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[Illustration: Portrait]
THE HISTORY
OF
Dartmouth College.
BY
BAXTER PERRY SMITH.
BOSTON:
HOUGHTON, OSGOOD AND COMPANY.
The Riverside Press, Cambridge.
1878.
Copyright, 1878,
by Baxter Perry Smith.
The Riverside Press, Cambridge:
_Printed by H. O. Houghton and Company._
PREFACE.
In the preparation of this work the writer has deemed it better to let
history, as far as possible, tell its own story, regarding reliability
as preferable to unity of style.
The imperfect records of all our older literary institutions, limit
their written history, in large measure, to a record of the lives and
labors of their teachers.
To the many friends of the college, and others, who have kindly given
their aid, the writer is under large obligations.
The following names deserve especial notice: Hon. Robert C. Winthrop,
Hon. Charles L. Woodbury, Hon. R. R. Bishop, Wm. H. Duncan, Esq.,
Richard B. Kimball, Esq., Rev. Eden B. Foster, D.D., Hon. James
Barrett, N. C. Berry, Esq., Dr. F. E. Oliver, Hon. J. E. Sargent, Dr.
C. A. Walker, Hon. A. O. Brewster, Hon. A. A. Ranney, Dr. W. M.
Chamberlain, Hon. James W. Patterson, Rev. Carlos Slafter, Hon. J. B.
D. Cogswell, Gen. John Eaton, Rev. H. A. Hazen, Rev. S. L. B. Speare,
H. N. Twombly, Esq., Caleb Blodgett, Esq., Hon. Benj. F. Prescott, Dr.
C. H. Spring, Prof. C. O. Thompson, Hon. Frederic Chase, Rev. W. J.
Tucker, D.D., L. G. Farmer, Esq., and N. W. Ladd, Esq.
With profound gratitude he mentions also the name of Hon. Nathan
Crosby, but for whose valuable pecuniary aid the publication of the
work must have been delayed; and the names of Hon. Joel Parker, Hon.
William P. Haines, Hon. John P. Healy, Hon. Lincoln F. Brigham, John
D. Philbrick, Esq., Dr. Jabez B. Upham, Hon. Harvey Jewell, and Hon.
Walbridge A. Field, who have aided in a similar manner. Particular
mention should also be made of the kindness of gentlemen connected
with numerous libraries, especially that of Mr. John Ward Deane, and
Mr. Albert H. Hoyt, and the late J. Wingate Thornton, Esq., of the New
England Historic-Genealogical Society, by whose kindness the writer
was furnished with the valuable letter from David McClure to General
Knox, and Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, D.D., and Dr. Samuel A. Green, of the
Massachusetts Historical Society, to whom he is indebted for the
invaluable list of English donations given in the Appendix. Valuable
aid has been rendered also by Messrs. Kimball and Secor, of the New
Hampshire State and State Historical Society Libraries, at Concord. In
this connection the well known names of W. S. Butler, Prof. F. B.
Dexter, Hon. C. J. Hoadley, F. B. Perkins, Hon. J. Hammond Trumbull,
and Hon. E. P. Walton also deserve notice.
The writer is deeply indebted to Hon. John Wentworth, of Chicago, for
his kindness in examining the more important portions of the work
previous to its publication.
For the carefully-prepared draught of the original college edifice,
the writer is indebted to the artistic skill of Mr. Arthur Bruce
Colburn.
In closing, especial mention should be made of the kindness of Prof.
Charles Hammond, Marcus D. Gilman, Esq., and others representing the
family of the founder, of the family of Hon. Elisha Payne, an early
and honored Trustee, of the Trustees and Faculty of the college, and
the courteous liberality of the publishers.
BAXTER P. SMITH.
Brookline, Mass., _June_, 1878.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Introduction 1
CHAPTER II.
Ancestry and Early Life of Eleazar Wheelock.--His Settlement
at Lebanon.--Establishment of the Indian Charity
School.--Mr. Joshua More 6
CHAPTER III.
Education in New Hampshire.--Action in Regard to a
College.--Testimonial of Connecticut Clergymen.--Legislative
Grant to Mr. Wheelock 15
CHAPTER IV.
A College Contemplated by Mr. Wheelock.--Lord
Dartmouth.--Occom and Whitaker in Great Britain 23
CHAPTER V.
Sir William Johnson.--Explorations for a Location.--Advice
of English Trustees 29
CHAPTER VI.
A College Charter 40
CHAPTER VII.
President Wheelock's Personal Explorations in New
Hampshire.--Location at Hanover 49
CHAPTER VIII.
Commencement of Operations.--Course of Study.--Policy of
Administration 57
CHAPTER IX.
Progress to the Death of President Wheelock.--Prominent
Features of his Character 65
CHAPTER X.
Progress During the Administration of the Second President,
John Wheelock 76
CHAPTER XI.
Lack of Harmony Between President Wheelock and Other
Trustees.--Removal of the President From Office.--Estimate
of His Character 88
CHAPTER XII.
Administration of President Brown.--Contest Between The
College and the State.--Triumph of the College 100
CHAPTER XIII.
Character of President Brown.--Tributes by Professor
Haddock And Rufus Choate 117
CHAPTER XIV.
Progress From 1820 to 1828.--Administrations of President
Dana and President Tyler 126
CHAPTER XV.
Inauguration of President Lord 143
CHAPTER XVI.
The Policy of the College, its Progress and Enlargement
under President Lord's Administration from 1828 to 1863 157
CHAPTER XVII.
Character of President Lord 168
CHAPTER XVIII.
Administration of President Smith 177
CHAPTER XIX.
Inauguration of President Bartlett 190
CHAPTER XX.
Prof. John Smith.--Prof. Sylvanus Ripley.--Prof. Bezaleel
Woodward 211
CHAPTER XXI.
Prof. John Hubbard.--Prof. Roswell Shurtleff 225
CHAPTER XXII.
Prof. Ebenezer Adams.--Prof. Zephaniah S. Moore.--Prof.
Charles B. Haddock 241
CHAPTER XXIII.
Prof. William Chamberlain.--Prof. Daniel Oliver.--Prof.
James Freeman Dana 256
CHAPTER XXIV.
Prof. Benjamin Hale.--Prof. Alpheus Crosby.--Prof. Ira
Young 276
CHAPTER XXV.
Prof. Stephen Chase.--Prof. David Peabody.--Prof. William
Cogswell 298
CHAPTER XXVI.
Prof. John Newton Putnam.--Prof. John S. Woodman.--Prof.
Clement Long.--Other Teachers 316
CHAPTER XXVII.
Medical Department.--Professors Nathan Smith, Reuben D.
Mussey, Dixi Crosby, Edmund R. Peaslee, Albert Smith, and
Alpheus B. Crosby--Other Teachers 339
CHAPTER XXVIII.
The Chandler Scientific Department.--The Agricultural
Department.--The Thayer Department of Civil Engineering 367
CHAPTER XXIX.
Benefactors.--Trustees 380
CHAPTER XXX.
Labors of Dartmouth Alumni.--Conclusion 395
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
The most valuable part of a nation's history portrays its institutions
of learning and religion.
The alumni of a college which has moulded the intellectual and moral
character of not a few of the illustrious living, or the more
illustrious dead,--the oldest college in the valley of the
Connecticut, and the only college in an ancient and honored
State,--would neglect a most fitting and beautiful service, should
they suffer the cycles of a century to pass, without gathering in some
modest urn the ashes of its revered founders, or writing on some
modest tablet the names of its most distinguished sons.
The germ of Dartmouth College was a deep-seated and long-cherished
desire, of the foremost of its founders, to elevate the Indian race in
America.
The Christian fathers of New England were not unmindful of the claims
of the Aborigines. The well-directed, patient, and successful labors
of the Eliots, Cotton, and the Mayhews, and the scarcely less valuable
labors of Treat and others, fill a bright page in the religious
history of the seventeenth century. To numerous congregations of red
men the gospel was preached; many were converted; churches were
gathered, and the whole Bible--the first printed in America--was given
them in their own language.
This interest in the Indian was not confined to our own country, in
the earlier periods of our history. In Great Britain, sovereigns,
ecclesiastics, and philosophers recognized the obligations
providentially imposed upon them, to aid in giving a Christian
civilization to their swarthy brethren, who were sitting in the
thickest darkness of heathenism in the primeval forests of the New
World. Societies, as well as individuals, manifested a deep and
practical interest in the work.
We can only touch upon some of the more salient points of this
subject. But it is especially worthy of note, that the elevation of
the Indian race, by the education of its youth, was not an idea of New
England, nor indeed of American, birth.
In Stith's "History of Virginia" (p. 162), we find in substance the
following statements: At an early period in the history of this State,
attempts were made to establish an institution of learning of a high
order. In 1619, the treasurer of the Virginia Company, Sir Edwin
Sandys, received from an unknown hand five hundred pounds, to be
applied by the Company to the education of a certain number of Indian
youths in the English language and in the Christian religion. Other
sums of money were also procured, and there was a prospect of being
able to raise four or five thousand pounds, for the endowment of a
college. The king favored the design, and recommended to the bishops
to have collections made in their dioceses, and some fifteen hundred
pounds were gathered on this recommendation. The college was designed
for the instruction of English, as well as Indian, youths. The Company
appropriated ten thousand acres of land to this purpose, at Henrico,
on James River, a little below the present site of Richmond. The plan
of the college was, to place tenants at halves on these lands, and to
derive its income from the profits. The enterprise was abandoned in
consequence of the great Indian massacre, in 1622, although operations
had been commenced, and a competent person had been secured to act as
president. This is believed to have been the first effort to found a
college in America.
Passing to the middle of the century, we find the distinguished
Christian philosopher, Robert Boyle, appointed governor of "a company
incorporated for the propagation of the gospel among the heathen
natives of New England, and the parts adjacent in America," and that,
after his decease, in 1691, a portion of his estate was given, by the
executors of his will, to William and Mary's College, which was
possibly, in a measure, the outgrowth of the efforts of Mr. Sandys and
his coadjutors, for the support of Indian students.
In 1728, Col. William Byrd, in writing upon this subject, laments "the
bad success Mr. Boyle's charity has had in converting the natives,"
which was owing in part, at least, to the fact, that the interest of
their white brethren in their welfare was confined chiefly to their
residence at college.
Pursuing these researches, we come to the name of another
distinguished British scholar and divine, George Berkeley, who has
been styled "the philosopher" of the reign of George II.
We quote a portion of a letter relating to his educational plans, from
Dean Swift to Lord Carteret, Lieutenant of Ireland, dated Sept. 3,
1724, in which he says:
"He showed me a little tract which he designs to publish, and
there your Excellency will see his whole scheme of a life
academico-philosophic, of a college at Bermuda for Indian scholars and
missionaries. I discourage him by the coldness of courts and
ministers, who will interpret all this as impossible and a vision, but
nothing will do. And therefore I do humbly entreat your Excellency
either to use such persuasions as will keep one of the first men in
this kingdom for learning and virtue quiet at home, or assist him by
your credit to compass his romantic design, which, however, is very
noble and generous, and directly proper for a great person of your
excellent education to encourage."
The pamphlet alluded to begins, as one of his biographers informs us,
by lamenting "that there is at this day little sense of religion and a
most notorious corruption of manners in the English colonies settled
on the continent of America, and the islands," and that "the Gospel
hath hitherto made but very inconsiderable progress among the
neighboring Americans, who still continue in much the same ignorance
and barbarism in which we found them above a hundred years ago." After
stating what he believes to be the causes of this state of things, he
propounds his plan of training young natives, as missionaries to their
countrymen, and educating "the youth of our English plantations," to
fill the pulpits of the colonial churches. His biographer is
doubtless correct in the opinion, that "it was on the savages,
evidently, that he had his heart."
He obtained a charter from the crown for his proposed college, and a
promise, never fulfilled, of large pecuniary aid from the government,
and early in 1729 he arrived in America, settling temporarily at
Newport, R. I. Failing to accomplish his purpose, he remained in this
country but two or three years, yet long enough to form the
acquaintance of many eminent men, and among them President Williams,
of Yale College.
Finding that there was no prospect of receiving the promised aid for
his college, Berkeley returned to England in 1731. Soon after, in
addition to a large and valuable donation of books for the library, he
sent as a gift, to Yale, a deed of his farm in Rhode Island, the rents
of which he directed to be appropriated to the maintenance or aid of
meritorious resident graduates or under-graduates.
Although he failed to carry out his plan of establishing a college
himself, in America, perhaps he "builded better than he knew." Most
fitting is it, as we shall see hereafter, for the current literature
of our day to place in intimate association, the names of Boyle,
Berkeley, and Dartmouth.
Passing to 1734, we find Rev. John Sergeant commencing missionary
labor among the Indians at Stockbridge, Mass. After a trial of a few
years, he writes in a manner showing very plainly that he believes
civilization essential to any permanent success. In one of his letters
to Rev. Dr. Colman, of Boston, he says: "What I propose, in general,
is, to take such a method in the education of our Indian children as
shall in the most effectual manner change their whole manner of
thinking and acting, and raise them as far as possible into the
condition of a civil, industrious, and polished people, while at the
same time the principles of virtue and piety shall be instilled into
their minds in a way that will make the most lasting impression, and
withal to introduce the English language among them instead of their
own barbarous dialect."
"And now to accomplish this design, I propose to procure an
accommodation of 200 acres of land in this place (which may be had
gratis of the Indian proprietors), and to erect a house on it such as
shall be thought convenient for a beginning, and in it to maintain a
number of children and youth." He proposes "to have their time so
divided between study and labor that one shall be the diversion of the
other, so that as little time as possible may be lost in idleness,"
and, "to take into the number, upon certain conditions, youths from
any of the other tribes around." His plan included both sexes. Mr.
Sergeant died in 1749. Besides accomplishing much himself, he laid the
foundations for the subsequent labors of Jonathan Edwards.
This rapid glance at the earlier efforts in behalf of the Aborigines
of our country, shows that the next actor upon the stage, undaunted by
any lack of success on their part, measurably followed in the
footsteps of learned and philanthropic predecessors.