xt7x696zww0t https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7x696zww0t/data/mets.xml Washington and Lee University. 1888  books b92-88-27381401 English John Murphy, : Baltimore : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Washington and Lee University Directories. Washington and Lee University Biography. Graham, William, 1746-1799. Lyles family. Pastoral theology.Grigsby, Hugh Blair, 1806-1881. Ruffner, William Henry, 1824-1908. Alexander, Archibald, 1772-1851. Blanton, L. H. Davidson, Robert, 1808-1876. History of the Presbyterian Church in the state of Kentucky. Catalogue of the officers and alumni of Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, 1749-1888 / published by order of the Board of Trustees. Historical papers. No.2, 1890. Samuel Lyle, William Lyle, James Ramsey, and John Montgomery, trustees: Wililliam McClung and many alumni : or, the Lyle chapter in the history of Washington and Lee University /  William Henry Ruffner. text Catalogue of the officers and alumni of Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, 1749-1888 / published by order of the Board of Trustees. Historical papers. No.2, 1890. Samuel Lyle, William Lyle, James Ramsey, and John Montgomery, trustees: Wililliam McClung and many alumni : or, the Lyle chapter in the history of Washington and Lee University /  William Henry Ruffner. 1888 2002 true xt7x696zww0t section xt7x696zww0t 













CATALOGUE

     (F THrFE



OFFICERS AND



ALUMNI



(IF



Aashington and Lee University,



LEXINGTON,



VIRGINIA,



174 9-18 88.

 
This page in the original text is blank.

 




    CATALOGUE

           OF THE


OFFICERS AND ALUMNI

            OF



Washington and Lee University,



LEXINGTON,



VIRGINIA,



       1749-1888.





Published by Order of the Board of Trustees.





        BALTIMORE:
     JOHN MURPHY  CO.
          I888.

 
This page in the original text is blank.

 










                         PREFACE.


  This Catalogue has been prepared and is now published under the
authority of the Board of Trustees.
  From 1834 to the present time the list of names given is believed to
be complete, the matriculation books of the College and University for
that period having been preserved. For the time previous to 1834 the
records and register of students are defective. Parts have been muti-
lated, some books have been lost, and at times the records were imper-
fectly kept. The names of the alumni antecedent to 1834 have been
obtained from the fragmentary record books; from the recollection of
surviving alumni; from contemporaneous history and biography, and
from family records and well established tradition. Catalogues of the
Alumni were published in 1849 and 1869 which have of course fur-
nished much valuable information.
  The list is necessarily incomplete, however, and the alumni and
other friends of the University are earnestly requested to aid in the
work of restoring lost names, and in otherwise perfecting as far as pos-
sible this Record, with reference to a revision at an early day. The
plan is to give the name of every man that has been a student at the
Institution-his different places of residence-his occupation or pro-
fession-the public positions held by him-and, if not living, the date
of his death. Communications conveying such information may be
addressed to JOHN L. CAMPBELL, Esq., Treasurer of Washington and
Lee University, Lexington, Virginia.
  The compilation of this Catalogue has entailed a very large amount
of labor and research, and a very extensive correspondence. Much of
this work has been done by John L. Campbell, Esq., Treasurer, and
Jacob Fuller, Esq., Librarian of the University. Other friends have
assisted materially in the work. But the whole has been under the
supervision and direction of the HON. WILLIAM McLAUGHLIN of the
Board of Trustees, and it is but just to say that to the unsparing and
enthusiastic labors and the untiring energy of this gentleman is due this
very full, accurate and valuable record of the sons of our Alma Mater.
                                                    COMMITTEE.
 April, 1888.
                                                         3

 
This page in the original text is blank.



 

















                      CONTENTS.


                                                          PAGE.
PREFACE........................................................................................  3

HISTORICAL SKETCH........................................................................  7

INVESTED FUNDS .29

   Unproductive Endowment .32

   Comparative Statement, 1865-88 .33

AUGUSTA ACADEMY AND LIBERTY HALL .34

WASHINGTON COLLEGE AND WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY       36

   Corporation...............................................................................  36

   Faculty....................................................................................  40

REGISTER OF ALUMNI .47

LAW SCHOOL .203

ALUMNI OF LAW SCHOOL .203

ROLL OF HONORARY DEGREES CONFERRED .212

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION .215

LOCAL ALUMNI ASSOCIATIONS .215

INDEX OF NAMES.                                           220



5

 
This page in the original text is blank.


 











           HISTORICAL SKETCH.


  The germ of Washington and Lee University was a Mathematical
and Classical School, called THE AUGUSTA ACADEMY. established
in 1749, by ROBERT ALEXANDER, and first located two miles
southwest of the site of Greenville, in Augusta, and near the
interlacings of the head springs of the Shenandoah on the east-
ward, and of the James River on the westward.       "It was
the first Classical School in the Valley of Virginia," and was
continued by an uninterrupted succession of principals and
assistant instructors, on successive sites, increasing in usefulness
and influence, until it gradually developed into WASHINGTON
AND LEE UNIVERSITY.
  ROBERT ALEXANDER was a Master of Arts of Trinity Col-
lege, Dublin University. He was of the " Scotch-Irish " immi-
gration which settled in the Valley of Virginia; he located in
Augusta County, about 1743. Of his brothers, who came with
him, Archibald Alexander was the grandfather of the venerated
and lamented Archibald Alexander, D. D., President of Princeton
Theological Seminary. In 1746, Robert Alexander was elected
by the freeholders one of the "twelve most able and discreet men
to act as the Vestry for Augusta Parish," and at the first meeting
of the Vestry he was by it elected one of the two church wardens
for the Parish, and was continued in the office by annual re-
elections until 17th March, 1760, when he resigned, "because of
a lingering sickness." His will, dated in 1783, was admitted to
record by the Augusta Court,. Nov. 18th, 1787.
  As Principal of Augusta Academy, Mr. Alexander was suc-
ceeded by REV. JOHN BRowN, D. D., his pastor, who was called
to Providence and Timber-Ridge Churches, in 1753. During the
administration of Mr. Brown, the Academy was successively re-
moved a few miles westward, first to Old Providence, then to

 



CATALOGUE OF ALUMNI.



New Providence Church, and "shortly before the Revolution"
to Mt. Pleasant, near Fairfield, in (now) Rockbridge County,
where in 1774 Mr. Wm. Graham became his assistant, and in
1776 succeeded him as Principal. Mr. Brown married in early
life a daughter of John Preston, of Staunton, ancestor of the dis-
tinguished families of that name. He died in Kentucky, in 1803,
leaving there descendants who perpetuated his virtues and by their
learning and talents promoted the interests of the country in State
and National councils, on the judicial bench, and at foreign courts.
  Under the auspices of WILLIAM GRAHAMi,-whose history is
already well known and cherished sacredly by every friend of
Washington College,-the Academy continued with advancing
fortunes. Incited by the patriotic spirit of the day, and on the
first meeting after the battle of Lexington, the Trustees direct
the record for the 6th of May, 1776, to be entitled "CLIBERTY
HALL-as this Academy i8 hereafter to be called instead of the
Augusta Academy." At that meeting provision was made for
the purchase of a library and scientific apparatus; for new and
enlarged buildings;-and a "new site " was selected and the dona-
tion of 80 acres of land therefor accepted, near Old Timber-Ridge
Church. It was removed to this location in 1777, but was again
removed, in 1785, to near Lexington,-to where yet stand the
picturesque stone ruins of Old Liberty Hall, burned in 1802,-
and was removed finally, in 1803, to its present site within the
limits of Lexington.

  In October, 1771, the Presbytery of Hanover expressed upon
its records their sense of "the great expediency of erecting a
Seminary of learning somewhere within the bounds " of the Val-
ley of Virginia; and having at subsequent sessions determined
to carry out the proposition, in October, 1773, formally "agreed
to fix the Publick Seminary for the liberal education of youth at
Staunton, in Augusta." But before the session of October, 1774,
having ascertained that " there is no person to take the manage-
ment of it in the place first agreed upon-and it is very uncertain
whether there ever will be," the Presbytery thereupon "judging it
to be of great and immediate importance, agree to establish and
to patronize the public school for the present, managed by Mr.



8

 




CATALOGUE OF ALxUMI.9



William Graham, under the inspection of the Rev. John Brown,
and reserve to themselves the liberty at a future session, more
particularly, to appoint the person by whom it shall be conducted
and the place where it shall be fixed." And a committee of the
body was appointed to "collect subscriptions in the several con-
gregations for the purpose of obtaining a library and proper
apparatus."
  In April, 1775, the Presbytery resolved that "as guardians and
directors they take this opportunity to declare their resolution to
do their best endeavor to establish (the Seminary,) on the most
catholic plan that circumstances will permit of; and further,
" finding that they cannot of themselves forward subscriptions in
a particular manner, do, for the encouragement of the Academy,
recommend it to the following gentlemen to take in subscriptions
in their behalf: viz.
  "The Rev. Mr. Cummings, Col. Wm. Preston and Col. Wm.
Christian, in Fincastle (County;) Col. Lewis, Col. Fleming and
Mr. Lockart, in Botetourt; on South side of James River, Capt.
John Bowver, Capt. Wm. McKee, Capt. Audley Paul, Capt. John
Maxwell and Mr. James Trimble; in the forks of James River,
Mr. Saml. Lyle and Capt. Saml. McDowell; in Timber-Ridge, the
Rev. Mr. John Brown, Mr. James Wilson and Mr. Charles Camp-
bell, of Providence; Mr. William McPheeters, Mr. Wm. Ledger-
wood and Mr. John Trimble, in the North Mountain and Brown's
Settlement; Mr. Thomas Stuart, and Mr. Walter Davis, at the
Tinkling Spring; Mr. Sampson Matthews, of Staunton; Capt.
George Matthews, Capt. George Moffett and Mr. James Allen, in
Augusta Congregation; (Revs.) Mr. Brown, Mr. Irvin and Mr.
Wallace, are to give the above named gentlemen notice of their
appointment and to solicit their favour."
  At the session in May, 1776, Mr. Graham reported his purchases
of books and philosophical apparatus, out of a sum of about pound;300,
which had been paid in for this purpose on the subscriptions here-
tofore made. Also that for erecting new buildings on the "new
site" at Timber-Ridge, Mr. Samuel Houston and Capt. Alexander
Stuart had donated each forty acres of land; and the -neighbors
had agreed to build a hewed log-house, twenty-eight by twenty-
four feet, one story and a half high, "besides their subscriptions,
      2



v

 



CATALOGUE OF ALUMNI.



and assuring of the probability that firewood and timber for build-
ing will be furnished gratis for at least twenty years." The Pres-
bytery approved the report, and appointed a Board of Trustees for
the Academy.
   At the close of the war, in 1782, some other appointments were
made to supply vacancies. From the records this appears to have
been the last official act of the Presbytery, in connection with the
Institution.  From  that time forth the Trustees conducted its
management, and at the first meeting of the Legislature, in 1782,
they were incorporated as its sole legal guardians.

  The charter granted in 1782, incorporated, substantially, the
same Board of twenty persons who had acted as the Board of
Trustees before and during the Revolutionary war; it conferred
the legal right to manage the property and to bestow literary
degrees; it exempted professors and students from military duty,
and accorded, in short, all the usual attributes of a College.
After its endowment by General Washington, special acts were
passed, bestowing upon the Institution his immortal name; but the
original charter remained otherwise unaltered.
  As an incident in the history of the College it appears, that
shortly after the donation was made by Washington, and which
this Board had been so zealous to secure, the Legislature, from
what suggestion is unknown, but of its own motion, and without
the assent of the Board of Trustees, in 1796, passed an act mak-
ing changes in the personnel of the Board, and giving to the in-
stitution the name of " The Colleg6 of Washington in Virginia."
"The Trustees appointed by this Act were: The Governor of
the Commonwealth for the time being, Andrew Moore, James
McDowell, Andrew Reid, John Caruthers, of Rockbridge; Archi-
bald Stuart, Alexander St. Clair, John Coalter, of Augusta; John
White, of Bath; John Stuart, William H. Cavendish, of Green-
brier; James Breckinridge, Robert Harvie, Henry Bowyer, Tbos.
Madison, William Willson, James Risque, of Botetourt; Christo-
pher Clark, of Bedford; Nicholas Cabell and William Cabell, Jr.,
of Amherst."
  In the jealous sense of principle prevailing at that day, this
action of the Legislature was indignantly repudiated and resented



10

 




CATALOGUE OF ALUMNI.



by the Board, who adopted a resolution, January 31st, 1797,
"unanimously declaring it as their opinion that the same is an
unjustifiable infringement of the rights of this corporation and
an instance of tyrannical imposition in the Legislature; and as
it does not repeal the charter of 1782, therefore it is resolved to
persevere as they have hitherto done.      Because the
law is not only unjust in its nature, but dangerous in its tendency;
the same principle if admitted in one case may be extended to
every such corporation throughout the State; their charter may
be violated, and their estates, in whatever way acquired, may be
wantonly sported with, just as caprice or folly may dictate.   
The property of Liberty Hall having been committed to us in
trust, we consider ourselves responsible for the use of the same and
culpable if we suffer it tamely to be taken from us."
  The obnoxious act was, accordingly, at the next session repealed.

  The course of study was the same as that pursued at Princeton,
while Mr. Graham was there as a student. The manuscript lec-
tures of the President of Princeton were copied and used for a
text book in the same branches by the students at the Academy.
Degrees were conferred from time to time as a student completed
his course. The first formal " commencement " of which the curt
records of the Academy make mention, was held on the 14th Sep-
tember, 1785, when a class of twelve graduates took the degree of
Bachelor of Arts.

  The Synod of Virginia, at its session in 1791, proposed to
establish a "Theological Seminary, to be located in Rockbridge,
with Mr. William Graham as its President." The Trustees of
the Academy thereupon proposed in lieu thereof " a coalition
between the Academy and the proposed Seminary," and after
negotiations and discussions by the Board, at its sessions August,
1792, and June, 1793, an arrangement was effected by which
"Divinity as a branch of Science, taken in connection with the
Science of Human Nature-should to be taught in Liberty Hall,"
and that a committee of the Presbytery should attend the exami-
nations; and, in return, the synod of Virginia should "patronize
and cherish the Academy."



11

 



CATALOGUE OF ALUMNI.



   Mr. Graham, on the 25th September, 1796, resigned his posi-
 tion, finally, in Liberty Hall: and no farther notice appears on the
 records of the " coalition " or of the chair of Divinity. It proba-
 bly ceased with his resignation. It was not long afterwards that
 the lamented death of Mr. Graham occurred: the institution to
 which he so self'sacrificingly devoted the best years of a life time,
 survives with an ever-renewing strength, and remains an enduring
 monument to his blessed memory.
   It is not an insignificant coincidence in the mutations of human
affairs, that William Graham, the pillar and stay of Washington
College in its early days, had for his classmate and most special
friend at Princeton, in 1773, Harry Lee, the protege of Washing-
ton,-its munificent benefactor,-the father of Robert E. Lee, its
late President, under whom was so auspiciously advanced the work
so wisely inaugurated by Graham and Washington, and the patriots
of the past.

  In 1803, the Board proceeded to create a Professorship of Law,
and elected to the chair Hon. Paul Carrington, Judge of the
Supreme Court of Virginia. The records of the Board about this
period are very imperfect;-it being the date of the destruction
of the stone buildings by fire. The letter of Judge Carrington,
accepting the appointment as Law Professor, appears on the records
of May 1st, 1804. But, subsequently, until 1809, the records are
mostly missing, and no positive information is afforded farther
concerning the proposed Professorship of Law.

  The Augusta Academy was long sustained without any perma-
nent endowment, by tuition fees alone and casual assistance in
building and temporary supplies.  After 1774, and during the
"patronage " of Hanover Presbytery, it received annual contribu-
tions from the people, beyond its current support, until it accumu-
lated a library and philosophical apparatus,-costing in cash some
pound;300-together with buildings and furniture estimated by the
Trustees, in 1795, at not less than pound;2,000 in value, and ample
lands for its purposes.
  The liberality which accumulated this seemingly small sum,
may be better appreciated when it is considered that it was con-



12

 



CATALOGUE OF ALUMNI.



tributed out of the scanty funds of a people who had in their own
generation fled from a relentless persecution which impoverished
them to the last degree before they left their homes beyond the
ocean ;-that they were settlers in an uncultivated wilderness, with-
out facilities for labor or commerce;-that they and their children
had for twenty years been engaged in an unceasing warfare around
their rude homes with ruthless savages; and had just emerged
from the desolating eight years' war of the' revolution-leaving
them with no money currency of any value, and destitute of the
comforts of daily life.
   Shortly after the close of the Revolution, the Legislature of
Virginia, in token of esteem and admiration for the virtues and
services of Gen. Washington, donated him one hundred shares of
stock in the old James River Company. But in pursuance of his
purpose to accept no pecuniary compensation for his public services
in the war, Gen. Washington consented to receive the donation
only on condition of being permitted to appropriate it to some
public purpose "in the upper part of the State," such as "the
education of the children of the poor, particularly of such as have
fallen in defen-ce of the country."
  On the 5th of January, 1796, " The Rector informed the Board
(of Trustees,) that he called them together to consider information
he had received of the Legislature having resolved there shall be
a public Seminary in the upper part of this State, and that the
President of the United States was about to bestow his hundred
shares in the James River Company to aid in endowing this same."
  The Board thereupon " agreed to address the President in such
a manner as might give him a true view of the state of this
Academy, and of the propriety of the donation being conferred
upon it." The address, prepared by Mr. Graham, was adopted by
the Board (Vol. I. of Records, p. 144), and includes the following
facts in the history of the school:
  "From a conviction of the necessity and utility of a public
Seminary to complete the education of the youth in this upper
part of the State; as early as the year 1776, a Seminary-before
conducted in these parts under the form of a Grammar school-
received the nominal title of an Academy, and money was collected
to purchase the beginnings of a library and some of the most
essential parts of a philosophical and mathematical apparatus.



13

 



CATALOGUE OF ALUMNI.



   "The question then was,-where should the Seminary be fixed
Staunton was proposed by some to be the proper place, as the most
ancient and populous town, and nearest the centre of population
in the upper part of the State as it then stood. But considering
that a Public Seminary, which was to be of permanent duration
and general utility, ought not to be affected by local circumstances
arising from temporary causes; and viewing the extensive lands
upon the drains of Holston to the southwest, and of the Kanawha
to the west, we were of opinion that the time was not very far
distant when the population upon these lands must equal, if not
exceed, the population upon the drains of the Potomac to the north-
east, upon one of which drains Staunton stands. We therefore con-
sidered the waters of the James River, as forming a kind of natural
and common centre. We also felt a conviction that the extensive
and fertile lands upon James River would, at a period not far
remote, point out the necessity and practicability of rendering its
streams navigable above the mountains, and we have been happy
in seeing our expectations realizing every day.
  " We therefore concluded, that some spot in the tract of country
now known as Rockbridge County would be the proper place.
We organized the Seminary and set it in motion, hoping that the
public would one day aid our exertions, and enable us to perfect
what had been honestly beguLn.
   " Through the calamities of a long and dangerous war, and the
deceptions of a paper currency, together with other misfortunes,
great obstructions were experienced, but being happy in able and
diligent teachers, we were enabled to preserve the Academy in a
state of considerable reputation and usefulness until the year 1782,
when we were aided by an act of incorporation from the Legislature
of Virginia, which was the first granted after the Revolution.
                                                    
  "If our information of the state of the dispute respecting the
place, as it existed before the Legislature, be accurate, it went a
great way to determine the propriety of our original opinion. It
is said that Fincastle on the one side, and Staunton on the other,
were the extremes which made any vigorous claims. Fincastle
is situated thirty-seven miles southwest from Liberty Hall, and
Staunton thirty-five miles to the northeast. Therefore, Liberty
Hall is as near the centre as local situation would admit.



14

 



CATALOGUE OF ALUMNI.



   "In 1793, by voluntary contributions and some sacrifices of
 private property, we were enabled to erect and finish plain but
 neat buildings sufficiently capacious to accommodate between forty
 and fifty students, and the business of education is now in full
 train and the Seminary in as high reputation as could be expected
 without funds. Many young gentlemen have finished their edu-
 cation here, who are now serving their country with reputation
 and usefulness in different professional departments, and a num-
 ber are now collected from different parts of the country for the
 same end."
   In September, following, Gen. Washington in a communication
on the subject to Governor Brooke, says: "After careful inquiries
to ascertain that place (in the upper country), I have upon the
fullest consideration of all circumstances destined the hundred
shares in the James River Company to the use of Liberty Hall
Academy, in Rockbridge County."
   To the Board of Trustees in response to their letter of thanks,
he writes: "To promote literature in this rising empire, and to
encourage the arts, have ever been amongst the warmest wishes
of my heart; and if the donation which the generosity of the
Legislature of the Commonwealth has enabled me to bestow
upon Liberty Hall-now by your politeness called Washington
Academy-is likely to prove a means to accomplish these ends, it
will contribute to the gratification of my desires."
  By solemn compact on the part of the Legislature of Virginia,
in consideration of "retiring" this stock of the "old" James
River Company, the Treasury of the Commonwealth is to pay to
Washington College six per cent. interest on the sum of fifty
thousanid dollars, annually forever.
  The " Cincinnati Society," composed of the surviving officers of
the Revolutionary war,-organized to perpetuate kindly acquaint-
ance among themselves, and to accumulate a fund for the relief
of the indigent families of their soldiers,-decided in 1803 to dis-
solve the association and distribute their funds to some benevolent
purpose. The Trustees of this Institution thereupon appointed a
committee to confer with the Society, and the result was that the
Cincinnati Society, influenced, as they declared, by the example of
Washington and by a desire to promote his patriotic purpose, ap-
propriated the residue of their fund to Washington Academy.



15

 




CATALOGUE OF ALUMNI.



  In honour of this endowment, amounting to near 25,000,
the "CINCINNATI PROFESSORSHIP" was created, and an annual
address by the first scholar of the graduating class is delivered in
commemoration of the objects of the Cincinnati Society.
  JOHN ROBINSON, a native of Ireland, a Trustee of the College,
and a soldier under Washington, filled with love and veneration
for his virtues and a laudable zeal to further promote the noble
purpose of the Father of his Country, in 1826 bequeathed to Wash-
ington College his whole estate. The College has made it available
as an endowment, for 46,500.  In honor of this bequest, the
"Robinson Professorship of Chemistry and Geology " was founded.
Recently the chair has been divided, and " Geology and Biology"
has been placed on this foundation.
  At the outbreak of the Civil War most of the students were
organized into a military company, called "The Liberty Hall
Volunteers," and entered the Confederate service in June, 1861,
under the command of Captain James J. White, one of the Pro-
fessors of the College.  The Company was assigned to the 4th
Virginia Regiment in the Stonewall Brigade and was successively
commanded by Captains Henry Ruffner Morrison, Hugh A. White
and Givens B. Strickler. It participated in all the battles of the
Army of Northern Virginia, winning distinction on every field
and sharing in all the glories of that splendid army.
  In June, 1864, General David Hunter, on his campaign in the
Valley of Virginia, occupied Lexington, and the College that bore
the name and was hallowed with the memory of Washington did
not escape the fate of war, but was sacked; its chemical and phil-
osophical apparatus destroyed, and its libraries to a great extent
scattered and ruined.
  At the close of the war the endowment, amounting to about
90,000, chiefly in Virginia State Securities, was wholly unpro-
ductive.  The other property of the College was estimated at
63,000. The Board of Trustees met on the 21st day of June,
1865, and, notwithstanding the discouraging circumstances sur-
rounding them, determined to re-open the Institution. After filling
some vacancies in their own body and appointing committees to
report upon the losses sustained by the depredations of the Federal
Army, and the condition of the finances, they adjourned to meet
on the 3rd day of August to elect a President.



16

 




CATALOGUE OF ALUMNI.



   At the August meeting General Robert E. Lee was elected
 President.
   At the same meeting the Board instructed its Finance Com-
 mittee to borrow 7,600 to repair the buildings, procure necessary
 apparatus and books and pay arrearages of salaries. The College
 being without income or credit, the money was borrowed on the
 private credit of members of the Board of Trustees. The necessary
 books and apparatus were provided, and the buildings fitted for
 occupancy at the coming session.
   Hon. John W. Brockenbrough, the Rector of the Board,
visited General Lee at his temporary residence in Powhatan
County, and informed him of his election. After carefully con-
sidering the subject, General Lee accepted in the following letter,
viz.:
                          "POWHATAN COUNTY, August 24, 1865.
  "Gentlemen: I have delayed for some days replying to your letter
of the 5th inst., informing me of my election, by the Board of Trustees,
to the presidency of Washington College, from a desire to give the
subject due consideration. Fully impressed with the responsibilities of
the office, I have feared that I should be unable to discharge its duties
to the satisfaction of the Trustees, or to the benefit of the country.
  " The proper education of youth requires not only great ability, but,
I fear, more strength than I now possess, for I do not feel able to
undergo the labor of conducting classes in regular courses of instruc-
tion; I could not therefore undertake more than the general adminis-
tration and supervision of the institution. There is another subject
which has caused me serious reflection, and is, I think, worthy of the
consideration of the Board. Being excluded from the terms of amnesty
in the proclamation of the President of the United States, of the 29th
of May last, and an object of censure to a portion of the country, I
have thought it probable that my occupation of the position of presi-
dent might draw upon the College a feeling of hostility, and I should
therefore cause injury to an institution which it would be my highest
desire to advance. I think it the duty of every citizen, in the present
condition of the country, to do all in his power to aid in the restoration
of peace and harmony, and in no way to oppose the policy of the State
or General Government directed to that object. It is particularly
incumbent onr those charged with the instruction of the young to set
them an example of submission to authority, and I could not consent
to be the cause of animadversion upon the College.



17

 




CATALOGUE OF ALUMNI.



   "Should you, however, take a different view, and think that my
services in the position tendered to me by the Board will be advan-
tageous to the College and country, I will yield to your judgment and
accept it; otherwise I must most respectfully decline the office.
  " Begging you to express to the Trustees of the College my heartfelt
gratitude for the honor conferred upon me, and requesting you to
accept my cordial thanks for the kind manner in which you have
communicated their decision, I am, gentlemen, with great respect,
                     "Your most obedient servant,
                                                     "R. E. LEE.
"Messrs. JOHN W. BROCKENBROUGH, Rector,
         S. McD. REID,
         ALFRED LEYBURN,
         HORATIO THOMPSON, D. D.,
         BOLIVAR CHRISTIAN,
         T. J. KIRKPATRICK."

   The Board met on the 31st day of August, and in response to
the suggestions made by General Lee in his letter, adopted the
following resolutions, viz. (v. Min., pp. 381-2):

  " 1. That the Board of Trustees accede to the conditions expressed
by General R. E. Lee, upon which he will accept the Presidency of
Washington College, as contained in his letter of the 24th inst.
  " 2. That General Lee's being 'excluded from the terms of amnesty
in the proclamation of the President of the United States of the 29th
of May last' will not, in the view of this Board, tend to 'draw upon
the College a feeling of hostility;' but, on the other hand, his connec-
tion with the institution will greatly promote its prosperity and advance
the general interests of education.
  "3. That this Board heartily concurs in and fully endorses the
sentiments, so well expressed by General Lee, in his letter of accept-
ance of the Presidency of Washington College,-that it is ' the duty of
every citizen, in the present condition of the country, to do all in his power
to aid in the restoration of peace and harmony, and in no way