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Dix (JOHN ADAMS an American N H)

JOHN ADAMS, an American N. H., July 24, 1798. He was educated at Salisbury , Phillips Exeter Academy, the College of Montreal, and St. Mary's College. cadet in the United States Army, and in In 1812 he was appointed a ations on the Canadian frontier during 1813, ensign. He took part in the operthe War of 1812; afterward studied law and was admitted to the bar in Washington.

In 1826 he was sent as a special messenger to the court of Denmark. He resigned from the army in 1828, and began practicing law in Cooperstown, N. Y. Later he was Secretary of State and Adjutant-General of New York, and was prominently associated with the "Albany Regency," the controlling power of the Democratic party. In 1841 he was elected to the State Assembly, and in 1845-1849 was a United States Senator.

In 1861 he was appointed Secretary of the Treasury by President Buchanan, and his appointment led to the breaking of a financial deadlock in the affairs of the government. When he became secretary there were two revenue cutters at New Orleans, and he ordered them to New York. The captain of one refused to obey his order, and Dix telegraphed to put him under arrest, adding statement which has made him famous, "If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot." At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was elected president of the Union Defense Committee, and organized 17 regiments.

He was commissioned a Major-General of volunteers, and through his active measures saved Maryland to the Union cause. He was elected governor of New York in 1872, but was defeated on a renomination in 1874. He died in New York City, April 21, 1879.