1826), "New York 170 Years Ago" (1849), and several works on legal subjects.

MOULTRIE, a central co. of Ill., drained by the Kaskaskia river and its branches; area, 320 sq. m.; pop. in 1855, 4,435. It has a level or undulating surface and a fertile soil. The productions in 1850 were 373,630 bushels of Indian corn, 60,040 of oats, 6,148 of wheat, and 15,368 lbs. of wool. There were 5 saw mills, 7 churches, and 380 pupils attending public schools. The Terre Haute and Alton railroad crosses the southern portion. Capital, Sullivan. MOULTRIE, FORT, a fortress on Sullivan's island at the mouth of Charleston harbor, where a memorable victory was gained by the troops of South Carolina under Col. Moultrie over a British squadron commanded by Sir Peter Parker, June 28, 1776. Early in that month a fleet of 40 or 50 sail, comprising ships of war and transports conveying troops, arrived off Charleston with a view of investing the place, which was then occupied by the Americans. Hasty preparations for defence were made in the city and its suburbs, and a fort on Sullivan's island destined to command the entrance to the harbor, and which was then building under the direction of Col. Moultrie, was ordered by John Rutledge, the president of South Carolina, to be finished without delay. On the 9th Gen. Charles Lee, who held the chief command in Charleston, made a tour of inspection to Sullivan's island, and expressed much dissatisfaction with the character and position of the work, declaring that it was no better than a "slaughter pen." He subsequently advised Rutledge to abandon the post; and failing to convince him of the impossibility of holding it half an hour against the fire of the British fleet, he directed Moultrie to construct bridges for his retreat to Haddrell's point on the main land. A few days after he detached 600 men from the garrison, and took away also a large portion of the ammunition. In spite of these discouragements, Moultrie pushed forward the work with vigor. To render victory easy and certain, the British commanders had organized an attack on the fort by the fleet and another by a land force in the rear; and with this view Sir Henry Clinton had occupied with 3,000 men a low sandy island called Long island, opposite the east end of Sullivan's island, with which it was supposed to communicate by a ford at low water. The ford proved impracticable, and the further deliberations which this fact provoked, together with the prevalence of storms, preventing the fleet from coming into action, gave Moultrie many precious hours for labor. Notwithstanding these advantages, the morning of the 28th found the fort only partially complet ed. In its general plan it presented a square with a bastion at each angle, built of palmetto logs, dovetailed and bolted together, and laid in parallel rows 16 feet asunder; between these rows the space was filled with sand. On the eastern and northern sides the palmetto wall was only 7 feet high, but it was surmounted by

thick plank so as to be tenable against a scaling party; a traverse of sand extended from east to west. The southern and western curtains were finished, with their platforms, on which cannon were mounted." In the rear of the fort and opposite Long island, Col. Thompson, with 800 men and 2 cannon, was posted behind a series of breast works to resist the landing of Clinton. The fort mounted 31 guns, and the garrison consisted of 435 men, rank and file. To the last Lee counselled the abandonment of the work, telling Moultrie that the British fleet would knock it to pieces in half an hour; to which the latter replied: "We shall then fight them behind the ruins. I am not at all uneasy," he added, "we shall beat them off." At 10 A. M. the British fleet got under weigh, and soon after the Active of 28 guns, the Bristol of 50 guns, in which was Sir Peter Parker, the Experiment, also of 50 guns, and the Solebay of 28, anchored with springs on their cables about 350 yards from the fort, against which they commenced a furious cannonade. The Thunderbomb covered by the Friendship also threw a number of shells against it. To the surprise of all on board the fleet, the repeated broadsides from the heavy frigates seemed to produce little or no effect upon the fort, in the soft, spongy wood of which the balls were harmlessly buried. Far otherwise, however, was the result of the fire upon the ships. Moultrie, having a limited supply of ammunition, discharged his guns with such deliberation that every shot told upon the hulls or rigging of the enemy. The admiral's ship in particular became the target at which the garrison aimed, and so great was the slaughter on board that at one time only Sir Peter Parker remained on the quarter deck. The other ships suffered proportionally. Meanwhile Sir Henry Clinton attempted to cross over to Sullivan's island and cooperate with the fleet; but his detachment had hardly embarked in boats for that purpose when it was recalled, it being very evident that "the landing was impracticable, and would have been the destruction of many brave men without the least probability of success." A more formidable movement of a portion of the British fleet, consisting of the Action, the Sphinx, and the Siren, each of 28 guns, toward Haddrell's point, whence they could have enfiladed the fort so as to render it untenable, was rendered abortive by their running aground on a bank of sand known as the lower middle ground, where they remained inactive during the remainder of the engagement. The fire between the main fleet and the fort, however, continued without cessation, the result of the conflict being watched by thousands from the wharfs and roofs of Charleston in anxious suspense. At one period the American flag, a white crescent on a blue ground, disappeared suddenly from view, and the inhabitants, supposing the fort had surrendered, prepared to defend themselves. It had however been cut down by a ball from the enemy, and was recovered by William Jasper, a sergeant, who leaped through an embrasure to

the ground amid a heavy fire, and returned in safety with the color, which he fixed on the summit of the bastion nearest to the enemy. Moultrie and his officers presented an example of equal coolness to their men, and smoked their pipes with composure during the hottest fire of the enemy. Between 1 and 2 o'clock P.M. Moultrie sent to Lee for more powder, his ammunition being nearly expended, and was advised in reply to spike his guns and retreat. Rutledge, however, sent him 700 pounds, with which he was enabled to continue his defence to such purpose that at sunset every gun on the fort but one was still in position. At that hour the enemy's fire began to slacken; the Bristol and Experiment were so riddled as to have almost become wrecks; all hope of cooperation from Clinton was abandoned, and at 93 P. M. the ships slipped their cables and dropped down with the ebb tide to their previous moorings. Of the 3 ships which grounded, the Siren and Sphinx escaped, but the Acteon was set on fire by her crew and abandoned. At the expiration of several weeks the discomfited squadron returned to the north. The British loss in this engagement was 225 killed and wounded. The Americans lost 11 killed and 26 wounded, and the fort remained comparatively uninjured.

MOULTRIE, WILLIAM, an American revolutionary general and statesman, born in South Carolina in 1781, died in the same state, Sept. 27, 1805. He was of Scottish descent, his parents having emigrated to South Carolina at the beginning of the 18th century. At an early age he appears to have won the confidence of his fellow citizens by his cool and steady character, and in 1761 he was appointed a captain of foot in a militia regiment raised to defend the frontier against the incursions of the Cherokees. He rendered important services in this capacity, and acquired a knowledge of military affairs which proved of great advantage to him in the subsequent war of independence. He took part in the domestic agitations which prepared the popular mind for this latter event, and from the outset proved himself a firm friend of the colonies, notwithstanding some of his near relations arrayed themselves on the side of the crown. When South Carolina, following the example of the sister colonies, raised troops to resist the aggressions of the mother country, Moultrie was appointed to the command of the 2d colonial regiment, and he also represented the parish of St. Helena in the provincial congress of 1775. He was one of those who led in the seizure of the public arsenals, arms, and forts; but the approach of a British land force and fleet under Sir Henry Clinton and Admiral Sir Peter Parker, to invest Charleston, first brought his regiment into active service. In March, 1776, he was designated to construct a fortress on Sullivan's island at the mouth of Charleston harbor, and was still busy at the work when the enemy made his appearance. (See MOULTRIE, FORT.) In commemoration of Moultrie's bravery in defending the fort, it was subse

quently called after his name; and he even rose in the estimation of Gen. Lee, who had strongly opposed the holding of the fort, and had desired to deprive Moultrie of his command, but who now proposed to him to lead an expedition against St. Augustine, Florida, then commanded by a brother of Moultrie, who was a royalist. Moultrie readily accepted the command, but the limited resources of the state rendered its execution impossible. He was soon after put upon the continental establishment, was made a brigadier, and had in charge the military interests of Georgia as well as South Carolina. For nearly 3 years South Carolina enjoyed an exemption from foreign attacks, her troubles being wholly internal; but in the spring of 1779 the British, who occupied Savannah in force, took advantage of the absence of Gen. Lincoln with most of the continental troops in Georgia, to make a demonstration against Charleston. In the latter part of April Gen. Prevost advanced upon the town with a large force of regular troops and tories. Moultrie, who was stationed on the N. side of the Savannah river, with 1,000 or 1,200 militiamen drawn from the neighboring country, hastened to throw himself in his path, and, by retarding the progress of the enemy, enabled the people of Charleston to place themselves in a condition of defence. The return of Lincoln from Georgia subsequently compelled Prevost to retire to Savannah. After a brief season of repose, Charleston was in the spring of 1780 attacked for the third time by a strong land and sea force, and Moultrie, who was second in command in the town, shared in the capitulation of the American troops. While a prisoner he was approached by the British officers with offers of pecuniary compensation and the command of a British regiment stationed in Jamaica if he would leave the American service. He replied: "Not the fee simple of all Jamaica should induce me to part with my integrity." After remaining nearly two years a prisoner, he was permitted to go to Philadelphia, where in 1782 he was exchanged and released. Congress soon after made him a major-general, but too late to enable him to render any active military service to his country. In 1785 he was elected governor of South Carolina, and again in 1794. Soon afterward he retired into private life, and devoted his remaining years to the preparation of his "Memoirs of the Revolution" (2 vols., New York, 1802), a work particularly valuable to the student of American history.

MOUND, a term used technically in the United States as synonymous with barrow or tumulus, designating a large class of aboriginal antiquities or earth works, scattered through the valleys of the Mississippi river and its tributaries, but also found in New York, Pennsyl vania, and other states to the E. of the Alleghany mountains. The term is also understood to include those vast lines of circumvallation or embankment, often regular in form in works regarded as sacred or symbolical, and some

times irregular, enclosing defensible positions, and obviously of military origin, found in the Mississippi valley. (See AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES.) MOUNT, WILLIAM SIDNEY, an American artist, born in Setauket, Long island, Nov. 26, 1807. He was bred a farmer's boy, but at the age of 17 removed to New York and became an apprentice to his brother, Henry S. Mount, who was then by profession a sign painter. Showing a strong taste for art, he was in 1826 placed in the school of the national academy of design, and in 1828 produced his first picture, a portrait of himself. In 1829 he established himself in New York as a portrait painter, and at the same time attempted scriptural pieces, such as the "Raising of the Daughter of Jairus," and "Saul and the Witch of Endor." A "Rustic Dance," which appeared in the exhibition of 1830, attracted much attention. His pictures of humorous subjects have since been numerous. Negro physiognomy and scenes of negro life in particular have been treated by him with success. Among his best known works are: "Men husking Corn," "Walking the Crack," "The Sportsman's last Visit," "The Raffle," ""The Courtship," Nooning," Bargaining for a Horse," The Power of Music," Music is Contagious," "Just in Time," "California News," "The Lucky Throw," "Banjo Player," "Bone Player," &c., several of which have been widely distributed through the medium of colored lithographs. He has also steadily practised portrait painting down to the present time. Since 1832 he has been a member of the national academy of design.

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MOUNT AUBURN. See CAMBRIDGE, MASS. MOUNT DESERT, an island of the state of Maine, at the southern extremity of Hancock co., situated in Frenchman's bay, about 40 m. S. E. from Bangor, lat 44° 20′ N., long. 68° 30' W.; pop. in 1850, 3,509. The island is 15 m. long and 12 broad, and has an area of about 100 sq. m. It is divided into 3 towns or townships, Eden, Tremont, and Mount Desert, and contains 6 small villages, 9 post offices, 51 schools, and 8 churches. There are several good harbors. Ship building is carried on, and many vessels owned in the island are employed in the cod and mackerel fisheries. A narrow bay or sound runs from the ocean at the S. side of the island into the interior in a northerly direction to the distance of 6 or 8 m. The scenery of the island is very grand and beautiful. The greater part of its surface is covered by a group of granite mountains 13 in number, whose highest peak, Mt. Adam or Mt. Green, rises to an elevation above the sea variously computed at 1,500 and 2,300 feet. High up among the mountains are many beautiful lakes, the largest of which is several miles in length; these lakes and the streams that flow from them abound in trout. The S. E. coast of the island is lined with stupendous cliffs several hundred feet in height; the most remarkable of these are Great Head and Schooner Head. In Frenchman's bay, on the E. side of Mount Desert, are 5 high

rocky islands called the Porcupines, and about 20 m. to the southward in the open ocean is Mount Desert rock, the site of a noted lighthouse. Mount Desert is much resorted to in summer by artists and others for the beauty of its scenery, and is connected by steamer with Rockland, Bangor, Portland, and Boston. The island was discovered and named by the French about the beginning of the 17th century. M. De La Saussaye and Fathers Quentin, Lalemant, Biard, and Masse, with 25 colonists from France, landed here in May, 1613, built a small fort and a few cabins, and called the place St. Saviour. This settlement was forcibly broken up in a few weeks by Gov. Argall of Virginia. The first permanent settlement on Mount Desert was made by Abraham Somes, who in 1761 built a house at the head of the sound.

MOUNT EVEREST. See HIMALAYA MOUNTAINS, vol. ix. p. 176.

MOUNT MITCHELL. See BLACK MOUN

TAINS.

MOUNT VERNON. I. The capital of Knox co., Ohio, on the Vernon river, and on the line of the Sandusky, Mansfield, and Newark, and the Springfield, Mount Vernon, and Pittsburg railroads (the latter completed only to Delaware, 22 m. from Mount Vernon), 45 m. N. E. from Columbus; pop. in 1859, about 7,000. It is well and compactly built on gently ascending ground, is lighted with gas, has many elegant mansions, and in 1859 contained 26 stores, a bank, 2 flour mills, 2 saw mills, 8 or 10 churches, and 3 newspaper offices. II. The capital of Posey co., Ind., situated on a bend of the Ohio river, about 160 m. S. W. from Indianapolis; pop. in 1859, about 2,500. It contains, beside the county buildings, 15 stores, a bank, 2 hotels, 2 steam flour mills, 2 saw mills, several manufactories, a foundery, planing mill, 7 churches, and a number of schools and benevolent and literary institutions, and has 2 weekly newspapers.

MOUNT VERNON, the home and burial place of George Washington, situated on the right bank of the Potomac, in Fairfax co., Va., 9 m. S. by W. from Alexandria and 15 m. from Washington city. At the time of Washington's decease the estate comprised several thousand acres, divided into farms devoted to different kinds of culture. The mansion is beautifully situated on a swelling height crowned with trees and commanding a fine view up and down the Potomac. The house is of wood, two stories in height and 96 feet in length, with a lofty portico extending along the whole front. On the ground floor are 6 rooms, none large except the dining room. The library and Washington's bedroom remain as they were at the time of his death, and contain many articles of great interest. In front of the house sloping to the river is a lawn of 5 or 6 acres. About 300 yards S. of the mansion, on a hillside in full view of the river, is the old family vault, where the body of Washington was first laid and remained till 1830, when it was removed to a new vault

at no great distance on the edge of a deep wooded dell. Mount Vernon mansion was built by George Washington's elder brother Lawrence, who settled there in 1743, and named the estate in honor of Admiral Vernon, under whom he had served in the West Indies. George Washington added wings to the mansion, and greatly enlarged and embellished the estate, which was his home from boyhood till his death, when by his will it was bequeathed to Bushrod Washington, from whom it passed into the possession of his nephew John A. Washington. By him it was sold in 1858 for $200,000 to the "Ladies' Mount Vernon Association," who design to hold it in perpetuity as a place of public resort and pilgrimage. Means have been collected by private subscription and by the efforts of Mr. Edward Everett to pay the purchase money, of which at present (Nov. 1860) only $2,000 remains unpaid, and to establish a fund for keeping the place in order. Their purchase comprises the mansion, the tomb, and 200 acres of the original estate. About $20,000, beside what has been paid to Mr. Washington, has already been expended upon it.

MOUNTAIN, THE (Fr. la montagne), a name applied during the French revolution to a party in the convention which occupied the highest benches on the left. The deputies composing it were the most ultra of the revolutionists and the leaders of the Jacobins and Cordeliers. From the fall of the Girondists to that of Robespierre they were the ruling party. By degrees the name came to denote any association of persons of similar principles to the deputies of the extreme left, and nearly every commune in France had its montagne. In the constituent assembly of 1848 and the legislative assembly of 1849-'52 the appellation was revived.

MOUNTAINS, portions of the earth's surface which rise to a great height above the level of the sea, in the form of peaks and ridges, and groups of these called chains. The elevation which gives to them the name of mountains is considerable, not in relation to the great body of the globe itself, in comparison with which the irregularities of the surface are insignificant, but as it appears to the limited observation of man, and is accompanied by changes of climate and of vegetable productions, which in a level country would be effected only by differences of many degrees of latitude. Thus the high peaks of the Himalaya and of the Andes, mounting into regions inaccessible to man, and to his view presenting the sublimest objects in nature -their feet among the palms of the tropics, and their summits covered with the never wasting snows of polar climes-are really of so trifling height, that upon a map of the globe spread out even over 30 feet in length a bit of pasteboard placed upon the spots they occupy would fairly represent by its thickness their proportional elevation. The slight difference of 350 feet in height is equivalent in its effect upon the mean temperature to a difference of latitude of 60 miles, each being accompanied by a change of

about 1° F.-The mountains of the earth rarely occur isolated, but in groups and chains; and those of the eastern and western hemispheres present several marked distinctions. In each the principal chains range with the greatest longitudinal extent of the continent they traverse; but in the new world this is on the meridians, while in the old it is on the parallels of latitude. In North and South America the chains are comparatively narrow, and are composed of numbers of parallel ridges, which with great uniformity in their features continue near together sometimes for several hundred miles. In the old world much less regularity is perceived in the distribution of the mountains. The chains widen out over broad territories, and several chains in neighboring groups are connected together by high table-lands or plateaux, from which rise the loftiest mountains upon the globe. This is the case with the great mountainous district of central Asia, 1,500 miles in width, upon the range of the chains from northern Africa to the N. E. coast of Asia. Upon these belts the ridges are rarely found in parallel lines, as in the American continent, but more commonly diverging from each other, and in northern China spreading out like a fan. In the new world the line of the coast on the Pacific side lies along the range of the Andes, by which it seems to be determined; and that of the Atlantic shows a marked conformity to the general direction of the Alleghanies at the north and of the Brazilian mountains at the south; but in the old world this connection is less obvious. Still in both hemispheres it is observed that all the great chains present toward the Pacific and its extension, the Indian ocean, their steeper slope, the opposite slope subsiding over immense tracts of gradually diminishing elevation toward the opposite oceans. This consideration, in connection with the numerous volcanoes in action around the borders of the Pacific and upon its islands, has led to the belief that the vast basin of this ocean was occupied by a continent that has sunk and disappeared in one of the latest great revolutions of the surface.— The geological formations of which mountains are composed belong to different periods, as is evident from the fossil remains they contain; and thus it is that one group is referred for the time of its uplifting to an epoch as recent as the carboniferous, another to that of the jurassic, another to the tertiary, &c. By comparing together the various mountain chains, M. Élie de Beaumont detected a correspondence between their general directions and the period of their elevation, and was thus led to group them into systems, each system comprising all the chains, in whatever part of the world they might be found, which lay on parallel courses. The theory has lost much of the favor with which it was received, it being found that the number of systems would equal the number of points of the compass, and a single chain in some cases proving to be the result of successive elevations at different geological epochs. But, how

ever this may prove, the same geological formations impress upon the mountains they compose a similarity of form and appearance. And thus it is that, whether in one hemisphere or the other, the bold and rugged slopes with projecting masses of rock are seen to be of granitic character; the rounded gentle slopes betray the calcareous strata within; the high needle-like peaks suggest the mode of weathering peculiar to the crystalline slates and gneiss; the precipitous walls marked in vertical lines tell. of basaltic columns; and the conical isolated hills, with their truncated horizontal summits, are monuments of volcanic fires, that may have been extinguished long previous to any human records. So through many other varieties of outward form the accustomed eye recognizes the rock (hidden it may be beneath the soil and vegetation) to which these surface outlines are peculiar. The steepness of the slopes of mountains, as remarked by Mrs. Somerville in her work on "Physical Geography," is very generally and curiously exaggerated. Vertical precipices of great height are very rare; in the whole range of the Alps there is not one 1,600 feet high; and the surface of many in other regions as well as this, which seems to approach this degree of steepness, proves to be on the other side of 45°, or nearer the horizontal line. Thus on the steep sides of Mont Blanc, toward the Allée Blanche, the slopes are less than 45°; and the mean inclination of the peak of Teneriffe is given by Humboldt at only 12° 38'. The Silla of Caracas, which rises precipitously from the Caribbean sea, at an angle of 53° 28', to the height of between 6,000 and 7,000 feet, is a majestic instance of perhaps the nearest approach to perpendicularity of any great height yet known.Though the height of mountains is insignificant in comparison with the dimensions of the globe, their influence upon climate, the precipitation of rain, and the circulation of the winds, is of immense importance to the human race. This is treated under various heads in this work, as ANDES, GHAUTS, HIMALAYA MOUNTAINS, METEOROLOGY, RAIN, WINDS, &c.-The highest summits upon the globe are among the Himalaya mountains, and of these the most elevated peak is Mt. Everest, the height of which above the level of the sea is 29,002 feet. Several other peaks rise from 25,000 to over 28,000 feet. Great numbers of mountains in Asia exceed 15,000 feet. In the Andes the Nevado de Sorato is 25,300 feet high, and the two summits of Nevado Illimani rise 24,200 and 24,450 feet above the sea. Chimborazo is 21,440 feet high, and Cotopaxi, the highest active volcano in the world, 18,858 feet. In Mexico the volcano of Popocatepetl is 17,720 feet high, and the plateau of Mexico 7,500 feet. That of California is 6,000 feet high. The highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada are from 15,000 to 17,000 feet high. The highest summits of the Rocky mountains are 13,500 feet. Of the Appalachian mountains there are 12 peaks in North Carolina from 6,300 to 6,700 feet in height. (See

BLACK MOUNTAINS.) Mt. Washington in New Hampshire is 6,285 feet high, Mt. Katahdin in Maine about 5,000, and Tahawus in New York 5,337. In Europe the highest mountains are Mont Blanc, 15,775 feet; Monte Rosa, 15,150; and Finster-Aarhorn, 14,106. Several peaks among the Pyrénées exceed 11,000 feet. Mt. Etna is 10,874 feet, and Vesuvius 3,978. The mountains of Abyssinia, in Africa, attain the height of 13,000 feet, and Kilimandjaro and other snow-covered mountains in the countries south of Abyssinia are supposed to be still higher. The peak of Teneriffe in the Canary islands is 12,180 feet high, and the Table mountain of the Cape of Good Hope 3,582 feet.

MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON, a mountain range said to exist in central Africa, in which Ptolemy and other ancient geographers placed the sources of the Nile. On modern maps, until recently, the name was given to a great range which was supposed to cross the continent from E. to W., from the Indian ocean to the Atlantic, at the general distance of 8° or 10° N. of the equator. It is now known, however, that no such range exists, and the name was recently applied by the African explorer Capt. Speke to a range N. of the newly discovered lake Tanganyuha, though incorrectly, according to his fellow traveller, Capt. R. T. Burton. MOURAVIEFF. See MURAvieff.

MOURNING, an outward manifestation of grief, particularly on occasions of death. Every nation has some conventional form of mourning. The ancient Hebrews tore their garments, dishevelled their hair, threw dust or ashes on the head, and abstained from washing. During the time of mourning they sat on the ground, and went bareheaded and barefooted. The usual period of mourning was 7 days, but for Moses and Aaron they mourned a month. On public occasions professional mourning women were employed. The modern Hebrews preserve to a great extent the customs of their forefathers, such as sitting on the ground, and making an incision in some part of their clothing to symbolize the old tearing of garments. This last practice was observed by the Egyptians, who also sprinkled their heads with dust and ashes, struck their breasts, allowed their hair to grow and their dress to hang neglected, went unwashed, and abstained from wine and other delicacies. The women ran crying through the streets with disordered hair and exposed bosoms. The Lycians, regarding grief as unmanly, had a law which compelled men when they went into mourning to put on female garments. The Syrians wept for their dead during a number of days in solitary places.-The Greeks withdrew into retirement, cut off their hair, put on black, or in some states, as Argos, white garments, rolled themselves in the dust or mire, threw ashes on their heads, tore their clothes, never appeared in public without a veil, lacerated their faces, and frequently uttered the exclamation è, è, è, in a mournful tone. When a popular general died, the whole army cut off their hair and the manes