HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA 1819-1919 VOLUME III THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NHW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO Copyright by Underwood and Underwood EDGAR 'ALLAN POE From Bust by Olaf Bjorkman HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA 1819-1919 The Lengthened Shadow of One Man BY PHILIP ALEXANDER BRUCE, LL.B., LL.D. AUTHOR OF "Economic, Institutional, and Social Histories of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century;" "Plantation Negro as a Freeman;" "Rise of the New South;" "Life of General Robert E. Lee;" "Brave Deeds of Confederate Soldiers;" "Short History of United States," etc. Centennial E&ftfon VOLUME III NEW YORK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1921 AM rights reserved Ld B7 V, -3 COPYRIGHT 1921 BY THE GENERAL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Set up and printed. Published February, 1921 » FOREWORD AND AFTERWORD Among the materials which were of use to me in pre- paring the history of the personal side of the long interval (1842-1904) covered by Volumes III and IV, I was particularly indebted to Professor W. H. Echols's mono- graph on the life of L. M. Blackford; to Armistead C. Gordon's sketch of the career of Colonel William Gordon McCabe; to Professor W. M. Thornton's short biogra- phies of Professors Venable and William R. Abbot; and to Judge R. T. W. Duke, Jr's., reminiscences of Professor McGuffey. Especially valuable for the same purpose were the detailed recollections of their university student life recorded by Judge Duke, Judge George L. Christian, Professor Raleigh C. Minor, and Judge J. C. Walker, and preserved in the pages of the Alumni Bulletin. A book of equally high service was the one in which Dr. David M. R. Culbreth has described his personal impres- sions of the professors who adorned the institution dur- ing the early part of the Period of Reconstruction. Morgan P. Robinson's Burning of the Rotunda, Profes- sor Adams's Jefferson and the University of Virginia, Professor Morrison's report on the academies to the State Board of Education, John S. Patton's edition of the poems of John R. Thompson, Professor W. M. Lile's address on the Honor System, and Rev. John Johnson's Confederate memorial volume, are also entitled to special mention for the information which they afforded me. The following palpable but regrettable errors found their way into the text of Volumes I and II, and are now 11455 vi FOREWORD AND AFTERWORD pointed out at the first opportunity for their correction: Volume I, page 34, " pension office " for " patent office "; page 259, "westward" for "eastward"; page 296, " stependis " for " stipendiis "; page 327, " dociendi " for " docendi "; Volume II, page 82, " Metamorphosis " for "Metamorphoses"; page 86, " De Arta " for " De Arte"; page 103, "nisi primus" for "nisi prius," " Muddock " for " Maddox," " data " for " decisions "; page 129, " perspicacity " for " perspicuity "; pages 136- 7, " doctrinate " for "doctorate"; page 168, "Henry Rogers" for "Robert"; page 193, " Wharton " for 'Wheaton"; page 262, "removal" for "removed"; Page 332> " unexceptional " for " unexceptionable." It is stated on page 153, Volume II, that Professor Gessner Harrison was named after the celebrated Swiss natural- ist. The tradition in the family would seem to prove that he was named after Gessner, the poet, who was a native of Zurich. In the reference to the Boston Courier on page i, Volume II, it would have been more accurate to have said that it was the Richmond Enquirer which announced the arrival of the English professors, and that it was this announcement only which so aroused its con- temporaries, who were hostile to Jefferson. Further in- vestigation has shown that it was Richard Duke, not Alexander Duke, as stated on page 276, Volume I, who was asked by Jefferson, in 1819, to undertake the duties of the proctorship in part. P. A. B. PERIODS FIFTH, SIXTH, SEVENTH, AND EIGHTH, 1842-1895 Alumni Bulletin, Miscellaneous Papers. Correspondence of General John H. Cocke, MS. Correspondence of Joseph C. Cabell, MS. Letters of John C. Rutherfoord, MS. Barbour Papers, Barboursville, Va., MS. Cabell Papers, University Library, MS. University Catalogues. Sketches of the History of the University of Virginia, Old Domin- ion Magazine, by Professor John B. Minor. Minutes of the Faculty. Minutes of the Board of Visitors. Minutes of the Chairman of the Faculty. Proctor's Papers. Recollections of Colonel C. C. Wertenbaker, Alumni Bulletin and Alumni News. Sixty Years Since, by Professor F. H. Smith, Alumni Bulletin. Old Times, by Dr. Herbert B. Claiborne, Alumni Bulletin. Recollections of Professor Charles S. Venable, Alumni Bulletin. Recollections of Rev. J. William Jones, D.D., Alumni Bulletin. Recollections of Professor Virginius Dabney, Alumni Bulletin. Recollections of Professor Crawford H. Toy, D.D., Alumni Bul- letin. Recollections of Professor L. M. Blackford, Corks and Curls, 1889-90. Recollections of Captain W. W. Old, Alumni Bulletin. Recollections of Judge George L. Christian, Alumni Bulletin. A Soldier's Recollections, by Rev. R. H. McKim, D.D. Recollections of Colonel Thomas L. Preston. Watchman of the South, newspaper. Southern Literary Messenger. Richmond Enquirer. Richmond Whig. vii viii AUTHORITIES FOR VOLUMES III AND IV Richmond Times. Virginia University Magazine. University Alumni News. Collegian. Charlottesville Chronicle. Charlottesville Progress. Memorial Addresses on Professor John B. Minor, by John W. Daniel and James C. Lamb. Diary of Professor John B. Minor. Address at Dedication of Bronze Tablets by Rev. R. H. McKim, D.D. University at Outbreak of War, 1 860-61, by Professor James M. Garnett, Alumni Bulletin. University Memorial, edited by Rev. John Johnson. Letter Book of Professor G. F. Holmes, Alumni Bulletin. Sketch of Professor W. H. McGuffey, by Judge R. T. W. Duke, Jr., Alumni Bulletin. Sketch of Professor W. H. McGuffey, by Professor W. M. Thornton, Alumni Bulletin. Sketch of Professor Gessner Harrison, by Rev. John A. Broadus, D.D. History of Albemarle County, by Rev. Edgar Woods. Madison Hall Notes. Memories of Eta Chapter, D. K. E., by Professor James M. Gar- nett, D. K. E. Quarterly. Alumni Association Records, MS. Virginia Schools before and after the Revolution, an Address by Colonel W. Gordon McCabe. Minutes of the Jefferson Society, MS. Minutes of the Washington Society, MS. College Topics. Southern Review. Life of Edgar Allan Poe, by Professor James A. Harrison. Life of Rev. Robert L. Dabney, D.D., by Thomas C. Johnson. Report on Virginia Academies, by A. J. Morrison, State Board of Education Publications. Jefferson and the University of Virginia, by Professor Herbert B. Adams. Jefferson, Cabell, and the University of Virginia, by John S. Patton. AUTHORITIES FOR VOLUMES III AND IV K Life of George Ticknor. President Wayland's Report to Board of Trustees, Brown Uni- versity. The Virginia Schoolmaster, by Professor William M. Thornton. Sketch of Professor Charles S. Venable, by Professor William M. Thornton. Sketch of Professor Basil L. Gildersleeve, by Professor William M. Thornton. Making of the University, by Professor Lyon G. Tyler, pamphlet. Journals of the House of Delegates. Journals of the State Senate. ^Semi-Centennial Catalogue of Students of the University of Vir- ginia, 1874. Decennial Catalogue of the University of Virginia, 1874-1884. Reply of Board of Visitors to Remonstrance of Masters of Arts, 1892. Report of Faculty on Admission of Women, 1894. Social Life at the University of Virginia, by John B. Minor, Jr. Lippincott's Magazine. Social Life at the University of Virginia in the Eighties, a sketch by Professor Raleigh C. Minor. Social Life at the University of Virginia, by Judge R. T. W. Duke, Jr. Reports of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Richmond, Va. Educational Journal of Virginia. Address at Inauguration of the New Buildings, by James C. Carter. Inauguration Poem, by Armistead C. Gordon. Idyls of the Lawn. Arcade Echoes. Sketch of L. M. Blackford, by Professor W. H. Echols. The Lion's Skin, by John S. Wise. University of Virginia Song Book. Laws of University of Virginia, 1892. Poems of John R. Thompson, edited by John S. Patton. Recollections of Frederick W. Page, Librarian, College Topics. Corks and Curls. Elective System of the University of Virginia, Andover Review, April, 1886, by Professor James M. Garnett. x AUTHORITIES FOR VOLUMES III AND IV The Burning of the Rotunda, by Morgan P. Robinson, Virginia University Magazine, November, 1905. The University of Virginia, Memories, by David M. R. Culbreth, M.D. Reports of the Board of Visitors, Virginia State Library. Sketch of the Life of Colonel W. Gordon McCabe, by Armistead C. Gordon. Address on the Honor System, by Professor William M. Lile. Memorial Address on Professor Thomas R. Price, by Colonel W. Gordon McCabe. Recollections of Judge J. C. Walker, Alumni Bulletin.1 1 The Correspondence of Francis Walker Gilmer should be added to the bibliography of Volume I. CONTENTS VOLUME III FIFTH PERIOD PAGE EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 i I. — General Character; II. — Increase in the Attendance; III. — State Students; IV. — New Buildings; V. — New Buildings — The Annex; VI. — The Courses of Instruction; VII. — Courses of Instruction, continued ; VIII. — Courses of Instruction, con- tinued; IX. — Examinations and the Honor System; X. — De- grees; XI. — The Professors; XII.— The Professors, continued; XIII. — The Professors, continued; XIV. — Assistants and Sal- aries; XV.— The Library; XVI.— Publications; XVII.— Riot of 1845; XVIII.— Moral Effect of the Riot; XIX.— Commo- tions After 1845; XX. — Temperance; XXL— Religion ; XXII. — Health; XXIIL— Athletics; XXIV.— Amusements; XXV.— Fraternities; XXVI. — Debating Societies; XXVII. — Expenses of Students; XXVIII. — Finances; XXIX. — Administration; XXX. — Society of Alumni ; XXXI. — Distinguished Alumni — General; XXXII. — Distinguished Alumni — Literary; XXXIII. Distinguished Alumni — Literary, continued ; XXXIV. — Distin- guished Alumni — Professional ; XXXV. — Influence on Second- ary Education ; XXXVI. — Influence on Secondary Education, continued; XXXVII. — Influence on American Colleges; XXXVIII. — Influence on American Colleges, continued. SIXTH PERIOD THE WAR, 1861-1865 256 I. — Before the Election of Lincoln ; II. — After Election of Lincoln; III. — Antecedents of the Students; IV. — A Taste of War ; V. — Sacrifices for the Confederate Cause ; VI. — Paladins and Martyrs; VII. — Paladins and Martyrs, continued; VIII. — Fidelity of the Professors; IX. — Salaries of the Professors; X. — The Students; XL— Paralysis ; XIL— The Federal Army Arrives; XIII. — The University Under Guard. SEVENTH PERIOD RECONSTRUCTION AND EXPANSION, 1865-1895 .... 341 I. — The Spirit of the Faculty; II. — Energy of the Faculty; III. — Students of the First Session; IV. — Schools and Depart- ments ; V. — Courses of Scientific Instruction ; VI. — Courses of Scientific Instruction, continued; VII. — Courses of Literary In- struction; VIII. — Coordination and Entrance Examinations; IX. Academic Degrees; X. — Academic Degrees, continued. HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA FIFTH PERIOD EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 I. General Character The Fifth Period in the history of the University of Virginia — which began in 1842 and ended in 1861, an interval of two decades — was equally remarkable for the spirit of reformation and for the spirit of expansion which animated it. The spirit of reformation found its most conspicuous and characteristic expression in (i) the abolition of the uniform law, and also of the law that required the stu- dents to leave their beds at dawn; (2) the adoption of the Honor System; (3) the organization of the Young Men's Christian Association. These salient measures, dictated by the pressure of events, while they failed to suppress at once the feeling of soreness against the Faculty which had so long estranged the young men, yet they set influences to going that gradually brought about relations of cordiality and kindness between the two, by making the one more sober and reasonable, and the other less aloof and less unsympathetic. Violations of the or- dinances continued, and at least one alarming insurrection took place; but, in the main, the spirit of disorder that did show itself was the aftermath of the anterior period, and except in small and quickly passing outbursts, was not 1 2 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA revived after 1850. The revocation of the uniform and early rising ordinances, although protracted in its conse- quences, because a constant cause of friction was thereby permanently rooted up, was, however, soon forgotten; but the Honor System and the Young Men's Christian Association, once introduced, remained indefinitely the two most powerful agencies for the encouragement and fortification of a purer and calmer atmosphere within the precincts of the institution. Under their beneficent influ- ence, the scheme of self-government which Jefferson was so anxious to set up among the students, was realized, if not to the furthest limit of his sanguine expectation, yet to a degree never before thought to be attainable. The spirit of expansion, during this period, was as per- ceptible as the spirit of reformation, and, in some measure, perhaps, was its offspring. The extent of this growth within the University was most discernible in ( i ) the in- crease in the number of students; (2) the addition of the important professorship of history and literature; (3) the division of the chair of ancient languages into two chairs of equal dignity; (4) the enlargement of several schools by the introduction of new departments, subject to dif- ferent instructors ; and ( 5 ) the provision for new lecture- rooms and laboratories by the building of the Annex. Beyond the precincts of the University, the expand- ing power of its influence was to be seen in the improve- ment which had taken place in the standards and methods of the private academies through the agency of its own highly trained graduates; but above all, it was to be per- ceived in the careers of that large number of alumni, who, in every Southern community, had won so honorable a position, especially in the professions of law and medicine, and in the church and in public life. Expansion within the University was abruptly arrested by the breaking out EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 S of the War of Secession. It was as if a railway train, moving with orderly and steadily increasing speed, had been suddenly jolted from the track, with its capacity for further progress practically destroyed for the time being. II. Increase in the Attendance The first notable feature of the Fifth Period, 1842- 1861, was the large increase in the number of students. This fact was attributable to at least three causes : ( I ) the steady growth of prosperity in all parts of the South, the region from which so great a majority of the young men were drawn; (2) the rising reputation of the Uni- versity through the successful labors of its graduates in the secondary schools; and (3) the final elimination of the stage-coach by the extension of railway transporta- tion to Charlottesville from the remotest points. Dur- ing the session of 1842—1843, only one hundred and twenty-eight students were entered in the list of matricu- lates. Ten years later, this number had jumped up to four hundred and twenty-five, and at the end of nine years more, had jumped still higher — to six hundred and four. The institution stood then on the very brink of the military struggle between the States. The largest number of young men enrolled previous to that conflict were admitted during the session of 1856-7, when six hundred and forty-five were daily seated in the lecture- rooms. In comparison with the thousands of students now swarming in the principal American colleges, the attend- ance at the University of Virginia, in 1856-7, — the larg- est in its history under the old plantation system, — seems somewhat unimposing; but that number takes on its true meaning when we compare it with the number at Harvard 4 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA and Yale during the same period. During the session of 1852-3, Harvard could claim six hundred and fifty stu- dents; Yale, six hundred and four; the University of Vir- ginia, four hundred and sixty-six, — the last institution, therefore, fell short of Harvard in attendance by one hundred and eighty-four matriculates ; and of Yale, by one hundred and thirty-eight. During the session of 1855- 6, Harvard enrolled six hundred and sixty-nine students; Yale, six hundred and nineteen, and the University of Virginia, five hundred and fifty-eight. The shortage of the last institution in comparison with Harvard was now only one hundred and eleven; and in comparison with Yale, only sixty-one. The rate of numerical progression was, therefore, in favor of the University of Virginia, for the numerical superiority of Yale had been reduced one half, and of Harvard more than one third. It is quite possible that the losses of the two Northern universities, and the gains of the Southern one, were really due to the gradual acquisition by the latter of much of the patronage that had, during many years, been drawn by Harvard and Yale from the States of the South. We have already mentioned that, previous to 1842, there was a remarkable increase in the number of young men matric- ulating at the University of Virginia who had come up from the communities of the Gulf and the Southwest. The attendance from the same region reached more ex- traordinary proportions in the course of the next nineteen sessions; and the reason for this fact was still the same: the continued growth in the prosperity of these common- wealths through the ever augmenting demand for their principal staple, cotton. The reputation of the institu- tion had always been high, and there were now ample means in those parts for taking advantage of the educa- tional facilities which it offered. Arkansas and Texas EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 5 were not to be found among the States of the South which had patronized it prior to 1842; but in the interval be- tween that year and the session of 1860-1, the former sent up twenty-two students and the latter fifty-nine. During the same interval, the attendance from South Carolina more than doubled, and the attendance from Florida, more than trebled. So also in the case of the three large commonwealths, Alabama, Louisiana and Kentucky: the number of young men hailing from them, in the course of the first seventeen sessions, was only two hundred and seventy-four; but during the nineteen sessions that preceded the war, it rose to eight hundred and fifty-eight. The attendance from both Carolina and Mississippi, during the same period, trebled, while the at- tendance from Tennessee and Georgia doubled. The proportion of increase for some of the States sit- uated beyond the borders of the South was quite as high, though the list of their matriculates was comparatively slim. The attendance from New York advanced from eight for the first seventeen sessions to fourteen for the next nineteen. The figures for Maryland were respec- tively forty-nine and one hundred and sixty-two; for Pennsylvania, fifteen and twenty-seven; for the District of Columbia, forty-six and eighty-eight; for Illinois, five and eighty-three; and for Ohio, six and twenty-five. At least four States of the North are found in the roll of students for the first time after the session of 1841—2; namely, California, with an attendance of twelve; Con- necticut, with an attendance of five; Iowa and Indiana, with an attendance of one respectively. The number of students from Virginia, during the last nineteen ses- sions, was almost as many again as the number that ma- triculated during the first seventeen, — the figures for the latter period were approximately twenty-three hun- dred and forty-two, while, for the former, they were four thousand, four hundred, and seventy-two. The aggre- gate attendance from the Southern States, exclusive of Virginia, but inclusive of Maryland and the District of Columbia, was, during the first seventeen sessions, eight hundred and forty-one, and during the ensuing nineteen, two thousand, seven hundred, and forty-six. For the Western States, the figures for the same periods were eleven and one hundred and ten, respectively; and for the Northern, seventeen and fifty-eight. There were, dur- ing the second period, as during the first, a few students who were credited to England, Germany, South America, and the West Indies. Just before the session of 1845-46 began, there were several influences at work that discouraged an increase in the volume of attendance. Indeed, the number of students matriculating between 1842-3 and 1848-9 was smaller than between 1833—4 and 1839-40. What were these influences? So far as the cotton States were affected, the fluctuating value of the local paper currency was a frequent impediment to any important addition to the enrolment from that region of country. " I learn that there are about one hundred and twenty-five stu- dents at the University," Alexander Garrett wrote Cocke, in 1842. " Many others in the South will come as soon as they can obtain funds that will be received at anything like par value. Southern paper has been at 40 per cent, discount. It is now at about 25, and getting still better. If it continues to improve, we can expect more students by spring." But there were also moral reasons that explain the small attendance. These were fully set forth in the re- port which the investigating committee of the General Assembly submitted in 1845. This report stated that EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 7 there was a lingering impression that the institution was still controlled by the malignant power of irreligious sympathies; that the murder of Professor Davis, — which had confirmed the general impression of the students' turbulent disposition, — was still indignantly reprobated beyond the precincts as well as within; that many young men either remained at home, or matriculated at other colleges, because their preparation for the University, owing to its high standard, was altogether inadequate; and finally, that the absence of a curriculum relieved the average student of a motive for attending the lectures longer than a year or a couple of years at most. How far this last condition operated to diminish the number of matriculates after their first year, will be revealed by an examination of the following statistics for the period extending from the session of 1842—3 to that of 1860— i, — in their first year, 4754; in their second, 1838 ; in their third, 638; in their fourth, 179; in their fifth, 24; and in their sixth, four. Had the University of Virginia adopted at the be- ginning the curriculum system in the greatly modified form which, in our own times, prevails at Harvard Uni- versity,— that is to say, with an almost equal proportion of obligatory and elective studies, — it is quite probable, in the light of what has always been observed in all cur- riculum colleges, that, instead of there being, during the Fifth Period, 1842—1861, only six hundred and thirty- eight matriculates in their third year, and only one hun- dred and seventy-nine in their fourth, there would, in the aggregate, have been four thousand, five hundred at least in the joint third and fourth years, — which are the junior and senior years in institutions that still retain the curriculum. The difference in attendance between the first and second years was, in a measure, still due to a 8 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA fact that also existed during the Fourth Period, 1825- 1842; namely, the smallness of the proportion of young men who were able to graduate owing to the severity of the test. It was calculated that, in the School of Math- ematics, in 1851 this proportion was one in sixteen; of Natural Philosophy, one in six; of Chemistry, one in eight; of Ancient Languages, one in eleven; of Medicine, one in six or seven; of Law, one in eighteen or nineteen; and of Moral Philosophy, one in four. Many of those who failed were too much discouraged to return to the institution. III. State Students We have seen that the University of Virginia was, from the threshold of its history, the target of ignorant prejudice, selfish jealousy, and calculated hostility. There were those persons who honestly thought that it diverted to the education of the wealthy funds which ought properly to have been spent on the education of the poor; there were the friends of the small colleges, who were convinced that its advancement could not be brought about without damage to these seats of learning, in which, for local or denominational reasons, they were alone in- terested; there were the demagogues, who endeavored to curry popular favor by denouncing every public insti- tution that was liberally patronized by the prosperous; and finally, there was a respectable group of citizens, who looked with disapproval on the University because it was so unreservedly in sympathy with the political principles of Jefferson. Among the partizan organs published in Richmond, at least one, — and that one edited with con- spicuous ability, — was influenced by this political spite to be-little and injure it at every turn. Naturally, those who were responsible for the University's administration EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 9 were more or less harassed by this persistent animosity. Even if it had not been distasteful to them from a moral point of view, it was impossible for them not to regret it from a practical, since the institution was dependent upon the good will of the General Assembly for the payment of its annuity, without which its operating machinery must have soon slowed down to a full stop. It was foreseen, at an early date, that, unless the Uni- versity could be made popular by some shrewd device, it must suffer, — perhaps irretrievably in the end, — from this illiberal or interested outcry against it. The most sensible of all the proctors of those times, Brockenbrough, was the first to suggest the only measure that was exactly calculated to silence the noisy opponents who were always pointing a threatening finger at the institution as a seat of learning reserved for the affluent. It will be recalled that he recommended to Thomas W. Gilmer, then a mem- ber of the General Assembly, the passage of an act which should allow at least one student from each sena- torial district of the State to be admitted without re- quiring him to pay the usual tuition fees. It is quite possible that he had in mind that clause in Jefferson's bill of 1779 which provided without charge for the higher education of a definite proportion of those indigent pupils who should show, in the intermediate academies, the pos- session of remarkable talent and scholarship. The Fac- ulty warmly approved of Brockenbrough's suggestion; and again and again they urged its adoption in a form only slightly different from its original tenor. But it was not until 1845 tnat anY steP was taken to increase the number of students by the admission of State scholars. Radical voices were already growing blatant. In No- vember of that year, the Richmond Whig asked the fol- lowing significant question: " Cannot the annual appro- 10 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA priation of fifteen thousand dollars to the University be more profitably expended for the great cause of educa- tion than in instructing from one hundred to one hundred and fifty youths, all of whom have the means of finishing their course through their own resources? " 1 " There should be no professors' fees," that journal declared, " no library fees, no proctor's fees. These should be paid by the State and people." This was an extreme expression of Jefferson's views, and the Visitors and Faculty were sagacious enough to perceive that the public sentiment which it reflected could be successfully used to stabilize the University's position. Here was a means of countering the charge that it was a seat of learning practically open only to the rich, a charge that had caused acute perturbation because men- acing the very existence of the institution by robbing it of the bulk of its income. The authorities of the University fully approved of the General Assembly's action in re- quiring them to educate at least one young man chosen by a board in each of the thirty-two senatorial districts into which the State was then divided. This seems to have been first recommended to the Assembly by the leg- islative committee which investigated the riots of 1845. In June, 1846, the Visitors drafted the regulations that were to govern the new set of students : they were to be liable for no dues beyond the fines imposed for dere- lictions; their general status was not to differ from that of the paying matriculates ; they were to be permitted to prolong their studies for two years at least, and even for a more protracted period, should they exhibit un- 1 A writer in the Watchman of the South in 1841, after describing the expensiveness of the life at the University of Virginia, which he attributed partly to the operation of the uniform law, asserted that the " State was paying $15,000, not in behalf of the poor to be educated, but to educate the rich." EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 11 common promise. The charge for board was not to ex- ceed sixty dollars, — which was a smaller sum than the ordinary student was expected to deposit in the hands of the hotel-keeper during a single session. The proctor was instructed to enter into an agreement with some re- sponsible person to provide food for the State scholars on this basis; and as an encouragement to such a person, by swelling his profit, he was to be permitted to occupy the proctor's house; to enjoy the lease of the Dawson farm for a period of one year; and also to obtain fuel from the University's woods. If the number of State scholars should fall short of thirty-two, he was to be granted the right to make up his complement of boarders from the mass of the other students. The first steward, as the contractor was called, was Major Edmund Broadus, and his engagement dated from November 13, 1846. The earliest State scholars had been admitted during the previous September. These young men assembled at the University with the creden- tials of their district boards and were closely examined by a committee of the Faculty. Twenty-five were present on the first occasion. Subsequently, the original selec- tion seems to have rested exclusively in the hands of the professors as a body. To all, the test of mental capacity, moral excellence, and inadequate means to obtain an edu- cation at their own expense, was strictly applied. The preference, in making a choice, was given to those who wished to enter the academic schools; but candidates for the professional schools were not shut out. A com- mittee was appointed to distribute the State students among the different classes; and should more than ten of them enter a single class, its instructor was to be entitled to twenty-five dollars for each individual in ex- cess of that number. There was, at a later date, an ad- 12 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA ditional requirement imposed by the General Assembly, which was aptly calculated to increase the beneficial effect of the innovation: every State student, in matriculating, must agree to teach for a period of two years after leav- ing the institution. The system of State students was a prosperous one from the very start, — no doubt, because it was looked upon favorably by the Faculty and Visitors alike, who joined heartily and intelligently in the effort to forward it. " I heard in Charlottesville, with much pleasure, from the officers of the University," James M. Mason, a member of the Board, wrote Cabell in November, 1846, " of the successful working so far of our arrangements for the education of the poor boys, and trust that what we have done, will deter the General Assembly from farther disputes to contract its revenues." During the ensuing year, when the system had stood the test of twelve months' passage, a few changes were made in the first regulations. Now, as formerly, the applicant must be at least sixteen years of age; but his credentials, in- stead of being handed in in September, were to be sub- mitted prior to June 15, so as to give the Faculty an opportunity to fill all vacancies before the session should begin. He must also designate the schools which he wished to enter; and they must be at least three in num- ber. If mathematics, natural philosophy, and ancient languages were chosen, he must prove that he had en- joyed the same amount of preparation which was ex- pected of the regular student. If no candidate should come forward from any one of the districts, the Fac- ulty were, in 1849, empowered to select one from another district, whether already represented or not. In the course of this year, the General Assembly adopted an additional provision, which still further EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 13 broadened the scope of the innovation : they required that the State students should not only be taught without pay- ment of fees, but should also be exempted from all ex- pense for board. This law was in operation for a time, but its effect turned out to be injurious. Previously, the spirit of the State students, without exception, had been to strive, to the very height of their ability, to utilize all the opportunities for acquiring knowledge that were thrown open to them. Now, supported by the Common- wealth, many of these young men fell into habits of rest- less idleness, while others wasted most of their time in vicious dissipation. The general decline of the body was the more remarkable as the General Assembly had, in eliminating the charge for food, required that the age of the applicant should never be less than seventeen because of the greater likelihood of a person at that older period of life comprehending the real advantages to follow from the enjoyment of the privilege. The Visitors had unanimously protested against the allowance of free board. They asserted that, with an annuity of only fifteen thousand dollars, it would be dif- ficult for the institution to stand up straight under the heaviness of this new load; and that the additional charge could only be met by cutting down the amount now ap- plied to the prosecution of the regular work. No weight was given by the Legislature to the justness of this com- plaint until 1856, when the rule granting free board to State students was repealed. An improvement in their character as a body was soon discernible. In the mean- while (1853), the Visitors had endeavored to persuade the General Assembly to loan the University the sum of twenty thousand dollars; and its consent to do this was only obtained on condition that the number of State students should be increased to fifty. Cabell pointed out 14, HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA that this number could not be accommodated unless the Legislature should agree to increase the number of teachers also, and make special appropriations for the purchase of books and apparatus, in addition. The pro- posal was not pressed for the time being. At the termination of the Fifth Period, 1842-1861, the general impression of the system of State students was as favorable as it had been at the close of the first year of its operation. The mistake was made in the be- ginning of segregating them. Not only did the entire company eat their meals under the same roof, but twelve dormitories were, in 1848, built on Monroe Hill to pro- vide them with lodgings. Many persons at first pre- dicted that the system would fail in the end, because, owing to this segregation, these young men would feel that they belonged to an inferior social caste in the Uni- versity, and, for that reason, would be apprehensive of the tacit ostracism or the open jeerings of their more for- tunate fellows. Time proved that this anticipation was entirely without foundation. Not only did the Faculty and Visitors exert themselves, as we have seen, to en- courage and assist the State students, but the general at- titude of the college at large towards them was helpful and sympathetic. In 1848, Major Broadus declared that, as a body, they bore a favorable comparison with an equal proportion of the regular students; and that the best scholars among them were quite as finished as the best in the ranks of those who had paid the fees. It was remarked at this time, before the quality of the mass had been lowered by free board, that each one was anxious to enter the classes of at least four professors, so as to derive the greatest profit possible from their course of two years. Among the most successful students at the University after 1856, were many who had only been EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 15 able to attend through this legislative benefaction; and an important proportion of these belonged to the most highly respected families of the Commonwealth. IV. New Buildings The continuous rise in the attendance created a re- curring need for more dormitories and dining-rooms. Anterior to 1842, as we have seen, there had been several outboarding houses, which, with the Faculty's approval, solicited and received the patronage of the students. After that year, the call for respectable establishments of this kind, situated beyond the precincts, became more ur- gent. An increase in the number of matriculates from one hundred and twenty-eight, during the session of 1842-3, to four hundred and twenty-five, during the ses- sion of 1852—3, and six hundred and forty-five, during the session of 1856—7, would have taxed the resources of the University had not these boarding houses been close at hand and spacious enough to take in the overflow. In 1845, F. D. Fitch was licensed to open a house of this character, and, in 1846, Charles Johnson. Mrs. Carr, who resided on Carr's Hill, almost within a stone's throw of the Rotunda, was able to count as many as fifty young men seated daily at each meal in her comfortable dining- room. All the State scholars assembled at these hours under the roof of the Monroe mansion, in charge of Major Broadus. Colonel Woodley, the proctor in 1845, was granted the right to admit as many as eight students to his table, on condition that they should be the sons of his friends, and had been recommended by them to his care. Subsequently, he was permitted to receive an ad- ditional four. After the death of Dr. Emmet, his widow at Morea eked out her income by accepting boarders ; and her example was followed by Mrs. McKennie, the very 16 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA kind and capable wife of the University bookseller of that name. So cramped did the accommodations for the students finally become, that many of them asked for permission to engage their rooms and meals in the taverns of Char- lottesville; but the ordinance forbidding this had not been repealed, and the Faculty decided that they had no right to overlook the fact of its existence. The rule was first relaxed in favor of C. D. Haworth, who, being a chronic dyspeptic, found it impossible to get in the Uni- versity hotels and outboarding houses the particular kind of food which he required. In the end, the ordinance was revoked, and all students who had failed to secure a room and board in the University, or just beyond its precincts, were left at liberty to seek them in the hotels of Charlottesville. But it was necessary that they should obtain the parental consent before they could lawfully do this. During the years that immediately preceded the session of 1860— i, the regulations confined the area of this outer residence to the quarter of the town that lay on the western side of the Midway Hotel. In spite of the relief afforded by these practical meas- ures, the accommodations for the students continued to be straightened. In 1848, twelve dormitories, as already stated, were erected on Monroe Hill for the use of the State scholars; but even this addition brought but small relief. At the meeting of the Board, the following year, the executive committee were requested to submit, in the course of the ensuing June, a plan that would provide for, among other buildings, another new row of bedrooms. A detailed plan was drafted, and then adopted, and the proctor was promptly empowered to contract for three hundred thousand bricks in anticipation of the construc- tion that was soon to begin. No further step, however, EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 17 seems to have been taken to erect at once even the lodg- ings that were most acutely needed. In 1854, one hun- dred dollars was appropriated to convert the brick ob- servatory standing at the foot of Monroe Hill into apart- ments for students; and, at the same time, the professors were asked to give up the use of the dormitories situated next to their pavilions. Three years later, the executive committee were instructed to build on the west side of the precincts such a number of rooms as would accom- modate fifty young men, and on the east side, — beyond the line of the Central Railway, — enough to accommo- date sixty more. A boarding-house, with a dining-room capable of seating one hundred persons, was also to be erected. The sum of twenty thousand dollars was re- served to defray the cost of these different structures. This extensive and comprehensive project apparently fell to the ground. Its nearest approach to realization consisted of the enlargement, at a later period, of the two dining-rooms of the East and West Ranges to a point where they would allow space for not less than one hun- dred chairs at table. W. A. Pratt was, in 1858, ap- pointed the superintendent of the buildings and grounds in order to give relief to the proctor, whose office duties had been steadily augmented by the ever growing num- ber of students. Pratt drew up an elaborate plan for the creation of two parks, — one on the eastern slope looking towards Charlottesville ; the other on the western level, to extend from the Lynchburg road to the Staun- ton highway. The surface was to be scientifically graded and planted in trees and shrubs of rare varieties. The scheme was carried out only on the eastern side of the precincts; and there but partially. But neither parks nor enlarged hotels removed the har- assing dilemma which arose from the unhalting increase 18 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA in the number of students. It was lodgings that were still most needed; and, in 1859, the Board invited the wealthy alumni to erect dormitories on sites to be chosen within the precincts. The following were the terms on which these houses were to be constructed : ( i ) the build- ers should be entitled to rents for a period to be there- after agreed upon; (2) if the young men failed to apply for the rooms, the Board should have the right to take possession of them, and assign them to students, who were to pay the usual rent, which was to be turned over to the proprietors; (3) at any time, the Visitors could appropriate to the University the houses, on paying back the sums which they had cost, subject to deduction for repairs. These terms did not prove seductive, and no dormitories were built. By 1859, the Dawson Farm had been disposed of, and the Board decided that the pro- ceeds of the sale should be expended in the erection of a row of brick cottages on the western side of the grounds. These cottages were expected to provide space for the accommodation of at least fifty students. Six houses were constructed; and to these, a seventh was afterwards added. But the problem which the University's authorities were trying to solve satisfactorily was not limited to new dormitories. As the number of students increased, the need of a more voluminous water supply arose. In 1843, the professor of natural philosophy was directed by the Board to ascertain whether a line of iron pipes could be laid from the spring on the Maury farm to the Lawn. If he ever drafted a report in response to these instruc- tions, it was not followed up. Two years afterwards, the executive committee was asked to find out the cost of building such a pipe line from Observatory Mountain to the University precincts. Should they conclude that it EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 19 was feasible to do this, they were to have the power to arrange for its construction ; but if they should decide that it was impracticable, they were to take steps to collect in cisterns all the rain that should fall on the roofs of the dormitories and pavilions. Whichever course was ul- timately adopted, the supply remained inadequate, for, in 1849, fifty-five hundred dollars was appropriated by the board to increase the quantity. The water was needed, not only for satisfying domestic purposes, but also for extinguishing fires. The insufficiency became so inconvenient and so dangerous by 1850, that the execu- tive committee were again authorized to build new cis- terns on the grounds; and, in the following year, three additional ones were ordered to be constructed; but these small reservoirs, owing to the frequent recurrence of dry weather, and the constant draughts on their contents, left the situation still of a critical character. For the sec- ond time, the executive committee were instructed to pro- cure estimates for bringing a larger volume of water down from the region lying to the west of the University. In the meanwhile, the rector was empowered to apply to the General Assembly for permission to borrow twenty thousand dollars to defray the united costs of repairing the roofs and increasing the quantity of the water sup- ply. An appropriation of twenty-five thousand dollars was made by the Legislature at the session of 1853—4 for these combined purposes. Mr. Stevenson, the rector, requested Mr. Gill, the chief engineer of the Central Rail- way, to draw up the estimates for the water works ; Gill, being too busy to do this, recommended Mr. Eardman, of Philadelphia; and through Professor George Tucker, at this time a resident of that city, the services of this dis- tinguished engineer were secured. Eardman sent in his report in June, 1854. He calculated that the cost of 20 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA the new works would amount to $21,229.21, without in- cluding a reserve fund of $21,122.90 for contingencies. It was not until several months had passed that bids were advertised for; and when these were received, they were found, in every instance, to run beyond the appropriation. In the meanwhile, the owner of the most important spring had refused to sell, except on conditions which the ex- ecutive committee decided they had not the delegated power to accept. One year later, — no practical step having been taken in the interval, — Charles Ellet was employed to devise a plan for obtaining a sufficient supply of water, to be accompanied by an estimate of cost. He enjoyed a na- tional reputation as a civil engineer, and his report was promptly adopted by the Board. The executive commit- tee was again directed to give out the contracts for the prosecution of the work. The right to take possession of the springs necessary to complete the supply had al- ready been granted by the General Assembly. In accord with Ellet's recommendation, iron pipes were laid down, which connected a reservoir at the back of the Rotunda with numerous fountain-heads situated in the high val- leys of the foothills towards the west. The water, — which was first received in the reservoir, — was, by a steam pump, forced up into two tanks located within the cavity of the bricks that supported the bottom of the dome in the rear. Each of these tanks had a capacity of seven thousand gallons; and they were elevated at least seventy feet above the surface of the Lawn. The pres- sure was sufficient to drive water from them to any roof within the central grounds of the University, except the top of the dome itself. The tanks proved to be defec- tive. The leaking water at first seriously injured the ex- terior walls of the Rotunda, and then slowly dampened EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 21 the partitions of the rooms and basement. There was, at one time, a heavy overflow, owing to a shortened pro- vision for waste pipes. Many of the books in the library were, on this occasion, thoroughly soaked, the ceiling was defaced, and the plastering of the lecture-halls be- low was loosened. In the spring of 1861, a live coal was dropped unob- served in the loft of the Rotunda by plumbers who had been repairing that part of the structure; a fire broke out; and but for the energy of the students in suppressing the flames, the entire building would have been burnt to the ground. W. H. Chapman was publicly commended for the conspicuously brave and effective share which he had in this exciting episode. As early as 1852, the executive committee were au- thorized to contract for the introduction of gas into the University area ; but they must have found the estimates unsatisfactory, for no step apparently was taken at that time. In the summer of the following year, there was a proposal by a gas firm to send an expert to examine the grounds, and choose the site for a gas-house; but it was not until 1857 that this means of illumination seems to have been finally introduced ; and then through the agency of the Charlottesville and University Gas Company; which also agreed to supply the necessary fixtures. v. New Buildings — The Annex While these different measures for adding to the num- ber of dormitories, and furnishing their occupants with an ample supply of water and light, were in the process of accomplishment, the need of more lecture-rooms and more laboratories had become more acute. It was said, in 1849, tnat om " He is not only a Chesterfield in man- ners, but a gentleman in every feeling of his heart." This was the opinion and the attitude of his entire class. Although constrained by ill health to resign in July, 1845, after an incumbency that lasted only four years, he had stamped his views upon the whole framework of the University by the leading part which he had taken in abolishing the uniform and early rising ordinances, and in proposing the introduction of the Honor System in the examinations. In July, 1845, John M. Patton, one of the most con- spicuous members of the Virginian bar, was appointed by the Board to succeed Judge Tucker; but he was un- willing to accept; and John B. Minor was, on the 29th of the same month, chosen in his place. Minor was now in his thirty-second year. The University of Vir- ginia, at this time, was languishing under a cloud, ow- ing to the disgraceful riot which had recently occurred. There was then less to tempt the lawyer in full practice EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 69 to consent to take the position vacated by Tucker than at any time since the establishment of the school. It was fortunate that this should have been so, for, in Minor, the institution secured for its Faculty a man, who, al- though not yet enrolled among the greatest members of the profession in Virginia, was destined to become the greatest teacher of the law that the State of his nativity, perhaps the entire South, has produced. From the hour of his first admission to the bar, he had displayed all those qualities which afterwards so conspicuously distinguished him as an instructor. It is said that, even as a young lawyer, he exhibited extraor- dinary powers of analysis; that he refused to ask for or accept any relaxation in the stiffest requirements of pleading; and that he showed familiarity with the most obscure and abstruse rules and forms of practice, but, at the same time, was equally well informed about the broad general principles of jurisprudence. It was affirmed of him even then that he seemed to move in an atmosphere of law and to live by labor. The draft of his lectures from the beginning was remarkable for a rigorously log- ical and scientific arrangement in imitation of the search- ing methods of Hale and Blackstone. " His system," said a distinguished graduate of his school, " revealed the law to the mind's eye as a topographical map of a coun- try cast in bas relief. He seemed to cut the law into thin slices." l All the principles of modern law were dili- gently and confidently traced by him to the common law, — the form might have changed, but the spirit itself re- mained unaltered. He carried this admiration of the common law to the verge of fanatical conservatism.2 1 Memorial address by John W. Daniel, United States Senator from Virginia. 2 Numerous instances, in illustration of his extremely conservative habit of mind, might be mentioned. Two, fairly typical of the rest, 70 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA The modifications in that law brought about by new con- ditions rarely, perhaps never, obtained his approval, — he only looked upon such innovations as diminishing, to that degree, the essential beneficence of the whole system. His industry seemed to have no halting point. Year after year, he chalked on the broad blackboard of his classroom the long daily syllabus; and hours after the University households had gone to bed, his lamp was to be seen shining through the window of his study, where he was adjusting the heads of his next lecture, making up a file of examination papers, writing advisory letters to former members of his class, or drafting a thoughtful report for the Faculty. His oral lectures were always remarkable for their clarity of exposition, and sometimes for pungency, not to say, causticity, of expression, when the subject justified personal comment in that vein. His lofty attitude towards the moral side of the profes- sion which he taught reached far in its elevating influence. In those times, the most important figure in every South- ern community was its most respected lawyer. To shape the character of the leading members of the Southern bar was to make a broad and profound impression upon the whole trend of Southern life. Minor's pupils were drawn from every town and every county in Virginia, and from every large center in the other States of the South, and from many of the cities of the West and North. They afterwards became, not only the legal counsel of the will be sufficient. First, he was an outspoken opponent of the Married Woman's Property Act, and to the last, he condemned its passage by the General Assembly of Virginia — often in words so caustic and sar- castic that they have lingered in the memory of the present writer, at that time a student under him, for a period of forty years. Secondly, he stoutly denied the moral and legal right of the Visitors to alter the regu- lation, established by Jefferson, which awarded to each professor the tuition fees of his school. A precedent had been set at the University's inauguration, which, in his opinion, should, for that reason, have been retained indefinitely. EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 71 people of their commonwealths, but the trusted judges and legislators. They had the foremost part in drafting the laws, and the foremost part also in moulding public senti- ment. Upon their conception of personal duty and civic responsibility depended largely the physical well-being and the moral health of the myriads of people who looked to them as guides and exemplars. It was upon this great body of men, the intellectual flower of the South, sitting in relays under his eye, year after year, during fifty years, that Minor stamped his lofty standards of professional obligation, his passion for thoroughness, his austere con- victions of right, and his never ceasing hatred of moral foulness.1 He was as intolerant of relaxation in principle as he was of innovation in law; and he evinced the religious feeling that lay at the root of his character by his readi- ness to assume any form of personal inconvenience or ad- ditional labor to foster the religious life of the community. He was a vestryman of his church, the superintendent of a Sunday school for the slaves, the teacher of a students' Bible class, and, under his own roof, never omitted family prayers from day to day. In his character, there was combined an extraordinary fund of learning, a perfect firmness and clearness of moral principle, a highly trained intellect, an almost unapproached capacity for work, and a spirit responsive to every dictate of civic and religious duty. James P. Holcombe, Minor's associate, was a descend- ant, on both sides of his house, of military officers of the Revolution. While still a lad, he was so inflamed by the adventures of the boy Franklin, as recounted in the fa- mous autobiography, that he ran away from home in imi- 1 Judge James C. Lamb, in an address in memory of Professor Minor, estimated the number of men who had attended his classes at six thousand. tation of the budding philosopher, and when met by a friend of his father, was found buried in the pages of that fascinating book as he walked, dusty and sorefooted, along the highway. ' Where are you going? " he was asked in astonishment. " To the West to make my for- tune," was the ingenuous and cheery reply. It was only by threats that he could be moved to return home. The desire to wander, however, still lurked in his breast. But it was not as a tramp that he ultimately emigrated,— having married early in life, he and his bride made the journey to Ohio in a coach-and-four placed at their dis- posal by his father-in-law. During the time that he was practising law in Cincinnati, his parents left their home in Lynchburg, and settled in Indiana in order to rear and educate their other sons in a State that was free from the institution of slavery. Before turning their backs on Virginia, they had not only liberated their own bondsmen, but had also refused to accept a large inher- itance because it consisted of that form of chattels. Such was the fibre of the stock from which Holcombe, the most ardent and eloquent advocate of Secession in the Faculty of the University of Virginia, was sprung ! Such was the atmosphere in which was trained the future member of the Secession Convention and the Confederate Congress ! When he was first proposed as a candidate for the for- mer body, he said to the Board of Visitors: "The stead- ily increasing number of my students furnishes the most satisfactory evidence that, notwithstanding much misrep- resentation as to the character of my instruction, it com- mands the confidence of the community at large. I have acted on the persuasion, shared by men of all parties, that the peace, prosperity, and civilization of the Common- wealth are at stake; and that, under such circumstances, no patriotic citizen should hesitate to take any place in EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 73 which men who agree with him as to the proper history of the Republic, suppose that he can render most service." The spirit which had led him, in his boyhood, to steal away from a safe and comfortable home, in his search of great adventures, now prompted him to launch his for- tunes, at the very start, on the dangerous flood of the ris- ing Confederacy. The brooding peace of the arcades, the calm dignity of the teacher's platform, the varied charms of literature, the bonds of intellectual friendship, — all were left behind, in the spirit of a mediaeval knight, as he withdrew from the precincts to put his great tal- ents at the disposal of the new-born nationality. There was a generous impulsiveness about the whole character of the man which seemed to attach him more naturally to the cause of Secession, with its romantic hazards, than to the drab duties of the lecture-room, however numerous the opportunities there of discoursing upon questions which were then dividing the people of the whole country. xii. The Professors, Continued In 1841, J. J. Sylvester was called to the chair of mathematics made vacant by the death of Bonnycastle. Key had warmly recommended his appointment. He was a graduate of St. John's College, Cambridge, and at the time of his election, professor of natural philosophy and astronomy in the University of London. Young as he was, he had already won a great reputation by his ex- traordinary achievements in mathematical science. " He is regarded here," Stevenson, the American Minister to the Court of St. James, wrote to Cabell in October, 1841, " as one of the first mathematicians of the age, and you may rely on it, if he has a fair chance, he will dis- tinguish himself and do good service to our old State." Unhappily, Sylvester, who was a Jew by birth and in 74 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA faith, was poorly versed in the usages of society. Al- though morbidly sensitive, he was inclined to nurse his self-esteem to the point of thinking himself infallible; and when aroused to anger, his sense of discretion always failed to put any restraint whatever upon its outburst. In spite of his acknowledged eminence, he was chosen by the Board for one year only; and this, quite naturally, was a cause of mortification to him. " I would not have accepted a place nearer home on such terms," he told Stevenson ; and this statement was repeated by him in a let- ter to Chapman Johnson. " I should certainly never have consented," he said, "to receive an appointment similarly limited in any institution nearer home, where there existed more sure means of becoming acquainted with my per- sonal reputation and general character, and weighing the full value of the testimonials and other documents which I have been able to procure in support of my claims." Johnson replied in a spirit of independence. Stevenson, it seems, had assured Sylvester that the probational ten- ure was customary, and without personal significance ; but Johnson was not so considerate. " The professor elected for one year," he wrote, " was not always appointed per- manently even when he had given satisfaction. So far from feeling themselves committed to a permanent ap- pointment, the Visitors adopt the manner of a temporary one as a prudent precaution to enable them to judge upon better information how far the interests of the institu- tion will be promoted by making the appointment per- manent." Sylvester was so much discouraged by the tone of this letter that he was only prevented from recalling his ac- ceptance by the receipt of kindly messages from George Tucker and Joseph C. Cabell. His extreme sensitiveness very often took the form of race consciousness, and he EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 75 was probably first influenced in his determination to re- sign his excellent post in the University of London by the expectation that the social position of a learned Jew would be better in the United States than it was in Eng- land. But before leaving the English shores, he heard, with painful concern, that his appointment had been cen- sured in the Richmond journals because of his Hebrew origin. It is plain that he set out for his destination with a feeling of justifiable soreness, caused partly by his temporary nomination, and partly by this bigoted reflec- tion on himself in the Virginian newspapers. He reached the University in November, 1841, and his ar- rival, having been preceded by many rumors and conjec- tures, created a sensation; but he had no reason to com- plain of any lack of cordiality. " The students," we are told by John C. Rutherfoord, who was present, " bril- liantly illuminated the arcades in his honor, and made it the occasion of universal rejoicing." The first impression of Sylvester was a pleasing one. " At his inaugural address," says Professor Rogers, " he was terribly embarrassed; indeed, quite overwhelmed.. He has a good deal of hesitation, is not fluent, but is very enthusiastic, and commands the attention and interest of his class." He had been filling his chair barely three months when he fell into a wrangle with one of his stu- dents, whom he had seen reading a newspaper while his lecture was underway. So soon as the class was dis- missed, he had called up the delinquent, Ballard by name, and sharply rebuked him. Ballard was so disrespectful as to order the professor peremptorily " to stop his jaw." Sylvester, in a high state of excitement, was walking up and down the platform while these remarks were banded between the two; and finally, in a rage, he commanded the young man to leave the room, which he refused to do, 76 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA on the ground that, as the lecture was finished, Sylvester had no right to assert any further control over his actions. The Faculty, on receiving the Professor's indignant de- mand for Ballard's expulsion, — which should have been complied with, — took the same view as the refractory student, but concluded to refer the dispute to the Board for decision. While it would seem that Sylvester had been unable to prolong the pleasant impression which he had created at first, yet, at the same time, there was probably grave ex- aggeration in Ballard's statement " that he had not Con- ducted himself like a gentleman since his connection with the University began." It was indisputable that there was a provincial prejudice against him as a Jew and a foreigner. Kraitsir complained, — with much less rea- son, undoubtedly, — that he too was the target of the same illiberal hostility because he was a Hungarian, and, perhaps, also because he was a Catholic. Key and Long had been conscious of the same inimical attitude, though it was not so pronounced in their instance as in the cases of Sylvester, Kraitsir, and Blaettermann, — all three of whom were open to just criticisms for radical personal defects, which could not be brought against the two well- bred and socially accomplished Englishmen. Apparently, none of this feeling was aroused by Bonnycastle and Dun- glison. On February 24, 1842, Sylvester resigned be- cause he was very properly dissatisfied with the Faculty's failure to sustain him in the exercise of his rightful au- thority over an insulting student of his class. But the Board seems to have approved the Faculty's action, al- though they vaguely disclaimed " any intention to impute to the professor any blame in that matter." In 1843, Sylvester was a candidate for the professor- ship of mathematics in Columbia College, and he wrote to EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 77 his old associates at the University of Virginia for an ex- pression that would remove the cloud that rested over his chances of success, in consequence of the report of his quarrel with Ballard. " We desire, in justice to him," was the reply, " to correct any misconception on this sub- ject which may now be operating to his disadvantage. We, therefore, beg leave to state that his separation from the University was entirely his own voluntary act, occa- sioned, as they conceive, by dissatisfaction at the course his colleagues thought it proper to adopt towards a stu- dent whom he had reprimanded for inattention in a lec- ture-room, and whom, in their view of the circumstances, they were unwilling to punish to the extent he required." Such were the incidents that accompanied the avoidable loss to the University of Virginia of one of the most ex- traordinary mathematicians of modern times.1 Pike Powers completed Sylvester's unfinished term, and was succeeded by Edward H. Courtenay as the perma- nent incumbent of the chair. Courtenay possessed all the genial qualities which Sylvester lacked. " How kindly just he was," says Professor Francis H. Smith, " how mild and gentle both inside and outside of the lecture- room ! A master of his subject, a profound and patient instructor, who can forget the pathetic and even tremu- lous tones in which he spoke of the asserted failure of Taylor's Theorem, or the smile that lighted up his face when he mentioned the properties said to be enjoyed by the rectangular hyperbola." 2 Professor Charles S. Ven- able, another of his pupils, shared this impression of the amiable humor of the man. "He had," he says, "the 1 In March, 1888, Dr. Archer Atkinson, of Baltimore, presented the University of Virginia with a photograph of Professor Sylvester, which was received by the Faculty with an expression of high appreciation. 2 Professor Smith began his career in his chosen calling as an assistant of Courtenay. 78 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA gentlest, mildest, and most enticing ways of proposing very difficult questions, and when in his notes, he an- nounced that some statement was obviously true, we al- ways found that an uphill road lay before the younglings who had to refind it." He was without an enemy, and was as much respected and beloved by the Board and his colleagues as by the students. When he asked to be excused from reelection as chairman in 1845, tne Visitors positively refused to accede to his request. " We believe you," they said, " to be peculiarly well qualified, and have abundant reason to know that no other member of the Faculty would, at this time, be as acceptable. The gen- eral voice on all sides calls loudly for your appointment." Courtenay's native efficiency had been invigorated by an officer's training, for, at the age of sixteen, he had graduated at the head of his class at the Military Acad- emy at West Point; and he had been advanced to a full professorship in that great school by the time that he was twenty-six. Afterwards, he had filled the chair of math- ematics in the University of Pennsylvania. Elected to the same chair at the University of Virginia, without any solicitation on his part, he had, in the absence of an assistant, been compelled to give himself up to class duties at the sacrifice of all leisure for original investigation and composition. He lightened his labors, as we have already mentioned, by stenciling the syllabus of his lec- tures on large rolls of cotton cloth, which were used in succession. The subsequent history of these rolls illustrates the makeshifts which were employed by the Virginians in the lean years of the war. They were sold by Professor Courtenay's executor, and ultimately found their way into the possession of Dr. Fleming, of Hanover county, a large slaveholder. When the spectre of impoverishment EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 79 stalked through the State towards the end of the conflict, Dr. Fleming was at a great loss how to prevent his youth- ful negroes from reverting joyfully to the complete nu- dity of the African jungles. Apparently, there was no stuff except hickory and oak leaves with which to clothe them, for all the sheep and oxen had been consumed by the armies, and the old garments were now too tattered to be patched. The presence of the rolls in the garret luckily leaped to his mind; the mammies were set busily to work; and soon the pickaninnies were tumbling about the yard with half the problems of geometry and calculus conspicuously imprinted upon their backs. It was said at the time that an observant traveller passing that way could have found no difficulty in furbishing up his whole mathematical education by studying the wonderful dis- play of figures on the persons of these little grinning and animated blackboards. Among the candidates for Courtenay's vacant chair, which was filled temporarily by Alexander H. Nelson, was Thomas J. Jackson, the renowned Stonewall of Con- federate history. His testimonials commended, with pal- pable sincerity, his courage, energy, scholarship, and de- votion to duty. Albert Taylor Bledsoe was elected to succeed Cour- tenay in June, 1854. As between Jackson and himself, at that time, the choice offered small room for hesitation. He, like Jackson, was a graduate of the Military Acad- emy at West Point, and while there, had not only been a close comrade of both Davis and Lee, but had won un- usual reputation as a mathematician; indeed, it was ac- tually said of him that he had solved a problem of Archimedes which no one except himself, throughout the centuries, had been able to solve. He remained only two years in the army; then resigning, became, at first, 80 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA a tutor in Kenyon College, and, afterwards, a student of theology. During a short period, he served as the as- sistant of Bishop Smith, of Kentucky; but balking at the essential doctrine of baptismal regeneration, he turned to law; and when competent to practise, opened an office in Springfield, Illinois. While a member of this bar, he was constantly thrown into the company of Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. Annually, the practi- tioner who had won the largest number of cases during the preceding twelve months was presented by his asso- ciates with a basket of champagne. On at least one occasion, Bledsoe carried off this exhilarating prize. But the prospect of this and more substantial awards from the profession, did not keep him loyal to it perma- nently; at the end of ten years, he was, as mathematical professor, engaged in teaching in Kenyon College; and from that institution, passed in succession to Miami Uni- versity, the University of Mississippi, and the University of Virginia. Although he was, in all these important in- stitutions, the chief mathematical instructor, his taste at bottom was for metaphysical studies. His power of abstraction reached a phenomenal height. When in that state -of mind, only a direct appeal by name could rouse him from his reverie, and this he always resented. " Give me a blow on the head with a hammer," he would say as he writhed, " and it would be much more merci- ful." " He would go to his meals," we are told by his son, " eat them mechanically, and never once come to a sense of where he was or what he was doing." In ten- acity of memory, he was the peer of Macaulay. Left without a copy of an elaborate index to one of his works, prepared by himself, but lost in transportation to the publishers, he restored it from the tablets of his recollec- tion without the omission of a single detail. EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 81 Such were the mental qualities of a professor who, by some humorous stroke of perverse destiny, found himself in the uniform of a colonel in the Confederate army not long after hostilities began. Davis told him that his brains in the closet would be of far more value to the cause than his sword in the field, and he was, in conse- quence, appointed assistant secretary of war; but even this position was not suitable to his talents; and again by Davis's advice, it seems, he gave himself up to the com- position of a volume on the constitutional right of seces- sion. In order to secure the necessary authorities for this work, he was compelled to make his way to London through the blockade; and on his return, he issued the once famous treatise, Is Davis a Traitor? Subsequently, he found congenial and fruitful employment as editor of the Southern Review. His estimate of a new volume was sometimes expressed with unconventional curtness. " Your book and letter have been received," he wrote one author. " You say that you have not looked into the subject for twenty years. After reading your book, I should not suppose you have." " Your book has in it many new things and many true things," he wrote an- other, " but unfortunately, none of the true things are new, and none of the new things are true." Bledsoe's religious views were so far from orthodox, that when, during his last years, he wished to be called again to the pulpit, the Methodist denomination alone was willing to offer him an opportunity to preach. His success in that character was moderate, as his enunciation was defective, and his sermons, though profound in thought, were too heavy to win popularity. Schele de Vere, who succeeded Kraitsir as professor of modern languages, though a Swede by birth and a Prus- sian by allegiance, was a Frenchman in appearance, 82 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA bearing, and disposition. Gracious and suave in spirit, polished in manners, finical in dress, and precise in lan- guage, he bore on his cultivated personality the hallmark of the Parisian boulevard. " He was regarded at the University of Virginia," says Professor Francis H. Smith, " as the arbiter of good form; what he endorsed was questioned by no one." " We were sure," remarked one of his pupils, " that we had only to copy his dress to be certain of being in the fashion." The members of his class, we are told, jokingly asserted that he would excuse many linguistic shortcomings in any one among them who flaunted a red cravat. His silk hat in winter, and high- priced straw hat in summer, were accepted within the college precincts as the last expression of elegance. In early life, Schele had resided in Silesia not far from the Polish border, and this gave him an opportun- ity to learn the Slavic tongue, and having once mastered that language, all other languages, he said, were easy to acquire. His first lessons in French were given by a Breton nurse, and, in consequence, his accent was made defective by a slight burr. Though clear, deliberate, and distinct in utterance, his intonation was, from this early contact, more peculiar than his foreign birth would other- wise have explained. As a young man, he had travelled extensively before completing his studies at the Universi- ties of Berlin and Bonn; and he had afterwards seen ac- tive military service in both Prussia and Algiers. In 1843, influenced by the high reputation enjoyed abroad by Longfellow and Ticknor, he emigrated to Boston, and during his stay there, although only a private instructor in the Italian, French, and English literatures, he was on a footing of intimacy with the members of that distin- guished and charming circle. " I have heard much of him from the Literati of Cambridge and Boston," wrote EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 83 Professor William B. Rogers, in August, 1844, " but not one word which was not highly creditable to him as an accomplished scholar, and to his character as a refined and amiable gentleman." It was by Longfellow's advice that he became a can- didate for the professorship of modern languages in the University of Virginia, and he was recommended for that chair, not only by the poet himself, but also by Abbott Lawrence and Josiah Quincy. He was supported too by the Prussian consul-general at Baltimore, a proof that he looked upon himself as a subject of Prussia. This must have been generally known, for, after his elec- tion in September, 1844, the Richmond Whig, a journal hostile to the University, referred to him " as Mr. Maxi- milian Rudolph Schele de Vere, of Prussia, who had been chosen in preference to a distinguished American." Im- mediately upon his arrival, he showed his refined social instincts by seeking out the highly cultivated country gen- try of Albemarle, — the families of Edgehill, Castle Hill, Blenheim, and Carlton, among others, — and in the end married a daughter of Alexander Rives, and after her death, her sister. Schele entered with enthusiasm into the duties of his chair. These were of a very difficult character because there was little preparation in the Continental languages given at that time by the academies which contributed students to the University of Virginia. The majority of his pupils were admitted to his school without any infor- mation of value as to the structure of any one of these languages, and without any training in speaking them. But he was not discouraged by the arduous labor which this fact imposed on him. How extraordinary was his capacity for work was illustrated, in 1848, when his mother's situation in Berlin was rendered precarious by 84 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA the insurrectionary movement in Prussia. In order to be able to go to her assistance in time, without curtailing the usual length of his courses, he crowded thirteen lec- tures into every six days, the students cheerfully volun- teering to double their tasks to make it possible for him to leave for Europe, at an early date. " After an unsat- isfactory tussle in taking notes under a rapid talker," says Professor Francis H. Smith, " it was very pleasant to pass into the modern language lecture-room, and listen, pencil in hand, to the clear and not too fast utterance of the teacher, who frequently paused of purpose, and yet naturally, to pass to the blackboard and write down an illustrating word or sentence, thus giving a slow writer ample time to jot down every word both spoken and written. His bearing (in the class-room) was a model of propriety." John Staige Davis was five years old when his father was appointed professor of law in the University of Vir- ginia. So precociously intelligent and industrious was he as a student that he became a master of arts in his six- teenth year; and to this crowning success in the literary and scientific schools, he, at the end of another twelve months, added the diploma of a doctor of medicine. A master of arts and a doctor of medicine several years before he reached his majority, — such was the record that he carried to Philadelphia, where his professional studies were completed. After a short experience of country practice, he was appointed demonstrator of an- atomy in the University of Virginia. He had 'been absent from its precincts only two years altogether; and there he was to remain until he breathed his last in 1885. " He had no superior as a lecturer," declares the res- olution passed by his colleagues at his death, " and he was fully abreast of the latest advances in medical science EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1 8*2-1 861 85 and their practical application." Skilful, watchful, as- siduous, and full of sympathy, he won the confidence and affection of his patients; at the bedside of the sick, he was always easy, bright, encouraging, and inspiring. " Duty was his guiding star," says Dr. Herbert Claiborne, who had known him from boyhood. " No interest, no pleasure, no appeal, could induce him to swerve one inch from that course which he had decided to be right for him to follow." On occasion, at his class' expense, he could be witty, sarcastic and pungent. " But he never referred by word or act to any of these flings," says an old pupil, " but he met us afterward in the same urbane manner that characterized his life, just as though nothing beyond the ordinary had occurred." Davis was lithe in figure, alert and nervous in movement, and mobile in feature. His vivid temperament was reflected in the vivacity of his eye, and in the mercurial expression of his face, which responded with the quickness of a flash to every inner mood and emotion of the man. xin. The Professors, Continued J3sm*v*r,~z~r~*"i — It was the fortunate lot of Basil L. Gildersleeve to be born in Charleston, — that city of stately residences and churches, long-descended families, courtly manners, and conservative spirit. No doubt, the mellowness and re- finement of this atmosphere left its impression upon the sensitive and receptive mind of the precocious boy. At four years of age, he could read, and at five had perused the Bible from alpha to omega, a staggering feat which he had probably been stimulated to undertake by an aus- tere father of Calvinistic convictions, who, originally from the North, had married a lady of Carolinian blood, and become a loyal citizen of the South, and sympathetic- ally identified with its interests. But luckily there was at 86 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA hand an uncle of excellent literary taste to temper the wind of dogma to the shorn lamb by leading him, as he grew older, into the romantic pastures of Shakespere and Scott. Hand in hand with this intense enjoyment of the charm and beauty of the English classics, went his study, under his father's highly competent tutelage, of Caesar, Cicero, Virgil, and Horace. By his thirteenth year, he had turned Plato's Critic into English prose, and Anac- reon into English verse; and he was far enough advanced in his knowledge of the Greek tongue to understand the Greek Testament. In 1845, hi§ family removed to Rich- mond. At that time, there was among the principal fam- ilies of the Virginian capital, a remarkable relish for good literature, which, like the social tone of Charleston, may have quickened the growth of his natural tastes. It was during his stay there, as a teacher in a private school, that he first saw Poe, whose appearance he has described in graphic language. His education was con- tinued in Princeton, and completed in the Universities of Berlin, Bonn and Gottingen, — in which latter institution, he won the degree of doctor of philosophy. With all his pedagogic skill and stores of philological learning, Professor Gildersleeve has, throughout his ca- reer, retained his primal bent as an accomplished man of letters. He has been the humanist first and the linguist and grammarian afterwards. Beneath the stiff crust of the student, the flexible artist has shown himself at every turn. In which province has he been most admirable, English or Greek or Latin scholarship? About his lit- erary utterance, the finest spirit of each of these three great literatures has seemed to play, with such interfusion that it has been impossible to say where one began and the other ended. He had, as a teacher, the capacity to EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 87 adorn even the most arid sands of the dead languages with living verdure and sparkling waters by the mirages which his literary subtlety was able to spread over them. No student ever sat at his feet without being more vividly conscious of the flame-like spirit, than of the dry bones, of those classical tongues. He had a power of literary suggestion that refined and ripened the taste of his pupils at the very time that he increased their stock of philolog- ical information. No one stickled more firmly for ac- curacy in form than he ; and yet no one was more insistent upon the soul that gave that form its significance. His sense of beauty and proportion was never dimmed, or paralyzed, or overwhelmed by the accumulation of knowl- edge. " The charm of the Hellenic spirit," says Profes- sor Thornton, his most eloquent biographer, " its swift mobility, its magic flexibility, its governed freedom, its unerring rectitude, entered into his thought and his work." That work reached beyond the bounds of pedagogy, even of the highest order, and entered the field of universal literature. It has been justly said of him that, had he passed his life in London, with his genius concentrated on English composition alone, the achievements of his pen would have given him a conspicuous place among the fore- most writers of his age. The physical character of the man seemed in unison with those sarcastic and sardonic powers which he could voice so sharply whenever in the mood to do so. The general impression was one of darkness, — a very thick black beard and very black hair, in the midst of which set- ting, the ball of the eye seemed phenomenally white, and the eye itself singularly keen and penetrating, with a lurk- ing expression of humor that deepened or lightened in response to the appeal of the passing moment. The per- 88 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA ceptible limp in his walk, resulting from a wound received during the war, added to the highly individualized aspect of this great teacher. George Frederick Holmes was born under the British flag, and remained a British subject until his death, al- though most of his life was passed in America. Son of an English judge-advocate of Demerara, he was sent to school and college in county Durham, and there won the reputation of being a prodigy of miscellaneous knowledge for one of his years. This reputation he never after- wards lost. Drifting to Canada at the age of seventeen, and subsequently to the United States, he turned for a livelihood first to law, and was admitted to the bar of South Carolina; but his interest in his profession was al- ways that of a student, and not that of a practitioner. " I do believe," wrote a friend at this time, " that you are but a wandering star out of your proper orbit. There is a vacant chair somewhere, and you will yet be screwed into it." The prediction came true, but after a long interval of discouragement. In succession, he was a pro- fessor in Richmond College and the College of William and Mary, and president of the University of Mississippi. All these positions were held by him before he had ar- rived at his thirtieth year; but not one seemed to be en- tirely congenial to his tastes. As a pedagogue, he con- tinued to be what he had been as a lawyer: the indefatig- able but recluse scholar. He was more employed, during these years, in writing articles for the reviews than in ar- guing cases or delivering lectures. His learning, how- ever, won influential friends, whatever the occupation of the hour, — such friends as John R. Thompson, William Gilmore Simms, Francis Lieber, William C. Preston, John Tyler, B. M. Palmer, men, who, with extraordinary EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 80 distinction, represented other callings, but shared with the young Englishman a profound love of letters. After several years passed in southwest Virginia, — during which, as lawyer, teacher and farmer, Holmes contributed copiously to various periodicals, although so far removed from libraries, museums, and scientific insti- tutions of all sorts, — he was chosen to be professor of history and literature in the University of Virginia; and from this time, he seems to have found the stability which was lacking in his previous career. " I remember with great distinctness," says Prof. W. R. Abbot, " the pro- found and favorable impression which his lectures made, especially upon the better and more matured students. He furnished to my friends the theme of conversation during their leisure hours; and really seemed to me to have raised somewhat the tone of their discourse amongst themselves." The story is told of him, in proof of his extraordinary learning, that a dispute having arisen be- tween him and a colleague on some topic that fell within that colleague's particular province, the latter wrote for information to the head of one of the great English uni- versities, and received the reply: "The only thorough and authentic discussion of that subject was written by a man named Holmes, who, I think, holds a professorship in your university." This story gives the best index to his quality. He was not so much the professor or the writer as he was the encyclopaedic scholar. This was his central characteristic. The various occupations which he adopted in the course of his life seemed to be something apart from his erudition; or, at least, secondary to the vast accumulation of general knowledge which he person- ified. When George Tucker resigned the chair of moral phil- 90 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA osophy, an invitation to fill the vacant place was extended to Thomas R. Dew, who then enjoyed throughout the Southern States a great reputation for ability and scholar- ship. When he declined, Rev. W. H. McGuffey, of Ohio, was chosen by the Board. McGuffey, although not the first clergyman elected, was the first to become an actual member of the Faculty, for Rev. James Knox had not ac- cepted the offer which was held out to him by Jefferson. Though a complete departure from the tacit policy of the institution hitherto, McGuffey's selection seemed to be singularly appropriate to the character of the chair. He was a Presbyterian of the straitest sect, but nevertheless of so little religious exclusiveness that he was willing to preach as often in the pulpits of other denominations as in his own. In a letter to Cocke, written in December, 1845, ne mentions incidentally that he had recently de- livered sermons in the Methodist and Baptist churches of Charlottesville. Beyond the precincts of the University, his series of books for children had made his name known to thou- sands of households; but within the precincts, he justly enjoyed a vivid reputation as a metaphysician and lec- turer. Perhaps, his subjects did not allow much room for rhetorical entertainment, but sometimes he would rise to such a height of eloquence that applause would break out, like a sudden storm, among his listening pupils. The manner in which he would receive this evidence of approbation would depend on his mood at the moment. " Asses," he exclaimed on one occasion of this kind, u show their approval by their bray, and their disap- proval by their heels " ; or he would gently warn the mem- bers of his class that they had violated the rules. Profes- sor Crawford H. Toy seems to have thought that his old preceptor was lacking in a sense of humor. Perhaps EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 91 this was true, but he was at least the master of a fine power of sarcasm. " I once asked him," says one of his students, who was probably a doubting Thomas, " if a certain philosopher did not hold so and so." " Some fools, Sir," he replied, " were of that opinion." Then pausing for a moment, he leaned forward with a smile, " and some fools are still of that opinion," he added. Another of his students who was overcome, either by the heat of the season, or the subtleties of logic, went to sleep during a lecture, and while gently slumbering, created a diversion by a very abrupt and explosive snore, which at once woke him up. " I congratulate you, Sir," said the professor in the blandest tones, " upon having given vent to the only intelligible utterance you have ever made in this class-room." It was said of McGuffey that he possessed an extraor- dinary power to stimulate his pupils to think and reason for themselves. " He never seemed so happy," remarks Judge R. T. W. Duke, Jr., one of these pupils, " as when, with his class around him, in his lecture-room, he threaded the mazes of psychological inquiry, pouring a flood of illustration on points the most obscure and perplexing, now luring on by the beauties of his imagery, now arous- ing by the glowing fervor of his style, now going back on his course to encourage those whose sluggish minds had been unable to follow him, mingling incident and anec- dote, humor and pathos." It was noted that the number of his graduates was, proportionate to his class, the larg- est in the University list. " How did this happen ? " he was sometimes asked. " I have always been of the opin- ion," he would wisely reply, " that the test of a good teacher was evidenced by the knowledge his pupils ex- hibited. I teach my men to know their subject; and I would deem myself a failure, if a larger number of them 92 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA failed than succeeded." " Nothing could have been grander," we are again told by Judge Duke, " than the continued attack he made on atheism and infidelity. His blows rained on the citadel of infidelity like the blows of Richard Coeur de Lion on the walls of the castle of Front de Boeuf." The doctrine of predestination also aroused his combativeness in spite of his staunch Presby- terianism. As much as he delighted in syllogism and syl- logistic reasoning, his powers as a lecturer are said to have expanded most in his discourses on the philosophy of rhetoric, and the elements of criticism. His lectures upon the Elizabethan literature never failed to arouse the responsive enthusiasm of his pupils, which they vented in rounds of applause that seemed to shake the very walls about them. If we omit the youthful Gessner Harrison from view, Francis H. Smith received the highest personal compli- ment that, previous to 1861, was paid to any candidate for a professorship in the University of Virginia. Har- rison, as we have seen, was elected to the chair of ancient languages so soon after his graduation as a doctor of medicine that he had no time to take any step to set him- self up in his calling. He mounted from a seat in the class-room to the rostrum at a bound. Smith, on the other hand, had, before his appointment, been perform- ing the obscure and modest duties of an assistant to the professor of mathematics. Through these duties, he had acquired some experience as a teacher in a subordinate way, and thus, unlike Harrison, had had an opening for demonstrating his mettle in that character. If the higher testimonial of capacity could be claimed for Harrison be- cause the Board were willing to elect him before that capacity had been really tested, could a loftier confidence have been shown in Smith than to choose him, a mere as- EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 93 sistant, to be the successor of William B. Rogers, who, in some of his qualities, was the most extraordinary man who has been associated with the University of Virginia in all its history, and whose reputation was never more bril- liant than at the hour of his resignation? Cabell, like Harrison, had been elected a professor be- fore he had begun the practice of his profession, but, dur- ing several years, had been detached from the University; and it was repeatedly asserted, at the time, that this elec- tion was the result as much of his uncle's influence, — al- though not directly brought to bear, — as of his own mer- its, whether as a man or as a student. He soon proved himself to be, as we know, one of the most gifted and useful instructors among the members of the Faculty, and thus fully justified his uncle's approval of his candidacy. Up to a definite point also, Harrison's election was to be attributed to the impression made by Long's confidence in his ability and scholarship; but the youthful Smith seems to have been promoted to a full professorship by the weight of his extraordinary attainments alone. He soon exhibited, to a very conspicuous degree, his possession of that rare strain of eloquence which had made his prede- cessor so famous. It was said, before many sessions had gone by, that he was the most oratorical and polished lecturer in the accomplished corps of teachers, and in his case, as in Rogers's, — whose life had been a fountain of inspiration to him, — this talent was united with the most accurate and solid knowledge of the subjects upon which he lectured. That talent found expression in a fine voice, the choicest language, a mobile face, and an impressive manner. It was remarked of Professor Smith by one of his pupils that he never employed brusqueness and sarcasm as weapons, and never endeavored to embarrass his pu- 94 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA pils except by legitimate methods of pointing out or rebuk- ing ignorance. The topics embraced in his several courses seemed, at times, to assume the complete mastery over every one of his faculties. " He would become so buried in thought," says Dr. Culbreth, in a sympathetic portrayal of him, " as to lose sight of his immediate sur- roundings. During the hour before lecture, especially to- wards its latter portion, while the class gradually assem- bled, I have often seen him so thoroughly absorbed in the preparation of apparatus and syllabus that he was lost apparently to the outside world. He might happen to see one of us enter, but the sight was semi-conscious, as he seemed almost possessed of a charm or spell. It was during such a mental hold that we always expected beau- tiful expressions and descriptions, masterly oratorical ef- forts, and usually there was no disappointment." And another biographer, writing of him in his serene old age, when he was the only professor left within the precincts who belonged to this early coterie, says, " He has lingered amongst us like a figure of eternal youth. His attain- ments and deep learning, the beauty of his Christian char- acter, the sweetness of his disposition, the gentleness of his manner, are united with the sternest sense of recti- tude and the highest principles of honor." x Robert Rogers was followed in the professorship of chemistry by J. Lawrence Smith. Smith occupied this chair during too brief a period to leave a permanent im- pression upon the social and scholastic life of the Univer- sity. He, in turn, was succeeded by Socrates Maupin, who enjoys the distinction of having filled the chair- manship of the Faculty, — a position calling for great ad- ministrative talent, — longer than any one of that body who was selected for this responsible office before the 1 From a biographical notice in the Charlottesville Progress. EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 95 War of Secession began. He had, as a student, won the diplomas of both a master of art and a doctor of medi- cine, and afterwards, during many years, was the profes- sor of chemistry in the medical college at Richmond. His possession of uncommon force of character, ability, and acquirements, was demonstrated, in a conspicuous manner, by his advancement to the chairmanship of the University of Virginia the second year after his appoint- ment to a professorship in that institution.1 Gessner Harrison withdrew, in 1859, with the inten- tion of founding a classical school of his own. This school, but for the intervention of the war, would have been certainly successful, owing to the high reputation which he enjoyed throughout the South. He had filled the chair of ancient languages, and, afterwards, the chair of Latin, for more than thirty-one years. His associa- tion with the University of Virginia, — as was said of him on the occasion of his resignation, — " had extended through all the stages of its youth, and he had stood by it in adversity, and had rejoiced with it in prosperity." In the opinion of the Faculty, as expressed in a formal resolution, " he had done more than any other man for the cause of education and sound learning in his native State." His fructifying influence as a scholar had, in reality, reached throughout the South, and he was, per- haps, the most venerated figure in the collegiate life of that region previous to the breaking out of the war. 1 While still a very young man, Maupin had been provisional presi- dent of Hampden-Sidney College. In the resolution adopted by the Faculty of the University of Virginia at his death, they praised his tact, firmness, and moderation. " It was due largely to him," said they, " that the prostration during the war was not a final and remediless blow " to the institution. " His services," they add, " were of incalculable value in restoring its fallen fortunes." They further dwelt on his " extraordinary aptitude for affairs, his clear perception of complex transactions, his rare sagacity and promptness of decision, his varied knowledge of the practical interests of society." In June, 1859, Lewis H. Coleman, headmaster of the Hanover Academy, a preparatory institution of the high- est repute, was chosen as Harrison's successor. This remarkable man was connected with the University too short a time to leave the stamp of his acknowledged tal- ents and acquirements on the School of Latin. Respond- ing to the call of the Confederacy, he gave up his profes- sorship, and after rising to conspicuous rank in the army, died in consequence of a wound which he had received at the Battle of Fredericksburg. xiv. Assistants and Salaries During many years, the incumbent of the chair of modern languages was the only member of the Faculty who was allowed an assistant. From the beginning, op- position was shown to such an innovation, on the ground that many students would thereby be deprived of the ben- efit of their professor's knowledge in important depart- ments of his school. The increase in the attendance, and also in the number of subjects, made the addition at last imperative. It was undoubtedly as practicable to lec- ture to five hundred young men at one sitting as to one hundred, if the area of the class-room was sufficient to accommodate their persons; but it was not possible for the instructor, however assiduous, to require so many to recite constantly, or put to them all, except at long inter- vals, the interrogatories necessary to test their informa- tion. The tax on the professor's time was particularly heavy in the Schools of Ancient and Modern Languages, and in the School of Mathematics, as these schools called for extraordinary labor in the correction of exercises dur- ing the recurring intervals between the meetings of the classes. In 1851, assistants were chosen for the courses in math- EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 97 ematics, Latin, and the modern languages. Harrison had complained very pointedly that the mechanical side of his duties left him no leisure for the prosecution of his private studies, with a view to the improvement of his pupils. " Without such aid," exclaimed Schele de Vere, " it is impossible for me to do justice to my class." This statement does not seem exaggerated, when it is recalled that he was delivering thirteen lectures weekly at this time; and that, during the same interval, he also cor- rected two hundred and eighty exercises. The professor of mathematics was compelled to examine one hundred and sixty. The assistants were nominated by the Fac- ulty with the Board's approval. They remained under the close supervision of their principals ; had no share in the administration of the University; and were only ex- pected to maintain order in their classrooms. They had the use of books from the library exempt from the usual fee, and received a salary of seven hundred dollars an- nually. Their meals and lodgings were obtained with- out the precincts. At the close of the session of 1856—57, a system of licentiates was adopted for the Schools of Latin, Greek, and Mathematics. These positions were at first reserved for distinguished graduates 1 ; but, in the following year, the appointment could be secured by any one who should submit satisfactory testimonials of fitness and character; and such a one was permitted to form a class for private instruction in any school he might select; but all his pu- pils must be drawn from that school, and his tuition must be in harmony with the teachings of its professor. It was expected that the licentiates would show extraordi- nary zeal and industry, as upon their record would depend their hope of further progress in their profession, either 1 Among the first was Charles S. Venable. 98 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA in the University of Virginia itself, or in some other in- stitution of equal standing. In turn, it was anticipated that the professors would be stimulated by the assiduity and fidelity of their subordinates. At first, the latter were denied the right to ask for a larger fee than ten dollars for each pupil, but, afterwards, the amount was permitted to be fixed by private agreement. We learn from- a statement made by Professor William B. Rogers that, during the interval between 1841 and 1845, tne average salary of the professors was twenty- three hundred dollars. That salary fell short of the amount received by most of the instructors of Harvard, Columbia, West Point, Princeton, and the Universities of Pennsylvania and South Carolina; and was about equal to the professional income of the second-rate law- yers and physicians of that day. By 1850, the financial condition of the University of Virginia had improved so much, in consequence of the increase in the number of students, — which in its turn was due to the rise in agri- cultural prices, — that the Board of Visitors concluded that they would be justified in conferring a more liberal reward on the members of the Faculty for their services. It was determined that three thousand dollars would be a sufficient maximum for this purpose ; and should the fees of a school for a single session exceed that figure, the sur- plus was to be retained by the proctor for the enlargement of the library, the purchase of additional philosophical and chemical apparatus, and the accumulation of speci- mens for a museum. Harrison alone was to continue to receive all the fees of his pupils, however far the total might run beyond the maximum adopted. This privilege was granted to him in consideration of his extraordinary services; but naturally such an act of discrimination in EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 99 his favor gave rise to a feeling of discontent among some of his colleagues. In 1854, it was provided that, should the fees of a school rise above $2,250, the amount in excess should be retained for general use. Under the modified rule of remuneration, whether of 1850 or 1854, most of the professors acquired a larger salary than had fallen to them before the change; and the alteration was, therefore, regarded by them with ap- proval. Indeed, this alteration had been suggested by the Faculty as a whole, and the resolution proposing it is said to have been drafted by that body acting through the majority of its members. John B. Minor, a stickler for the precedent established by Jefferson, took the ground that the fees, having, from the beginning, been designed for tuition, were the earnings of the several professors, and could not be legally given up by themselves, or legally taken away by the Board. He seems to have been sus- tained in this view only by those of his colleagues whose schools were so well attended as to afford them a large surplus; the majority of the Faculty, being benefited by the rule, were apparently indifferent to this interpreta- tion at that time; and it was not until 1856, when all prices had been swollen by the production of vast quanti- ties of gold in California that, as a body, they again be- gan to show their former restiveness. A memorial was addressed by them to the Board of Visitors during that year, in which emphasis was laid upon the decline in the purchasing power of the definite amount which was al- lowed them. They were now confronted, they said, with the great advance in the cost of food and the other neces- saries of life which had followed in the wake of the pre- vailing agricultural prosperity, — one of the results of the gold inflation, — and they thought that, as a means of ob- taining some relief, they should share in this prosperity, because it was reflected in the University's financial con- dition. It was with this expectation, they added, that they had assented to the adoption of the fixed remunera- tion. No claim was now put forward that the Visitors had acted illegally in retaining all fees in excess of a max- imum. The Board appears to have returned no reply to this very reasonable petition; and in the following year, it was repeated in a spirit of even deeper earnestness. For the first time now the assertion was embodied in writing by the Faculty that the professors were not employees of the University, but partners, whose rights, like those of an inducted clergyman of the Anglican church, were vested rights, which the Visitors could not modify, even should the interests of the institution appear to demand it. This extreme, not to say intemperate, position would not have been taken but for the prevailing high prices, which were bearing down intolerably upon all persons in receipt of salaries. The professors asserted that, al- though no member of their body lived in an extravagant way, yet those among them who had large families were compelled to borrow to defray their expenses, and those who had small, could only make buckle and tongue meet by drastic economies. The cost of living for all of them had risen from sixty to seventy per cent., and the last hope of saving even a petty sum for their wives and chil- dren in the future had been abandoned altogether. It was impossible, they declared, to maintain the dignity of their position on an annual income of three thousand dol- lars ; nor was it, in their opinion, any justification for the limitation to that figure to say that, should they resign as a body, their places could be easily filled by persons EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 101 who would be only too happy to secure the amount now granted. They recommended that the fixed salary should be abolished, and that, instead, a tax should be imposed on each school in proportion to its receipts, by which means the professors' incomes could be increased, and yet kept within reasonable bounds. This suggestion seems to have been adopted. The proportion of his fees to be allowed the professor of modern languages was fixed at fifty per cent. ; of Greek, at sixty; of mathematics, at forty-five; of natural philos- ophy, at sixty-five; of moral philosophy, at fifty-five; of chemistry, at forty-five; of medicine, anatomy, and com- parative anatomy, and physiology and surgery, at ninety respectively; and of law, at seventy. It was provided that no member of the Faculty should be paid from the fees of his school a sum less than two thousand dollars. In 1859, the Board decided to return to the rule of a fixed salary. No professor was to receive more than $2,250 from the fees of his school; and should they ex- ceed that amount, the surplus was, as formerly, to be re- tained for the general uses of the University. XV. The Library A very irksome deficiency of the library had always lain in its impoverished supply of contemporary publica- tions of merit. In 1841, there began a more persistent attempt to fill up this partial vacuum by systematic pur- chases from year to year. The thirty-one titles added to the collection in the course of that session included the works of such historical writers as Ranke, Napier, Thiers, Michelet, Milman, Daubigny, Macaulay and Bancroft. During the ensuing session, an order was dispatched to London for a considerable number of volumes relating to philosophy, poetry, and geography. Further valuable 102 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA additions to it were now occasionally obtained by ex- changing duplicates in its possession; thus, in 1845, sev~ eral books of uncommon merit were acquired by this means from the shelves of Professor George Tucker. The income from Mr. Madison's bequest was also now expended in a way to make up as far as possible the exist- ing shortage. This income amounted to about four hun- dred and fifty dollars annually. The books which he had bequeathed specifically to the University had not even yet been recovered; and as late as 1853, steps had to be taken by the Board to enter suit to carry out this pro- vision of his will. The first agent and attorney, James W. Saunders, had apparently been unable to press the claim to a successful consummation by private negotia- tion; and it was not until 1854 that it was finally settled. Mrs. Madison was then dead. William J. Robertson was the second attorney of the University; and he brought such sharp pressure to bear that the adminis- trator of the estate agreed to give up such volumes as Mr. Wertenbaker, with the consent of the estate's representa- tive, should select. In June, 1854, many years after Madison's demise, the books were transported to the University and there assorted and catalogued. In the meanwhile, the Jefferson Society had presented to the library the large number of volumes which it had accum- ulated since the date of its first organization. In 1851, there was much complaint on the professors' part of the library's inability to buy even a limited num- ber of the works, relating to their subjects, which were appearing from year to year in both England and Amer- ica. It was asserted that there was not to be found on its shelves a single new volume bearing on Anglo-Saxon or English, such as the School of Modern Languages de- manded. Nor were there any volumes in the collection EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 103 bearing on the science of comparative etymology. The professor of natural philosophy reported that only a small number touching the topics of his school had been added to it. In fact, the share of the appropriation fall- ing to that school was barely sufficient to permit of sub- scriptions to a few scientific journals and transactions of scientific associations, and was not enough to purchase even occasionally the costly standard works that were so much needed. There had been a few additions bear- ing on the subjects of moral philosophy, criticism, and political economy, but not a single volume on psychology and aesthetics. The books relating to law were not two thirds of the number that the class required, while the works of general reference were so small in number that no treatise on the most elementary theme could be prepared with accuracy. In order to diminish, if not wholly to remove, these hampering deficiencies in the li- brary as a working organization, the Visitors determined to appropriate for its benefit all the fees remaining after the professors' salaries had been paid. Insignificant as the amount reserved annually for the library was, it could not always be secured. In February, 1854, Wertenbaker reported that $1,472.34 was the ag- gregate sum still held back; and in addition, the interest due from the Madison fund had not been received. This now amounted to eight hundred and twenty-nine dollars. The cost of the Annex, at a somewhat later date, di- verted a large proportion of the funds usually expended for books; but, in 1856, the Board appropriated $2,- 427.17 to make up the total sum which had been withheld from it; and they directed that this money should be used in the purchase of such works as might be needed to sup- ply the professors with material for instruction in their respective classes. At the same meeting of the Visitors, 104 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA one quarter of the increased matriculation fee was or- dered to be expended annually in enlarging the collection for the same general purpose. The matriculation fee had, by this time, been increased from fifteen dollars to twenty. This new source of in- come assured thereafter a return to the library of $2,700 annually, — at least down to the beginning of the war. It aggregated, during the four sessions, about $12,300, which was nearly four thousand dollars in excess of the income accruing between 1840 and 1856. The larger proportion of this sum was divided in equal shares for the respective purchases for the twelve schools, while the remainder was reserved for augmenting the number of miscellaneous volumes, including periodicals of all kinds. The appropriations for the session of 1856-7 were as follows: special, $2,427.87 and annual, $500.00; interest from the Madison bequest, $90.00; and the library fees paid by the students, $2,900. These sums made up a total of $5,917.87. During the three ses- sions beginning with 1856 and ending with 1859, the largest amount set aside for a single school for the pur- chase of books was $1,500.63; for periodicals, $431.87; and for binding, $90.25. In 1857, the number of vol- umes embraced in the collection was twenty-five thousand; and in 1859, thirty thousand. Professor Gildersleeve, who had been appointed the chairman of a committee to draw up a plan for catalogu- ing the library, recommended that an alphabetical ar- rangement should be adopted; and that, in the case of a rare edition, the bibliographical history of the volume should be recorded. The resources of the collection as to the several schools were also to be entered in a class- ified index; and a book plate too was to be used. Pre- vious to 1853, tne library was closed except for an in- EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 105 terval of two hours in the afternoon; but in the course of that year, it was thrown open during two hours in the forenoon, and also during two hours after twelve o'clock. In 1857, the door was unlocked at 8.45 a. m. and closed at 5-45 P- m-» with an interruption of two hours at mid- day. Three years subsequently, the library was kept open seven hours,- with a similar interval of exclusion. During the progress of the twenty-two years lying be- tween 1835 and 1857, William Wertenbaker remained the librarian without intermission. He also served as clerk of the proctor, secretary of the Faculty, and post- master of the University. Hitherto, the total income of the institution had been so small as to make necessary a consolidation of smaller offices, but, by 1857, that income had swelled to $51,000, and a subdivision of these offices, always desirable, became, for the first time, practicable. The combination of duties borne by Wertenbaker, which was steadily growing more onerous with the increase in the number of students, was one of those earliest broken up. It was ordered by the Board that thereafter the librarian, — who was to be elected annually, — should be librarian only; and that, in choosing him, preference was to be given the candidate who should wish to make a study of library methods with the view to a permanent profession. The catalogue in use had been prepared thirty years before, and it was expected that the new in- cumbent would carry into effect the recommendations of Professor Gildersleeve's committee. Thomas B. Hoi- combe, a brother of Professor Holcombe, was chosen, and held the office until 1862. In 1860, he petitioned the Faculty for permission to close the room at noon on Saturday. In order to make up for the time that would be lost by such a change, he asserted his willingness to throw open the doors at eight o'clock in the morning, in- 106 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA stead of at ten, the hitherto adopted hour. His object was to spend his Sundays in Lynchburg, where he had kinsmen and friends. "My health and spirits," he said, " urgently require some relief of this sort." It seems that, only by closing the doors at noon on Saturday, would he be able to avoid travelling on the Sabbath, which his religious scruples made repugnant to his feelings. xvi. Publications As the projectors of all the magazines issued at the University during the Fifth Period, 1842-1861, claimed that these periodicals were as much designed for the in- tellectual improvement of the students as were the lec- tures in the various schools, it seems to be appropriate to include them in the group of those scholastic influences upon which we have been dwelling under recent heads. The Jefferson Monument Magazine was first issued ap- parently in October, 1849. It was under the super- vision of a board of five editors, one of whom repre- sented the body of the young men at large, another the Jefferson Society, and one each the Washington, Philo- methean, and Aesculapian Societies. The practical ob- ject which it had in view was the collection of a fund to be used in erecting a memorial to the founder of the Uni- versity; but like its predecessors, it also possessed a dis- tinct literary purpose. " Shall we," exclaimed the edi- tors, " who boast our college the head of all Southern literary associations, confess ourselves unable to support a paper worth reading? Either we are able to do it or we are not. In the first case, we convict ourselves of laziness, and in the second, of intellectual torpor." The contents of this magazine point to the existence of neither condition. They are remarkable for their va- riety. Indeed, there was not a field of literature, — EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 107 hardly a province of science, — into which the contribu- tors did not intrude. There were reviews and criticisms ; poetry that smacked strongly of the stolen spices of By- ron and Moore; addresses that had been delivered be- fore the Faculty and students by newly elected profes- sors; speeches in the moot court; essays on such abstract subjects as military glory and the age of chivalry; discus- sions of historical events like the murder of the Due d'Enghien; disquisitions on scientific discoveries; and arti- cles relating to the moral and economic aspects of slavery. In one instance at least, a writer on the latter controversial topic took the extreme position that the institution was a " blessing," chiefly because it was supposed to have solved the dangerous problem of the proper relations of capital and labor. No cunning Ulysses and no crafty Diomed were to be allowed to crawl in and break it down. It was held up as the only bulwark that could arrest the tide of socialism and atheism. The Monument Magazine seems to have breathed its last with volume second, which closed with the number for June, 1851. The editors complained up to the end that it was difficult to obtain contributions for its pages. The criticisms that were leveled at the periodical were sarcas- tically resented. " There are some people," they re- marked, " who would decline to be pleased, however mer- itorious our exertions. They twit us because they declare we fall below the Edinburgh Review. Because they have lounged in the pages of Macaulay, and taken an occa- sional peep into the North American Review, they con- sider themselves to be men of sufficient acumen to pass judgment with accuracy." The editors were constrained to admit that there existed, in the minds of many per- sons, a prejudice against the memory of Jefferson, against the University which he founded, and also against the 108 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Monument Magazine itself, which was endeavoring so faithfully to show honor to both. This prejudice, they very truly declared, they had resolutely combated. Al- though this periodical had only a short span of life, it was successful in accumulating two hundred and fifty dollars for consummating the main purpose for which it was established. The desire to be represented by a magazine was so per- sistent among the students that so soon as one expired from starvation, another confidently started up to take its place. The next periodical was first known as the University Magazine. It seems to have been thought, in contravention of the old proverb of too many cooks spoiling the broth, that an increase in the number of edi- tors might save the new enterprise from the fate of its unlucky forerunners. A board of seven was now ap- pointed, and they were selected from the membership of the various associations, in the hope of creating thereby a broader support for so risky an undertaking. There were two from the Philomethean Society, two from the Washington, and two from the Jefferson, and in addition, one from the ranks of the students at large. Again, the primary object of this new magazine was stated to be the cultivation of skill in composition among the young men. To have the periodical written and not to have it read, was proclaimed to be the central aim of its existence. " By contributing to it," the editors said in their salu- tatory, " you can sift, try, develop, and combine your knowledge on all subjects; you test your ability by com- parison with the productions of others ; you are rewarded for your articles on their merit, and, therefore, there is no room in your breasts for envy, bickering, and heart burning; you can bring to bear a deep influence, intellec- EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 109 tual and moral, on the development of your fellow stu- dents." This appeal seems to have been successful. The col- lege magazine did not again suspend previous to the earthquake of the war, although it changed its title at least twice in the course of that interval. In 1856, it was known as University Literary Magazine; but two years later, it assumed the name of Virginia University Magazine, and by that name it continued to be desig- nated down to a modern day. The University of Vir- ginia became very prosperous after 1850, and the college periodical so far shared in this rise of fortune as to ac- quire the ability to offer, in 1856—7, a valuable medal for the most meritorious article published in its pages, in the course of each session. Holmes, Minor and McGuffey, who, as a committee, first performed the duty of picking out this article, laid down, for the benefit of aspirants, the following drastic conditions of success: grammatical accuracy, propriety and precision of utterance, force and grace of expression, correctness of sentiment, aptness of observation, command of knowledge, felicity of illustra- tion, cogency of argumentation, vigor and originality of reflection, and orderly arrangement. After reading the numbers for 1857-58, this committee frankly declared that they had noticed in the contributions printed therein an absence of settled method, — with its accompanying confused and indeterminate reasoning, — the employment of low or colloquial expressions, and the disregard of grammatical accuracy and neatness of statement. These were really weaknesses characteristic of youthful writ- ers, and they continued to be shown more or less in all subsequent issues. The most perplexing condition confronting the editors 110 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA was the quality and not the quantity of matter received. They announced, in 1858, that a " bushel of poetry " had been delivered to them; and they suggested that those contributors who imagined themselves to be inspired should dismount from their tortured Pegasus, and take to prose writing on foot. " We have received," they added, " ballads and sonnets as plaintive as the odes of Sappho and as sanguinary as the songs of Tyrtaeus, love ditties, breathing of the tender passion, equal to those of Moore or Anacreon; others descriptive of spring land- scapes more beautiful than the gorgeous pictures of Claude of Lorraine." In 1859, the magazine was criti- cized by the Yale Literary on the ground that it reserved so little space for college topics. The defense which its editors offered was that it was designed exclusively for the improvement of the students in English composition, and that the restriction of its contents to University events " would be a temptation to make something out of noth- ing." The first winner of the magazine medal was John Johnson, of South Carolina, who became the earliest president of the Young Mien's Christian Association of the University, and one of the final orators of the Jeffer- son Society. During the War of Secession, he served as an engineer in the attack on Fort Sumter, and wrote a remarkable history of the defence of Charleston. In 1859, the medalist was J. McD. Graham, and in 1860, Leigh Robinson. A second medal was established in 1859. This was to be paid for with the annual income from the invested proceeds of Mr. Everett's lecture de- livered that year at the University. He had generously presented this sum to the magazine to create an award for the best essay published in its pages on American biog- raphy. The board of editors was appointed at the be- EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 111 ginning of the session for the autumn term, and at the latter's expiration, for the Easter. Between 1856-7 and April, 1 86 1, twenty-one Virginians were to be found in the membership of this board, one Kentuckian, two Ala- bamians, two Missourians, and one student from the dis- trict of Columbia. During the session of 1860-1, the en- tire body was made up of Virginians. Among the editors in the beginning were many young men who became prom- inent in after life, such as Archer Anderson, Rodes Mas- sie, James Dinwiddie, Douglas Forrest, W. M. Radford, and Holmes Boyd. xvii. Riot of 1845 Before giving the history of those measures of reform which were bodied forth in the permanent organization of the Temperance Society and the Young Men's Christian Association, it will be necessary to describe the spirit of unrest which finally exploded in the serious riot of 1845, but which rapidly declined thereafter until it entirely disappeared. It was said, in 1 842, that much of the lawlessness which was rampant among a clearly defined section of the stu- dents at that time was really due to the failure of parents and guardians to compel their expelled sons or wards to leave the neighborhood of the precincts. Many of the young men, after their dismissal, remained in the town during several weeks, as if to show their spite, and while there, constantly provoked breaches of the peace, not only in that community, but also in the University itself, for they stole to their friends' dormitories after dark, and inflamed the feeling against the Faculty, which was always smouldering. The authorities of Charlottesville were indirectly responsible for this disorderliness, for they refused to exact bonds of all dismissed students 112 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA prowling about the streets; and they continued to renew the licenses of the low drinking shops situated near the precincts. The Legislature too remained stolidly indif- ferent to the solicitations of the Board when a remedy was sought in the passage of a local prohibitive act. So great became the contempt for the ordinances in 1842, that the Faculty cast about for some device to check so radical an evil. Toward the close of the scholastic year, they divided the students in residence into four classes : ( I ) those who, during the session then expir- ing, had been guilty of so many offenses that their return in the following autumn was to be emphatically forbid- den; (2) those who, having been a degree less callous to the laws, were to be refused readmission except on condi- tion of giving a special pledge of good conduct; (3) those who, being still less delinquent, were to receive a warning that they must be more circumspect, should they again matriculate; and (4) those whose behavior had been so unexceptionable that no ban or restriction of any kind was to be put on their future action, should they wish to return. Even the use of this sifting method did not winnow out all the undesirable young men among those who had been in attendance already; and it was of no service whatever towards singling out the goats among the first year students, the most numerous of all. About the year 1844, a college band, known as the Cal- athumpians, was quietly organized. It was at first com- posed of exemplary students, bent, as one of their num- ber expressed it, on "fun, frolic, and childish folly." They paraded up and down the Lawn at irregular inter- vals during the first week, without disguise, and were con- tent simply to serenade the different professors. They were guilty of no act of disorder or impropriety; but the Faculty looked on their conduct, innocent as it was, ask- EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 113 ant, because they had learned from experience that the sinister students were likely in time to take advantage of such an association to show their malice, or to unrein a spirit of recklessness, that was sure to end in disreputable excesses. Their anticipations proved to be correct. A dissipated set crept in, and so warped the harmless pur- pose of the organization that it was disbanded at the in- stance of the original members. The first attempt to damage public property broke it up. A new ba*nd was quickly formed, which consisted of the most mischiev- ous section of the students, although there were still some members who disapproved of the riotous behavior of their comrades. In February, 1845, three young men were suspended for raising a scene of disorder at one of the college hotels. The Calathumpians immediately as- sembled, and disguised with masks, made an attack with sticks and stones on the home of the chairman, and also on the hotel itself. The Faculty promptly and wisely instructed the proctor to find out the names of the cul- prits for the purpose of presenting them to the grand jury. This firmness seems to have had a repressive ef- fect for the time being. Early in April, the Calathumpians reassembled with horns and drums, and as they passed by the pavilion of Professor Robert Rogers, several in their ranks struck one of the windows, which caused Mrs. Rogers instant alarm. Her husband was for the moment absent, and on his hasty return, he went out in front of the house and hid behind a pillar. When the parade marched back, he rushed forward and picked up one of the students bodily and bore him struggling into the hall. There was no at- tempt at interference with this energetic act, for Rogers threatened to shoot any one who should interpose. On the night of the i4th, the disturbances were resumed by 114 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA the same band. Stones and pieces of wood were thrown at the doors of the pavilions; many of the blinds of the windows were smashed in; and much of the glass was shattered. The ladies and children of the professors' households were, in consequence, violently frightened. If there was a sentiment among any division of the stu- dents in condemnation of this lawlessness, it did not show itself on the surface. These outrages were repeated on the night of the i6th. The disorder was then rendered more alarming by the presence of rowdies on horseback, who rode up and down the alleys and arcades firing pistols as they went. The same disorder, only more aggravated, continued on the nights of the iyth, i8th, and igth. It was especially un- restrained on the latter night, which was Saturday. All sorts of missiles were then thrown at the already broken glass in the windows of the pavilions, and the doors and blinds facing the arcades were again battered with sticks. It was said that, on the following morning, several of the houses had the aspect of having been bombarded by a mob. Even the solid structure of the Rotunda bore perceptible traces of damage. Two of its doors had been forced open and many of its windows had been broken in. Both on the i8th and I9th, the Faculty, who had acted with extraordinary calmness under provocation, made a public appeal to the students as a body to assist in stop- ping the disorders, and in arresting those who had been guilty of the worst outrages. This appeal was received with indifference. The young men were either deeply im- plicated themselves in the riots, or they had friends who were, or they were too timid to come boldly forward. It was thought at the time that those most involved threat- ened personal injury to all their fellow collegians who should assemble to condemn their conduct. In reality, if EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 115 there were any who were anxious to terminate the dis- turbances, they were not numerous enough to turn the bal- ance, even if they had attempted to do so. On Sunday, the 2Oth, it was reported that the civil authorities were about to intervene. A meeting of the students was now held, at which it was resolved that all those present would decline to give testimony if sum- moned. The rumor was correct: the Faculty had reached the conclusion that there was a determination on the part of the controlling majority of the rioters to bring the session to an abrupt end, and that only the magistrates and the sheriff of the county could put a stop to the disorder. They had arrived at this opinion only after much hesitation, for there appeared to them to be grave objections to taking such a step. In the first place, as Dr. Cabell asserted at the time, so long as there was any prospect of arresting the disturbances by other means, he and his colleagues were averse to employing a remedy which almost always involved some respectable but mis- guided youths with the more reckless and unprincipled ones; and in the second place, they considered it to be in- expedient to raise, except as an unavoidable resort, such an issue with the General Assembly as was certain to follow the demand for a civil tribunal to inquire into the causes of the riot. Indeed, the application to the officers of the law was always a tacit confession of impotence which the Faculty, very naturally, were reluctant to make as tending to lower their prestige with the students and the public alike. In reality, however, its effect when once made, was less damaging to the University than would have been the continuation of the disorders, through the college authorities' inability to suppress them. As early as Friday, April 18, the Faculty had sum- moned the executive committee for consultation, and it 116 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA was with that committee's concurrence that the interposi- tion of the law was sought. On Monday morning, the 2 ist, the justices convened at the University, and an armed guard was posted around the Rotunda. Quiet was at once restored. Early the same morning, the proc- tor sent a written notice to twenty suspected students to appear before the magistrates. Many of these quickly vanished from the precincts. The opinion of the major- ity of the young men was that no future action should be taken since the disorders had ceased; but as the termina- tion of these disorders had been brought about by appre- hension alone, this new but politic attitude very properly received no consideration from the Faculty. A member of the Charlottesville bar, Alexander Rives, an able but eccentric man, without invitation from any one, hurried up from town, and through his influence, the students announced that a meeting of their body would be held at four o'clock that afternoon. In the meanwhile, they promised, — as if they alone were in control of the situa- tion,— that they would refrain from all disturbances. The object of this resolution was to defer the expected arrival of the militia. At four o'clock, about seventy students assembled, and after an address by Rives, who had held no communication with the Faculty or the exec- utive committee, they formally pledged themselves to commit no further breach of the peace. They then dis- persed, under the impression that the militia would not be ordered out at all, but in this they miscalculated, for, within a few hours, a force of two hundred men, under the command of the sheriff, marched full armed upon the ground. The magistrates had previously adjourned un- til the afternoon, in the hope that, in the interval, the ab- solute submission of the offenders would be announced. When the militia appeared, a sentiment of indignant EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 117 surprise was expressed by the young men. Had not the guilty ones fled? and had not those who staid behind de- clared their intention of refraining from further disor- der? The same night they assembled for the second time, and passed a supplementary resolution which pre- tended to a complete mystification over the Faculty's re- fusal to accept their promise to remain quiet as a sufficient atonement. Not satisfied with this disingenuous utter- ance, they went on to condemn the Faculty itself as prac- tically responsible for the shattered condition of the pa- vilions, for had they not provoked the patience of the forbearing students to the breaking point? Moreover, in calling in the militia, had they not cast a slur on the honor of them all? It was estimated that one hundred and twenty-six young men, of the one hundred and ninety- four enrolled, now withdrew from the University, and this was quite probably the number that had been implicated in the riot. The Board of Visitors assembled on Wed- nesday, April 23, and approved of the Faculty's ac- tion in seeking the assistance of the civil authority; and they emphatically instructed that body to summon this assistance thereafter just as soon as the first damage should be done to the property of the institution. The regular course of lectures had been resumed the day before, and on the night of that day, the armed guard had also been withdrawn. Professor John B. Minor, who was present at the University during this prolonged riot, has recorded his impression that it was conducted by the students in a spirit of " remorseless violence." So far from being provoked by any severity on the Faculty's part, it was the opinion of Professor William B. Rogers that, if any fault was to be found with that body, or its chair- man, it was because they had shown too little prompt- 118 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA ness and too much gentleness in resisting the riotous spirit. The Board of Visitors, in their perplexity while looking around for a device to discourage future law- lessness, considered again the possibility of establish- ing a special court near the University, which would take cognizance of all serious disorders within the precincts. Judge Tucker was asked to draft a report on the sub- ject for the consideration of the General Assembly, but his health giving away, the project was not further pressed. No doubt, the Legislature's disapproval of it was anticipated. The Board had to content itself with instructing the rector to endeavor to obtain the passage of an act that would forbid a dismissed student from approaching within five miles of the bounds; but this too terminated in smoke. xviii. Moral Effect of the Riot The protracted riot of 1845, coupled with the mur- der of Professor Davis, struck an almost fatal blow at the moral prestige of the University, and inflicted grave damage on its material prosperity. The num- ber of matriculates fell off in 1845-6 to one hundred and thirty-eight as compared with one hundred and ninety-four during the session of 1844—5. I* soon be- came debatable whether the General Assembly would renew the annuity of fifteen thousand dollars. The ani- mosity to the University which lurked chronically in many minds because of political or religious prejudices, seized upon the notorious course of events there as a weapon for blackening its prospects beyond recovery. Unscrupulous comments, private and public, to its detri- ment, were made. The indignant loyalty of the alumni was soon inflamed, and they assembled and appointed a committee of seven to draft a paper that would set EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 119 forth the real condition of the institution, and point out the most promising means of restoring the popular confidence in its work. This committee consisted of men of great ability and high reputation, like William C. Carrington, Thomas H. Bocock, Franklin Minor, John B. Young, J. C. Reynolds, and Edmund Ruffin. The address which they composed is, from every point of view, one of the most remarkable documents recorded in the University's history. It contained the follow- ing salient statements: First, the annuity received by that institution was not raised by straightforward, hon- est taxation, but was simply a meagre transfer from the accumulation through petty fines, escheats, and for- feitures. This was the very best that the wealthy State of Virginia was willing to do for public education ! How ignoble in contrast with the policy of South Carolina, Alabama, and Louisiana, far poorer communities, which contributed not less than thirty thousand dollars each, by a voluntary yearly levy, to the support of their col- leges! The annuity of fifteen thousand dollars, if con- verted into a direct tax, would signify an imposition of only one and one quarter cents on each person in the Commonwealth, and yet even this infinitesimal charge was begrudged by the members of the General Assem- bly! Would the people approve of the withdrawal of this pittance from their highest seat of learning, a seat that had been built at a cost of five hundred thousand dollars? Up to 1845, not IGSS tnan $422,800 had been paid into its treasury by students who had come from other States, all of which had gone to swell the pecun- iary resources of the community. Second, the University had not only diffused a vast fund of general knowledge by the education of a host of young men, but it had, during many years, been train- 120 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA ing teachers for the improvement of the private schools and academies. Third, it was not correct to say that the institution was administered for the benefit of the sons of the rich alone. The majority of the students were really the sons of persons of moderate fortune, and many of them had been compelled to earn, by their own labor, the money with which they defrayed their expenses. Fourth, the salaries of the professors were smaller in amount than the remuneration of the instruc- tors employed in other colleges of equal prominence. Fifth, the proposed erection of a spacious chapel on the grounds had refuted the charge of indifference to religion so often brought against the institution; and a further proof of the injustice of this accusation was to be found in the fact that a chaplain was comfortably supported by the voluntary contributions of the profes- sors and students; and also that a Bible Society was maintained, with a large and zealous attendance. Sixth, the alumni of the University were known to be the staunchest friends of public education which the State possessed. Finally, the committee asserted that the riot was not caused by any defect in the administration of the insti- tution, but by " some peculiar and merely temporary conjunction of circumstances, against which no legal en- actments, no possible circumspection of authority, could always guard." They mentioned that one of their num- ber, while a student at Harvard College, had witnessed an assault by the young men there on a regiment of militia, who were drilling near their playground. Did this damage the college itself in the esteem of the peo- ple of Massachusetts? On the contrary, public opinion there warmly sustained the Faculty when they decided that it would be wisest to expel whole classes as a EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 121 fortification for future discipline. The committee ear- nestly petitioned the General Assembly to pass an act that would compel every dismissed student to give bond, should he remain within ten miles of the precincts; and they recommended too an increase in the number of the Visitors; and also suggested that an investigation of the University's condition should be made at once by the Legislature, as the surest means of combating idle re- ports and disarming covert attacks. No substantial ad- vantage, in the opinion of the committee, was to be gained by removing the institution to Richmond, as some of its ill-wishers had proposed. The police restrictions in a city might discourage open lawlessness among the students, but the opportunities for vicious indulgence, and the temptations to neglect their tasks, would be very much increased in number by such a transfer. Several partisan journals exerted all their influence to fan the controversy that quickly followed the riot. A letter in the Whig, said to have been contributed by Alexander Rives, very gratuitously attributed the lan- guishing condition of the University to (i) the small- ness of the Board of Visitors, " because, in case of an appointment," it said, " it was easy to mould their deci- sion to the detriment of the institution " ; (2) the very or- dinary qualifications of some of the men elected to vacant chairs. There was no real ground for either of these assertions, which had their origin apparently in personal spleen. xix. Commotions after 1845 When the session of 1845-6 began, the Faculty re- fused to permit the students to illuminate the arcades, as their experience had demonstrated that this was always the first step to disorder; and that it was certain to 122 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA encourage a spirit of contempt for the ordinances, which would probably not subside during the remainder of the academic year. But this spirit did not need at this time any preliminary excitement to cause it to spring into existence. It was always smouldering ready to flare up without provocation. At one o'clock, on the morning of December 15, a large body of students, blowing horns, ringing hand- bells, and beating pieces of metal, began a parade under the arcades; and they did not retire to their rooms until near dawn. The precincts, in the meanwhile, were kept in a state of pandemonium. A few weeks afterwards, a similar crowd, late at night, rolled a large barrel full of tar on to the Lawn and set it on fire. As the flames shot up, pistols were fired, crackers exploded, and a concert of yells raised. The proctor, alarmed for the safety of the buildings, succeeded in extinguishing the fire, but he had barely reentered his house when a second barrel, standing on another part of the Lawn, was touched off. The students who were responsible for the second conflagration had blackened their faces with cork, cov- ered their heads with blanket caps, and turned their coats inside out. The noises were now repeated with increased violence, but no injury was done to the prop- erty of the University. On the following night, be- tween twelve and one o'clock, the same company of young men began to march around the precincts. Again, there was a discordant uproar caused by the tooting of horns, the ringing of hand-bells, and the shrieking of voices. The disorderly procession passed down the Lawn on the west side, then up the Lawn on the east side, and debouching into one of the alleys, moved on to Charlottesville. It did not halt until the portals of the Monticello Hotel were reached, and there the rioters EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 123 broke out in a still wilder clamor. This lawless con- duct was aggravated by the fact that the investigating committee appointed by the General Assembly were asleep in the house, and in addition, the Board of Visi- tors,— who had been convening daily at the University, — were stopping under the same roof. Two students were recognized and afterwards dismissed for their share in this disorder. In protest, their companions, on the nights of January 27 and 28 (1846), repeated the violent scenes that had occurred on the night of the 2 I St. Panicky rumors now spread about the country. Gen- eral Robert Wallace, a member of the Virginia Senate, wrote in trepidation on the 3Oth to Cabell, " I hasten to say to you that there is positive news from the Uni- versity of a terrible outburst among the students. The young gentleman who gave this news has left the Uni- versity on that account, and states that he expects it was destroyed last night. Is that noble institution doomed to destruction "? It was believed by the people of Richmond for a time that all the pavilions and dor- mitories had been burnt by the students enraged by the punishment of the two among them who had been de- tected in the riot. Again the Faculty shrank from summoning the civil authority to their assistance. On the 29th, the day following the worst disorder, Dr. Cabell wrote to his uncle, Joseph C. Cabell, " We do not contemplate a resort to that particular remedy which produced so much excitement last year; namely, an armed guard, nor in fact a guard at all, but only, if the disorder continues, to have a few who are strongly suspected arrested and others summoned; and we will take care to summon only those whom we know to be badly disposed and mis- 124 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA chievous. We do not desire to resort to a remedy, the application of which will, in all probability, be attended with some notoriety, except as a measure of absolute necessity." Cocke attributed the protracted turbulence to the abnormal arrangement of the buildings, which brought the students and professors into such close juxta- position that causes for mutual exasperation were cer- tain to arise from time to time. " The young men found ready to hand the most extraordinary facilities for giv- ing annoyance," he said, " and also for escaping undis- covered after inflicting it. The idle and spiteful could not resist the temptation to indulge their evil disposi- tions when they saw how easily they could evade the consequences." On the other hand, the members of the Legislative committee, who had been awakened by the riotous stu- dents in town, were inclined to lay the chief blame for the disorders on a presumptive inefficiency in the general administration. A more rigid enforcement of discipline by the Board and Faculty was, in their opinion, demanded. Their spokesman, when presenting the report in the House, expressed the philosophical opinion that such disturbances were to be expected in the South, as the heat of the climate tended to make its people irritable and excitable in temperament. But he had to acknowl- edge that the disorders at the University could not thus be fully explained. They were, he thought, probably due principally to the impatience and restiveness of a high-spirited youth subjected suddenly to the restraints of law, after having known only the mild bonds of par- ental authority. It was possible also, he added, that many of the young men were unequal in preparation or capacity to the exacting standards of their classes, and, in their failure and discouragement, had discovered EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 125 a sinister and sullen solace in riots and dissipation. A lull now fell, but on April n, 1846, the spirit of disorder again flared up. On that date, a travelling circus gave an exhibition in Charlottesville, which drew to the scene a large number of the students. There are two accounts of what followed that have survived. The most probable seems to be this : a menagerie formed an important part of the property of the showmen, and the most thrilling incident in the performance was the ride of one of the keepers in a car to which a lion was hitched. The route was laid off through several com- municating cages occupied by other wild beasts. A rope was put out to hold the spectators back, and they were asked to remain silent and orderly while the driver was making the dangerous passage. As the car was moving slowly along, John A. Glover, a student from Alabama, who was leaning against the rope, threw a lighted cigar between the bars at the lion in harness. His act jeop- ardized the life of the showman, now defenseless amidst the alarmed and roaring animals; and in a frenzy of uncontrollable rage, he leaped through the door of the cage, seized a tent pin, and struck the foolish Glover to the ground. According to another account, several students in- sisted on remaining very near the cage, although re- peatedly warned that it was necessary for them to retire a few feet. The threats of the proprietors were of no avail, and finally, they brought an elephant up to clear the way with his ponderous feet. The collegians struck the huge beast; its keeper resented the act; and his fellow-showmen came to his assistance. Large bludgeons, shod with iron, began to whirl about the students' heads; their friends rushed to their aid; and at once there was a melee, in which several of the young 126 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA men were felled to the earth. Glover received a blow on the left temple which knocked him unconscious. He was taken to the Eagle Hotel, and there, after languish- ing several hours, died. When news of the affray was brought to the University, the students there were thrown into a state of violent resentment, and a large body, heavily armed, set out in haste for Charlottesville. The showmen, anticipating their coming, had endeavored in a hurry to send off their property to escape destruction; but without success. The students, throwing themselves upon the tent, slashed it to pieces ; the wagons were over- turned; and only the cages containing the fiercer animals were left untouched. The showmen barely escaped with their lives by mounting their horses, and flying at the top of their speed. After the session of 1846-7 opened, it was noticed that a spirit of unusual serenity spread through the Uni- versity precincts. " We are enjoying great quiet as yet," remarked Professor William B. Rogers, with a wise reserve, in a letter written to his brother on December 6. " The professors have been giving the students a succession of very pleasant parties, and the utmost good feeling thus far prevails with nearly all the young men. The only symptom of mischief that has occurred was the explosion of a log loaded like a cannon on the Lawn last night, a little after supper time." But the most congenial season for disorder was the spring, and in April, 1847, it broke out again, but fortunately in a less violent form than was customary. In this instance, a number of students endeavored to stampede a political meeting which Shelton F. Leake was addressing in town, and not being successful to the extent desired, they created a riot in the street as they were returning to the Uni- versity. A few nights later, Professor Minor was the EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 127 recipient of a discordant and derisive serenade because he had ventured to report two cases of intoxication which he had noticed. Horns and cow-bells were the princi- pal musical instruments flourished on this occasion, and they continued to sound as the performers marched off in disorder, in the direction of the town, under the cover of the darkness of midnight. When the session of 1846-7 drew to a close, ten students notorious for their recklessness were forbidden to return in September. In the band thus branded was one whose given name was Dean Swift. Another be- came in after life a lawyer and statesman of national reputation. During the session of 1848-9, not a single collegian was either suspended or dismissed, and there was a complete absence of turbulence. Cocke charac- teristically, and perhaps correctly, attributed this state of placidness to the unselfish exertions of the Sons of Tem- perance in suppressing, with more or less success, the use of intoxicating spirits among a very large proportion of the young men. The session of 1850—51 was marred by a fierce conflict with the town authorities. Some of the students had been arrested on the streets for violat- ing the local ordinances, and when information of their detention reached the University, the entire body of col- legians set out on a half run to Charlottesville to rescue them from the grip of the law. A pitched battle with the now aroused but generally somnolent police and a hastily summoned posse, began as soon as the confines of Vinegar Hill were crossed; but it seems to have ended without a signal victory for either side. Mr. Ficklin, the mayor, who had rushed to the scene, was struck in the face with a stone. As his Honor was an old man, the student who gave the blow had the chivalry after- wards to reveal his identity and to offer a written apology 128 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA for his act. Mr. Ficklin appeared in the lecture-room of Professor Harrison, where the culprit was present with the members of his class, and accepted the apology with old-fashioned formality. Several students were charged with disorderly conduct on the night of June 27, 1859, because they had climbed up to the top of the dome. One of them explained the occasion of their doing this by testifying that it had been proposed in his room by several friends that they should first raise a flag on the apex of the building, and after- wards sit together comfortably and sociably on the arrow of the clock. Having disguised themselves, they mounted through the trap-door, and indifferent to the peril of their situation, carried out their purpose, remaining on the dome for an hour. Affrays with deadly weapons were still so much apprehended as late as 1859, that the Board of Visitors, by the Faculty's advice, required the stu- dents when admitted to sign a written pledge that they had given up to the proctor every dirk and pistol in their possession. The spirit of turbulence had, how- ever, been steadily waning since 1850. Had the num- ber of disturbances augmented in proportion to the in- crease in the number of students matriculating, the con- dition of the University would have disclosed a very great decline in orderliness. On the contrary, the re- markable expansion in the attendance seemed to create a strong sentiment among the young men as a body in favor of law and peace, and in condemnation of tumult and violence. This sentiment was confirmed and fos- tered by the steady growth of certain moral influences, which we shall now undertake to describe. We have al- ready referred to the adoption of the Honor System and the impression which it made on the conduct of the stu- dents in their scholastic life. EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 129 XX. Temperance William Wertenbaker, who, as we have seen, became almost as fanatical in his advocacy of prohibition as General Cocke himself, writing to the latter in 1842, informed him that as many as one hundred and fifty citizens of Charlottesville had underwritten the pledge; and that there was a popular demand there for a library of books relating to temperance. Cocke was asked to supply a list of the best. Not satisfied with the harvest among the hitherto incorrigible drinkers in town, Wer- tenbaker suspended on the walls of the proctor's room a placard containing the oath of abstinence, with room reserved for signatures; but only sixteen of the young men were thus lured into the fold. During the previous year, a meeting of the professors and students had been held to organize a society. At least four of the instruc- tors had then joined; but there were several who, in spite of temperate habits, were not ready to go so far. " It was vain to endeavor to convince a person who takes a glass of wine or ale for dinner regularly," remarked Wertenbaker, who had these delinquents in view, " that, in doing so, he commits a moral wrong, but if he can be prevailed upon to abandon the practice, it will not be long before he may be made to conform." On the occasion of the meeting, Professor William B. Rogers delivered an address remarkable for his characteristic eloquence. A complete set of officers, with the excep- tion of the treasurer, was chosen from among the stu- dents. The proctor was empowered to take charge of the funds. W. P. Munford was elected president, and among the vice presidents were J. J. Bullitt, of Ken- tucky, and Edward J. Willis, of Virginia. Rogers had formed a sanguine opinion of the pros- 130 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA pects of the association. " I deem this the happiest movement for the University that has ever been made," he wrote his brother Henry in February, 1842, " and I have no doubt that a large proportion of the students, if not all, will eventually join. If so, we shall have no further riots, or other serious violations of law, and our places will be infinitely more desirable than they have ever been. Besides, the effect on the community of such a society being known to exist here will dissipate the unjust prejudice which exists against us, and I look for a large increase in numbers. I know that ninety-nine hundredths of our troubles spring from drink." In June, he was able to delight Cocke with the news that the society, though it embraced " not a handful at the commencement, had now enrolled more than one hundred members." " By the influence of example, and the moral weight of numbers," he added, " it has created a wholesome public opinion in the University, which controls the habits of nearly all connected with the in- stitution." He predicted that, before the end of the next session, every student would have consented to become a member; and he urged that the association should be reorganized just as soon as the session opened. Cocke was further elated by a letter from Dr. Cabell in the same strain. " At a bridal party at Judge Tucker's on October 19, 1842," he wrote, "nine-tenths of the company refused to take wine and others partook of it very moderately. I was sorry to see that the ladies were, with a few exceptions, among the latter." Several days afterwards, the Temperance Society was reorganized with an address by Professor Rogers. Thirty-two stu- dents and five professors signed the pledge. By Feb- ruary 24, 1843, seventy-eight signatures had been ob- tained within the college precincts; but before the ses- EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 131 sion closed, a considerable number of the members had withdrawn. It was admitted that there were several reasons for discouragement : ( i ) no student could be persuaded to rise to his feet at the meetings and speak in favor of the cause; and (2) many of the most influential young men in college were actually opposed to the success of the society. A malicious desire to raise disorder when its members convened was shown by outsiders, and the enginery of ridicule and sneers was used by them to bring the organization into public contempt. The influence of Professor George Tucker, together with that of his kinsman, Professor Henry St. George Tucker, was also turned against the movement; and their hostility was made all the more powerful by their temperate habits and conservative opinions. Kraitsir also was in- imical; but his attitude was not unnatural and not unex- pected, as he had been born and reared in one of the greatest wine-growing countries of the world. Dr. Cabell, in January, 1844, wrote with bitterness to Cocke that the county court, in spite of protest, had recently licensed a low grog-shop a short distance be- yond the precincts; and he acknowledged that the ef- forts of the Temperance Society, in other directions, since the beginning of the session, had been accompanied by little success. One year later, Wertenbaker regret- fully announced that the total abstinence organization had not even been revived. It was now thought to be wisest to abandon the old plan of holding public meet- ings for the purpose of listening to set speeches in ad- vocacy of temperance. Instead, the professors favor- able to the cause were requested to enforce upon the students of their respective classes, so soon as enrolled, the urgent propriety of signing the pledge. This change 132 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA of policy led only to disappointment. The failure of the society at this time was attributed to the following facts : ( i ) the absence of that direct public sentiment which the work of an aggressive temperance organiza- tion would have created; (2) the opportunity for con- stant indulgence offered to students by Collier's grog- shop in bowshot of the University bounds; (3) the tol- erance which the chairman showed for the disregard of the ordinances against intoxication; (4) the presidential election, which caused those who had betted on the suc- cessful candidate to consider it ungenerous to fail to of- fer a drink to those who had lost; (5) the influence of a large body of students from States lying south of Vir- ginia, who had been in the habit of using liquor with few restrictions. " We must never suffer a session to pass," Werten- baker wrote in April, 1845, "without an organized so- ciety." Cocke, like himself, was convinced that the prosperity of temperance lagged at the University be- cause several of the most respected professors were what he rather gratuitously stigmatized as " wine bib- bers." He had the Tuckers palpably in mind. In August, 1845, he congratulated Cabell on the fact that the chairs of at least two instructors who had expressed emphatic disbelief in the practicability of prohibition were so soon to be filled by a couple of the most dis- tinguished teetotalers of the age. " I confidently hope," he added, " that we are upon the eve of a new order of things." The new instructors were Minor and McGuf- fey, the successors of George and Henry St. George Tucker. Only a few months afterwards, Gough, the famous temperance advocate* was, at McGuffey's in- stance, invited to deliver one of his eloquent exhorta- tions at the University, and under his influence, seventy students signed the pledge. EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 133 Three very able and earnest professors were now co- operating to bring about total abstinence in the institu- tion. These were Minor, McGuffey, and Cabell. By 1849, tne organized Sons of Temperance were, with their powerful assistance, making a sensible impression upon the habits of the students. In 1856, a temperance hall, as we have stated, was dedicated, with very impos- ing ceremonies. Previously, the Sons had held their meetings in the room of the moot court. Although in sympathy with the aims of this association, the Faculty had, in 1849, refused to permit an address on temper- ance to be delivered in the chapel; and they also, in 1855, declined to allow General Samuel Houston to speak on the same subject in the public hall, which had now been completed as an apartment in the annex to the Rotunda. They took this extreme position for the reason that the use of these public rooms for such a purpose, however laudable in itself, was not countenanced by the provisions of the existing ordinances. xxi. Religion Down to a year as late as 1849, d16 University con- tinued to be looked upon by the public at large as gov- erned by influences more or less hostile to religion. We are told by Edward S. Joynes that his mother was con- vinced that " the institution was a centre of impiety." The election of Sylvester, an English Jew, and Krait- sir, a Hungarian Catholic, to important chairs, — which, in reality, was an indication of a liberal and tolerant spirit, such as Jefferson would have approved, — was accepted by the denominations as evidence, at the best, of indifference to the welfare of the Protestant churches. The Watchman, the principal organ of, perhaps, the most influential of these sects, alluded with bitterness 134 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA to the " infidel junto that had formerly ruled the State of Virginia, during whose reign only one man of religious faith was able to obtain an appointment to a profes- sorship in the University." According to this journal, there were " forty candidates for the vacancy caused by the death of Bonnycastle, and yet the Board selected a Jew to fill the place! There were forty-five candidates for the vacancy caused by the resignation of Blaetter- mann, and yet the Board chose a papist in his stead! Could there be a more flagrant demonstration of con- tempt for Protestantism than the Board had exhibited." Now, this perverted assertion was made in the teeth of the fact that Jefferson had invited all the denomina- tions to establish their respective seminaries near the precincts; had offered to throw open to them every fa- cility for culture, from the library to the lecture-room, which the University possessed; and had cheerfully granted to every student the right to attend the reli- gious services in whichever of these institutions he pre- ferred. Moreover, there had been, during many years, a succession of able clergymen who had given up their lives to administering to the spiritual needs of the young men residing within the bounds. All this was deliber- ately ignored in the determination to make a damaging point against the University. How was this sinister attitude to be successfully com- bated, was the question which perplexed the minds of the Visitors and Faculty alike. Might this not be effected at a stroke by the election of a clergyman to the first vacant chair? When Rev. H. P. Goodrich, of Marion, Missouri, enclosed his testimonials to Cocke, in 1842, he remarked very pertinently, " I have long thought that the University would not be injured by having a minister among its professors, since some still persist in thinking EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 135 that it is an infidel establishment." The correctness of this opinion was confirmed by the more happy course of events after the election of Rev. William H. Mc- Guffey to the chair of moral philosophy, in succession to George Tucker. McGuffey was an inflexible and militant Christian, a man of the tough Covenanter fibre, who would have cheerfully gone to the block rather than have abjured his religious principles. The con- spicuous presence of this distinguished exemplar of the sternest faith in a University professorship was calcu- lated to make a far deeper impression on the popular mind than the more or less obscure presence within the precincts of a succession of youthful clergymen, however brilliant in intellect, or however zealous in the discharge of duty. There was now a great religious teacher among the members of the Faculty; and the reputation which he had brought with him, when he assumed his profes- sorship, was to spread far and wide through the coun- try, doing much, in time, to relieve the institution of that odium which old political animosities, and the now dy- ing spirit of violence among the students, had been chiefly instrumental in creating. McGuffey put his hand firmly to the plow of religious reformation so soon as he entered upon his office, and he never relaxed his hold until his death. " Our morn- ing prayers commenced soon after you were here," he wrote to Cocke in November, 1848, "and are advanc- ing steadily. The hour for meeting is twenty minutes before seven o'clock, which, at this season, is a little after daybreak. 'Tis delightful to see over thirty young gentlemen voluntarily, and without notice or obtrusive- ness, gathering in the place where prayer is wont to be . made, and there publicly but humbly uniting their voices in praise to God for his goodness, and in prayer for his 136 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA mercy upon themselves, their instructors, their fellow- students, the University, their country, and the whole race of man." During the following session, Rev. Wm. H, Ruffner, then the chaplain, drew up a programme for a series of discourses on the evidences of Christianity, to be de- livered in the University pulpit by the most eloquent and most learned ministers of the Presbyterian Church. The list embraced clergymen of such great distinction in their day as William S. Plumer, Henry Ruffner, J. G. Sampson, James W. Alexander, M. D. Hoge, T. V. Moore, R. J. Breckinridge, B. M. Smith, and Stuart Robinson. Their sermons, on this memorable occasion, were afterwards published in a volume, which was long cherished in the pious households of Virginia. In spite of the popular association of the place with this splendid tribute to religion, the shadow of its repu- tation for atheism had not even yet been fully dispersed. The sensitiveness of the Faculty to the suggestion was revealed in the wording of the catalogue, for, in the issue for 1853—4, the charge of irreligion against the institution was warmly denied. When Bledsoe's book On the Will was published in 1854, Dr. Cabell sent a copy of it to Cocke, who was acutely interested in every phase of moral advancement. " Who can say," he de- clared in his acknowledgment, " but that Professor Bledsoe may be one of the efficient instruments in the hand of Providence to convert the University from a school of infidelity into a school of the Prophets." It should not be forgotten that Cocke was one of that large body of reformers who are in the habit of expressing their feelings and opinions in exaggerated language. When he described the University as " a school of infidelity," he was about as accurate as when he spoke of George EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 137 and Henry St. George Tucker as " wine bibbers," be- cause they refused to frown upon the drinking of a social glass of spirits. The infidelity, no doubt, largely con- sisted in his own mind of the indifference of the Uni- versity as a community to prohibition, for how other- wise would it be possible for him to speak with any justice of an institution as a centre of atheism at the very moment when it was supporting by voluntary contri- butions a chapel and a chaplain, and encouraging the stu- dents to attend Bible classes and hold morning prayers from day to day? The bare fact that attendance on the religious serv- ices within the precincts was not made compulsory seems to have led many people to infer that the authorities were at heart not at all interested in the religious agen- cies that really existed; but this was only a proof of the popular ignorance of one of the great principles on which the institution rested. As a matter of fact, the atmosphere of the place had long been ripening for the organization of the religious association which was to leave such a deep impression on its life. In 1858, the Young Men's Christian Association was formed. Previously, there had been at work a zealous body known as the Society of Missionary Inquiry, the object of which was to nurture the growth of religious feeling among the students, and the people occupying the region of country that surrounded the University. What were described as " group prayer meetings " had, for some time, been held in the boarding houses and in the dormi- tories. A Sunday School for the slaves was conducted by Professor Harrison, and schools of the same gen- eral character were taught by students, who, for that purpose, visited the population of the Ragged Moun- tains weekly. Nor were the inmates of the county 138 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA poor-house neglected by the same earnest and philan- thropic spirits. Discourses were also delivered in both places by the young men who were candidates for the ministry. All these efforts, beneficial as they were, were chiefly individual. A combination of action, a concentration of influence, — in short, unity, — was necessary to bring about the most fruitful results. Before, however, a concerted step could be taken, a typhoid epidemic broke out among the students and twenty of those stricken died. A feeling of great depression, in consequence, spread, and during its prevalence, a revival was started in the Baptist church in Charlottesville, under the in- spiration of one of the most eloquent pulpit orators of that day, John A. Broadus, then in the flush of his bril- liant youth. This stimulated the religious aspirations which were finding a voice in the group prayer meetings ; and in addition to the impulse thus imparted, there was a growing revolt against the dissipated habits that still tarnished the conduct of so many of the collegians. The spirit of the hour, inflamed by these different in- fluences joined together, began to grope about for some form of organization that would give it a more power- ful and effective expression. The temperance society had only aroused an intermittent loyalty; the debating societies were designed for purely intellectual collision; and the secret fraternities looked only to social enjoy- ment. There were no class brotherhoods, as the insti- tution was made up of independent schools. In the absence of any satisfactory existing body, what is most accurately described as a branch of the modern and universal Young Men's Christian Association was pro- jected for the single practical purpose of concentrating all the dispersed forces, and thus of welding them into EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 139 an irresistible whole. There was no conflict between the aims of the proposed fellowship and the duties of the chaplaincy. The saintly Dabney Carr Harrison, its incumbent at that time, and one of the martyrs of the Confederate cause a few years later, has been often spoken of as the father of the movement at the Uni- versity of Virginia, so earnest was his sympathy with its intended purposes, so active was his participation in its inauguration. His advice was constantly sought, and his wise counsel was always followed. The local association had its practical origin in two memorable conferences, held on the 5th and I2th of October, respectively, in the lecture-room of the pro- fessor of moral philosophy. One of these was presided over by James M. Garnett, the other by H. H. Harris. A committee was selected at the first meeting to draft a constitution; and after a debate, a name was chosen for the organization, which was the same as that already designating the similar bodies, which, in London, Mont- real, Boston, and Washington, were now employed in improving the religious condition of young men. The fame of these sister bodies, in consequence of their ex- traordinary success, had already spread all over the world. A constitution, modeled on those of the London and Boston branches of the general association, was adopted at the second conference. There were ninety- two signatures. On October 19, the following officers were elected: John Johnson, president; W. P. Dubose and three others of equal prominence, vice presidents; L. M. Blackford, recording secretary; Thomas Hume, Jr., corresponding secretary; W. Holliday, librarian; and J. William Jones, treasurer. Among these early members were many who were destined to win distinc- tion. Twenty, before leaving the University, became 140 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA masters of art. Twenty-six, in after life, adopted the ministry as their vocation; and among the latter were several who, in consequence of their conspicuous elo- quence, learning, and piety, were advanced to bishoprics, — such were Thomas U. Dudley, George W. Peterkin, and Beverly D. Tucker, in the Episcopal church, and J. C. Cranberry, in the Methodist. Among the un- titled clergy of high reputation were Randolph H. McKim, D. F. Forrest, A. W. Weddell, W. P. Dubose, and John Johnson. It has been claimed from the beginning that the branch of the Young Men's Christian Association organized at the University of Virginia was the first in the world to be incorporated within the precincts of a college. This has been disputed by the University of Michigan, which has persisted in asserting the priority of its branch in date of formation. It is admitted that, many years before either of these two universities came into exist- ence, a religious society had been established by the students of Harvard; and the Philadelphian Society also had been founded in Princeton College in 1825. As we have seen, a Society of Missionary Inquiry had been at work in the University of Virginia itself before 1858, and a similar body, at the same time, in the University of Michigan. In the February of that year, a more compact association was organized in this western insti- tution, while it was not until the ensuing October that an association of the same character was set on foot in the Virginian seat of learning. When it was proposed, however, to designate the Michigan association as a branch of the Young Men's Christian Association, the suggestion was emphatically rejected. On the other hand, that name was, as we have mentioned, specifically adopted by the corresponding body at the University of EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 141 Virginia just as soon as it first assembled. The organi- zation in the University of Michigan assumed the title of Students' Christian Association, an indication in it- self that it had no intention of joining the general or- ganization; indeed, it positively refused, as late as 1877, to become a partner in the intercollegiate religious move- ment; and many years were still to pass before it would consent to affiliate with the other branches of the gen- eral corporation. In character, it hardly differed from the independent Philadelphian Society of Princeton, — as a body, in fact, it stood quite as aloof as that long established association had always done. On the other hand, the Young Men's Christian Association of the University of Virginia was established primarily as a part of a world-wide combination of young men to bring spiritual solace, not only to students pent up in college precincts, but to all the destitute people within the reach of such beneficent labors. The area of the University itself and the outboard- ing houses was laid off into sections, each of which was put in charge of a group of the association's members. It was the duty of these several groups to interest all the students living within the bounds of their respective districts in the aims of that body, to lead as many as could be persuaded, to join it, and to ensure the further spread of moral and religious influences by inducing a larger number to be present at the prayer meetings. They were the trustees also for the distribution of any funds which might have been contributed for the im- provement of the religious state of the University or of its immediate neighborhood. Indeed, the work of the organization was, from the beginning, prosecuted with an enthusiasm as practical as it was exalted. The average attendance at the prayer meetings, — which felt 142 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA the first impulse, — quickly swelled to the number of two hundred students weekly. At least fifty members were soon engaged in giving gospel instruction in the Sunday schools of Charlottesville, the Bible classes of the University, or the meetings for prayer in the out- boarding houses. Two additional members, — one of whom was the president of the association, — spent sev- eral hours of each Sunday afternoon in impressing on the negro servants of the professors' families, the sim- pler truths of Christianity. But the work of the organization was not confined to the University and Charlottesville. Five or six mis- sions in the surrounding region were supplied by it with Sunday school teachers and leaders in formal worship. " Several of us," we are informed by J. William Jones, afterwards so distinguished as a Baptist minister, " walked seven miles to the mission in the Ragged Moun- tains. I remember that two of us agreed that we would go every Sunday regardless of weather, and occasionally we walked out in the snow half a leg deep. Knowing that the teachers would be there, the scholars came in all sorts of weather." An earnest and unbroken sup- port was given to these zealous labors of the associa- tion by all the professors, but preeminently by Harrison, Minor, Cabell, Davis, McGuffey, Francis H. Smith, and Bledsoe, whose capacity for exposition, so highly trained by their exertions as lecturers, were now enlisted in mak- ing the Bible classes peculiarly interesting and profitable to the young men who attended. In 1860, a reading- room and library was opened at No. 14, West Lawn, and a separate catalogue was drawn up of all the reli- gious books in the University collection, with a view to causing their handling to be more convenient and fre- quent EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 143 During the nineteen sessions, — anterior to the War of Secession, — which began with that of 1842-3, there were fourteen chaplains employed by the professors and students of the University. Down to 1848, a term was limited to one year, but after this date, it was enlarged to two years. The most distinguished of these chap- lains in their after careers were W. H. Ruffner, the far- sighted founder of the modern public school system of Virginia; John A. Broadus, one of the loftiest pulpit orators produced by the South, and of a ripe and varied scholarship; Dabney Carr Harrison, as noble a pattern of the Christian and soldier as ever appeared upon earth; and J. C. Cranberry, who, as minister and bishop, long occupied a position of deserved eminence in the Methodist denomination. Leonidas Rosser too ac- quired by his burning zeal and eloquence the reputa- tion of being one of the most successful revivalists of his time. In 1843, tne chaplain found a residence in the pa- vilion now in the possession of the Colonnade Club, and, in 1848, this building was set aside, certainly in part, for the use of this officer; but the extent of space open to him there must have been incommodious, for, in 1851, the Board of Visitors authorized the erection, by volun- tary contributions, of a parsonage, provided that the site chosen for it should have first received the approval of the Faculty. It was not without hesitation that this permission was granted. Indeed, it was accompanied by a voluminous report in explanation of the action of the Board, which proves that fear of public criticism on the score of bringing Church and State together, even in this mild form, still lingered in the minds of the most sensible and influential citizens. Cocke, — always ac- tively interested in benevolent causes, — sent out a cir- 144. HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA cular letter to a large number of wealthy Virginians ask- ing for an individual subscription of one hundred dol- lars. It was hoped that thirty at least would agree to contribute that sum, for this would have assured a total amount of three thousand dollars, which was calculated to be sufficient for the construction of the desired edi- fice. Dr. Cabell, it seems, had been the first to suggest the erection of the parsonage, but when Cocke acknowl- edged that his applications had turned out to be disap- pointing,— not one in five having obtained a favorable response, — the professor, in his dejection, advised a discontinuance of the canvass. Cocke, however, was not disposed to accept defeat. " I have supposed that you will give something to the University when you die," he wrote J. C. Cabell. " In my will, I have provided a legacy of fifteen hundred dollars for it. Why may we not add such part of our donation as would make a sum sufficient to build the parsonage and execute our own bequests before we go hence?" " Come down to Bremo," he wrote later, as he wished to consult with his friend in person, "and you shall have a plenty of the best barbecued shoat and lamb, with the finest water." The permission which the Board had given for the erection of a parsonage was, in June, 1852, recalled, — at least so far as the special terms embraced in it went; but, apparently, at the same time, they authorized the Faculty to receive donations. These were to be held in trust by the Visitors for the building " of such houses as would be necessary for the religious worship of pro- fessors and students." By 1855, the parsonage had been erected, but there remained an incumbrance on it of three hundred dollars. The burden of this obliga- tion was generously lifted by W. B. Smith, of Cincin- EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 145 nati, to whose attention it had been called by Dr. Mc- Guffey while visiting the West. As yet no chapel appears to have been built. One of the gymnasia had, during many years, been used for this purpose, and it had furnished an apartment that was superior in many ways to the room in the Rotunda previously occupied. In this latter room, the lectures on law, moral philosophy, political economy, mathe- matics, anatomy, and modern languages had been and were still delivered. As Professor Bonnycastle had pointed out in 1837, it was only associated with the interests and the tasks of the week, while the walls and benches were defaced with names or trifling inscriptions. Not a single suggestion hovered around the spot that tended to prepare the mind for the solemnity of reli- gious communion. As early as April, 1841, all services had been transferred to the gymnasium which had been set apart as a chapel on Sunday morning and Wednes- day evening; and we find that, in 1848, it was also used by the students for morning prayers. Two years later, the Board having expressed an intention to convert the apartment to other ends, the Faculty firmly protested; but partially, at least, without avail, for the class in natural philosophy assembled here in 1852 without put- ting a stop to its occupation for religious worship on Sunday. The number of students had now increased so much that the gymnasium was probably found to be too contracted for the church attendance. In October, 1856, a petition was sent to the Board to obtain per- mission to use the public hall, at least temporarily, should the chaplain, at any time, require more room for his congregation. Dr. Cabell was still sanguine that, by concerted ef- 146 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA forts, a chapel could be secured, and with the Board's approval, expressed at their meeting in July, 1860, he persuaded the Faculty to order Pratt, the superintend- ent of buildings and grounds, to take up a collection for that purpose among the six hundred students who were now residing within the University precincts. The edifice to be constructed was expected to seat at least two hundred persons; and as it was considered to be too costly to be erected by the contributions of the students alone, Pratt spent a part of the summer of 1860 in canvassing the counties of the Valley. He succeeded in thus obtaining the sum of five thousand dollars. Sixteen thousand, however, was needed, as it was proposed to join under the same roof a chapel and a Society hall. There seems to have been two plans suggested for this edifice, — one by the superintendent of buildings and grounds, and the other by Professor Schele. So flattering was the prospect of raising the fund for its erection that, in December, 1860, the executive com- mittee requested the Faculty to choose an appropriate site; but before that body undertook to do so, they rec- ommended that the Board should submit the plans of Pratt and Professor Schele to the critical examination of a competent architect. It was not until February, 1 86 1, that the site was selected. The spot preferred was situated on the road that skirted the southern edge of the Lawn. On the very eve of the war, there was a motion before the Faculty to allow the money already collected for the chapel or to be collected, to accumulate until the University should be in a financial condition to increase the sum to the degree necessary to erect one of the wings then contemplated as an addition to the Annex. It was thought, in the end, however, that it EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 147 would be better to defer the decision as to whether this addition would be suitable for religious services until all the subscriptions had been paid. Hostilities be- tween the North and South had now begun, and the pro- fessors were wise in hesitating to take so expensive a step, with the outlook for the future of the University so obviously overclouded with uncertainty. The statistics that disclose to what extent the different churches were represented among the students are first recorded for the session of 1855-6. During the five sessions beginning with September, 1855, anc^ ending with June, 1860, there were three thousand and sixty- seven matriculates in attendance, and the proportion of this number belonging to the several denominations was as follows: Baptist, two hundred and forty-two; Episcopalian, one hundred and sixty-nine; Presbyterian, one hundred and forty-seven; Methodist, eighty; and the other sects, sixty, — a total of six hundred and ninety-six. This was about one quarter of the whole number. The numerical growth between the first of these five years and the last puts the religious advance of the institution in a more favorable light than this bare enumeration of membership for the whole of that interval would appear to do, — the increase in the en- tire affiliation jumped from seventeen per cent, of the student body to thirty-three per cent. The most re- markable enlargement was in the number of Episcopal- ian communicants, which rose to four hundred per cent, of the original number; in the instance of the other denominations, the increase was about seventy-five per cent. This religious improvement was primarily at- tributable to the indefatigable and judicious activities of the Young Men's Christian Association, whose in- fluence had grown with each year that passed. 148 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA xxii. Health A minute report made to the Faculty in June, 1849, reveals that the hygienic condition of the University was, at that time, in the main, satisfactory; but it was ad- mitted that there were no wholesome means of disposing of the refuse from the laundries and the kitchens of the pavilions and hotels. The board of health was now com- posed of at least two professors of the medical school. Doctors Cabell and Davis appear to have been the first to form it; and with the consent of the executive commit- tee, they continued, until the next meeting of the Board, to put in force all the regulations which they considered necessary to sanitation. In the course of 1856 unmistakable symptoms of the presence of typhoid fever within the precincts began to show themselves. The students, very much alarmed by the threatened epidemic, sent in a petition for a sus- pension of lectures, to continue at least two weeks; but as there were only seven or eight cases of sickness, the Faculty decided that they would not be justified in grant- ing the request. In consequence, there was no interrup- tion of work; but the unsanitary condition which these cases demonstrated led the Board in the following June (1857), to adopt far more stringent regulations to bring about a complete cleansing of the University area. In the autumn of the same year, the Faculty placed the proctor in charge of this task, and allowed him an addi- tional force of laborers to carry it out with the most painstaking thoroughness. A weekly report upon what had been effected during the previous seven days, was rigidly required of him; and he was also instructed to make a similar report on the condition of all the build- ings. EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 149 This extraordinary zeal had its origin in an outbreak of typhoid, which had darkened the latter part of Oc- tober, and was even prolonged into the next month. Five deaths occurred before the I5th of November. There was an abatement in the disease as winter ap- proached; but in February, 1858, the number of cases again began to multiply. It was observed that the fever was most prevalent on both of the Ranges. So alarming became the rapidity of its progress, that, at the Faculty's request, the Board convened in March. Hitherto, the executive committee had permitted the former body to use their own discretion in closing all the rooms in the Ranges, should there be urgent reason for doing so ; but the inconvenience of removing so many students would now be so heavy that this responsibility was tacitly declined. In fact, the Faculty were op- posed to any interruption in the lectures, as, during that period of the year particularly, the dispersion of the classes was certain to prove very confusing and damaging. The students, who had most at stake, from their occu- pation of the dormitories condemned, petitioned the Board to order a suspension, in spite of the Faculty's reluctant attitude ; but they were not successful, — the Visitors sustained the professors in their position, and adopted their recommendation to remove the tenants of the Ranges, and to scour and fumigate the deserted apartments. The young men were accommodated else- where; and the dormitories in those parts of the pre- cincts remained vacant during the rest of the session. Provision was now made for the proper nursing and dieting of every sick student; for the better ventilation of the different rooms; for the removal of all horses, pigs, and cows from the University premises; and for the daily inspection of the cisterns. By the advice of 150 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA the Faculty, the entire system of policing was reorgan- ized and remodeled, so as to ensure an unbroken atten- tion to cleanliness and orderliness. But none of these sanitary measures proved successful in halting the epi- demic. It continued to increase in violence, until, on March 19, the medical professors, with the approval of the entire Faculty, counselled the closing of the class- rooms as apparently the only way of bringing about some abatement in the fever. Many of the students had already turned their backs on the University, — only, in some cases, to develop the distemper after their arrival at their homes. Many were too ill to depart. Fourteen died. The Board adopted the recommenda- tion of the Faculty, — the session was suspended until May i ; but from that date, it was to be continued until July 29, in order to make up for the length of time that would be lost. On May i, the young men returned, and there was no further sickness during the remainder of the term. It was supposed that the increase in the attendance of students had been the principal cause of this epidemic; and the Board, for that reason, actually debated the advisability of limiting the number of ma- triculates at the opening of the next session in September. xxm. Athletics In 1841, James Roberts obtained the Faculty's per- mission to teach within the precincts the arts of boxing and wielding the broad sword; and in 1845, he was succeeded by Francois Charlton, who was licensed to give lessons in the additional art of fencing, and in using the quarter staff and the cane in defense. These les- sons were restricted to three a week, and the whole course to four months, at an annual fee of ten dollars. EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 151 But the most accomplished of all the instructors in these exercises associated with the University of Vir- ginia before the War of Secession, was J. E. D'Alfonce. He stood upon a more conspicuous pedestal than any of his predecessors. A native of Poland, he was, like so many individuals of that brilliant nationality, remark- able for his talent as a linguist. Having been author- ized by the Faculty, in 1851, to give lessons in gymnas- tics, he seems to have made at once a favorable impres- sion, not only by his skill and cunning in his own calling, but by the possession of agreeable personal qualities. At the start, he set up a private gymnasium at his own expense; but in June, 1852, with the backing of his pupils, he petitioned the Board to take over this estab- lishment, and refund him the amount of his expenditures on its account. This was done with the understanding that he should continue the director. A payment of five hundred dollars was made for all his appliances, and the proctor was ordered to receive for his benefit ten dollars from every student who should wish to en- joy the advantage of his instruction. The Board now united in the offer, — which they ap- pear to have previously made, — of a site for his gym- nasium within the precincts. In 1853, ne was permitted to suspend the lessons which he had been giving on Sat- urday, so that he might employ that day to his own pro- fit in some independent pursuit; and three years later, he was licensed to become a private instructor in the French language. This abnormal privilege raises the inference that, at that time, his gymnastic classes had dwindled so much as to bring in an insufficient income; and this surmise seems to be confirmed by the recollec- tions of Professor Toy, who has recorded the fact that, about 1856, most of the young men were satisfied, dur- 152 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA ing their few hours of leisure, to restrict their physical exercise to long walks. The gymnasium had now fallen into disrepair, and in September of this year, the Board appropriated one hundred and thirty dollars for its restoration, — a practical proof of their continued inter- est in the establishment, and also of their confidence in the director. But a more unmistakable indication still was the au- thority which they granted the executive committee, in 1857, to construct, at a cost of fifteen hundred dollars, a new gymnasium, in harmony with a plan submitted by D'Alfonce and Pratt, the superintendent of buildings and grounds. In the course of the following year, the for- mer offered to erect, at his own expense, on the Uni- versity lands a house for the accommodation of vapor baths ; and this was accepted, on condition that the privi- lege should only be transferable to some person whom the Board should approve; that the structure should be taken down if the Board should object to its further existence; and that, at the end of a fixed period, the full title to it should pass to the University. The baths were constructed in accord with these terms. D'Alfonce, it appears, was compelled to use the water stored in the cistern situated next to the gymnasium, since the flow from the mountain reservoir was insufficient to supply the voluminous amount which he required. He remained at the University until the breaking out of hostilities; became an officer in the Federal army; and, as we shall see at a later period in our narrative, returned after the war, and offered himself as a candidate for his old post.1 1 The magazine for April, 1861, referred to the gymnasium of D'Al- fonce with some contempt. " It is a mere apology for a gymnasium," that periodical asserted. " It is so utterly unfit for its end that it is entered by but a very few even at the beginning of the session, and to- wards the latter part, by none." There is a strong probability that the EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 153 A spirited picture of the scene within and without the gymnasium in the hours of instruction has been drawn by Virginius Dabney, a brilliant student of that period. "At 4.30 o'clock in the afternoon," he writes, " we assembled on the grounds, and were soon marshaled for our preliminary exercises. The professor pronounced the first syllable of ' preliminary ' with such vigor as to warrant him in sending the four remaining leap- froggers over each other as best they could. From the opening to the close of the ' preliminary,' we were all shouting with laughter, for the professor, — whose fig- ure may be summed up in one word, ' roly poly,' whose stubby nose barely emerged, yet emerged with a twinkle, from his round, rubicund,' and jolly visage, — bubbled over with a merry mixture of buffoonery and wit. He was under the impression that he had been a lieutenant in the Russian army, and his ' preliminary ' exercises were such as were used in giving suppleness to the limbs of the Czar's recruits. They were endless in variety. It was gloriously absurd to be one of three hundred men squat like toads hopping along with ticklish gravity towards some imaginary pond, to the sound of ' one, two, tree, four,' of our vivacious military. Again, with firmly planted feet, we stood as a guard of cavalry, and lifted, with solemn precision, horseman after horse- man out of his saddle on the point of staves that mas- queraded as muskets. From these ' preliminaries,' we passed to parallel bars, ladders and ropes; and at last, clustering around our captain, cleared our throats for supper with some enjoyable singing." There was always a large section of the students to whom these athletic contortions were not only not at- popularity of the gymnasium had declined because it was known that D'Alfonce's sympathies leaned to the North. 154 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA tractive at all, but even positively distasteful. "A gym- nasium," says the editors of the University Literary Magazine for January, 1859, "has in it something so mechanical, so business-like, that exercise ceases to be a pleasure and becomes a labor. Where are the sports that become a great university, and the vigorous youth of a great State? Where are our cricket matches? Would not the Rivanna support a boat club? The classic Isis, and no less classic Cam, are not much larger streams. We throw out the suggestion to our rowing- men." It was but natural that many of the young men should prefer some branch of sport in the open air, — some form of recreation, indeed, that would allure them be- yond those doors behind which they were compelled to spend so much of their time. To be required to remain under a roof even when they were taking their pleasure was a fact calculated to leave on their minds only a very irksome and a very unrefreshing impression. During that period, although occasional references to " base- ball " are found in the magazine, the only outdoor diver- sion of importance was cricket, which was, perhaps, first suggested by its popularity in the college life of Eng- land rather than by its appositeness to the college life of Virginia. It is true that football so-called was played, but it seems to have been only a game in which rubber balls were knocked about the floor of the gym- nasium. Apparently, no genuine game of that nature took place at this time upon any part of the open area of the University. A cricket club, however, was or- ganized in December, 1859, by a band of twenty-four students, the first, it has been said, to be formed in the Southern States. A field for the use of the players was EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 155 set apart by the superintendent of grounds; and here a round of three games came off weekly. The success of cricket was so decided, that, at the beginning of the session of 1860-1, the club was reor- ganized; and it remained in existence until April, 1861, when the opening of the war paralyzed so many of the University's activities. The club had been maintained in spite of depressing influences, — the first of which was the frank indifference of the students as a body to all sports; and the second, the unsuitableness of the field on which the games were played. The editors of the magazine, however, were persistent in urging the formation of more clubs. " If there were numerous as- sociations of this kind," they wrote, in 1861, " our uni- versity would improve in health and morals. Let us add to the good already derived from the existing one, the benefit of others, and when this is the case, the bil- liard and bar-rooms will be less frequented." But even if cricket had taken tenacious root at the University, it would quite certainly, in time, have been abandoned for baseball and football, two games, which, after the war, acquired a hold, that, so far, has not been weakened. Cricket has never been a popular game in America, and there was small prospect of its retaining its grasp at one institution when all the other institutions were en- couraging more active and exciting sports in the open air. The suggestion of establishing a rowing club was confronted at once by at least three reasons for dis- couragement: first, the distance to the Rivanna from the precincts; second, the falls in that stream, and the shadows from its banks; and third, its narrowness. The students who favored the inauguration of this sport 156 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA belittled all these difficulties. Had distance stood in the way of the success of the Yale rowing club? As to the falls, the shells were so light that they could be easily shouldered and carried around to deep water, whenever that step should be necessary. As to the narrowness of the course, it was debatable whether the Quinnipick, the Cam, the Chiswell, and the Isis, were more respectable in breadth. It was true that the Rivanna was liable to sudden inundation, but did not the Isis very frequently pour over Christ Church meadow? and was that fact accepted as prohibitive of the use of the oar on its normal surface? In Decem- ber, 1860, — only a few months before the war broke out, — the project of a rowing club, which had never reached beyond a mere suggestion, was revived by the editors of the magazine, for the general reason that some kind of sport in the open air, beside a few games of cricket, was imperatively called for. " We have a quarrel with the system here in vogue," they exclaimed. " The highest is not obtained. The harmonious develop- ment of the student's whole nature, — moral, intellec- tual and physical, — is not reached. It is not even at- tempted. The physical man is wholly neglected. Young life must need have ventilation, and if the ven- tilation be allowed and encouraged in free and health- ful sport, the tendency and desire to go to dangerous excess, and indulge in undue excitement, is greatly less- ened." All the outcroppings point to the fact, that, just pre- vious to the war, there was an impoverished interest exhibited in all forms of outdoor sport, with the excep- tion of cricket; and that, in the instance of cricket also, the interest was confined to a small number of students, who turned to it as a vent for their energies, EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 157 XXIV. Amusements John C. Rutherfoord, writing from the University to his father, in 1844, said: "There is nothing to bring the students together as a body, and one's daily associates must necessarily be his nearest neighbors. I have fre- quently admired the character, and wished to cultivate the acquaintance, of students, who did not live near me, but have not found it practicable; and have, under the same circumstances, been forced to console myself with only the occasional society of those, who, even before coming to the University, were my most intimate friends. I regret very much the state of things which, at this institution, divides the students into a number of distinct sets, and produces such a want of sociability among them as a mass. You will hardly believe that there are stu- dents whom I have seen, for the first time, on the last day of the session." The social condition thus thoughtfully described by Rutherfoord seems all the more incredible when we recall the smallness of the number of students enrolled at that time. But this division into sets, with its accompanying contraction of the institution's social life, has always been one of its principal characteristics. It was undoubtedly more perceptible in these early years than after the disrupting influences of the war had begun to spread. The young men of that period brought with them to the University some of those aristocratic instincts which lay at the bottom of Southern society; and there was no class system, — such as was established in the curricu- lum colleges, — to break down this formal barrier by bringing them all into the affiliation of the freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years. It is true that such a system would have raised up four divisions among 158 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA them; but the association of the members of each divi- sion would have been as close as common studies and constant intercourse could make it, through the whole of four sessions. There were no such lines of demarca- tion as these in the University of Virginia. Outside the professional schools, there were no mutual interests beyond those general and ill-defined ones which sprang from the young men's presence within the same precincts. The influence of the debating societies, which convened only once a week, was more political than social, while each of the fraternities was limited to a few members. But if there were no very salient features to the social life of the University at this time, there were several con- spicuous personal types, as we learn from an acutely dis- cerning and faintly sarcastic student of that period. First, there was the " fashionable swell." It was esti- mated by one observer, who seems to have had a liking for precise figures, that his collar was three quarters of an inch wide. Sometimes, he wore a necktie of the size of a small ribbon, one half of which was solferino in color, and the other half as black as the wing of a raven; sometimes, it was a scarf as large as a shield, and as va- ried in its hues as the rainbow. The sleeves of his coat extended only to his wrist, leaving ample verge for the display of a large cuff adorned with a pair of showy Etrus- can gold sleeve-buttons. The pantaloons that enclosed his legs were described as " piglike." Was this because they were always kept in a rumpled and baggy state about the knee, in harmony with what was known as the " Brit- ish wrinkle " ? The kid gloves that covered his hands were tinted to a delicate mauve. His hair was always parted with the utmost nicety five-eighths to the right.1 1('By 1843," says Frederick W. Page, in his recorded recollections of the University at that time, "the uniform was abolished. Each man dressed as seemed proper in his own eyes. Sack coats had not been in- EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 159 The second type was designated the " sheepskin gen- try." ' They have no thoughts," declared our satirical re- porter, " except about sheepskin. They have an insatiable longing for sheepskin; they measure everything with sheepskin tape. Their banner is of sheepskin. Their last request and parting wish in death will probably be that they may be shrouded in sheepskin. When two or three diplomas have been obtained, they acquire amazing dignity. They become patronizing to all. They are given to cultivating the professors, repeat what the pro- fessors said to them, and they run to class half an hour beforehand and ask the lecturer a thousand questions." The third type was styled " the man of leisure." There were many students who were listed in this popular category. They were ordinarily " good fellows," with some literary taste, but so heedless in their conduct in gen- eral as to bring themselves under frequent reprimands and warnings from the chairman of the Faculty. They always drew upon their talent for facetious irony in de- scribing a summons: " They had called agreeably to a written invitation from that gentleman," they said, " and had been disappointed by his failure to invite them to a family dinner." They demonstrated, with mathematical exactness, in their own opinion at least, that the profes- sors were " jackasses," for how was it possible otherwise to account for the ordinance which required the delivery of the first lecture of the day at an hour so disturbing to their slumbers as half past seven in the morning? Many of this type talked ostentatiously of their experiences in Europe, — if they had made the foreign tour during the preceding summer vacation, — and declared Byron's Isles vented. Frocks and swallow-tails only were worn. Some of the more daring wore their calico study gowns to lecture as well as meals and gave no offense. Felt hats were unknown. The headgar was a cap and top hat." College Topics, 1909. of Greece to be a faithful picture of those scenes because they had visited the ground in person. They were not averse to calling on the ladies, although they complained that the local beauty fell far short of what they had re- cently seen in alien lands. The fourth type was known as the " good-for-nothing man," who usually thought himself to be a wit, but who, in reality, was a bore of a monstrous calibre. The fifth was the " mannerless man," who never stepped aside on the pavement to afford sufficient room for any one com- ing from the opposite quarter to pass; and who also stared discourteously at the ladies; gulped his food at his meals in his hotel dining-hall; cursed the servants on the slightest provocation; clapped his hands in ironical ap- plause at breakfast and dinner; guffawed at supper; bragged and swaggered in public; raised disorder in the town-hall; battled with the police; and stirred up and joined in riots within the college bounds. Such in mere outline were some of the types who, ac- cording to this contemporary observer, imparted to a perceptible degree the flavor of their own characters to the general spirit of the social life of the University. But there was a large number of young men who were too simple and quiet in their tastes and behavior to be brought into any one of these lists. They too gave much of their own seasoning to the social life within the precincts. As we have seen, there was, before the introduction of cricket, no outdoor sport to diversify the college routine from week to week. We learn from the recollections of Charles S. Venable, that, about the middle of the fifth decade, driving and riding were the only recreations in the open air to which the students were at all disposed to turn; and the Faculty were not of a mind to encourage them in either. When, in 1842, W. A. Kimbrough asked EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 161 for permission to keep a horse outside the bounds for his own amusement, his petition was rejected; but it was impossible to prevent the young men from secretly hiring horses of the livery stables occasionally; and they some- times put the animals, thus temporarily in their posses- sion, to very improper uses. In the spring of 1845, there was a spirited horse-race on the road leading from Monroe Hill to the cemetery; this event occurred on Sunday afternoon; and the borders of the improvised course were crowded with students drawn thither by the flying rumor that an exciting trial of speed was to take place. There were several heats, which were rendered all the more interesting to the shouting spectators by the fact that they had betted ice-cream treats on the re- sult. Excursions across the mountains to Weyer's cave were often made, either in the regular stage-coach or in a hired vehicle, or, perhaps, on horse-back. Permis- sion to go on these jaunts seems to have been promptly granted by the Faculty; but quite frequently leave was not asked, as Saturday and Sunday, coming together, gave many of the young men an opportunity to steal away from the precincts without danger of their absence being brought to light by roll-call. Apparently, the Calathumpian band derived their live- liest amusement from acts of lawlessness, but they were sometimes satisfied to vent their spirits in tumultuous parades or in mere noise. The indignant Faculty, in 1858, described one of the most blatant of these exhibi- tions as that " senseless but offensive disturbance called in University slang ' calathump.' ' Music was so much appreciated by the students, in the interval between 1841 and 1848, that at least two mas- ters were then licensed to teach the art to all who should apply. One of this couple was Mr. Bigelow, who had 162 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA been giving lessons in dancing within the precincts, dur- ing many years. Mr. Deems was authorized to take Mr. Bigelow's place as soon as the latter decided to abandon this employment. In 1853, Mr. Robinson, who had been warmly recommended, was permitted to instruct pupils in singing. There was, at this time, no apartment situ- ated within the University bounds which was suitable for the performances of regularly trained musicians; but the town-hall in Charlottesville was often rented by trav- elling companies. Two concerts were given there, in 1858, by Strakosch's troupe, which was very liberally patronized by the students, although the price of a ticket was exorbitant. With the increase in the number of the matriculates, the dancing classes grew proportionately larger, and the skill of accomplished teachers was more prized than ever. In 1841, Louis Xaupe was licensed to give instruction in any private house beyond the precincts which the Faculty should approve; but he was warned to restrict the num- ber of lessons to three each week, as it was necessary to avoid diverting the minds of the young men from their studies. In the following year, Mr. Michaux obtained the same privilege, on the same condition, and Paschal B. Hoffman, in 1846. Cotillions were very often given in the hall of the Jefferson Society, and also in the din- ing-room of the Eagle tavern in Charlottesville. No ob- jection to dances at the reputable hotels in town seems to have been offered by the chairman, at this time, provided that the cost of the whole entertainment should not ex- ceed eighty dollars, and that the subscription of the indi- vidual student should be limited to two dollars and fifty cents. The abolition of the uniform law had rendered these balls a smaller cause of concern to the Faculty, for- merly so perplexed by the necessity of compelling every EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 163 collegian in attendance to observe the hateful ordinance. The professors, wisely recognizing that politenesses on their part were promoting a better feeling between them- selves and the students, varied the social life of the latter by giving several balls in the course of each session. We learn from Crawford H. Toy, a student during 1852-56, that there were still numerous instances of drunkenness in college, but that such vicious indulgence occurred in a very quiet way. The young man found guilty of flagrant intoxication was not expelled as for- merly as the sole punishment for his conduct, — he was first offered the choice of signing the pledge required by the Temperance Society of its members; and it was only in case he should refuse, that he received notice that he must withdraw from the precincts. It is quite probable that the penalty of membership in the society, drastic as it must have appeared to be to many of the students, was accepted as preferable to summary dismissal. Neverthe- less, the prospect of being dragged into the Temperance Hall by the scruff of the neck, as it were, exercised, no doubt, a repressive influence upon those who were inclined to drink too freely. Numerous suppers were still held in the dormitories, without criticism or interference from the Faculty, provided that no liquor was furnished; that the company present was small; and that the expense of the entertainment was not extravagant. These meals were simple enough in their food, — ham and eggs, chicken and turkey, were the staple dishes. One of the most pleasant as well as one of the most politic customs that had crept in by this time was the invitation, which, annually, each professor sent to every member of his class, to attend a supper which he was proposing to give them as a proof of his personal goodwill for them all. In 1842, the students asked permission to subscribe to a banquet in 164 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA honor of Charles Dickens, who was then visiting the United States; but their request was refused, on the bald ground that it was in conflict with an important section of the University code.1 During many years, an ugly club flourished among the students. The right of admission was common to all who were willing to pay a small fee to be used in the purchase of the prizes. To the man with the homeliest countenance in college was awarded a pair of boots, which had cost fifteen dollars; the prettiest man received a necktie; the smallest, a stick of red and white candy, weighing twenty pounds ; the vainest, a hat. A stand was erected on the Lawn before the voting began, and to this elevated position, after the announcement of the ballot, the winner of the prize for ugliness was formally es- corted. As soon as he faced the audience, he was loudly cheered and called upon to return thanks for the honor be- stowed on him, and his reply was always expected to be of a humorous cast. The president of the club was in- variably a student with an irrepressible taste for fun, and a talent for amusing speech. In 1857, this office was filled by Thomas U. Dudley, afterwards a distinguished bishop of Kentucky, whose triumphs in wit and frolic, while still a student, have come down among the most brilliant social traditions of the University. In the course of each session, one day was set apart 1 In his Recollections of 1843-5, Frederick W. Page says: "We enjoyed good smoking tobacco. There were no little bags and no briar roots (in those times). Our pipes were the real Powhatan clay, with reed stems. The longer the stem, the more aristocratic the pipe. They could not be carried in the pocket. One fellow boasted of a stem so long he could lie on his bed and rest the bowl on the hearth. He had to employ his room- mate as lighter. We got our tobacco from Lynchburg. The stage driver for a dollar would bring a two bushel bag full. My tobacco club was annoyed by a fellow from another part of college, who dropped in ACCI- DENTALLY so often to fill his pipe that a little gunpowder got mixed in the tobacco." EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 165 as laughing-gas day. Its celebration also took place on the Lawn, under the directing hand and vigilant eye of the professor of chemistry. The gas was manufactured in the laboratory, and from thence was brought on the ground in a large rubber bag. A student was always se- lected as the subject for experiment, and in the presence of a highly amused crowd, he inhaled the vapor. Its effect upon the mental equilibrium of some of the subjects was almost as extreme as the working of insanity, — they fell into the strangest contortions, and burst into peals of hysterical laughter. Their extravagance of behavior was even more unbridled than that which usually accompanies drunkenness; and as it led, on one occasion, to some im- propriety on the part of one of the subjects, the custom was suddenly and permanently discontinued. The commencement exercises grew in distinction and popularity as time passed. As early as 1849, the Lawn was illuminated at night while these exercises were in progress. This, in the beginning, was perhaps done with ordinary candles stuck against the pillars of the arcades, and not with the Chinese lanterns, which were used so effectively at a later period. A band of music was al- ways present, — a body of men usually obtained from some Virginian town; thus, in 1849, its members had their homes in Harrisonburg. Some of the most accom- plished speakers in the State delivered addresses in the course of the main exercises in the public hall. Although the entire occasion was supposed to have been reserved for intellectual enjoyment, yet at least one part of the time was considered by those of keen appetite for pleas- ure to be intended only for social amusement. " The point of view of the large audience," says Professor Toy, " was that the occasion was a social one; the essays had been approved by the authorities and needed no further 166 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA criticism or supervision. The sound of conversation and laughter filled the air; and it was impossible to hear the reading five feet from the rostrum. But the essayist was so glad to have passed through the ordeal unscathed, that he could harbor no unkind thoughts of the laughter- loving audience." The attention of that audience was, no doubt, always respectful while the visiting orator oc- cupied the platform; and it was also less fickle when the exercises of the debating societies were going on because of the interest felt in the speeches of the presidents and speakers. Among those, who, at one date or another, during the Fifth Period, 1842—1861, were elected to the latter offices were men of subsequent distinction like Robert Toombs, Robert L. Dabney, John A. Broadus, Virginius Dabney, and Edward S. Joynes. xxv. Fraternities It will be recalled that there flourished at the Uni- versity of Virginia, during the early years of its existence, a Greek letter society, whose principal object apparently was simply the cultivation of powers for debate. The first Greek letter society established there exclusively for those purely social purposes which are indicated by the word " fraternity," was the Delta Kappa Epsilon. Then, in succession, were chartered the Phi Kappa Psi, Phi Kappa Sigma, and Beta Theta Pi. Previous to 1861, seven others were added to this number: the Chi Phi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Phi Gamma Delta, Delta Psi, Theta Delta Chi, Delta Kappa, and Kappa Alpha. The Delta Kappa Epsilon was a fraternity that traced its foun- tain-head to Princeton College. The history of the chap- ter established at the University of Virginia is practically duplicated in the history of the local chapters of the other similar associations, which, like itself, were, for the EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 167 most part, shoots transplanted from another soil. All found a congenial spot for growth at the University, ow- ing to that tendency toward social groups which has al- ready been mentioned as an important feature of its scho- lastic life. Moreover, this was the period in which the masonic organization flourished most among the fathers of these young men; and that secret association, perhaps, had something to do, in spirit at least, with the rapid spread of these college bodies, in spite of the fact that their reason for existence was social and not benevolent. It was in May, 1853, that Messrs. Abrahams, Rogers, and others sought the Faculty's consent to the establish- ment of a chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon at the Uni- versity. They candidly acknowledged that, as the pur- pose of its organization were not disclosable, they pos- sessed no warrant to state what were its rules and usages, except so far as to say that these were consonant with law and order. The reply of the Faculty to this application was expressed with equal frankness: they asserted that they had no mistrust whatever of the motives of the peti- tioners, but as the proposed society was admitted to be covert in its by-laws and its aims, it was unquestionably open to grave abuses, which might have a tendency to nourish further that insubordinate disposition which had so often flamed up among the students. For this reason, the authorities refused, though with reluctance, to assent to the request. The main influence that shaped this de- cision is intelligible enough: that decision was really only another proof of the lurking distrust which the Fac- ulty still felt, even as late as 1854, in the orderly spirit of the student body acting as a whole or in segments, whether organized into secret fraternities or into Cala- thumpian bands. We learn from the history of Eta chapter, written by Professor James M. Garnett, that 168 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA this offshoot was actually established on November 26, 1852, many months before the open application for for- mal recognition was submitted and denied. This refusal was afterwards very wisely recalled, for, during the ses- sion of 1854-55, the brothers of the chapter were meet- ing regularly and under no ban. Hilary A. Herbert, who was Secretary of the Navy in Mr. Cleveland's cabinet, was a member of the chapter during the sessions of 1854-55 and 1855—56, and has re- corded his recollections of its working. " We had many interesting debates and a number of fine papers read," he says. " We strove to keep up a high standard, requir- ing always both character and scholarship in candidates for admission." The tests, it appears, were: fair abili- ties, agreeable social qualities, and the disposition and manners of a gentleman. " I remember," continues Mr. Herbert, " being very much chagrined at the rejection of a warm friend, because his class standing was not up to the mark." It was the supreme characteristic of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, as of all its fellow associations, that its proceedings were hidden behind an oriental veil. The place of meeting was as scrupulously concealed as the den of an untamed animal in the jungle. It was usually a contracted attic-room under the roof of some college building which was not often visited at night. The hour for assembling always fell after dark, and as it drew near, the members of the fraternity would leave their respective dormitories with the furtiveness of conspirators, and make for the place of rendezvous by a route that doubled upon itself like the trail of a hunted fox. The members of the other fraternities were always on the alert to de- tect any suspicious movements on their rivals' part; and in order to avoid detection, the latter were forced to EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 169 dodge in and out of those gloomy and tortuous alleys, which so often offered a cover for the advances and re- treats of the stealthy rioters of those tumultuous times. Indeed, so far, it is said, did the Eta chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity stickle for its mole-like privacy, that it protested against the publication of the official let- ters that were, from time to time, sent in by it and its sister chapters, because this was thought to amount to the divulgence of the fraternity's secret history. On the roll of this chapter, during the session of 1860- i, there were found the names of at least eight members who sacrificed their lives for the cause of the Confeder- acy. Among them were the supremely knightly spirits of Randolph Fairfax, W. T. Haskell, and Percival El- liott. There were, during this interval, two members who were destined to become bishops of unusual distinc- tion in their church denomination; two celebrated schol- ars in ecclesiastical history, — Dr. Dubose, of the Uni- versity of the South, and Dr. Toy, of Harvard; several professors in advanced seats of learning; members of Congress and the State legislatures; prominent judges, lawyers, and physicians; and equally conspicuous repre- sentatives of other callings. Not less than eleven of their number carried off the highest scholastic honor of the institution, the degree of master of arts. The Delta Kappa Epsilon enjoyed only one advantage over its fellow fraternities : it had been the one the long- est established at the University, and it had thereby ac- quired more time to swell the roll of its membership. But in the achievements of that membership, whether within the college precincts, or in the practical affairs of the great world afterwards, its members were not more distinguished, in proportion to their number, than the members of the other fraternities that approached it in 170 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA age and rivaled it in social standing. Although they were all founded simply to strengthen the bonds of friend- ship within their respective circles, yet in spite of this innocent and legitimate purpose, they were looked upon by outsiders with a suspicion that occasionally went so far as to attribute to them positive iniquities, — possibly not to the discontent of some of the members, who may have taken a Byronic pride in the possession of a reputation far blacker than they deserved. xxvi. Debating Societies The debating societies, which reflected the forensic ac- tivities of the students, as the fraternities reflected their social, sometimes broke away from their normal channel and descended to frivolous gayeties. Not infrequently, they applied to the Faculty for permission to give a cotil- lion in their respective halls. Such was the request of the Jefferson Society in 1845; and it was granted on the usual conditions : ( I ) that all drinking was to be avoided; and (2) that the cost of the supper, — which was to be furnished by Col. Watson's University hotel, — was not to run beyond a total of sixty dollars. This ball was repeated from year to year on the floor of the hall. Not satisfied with this popular means of contributing to the amusement of its members, the society also adopted another plan : public notice was given that a box had been attached to the door of the hall to receive all satires, or other mirth-provoking essays, which the students might be induced to drop within. No signatures were required. The secretary pulled out these documents at each meet- ing of the society and read them to the assembled audi- ence. This privilege, as might have been anticipated, was soon outrageously abused. The satirical composi- tions of the young are likely enough to be extravagant EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 171 even when signed, but when unsigned are still more apt to degenerate into offensive grossness. The members of the society, finding themselves the targets of many irresponsi- ble pens, bent upon making them ridiculous, through the exposure of their most vulnerable weaknesses, quickly winced under these volleys ; and it was with a sense of re- lief that the box was permanently removed, and the invi- tation to contribute thus silently and significantly with- drawn. Annually, on April 13, Jefferson's birthday was cele- brated by the society. This was done with formal cere- monies,— invitation cards were printed, and sent out to persons who were not members ; and the audience that as- sembled represented all that was most distinguished and most respected in the community. Many ladies were in- variably present, to lend, as the old fashioned courtesy of that day expressed it, " the charm of their grace and beauty to the occasion." A brass band, obtained in Rich- mond or Washington, filled the intermissions with the strains of expert music. These meetings were held, — sometimes in the hall of the society, sometimes in the public hall after its completion, but ordinarily in the chapel, as offering the accommodation of the required number of seats. The proceedings were opened by the reading of the Declaration of Independence ; and this was followed by the delivery of a patriotic address. Even as late as 1853, the society did not feel posi- tively certain of the permanence of their tenure of their hall. When, during that year, the roof of the building began to leak, the Faculty ordered it to be repaired at the University's expense, on the ground that it might be needed, at a later date, for the purposes of the institution. At this time, the increase in the number of students had become very perceptible, and the Faculty probably ex- 172 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA pected that, should this increase continue, the apartment would have to be turned into a dining-room. Fortu- nately, the society was never required to give up its premises. As its membership swelled in volume, the excitement of its elections rose to a higher pitch. In 1858, there was a tumultuous contest for the final oratorship, which culminated in the hall on a Saturday night, near the end of the session. " I was present," we are told by Rev. John Johnson. " Next morning, before I was out of bed, a friend, who bore a name honored over all Vir- ginia, burst into my room with the exclamation * John- son, I am the happiest man in the world.' ' What is the matter now? ' I asked; ' you got your man last night? ' ' Well,' said he, ' I received four challenges before I went to bed, and I got two more this morning before I got up. That is glory enough for one year.' ' " It is pertinent to remember," adds Johnson, " that I never knew a challenge to materialize in powder and lead." The philosopher of the magazine, commenting on this exasperated struggle, with all its emotions and schemings, exclaimed: " The University is a miniature world in its defeats and victories, successes and disappointments, riv- alries, jealousies, squabbles, and enmities. A Jefferson Society election for final orator is a rare piece of fun, in some respects, but in others, it presents the observer with the baser side of human nature." It seems to have been customary for the supporters of the victor in one of these contests to shoulder him, so soon as the upshot of the ballot had been called out, and in a cheering and singing procession, carry him off to the nearest drinking-saloon on the road to Charlottesville. There he was expected to treat every member of the half frenzied company to lager beer, whiskey, or brandy, until EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 173 the whole number should become almost too fuddled to reshoulder him, and bear him back to his dormitory within the precincts. The campaign anterior to one of these elections was graphically described, at the time, by the editors of the magazine. " For several days before- hand," they stated, " friends of the various candidates might have been seen bustling around hunting up recruits, soliciting votes, praising their candidate's genius, and pe- culiar fitness for the post of final orator, urging his claims on green academics and unsophisticated meds with a warmth and fluency worthy a political campaign against the Know-Nothings. Each separate clique had a man, who was, by all odds, the smartest fellow and best speaker in college. The only topic in all circles for a week beforehand was the election. Every other man you met wanted to bet you a box of Havanas, a dozen of Chambertin, a cask of lager, a bottle of Johannesberg, or anything else from a basket of champagne to a double- breasted brandy smash, that his candidate would be the successful one. But the candidates themselves! What winning ways they had about them, how overpoweringly delighted they were to meet you, how they shook you by the hand until there was imminent danger of dislo- cating your shoulder! And doubtless they would have asked us about the family if there had been any proba- bility of any of us having any." The Washington Society seems to have been buffeted about during several years after 1842 for lack of a per- manent assembly hall. In 1846, it convened in one of the rooms of Hotel F, which building was, at that time, occupied in part by the family of the proctor; but this privilege was soon taken away; and the society, in conse- quence, petitioned the Board for another suitable apart- ment. The nearest approach to such an apartment which 174 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA could be found for them was the northern room in Hotel B. This they used, if at all, apparently for a short in- terval only, for, in 1847, they were still coming together in their former quarters in Hotel F, although they com- plained that it was too small for the attendance at their regular debates. In 1849, they were granted the pos- session of a room in Hotel A. Three years later, they asked for permission to enlarge the bounds of this room, which, from this time forward, seems to have acquired the name of the Washington Hall. The original apart- ment is said to have stood above a number of dormitories, which, in 1855, became so damp that Dr. Cabell advised the Faculty to discontinue their use. There has been a reference already to the unsuccessful effort of the two debating societies to obtain new halls for their members by collecting a large sum through the employment of Mr. Pratt, the superintendent of grounds and buildings, as a solicitor. In the plan of the antici- pated structure, the Washington Society was to occupy a spacious apartment on the one side, and the Jefferson on the other, with a large room reserved between the two for religious services. Each hall was to contain seats for at least four hundred and fifty persons. It appears that the two societies had never been chartered. In No- vember, 1860, they determined that their prosperity would be fortified by incorporation, because it would en- able each of them to borrow the money with which to provide the quarters that they had been unable to secure by public subscription. It was at first proposed to erect a hall that should be held in common. By the terms of the scheme now suggested by the Jefferson Society, a sum of three thousand dollars was to be negotiated upon the security of coupon bonds running fifteen years. These were expected to be endorsed by the Board of Visitors, EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 175 and were to be gradually reduced before maturity by an annual sinking fund of three hundred dollars. This pro- posal failed to receive the approval of the more wary Washington Society, whose resources were less abundant, owing to its smaller membership. It was fortunate, in- deed, that this prudent stand was taken by that body, for the four years of complete suspension which followed the breaking out of the war would have left the two associ- ates burdened with a debt that would have been equiva- lent to bankruptcy. The Jefferson and Washington Societies were not the only organizations formed for debate during the Fifth Period, 1842-1861. In the course of the session of 1847-48, there were at least three bodies of this charac- ter in existence within the precincts. The third was the Philomethean Society, which was established on April 5, 1848. The right was given to it, as to its sister associa- tions, to celebrate special occasions in the chapel; but its ordinary meetings seem to have been held in one of the vacant rooms of the old library pavilion. The privilege to do this was at first denied, on the ground that the apartments in that building were reserved for the chap- lain and the Board of Visitors; but it was afterwards granted, — quite probably as a temporary measure, — in order to allow the new society time within which to find a permanent home. In 1852, the Parthenon Society was organized, and at once petitioned the Faculty for a hall. Embarrassed by the request, that body prudently referred it to the Board. A suggestion was now put forth that an addition should be made to the proctor's office for the housing of the new association; but no step was taken to carry this out; in fact, there was an expecta- tion at first that room for both the Parthenon Society and the Washington Society would be reserved some- 176 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA where within the area of the annex of the Rotunda so soon as completed; but this anticipation proved delusive; and the members of the Parthenon, finding it impossible to secure a roof to shelter their assembled heads, seemed to have resignedly allowed it to pass out of existence. So soon, however, as one association was pronounced dead, another sprang up, in the most sanguine spirit, to occupy the vacant place. In 1854, a fifth debating so- ciety was organized by W. W. Bird and his friends; and they were permitted by the Faculty at first to come to- gether in the eastern lecture-room of the Rotunda. The name which this new association adopted was the Colum- bian. The Columbian was in the habit, during some years, of assembling in Temperance Hall; and it gradu- ally acquired a roll of membership that brought it very near to the numerical importance of the Jefferson and Washington Societies. Towards its end, this society re- ceived permission to hold its debates in the hotel on East Range occupied by Colonel Ward. Its dissolution seems to have occurred sometime anterior to 1860, and the room which it had occupied was transferred to the use of the superintendent of grounds and buildings. A list of some of the questions debated in these societies may be given for the light which they cast on the his- torical and political interests of the young men of the University in those now distant times: Are free institu- tions favorable to the progress of literature and arts? Do the virtues of mankind increase with the progress of civilization? Are short terms of political office desir- able ? Was the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, jus- tified? Has the union of Ireland and England been det- rimental to Ireland? Would it benefit the English gov- ernment to separate Church and State? Was the Eng- lish Government justified in banishing Napoleon to St. EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 177 Helena? Should the liberty of the press be restricted? Ought capital punishment to be abolished? Who has exerted the greater influence on the destinies of Europe, Napoleon I or Napoleon III? Have savages a full right to the soil? In 1850, a joint committee of the three debating socie- ties obtained permission to invite an orator of distinction to address the audience in the public hall, on the occasion of the commencement exercises, to be followed by a ball in the library. The next year, the Board and Faculty replied favorably to a similar application; but in 1852, the condition was imposed that the speaker should con- fine his discourse to a literary or scientific subject. Dur- ing the session of 1857-8, Henry Winter Davis, — who had made himself obnoxious to the South by his embit- tered partisanship — was asked to deliver the annual oration. The Faculty unanimously protested against his selection for such an honor; and they were supported by a strong minority of the members of the societies. Davis discreetly refused the invitation, but in doing so expressed himself with offensive pungency. At this time, famous lecturers from other States often spoke before the debating societies in the course of the session. A considerable fee was received by Edward Everett, about 1859, for the delivery under these circum- stances of one of his popular discourses; and this sum he generously presented to the societies as the means of affording, through the accruing interest, a prize for an annual essay on American biography, to be published in the magazine. There was a lecture in the public hall, during the same year, by H. W. Miller, of North Caro- lina. This was for the benefit of the Mount Vernon fund. Objectionable words must have been uttered by Miller, in the course of his remarks, for the Faculty de- 178 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA cided that no speaker should thereafter be granted the liberty of the same great apartment unless he had been invited to the University with the approval of its authori- ties. XXVII. Expenses of Students In the interval between 1842 and 1861, there were sev- eral important changes in the amounts of the fees. Among them, was the recall, in 1845, °f tne supplemen- tary fee of twenty dollars which the professor of law had, after 1833, been permitted to collect from each member of his class; but he was recouped for this loss by obtain- ing, for the first time, the right to give professional opin- ions, in return for the remuneration ordinarily asked by practising attorneys. Subsequent to the session of 185 i— 2, the professor of law was authorized to charge sixty dollars for membership in his intermediate class, and seventy-five for membership in his senior. The total dues for the four courses embraced in the medical school was one hundred dollars, — with five dollars added for the use of dissection material. In 1856, the fee in the law school was increased to eighty dollars in each of the classes, and at the same time, the matriculation fee was advanced from fifteen dollars to twenty. Should the stu- dent in any school have been admitted after February i, he was to be entitled to a deduction of ten per cent, in the tuition fees; but there seems to have been no abatement in the matriculation fees, or rents of the dormitories, whether he entered college early or late in the year. The amount of his payments was only refunded in case he had withdrawn from college on account of sickness; and then simply in proportion to the length of time which was yet to pass before the close of the session. There were still instances in which, for special reasons, EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 179 a student was released from the payment of fees. In I85o, J. L. Gillespie, who had, during many years, fol- lowed the calling of a teacher, was, in consideration of his laborious services in that character, and of his nar- row income, permitted to attend the lectures in the med- ical courses without any charge ; and he was left at liberty also to join a class in any other school on the same foot- ing. While all candidates for the ministry were exempt from the payment of tuition fees, they could not claim the right of having a class provided for themselves alone ; nor were they admitted to the institution, the second year, on the same liberal terms, unless they had won at least a cer- tificate of distinction in both the intermediate and the final examinations of the previous year. In 1859, a candidate for the ministry was required to submit testimonials of his clerical plans and proofs of his good standing in the ranks of his own denomination; and he was not allowed, the second year, to attend the same class which he had attended the first except in a higher grade. There were, in 1857, thirteen students who had announced their inten- tion of following the clerical profession. Sometimes, the son of a minister of the gospel was per- mitted to matriculate without payment of fees, in consid- eration of the impoverished circumstances of his father. Sometimes the brother of a professor in the University was granted the same privilege. In one instance, a printer of Charlottesville was admitted without charge, on the ground that he was a young man of " good talents, exemplary character, and no means," who was spurred on by a praiseworthy ambition to seek an education in the higher branches of knowledge. A professor from an- other college, who wished to prosecute his studies along some special line, was always exempted from the payment of fees. 180 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA The amount imposed upon each student for board was gradually increased after 1850, in response to the ad- vance in prices in general which followed the discovery of gold in California. It was, in 1850-51, one hundred dollars for the entire session; in 1852-53, one hundred and ten dollars; in 1853-54, one hundred and twenty; and in 1855-56, one hundred and thirty. In the ensu- ing year, it fell back to the amount which had been fixed during the previous session; but in 1857—58, it again rose to one hundred and thirty dollars; and so remained until the war began. In 1 860-61, the student possessed the right to board at any one of the University hotels which he should prefer; and if he was able to induce the keeper to lower the charge in his own case, no effort to nullify it was made by the Faculty. He was, however, still called upon to settle his board once every three months in advance ; and this continued to be done through the proctor. No increase in the rents of the dormitories seems to have occurred during this period, — the tenant still paid sixteen dollars for the single apartment; but now, as for- merly, this, if he desired, could be equally shared with a companion. During the session of 1858-59, the students were permitted to buy the furniture which they needed for their rooms, with the right to dispose of it to their successors the next year; and a substantial reduction in their board was allowed on this account. As many as fifty sets of furniture were purchased, during one session, by the proctor from Hutchinson and Wickersham, of New York, and sold to the young men, at the rate of twenty-seven dollars and fifty cents a set. But it was soon found that this method, not only occasioned grave in- convenience, but also failed to reduce the outlay for such articles. EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 181 The fuel consumed in the dormitories was still sup- plied by the proctor, and, quite frequently, he was unsuc- cessful in obtaining a profit on his annual sales. In the session of 1842-43, the total amount of his expenses was $1,942.62; the total amount of his proceeds, $1,701.00, — a deficit of $241.62. We learn from the fuel ac- count for this year that he bought 476^ cords, for which he paid at the rate of three dollars the cord; he sold this to the students at the rate of four dollars; but the charges for sawing, carting, and the like, were so onerous that the margin of gain soon faded away. It was only the wagons that were able to transport to the University two loads a day that brought the sellers of the original wood a satisfactory profit. This ad- vantage, however, was restricted to the proprietors of lands situated not far from the precincts, — a fact that gave their owners a practical monopoly, which they soon began to use to the point of exorbitancy by advancing the price of a cord from two dollars and twenty-five cents to three dollars, — an addition to the previous charge of nearly one-fourth. Emboldened by this success, they announced a second advance, — this time to three dollars and a half; but the proctor shrewdly counterchecked this second gouge by buying the fuel of numerous small pro- prietors who were content to sell at the original rate. They could not, however, be depended upon to supply all the wood that was needed, but their intervention at least served to scotch the greedy impositions of the large land- owners in the neighborhood. In 1854, the railway, for the first time, furnished a vehicle for the transportation to the University, with ease and dispatch, of a sufficient quantity of fagots; and it also offered a second solution in the supply of coal which it made available. To the proctor was left the decision as to whether the saving 182 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA which this material would permit would compensate for substituting in the dormitories iron grates for the or- dinary open hearth fireplaces. It was reckoned that the expenses of a student at the University of Virginia, in 1845, were about equal in amount to those of a contemporary who was enrolled at Harvard College ; they were not in excess of a student's expenses at the College of William and Mary; and were less swollen in volume than those of one who had matric- ulated in any of the other conspicuous seats of learning in the South. The actual outlay of the average student at the University of Virginia, during an entire session, was, at this time, calculated by the Society of Alumni to be $332.00. The largest amount spent by the most ex- travagant, they said, did not rise above $502.91. The corresponding figures for the average student at Harvard was $245.00; at Yale, $195.00; and at Princeton, $226.00. The expenses of a student in the leading med- ical colleges, during this period, were estimated at $250.00; in classical academies, at $175.00; and in ad- vanced female schools, at $200.00 to $300.00. It was asserted by the Faculty, during the session of 1844-45, that, as the great majority of the students then at the University of Virginia belonged to the mid- dle ranks of life, — in which a modest competence had to be scrupulously husbanded, — there was no ground what- ever for the charge that the institution was the scene of lavish wastefulness, rendered possible, according to re- ports, by the presence of a very large body of wealthy young men. They claimed that, as a matter of fact, a very respectable proportion of those in attendance had accumulated the means to enter college by their own brains or hands, and were, in consequence, solicitous to exercise a rigid economy in their expenditures. EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 183 xxvill. Finances In 1824, not many months before the University re- ceived its first students, Jefferson reduced to figures the anticipated amount of the annual income and outlay of the institution. The income to be relied upon was the annuity of $15,000; the rents to accrue from the hotels, $900.00, and from the dormitories, $1,708; payments on various accounts by the students, $2,616, — a total sum of $20,224. On the other hand, the expenses were ex- pected to reach the aggregate sum of $20,224 als°- They were to consist of $3,000 for current demands; $12,000 for the salaries of the professors; $200.00 for the remuneration of the military instructor; and $5,024 for the defrayment of miscellaneous costs, — such as ap- propriations for the purchase of books, philosophical apparatus, and the like. The statement of the bursar for the session of 1826, — the second in the University's history, — confirmed the substantial correctness of Jefferson's estimates, for the total income for that year turned out to be $25,- I55-3°^ and the total expenses $25,135.27. This, however, did not include the sum of $3,430.50, which had to be provided for the liquidation of one of the deben- tures held by John M. Perry for the conveyance of the University site; but it did take in $9,953.27 due for in- terest on the library fund advanced by the General As- sembly, and also on the University bonds in the posses- sion of private individuals. Jefferson had calculated that the current expenses would amount to $3,000. They ac- tually rose to $3,500. As $25,000 was needed in 1826 to complete the build- ings and to create a permanent water supply, the Board of Visitors in July, 1827, authorized the proctor to bor- 184 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA row a large sum of Thomas Jefferson Randolph, as trus- tee for his mother. The money actually obtained from this source was $19,777. An attempt had been previ- ously made to procure the required fund from the Rich- mond banks, but without success. The interest on this loan was guaranteed by the pledge of the annuity. It was issued in the form of eight certificates, dated Jan- uary i, 1828. By 1830, this debt had been increased by borrowings from other individuals that amounted to $4,000. Down to 1830, the following sums in different forms had been received by the University: loans, $180,- ooo; annuities, $163,854; appropriation by the General Assembly for the purchase of the library and philosophi- cal and chemical apparatus, $50,000, — a total of $393,- 854. In 1832—3, the obligations of the institution amounted to $28,628. They embraced $3,800, due for repairs and improvements; $2,339.05, indebtedness to James Oldham on contract; $719.00, unpaid salaries; a bond of $2,000, held by Minor's executor, and a bond of $19,777 belonging to the Randolph estate. The ac- tual receipts for this year were $20,500, — a decline in volume; the actual expenses, $15,500, — which also was a decided reduction. In July, 1833, the bursar's report showed a favorable balance of $8,155.66, — which was the means of preventing an important deficit for the ses- sion of 1833-34, since the receipts for that session were only $21,394.94, while the expenses were $23,480.90. How small was the command of surplus funds which the University had at this time is brought out by the fact that the debt to Oldham, — the result of his successful suit as one of the original contractors, — still remained unliquidated. In 1835, tne institution was called upon to pay the sum of $1,366.20 in the form of interest on loans from private EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 185 individuals. Its financial condition, however, was not un- satisfactory, for, during this year, the income was $20,- 521, and the expenditures only $16,866.20. A list of these expenditures discloses the following items: Sal- aries of professors, $10,500; salaries of officers, $1,700; appropriation for library, $500.00; for different schools, $250.00; hire of laborers, $60.00; printing, postage, and the like, $600.00; and repairs, $1,350. The drafts upon the University's income varied but little during the next ten years; thus, they did not exceed $17,527.48 for the fiscal term ending June i, 1845, and $15,000.50 for the like term ending June i, 1847. The receipts for the lat- ter year were $20,176, figures that disclose no gain what- ever in the income over the return for 1835, twelve years before. During the term ending May 31, 1848, the re- ceipts were $20,716.56, and the expenses $18,850.88, while for the following fiscal year, the receipts were $22,- 935.64, and the expenses, $16,515.55. We thus perceive that, twenty-four years after the University was opened to students, its income exceeded by barely two thousand v dollars the amount which Jefferson had calculated as rea- sonable to expect for the first year. The Randolph loan had, by this time, been reduced to $9,000. In order to build the annex to the Rotunda, the Board obtained from the Legislature the authority to negotiate a loan of $25,000. The enabling act was passed Febru- ary 17, 1852. The bonds issued — which were signed by the rector, and countersigned by the bursar, — were payable twenty-five years after date; they were limited to $5,000 each; and bore interest at the rate of six per cent., secured by the pledge of such a proportion of the annuity as would be needed to meet it. As a corporation, the University was not empowered to borrow large sums without first receiving the permission of the General As- 186 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA sembly; and this was always asked as well as the legisla- tive consent to the use of the annual payment by the State as a guarantee for the interest. It was debatable whether there was not a limit to the University's right to borrow even with legislative approval, and for this reason it was always wise to allow the General Assembly to pass upon the amount of every loan to be floated. The increase in the number of students after 1851 was reflected in the expansion in the volume of receipts: in- cluding the surplus fees, which had previously gone to the professors, the income of the University for the fiscal year ending June 28, 1851, was as much as $33,078, while the disbursements were only $23,096.91, leaving a bal- ance of $9,981.18, the largest in the history of the in- stitution. This afforded substantial assistance towards meeting the cost of the Annex. For the fiscal year end- ing May 31, 1852, the surplus fees amounted to $5,506. The total receipts for the twelve months were $47,- 744.87, and the disbursements $45,203.53, — nearly double, in both instances, the figures submitted by the bursar a quarter of a century earlier. The expenses ap- proximated the receipts in 1852, in consequence of the heavy charge for erecting the Annex. By the end of the fiscal year in 1855, the receipts had mounted up to $38,978.10; and of the corresponding year in 1857, to $57,581.86. This sudden jump was due to an enlarge- ment of the annuity by a special temporary grant; and $5,065.96 had also been appropriated for the purpose of making certain repairs and improvements. The normal average income still ranged below $40,000 ; but there had been a decided increase in its volume. This was attrib- utable in part to the growing amount of the surplus fees, which swelled, in 1852, to $7,514.66, and in 1853 to $10,043.91. EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 187 The expenditures were always held under a rigid curb, and appear, in no year, to have run beyond the receipts, — indeed, for some of the fiscal years, they fell short of the receipts by figures ranging all the way from $650.00 to $5,178.15. The details of the expenditures for a normal year are accurately exemplified in those for 1849; the salaries of the professors and officers, during that session, absorbed about eleven thousand, six hundred dol- lars; the cost of repairs and improvements, about two thousand more; the library, about one thousand; and the hire of labor, about two hundred and fifty. The rest of the outlay embraced the following items; printing, about three hundred dollars; contingent expenses, about four hundred; the several schools, about three hundred; State students, about five hundred and fifty; and the dispensary, about two hundred. The total expenditures were sixteen thousand dollars in amount.1 xxix. Administration In an early chapter, we offered some biographical de- tails respecting the members of the first Board of Visi- tors. Before briefly describing the personnel of the sub- sequent Boards, it will be pertinent to mention the names 1 FINANCIAL STATUS Instruction 1856 $14. 137 1857 $K.8qi 1858 $I7.Q2C. I859 $17,84.2 1860 $17,02? Officers' salaries •9.QQC r cog 6.SI4 6.731 7.Q07 Labor I. 137 I 814. 2,267 I 860 Repairs and Improvements... Interest 7,825 2,166 20,046 2,166 21,388 2,l66 40,036 2.164 9,553 2,166 Insurance C72 S72 6«4 6ei 651 Fuel and lights 6l7 698 Q42 I A2C I 7OO Library 2,Ql8 3 .HO 2.C4.I 2,6^1 IjIOO Apparatus 1 CQ 4.OOO 642 4.1 e OO6 Contingent 3.3*8 •I, QIC {.244 2.4.O3 2 e.4ji Advertising and Printing 621 4QI QCQ 881 610 Total $37,606 $i;7,2OI $6 1, 22 1 $77,047 $44* CT 188 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA of the men who filled the chairmanship of the Faculty, — an office only second in importance to the rectorship it- self. As we have already stated, it was a feature of Jef- ferson's scheme that the chairmanship should be occupied by the professors in regular succession; but this arrange- ment, so harmonious with democratical principle, was soon abandoned because the members of the Faculty were already so busy with the courses of their schools that, as a body, they were unwilling to undertake an administra- tive task in addition. The system which was adopted in consequence made certain the selection of the most com- petent men among the professors, and their retention in the position, — in some instances, for a considerable pe- riod. It is possible that more satisfactory executive work was done under this system than under the one which Jefferson had so carefully formulated; it, at least, cut out those members of the Faculty who had no natural talent for the performance of such duties, and, by longer service, ripened the experience of those who possessed an aptitude for it. It was entirely proper that George Tucker should have been elected the first incumbent of this office, for he was far older in years than his colleagues; had mingled much with the world; and was already in the enjoyment of a high reputation, not only in Virginia, but in the United States at large, both as an author and a publicist. He had not yet removed to the University from Washington when the election was held, and until his arrival, the duties of the chairmanship were executed by Emmet. Under the rule which prevailed at the start, Tucker was not again chosen when his first term expired. Robley Dunglison succeeded him,- — to be followed, during the session of 1827—8, by John T. Lomax, the professor of law, the only native of the country to be found at that . EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 189 time in the Faculty. Dunglison was, by the election of the Board, restored to the office during the session of 1828—29 ; and his efficiency was now so satisfactorily dem- onstrated that he was reappointed the ensuing session. A term of two sessions became the rule subsequent to 1831—2, when George Tucker, coming after R. M. Pat- terson, again assumed the chairmanship, — to be suc- ceeded by Bonnycastle, J. A. G. Davis and Gessner Har- rison, in turn. Davis was again appointed for 1839— 40, and Harrison for 1840-42. Henry St. George Tucker, although he had just entered the Faculty, was chosen as the incumbent for the next two sessions, — a very proper tribute to the great reputation which he had won as a teacher of law, as the presiding officer of the Court of Appeals, and as a man of commanding talents, ripe experience, and charming personality. During the three sessions beginning with 1844-5, the chairmanship was occupied in succession by William B. Rogers, E. H. Courtenay, and James L. Cabell, — men who had taken the places of three of the professors who belonged to the original Faculty. They were still young, but they dem- onstrated their administrative capacity in this office as , clearly as they had already done their pedagogic, in their respective chairs. But the two members of the Faculty who exhibited the happiest qualifications for this office, and afforded the most unbroken satisfaction, were Gessner Harrison and Socrates Maupin. Harrison, as we have already men- tioned, had, previous to the session of 1847-8, filled the chairmanship during several terms; he was again ap- pointed to the same position in July, 1 847 ; and from this time until the end of the session of 1853-4, — seven ses- sions in succession, — occupied it without a single inter- ruption, and would have continued to occupy it, quite 190 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA probably indefinitely, had he not been reluctantly retired from it at his own imperative request. Beginning with the session of 1854-55, Socrates Maupin was reappointed to the chairmanship from term to term until the outburst of the war practically paralyzed the administrative or- ganization of the University. It will be perceived from the preceding statements, that, in the course of the first twenty-two sessions, eleven men were selected for the office of chairman, — a propor- tion of one incumbent for every two sessions. During the remaining fourteen sessions, two men alone were chosen; and each of these remained in office, before the war, without a break for a period of seven years. Their constant reappointment was not simply a proof of high personal influence and tested executive ability, — it was also an indication of an admirable public spirit, since oc- cupation of the position was accompanied by many incon- veniences, and was an exhausting tax upon the mental and bodily strength of the holder. The chairman, in ad- dition to performing the duties of this office, was still called upon to study his subjects and lecture to his classes. Only a man who was vigorous intellectually and physically could have sustained its burdens piled on top of his pro- fessorial tasks. Hardly second in importance to the chairmanship was the office of proctor. John A. Carr succeeded Brocken- brough in this position in 1831 ; but the latter, in apprecia- tion of his valuable services in the past, was permitted to retain the post of patron. He was practically dismissed from the proctorship, although his usefulness in that ca- pacity could not be justly disputed. The reasons which were given for this action, so far as the records reveal them, appear to have been decidedly trivial. Brocken- brough's son was a candidate to succeed him. " He has EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 191 a strong spice of his father's character," Cabell wrote to Cocke in August, 1831, " with his grandfather's temper." We have pointed out the indispensable share which Brockenbrough had in the building of the University. He was now criticized for want of energy; and the com- plaint was urged that he suffered from deafness; but he denied very heatedly that his infirmity disqualified him from performing the duties of the office efficiently. " It is true," he remarked, with natural bitterness, " that I have no capacity as a spy or eavesdropper or seeker-out of little petty offenses against the laws of the institution, and as a runner for the chairman." He asserted in a letter to Cabell that there had been an untiring intrigue for several years to undermine his influence and thereby to compel his removal. " Repeated efforts," declared his wife, " were made by professors to get him to do work at the University's expense which they were bound to do at their own, and in every case, he refused to do this work, and, therefore, became unpopular." " Oh," she exclaimed in a letter written to one of the Visitors in behalf of her husband in July, 1831, " could the venerable, high-minded, and noble founder rise from his grave, how would tyranny and injustice hide their heads, and shrink from his indignant gaze! You know who it was that came here when this place was almost a wilderness, and struggled with all the difficulties attendant on rearing so many buildings in a country place where there were so few facilities;" Carr, his successor in the proctorship, generously ac- knowledged that Brockenbrough had been " exceedingly kind and friendly in showing and advising him in all his duties, and had taken great and particular pleasure in so doing." He bore the most positive testimony to the per- fect integrity of his predecessor's character. Brocken- 192 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA brough, in accepting the patronship, wrote Carr that the support of a large family alone had influenced him to do so. " I will be thankful," he added rather piteously, " for any work, either carpenter's, stonecutter's, and the like, that you can throw in my way. I will make proposals." Carr was succeeded by W. G. Pendleton, after occupy- ing the proctorship during one session only. Pendleton remained in office during five years, and retired under a cloud, caused, not only by irregularities in his accounts, and a slack performance of his supervisory duties, but also by an obscure scandal in his private life. It should be stated in his defense, however, that Cocke declined to countenance the reflections upon his uprightness, although he was constrained to acknowledge that Pendleton had not upheld the disciplinary ordinances to the degree of stiffness very properly expected of him as the principal police officer on the ground; and that he had been equally neglectful in reporting the damage which the students had done in their abuse of the buildings. The Faculty bore his delinquencies with patience, until, finally, they became so injurious to the welfare of the University, that a complaint to the Board could not be avoided. At this time, his accounts showed a shortage of two thousand dollars. The tenure of Willis H. Woodley, who succeeded him, extended over eight years. Woodley was generally ad- dressed as " Colonel," a title to which he, perhaps, could make no just claim, unless he had been an officer in the militia. It was more probably a popular tribute to those genial and easy-going qualities for which he was per- sonally noted. Indeed, he appears to have been charac- terized by all the kindly spirit of those unreformed and unexacting times, when a taste for good liquor and a well garnished table was not looked upon as directly traceable EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 193 to the original sin which man has inherited. Brought up in the odor of all the old Virginian social traditions, he was inclined to be lenient in executing his police powers at Christmas, as that was a festival in which he thought the students should share along with their friends of more matured years. His sense of hospitality seems to have risen in revolt at the mere suggestion that he was set- ting them a bad example, or even violating an ordinance, when he offered them, under his own roof, whatever cor- dial they, as his guests, had said that they preferred. His want of rigidity in this particular, — a common failing during that period, — was possibly only another form of the carelessness which he exhibited in keeping the accounts of his office, for, without any reflection on his personal integrity, he was asked in October, 1845, by the Board, which had been examining his books, to resign, and George W. Spooner was appointed temporarily to take his place. Woodley was retained as his principal clerk, — a proof that his delinquency had at least not been in- tentional. It seems contradictory that he should have been willing to incur unpopularity by enforcing with great firmness the ordinance that restricted the credits to be allowed the students. Spooner occupied the position during one session. He was, perhaps, not reappointed in consequence of the im- portant permanent relation which he, as a contractor, bore to the repair work so constantly required for the buildings. William B. Kemper was his successor, and he continued in office until September i, 1853. Kemper seems to have been entirely satisfactory until he at- tempted to give the prestige of his position to an acad- emy founded by his kinsman, Delaware Kemper, at Gor- donsville. The prospectus which he issued over his own signature in support of this establishment was decided by 194 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA the Board to be inconsistent with the performance of his duties as proctor, and they offered him the alternative of resigning or withdrawing his name from the directorate of the school. Kemper in a huff interpreted this as tanta- mount to his dismissal and retired. Spooner was again put in temporarily as a stopgap until the appointment of R. R. Prentis, who held the office for many years. The rectors of the University, previous to the War of Secession, were Jefferson, Madison, Cabell, Chapman Johnson, Cabell for the second time, Andrew Stevenson, and Thomas J. Randolph. We have already touched upon the principal events in the career of Cabell. Chap- man Johnson, the fourth incumbent of the office, was one of the few eminent Virginians of that day who was of obscure parentage. His father, a citizen of Louisa county, was too impoverished in his circumstances to give his children an education. During several years, he was the proprietor of an inn, the atmosphere of which, being one of idleness and dissipation, was unfriendly to the proper training of the young. Indeed, one of his sons was rescued with difficulty from a slough of drunken habits, thus acquired in early manhood, by the generous action of his two brothers in devoting their small patri- mony to defraying all the charges of his tuition at the College of William and Mary. This spirit of kindness to the members of the circle of his kin was characteristic of Chapman Johnson throughout his career, for he was not more notable for the keenness of his intellect than for the affectionate warmth of his heart. It was said of him that he had never failed to use every occasion that arose in his own life for the exercise of these genial and benev- olent instincts. While still a boy, he obtained a liveli- hood by hiring himself out as a laborer on his native farm, which had been sold after his father's death; and EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 195 he was by this means also able to earn the sum needed to pay his fees in a country-side school, where he devoted himself to his books with extraordinary diligence and suc- cess. Fortunately, his sister had married a man of edu- cation, Patrick Michie, who warmly encouraged his broth- er-in-law in the acquisition of knowledge, and assisted him afterwards to enter the college at Williamsburg. There he began at once the study of law, and soon formed a very close friendship with such accomplished men as Henry St. George Tucker, Benjamin Watkins Leigh, and William Wirt. In 1812, Johnson opened an office in Staunton, and after an interval of some discouragement, entered upon a lucrative practice. His amiable disposition, winning manners, and handsome appearance, associated with con- versational talents of the highest order, soon acquired for him an unsurpassed popularity in the social life of the community, while his vigor of thought, lucidity of ex- pression, profound professional knowledge, and even tem- per, placed him among the foremost advocates at the bar. He represented Augusta county in the State Senate, dur- ing many years, and in that character used his influence for the passage of many beneficent laws. In the mean- while, his practice in the Court of Appeals had steadily increased ; and his frequent attendance upon this tribunal from a distance at last caused him so many inconveniences that he decided to remove his family to Richmond and pass only the summer months in the vicinity of Staunton. He was one of the most conspicuous members of the Con- vention of 1829-30. Although he gave the most con- scientious attention to the political duties imposed upon him by the voice of the constituency which he so long rep- resented, it was as a wise counsellor in chambers, and as a powerful advocate before courts and juries, that he was 196 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA principally known. To this, his talents and energies were mainly directed, with unremitting zeal and perseverance. It was said of him, after his death, that all thought of his genius, fame, learning, and influence, was lost in the contemplation of the singular beauty of his personal rela- tions, the kindness of his heart, the sweetness of his tem- per, the unaffected cheerfulness which he exhibited under all circumstances, even when overwork had begun to weaken his mental and physical powers. Andrew Stevenson, who followed Johnson, enjoyed a more widespread reputation beyond the borders of Vir- ginia, because, after a conspicuous career in his own State, he had filled several offices of great national im- portance, having been Speaker of the House of Repre- sentatives, and Minister to the Court of St. James. In- deed, his political course had been exactly modeled on the one pursued by so many public men of those times: first, the occupation of the foremost state offices, and afterwards, promotion to the highest offices under the national government, either at home or abroad. Al- though, perhaps, inferior to Johnson in native ability, he was a man of balanced judgment and quick perceptions, and like Johnson, of many engaging personal qualities. He continued a member of the Board of Visitors during twelve years, and was the incumbent of the rectorship at the time of his death. Thomas Jefferson Randolph, his successor, was the favorite grandson of Jefferson, and had been trained un- der his grandfather's strict but partial eye. He was the main stay of that aged statesman during his overclouded closing years; acted as his faithful executor; and edited a large part of his voluminous correspondence. He made a final settlement of Jefferson's insolvent estate by pay- ing all the remaining debts out of his own purse. He was EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 197 a member of the General Assembly during many terms; and in the momentous debate which occurred there over the question of abolishing slavery in Virginia, demon- strated his foresight by earnestly advocating that vital measure; but, unfortunately for the safety of his native State and section, without success. He was also a mem- ber of the Constitutional Convention of 1850-51, which democratized the suffrage, and brought about other rad- ical changes in the political condition of the community. The rank of colonel in the Confederate army was con- ferred on him, but he was too old to take the field. He resembled his great-grandfather, Peter Jefferson, in the extraordinary size of his frame, and his grandfather, Thomas Jefferson, in the imposing dignity of his bearing. After he had passed his eightieth year, he was called to the chair during the sessions of the convention which nominated Horace Greeley for the Presidency in 1875. He held the office of Visitor for thirty-one years. The members of the Board of Visitors, during the Fifth Period, 1842-1861, just as during the Fourth, were recruited from the ranks of the most conspicuous and in- fluential public men in Virginia. Among their number were to be found brilliant politicians like Henry A. Wise and Roger A. Pryor; distinguished representatives in Congress, like William C. Rives, James M. Mason, R. M. T. Hunter, John Y. Mason, and Muscoe R. H. Garnett; lawyers of eminence, like William J. Robertson, John Randolph Tucker, John B. Baldwin, Patrick Henry Aylett, and George W. Summers; men prominent within the confines of the State for wealth or talents, like W. H. Brodnax, John R. Edmunds, Thomas L. Preston, and Harrison B. Tomlin, or like Franklin Minor, famous, within the same limits, for their success as the principals of academies. Either before or after their appointment, 198 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA William C. Rives, Henry A. Wise, and John Y. Mason had served as ministers to foreign courts; James M. Ma- son, as Confederate Commissioner to England; Wise also as Governor of Virginia; Robertson as a judge of the Court of Appeals ; Tucker as the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth; and Hunter as the Confederate Secre- tary of State. Presence upon the Board was, from dec- ade to decade, an unfailing indication of previous distinc- tion in some high public capacity. Indeed, the calibre re- quired for membership, in these early years, was the larg- est that the citizenship of the entire community could offer. It was the most prominent single public body in the State ; and its exalted quality in ability and character was maintained with jealous and exacting scrupulousness from term to term. The men who performed the duties of the secretary- ship of the Board also stood high in the popular esteem. The first was Nicholas P. Trist, so long personally asso- ciated with Jefferson, and afterwards a distinguished fig- ure in the sphere of the national life. He was followed by John A. G. Davis, subsequently the second professor of law in the University; and Davis was succeeded by Frank Carr, Carr by St. George Tucker, and Tucker, in 1853, by R. T. W. Duke. xxx. Society of Alumni The earliest alumni association of the University of Virginia was organized in 1838. The initial step was taken during the first month of that year, when a commit- tee of the Faculty was appointed to draft a plan for es- tablishing a society to be composed of the alumni of the institution; and this committee was also instructed to se- lect an orator from among these alumni to deliver an address at the close of the session. It seems that the EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 199 Board of Visitors had suggested to the Faculty the appro- priateness of inviting a distinguished graduate to speak during the final exercises, and this, in its turn, had sug- gested to the Faculty the timeliness of proposing to the alumni that they should unite as a permanent body, and hold a meeting at the University at the close of the scho- lastic year. At this annual meeting, an orator could be chosen for the commencement that was to follow twelve months afterwards; and such regulations could also be adopted as would increase the practical and sentimental usefulness of the association. It was anticipated by the Faculty that these meet- ings would be an inducement to the alumni to revisit more often the scenes of their college life; that they would revive the early friendships of the arcades; would enlarge the acquaintance of the old alumni among the new; and in the long run would greatly stimulate and accelerate the material prosperity of the University it- self. This was to be accomplished, in a general way, by their annually refreshing the interest of the public in the institution; and, in a particular way, by directing at- tention to any injurious deficiencies in its system of admin- istration; by pointing to its successes and achievements; and by defending it from the assaults of unwarranted and unprovoked prejudices. It was even expected that, in time, the Board of Visitors would be chosen by the alumni at these meetings, — an innovation that would be justified by that body's familiarity with the needs of the University, and by their jealousy for its reputation. The circular letter scattered broadcast by the com- mittee of professors in February, 1838, invited the re- cipients to be present at the University on the following July 4. On that date, twenty-three graduates assem- bled, and among them, were citizens of influence in every 200 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA province of life. This circle was augmented by several members of the Board of Visitors, and by all the mem- bers of the Faculty. A committee to draft the consti- tution was appointed, and also one to submit nomina- tions. Under the earliest rule, the membership was made dependent upon election by a unanimous ballot and subsequent acceptance. Every person who had been a student in the institution previous to 1830, whether he had succeeded in graduating or not, was eligible for ad- mission; but if he had attended that year or after, it was necessary that he should have won at least one diploma. Among those who were chosen members of the associa- tion at this initial meeting were several men who had already risen to prominence in different departments of activity; namely, R. M. T. Hunter, Judge William Daniel, James A. Seddon, William B. Preston, Freder- ick W. Coleman, James C. Bruce, John R. Edmunds, and John B. Baldwin. Hunter was appointed to de- liver the first oration before the society, and James C. Bruce was selected as his alternate. Chapman Johnson had been first chosen, but the condition of his health did not admit of his acceptance. Alexander Moseley was elected president of the association, and Thomas H. Ellis, its secretary. A resolution was submitted at this first meeting that a committee should be nominated with a view to gath- ering up useful information on the subjects of law, medi- cine, commerce, manufactures, and agriculture as bear- ing upon the interests of Virginia. It will be thus per- ceived that the Society looked upon itself as having in its care the welfare, not only of the University, but of the State at large. The reunion of the association held at the commencement of 1839 was attended by the Gov- ernor of Virginia,- — the first instance, it is said, of a visit EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 201 to the University from the chief executive of the Com- monwealth. There was an uproarious banquet, at which, according to the report of the Whig, " as wine flowed in, wit flowed out." A falling off in interest was re- flected in the small number of alumni present at the re- union in 1840. It was admitted that a strong forebod- ing was now felt as to the future of the organization. " It is still hoped," remarked the Collegian, with palp- able doubt, " that the purposes for which the Society was formed, and the good which it was designed to do, will not be defeated." How was a more zealous and energetic spirit to be breathed into the membership ? The principal steps sug- gested to bring this about appear to have been rather inadequate; first, two essayists were to be annually nom- inated to read papers at the yearly meeting; and second, a committee was to be appointed to inquire into the condition of popular education in Virginia. Having adopted these resolutions, the assembled alumni broke up in order to be present at a banquet spread at the Monticello House in Charlottesville. The address was delivered by James C. Bruce, in the spacious library room, before a large audience, which included Governor Gil- mer, and many other persons conspicuous in the political or social life of that day. The vitality of the association, which had been grad- ually declining, flamed up clear and strong when the University was assailed by the Richmond Whig, in con- sequence of the riots of 1845. The institution was held up by that journal to criticism as the foster-mother of aristocracy, and the hotbed of extravagance, licen- tiousness, and turbulence. The sting of these exagger- ated charges prompted the alumni to attend the annual meeting of that year in an unusual number. R. M. T. 202 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Hunter, the most prominent citizen of Virginia at this time, was voted into the chair, and a committee on reso- lutions was promptly named. This committee recom- mended that there should be a permanent chairman of the Faculty, with the title of president; that the mem- bership of the Board of Visitors should be enlarged until there should be a representative from every division of the State; that, with the view of raising the standards of instruction, no student should be admitted without a preliminary examination; that the University should be made the principal agent in promoting popular educa- tion; that the power should be obtained from the Gen- eral Assembly to banish all dismissed students from the neighborhood of Charlottesville ; and that the annual ses- sion should begin on September 29, and close on June 29. All these recommendations were of a nature to advance and nourish the practical welfare of the in- stitution. But a recommendation of far more general interest was- that an address to the people of Virginia in the de- fense of the University should be drafted and issued at once. A committee, composed of the ablest and most distinguished members of the society,: was appointed for the performance of this important duty. It is re- corded that the alumni present at the meeting, broke up " with a deep impression of the high character of the noble institution with which the happiest years of their lives had been associated, and with the determination to devote all their energies to disabuse the public mind of any erroneous conceptions which may have been formed of it, and to exercise all the influence in their possession to eradicate any prejudice which jealousy, distrust, or suspicion, may have spread through the land to impair its usefulness." How faithfully, loyally, and EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 203 wisely these pious intentions were carried out, is reflected in the admirable address which was soon published by the committee, and to which we have already alluded at length in a previous chapter. A historical department was organized by the associa- tion, one session of which was to be held annually in Richmond, and the other at the University. Its pur- pose was to encourage research among the records of Virginia and of the United States, and to collect books, documents, relics, and similar material, in illustration of their respective annals. Only the inferior officers could be appointed from beyond the ranks of the alumni; and not more than fifty corresponding members were authorized to be chosen outside of that circle. It was expected that a large fund could be gathered up by subscription to carry out the aims of the department. At this time, the Virginia Historical Society was in a state of suspension, but, by 1847, it nad been so much revived by the adoption of a new constitution, and the election of new officers, that the alumni association de- cided to drop their historical purposes, as those pur- poses could be more easily and thoroughly subserved by the resuscitated organization in Richmond, — in which city too all historical records were to be kept as the place most accessible to students. The twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the University was celebrated by the association with a dis- tinguished assemblage of members, and with an oration by M. R. H. Garnett, admitted to be the most scholarly public speaker then living in Virginia. Previous to 1852-53, the address before the alumni had always been delivered on Public Day, but the decision was reached that it would be more convenient to fix the date for it thereafter on the preceding day. The students had be- 204 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA come so numerous that the distribution of diplomas now consumed most of the time allotted to the commence- ment exercises on the principal occasion. As a means of inducing the alumni to attend in larger number, the young men occupying rooms on the Lawn were required, in 1853, to vacate these quarters two days before the final exercises should begin, so as to provide, in part at least, lodgings, for the expected visitors. This measure turned out to be very unpopular, and as the intended beneficiaries failed to make any use of the privilege, the regulation was ultimately repealed. The principal colleges of the country were, as a rule, situated either within the borders of considerable towns or in their immediate vicinity. The University pos- sessed no such advantage. Charlottesville was not only too small a village to afford full hotel accommoda- tions for the alumni, if many attended, but it stood at least a mile away from the precincts, with no sufficient means of transportation to do away with the inconven- ience of this distance. There were practically no unex- ceptionable facilities for sheltering the returning alumni, or for boarding them, since the professors, the only other recourse, however hospitable they might be in their own homes, were unable, from the contracted area of their pavilions, to take in many guests. All these influences were disheartening; and they were further accentuated by the absence of that enthusiasm among the graduates as a body which a curriculum system tends to engender because it keeps the same set of students together during four years, and binds them to each other by those strong ties which only arise from a community of interests and experiences as classmen. This fact was perceived with perfect clearness by the students them- selves. " We are very willing to acknowledge," says EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 205 a writer in the magazine at this time, " that, owing to our peculiar system, the same abiding interest in the affairs of this college we see manifested in connection with others is not to be expected of our alumni. All are ready to admit that our alumni are not so blessed uni- versally with diplomas as those of other institutions are, and have not that link of magic power to bind them to their alma mater. Moreover, our class influences are not so powerful, because, in the various departments, we are thrown in entirely different company." The alumni banquet of 1860 was long remembered for its brilliant animation. The presiding officer at the table was B. Johnson Barbour, perhaps the most ac- complished citizen of Virginia of his own day when at the zenith of his powers. His opening address, and his remarks in introducing each speaker, were commented upon with extraordinary admiration. His flow of elo- quence and wit in the course of this occasion, which lasted five hours, never slackened, and although re- sponses to toasts were made by John Randolph Tucker, John B. Baldwin, and Daniel Voorhees, a trio of excep- tional ability as after-dinner orators, he was acknowl- edged to have borne off the palm of superiority over them all. XXXI. Distinguished Alumni — General By the year 1861, time enough had passed for the alumni, by their numbers, talents, and energies, to exer- cise a perceptible influence upon the general progress of the entire South. There was no department in the af- fairs of that great community in which their beneficent activities had not been displayed. There were the lawyers, who, educated for their pro- fession by Lomax, Davis, Tucker, Minor, and Hoi- 206 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA combe, had carried to the bar, not only the knowledge acquired through lectures and text-books, but also that lofty view of its ethics and its duties which had been so earnestly inculcated by those teachers. There were the judges, who had administered the law in accord with the principles which they had learned under the same instructors. There were the statesmen who had drafted the public ordinances under the transmitted influence of that tutelage also. There were the journalists, who had spread abroad political sentiments caught up from the same source. There were the physicians, trained by Dunglison, Emmet, Cabell, Magill, Howard, and Staige Davis, who, pursuing their calling in town and village and remote country districts, as a body never forgot the lessons in professional conduct which their precep- tors had held up before them as equal in importance to the services which they were to perform for the relief of suffering. There were the teachers who, after being thoroughly drilled in the academic branches by Harrison and Gildersleeve, Holmes, George Tucker, and McGuf- fey and their colleagues, had brought to the schools and colleges of the South those advanced standards of scholar- ship which had so long prevailed at the University of Vir- ginia and which, in turn, they were to employ so suc- cessfully to enhance the public esteem for learning and increase the dignity of their profession. There were the ministers of the gospel, who, by their unselfish spirit and militant piety combined, silently refuted the charge, originating in ignorance and prejudice, that their alma mater was indifferent to religion and morality. There were the engineers who designed and built so many of those public works, which, in our own times, have ex- panded into systems of railway stretching from the North Atlantic to the Gulf. There were the farmers EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 207 who, in the remote backwaters of the rural districts, so often strove to improve the condition of agriculture, and who, in so many instances, retained a relish for good literature first acquired from the lips of revered profes- sors. And finally, there were the men of business, not all of whom permitted the anxieties of the counting- house to divert their attention entirely from civic duties or to dull completely their recollection of the lessons which they had learned in the lecture-rooms of the Uni- versity, in the days of their far-off youth. If that large band of matured alumni could have as- sembled, at the same hour, under the roof of the stately Rotunda, how many noble spirits, how many eloquent tongues, what love of knowledge, what fidelity to princi- ple, what loyalty to honor, what devotion to country, what splendid, what solid, performance in every sphere of action, would have been represented among their thoughtful figures! As their shadows pass before us fifty-eight years after the close of that period in our history to which they belonged in life, we prefer to think of them only in association with those remote academic years, when they were the care-free and buoyant citi- zens of the arcades, the eager competitors for the prizes of the lecture-room and the plaudits of the debating so- ciety; the devotees at the unselfish shrine of college friendship; and still crowned with the romance of their youthful hopes and aspirations. XXXII. Distinguished Alumni — Literary In designating the alumni by their employments, we omitted one division because its representatives were too few to constitute what could be correctly referred to as a class. There was, in that diversified body, no such section as men of letters, if the test applied is mere 208 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA number; and yet the most famous man of letters whom America has ever produced was an alumnus of the Uni- versity of Virginia, the only higher seat of learning which he ever attended. And the foremost man of let- ters of Virginia, during the same interval, was also a graduate. The name of Poe has been carried from one end of the civilized world to the other; the name of John R. Thompson has almost faded from the memory even of the living generation, and yet both, in their sev- eral degrees, were as distinctly men of letters as the great figures in the splendid province of English litera- ture, such as Pope or Johnson, Goldsmith or Byron, Dickens or Thackeray, Kipling or Meredith. The two most illustrious names associated with the University of Virginia are those of Jefferson and Poe. There is no reason to doubt that these two had fre- quently met each other face to face, for Poe was a stu- dent of the institution in 1826, and Jefferson did not die until the Fourth of July, in the course of that year. The poet was certainly one of the band of young men who were invited to dine at Monticello, and he had thus the fullest opportunity to converse with the phil- osopher and statesman. Though always reserved, Poe was never diffident, and the extraordinary distinction of his host would not in itself have deterred him from expressing his own opinions. But if he caught any sort of inspiration from Jefferson's words, it did not take the shape of an excessive admiration for democracy. This was a subject, however, to which he had given only scant thought, since it touched at no point on the province of his real interests; but he was not prevented by this fact, in after life at least, from characterizing with pun- gency the supposed evils of that condition of society which Jefferson had always advocated. It will be recalled EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 209 that, in the course of a conversation, in one of his tales, he informs a resuscitated mummy, a former nobleman, that the principal benefits of American democratic insti- tutions could be summed up in the words " universal suffrage, and no King." " The mummy listened with marked interest," Poe continues, " in fact, he seemed not a little amused. When I had done, he said that a great while ago, there had occurred something of a very simi- lar sort, — thirteen Egyptian provinces determined all at once to be free, and so set a magnificent example to the rest of mankind. They assembled their wise men and concocted the most ingenious constitution it is pos- sible to conceive. For a while they managed remark- ably well, only their habit of bragging was prodigious. The thing ended, however, in the consolidation of the thirteen states with fifteen or twenty others, and the most odious and insupportable despotism that ever was heard of upon the face of the earth. I asked what was the name of the usurping tyrant. As well as the count could recollect, it was ' mob '." Had Jefferson survived to read this passage, it would have been quite clear to him that, among the students who had gathered about his table, at least one was as reprehensible in his political opinions as the worst of the Hamiltonians. Beyond the Tale of the Ragged Moun- tains, there is no tangible allusion to the University of Virginia or its environment in the works of the poet and romancer. Perhaps, the impressions which the place stamped upon his mind were entirely obliterated by the cruel penury of so much of his subsequent life; but there never was in his nature any touch of that geni- ality which usually prompts men to recur, with softened thoughts, to the scenes of their college careers. The University itself was, during many years, dully indiffer- 210 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA ent to the posthumous appeal of his fame to its protec- tive consideration. " We have no right to claim him," remarked a writer in the Virginia University Magazine for 1872. " His name has been blackened, and his sleep desecrated, by the entire puritanical element of America, and we have calmly looked on as though we were not lending our approval to the aspersion of our own good name." The reasons for this culpable neglect were: ( i ) the comparative modernity of the academic dispo- sition to capitalize the fame of a celebrated alumnus; and (2) the cloud which lowered over the reputation of the poet during so many years after his death. Charges against his conduct which could have been dis- proved by the records of the University were suffered to pass from printed page to printed page unchallenged and unrebuked. The earliest defense of his character suggested by these records was made by William Wert- enbaker as late as 1868, long after Griswold's odious slanders had taken deep root and spread abroad their poison; and it is quite probable that this vindication would have been deferred indefinitely by representatives of the University, had not the demand for information about the poet by the public at large grown so insistent. Poe matriculated but a short time after he completed his seventeenth year. There is reason to think that he expected to continue his studies during at least two sessions. Had he not anticipated doing this, he would hardly have restricted the course of his first term to the languages, both ancient and modern, The record of the books which he borrowed from the library would seem to point to a decided taste for history, — Rollin's, Vol- taire's, Marshall's and Robertson's works were the prin- cipal volumes which he obtained from its shelves. An anecdote told of him as a student demonstrates his ca- EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 211 pacity, even in his youth, for composing excellent verse. Blaettermann had suggested to his pupils that they should test their grasp upon the Italian language by turning certain stanzas into English metre. Poe alone at- tempted the scholarly task, and his performance of it was of such striking merit as to win the professor's com- mendation. His knowledge of the Latin and French tongues, in consequence of his training at Stoke Newing- ton and Richmond, was very remarkable in one of his age; and so confidently did he rely on it that he rarely made any preparation to answer questions in these classes before he had taken his seat in the lecture-room. He had a fondness for cards, and a relish for a glass of peach and honey, but he was intemperate in the use of liquor so infrequently, and he gave up so few of his hours to cards, that he was able to win distinctions in the Latin and French schools, and also to write the im- mature tales which he was not adverse to reading to the small group of friends who possessed his intimacy. He was in the habit of going off for long walks alone, — a proof either of moody exclusiveness, or of preoccupa- tion with literary projects, which, however, failed to crystalize for the printer. It has been surmised, and perhaps with some founda- tion, that the famous couplet, The glory that was Greece And the grandeur that was Rome, first took vague shape in his brain as his eye wandered along the classic facades of the University pavilions to the massive Rotunda, rising like its noble model, the Pantheon, at the end of the perspective. The dormi- tory which he first occupied opened on the Lawn, and he had to pass but a few steps from his doorway, across 212 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA the intervening pavement of the arcade, to bring into the scope of his vision that entire group of ancient tem- ples that carried the spectator in thought back to the ages in which the public edifices of Rome and Greece had reached the highest point that has been achieved by hu- man genius in architecture. Profound must have been the appeal to his subtle aesthetic sense even in youth as he looked at all those classic buildings on some night when the rays of a full moon had softened and blended the separate details of roof and entablature, cornice and pillar. It may well have been that, at such an hour and in such a spot, the most celebrated expression in the entire body of his writings was suggested to him by so extraordinary an interfusion of Nature's beauty with the beauty of art in one of its loveliest forms. He had not been long withdrawn from his studentship at the Uni- versity when the poem in which these famous lines ap- pear was written, and it is quite as reasonable to attrib- ute their conception to the sight of these buildings, the only ones of that character which he had ever seen in a group, as to impressions derived from the works of the ancient authors, with which he had become familiar at school and at college. When did Poe's literary influence begin to rise to the surface in the circle of the University? We can only ob- tain an answer to this question through the printed testi- mony of its periodicals. There is no allusion in the pages of the Collegian which would indicate that such a man had ever existed. Poe died in the course of 1849, and yet it was not until 1860 that his death received a poetical notice; and this was copied from a newspaper. The first unmistakable recognition of his fame appears in the magazine for April, 1857, m tne form of a parody of the Raven, always a rather flagrant proof of popular- EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 213 ity. In a later number, Byron and himself were coupled as the poets who stood the highest in the admiration of the students. Many of the tales published in the same pages, during the years just anterior to the war, had caught some of the color of his unprecedented and un- duplicated genius. No poet or story-writer ever pos- sessed idiosyncrasies more seductive to imitators than Poe, and as the aspiring writers of the arcades were in the most receptive stage of life, and as his fame was constantly rising in the world at large, they became in- creasingly disposed to yield to the influence of his phe- nomenal and peculiarly salient example. It has been cal- culated that, between 1867 and 1885, about forty notices of the poet, in one form or another, were printed in the pages of the magazine. Among these was an ingenious article which applied to the Raven the analytical method which Professor Minor had applied so skillfully to the principles of law in his Institutes. It stood this search- ing test successfully. Another contribution was a parody of Ulalume, in which the primitive performances of the drunken Cala- thumpian bands were recounted with Homeric gusto. Another, — still in the form of a parody, — celebrated the epic incidents of a collision of town and gown on the debatable confines of Vinegar Hill. The Bells excited as keen an itch in the imitators as Ulalume or the Raven, and its metre was frequently used to convey some mock heroic sentiment, or to describe some unlicensed scene in the lives of the students of that day. The editorial ref- erences to Poe during these years increase steadily in number, while the prose contributions to the body of the magazine, on the same subject, keep step with this rising editorial interest. In addition to avowed imitations of his tales, there are found in its pages stories which are 214 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA solemnly put forward as the recently discovered works of the great author, while others are palpable imitations, without any acknowledgement of the inspiration. La- bored criticisms of his masterpieces also appear, and dis- sertations upon his literary and personal life at large. And there are also found descriptions of his association with the University, both in his friendships, his classes, and his dormitories. So strong was the hold, which, in 1861, the memory of the man had on the imagination of the members of the Jefferson Society, the society to which he had belonged, that a committee was nominated by that body to visit the Washington Society to solicit its cooperation in reliev- ing the penury of Mrs. Clemm; but the application was passed upon adversely, owing to the emptiness of the treasury. Poe, who was not lacking in fluency, or self- possession, made no effort to win distinction as an orator and debater; he comes to the surface in the minutes of the Jefferson Society only in the character of an essayist, and as the incumbent of a minor office. xxxni. Distinguished Alumni — Literary, Continued Thompson was as distinctly a man of letters as Poe, although running far behind him in the race as a man of genius. Poe and Thompson alike filled the editorship of the Southern Literary Messenger, and both, in the end, drifted to the North in order to earn a livelihood. Thompson, though loyal to the South through all the numerous vicissitudes of his career, was of Northern par- entage, and received his earliest tuition in an academy in Connecticut. Before he became a member of the law school of the University of Virginia, he had passed several years there as a student of various courses in its academic department. He was so indifferent to the EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 215 Greek language at least, that, in his examination in that tongue, he obtained only five numbers out of a possible eighty; and in the intermediate examination of 1842, in the School of Modern Languages, he was satisfied to hand in papers unmarred by a single stroke of his pen. His absences from the lecture-room were so frequent at times that he was summoned by the chairman for negligence; and yet he justly possessed, within the college precincts, throughout his stay, an extraordinary reputation for liter- ary ability. Perhaps, the most remarkable incident in his life at this period, however, was the one thus described by Judge Welsh, his contemporary: " He went to his room to take a nap at 3 p. m. one Thursday; slept all that evening and night; all next day, Friday; and all night and next day, Saturday, until 4 p. m. He did not dream or wake up during this time." When Thompson had been a practitioner at the bar for two years, he determined to purchase the Messenger, but he was not so infatuated with literature, or so reck- less of consequences, as to fail to announce that he had no intention of abandoning law. He never again, how- ever, pretended to visit his former office. During the next thirteen years, he concentrated all his powers in the management of his magazine ; and he exhibited such dis- criminating taste, and such sound business judgment, that it rose to a position of literary and pecuniary equality with most of the widely known periodicals of that day published in the large cities of the North. So distin- guished, indeed, did he become in literary spheres, that, during his visit to England, in 1854, he was received with the most friendly consideration by its foremost men of letters, — Dickens, Thackeray, Bulwer, Macaulay, Rob- ert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. He is said to have written one chapter of the Virginians, during this sojourn 216 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA in London. While he was absent abroad, John Esten Cooke took over his editorial duties with conspicuous ability. Resuming his editorial chair in 1855, he con- tinued to hearten the best literary talent in the South; and was also instrumental in first introducing to the public notice several Northern writers who rose subsequently to national eminence. Aldrich and Stoddard, Sigourney, Morris, and Mitchel, contributed to the pages of the Mes- senger as well as Simms, Hayne, Timrod, Bagby, Bald- win, and Philip Pendleton Cooke. Thompson was not satisfied to remain simply the critic and the editor. He wrote articles for his own and the Northern magazines, threw off graceful vers de societe, and composed poems for the celebrations of literary or college societies. His poetical work was distinguished for its polish and perfect command of numerous and in- tricate metres, as well as for manly sentiment and knowl- edge of the world. In 1860, he was succeeded in the editorship of the Messenger by Dr. Bagby; but his health, always precarious, was too delicate to suffer him to take any part in the war, — which began in the following year, — beyond aiding the cause with his wide information and forcible pen. His condition was so low in 1864 that he had to be carried on board of the ship in which he was to run the blockade on his voyage to Europe. During his stay in England, to which he had gone to advance the interests of the Confederacy abroad, he con- tributed regularly to the Standard, and the Southern or- gan, the Index; and at the same time, in a social way, he greatly promoted those interests by his intimacy with in- fluential politicians and men of letters. After his return to the United States in 1866, he won Bryant's pleased attention by his reviews of books for the Evening Post, and was soon appointed the literary editor of that jour- EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 21? nal, although he had never curbed the expression of his sympathy for the South, or compromised with his polit- ical principles. During several years before his death, he exhibited all his former literary activity, — contributed to Harper's, and other magazines, as well as to the col- umns of the Post, and mingled, with his old winning man- ner, in the best literary society of New York. All this time, his pulmonary weakness had been steadily growing, until he was compelled to seek some alleviation by a so- journ in the West; but this turned out to be illusory. He was buried in Richmond, the capital of the defunct Con- federacy, and not far from the pyramidal monument to the warrior dead whose deeds he had celebrated in his most moving verse. xxxiv. Distinguished Alumni — Professional The alumni of the Fourth and Fifth Periods num- bered among themselves many men who won a great rep- utation as teachers. To those who became members of the Faculty of the University of Virginia previous to the war, allusion has already been made : they were Harrison, Minor, Maupin, Cabell, Francis H. Smith, Lewis H. Coleman, and John Staige Davis. Charles S. Venable, Thomas R. Price, James A. Harrison, and James M. Garnett were promoted to professorships in the same in- stitution after the close of that harrowing interval. Among the alumni who were elected to chairs in other colleges, one of the first and most eminent was Henry Tutwiler, the earliest professor of ancient languages in the University of Alabama, and the head of a famous private school during a later period, who, by his ripe scholarship and excellent personal qualities, was highly instrumental in increasing the repute of his alma mater in the far South. He had been instructed by Long; and 218 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA he disseminated in the collegiate communities with which he was so long associated, the spirit of intellectual thor- oughness which that great teacher had acquired in the at- mosphere of Oxford and instilled into his pupils. ' The fullness of manhood," Tutwiler declared, " is not attained except by the development of both mind and soul." It was with this controlling conviction that he consecrated his whole life to his calling during half a century. The same devotion was afterwards observed in the careers as headmasters of such alumni of the Fourth and Fifth Pe- riods as Frederick and Lewis Coleman, Gait, Blackford, McCabe, McGuire, Abbot, Hilary P. Jones, — all of Virginia, and Bingham, of North Carolina. Crawford H. Toy, an alumnus of the Fifth Period, 1842-1861, carried to another part of the Union the knowledge first accumulated at the University of Vir- ginia, to be subsequently ripened and extended by his experience as a professor in secular and theological insti- tutions in the South. He was perhaps the most celebrated student of his day in the Semitic languages. Among the other alumni, who, like Toy, were both clergymen and professors of distinction, the two most conspicuous, per- haps, were Robert L. Dabney and John A. Broadus. These men were powerful figures in their respective churches, whether as preachers in the pulpit or as teach- ers of theology in their denominational seminaries. Dabney won the diploma of master of arts in 1846; and, during several years, was pastor of the Tinkling Spring Scotch-Irish congregation in the Valley; he was then elected to a chair in the Union Theological Seminary; and in the early part of the war, served as the chief of staff to the renowned Stonewall Jackson. After the close of hostilities, he returned to his chair at the Semi- nary, but was subsequently professor of philosophy in EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 219 the University of Texas. He was stern in his political convictions as well as in his religious; was an ardent and uncompromising lover of the South; and a polemical writer of extraordinary vigor, incisiveness, and learning. His Defense of Virginia and Life of Jackson exhibit his abilities as a historian, and his numerous works on phil- osophy and theology his talents as an expositor. Broadus had become a member of the Baptist church at the age of sixteen, and its emotional influence stamped itself upon his general character. He was a man of pro- found feeling as well as one of keen intellectuality. Like Dabney, he succeeded in winning the degree of master of arts at an early age, and acted for awhile as an assistant instructor in the School of Ancient Languages. During 1855 and 1866, he performed simultaneously the duties of chaplain of the University and pastor of a church in Charlottesville. His powers as a pulpit orator were re- fined by practice, and broadened by experience, until he had no superior in his own or in any other Southern denomination. It was said of him that he was, in spirit, a mystic, and that his emotional life was the fountain- head of his inspiration. His appeal was barbed by the emotions, and was directed to the emotions. " If I were asked," he once declared, " what is the first thing in ef- fective preaching, I should say sympathy, and what is the second thing, I should say sympathy, and what is the third thing, again I should say sympathy." But there was no tumultuousness, no incoherence, in his play on this dominant chord; the emotional power of his sermons was a chastened power, expressed with all the simplicity of genuine feeling and perfect taste, and illuminated by all the resources of his extraordinary knowledge of art, sci- ence, and literature. Among the distinguished alumni who were contempo- 220 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA raries of Dabney in the Presbyterian church were C. A. Briggs, of the New York Theological Seminary, the central figure at one hour in an ecclesiastical storm; Wil- liam Dinwiddie; Dabney Carr Harrison, who drew his sword for the South while he still wore the surplice ; Rich- ard Mcllwaine, distinguished also as college president, constitution builder and thoughtful writer; W. Theodore Pryor, the faithful patriarch of a devoted flock, which he had served with inflexible fidelity through all the stress of violent times; James A. Quarles, John B. Shearer, Francis S. Sampson, and Thomas L. Preston. Contemporaries of Broadus, in the Baptist denomination, were W. D. Thomas, George B. Taylor, W. H. Whitsitt, H. H. Harris, J. C. Hiden, W. S. Ryland, and Edmund Harri- son,— men who demonstrated, in their lives and teach- ings, the zeal, energy, and enthusiasm of their church. Equally conspicuous in that church was J. William Jones, an indefatigable missionary among the mountaineers in his youth, a chaplain in the Confederate army, and a true soldier at heart, the friend and biographer of Lee, the loyal historian of the Confederate cause, and the faith- ful pastor in the after-times of peace. The alumni of the Methodist denomination numbered in their circle such distinguished preachers as Bishop Doggett, J. J. Laf- ferty, L. A. Steel, and W. H. Bennett. Among the cler- gymen of the Episcopal church were Thomas U. Dudley, Bishop of Kentucky, renowned throughout the South for wit, humor, and good fellowship, and also for his earnest labors in his calling; John Johnson, rector of St. Philip's in Charleston, loyal soldier and author as well as minister of the Gospel; John A. Gallaher, Bishop of Louisiana, who had won a high reputation for intrepidity in the war; James Latane, Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church; H. C. Lay, Bishop of Eastern Maryland; Randolph H. EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 221 McKim, a brave Confederate private, a distinguished pulpit orator, and an instructive writer; Kinloch Nelson, also a gallant soldier and profound expositor of theol- ogy; George Peterkin, a gallant soldier too, and Bishop of West Virginia; Philip Slaughter, a famous antiqua- rian as well as minister of the gospel; and A. W. Weddel, the beloved pastor of a city parish. The roll of alumni includes the name of at least one great explorer, Elisha Kent Kane, and also the names of numerous lawyers who won distinction in their profes- sion and exercised a wide personal influence: R. C. Stanard, John B. Young, I. Randolph Tucker, William Wirt Henry, James Alfred Jones, John S. Caskie, John B. Baldwin, Charles Marshall, R. G. H. Kean, H. H. Marshall, James A. Seddon and W. J. Robertson. These men were from the Old Dominion, but the repre- sentatives of the institution practising at the bars of other States were equally respected in their several communities. There was not a commonwealth in the South that did not count among its supreme judges graduates of the University of Virginia. The names of some may be mentioned: R. W. Walker, of Alabama; W. H. Bentley and James D. Thornton, of California; N. E. Maxwell, of Florida; Henry G. Turner, of Georgia; J. T. Bullitt and Joseph Landis, of Kentucky; C. E. Turner, George R. King, A. D. Land, Samuel D. McEnery, of Louisiana; Henry Page, of Maryland; W. L. Harris, of Missis- sippi ; John Garber, of Nevada ; Thomas Smith, of New Mexico; Roger A. Pryor, of New York; R. M. Pearson, of North Carolina; J. P. Sterrett, of Pennsylvania; Wood Bouldin, E. C. Burks, William Daniel, W. J. Joynes, James Keith, B. W. Lacy, W. J. Robertson, of Virginia; Henry Brannon, H. A. Holt, D. B. Lucas, C. P. J. Moore, of West Virginia; Alexander Rives, a 222 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA judge on the Federal bench, and Howell Jackson, an as- sociate Justice of the Supreme Court. The alumni among the Governors of States were David P. Lewis and John W. Watts, of Alabama; W. M. Fishback, of Arkansas; J. L. Orr, of South Caro- lina; J. W. Stevenson, of Kentucky; R. W. Hubbard, of Texas ; F. W. M. Holliday, of Virginia ; A. Fleming and H. M. Matthews, of West Virginia ; James D. McEnery, and Samuel D. McEnery, of Louisiana; Thomas W. Ligon and Thomas Swann, of Maryland; and Elias Carr, of North Carolina. Anterior to 1861, two alumni of the University of Virginia had filled the Speaker's chair of the House of Representatives, and sixty-two had oc- cupied seats on the floor. Among the United States sen- ators, before or after that date, are found the names of the following alumni, who were graduates of the Fourth and Fifth Periods, 1825-1861: John S. Barbour and R. M. T. Hunter, John W. Johnston and Robert E. Withers, of Virginia; Allen C. Caperton, of West Vir- ginia; J. W. Chalmers, of Mississippi; C. C. Clay, of Alabama; George R. Dennis, of Maryland; H. E. Jack- son, of Tennessee; S. D. McEnery, of Louisiana; John W. Stevenson, of Kentucky; Robert Toombs, of Georgia; and L. T. Wigfall, of Texas. W. B. Preston and A. H. H. Stuart, of Virginia, William L. Wilson, of West Vir- ginia, and H. R. Herbert, of Alabama, were members of the cabinet; R. B. Hubbard, of Texas, James L. Orr, of South Carolina, Lambert Tree, of Illinois, A. M. Keily and Dabney H. Maury, of Virginia, James O. Broadhead, of Missouri, Boyd Winchester, of Kentucky, and E. P. C. Lewis, of New York, were ministers to foreign courts. Alumni of the University were enrolled in all the bodies organized during the existence of the Confederacy. At least thirty-eight members of the convention which EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 223 adopted the ordinance of Secession in Richmond, in 1861, were drawn from their ranks. In the Confederate Con- gress, at its second session, there were six alumni in the delegation from Virginia, two in that from Alabama, and one respectively in the delegations from Georgia, Louisi- ana, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, and Texas. The three most brilliant and influential figures seated in that Congress were Robert Toombs, R. M. T. Hunter and L. T. Wigfall, and each was a graduate of the Uni- versity of Virginia. At least thirty-two members of the Permanent Congress were alumni of this institution. Among the members of the Confederate Cabinet were such distinguished alumni as Robert Toombs, and R. M. T. Hunter, Secretaries of State in turn; James A. Seddon and George W. Randolph, Secretaries of War; and Thomas H. Watts, Attorney-General. Previous to the war, one half of the medical corps in the service of the United States had come up from the South, and one half of that proportion had been educated at the University of Virginia. The preference of the latter had, from the start, been for the navy because it opened up the prospect of a life of travel and adventure, in addition to throwing open an honorable professional career. The medical alumni obtained admission without difficulty, owing to the high standard in the examinations by which their knowledge had been tested for graduation. There were few alumni in the medical service of the army. The great body of the physicians who won their diplomas at the University were dispersed throughout the South- ern States; there was not a city, hardly a town, and few prosperous rural communities, in which they were not to be found. But the largest section of the alumni of the Fourth and Fifth Periods, 1825-1861, belonged to the dominant planting class of the South. There was little room in the obscure sphere of their secluded calling in which they could win personal distinction, but the example of scien- tific improvement of the soil set on their own estates by wealthy members of this class, like Philip St. George Cocke, of Powhatan County, James C. Bruce, of Halifax, and Williams C. Wickham, of Hanover, — to mention Virginians alone, — was as nourishing for the welfare of their respective communities and the commonwealth in general, as the labors and achievements of those who had been trained for other vocations. It was from this body too that a very large proportion of the State legislators were drawn. As delegates and senators in the General Assemblies, they won the esteem of their fellow-members by their unostentatious but faithful performance of their duties; and they kept alive in their country homes that loyal devotion to family, that chivalrous respect for womanhood, that considerate tenderness for weakness, that high recognition of the claims of hospitality, that reverence for religion, and that quick sensitiveness upon all questions of personal integrity and honor, which they had inherited from their fathers, and which they shared with their associates in all the other great callings.1 xxxv. Influence on Secondary Education Prominent as the University had become in public af- fairs, and in the professions, through the distinction of its alumni in those useful spheres of activity, yet it was upon the scholarship and zeal and fidelity of the teach- ers which it furnished to the secondary schools that its most indisputable right to be respected and lauded was based. And that right was not the less strong because so many of these teachers were obscure, and their labors 1 For soldiers, see Period Sixth. EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 225 confined to remote and sparsely settled communities in which no popular interest was felt. But it would be a grave error to presume, from the remarkable achieve- ments of these men after 1840, that the Virginians had been grossly lacking in all means of secondary education, either before the establishment of the University, or dur- ing the period that immediately followed that event, when its influence had not yet had time to spread very far. Jefferson, in his very natural eagerness to create a public sentiment in favor of building that institution, un- doubtedly exaggerated the deficiencies which really ex- isted. " I hope that our successors," he wrote John Ad- ams, in 1814, " will turn their attention to the advantages of education. I mean of education on the broad scale, and not that of these petty academies, as they call them- selves, which are starting up in every neighborhood, and where one or two men possessing Latin and sometimes Greek, a knowledge of globes and the first six books of Euclid, imagine and communicate this as the sum of sci- ence. They commit their pupils to the theatre of the world, with just taste enough of learning to be alienated from industrial pursuits, and not enough to do service in the ranks of science." Jefferson, by thus contemptuously belittling the infor- mation to be got from these lower schools, was indirectly arguing in favor of the need of expanding that informa- tion indefinitely by the introduction of University educa- tion. Now, it would not be correct to assert that such an education could be obtained in any one of the acade- mies in existence at this time. Such was hardly possible even a generation later, when the standards of Jefferson's own seat of learning had been so widely adopted in Vir- ginia. Nevertheless, the instructors in many of them, from 1800 to 1830, before the University's influence was 226 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA felt at all, were men of broad and ripe education, and their methods of teaching were accurate and thorough. The history of Virginian families, during this period, re- veals the fact that many of the tutors were graduates of foreign universities, — like Burke, for instance, the head- master of the Bremo school, — or of Princeton, Yale, and Harvard, the most famous colleges in America at that time, and were not entirely deserving of the criticisms which Jefferson's political animosities prompted him to launch against them. Many of these strangers were men of rare talents as well as of profound scholarship, and rose to distinction in their own communities in after-life. The larger proportion of their pupils passed out of the schoolrooms of the plantation mansions into those of the local academies; and there is no reason to think that they were not as well prepared as youths in general are, in our own time, who have had equally capable tutors at home. It is strictly correct to say, that, previous to 1835, the teacher's avocation in Virginia did not possess the same standing as the legal and medical professions; and that the establishment of the University had a very percepti- ble influence towards raising the respectability of that calling. But during every period, either before or after that event, it was followed by men of unexceptionable so- cial position. The number of clergymen who were en- gaged in teaching, as a pursuit collateral to their clerical duties, would alone have made it highly honorable even if the inherent dignity of its work had failed to do so. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, there were in ex- istence in the State at least twenty-one male classical acad- emies of such merit that some of them, like the acad- emies of Hampden-Sidney, Liberty Hall, and Richmond, grew into colleges of importance. Others, like the acad- EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 227 emies of Norfolk, Winchester, Petersburg, Alexandria, and Concord, while continuing to be secondary schools, steadily increased in usefulness and distinction. It is cal- culated that, between 1800 and 1820, there were thirty- two male academies in Virginia; and between 1820 and 1 840, — towards the end of which period the University's influence on secondary education had just begun to be clearly discernible, — there were thirty-three. Between 1840 and 1860, when this influence had reached a very high pitch, there were forty academies. Previous to 1830, when the University was still in its infancy, and as yet incapable of making a profound im- pression on secondary education, there were numerous academies, in charge of headmasters of superior scholar- ship, scattered throughout the eastern and western sec- tions of the State.1 There was the Washington-Henry Academy, situated in Hanover county; the Fredericksburg Academy, in Louisa county, where R. L. Dabney received his first classical training, which he afterwards said was equal in quality and scope to the classical knowledge re- quired of a University bachelor of arts; the Winchester Academy, where at least one thousand students had been taught; the Warren Academy, near Warrenton, which accommodated as many as eighty pupils; the Milford Academy, in Southampton county, which had an attend- ance of fifty; the Harrisonburg Academy, and the Peters- burg Academy; the New London Academy, which en- joyed an exceptional repute; the Ebenezer Academy, in Brunswick county; the Charlestown Academy, in Jeffer- son ; the Leesburg Academy, in Loudoun ; the Robertson classical school in Culpeper ; the Prince Edward Academy, in Prince Edward; the Bellfield Academy, in Greenville; 1 We were indebted for much information about the academies to A. J. Morrison's remarkable report to the Virginia Board of Education. the Banister Academy, in Pittsylvania ; the New Glasgow Academy, in Amherst ; the Abingdon Academy, in Wash- ington; the Richmond Academy, which was but one of several schools in the capital city taught by scholars of distinction; the Norfolk Academy; the Rumford Acad- emy in King William; the Hampton Academy in Eliza- beth City; the Charlotte Academy in Charlotte; the Reed classical school in Lynchburg; the Lewisburg Academy in Greenbrier; the Mecklenburg Academy in Mecklenburg; the Newmarket Academy in Shenandoah ; the Westmore- land Academy in Westmoreland; and the Fleetwood Academy in King and Queen. This list, which comprises only the most reputable academies in existence between 1800 and 1830, at least demonstrates the fact that there was not a division of the State which was not in possession of a school which, in the extent and thoroughness of its course, was appreci- ably superior to the schools which flourished under the roofs of the planters, or in the old fields of the rural neighborhoods. Of the departments of knowledge taught in these academies, it can, in a general way, be said that they embraced the Latin and Greek languages, the sci- ence of mathematics, — both in its preparatory and its higher branches, — and also the sciences of physics, chemistry, and botany. But the practical efficiency of these institutions, which Jefferson, in a rather exaggerated spirit, was disposed to question, is not to be measured so much by the subjects in which they gave instruction, as by the qualifications of the headmasters who presided over their activities. Washington and Henry Academy was under the super- intendence of Rev. Thomas Hughes, a clergyman of eminence, who enjoyed a just consideration for scholar- ship. Ritchie's school in Fredericksburg was directed by EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 229 Thomas Ritchie, perhaps the most famous editor born in Virginia, and a writer of uncommon ability. John Goolrick, the principal of a school in the same city, in 1825, was a mathematician of high reputation, who had been educated in Ireland, his native country. John Lewis, who was at the head of the Llangollen school in Spottsylvania county, strove, in teaching Latin, to en- force the thorough methods followed in the great English Universities. His classes in Greek were conducted by the Rev. Mr. Boggs, an Episcopal clergyman of great learn- ing. Waddell's classical school in Louisa county, was taught by the Blind Preacher, the impression of whose genius has been preserved in one of the most eloquent papers in the British Spy. The Winchester Academy was under the superintendency in succession of Mr. Het- erick, John Bruce, and Nicholas Murray. Heterick, a Scotchman of superior education, was particularly success- ful as an instructor in the ancient languages. He always spoke to his pupils in Latin, and required them to answer in the same tongue. John Bruce, also a Scotchman, was so broadly cultured that he was warmly recommended by capable judges as a successor to Bonnycastle in the chair of natural philosophy at the University of Vir- ginia. John Davis, the English traveller, was, at one time, a teacher in an academy situated in the town of Petersburg. Edward Smith, who was especially distin- guished for his classical information, was the headmaster of the Milford school at Smithfield. Among the prin- cipals of the New London Academy were George Baxter, afterwards President of Washington College, and Nich- olas H. Cobbs, afterwards Episcopal Bishop of Alabama. Mr. Hogan, who taught in the Ebenezer Academy in Brunswick county, was an Irishman of remarkable class- ical knowledge; and he was followed by Mr. Rice, a 230 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Virginian who had been educated at the University of Oxford. John Robertson, the father of Judge William J. Robertson, conducted a school in Culpeper and Albe- marle counties in succession, which, during thirty years, was held in just esteem through all that region of country. A native of Scotland, he had, before his emigration, been drilled in the universities of his native land, and when he died, left among his effects what was, perhaps, the largest and choicest classical library in the State. His successors were two clergymen of recognized learning; namely, Rev. Samuel D. Hoge and Rev. Mr. Marshall. Drury Lacy, the founder of the Ararat classical school in Prince Edward county, was, at one time, the President of Hampden-Sidney College. " But it was in the capacity of the principal of a classical school," we are told by Hugh Blair Grigsby, " that he rendered the most valuable service to his country. I was one of his pupils, and bear my testimony to his thorough teaching of the Latin tongue. Though sixty-one years have passed since I was under his care, I feel the influence of his teaching on my mind and character at this moment. In Mr. Lacy's school were trained numerous students who have become prominent in every sphere of social action. It is to such private schools that Virginia owes a debt which she can never repay." The three wards of John Ran- dolph were first educated in this academy, and it was his habit to take part, from time to time, in its daily exer- cises. Among the instructors employed in the academies of Prince Edward county, independent of the professors of Hampden-Sidney College, were Franklin Smith, a native of New England, who was afterwards appointed to the Presidency of Columbia College; H. P. Goodrich, an alumnus of Princeton, subsequently President of Marion EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 231 College; and A. W. Millspaugh, a graduate of Union College, and still remembered as the inventor of the railway spike. The headmaster of Bellfield Academy, in Greenville county, was Andrew Rhea, a master of arts. James Burke, one of the tutors of Edgar Allan Poe, and an alumnus of a European University, was, as al- ready stated, employed in the Bremo Academy. In 1837, Peter McVicar, formerly a professor in Hampden-Sid- ney College, and a graduate of Union College, was sup- erintendent of Abingdon Academy. The headmasters of the Norfolk Academy were during many years, grad- uates of Scotch Universities. The Lewisburg Academy was founded by Rev. Dr. John McElhany, an alumnus of Washington College, and its principalship was, at one time, filled by R. T. W. Duke, afterwards a distinguished officer in the Confederate army, and a member of Con- gress. The Staunton Academy was, in 1817, under the supervision of Bartholomew Fuller and J. G. Waddell, who were justly esteemed for their excellent scholarship. In 1815, Rev. John Cameron, who was a graduate of King's College, Aberdeen, was headmaster of an academy in Lunenburg county; Rev. Stephen Taylor, graduate of Williams College, of the Boydton Academy in Meck- lenburg; and Rev. John Kirkpatrick, a graduate of Hamp- den-Sidney College, of the Chesterfield Academy in Ches- terfield county. In 1835, Mr. Provost, a graduate of Princeton, was teaching in the neighborhood of Keswick; and he was followed by Giles Waldo, a graduate of Yale, and James Chisholm, a graduate of Harvard. During an earlier period, William Ogilvie, a Scotch- man who had enjoyed a thorough classical education, was the principal of an academy at Milton. Among the headmasters in Richmond at this time were Rowland Rogers, a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and Rich- 232 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA ard Stirling, a graduate of Princeton. John H. Rice, afterwards so influential in the Presbyterian denomina- tion, was the headmaster of a classical school in Char- lotte county; and he was followed first by Thomas T. Bouldin, a graduate of the University of Virginia, and Daniel Comfort, a graduate of Princeton. Rev. W. S. Reed, — also a graduate of Princeton, — was, about the beginning of the century, the headmaster of an academy in Lynchburg. From 1800 to 1827, Rev. Robert Tay- lor Semple, the historian of the Virginia Baptists, had charge of a classical school in King and Queen county. One of the most prominent of the academies, during that period, was the Hallowell Academy in Alexandria. It was here that General Robert E. Lee received his first training, and throughout life, he testified warmly to the excellence of its instruction. From the facts enumerated in the preceding para- graphs, it is clear that there were not only numerous re- spectable academies in existence in Virginia previous to 1830, but also that a very large proportion of them were under the control of headmasters who had graduated in the foremost institutions of the North or of the British Islands. Jefferson, it is plain, created, — unintentionally, of course, — a misleading impression in remarking in his letter to W. B. Giles, written in December, 1825, that the teacher in the home of his correspondent was one of " the three or four truly classical scholars whom he had heard of as giving lessons in the schools of the State." In the point of fact, the academies of that day were the successors of the classical schools always spoken of as the parsons' schools, which, as Jefferson himself ad- mitted, had, before the Revolution, placed his native com- monwealth on a footing of equality with the most en- lightened communities in the Northern colonies. The EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 233 dominant class in Virginia having shrunk from erecting a public school system, largely because of the heavy taxa- tion which it would have imposed, these private acade- mies had thriven as the beneficiaries of a patronage nec- essarily concentrated, owing to the absence of all other local means of obtaining an education. That they were, if we consider the majority of them, still defective in their ability to train for a really exalted seat of learning, was quite probably true. Jefferson was not exaggerating in saying that the University of Virginia, in its first session, was compelled to receive some " shameful Latinists; " but we have the personal testimony of Long himself that he was very favorably impressed with the knowledge of the ancient languages shown by Gessner Harrison and his brother, when they first appeared in his classroom; and this knowledge was certainly shared by Henry Tutwiler, and, perhaps, by many other pupils of this English pro- fessor who had enjoyed the same opportunities for an equally thorough preparatory drilling. It was not the degree of latinity, but the kind of latinity, which seemed to have caused Jefferson's criticism. " We must get rid of this Connecticut Latin," he wrote W. B. Giles, " of this barbarous confusion of long and short syllables, which renders doubtful whether we are listening to a reader of Cherokee, Shawnee, Iroquois, or what." It is to be inferred from this rather over-colored re- mark that Jefferson's condemnation had its taproot far more in a hatred of Yale Federalism, — which Giles shared to the hilt, — than in the supposed flagrant inferi- ority of the Yale accent. What was really to be re- gretted was that this respectable college could not have furnished the Virginian academies with a larger number of preceptors. Could it have done so, the possible de- ficiencies in mere pronunciation which Jefferson ridiculed, 234 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA might have been overlooked, in the light of the substantial advantages to local scholarship which would have fol- lowed. Jefferson was indisputably wise in persistently advocating a system of intermediate colleges, — not, how- ever, because excellent academies did not already exist, but because the proposed colleges could have been far more effectively linked up with the University of Virginia. The coordination between them and the higher institution at Charlottesville could have been made so perfect that college and university would have worked together as parts in one great piece of machinery, many wheels within one, subject from top to bottom to the control and direc- tion of the State. An unbroken concatenation would have resulted from the enforcement of a unified policy, as to modes of instruction and management alike, through- out the system. The academies which were in existence at the founda- tion of the University were all independent of the State and of each other. There was no strong impulse of in- terest or sympathy to bring them together, even in a lim- ited concert. They moved in no groove common to all, whether in tuition or discipline, but each pursued those methods which either the inherited traditions of the past, or the private convictions of the headmasters themselves, suggested as the most certain to be successful. The great work done by the University of Virginia after 1840, in its relation to the secondary schools, did not consist simply in providing all these schools with an army of capable teachers, — it consisted partly at least in fur- nishing all of them with the same high standard of schol- arship,— a standard which had already been introduced in many of them by the youthful professors who had been trained in the great universities of England or New Eng- land. The secondary schools, which had been so inde- EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 235 pendent of each other before the building of the Uni- versity, could not maintain this attitude, — to the same degree at least, — after that institution had begun to ac- quire a great reputation for scholarship. They must adopt its methods or lose ground in the popular esteem. An influence tending irresistibly towards unity was thus created among the private academies; and this unity in time assured those very conditions which would have been brought about by the adoption of Jefferson's origi- nal plan for intermediate State colleges. The chief defi- ciency of this unity was its failure to offer that opening to the talented sons of indigent parents which the bill of 1779 was so careful to provide. The situation in Virginia after 1840 then was as fol- lows: instead of there being half a hundred schools, as in 1819, that had adopted the methods which prevailed in the colleges of Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Dublin, Oxford, or Edinburgh, — accordingly as the headmaster had been educated in one or the other of those famous institutions, — there was an equal number which either adhered altogether, or in greater part, to the manner of instruction, the standard of scholarship, and the form of administration, which were in operation at the Uni- versity of Virginia. It is estimated that, in 1860, there were as many as 13,204 pupils in the academies, and it would not be inaccurate to say that there was hardly one of these pupils who was not unconsciously subjected to the influence of a system which had its fountain-head in the State University. Of their seven hundred and twenty teachers, a very important proportion had been educated in that institution. xxxvi. Influence on Secondary Education, Continued The University had been in existence only a few years 236 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA when the persons who had been working most energetic- ally for its success began to show a desire to encourage the establishment of secondary schools, which, in spirit and methods, would be more in harmony with the sys- tem prevailing in its classrooms. They were not con- tent to await the upshot of its influence on the academies already in operation, as this would necessarily require time for fruitful demonstration. The most important of these projected schools was the gymnasium that Cocke was so eager to set up at Monticello in 1829, branches of which were to be located in other divisions of the Com- monwealth. It was to be modelled on a German proto- type,— was to be under the control of one principal and four assistants; and its course of instruction was to em- brace the English, Greek and Roman languages, and also the Italian, German and French, as well as history, mathe- matics, sacred philosophy, and bookkeeping. Its disci- plinary regulations were to be parental. This scheme, however, was too ambitious in its scope to be put in actual operation.1 One of a different, but of an equally exalted, character, was planned by Cabell for the village of Warm- inster. This, too, as we have already mentioned, never passed beyond the stage of paper. An academy was proposed for Fredericksburg upon a similar model; but this also was never founded. Apparently, the first academy or private school that was really set up, with the declared purpose of follow- ing the methods of the University of Virginia, was the one for which Henry Tutwiler issued a fully detailed pros- pectus in 1830. The site of this school was Charlottes- ville. Among the conspicuous schools which, one after another, sprang up, afterwards, under the influence of the 1 Cocke debated for some time whether he should not establish his gymnasium in the Mudwall boarding house in Charlottesville, his own property. EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 237 great central institution, — without, however, displacing the best of those that had been long in existence, — were the Bloomfield Academy, in Albemarle, taught by Wil- loughby Tebbs and Leroy Broun ; Ridgway School in the same county, of which Franklin Minor was the head- master; the Buchanan School, taught by W. R. Gait; the Episcopal High School, which was under the principal- ship in succession of Rev. William N. Pendleton, Rev. E. A. Dalrymple, and the Rev. John P. McGuire; Con- cord Academy, taught by Frederick W. Coleman, and Hanover Academy, by his nephew, Lewis M. Coleman; schools in Staunton and Richmond, taught by Pike Powers and Socrates Maupin, respectively; a school in Alex- andria, taught by Colonel Kemper, and the Brookland School, in Albemarle, by William Dinwiddie. In addi- tion, there were the Northumberland and Clarke Acade- mies. Each of these schools justly asserted that their courses of instruction were broad enough to prepare their numerous pupils for the senior academic classes in the University of Virginia ; and so were the courses of many of the older schools, like the Norfolk Academy, Lewis- burg Academy, the Hallowell Academy, in Alexandria, Hampton Academy, and others which might be men- tioned. In the majority of them, — whether established before or after the incorporation of the University, — the number of students varied from sixty to one hundred; and they were drawn from all the States of the South. The headmasters were, in most instances, masters of arts of the University of Virginia. " For three years," says Professor James M. Garnett, describing his experience as a scholar in one of these schools, " we read the higher Latin and Greek authors, others having been previously studied, — of which I re- call, in Latin, Tacitus and Juvenal, Plautus and Terence 238 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA and Cicero's Letters, and in Greek, Euripides and Sopho- cles, Thucydides and Theocritus. There were written weekly examinations in Greek and Latin composition, re- translating into these languages a piece of English trans- lation from some classical author. We had studied trigo- nometry and surveying, and analytical and descriptive geometry; and the class succeeding ours studied also dif- ferential and integral calculus. We had pursued a French course during the three years, reading lastly Racine and Moliere, and writing weekly exercises. Spelling was rigidly taught, but no English studies were pursued." The young men who were trained in the different acad- emies under this thorough and advanced system of in- struction were frequently inspired with a burning ambi- tion to distinguish themselves at the University. ' They often seem," said the editors of the magazine for Janu- ary, 1860, in a spirit of protest, " to have an unhealthy passion for the mastership of arts. Indeed, at some of the preparatory schools of the State, the whole course of teaching is modeled and directed to the accomplishment of this end, and from the time a youth enters one of these schools, the degree of master of arts is held out before his eyes as a priceless guerdon to arouse him to energy and application." The three schools which enjoyed a preeminent repu- tation for the success of their preparatory methods were Ridgway Academy, in Albemarle, under Franklin Minor; Concord Academy, in Caroline, under Frederick W. Coleman, and the Hanover Academy, in Hanover county, under Lewis M. Coleman. The Ridgway Acad- emy was situated on a fertile and scientifically managed farm which belonged to Mr. Minor, and which supplied his pupils with an extraordinary abundance of meats, meal, flour, fruits, and vegetables. The boys were sub- EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 239 jected to a rigid discipline, both within and without the classroom. They cut the wood for their own hearths, lighted the fires with their own hands, and performed other menial tasks of a like sort. The recitations be- gan at sunrise. There were two teachers in addition to the principal. Minor, besides his remarkable talent as an instructor, was a citizen who took a useful part in the affairs of the community in which he was domiciled, — served on the Board of Visitors of the University, was a member of the General Assembly, and was also one of the judges of the magistrates' court. Frederick W. Coleman, the headmaster of Concord Academy, had graduated as a master of arts in the Uni- versity of Virginia in 1835, and ^ was tne conspicuous success of so many of his students in winning the high- est honors in that institution which conferred so much dis- tinction upon his pedagogic methods. The first duty of a Concord boy, it was said at the time, was to triumph at the University. " Its traditions," we learn from Ed- ward S. Joynes, " were as familiar to us as those of our own school." No regular system was strictly pursued at Concord. There was no hour for recitation; and the pupils were as likely to be summoned to their in- structor at midnight as in the morning or at noon; indeed, the bell was to be expected to ring at any moment almost throughout the twenty-four hours. The scene of the recitations in summer was usually chosen under the shade of the trees on the lawn, where the classes were received by Coleman lying prone on the grass in his shirt and trousers only. In the intervals of relaxation, headmaster and pupil were on a footing of delightful equality; but this familiarity never degenerated into dis- respect or horseplay. There was not a woman about the establishment. The entire round of menial duties 240 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA were performed by burly male slaves, who were devoted to their master, and also very much afraid of him. The diet, — which was procured from the Concord estate alone, — was plain and simple, and coarsely served upon a rudely constructed table and amid bare surroundings. The school buildings, consisting of one brick structure and several log cabins standing together, were devoid of at- tractiveness in themselves, and unrelieved by whitewashed enclosures. The interiors were rough and primitive. The spirit of the place was designed to produce men who defied all hardships, and scholars who could hold their own against all rivals. " I have never seen such teaching since," said Professor Joynes, "and I have sat at the feet of Harrison and Courtenay and McGuffey at home, and Haupt and Boeckl and Bopp abroad." But while it was noted that the pupils of the school won many honors at the University, and were frank in opin- ion and virile in character, they enjoyed an unpleasant reputation for roughness of manners. Concord Acad- emy was reflective of the individuality of its headmaster, — a man in the raw, who would have strongly appealed to Fielding and Thackeray, with their exaggerated re- spect for a human being who had not been cabined and cribbed by social conventionalities. " His wrath," says Joynes, " was something terrible, — a tornado in its irre- sistible and undisciplined fury. He was a man of mas- sive power of body, mind, and will. Through this power, he dominated all his boys, impressed himself upon them, wrought himself into them, controlled them by his im- mense will power, moved them by his mighty sympathy, and thrilled them into life by his stentorian voice." Lewis M. Coleman had served a pedagogic appren- ticeship under his eccentric but brilliant uncle; and in establishing an academy of his own, he was wise enough EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 241 to discard the crudities of the Concord system while re- taining its spirit of sturdy virility. Above all, he intro- duced the policy, — which had been adopted at the Uni- versity of Virginia, — of trusting the moral government of his boys primarily to their own sense of personal honor. Without laying down too many rules, he saw that there was a condition of order throughout the school, and rigidly interdicted every form of dissipation, whether of cards or of drinking. " I have been with him at Hano- ver Academy, both in his hours of teaching and his hours of play," we are told by John R. Thompson, " and seen him among his pupils, beloved and never feared, always respected, the master of their confidence and their affections. His sympathies were with them on the playground and in the recitation room. His temper was the sweetest and his discipline at once the most kindly." " He improved on Concord," says W. Gordon McCabe, "in the greater attention given to the lower classes; in the more thorough grounding of the students; in a more perfect organization and system, with unfailing regu- larity; and in extending the instruction." In some studies, indeed, the course at Hanover Academy cov- ered the entire field of the same course at the University, the result of which was that many of its pupils took al- most at once, after entering, the foremost rank in the lecture-rooms of that institution. The influence of Concord and Hanover Academies was observed in two directions: First, they set an ex- ample in thoroughness that was followed by many other high schools in the State. They demonstrated the ex- traordinary efficiency which could be reached by all sec- ondary institutions that would adopt the standards which the University of Virginia was employing so successfully. In the second place, by proving that the profession of 242 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA teaching could be made as much an avenue to personal distinction and to pecuniary profit as the profession of law or medicine, they caused many men of talent to enter that vocation who otherwise would have passed it by as offering no field for either ambition or accumulation. " When young men of good position," says W. Gordon McCabe, " saw these two gentlemen of the landed pro- prietors winning as schoolmasters as great emolument as fell to none save the foremost at the bar or in medi- cine, great numbers felt free to follow their scholarly in- clinations, and gladly consecrated their lives to a calling which had become, in the eyes of the world, at once lu- crative and honorable." Franklin Minor and the Colemans, together with their numerous compeers in Virginia, were, in the teaching of the ancient languages at least, the disciples of one man. This man was Gessner Harrison. To Harrison more than to any one person must be attributed that general advance in the standards of classical scholarship which was so discernible in the Southern States after 1840. From the altitude of his professorship, he could, from the start, detect what was wanting in so many of the preparatory schools and academies of his native State; and he quickly recognized that one of the weightiest re- sponsibilities which his chair laid upon him, was to re- move these imperfections so far as his own exceptional culture would enable him to do so. He announced the broad principle that " education must work from above downward," by which he meant — to use his own words, — that " the better education must begin in the higher institutions by preparing teachers so well trained, and filled with such a spirit, that they will afterwards send up pupils much better rounded in the elements than they EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 243 themselves were." It is a proof of his success in sub- stantially diminishing the existing deficiencies that he could, without exaggeration, say, towards the close of his fruitful career as a professor, that " young men were then entering his classes with a larger knowledge of the Latin language, obtained from the preparatory schools, than he had been able, twenty-four years before, to im- part to his graduates in that tongue." As the back- ward schools, under his indirect influence, raised their standards of scholarship in the ancient languages, the University, in turn, was able to advance its own stand- ards again. And what was pertinent to those lan- guages was true, although in a less impressive degree, of the other subjects taught in both the local academy and the University. For every step forward taken by the latter institution, in courses common to both, there was a corresponding step forward taken by the preparatory school. The two were drawn permanently together by the fact that so many of the academies were taught by the University's graduates. The general influence of the University of Virginia on the schools of the South, during this period, may be thus summarized : it led to the introduction of the Honor System into their moral government; it encouraged the expansion of their courses of instruction; it prompted them to improve their methods of teaching; and it pro- moted a continuous advance in the standards of culture. The headmasters of Virginia, and of many other parts of the South also, kept themselves, it was said, fully in- formed as to every new phase of thought which might be deeply interesting the University circle. The inaugu- ration of a new professor there was an event of im- portance to the remotest part of the Southern country; 244 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA and every year saw valuable accessions to the teaching force throughout that region, drawn from the annual com- pany of the University's most promising graduates. xxxvil. Influence on American Colleges What was the extent of the influence which the Uni- versity of Virginia brought to bear on the other ad- vanced institutions of the like character to be found in the United States before the war intervened? Presi- dent Angell, of the University of Michigan, suggested in a public address delivered in 1899, that the reluctance exhibited by the higher seats of learning in the North to adopt the system of instruction and administration which had always prevailed in Jefferson's university, was largely attributable to a traditional distrust of that states- man as a mere theorist in science and education. It was his opinion too that the cost of maintaining such a sys- tem had been an additional reason for its failure to take deep and tenacious root in that part of the country. But it seems more probable that this adverse attitude had its origin in the conservative spirit, which, at that time, was so perceptible in all the colleges of the North, accustomed, from their beginning, to the curriculum in- herited from England. It was not the example of one institution, however eminent from its association with Jefferson's principles, which has led to the general adop- tion of the elective system, — its introduction has been made necessary, in whole or in part, by that augmenta- tion in the number of scientific studies which the growth of modern communities has rendered indispensable. No curriculum of the old inflexible order could be retained if all the valuable sections of this new ground were to be fully taken in. It must yield in part at least; and in all EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 245 the conspicuous seats of learning in the Northern States, it has given away to that degree unquestionably. There were, however, three important colleges in New England which were undoubtedly impressed by the sys- tem in operation at the University of Virginia many years before the development of the practical sciences had led to the partial abrogation of the curriculum system every- where. These three were Harvard College, Brown University, and the Institute of Technology in Boston. It is of special interest to follow up Jefferson's influence upon Harvard, for Harvard enjoyed the distinction of being the oldest of all the higher seats of learning in the United States, and was, in those times, a mirror of the very conservative principles which had been adopted in Massachusetts in the province of education. The first suggestion that the curriculum there should be substan- tially modified, so as to draw it nearer to some sides of the elective system, was contained in a letter which George Ticknor addressed to William Prescott, a mem- ber of the corporation in 1821. 1 It will be recalled that Ticknor had visited Jefferson at Monticello, and after leaving, had maintained a fairly regular correspondence with him. While the accomplished Bostonian was abroad, he received from Jefferson the full details of his plan for the promotion of higher education in Virginia; and it was during the same period of absence from home that he was asked to accept the professorship of ethics, belles-lettres, and the fine arts. This was in 1818, when Central College had not yet been converted into a State institution. In 1820, after the University itself had been incorporated, one of its most important chairs was 1 We were specially indebted to Professor Adams's Jefferson and the University of Virginia in the preparation of this account of Ticknor's relations with the elective system. 246 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA formally offered to him by the Board of Visitors. He was constrained to decline this invitation, as he had been chosen to fill the professorship of French, Spanish, and belles-lettres in Harvard College; but this did not lessen his interest in the experiment with the elective system which Jefferson was about to begin; and that interest must have been sensibly increased by his recollections of the principal European seats of learning inspected by him, during his recent tour. Ticknor wrote Jefferson that he would visit the Uni- versity of Virginia so soon as it was in the final condi- tion for the reception of students. In December, 1824, a few months before it was permanently opened, he arrived at Monticello, and from that house despatched a letter to Prescott, in which he mentioned the watchful interest which he was taking in the inauguration of the system of elective studies that had been adopted for the new institution. " It is more practical than I feared," he declared, " but not so practical that I feel satisfied of its success. It is, however, an experiment worth try- ing, to which I earnestly desire the happiest results." That he really thought, as he said, that " the experi- ment was worth trying " was demonstrated by his subse- quent effort to introduce the same system at Cambridge. Prescott and Story sustained him in this effort so vigor- ously that the corporation decided to put his proposal to the test. This was in 1825, the year which witnessed! the establishment of the system at the University of Virginia throughout the circle of its schools. Ticknor, naturally, had to contend with almost fanatical opposi- tion, and in September of the same year, he felt com- pelled to issue, in the form of a pamphlet, an article defending the radical innovation which he had suggested. In actual practice, the experiment proved successful in EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 247 his department alone, because he was the only member of the Faculty apparently who was really desirous that it should do so. In 1827, the corporation modified the innovation so far as to limit its employment to that de- partment. But that some of the authorities continued to take a keen interest in the system prevailing at the Uni- versity of Virginia is revealed in a letter which Josiah Quincy, President of the college, wrote to Madison in 1829: he expressed a desire to receive a full account of the " origin, progress, and arrangement " of that institu- tion, but particularly of the practical effect of permitting a choice of studies; and requested that copies of the printed documents relating to this policy should be sent to him. " Mr. Quincy," said Madison, " was so anxious on the subject that he was on his way to the University when the report of the fever stopped him." Down to 1835, when Ticknor resigned his professor- ship, he was able to prove, in his own classes at least, the advantages which the elective method had to offer to students. He described it as a voluntary system; and his lectures were so popular, and the freedom of selection was so agreeable to his pupils, that he drew to his reci- tation-room a company numbering from one hundred and forty to one hundred and sixty in all. " If the de- partment of modern languages is right," he said, in pro- test against the criticism with which he continued to be assailed throughout the last ten years of his incumbency of his chair, " then the rest of the college is wrong; and if the rest of the college is wrong, we ought to adopt its (his chair's) system." " In my own department," he added, " I have succeeded entirely, but I can get these changes carried no further." It was apparently due to his dissatisfaction with this condition, that, at the height of his usefulness, he gave up his professorship, which, 248 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA through his accomplishments, had won a great reputa- tion in all parts of the Union. Did Ticknor acquire his preference for the elective system independently of Jefferson, or did he come to it under Jefferson's influence alone? Certainly there was no aspect of the instruction or discipline at Dartmouth College, his alma mater, or at Harvard, with which he was so closely associated as a member of its Faculty, to lead him up to such a conviction. He admitted that, during several years after his acceptance of a professor- ship in the latter institution (1819), it did not occur to him to question the correctness of the curriculum sys- tem which then prevailed in all its departments. As he had, before his election, passed some time in Euro- pean travel, it would be inferred from this indifference that he had not procured his ideas touching educational reform from foreign universities; or at least, that they had not made such an impression on his mind as to induce him to propose the innovations which he afterwards ad- vocated so ably and so earnestly. It was in 1820 that he was invited to occupy a chair in the University of Virginia, — an event that would quite naturally arouse in him an interest in the institution apart from his intercourse with Jefferson, either in per- son or through the letters on education which the two had so frequently exchanged. The visit to the Universi- ty followed in 1824, — a visit paid during such a rig- orous season of the year, and so near the beginning of the first lectures, that it must have had some object in ad- dition to mere pleasure. Previous to 1824, he had re- mained in constant communication, in one way or an- other, with Jefferson : he was either a guest at Monticello, a correspondent by post, or a reader of the new rector's reports on the elective system. It was advanced edu- EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 249 cation in all its branches which interested them both; and it seems reasonable to presume that the ideas on that subject held by the older and greater man were per- manently dropped, like so many seed, into the mind of the younger one, already made more receptive for them by travel abroad. It is true that Jefferson himself had drawn the principles of the elective system from the great European universities; but so celebrated a source was only likely to have made them more alluring to the young Bostonian, who had visited those institutions in person ; and who now came to the one at Charlottesville to see these principles put in scholastic operation for the first time, on a large scale, on this side of the Atlantic. The method which Ticknor adopted in arranging his department demonstrated further the influence of the University of Virginia on his conclusions. There was no curriculum in that department. The students were not required to attend lectures in all its divisions, but only in those which they preferred. Nor did the instruction depend on text-books as primary sources of information; nor was any effort put forth to enforce discipline by the traditional drastic regulations. On the contrary, moral influences were looked to as promising most. In 1846, President Everett endeavored to remove from Harvard College the last trace of that elective system which Ticknor had been so solicitous to establish there. His purpose was to restore fully the whole round of compulsory curriculum courses. " Better far," ex- claimed Professor William B. Rogers, in a protesting letter written to Hilliard in November of the same year, " to make all the studies free and place Harvard at once on the broad liberal basis of one of the German schools." It was not until 1883 that the elective system, — prin- cipally through the influence of President Eliot, — was 250 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA introduced at Harvard to the degree, which had, half of a century earlier, been so earnestly advocated by Tick- nor; but it was still a modified form of the system as compared with the complete one which had been in opera- tion at the University of Virginia since 1825. The elec- tive studies permitted were really extra studies that the student was at liberty to pursue or not to pursue as he chose. In the beginning, they were confined to the senior year. When extended to the junior, the entire round of courses for that year were made elective, but with the provision that a definite proportion had to be taken. The courses for the sophomore year were next brought under the same rule; and, finally, three-fourths of the courses embraced in the freshman year, — a privi- lege, however, that was made dependent upon a very rigid examination at entrance. The student was required to traverse four courses during each year of the four terms; but he was at liberty to select the four from the very large group which was arranged for his choice. It is true that he was compelled to keep to a definite limit; but outside that limit, his right of election was entirely unhampered, except that, in each department, the stud- ies which he should pursue must follow in such order as would signify at each step an advance from a lower to a higher phase of those particular subjects. This right of election was even allowed in the professional schools under similar restrictions. xxxviil. Influence on American Colleges, Continued In 1849, Henry Rogers wrote to his brother, Pro- fessor W. B. Rogers, from Providence, as follows: " President Wayland (of Brown University) dined with me. He is intent upon some valuable and important collegiate reforms, and his views are shared by Allen and EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 251 a majority of the trustees. They contemplate an entire reorganization of the college, intending much more sci- ence and practical instruction, less Greek, etc., and adopt- ing some of your system. Wayland himself is tired of the old monastic system, and is wishing to see the col- lege more like our ideal school of arts. I think the time is nearby for an important revolution in this whole mat- ter of collegiate education. The old institutions, with their vast funds, educating youth at enormous expense, and yet fitting them for nothing truly useful, or calcu- lated to advance the age, must soon meet the rivalry of institutions which will embody modern ideas. Wayland much wishes a copy of your exposition of the system (elective) at the University. He has had a copy and lent it to some of the trustees. Send him another." This second copy was dispatched as requested. Three months afterwards, when Wayland had had ample time to digest its contents, he drafted a report to his trustees, in which he advised that the methods of instruction in Brown University should be reorganized upon an elective footing. But before this report could be printed and actually submitted, he decided to visit the University of Virginia in order to inquire in person into the practical working of the proposed system. He was accompanied, it would seem, by a member either of his faculty or of his board of trustees, for Professor William B. Rogers, referring to their departure in one of his letters, said that he was " satisfied that our guests had carried away with them much encouragement for their plan of re- form as well as valuable guides in conducting them." " Wayland," he added, " appears quite determined to adopt our more liberal features in the new scheme (at Brown)." It seems that, in his report to his board of trustees, which he had written before his visit, Wayland 252 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA had condemned the curriculum system, because, under it, each student was compelled to pursue, in his freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years, a prearranged course, however opposed to his own tastes, or repugnant to his real wishes; and he had urged that each matriculate should be unhampered in the exercise of the right " to study what he chooses, all he chooses, and nothing but what he chooses," — a concise yet comprehensive state- ment, which would have been very pleasing to the spirit of Jefferson, had he been alive to read it. Did President Wayland ever acknowledge his indebted- ness to the University of Virginia for these new ideas? Only so to the extent of remarking, in the same report, that the system of study in use there was " something similar " to the one which he was recommending for adoption at Brown. Professor John B. Minor, in his memorable monograph on the history of the University of Virginia, with that power of analysis, and that capac- ity for caustic ridicule too, of which he was a master when he chose to exert it, has driven a coach and four through these disingenuous words. He shows that the system imitated and the system adopted were, in all essentials, so precisely alike that it was impossible to doubt where President Wayland had obtained the first suggestion of his projected innovation. The proposed methods of Brown and the actual methods of the Uni- versity of Virginia rested wholly on an elective basis. Both systems opened up to the student the opportunity of concentrating all his energies upon such branches of knowledge as he might prefer; both offered departments in which the most important aspects of science were al- ready taught, and which were capable of future enlarge- ment as the spirit of investigation should advance; both conferred their degrees only for successes won in the EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 253 lecture-room. " So many coincidencies," Professor Minor said very pertinently, " cannot have been casual. As the University of Virginia had been in operation twenty- five years before President Wayland's visit, and since he had heard enough of it to come to the University, there is no room to doubt where he got the staple of that eminent report, which his sons (his biographers) say ' consti- tutes an era in the history of collegiate education in America.' " The flagrant absence of generous acknowledgement in this report aroused further adverse comment at the time. " Whilst it is gratifying," remarked the editors of the Jefferson Monument Magazine, " to have our opinion in favor of our own system thus corroborated by the de- cision of Dr. Wayland, it is mortifying to our pride to find that not even the slightest allusion is made to the fact that such an institution as the University of Vir- ginia exists. Nor does he fortify his position by men- tioning that, at the University of Virginia, twenty-six years of experience had proved the plan eminently suc- cessful." The editor of the North American Review, whose only information on the subject was palpably derived from a perusal of President Wayland's re- port, described the plan which it proposed as a " bold innovation," and gravely disputed its practicability. Other colleges were solemnly advised to await the result of this hitherto untried experiment before they abandoned the blazed path of the curriculum to plunge into the trackless wilds of the elective system! After all, it was not in New England, or among writ- ers inspired by the political and educational bias of that region, that an accurate knowledge, or generous appre- ciation, of Jefferson's principles and theories was to be expected. And yet it was in the very heart of New 254. HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA England that, at a later period, there was established the foremost seat of learning of its kind in the United States, which was modeled on the general plan then in operation at the University of Virginia. But this was because the founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston was a former professor in that University, and a staunch admirer of its elective sys- tem. " I have come," said Professor William B. Rogers, writing to Cabell, the rector, when offering his resigna- tion, " to value more and more the scheme of its organi- zation and the method and thoroughness that preside generally in its halls of instruction." ' That the Uni- versity of Virginia," he said on another occasion, " has been successful in establishing within our borders a higher and more thorough system of scientific and literary train- ing than had previously been successful anywhere in the United States, is, we think, admitted by all who are famil- iar with its courses of study." We are told by Mrs. Rogers, a woman of Northern birth and sympathies, in her biography of her husband, that, in founding the great seat of practical learning in Boston, he kept the University of Virginia in mind throughout as his model. " The Massachusetts Institute of Technology," said Dr. Pritchett, its president, in an address before the literary societies of the University of Virginia, in 1903, " was planned in these halls. Its organization as it exists today grew first in the brain of William B. Rogers, whilst he was a professor in this University." It was not Harvard, nor Brown, nor the Massa- chusetts Institute of Technology alone which adopted, either in a modified or a complete form, the elective sys- tem that Jefferson so earnestly and so persistently advo- cated,— as time has passed, the tendency has been towards its more general introduction into American EXPANSION AND REFORMATION, 1842-1861 255 colleges. We are informed by Professor Phillips, that, as far back as 1900, " thirty- four of the ninety-seven in- stitutions of higher education established in the United States had employed it in seventy per cent, of their courses; twelve in fifty to seventy per cent.; and fifty- one in less than fifty per cent." Cornell University was founded in 1867 upon the principle of absolute freedom of choice, but with a bias towards scientific and technical studies. The existence of the elective system in South- ern institutions of the first grade, through the influence of the University of Virginia, is now universal. THE WAR, 1861-1865 I. Before the Election of Lincoln Had the students of the University of Virginia been left without any check on the outbursts of their partizan preferences, their utterances, through their various mouthpieces, would still have faithfully reflected the cur- rents of tempestuous political feeling which were always running in the world outside. As we have seen, it was the wise policy of the authorities to avoid in word or ac- tion the identification of the institution with any form of factional leaning, and they were, therefore, always very rigorous in endeavoring to put down at once any attempt of the young men to drag the antagonisms of the exist- ing political parties within the college precincts. But the impetuous political sympathies of these youthful spirits, long before the conflict between the Northern and Southern people had grown acute and irreconcilable, could not always be stifled. On June 20, 1832, there appeared on the university bulletin board a notice which summoned all those who were in favor of Mr. Clay's election to assemble in one of the rooms of the Rotunda. The chairman, observing this notice before the hour ap- pointed, ordered the janitor to turn the lock of every apartment in that building; but the young friends of Harry of the West, instead of being cowed by this rude interference, as soon as they found the doors shut against them, trooped away to the Jefferson Society hall, and not only drew up, with all the formality of veteran politi- 256 THE WAR, 1861-1865 257 clans, a series of eulogistic resolutions, but actually nomi- nated a delegate to attend the approaching convention in Staunton, which was expected to come out very posi- tively in favor of Mr. Clay. The ardent supporters of General Jackson in college had no intention of allowing their hero to remain in the background while such honor was being paid to his elo- quent rival. Next day, another notice was tacked to the bulletin board calling upon the partisans of Old Hickory to assemble at a designated hour; but again did the ruth- less hand of the watchful chairman tear away the proc- lamation for a party rally, and the youthful politicians, — no doubt anticipating that a meeting in a lecture- room would be blocked, — gathered together on the open lawn and adopted a string of resolutions even hotter in their terms of endorsement than those which, the day before, had raised the merits of the great Kentuckian to the skies. In one of the series, very strong approval was expressed of the Faculty's refusal to grant the use of an apartment to the partisans of Clay. The chairman very probably regretted that he did not also possess the power to curb the political transports of some of the orators who addressed the Alumni Associ- ation under the roof of the Rotunda ; but not even these were always permitted to speak without some form of remonstrance, if it seemed proper. There was an un- mistakable pertinency in the resolution offered by John B. Baldwin, a Whig, at the meeting of the association in June, 1851, at the University: that body, this resolu- tion declared, should not be held responsible for the political sentiments expressed by the speakers chosen to entertain its members. It was known that John Ran- dolph Tucker was to deliver the address next day, and precisely as was anticipated, he dwelt with emphatic ap- 258 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA proval on the doctrine of sovereign states-rights. Mr. Baldwin, afterwards, in a letter to the Richmond journals, gave his reason for introducing his resolution : there had been, he said, an effort in other parts of the country to cast upon the University of Virginia the odium of dis- union sentiments, and several of these annual addresses had been brought up in proof of the correctness of that assertion. It was his wish to counteract this impression, which he considered unjust to the institution; and he thought that his opinion was confirmed by the adoption of the resolution. The prevalence of sectional partizanship was not in- consistent with opposition to secession. When the agi- tation of 1850 began, which led up to the famous com- promise of that year, a respectable number of students organized what they styled the " Southern Rights Asso- ciation of the University of Virginia." In a series of resolutions1 which they passed as a declaration of prin- ciples, they proclaimed that they witnessed with regret the encroachments which the States of the North, hos- tile to slavery, were constantly making upon the rights, the interests, and the institutions of the commonwealths of the South; that only a shadow of the union which the fathers of the Republic had established remained in exist- ence; that compromises and remonstrances had signally failed to check the aggressiveness of fanaticism; and that the only means of safety still left was to be looked for in the concerted action of the Southern people. An appeal was sent out to the young men of the South to join the ranks at once, under " the banners of justice and the Constitution," by organizing similar associations throughout that region, which would enable them to keep in unbroken communication with each other. 1 We were indebted to Mr. John S. Patton for a copy of these resolu- tions. THE WAR, 1861-1865 259 As the shadow of the approaching catastrophe grew blacker and blacker as it drew nearer, there were to be descried many signs that the convictions of the students about the vital question of separation were far from being unanimous. The University of Virginia, while favoring a strict interpretation of the Constitution, had never, as an institution, shaken the doctrine of Secession at the North in a threatening way. In the magazine for October, 1857, there was published an article which pleaded cogently and temperately for the preservation of the sisterhood of States as it then existed. This arti- cle had received the approval of the editors, — the most conspicuous and talented young men within the pre- cincts,— whether written by a student or by a member of the Faculty. " Will any one," its author asked, " put forth the absurd theory of dissolution without a civil war? We protest against such unflinching animosity on the part of a portion of the South towards so large a ma- jority of the people of the North, — animosity so bitter as to cause them to refuse to acknowledge a man chosen by a majority of the electoral votes for the Presidency of the United States, because that majority happens to be com- posed of Northern men, members of the Republican party. Let us strive to strengthen the bonds of Union and forever banish from our midst any spirit of discord or disunion. Let us of the South look upon the North only as a portion of our common country." * The invitation sent to Henry Winter Davis by the two debating societies to deliver the annual address at commencement, indicates that, at this time, the sentiments of the writer just quoted were lodged in more youthful breasts at the University than one. The Faculty re- quired this invitation to be recalled, in pursuance of the writer probably expected the election of Fremont. 260 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA general principle that a political disquisition of any kind in the public hall was repugnant to the fixed policy of the institution; but a large number of students protested against its application to the proposed speaker, — an unmistakable proof of a tolerant spirit in this hour of commotion and recrimination. A second article was published in the same organ of college opinion in 1858, Its title was The Origin and Effect of Partisan Feeling, and it urged that a patient and conciliatory attitude should be assumed in considering the causes of contro- versy between the two great divisions of the Union. During December of this year, a resolution was offered by Mr. Boyce at a meeting of the Washington Society, that the committee on questions should be instructed to submit for debate not one that would bring up any of the political issues now distracting the country. This mo- tion was adopted, and an endeavor, in the following month, to repeal it failed to come to a vote. But a feeling of resentment, which was to increase straight on, soon began to crop out, although not ex- pressed with violence. An invitation from Yale Col- lege to the Washington and Jefferson Societies to join in the publication of an undergraduate magazine was courte- ously declined, on the ground that they were unwilling to take part in such an enterprise until that institution should, in admitting students to its dormitories and lec- ture-halls, recognize that there was a social as well as an ethnological inequality between the black and the white youth who applied for entrance. This Yale had hitherto refused to do. A second indication of rising animosity was the order given by the Washington Society to its committee on badges to restrict all purchases there- after to Southern jewellers. A third was that, by Janu- ary, 1860, the ban upon the discussion of political issues THE WAR, 1861-1865 261 in both societies had been withdrawn. On the night of the 1 4th, the question, Has a State the right to secede? was debated in one of them with great heat, and the de- cision of the members was in the affirmative. But that the sentiment among the students in oppo- sition to the disruption of the National Government was still full of vitality is demonstrated by an editorial pub- lished in the March, 1860, number of the magazine. " We have an abiding confidence in the stability of the Union," it declared, " but there is a growing disposition on the part of both sections to encourage a system of practical non-intercourse between the North and South. This is sadly to be deprecated. The youths of the country, so far from growing up, each with bitter preju- dice against the people of the opposite section, and be- ing taught to believe that all the virtue and patriotism of the nation is, and ever has been, confined to his own, — the inevitable consequence of non-intercourse, a conse- quence which would be still further developed into a long- ing for disunion, — should be trained to regard them- selves as citizens of the broad United States, entitled to all the privileges secured by the deeds of our fore- fathers, and in duty bound to transmit them to succeeding generations. They should be taught to venerate, not only the name of him whose birthday, February 22, we this day celebrate, but also that of every hero, no matter where born, who stood shoulder to shoulder with him in his heaven-blessed struggle. And they should also be taught that, however much we may differ in our view of the peculiar institution, we are still brethren of one family, the people of one nation, with one hope, one destiny, and one common love for the starry ensign of freedom, and the whole country over which it floats." It seems repugnant to probability that the principal 262 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA organ of the students would have printed these conser- vative and deeply patriotic words, had it not, in doing so, voiced the sentiment of at least a substantial majority of their number. But events were now advancing rapidly and by the autumn of 1860, under the influence of the violent Presidential contest, the attitude even of that temperate majority had become less loyal to the Union. On November 3, the question for debate in the Washington Society was: In case of the election of Lincoln, should the Southern States secede? and it was decided in favor of the affirmative by a vote of thirty- three to six. The conclusion of the members of the Jef- ferson Society was precisely the same. What were the convictions of the professors on this momentous subject? " Professor Bledsoe," we are told by Randolph H. McKim, a pupil, " used to interlard his lectures on the calculus with discussions of states- rights." Holcombe, as the instructor in constitutional and international law, had, with copious learning, cogent arguments, and persuasive eloquence, advocated that doc- trine in its most emphatic form; namely, " the theories of Jefferson amplified," as was said at the time, " into the defiance of Calhoun." But if the majority of the Faculty entertained the same extreme view, they did not suffer the smallest proof of that fact to escape from them in word or conduct. All that is recorded of them would seem to demonstrate positively that they were moderate and temperate in their opinions, and, there- fore, were more likely to have been in sympathy with John B. Minor than with either Bledsoe or Holcombe. Now, if there was one individual among them whose conclusions on the subject of the right of Secession was entitled to particular weight it was Minor, the incarna- tion of the science of law, not only in its universal prin- THE WAR, 1861-1865 263 ciples, but also in its controlling spirit. His entire man- hood had been given up to its study until he had become saturated with the genius of jurisprudence. During some years, he had taught constitutional law as one of the divisions of the original course, and he was as deeply versed in that branch of the general subject as he was in common and statute law, his special province. By nature as well as by training he was conservative in his convic- tions, and he had been identified throughout his life with the South, as his family had been from its earliest settle- ment. " I voted heartily," he tells us in his valuable diary, " for the ordinance of secession (Virginia), not indeed as an act of secession, — the whole doctrine touch- ing which I thought unwise and unwarranted by the text or spirit of the Constitution, — but as a necessary revo- lution." It was necessary, in his opinion, because it was the only self-respecting reply that could have been returned to the Federal call for troops after the fall of Sumter. " I heartily approved that step (the ordinance of seces- sion)," he continued, " and I will add, that nothing that has since occurred has tended to modify my convictions of the madness and wickedness of the act of secession by the cotton States, and of the necessity, for her own sake, that Virginia, having exhausted all the resources of compromise and conciliation, should, at length, have as- sociated herself with them. Had Virginia's demands been satisfied, and the Gulf States held out, I should have regarded it as an improper sacrifice of our inter- ests to abandon the Union merely from sympathy with communities which had adopted an extreme course with- out consultation with us, and in contempt of our wishes, opinions, and safety." 1 1 See Jefferson's opinion, Vol. I, p. 15. This was the Faculty's view as a whole. 264 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA II. After Election of Lincoln On the day of election, the students convened in the Rotunda and cast the majority of their votes, not for Douglas or Breckinridge, but for Bell and Everett, whose campaign cry was the " Constitution and the Union." The triumph of Lincoln in November, and the seces- sion of South Carolina in December, had the effect of crystalizing among them what had previously been a more or less fluctuating sentiment in support of the general theory of secession; but several weeks after the last of these events occurred, the editors of the magazine de- plored the exasperated divisions in the country at large. " Is it too late," they asked, u to speak of adjustment, and a return to our former allegiance? Is there no deliverance from all these troubles, no escape from the fate that threatens us? Can no remedy be found for the evils now upon us? We cannot endure, without inexpressible horror and the profoundest regret, to see the purest and best government the world has ever yet known, sink dismembered and dishonored beneath the waves of civil discord. God grant that the measure of our calamities may not exceed the rumor of war." A writer who contributed to the same number, dwells upon the lofty place among the nations of the globe which the United States then occupied. " In science, in wealth, in prosperity, in religious freedom, in power, what coun- try was there," he exclaims, " which could justly claim to surpass it? And now hatred was engaged in tearing down the fabric upon which so many hopes were so ardently set! " The very month in which this conservative article was published, the Washington Society debated the question: Are the Crittenden Resolutions a sufficient remedy for the existing posture of affairs? and reached a negative THE WAR, 1861-1865 265 decision by a vote of seventeen to three. The upshot of this ballot would seem to demonstrate that the students, like Mr. Lincoln himself, on the other side, were of the opinion that the hour for compromise had vanished. A more significant proof of the same conviction was the organization of two military companies within the pre- cincts. This had occurred not long after South Carolina had adopted the first ordinance of secession. The Fac- ulty had, as we have already stated, previously discour- aged the formation of such bodies among the young men, but when they saw the extraordinary agitation of the public mind both before and after the Presidential elec- tion, they concluded that the hour had arrived for lifting the ban. Indeed, permission had been granted as early as December 5. The ranks of both companies were quickly filled. The officers chosen were as a rule, stu- dents who had been trained in the military art at the Virginia Military Institute. Professor Holcombe, with characteristic ardour, suggested that one of these com- panies should be christened " Sons of Liberty," in recol- lection of the heroes of the Revolution. The uniform of this company consisted of a red shirt, conspicuously trimmed with black velvet and bespangled with brass buttons; trousers, manufactured of black doeskin; a cape of dark blue color; and a white cross belt, adorned with a large brass buckle. The other company assumed the name of the Southern Guard. Its uniform consisted of a blue shirt and blue pantaloons, with a cap of the same distinctive color. The weapons of both companies were the same : a flintlock musket, cartridge box, bayonet, and scabbard. No banner was used at first; and as wind instruments were unprocurable, the students, in the course of the drill, marched to the sound of the hip hip of the officers. 266 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA William Tabb was elected to the captaincy of the Sons of Liberty, and Edward S. Hutter to that of the Southern Guard. Tabb, whose health seems to have been frail, was succeeded in April by James Tosh. The officers under Tabb were R. J. Washington, first lieu- tenant; A. G. Hill, second, and W. Page McCarty, third. The orderly was F. S. Robertson. There were five sergeants and four corporals. The officers of the South- ern Guard, subordinate to Captain Hutter, were George Ross, Frank Carter, James M. Payne, P. L. Burwells John M. Poague, L. D. Roane, William Pegram, R. E. Lee, Jr., J. Compton French, and R. Corbin Wellford. The names of these officers, — as well as the names of the officers of the Sons of Liberty, — were conspicuous in the social history of Virginia. Families of equal dis- tinction were represented in the rank and file, as the fol- lowing partial list for the Southern Guard will demon- strate: Baldwin, Boyd, and Barton, of Winchester; Barbour, of Orange; Baskerville, of Mecklenburg; Mon- cure, of Stafford; Chapman, of West Virginia; Davidson and Pendleton, of Lexington ; Fairfax, of Alexandria ; Field, of Culpeper; Fleming, of Hanover; Garnett, La- tane, Hunter, and Micou, of Essex; Goggin, of Bedford; Green, of Fauquier; Hinton and Pegram, of Petersburg; Maury, of Fredericksburg; McCabe, of Hampton; Michie, Page, Minor, and Harris, of Albemarle ; Bolton and Munford, of Richmond; Neblett, of Lunenburg; Elliott, of Georgia; and Howard, McKim, Murdoch, Mackall, and Munnikhuysen, of Baltimore. Among the members of the Sons of Liberty who belonged to the station of privates were Bedinger, of Jefferson county; Berkeley, of Hanover; Brockenbrough, of Rappahan- nock; Bronaugh, of Loudoun; Buford, of Brunswick; Dew, of King and Queen; Drewry, of Southampton; THE WAR, 1861-1865 267 Hunter, of Louisa; Lee, of Fairfax; Nicholas, of Rich- mond; Preston, of Botetourt; Radford, of Montgomery; Venable, of Prince Edward; Withers, of Campbell; Harvie, of Amelia; and Wyatt, of Albemarle. Each of the two companies counted on its roll about seventy men. The ground on which the drill took place was either the Lawn or Carr's Hill. The spectacle of so many young men conspicuously uniformed and hand- ling muskets, and marching backwards and forwards, at the spirited word of command, could not fail to kindle a martial flame even among those who were simply look- ing on. The first exhibition of this newborn fire was certain to take the form of the display of the flag which the States that had seceded had already adopted. In February (1861), it was excitedly rumored about the dormitories that the students who occupied the rooms in Dawson's Row were having the flowing emblem of the new Confederate States duplicated for the purpose of hoisting it above some conspicuous site within the pre- cincts. R. C. M. Page and Randolph H. McKim, who were domiciled in another part of the University, deter- mined to anticipate their triumph, and hurrying to Char- lottesville, they bought the requisite quantity of inex- pensive colored cambric, and took it to a seamstress on Main street, the owner of a sewing machine, who soon manufactured out of it the flag so eagerly desired. Be- fore leaving the town, they had the foresight to purchase the gimlet and saw which would be needed for cutting a hole into the back-door of the Rotunda for the pur- pose of gaining admission to the dome. As they were hastening back, they stopped for a moment and ordered a flagstaff of a negro carpenter, and gave directions that it should be delivered on Carr's Hill at eleven o'clock the same night. The proposed adventure was decided to be 268 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA too complicated for two men only to carry it through successfully, and George Bedinger, James M. Garnett, John Latane, William Wirt Robinson, and P. Lewis Burwell were taken into the secret of the project. The negro arrived, by a backway, promptly at the hour named beforehand, with the flagstaff, which was borne mysteri- ously into McKim's dormitory; and there the virgin en- sign of the new republic was firmly attached to it. Not until the clock struck the hour of midnight, how- ever, did the ardent young conspirators consider it safe to issue forth with the flag. So soon as the Rotunda was reached, the gimlet and saw were set to going on the panel of the back-door; a hole large enough in size to admit the human body w'as cut; and one by one, the members of the band crept through it, in the darkness. But there was still another door to be passed through after the library was entered. This led out on the roof near the bell. How was it to be forced ? It was too solid and too full of nails to be pierced by the saw. One means alone of demolishing the barrier was left, and that was to butt it down. A line was formed, and each unit in turn serv- ing as buffer, the repeated impact at last smashed in the door. But the cupola was yet to be scaled. How could they reach it? They accomplished this feat by holding on to the lightning-rod as they climbed up in In- dian file — a course now doubly dangerous as the wind was sharp and blowing fiercely. The cupola which, at that time, was surmounted by an arrow, was protected from a stroke of lightning by the erect end of the conduc- tor. To this upstanding rod, the staff, with the flag wrapped about it, was firmly tied; and then the folds were unwound and allowed to flow with the wind. The descent to the library was more perilous than the ascent, and the consciousness of this fact was in- THE WAR, 1861-1865 269 creased by signs of approaching dawn, for it was four o'clock, and the negro servant was seen extinguishing the gas-jets along the arcades. One of the flag raisers was wounded in the cheek by the point of the saw as he awkwardly held it in one hand in going down. The stars were shining brightly, and lit up the folds as they were whipped by the strong wind which was blowing, so that they were plainly visible from below. According to the historian of this episode, the lamplighter was so much astonished by the sight of the flag, that he ex- claimed, " Hi, whar' dat thing come from? I aint nuv- ver see dat befo'. Dese certan'y is cu'yous times." As soon as he had shambled off in a state of bewilderment, the flag-raisers crept back to their dormitories. It is recorded that the excitement caused by the dis- covery of the flag on the Rotunda, when day fairly broke, was so great that lectures and recitations were suspended. What would the authorities do in their dis- pleasure ? Virginia had not withdrawn from the Union, and the sentiment in favor of secession at the University was not aggressive enough to suffer the flag to continue to float where it was. The chairman posted the request that, if it was lowered by those who had raised it, no further notice would be taken of the act. It was soon pulled down by another band of students; but finally found its way to Carr's Hill, where it seems to have been again thrown to the wind, but now on a very modest building. From this time, the Confederate flag began to be descried here and there in town. W. B. Hutton, a student, mentions in his diary that he had, towards the end of March, seen several waving above the streets of Charlottesville ; and on the 23rd of March, he was pres- ent at an assembly at William Wertenbaker's house at which a Confederate flag was unfolded, toasts to the 270 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA new Republic drunk, and speeches of a warlike character delivered. In April, a few days before the convention sitting in the capitol at Richmond adopted the ordinance of seces- sion, there was a parade on the Lawn in celebration of Jefferson's birthday. The participants comprised the Albemarle Rifles, commanded by Captain R. T. W. Duke, afterwards Colonel of the Forty-Sixth Virginia Regiment; the Monticello Guards of Charlottesville, commanded by Captain Mallory; the Southern Guard, by Captain Hutter, and the Sons of Liberty, by Captain Tosh. These troops numbered about four hundred men, who had been assiduously trained and were fully equipped. The drill took place in the afternoon, and as a compli- ment to the University companies, the officer in general charge was Captain Hutter. As the troops stood drawn up in line before him, a message from O. Jen- nings Wise, despatched from Richmond, was handed to him. " Fort Sumter," it ran, " has surrendered, and the Palmetto flag now floats over its walls." It is recorded that this sensational announcement was received with many evidences of satisfaction by all who were present. Whatever differences of opinion touching the legality or the expediency of Secession may, before this event, have existed among the students or the professors, were merged by President Lincoln's call for volunteers into a common determination to resist the invasion of the South which it foreshadowed. The revulsion in feeling was reflected in a scene re- called, with a characteristic spice of humor, by W. Gor- don McCabe. " A knot of us," he relates, " were gath- ered at the Blue Cottage1 and were discussing with great warmth the affairs of the nation. It is needless to say 1 We are informed by Major Channing M. Bolton, who, as a student THE WAR, 1861-1865 271 our voice was all for war. A friend of mine, then one of the best students at the University, now a grave pro- fessor in a theological seminary, alone remonstrated against our abandonment of our studies, and spoke so sensibly and so temperately as to cast a very decided damper on our martial aspirations. Later on, during the same day, our young Sir Galahad, Percival Elliott, of Georgia, who now fills a soldier's grave, and myself, walking up to the Rotunda from the postoffice, descried hurrying towards us a familiar figure clad in a uniform known to no service in Christendom ; a revolver as large as a small howitzer was buckled about his waist; and a cavalry sabre of huge dimensions clanked furiously as he came towards us. We were literally spellbound with amazement. ' Why, Nelson, what in the name of all that is righteous is the meaning of this?' 'Have not got time to talk to you boys. Lincoln has called for 75,000 troops. I enlisted five minutes ago in the Albemarle troop.' So sped away our peaceful counsellor of the morning! " Two incidents that are recorded in the proceedings of the Washington Society, about a fortnight after the adop- tion of the ordinance of secession by Virginia, cast an unmistakable light on the sentiment then prevailing among the young men. First, it was resolved that the money which had been received from Mr. Everett and invested in a bond, — the income from which was now used for the annual purchase of a medal for the best essay in Ameri- can biography published in the magazine, — should be returned to him just as soon as hostilities should end; and secondly, it was voted that the surplus funds of the society, amounting to two hundred dollars, should be was domiciled in the Blue Cottage, that seven of its eight inmates were opposed to Secession previous to Lincoln's first call for volunteers. 272 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA remitted at once to the Governor of the Commonwealth for expenditure in defense of the State. It was neither hope nor expectation of preserving the institution of slavery that had brought about this perfect unanimity of opinion among the students at this crisis. The spirit that now animated them was succinctly expressed in a stanza which was printed in the April, 1861, number of the University magazine: " Though Peace, the fair angel's about to forsake us, Though soon these rich valleys may desolated be, Yet bondsman and serf, the foe never can make us, For the Sons of the South have all sworn to be free." III. Antecedents of the Students There were more than six hundred students domiciled within the precincts at the beginning of the session of 1860— i, and although this assemblage dwindled as each of the Gulf States seceded and summoned its absent citi- zens, old and young, to its defense, nevertheless when the conflagration at last burst out with the explosion at Fort Sumter, the number of young men remaining at the Uni- versity was a very large one ; and that number still com- prised many who had come up from the Southern region beyond the borders of Virginia. From every point of view, these young men were representatives of the very best element of the Southern communities. With the ex- ception of a small minority, they belonged to the widely known families which had always controlled the social and political destinies of that broad division of country. Imbued to the finger tips with the free, virile, and chival- rous spirit which had been nurtured by the plantation system, they were at once democratic and aristocratic in their feelings. Their childhood and youth had been passed in a rural environment; and to that life each re- THE WAR, 1861-1865 273 turned during his vacation. They had been accustomed there to all the invigorating exercises of that life, — to riding, to shooting, to fishing, to tramping; and there too they had been inured by exposure to every change of sea- son and to every vicissitude of weather. If impatient of restraint, it was because they had been always at liberty to follow as they chose the manly pursuits and the hardy recreations which this independent life had to offer in such abundance. Even in boyhood, they had been conscious of that pride of race which the presence of slavery was so calculated to accentuate, and also of that corresponding emotion which recognized that this pride was only justifiable if sustained by a high sense of personal honor, and an unshakable devotion to country. No people have been more completely permeated with love of home than the Southerners. They were a rural people who, with no accession or infusion of alien blood, had, from the colonial period, occupied the residences in- herited from their fathers. These roofs had been made sacred by the long family story, and by the accumulated traditions of many generations. Each was so secluded in its site as to have long ago assumed an individuality of its own. The history of these houses, — their heir- looms, their surroundings, their occupations, their atmos- phere,— had left a permanent impression on the spirit of the young men who went straight from those thres- holds to be educated in the University of Virginia. Their loyalty to their respective States, in consequence of this affection for their birthplace, was a passion as ardent as that which the Swiss felt for their mountains, or the Highlanders for their glens. The romances of Scott, Lever, and Jane Porter, the tales of Maryatt, Cooper, Simms and Kennedy, — Ivanhoe, Charles O'Malley, Thaddeus of Warsaw, Yemassee, Jacob 274 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Faithful, Horseshoe Robinson, and the Last of the Mohi- cans,— were known by heart to most of them ; and few indeed were those among them who could not declaim Hohenlinden, the Burial of Sir John Moore, Marco Bozaris, and the Charge of the Light Brigade. The bloody adventures of the pioneers in Indian warfare along the dark frontier, the exploits of the soldiers of the Revolution from King's Mountain to Yorktown, the victories of Andrew Jackson over the redcoats and the Cherokees, the incursions into the Everglades in the Seminole revolt, the charges of the Southern regi- ments at Monterey and Buena Vista, — such was the food which had fed their youthful imaginations.1 All these martial impressions, this love of home, this intense emotion of local patriotism, had exercised a powerful influence over the minds of the young soldiers who were now about to pass from the quiet dormitories and lecture-halls of the University into scenes of battle and wounds and death. The lofty principles of per- sonal honor inculcated in those lecture-rooms, the in- stinct of manliness fostered under the arcades, in spite of occasional turbulence and intemperance, fortified fur- ther those silent lessons of courage, and fidelity, and loy- alty which they had first learned in the social circle of their native households. " The University of Virginia," 1 " The people of the South," says Professor W. H. Echols, referring to the period before the War between the States, " were singularly homogen- eous, and were, in fact, but one great family. The sons of these people who came to the University of Virginia were either related by blood or family friendships, and were all in one way or another known to each other. Their fathers had been students here, and their fathers before them. They came with the same family training and upbringing; they brought with them the same fireside traditions, principles, beliefs, and ideals; they were all of the same faiths; and what was vitally important, they were almost entirely of the same high social status — they brought with them a common point of view of right and wrong, and a noblesse oblige, with pride and courage, which was theirs by inheritance." THE WAR, 1861-1865 275 we are told by Randolph H. McKim, a matriculate of the institution during that eventful year, and one who was deeply responsive to the spirit of enthusiasm and self- sacrifice that then prevailed, " had, from the first, suc- ceeded in the high endeavor to fix the gaze of her stu- dents upon the achievements of intellect and generous manhood rather than on the material prizes and rewards of the world. She had set herself to cultivate manhood in the young men who came to her. She had treated them as men. She had trusted to them. She had ap- pealed to their sense of honor, their love of truth. The students and alumni of the University did not stay to cele- brate the chances of success in the struggle to which they were summoned, nor did they count the cost of obedience to the clarion call of duty, but sprang forward with alacrity, eager to offer their all in defense of their homes and their firesides." IV. A Taste of War Fort Sumter surrendered to Beauregard in April, and only three days after that event, a whisper stole through the precincts that an order had been delivered to the commanding officers of the Southern Guard and the Sons of Liberty to march at once to the front. It was reported that Fortress Monroe was to be occupied by the Confederate troops. The ground of the rumor turned out to be instructions from Governor Letcher, transmitted through Captain R. T. W. Duke, to the volunteer companies in Charlottesville, — which were to go forward in concert with forces from Staunton, — to start immediately for Harper's Ferry, with the view of taking possession, in the name of Virginia, of the large accumulation of firearms and machinery then stored in the Federal arsenal there. Captain Duke, aware, from 276 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA his own personal observation, of the high degree of ef- ficiency in the drill which the Southern Guard and the Sons of Liberty had reached, and of their burning de- sire to participate in the operations in the field, sent off an invitation to their captains to join their commands to the forces stationed in Charlottesville, and to take part with them in the proposed excursion. So great was the enthusiasm with which this opportunity of becoming bullet-tested and weather-hardened veterans was seized by the members of the two companies, that the Faculty could not make up their minds to refuse their permission, and a leave of absence for a week was granted to all who applied for it. The young men under twenty-one years of age were advised to remain behind; but not even they, it seems, were forbidden to go. It was left abso- lutely to each member, whether above or below that age, to determine whether he should accompany the troops; and few appear to have preferred to continue their studies. On the night of the I7th, the two companies marched with the calm air and steady step of seasoned soldiers to the rendezvous of the Albemarle Rifles, under Cap- tain Duke, and the Monticello Guard, under Captain Mallory, at the station. Some delay was caused there by the detention of the West Augusta Guard and Im- boden's Battery, on account of a landslide which had tem- porarily blocked the railway track west of Charlottes- ville. " Never shall I forget," says W. Gordon McCabe, a member of one of the University companies, " the night of the iyth of April. Professor Holcombe read to us the official announcement of the secession of the State, and Lewis Coleman (Professor of Latin) came amongst us to wish us godspeed." The Albemarle troops had been formed into a battalion under the command of THE WAft, 1861-1865 277 Major Geo. W. Carr. The train, now waiting to trans- port the troops, was made up of box-cars, and two of these were assigned to the Southern Guard and the Sons of Liberty, who, as one of their number has re- corded, left the station " sans rations, blankets, over- coats, haversacks, canteens, or cartridges, and with not even a candle to break the total darkness, but full of an unquenchable enthusiasm." Strasburg was reached by way of Manassas Junction after midnight, on Thursday. As the first sign of dawn appeared in the sky over the crest of the Blue Ridge, the battalion, having been bountifully fed by the citizens, started upon the march for Winchester, eighteen miles away. Although the youthful soldiers were tramping along a smooth turnpike, they soon began to suffer dis- comfort from tight boots ; and when they arrived in that town, some of them were limping badly, and some were actually soleless. As they proceeded, with many signs of fatigue, down the principal street, they were passed by a band, which was playing Yankee Doodle, and were greeted with unwelcome shouts of " Hurrah for the Union." The news that the Virginia Convention had adopted the ordinance of Secession had not yet been announced in this part of the Valley. A hospitable re- ception, however, was given to the soldiers by the bulk of the population, who invited them whole-heartedly to enter their homes, and with alacrity, placed upon their tables the best that their larders had to offer. It was midnight before the advance was resumed. Box-cars were now provided for the troops, and by dawn they had arrived at Harper's Ferry and disembarked in the town. But they soon found that they were too late, for antici- pating the invasion, the Federal forces had set fire to the arsenal, and had thus destroyed, not only the building 278 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA with its machinery, but many thousand stands of arms. Numerous muskets, however, had been hidden away in the houses of the citizens, and these were surrendered to the soldiers, who discovered in them a handy substitute for their antique flintlocks. The old depot near the end of the railroad bridge was assigned to the use of the Southern Guard and the Sons of Liberty. One of their number,1 describing in after-life their experiences, told, in a spirit that dem- onstrated that their sense of the ridiculous had not been chilled by war, " how they would be turned out at the least alarm; how they stopped and searched all passing trains; how one night, just as they were about to settle themselves to rest in their barracks, the long roll beat, and they were sent on a long march up Loudoun Heights to support a battery (Imboden's), which an imaginary enemy could not have reached possibly from the other side of the Potomac, and which had been so placed that it could not possibly have lowered its guns to hurt any one; how, next morning, they scrambled from the face of the mountain in preparation to repeat their lengthy tramp, and returned to barracks much used up by their first bivouac at night in the open air." The University companies were detained at Harper's Ferry four days only (April 19-22). On Monday, April 23, they were ordered, along with the rest of the battalion, to entrain for Charlottesville ; and on their arrival there, they disembarked at the crossing near the University gate; but they were not permitted by Major Carr to break ranks until, after a complimentary speech, he had formally recommitted them to the Faculty. The brief taste of war's excitement which they had just obtained in the excursion down the Valley whetted their 1 Professor James M. Garnett. THE WAR, 1861-1865 279 appetite for more, and they promptly offered their ser- vices to the military authorities of the State. The reply was sent back that there was " too much good material for officers in the ranks of the students to concentrate it in a single organization." After a few drills, the companies, which had been required to give up the rifles delivered to them at Harper's Ferry, were quietly dis- banded. Many of their number returned at once to their native States, to enroll themselves in local battalions and regiments. Others joined the forces now operat- ing in Virginia. Among the latter were to be found men who, like William J. Pegram and Alexander S. Pendle- ton, were to win distinguished names in the war. The Sons of Liberty and the Southern Guard were not the only military bodies associated with the Uni- versity in these times of hurry and tumult. We are in- debted to Professor Francis H. Smith for a diverting picture of the company, or rather squad, which was com- posed of the members of the Faculty. Schele, as we have seen, had been trained to military discipline in his youth, and although he had not smelt gunpowder smoke or handled a musket for many years, he cheerfully and confidently undertook to exercise his sedate and scholarly colleagues. " Wisely for a time," says Professor Smith, " the company performed its evolutions in a private room; but, later on, grew bold enough to appear on the Lawn, to the boundless amusement of the better drilled students. Armed with old-fashioned flintlock muskets of antiquated pattern, gotten from a revolutionary residue long kept in the State arsenal at Lexington, which they held at all inclinations to the vertical, they presented the most wonderful variety of movements for each word of command. It was too much for human composure to see the pairs of optics converged upon Mr. Schele, when 280 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA he gave the sharp, convulsive command, 'Attention, Squat,' as it sounded to us. Unfortunately for the Con- federacy, this squad, calculated to be so formidable to its foes, was never called to the field." But there was a second organization, with a student membership alone, which really served in an actual cam- paign. This company does not appear to have, like its two predecessors, assumed a definite name. It was un- der the command of Captain J. P. Crane, of Maryland, who, for skill and gallantry, was afterwards promoted to the rank of Lieut-Colonel. The lieutenants were James L. Dinwiddie, James G. Wheatley, and W. W. Old. After its first formation, accessions were made to it from schools situated near the University, and from the ranks of the alumni beyond the precincts. There were two masters of arts enrolled in its youthful line, and at least one bachelor of arts. Both Crane and Old had been educated in military academies. These young volun- teers, after being put through an energetic series of drills, petitioned to be ordered to the field, and in re- sponse were instructed to join General Wise, who, at that time, was operating, at the head of a considerable force, in the wild mountain region of Western Virginia. They received the command to attach themselves to the regiment of Colonel Henningsen. Henningsen, a Scan- dinavian soldier of fortune, had borne arms under Don Carlos in Spain; had taken part in an excursion into Cir- cassia ; had been an officer in the unsuccessful Hungarian War of 1848-9; and had accompanied Kossuth on his visit to the United States. He had also been a com- panion of Walker in the famous filibuster expedition to Nicaragua. The lieutenant-colonel had also shared the perils of that romantic but unfortunate campaign. General Wise, who was in supreme command, had been THE WAR, 1861-1865 281 as dashing a free lance in the domain of politics as his subordinates had been on the battle fields of foreign coun- tries. Such in brief had been the adventurous careers of the men who were to become the leaders of the youthful and untried soldiers from the University of Virginia. The company did not set out until after the close of the session in July.1 The final celebration was held on the 6th of that month, and on that occasion, thirty coveted parchments were delivered to members of the organi- zation. The diploma of master of arts was won by two, the diploma of bachelor of arts by one, and one also received the diploma of doctor of medicine. Flushed with these academic successes, the company, fifty strong, marched that night to the station in Charlottesville, and went aboard the train for Clifton Forge, at that time the terminus of the Central Railway. Wise was now en- camped in the vicinity of Gauley Bridge far to the west. The company on their arrival at Clifton Forge, having no tents to protect them from the weather, were compelled to find improvised beds on the floor of the station. This was their earliest experience of the privations of the soldier's life, but it was to a degree so ameliorated, that they afterwards looked upon the bare roof and walls that had sheltered them beyond the mountains at their back as falling little short of a positive luxury. They patiently climbed up through the passes of the Alle- ghanies, halted for a breathing spell at the White Sul- phur Springs, and on the third day, marched into Lewis- burg, where they were met by an officer on a foaming horse, with orders to continue their advance at once to Gauley Bridge. It was not until the 2Oth that they were formally mustered into service. 1 The late Captain W. W. Old gave a detailed account of this expedi- tion in an article published in the Alumni Bulletin. 282 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Their first taste of warfare was disheartening. Wise considered it discreet to withdraw from his position. The bridge over the river was burnt, and the troops fell back to the White Sulphur Springs. In the army, as it thus retreated, there seems to have been an in- subordinate company of rangers, which had been placed under surveillance. The duty of carrying this out was imposed on the University students. In the retirement, the rangers attempted to leave their guards far behind by having recourse to the quick step ; but they soon found out that those youthful legs were fully competent to keep up the same rate of speed as their own more hard- ened ones. Beginning by disliking their custodians, they ended in becoming their fast friends. The watchful- ness was relaxed, and the rangers either acted as sub- stitutes for the young men in keeping guard, or they made sweeping excursions into the adjacent country and brought in supplies of food. Wise's Legion was reorganized at the White Sulphur Springs. The University contingent was now designated as Company G of the Second Regiment. It took an equal part in the campaign which the small army soon started upon through this rough region, in which sick- ness turned out to be more destructive than the bullets of the enemy. At Sewall's Mountain, the company came under fire for the first time. It was stationed at the summit of that height while the forces of Rosecrans had posted themselves on its north flank. There was a clearing on the top, and to this the young men were ordered to march for a drill. Just below this open space, there ran a turnpike, which, from that point, was con- cealed by a heavy fringe of trees. As the young men were crossing the edge of the clearing, a volley of mus- ketry was emptied at them from the screen of trees be- THE WAR, 1861-1865 283 low; and this was several times repeated. The com- pany was ordered to rush the wood, and drive out the enemy, but before they could do so, the sharpshooters had vanished. A few days later, while the youthful soldiers were employed in discharging the duty of pick- ets, they were again fired upon; and again the wood, when entered, was found to be vacant. When Rosecrans re- treated westward, the Confederate forces fell back east- ward to the neighborhood of Lewisburg, where harsh weather soon set in. Here the members of the University company erected rude chimneys at the side of their tents, cut their own fuel, learned to knead dough, and to patch their tattered uniforms. They brightened the tardy hours by gaily trolling out the old college songs. One was in Latin, and it was sung to the tune of Mary- land, my Maryland, or of the Marseillaise. The most popular of all began with the lines, the first of which was suggestive of their own situation, " Oh, the stormy winds do blow, blow, blow, The raging seas how they flow." Bonnie Blue Flag, Dixie, and other songs which were popular during the war, were made to echo from the high and wooded mountain walls. The boys, it seems, had an insatiable thirst for buttermilk. As they marched for exercise along the turnpike that wound in and out between Lewisburg and Gauley Bridge, they would pause in front of a log cabin by the side of the road, and sing one of their songs at the top of their voices, and then call out lustily for buttermilk. If the shouted request was stolidly received, they would say, " He that hath good peanuts and gives his neighbor none, He sha'n't have any of my peanuts when his peanuts are gone." 284 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA This threat or warning, we are told by the historian of the company, was always successful in opening the reluctant hand of the mountaineer even though only a cup-full remained in the bottom of his pail. In December, 1861, it was decided by the military authorities that the young men should be distributed among the regiments that had been recruited in the vi- cinity of their homes. They were, however, first marched back to Charlottesville, under the command of Julian Pratt; and on January 13, 1862, were formally mustered out. V. Sacrifices for the Confederate Cause At least two companies were formed for drill dur- ing the remaining months of 1861. But these do not appear to have retained their organization, — instead, the students composing them were afterwards drawn into the war as members of different battalions. One of these companies was under the command of Robert E. Lee, Jr., a son of the General of the same name; the other, of Charles W. Trueheart. Both W. H. Young and John H. Maury, the son of Matthew F. Maury, the pathfinder of the seas, were at one time enrolled as the principal officers in charge. Major George Ross, sub- sequently a distinguished physician in civil life, whQ had received his military training at the Virginia Military Institute, served as commandant. Every collegian whose age was above eighteen was subject to conscription. The Faculty endeavored to induce the Secretary of War to put off until after commencement the operation of this law for all who had passed that age; but their petition was unsuccessful ; and the like failure befell a similar ap- plication, at a later date, which asked for exemption for THE WAR, 1861-1865 285 all students under seventeen until the end of the ses- sion in which they should reach their eighteenth birth- day. It has been estimated that five hundred and fifteen of the young men in attendance in 1861 joined the armies in the field before the close of that year. There were approximately nine thousand matriculates entered on the University rolls between 1825 and 1865, and it is cal- culated from the records that not less than twenty- seven per cent, of the survivors of this number, — about two thousand, four hundred and eighty-one approxi- mately,— took an active part in the hostilities, whether occurring on land or sea. About thirteen hundred of this proportion served in the capacity of officers. It may be roughly stated that about five hundred of the University alumni perished in the service. During the session of 1860— 61, there were eight hundred and thirty-three mat- riculates enrolled at Harvard as compared with six hundred and thirty enrolled at the University of Virginia, and yet the loss among these six hundred and thirty alone was equal to nearly one half of the loss which fell upon the entire body of the alumni of Harvard so far as they were eligible for enlistment. There were only nine hun- dred and thirty-eight graduates of Harvard in the ser- vice. Of these, only one hundred and seventeen, — ac- cording to the inscription upon the tablets in the mem- orial hall at Cambridge, — were killed or died of disease. It is estimated that about eighty-six of the young men who left the University of Virginia to enter the war in 1861 perished in the field or hospital. Placing the loss among the Harvard graduates at one hundred and thirty-eight, — the figure mentioned in some of the records, — the pro- portion of deaths among them was about four and a 286 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA half times smaller than the proportion among the sons of the University of Virginia, in consequence of their par- ticipation in the same conflict. Among the graduates of the latter institution who fell were twelve masters of arts, two bachelors of arts, nine bachelors of laws, and two doctors of medicine. The heavy mortality among them was chiefly due to the fact that, in the beginning, the great body of these alumni took their place in the line along with the gallant yeomen of the South. If promotion followed, as it did in so large a number of instances, it was accepted with satis- faction; but if it did not follow, the duty of the common soldier was discharged with cheerfulness to the end. Rarely has there been found in a modern army an ele- ment comparable to this, — an element that could count upon its roll so many graduates in arts and letters, in the languages, in the physical sciences, in the higher mathe- matics, and in the learned professions. Apart from the peril to life and health which threat- ened these graduates at every step after they were mus- tered into service, what were the conditions that sur- rounded them? What had they to expect beyond the gratification of their patriotic ardour and the satisfaction of their consciences? " Eleven dollars a month was the stipend," says Randolph H. McKim, one of the bravest and most devoted of that band, describing his own ex- perience, which was the experience of all. " Flour, bacon, and peanut coffee was their bill of fare; the hard earth, or three fence rails tilted up on end, their bed; their knapsacks, their pillows, and a flimsy blanket their cov- ering; the firmament of stars generally their only tent; their clothes a thing of shreds and patches. There was no provision in the Confederate army for recognizing, either by decoration or by promotion in the field, dis- THE WAR, 1861-1865 287 tinguished acts of gallantry. Scores of these men (alumni who perished) would have been entitled to the Victoria Cross if they had been serving in the British Army. Their only reward was the consciousness of duty done:" The youthfulness of the greater number of the gradu- ates who perished during the war imparts an additional pathos to their last crowning act of self-sacrifice. The ages of at least one hundred and seventy of those whose names are inscribed upon the tablets attached to the walls of the Rotunda are known, — only thirty-nine of that number were over twenty-four years of age when killed; the remainder were under that age. There were nineteen under twenty-two years, fifteen under twenty-one, sixteen under twenty, eight under eighteen, nine under seventeen, and three under sixteen. It is reasonable to presume that the same proportions are true of the entire list preserved upon the eloquent face of the bronze. Among the alumni embraced in the roll of youthful and gallant spirits who rushed to the field with such high en- thusiasm, only to perish there, how is it possible to make a choice when all were equally unselfish, equally devoted, and equally brave, and when all, with equal cheerfulness, offered up their lives upon the altars of their native com- monwealths? In the long series of chapters in which the services of the South to the cause of freedom and patriotism are written, there is not one which contains a more splendid record than that which relates the story of the sons of the University who died during the War between the States. The memorial volume descriptive of their heroic careers has all the romantic flavor of the legends of the Round Table; and naturally so, for these men were, in another age, and upon another battle- ground, as brave and chivalrous as the shining knights 288 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA who followed King Arthur. The epitaph engraved upon the tomb of Joseph E. Cox, of Chesterfield county, one of their number, epitomizes the lives of his comrades: " Born a gentleman, bred a scholar, and died a Christian soldier." We shall confine our references to a few of his companions in arms who seem to typify, with most fidelity, the character and the spirit of that glorious com- pany of youthful paladins and martyrs.1 VI. Paladins and Martyrs Dabney Carr Harrison was sprung from a family of great distinction, which had been associated with the soil of Virginia from the earliest colonial era. Even in childhood, he was remarkable for his knowledge. At nine years of age, he had read Hume's History of England from its beginning to its conclusion; and was so far advanced in his studies by fifteen, that he was able to enter the sophomore class at Princeton University. After a course in the School of Law at the University of Virginia, spread over two years, he returned to Martins- burg, in Jefferson county, where the members of his im- mediate family were residing. At this time, when he stood upon the threshold of his majority, he is said to have possessed a countenance that was classical in feature, and serene and contemplative in expression; a nature that was at once frank, cordial, and fearless; and man- ners singularly gentle and refined. His disposition had always been softened by a profound but unobtrusive piety; and he soon came to the decision that the ministry of the gospel was to be his real vocation in life. At twenty-seven years of age, Harrison was stationed at the University of Virginia as the chaplain of the insti- 1 Rev. John Johnson's Memorial Volume reflects more faithfully than any other book known to us the burning spirit of patriotism which ani- mated the Confederate soldier, whether officer or private. THE WAR, 1861-1865 289 tution. His incumbency was marked by the establish- ment of the Young Men's Christian Association, and by a revival of religious feeling, that was largely attribut- able to his own saintly example, untiring zeal, and bound- less sympathy, in responding to every call for spiritual assistance. He appeared like a youthful apostle re- turned to life from the infancy of the Christian faith, with a spirit touched with the primitive simplicity and devotion that glorified that younger age. " I never knew him," said an intimate friend of these years, " to neglect a duty or even to postpone one. He was always faith- ful to his country, and faithful to his God." ' Who that heard his last prayer amongst us," exclaims Dr. McGuffey, " can ever forget the man or his manner as he stood in the pastor's pew in front of the pulpit at the close of the sermon (by another), and pleaded with God for his country and the enemies of that country." The war had now begun, and in a short time, the news arrived that two of his cousins, men of brilliant promise and graduates of the University, Holmes and Tucker Conrad, of Winchester, had been killed. Then followed the announcement that a third cousin, Carter H. Harri- son, had fallen, then that his own brother also had per- ished. " I must take his place," was his quiet response to this last fateful message. After he had participated in the tumult of the actual battlefield, he said, with that instinctive courage, and that impulsive charity, which were combined in his nature in equal proportions, " I can fight for my country, but I cannot hate my enemy." Promoted to a captaincy as a reward for his fidelity and intelligence in the discharge of the military duties as- signed him, he took quick advantage of every opening to administer as pastor to the spiritual wants of his sol- diers. " While in camp in Richmond," we are told by 290 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Dr. Hoge, " he moved about as one whose superiority was tacitly acknowledged without exciting ill-will or envy ; and when he left us, he was regretted as one whose place was not to be filled again." The men of his com- pany detected in his character the purity of womanhood blended with the valor of manhood; and he is said to have given them, in his example, an impression of the power and sweetness of religious principles far deeper than any they had previously experienced. " You ought to be braver than the rest of us," remarked an officer to him, who had observed his perfect self-possession on the field of battle. "Why so?" was the response. "Be- cause you have everything settled for eternity. Because you have nothing to fear after death." It was asserted of him by the troops that served under him, that he never gave them the order " go on." It was invariably, when they were about to advance against the enemy, "come on." His commands were always delivered from in front of them; never from behind them. He fell at last shot through the lung, after three bullets had passed through his hat, and one across his temple, leaving a bloody streak in its course. " I die content and happy," he said not long before he expired, " trusting in the merits of my Saviour, Jesus Christ. I commit my wife and children to their Father and mine." A short feverish sleep preceded his last breath. " Com- pany K," he cried out, starting up in his bed, " you have no captain now, but never give up, never surrender." " A gentleman, a scholar," was the comment of the Rev. J. M. Atkinson, his associate in the ministry, when told of his death, " a martyr to his conscientious conviction of public duty and uncalculating devotion to his country. Among the deified heroes of ancient song, in the golden record of Grecian fame, in the stirring chronicle of the THE WAR, 1861-1865 291 mediaeval knighthood, in the ranks of war, in the halls of learning, in the temple of religion, a nobler name is not registered than his, nor a nobler spirit mourned." Randolph Fairfax, the grandson of the ninth Baron Fairfax, of Cameron, was sprung from a family which had been conspicuous in England and America through eight centuries, — representatives of its various branches had won distinction at the council-table, in the camp, on the bench, and in the church. Through his mother, a descendant of Archibald Gary, he was a near kinsman of the Randolphs, Lees, and Carters, and other eminent families long associated with the social and political his- tory of the State. When the war began, he was a stu- dent at the University of Virginia, and joining the Rockbridge Artillery, was thrown, in its ranks, with many of the bravest and noblest spirits that entered the Confederate armies, young men of remarkable talents, of finished education, and of the highest social station. In the long interval between March and December, 1862, — during which time there occurred a succession of des- perate campaigns, — he never asked for a furlough, and was very rarely off duty. The searching trials, in the form of the almost unprecedented perils and privations which he was called upon to pass through, left his spirit serene and unshaken. His comrades spoke of him as the model soldier, " because he was scrupulously exact in the discharge of every order, exemplary in his endur- ance of hardship, brave, self-possessed, and efficient in action." " Morally, I have not known his superior, and intel- lectually he was one of the first young men of his day," was the tribute of the Rev. J. P. McGuire, his former teacher. " A faithful soldier of his country and of his God," said Kinloch Nelson, a comrade, who was him- 292 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA self the personification of the Christian warrior, " modest in manners, unselfish in disposition, never swerving from the path of duty. In many situations, I have seen him tested, and in all he evinced the same heroism." " If there was one trait in him more striking than others," we are told by Berkeley Minor, another comrade, " it was his calm, earnest, trustful demeanor in time of bat- tle, resulting, as I believe, from his abiding trust in the providence and love of God." " I have never known a young man," said Colonel Poague, " whose life was so free from the frailties of human nature, and whose char- acter in all its aspects formed so faultless a model for the imitation of others." And General Lee himself, who must have witnessed ten thousand acts of gallantry and self-sacrifice performed by his soldiers on the battle- field, wrote to the stricken father, when he heard of the son's death, " I have watched his conduct from the com- mencement of the war, and have pointed with pride to the patriotism, self-denial, and manliness of character he has exhibited." In all that splendid roll of youthful martyrs, there was not one who exemplified more fully than Lewis M. Coleman did the brief and simple but noble legend upon the tomb of Joseph Cox, which we have already quoted : " Born a gentleman, bred a scholar, and died a Christian soldier." He was sprung from the family which num- bered in its membership the most distinguished head- master in the history of Virginia, Frederick W. Coleman ; and he himself exhibited, almost from childhood, the tastes of an acquisitive and discriminating scholar. When he went up to the University of Virginia in 1844, still a youth in years, he was so thoroughly prepared for his new classes, his habits of application were so matured and so fixed, his enthusiasm for every branch of academic THE WAR, 1861-1865 293 knowledge was so consuming, that he took at once a position in the very first rank of his fellows. He closed his career in those halls as a master of arts. We have already described the extraordinary value of his educa- tional work as principal of Hanover Academy, the reward of which was his appointment to the vacant chair of Gessner Harrison. As our previous narrative has re- vealed, Harrison was the most famous teacher of the ancient languages of his day in the South, and no higher professional compliment could have been paid his former pupil than to single him out as the proper successor of so great an instructor. Coleman had been trained in the school of the straight- est states-rights, but it was not alarm for the safety of these principles, but rather resentment at the invasion of his native commonwealth, which prompted him to resign his professorship and enter the army. He was elected to the captaincy of a company raised by his own energy; and soon showing himself to be an expert in drill, and in the science of artillery also, to which arm of the service he belonged, and exhibiting too an unusual capacity to control and direct men, he was advanced to a majority, after he had passed without a scratch through two of the most sanguinary campaigns of the war. When the Army of Northern Virginia was reorganized in 1862, the opportunity to go back to his former duties at the University was again open to him, but he refused to leave his post, and, in the end, died of a wound re- ceived in one of the assaults during the battle of Freder- icksburg. As he lay on his last bed, he said, in a mo- ment of transient hopefulness, that, should he recover, he would at once take his station again at the front with his surviving comrades. In becoming a soldier, Coleman had brushed to one 294 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA side all the alluring things to which his heart was de- voted,— books, kindred, friends, family, home. ' With- out compulsion or persuasion," it was said of him at the time, " he embraced a life of hardship, toil, want, and danger, alike uncongenial with his habits and unsuited to his tastes. No ardor for military glory urged him to this course; no desire to win the applause of men; but simply the sense of duty, which actuated him throughout life. Neither the solicitations of friends, nor the sorrow of separation from his beloved home and family, nor hardship, nor sickness, nor wounds, nor death, had power to shake the settled purpose of his soul." Throughout his military service, he never omitted, as each Sunday came around, to call the members of his command to- gether for religious worship, and his last words were, " Tell General Lee and General Jackson that they know how Christian soldiers can fight. I wish they could see now how a Christian soldier can die." Cotesworth Pinckney Seabrook, of South Carolina, a student of 1860, was, in the memory of all who had known him, as inspiring a figure as Coleman. " He seemed raised up from among the mediaeval dead and set in the midst of us," said W. Gordon McCabe, his companion in college and comrade in arms, " to give proof that the spirit of knightly courtesy, constancy, and valor had not departed from our times." All these high qualities had been inherited from an ancestry which em- braced a distinguished roll of names, among which were those of Governor Seabrook and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, of the Revolution. During his sojourn as a student at the Universty of Virginia, he showed a vivid interest in the spiritual welfare of the rude mountaineers, and, every Sunday, was in the habit of walking many miles to conduct religious services for their benefit. THE WAR, 1861-1865 295 Even during this early period of life, he was remarkable for his gentle humor and exquisite sensibility. Promptly, when the telegraph announced that his native State had voted to withdraw from the Union, he decided to return to Charleston and volunteer as a soldier. The night be- fore his departure, his college mates hastened to his room, and joining hands, sang Auld Lang Syne with all the impulsive loyalty and fervor of their years. " Not one of those who stood within that circle," says Colonel McCabe, " failed to serve his country in arms. Not a few of the brave young hearts then beating strong with health and hope, and all the joyous valor of youth were soon to be stilled on the field of battle." But before that fate overtook Seabrook, he had many opportunities of drinking deeply of all the perilous de- lights of the warrior. " We had the satisfaction," he wrote after first Cold Harbour, " of charging through grape, canister, and bullets for half a mile." He spoke of it, like the great Admiral Nelson, as if it were some pleasant pastime that had suddenly and unexpectedly fallen in his way. Frayser's Farm, Malvern Hill, Cedar Mountain, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericks- burg, — he fought upon all these fields ; and wherever the flying shots were thickest and the affray bloodiest, there his youthful figure was to be descried, his spirit still as full of " satisfaction " as it had been in the midst of the rush and roar of Cold Harbour. " Have no fear for me," he wrote his mother, " for I have no fear for my- self. My trust in God is always strong enough in such circumstances as these to keep me cool and confident." The following day, — the day of Chancellorsville, — he was struck down ; and at his burial, the entire regiment assembled to honor his memory by their presence. Wrapped around with his soldier's blanket, his body 296 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA was committed to the ground on the spot where he was killed. His gay humor had never flagged under hard- ships and privations; and his smile seemed only to grow more radiant and more care-free, the more deadly the perils of shot and shell which surrounded him. Thus passed away a warrior, who, to his lamenting comrades, represented the rarest union, as one of them said, " of gentle and soldierly virtue, humble piety, splendid courage, unstained purity, and complete self-abnegation." John Morris was admitted to the University in 1858, and would have won the degree of master of arts had not the war interrupted his studies. He was soon en- rolled in the Goochland Artillery; and having been ap- pointed sergeant, took charge of a gun. Not a thought, not an aspiration, of the man but was embarked in the success of the cause; and it was said of him that he was as anxiously interested as the captain in increasing the efficiency of his company. His devotion to his gun was as personal as if it had been a sentient and conscious thing. The expertness which he exhibited in manipulat- ing it, and his perfect equanimity when under fire, aroused the admiration and riveted the confidence of his officers from the start. The only complaint made of his con- duct was that he was too indifferent to his own safety. As a reward for his skill, tenacity, and bravery, he was advanced to a captaincy; but he refused to accept this higher station, — he was now lieutenant of ordnance, — on the ground that it would compel him to remain too far in the rear while his men were fighting hand to hand in front. His insensibility to danger so often seemed so rash and so unnecessary, that his comrades, in their solic- itude for his life, remonstrated with him; but he re- fused to listen. When he heard the first roar of the guns at Gettysburg, he hastened towards the advance line. THE WAR, 1861-1865 297 " Passing the hill upon which some officers were stand- ing, and which commanded a view of the whole field," says one of his fellow-soldiers, " he inquired of me for Pegram's battalion of artillery (of which he was the ordnance officer). Pointing out its position, I again referred to his useless risking of his life. He made no reply, but putting spurs to his horse, his erect and grace- ful form soon disappeared, and was lost in the smoke and tumult of battle. Half an hour later he was killed." William Fauntleroy Cocke, of Oakland, Cumberland county, Virginia, — an estate which had descended in his family unbrokenly from the original grant from the King, — was a grandson of Edmund Randolph, Secretary of State in Washington's cabinet, and a near kinsman of General John Hartwell Cocke. The spirit of his child- hood and youth was colored and moulded by the tradi- tions, habits, and convictions that prevailed in the typical plantation home of his native State in the era of slavery. Oakland offered a completely rounded picture of all the finer feudal aspects of the old regime of the South, — a large and devoted domestic circle, several hundred slaves, a broad expanse of acres, abundance, ease, culture and hospitality unbounded. Cocke, while still a boy, became an expert in the numerous sports and accomplishments of the country gentleman of that day, — was a fearless rider, a tireless angler, and an unerring shot. But these amusements did not divert his mind altogether from his serious studies, — it was asserted of him that Virgil, Xenophon, and Euclid even then divided his hours with horses, dogs, guns, and fishing rods. So vigorous was his frame, and so firm were his mus- cles, in consequence of these previous exercises in the open air, that, during his studentship at the University of Virginia, he possessed the reputation of being the strongest man within the precincts, although his competi- tors were at least five hundred in number. No harsh or rude expression to either child or servant, it was stated of him at this time, could be recalled by anyone who knew him. No college mate could justly accuse him of an act of injustice, or impropriety, or even of ordinary thoughtlessness. No professor had ever to reprove him for any failure in study, — for he never failed, — and yet he moved about among his comrades as light- hearted, as genial, as free from any conscious preten- sion to goodness, as the most popular leader in the never- ending frolics of college life. He was among the fore- most in every branch of sport which was then open to the students' enjoyment; and at the same time, he shirked none of the obligations of the lecture-room. Indeed, so successful was he with his text-books that he gradu- ated in the four separate courses, upon the acquisition of which he had concentrated his powers during his single collegiate year. Returning to Oakland, Cocke entered at once upon the duties of a planter's life. The owner of an ancestral home, the master of many slaves, the proprietor of far- spreading fields and woods, he responded, with all his remarkable energy and intelligence, to the practical re- quirements of his station. But yet he never suffered his taste for classical literature to grow rusty by neglect. It was said of him that he never mounted his horse in the morning to ride over his farm in order to superin- tend the operations of his servants without first slipping a volume of Virgil or Horace or Ovid in his coat- pocket to read by the way. It is even intimated that he would sometimes become so absorbed in the Odyssey as to be oblivious of the fact for the moment that his over- seer was impatiently awaiting his coming for the day's THE WAR, 1861-1865 299 instructions; and it was even asserted that the wit of Aristophanes had been known to make him indifferent, for the time being, to his black foreman's sage prognosti- cations upon the crops or the weather. When war was declared, this young man was in the possession of every gift which a benignant fairy could bestow; an honorable family name, a beautiful inherited home, a broad domain, troops of loyal and contented bondsmen, youth, health, culture, independence, popular esteem, — all were his in abundance. Without hesita- tion, without reluctance, without apparently a natural sigh in looking back upon all that he was to leave behind, he entered the army as an unassuming soldier in the regu- lar line. Although he might have aspired to rank, he, in his modesty and self-forgetfulness, asked no favor of his fellow-soldiers, but took his place quietly among them, equally the comrade of those who filled the most con- spicuous social position in the community and of those who occupied the humblest. The landed proprietor, the overseer, the blacksmith, the carpenter, every difference in social station was swallowed up as they shouldered their muskets and marched side to side to resist the in- vading enemy, gallant brothers all in their sublime devo- tion to the Southern cause. There was no form of hardship, no variety of priva- tion, which the gently-nurtured, highly-educated Cocke was not ready to undergo with a smile that never lost its bright spontaneity. It was said of him that no man, however brawny of arm and hardened to gross manual labor, could, in digging trenches, make the dirt fly with more energy than he. He led the stalwart line here as he had led it in the athletic field at college. In the midst of the rough incidents of camp life, and the impend- ing perils of skirmish and battle, he never lost that bear- 300 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA ing of exquisite courtesy, that spirit of unaffected ben- evolence, which had distinguished his conduct in times of peace. In the fight at Williamsburg, a portion of a shell struck his hat from his head. So tattered became his shoes from the roughest tramping, that, by the time he joined his regiment in Richmond, his feet could be seen through the holes. Injured severely in the knee at Second Manassas, he was only able to hobble about dur- ing several months, which interval he spent at home. While passing his last days there, he became a member of the church, and from this time until his death, a copy of the Greek Testament, which he constantly read, was carried upon his person. His comrades at the front used the occasion of his absence to elect him a lieuten- ant of their company, — a promotion which they knew he would have refused had he been present at the meet- ing. Before the lameness that resulted from his wound had been cured, he reported again for duty. He took part in all the battles and marches that followed the month of January, 1863, and in the end, perished in the holocaust of Pickett's charge at Gettysburg. VII. Paladins and Martyrs, Continued William T. Haskell, of South Carolina, was the grandson of an officer who had received the formal thanks of Congress for his brilliant participation in the resist- ance to the British when they invaded that State during the Revolution. So soon as the passage of the ordi- nance of secession at Columbia was reported by telegraph to the University of Virginia, young Haskell, like Sea- brook, dropped his books and hurried to Charleston to join the forces which were already concentrating for the defense of that city. He was quickly commissioned a captain in the regiment of Colonel Gregg, which com- THE WAR, 1861-1865 301 prised many members of the historic families of the State. The subordinate officers of his own company, for instance, were Lieutenants John G. Barnwell, Grimke Rhett, and Pinckney Seabrook, youthful paladins through whose veins coursed the blood that had descended from generations of men distinguished by their services to the commonwealth. It was said of Haskell that, from this time forward, he displayed his heroic qualities as conspicuously in en- during all the horrors of hunger and cold as in confront- ing the advancing ranks of the enemy. It was no rare experience for him, — so constantly did he expose his person, — to have his clothes perforated by bullets, his cap knocked from his head by a flying ball, his sword battered by a fragment of shell. His skill, his boldness, his perfect imperturbability in the midst of peril, led to his promotion to the command of a battalion of sharp- shooters. Through a succession of great battles he passed unscathed, although, during their progress, he had been posted at the most dangerous points. Cold Har- bor, Manassas, and Chancellorsville, — all left him with- out a scar; but, like Cocke, he fell at last at Gettysburg, where he had serenely brought himself under the hottest fire on the front line while engaged in choosing the most favorable strategic spot for his troops to occupy. The mail that carried the news of his death to his mother, also carried to her the announcement of the death of another son, and of her brother, Langdon Cheves. It was no- ticed that Haskell was one of the first to administer at the bedside of the wounded. " He brought into the dreary hospital," we are told, " the tenderness of a woman, and with a touch like hers, softened the hard pallet to the sick. His actions were animated by Chris- tian principles and illuminated by Christian faith." 302 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA William B. Newton, acting Colonel of the Fourth Vir- ginia Cavalry, was a grandson of Judge William Brock- enbrough, of the Court of Appeals. After his gradua- tion at the University of Virginia, he became a member of the bar of Hanover county, and at once took a very high rank in his profession. Even as a young practitioner, he was remarkable for legal acumen, for clear and vigor- ous eloquence, and for brilliant powers of wit, humor, and satire. A keen intellect, combined with firmness of character, goodness of heart, and purity of morals, won for him such popular esteem, that, in 1859, ^e was elected to the General Assembly without a ballot being cast in opposition to his candidacy. At this time, the fundamental interests of his life were not limited to law and politics, — he displayed a decided taste also for agricultural experiments. He found too an unceasing enjoyment in literature, and contributed frequently to periodicals and newspapers of standing. It was very generally acknowledged, in spite of his youth, that he was the most talented citizen of the State; and this repu- tation he sustained by an address which he delivered in the Legislature, during the session of 1859-60, on a reso- lution to place the Commonwealth at once in the posture of self-defense ; and by a speech at Hanover Court-House, after the election of Lincoln, on the now disturbed out- look for the whole country. When a cavalry company was organized in the county a short time after the adoption of the ordinance of seces- sion by the Virginia Convention, Newton was elected to the first lieutenancy. At the time of the reorganization of the army in 1862, he was the most popular member of his regiment, and, had he so chosen, could have sup- planted anyone of his superior officers by election. He positively refused to accept any promotion, unless ad- THE WAR, 1861-1865 303 judged to him for meritorious conduct on the battlefield. He did this in order to set an example which he con- sidered essential to the success of the cause. Captured at Williamsburg, he reported to the colonel of his regi- ment on the second day after his release. When he was chosen captain of his company, he was requested to take position in front of his men, now drawn up in line. So soon as he had done so, a sergeant, leading a superb horse, fully equipped, advanced to the spot where he was standing. The animal was then formally presented to him, and the gift was accompanied by a speech from a chosen spokesman expressive of the esteem and affection in which he was held by his comrades. From that gratifying hour, Newton's life was passed in the midst of fighting until the end. Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, — wherever the cavalry of the two opposing armies clashed, there he was to be found; and through it all, so bravely did he act on the battlefield, so courteously and uprightly did he bear him- self in the camp, that he was called the Chevalier Bayard of his division. His company always rode at the head of the column; and he at the head of his company, — now boldly attacking the enemy in one quarter, now firmly repelling him in another. He fell on the Rapidan as he was leading his soldiers; and the Governor of the State sent a special message to the General As- sembly, which lauded his gallantry and his virtues, and lamented his death as a public loss. William Wellford Randolph was sprung from stock that had long occupied a position of social and political distinction in his native State. As a member of the Nelson Rifles, he took part at First Manassas in the capture of the Henry House, the key to the battlefield, which, in the end, threw the victory to the side of the 304 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Confederate army. He was chosen the captain of his company under remarkable circumstances. He had boldly rescued a slave who had fallen into the hands of a couple of bullies. These men, when Randolph's name was brought up for election, endeavored to discredit him by saying, with a sneer, that he had taken a black man's part against a white man's. Standing in front of his company, Randolph gave the reasons that had caused him to interfere, and branding all statements to the contrary as lies, challenged the negro's principal oppressor to a duel. He was elected to the captaincy by a unanimous vote. Through all the great battles which followed, — the Valley campaign, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Get- tysburg, the Wilderness, — he passed unharmed, but with an ever growing reputation for courage. It was not many months before he won the extraordinary distinc- tion of being called " the intrepid Randolph " in an army that numbered such a host of gallant soldiers as the Army of Northern Virginia. Fear was an emotion that was foreign to his breast, and he was pointed out by the troops as the officer with the charmed life, for no mat- ter how often he exposed his person, no bullet found lodgment in his body. At Gettysburg, so hot was the fire at one time, that his men took temporary refuge be- hind their breastworks. The enemy were just forming in ranks for a charge. Leaping out on top of the em- bankment, Randolph walked backwards and forwards, waving his sword and crying out to his soldiers to fol- low his example. They clambered up from the trenches, delivered a volley into the mass of advancing Federals, and then rushing towards them with the wild rebel yell, drove them back in confusion. Throughout his military career, — which ended at the THE WAR, 1861-1865 305 Wilderness, after his promotion to the colonelcy of his regiment, which had already lost three commanders, — Randolph seems to have been inspired with the primi- tive piety and the sublime courage of Chinese Gordon. Always on the front line in battle, leading and animat- ing his men, he breathed his last, after cheerfully utter- ing the grand words worthy of the hero who perished at the fall of Khartoum, " Jesus can receive the soul of the warrior from the battlefield as well as from the softest couch." x Leonard A. Henderson, of North Carolina, was killed before her had passed his twenty-third year. He be- longed to a family that had furnished a long roll of famous lawyers, statesmen, and teachers to the service of his native commonwealth. Returning to the Uni- versity of Virginia with his company from the excursion to Harper's Ferry, in 1861, he, just as soon as it was disbanded, hurried off to Wilmington, where he was mus- tered in as a private soldier. He had asked his father with great earnestness to solicit no promotion for him, as his preference was for the line. " I left college," he said, " not to seek office, but to defend the old North State." When Plymouth was stormed, he was one of the three officers, — for he was advanced, in spite of his protest, — who led the column. Wounded in the thigh, later in the war, at Drury's Bluff, he refused to retire to the rear, but partially disabled in limb as he was, and enfeebled by loss of blood, he insisted on remaining at the head of his soldiers. Before he had fully recovered, he was, at his persistent request, placed in command of fifty skirmishers. On one occasion, the whole line of sharpshooters were ordered to go forward, but by some xThis utterance recalls the last words of Sir Humphrey Gilbert as he went down in the Squirrel off the coast of Newfoundland : " It is as near to Heaven by sea as it is by land." 306 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA error of the officer bringing the order, Captain Hender- son alone received it. Forming his company at once, and without support, he led it in a charge upon the enemy's rifle pits, and carried them, although the foe had en- deavored to halt his men by a fire directed simultane- ously from in front and from either flank. William J. Pegram was a member of the University law school in 1860, and, at that time, was nineteen years of age. He became, as we have already stated, an officer in one of the University companies; but his active service began with his election to a lieutenancy in the Purcell Battery, which was constantly engaged from first Manassas down to the defense of Petersburg. Dur- ing all this interval of fighting and marching, Pegram was enrolled in its membership. " With such an executive officer," said Lindsay Walker, its captain, u command- ing a battery, — which is one of the most troublesome things in the world, — becomes a pleasure." After Walker's promotion, Pegram was chosen captain, to succeed him. At Mechanicsville, he was brought under the fusillade of a large body of infantry and the con- verging broadsides of six gun batteries at the same mo- ment; but he held his ground long after night had fallen, although four of his own field-pieces had been shattered, half of his artillery horses struck dead, and two of his officers wounded. Fifty of his cannoneers had either been killed or disabled. Shortened as he was in men and guns, — for only two guns remained in use, — he earn- estly asked General Hill for permission to lead the ad- vance. His battery, throughout the Seven Days' Battles, was to be found in the centre of the affray; and so conspicu- ous did he become for gallantry and efficiency that his reputation spread throughout the army. " He blushed THE WAR, 1861-1865 307 painfully," a comrade said of him, " whenever anyone spoke of his exploits." " This is simply disgusting," was his comment upon a laudatory paragraph about himself which he read in the newspapers. " Every man at the front will be laughing at it." At Cedar Mountain, he pushed his guns to a point barely eighty yards from the enemy's first line. " Pitch in, boys," he called out to his men, " General Jackson is looking at you." Eighteen Federal field-pieces had concentrated their balls upon him, but he was immovable ; and it was not until ten at night that he fired his last round. At Sharpsburg, his bugler was wounded and disabled, but Pegram soon learned to sound the call himself. At Fredericksburg, the cord of his bugle, as it hung from his shoulder, was shattered by the fragment of a shell, and the bugle fell to the ground. He coolly dismounted, in spite of his exposure to a galling fire, quietly picked it up, and remounted as leisurely as if he were on parade. He had been reared in an atmosphere in which religion was reverenced. While resting in winter-quarters be- fore the battle of Chancellorsville, he was instrumental in building a rude log chapel, and here, at the services, he was to be seen seated in the midst of his men, and singing from a hymn book shared with some private, from whom he had always exacted the observance of the strictest discipline. At Chancellorsville, owing to the great number of officers disabled, he found himself in command of sixty guns. " The stern joy of that fight," we are told by his biographer, Colonel McCabe, one of his closest comrades in battle and camp, " never faded from his mind." "What day do you count your happiest, Colonel?" he was afterwards asked. " Oh," said he, " the day I had sixty guns under me at Chancellorsville galloping down 308 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA the turnpike after Hooker and his people." He rose from his bed, before recovering from a fever, to join his regiment. " General Hill," said General Lee, " I have good news for you. Major Pegram is up." " Yes," replied Hill, " that is good news." At Gettysburg, eighty horses harnessed to his batteries were killed. During the following winter, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and from the opening of the campaign of the Wilderness down to March 25, 1865, it is stated that hardly a day went by that his person was not directly exposed to shot or shell. "As the struggle grew closer and more desperate," says Colonel McCabe, " his utter devotion to his God and to his country shone forth with such steady lustre as gave encouragement to many other brave hearts in that army." On September 30, 1864, a regiment stationed ahead of his command was pressed hard by the Federals and fell back. Pegram, seeing this, quickly rode forward through a breach in the line, snatched the colors from an ensign, and advanced with them straight into the face of the hostile troops. When he had gone about fifty yards beyond the Confederate line, he halted, and placing the flag staff at rest on his stirrup, he dropped his reins, and turning in the saddle, and waving his hat, cried out at the top of his voice, which rang out like a bugle across the intervening distance, " Follow me, men." " It was a scene never to be forgot," says his biographer. " With a rousing yell, the brigade advanced, and never after gave back a single inch. The color-bearer ran out to him with tears in his eyes. ' Give me back my colors, Colonel,' he cried, ' I'll carry them wherever you say.' ' Oh, I am sure of that,' he answered cheerily. ' It was necessary to let the whole line see the colors. That's the only reason I took them.' " THE WAR, 1861-1865 809 A rumor reached his ears that Virginia was to be abandoned. " I would rather die," he exclaimed when he heard it, " than to see her given up even for three months. But I will follow the battle flag wherever it may go." On the day that he was killed, being over- come with fatigue, he was sleeping among his guns, when a loud volley wakened him. Mounting into his saddle, he galloped down in front of the battle line to take posi- tion on the spot assigned him. As the long ranks of blue-coated soldiers advanced upon his guns, he called out, " Fire your canister now, men." It was the last order that he ever gave. He suddenly reeled in his sad- dle, and fell headlong to the ground. It was the death which he had always counted as the most honorable for mortals. Such were the military records of a few of the alumni of the University of Virginia, whose names we have se- lected, not because they were more patriotic, more cour- ageous, or more self-denying, in the course of the war, than their comrades, who also sacrificed their lives for the South, but because their devotion, their gallantry, and their hardihood, were conspicuously representative of the spirit which animated the whole body. Another list taken from the same shining volume, and chosen alto- gether at random, would have constituted a precisely sim- ilar roll of youthful paladins of the same noble temper. All those personal attributes that impart a romantic flavor to character, they possessed preeminently: they were in the earliest flush of their manhood; they had been ripened by the influences of cultivated ancestral homes; they had been trained in the midst of the most splendid traditions of scholarship ; they were drawn to the battle- field, not by ambition, not even by conscription in the be- ginning, but by an enthusiastic determination to defend 310 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA their native soil from invasion to the last gasp of their breath. There was no privation that they did not smil- ingly endure and there was no peril which they did not face with unshaken firmness. If they had ambition, it was subordinated to the serene supremacy of their sense of duty. They had the vigor of their right arms to give to the cause and they had also their lives to lay down for it. That strength they put forth without one thought of self, and those lives they poured out without one pang of regret. Although they perished in their youth, they had, in dying, apparently only the one sorrow: that they had not more that was precious to them to sacri- fice in the defense of the South. VIII. Fidelity of the Professors Although not liable to military summons, several of the professors were enrolled, at one time or another, in the service. Lewis M. Coleman, as we have seen, died of wounds received at Fredericksburg. " His place in the army may be filled," said the sorrowing Fac- ulty, in their memorial resolution, " but how shall the vacancy in our midst, which we expected him to resume, be supplied?" Gildersleeve dropped his study of the Peloponnesian and Punic wars to snuff gunpowder smoke and hear the guns roar on a real battlefield. As a mem- ber of the staff of General Gordon, in the last campaign in the Valley, he rode up and down in the shadow of the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies, and brought back to the quiet halls which he had deserted, a shattered leg as a permanent proof of his bravery and devotion. In- deed, he was crippled for life, like some veteran of Fabius who had striven to do his part towards driving the Carthaginian invader from his native soil. Professors Cabell and Davis, and Doctor Allan, the THE WAR, 1861-1865 311 demonstrator of anatomy, during many hours of each day, walked to the hospital at Charlottesville, and admin- istered faithfully and skilfully to the needs of the Con- federate wounded. Whatever money they received from the Confederate government for this employment of their time and experience was cheerfully deposited by them in the impoverished treasury of the University. Profes- sor Bledsoe was in attendance at one time in the War Department as assistant secretary, and was afterwards engaged in literary work for purposes of publicity. Hoi- combe occupied a seat in the Confederate Congress. Robert J. Massie, who had, for a time, filled Bledsoe's vacant chair, died while performing the duties of an engineer, for which he had been so fully equipped. Professor Schele, in the course of 1863, obtained the consent of the Board to visit Europe, to which he was to be sent on an important mission of the State Department; but events seem to have intervened to prevent his de- parture from Virginia. As early as May 27, 1861, the Visitors were sanguine that the professor of chemistry and the laboratory at the University could be made serviceable in the manufac- ture of fulminating powder for the charging of caps and fuses; and they formally offered to the Government at Richmond, for this purpose, all the appliances and ma- terials of that character then in the possession of the institution. This offer was accepted, and the Faculty were instructed to carry it into effect at once. There is no evidence, however, that the University turned out a large proportion of the articles of this nature which were used by the Confederate armies. During the same month, the Board decided that the hour had come when a school of military science should be established. The practical plans which Captain Mat- 312 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA thews, the military instructor of an earlier period, had been so solicitous to enforce, were now, under the in- fluence of actual hostilities, adopted. In the new school, the science of war in all its branches, and the principles of civil engineering, were to be taught; and the lectures and exercises were to be continued even during the interval of vacation. It was optional with a student to pursue both or only one of the two courses. It was probably expected by the Board that these new studies would, not only serve a useful purpose by giving a military train- ing, but also add to the depleted attendance of young men at the University. No instructor seems to have been elected to fill the chair, and it is possible that some of its duties were performed by the professor of mathematics. In September, 1861, it was spoken of as the provisional military school, and the receipts from it, — no doubt, in the form of matriculation fees, — at the beginning of that session, were two hundred and sixty-five dollars, which would indicate that the department of civil engineering at least had attracted pupils. It was, perhaps, under the general supervision of the officers who had charge of this military department, that the active training of sev- eral companies was carried on, during the summer of 1861. In the summer of 1862, the University buildings were converted into a military hospital by order of Dr. J. P. Smith, the Confederate Medical Inspector; and here were brought so large a number of the wounded, after the Battle of First Manassas, that not only were the dormitories on the Lawn and in the Ranges filled, but also the rooms in Dawson's Row, the apartments in the Rotunda, and the spacious public hall itself. In some instances, several patients occupied a single room. This occurred in a dormitory in Bachelor's Row. One of the THE WAR, 1861-1865 313 three wounded soldiers sheltered in this apartment was a Federal prisoner. " Hello," said a visitor who, so soon as he crossed the threshold, had noticed the blue uniform, "how did this Yankee get in here?" "Leave him alone," was the reply of his Confederate companions in misfortune, " we are brothers now through suffering." The attitude of the Board and Faculty towards this use of the buildings does not seem to have been in har- mony with the prevailing spirit of self-sacrifice. They protested to the Confederate Government against such an appropriation of the premises; they requested that the wounded should be removed; and they even went so far as to demand compensation for the damage which had been caused by the presence of so many disabled men. The explanation of this apparently unpatriotic conduct on their part is to be found in the almost fanati- cal anxiety of the University's authorities to keep the dor- mitories and lecture-halls always wide open to students. If the Confederate Government could convert the build- ings into a hospital after one battle, like First Manas- sas, they could do so after every battle which should follow, and there would be an irresistible temptation to continue such use of the rooms in the absence of con- venient hospital facilities. This use was, therefore, cer- tain to be repeated if the earliest instance of it was ac- cepted by the Board and Faculty as a condition to be submitted to cheerfully because a matter of course. During the summer of 1862, the presence of several hundred wounded in the dormitories seemed to put an end to the prospect of admitting students at the open- ing of the approaching session. Not only were all the rooms occupied, but the presence of the diseases that follow wounds was certain to leave behind the germs of danger to health, even if the apartments should be va- 314 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA cated in time for the matriculation of young men in Oc- tober. The members of the Board were as acutely in- terested in the success of the Confederate cause, and as quick to make personal sacrifices for its advancement as any equal number of citizens in the community; but they believed that the University buildings were not indispens- able to the medical department of the army, and they felt that it was their positive duty to preserve those build- ings for the exclusive purpose for which they had been erected. A resolution was adopted by the executive com- mittee in July, 1862, which declared that the welfare of all the people demanded that the institution should con- tinue its functions as freely in war as in peace; and the Faculty were instructed to advertise, that, in spite of the presence of the wounded within the precincts during the summer, the usual courses of instruction would be begun in the autumn. Twelve months afterwards, when the Board convened, every member of it registered his clear opinion that it would be unwise to close the University, however small might be the attendance at any time while hostilities were in progress. The Faculty had reached the same conclusion. " To have suspended the operations of the University," they said retrospectively, in 1865, " was to break up the organ- ization of the institution; to expose the public property to trespass and injury, and perhaps to destruction; and to jeopardize the maintenance of the peculiar plan and methods of instruction to which so much of the success and reputation of the institution had been due in the past." Influenced by these convictions, no less than by the advice and authority of the Board of Visitors, they remained at their posts in spite of the smallness of the number of stu- dents who were now able to resort to the lecture-rooms, and in the face of the severest sacrifices and privations, THE WAR, 1861-1865 815 — to which they were to be more and more exposed as the war should drag on to an end. The salaries which they received, owing to the steady fall in the purchasing power of the paper currency, failed to supply their fami- lies with a sufficient quantity of the necessaries of life, — indeed, they hardly possessed a comfort beyond what was afforded by their furnished pavilions; and even these were in a state of serious disrepair. They met their classes from day to day with as strict regard to the hour of convening, and with as scrupulous fidelity to the tenor of their duties, as if they still looked down upon long rows of attentive young faces, as in the happier times that prevailed before the war. As early as September, 1861, the Board of Visitors had declared, that, as the South was engaged in a strug- gle in which everything precious to its people was at stake, " every institution and every man should yield to every inconvenience and sacrifice required by the public ser- vice;" and that the form which the patriotism of the University and its remaining Faculty should assume was " the doubling up of the chairs." When Coleman with- drew to the army, the original School of Ancient Lan- guages was restored, and its combined duties were taken over by Gildersleeve, who was as fully competent to teach Latin as he was to teach Greek. During the ses- sion of 1863-4 and 1864—5, Smith, in addition to occupy- ing his regular professorship of natural philosophy, was also the incumbent of the professorship of mathematics. Minor once more assumed the entire task of instruction in the School of Law. Maupin, Howard, Cabell, Davis, McGuffey, and Holmes continued to deliver lectures in their usual courses. Down to January i, 1862, David K. Tuttle remained in charge of the department of prac- tical chemistry. Wertenbaker was still the secretary 316 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA of the Faculty, and R. R. Prentis, besides filling the of- fice of proctor, served as librarian after the retirement of Thomas B. Holcombe. William A. Pratt acted as superintendent of buildings and grounds until January i, 1862, and after an interval of one year's absence, dis- charged its duties until the close of the war. During the autumn of 1861, the Faculty convened on the first day of each month, and continued to do so, throughout the remainder of the session, down to June i, 1862. During that month, they assembled on three separate occasions; and they also came together once in July, and also once in September, once in November, and once in December. At each one of these meetings, not less than six members were present, and sometimes eight. In 1863, the Faculty convened at least once during every month of the twelve, except June and August. As Bled- soe returned to his chair temporarily in the spring of that year, the attendance rose to an average of eight. In 1864, the Faculty failed to assemble once a month only in August, September, October, and November. They met on three different occasions in May, and twice in July. There was now a regular attendance of at least seven professors. Gildersleeve, who was then serv- ing on General Gordon's staff, was absent from the meetings held after July, 1864. In 1865, before the close of hostilities in April, the Faculty convened on January 5, and March i and 6. On the latter date, the professors in attendance were Maupin, McGuffey, Howard, Smith, Davis, Cabell, Schele, and Minor. Throughout the entire course of the war, Professor Schele was absent from the Faculty table only on three occa- sions; Professor Howard only on two. Professor Mc- Guffey rarely allowed any cause to keep him away from his seat. THE WAR, 1861-1865 817 DC. Salaries of the Professors As early as 1862, a resolution of Franklin Minor brought up before the Board the question of restoring the method of remunerating the instructors which had prevailed under the original rules, and which Professor Minor, his relative, had so persistently advocated long before the war began, namely, that the head of each school should receive all the tuition fees which his pupils should deposit when matriculating. The Board declined to countenance this suggestion. In July, 1863, Colonel John B. Baldwin, one of its members, proposed that the University's income should be drawn upon first to de- fray the general expenses, and that the surplus should then be divided equally among the members of the Fac- ulty in settlement of their regular salaries. This ar- rangement, had it been adopted, would have made those salaries still more precarious. As it was, the emoluments of each professor, at this time, were calculated to be equal in purchasing-power to three hundred and nine- teen dollars in gold; and each month now was witnessing a further shrinkage in the value of the paper dollar as compared with the value of coin. The Board, very much disheartened, debated at this meeting whether they should not close the doors of the University for an in- definite period. The Faculty very naturally opposed the adoption of such an extreme course as this, while they flatly refused to approve the plan which made their salaries dependent on a contingency. They suggested, as a means of reducing the expenses, that the number of executive officers should be cut down until it was in pro- portion to the number of students; and they also urged that an appeal should be sent to the General Assembly for a more generous annual appropriation. 318 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA The hour was opportune for such a petition. The volume of Confederate currency at this time was regu- lated, not by a careful estimate of economic resources, — there were none more substantial than the phantasms of hope, — but by the ability of the government mill to manufacture paper. It was more easy for the treas- ury of the State to appropriate thirty thousand dollars now than it had been to appropriate fifteen thousand in an earlier and more stable era. On March 4, 1864, the General Assembly passed an act which assured to the University thereafter an annual sum of thirty-seven thousand, five hundred dollars; and it was also provided that each member of the Faculty should receive a sum not to exceed three thousand dollars, in addition to such fees as the Board should decide to allow him. The terms of the act were to continue in force as long as the war should last. The only condition imposed was, that all soldiers, whether privates or officers, who had been disabled, should be admitted to the University lecture- rooms without charge for instruction. The professors were very much encouraged by this prompt and generous response to their appeal, and as a new set of Visitors had been appointed, they decided, in compliance with the Board's request, to draw up a report on the subject of the salaries and fees and submit it to that body. The chairman of the committee named to draft this report was Professor Minor, and its tenor fully reflected the view which he had always expressed; namely, that the fees received from the students belonged, not to the University, but to the members of the Fac- ulty. It is not necessary to reiterate the substance of his argument in support of this opinion. The inter- esting feature of the report is that, although the war was not yet closed, and no prediction could be offered THE WAR, 1861-1865 819 as to the time when it would terminate, the authors of this document were deeply concerned about that tranquil future which lay far beyond the troubled present. " It could not be hoped," they remarked, " that more might be done, while the fighting was going on, than to keep the college in being. But we must gather up our ener- gies for a great effort when peace is restored." Now what was this " great effort " expected to over- come? First, that languor and inaptitude for literary pursuits which was almost certain to follow upon the entire lack of preparation for the higher seats of learn- ing that had resulted from conscription and the destruc- tion of the former academies; second, the popularity of military seminaries; and third, the determination of the lower institutions of the South to hold their students even after the young men should be sufficiently equipped to enter the higher. Although it would have been pre- sumed that the spur of all these obstacles to success would have been enough to confirm their own and their colleagues' resolution to maintain the primacy of the University of Virginia, yet the committee thought that the engrossment of all the fees for their private enjoy- ment was also needed to stimulate them to extraordinary exertion in order to secure the dominance of their own institution. The Board, they declared, should return to the old principle of remuneration without delay, — with this modification only, that there should be no assess- ment up to two thousand dollars of the income of each school from tuition fees; but on the third thousand, there should be a levy of fifty per cent., and on the fourth, of seventy-five, for the benefit of the professors whose lectures should be slimly attended. It was clearly recognized by the committee that the general interests of the University, apart from the emolu- 320 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA ments of the professors, must also be considered. How was it possible to cover up the deficiency which would in- evitably be created by the withdrawal of that surplus from the tuition fees upon which the institution had so long and so safely relied? By imposing heavier charges upon the students. This, the committee said, could be done by increasing the rents of the dormitories and hotels, the matriculation fee, the library fee, the public room fee, and the diploma fee. The duties of the offices of proctor and superintendent of buildings and grounds should be united and discharged by one man. The pro- fessors should pay all the expenses to be entailed by advertisements and the printing of catalogues; and they should also be liable for the wages of the janitor, for the cost of lighting the precincts, and even for the salaries of such tutors as the expansion of the schools might call for. But the committee was not satisfied with the proposal that the professors should be made the financial partners of the institution, — they also suggested that no question should be decided by the Board without first receiving the Faculty's views, and that the Board should practically abandon the exercise of their executive functions to that body and its chairman. The Visitors, probably dis- couraged by the darkness of the times, — they assembled in May, 1864, — and not looking quite so far into the future as the committee, adopted the latter's scheme in the main. This act, as we shall see, arose to plague a new Board when the War had ended and the incomes of the professors who lectured to large classes were mount- ing to a point inconsistent with the financial needs of the institution. It was then repealed, just as the original provision was repealed after 1850, when the tide of pros- THE WAR, 1861-1865 321 perity in the world outside had begun to be reflected in the condition of the University of Virginia also. During the remaining year of the War, the Faculty derived no advantage from their committee's success in restoring the original scheme of remuneration. The average income, during the whole of the year 1864, did not exceed one hundred dollars in value. Not one cent apparently was received by the professors in the in- terval between January I and July i, 1865. The fol- lowing table drawn up by them as a body shows the amount of their salaries for each year of the great con- flict. Face value in paper Real value in currency gold 1861-2 $1,392.24 $1,113.79 1862-3 1,274.10 318.82 1863-4 2,845.90 113.80 1864-5 ... 1,757-72 31-95 X. The Students The number of students who matriculated at the Uni- versity, during the course of the war, fluctuated but little from year to year. The attendance was as fol- lows: during the session of 1861—2, sixty-six were pres- ent; during the session of 1862—3, forty-six; of 1863- 64, fifty; and of 1864-5, fifty-five. Of the first sixty- six, sixteen only were passing through their second year, and three through their third; of the second forty-six, five were entered for their second year, and three for their third; of the third fifty, nine were in their second year and two in their third; and the proportion for the attendance in 1864-5, when forty-one students were pres- ent, was ten in their second year, and three in their 322 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA third. The total number of matriculates admitted dur- ing the four years of war was two hundred and seven- teen. Of these, forty reached their second year in their attendance; eleven, their third; three, their fourth. The regulation which required that the academic stu- dent should enroll his name in three schools at least was relaxed during the war. He seems to have entered as few or as many as he chose; now we find one attending the lectures on Greek or chemistry; now another, the lectures on Latin and mathematics. Sometimes a stu- dent would be satisfied to apply himself to Latin only, or moral philosophy, or anatomy, or natural philosophy, or chemistry, or history and literature. The entire num- ber of students entered in each school during the whole of this period was as follows : School of Latin 90 Department of Physiology School of Greek 50 and Surgery 53 School of Modern Lan- Department of Anatomy guages 76 and Materia Medica. ... 55 School af Mathematics .... 98 School of Moral Philosophy 19 School of Natural Philoso- School of History and Liter- phy 73 ature 20 Department of Medicine. . . 52 School of Law 31 The number of graduates from year to year was small. In 1862, there were only eight, and, in 1863, only fifteen. Several won the diploma of bachelor of laws and several the diploma of doctor of medicine, but no one remained long enough to win the degree of master of arts. One hundred and sixty-six of the two hundred and seventeen matriculates during the war were Virginians. The remainder were drawn from the other Southern States, with the exception of one who was enrolled from Canada, — doubtless, the son of a Confederate agent THE WAR, 1861-1865 323 stationed in that distant country. Of those admitted who had not yet taken, but were afterwards to take, an energetic part in the prevailing conflict, Joseph Bryan, William A. Anderson, and Robert E. Lee, Jr., may be mentioned. Among others present who were also to be- come men of prominence in after-life, were Micajah Woods, James N. Dunlop, John B. Whitehead, James L. Greenlee, W. M. Perkins, Philip P. Pendleton, Rob- ert L. Harrison, and J. J. Pretlow. George L. Chris- tian matriculated after receiving a wound so severe that he was incapacitated for performing further military ser- vice. We learn from a student who has published his recol- lections of these four years, that his companions com- prised " only a few boys and poor fellows who were dis- abled in their first battles, and who had to fit them- selves to be lawyers and teachers to make a living." And another witness, during these unhappy times, has spoken of the " pitiful array of boys of fifteen too young to enlist, and pale, wasted veterans of twenty, minus an arm or leg," who walked or stumped along the almost deserted arcades on their way to the almost empty lecture- rooms. Of those enrolled in the School of Law, during the session of 1864-5, there were four who had lost a leg in battle, and two, an arm. Four, in addition, bore on their bodies the scars of terrible wounds that had permanently crippled them. These ten made up three- fourths of the group who were sitting under Professor Minor. The matriculates who had not yet joined the army rarely passed, young as they were, more than twelve months in the University, — the next year found them private soldiers in the ranks, and exposed to all the dangers of the field. If they returned the third year, it 324 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA was because they had been so maimed by shot or shell, that they were no longer capable of rendering service to the Confederate cause. The Faculty perceived the need, in those impoverished times, of relaxing the rule that required a prompt pay- ment of the matriculation fee; and they also permitted a settlement graduated to the months or weeks of actual attendance. Some of the students who were refugees from homes situated within the Federal lines obtained the privilege of entering without the exaction of any fee at all at the moment. The right of gratuitous enroll- ment was still possessed by State scholars and candidates for the ministry. The number of the former had, by 1 86 1, sunk to two. Under the provisions of the enact- ment of March, 1864, young men who had been inca- pacitated by wounds were relieved of all charges for tuition, should they be able to show that they were lack- ing in the means to defray them. It is one of the interesting facts in the University's history during this arrested period, — a fact too which proves that the foremost aim of the Faculty was not to assure their own personal profit, but the continued mainte- nance of the institution as a working entity, — that the tuition fees were not increased as the purchasing power of the Confederate currency declined. Towards the end of the war, they would have been justified in demand- ing hundreds and even thousands of dollars where before a very modest sum would have been asked; but no change was made, in spite of the enormous advance in the prices of all the articles which the professors were compelled to buy for the support of their families. The only modi- fication in the charges for the lectures that was sug- gested was that they should be paid in the form of agri- cultural products, like corn and wheat, or in manufactured THE WAR, 1861-1865 325 products, like bacon, flour, and meal. The Board were of the opinion that this plan of exchange was practicable ; but they announced that no one desiring to enter the University should be excluded because he insisted on fol- lowing the normal rule of paying his fees in Confederate greenbacks. This was in August, 1864, when that cur- rency was already tending to sink to the valuation of mere paper. How to meet the charges for food was a far more perplexing question for the student to decide. Naturally, the boarding-house keepers, who had to make all their purchases in open market, were unwilling to overlook the fall in the value of the Confederate dollar. Their rates must follow the shrinkage, or they would be compelled to become bankrupts. Miss Mary Ross was the only hotel-keeper who held out until 1864, and she then an- nounced that she would be forced to advance her terms from one hundred dollars to one hundred and fifty by the month. A committee, composed of Professors Maupin and Davis, called upon her, with some solemnity and formality, to ascertain whether there was not at least one bill of fare which could be adopted that would stave off the threatened additional expense. She replied em- phatically, that, without this augmented charge, she would have to face the certain prospect of an increasing deficit, which she would be unable to make up. For the most graphic picture of the conditions that surrounded the student at the University, during the latter part of the war, we are indebted to George L. Christian, afterwards a lawyer and judge of distinction, and still surviving. Christian had been a gallant soldier, and at the Bloody Angle had lost one entire foot and the heel of the other, in the. storm of balls and shells which were fired by the two hostile lines at close quarters. He ma- 326 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA triculated along with three soldiers who had been maimed or severely wounded like himself. It was only by the use of crutches that he was able to walk; and all the clothing which he possessed he had brought with him from camp. It consisted of one suit, one blanket and one oil-cloth. A sum of money, amounting nominally to one hundred dol- lars, but, in reality, to two dollars and a half in gold, made up, with his monthly pay, — equal in value to thirty-five cents, — the entire extent of his financial resources. He had borrowed the one hundred dollars from a friend for the purpose of covering his most pressing expenses in en- tering the School of Law. Professor Minor received him with the tenderest con- sideration, and insisted upon his remaining under his roof until he could find a place of permanent shelter. Chris- tian, in the end, obtained the use of a dormitory at the rate of twenty dollars a month; but it was unfurnished; and there was, at the moment, no money left to be spent in the purchase of the few articles which he would need. His roommate was W. C. Holmes, of Mississippi, who had been so crippled in his right arm by a ball that he was unable to copy Professor Minor's notes from the blackboard. The two young men made an exchange of such of their respective physical powers as remained un- impaired,— Christian assisted Holmes in taking down the notes, and Holmes aided Christian in walking. Like Christian, Holmes still possessed his army blanket. At night, the two youthful heroes would make a bed for themselves by spreading Christian's blanket out on the floor, and then covering themselves up with the blanket which belonged to Holmes; and the floor continued to be their bed during the remainder of the session. These hardships aroused in them not the smallest feeling of sore- ness or discontent. "As we did not have to get up when THE WAR, 1861-1865 327 it rained to fetch our tents," said Christian, " or what was worse, were not awakened by the water running in under us, which we had so often experienced in the army, we deemed ourselves fortunate and slept soundly." They borrowed a basin from Professor Minor, until, with a re- newal of their limited funds, they were able to purchase one of their own. A blacking brush cost them six dollars in paper money, — a very reasonable price at that inflated hour. By hook or by crook, they contrived to procure two split-bottom chairs and also a small, rudely made pine- table to hold their books. Their only candlestick was an empty bottle. There was no other furniture, either for use or ornament, to be found in the room. Their fuel consisted of chestnut sticks supplied by the University. The fagots into which these were split, were disposed while burning, to pop with some violence, but as there was no carpet on the floor to be burnt, this charac- teristic was taken with philosophy. The two young sol- diers lighted their own fire in the morning, and replenished it themselves, from time to time, throughout the day. They swept their own floor; brought from the cistern the water which they needed for bathing; and cut their own wood to the proper lengths. As Christian lacked a foot and Holmes practically an arm, the wielding of the axe was accompanied with difficulties. Christian could only handle it successfully by leaning on his knee on the floor. Fortunately for his comfort in this attitude, a friend had presented him with some pieces of sheepskin, which he now used as pads. While he chopped away at the chestnut sticks, his friend would be sweeping the dust from the floor. As disabled soldiers, they were entitled to a small fixed quantity of rations from the Confederate commissary de- partment; and this they obtained once every fortnight 328 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA from the supplies collected at the Delavan Hospital in Charlottesville. Their only store-room was a large pine- box, which they kept in a corner of their dormitory. The food was neither abundant nor nourishing, but " as it was the best that our poor country had to offer," said Chris- tian, they accepted it with grateful feelings, and contrived by means of it to satisfy their appetites. They studied their text-books assiduously, sang the popular Confede- rate songs with fervor, and were not unhappy, in spite of their privations and hardships. " We knew," said Christian, " that we had done our duty to our country, and were then honestly striving as best we could to fit ourselves for the further struggles and duties of life, looking forward confidently to the time when our country would have won its independence, and be able to care for us when old age had rendered us unable to care for ourselves. We never dreamed for an instant that the just cause for which we had fought, and sacrificed so much, could by any possibility fail." XL Paralysis A complete paralysis fell upon most of the University's activities during the war. The Young Men's Christian Association, for instance, ceased to elect any officers. Its doors were closed. There was no chaplain. The de- bating societies sank into an unbroken silence. Two num- bers only of the University magazine were published. Although the library was still in use, no appropriation was made annually for additions to its collection of books. A committee appointed, in July, 1863, by the Board of Visitors to report upon its condition, stated that, at that time, the room and its contents were kept wih " neatness, system, and care " by the acting custodian, R. R. Prentis; and they recommended that the funds due it, under the THE WAR, 1861-1865 329 former regulation, should be paid just as soon as the state of the treasury should allow this to be done. The door should be left unlocked at least one hour in the course of each week. Towards the end of the war, neither the books nor the room were preserved with the same scrupu- lous fidelity to the existing rules as had been formerly noticed. Wertenbaker complained that, in summer, the great circular apartment became, from its remarkable coolness, a popular place of resort for the ladies of the professors' families, and the numerous refugees who had found an asylum in the vicinity of the precincts. These visitors failed very frequently to register the volumes which they were supposed to have borrowed from the University. Many of these volumes that contained costly engravings were irretrievably damaged by the neg- ligent manner In which they had been handled. In September, 1862, the duties of the superintendent of buildings and grounds were divided between the chair- man of the Faculty and the proctor, but the executive committee were empowered to fill the vacancy whenever the necessity for doing so should arise. Under this pro- vision, W. A. Pratt was, in 1863, reappointed, and he remained the incumbent of the position throughout the remainder of this period. His most difficult task, at one time, seemed to be to find the means of shutting all wan- dering cattle out of the Lawn, where they were tempted to browse by the growth of greensward. A disfiguring postfence was finally erected to prevent them from enter- ing. Serious damage was caused to the various build- ings by their use as a hospital. Many of the doors re- mained wide open after the soldiers were withdrawn; most of the window frames were removed; and the glass still remaining was smashed. The floor continued to be littered with straw. The trees and shrubs were scarred 330 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA or broken down. It was this shattered and disordered condition which led to the reappointment of Mr. Pratt, for it was seen that the services of a superintendent were indispensable. The Board decided, in 1864, that it would be an ad- vantage, from several points of view, to rent the larger structures. Not only could the income of the University be increased by this means, but the entire round of build- ings would be made safe from destructive trespass by their occupation by families who could be held responsi- ble for their preservation. The following were the monthly rates which were offered : twenty-five dollars for a hotel, fifteen dollars for a cottage in Dawson's Row, and one dollar for a dormitory. During all these years, a janitor remained in the employment of the University. His name was Martin Tracy; and after the war was ended, he said that he had, at one time or another, served in at least three additional capacities, — he had not only been the janitor, but also the tinsmith, the locksmith, and at intervals, the superintendent.1 1 In a letter to the Faculty applying for an increase in his salary, Tracy thus enumerated his varied and multitudinous duties: "I have to be up every morning before five o'clock a. m. to give out ice, and close the icehouse at six a. m. Then I have to open the icehouse again between seven and eight o'clock p. m., — I have to help Dr. Maupin his lecture days, and if any of his chemical apparatus is out of order or broken, I have to mend it; also I have to help Professor Smith at his lecture, and if his apparatus gets out of order, I have to fix it. I have to keep the big clock in order, and the clock in the chapel, and also one in Dr. Maupin's lecture-room. Also, I have to sharpen Dr. Cabell's surgical instruments and also Dr. Davis's. Also I have to be the plumber in stopping leaks in the pipes, or the hydrants, or changing a hydrant from one place to another. I put up, last winter, a new force pump in place of the old one that was broken by frost, which it would cost this University a great deal of money to get a machinist to put it up. I have to drive the engine once or twice a week to keep a supply of water in the tanks. And I have to mend all the locks and keys for each room. I have to show visitors through the public rooms, and have to help to put in glass in the windows and to help Mr. Wert- enbaker to fix the diplomas." THE WAR, 1861-1865 331 xii. The Federal Army Arrives While hostilities were going on, the University had, on several occasions, been threatened with incursions of the enemy. The Faculty on July, 1864, went so far as to ask the Board of Visitors to authorize them to remove the institution to a place of greater security whenever this should be made necessary by the approach of Federal raiders. At one time, there was reason to think that an attack would be launched from the East, and all the pro- fessors who were not either superannuated, or already engaged in fighting at the front, took part with the home- guard of boys and elderly men, with spade and shovel, in throwing up breastworks, beyond the Rivanna, at a spot which the foe would have to pass. This mixed contin- gent remained in the field during three days and nights, but returned without having seen the faces of the expected invaders. In March, 1865, the enemy, who had so often been ex- pected to come, actually arrived in the shadow of the Ro- tunda. There were numerous persons, who, remember- ing the burning of the barracks of the Virginia Military Institute by General Hunter, were apprehensive lest the pavilions, dormitories, and lecture-halls of the Univer- sity should be given over to the torch, applied either de- liberately by a military squad, or furtively by the hands of camp-followers seeking plunder. The Faculty decided that it would be wisest to appoint a committee, who should, in person, solicit of the Federal commander a promise to protect the buildings from his troops, if neces- sary, as well as from irresponsible marauders, who were the ones to be most feared. By March i, it was known, through Confederate scouts, that Sheridan was rapidly marching eastward, after dispersing Early's disorganized 382 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA forces in the Valley. It was thought that he would reach Charlottesville certainly by the morning of the 3rd; perhaps by the evening of the 2nd. Professors Maupin and Minor, and Colonel Preston, the rector, were au- thorized to meet him on the confines of the grounds. The morning of the 3rd dawned; the day drew on to ten o'clock; and yet the enemy had not been seen. In reality, the roads had been made so heavy by rain and the rivers had so overflowed their banks, that the prog- ress of the Federal troops had been delayed. Two Con- federate scouts rode by who said that they were going as close to the enemy as the positions still held by the Confederate pickets would allow. " I enjoined them," records Professor Minor in his diary, " to come by on their return and let me hear definitely what was the situ- ation. I can only await the result with a trust in the Divine Providence that has hitherto preserved me and mine. I betook myself to the boys' room to hear their lessons." One of the scouts entered the house, after a short interval of absence, and informed him that the vanguard of the Federal army would arrive within an hour at the furthest. By this time, a committee of the municipality of Charlottesville had hastened to the Uni- versity, and were ready to join with the Faculty's com- mittee in asking protection of the Federal commander from the depredations of stragglers and camp-followers. The two committees, grouped together near the site of the present Gothic chapel, quietly awaited his arrival. A flag of truce was held in hand by one of the party, to be waived so soon as it was likely to become visible to the enemy. The first of the Federal troops to be observed were scouts, who were seen making their way forward with extraordinary caution. They had then reached the spot THE WAR, 1861-1865 333 where the toll-gate formerly stood. Videttes were soon descried creeping up to every high position in the vicinity of the highway. When the Federal advance guard caught sight of the flag of truce, which was now held up to view, they cast off their distrustfulness of move- ment, and in a band of fifteen or more, put spurs to their horses, and with cocked pistols presented, galloped down into the little valley of the ice pond, and thence up the hill to where the members of the two committees were standing. Here they abruptly halted; and when they were asked to detail some of their number to pro- tect the University buildings, they answered that Gen- eral Custer would soon pass ; and that he would, no doubt, set the solicited guard. Having been told that the town had been evacuated by the Confederate forces, they started off again at a gallop in that direction, and all fur- ther parley with them came to an end. They had vanished only a few minutes when the ad- jutant-general of General Custer rode up, and in reply to the same request, courteously promised that the re- quired guard should be granted, and that private prop- erty would not be molested. Before this conversation had terminated, Custer himself arrived, his progress em- blazoned with the display of three Confederate battle- flags, which had been captured from Early's scattered and disheartened army. Two members of his staff left the line of march to assure the University committee that no damage to the buildings would be tolerated; and that a squad would be assigned to furnish the amplest pro- tection. Professors Minor and Maupin decided that it would be more prudent to accompany the town com- mittee to Charlottesville in order to obtain this squad in person; but as they were about to leave on their mis- sion, Minor observed a couple of soldiers desert the 334, HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA main road, and turn in towards the rear of his pavilion. He hastened towards his home, and as he entered the back-gate, was confronted by the two bluecoats, who had dismounted, and were talking with his wife, who had boldly stopped them. It seems that, when they first en- tered the lot, they had questioned the negro servants as to whether any silver plate was concealed on the premises, but they pretended to Mrs. Minor to be in search only of firearms. As soon as they were told that a guard was to be stationed on the grounds, the two men remounted their horses, and rode off. XIII. The University Under Guard When Maupin and Minor arrived at Charlottesville, they were informed that the main body of the Federal troops had continued their march to the Rivanna river for the purpose of setting the torch to the public bridge and the Woolen Mills, but that a guard had been dis- patched to the University to assure the safety of the build- ings and the professors' families. At first, this guard consisted of several men, but, by the afternoon, all, ex- cept one, had been ordered away. This man was posted at the arcade corner nearest to the Anatomical Hall. He proved to be both willing and useful. The Federal provost-marshal visited the grounds as evening ap- proached, and thinking that further protection would not be needed, was about to withdraw the soldier, but at Professor Minor's earnest request, finally consented to allow him to remain during the night. A stable was opened for his horse, and shelter for himself was found in the parlor of one of the hotels which was now in the possession of a family of refugees. Several hours after darkness had come on, Professor Minor and this guards- man started out together to inspect the entire round THE WAR, 1861-1865 335 of the University precincts. The need of this precaution had been just demonstrated by the experience of Colonel Preston, whose home was situated on the neighboring heights. His house had been robbed of many valuable articles, and his own person had been rifled of watch and purse. All his horses had been driven off, and some of his servants lured away. Professor Minor and the guard found that a profound quiet prevailed. On their return, the soldier withdrew to his sleeping quarters, but through- out the night, Minor remained awake and dressed in order that he might be able to detect any band of marau- ders, who might enter the grounds, before they should have time to rob or commit any other kind of depreda- tion. Fortunately, a heavy rain fell up to an early hour, but the sun rose in a cloudless sky. About six o'clock, the guard mounted his horse and departed. At nine, a long column of Federal soldiers were seen advancing along the Lynchburg Road. They had left Charlottesville for the purpose of tearing up the railway that ran southward. Minor and Maupin, apprehensive lest the unprotected state of the premises should tempt stragglers from this moving body to sneak in and frighten the resident families, went in haste to the headquarters of General Sheridan in town. There they were referred to General Merritt, who, at their request, ordered a squad of soldiers to be despatched to the University at once. Accompanied by the two professors, they arrived in the nick of time, for already the plunderers had not only en- tered the dispensary, but had also threatened several of the households in the pavilions. It was not until a com- pany of twenty-five men had been placed on guard that the danger to the public buildings and private property was entirely removed. This company formed a part of a regiment of Michigan cavalry, and was under the com- 336 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA mand of a captain from the same State, a plain and illit- erate man, but courteous in his deportment and kindly disposed in spirit. It seems that Professor Minor owned a female mule, somewhat aged, but still vigorous in limb and lung. Her keeper and companion, an old servant of the house, had, at the first alarm, solemnly led her off to the wooded fast- nesses of Observatory Mountain; but her bray, — prob- ably raised in protest at her being torn from her comfort- able stable within the University grounds, — seems to have betrayed her, for her whereabouts, in spite of the screen of tangled bushes, became known, and the Federal officer advised that she should be brought back to her old place of shelter as the only way of keeping her out of the clutches of Federal stragglers. It was thought by Pro- fessor Minor that she would be safest in the cellar of his pavilion, and so here she was stalled as soon as darkness allowed her to be returned without being observed. But the mule, with the perversity of her species and her sex, objected to these Cimmerian quarters because she had never been accustomed to them, and soon showed a disposition to kick with great violence, and to make many strange and alarming noises at unexpected and ill-consid- ered moments. The evening following her arrival, the Federal officer was taking supper with the Minor house- hold. The atmosphere was one of peace and serenity, in spite of the depression of the times. The captain was gracious and conciliatory, and the professor courteous and agreeable. In the midst of their conversation, there came suddenly the sound of some extraordinary commo- tion that was happening beneath the floor of the dining- room. The uproar was so loud and so confused that it was impossible to distinguish its cause, and the Federal officer, disturbed and suspicious, rose from his seat. He THE WAR, 1861-1865 337 seemed to be apprehensive of a personal attack from with- out; but before he could make his way to the door, Pro- fessor Minor was so far able to suppress his merriment as to tell him that the noise which had been heard was the sound of the mingled kicking and braying of the old mule, now determined to break out of the dark cellar, if the united efforts of hoof and voice could accomplish it. The meal was resumed by guest and host amid hearty laughter over the one humorous episode which lit up the dark clouds that enshrouded the hour. A report reached the ears of Professor Minor that the University buildings were to be sacked that night (March 4). This was, no doubt, a groundless rumor, but it caused the Federal officer to increase the vigilance of his protection by posting sentinels at every point of entrance. Notwithstanding this fact, his host refused to go to bed when everyone else had retired, so sharp was his anxiety for the safety of the pavilions and dormitories, and for the security of their inhabitants. The ensuing day was Sunday, and the whole framework of the earth appeared to be flooded with sunshine, and filled with the soft influences of dawning spring. " But," commented Professor Minor in his diary at the time, " how futile is the glow of the sunshine to inspire our hearts with cheer- fulness ! " It was with a deep sense of relief that he re- ceived the message from General Sheridan, who was still in Charlottesville, that he was determined that the Uni- versity should be preserved from every kind of injury; and that he was ready to remove any cause for complaint which its authorities had to offer. During the afternoon of the same day, Colonel Sherman, the Inspector-General, visited the grounds, and made a thorough search for fire- arms, but the examination was conducted with perfect civility. No weapon was found besides an ancient mus- 338 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA ket, the presence of which Professor Minor himself re- ported. Monday, the 6th, was a day of renewed anxiety, as the Federal army was expected to resume its advance, which would require the withdrawal of the existing guard from the University, and the consequent abandonment of the premises to the plundering camp followers and stragglers who would remain behind. Only a small section of the Federal troops had vanished southward, when this guard left the precincts. Professor Minor, as a brigade passed him on the march, boldly stepped up to the commanding officer, and asked him to order a squad to be placed on the ground. This request was promptly complied with. The officer, as he was about to ride on, suggested that the request should be repeated as each brigade came up, so that, as one squad rejoined the rear of its own brigade, another from the van of the following one would be ready to take its place. By this plan, there was a succession of squads for protection until the whole Federal army had passed on. " Thus," remarked Professor Minor, in a memorandum made at the time, " we escaped the dangers which threatened us, and upon the whole, have lost very little." As the last Federal soldier was seen tramping along in the distance, several members of General Ros- ser's command, who had been hovering on the flanks of the enemy, appeared in sight and drew rein near the grounds. The only student who remained at the University after the arrival of the Federal army, was W. C. Fowlkes, a member of the law class, who had lost a leg in the war, and who, in after-life, became a distinguished judge of the Supreme Court of Tennessee. A Federal sentinel was stationed at the top of one of the flights of steps that broke the level of the East Range walkway. Fowlkes in THE WAR, 1861-1865 339 a spirit of mischief, determined that he would test the courage of this soldier. He always hobbled along with a large black cane. Furtively taking position out of sight, beneath one of the arches just above the flight where the sentinel stood, he suddenly poked the cane around the wall from his hiding-place directly at the head of the man, as if it was his intention to thrust a musket in his face and fire it. Supposing it to be a real gun, the sentinel tumb- led down the flight of steps and nearly broke his neck. Before he could recover from the confusion of the fall, Fowlkes had escaped into one of the dormitories. An incident occurred after the war had ended which disclosed the spirit of the times. Captain A. F. Higgs, the commandant at Charlottesville during 1867, had rea- son to complain to General Schofield that he had been treated with rudeness by the students. Schofield, who was the officer in charge of District No. i, forwarded this complaint to the Faculty in a courteous communication, which elicited the following prudent and discreet reply: ' The authorities of the institution heartily appreciate the importance of inculcating in the young men committed to them respect and submission to the government under which they live. We believe that these sentiments are shared by the students." An expression of regret was sent by them to Captain Higgs also, not only because, they said, he was entitled to official respect, but also be- cause he had, by his fair and wise administration of his delicate functions, won the esteem and regard of the en- tire community. A permanent bronze memorial of the alumni who per- ished in the war was placed on the front wall of the Rotunda in 1906. This was the gift of the Confederate Memorial Association and the Albemarle Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy. " It is fit and proper," 340 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA remarked President Alderman in accepting the two tab- lets, the work of Zolnay, " that these names should shine in immortal youth on the front of the building recalling in its antique beauty the grandeur of the older world, as their mighty sacrifices recall unselfish consecration and love of country, the antique virtues of that same older world." SEVENTH PERIOD RECONSTRUCTION AND EXPANSION, 1865-1895 i. The Spirit of the Faculty If the civilization of the Southern States, under a sys- tem of slave labor, is tested by economic standards alone, it was undeniably less successful than the civilization of the Northern States, under a system of free labor. The physical aspect of the Southern country was not one which indicated that its natural resources had been wisely used, — it was, as a whole, in reality, covered with forest, broken here and there by spacious clearings for planta- tions; and these estates had a permanent drift towards further enlargement, without bringing a proportionate area under tillage. With the exception of New Orleans, there were no very populous cities, — the towns, and even the villages, sprang up, with wide reaches of hill, and valley, and plain between them. The number of factories was too small to be counted. In short, the South was an agricultural region alone; and its single economic inter- est of importance was pursued in so dispersed a fashion that a very great part of its surface had not passed beyond the wild condition of the frontier. But, if the communities of that region, under the sys- tem of slavery, can be justly reproached with a failure to make use of their material advantages to the degree that was rightly expected of them, there was one department of production which was not open to this accusation. The Southern States could, without the smallest presump- 341 342 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA tion, claim that the members of their ruling class, in vigor of character, in firmness and clearness of purpose, in sheer ability to lead and to govern, had no superiors,— perhaps no equals, — on the American continent. It was not the hogshead of tobacco, or the bale of cotton, or the bushel of wheat, or the barrel of maize, that made up the real contribution of those States to the civilization of that day. It was rather that imposing body of citizens who, trained by a combination of influences to command and set the example, gave their own tone to the society of the South, instilled their own ideals into its whole structure, moulded and guided its political destinies, and stood forth, before the eyes of the world, as its truest exponents and most loyal spokesmen. These were the men whose ranks fur- nished all the higher officers of the Confederate armies; and it was also they, or their sons, who, — loftily placed socially as they were, — formed no unimportant section of the regular line. It was the members of this class, edu- cated to leadership under the social and economic system of the plantation, and made still more virile and unflinch- ing by the dangers and hardships of the war, who rescued their native soil from the ruin that accompanied recon- struction. The two training schools, — each so different in nature from the other, and yet both so searching in their tests of character, — had fitted them to cope successfully with the appalling conditions that followed the collapse of their cause. There was no great department of life in the Southern States, after the close of hostilities, which was not confronted with actual or threatened destruction; and it was only extraordinary manliness of spirit, seasoned by harsh experience, and expressing itself in an invincible determination to subdue and direct circumstances, that enabled them in time to restore their communities to sta- bility and prosperity. RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 343 The University of Virginia had always been a mirror which faithfully reflected the varied influences that had given such a salient individuality to the Southern people. And never was this fact more perceptible, or more im- pressive, than after the end of the war, when the South was in the first unsettled stage of an involuntary peace. With the exception of Schele, Boeck, and McGuffey, — the last, one of the most stalwart and masterful figures in that entire company, — the members of its Faculty were Southerners or Englishmen by birth. But Mallet and Holmes, as well as McGuffey and Schele, had been so long associated with the governing forces of Southern life that they were not to be distinguished in the smallest degree, either in sentiment or sympathy, from their colleagues of Southern nativity; namely, Cabell, Gilder- sleeve, Davis, Smith, Minor, Maupin, Venable, Southall, Howard and Peters. These men were not simply teachers after the normal type. They were true representatives of that Southern citizenship which was so firmly and courageously facing the stern realities of reconstruction. At least three among them, — Venable, Peters, and Gildersleeve, — had been seasoned soldiers in the field. Venable had served on the staff of General Lee, and was regarded by that great commander as one of his most trustworthy offi- cers. Peters had been the colonel of a regiment under Early in the arduous campaign in the Valley, which terminated so unfortunately, in consequence of the shrinkage in the Confederate resources. Gildersleeve had been maimed for life in battle, during the same ex- cursion, while discharging the duties of aid on the staff of General Gordon. Mallet, by his profound knowl- edge of chemistry, had contributed, in an extraordinary degree, to the efficiency of the ordnance department. 344. HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Davis and Cabell had shown equal skill and fidelity in the military hospitals. Peters, Venable, and Mallet were not members of the Faculty at the close of the war, but they were elected to professorships so soon after- wards that they became as influential in restoring the University to prosperity as those of their colleagues who had never disrupted their connection with the institution. Holcombe, who had been an eloquent member of the Confederate Congress, and Bledsoe, an assistant secre- tary of war, failed to be restored to their former chairs, apparently only because they took no prompt steps to assert their right. Coleman, as we have seen, had died of wounds received on the field of battle. Something more than mere abstruse learning, some- thing besides pedagogic skill, was called for in a Faculty that had to grapple with the perplexing problems of the University at that depressing hour. Knowledge of the languages, of science, of medicine, of law, of engineer- ing, was not sufficient for the conquest of all those crowding difficulties ; nor was distinguished service in the professorial chair through a protracted series of peaceful years. Firmness and loftiness of character that com- manded the respect of all men; shrewd intelligence that could direct the most intricate business affairs; a power of diplomacy that could disarm the antagonism that still lingered about legislative halls, in spite of the burden of common sorrows and the memory of common glories; the ability to persuade and conciliate, which reconciled and permanently secured the support of conflicting in- terests; the deep-seated, the farsighted patriotism which looked upon all their efforts as designed as much for the restoration of their stricken land as of their beloved in- stitution,— such were some of the qualities, such was the spirit which has conferred a special distinction upon the RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 345 Faculty of the Period of Reconstruction, who success- fully undertook to revive every function of the Univer- sity, and to set in motion all the benignant influences that were essential to its continued existence and future prosperity. They were to demonstrate even more conspicuously than the Faculty of 1895 the fact that the men who oc- cupy chairs in a higher seat of learning, can, in an emer- gency, show not only the justest comprehension of the best methods of surmounting practical obstacles, but the promptest energy in carrying those methods into action. The difficulties created by the upshot of the great war were- more serious than those which followed the de- struction by the great fire, but the manner in which both groups were overcome reflected honor upon the practical capacity of the professors who had to contend with them and settle them. Nor was the credit which is to be awarded these men, whether they belonged to 1865 or to 1895, the smaller, because, in both instances, they were sustained by the cooperation of able and zealous Boards of Visitors. II. Energy of the Faculty When the war ended, the prospects of the University, if not precisely of a character to excite a feeling of hope- lessness, were yet full of uncertainty and perplexity. The buildings had fallen into disrepair ; the grounds were disfigured by neglect; the indispensable apparatus belong- ing to the different scientific departments had grown de- fective from disuse; the treasury was empty. The or- ganization, however, was substantially intact. The machinery of government had almost run down, but had not been shattered, — the pavilions were still occu- pied by members of the Faculty; the doors of the lecture- 346 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA rooms were still open for the admission of classes; the dormitories were still in existence to receive new ten- ants, and the hotels to welcome new boarders. The interval between the surrender of the Southern armies and the close of the session of 1864—65, was too brief to justify the authorities in striving to increase the attendance during that time. The revived energies of the Faculty were concentrated upon making a complete preparation for the opening of the session of 1865-66. There was, however, no trustworthy assurance that the number of students during that session would exceed the number present during the years of the war. Whether there was to be any addition or not would depend alto- gether upon the rehabilitation of the South. The ap- palling impoverishment of its people, the political con- fusion which prevailed from border to border, and the complete disorganization of the system of labor, — all seemed to foreshadow a limited attendance; but the hope was nursed that the temporary disablement of so many Southern colleges, and the desire on the part of so many former soldiers to take up again their inter- rupted education, would swell the number of matriculates to the one hundred mark at least. But even with one hundred students enrolled, it was clearly perceived that, without the State's assistance, the University could not reasonably expect to recover even a moderate share of its former prosperity; with the an- nual appropriation of fifteen thousand dollars withdrawn, the institution must sink to the level of a seminary of secondary merit. Indeed, it was probable that it would be entirely extinguished. It was only with this addition to its financial resources that the professors could be prop- erly remunerated, the required administrative officers re- tained, the buildings kept in repair, and provision made, RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 347 in the hotels and dormitories, for the accommodation of students. No petition for the renewal of this appro- priation could be sent to the General Assembly before that body had convened; and it was not until December (1865) that it was expected to hold its first session. In the meanwhile, it was imperative that certain prac- tical steps should be taken; and no delay was shown in taking them. The Board met in July (1865), but ex- hibited little energy. They first adopted a resolution commending the fidelity of the Faculty in keeping the institution intact during the war; and then they went a little further and expressed the hope that a large num- ber of students would be enrolled during the approach- ing autumn.1 The Faculty, on the other hand, were not satisfied to sit down quietly, in this drifting mood, and await the upshot of future events. Two of the members especially were opposed to the pursuit of such a policy of optimism unsupported by works, — these were Maupin and Minor, who had jointly been so instrumental in preserving the buildings from depredation, and even from destruction, at the close of the war. Both clearly foresaw that the presence of a large number of students in the autumn was the most certain means of obtaining the hoped for appropriation from the General Assembly in the following winter. In their own names, and on the strength of their own high standing, they, during the summer of 1865, borrowed of the bank of Charlottes- ville an amount sufficient to defray the expense of adver- tising liberally and restoring the buildings to the point required to make them comfortably habitable. To as- sure economy, they personally superintended the car- penters from day to day. 1 Fortunately for the University, the membership of this first Board did not remain unaltered for any considerable length of time. 348 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Auspiciously for the upshot of the application to the Legislature for assistance, the Faculty were able, when that body convened, to report that two hundred and twenty students had already matriculated; that the va- cancies in the Faculty had been filled by the election of professors of remarkable qualifications; and that not less than five thousand dollars had been spent in the repair of the different structures. " The indications of an abid- ing public confidence and future patronage," it was an- nounced, " was all that could be desired." The General Assembly failed to show its appreciation of the energy which had rendered these good results possible, by responding at once to the petition for aid. A combination of influences had to be brought to bear on the members before they would consent to do this. One of the most powerful of these was a letter which was printed in the Richmond Enquirer, in January, 1866, while the Legislature was in session. The writer pre- sented an elaborate statement of the scholastic advan- tages which the University had to offer to the young men of Virginia who were desirous of obtaining an education ; of the beneficial impression which the institution had made upon the standards of instruction then employed in the private secondary schools; and of the lofty prin- ciples for personal conduct which it had always incul- cated among its students, who were drawn from every part of the South. In addition, he vigorously combated the objections which had been urged, either sincerely or maliciously, against the University. He demonstrated that the burden imposed upon each individual in the Commonwealth by the former annual appropriation was only one cent and a half; that the larger proportion of the young men in attendance had always belonged to families in moderate circumstances; and that, while few RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 349 of them, comparatively speaking, had won the diploma of master of arts, yet at least one-third of their number had graduated in one or more schools. Virginia had spent not less than half a million dollars in the erection of the buildings of the University, in the purchase of its library, and for its general support. Would she be so callous as to allow all this valuable property to fall into physical ruin for the want of a few thousand dollars to keep it in repair? Would she be so shortsighted as to let the interest on the University's debt remain unpaid, and thus expose her people to the reproach of a breach of the public faith? If that institution should be com- pelled to suspend from lack of the necessary funds, all the secondary schools dependent upon her prosperous ex- istence would languish, and some would even be extin- guished; the spirit of education throughout the State would feel the shock; and the welfare of the whole Com- monwealth would be seriously impaired. Convincing as all these arguments were, so abysmal was the poverty of the hour that the modest appropria- tion asked for was, after a long delay, only granted by the bare margin of votes which the State constitution required; and there is good reason to think that, without the degree of restoration which the energy of the Faculty had been able to bring about, the upshot of the ballot would have been adverse. That body was justified in making an optimistic report to the Board of Visitors at the meeting held at the end of the first session. Two hotels had already been opened for the accommodation of the students, and a third was in course of equipment; all the buildings which had fallen into dilapidation had been fully repaired; a part of the floating debt liquidated; the interest on the bonded debt, which amounted to $38,- 500, paid; and all the current expenses defrayed to the 350 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA last cent. A surplus of two hundred dollars was left in the treasury. HI. Students of the First Session If the Faculty which exhibited all this practical capac- ity was a remarkable body, the students who attended their lectures, during this first session, were, in the mass, worthy of equal respect and admiration. With the fail- ure of the Confederacy, there sprang up among South- ern parents an intense solicitude to give their sons all the benefits which an excellent education at least would confer as some compensation for the destroyed prospect of an inheritance. The very first money which could be rescued from the debris of their shattered fortunes was set aside for this sacred purpose. The young men who matriculated were fully aware of the privations which their fathers and mothers had cheerfully endured in order to accumulate the sums that would be needed to pay for tuition and board; and remembering the sac- rifices which had been made for their sake by the people at home, they showed, in their entire conduct, a degree of earnestness and sobriety unusual at that period of life. No doubt, too, this spirit was deepened by the sadness of the times. The memory of William Wertenbaker went back to the foundation of the University. He had been associ- ated with the institution, in one capacity or another, dur- ing forty years at least. Session after session, during that long interval, he had possessed the fullest opportunity to observe the spirit of the successive waves of students. In his report as librarian written in June, 1866, he re- marked that he had never before perceived so keen a desire on the part of the young men to make the utmost use of the advantages which the library had to offer, RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 351 whether for purposes of general information or of special research. The same attitude was discernible in all the departments. " The legal and medical lecture- rooms," says a student of this session, " the moot court, the dissecting rooms, and the academic schools, were crowded with countenances as eager to seek as the professors to impart knowledge. When the lecture was over, hurrying throngs hastened back to their respective rooms, not for play or idleness, but to transcribe notes, refer to authorities, and secure the full benefit of what had been taught." But it was not simply the shadow of this intense assid- uity which invested these earnest young men with such an extraordinary degree of interest. Many of them had won distinction in the war as officers of high rank in the service. There were colonels who had led the most famous regiments of the Confederate armies to battle; majors who had commanded battalions of artillery or squadrons of partisan rangers; adjutants of brigades and divisions; captains of batteries and captains of cavalry and infantry; and private soldiers who had fought from First Manassas to the last volley at Appomattox. Many of these veterans still wore their Confederate uniforms, now faded and threadbare from long use ; some lacked an arm or a leg; and there were few who could not show on some part of their persons the scars of wounds caused by a bullet or fragment of shell. " And yet," says W. Gordon McCabe, the comrade of many of them in bivouac, skirmish, and battle, " and yet they were a cheerful set, with a natural exultation that they had done their duty as good soldiers; that they had stuck to Ole Mars Robert to the last, and seen the thing through. And so they buckled to their tasks, with hearts as high as when they charged with Stuart at Aldie, and went up 552 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA the slopes of Cemetery Ridge. They wanted so little that they felt that they still had much; even if things were ill today, it would not to be so tomorrow. Hadn't Horace said this identical thing nearly two thousand years ago; ' non, si male nunc, et olim sic erit '? " These youthful veterans, — youthful in years, but not in fortitude and feats of bravery, — could claim as former comrades in the field, and on the march, at least three of the men from whose lips they were catching the learning which they had come, at so much sacrifice, to accumulate for their own equipment for the struggles of practical life. There was Venable, who, as an aid to Lee, had borne many an order from his chief to the most dangerous angles of the battlefield; there was Peters, who had led his regiment through many a scene of car- nage ; there was Gildersleeve, who had been struck down under fire and permanently crippled. "Not seldom," says Colonel McCabe, " would this great scholar relax for a brief space his inexorable syntactical grilling and en- liven the close of the lecture-hour by reading aloud his own exquisite and inspiriting translations of the march- ing songs of Tyrtaeus, the rush of whose swift anapaest recalled to his delighted hearers the lilt of their own war- songs, which they had sung, it seemed but yesterday, to the rhythmic beat of tramping feet, as they swung down the Valley pike under old Stonewall." IV. Schools and Departments When the session of 1 860-61 opened, there was a band of thirteen professors ready to discharge the duties of their several chairs. Coleman and Holcombe, as we have already mentioned, resigned their posts to enter, — one, the military service of the Confederacy, in which he was to lose his life; the other, its civil service. Gilder- RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 353 sleeve, when Coleman withdrew, took charge of the con- solidated schools of ancient languages, and Minor, of the two departments of the subdivided school of law. Bledsoe, with the Visitors' permission, accepted the of- fice of assistant secretary of war. He returned to the University for a brief period; but during the greater part of the time that hostilities continued, the courses formerly taught by him were taught by Smith, who com- bined them with the courses of his own professorship. In June, 1865, — Bledsoe being then absent from Vir- ginia,— the Board declared the chair of mathematics to be vacant, and they elected Colonel Charles S. Venable to fill it. Subsequently, Colonel William E. Peters was chosen as the successor of Gessner Harrison and Cole- man, which led to the reestablishment of the separate School of Latin, — Gildersleeve retaining the School of Greek. S. O. Southall succeeded Holcombe, and the two departments in the School of Law were revived. But the Board were not satisfied simply to restore the original number of chairs. In 1867, two new schools were created, — one, the School of Applied Mathematics, embracing the different courses in engineering; the other, the School of Analytical and Applied Chemistry, cover- ing the different applications of that science to the various industrial pursuits of life. During the same year, a laboratory of analytical chemistry, and a museum of in- dustrial, were built. Through the munificence of Samuel Miller, a wealthy merchant of Lynchburg, a School of Agriculture was added in I869;1 and through the simi- lar generosity of W. W. Corcoran, a School of Geology, in 1879-80. A museum of natural history was presented by Lewis Brooks. At a later period, a sum sufficient 1 The trustees of the Miller Fund and the Board of Visitors met Sep- tember 17, 1869, and arranged for putting the department in operation. 354 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA to erect an observatory was received from Leander J. McCormick; and through his gift also, a great equa- torial telescope was acquired. A School of English was established in the course of the same year. By 1895, the end of the Seventh Period, the number of academical schools, — which had been curtailed to eight in 1865, — had expanded to fourteen. At first, the entire round of them was divided into the four great departments of literature, science, medicine, and law. Subsequently, a different grouping was adopted. There were then the following five great departments; the academic, subdivided into literary schools and scientific schools; the medical; the law; the engineering; and the agricultural. The entire number of departments now comprised nineteen schools. In 1882-3, a somewhat different arrangement was introduced, — there were then created two fundamental divisions : ( i ) the academical schools, composed of the literary department and the scientific department; (2) the professional schools, com- posed of the law department, the medical department, the pharmaceutical department, the engineering depart- ment, and the agricultural department. This grouping seems to have been retained without modification down to the beginning of the Eighth Period in 1895. It will now be necessary to consider at length the lines of de- velopment which the different schools pursued during the thirty years that followed the session of 1865-66. V. Courses of Scientific Instruction In our description of the schools which were in exist- ence anterior to 1 860-61, the place of foremost im- portance was given to the humanistic studies. They were put at the head of the list of courses, because this was- the position which they then held in popular esteem. RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 355 Jefferson, as we have seen, was acutely interested in natural science, and the uses to which it could be applied for the improvement of mankind's physical condition; and yet not even he was willing to subordinate the lan- guages to its acquisition. The scientific professorships established in the beginning stood upon a platform of equality with all the others; but the courses in those schools were limited to the fundamental aspects of their subjects. No additional chair in practical science was set up until a short time before the war, — an event which soon brought to a close whatever activities this new chair had shown. The University of Virginia had not kept fully abreast, — principally on account of a lack of the necessary in- come,— with the forward leaping scientific spirit of the age. The courses in civil engineering had remained al- most rudimentary; instruction in agriculture had received no recognition at all; while the subjects embraced in the School of Chemistry had been restricted in scope and number. But even before the hard and impoverished conditions brought about by war had stimulated the prac- tical abilities of the Southern people, some persons among them, in harmony with the growing tendencies of the world at large, were coming to think that the study of the classics, as the preponderant means of education, did not accomplish what was really required as a suitable preparation for active life. These opinions, however, were largely theoretical and academic, since the economic system of the Southern States, under the institution of slavery, was so simple that there was little room for the use of highly trained technical skill. The only competent school in which to learn the art of Southern agriculture was then supposed to be the cotton, corn and tobacco fields, — not the lecture-room, 356 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA the laboratory, and the library of a university. The art of Southern manufacture had been developed so little that it had failed to create any appreciable ground for the application of expert information. The towns and cities were so few in number that the profession of archi- tect was not alluring for its profitableness. New rail- ways were not being laid down in such rapid succession that the civil engineers could always be sure of employ- ment. The public works were too scattered and too small in their scale to induce many young men to study mechanical engineering. All the natural resources of that vast region, outside of the fields given up to the staple crops, were allowed to remain almost precisely as they had stood through the ages. The coal and iron ore, for the most part, rested, undisturbed by pick or shovel, in their primaeval beds; the foaming water tumbled over the highest ledges in the rivers without any use to man beyond driving a passing sturgeon or pike into a wicker trap placed on the rocks below; the forests only fell before the axes and grubbing hoes of slaves, whose master had no object beyond widening the area of his virgin grounds. The failure of the Confederate cause set in motion at once influences that were destined in time to alter the entire economical character of the Southern States. The plantation system was not destroyed as by a flash of lightning; but the abolition of slavery, by which institu- tion that system had been supported, made the out-look for it, as well as for the different learned professions, — which were always more or less dependent on its prosperity, — extremely precarious, and in doing so, tended to divert the hopes of many Southern parents to other employments for their sons. The old expec- tation had been that these sons would adopt the callings RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 357 of planters, farmers, lawyers, doctors, or clergymen. The desire was now, for the first time, aroused that they should obtain a livelihood in those varied fields of techni- cal work which had long existed in the North, but had hardly existed in the South at all before the War of Secession. It was looked upon as a decisive advantage that the young men so educated would not be confined in their search for a subsistence to the impoverished region below the Ohio and Potomac, but would be at liberty to pass into the wealthy and diversified communities which lay beyond those dividing streams. There were thous- ands of parents in the South, who, because of the losses sustained in the recent conflict, were unable to open up to their sons the opportunity of acquiring a thorough education. It is true that many of these sons would not have possessed either taste or aptitude for the pro- fessions of law, medicine, or the church, even if they had previously enjoyed a careful academic training. For such, — the calling of a planter now offering few induce- ments,— there remained only those departments of sci- ence which were useful in their application to the indus- trial pursuits of life. The Faculty of the University of Virginia perceived, before the close of the session of 1865—66, that it was necessary that the institution should create certain special educational facilities, if it was to be in a position to secure the patronage of that particular section of young Southerners, who, without such advantages held out to them in their own communities, would be compelled to seek the Northern colleges. The first suggestion of or- ganizing schools of applied science was broached at a meeting of the Faculty in December, 1865, when a com- mittee was appointed to submit to the General Assembly a plan for the employment of the land fund set apart for 358 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA each State by Congress in 1862. In their report to the Board in June, 1866, the Faculty dwelt upon the need of a School of Applied Mathematics, and also of a School of Analytical Chemistry and Technology ; and they only failed to recommend the introduction of these courses at once because the funds in the treasury were, at that time, insufficient. In their annual report for June, 1867, the Faculty again reverted to the expediency of organizing schools of the applied sciences; but as the fixed salary of each professor was only one thousand dollars, and these schools could not, for several years, expect to make up the deficiency by the income from a large attendance of students, their acquisition seemed to be still beyond the present power of the University to bring about. Had the rule of the period before the war been still in force, the surplus fees of all the schools would have gone into the common treasury, and, in consequence, there would have been no difficulty in creating the two chairs, now, very properly, considered indispensable, if the institution was to keep abreast with the practical needs of the hour. These surplus fees were now distributed among the mem- bers of the Faculty, to the palpable detriment of the University, to which they really belonged. The false position in which this abnormal condition placed the in- stitution as well as themselves came to be so clearly rec- ognized by the professors that they agreed to loan the college treasury two thousand dollars each session, for the space of five sessions, out of that very surplus fund, which was produced, not by the reputation of particular instructors, but by the general reputation of the Uni- versity itself, and which that institution had a moral right to appropriate as its own at this time; and a legal RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 359 right to boot, as was demonstrated before many years had passed. In consequence of the Faculty's offer to reserve a por- tion of their fees for the payment of the necessary sal- aries, the two projected chairs were established at the meeting of the Board in June, 1867. As it was correctly thought to be wise to enlist the sympathy and active co- operation of the farming interests, it was decided to confer upon one of these professorships the name of the School of Chemical Technology and Agricultural Science. The School of Applied Mathematics was created at the beginning of the session of 1867-8; but it was not until April, 1868, when Professor John W. Mallet, the incum- bent of the other new chair, arrived at the University, that the School of Chemical Technology and Agricul- tural Science was inaugurated as an adjunct to the original School of Chemistry. Both of these schools, at the start, were lacking in laboratories, models, specimens, ap- paratus, and instruments. The Faculty urged the Board to borrow at once the money needed to supply all these deficiencies. Unless this was done, and done promptly, they said, the Northern seats of learning would draw away to themselves the young men of the South, who would prefer to attend such schools at the University of Virginia, if in existence. Already, the military and academic colleges at Lexington were founding the like schools, with the fairest prospects of success; and other Southern institutions, now impoverished, would soon be imitating their example. While in this inchoate state, the School of Chemical Technology and Agricultural Science was renamed the School of Analytical, Industrial, and Agricultural Chem- istry. By September, 1869, through the agency of Pro- 360 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA fessor Robert Mallet, of London, the father of Pro- fessor John W. Mallet, a collection of technological speci- mens had been formed and shipped to the University of Virginia. This was pronounced by experts to be un- surpassed in America in its composition; and in some of its aspects, it was unequaled. The laboratory had already been completed, and a lecture-room provided for the professor; and a home for his occupation was made certain by an appropriation which the trustees of the Miller fund voted for that purpose. The scheme of in- struction consisted of ( i ) a course of lectures upon tech- nical chemistry; and (2) a course of practical experi- ments in the chemical laboratory. After the death of Professor Maupin, during the session of 1871-2, Mallet was placed in sole charge of the chair of pure and ap- plied chemistry, while the department of analytical chemistry was brought under an adjunct professor, — who, however, was subject to his senior's control and constant supervision. This adjunct professor also de- livered a series of lectures on agricultural chemistry. By the session of 1872-3, Mallet's chair was designated the School of General and Industrial Chemistry, and Chemistry and Pharmacy. Adjunct Professor F. P. Dunnington gave instruction in the courses in analytical and agricultural chemistry. In June, 1885, the Faculty recommended that these courses should be separated from the School of General Chemistry and Pharmacy, and that Professor Dunnington, — whose "industry, painstaking, and ability " they warmly praised, — should be advanced to the position of full professor of the School of Analytical and Agricultural Chemistry. Pharmacy seems to have been transferred to this chair also. The School of Applied Mathematics was, at first, un- RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 361 der the supervision of the professor of mathematics, but was really conducted by Professor Boeck.1 During the session of 1878-9, when the chair was occupied by Pro- fessor William M. Thornton, one of the most distin- guished pupils of Venable, the subjects taught were sim- plified and abbreviated. They seem now to have fallen under two general heads: civil engineering and mining engineering. The method of instruction in the former consisted of an exact exposition and drill in theory, with constant practice in the field and at the drawing-board. The student was also required, — in addition to attend- ing lectures on building, — to prepare independent designs for projected structures. A commodious, well-lighted drawing-hall had been provided at an earlier date. VI. Courses of Scientific Instruction, Continued By the session of 1881-2, the scientific department of the University, besides the schools already mentioned, comprised the Schools of Natural Philosophy, Mathe- matics, Natural History and Geology, Agriculture, Zo- ology and Botany, and Practical Astronomy. Within a few years, there was in existence a separate chair re- stricted to biology and agriculture. During the session of 1876-77, a museum of natural 1 Leopold J. Boeck was appointed assistant professor in 1867, adjunct professor in 1868, and full professor in 1875. Samuel Spencer was one of his pupils. Boeck was a Pole by birth, and fled to Hungary after the unsuccessful Polish insurrection of 1849. Espousing the cause of Kossuth, he was appointed envoy to Turkey. He was a master of eight languages. The students of the University of Virginia, according to Dr. Culbreth, " disliked his familiar manner, and his volatile and im- patient disposition. He was wanting in dignity and strong manly per- sonality. At times, he was exacting and positive, then lenient and con- ciliatory." So industrious was he that he did not refrain from work even on Sunday. " He was reproached by Dr. John Staige Davis," says Dr. Culbreth, " for devoting Sunday to secular duties. ' You know, Doctor,' he replied, ' the good book sanctions helping out of the mud and mire on Sunday the ox and the ass, and my classes contain so many of the latter that I am kept rendering assistance from morning till night.' " 362 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA history was erected, through the special benefaction of Lewis Brooks, of Rochester. A large number of speci- mens were then added, in illustration of the sciences of zoology and botany, and also of geology and mineralogy. The objects which the donor had in view in his noble gift were to increase the popular interest in these sciences, — the study of which, he said, had afforded him a keen solace in his old age; to assist an institution which had been founded by Jefferson, and nurtured by Madison, — great figures in history, whose memories he deeply re- vered; and, finally, to bestow a lasting benefit upon the South by augmenting the number of opportunities open to its young men to acquire a practical education. The sum of seventy thousand dollars was expended upon the building itself, and eleven thousand, five hundred more in adding the cases, and also in paying off certain small charges. A part of this second fund was obtained by a loan from the Society of Alumni, and by the sale of University bonds to the Miller Board of Trustees. The architectural plan adopted for this useful struc- ture, though handsome of its kind, was not in harmony with the style of the adjacent edifices. The executive committee, thinking it the wisest policy to avail them- selves of the expert knowledge of Professor Ward, who represented the Brooks estate, asked him to choose a Rochester architect to draft the plans ; but to Ward him- self, it seems, the final decision as to their character was expressly reserved. The single question of convenience, regardless of congruity, appears to have given the ulti- mate shape to his selection; and the model submitted, ex- cellent in itself, but out of accord with the general group- ing of the University, was accepted by the committee, who followed this up with a request for the necessary specifications and working drawings. The cabinets RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 363 were collected, arranged, and prepared by Professor Ward at Rochester; and he also superintended their re- moval to the University, and personally took part in mounting and labelling the different specimens. The assortment of fossils and plaster casts was one of extraor- dinary merit. The assortment of minerals, which con- tained samples of every important variety, and many of great rarity, was hardly less valuable; and so was the collection in illustration of botany. From the start, it was intended to gather together in the museum such a grouping of specimens in all these sciences as would be copiously representative of the resources of the State in these several departments. Through the liberality of W. W. Corcoran, the phil- anthropic banker of Washington, a professorship of natural history and geology was established in 1878,* with an endowment fund of fifty thousand dollars at- tached to it. What ought to be the characteristics of the man who should be elected to it? It required a very distinguished committee of the Faculty to answer this interrogatory. And this was their conclusion: he should be a geologist of thorough training; he should be an original investigator in his province; he should be a competent teacher; he should be the respected associate of distinguished scientists; and, finally, he should be a gentleman, whose individuality and example would in- crease the social light, and broaden the moral influence, of the University. How many men were there, who could, without appearing overbold and presumptuous, come forward as candidates and tacitly hold themselves out as possessing all this rare combination of claims to consideration? The number necessarily was small. It was all the more to the honor of Professor William M. 1This professorship went into operation during the session of 1879-80. 364 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Fontaine that he was chosen, after the application to his personality and attainments of such a varied series of tests. The courses in his school comprised geology, mineralogy, and botany. The board, in 1880, author- ized the annual expenditure of a respectable sum by him and his pupils in excursions each spring to places that could be quickly reached, where they would be able to make a study, on the ground, of the different aspects of the several sciences taught in the school under his charge. Another object of these excursions was to procure speci- mens that should illustrate the varied character of these sciences, — especially ores and minerals, — for preserva- tion in the museum. Any student of the University, whether a member of Professor Fontaine's class or not, was, after the payment of a fee, permitted to take part in these interesting explorations. In 1880, botany was transferred to the School of Agriculture, but was returned during the session of 1887-8. Additional dignity was imparted to the School of Natural History and Geology by including it among the elective studies for the degree of master of arts. By the session of 1893-4, there had been adopted two courses of instruction for it, — one embraced that section of geology which was designated as an elective for the degree of bachelor of arts; the other, that more advanced section designated as an elective for the degree of master of arts. The first allowed of such an acquisition of knowledge as an educated man or woman would aspire to; the other, when thoroughly mastered, fitted the stu- dent for a professional career in that science. In 1886, the Faculty urged upon the Board of Visitors the great advantage of securing for the University, Vir- ginia's proportion of the land fund assigned to the sev- eral States by an act of the Federal Congress in 1862. RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 365 It seems that the General Assembly had, during the ses- sion of 1865-66, been content simply to provide for the reception of this share, which was primarily intended to he used in giving lessons in the military and agricul- tural arts. The recent death of Thomas Johnson, of Augusta county, who had bequeathed to the University a reversionary right to property valued at twenty thous- and dollars for agricultural instruction, had quickened the Faculty's interest in the national landscrip. The final question of how to distribute the large sum thus acquired by the State came up in the Legislature for decision during the session of 1866-7. Should that body offer the money to a literary school already in existence? or should a new technical school be founded in harmony with the true spirit of the grant? The people of Virginia, at this time, were not thought to need a technical school. Should the money be kept in the treasury until the ad- vantages of such a school should come to be fully per- ceived? After assigning one-third of the fund to the use of Hampton Institute in 1870—1, the General As- sembly determined to employ the remainder in erecting an agricultural and mechanical college. Such was the genesis of the institution at Blacksburg. The University authorities of that day have been since criticized for their failure to obtain the appropriation of this fund. On the face of the records at least there seems to have been no tenable ground for this censure. In June, 1868, the Board of Visitors had accepted a plan drafted by Professor Mallet for the creation of an experimental farm. Not long after Samuel Miller's donation of one hundred thousand dollars, for the teach- ing of the science of agriculture at the University, was announced, there was a joint effort on the part of the Board and Faculty to persuade the trustees of that fund 366 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA to devote at least a portion of its income to the support of the two new chairs of analytical and agricultural chemistry and applied mathematics, on the ground that these chairs had been established principally for the ad- vancement of the science of agriculture and the arts con- genial to it. A committee appointed by the Board to confer with the trustees went so far as to say that the Visitors would be willing to add a new professorship of natural history, and any other course that might be de- sired, to the two schools just mentioned, and to name this combination the Agricultural Department of the Uni- versity of Virginia. They promised besides that the pro- jected experimental farm should be laid off at once, and at the earliest time practicable brought to the highest condition of productiveness. The trustees refused to accede to these suggestions, because to do so, they asserted, would be inconsistent with Mr. Miller's intentions; but they agreed that the Visitors should undertake the organization of a School of Agriculture, the only school to which, they declared, they were impowered to pay the income of the fund. They estimated that, during the ensuing session, this income would amount to at least three thousand dollars; but they reserved to themselves the right to withdraw it in any one year of the future, should they think that, during the previous session, it had not been used for purposes fairly and legitimately within the scope of the provisions of Mr. Miller's gift. In the meanwhile, they, in accord with the power conferred on them by the terms of their trust, nominated Mallet as the professor of ap- plied chemistry in the projected School of Agriculture, and Leopold J. Boeck as the instructor in those courses in applied mathematics which related to the same school. The Board of Visitors promptly confirmed this action. RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 367 A site for the experimental farm was soon chosen. This, by the following June (1870) , had been surrounded with a fence; and a few agricultural tests on a diminutive scale had been undertaken. It was not until the July of this year (1870) that the trustees of the Miller fund were in a position to announce that its income was now sufficient to allow the practical creation of the School of Agriculture, Zoology, and Botany; but no professor had been appointed by the Board of Visitors as late as May, 1872, although the trustees had protested against the delay. During the interval, they had been appropriat- ing a large sum for the development of the farm; for the rents of the houses occupied by Mallet and Boeck; for the salaries of these two professors in part; and for the support of at least one scholarship. It was suspected, whether justly or not, that neither the Faculty nor the Board of Visitors would ever be brought into sympathy with the purpose of Mr. Miller's gift, unless that gift should be used primarily to increase the efficiency of the chairs of analytical and agricultural chemistry and applied mathematics. It was not until September, 1872, that John Randolph Page was appointed the professor of the new school, and the scheme contemplated by Mr. Miller set in practical motion. The first report of the Visitors' committee that had the affairs of this important school in charge was pessi- mistic in its tone. They announced that the experi- mental farm held out only a narrow prospect of useful- ness. The ground on which it had been laid off was stated by them to be barren and liable to overflow, — an indication of carelessness, if not indifference, in the original selection. Unless the soil was drained and fer- tilized, they predicted, this site would have to be aban- doned. 368 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA The Miller trustees were very properly keenly inter- ested in the success of this farm. They requested that a field at least forty acres in extent should be assigned to the school elsewhere ; and that this area should be of the proper quality, and should lie conveniently. They re- served the right to suspend the payment of the money hitherto appropriated to the Miller scholarships until they should be able to improve the condition of the farm up to the point at which it would realize fully the pur- poses of its creation. In order that the trust might be more faithfully performed, they requested that the pro- fessor of applied mathematics should deliver weekly, dur- ing four months, a series of lectures in exposition of the basic principles and best methods of constructing agricul- tural buildings, implements, and machinery. This was in 1874. At this time, the agricultural department con- sisted of the following studies: to Professor Page was assigned the course in natural history, and in experi- mental and practical agriculture; to Professor Mallet, the course in general and applied chemistry; to Adjunct Professor Dunnington, the course in analytical and agri- cultural chemistry; and to Professor Boeck,1 the course in applied mathematics and engineering. The entire province of agricultural science seemed to be embraced in the scope of these combined chairs, and yet the trustees of the Miller Fund announced that they were not satisfied with the fruits of the teaching. The department, they said, was not efficient. They asked the Faculty to explain the failure. That body, in their reply, described somewhat copiously the handicaps which were blocking the progress of the school. If the two greatest colleges in the United States, Harvard and Yale, found it impossible, with all their inexhaustible pecun- 1 Adjunct Professor Thornton assumed charge of this course in 1875-6. RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 369 iary resources to make their agricultural departments prosperous, how could such a consummation be reasonably expected of an institution with the relatively small in- come of the University of Virginia? The urgent need of the young men of the South was a practical education. Was this to be got by the study of botany and the kindred subjects of the School of Natural History, Experimental and Practical Agriculture? That these young men thought not was silently demonstrated by the small at- tendance in that school. As to the science of agriculture proper, which undoubtedly could be used to gain a liveli- hood, there were now scattered about the South a num- ber of excellent colleges which offered the opportunity of obtaining a general education at the very time that they offered also the chance of learning how to become a skilful farmer. In all these colleges, the expenses were cut down to the most economical footing, and the student was able, by manual labor under their roofs, to earn money enough for the payment of his different expenses. Perhaps, the most successful of them all was the one which had been founded at Blacksburg. This institu- tion drew to its lecture-rooms and shops most of the young Virginians who wished to acquire a practical knowl- edge of mechanical trades or agricultural pursuits. The advantages which it proffered had only a shadowy counterpart in those held out by the agricultural school of the University of Virginia. The trustees of the Miller fund could hardly have received much comfort from this forcible reply of the Faculty, of which we have given only a scant synopsis. Four years afterwards, the experimental farm seems to have become the principal target of the wit and humor of the editors of the magazine, who were always on the watch for professorial shortcomings. Many a barbed 370 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA jeer, in the form of a short paragraph, was flung at it in the pages of Collegiana; and so ribald grew these really brilliant jests that a stern warning came from the Star Chamber of the Faculty that they must not be repeated; and this order was reluctantly obeyed, to the sensible de- cline in the gaiety of that periodical. The ridicule so freely showered on the farm by the editors was probably a reflection, in exaggerated shape, of the popular im- pression of its lack of usefulness. The trustees of the Miller Fund, — the persons most directly concerned about the success or failure of the experimental tests, — seemed to have arrived at the same conclusion, although in a more sober spirit. At their meeting in June, 1880, they declared that the School of Agriculture had reached far short of the intentions of Mr. Miller and of the expectations of its supporters, and they gave notice there and then that, unless the attendance should increase, and more practical results be accomplished during the next twelve months, the department would have to be re- organized. But how little change in its condition oc- curred before June, 1881, was revealed in Professor Page's melancholy confession that his class in agriculture had shrunk to one lonely auditor; and that in the class of botany, a branch of the course in natural history, the attendance had fallen to three.1 Notwithstanding this indisputable vacuum in the lec- ture-room, the Board of Visitors, assembling in the fol- lowing August, refused to acknowledge that the trustees of the Miller Fund were correct in asserting that the school of experimental and practical agriculture had 1 Had Professor Page's experimental farm been situated in a country where intensive farming prevailed, its usefulness would have been un- disputed. It was a premature undertaking for a land in which great staples alone were cultivated, in accord with the simplest principles. Professor Page was the victim of local circumstances. RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 371 proved to be " a lamentable failure." They also denied with emphasis that that body possessed the right to dis- continue their usual annual appropriation as threatened, and demanded that, before such a step should be taken, the question of its legality should be brought up in the Court of Appeals for a decision. The Visitors appear to have been very much offended by the trustees' supposed in- terference with the government of one of the professor- ships. " Under no circumstances," they declared, " will we admit that there is a divided authority as to the guid- ance or control of any school in the University." A so- berer mood suggested the wisdom of settling the dispute privately and amicably; and with that wise purpose in mind, the Board appointed a committee to confer with the trustees. The latter, it would seem, had only been do- ing their duty in making the complaint so warmly, if not intemperately, excepted to. The resentful attitude of the Visitors was pushed too far. That the complaint had just ground was acknowledged by themselves at their meeting, held in November, 1883, when their own com- mittee, instructed to make a thorough investigation, re- ported that Mr. Miller's plans had remained " dormant," on account of the " unproductive management " of the School of Agriculture. They recommended that it should be reorganized from top to bottom. The steps taken by both parties with this object in view reflected a spirit of mutual conciliation. A joint committee was appointed, in which the Visitors and trustees were equally represented. From this time, no cause for friction of importance seems to have arisen. By the session of 1883—4, the Agricultural Depart- ment was made up of the Schools of Agriculture, Botany, and Zoology, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Analytical and Agricultural Chemistry, Natural History and Geol- 372 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA ogy, and Mathematics applied to engineering. The Board of Visitors were indefatigable in fostering the use- fulness of the department as thus readjusted. In 1886, a committee of that body recommended that the instruction which was given in it should be drawn out over two years ; that the course in engineering should be enlarged; and that, in the other important branches, a junior and a senior class should be enrolled. The experimental farm now received a valuable addition in the erection of a grapery and pomological station. During the ensuing session, the different studies embraced in the agricultural department were distributed between an introductory course and an advanced course. The first comprised zoology and botany, mineralogy and geology, physics and general chemistry; the second, scientific and practical ag- riculture, industrial chemistry, analytical and agricultural chemistry, and agricultural engineering. The School of Agriculture itself was confined to three courses: (i) zoology and botany, (2) scientific and practical agricul- ture; and (3) agricultural engineering. In June, 1887, the joint committee recommended that, at the end of twelve months, there should be elected a professor of agriculture who was known to be an author- ity on scientific biology; and that, after a conference with the new instructor, the school should be again reorgan- ized. At this time, the University of Virginia was not provided with the equipment necessary for experimental research in biology; and without it no really valuable progress could be made in that particular field of study. Money for this purpose could only be obtained by allow- ing the income from the Miller Fund to accumulate ; and for this reason, the proposed alteration in the scope of the school was not at once undertaken. The Visitors seem to have regarded the experimental farm now with RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 373 an emotion of undisguised disappointment. Indeed, they considered its utility to be so open to question that they were skeptical of the wisdom of spending upon it the sum annually appropriated for its maintenance. In- struction in the different branches of scientific agriculture was already given in the Schools of Natural Philosophy, General Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Geology and Mineralogy. These four schools were supposed to fur- nish a complete basis for the study of the kingdom of inanimate nature. Besides the four named, there was the School of Industrial Chemistry, which offered a course of technical instruction in the arts touching the raw ma- terials furnished by the farmer; and also the School of Engineering, which held out the like course in agri- cultural engineering and machinery. There was lack- ing, however, a course of instruction in the two sciences which represented the kingdom of animate nature; namely, botany and zoology. As soon as the original school was reorganized, Pro- fessor A. H. Tuttle was elected by the trustees of the Miller Fund to fill the chair, and he was promptly ac- cepted as the incumbent by the Board of Visitors. There were two classes of students whom his teachings were intended to benefit: (i) those who wished to acquire such information about biological principles as would enable them to grasp with intelligence the relations of biology to agriculture; (2) those who were aiming to equip themselves for independent research in the same science, or to serve as instructors in that branch of edu- cation after leaving the institution. The professorship was named the School of Biology and Agriculture. Neither subject had previously been adequately taught at the University of Virginia. The attendance in the agricultural course, as we have seen, 374 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA had shrunk to one lonely student, and its only practical illustration was to be found in a contracted farm and a pile of miscellaneous implements. The course in biology was, if possible, still more unproductive. Professor Tut- tle was thoroughly fitted, by acquired knowledge and na- tive talent alike, to give distinction to his school; and he threw into every branch of his work an enthusiasm that proved immediately contagious. He had first been in- structor in natural science in the college from which he graduated ; had subsequently pursued an advanced course in the same department at Harvard; and after lecturing upon the subject of zoology in one of the Pennsylvanian seats of learning, had, during fourteen years, occupied the chair of biology in the State University of Ohio. Be- sides delivering a series of lectures on embryology, his- tology, bacteriology, comparative anatomy, zoology, botany and general biology, he passed much of his time in independent research; and also wrote numerous articles and text-books relating to the various subjects of his school. He was unremitting, from day to day, in his endeavor to stimulate his pupils' interest in the experi- mental work of the laboratory. The first step towards the establishment of a school of practical astronomy, — a topic which had hitherto been taught by the professor of natural philosophy, as a sec- tion of his already plethoric course, — was taken during September, 1866, when the Visitors instructed the rector to solicit the assistance of Commodore Maury, the famous scientist, in collecting a fund for the erection of an observatory; and he was also, at the same time, to be invited to assume charge of the School of Practical As- tronomy, Physics, Geography, and Climatology, which the Board proposed to create specially for his incumbency. There was no man in the United States who would have RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 375 performed the duties of this professorship with more brilliant efficiency than he; and, perhaps, not another could have given it equal celebrity in Europe. Unfor- tunately, it was not then possible to obtain the necessary sum, and Maury continued, to the close of his life, in the service of the Virginia Military Institute. It was not until 1878 that the scheme of an observa- tory, with its accompanying professorship, began to take on the shape of an actuality. In the course of that year, Leander J. McCormick, a native of Virginia, who had accumulated a great fortune in the West by the manu- facture of reaping-machines, offered to present the Uni- versity with one of the largest telescopes in the world. This was accepted by the Visitors ; and subsequently, Mr. McCormick followed it up with the gift of eighteen thou- sand dollars, to be used in the erection of an observatory building. The only condition attached to this gift was the collection of a fund sufficient to endow the chair. William H. Vanderbilt very generously contributed twenty-five thousand dollars of the amount required, and the alumni and friends of the institution the remaining fifty thousand. An additional sum was afterwards se- cured to defray the expense of erecting a dwelling-house for the director. The telescope was thirty-two feet in length, and belonged to the class of refractors. The object glass was twenty-six and one-quarter inches in clear diameter, and of proportionate magnitude in focal length. The revolving hemispherical dome of the ob- servatory rested on a frame of steel girders, with an envelope of galvanized iron. Although the director, Professor Ormond Stone, was, on the nomination of Mr. McCormick, elected to that office in June, 1882, the building had not been finished, in every detail, previous to 1884. The dilatoriness of construction seems to 376 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA have become the target for numerous gibes on the part of the students. The course of instruction laid down in 1882—3 for the School of Theoretical and Practical Astronomy em- braced, besides the fundamental principles of the sub- ject, the theory of meridian and equatorial instruments, the methods of determining time, latitude, and longitude, right ascensions and declinations, the formation of star catalogues, the computation of orbits, and every other higher aspect of the science. By the session of 1886-7, a special course had been arranged for the benefit of those who intended to become practical astronomers. The director was also required to carry on investigations that would add to the sum of the general knowledge of the stars, and of the laws that governed those heavenly bodies. VII. Courses of Literary Instruction We have now come to the history, during the Seventh Period, 1865-1895, of the department which embraced the Schools of Latin, Greek, Modern Languages, Eng- lish, Moral Philosophy, and Historical Science. The School of Ancient Languages remained, throughout the session of 1865-6, under the direction of Professor Gil- dersleeve. At the end of this interval, the chair was again divided, and Colonel William E. Peters was ap- pointed to take charge of the restored School of Latin. Apparently, he made no change of importance in the programme which his distinguished predecessor had adopted. During the first years of his incumbency, only three events occurred in the annals of the school that are worthy of mention: (i) by the session of 1867—8, an assistant had become necessary in consequence of the RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 377 remarkable increase in the volume of attendance; (2) a course in Sanskrit was now provided for all who wished to study it; (3) by the session of 1880-1, a post-gradu- ate class had been formed. The School of Latin was reorganized, along with the other schools in the Aca- demic Department, when it was decided to be expedient to establish a college or undergraduate course, — the subjects of the former junior and intermediate years, — for the degree of bachelor of arts; the university or graduate course, — the subjects of the old senior year, — for the degree of master of arts; and the doctorate or post-graduate course, the course that embraced the sub- jects which had hitherto occupied the attention of ad- vanced students. During the session of 1866—7, a post-graduate course was introduced in the School of Greek, and the profes- sor in charge also offered to give instruction in Hebrew, should the number of students be sufficient to make up a class. Thomas R. Price, who succeeded Gildersleeve during the session of 1876—7, retained all the courses which had been previously taught. Professor Wheeler, who followed Price, in 1882, also made no change of importance. Professor Milton W. Humphreys, who followed Wheeler, in 1887, lectured along the new lines brought about by the reorganization of the courses and degrees in the academic department. During many years, Professor Schele remained the sole instructor in the School of Modern Languages, but, by 1888, an assistant, in the person of Wiliam H. Perkin- son, a distinguished graduate of that school, had been appointed. This school too was fully reorganized to adapt it to the requirements of the new coordination of degrees. Schele taught Anglo-Saxon and. the French, 378 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Spanish, and Italian languages, while Perkinson, now adjunct professor, had charge of the classes studying the German tongue. But the most remarkable aspect of the history of the academic schools between 1865 and 1895 was the ex- pansion in the English courses, — a forward step almost as significant as the expansion in the courses in science during the same period. We have seen how cramped the English and historical studies were previous to the establishment of the School of History and Literature; and even after the creation of that school, it can hardly be said that the English language and the English litera- ture received, at the University of Virginia, the atten- tion which they deserved. During the years that came immediately after the war, the original School of History and Literature underwent no alteration. There were still two classes, — one of history; the other, of Eng- lish literature and rhetoric. There was still but one professor; and only a single diploma was awarded. In June, 1868, the course in political economy was trans- ferred to this school from the School of Moral Philoso- phy; and during the session of 1870-71, instruction in oratory or spoken composition, was also given. But there was now a rapidly growing sentiment in favor of introducing into the University a more thorough and extensive examination of the English language than had ever before been undertaken there. This attitude soon became aggressive. Professor Price, who had won so much reputation by his brilliant courses of instruction in this department at Randolph-Macon College, in reply to questions put to him, in 1878, by the Board of Visitors, complained of the ignorance of their mother-tongue shown by so many of his pupils in the School of Greek. " This ignorance was so great," he asserted, " as to ham- RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 379 per their Hellenic studies ; " and the same defective edu- cation, he declared, diminished the value of all the work in philology done in the other schools of the institution. Schele confirmed this statement by deploring the small knowledge which so many of the young men in his classes possessed of the English language; and Holmes reluc- tantly acknowledged that the preparation of his stu- dents,— especially in grammar, spelling, expression, biog- raphy, and general information, — was marked by the gravest shortcomings; and that this preparation, such as it was, was growing to be more superficial every year that passed. He attributed this regrettable condition to the elective system, because it left the young men at liberty to enter any school of the University without having first pursued a full and searching course of study in their own language. But it was not until 1882, — after a commit- tee had submitted a very thoughtful report, — that a sepa- rate School of English Language and Literature was established by the Visitors. The same committee, in recommending the creation of this school, suggested that the subject to which it should be confined should be ac- cepted as one of the two modern languages which were prescribed in the curriculum for the degree of master of arts. When the Board again assembled (September, 1882), they laid down the courses to be followed when instruc- tion should begin; and it is pertinent to mention these, as revealing the high degree of thoroughness and compre- hensiveness which they were anxious to enforce: (i) the nature of language and its relation to thought as ex- hibited in the structure and applications of the English tongue; (2) the correct and effective employment of that tongue, whether in speech or composition; (3) the prin- ciples and art of style as disclosed in the master-pieces 380 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA of the English language; and (4) the history of that language. The first incumbent of the chair was James M. Gar- nett, a scholar of reputation in his specialty. But, by 1887, the Board had begun to show dissatisfaction with the upshot of this professorship, on the ground that it had signally failed to win the popularity confidently expected of it. Definite alterations in the courses of instruction were suggested by Garnett, and these having been adopted, a certain interval within which to test their ef- fectiveness was allowed him. In January, 1893, through the munificence of Mrs. Linden Kent, the widow of an alumnus, the School of English Literature, as distin- guished from the School of the English Language, — which was assigned to Garnett, — was established; and Charles W. Kent, a brother-in-law of Mrs. Kent, and a professor in the University of Tennessee, was appointed to fill the new chair.1 By the terms of the endowment, three thousand dollars was to be paid annually by Mrs. Kent for the support of this professorship, which was to be a memorial to her husband; and at her death, the sum of sixty thousand dollars was to be set aside from her estate for its maintenance. In 1893, courses in rhetoric and belles-lettres were added to the courses in English Literature. By the time the various subjects taught in this school had been adjusted to the undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees, — in harmony with a simultaneous change in the other academic schools, — the attendance of students had come to embrace nearly one third of all those enrolled in that general department. In the mean- while, the School of English Language had languished, and Garnett suggested that it should be consolidated with 1 His incumbency began September 15, 1893. RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 381 the School of Modern Languages. The Board declined to do this then; but in July, 1896, they decided to divide the latter school into two sections: (i) Romanic lan- guages; and (2) Germanic languages, including the Eng- lish tongue among the number to be taught. James A. Harrison was placed in charge of the one, and William H. Perkinson in charge of the other. In the meanwhile, important alterations had taken place in the original course in history. In consequence of the munificence of Mr. Corcoran, there had, by the ses- sion of 1882-3, been established what was designated as the School of Historical Science. This school was di- vided into two classes, one of which was engaged with the study of general history; the other with the study of the processes of historical change, — which included the science of political economy, and also the science of so- ciety. By the session of 1889-90, this school had been reorganized: Professor Holmes was assigned to the courses in sociology and political economy, and Richard Heath Dabney, a master of arts of the University, and al- ready a teacher and writer of distinction, to the course in general history. Dabney had been elected adjunct pro- fessor at first, and began the performance of his duties in September, 1889. A very valuable part of the ground traversed by his lectures was English and American his- tory, with special reference to constitutional development. As long as Professor McGuffey occupied the chair of moral philosophy, no change was made in his course of instruction beyond the transfer of the subject of political economy to Professor Holmes's charge; but after the election of his successor, Noah K. Davis, this topic was returned to the School of Moral Philosophy. S82 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA viii. Coordination and Entrance Examinations In glancing back at the history of the academic de- partment during the Seventh Period, 1865-95, we per- ceive that the most significant fact belonging to it was the abolition of the old nomenclature of junior, inter- mediate, and senior classes, and the adoption instead of the collegiate or undergraduate course, the university or graduate course, and the post-graduate course, — a collo- cation more consistent with the true nature and purposes of the institution. In reality, that institution, had, from the beginning, been doing the work of both a college and a university; but the division line between the two had never been clearly drawn until 1892. The University of Virginia was compelled to go on with its collegiate tasks by the existence of certain educational conditions in the communities to which it looked for its annual re- cruits. Had it dropped that work and confined its atten- tion to university and post-graduate work, its material prosperity, — which, in the absence of a great endowment fund, it was forced to nurse, — would have suffered, per- haps, irretrievable damage. Jefferson had always shown impatience in acknowledging the necessity of giving the lower grades of instruction in his new seat of learning. By making the university and the post-graduate course rest upon a basis of collegiate preparation within the bounds of the institution, that institution came as near to the realization of his fundamental design as the status of general education in the South now permitted. Its university or graduate work had always been founded upon its collegiate or undergraduate work, — the work of its senior classes on the work of its junior and intermedi- ate,— but it was not until the Seventh Period, 1865- 1895, that the university courses were completely and log- RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 883 ically coordinated with the collegiate on the lowest plat- form, and with the post-graduate on the highest. An important measure for raising the scholarship of those who were enrolled in the academic department was the adoption of a rule which imposed the test of an ex- amination for admission. During the winter of 1875- 6, the General Assembly had passed an act that granted to every student from Virginia above the age of eighteen, the privilege of entrance without any charge for tuition fees, provided that they had stood such a test successfully. In May, 1876, a committee of the Faculty enumerated the following as the fundamental subjects to be submitted in this examination : ( i ) English grammar and composi- tion; and (2) modern geography and arithmetic. For admission to the junior class in Latin, Greek, mathemat- ics, history and literature, rhetoric, and natural philos- ophy, a particular course in each school, laid down upon simple lines, was recommended, while for admission to the intermediate or senior class in each, the course to be passed was to be the same, but in a higher grade. No severer test than the ordinary entrance examination was to be applied for admission to the Schools of Modern Languages, Moral Philosophy, General and Industrial Chemistry, Natural History, and Agriculture. It may be stated in a general way that the examinations were to be confined to the subjects which were customarily taught in the secondary schools, public or private. In order to adapt the dates of these examinations to the popular convenience, it was arranged that they should be held at different places in town and country. The first to come off took place in the summer of 1878, and were not largely attended; but they were repeated, in 1879, with more success, under the supervision of persons appointed by the Faculty. Afterwards, they were not 384 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA confined to Virginia; nor were they restricted to young men, — certificates of excellence were granted to women who had attained to a high level in their papers. During the session of 1892—3, the examinations were limited to two grades, — the junior and senior classes of the aca- demic schools. There was, in the course of the Seventh Period, 1865- 1895, no important alteration in the character of the us- ual intermediate and final examinations held in the dif- ferent schools. The valuation was still graduated under four divisions: a minimum of three-fourths was still re- quired for the first, one-half for the second, one-fourth for the third, and a figure more reduced for the fourth.1 It was suggested, in 1889, that the standards in each di- vision should be lowered. To this, the chairman, Profes- sor Thornton, very pertinently demurred. " As matters now stand," he said, " there is a happy equilibrium be- tween the University, and the other Virginian and South- ern colleges. Any graduate from one of these colleges coming to the University of Virginia finds a good year of solid work still to be done. If the standard was lowered to the colleges, it would hurt the latter, as the Univer- sity of Virginia, having no tuition fee for Virginia stu- dents, with more eminent professors, and greater reputa- tion, would inevitably attract the bulk of the students. No rivalry now exists. The University powerfully stim- ulates the colleges, and they in turn send up well-trained students to the University." The formal English examination was abolished in 1869. In its place, the following rule was adopted as pertinent whenever the applicant's examination papers should indicate that his knowledge of orthography or syn- tax was defective: the professor was to report the case 1 See page 48, University Catalogue for 1876-7. RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 385 to the Faculty for final disposition. The temper of that body usually leaned towards a lenient sentence. In June, 1871, Schele sent in the name of a pupil who had sub- mitted excellent papers for graduation in the department of French and German, but had " failed lamentably," — to use the professor's painful words, — " in his English spelling." The Faculty seemed to have inquired into his special deficiencies in this respect; but ultimately decided to grant him his diploma on condition that he would promise to " devote himself diligently to English orthog- raphy,"— an occupation of his time, which, possibly, was soon brought to a termination. IX. Academic Degrees Throughout the interval now under review, 1865- 1 895, the subject of the degrees was one which was almost continuously under debate. The remarkable number of alterations, additions, and revocations that were made, demonstrates that, during many years, the minds of the Visitors, — who alone had the power to create or abolish these degrees, or to broaden or narrow their scope, — was in a state of conspicuous instability. The historian of all these expansions, modifications, and eliminations, can hardly avoid contrasting what may be described as this gorge or surfeit of academic degrees with the elementary system of graduate and academical and professional doc- torate devised by the thoughtful intellect of the Father of the University.1 There was about the degree of gradu- ate especially something of the antique simplicity and sug- gestiveness of the words, Civis Romanus Sum. Jefferson 1 The Enactments of 1825 provided that "the diplomas shall be of two degrees: the highest of doctor, the second of graduate." That this doctorate was academic as well as medical was shown by the Faculty's recommendation in 1826 that the Board should "drop all the old un- meaning titles and adopt in their stead the single term of ' graduate,' ex- cept in the Medical School where it will be necessary to retain the M.D." 386 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA would have looked upon the degrees of master of arts and bachelor of arts, introduced not long after his death, as altogether superabundant. In the light of the disposi- tion to establish so many new degrees in addition to these, exhibited during the period that followed the War be- tween the States, the moderation of Dunglison, Bonnycas- tle, and George Tucker, in being satisfied with the two de- grees of bachelor of arts and master of arts, seems to be full of an austere restraint. Tucker, it will be recalled, spoke of the bare title of " graduate " as a " quaint " des- ignation. Possibly, one or two of the degrees adopted between 1865 and 1895 would have seemed to him to be still more deserving of the descriptive application of that old-fashioned adjective. But there were, in reality, two sound reasons for the adoption of additional degrees, — the first of which was the extraordinary expansion in scientific study during these years; and the second, the desire to swell the num- ber of matriculates. The same reasons also, in a meas- ure, account for the alteration in the ground which the candidates for the degrees of bachelor of arts, master of arts, and doctor of philosophy, had to traverse, in order to win their respective diplomas. During the first sessions that followed the war, the old academic division into titled and untitled degrees was re- tained,— there were the proficient and the graduate in the second category, and the bachelor of arts and the master of arts in the first. The list of studies embraced in the course for each remained unabbreviated and also unenlarged. The new scientific spirit had not yet crept in to modify the conservatism of Board and Faculty, and the number of students was so satisfactory that there ap- peared to be no need of devising means of increasing it. It was not until about 1868-70 that the first indication of RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 887 the revolution which was to modify the old degrees and add new ones began to crop out; two new degrees were then established, — that of bachelor of science and that of bachelor of letters.1 The first was to be awarded to the student who had graduated in the Schools of Mathemat- ics, Natural Philosophy, and Chemistry; obtained certifi- cates of proficiency in anatomy, comparative anatomy, physiology, botany, mineralogy, and geology; and a cer- tificate of distinction in the junior grades of applied math- ematics. He must also show that he had made satisfac- tory progress in the School of Analytical Chemistry. On the other hand, the degree of bachelor of letters was to be awarded to the student who had graduated in the Schools of Ancient and Modern Languages, Moral Phil- osophy, and History and Literature. The first alteration in the curriculum of an old degree took place in the instance of that of bachelor of arts. The acquisition of this degree had previously called for graduation in any two of the literary schools, and in any two of the scientific, with the winning of distinctions in the junior classes of those remaining literary and scientific schools in which graduation had not been attempted. During the session of 1868-69, however, new require- ments were put in force. It then became necessary for the candidate for the degree to gain diplomas in the Latin, Greek, chemistry, moral philosophy, French or German courses, and certificates of proficiency in junior and intermediate mathematics, physics, and history or literature. Subsequently, as we shall see, it was still fur- ther modified. So far, the ground covered by the degree of master of arts had not been changed. That degree had possessed 1 Degree of bachelor of science in 1868-69 i that of bachelor of letters in 1869-70. 388 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA such an exalted reputation from its very inception that the Faculty and Board entertained an almost supersti- tious reverence for it just as it was. Indeed, it seemed to them to be an act of sacrilege to raise an altering hand against it. The first timid iconoclastic step was taken in 1872, when the oral examinations previously imposed on the candidate, in review of all the courses in which he had graduated in preceding years, were reduced to oral exam- inations in any two which he had passed successfully pre- vious to his closing session. In spite of the increase in the number of scientific studies which were considered now to be essential to a liberal education, it was possible that further change in the curriculum of the degree of master of arts would have been indefinitely deferred had not the number of students about 1879-80 showed an alarming falling off. In a report submitted by Profes- sor Price to the Faculty, and by them to the Board, with some alterations, it was recommended that the degree of master of arts should be awarded thereafter to every student who had passed with credit examinations in the new courses which had been prescribed for the degree of bachelor of arts, and had also graduated in a stated addi- tional number of the academic schools. The conditions of success suggested in the report for the degree of bach- elor of arts were the acquisition of proficiencies in the in- termediate classes of the Schools of Pure Mathematics, Latin, Greek, Natural Philosophy, or Moral Philoso- phy; graduation in any two of the academic schools; and the composition of an essay on some subject of science, history, or literature.1 1 At this time this degree was conferred on the student " who had made satisfactory attainments in the senior classes of Greek and Latin, in the intermediate class in pure mathematics and in moral philosophy, ob- tained certificates in physics and in history or literature and rhetoric, and graduated in chemistry and French or German." RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 389 The Faculty approved of the changes thus recom- mended so far as they related to the degree of bachelor of arts, but not so far as they related to the degree of master. This was simply another proof of the indiffer- ence with which the first degree was regarded, and the veneration in which the second was held. But it was, in reality, the first forward movement in that progression of events which, in the end, was to make the contemned stone the corner-stone of the new scholastic edifice of the University. The degree of bachelor of arts was the earliest to exhibit a spirit of elasticity, a free adaptability to alteration, and it was ultimately to become, by its ex- clusive association with the collegiate or undergraduate department of the future, the most important, although not the highest, of all the degrees. The spirit of innovation, generated as much by the practical needs of the University as by the broadening of the general field of education, in time began to show its presence in a conspicuous way. In April, 1883, a com- mittee of the Faculty reported to that body a very elabo- rate new scheme of academic degrees. First, the degree of bachelor of arts. This required for its attainment ( i ) the winning of a distinction in the senior class in Latin, and in the junior and intermediate classes in Greek; of a proficiency in either of the two classes in moral philoso- phy, in junior and intermediate mathematics, and in junior physics; (2) of a proficiency in either of the classes in English, historical science, and geology; or a diploma in either the French or German language ; of a distinction in a prearranged course in general chemistry; and (3) grad- uation in any two of the ten existing schools. Second, the degree of bachelor of letters. This was to be awarded to the student who had received diplomas in Latin, Greek, and moral philosophy; and also in the School of Modern Languages, or English, or His- torical Science. Third, the degree of bachelor of sci- ence. This required graduation in the courses of pure mathematics, natural philosophy, general chemistry, nat- ural history, and geology. Fourth, the degree of mas- ter of arts. This was to be awarded for graduation in the Schools of Latin, Greek, Modern Languages, Moral Philosophy, Pure Mathematics, Natural Philosophy and General Chemistry. Fifth, the degree of doctor of phil- osophy. This called for the completion by a bachelor of philosophy or bachelor of arts of a graduate course in any two or more of the literary schools, or in any two or more of the scientific.1 Sixth, the degree of doctor of letters. This was to be conferred upon a bachelor of letters who had continued his graduate courses in any two or more of the literary schools. Seventh, the de- gree of doctor of science. This was to be awarded to any student who had won the degree of bachelor of sci- ence, and also had protracted his graduate studies in any two or more of the scientific courses. Eighth, the degree of bachelor of philosophy. This was to be conferred on one who had graduated in any three of the following schools : Latin, Greek, both French and German, English, Historical Science, and Moral Philosophy, and in any two of the remaining schools. There were very sharp lines of division adhered to in drafting this elaborate scheme. The first category em- 1 The degree of doctor of philosophy was established by the beginning of the session of 1880-81. It was then conferred on students who had " grad- ' uated and obtained post graduate distinction in the studies contained in ' any one of the five following classes — after having received the degree 'of bachelor of arts as a previous condition: (i) mathematics and 'mathematical physics; (2) Latin and Greek; (3) moral philosophy, 'political economy, and history and literature; (4) modern languages — 'including Anglo-Saxon — history and literature; (5) experimental phys- ' ics, chemistry and natural history and geology." University Catalogue 1880-81. RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 391 braced such degrees as covered a specialized literary course; the second, such as covered a specialized sci- entific course; the third, such as represented a combina- tion of literary and scientific studies. To the first be- longed the degrees of bachelor of letters, and doctor of letters; to the second, the degree of bachelor of science and doctor of science; and to the third, the degrees of master of arts, bachelor of arts, bachelor of philosophy and doctor of philosophy. The doctorate was designed for students whose intended professions called for pre- vious research in some special field of letters or of sci- ence. It was necessary that every candidate for a doc- torate should have won the degree of bachelor of arts, either at the University of Virginia, or at some chartered seat of learning of recognized standing. He must also have graduated at the University of Virginia in the schools in which he proposed to take up a post-graduate course. Carefully digested and logically arranged as this sys- tem of degrees appeared to be, and in spite also of its prompt adoption by the Board, there was a keen feeling of antagonism to many of its provisions on the part of persons interested in the welfare of the University. In a report which the Faculty submitted in June, 1888, they endeavored, by proposing certain alterations, to allay this opposition. They suggested ( I ) that the degree of bachelor of letters should be confined to graduation in any four of the following six schools : Latin, Greek, Moral Philosophy, Modern Languages, English, and Historical Science; (2) the degree of bachelor of science to gradua- tion in any four of the following six: Mathematics, Nat- ural Philosophy, General Chemistry, Natural History and Geology, Biology and Analytical Chemistry; (3) the degree of bachelor of arts to acquisition of diplomas in 392 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA any five of the academical schools, of which at least two should be literary, and at least two scientific; (4) the de- gree of master of arts to graduation in the Schools of Latin, Greek, Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Moral Philosophy, and in any two of the remaining aca- demic schools. In this recommendation of the Faculty, we discover increased symptoms of weakening in their determination to maintain the degree of master of arts in its original proportions. It was no longer to be obligatory on the candidate for that degree to win diplomas in the mod- ern languages, in chemistry, or in English. The Faculty's report was submitted by the Visitors to a committee of their own body, the chairman of which was Colonel W. Gordon McCabe, one of the most experienced teachers and one of the ripest scholars in the South. The revolutionary recommendations of this committee, after examining the report, were substantially as follows : that a general academic degree, to be known as the degree of bachelor of arts, should be established, and that no stu- dent should be permitted to become a candidate for the degree of master of arts unless he had first obtained this lower degree; that in order to win this lower degree, it should be necessary for him to have been awarded cer- tificates of proficiency in the Schools of Latin, Greek, Mathematics, and Practical Physics, and also in one Teu- tonic language, in one Romanic language, in general chem- istry, in logic, and in the history of philosophy. The pur- pose of the degree as thus arranged was simply to enable the student to acquire a fair general knowledge of the subjects which its curriculum embraced. A thorough specialistic training was to be deferred to the groups of elective courses which were to be introduced into the transformed degree of master of arts. It was presumed RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 393 that, with moderate assiduity, the bachelor's degree could be won in a period of two years. The practical, apart from the purely scholastic, bene- fits, which were expected to accrue from this altered de- gree, were ( i ) that it would draw to the University many young men, who, but for its adoption, would be driven away by the difficulty of carrying off the old diploma of a master of arts; and (2) that it would, by creating a new class feeling, — through the winning of this honor by so many, — confirm and widen the spirit of loyalty to the institution. The scholastic advantage consisted of the ability of the new bachelor of arts, in becoming a can- didate for the mastership, to take up the precise elective group of higher studies in the advanced course which was in the nicest harmony with his tastes. Whether it was literary or scientific, or a combination of both by being partly literary and partly scientific, he was to be at liberty to choose the studies which he preferred, instead of be- ing forced to confine himself to the inflexible round which was formerly prescribed for the mastership of arts. But should he aspire to graduate in all the orig- inal schools of this higher degree, it was the committee's conviction that he should be permitted to do so. The report containing these radical suggestions was referred by the Visitors, in July (1888), to the Faculty, with simply a request for their judgment. In the ensu- ing autumn, two replies, — one embodying the views of the majority of the members, the other those of the minority, — were returned; but the Board were so dis- satisfied with this divergence that, on the following day, they again referred the same question back to the same body with the expression of the hope that the difference in opinion would be overcome and a decision common to all arrived at. The Visitors were, no doubt, convinced that the innovations would prove unsuccessful unless they should have the cordial support of the men who were to be the immediate agents in carrying them out. After an exhaustive discussion extending over five meetings, the Faculty drafted a report in which, it seems, they simply recommended that the academic degrees should be re- duced to three; and that the degree of bachelor of arts should be awarded to a student who had, apart from the acquisition of proficiencies, graduated in at least two studies in a general scheme that embraced nine. In February, 1889, this report was referred by the Board to a committee, of which Colonel McCabe was again the chairman. This committee approved the Faculty's recommendation that the degrees should be re- duced to those of master of arts, bachelor of arts, and doctor of philosophy; but they refused to assent to the change proposed for the new degree of bachelor of arts. They declared that this degree should embrace such a circle of studies as was generally considered to be indis- pensable as a sound and sure foundation for the liberal education which the degree of master of arts was pre- sumed to stand for. In other words, it should be a solid stepping-stone to that higher and broader platform. Five times during the interval between 1865 and 1885, — the committee pointed out, — had the requirements for this degree been altered in the effort to make it more pop- ular by making it more attractive. Why had these suc- cessive changes failed to commend it to favor? Chiefly because the old nomenclature of graduate and proficient, — which suggested at once its continued inferiority to the mastership of arts, — had been retained. It was still looked upon as a badge of consolation for the students who had fallen down in the endeavor to win the higher de- gree. It signified a partial defeat, not a full victory, in RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 395 the possessor's collegiate career. The committee, in or- der to remove this traditional taint from the degree, rec- ommended that the sole purpose to be represented by it should be the acquisition of a sound general knowledge of the subjects to be embraced in its curriculum, and that in place of the long descended nomenclature of graduate and proficient, the simple words " passed successfully " should be substituted.1 The conclusions reached by the Board, — which were only partly in accord with the committee's recommenda- tions,— were incorporated in the report which the rector, W. C. N. Randolph, submitted to the Governor at the end of the session of 1888—9. All academic degrees, ex- cept the following, were abolished : ( i ) the degree of master of arts, — which was to be awarded to the student who had graduated in the Schools of Latin, Greek, French and German, Moral Philosophy, Pure Mathematics, Nat- ural Philosophy, and General Chemistry; (2) the degree of bachelor of arts, — to be conferred on the student who had " passed successfully " examinations in Latin, Greek, or logic, mathematics, physics, chemistry, general history, one Romanic language, and one Teutonic; (3) the degree of doctor of philosophy, — to be awarded to the student who had won the degree of bachelor of arts or master of arts, and completed a full course in two or more literary schools or in two or more scientific. Either of the pre- liminary degrees was to be accepted as sufficient, whether obtained at the University of Virginia, or at some other institution of respectable standing. In every instance, however, the student must have received a diploma at the University of Virginia in the particular study or studies in which he had announced his intention of pursuing a line of post-graduate research. * See Minutes of Board of Visitors for 1888. 396 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA x. Academic Degrees, Continued The scheme of academic degrees just described, having been thoughtfully framed both from a practical and a scholastic point of view, might have been confidently ex- pected to operate satisfactorily from the beginning. But it does not appear to have done so. Each degree stood the scholastic test, but none of them stood successfully that practical test which a contemporary member of the Faculty had in mind when he said that what was " really wanted was a degree attractive enough to induce men to stay at the University more than one year.", How was this end, which was so much desired, to be brought about? The Board, at their meeting in Decem- ber, 1893, seems to have returned, in the main, to the rec- ommendations of the McCabe committee of 1885, which they now ventured to hope would accomplish the purpose by proving more popular than the modifications which they had adopted: ( i ) the degree of bachelor of arts was to be conferred on the student who had succeeded in eight courses selected from the following list, of which, how- ever, at least one must be taken from each group : ancient languages, modern languages, history and literature, mathematical sciences, natural sciences, philosophical sci- ences; (2) every candidate for the degree of master of arts must have won the diploma of a bachelor of arts; and he was to be required to pursue a course of advanced or graduate study in at least four schools, all of which were to bear a close relationship to each other. For instance, the circle elected might be Latin, Greek, moral philosophy or history, one Teutonic language and one Romanic lan- guage. This course led up to the degree of master of arts in letters. Or the circle might be mathematics, nat- ural philosophy, natural history and biology, or mineral- RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 397 ogy and geology, and the applied chairs. This course led up to the degree of master of arts in science. Or the cir- cle might be partly literary and partly scientific, — for in- stance, Latin, Greek, natural philosophy, or one Teutonic and one Romanic language, mathematics, or natural phil- osophy, or mathematics and astronomy. This course led up to the degree of master of arts in philosophy. No change of importance was to be made in the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy. The fundamental purpose of this scheme, which was proposed by the committee of which Colonel McCabe was still the chairman, was to increase the popularity of the degrees by broadening their elective scope. The stu- dent, under the provisions of this arrangement, was able to exercise a greater latitude of choice in selecting his studies, and was, therefore, more likely, not only to fol- low his natural preference, but also, in doing so, to feel more disposed to remain for a longer period at the Uni- versity. The new system was not to be put in force until the advent of the session of 1892-93. Before taking up the controversy which the abolition of the original fixed curriculum for the degree of master of arts aroused, it will be pertinent to compare the number of winners of that degree belonging to successive intervals between 1865 and 1892. In the course of the first fifteen years, — when the list of studies prescribed for it re- mained unaltered, — the proportion of masters was but one for every sixty-two students in attendance. Between 1882 and 1884, — when there was allowed a restricted freedom of election, — the ratio was one to approxi- mately every twenty matriculates. Between 1885 and 1892, — when this freedom of choice had been with- drawn,— there were only thirty masters of arts in all. As the annual average attendance in the academic schools 398 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA had now advanced to two hundred students, the falling off in the proportion of masters, during this period, was from one in twenty to one in forty-seven, — which proved that the previous privilege of election, taken away now, had allured a larger number of candidates. It had been often asserted that the scholastic reputa- tion of the University of Virginia had been acquired through the high standard adopted for the original de- gree of master of arts; and that this reputation had been prolonged by the retention of that standard. No alumni were more sure of the correctness of this opin- ion than a large majority of the men who had won the mastership by surmounting all its early undisputed difficulties. They looked at the new requirements for the degree from a sentimental and scholastic point of view. They did not consider at all those requirements in the practical way which the Board and Faculty were com- pelled to keep in mind, if the prosperity, — and it might be even the continued existence of the institution, — was to be preserved. If the primary benefit of education is what the followers of Locke declared it to be ; namely, the mental drill which study gives, then the course embraced in the original degree of master of arts was quite as fruit- ful as any that could have been adopted. If, on the other hand, the disciples of the opposing school are right in thinking that it is the knowledge, and not the drill, that is of paramount importance, then that degree, as formerly arranged, fell, as time advanced, altogether short in many of the most useful branches of modern science. To hold the old degree up to eulogy because there had been no change in its requirements during the long interval be- tween 1832 and 1882, — except the addition to its curric- ulum of one entire school and a section of another, — was, as the Board correctly said, to announce that many RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 399 studies, now very properly considered essential to a lib- eral education, had been ignored. That charge, as we have seen, had, before the War of Secession, been specific- ally brought against the old degree by the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger, who was decrying the ab- sence from the circle of its studies of a School of History and Literature. It is a fact of somewhat curious interest that the same disparagement was now launched against the new degree by the signers of the remonstrance sent to the Board in November, 1891. "A student," this remonstrance as- serted, " might become a master of arts without any knowledge of chemistry, or physics, or psychology, or logic; and with only knowledge enough of Latin and French to pass the intermediate classes. Was it becom- ing the dignity of the University to confer its highest de- gree upon one who had shown no scholarly knowledge of the languages, ancient or modern, and might not have stood a single examination in pure mathematics? Are not standards being sacrificed to supposed means of in- creasing the numerical attendance upon the institution? " The Board, in their reply, so far admitted the perti- nency of this last interrogatory as to say that " it had long been a source of weakness to the University that there had not been a reputable degree for undergraduates which appealed to any large number of students of fair ability and determined industry, who were desirous, not of the specialized training of a schoolmaster, but of a sound general knowledge of such subjects as are commonly deemed essential in any scheme of liberal education." " The original degree of bachelor of arts is not such a degree," they added. " On the other hand, the new de- gree, the basis of the altered degree of master of arts, is at once sound as to scholarship and attractive to the great 400 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA body of the students. Five times had that degree been changed between 1865 and 1885, — once in every four years, — yet few of the young men had applied for it. A tacit stigma attached to it because it was at bottom an advertisement of academic failure. A degree of bach- elor of arts was needed such as would induce the large majority of the academic students to stay long enough at the University to acquire the basis of a liberal education. Not more than two-fifths remained more than one year." The Board further remarked that the degree of master of arts had " attained such an exaggerated importance " in the minds of alumni and collegians alike that " it was impossible for any other degree to flourish at the Uni- versity at all." " It had increased," they said, " the tend- ency in the direction of disassociating the institution from the life of the State by narrowing its capacity for practical usefulness, and by restricting its chief function to that of a mere nursery of specialists and technical scholars." Professor Garnett pointed out that, owing to this " ex- aggerated importance " of the master's degree, all schools not enlisted in its round of courses u were placed in an in- ferior position and deprived of their natural support." " This," he said, " had become a serious condition, now that the number of them had been so much increased." It was the conviction of this experienced member of the Faculty, a master of arts himself, that the " recent changes had given greater freedom of choice in studies, and still preserved such requirements in language, litera- ture, and science, as should characterize a well-educated man." Professor Richard Heath Dabney, also a master of arts, and one who had finished his education in foreign universities, expressed himself very vigorously in favor RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 401 of the new degrees.1 The superiority of the innovation, he said in substance, lay in its perfect flexibility. The course for the preliminary degree of bachelor of arts would give the student a fair knowledge of nearly all the subjects necessary to be studied for the acquisition of a liberal education, while the alternative schools open to election in the scheme for the degree of master of arts would leave him free to pursue exactly the advanced line of investigation which his natural bent would cause him to prefer. In other words, if his tastes leaned to the literary side, they could be gratified by taking up the lit- erary schools; if they leaned to the scientific side, then scientific schools could be chosen; and if they were both literary and scientific, then he would find open to his in- dustry a double field in which to follow them. More- over, as Professor Dabney also pointed out, the new sys- tem of degrees tended to foster a spirit of harmony among the members of the Faculty, for, under its opera- tion " each professor felt that his department was given an equal chance for development and influence." Fur- thermore, the practical purpose which the alteration in the two degrees had in view would encourage a closer affiliation with other institutions because it would allow credit for baccalaureate work done in them, so soon as the holder of that degree, obtained in some of these insti- tutions, should seek admission to the more advanced classes of the master's course in the University of Vir- ginia. At first, important restrictions were imposed on this privilege, since few of these outside colleges even pre- tended to exacting standards of scholarship. In the be- ginning, the bachelors of these colleges were compelled to 1 So did Professor Thornton in a very thoughtful article contributed to the Religious Herald. 402 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA traverse at the University of Virginia practically the same ground which they had already gone over; and this fact diverted many talented young men to other seats of learn- ing that were more liberal in giving credit for the courses of study which these young men had already finished. By the session of 1895-6, some additional changes had been made in the requirements for the degree of bachelor of arts. The scientific group of subjects was still lim- ited to (i) physics and chemistry; and (2) biology and geology. The course to be pursued by the candidate was to consist of at least nine studies,1 and at least one of them was to be taken from each of the following groups : (i) Latin and Greek; (2) French and German; (3) English language, English literature, and general his- tory; (4) moral philosophy and political economy; (5) mathematics, mechanics, and astronomy, (6) physics and chemistry; (7) biology and geology. This new arrange- ment of the baccalaureate course was supposed to create a broader and more liberal foundation for the advanced studies embraced in the degree of master of arts. During the session of 1893-4, the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy were as follows: no student was to be permitted to become a candidate for it unless he could show the diploma of a bachelor or mas- ter of arts, conferred either by the University of Vir- ginia, or by some other chartered institution of learning approved by the University's Faculty. He must also have passed examinations in the post-graduate courses of two schools which he had selected as those in which he wished to continue his special researches. In addition, he must have submitted an acceptable dissertation bearing upon the subject of his major study. At the end of the Seventh Period, 1865-1895, there 1 These were to belong to the specific B. A. courses. RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1895 403 was in operation at the University of Virginia a logical and flexible system of degrees. First, the degree of bach- elor of arts, — which was designed to afford a thorough and well proportioned education in all the six great prov- inces of human knowledge; namely, ancient languages, modern languages, history and literature, mathematical science, natural science, and philosophical science. Sec- ond, the degree of master of arts. This was established for those students who should wish to extend to wider ground certain completed undergraduate courses, with a view to laying a broader foundation for purely profes- sional study, or to equipping themselves for the calling of teachers, or to following a line of special investigation in the field of either letters or science. Third, the doctor- ate of philosophy, — which was created for those who were anxious to push their finished work for their second degree into still larger and richer fields of research. END OF VOLUME III PRINTED IN TH« UNITED STATES OT AMERICA «ILL REFERENCE LIBRARY SJ. PAUL LD Bruce, Philip Alexander 5678 History of the University B7 of Virginia Centennial ed. v.3 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY