HUMPHREYS, ANDREW ATKINSON (1810-1883), American soldier and engineer, was born at Philadelphia on the 2nd of November 1810. He was the son of Samuel Humphreys (1778-1846), chief constructor U.S.N., and grandson of Joshua Humphreys (1751-1838), the designer of the “Constitution” and other famous frigates of the war of 1812, sometimes known as the “father of the American navy.” Graduating from West Point in 1831, he served with the 2nd Artillery in the Florida war in 1835. He resigned soon afterwards and devoted himself to civil engineering. In 1838 he returned to the army for survey duties, and from 1842 to 1849 was assistant in charge of the Coast Survey Office. Later he did similar work in the valley of the Mississippi, and, with Lieut. H. L. Abbott, produced in 1861 a valuable Report on the Physics and Hydraulics of the Mississippi River. In connexion with this work he visited Europe in 1851. In the earlier part of the Civil War Humphreys was employed as a topographical engineer with the Army of the Potomac, and rendered conspicuous services in the Seven Days’ Battles. It is stated that he selected the famous position of Malvern Hill, before which Lee’s army was defeated. Soon after this he was assigned to command a division of the V. corps, and at the battle of Fredericksburg he distinguished himself greatly in the last attack of Marye’s heights. General Burnside recommended him for promotion to the rank of major-general U.S.V., which was not however awarded to Humphreys until after Gettysburg. He took part in the battle of Chancellorsville, and at Gettysburg commanded a division of the III. corps under Sickles. Upon Humphreys’ division fell the brunt of Lee’s attack on the second day, by which in the end the III. corps was dislodged from its advanced position. His handling of his division in this struggle excited great attention, and was compared to Sheridan’s work at Stone river. A few days later he became chief of staff to General Meade, and this position he held throughout the Wilderness campaign. Towards the end of the war General Humphreys succeeded General Hancock in command of the famous II. corps. The short campaign of 1865, which terminated in Lee’s surrender, afforded him a greater opportunity of showing his capacity for leadership. His corps played a conspicuous part in the final operations around Petersburg, and the credit of the vigorous and relentless pursuit of Lee’s army may be claimed hardly less for Humphreys than for Sheridan. After the war, now brevet major-general, he returned to regular engineer duty as chief engineer of the U.S. army, and retired in 1879. He was a member of the American Philosophical Society (1857) and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1863), and received the degree of LL.D. from Harvard University in 1868. He died at Washington on the 27th of December 1883. Amongst his works may be mentioned From Gettysburg to the Rapidan (1882) and The Virginia Campaigns of 1864-1865 (1882).
See Wilson, Critical Sketches of some Commanders (Boston, 1895).
HUMPHRY, OZIAS (1742-1810), English miniature painter, was born at Honiton and educated at the Grammar School of that town. Attracted by the gallery of casts opened by the duke of Richmond, Humphry came to London and studied at Shipley’s school; and later he left for Bath, where he lodged with Linley and became a great friend of his beautiful daughter, afterwards Mrs Sheridan. In 1766 he was in London warmly encouraged by Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was always interested in Devonshire painters. He was a great friend of Romney, with whom in 1773 he went to Italy, staying, on his way to Dover, at Knole, where the duke of Dorset gave him many commissions. In 1785 he went to India, visiting the native courts, painting a large number of miniatures, and making many beautiful sketches. His sight failed him in 1797, and he died in Hampstead in 1810. The bulk of his possessions came into the hands of his natural son, William Upcott, the book collector. From him the British Museum acquired a large number of papers relating to Humphry. He was Opie’s first master, and is alluded to in some lines by Hayley. His miniatures are exquisite in detail and delightful in colouring. Many of the finest are in the collection of Mr J. Pierpont Morgan.
See The History of Portrait Miniatures, by G. C. Williamson, vol. ii. (London, 1904).
(G. C. W.)
HUMUS (a Latin word meaning the ground), a product of decomposing organic matter. It is especially present in peat bogs, and also occurs in surface soils, to which it imparts a brown or black colour. It is one of the most important soil-constituents from the agricultural point of view; it is the chief source of nitrogenous food for plants, and modifies the properties of the soil by increasing its water-holding capacity and diminishing its tenacity. Little is known with regard to its chemical composition. By treating with a dilute acid to remove the bases present, and then acting on the residue with ammonia, a solution is obtained from which a mineral acid precipitates humic acid; the residue from the ammonia extraction is termed humin. Both the humic acid and humin are mixtures, and several constituents have been separated; ulmic acid and ulmin, in addition to humic acid and humin, are perhaps the best characterized.
HUNALD, Duke of Aquitaine, succeeded his father Odo, or Eudes, in 735. He refused to recognize the high authority of the Frankish mayor of the palace, Charles Martel, whereupon Charles marched south of the Loire, seized Bordeaux and Blaye, but eventually allowed Hunald to retain Aquitaine on condition that he should promise fidelity. From 736 to 741 the relations between Charles and Hunald seem to have remained amicable. But at Charles’s death in 741 Hunald declared war against the Franks, crossed the Loire and burned Chartres. Menaced by Pippin and Carloman, Hunald begged for peace in 745 and retired to a monastery, probably on the Isle of Ré. We find him later in Italy, where he allied himself with the Lombards and was stoned to death. He had left the duchy of Aquitaine to Waifer, who was probably his son, and who struggled for eight years in defending his independence against King Pippin. At the death of Pippin and at the beginning of the reign of Charlemagne, there was a last rising of the Aquitanians. This revolt was directed by a certain Hunald, and was repressed in 768 by Charlemagne and his brother Carloman. Hunald sought refuge with the duke of the Gascons, Lupus, who handed him over to his enemies. In spite of the opinion of certain historians, this Hunald seems to have been a different person from the old duke of Aquitaine.