Washington and Lee University - Calyx Yearbook (Lexington, VA)

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distinguished son. and within a few yards from the grave of his college friend, The first important gift received by Liberty Hall Academy was conferred by George Washington. In recognition of his services in the Revolution, the Legislature of Virginia, in 17S4. presented to him a number of shares in a canal company. Washington refused to accept these for his own benefit, but after some years of delay, his attention was called to Liberty Hall Academy, to which be soon afterward gave them. The generous gift by Washington was gratefully accepted by the trustees of the Academy. Their letter of acknowledgment was preceded by an act of the Legislature, in January, 1798, changing the name of the school to Wash- ington Academy. To this letter, the following reply was given: Mount Vernon, 17th June, 1798. Gentlemen — Unaccountable as it may seem, it is nevertheless true that the address with which you were pleased to honor n e, dated the 12th of April, never cane into my hands until the 14th inst. 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 of Virginia has enabled me to bestow on Liberty Hall — now by your politeness called Washington Academy — is likely to prove a means to accom- plish these ends, it will contribute to the gratification of my desire. Sentiments, like those which have flowed from your pen excite rry gratitude, whilst I offer my best vows for the prosperity of the Academy, and for the honor and happiness of those under whose auspices it is conducted. Geo. Washington. Trustees of Washington Academy. The property thus bestowed on Wash- ington Academy still yields an annual income of three thousand dollars to Washington and Lee University. The bequesl of Washington served to inspire another gift. The Cincinnati Society was an organization of surviving officers formed at the close of the Revolutionary War. with branches in each of the several States. In 1802, the Virginia branch decided to dis- band. Inspired by the example of Washing- 13

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historical £ feetd; of flBastjington anti Hee During the early part of the eighteenth century. a stream of Scotch-Irish immigrants began to spread over the mountainous parts of Pennsylvania, Mary- land and Virginia. One of its branches penetrated far into the valley of the Shenandoah in Virginia. They brought with them the devotion to education and religion which they had manifested in Scotland and Ireland. The settlers in Augusta County, in 1747, established a school about fifteen miles southwest of what is now the city of Staunton, and named it the Augusta Academy. Its first principal was Robert Alexander. His associate and immediate successor was Rev. John Brown. The successor of Mr. Brown was Rev. William Graham, a graduate of Princeton. During his college days Mr. Graham was a classmate and close asso- ciate of Henry Lee, who became a dis- tinguished cavalry officer during the war of the Revolution, and whose son, Robert E. Lee, was yet more distinguished in the Civil War of the next century. On May 6. 177(i. the name Augusta Academy was changed to Liberty Hall, and in 1870 the school was moved to the immediate vicin- ity of Lexington. Through the influence of Mr. Graham. Liberty Hall was incorporated by the Legislature of Virginia, in October, 1782, as Liberty Hall Academy. It had been for a short time under the care of the presbytery of Hanover, but it re- ceived now a charter, under the terms of which the board of trustees became independent and self-perpetuating. In 1793, a stone build- ing was erected, in which Mr. Graha m continued his labors until his resignation, in 1796. Mr. Graham died in 1799, and was buried in Rich- mond. In May, 1911, his remains were transferred to Lex- ington, and interred near the chapel of the institution which he had founded more than a century previously. In May, 1913, the remains of General Henry Lee were brought from Georgia to Virginia. They were de- posited in the mausoleum, at Lexington, at the side of his 12

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ton, they bestowed their funds upon the Academy which now bore his name. The accumulated value of the fund was about twenty-five thousand dollars. In December. 1802, the Academy building was destroyed by fire, and in 1803, the work of the school was conducted in rented buildings within the limits of Lex- ington. Before the end of 1804. a building was constructed on the grounds of the present university, from which the ruins of the old academy are still visible. By act of the Legislature in 1813. the name Washington Academy was changed to Washington College. In 1826, an impor- tant impulse was received through a bequest, the ul- timate value of which was over forty-six thousand dol- lars, from John Robinson, a native of Ireland, a soldier under Washington. and during his last years a trustee of the college. The three endow- ments already secured, amounting to but little more than one hundred thousand dollars, formed the financial foundation on which Washington College rested until nearly three-fourths of the nineteenth century were completed. Soon after the outbreak of the Civil War the work of the college was dis- intinued, most of its students nlisting in the Confederate army, under the name Liberty Hall Volunteers. The buildings and other property were much injured when Lexington was occupied by the Federal army in June. 1864. At the close of the war, the college being without in- come, borrowed money on the pri- vate credit of some of the trustees for the repair of the buildings, and the work of rehabilitation was at once begun. About thirty years 14