i
g IO THE KENTUCKY ALUMNUS
i ° County, Kentucky, where I remained until 1859. I was then elected Principal
of the Preparatory Department of Stewart College, Clarksville, Tennessee, now
the Southwestem University, and removed thither in the autumn of that year.
Upon the resignation of Dr. Alexander Doak the year following, I was elected
Professor of Latin and Greek and so continued until the end of April, 1861,
‘ when the college, upon the outbreak of the Civil War, closed its doors, some
of the professors and a large number of the students having volunteered for
service in the Confederate army.
At this time the Principalship of Transylvania became vacant and the trus-
tees, of whom Madison Johnson was President and W. A. Dudley, Secretary,
elected me to fill the vacancy. I took charge of what was left of Transylvania
in September, 1861. Transylvania, during the greater part of the first half of
the nineteenth century, was the largest and best known institution of learning
west of the Alleghenies. Many men, celebrated as clergymen, lawyers, physi-
cians, statesmen and diplomats, received their education within its walls. Liberal
grants of land had been made by Virginia early in its history, for its main-
tenance. Little permanent income, however, accrued from these benefactions.
These grants of land had, through culpable mismanagement, been dissipated ‘
and lost. The City of Lexington had at different times, appropriated large
sums for its benefit and a considerable amount had been obtained from private
benefactors. Its College of Liberal Arts stood high, whileits College of Medi-
ii cine and its College of Law, surpassed all other professional colleges of the
VVest or South. The fees collected from its students added to the meager
income from other sources, supplied the necessary means of carrying on its
operations. But as State Universities grew in neighboring states, the patronage
of Transylvania declined. The removal of some of the ablest of its medical
faculty to Louisville and the establishment of a rival medical college in that city
was a severe blow. A corresponding blight fell upon the College of Law.
Shortly afterwards Transylvania ceased to discharge collegiate functions and
became, while retaining the corporate name of University, a high school only.
lt had beautiful grounds, good buildings, good scientific apparatus and labora-
tories and an annual income, including fees, of about $4,500. This income pro-
vided for the salaries of the principal and two competent assistants. The en-
rollment of students was about eighty or ninety and a finer lot of young men
could not be found in the Commonwealth.
Mathematics, Latin, Greek and English were the principal subjects of
study aud in these, students were prepared for the senior classes at Center and i
Georgetown colleges.
The next chapter will deal with the old Kentucky University and the transi-
tion period from 1861 to 1865. ~