. He was later placed in command of the garrison at
Washington, and in November sailed from New York with a strong force to
replace General B. F. Butler at New Orleans as commander of the Department
of the Gulf. Being ordered to co-operate with Grant, who was then before
Vicksburg, he invested the defences of Port Hudson, Louisiana, in May 1863,
and after three attempts to carry the works by storm he began a regular
siege. The garrison surrendered to Banks on the 9th of July, on receiving
word that Vicksburg had fallen. In the autumn of 1863 Banks organized a
number of expeditions to Texas, chiefly for the purpose of preventing the
French in Mexico from aiding the Confederates, and secured possession of
the region near the mouths of the Nueces and the Rio Grande. But his Red
River expedition, March-May 1864, forced upon him by superior authority,
was a complete failure. In August 1865 he was mustered out of the service,
and from 1865 to 1873 he was again a representative in congress, serving as
chairman of the committee on foreign affairs. A personal quarrel with
President Grant led in 1872, however, to his joining the Liberal-Republican
revolt in support of Horace Greeley, and as the Liberal-Republican and
Democratic candidate he was defeated for re-election. In 1874 he was
successful as a Democratic candidate, serving one term (1875-1877). Having
rejoined the Republican party in 1876, he was United States marshal for
Massachusetts from 1879 until 1888, when for the ninth time he was elected
to Congress. He retired at the close of his term (1891) and died at Waltham
on the 1st of September 1894.

BANKS, THOMAS (1735-1805), English sculptor, son of a surveyor who was land
steward to the duke of Beaufort, was born in London on the 29th of December
1735. He was taught drawing by his father, and in 1750 was apprenticed to a
wood-carver. In his spare time he worked at sculpture, and before 1772,
when he obtained a travelling studentship and proceeded to Rome, he had
already exhibited several fine works. Returning to England in 1779 he found
that the taste for classic poetry, ever the source of his inspiration, no
longer existed, and he spent two years in St Petersburg, being employed by
the empress Catherine, who purchased his "Cupid tormenting a Butterfly." On
his return he modelled his colossal "Achilles mourning the loss of
Briseis," a work full of force and passion; and thereupon he was elected,
in 1784, an associate of t