PONTIAC. to him in a vision, saying, "I am the Lord of life; it is I who made all men; I wake for their safety. Therefore I give you warning, that if you suffer the Englishmen to dwell in your midst, their diseases and their poisons shall destroy you utterly, and you shall die." The chief preached a crusade against the English among the Western tribes, and so prepared the way for Pontiac to easily form his conspiracy. After the capture of Fort Duquesne, settlers from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia went over the mountains into the Ohio region in large numbers. They were not kindly disposed towards the Indians, and French traders fanned the embers of hostility between the races. The Delawares and Shawnees, who had lately emigrated from Pennsylvania, and were on the banks of the Muskingum, Scioto, and Miami, nursed hatred of the English and stirred up the Western tribes against the white people. Pontiac took the lead in a widespread conspiracy, and organized a confederacy for the purpose of driving the English back beyond the Althe alleged possession of the vast domain leghanies. The confederacy was composed acquired by the treaty of Paris, expelled of the Ottawas, Miamis, Wyandottes, the Roman Catholic priests, and haughtily Delawares, Shawnees, Ontagamies, Chipassumed to be absolute lords of the Ind- pewas, Pottawattomies, Mississagas, Foxes, ians' country, the latter were exasperated, and Winnebagoes. These had been allies and resolved to stand firmly in the way of of the French. The Senecas, the most English pretensions. "Since the French westerly of the Six Nations, joined the must go, no other nation should take their confederacy, but the other tribes of the place." The conspiracy known as Pontiac's IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY (q. v.) were kept began with the lower nations. The quiet by Sir William Johnson. It was Senecas, of the Six Nations, the Dela- arranged for a simultaneous attack to be wares and Shawnees, had for some time made along the whole frontier of Pennurged the Northwestern Indians to take sylvania and Virginia. The conspiracy up arms against the English. They said: was unsuspected until it was ripe and "The English mean to make slaves of us, the first blow was struck, in June, 1763. by occupying so many posts in our coun- English traders scattered through the try." The British had erected log forts frontier regions were plundered and slain. here and there in the Western wilderness. At almost the same instant they attacked "We had better attempt something now all of the English outposts taken from to recover our liberty, than to wait till the French, and made themselves masters they are better established," said the na- of nine of them, massacring or dispersing tions, and their persuasions had begun the garrisons. Forts Pitt, Niagara, and to stir up the patriotism of the North- Detroit were saved. Colonel Bouquet western barbarians, when an Abenake saved Fort Pitt (now Pittsburg); Niagara prophet from eastern New Jersey appear- was not attacked; and Detroit, after a ed among them. He was a chief, and had long siege by Pontiac in person, was refirst satisfied his own people that the lieved by Colonel Bradstreet in 1764. The Great Spirit had given him wisdom to Indians were speedily subdued, but proclaim war against the new invaders. Pontiac remained hostile until his death He said the great Manitou had appeared in Cahokia, Ill., in 1769. He was an able sachem and warrior, and, like King Philip, was doubtless moved by patriotic impulses; for the flow of emigration over the mountains threatened his race with displacement if not with destruction. See DETROIT. Pony Express, an express service established in April, 1860. It was part of a mail line between New York and San Francisco by way of St. Joseph, Mo., and Sacramento. Between the two last-named places the distance was traversed by fleet horsemen, each of whom went 60 miles. The weight carried was not to exceed 10 pounds, and the charge was $5 in gold for each quarter of an ounce. The riders were paid $1,200 a month. The distance between New York and San Francisco by the aid of this express was made in fourteen days. The pony express lasted two years, being given up when the telegraph line across the continent was completed. Poole, WILLIAM FREDERICK, librarian; born in Salem, Mass., Dec. 24, 1821; graduated at Yale College in 1849; librarian of the Boston Athenæum in 1856-69; organized the public library of Cincinnati, O., in 1869, and that of Chicago in 1874. His publications include Cotton Mather and Salem Witchcraft; The Popham Colony; The Ordinance of 1787; Anti-slavery Opinions before 1800; the chapter on Witchcraft in the Memorial History of Boston; Index to Periodic Literature; and The Battle of Dictionaries. He died in Evanston, Ill., March 1, 1894. Poor, CHARLES HENRY, naval officer; born in Cambridge, Mass., June 11, 1808; joined the navy in 1825; participated with distinction in numerous important actions during the Civil War. While in command of the sloop-of-war Saranac, in the Pacific fleet in 1863-65, he forced the government at Aspinwall to let a United States mailsteamer proceed on her way after it had been held to pay illegal dues. He also compelled the authorities at Rio Hocha, New Granada, who had insulted the American flag to raise and salute it. He was promoted rear-admiral in 1868 and retired in 1870. He died in Washington, D. C., Nov. 5, 1882. after the evacuation of Boston his regiment was ordered to join the troops in New York that invaded Canada. In February, 1777, he was appointed brigadier-general, and as such commanded troops in the campaign against Burgoyne, after whose surrender he joined the army under Washington in Pennsylvania. He was in the movements near Philadelphia late in the year; spent the winter amid the snows of Valley Forge, and in June, 1778, was engaged in the battle of Monmouth. He accompanied Sullivan on his expedition against the Indians in 1779. When the corps of light infantry was formed (August, 1780), Poor was given command of one of the two brigades. He was killed in a duel with a French officer near Hackensack, N. J., Sept. 8, 1780. In announcing his death, Washington said he was an officer of distinguished merit, who, as a citizen and a soldier, had every claim to the esteem of his country. 66 Poor Richard, a fictitious name assumed by Benjamin Franklin. In 1732 he began the publication in Philadelphia of an almanac, with the name of Richard Saunders as author. It continued twenty-five years. Sometimes the author called himself “Poor Richard," and the publication was generally known as Poor Richard's Almanac. It was distinguished for its numerous maxims on temperance, frugality, order, justice, cleanliness, chastity, and the like. It has been said that its precepts are "as valuable as any that have descended from Pythagoras." Poore, BENJAMIN PERLEY, journalist; born near Newburyport, Mass., Nov. 2, 1820; learned the printer's trade; was attaché of the American legation in Brussels in 1841-48; became a Washington newspaper correspondent in 1854, and continued as such during the remainder of his life. His publications include Campaign Life of Gen. Zachary Taylor; Agricultural History of Essex County, Mass.; The Conspiracy Trial for the Murder of Abraham Lincoln; Federal and State Charters: The Political Register and Congressional Directory; Life of Burnside; Perley's Reminiscences of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis, etc. He died in Washington, D. C., May 30, 1887. Poor, ENOCH, military officer; born in Andover, Mass., June 21, 1736; became a merchant in Exeter, N. H. After the fight at Lexington he was appointed Pope, JoиN, military officer; born in colonel by the Provincial Congress, and Louisville, Ky., March 16, 1822; graduated at West Point in 1842, entering the corps of topographical engineers. He served under General Taylor in the war against JOHN POPE. Mexico. In 1849-50 he conducted explorations in Minnesota, and from 1854 to 1859 he was exploring the Rocky Mountains. In 1856 he was made captain, and in 1860, in an address at Cincinnati on "Fortifications," he boldly denounced the policy of President Buchanan, for which offence he was court-martialled, but the matter was dropped. Captain Pope was one of the officers who escorted Mr. Lincoln to Washington (February, 1861), and in May was made brigadier-general of volunteers and appointed to a command in Missouri, where he operated successfully until the capture of Island Number Ten, in 1862. In March, 1862, he became major-general of volunteers, and in April he took command of a division of Halleck's army. Late in June he was summoned to Washington to take command of the Army of Virginia, where, for fifteen days from Aug. 18, he fought the Confederate army under Lee continuously; but finally was compelled to take refuge behind the defences of Washington. At his own request, he was relieved of the command of the Army of Virginia and assigned to that of the Northwest. In March, 1865, he was brevetted major-general; in 1882 was promoted major-general; and in 1886 was retired. He died in Sandusky, O., Sept. 23, 1892. See GRANT, ULYSSES SIMPSON; LOGAN, JOHN ALEXANDER; PORTER, FITZ-JOHN. Popham, GEORGE, colonist; born in Somersetshire, England, about 1550; became a patentee of a grant in the present State of Maine; and sailed from Plym outh, England, May 31, 1607, with two ships and 100 men. Popham commanded one of the vessels and Raleigh Gilbert the other. The expedition was a failure. Popham died Feb. 5, 1608. His brother, SIR JOHN, who was lord chief-justice of the king's bench, and an earnest promoter of settlements in America, was born in Somersetshire, England, in 1531; became chief-justice in 1592; and died in June, 1607. Popular Sovereignty. See SQUATTER SOVEREIGNTY. Popular Vote for President. Previous to 1824 no returns were preserved of the popular vote for President, for the reason that in the earier elections the legislat ures of the different States chose the Presidential electors. Even as late as 1824 six States-viz., Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, New York, South Carolina, and Vermont, thus voted, and one State, South Carolina, so continued to vote until 1868. See PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS. Population, CENTRE OF. See CENSUS; CENTRE OF POPULATION. Populists. See PEOPLE'S PARTY. Porcupine's Gazette. William Cobbett, British soldier; born in 1762; emigrated to America in 1792. He published a small daily paper called Porcupine's Gazette, which was a formidable and dreaded adversary of the "French" (or Republican) party; and the Gazette fought the Aurora with the keen and effective weapons of scathing satire. But he did not spare the other side, and often came in sharp collision with the Minerva, the leading Federalist paper of New York, edited by Noah Webster, afterwards the lexicographer. Cobbett assailed leading citizens in his Gazette, and was prosecuted for libels. He was fined $5,000 for a libel on Dr. Rush, and this caused the death of the Gazette. See COBBETT, WILLIAM. Porey, JOHN, author and traveller; educated at Cambridge. While in Italy, in 1813, he was imprisoned for debt, from which he was released by Sir Dudley Carleton who wrote to a friend: "I fear he has fallen too much in love with the pot to be much esteemed." At about the same time dition that destroyed some feluccas, laden another wrote of Porey: "He must have with wheat, under the batteries at Tripoli, both meat and money; for drink he will where he was wounded. In October, 1803, find out himself, if it be above ground, or no deeper than the cellar." Porey was made secretary of the Virginia colony in 1619, but, on account of his exactions, was recalled in 1622. Early in that year he, with some friends, penetrated the country southward beyond the Roanoke River, with a view to making a settlement (see NORTH CAROLINA). On his arrival in London, Porey joined the disaffected members of the London Company, which so excited the mind of the King against the corporation that, in 1624, he deprived them of their charter. He had been sent early in that year as one of the commissioners to inquire into the state of the Virginia colony, and while there he bribed the clerk of the council to give him a copy of their proceedings, for which offence the poor scribe was made to stand in the pillory and lose one of his ears. DAVID PORTER. she grounded in the harbor of Tripoli, and was a prisoner and slave for eighteen months. In 1806, in command of the Enterprise, he fought and severely handled twelve Spanish gunboats near Gibraltar. In 1812 he was commissioned captain and placed in command of the Essex, in which he made a long and successful cruise in the Pacific Ocean. Porter, ANDREW, military officer; born in Worcester, Montgomery co., Pa., Sept. 24, 1743; was made captain of marines in 1776 and ordered on board the frigate Effingham, but was soon transferred to the he was captured in the Philadelphia when artillery service. He served with great distinction, and at the end of the war was colonel of the Pennsylvania artillery. In the battle of Germantown nearly all his company were killed or made prisoners. He was with Sullivan in his expedition in 1779, when he rendered important service by the exercise of his scientific knowledge. In 1784 he was a commissioner to run the State boundary-lines, and in 1800 was made major-general of the State militia. He was appointed surveyor-general of Pennsylvania in 1809, and on account of his age and infirmities he declined a seat in Madison's cabinet as Secretary of War. He died in Harrisburg, Pa., Nov. 16, 1813. Porter, DAVID, naval officer; born in Boston, Mass., Feb. 1, 1780; was appointed a midshipman, April 16, 1798, and, as lieutenant on the frigate Constellation, fought L'Insurgente in February, 1799, against the American vessels in that and was promoted soon afterwards. He region. Porter's appearance with a strong was wounded in an engagement with a frigate was very opportune, for American pirate (January, 1800) off Santo Do- commerce then lay at the mercy of Engmingo, and was first lieutenant of the En- lish whale-ships armed as privateers and terprise, which captured a Tripolitan cor- of Peruvian corsairs. The Essex was sair. He afterwards commanded an expe- cordially welcomed by the Chilean authori This cruise was one of the most remarkable recorded in history. He had swept around the southern cape of South America, and up its western coast, and on March 14, 1813, after being enveloped in thick fogs several days, he saw the city and harbor of Valparaiso, the chief seaport town of Chile. There he learned, for the first time, that Chile had become an independent state, and that the Spanish viceroy of Peru had sent out cruisers ties. She put to sea on the 25th; pressed Essex had just cast anchor, when a canoe up the coast; and soon overhauled a Peru- shot out from the shore containing three vian corsair which had captured two white men-one an Englishman who had American vessels. He took from her all been there twenty years. The other two the captured Americans, cast her arma- were Americans one of them Midshipment overboard, and sent her into Callao, man John Maury, of the navy. They inwith a letter to the viceroy, in which he formed Porter that a war was raging on denounced the piratical conduct of her the island between native tribes, and that, commander. Recapturing one of the in order to obtain supplies, he would have American vessels, Porter sailed for the to take part with the Taeehs, who dwelt Galapagos Islands, the resort of English whalers. There were over twenty of them in that region, most of them armed, and bearing letters-of-marque. Porter cruised among the islands for nearly a fortnight without meeting a vessel. On April 29 he discovered two or three English whaleships. He first captured the Montezuma. He had made a flotilla of small boats, which he placed under the command of Lieutenant Downes. These pushed for ward and captured the Georgiana and Policy. From these Porter procured ample supplies of provisions and naval stores. With the guns of the Policy added to those of the Georgiana, the latter, fitted up as a cruiser, became a worthy consort of the Essex. Her armament now consisted of sixteen guns, and she was placed under the command of Lieutenant Downes. Other English vessels were soon captured and fitted up as cruisers; and at the end of eight months after he sailed from the Delaware in the solitary Essex, Porter found himself in command of a squadron of nine armed vessels, prepared for formidable naval warfare. In July he captured the Seringapatam, an English vessel built for a cruiser for Sultan Tippoo Sahib. She was the most formidable enemy of American ships on the Pacific. Porter now released a large number of his prisoners on parole, and sent them to Rio Janeiro. With his squadron he then sailed for the Marquesas Islands, capturing other English vessels on the way, and late in October he anchored in the bay of Nooaheevah with his prizes. The Essex was the first vessel that carried the American pennant to these far-distant seas. She was more than 10,000 miles from home, with no friendly port to steer to. She had swept the Pacific of her enemies, and now lay, surrounded by her trophies, in the quiet waters of an almost unfrequented island on the mighty ocean. The VII.-R in the valley that opened out upon the bay. Porter sent a message to the enemies of the Taeehs that he had a force sufficient to subdue the whole island, and that if they ventured into the valley of the Taeehs while he remained he would punish them severely. He gave them perInission to bring hogs and fruit to the ship to sell, and promised them protection while trafficking. In an interview with the king of the Taeehs, Porter agreed to assist him in his wars. With muskets and a cannon, Porter's men drove the enemies of the king from hill to hill, until they made a stand, 4,000 strong, and sent stones and javelins against their assailants. The hostile tribes soon sued for peace, and on Nov. 19, Porter took possession of the island in the name of the United States. One tribe had remained hostile. This Porter subdued. On Dec. 12 he started for home in the Essex, taking with him the three white men. They reached Valparaiso, Feb. 3, 1814. In that harbor the Essex was captured by the British ship Phoebe, and the great conqueror on the Pacific Ocean became a prisoner. Porter was one of the naval commissioners from 1815 to 1823, and in the latter year made a successful cruise against pirates in the Gulf of Mexico. In consequence of some irregularity, he was suspended from command for six months; and in 1826 he resigned, and entered the Mexican navy as its commander-in-chief. He was appointed United States consul at Algiers in 1829; and when that country fell into the hands of the French he was made chargé d'affaires at Constantinople, where he afterwards, as American minister, negotiated several important treaties. He was minister there at the time of his death, March 3, 1843. Porter, DAVID DIXON, naval officer; born in Chester, Pa., June 8, 1813; a son of David Porter; entered the navy as mid257 |