SOLEY, James Russell, author, born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, 1 October, 1850. He was graduated at Harvard in 1870, became assistant professor of English in the United States naval academy in 1871, and in 1873 was placed at the head of the department of English studies, history, and law, where he remained nine years. In 1876 he was commissioned a professor in the United States navy, and in 1878 he was on special duty at the Paris exposition. He also examined the systems of education in European naval colleges, and on his return made an extensive report. In 1882 he was transferred to Washington, where he collected and arranged the navy department library, and since 1883 he has superintended the publication of the naval records of the civil war. He has been lecturer on international law at the Naval war college at Newport since 1885, and has also delivered courses before the Lowell institute, Boston, on "American Naval History" (1885) and "European Neutrality during the Civil War" (1888). Professor Soley has published " History of the Naval Academy" (Washington, 1876) ; "Foreign Systems of Naval Education," the report mentioned above (1880) ; "The Blockade and the Cruisers" (New York, 1883); "The Rescue of Greely," with Commander Winfield S. Schley (1885); and "The Boys of 1812" (Boston, 1887). He has edited the "Autobiography of Commodore Morris" (Annapolis, 1880), and contributed to the "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War," and to Justin Winsor's "Narrative and Critical History of America."