ment of West Virginia, with the exception of the
decade 1875-1885, when Wheeling was the capital.

CHARLESTOWN, formerly a separate city of Middlesex county,
Massachusetts, U.S.A., but since 1874 a part of the city of Boston, with
which it had long before been in many respects practically one. It is
situated on a small peninsula on Boston harbour, between the mouths of
the Mystic and Charles rivers; the first bridge across the Charles,
built in 1786, connected Charlestown and Boston. A United States navy
yard (1800), occupying about 87 acres, and the Massachusetts state
prison (1805) are here; the old burying-ground contains the grave of
John Harvard and that of Thomas Beecher, the first American member of
the famous Beecher family; and there is a soldiers' and sailors'
monument (1872), designed by Martin Milmore. Charlestown was founded in
1628 or 1629, being the oldest part of Boston, and soon rose into
importance; it was organized as a township in 1630, and was chartered as
a city in 1847. Within its limits was fought, on the 17th of June 1775,
the battle of Bunker Hill (q.v.), when Charlestown was almost completely
destroyed by the British. The Bunker Hill Monument commemorates the
battle; and the navy yard at Moulton's Point was the landing-place of
the attacking British troops. Little was done toward the rebuilding of
Charlestown until 1783. The original territory of the township was very
large, and from parts of it were formed Woburn (1642), Malden (1649),
Stoneham (1725), and Somerville (1842); other parts were annexed to
Cambridge, to Medford and to Arlington. S.F.B. Morse, the inventor of
the electric telegraph, was born here; and Charlestown was the
birthplace and home of Nathaniel Gorham (1738-1796), a member of the
Continental Congress in 1782-1783 and 1785-1787, and its president in
1786; and was the home of Loammi Baldwin (1780-1838), a well-known civil
engineer; of Samuel Dexter (1761-1816), an eminent lawyer, secretary of
war and for a short time secretary of the treasury in the cabinet of
President John Adams; and of Oliver Holden (1765-1831), a composer of
hymn-tunes, including "Coronation."

See R. Frothingham, _History of Charlestown_ (Boston, 1845), covering
1629-1775; J.F. Hunnewell, _A Century of Town Life ... 1775-1887_
(Boston, 1888); and Timothy T. Sawyer, _Old Charlestown_ (1902).

CHARLET, NICOLAS TOUSSAINT (1792-1845), French designer and painter,
more especially of mili