CALL, an American family, several of whose members took a prominent part in the public life of the nation. DANIEL, lawyer: b. about 1765; d. Richmond, Va., 20 May 1840. He was a brother-in-law of Chief-Justice John Marshall, and published 'Reports of the Vir ginia Court of Appeals> (6 vols., 1790-1818; 2d ed., edited by Joseph Tate 1824-33).— His brother, RICIIARD KEITH, soldier: b. 1757; d. 1792, was a citizen of Virginia, and was a major in the Revolutionary army. He was one of the seven who cut their way through the British cavalry at Charleston, S. C., 6 May 1780, and escaped. He commanded a rifle corps in the action with Colonel Simcoe at Spencer's Ordinary, Va., 25 June 1781, and at Jamestown, on 6 July, served under General Lafayette. He was elected surveyor-general of Georgia in January 1784.—Their nephew, RICHARD KEITH, soldier: b. near Petersburg, Va., 1791; d. Tallahassee, Fla., 14 Sept. 1862. He was appointed first lieutenant in the 44th infantry, 15 July 1814; brevet captain, 7 Nov. 1814; volunteer aide to General Jack son in April 1818; captain July 1818; and re signed in 1822. He was a member of the legis lative council of Florida in April 1822; brigadier-general of West Florida militia in January 1823; delegate to Congress from 1823 to 1825; and receiver of the West Florida land office in March 1825. He was governor of Florida from 1835 to 1840, and led the army against the Seminoles from 6 Dec. 1835 to 6 Dec. 1836, commanding in the second and third battles of Wahoo Swamp, 18 and 21 Nov. 1836. It is said that at the battle of Omithlacoochie Governor Call personally saved General Clinch and his command from being cut to pieces. A
controversy with Joel R. Poinsett, Secretary of War in Van Buren's Cabinet, relative to the misdirection of the war, cost Call his office. He consequently turned Whig and worked earnestly for Harrison's election, canvassing the Northern States in his behalf. President Harrison reappointed him governor of Florida in 1841, and he held the office till 1844, but was an unsuccessful candidate for the governorship in 1845, when the Territory became a State. Although he had sacrificed fortune, health and popularity to protect the citizens of Florida during the Seminole War, they could not for give him for turning Whig, and he never again held political office in Florida. Governor Call took great interest in the development of his State. He projected and built the third rail road in the United States, from Tallahassee to Saint Marks, and also located the town of Port Leon, which was afterward destroyed by a cyclone. He always considered • himself a Jackson democrat, as opposed to later democracy. Feeling that he had fought at Jackson's side for every inch of ground from Tennessee to the peninsula, he regarded him self as one of the builders of the nation, and during the Civil War was one of the few men in the South that looked on secession as trea son. On 12 Feb. 1861, he wrote a long letter to John S. Littell of Pennsylvania, deploring seces sion, but defending slavery. See also CALL, WILKINSON, nephew of the preceding.