DIX, JOHN ADAMS, LL.D., 1798-1879; b. N. H.; a politician and soldier. In the war of 1812, he served as an ensign on the Canada frontier. In 1828, he began the practice of law in Cooperstown, N. Y., and became one of the leaders of the democratic party. In 1830, he was adjutant-gen. of the state, and in 1833, secretary of state and superintendent of common schools. He was chosen member of the assembly in 1842, and in 1845, appointed to fill a vacancy in the U. S. senate. In 1848, when the demo cratic party divided on the question of the extension of slavery, he went with the " free soil" wing and was their candidate for governor, but was not elected. In 1853, he was assistant treasurer of the United States in the city of New York. In 1860, he was chosen secretary of the treasury. Secession was just beginning, and New Orleans was substantially in the hands of the confederates. Two revenue cutters there were ordered to New York by the secretary. The captain of one of them refusing to obey, secretary Dix immediately telegraphed to have him arrested and treated as a mutineer if he offered any resistance, closing the dispatch with the words: " If any man attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot." In 1861, Dix was appointed maj.gen. of
militia, and the same year maj.gen. of U. S. volunteers. In 1862, he was placed in command of the department of Maryland, and about the same time was sent to Fortress Monroe in command of the seventh army corps. He was in ,command in New York city at the time of the riots, July, 1863, and in 1864-65, commanded the department of the east. In the autumn of 1866, he was minister to France, and resigned, 1868. In 1872, the republican party elected him governor of New York. , He retired in 1875, and passed the remainder of his life in private. Besides miscellaneous papers he was the author of Resources of the City of New York; Decisions of the Superintendents of Common Schools of New York, and Laws relating to Common Schools; A Winter in. Madeira; A Summer in Spain and France; and two volumes of speeches.