General Beauregard, who wished to stop the fighting. Upon what terms will you evacuate the fort?" "General Beaure- Wigglesworth, EDWARD, military offigard knows the terms upon which I will cer; born in Ipswich, Mass., Jan. 3, 1742; evacuate on the 15th. Instead of noon on graduated at Harvard College in 1761; the 15th, I will go now." "I understand became colonel in the Continental army in you to say," said Wigfall, eagerly, "that June, 1776; took part in the manœuvres you will evacuate the fort now, sir, upon of the American squadron on Lake Chamthe same terms." Anderson answered in plain; and was present in the battle of the affirmative. "Then," said Wigfall. Monmouth and other actions. In 1778 inquiringly, "the fort is to be ours?" he was president of a court of inquiry to "Yes, sir." "Then I will return to examine into the capitulation of Forts Beauregard," said Wigfall, and he de- Montgomery and Clinton; in 1779 he reparted. Believing Wigfall's story, Ander- signed, and was made collector of the port son allowed a white flag to be raised over of Newburyport. He died in Newburythe fort. Soon afterwards several gen- port, Mass., Dec. 8, 1826. tlemen (one of them directly from Beau- Wigglesworth, MICHAEL, clergyman; regard at Fort Moultrie) came to Sum- born in England, Oct. 18, 1631; came to ter, and, when they were informed of the United States with his father in Wigfall's visit, assured Major Anderson 1638; graduated at Harvard College in that Wigfall had not seen Beauregard in 1651; became a tutor there; studied both two days. The indignant Anderson was theology and medicine; and was minister about to haul down the white flag, when in Malden, Mass., from 1656 till his death,

June 10, 1705. He wrote God's Controversy with New England, etc.

Wigwam, an Indian dwelling; constructed of a bundle of poles fastened together at the top and placed in a conelike position. These poles are then covered with the bark of trees or the skins of ani

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mals. In the winter a fire is built in the
centre, and the inmates sleep at night
with their feet towards it.
The smoke
escapes through the top. In migrations
the wigwam is carried along.

Wilcox, MARRION, author; born in Augusta, Ga., April 3, 1858; graduated at Yale University in 1878; studied law and was admitted to the bar; spent five years in Europe; engaged in newspaper work in New York City in 1893. He is the author of A Short History of the War with Spain; one of the editors of Harper's History of the War in the Philippines, etc.; and the magazine articles The Filipinos' Vain Hope of Independence; Our Treaty with the Sultan of Sulu; The Heart of Our Philippine Problem; Filipino Churches and American Soldiers, etc.

Wilcox, REYNOLD WEBB, physician; born in Madison, Conn., March 29, 1856;' graduated at Yale University in 1878; studied medicine in Europe; became a member of the societies of Colonial Wars, Sons of the Revolution, War of 18.2, Military Order of the Loyal Legion, Sons of Veterans, U. S. A., and various medical organizations. His publications inVincent Meigs, and Richard Webb; Madiclude Descendants of William Wilcorson, son: Her Soldiers; and several medical works.

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Wild-cat Banks.

CAT.

See BANKS, WILD

Wilcox, CADMUS MARCELLUS, military Wilde, GEORGE FRANCIS FAXON, naval officer; born in Wayne county, N. C., May officer; born in Braintree, Mass., Feb. 23, 29, 1826; graduated at the United States 1845; graduated at the United States NaMilitary Academy and commissioned sec- val Academy in 1864; was promoted comond lieutenant of infantry in 1846; served mander in 1885 and captain in 1898. In in the war with Mexico; in the Confed- the American-Spanish War he commanded erate service during the Civil War; took the ram Katahdin in Cuban waters; af part in the second battle of Bull Run, and in those of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Salem Heights, and Gettysburg; promoted major-general in 1863; and had command of a division in the Mine Run campaign. He was author of Rifles and Rifle Practice, and History of the Mexican War. He died in Washington, D. C., Dec. 2, 1890.

terwards was assigned to command the cruiser Boston; landed the first marines ever disembarked in China and forwarded them to Peking, where they guarded the American legation from November, 1898, till April, 1899; was ordered to the Philippines, where he captured the city of Iloilo, Feb. 11, 1899, and Vigan, Feb. 18, 1900; and commanded the battle-ship OreWilcox, DELOS FRANKLIN, author; gon from May 29, 1899, till Jan. 16, 1901. born in Ida, Mich., April 22, 1873; grad. He introduced gas buoys on the Great uated at the University of Michigan in Lakes, the telephone to light vessels from 1894. His publications include The Study shore, and the electric light vessel off of City Government; and the magazine Diamond Shoal, Cape Hatteras. While articles Municipal Government in Mich- hastening the Oregon from Manila to Chiigan and Ohio; Studies in History; Party nese waters during the Boxer troubles his Government in the Cities of New York vessel struck an uncharted ledge in the State; and The American Newspaper: a Gulf of Pechili, and was considerably inStudy in Social Psychology. jured; but he worked her off the rock

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and took her to a Japanese port 765 Ewell; but, being continually reinforced, miles distant.

the Confederates soon defeated the Nationals. It was now past noon. Grant was satisfied that Lee's troops were near in full force. The country was so covered with shrub-oaks, bushes, and tangled

Wilderness, BATTLE OF THE. At midnight on May 3, 1864, the Army of the Potomac, fully 100,000 strong, fresh and hopeful, and with an immense army-train, began its march towards Richmond. The vines that no observations could be made right was composed of the corps of War- at any great distance. Grant ordered up ren and Sedgwick, and the left of that of Sedgwick's corps to the support of WarHancock. Warren's cavalry, preceded by ren; while Hancock, who was nearly 10 that of Wilson, crossed the Rapidan at miles away, on the road to the left, Germania Ford on the morning of the marched back to join Warren. Getty's 4th, followed by Sedgwick. The left, pre- division of Sedgwick's corps was posted ceded by Gregg's cavalry, and followed by at the junction of two roads, with orders the entire army-train of wagons, 4,000 in to hold the position at all hazards until number, crossed at Ely's Ford at the same the arrival of Hancock. The fighting, time. Burnside's 9th Corps, left behind where it was begun in the morning, conin anticipation of a possible move of Lee tinued fierce until 4 P.M., when both on Washington, crossed the Rapidan and armies fell back and intrenched within joined the army on the 5th, when the whole force had pushed on into the region known as "The Wilderness," beyond Chancellorsville, and well on the right flank of the Confederate army lying behind strong intrenchments on Mine Run. The whole force of the National army was now about 130,000 men, of whom a

little more than 100,000 were available for battle. When Lee discovered this movement he pushed forward nearly his whole army to strike the flanks of the Nationals on their march. This movement failed.

On the 5th, Warren, who was followed by Sedgwick, sent the divisions of Griffin and Crawford to make observations. The former was struck by Ewell's corps, and the latter by Hill's a little later.

Orange

EWELL

LEE

Plank

SEDGWICK

HILL

Road

WARREN

Spottswood

Woodville
Mine

Wildern

Old Wilderness Tavern

Lacy

GRANT

BURNSIDE

LONGS

MAP OF THE WILDERNESS BATTLE-FIELD.

Stevensburg

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The march was suspended. Crawford was 200 yards of each other. Getty held his withdrawn, and Griffin, reinforced by ground against severe pressure by Hill Wadsworth's division, with Robinson's in until Hancock's advance reached him at support, soon defeated the advance of three o'clock. He then made an aggres

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