Wofford College - Bohemian Yearbook (Spartanburg, SC)

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No Methodist in America and none, it is believed in the world, had at the time of Mr. Wofford ' s bequest given so large a sum for any philanthropic purpose. It was so large, indeed, judged by the standards of that time as to attract national atten- tion, and it has since been equalled only twice in South Carolina, namely, by the gifts of Mr. D. E. Converse to the institution bearing his name, and by the $166,000 donation of Mr. Ephraim Baynard to the College of Charleston. The Clemson bequest of $8o?ooo and 800 acres of land, ranking almost as high, can be made to equal it only by the appreciation in the value of the real estate. The thirteen trustees named in the will were Rev. W. M. Wightman, H. Bass, W. A. Gamewell, W. Barrmger, H. A. C. Walker, John Porter, David Derrick, Maj. Harvey Wofford, H. H. Thomson, Joseph W. Tucker, Clough Beard and Doct. Benj. Wofford. The duty of this board was solely to buy land and erect buildings and hand the property over to a board of thirteen trustees elected for two years by the Conference. A charter was obtained from the legislature December 16, 1851, without opposi- tion, contrary to the experience of Erskine, the first denominational , college in the State, in 1839.. and on August i, 1854, exercises began. The active faculty consisted of Rev. W. M. Wightman, D. D.. President and Professor of Mental and Moral Science, David Duncan, A. M., Professor of Ancient Languages, and James H. Carlisle, A. M., Professor of Mathematics. Though Prof. War- ren DuPre, A. M.,Professor of Natural Science, was elected with the original faculty by the Board at the Conference in New- berry in the fall of 1853, he did not teach the first year, as there were no classes needing his services, but spent this time studying in the laboratories of Yale University with Prof. Silliman, one of the most distinguished of American scientists, and in collect- ing apparatus and speciments. Rev. Albert M. Shipp, elected with the original faculty Professor of English Literature, continued to each in the University of North Carolina and at the end of a year definitively declined the election to Wofford. When Presi- dent Wightman resigned, July 12, 1859, to take the presidency of the new Methodist college in Alabama, Dr Shipp was elected to the presidency of Wofford and accepted. The teaching force consisted, therefore, of three professors the first year. Only two classes were represented, the Freshman and Sophomore, and the total enrollment reached twenty-four. About twenty besides were enrolled in the preparatory department. Commencement was held notwithstanding, June 24 and 25, 1855, and a very interesting commencement it was. On Sun- day, the 24th, the chapel was dedicated. President Wightman preached an eloquent sermon, rich in historical illustration and spiritual power, from the first verse of the 8oth Psalm. The next morning a procession was formed in front of the Palmetto Hotel, on the northeast corner of Church and Main streets, and marched to the college. There being no graduates or other stu- dent speakers, the faculty delivered inaugural addresses of about fifty minutes each. President Wightman spoke of the mission of the college and defended the denominational college idea with some warmth, alluding to the complete lack of representation of Methodists on the faculty of the State college and pointing out the peculiar advantages offered by Wofford. Prof. Duncan, a ripe scholar of sixty-four year, spoke upon the nobility and value of the classics in an address learned and scholarly and at places finely spiced with his keen native wit. This address and that of Gov. D. H. Cham- berlain along the same lines at a commencement many years later presented as excellently as ever heard at Wofford, in both ar- gument and example, the claims of the classical ideal of education. 22

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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE FIRST HALF CENTURY OF WOFFORD COLLEGE. By D. D. Wallace. ■HE foundation of Wofford College illustrates how a plain, apparently commonplace life may foster a great aspiration and move towards a great ideal. Benjamin Wofford was a successful accumulator of money, but he was more; he was a wise and consecrated user of money. Mr. Wofford ' s will was kept secret from all except one or two intimate friends, of whom his closest confidant was Rev. H. A. C. Walker, to whom credit is due for fostering the liberal ideas entertained by our founder. It is on his authority that the statement can be made that Mr. Wofford entertained the intention of founding a college before the Baptists had founded Furman and did not receive his suggestion from there, as has been surmised. Not until after Mr. Wofford ' s death, December 5, 1850, did his act become known even to his wife, to whom he also left an ample estate, not by any means equal to the college be- quest, however. A legacy of $100,000 was left to the South Carolina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South for the pur- pose of establishing and endowing a college for literary, classical and scientific education. The location was required to be in Spartanburg district, as the counties were then called, but no particular locality was named. The town of Woodruff made an ef- fort to induce the trustees to establish the college in their community; but the liberality of the citizens of Spartanburg village, the advantages of central location, etc., led to the selectiori of the county seat. Public spirited citizens offered to pay for whatever land the trustees should select. Underestimating the needs of the institution and disregarding symmetry, they marked off a long, narrow strip of thirty-six acres running east from Church street to the present eastern extremity of the campus. The land was bought from the grandfather of Mr. John B. Cleveland, the donor of the John B. Cleveland Science Hall, at fifty dollars an acre. It formed a bow, bulging away from town and following the line of the professors ' houses and the college building. The south line started at the corner of College Place and Church street and ran east to about the middle of the road in front of Prof. DuPre ' s house. It then pursued a straight line about one hundred feet in front of the college to a point between the residences of Dr. Carlisle and Prof. Gamewell, and from thence ran before the three story house now occupied by Prof. Rembert to a point just beyond the railroad (which did not then exist). It ran down the railroad to about the road back of Prof. Rembert ' s and from there back to Church street at its juncture with Cleveland street, passing so close to the rear buildings that a nimble jumper might have leaped from the road to Dr. Carlisle ' s well. By subsequent purchases the campus has been increased to about twice its original size. ' The author is under great obligations to Dr. James H. Carlisle for information. Prof. D. A. DuPre also gave valuable aid. 21

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Prof. Carlisle, tall, imposing, modest, in the vigor of thirty years of youth, followed, as a hearer expressed it, in one of his own happy efforts, at once profound, simple, delightful. The subject matter was moral and philosophical, at times thrill- ing, we can easily believe. A distinct contrast, a contrast which he felt without throwing into prominence — was presented in his close with a portion of the address of President Wightman. He extended a fraternal hand to all similar institutions, and paid a tribute to the South Carolina College — in some sort the mother of us all said the orator, and hoped that when Wofford College should be celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, as the State college is doing this year, that institution, still flourishing and vigorous, might be celebrating it ' s one hundredth. This noble spirit of liberality, joined with the deepest piety in its author, has been of immense value in the after educational history of South Carolina. Prof. Warren DuPre delivered his inaugural at the second commencement. It was an address on Science, and was noted at the time as of marked ability. The original curriculum was composed of a good deal of mathematics, a large quantity of Greek and Latin, what would now be considered an infinitesimal amount of English and that based on the study of Karnes ' Elements of Criticism, two years of Science, and some general history. For the first year there was no Professor of English, that work being done by the Presi- dent. Dr. Whitefoord Smith came at the beginning of the second year as Professor of English Literature. Though collateral reading was not required in those days, an examination of the older portions of our library, as well as personal inquiries, proves that there was a great deal of good reading done, in the best existing fiction and a very excellent quality of history, especially in the works of the great historians who made the period famous by their writings. When the War of Secession opened the college classes contained seventy-nine students. The struggle had not continued many months when the bulk of the maturer men were drawn by their enthusiasm into the army. In 1863-4 only eighteen were enrolled and two graduated. In 1864-5 only boys remained and Professors Duncan and Carlisle taught a high school in the col- lege building. Prof. DuPre was engaged in supervising the public salt works at Mt. Pleasant, S. C, Prof Smith served the church in the town, and President Shipp took a year of rest which his state of health made very acceptable. One spring day in 1865 a message came that the Federal soldiers were coming. As Prof. Carlisle dismissed his boys, he told them to go straight home, as there might be confusion on the streets. Waddy Thompson was the last to leave the room, and as he departed he said, I hope the Yankees will be good to you if they catch you, Prof. Carlisle. Waddy knew, perhaps, of the apprehension on the part of Prof. Carlisle ' s friends that his part in the Secession Convention would endanger his safety or liberty if he should fall into the hands of the Federals. He was unmolested, however. The endowment of the college, after the erection and equipment of the buildings, amounted to $50,000. To this the Conference added the Centenary Educational Fund, $11,000, various friends gave $4,000, and Geo. W. Williams gave $S,ooo, the income from which last was to be used in aiding young men looking to the ministry. Almost immediately after its opening, there- fore, the college lacked only two thousand dollars of having the same endowment which it had in 1903. In the six months begin- ning with November, 1863, President Shipp raised the endowment to over $200,000. Simpson Bobo started the subscription with a gift of $30,000 in Confederate bonds, and Rev. A. H. Lester (afterwards Professor in the college) and his brothers, William and George, owners all three of the Buena Vista cotton factory, where Pelham now is, gave jointly about the same sum. AH 23