Ohio History Journal

THE CENTENNIAL OF MIAMI UNIVERSITY.     A. H. UPHAM,   PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH, MIAMI UNIVERSITY. The third week of June was marked by a highly significant and somewhat unusual occasion down in the southwest corner

of Ohio. Miami University, old mother Miami, was cele- brating the completion of her first centenary of cor- porate existence; and he r children, unto the third and f o u r t h generation, came from the corners of the earth bringing t r i b u t e of congratulation a n d g o o d wishes. The village of Ox- ford was in holiday attire; but festooned bunting seemed tawdry and common- place against the rare old- fashioned b e a u t y of the wide, s h a d y streets, the green inviting door - yards, and the leafy vistas of the University ground s. The

weather was nearly -if not quite - perfect, making it possible to do most of the celebrating out among the trees. The elaborate program for the week was carried out with most of the accessories that convention has attached of late to such affairs. One night the students made merry at the expense of the faculty, and paraded themselves about the campus burn- ing quantities of red fire. On other nights a select few of them did Shakespeare and the like before sweltering audiences, as a relief from the interminable speech-making. There were vari- 322

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The Centennial of Miami University.       323   ous long processions of black gowns and mortar-boards, at which certain of the old-timers stood aghast, protesting vigor- ously that they didn't trifle with such things in their day. His Excellency the Governor was on hand to represent the Common- wealth, attended by his imposing retinue in tight uniforms and gold braid. There was music by the band and music by the glee club; then there were some more speeches. Honorary degrees

were distributed with the somewhat liberal hand characteristic of such events. There was also a graduating class, much the largest in the history of the institution, but in the excitement it had the habit of slipping modestly into the background and be- ing lost to view. If anything was really lacking it was the general public- the uninterested, amusement-seeking public, that is. They had planned to come until word went forth that the only real live

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324      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. President outside the African jungles would positively not be on exhibition. Then their attention wavered and they hurried off to Dayton to complain of the crowd and wait around in the hope that somebody would fly. Oxford was crowded almost to the limit of her accommodations, but not beyond; so that every- body was comfortable and in good humor. And the assemblage represented the past, present and future patronage of the Uni-

versity; those who have followed her career through decades, who have a part in her present remarkable advancement, or who look to her with anticipation of close relationships soon to be. Miami was emphatically in the hands of friends and kindred, so that the occasion constantly resolved itself into a great informal love-feast. So much for surface appearances. But even the casual ob- server could not linger long about that animated campus without

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The Centennial of Miami University.      325

 

realizing that, after all, the big thing about the celebration was

not the general air of jubilee or prosperous contentment. It was

the realization,-hard enough to express, but pounding at the

heart of every visitor familiar with the facts,-of all the years

of struggle with accumulated adversity through which the little

old college has heroically progressed, and the immense poten-

tiality Miami has been in the development and refinement of the

Middle West. The story has been told often within the past

year, from various points of view and with various degrees of

completeness; but it is highly desirable that the obvious facts

from the University's first century of achievement should be at

least hurriedly summarized for those intimately concerned with

the development of the commonwealth.

After negotiations extending over more than seven years,

John Cleves Symmes received on September 30, 1794, letters

patent from the United States Government, placing him and his

associates in possession of "All that tract of land, beginning at

the mouth of the Great Miami river and extending from thence

along the river Ohio, to the mouth of the Little Miami river, and

bounded on the south by the said river Ohio, on the west by the

Great Miami river, on the east by the said Little Miami river,

and on the North by a parallel of latitude -so as to compre-

hend the quantity of three hundred and eleven thousand, six hun-

dred and eighty-two acres of land with the appurtenances." Cer-

tain specific reservations were made from this "Symmes Pur-

chase," one of the most important reading as follows: "It is

hereby declared, that one complete township or tract of land, of

six miles square, to be located with the approbation of the gov-

ernor, for the time being, of the territory northwest of the River

Ohio, and in the manner and within the term of five years afore-

said, as nearly as may be, in the center of the tract of land here-

inbefore granted, hath been and is granted and shall be holden in

trust to and for the sale and for the exclusive intent and pur-

pose of erecting and establishing therein an academy and other

public schools and seminaries of learning, and endowing and sup-

porting the same, and to and for no other use, intent or purpose

whatever."

This statement may properly be interpreted as a national

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326   Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   guarantee of the perpetual maintenance of a college for the in- habitants of the Symmes Purchase, but to Symmes himself it meant just then a rather embarrassing situation. For this was not his first contract with the government. It was rather a sec- ond or third modification of the original document, in which also this academic reservation had appeared. Symmes had his lands on the market as early as November, 1787, and in his initial pros- pectus called attention to this college township even locating it definitely on the map. Somehow the revised grant of 1788

New Alumni Library Building.

neglected to mention any township for academic purposes, and the portion first selected was soon divided up with the rest. So the final contract found poor Symmes with no full township at hand that would satisfy the requirements; and a neat little tri- angular controversy ensued, involving Symmes, the Congress of the United States, and the territorial governor, to whom had been delegated the responsibility of selection. The question was still pending when Ohio took on the digni- ties and perquisites of statehood, one of which was the perpetual stewardship of these rather hazy thirty-six sections of college land and the institution to profit therefrom. Finally if was

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The Centennial of Miami University.      327

 

necessary to settle upon a tract entirely outside the Purchase,

but in the so-called District of Cincinnati - the unsold portion of

Oxford Township and two and one-half sections adjoining.

This settlement was not to go into effect for five years, in the

hope that during the time an available complete township might

turn up somewhere within the Symmes land.

Accordingly it was 1809 before the state of Ohio formally

created The Miami University, provided for the Trustees and

Faculty, drew up a charter of rights and privileges, and arranged

to make the lands productive of funds for maintenance. These

provisions were made by an act of the Legislature, February 17,

1809. With this act began the legal career of the University,

recognized without reservation as an institution of the State of

Ohio. It was a long way from this Legislative document and

thirty-six sections of unbroken timber and undergrowth to a

smoothly running educational machine. People didn't yearn

greatly for these lands at first, under the terms of lease pro-

vided by the state. These leases were to be for ninety-nine

years, renewable forever, and the tenants were to pay an annual

rental of six per cent on the land value of their property, with

a revaluation every fifteen years. Then the state, with a com-

mendable desire to get things going but a sad misconception of

future needs, repealed the clause regarding revaluation, fixing

the land rent to the University forever at the rate of six per cent.

on the original valuation. Hence it is that during the long

heart-breaking years, while the state denied further aid, the uni-

versity struggled on desperately in a cramped and half bankrupt

condition; and that nowadays, when the state is conscientiously

administering the trust, these annual land-rents are about suffi-

cient to maintain three professorships.

There was trouble for years over the location of the actual

university, much as there had been over those precious lands.

The creating act of 1809 definitely appointed a locating commis-

sion, instructed to select a spot "In such part of the John Cleves

Symmes Purchase as an eligible place can be found." One com-

missioner failed to act, and the other two agreed upon Lebanon,

Ohio, as the University site. At the next session of the Legis-

lature, under various kinds of pressure, the proceedings of this

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328      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. commission were declared void and the assembly itself fixed the location at the proposed town of Oxford, to be laid off and con- structed within the college township itself. Thus the state be- came the proud and inexperienced guardian of a young Univer- sity, begotten of the Symmes Purchase, but entirely outside the ancestral fences. Of course there was trouble. Various com- munities within the Purchase, whether they had ever had a chance at the College or not, began to feel that the Legislature had given them shabby treatment. Cincinnati in particular, who had been making several ineffectual efforts toward a seat of

higher learning, took the matter much to heart, and planned two clever and well-nigh successful campaigns, in 1814 and 1822, to get the institution transferred to some point near the Ohio River. Everybody concerned felt that the University was getting under way too slowly. Just what they could have expected from a trackless area of inaccessible woodland isn't quite apparent. People could not be forced to buy the land, even at bargain prices; and many who did were undesirable citizens who paid only under pressure. A "missionary" was sent out into New England and the Atlantic States, not to carry culture or religion, but to solicit funds for the new Miami. He had a hard time of

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The Centennial of Miami University.       329

 

it and accumulated little. Gradually money was secured for

the erection of buildings, beginning with the "school-house" that

cost one hundred and fifty dollars, and culminating in a fairly

adequate college building, under construction from 1820 to 1824.

By this time the income had accumulated so as to justify the em-

ployment of a small faculty and the initiation of college work.

Robert Hamilton Bishop, the first President, was inaugurated

March 30, 1825, having undertaken the duties of his office the

November previous. By the day of inauguration the roster of

students had already grown from   a mere handful at the

opening session to nearly a hundred; and there was never a day

thereafter, while the portals were thrown wide, that there were

not eager youths in considerable numbers waiting to be taught

With the machinery once in actual motion, Miami's skies for

a time continued clear. President Bishop, a sterling  Scotch

character with vigorous mind and engaging personality, had as

sociated with him men capable of great influence upon the pio-

neer country. Young McGuffey, fresh from college, served here

his apprenticeship in teaching, and conducted the experiments

out of which came finally the old Eclectic Readers of blessed

memory. John W. Scott came early into this group, before he

had tried his hand at imparting higher education to young

women, or had a daughter old enough to win the heart of a fu-

ture president. Three buildings -the two present dormitories

and a little one-story Science Hall,-were erected in Doctor

Bishop's time, bringing Miami into the front rank among western

colleges in material equipment. So careful indeed was the Doc-

tor's management of funds, that the records of his administration

often show a surplus, sometimes as high as $2,000.

In this period, too, ventures were made in the direction of a

real university scheme, with professional colleges. In 1827 it

was a law school that the Trustees contemplated, and the Presi-

dent was authorized to prepare plans for the work and look out

for a competent professor. For some reason this was dropped,

and in 1830 a medical school was the focus of attention. This

time a dean was actually selected and empowered to choose his

colleagues, and announcements were printed and circulated.

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330      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. The Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati protested, and by some timely maneuvering this project also came to be abandoned. Prosperity and large attendance did not necessarily mean academic calm in the student community, as was illustrated all too well in the late 30's. Many turbulent spirits were there and discipline was a serious question. Even the literary societies, powerful factors for good as they were, held charters from the state and challenged openly the right of the faculty to interfere

Herron Gymnasium.

in their proceedings. Finally, after sixteen years of service, it seemed best that Doctor Bishop should resign his executive post, take a place on the faculty, and let some stricter disciplinarian try his hand. Choice fell upon George Junkin, President of Lafay- ette College, who was noted for his firm will and had just dis- tinguished himself on the Old School side of the controversy be- tween the two great branches of the Presbyterian Church. In spite of the sterling qualities of Doctor Junkin the ex-

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The Centennial of Miami University.        331

 

periment was not a success. The transition from President

Bishop's somewhat milder methods was perhaps too abrupt.

Then too the ex-president was still on the ground, a constant re-

minder to his many partisans of what they considered the unfair

treatment he had received. The choice of so noted a Presbyter-

ian zealot turned the eyes of the other denominations upon

Miami, and led to the charge in the religious press that this state

institution was being managed solely in the interests of the Pres-

byterian faith. The abolition movement was then in vogue

throughout Ohio, gathering many Miami people to its support.

Dr. Junkin, while an anti-slavery man, was firmly opposed to a

rabid abolition, and took occasion to say so freely in the coun-

cils of his church. This rounded out his list of opponents, and

he withdrew in 1844 to resume his old position at Lafayette.

In his stead came Erasmus D. MacMaster, one of the deep-

est logicians and ablest orators of the Presbyterian church.

Moreover, he was an ardent adherent to the cause of abolition.

His greatest service to the University was in the line of scholar-

ship, the curriculum being raised to a level with the strongest in-

stitutions in the East. Soon after his arrival he presented once

more to the Trustees plans for a complete university, including

a Normal School and School of Agriculture, with those profes-

sional schools considered earlier. His weakness, in Miami at

least, appears to have been on the personal side, for he seems

never quite to have won the hearts of the undergraduate body.

Pestilence was abroad during his stay and frequently threatened

and even visited the little college town. Dissatisfaction among

the boys led to numerous open outbreaks, one of these resulting

in an almost wholesale expulsion from the student ranks.

The administration of William C. Anderson, from 1849 to

1854, was in many respects the most prosperous in the early his-

tory of the University. The enrollment, which was down to

sixty-eight when he came, increased rapidly to over two hundred

and fifty. Yet intellectual standards were in no sense depreciated

and hard work was the order of the day. The faculty grouped

about him were men of unusual attainments and influence. Doc-

tor Moffat held the chair of Latin until recalled to Princeton,

when he was succeeded by young Robert Bishop, destined to serve

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332      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   more than a generation of loving usefulness in that position. David Swing followed Bishop in the Preparatory School. Pro- fessor Elliot, scholarly and absent-minded, wrestled with the problem of Greek. Stoddard, afterward of Wooster, presided over the queer little Science Hall, and Doctor Wylie, for years the grand old man of Indiana University, came in 1852 as Pro- fessor of Mathematics. All these men, with Doctor Anderson at their head, were great religious teachers, and Miami under their care experienced a spiritual awakening remarkable in its

fervor and extent. Divisions and ill-feeling were unheard of, and financial adjustments could still be made. Still there was trouble enough ahead. John W. Hall was the war president, his term of service ex- tending through to 1866. Strangely enough, he was of South- ern blood and training, yet so fair-minded and free from parti- sanship that he remained an effective leader throughout all the great national struggle. There were plenty to suspect and criti- cise him, and finally his resignation came as others had before

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The Centennial of Miami University.      333

 

him. But many of the arguments used for his undoing involved

matters entirely out of his control. Thus it was urged that at-

tendance fell off sadly, interest in college work declined, dis-

cipline was lax. What else could be expected of those stormy

years when Miami gave freely of her best, and those left behind

were frantic in their longings to join comrades at the front.

Money became again a serious issue. The old college curriculum

began to seem inadequate to many people, who clamored vigor-

ously for expensive modifications and enlargements. Some of

these were indeed attempted. A Normal-English course was

maintained for a time with a professor all its own. A gymna-

sium was opened on a limited scale and an instructor added.

Practical Engineering was also undertaken. Modern Languages

were offered for a time as a substitute for Greek, and unsuc-

cessful steps were taken to endow a chair of English Literature,

to be occupied by the brilliant thinker Swing.

Funds were if anything even lower at this time than for

years before. During the war, for instance, it was necessary at

least once to reduce the salaries of all the instructors pro rata,

the reason given being "the present condition of the country and

the existence of the Civil War, the consequent depreciation of the

value of property and reduction of the prices of living, and the

inevitable diminution of the income of the University." In 1865,

there was favorable consideration of a proposition from the Pres-

byterian Synod of Ohio, to direct their endowment funds to

Miami rather than to the founding of a new denominational col-

lege at Wooster. The Miami Trustees were about to accede to

the stipulations involved, when it was discovered that these

would require an amendment to the state constitution, and so the

old University continued the peculiar property of the common-

wealth.

President Robert L. Stanton came to Miami in 1866, with

no disposition to dodge issues or to mince matters in discussing

them. The institution was in sore straits, impoverished in the

midst of an impoverished land. Students had fallen off in great

numbers, and with them the very essential tuition fees they

brought. The old buildings, however staunchly erected half a

century before, were sinking into decrepitude. Rival colleges

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334      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   had sprung up all about, and the demand of the day was for larger faculties, new courses of study--particularly in the sciences, with their expensive equipments, - and ample and com- fortable quarters for the college community. Doctor Stanton worked hard and for a time appeared successful. Alumni and friends of the College raised a fund of nearly twenty thousand dollars to be expended on the buildings. Every session of the Legislature was besieged by petitions for a little further aid to

complete the work begun, and there was always a remote possi- bility that something might be granted. Everything available was seized upon. The United States arranged for military in- struction in a few colleges, and Miami bestirred herself and was one of the first on the accepted list. Ohio paid tuition for such of her soldier sons as desired college training, and a few of these helped swell the little column of assets. For a time Miami hoped great things of the land-grant funds provided by the national government for state agricultural colleges. Every effort was

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The Centennial of Miami University.      335

 

made to get this new educational work and the accompanying in-

come divided between the two state colleges already existing.

The legislature decided otherwise, however, and established a

third state institution, at Columbus, as the Agricultural College.

By the time that Doctor Stanton, defeated and discouraged,

retired in 1871 in favor of Professor Hepburn of the faculty, the

fate of Old Miami, for a time at least, appeared settled. Even

a last resort had failed, an attempt to consign the whole institu-

tion, on almost any terms, to such religious denomination as

would refit it, endow it, and put it on its feet again. So it was

generally agreed to cease work for a time and allow the regular

income to accumulate, as it had in those preliminary years be-

fore 1824. As this income was still limited by legislative enact-

ment to little more than it had been in pioneer days, while the

scope and expense of college efficiency had magnified many fold,

the prospect was not particularly pleasing at its best. Anyhow

the doors were closed to college classes with the Commencement

of 1873, and the buildings relegated to the uses of a private acad-

emy, conducted first by Professor Bishop and afterwards by

Trufont and Marsh.

In 1885 the friends and well-wishers of Miami could wait

no longer. They began to realize what those of the present day

are having constantly brought home to them, that this widening!

gap in the activity of the school was certain to be felt seriously

later on, when callow graduates grew into prosperous middle-

aged men of affairs, capable of helping Alma Mater. Anyhow

Miami had money in the bank and influential friends at court

just then. Why delay? With a loud flourish of trumpets the

old weather-beaten machinery was set in motion again and the

University began to make up for lost time. Truly a new era was

dawning. For the state at this point gave up the played-out role

of responsible but disinterested administrator, acknowledged the

duty to support her ward, and made a first appropriation of

$20,000 for buildings and repairs. During the two years of

reorganization, Doctor McFarland, formerly the Professor of

Mathematics, occupied the president's chair, with the understand-

ing that he was not a candidate for permanent appointment.

Four other presidents have served since this formal re-

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336              Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   opening:       President Warfield, now of Lafayette; President Thompson, now of Ohio State University; Doctor Tappan, now preaching at Circleville; and the present incumbent, Doctor Guy Potter Benton. Throughout their administrations advancement has come with rapid strides, the state showing gradually in- creased liberality and the institution responding with promptness and enthusiasm. The faculties have been of young and progres- sive specialists, trained in the best graduate schools and satis-

fied with nothing short of the highest scholarship. Buildings and equipment have steadily improved and the students have ap- peared in constantly increasing numbers. There have of course been occasions of dissension and dis- couragement, to each of which the new Miami has risen superior.. A few fundamental changes of policy have been adopted in these last years. The doors have been opened to young women on equal privileges with the men, and they have come to form ap- proximately one-fourth of the Liberal Arts enrollment. A State

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The Centennial of Miami University.        337

 

Normal College has been instituted and is in thriving condition,

being fitted out as rapidly as possible with its own buildings and

equipment. The old name Miami University, always a misnomer

in the strictest sense, is still retained as the corporate title, hav-

ing gained a sentimental reverence through the years. But no

one thinks of making Miami more than a college, and a small

college at that:-the high-grade small college representing the

best system of higher education yet devised in the east or west.

This has been a long arid recital of ancient history and you

are lucky if you have weathered through it. But the aim has

been throughout to make clear to the reader the environment of

discouragement and enforced poverty through which little old

Miami plodded heroically to this auspicious completion of her

first centenary. The remarkable thing about it, however, is not

merely that Miami has completed this century of years amid

adversity. Many an ordinary turtle lives a great deal longer,

and progresses with much difficulty too. The thing that should

direct the eyes of all Ohio to this Centennial celebration is the

inestimable services the University has rendered, directly and

through her alumni, in the development of the state and of the

nation. There is but one way to get at such a proposition: by

marshalling in rapid review before the reader, with a mere apol-

ogy of a system, a small assortment of the Miami men whose

lives have meant something for humanity.

"The pioneers of southwestern Ohio," said Chancellor Mac-

Cracken, of New York University, in his Centennial Address,

"were of near a dozen different national stocks, but mainly non-

English Puritans. They were largely of Scotch and Scotch-

Irish blood, like most of the early graduates of Miami. Of the

twelve names of alumni of the twenty-five classes from 1826 to

1850, who are still alive, ten are Scotch or Scotch-Irish, from

McCaughan of 1837 to Andrew Brooks of 1850. Many grad-

uates were of Welsh blood, like Chidlaw, Thomas E. Thomas,

and Senator Pugh. Others were Huguenots, like the Monforts;

or Dutch, like Schenck and Groesbeck; or Palatinate Germans,

like Shellabarger and Kumler: or they were of English Vir-

ginia blood, like President Benjamin Harrison. Miami was the

Vol. XVIII -22.

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338        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

offspring of the highest intellectual aspirations of a fusion of

Protestant races, mostly of Puritan training, thrown together

upon the Ohio frontier."

From such material the various classes of Doctor Bishop's

long administration were able, almost without exception, to grad-

uate men who promptly achieved a national reputation.      Exam-

ples might be of interest.

 

1826. Ebenezer E. Pressly, founder and first president of Erskine Col-

lege in South Carolina, and a leader in religious work in the

south.

1827. Robert C. Schenk, foreign envoy, congressman and brigadier-

general; finally ambassador at the Court of St. James.

1828. William M. Thompson. minister and foreign missionary; author

of "The Land and the Book."

1829. Ralph P. Lowe, governor of Iowa.

James Reily, U. S. Minister to Russia.

1830. Thornton A. Mills, editor of the Central Christian Herald and a

leader in the Presbyterian Church.

1831. Freeman G. Cary, founder and first president of Farmer's Col-

lege.

Theophilus L. Dickey, Assistant Attorney-General of the U. S.

Duncan F. Keener, president of the Louisiana Constitutional con-

vention.

1833. Charles Anderson, scholar-statesman; offered appointment as As-

sistant Secretary of State and served as a war governor of Ohio.

Benjamin W. Childlaw, the great Sabbath School missionary.

1834. William Groesbeck, congressman, candidate for the presidency, and

counsel for President Johnson in his impeachment trial.

John J. McRae, U. S. senator and governor of Mississippi.

Joseph G. Monfort, editor of the Herald and Presbyter.

Thomas E. Thomas, president of Hanover College.

1835. Samuel F. Cary, temperance lecturer.

William Dennison, was governor of Ohio and U. S. Postmaster

General.

1836. James Birney, war governor of Michigan and U. S. minister to

Holland.

1837. James B. Howell, U. S. senator from Iowa.

1838. John S. Williams, brigadier-general in the Confederate army and

U. S. Senator from Kentucky.

1840. George E. Pugh, U. S. senator from Ohio.

1841. Charles H. Hardin, governor of Missouri and founder of Hardin

Female Institute in Missouri.

Samuel Shellabarger, congressman and U. S. minister to Portugal.

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The Centennial of Miami University.         339   This list is only a fair forecast of the classes to follow, ex- cept for certain splendid years of plenty, where it seems that al- most every graduate passed into generous service for his coun- trymen. Every profession, every walk of life found men from Old Miami ready to do their part, and more, of the work at hand. The Christian ministry perhaps claimed the largest share of these early graduates, many of whom labored faithfully in some ob- scure corner of the vineyard till the close of day. Several, how-

Lower Campus, Miami University.

ever, became famous and influential preachers in the great city churches, like James Hall Brooks in St. Louis or David Swing in Chicago. Many found careers in colleges, more than a dozen becoming able college presidents, as have David A. Wallace at Muskingum and Monmouth, Samuel S. Laws at Missouri State University, and Henry M. MacCracken at New York University. Law, statesmanship, and public life in general attracted many of them, as might be expected of youths trained so thor-

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340      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

oughly in the give-and-take of the old Literary Halls. One pres-

ident of the United States heads the list of these-Benjamin

Harrison of the class of '52. Behind him troops a respectable

following of cabinet officers and ambassadors to foreign lands.

Of the first type not already noted may be named Caleb B.

Smith, Secretary of the Interior in Lincoln's first cabinet; Wil-

liam H. H. Miller, Attorney General, and John W. Noble, Secre-

tary of the Interior, under Harrison. Most prominent of

Miami's diplomatic representatives in recent years is Whitelaw

Reid, former minister to France and now ambassador at the

Court of St. James.

The list of governors of states is an imposing one, and the

faithful alumni secretary is still unearthing new ones from time

to time. Five famous war governors are included: Dennison

and Anderson of Ohio, Morton of Indiana, Yates of Illinois, and

Birney of Michigan. The noted lecturer Will Cumback, for-

merly lieutenant-governor of Indiana, was a Miami man, and

Governor Harris of Ohio, recently retired, brings the list down

to date. The most recent of Miami's U. S. Senators was Cal-

vin S. Brice, who died in 1897. The lower house of Congress

nearly always had Miami men in it, so that the task of citing

them would be almost as lengthy as to enumerate state legisla-

tors, common pleas judges, or plain everyday college professors.

It has been seen how the Civil War broke into the academic

calm of Miami, situated as she was so near the border. There

were many lads from the South in attendance up to that time,

and the University gave freely to both parties in the struggle.

Several of our great eastern universities have made much of their

patriotic service in the rebellion, commemorating it with Soldiers'

Fields and splendid Memorial Halls. But figures show beyond

doubt that of all the colleges then active in America, little Miami

sent by far the largest proportion of her students and alumni into

service. They did service too, even the youngsters fresh from

Euclid, in a way of which the state may be always proud. Many

of them fought along in the obscurity of the ranks; but a sur-

prisingly large number rose to conspicuous heights.

By the end of the war, half a score of Miami men had at-

tained the rank of General in the Union army. The roster is

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The Centennial of Miami University.      341   worth looking at: Robert N. Adams, Charles E. Brown, Joe Fullerton, Benjamin Harrison, Joseph B. Leake, John W. Noble,

Ben P. Runkle, Robert C. Schenck, Gates P. Thruston, Durbin Ward. Robert N. Stemble became a rear admiral in the Union navy, and Stephen C. Rowan rose before his death to the rank

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342      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. of vice-admiral. Humphrey Marshall and "Cerro Gordo" Wil- liams did conspicuous service in the Confederate army, both having the rank of brigadier-general. Samuel C. Smith, class of '36, was surgeon-general for the state of Ohio. Many of these promotions came for deeds of heroism on the field of battle. Other heroic deeds brought no such reward, for the boyish dare- devils who performed them lay still and lifeless when the day was done. Millikin and Falconer at Stone River; James H. Childs at Antietam; Joe Battle borne in Confederate gray through the camp at Shiloh: - Miami paid dearly of the bloody toll of war.

Since the stormy '6o's Miami has never relaxed for a mo- ment in her large and efficient service for humanity. Perhaps the only difference in the last generation or so is that with the growing divergence of specialized occupations the University has distributed her sons more widely, clinging less closely to the time-honored triad of law, medicine and ministry. Out of the apprenticeship with Blackstone she has developed such eloquent and graceful orators as Samuel F. Hunt and George R. Wend- ling, as well as the famous law librarian of New York City, Wil- liam Huffman Winters. In medicine she has produced numer-

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The Centennial of Miami University.             343

 

ous specialists who have added valuable monographs to scien-

tific knowledge, men like James T. Whittaker and S. C. Ayres.

Most famous of her sons in this field is John Shaw Billings, the

leading medical librarian of the country, and now at the head of

the New York Public Library.

All the arts have found her ably represented, even in these

latest years. The artist James Carter Beard, the eminent

musician of the northwest Alfred M. Shuey, the critic William

Sloane Kennedy, the artist-architect Heistand, the brilliant news-

paper and magazine correspondent Edwin Emerson, and the ris-

ing young poet and dramatist Ridgeley Torrence, have all of

them spent their apprentice years with old mother Miami, and

bear evidence to the versatility of her product. Robert B. Stan-

ton and Philip N. Moore, in New York and St. Louis respec-

tively, rank among the first of civil and mining engineers. Busi-

ness and finance have claimed many of the ablest minds from

Miami, among them William Beckett, the pioneer paper manu-

facturer; A. C. McClurg, founder of the great Chicago Pub-

lishing house; John H. Patterson, of National Cash Register

fame, and Senator Brice, the railroad magnate.

Some years ago the alumni secretary of the University com-

piled statistics of the Miami men, producing a table of the deep-

est significance to all who concern themselves with the possibili-

ties of a small college or have ever questioned the justification of

such an institution's existence. The result is appended.

 

PUBLIC OFFICES.

Presidents of     the  United  States....................  .....                          1

Governors        of   States  ...................................                             10

Lieutenant-Governors ....................................                                    2

Cabinet     Officers  ....................  ....................                                  3

Foreign     M inisters       .......................................                            5

Attaches and    Consuls   ...........................  ......                                1

United  States   Senators  ..................................                                 7

Congressmen ........................................                                              23

State Senators ........................................... 30

State  Representatives  ....................................  69

Federal, State, County and Supreme Court Judges........ 53

United States Army Officers with the Rank of Captain and

above .............................................  66

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344       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

EDUCATIONAL POSITIONS.

College Presidents ....................................... 30

College  Professors,  etc ...................................  76

City and County Superintendents ........................ 52

Other Teachers ........................................ 116

 

GENERAL OCCUPATIONS.

Teachers  ................................................                                         274

Lawyers ...............................................                                            327

M inisters  ................................................                                       313

General Business ....................................... 111

Physicians  ...............................................  122

Editors and Journalists .................................. 50

Authors    .................................................                                       50

Farmers    ................................................                                        80

Bankers    .................................................                                       13

Manufacturers ........................................... 17

Engineers  ...............................................  24

 

At that time the total number of Miami graduates was 1,826.

Thanks to the reader's patience the purpose of this paper is

at last accomplished; the task of showing what was really in the

hearts of loyal Miami men, as they strolled idly but fondly be-

neath the elms and walnuts on this recent centennial occasion.

The hope is that everyone who worries through the detail may

feel with them that the glory of Old Miami is not to have lived

one hundred years, but to have survived such hardships and dis-

couragement and to have produced and effected so much.

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