Underwood was an ardent abolitionist and active in the Whig, Liberty, and Free Soil parties. In the spring of 1848, after several unsuccessful attempts at elective office in New York, he turned his attention southward to western Virginia, where he established over fifteen farms utilizing free labor. He hoped, in concrete terms, to demonstrate that the South need not rely economically on the immoral institution of slavery.

The general assessment of Foster has shifted with each generation, reflecting American social views. Around 1900, there was a post-Reconstructionist recasting of his music as "coon songs" and as having elevated and ennobled the crude material of a dark race. In early radio, Foster's songs--which were in the public domain and thus free--enjoyed unprecedented circulation; they were accorded "folksong" status and performed widely in schools. After the Civil Rights movement many schools banned them because of acquired racist connotations.

In June 1846, as the nation moved toward war with Mexico, Harney became colonel and commander of the Second Dragoons. When hostilities began, the headstrong commander conducted an unauthorized expedition into Mexico from Texas, and General Winfield Scott ordered Harney to surrender most of his command to a subordinate. Harney subsequently defied Scott by retaking command. Scott then ordered a court-martial, which convicted Harney of disobedience and ordered him to apologize to Scott.

COX, William Ruffin, a Representative from North Carolina; born in Scotland Neck, Halifax County, N.C., March 11, 1831; attended Vine Hill Academy in his native town; moved with his mother to Nashville, Tenn.; was graduated from Franklin College in 1851 and from the Lebanon College Law School in 1853; was admitted to the bar in 1853 and practiced in Nashville, Tenn., 1853-1857; returned to North Carolina in 1857 and engaged in agricultural pursuits in Edgecombe County; moved to Raleigh, N.C., in 1859; early in the Civil War entered the Confederate Army as major of the Sec