Wadsworth, wahds'wurth, JAMES SAMUEL (1807-1864), an American soldier, born at Geneseo, N. Y. He studied at Hamilton College and at Harvard and Yale, studied law under Daniel Webster and other noted lawyers and was admitted to the bar in 1833. However, he never practiced, devoting himself to the management of the large family estates. In 1861, as a member of the peace convention, he opposed a compromise granting important concessions to the South, and after the outbreak of the war he entered the Federal service, as major on the staff of General McDowell. He fought at Bull Run, Fredericks-burg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, taking a conspicuous part in all of these battles and being promoted, meantime, to the rank of brigadier general. In December, 1862, he was made military governor of Washington, and in the same year he was the candidate of the Republicans for governor of New York, but was defeated by Horatio Seymour. He was mortally wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness. He was brevetted major general of volunteers in May, 1864.