Hampden Sydney College - Kaleidoscope Yearbook (Hampden Sydney, VA)

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Dr. QYUIIN .ll,'l1'0 l'LEA.S'.-INYXS' .fl7'lx'lN.S'0N. Pwsliifflll QI' lhunpdcu--S'1ll'mr1' Collu,yu: 1857-1863, ami Captain 141' 7Wv llfzllrpilull-Sllilnqi' lfn,v.v.' From a 1I'u,u1n:rruuAvpn, .wmfu.mI' to lmru lwuu lllkifll Ill 1801. Hampclen-Sidney Boys in the Civil uWar Nl zu u ith nnneled Tuhnes of sadnc ss and iov, and often of llll1't11. The .L-pq.: Hmlipcleii-S1dney Boys, excluding our honored and revered Captain, Dr. J. M. P. Atkinson, who was the president of the college and also a dis- tinguished minister, was literally composed of boys. There was great grief on our arrival in Rielnnond ali ll report that the Governor of Virginia would not allow thc eoni mn if l o i i ' , li 'm me mustered in because the boys were too young. lVe sent El eoinnuitlee to the Governor 1'o plead our ouuse, and great were the Cll'lll0llSl'.l'2lll0llS of joy when the Governor consented to pass us into the ranks of C'onfedernle soldiers. lCX0ll'l'llll'lll was intense. These were our days of lmoyant youth and inurtial spirit. We knew nofliinfv' F' of The serious side of war. XVll2llUVl'l' others might Think, we feared onlv that Y the conflict might end before n e could gel' to the front. NVo were iinpslliienf 29 HAM.IJIJEN-SIDNEY boy ulxvuys recalls his experience of our Civil . ' D ' D' ' . f Qfaw n' K4 ' aa fx

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lYhen voune' Cook one of lirown's men was In he tried, his hrother-in I D 7 9 law, Governor lVilIard, of Indiana, employed and sent' the llon. Ilaniel NV. thus Voorhees to Uharles Town to defend him. The eloquence, power, and pa' . of that' disting,5uished lawyer's defence is l'Olllt'lIlll0l't'tl to-day hy those who had the good fortune to hear it. lietween him and Mr. llnnter there was a hattle of giants. The readers of this artic-Ie will now he pleased to have me retire and give mlace to the testimony of Mr. Yoorln-es eoneerning Mr. liuntei . I . and the eourt which tried Iirown. 'l'he remainder of this article shall 1-onsist of fluotations froin a letter which Mr. Voorhees wrote to Mr. llnntc-r's daughter when he heard of the death of her fatlier. This letter is dated l'nited States Senate, January T, lSS!l : . . . . It is now thirty years since I tirst met your father in the prime of his manlm 1 and the glory of his strength. Ile appeared for the State of Virginia. iu Norm-inher. ISSI, against, invaders of her soil and institutions nmler .lolm lirown. I was ealled to the defmn-e t 11 of one of the misguided visionary. Init generous. hrare and warm-hearted followers of that fa i expedition hy the ties of friendship whieh houml me to his ulosest, kindred. 'l'lu-re for the first time I met your father in Jmlge l'arker's eonrt .... This eourt itself was a model of judicial devorum, dignity and fairness. If justly represented hy the pen of the historian. it -' 5 o'-rv eon- will pass into history as the most temperate and eonservative jndieial tlihuuil yi reueal when all the surrounding eireumstzznees are eonsidered. With perfeet ealmuess. for-hear ing patient-e, and undisturbed adherence to the law. as known aml deeided throug,ghout genera tions. that eourt arises upon my memory with lIlt'l'l'Zlhl'Il and increasing vlaim to the respeet and veneration of the .'xlll0l'lL'2Ill people und of the world. Nothing' was yielded to outside excitement, or popular frenzy. When .lohn llrown asked for the delay of days in whivh to seeure eonnsel more in sympathy with him than those who had heen assigned to his defemw hy the eourt. his request was granted with quiet. judicial dignity. 'I'liroug.5liout all this great historic- st-one your father was a grand. consulting, conenrring: anal, to a great extent, a guiding spirit ..,. Ile did it in the spirit of a Uhristian g10lltll'lllil7l witliout a single tone of malerolenve or ot' exasperated resentment. I ret-all him as he appeared to me at that time. as,one of the lmest. types of ahlc. humane. eloquent, generous pnhlie men I haveerer known .... With all my knowledge of Virginia and her distinguished eitizeus, I would say, in all good eonseienee. that your father impressed me as one of the foremost l have known in point of intelleetual ahilitv hoth native and aequireml, and eertainlr sec-ond to no one in nge Virginia or any other State in the l'nion, in his high and maggnanimons hearing in the dist-ha' of duty. . . . l saw him a few times after the war. ami he was always the same-a gentleman ot eommanding intellect. hroad and generous sympathy. lofty. I-hivalrons instincts. lil'IV. .XIINICII Ulufmi' Iloi'KlNS. D. D. Uharles 'l'own. W. Va., l eln'uary IZ, 1908. 28 od 1

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at the weeks of delay in ordering us to Rielnnoud, and at the delay after reaching fliielnnond in being sent to the field. lit is pathetic now to colnparc our hopefulnrss and eagerness, and the final result--the liost Cause, our great expectations as a company, the clipping of our wings before we could soar to fame, and our inglorious surrender so soon after entering the field-inglorious only in the sense of engaging in no important battle-shattcred our hope of fame. lVhen a few companies had in front and rear an army of Federals, we made in vain a desperate effort to escape. lVhen there was nothing else left to do, our gallant commander, Clolonel l'egram, surrendered his command, and wi-'were marclu'd into prison. The unliindest cut of all was given hy an old l'nion farmer, who, standing hy the road, waved his hat as he saw us, and exclaimed: mllrue policy, gentlemen, true policy! Go home, and do not fight against the llnion any more. Could any pill he made more bitter for us in our youthful aspirations to swallow? Our feelings may be imagined, but no words can describe them. We had no opportunity to rival the glorious record of another company of Virginia hoys, the Virginia Military Tnstitute cadets. But it was not to hc. ive were the same material, Virginia College boys, and we have no reason to think that our conduct would have been less brilliant when tested hy battle. There was not a more gifted and brave officer defending the South than Colonel ljegram of Richmond. After defending Rich Mountain with a hand- ful of soldiers, against an army hcfore and behind, he tried to escape, carried on a litter, and in this condition surrendered. llc was idolized by his little command, and the company of Hanlpden-Sidney Boys was his pct. He lost no opportunity on the march and in the camp to compliment us. Tt was a great surprise and gratification to him to see hoys just from their hooks, after a few Weclcs of drilling, conduct themselves as veterans. After giving our captain some orders on the march, he said, Ry the way, Captain, T want to say that T never saw a regiment more steadily led than your company led it to-day.', Later on, when our career was nearly over, he told us that he had often to place us in responsible positions, and had never found us wanting. lVe valued rvcrv such commendation as priceless, and his influence over us is an instance of the magnetic power of a chivalrous eonnnander over his men. Our captain was equally beloved. He had much reputation as a theolo- gian, an aelinowledged leader in clmrch courts, an efficient professor of lan- guages and philosophy. Put one subject was too much for his metaphysical mind-military tactics. Report credits him with drilling grains of corn all night in order to master the situation in his new position as a military com- mander. but his lcnowlcdgc, if he acquired it, was never ready and availahlc for drilling hoys. Tfe would sometimes, after a vain effort to remember a military command, finally say 'Ttome this wayf' or Go that way, or, if near enough, in avoiding an ohstruetion, give a push or a pull to the man in front. In this Way our theologian drilled us: his life had been devoted to higher 30