University of Virginia - Corks and Curls Yearbook (Charlottesville, VA)

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CORKS AND CURLS 1; Samuel S pencer ; . INCE its foundation in 1819 over sixteen thousand men have gonetout . from the walls of the University of Virginia to strengthen and enrich the life of the nation. His Alma Mater esteems Samuel Spencer to be justly entitled to a foremost place among the elite of this great army. . ' Samuel Spencer was born in Columbus, Georgia, March 2d, 1847. He was, 1 therefore, fifty-nine years of age when his life ended so tragically, November 29th, 1906. T he only son of Lambert Spencer and Vernona Mitchell, his wife, his boyhood was spent in a simple home of good breeding, of reverence and of 'E dignity. He attended the common schools of Columbus, Georgia, until he was ' E : fifteen years old, when he entered the Georgia Military Institute at Marietta. Young Spencer was fourteen years of age in the fateful summer of 1861. In 1863 Eff at the age of sixteen, and with his slight frame and five feet and three inches EEE , of height seeming a mere lad, he donned the gray uniform of a private in the EE Nelson Rangers, an independent cavalry organization, and became one of the men EE who rode with Forrest and Hood to harass the advance 'of Shermanis army, and E to defend the approach to Atlanta. His military career did not come to a. Close El until the surrender of General Johnston, in April, 1865. When the end came, he EE was eighteen vears old, as time is counted, but battles and seiges and days and EEE nights of. danger and trial had greatly matured his young spirlt. E Immediately after Appomattox, he began to prepare for college, entering the EE University of Georgia in the Junior Class, and graduating in 1867 with first WEE honors. Through many sacrihces he came on to the University of V irginia. for 1 a course in, Civil Engineering. He was graduated from this department in 1869 E: with the degree of Civil Engineer, and at the head of his class. There is no more inspiring story in our history as a people, than the story of that rare band of young Southerners who went almost from the nursery into war, and then, as veterans, though in their teens, returned wounded and scarred to the school-bench -. and the-classrooni. I wish some. one of them, gifted with sympathy and insight, '3 would collate and tell the story of this group. It would form a distinct contribu- tion to the impressive annals of human energy, and hope, and dauntlessness. The Choice which young Spencer made of a profession is an indication of the breadth of his vision, for not many eyes then beheld in the ruined and desolated