Williams College - Gulielmensian Yearbook (Williamstown, MA)

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32 The Gulielmensian The College and the Civil War HE young men in charge of the publication of the annual of the college have thought it well this year to dedicate the book to the honor of those who, either before or after membership in 5 Ck Iii.: 3' the college, enlisted i11 the service of our country during the Q civil war. Beginning in 1861 and ending in 1865, the war was, V wi' 4V i'fl E so to speak, at its middle point, its climax in '63. It may then be said that 50 years have passed since we, as a nation, were in the sharp agony of that crisis, and this publication may be said to com- memorate the semi-centennial of the relations of our beloved Alma Mater to that momentous conflict. It was in 1863, at the fiftieth anniversary of the grad- uation of the class of 1813, of which class he was for a time a member, that a poem, written by William Cullen Bryant, was read of which the following lines are a part. Fierce is the strife, As when of old the sinning angels strove To whelm, beneath the uprooted hills of heaven, The warriors of the Lord. Yet now as then God and the Right shall give the victory. For us who fifty years ago went forth Upon the world's great theatre, may we Yet see the day of triumph which the hours On steady wing waft hither from the depths Of a serener future: may we yet Beneath the reign of a new peace, behold The shaken pillars of our commonwealth Stand readjusted in their ancient poise, And the great crime of which our strife was bor11 Perish with its aceursed progeny! Bryant saw after 'two brief years the fulfillment of his prayer and died thir- teen years after the close of the war, having witnessed and shared in the distress- i11g agitations that accompanied the reconstruction of our beloved republic. It was of course the classes that were graduated either not long before the conflict or while it was actually going on which gave the largest quota of men to

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Volume LVII. 1914 33 the heroic service. Two n1e1nbers of the class of '64, Dresser and I-licks, who loved the college, but lcf t it in '61 to serve for nine 1nontl1s in diderent regiments, raised under the first call of Lincoln, and the11 returned to renew their studies, could not resist the later appeals and went out again with joy to endure as good soldiers . The spirits of both went together back to God fjust as their class was about to be graduatedb on the thirtieth of July, 1864 by the explosion of the fatal mine of Petersburg. The class of '62 not merely has more names on the soldiers' monument, recording the death of Williams graduates who fell in the service, but also gave a larger proportion of its members to the army of the Republic than any other class graduated from the college. The classes of '61 and '63 were not far behind in their percentage of contribution. But when '61 was graduated, the tremendous scope and the certain prolongation of the con- flict were not generally foreseen. When '63 was graduated the victory at Gettys- burg and the surrender of Vicksburg had given some hope that the beginning of the end was in sight. But when '62 went forth CCommencement occurred in those years the first week in Augustb tl1e outlook was so dark as to appeal strong- ly to every thoughtful young man for a careful consideration of his duty to his stricken country. This appeal to conscience for consecration to the sacred cause of the Union was felt by graduates of nearly every recent class. The more con- stant thought of the Williams student during the early part and middle of tl1e last ce11tury was fixed on serious things, on duty, service to humanity, loyalty to country and to God. The training in this quiet valley was in those days largely in great principles of action. It was coordinated to secure one great end, and the doctrine of 0lldS so vigorously taught tended to develope with breadth of sym- pathy loyal devotion to l1un1a11ity and to the Redeemer of humanity. There was less to interest in the physical and cultural activities of the seasons, less to charm in student organizations, and the young men lifted often the eager visio11 to the larger horizon. So far as I know, the Reverend vl'0l'Cll1l2lill Porter, graduated in 1825, repre- sents the first class that became identified with the army of the Republic. I-Ie was cliaplain of an Illinois regiment during the entire war and happily was present at the dedication of our soldiers' monument in 1868 and made the prayer, expressing gratitude to God for the redemption of our land from the curse of slavery and invoking his continued blessing on our Republic. From the class of 1825 onward to a11d including the class of 1870 Ctwo of whose members, Egle- ston aud White, saw service before entering collegej a long continuous stream of Williams men offered themselves freely for the baptism of fire. Underneath every enlistment of these 1nc11, no matter how plainly the preservation of the Union was proclaimed as the object of the war on the part of the North, was the deep feeling that the crime of slavery, as Bryant called it, was the cause of