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

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afterward, the Congress of the United States granted remuneration for the de- struction of property by the invading army. On August 4. 1865, General Robert E. Lee was elected president. After carefully considering the subject he accepted in the following letter, part of which we emphasize : Powhatan Co., 2-1 Aug., ' G5. Gentlemen — I have delayed for some days replying to your letter of the 5th inst., informing me of my election by the Board of Trustees to the Presidency of Washington College, from a desire to give the subject due consideration. Fully impressed with the responsibilities of the office, 1 have feared that I should be unable to discharge its duties to the satisfaction of the Trustees, or to the benefit of the country. The proper education of youth requires not only great ability, but, 1 fear, more strength than I now possess, for I do not feel able to undergo the labor of conducting classes in regular course of instruction. I could not, therefore, undertake more than general administration and super- vision of the institution. There is another subject which has caused me serious reflection, and is, I think, worthy of the consideration of the Board. Being excluded from the terms of amnesty in the proclamation of the President of the United States of the 29th of May last, and an object of censure to a portion of the country, I lrava thought it probable that my occupation of the position of President might draw upon the College a feeling of hostility, and 1 should, therefore, cause injury to an institution which it would be my highest desire to advance. I think it the duty of every citizen, in the present con- dition of the country, to do all in his power to aid in the restoration of peace and harmony, and in no way to oppose the policy of the State or General Government directed to that object. It is particularly incumbent upon those charged with the instruction of the young to set them an example of submission to authority, and I could not consent to be the cause of animadversion upou the College. Should you, however, take a different view, and think that my services in the position tendered me by the Board will lie advantageous to the College and country, I will yield to your judgment and accept it. Otherwise I must most respectfully decline the office. Begging you to express to the Trustees of the College my heartfelt gratitude for the honor conferred upon me, and requesting you to accept my cordial thanks for the kind manner in which you have communicated its decision, 1 am, gentlemen, with great respect, Your most obedient servant, R. E. Lee. Messrs. John W. Brockenbrough, Rector; S. McD. Reid, Alfred Leyburn, Horatio Thompson, D. P., Bolivar Christian, T. J. Kirkpatrick, Committee.

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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

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T eidHa.11 W L General Lee was formally installed as president of Washington College Octo- ber 2, 1865, and he retained this position until his death, October 12, 1870. During his administration of five years the growth of the college in numbers and influence was phenomenal. In the rear of the college chapel, which he built, is a mausoleum, in Vvhich his remains are interred. Over them is a recumbent statue of him in Italian marble, by the Virginia sculptor, E. V. Valentine. In 1849 a law school was founded in Lexington, and subsequently brought to a high state of efficiency, by Judge John W. Brockenbrough. Under the per- suasive influence of Gen- eral Lee the Lexington Law School became, in 1866, the School of Law and Eq- uity of .Washington Col- lege, with Judge Brocken- brough as professor in charge. This organic con- nection has continued to the present day. In 1871, soon after the death of General Lee, the name of Washington College was changed to its present corporate title. The Washington and Lee University. In the same year General G. W. Custis Lee succeeded his father as president. During his twenty-six years of service the scope of the institution was much enlarged, and its endowment grew, partly through his own generous giving. He resigned Decem- ber 29, 1896, was made president emeritus, and died February 18. 1913. The successor of General Custis Lee was William Lyne Wilson, who had achieved distinction during the previous fifteen years, as a member of Congress, and in the cabinet of President Cleveland. President Wilson ' s brief administraticn 16